past; the philosophic schools presided over by more or less
eminent professors were the chief feature of the life in the once
imperial city; as a military unit Athens did not count. Sparta
still retained military traditions, but her once famous constitution
had disappeared. Military tyranny was now the government,
upheld by mercenaries. The present ruler, one Nabis, was a
faithless and brutal ruffian. The normal form of government in
Greece seems to have been that of cities in groups, confederations
more or less loose. Boeotia is a case in which the several com-
munities, though recognizing a common interest, evidently retained
so much independence that they did not always pursue a common
policy. The disunion of the cities of Thessaly was more marked.
But none of these small groups was strong enough to pursue a
really independent policy. Ever since 221, when Antigonus
Doson of Macedon had relieved the Achaean League by crushing
Cleomenes of Sparta, the Macedonian kingdom had overshadowed
Greece, and the question for each of the minor powers was how
it could best keep such freedom as it yet enjoyed. The choice
lay between subservience to the king and taking part with his
enemies in hope of bettering their own condition thereby.

182. The Leagues. What remained of Greek freedom was
most effectively represented by the Aetolians. This people had
come to the front when the great ages of Greece were over, and
the citizens of the more civilized states took to employing mer-
cenary troops in their wars. The hardy Aetolians were among
the best of hired soldiers. From early times they seem to have
had some confederate union, and they had no great cities to
hinder combination by local jealousies. Increase of wealth and
power only strengthened their union. It became a true Federal
Government, the authority of the central power overriding that
of its constituent parts. But there seems to have been no means
of preventing individuals from enlisting for service under foreign
governments, tempted by prospects of high pay and plunder.
Thus the military force at disposal in Aetolia varied greatly from
time to time. The Federation however grew, and now included
some states in Peloponnesus, others far away, islands, or coast-
cities in the Propontis. Naupactus was the station of an Aetolian
fleet. The cities of southern Thessaly had been forcibly attached
to the League, but in the peace of 205 Philip had brought them
again under Macedonian influence. The prestige of the Aetolians

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