Pisistratus and the others were examined under torture and afterwards executed. XX华.This murder roused Thebes and the whole of Boeotia to an intensely bitter hatred against the Romans;they were quite convinced that Zeuxippus, the foremost man amongst them, would not have been a party’to such a crime if he had not been countenanced by the Roman general.16 To go to war was impossible;they had neither forces nor a leader, but they did the next thing to it, they took to brigandage and assassination. They made away with soldiers who were billeted on them, and others on furlough who were going about on various errands in their winter quarters. Some were caught in the high roads by men who lay in wait for them, others were led on false pretences to lonely inns and then seized and murdered. These crimes were committed from areed auite as much as from hatred. becaus e the men carried silver in their belts for making purchases. As more and more men were amongst the missing every the whole of Boeotia acauired an evil reDUtation. and the 昌1， were more afraid to go outside their camp than if they had been in an enemv's countrv. On this. Ouinctius sent officers to the .声砂e、. different cities to investigate the murders. Most of them were found to have been committed round Lake Copais;here bodies were dug out of the mud and recovered from the. shallows with stones or amphorae fastened to them, to sink them deeper by their weight. Many murders also took place at Acraephia and Coronea. Quinctius issued orders for those who were guilty to be given up to him, and he levied a fine of 5oo talents upon the Boeotians for the 500 soldiers who had been murdered. Neither of these orders was complied with. The cities simply excused themselves by saying that their government had not sanctioned any of these deeds. Quinctius thereupon sent a deputation to visit Athens and Achaia and explain to them that it was in a just and holy cause that he was going to punish the Boeotians by arms. Appius Claudius received orders to march to Acraephia with half the force, and he himself with the other half invested Coronea after laving waste the country round. All the country through which the two divisions advanced from Elatia was devastated. The Boeotians, completely cowed by thg losses they were sustaining and seeing fear and flight everywhere, sent envoys, but as they were not admitted into the camp, the Athenian and Achaean envoys came to their support. The mediation of the Achaeans was the more effectual of the two, because in case they failed to obtain peace for the Boeotians they were resolved to fight by the side of the Romans. Through their representations, the Boeotians were allowed to approach the Roman general and lay their case before him. Peace was granted them on condition that they surrendered the guilty parties and paid a ,fine of 30 talents, and the siege was raised.l?