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Damocritus

Damocritus, (Damokritos). Of Calydon in Aetolia, was strategus of the Aetolians in B. C. 200, and in the discussions as to whether an alliance should be formed with the Romans, Damocritus, who was believed to have been bribed by the Macedonian king, opposed the party inclined to negotiate with Rome. The year after this he was among the ambassadors of the various Greek states that went to Rome. In B. C. 193 he was sent by the Aetolians to Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, whom he urged on to make war against the Romans. The year after, when T. Quinctius Flamininus went himself to Aetolia, to make a last attempt to win them over, Damocritus not only opposed him along with the majority of his countrymen, but insulted him by saying that he would soon settle all disputes on the banks of the Tiber. But things turned out differently from what he expected: in B. C. 191 the Aetolians were defeated at Heracleia, near mount Oeta, and Damocritus fell into the hands of the Romans. He and the other leaders of the Aetolians were escorted to Rome by two cohorts, and he was imprisoned in the Lautumiae. A few days before the celebration of the triumph, which he was intended to adorn, he escaped from his prison by night, but finding that he could not escape the guards who pursued him, he threw himself upon his own sword and thus put an end to his life. (Liv. xxxi. 32, xxxv. 12, 33, xxxvi. 24, xxxvii. 3, 46; Polyb. xvii. 10, xxii. 14; Appian, de Reb. Syr. 21; Brandstater, Die Gesch. des Aetol. Landes, &c.)

This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology (ed. William Smith)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...