Naupactus, brought his fleet to the shore, between Sicyon and Corinth,
and devastated without restraint a country of the most renowned
fertility. Intelligence of this proceeding called Philip away from the
games. He set out hastily with his cavalry, ordering his infantry to
follow him closely; and attacking the Romans as they were scattered
through the fields and loaded with booty, like men who feared nothing
of the kind, drove them to their ships. The Roman fleet returned to
Naupactus by no means pleased with their booty. The fame of a victory
gained by Philip over the Romans, of whatever magnitude, increased
the celebrity of the remaining part of the games. The festival was
celebrated with extraordinary mirth, the more so as the king, in order
to please the people, took the diadem off his head, and laid aside
his purple robe with the other royal apparel, and placed himself, with
regard to appearance, on an equality with the rest, than which nothing
is more gratifying to free states. By this conduct he would have
afforded the strongest hopes of the enjoyment of liberty, had he not
debased and marred all by his intolerable lust; for he ranged
night and day through the houses of married people with one or two
companions, and in proportion as he was less conspicuous by lowering
his dignity to a private level, the less restraint he felt; thus
converting that empty show of liberty, which he had made to others,
into a cover for the gratification of his own unbounded desires. For
neither did he obtain his object in all cases by money or seductive
arts, but he also employed violence in the accomplishment of his
flagitious purposes; and it was dangerous both to husbands and parents
to have presented any impediment to the gratification of royal lust,
by an unseasonable strictness. From one man, Aratus, of the highest
rank among the Achaeans, his wife, named Polycratia, was taken away
and conveyed into Macedonia under the hope of a matrimonial connexion
with royalty. After passing the time appointed for the celebration