o do it. But the
fight being now at its hottest, and likely to be quickly decided, he was
transported with the desire of partaking in it, and struggled and
strained so violently, setting one leg forward, the other back, that at
last he broke the shaft in two; and thus got the pieces pulled out.
Being in this manner set at liberty, he caught up his sword, and running
through the midst of those who were fighting in the first ranks,
animated his men, and set them afire with emulation."

As may be imagined, a man of such indomitable courage could not fail to
make his mark. Antigonus wished to engage him in his service, but
Philopoemen refused, as he knew his temper would not let him serve
under others. His thirst for war took him to Crete, where he brought the
cavalry of that island to a state of perfection never before known in
Greece.

And now a new step in political progress took place in the Peloponnesus.
The cities of Achaea joined into a league for common aid and defence.
Other cities joined them, until it was hoped that all Peloponnesus would
be induced to combine into one commonwealth. There had been leagues
before in Greece, but they had all been dominated by some one powerful
city. The Achaean League was the first that was truly a federal republic
in organization, each city being an equal member of the confederacy.

Philopoemen, whose name had grown to stand highest among the soldiers
of Greece, was chosen as general of the cavalry, and at once set
himself to reform its discipline and improve its tactics. By his example
he roused a strong warlike fervor among the people, inducing them to
give up all display and exercise but those needed in war. "Nothing then
was to be seen in the shops but plate breaking up or melting down,
gilding of breastplates, and studding buckles and bits with silver;
nothing in the places of exercise but horses managing and young men
exercising their arms; nothing in the hands of the women but helmets and
crests of feathers to be dyed, and the military cloaks and riding frocks
to be embroidered.... Their arms becoming light and easy to them with
constant use, they longed for nothing more than to try them with an
enemy, and fight in earnest."

Two years afterwards, in 208 B.C., Philopoemen was elected
_strategus_, or general in-chief, of the Achaean league. The martial
ardor of the army he had organized was not long left unsatisfied. It was
with his old enemy, the Spartans, that he was f