ARATUS, the son of Clinius, was born at Sicyon about 271 B.C. On the murder of his father by Abantidas, he was rescued from a similar fate by the care of a relative who conveyed him to Argos. At the age of twenty, with the assistance of some Argians, he deposed the tyrant Nicoles, and thus, without bloodshed, restored freedom to his native Sicyon. In 245 he was elected chief of the Achean League, which office he frequently held in subsequent years; and he was mainly instrumental in confirming that great confederation which restored the liberties of Greece. (See ACILEANS.) In Aratus were combined many private virtues with splendid abilities; but he was more eminent as a statesman than as a general; for in his wars with the Ætolians and Spartans he was frequently unsuccessful. He died at the age of 58, as commonly reported by poison administered to him by the order of Philip of Macedon; but the symptoms of his disorder afford no certain grounds for such an assumption. His countrymen paid divine honour to his memory; and two yearly festivals (Arateia), were celebrated at Sicyon, one to commemorate his birth, the other his deliverance of the city from tyranny.—Plutarch, Aratus and Agis; Polybius ii. iv. vii. viii.