POLITICAL EXCUSES.

After the death of Alexander, the son of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, Acarnania had every thing to fear from the Ætolians, and did not confide much in that prince’s widow, who was guardian of her two sons; wherefore they implored the assistance of the Romans, which was not refused them. Word was sent to the Ætolians that they should not molest a people who alone had not assisted the Greeks against the Trojans. Justin, lib. 28. c. 1. ⁹ “Acarnanes quoque diffisi Epirotis adversus Ætolos

auxilium Romanorum implorantes, obtinuerunt à Romano senatu, ut legati mitterentur, qui denuntiarent Ætolis, præsidia ab urbibus Acarnaniæ deducerunt; paterenterque esse liberos, qui soli quondam adversus Trojanos, auctores originis suae, auxilia Græcis non miserint.—The Acarnanians distrusting the Epirotes, implored the assistance of the Romans against the Ætolians, and obtained from the senate an embassy to be sent to the Ætolians, to demand of them that they should withdraw their garrisons from the cities of Acarnania, and suffer a people to enjoy their liberty, who alone gave the Greeks no aid against the Trojans, from whom the Romans were descended.” Plutarch reports two as ridiculous facts as this. Plutarch de sera Numinis vindicta. ¹⁰ “Agathocles the tyrant of Syracuse, laughed at those of Corfu who asked him for what reason he ravaged their island: ‘ Because,' said he, ‘ your ancestors formerly received Ulysses' . And when the inhabitants of the island of Ithaca complained to him that his soldiers took their sheep: ‘ And your king,' said he to them, ‘ being arrived in our country, did not only take our sheep, but also put out our shepherd’s eye.'” But the following account is more ridiculous still: Montagne’s Essays, b. 2. c. 36. p. 763. ¹¹ “Mahomet, the second of that name, emperor of the Turks, in a letter to pope Pius the second, said, ‘I wonder the Italians should league against me, seeing we have our common original from the Trojans; and that it is my interest as well as theirs, to revenge the blood of Hector upon the Greeks, whom they favour against me.” Thus chimerical evils forged by the poets, have served as an apology for real evils. The Egyptian sultan who levied upon the Jews in consequence of the jewels and ear-rings borrowed of his ancestors on the departure of their forefathers from Egypt, may be added to these plausible pretences. Ed. ¹²

Art. Acarnania.