AI:AF s. 



AUATI'S. 



elevation (B.C. 815) to hi. death (B.C. 213) he held tbe office seventeen 

 Urn**. The leading feature of hi* policy was to exclude the Mace- 

 donians from Peloponnesus, and to gin vigour to the Greek nation by 

 uniting them in one confederacy of well-organised commonwealths. 

 He suooteded to a gnat extent in this virtuou*. judicious, and truly 

 patriotic desicn; but he wa* constantly opposed by the Macedonian 

 kings Antigonu. and hU ion Demetrius, aud very frequently by the 

 BtitHen-. a warlike and turbulent people, who derived much of their 

 wealth from plunder, and were ever opposed to peace and to good 

 order, Ileaoe, though sometimes led to alliance with the Achnans 

 by a common jealousy of the power of Maoedon, they were much 

 i frequently arrayed against them ; and in one of their predatory 



iacuraiooc into Peloponnesus they were defeated by Aratua at Prlleno 

 with considerable slaughter. By this victory Arabia acquired con- 

 eiderabU renown; for the moet part however he WM onsuooeMful in 

 tbe open field, and cautious to excess in hi* movement*, although on 

 many occasions bold and eagaciou* in emergencies. According to 

 Polybius, qualitie* totally opposite were united in him, and in different 



be waa no longer the aamo man. 



Shortly after the aoceeeion of Argo* to the Achjean leagu<*, war 

 broke oat (B.a 228) between the Lacednonian and Aoboani; a 

 war to which neither party esems to hate been averse. In the 8rat 

 campaign the AchcejM declined giving battle, although four times the 

 number of the Laoedajmoniana, In the following campaigns Cleomenea 

 was generally successful. He defeated Aratua at Mount Lyceum in 

 Aroadia ; but the Achioan general retrieved this mishap by gaining 

 Maion of Mantineia in his retreat. Soon aft. r. another battle was 

 by Cleomenes under the walls of Megalopolis, in which Lysiodas 

 killed ; and on thU occasion Aratus was loudly, and it would 

 i justly, censured for his slackness and want of enterprise. The 

 war languished while Cleomenes was occupied by the revolution in 

 Sparta; but when that was completed, he resumed bis successful 

 career, lie regained Mantineia, invaded Achxa, and won a great 

 victory at Dyme ; be took IMlene and some other towns; Argos, Fhlius, 

 Epidanraa, TrcDien, Hermione, went over to him; and Corinth pissed 

 into his hands, with the exception of the Acrooorinthui), which still 

 remained in custody of the Achoana, Aratus refused to accept the 

 office of strategus, to which he had been again elected, but though 

 ostensibly in a private station, be continued to exercise his usual con- 

 trolling influence. To extricate himself from the difficulties in wliicb 

 be was involved, he adopted the disgraceful expedient of inviting back 

 the Macedonians, whom he had been at so much pains to expel from 

 the Peloponnesus. He advised the Achooans to make application to 

 Antigonus for assistance. Antigonus however required that the Acro- 

 corinthns should be placed in bin hands as the price of his services. 

 This condition, though on other grounds not to be rccepted, was agreed 

 to in consequence of the voluntary revolt of the Corinthians. Antigo- 

 nua entered Peloponnesus unopposed (B.C. 224), took several cities in 

 Aroadia, and going to yEgium to confer with the Achaean congress, 

 was appointed cominander-in-chirf of the confederate army. In the 

 following year he took Tegea, Orcbomenus, and Mantineia ; but this 

 mass was counterbalanced by the loss of Megalopolis, which Cle- 

 omenes plundered, and almost destroyed. In the following year, 

 B.O. 828, Antigonna defeated Cleomenes in the decisive battle of 

 Srlbuia, which put an end to the war. The Macedonian king entered 

 unopposed into Sparta, but he contented himself with undoing the 

 changes which Cleomenes bad made. Cleomenea fled to Egypt, where 

 he died, and Antigouus died shortly after in Macedonia, enjoining 

 Philip, his nephew and successor, to regulate his policy in Qreeea 

 strictly by the counsels of Aratus. 



Peace followed the battle of Sellasia, and for a time Peloponnesus 

 was quiet. This however was of abort duration. The character and 

 habits of the -Ktoliau tribes were not favourable to tranquillity. A 

 erica of gro*e provocations induced the Achsjans to declare war against 

 these turbulent mountaineers. Aratus took an active part in urging 

 this measure, and being elected strategui for tho ensuing year, he 

 hastened his march against the yKtolin, who were already engaged 

 in ravaging Messina. He failed signally in the conduct of this campaign. 

 (treat complaints were made at the next congress ; and Aratus himself 

 seems to have been sensible that his conduct was open to exception, 

 state, in defending himself, be urged his former service! as a plea for 

 insilH bghtly over his error, if it should.be judged that any fault 

 bad been committed by him. The appeal was probably successful ; 

 and lie continued to retain his wonted influence. 



In the course of this war, Philip II., the young king of Macedonia, 

 acted as general of the Macedonian ami Actuean army. For some time 

 be observed his uncle's dying commands, and regulated his o 

 conduct strictly after the counsels of Aratus; but his enemies 

 court at length induced Philip to procure the election of Eperatoa as 

 trauma, an avowed opponent of Aratus, to the exclusion of Aratus 

 himself. The snoorsaful candidate was a person of little estimation, 

 and humble ability, and aflairs went on so ill in his bands, that Philip 

 waa forced to seek a reconciliation with Aratus. The war was then 

 preeecntrd with encores both in /Ktolia and Peloponnesus. All parties 

 however became desirous of repose. Peace was concluded ac. 217, 

 each party retaining what they then possessed! 



The extensive prospects of ambition opened to the Macedonian king 

 wrought a change la bis policy towards bis Grecian allies; henceforth 



own 



at 



bis desire was to reduce all Greece under his power, and he scrupled 

 at few things which promised to forward bis views. The counsels of 

 Aratus became distasteful to him, and Aratus withdrew entirely from 

 bis court and society, fearing to incur the odium of the crimes which 

 he waa constantly committing. Still the recollection of Aratus checked, 

 and rendered him uneasy ; and to rid himself of this restraint (if Plu- 

 tarch's tile be true, snd it is confirmed by Polybius), he procured tho 

 death of his old friend and guide by a slow poison. Aratus felt the 

 blow, and knew the author ; but feeling that complaint was useless, he 

 endured it in silence, with the single exception that he once observed 

 to a friend who was shocked at seeing him spit blood, " Such, Cephalon, 

 are the rewards of the friendship of kings." (Polvb. viii. 14.) He died 

 B.C. 213. The honour of being his burial-place was disputed between 

 Sicyon and -Egiutu in Achtea, where he died, and adjudged by the 

 Delphian oracle to the former. He was splendidly interred there, and 

 a monument erected to him. He was honoured by the Sicyouians as 

 the father, founder, and saviour of their city ; and twice a year, on tho 

 anniversary of his birth, and of the restoration of liberty to the city, 

 a religious festival waa celebrated in his honour. 



He wrote a history of his own times, entitled 'Commentaries' 

 (ending with tbe year ac. 220), which has not come down to us. It 

 has received high praise from Polybius, as containing " very faithful 

 and clear memorial* of his own times ; " and from the clone of this 

 work Polybius chose to commence his own history. Particulars of the 

 life of Aratus will bo found in Polybius, lib. ii. to ix. inclusive ; aud iu 

 Plutarch, ' Lives of Aratus, and Cleomenes.' 



In reference to the dates in this notice, we have followed Clinton, 

 in his ' Fiuti ffelleniei, from the 124th Olymp. to the death of Augus- 

 tus; ' see also Schloeaer's Unnenathuturitcht I'tbcrticht (ii. 1.). 



ABA'TUS, the author of an astronomical poem in Greek, which 

 has como down to us. It is supposed that he lived about the time of 

 tbe first Punic war, and must be placed, as to the time of bU notoriety, 

 between Euclid and Apollonius of I'erga, with both of whom, in the 

 most extended sense, he may have been contemporary. There are 

 three anonymous lives of Aratus, besides notices in Suidas aud Kudocia. 

 He was born in Cilicio, some say at Tarsus, others at Soli (afterwards 

 c-dled Pompeiopolis) ; bis calling was medicine ; and he spent the latter 

 part of his days at the court of Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedon, 

 son of Demetrius Poliorcetes. It is stated that he was educated by a 

 Stoic named Diouysius Heracleotes in tho principles of that sect. 



By the desire of Antigouus, Aratus turned the ' Phenomena ' of 

 Eudoxus into verse. It does not appear whether he had auy remark- 

 able astronomical qualification for the task. It is a questiou whether 

 he made any original observations or not ; but it is certain, from the 

 commentary of the celebrated Hipparchus, which is yet extant, that 

 he made many alterations : for this commentator frequently cites the 

 prose of Eudoxus and the poetry of Aratua together. The work of 

 the former has not come down to us ; in fact, Aratus is the second 

 Greek writer on astronomy extant, Autolycus being the first We are 

 iuclined to think that Aratus was neither au observer nor a mathe- 

 matician, and for this reason, that, in his description of celestial 

 phenomena, he uses no higher degree of precision than might have 

 been attained by a mere spectator of the heavens. 



Tbe poem of Aratus is divided into two parts ; the ' Phenomena,' 

 and the ' Prognostics ;' the first contains 732 Hues, the second 417 lines. 

 It opens with a declaration of the dependence of all things upon 

 Jupiter, " whose children all men are," and who bos given the stars as 

 the guides of agriculture. This passage (rov y&f ol fives iffftiv) is 

 remarkable as having been, at a much later period, quoted by St Paul 

 in bis address to an Athenian audience (Acts of the Apostles, chap. xvii. 

 v. 28), " For iu him wo live, and move, and have our being : as certain 

 also of your own poets have said, For wo are also his offuprin .-." It' 

 these words represent the correct text, they remarkably serve to show 

 the notoriety of the poem, if it be recollected that Paul was a country- 

 man of Aratus; but some manuscripts of the New Testament (see 

 Qriesbach's edition) support tlie reading xdff q/tiu (our own poets). 



Aratus then proceeds to lay down the doctrine of the imuioveabiiity 

 of the earth and the motion of the heavens round a fixed axi*. He 

 describes the names and configurations of all tbe constellations then 

 in use, their relative times of rising and setting, the march of the sun 

 through the zodiac, and the milky way, which is described as one of 

 the great circles of the heavens. The planets are simply mentioned 

 as bodies having a motion of their own, but no idoa is given of the 

 length of periods. There is nothing on the orbit of the uioou, or on 

 the unequal motion of the sun iu longitude. There are many mistakes 

 as to the placing of the stars ; for example, it is said that Lyra has 

 none but small, and Crgnus none but moderate, stars, though there 

 is one of the first magnitude in both. The book of 'Prognostics' 

 consists of predictions of the wcntber from observation of astronomical 

 phenomena ; except that the celebrated cycle of 19 years is mentioned 

 in it, it adds nothing to our knowledge of the existing state of astro- 

 nomy. There is not a word of astrology either in tho ' Phenomena ' 

 or the ' Prognostics.' 



Aratus is also said to have written poems on Homer, on the ' Iliad,' 

 on osteology, on medicine, a hymn to Pan, a funeral ode on his brother 

 Myris, and a poem called 'Scythian.' More than thirty epistles of his 

 were extant at the time of his anonymous biographer, whose account 

 of Aratus is printed by Petavius in his ' Urauologion.' 



