NO BARBARIAN

“Now, we are told that Pyrrhus, when for the first time he beheld from a look-out place the army of the Romans in full array (280 BC), had said that he saw nothing barbaric in the Barbarians' line of battle; and so those who for the first time (198 BC) met Titus (Flamininus) were compelled to speak in a similar strain. For they had heard the Macedonians say that a commander of a barbarian host was coming against them, who subdued and enslaved everywhere by force of arms; and then, when they met a man who was young in years, humane in aspect, a Greek in voice and language, and a lover of genuine honour, they were wonder­fully charmed, and when they returned to their cities they filled them with kindly feelings towards him and the belief that in him they had a champion of their liberties. After this Titus had a meeting with Philip (who seemed disposed to make terms), and offered him peace and friendship on condition that he allowed the Greeks to be independent and withdraw his garrisons from their cities; but this proffer Philip would not accept. Then at last it became clear even to the partisans of Philip that the Romans were come to wage war, not upon the Greeks, but upon the Macedonians in behalf of the Greeks.”

(Titus Quinctius Flamininus (c. 229-174 BC): Roman general; victor in the Second Macedonian War (Cynoscephalae, 197 BC); proclaimed Greek freedom (196 BC), establishing Roman influence in Greece.)

Plutarch