Livy: AB VRBE CONDITA LIBRI

[1] L. Postumius Albinus M. Popilius Laenas <consules> cum omnium primum de prouinciis <et> exercitibus ad senatum rettulissent, Ligures utrique decreti sunt, ut nouas ambo, quibus eam prouinciam obtinerent, legiones—binae singulis decretae—et socium Latini nominis dena milia peditum et sescenos equites, et supplementum Hispaniae tria milia peditum Romanorum scriberent et ducentos equites. ad hoc mille et quingenti pedites Romani cum centum equitibus scribi iussi, cum quibus praetor, cui Sardinia obtigisset, in Corsicam transgressus bellum gereret; interim M. Atilius, uetus praetor, prouinciam obtineret Sardiniam. praetores deinde prouincias sortiti sunt, A. Atilius Serranus urbanam, C. Cluuius Saxula inter ciues et peregrinos, N. Fabius Buteo Hispaniam citeriorem, M. Matienus ulteriorem, M. Furius Crassipes Siciliam, C. Cicereius Sardiniam.

[1] L. Postumius Albinus and M. Popilius Laenas, the <consuls>, when first of all they had referred to the senate about the provinces <and> the armies, both were assigned the Ligurians, with the result that both should levy new legions—two apiece were decreed for each—and ten thousand infantry of the allies of the Latin name and six hundred cavalry, and a reinforcement for Spain of three thousand Roman infantry and two hundred cavalry. In addition, one thousand five hundred Roman foot with one hundred horse were ordered to be enrolled, with whom the praetor to whom Sardinia should fall, having crossed over into Corsica, should wage war; meanwhile M. Atilius, a former praetor, should hold the province of Sardinia. Then the praetors drew lots for their provinces: A. Atilius Serranus the urban jurisdiction, C. Cluvius Saxula between citizens and peregrines, N. Fabius Buteo Hither Spain, M. Matienus Farther Spain, M. Furius Crassipes Sicily, C. Cicereius Sardinia.

priusquam in <prouincias> magistratus proficiscerentur, senatui placuit, L. Postumium consulem ad agrum publicum a priuato terminandum in Campaniam ire, cuius ingentem modum possidere priuatos paulatim proferendo fines constabat. hic iratus Praenestinis, quod, cum eo priuatus sacrificii in templo Fortunae faciundi causa profectus esset, nihil in se honorifice neque publice neque priuatim factum a Praenestinis esset, priusquam ab Roma proficisceretur, litteras Praeneste misit, ut sibi magistratus obuiam exiret, locum publice pararent, ubi deuerteretur, iumentaque, cum exiret inde, praesto essent. ante hunc consulem nemo umquam sociis in ulla re oneri aut sumptui fuit.

Before the magistrates set out to the provinces, it pleased the senate that L. Postumius, the consul, go into Campania to delimit the public land from the private, since it was established that private persons were occupying an immense extent of it by gradually pushing forward their boundaries. He, angered with the Praenestines because, when he as a private citizen had set out thither for the sake of performing a sacrifice in the Temple of Fortune, nothing honorable toward him had been done by the Praenestines either publicly or privately, before he departed from Rome sent letters to Praeneste that the magistrate should come out to meet him, that they should provide publicly a place where he might lodge, and that pack-animals be ready when he departed from there. Before this consul, no one among the allies had ever in any respect been a burden or an expense.

ideo magistratus mulis tabernaculisque et omni alio instrumento militari ornabantur, ne quid tale imperarent sociis. priuata hospitia habebant; ea benigne comiterque colebant, domusque eorum Romae hospitibus patebant, apud quos ipsis deuerti mos esset. legati, qui repente aliquo mitterentur, singula iumenta per oppida, iter qua faciundum erat, imperabant; aliam inpensam socii in magistratus Romanos non faciebant.

Therefore the magistrates were equipped with mules, tents, and all other military equipment, so that they might not impose anything of that kind upon the allies. They had private hospitia (guest-friendships); they cultivated these kindly and courteously, and their houses at Rome were open to guests with whom they themselves were accustomed to lodge. The legates, who were sent somewhere on a sudden, would requisition a single beast of burden from each town along the route where the journey had to be made; the allies incurred no other expense on account of Roman magistrates.

ira consulis, etiamsi iusta, non tamen in magistratu exercenda, et silentium nimis aut modestum aut timidum Praenestinorum ius, uelut probato exemplo, magistratibus fecit grauiorum in dies talis generis imperiorum.

the consul’s anger, even if just, ought nevertheless not to be exercised in office; and the silence of the Praenestines, too modest or too timid, as though by an approved example, made for the magistrates a right to impose commands of this kind, more grievous with each passing day.

[2] Principio huius anni legati, qui in Aetoliam et Macedoniam missi erant, renuntiarunt, sibi conueniendi regis Persei, cum alii abesse eum, alii aegrum esse, falso utrumque, fingerent, potestatem non factam. facile tamen apparuisse sibi, bellum parari, nec ultra ad arma ire <regem> dilaturum. item in Aetolia seditionem gliscere in dies, neque discordiarum principes auctoritate sua coerceri potuisse.

[2] At the beginning of this year the legates who had been sent into Aetolia and Macedonia reported back that no opportunity had been afforded them of meeting King Perseus, while some asserted that he was away and others that he was ill—both, falsely, they were feigning; nevertheless it had easily appeared to them that war was being prepared, and that the king would not defer going to arms any longer. Likewise in Aetolia sedition was swelling day by day, nor had the leaders of the dissensions been able to be restrained by their own authority.

cum bellum Macedonicum in expectatione esset, priusquam id susciperetur, prodigia expiari pacemque deum peti precationibus, qui editi ex fatalibus libris essent, placuit. Lanuui classis magnae species in caelo uisa dicebatur, et Priuerni lana pulla terra enata, et in Ueienti apud Rementem lapidatum; Pomptinum omne uelut nubibus lucustarum coopertum esse; in Gallico agro, qua induceretur aratrum, sub existentibus glaebis pisces emersisse. ob haec prodigia libri fatales inspecti, editumque ab decemuiris est, et quibus diis quibusque hostiis sacrificaretur, et ut supplicatio prodigiis expiandis fieret, alteraque, <quae> priore anno ualetudinis populi causa uota esset, ea uti fier<et fer>iaeque essent.

since the Macedonian war was in expectation, before it was undertaken, it was resolved that the prodigies be expiated and that the peace of the gods be sought by prayers, such as were issued from the Sibylline Books. At Lanuvium the apparition of a great fleet was said to have been seen in the sky, and at Privernum black wool sprang from the earth, and at Veii, at Rementem, there was a shower of stones; the whole Pomptine district was covered as if with clouds of locusts; in the Gallic territory, where the plow was drawn, beneath the clods as they were being turned up fish emerged. On account of these prodigies the Sibylline Books were inspected, and it was published by the decemvirs both to which gods and with which victims sacrifice should be offered, and that a supplication be held for expiating the prodigies, and another, <which> in the previous year had been vowed for the people’s health—that it should be performed and that there should be holy days.

itaque sacrificatum est, ut decemuiri scriptum ediderant.

and so sacrifice was offered, as the decemvirs had issued in writing.

[3] Eodem anno aedis Iunonis Laciniae detecta. Q. Fuluius Flaccus censor aedem Fortunae equestris, quam in Hispania praetor bello Celtiberico uouerat, faciebat enixo studio, ne ullum Romae amplius aut magnificentius templum esset. magnum ornatum ei templo ratus adiecturum, si tegulae marmoreae essent, profectus in Bruttios aedem Iunonis Laciniae ad partem dimidiam detegit, id satis fore ratus ad tegendum, quod aedificaretur.

[3] In the same year the temple of Juno Lacinia was unroofed. Q. Fulvius Flaccus, censor, was building the temple of Fortuna Equestris, which, when praetor in Spain in the Celtiberian war, he had vowed, with strained zeal, so that there might be no temple at Rome more ample or more magnificent. Thinking he would add great adornment to that temple if the tiles were marble, he set out into Bruttium and unroofed the temple of Juno Lacinia to the extent of half, deeming that sufficient for roofing what was being constructed.

naues paratae fuerunt, quae tollerent atque asportarent, auctoritate censoria sociis deterritis id sacrilegium prohibere. postquam censor rediit, tegulae expositae de nauibus ad templum portabantur. quamquam, unde essent, silebatur, non tamen celari potuit.

Ships were prepared to take up and carry off [the tiles], the allies, by censorial authority, being deterred from prohibiting that sacrilege. After the censor returned, the tiles, taken off, were being carried from the ships to the temple. Although there was silence as to whence they were, yet it could not be concealed.

fremitus igitur in curia ortus est; ex omnibus partibus postulabatur, ut consules eam rem ad senatum referrent. ut uero accersitus in curiam censor uenit, multo infestius singuli uniuersique praesentem lacerare: templum augustissimum regionis eius, quod non Pyrrhus, non Hannibal uiolassent, uiolare parum habuisse, nisi detexisset foede ac prope diruisset. detractum culmen templo, nudatum tectum patere imbribus putrefaciendum.

therefore a murmur arose in the Curia; from all quarters it was demanded that the consuls refer that matter to the senate. and when the censor, summoned into the Curia, came, both individuals and all together began to lacerate the man present far more bitterly: that he had thought it too little to violate the most august temple of that region, which neither Pyrrhus nor Hannibal had violated, unless he had foully stripped it and almost razed it. the roof-crest had been taken down from the temple, the denuded roof lay open to the rains to be putrefied.

<ad> id censorem moribus regendis creatum? cui sarta tecta exigere sacris publicis et loca * * tuenda more maiorum traditum esset, eum per sociorum urbes diruentem templa nudantemque tecta aedium sacrarum uagari. et quod, si in priuatis sociorum aedificiis faceret, indignum uideri posset, id eum <templa deum> immortalium demolientem facere, et obstringere religione populum Romanum, ruinis templorum templa aedificantem, tamquam non iidem ubique di immortales sint, sed spoliis aliorum alii colendi exornandique.

<ad> Was a censor created for this, to regulate morals?—for whom it had been handed down by the custom of the ancestors to exact sound roofs for the public sacred rites and that the places * * be protected—he to roam through the cities of the allies, tearing down temples and stripping the roofs of sacred buildings. And that which, if he were doing it in the private edifices of the allies, might seem unworthy, this he is doing, demolishing <templa deum> of the immortal gods, and binding the Roman people with religion, building temples from the ruins of temples, as though the same immortal gods were not everywhere, but that one set should be worshiped and adorned with the spoils of others.

cum, priusquam referretur, appareret, quid sentirent patres, relatione facta in unam omnes sententiam ierunt, ut eae tegulae reportandae in templum <locarentur> piaculariaque Iunoni fierent. quae ad religionem pertinebant, cum cura facta; tegulas relictas in area templi, quia reponendarum nemo artifex inire rationem potuerit, redemptores nuntiarunt.

when, before it was referred, it was apparent what the senators felt, once the report had been made they all went into a single opinion: that contracts be let for those tiles to be carried back into the temple, and that piacular offerings be made to Juno. The things that pertained to religion were done with care; the contractors reported that the tiles, left in the area of the temple, because no craftsman had been able to devise a plan for replacing them, had been left there.

[4] Ex praetoribus, qui in prouincias ierant, N. Fabius Massiliae moritur, cum in citeriorem Hispaniam iret. itaque cum id nuntiatum <a> Massiliensibus legatis esset, senatus decreuit, ut P. Furius et Cn. Seruilius, quibus succedebatur, inter se sortirentur, uter citeriorem Hispaniam prorogato imperio obtineret. sors opportuna fuit, <ut> P. Furius idem, cuius ea prouincia fuerat, remaneret.

[4] Of the praetors who had gone into the provinces, N. Fabius died at Massilia, as he was going to Hither Spain. And so, when this had been reported <a> to the Massiliot envoys, the senate decreed that P. Furius and Cn. Servilius, who were being succeeded, should cast lots between themselves as to which of them should hold Hither Spain with his imperium prorogued. The lot was opportune, <ut> P. Furius—the same whose province that had been—should remain.

Eodem anno, cum agri Ligustini et Gallici, quod bello captum erat, aliquantum uacaret, senatus consultum factum, ut is ager uiritim diuideretur. decemuiros in eam <rem> ex senatus consulto creauit A. Atilius praetor urbanus M. Aemilium Lepidum C. Cassium T. Aebutium Parrum C. Tremellium P. Cornelium Cethegum Q. et L. Apuleios M. Caecilium C. Salonium C. Munatium. diuiserunt dena iugera in singulos, sociis nominis Latini terna.

In the same year, since a considerable portion of the Ligurian and Gallic land, which had been taken in war, lay unoccupied, a decree of the senate was passed that this land be divided man by man. In accordance with a decree of the senate, A. Atilius, the urban praetor, appointed as decemvirs for this matter M. Aemilius Lepidus, C. Cassius, T. Aebutius Parrus, C. Tremellius, P. Cornelius Cethegus, Q. and L. Apuleius, M. Caecilius, C. Salonius, and C. Munatius. They allotted ten iugera to each individual, and to the allies of the Latin name three apiece.

Per idem tempus, quo haec agebantur, legati ex Aetolia Romam uenerunt de discordiis seditionibusque suis, et Thessali legati nuntiantes, quae in Macedonia gererentur.

At the same time, while these things were being transacted, legates from Aetolia came to Rome about their own discords and seditions, and Thessalian legates announcing what was being carried on in Macedonia.

[5] Perseus bellum iam uiuo patre cogitatum in animo uoluens omnis non gentes modo Graeciae, sed ciuitates etiam legationibus mittendis, pollicendo plura quam praestando, sibi conciliabat. erant autem magnae partis hominum ad fauorem eius inclinati animi, et aliquanto quam in Eumenem propensiores, cum Eumenis beneficiis muneribusque omnes Graeciae ciuitates et plerique principum obligati essent, et ita se in regno suo gereret, ut, quae sub dicione eius urbes <essent>, nullius liberae ciuitatis fortunam secum mutatam uellent. contra Persea fama erat post patris mortem uxorem manu sua occidisse; Apellem, ministrum quondam fraudis in fratre tollendo atque ob id [et] quaesitum a Philippo ad supplicium, exulantem accersitum post patris mortem ingentibus promissis ad praemia tantae perpetratae rei clam interfecisse.

[5] Perseus, turning over in his mind the war conceived already while his father was still alive, was winning over to himself not only the nations of Greece but the cities as well by sending embassies, promising more than performing. Moreover, the minds of a great part of men were inclined to his favor, and somewhat more so than toward Eumenes, although by Eumenes’s benefactions and gifts all the cities of Greece and most of the leading men had been obligated; and he so conducted himself in his kingdom that the cities under his dominion would not wish their condition exchanged for that of any free city. Against Perseus, however, there was the report that, after his father’s death, he had slain his wife with his own hand; and that Apelles—once the instrument of the fraud in removing his brother and on that account [and] sought by Philip for punishment—having been called back from exile after his father’s death with huge promises of rewards for so great a deed as had been perpetrated, he secretly killed.

intestinis externisque praeterea multis caedibus infamem nec ullo commendabilem merito praeferebant uulgo ciuitates tam pio erga propinquos, tam iusto in ciuis, tam munifico erga omnes homines regi, seu fama et maiestate Macedonum regum praeoccupati ad spernendam originem noui regni, seu mutationis rerum cupidi, seu quia <sua> non obiecta esse Romanis uolebant. erant autem non Aetoli modo in seditionibus propter ingentem uim aeris alieni, sed Thessali etiam; et contagione, uelut tabes, in Perrhaebiam quoque id peruaserat malum. cum Thessalos in armis esse nuntiatum esset, Ap. Claudium legatum ad eas res aspiciendas conponendasque senatus misit.

the cities commonly preferred, to a king so dutiful toward kinsfolk, so just toward citizens, so munificent toward all men, one infamous for many internal and external slaughters and commendable by no merit at all—whether preoccupied by the fame and majesty of the Macedonian kings to the point of scorning the origin of the new kingdom, or desirous of a change of affairs, or because they did not wish <their own> to be laid before the Romans. Moreover, not the Aetolians only were in seditions because of the enormous mass of debt, but the Thessalians as well; and by contagion, like a wasting disease, that evil had penetrated into Perrhaebia too. When it was reported that the Thessalians were under arms, the senate sent Ap. Claudius, as legate, to look into and to settle those matters.

qui utriusque partis principibus castigatis, cum iniusto faenore grauatum aes alienum, ipsis magna ex parte concedentibus, qui onerarant, leuasset, iusti crediti solutionem in decem annorum pensiones distribuit. per eundem Appium eodemque modo conpositae in Perrhaebia res. Aetolorum causas <M.> Marcellus Delphis per idem tempus <iisdem> hostilibus actas animis, quos intestino gesserant bello, cognouit.

who, after chastising the leaders of both parties, when he had lightened the debt weighed down by unjust usury—the very men who had imposed it yielding in great part—distributed the discharge of the just claim into installments over ten years. By the same Appius and in the same manner, affairs in Perrhaebia were composed. The cases of the Aetolians M. Marcellus at Delphi, at the same time, investigated—conducted with the same hostile dispositions with which they had waged their internal war.

cum certatum utrimque temeritate atque audacia cerneret, decreto quidem suo neutram partem aut leuare aut onerare uoluit; communiter ab utrisque petit, abstinerent bello et obliuione praeteritorum discordias finirent. huius reconciliationis inter ipsos fides obsidibus ultro citroque datis firmata est. Corinthus, ubi deponerentur obsides, conuenit.

when he saw that on both sides the contest was carried on with temerity and audacity, by his decree he wished to neither alleviate nor burden either party; jointly he requested from both that they abstain from war and, by oblivion of past things, bring their discords to an end. the good faith of this reconciliation between them was confirmed by hostages given to and fro. Corinth was agreed upon, where the hostages were to be deposited.

[6] A Delphis et Aetolico concilio Marcellus in Peloponnesum traiecit <Aegium>, quo Achaeis edixerat conuentum. ubi conlaudata gente, quod constanter uetus decretum de arcendis aditu finium regibus Macedonum tenuissent, insigne aduersus Persea odium Romanorum fecit; quod ut maturius erumperet, Eumenes rex commentarium ferens secum, quod de apparatibus belli omnia inquirens fecerat, Romam uenit. per idem tempus quinque legati ad regem missi, qui res in Macedonia aspicerent.

[6] From Delphi and the Aetolian council Marcellus crossed into the Peloponnesus to <Aegium>, where he had proclaimed an assembly for the Achaeans. There, after commending the people because they had steadfastly maintained the old decree about excluding from access to their borders the kings of the Macedonians, he made the Romans’ hatred against Perseus conspicuous; and in order that this might burst forth the sooner, King Eumenes, bringing with him a memorandum which he had made after inquiring into everything concerning the war-preparations, came to Rome. At the same time five legates were sent to the king to inspect the affairs in Macedonia.

Alexandriam iidem ad Ptolemaeum renouandae amicitiae causa proficisci iussi. legati erant hi: C. Ualerius C. Lutatius Cerco Q. Baebius Sulca M. Cornelius Mammula M. Caecilius Denter. et <ab> Antiocho rege sub idem tempus legati uenerunt; quorum princeps Apollonius in senatum introductus multis iustisque causis regem excusauit, quod stipendium serius quam ad diem praestaret; id se omne aduexisse, ne cuius nisi temporis gratia regi fieret.

The same men were ordered to set out to Alexandria to Ptolemy for the sake of renewing friendship. These were the envoys: C. Valerius, C. Lutatius Cerco, Q. Baebius Sulca, M. Cornelius Mammula, M. Caecilius Denter. And <ab> King Antiochus at about the same time envoys came; their leader, Apollonius, introduced into the senate, excused the king with many and just causes, because he was paying the tribute later than the appointed day; he had brought the whole of it, so that no favor should be shown to the king except in respect to the time.

donum praeterea afferre, uasa aurea quingentum pondo. petere regem, ut, quae cum patre suo societas atque amicitia fuisset, ea secum renouaretur, imperaretque sibi populus Romanus, quae bono fidelique socio regi essent imperanda; se <in> nullo usquam cessaturum officio. ea merita in <se> senatus fuisse, cum Romae esset, eam comitatem iuuentutis, ut pro rege, non pro obside omnibus ordinibus fuerit.

He furthermore brought as a gift golden vessels weighing 500 pounds; the king asked that the alliance and friendship which had been with his father be renewed with himself, and that the Roman people should impose upon him whatever ought to be imposed upon a king, a good and faithful ally; that he would be remiss in no duty anywhere. Such were the services of the senate toward him, when he was at Rome, and such the comity of the youth, that he was treated by all orders as a king, not as a hostage.

legatis benigne responsum, et societatem renouare cum Antiocho, quae cum patre eius fuerat, A. Atilius praetor urbanus iussus. quaestores urbani stipendium, uasa aurea censores acceperunt, eisque negotium datum est, ut ponerent ea, in quibus templis uideretur; legato centum milium aeris munus missum et aedes liberae hospitio datae sumptusque decretus, donec in Italia esset. legati, qui in Syria fuerant, renuntiauerant, in maximo eum honore apud regem esse amicissimumque populo Romano.

A kindly answer was given to the envoys, and A. Atilius, the urban praetor, was ordered to renew the alliance with Antiochus which had been with his father. The urban quaestors received the stipend, the censors the golden vessels, and the task was given to them to set these in whatever temples it seemed proper; to the envoy a gift of 100,000 asses was sent, and quarters free of charge were granted and an allowance decreed, so long as he was in Italy. The envoys who had been in Syria reported that he was held in the highest honor with the king and was most friendly to the Roman people.

[7] In prouinciis eo anno haec <acta>. C. Cicereius praetor in Corsica signis conlatis pugnauit; septem milia Corsorum caesa, capti amplius mille et septingenti. uouerat in ea pugna praetor aedem Iunoni Monetae. pax deinde data petentibus Corsis, et exacta cerae ducenta milia pondo.

[7] In the provinces that year these things were done. Gaius Cicereius, praetor, fought in Corsica with standards joined; 7,000 Corsicans were slain, and more than 1,700 were taken captive. In that battle the praetor had vowed a temple to Juno Moneta. Then peace was granted to the Corsicans who asked for it, and 200,000 pounds of wax were exacted.

ex Corsica subacta Cicereius in Sardiniam transmisit. et in Liguribus in agro Statellati pugnatum ad oppidum Carystum. eo se magnus exercitus Ligurum contulerat.

From Corsica, once subdued, Cicereius crossed over to Sardinia. And among the Ligurians, in the Statellate territory, it was fought at the town Carystum. Thither a great army of the Ligurians had betaken itself.

primo sub aduentum M. Popili consulis moenibus sese continebant; deinde, postquam oppidum oppugnaturum Romanum cernebant, progressi ante portas aciem struxerunt. nec consul, ut qui id ipsum oppugnatione comminanda quaesisset, moram certamini fecit. pugnatum amplius tris est horas ita, ut neutro inclinaret spes.

at first, upon the arrival of M. Popilius the consul, they kept themselves within the walls; then, after they perceived that the Roman was going to assault the town, having advanced before the gates they drew up a battle line. nor did the consul, as one who had sought that very thing by threatening an assault, make delay to the combat. the fighting lasted for more than three hours in such a way that hope inclined to neither side.

quod ubi consul uidit nulla parte moueri Ligurum signa, imperat equitibus, ut equos conscendant ac tribus simul partibus in hostis, quanto maximo possent tumultu, incurrant. pars magna equitum mediam traiecit aciem et ad terga pugnantium peruasit. inde terror iniectus Liguribus; diuersi in omnes partes fugerunt, perpauci retro in oppidum, quia inde se maxime obiecerat eques.

When the consul saw that the standards of the Ligurians were being moved in no part, he orders the horsemen to mount their horses and to charge into the enemy, at three points at once, with as great a tumult as they could. A large part of the cavalry shot through the middle of the battle-line and made their way to the backs of the combatants. Thence terror was injected among the Ligurians; they fled, scattered, in all directions—very few back into the town, because from that quarter the cavalry had most thrown themselves in the way.

et pugna tam peruicax multos absumpserat Ligurum, et in fuga passim caesi sunt. decem milia hominum caesa traduntur, amplius septingenti [passim] capti, signa militaria relata octoginta duo. <nec> incruenta uictoria fuit: amplius tria milia militum amissa, cum cedentibus neutris ex parte utraque primores caderent.

and both so pervicacious a fight had consumed many of the Ligurians, and in flight they were cut down everywhere. Ten thousand men are reported to have been slain, more than seven hundred [passim] captured, eighty-two military standards brought back. <nor> was the victory bloodless: more than three thousand soldiers were lost, since, with neither side yielding, on each side the foremost men were falling.

[8] Post hanc pugnam ex diuersa fuga in unum collecti Ligures, cum maiorem multo partem ciuium amissam quam superesse cernerent—nec enim plus decem milia hominum erant—, dediderunt sese, nihil quidem illi pacti; sperauerant tamen, <non> atrocius quam superiores imperatores consulem in se saeuiturum. at ille arma omnibus ademit, oppidum diruit, ipsos bonaque eorum uendidit; litterasque senatui de rebus ab se gestis misit. quas cum A. Atilius praetor in curia recitasset—nam consul alter Postumius agris recognoscendis in Campania occupatus aberat—, atrox res uisa senatui, Statellates, qui uni ex Ligurum gente non tulissent arma aduersus Romanos, tum quoque oppugnatos, non ultro inferentis bellum, deditos in fidem populi Romani omni ultimae crudelitatis exemplo laceratos ac deletos esse, tot milia capitum innoxiorum, fidem inplorantia populi Romani, ne quis umquam se postea dedere auderet, pessumo exemplo uenisse, et distractos passim iustis quondam hostibus populi Romani pacatos seruire.

[8] After this battle the Ligurians, gathered into one from their diverse rout, when they perceived that a much greater part of their citizens had been lost than survived—for indeed there were not more than 10,000 men—surrendered themselves, though they stipulated nothing at all; nevertheless they had hoped that the consul would not rage more atrociously against them than previous commanders. But he took the arms from all, razed the town, sold them themselves and their goods, and sent letters to the senate about the matters transacted by him. When A. Atilius, the praetor, had read these in the Curia—for the other consul, Postumius, was absent, occupied with reviewing lands in Campania—the thing seemed atrocious to the senate: that the Statellates, who alone of the nation of the Ligurians had not borne arms against the Romans, had then also been attacked, not of their own accord bringing war; that, though surrendered into the good faith of the Roman people, they had been torn and destroyed with every example of ultimate cruelty; that so many thousands of innocent lives, imploring the good faith of the Roman people, had come to the worst precedent, lest anyone should ever thereafter dare to surrender himself; and that, sold off everywhere, those once lawful enemies of the Roman people, now pacified, were serving as slaves.

quas ob res placere senatui, M. Popilium consulem Ligures, pretio emptoribus reddito, ipsos restituere in libertatem, bonaque ut iis, quod eius reciperari possit, reddantur curare; arma <quoque reddi, eaque omnia primo> quoque tempore fieri; nec ante consulem de prouincia decedere, quam deditos in sedem suam Ligures restituisset. claram uictoriam uincendo pugnantis, non saeuiendo in adflictos fieri.

for which reasons it pleases the senate that M. Popilius the consul restore the Ligurians—after the price has been repaid to the buyers—themselves into liberty, and take care that their goods, so much of it as can be recovered, be returned to them; that their arms also be returned, and that all these things be done at the earliest possible time; and that the consul not depart from the province before he has restored the Ligurians who had surrendered to their own seat. A renowned victory is achieved by conquering those who fight, not by raging against the afflicted.

[9] Consul, qua ferocia animi usus erat in Liguribus, eandem ad non parendum senatui habuit. legionibus extemplo Pisas in hibernacula missis iratus patribus, infestus praetori Romam redit; senatuque extemplo ad aedem Bellonae uocato, multis uerbis inuectus in praetorem, qui, cum ob rem bello bene gestam uti diis immortalibus honos haberetur referre ad senatum debuisset, aduersus se pro hostibus senatus consultum fecisset, quo uictoriam suam ad Ligures transferret dedique iis prope consulem praetor iuberet: itaque multam ei se dicere; a patribus postulare, ut senatus consultum in se factum tolli iuberent, supplicationemque, quam absente se ex litteris de bene gesta re publica missis decernere debuerint, praesente se honoris deorum primum causa, deinde et sui aliquo tamen respectu decernerent. nihilo lenioribus, quam absens, senatorum aliquot orationibus increpitus neutra impetrata re in prouinciam redit.

[9] The consul, the same ferocity of spirit which he had employed against the Ligurians he showed toward not obeying the senate. With the legions forthwith sent to Pisae into winter quarters, angry with the Fathers, hostile to the praetor, he returned to Rome; and the senate being immediately convoked at the temple of Bellona, having in many words inveighed against the praetor—who, since on account of a matter well conducted in war he ought to have referred to the senate that honor be paid to the immortal gods, had passed a senatus‑consultum against him on behalf of enemies, by which he transferred his victory to the Ligurians and the praetor ordered that the consul be almost delivered over to them—: therefore he declared a fine upon him; he demanded from the Fathers that they order the senatus‑consultum passed against him to be rescinded, and that a supplication, which in his absence they ought to have decreed from the letters sent about the commonwealth well managed, in his presence they should decree, first for the honor of the gods, then also with some regard for himself. Rebuked by the speeches of several senators no gentler than when he was absent, having obtained neither request, he returned to the province.

Alter consul Postumius consumpta aestate in recognoscendis agris, ne uisa quidem prouincia sua comitiorum causa Romam rediit. consules C. Popilium Laenatem P. Aelium Ligurem creauit. praetores exinde facti C. Licinius Crassus M. Iunius Pennus Sp. Lucretius Sp. Cluuius Cn. Sicinius C. <Memmius> iterum.

The other consul, Postumius, with the summer consumed in reviewing the lands, returned to Rome for the sake of the elections without even his own province having been seen. he created as consuls C. Popilius Laenas and P. Aelius Ligus. thereupon the praetors were made: C. Licinius Crassus, M. Iunius Pennus, Sp. Lucretius, Sp. Cluuius, Cn. Sicinius, C. <Memmius> again.

[10] Eo anno lustrum conditum est; censores erant Q. Fuluius <Flaccus A. Postumius> Albinus; Postumius condidit. censa sunt ciuium Romanorum capita ducenta sexaginta nouem milia et quindecim, minor aliquanto numerus, quia L. Postumius consul pro contione edixerat, qui socium Latini nominis ex edicto C. Claudi consulis redire in ciuitates suas debuissent, ne quis eorum Romae, et omnes in suis ciuitatibus censerentur. concors et e re publica censura fuit.

[10] In that year the lustrum was closed; the censors were Q. Fulvius <Flaccus A. Postumius> Albinus; Postumius closed it. The heads of Roman citizens enrolled were two hundred sixty-nine thousand and fifteen, a somewhat smaller number, because L. Postumius the consul had proclaimed before a public assembly that those of the allies of the Latin name who, in accordance with the edict of the consul C. Claudius, ought to have returned to their own communities, none of them be at Rome, and that all be registered in their own communities. The censorship was harmonious and in the interest of the commonwealth.

omnes, quos senatu mouerunt quibusque equos ademerunt, aerarios fecerunt et tribu mouerunt; neque ab altero notatum alter probauit. Fuluius aedem Fortunae equestris, quam proconsul in Hispania dimicans cum Celtiberorum legionibus uouerat, annis sex post, quam uouerat, dedicauit, et scaenicos ludos per quadriduum, unum diem in circo fecit.

all those whom they removed from the senate and from whom they took away the public horses, they made aerarii and removed from their tribe; nor did the one approve what had been marked by the other. Fulvius dedicated the temple of Fortuna Equestris, which, as proconsul in Spain fighting with the legions of the Celtiberi, he had vowed, six years after he had vowed it, and he held scenic games for four days, and one day in the Circus.

L. Cornelius Lentulus, decemuir sacrorum, eo anno mortuus est. in locum eius suffectus A. Postumius Albinus. lucustarum tantae nubes a mari repente in Apuliam inlatae sunt, ut examinibus suis agros late operirent.

L. Cornelius Lentulus, decemvir of the sacred rites, died in that year. In his place A. Postumius Albinus was appointed as a suffect. Clouds of locusts so great were suddenly borne in from the sea into Apulia that with their swarms they widely covered the fields.

ad quam pestem frugum tollendam Cn. Sicinius, praetor designatus, cum imperio <in> Apuliam missus, ingenti agmine hominum ad colligendas eas coacto aliquantum temporis absumpsit.

to remove which plague of the crops, Gnaeus Sicinius, praetor-designate, was sent with imperium into Apulia, and, with a huge column of men assembled to collect them, he consumed a considerable amount of time.

Principium insequentis anni, quo C. Popilius et P. Aelius fuerunt consules, residuas contentiones ex priore anno habuit. patres referri de Liguribus renouarique senatus consultum uolebant, et consul Aelius referebat. Popilius et collegam et senatum pro fratre deprecabatur, prae se ferens, si quid decernerent, intercessurum.

The beginning of the following year, in which Gaius Popilius and Publius Aelius were consuls, retained the remaining contentions from the prior year. The Fathers wished that the matter concerning the Ligurians be referred and that the senatus-consultum be renewed, and the consul Aelius was bringing it forward. Popilius was pleading with both his colleague and the Senate on behalf of his brother, professing that, if they should decree anything, he would interpose a veto.

collegam deterruit; patres eo magis, utrique pariter consuli infensi, in incepto perstabant. itaque cum de prouinciis ageretur et Macedonia iam imminente Persei bello peteretur, Ligures ambobus consulibus decernunt; Macedoniam decreturos negant, <ni> de M. Popilio referretur. postulantibus deinde, ut nouos exercitus scribere aut supplementum ueteribus liceret, utrumque negatum est.

he deterred his colleague; the Fathers all the more, hostile to both consuls alike, persisted in their undertaking. And so, when the question of the provinces was being handled and Macedonia, with the war of Perseus now impending, was being sought, they assign the Ligurians to both consuls; they say they will not decree Macedonia unless a report be made concerning M. Popilius. Then, when they demanded that it be permitted to levy new armies or a supplement for the old, both were denied.

praetoribus quoque in Hispaniam supplementum petentibus negatum M. Iunio <in> citeriorem, Sp. Lucretio in ulteriorem. C. Licinius Crassus urbanam iurisdictionem, Cn. Sicinius inter peregrinos erat sortitus, C. Memmius Siciliam, Sp. Cluuius Sardiniam. consules ob ea irati senatui, Latinis feriis in primam quamque diem indictis, in prouinciam abituros esse denuntiarunt, nec quicquam rei publicae acturos, praeterquam quod ad prouinciarum administrationem adtineret.

To the praetors too who were requesting a supplement for Spain it was denied: to M. Iunius for Hither Spain, to Sp. Lucretius for Farther. C. Licinius Crassus had drawn the urban jurisdiction, Cn. Sicinius that among the peregrini, C. Memmius Sicily, Sp. Cluuius Sardinia. The consuls, angered with the senate on account of these things, having proclaimed the Latin Festival for the earliest possible day, announced that they would depart to their province, and that they would transact nothing of public business, except what pertained to the administration of the provinces.

[11] Attalum, regis Eumenis fratrem, legatum uenisse Romam Ualerius Antias his consulibus scribit ad deferenda de Perseo crimina indicandosque apparatus belli. plurium annales, et quibus credidisse malis, ipsum Eumenem uenisse tradunt. Eumenes igitur ut Romam uenit, exceptus cum tanto honore, quantum non meritis tantum eius, sed beneficiis etiam suis, ingentia quae in eum congesta erant, existimabant deberi, a praetore in senatum est introductus.

[11] Valerius Antias writes that Attalus, brother of King Eumenes, came to Rome as an envoy in the consulship of these consuls to bring charges about Perseus and to indicate the apparatus of war. The annals of more writers, and those whom I would rather have believed, relate that Eumenes himself came. Therefore Eumenes, when he came to Rome, was received with so great honor as they judged to be owed not only to his merits but also to their own benefactions—vast ones which had been heaped upon him—and he was introduced into the senate by the praetor.

causam ueniendi sibi Romam fuisse dixit praeter cupiditatem uidendi deos hominesque, quorum beneficio in ea fortuna esset, supra quam ne optare quidem auderet, etiam ut coram moneret senatum, ut Persei conatis obuiam iret. orsus inde a Philippi consiliis necem Demetri filii rettulit, aduersantis Romano bello; Bastarnarum gentem excitam sedibus suis, quorum auxiliis fretus in Italiam transiret. haec secum uolutantem in animo, oppressum fato, regnum ei reliquisse, quem infestissimum esse sensisset Romanis.

he said that his reason for coming to Rome had been, besides the desire of seeing gods and men, by whose beneficence he was in that fortune beyond which he would not even have dared to wish, also that he might warn the senate in person to go to meet and counter Perseus’s attempts. Beginning then from the counsels of Philip, he recounted the slaying of his son Demetrius, who opposed a war with Rome; that the nation of the Bastarnae had been stirred up from their seats, relying on whose auxiliaries he would cross into Italy. While he was revolving these things with himself in mind, he was overtaken by fate, and left the kingdom to the man whom he had perceived to be most inimical to the Romans.

itaque Persea hereditarium <a> patre relictum bellum et simul cum imperio traditum, iamiam proximum alere ac fouere omnibus consiliis. florere praeterea iuuentute, quam stirpem longa pax ediderit, florere opibus regni, florere etiam aetate. quae cum corporis robore ac uiribus uigeat, animum esse inueteratum diutina arte atque usu belli.

and so Perseus is nourishing and fostering by every counsel the hereditary <a> war left by his father and transmitted together with the command, now imminent. furthermore, he flourishes in youth, a stock which long peace has brought forth; he flourishes in the resources of the kingdom; he flourishes also in age, which, since it is vigorous with the strength and forces of the body, makes his spirit inveterate through the long art and use of war.

iam inde a puero patris contubernio Romanis quoque bellis, non finitumis tantum adsuetum, missum a patre in expeditiones multas uariasque. iam ex quo ipse accepisset regnum, multa, quae non ui, non dolo Philippus omnia expertus potuisset moliri, admirando rerum successu tenuisse. accessisse ad uires eam, quae longo tempore multis magnisque meritis pareretur, auctoritatem.

already from boyhood, in his father’s company, he had been accustomed to wars with the Romans too, not only with his neighbors, and had been sent by his father on many and various expeditions. and ever since he himself had received the kingdom, many things which Philip, having tried everything, could not have contrived either by force or by guile, he had secured with an admirable success of affairs. to his strength there had been added that authority which is won over a long time by many and great merits.

[12] Nam apud Graeciae atque Asiae ciuitates uereri maiestatem eius omnes. nec pro quibus meritis, pro qua munificentia tantum ei tribuatur, cernere nec dicere pro certo posse, utrum felicitate id quadam eius accidat, an, quod ipse uereatur dicere, inuidia aduersus Romanos fauorem illi conciliet. inter ipsos quoque reges ingentem auctoritate <esse>, Seleuci filiam duxisse eum, non petentem, sed petitum ultro; sororem dedisse Prusiae precanti at<que> oranti; celebratas esse utrasque nuptias gratulatione donis<que> innumerabilium legationum, et uelut auspicibus nobilissumis populis deductas esse.

[12] For among the cities of Greece and Asia all revere his majesty. Nor can they discern or say for certain for what merits, for what munificence, so much is attributed to him—whether it happens by some felicity of his, or, what he himself is afraid to say, that envy against the Romans conciliates favor for him. He is of immense authority even among the kings themselves: he took the daughter of Seleucus in marriage, not as a suitor, but sought after of their own accord; he gave his sister to Prusias, beseeching and imploring; both marriages were celebrated with the congratulations and gifts of innumerable embassies, and were escorted, as it were, with the noblest peoples as auspices.

Boeotorum gentem, captatam Philippo, numquam ad scribendum amicitiae foedus adduci potuisse; tribus nunc locis cum Perseo foedus incisum litteris esse, uno Thebis, altero ad Delium, augustissumo et celeberrumo in templo, tertio Delphis. in Achaico concilio uero, nisi discussa res per paucos Romanum imperium intentantis esset, eo rem prope adductam, ut aditus ei in Achaiam daretur. at hercule suos honores, cuius merita in eam gentem priuatim an publice sint maiora uix dici possit, partim desertos per incultum ac neglegentiam, partim hostiliter sublatos esse.

The nation of the Boeotians, though courted by Philip, could never be brought to write a treaty of friendship; that now in three places with Perseus the treaty has been incised in letters, one at Thebes, another at Delium, in the most august and most celebrated temple, the third at Delphi. And in the Achaean council, indeed, if the matter had not been broken up by a few who were intent on the Roman imperium, the affair had been brought almost so far that access for him into Achaia would be granted. But, by Hercules, his own honors—whose merits toward that nation, whether in private or in public, it can scarcely be said which are greater—have been partly left deserted through uncultivation and negligence, partly taken away in hostile fashion.

iam Aetolos quem ignorare in seditionibus suis non ab Romanis, sed a Perseo praesidium petisse? his eum fultum societatibus atque amicitiis eos domesticos apparatus belli habere, ut externis non egeat. triginta milibus peditum, quinque milibus equitum in decem annos frumentum praeparasse, ut abstinere et suo et hostium agro frumentandi causa possit.

Who is there that does not know that the Aetolians, in their seditions, sought a garrison not from the Romans but from Perseus? Supported by these alliances and friendships, he has such domestic apparatus of war that he does not need external resources. He has prepared grain for thirty thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry for ten years, so that, for the sake of foraging, he can abstain from both his own and the enemy’s fields.

iam pecuniam tantam habere, ut decem milibus mercennariorum militum praeter Macedonum copias stipendium in totidem annos praeparatum habeat, praeter annuum, quod ex metallis regiis capiat, uectigal. arma uel tribus tantis exercitibus in armamentaria congessisse. iuuentutem, ut iam Macedonia deficiat, uelut ex perenni fonte unde hauriat, Threciam subiectam esse.

already that he has so much money, that he has the stipend prepared for 10,000 mercenary soldiers, besides the Macedonian forces, for just as many years, besides the annual revenue which he takes from the royal mines. That he has piled up arms in the armories for even three armies of such size. That for youth (manpower), even if Macedonia now runs short, he has Thrace subjected, as from a perennial fountain from which to draw.

[13] Reliquom orationis adhortatio fuit. 'non ego haec' inquit 'incertis iactata rumoribus et cupidius credita, quia uera esse de inimico crimina uolebam, adfero ad uos, patres conscripti, sed conperta et explorata, haud secus quam si speculator missus a uobis subiecta oculis referrem; neque relicto regno meo, quod amplum et egregium uos fecistis, mare tantum traiecissem, ut uana ad uos adferendo fidem abrogarem mihi; cernebam nobilissimas Asiae et Graeciae ciuitates in dies magis denudantis iudicia sua, mox, si permitteretur, eo processuras, unde receptum ad paenitendum non haberent; cernebam Persea non continentem se Macedoniae regno, alia armis occupantem, alia, quae ui subigi non possent, fauore ac beniuolentia conplectentem; uidebam, quam inpar esset sors, cum ille uobis bellum <pararet>, uos ei securam pacem praestaretis, quamquam mihi quidem non parare, sed gerere paene bellum uidebatur. Abrupolim, socium atque amicum uestrum, regno expulit; Arthetaurum Illyrium, quia scripta ab eo quaedam uobis conperit, socium item atque amicum uestrum, interfecit; Euersam et Callicritum Thebanos, principes ciuitatis, quia liberius aduersus eum in concilio Boeotorum locuti fuerant delaturosque ad uos, quae agerentur, professi erant, tollendos curauit; auxilium Byzantiis aduersus foedus tulit; Dolopiae bellum intulit; Thessaliam et Doridem cum exercitu peruasit, ut in bello intestino deterioris partis auxilio meliorem adfligeret; confudit et miscuit omnia in Thessalia Perrhaebiaque spe nouarum tabularum, ut manu debitorum obnoxia sibi optumates opprimeret.

[13] The remainder of the speech was an exhortation. “I,” he says, “do not bring these things to you, Conscript Fathers, as tales tossed about by uncertain rumors and too eagerly believed because I wished the charges against an enemy to be true, but as things ascertained and explored, no otherwise than if, sent by you as a scout, I were reporting what I had set before my eyes; nor, leaving my own kingdom—which you have made ample and egregious—would I have crossed so great a sea only to bring you vain things and thereby abrogate my own credibility. I saw the most noble cities of Asia and Greece day by day laying bare their judgments, and soon, if it were permitted, ready to proceed to a point from which they would have no retreat for repentance. I saw Perseus not confining himself to the kingdom of Macedonia, seizing some places by arms, others—which could not be subdued by force—he was embracing with favor and benevolence. I perceived how unequal the condition was, when he was preparing war against you while you were guaranteeing to him a secure peace, although to me indeed he seemed not to be preparing but almost to be waging war. He expelled Abrupolis, your ally and friend, from his kingdom; Arthetaurus the Illyrian, likewise your ally and friend, he killed, because he discovered that certain writings had been sent by him to you; Eversas and Callicritus, Thebans, leading men of the city, because they had spoken more freely against him in the council of the Boeotians and had declared they would report to you what was being done, he took care to have removed; he brought aid to the Byzantines in violation of the treaty; he made war upon Dolopia; he overran Thessaly and Doris with an army, in order that, in a civil war, by the aid of the worse party he might crush the better; he threw everything into confusion and commotion in Thessaly and Perrhaebia by the hope of ‘new tablets’ (debt cancellation), so that, with the hand of debtors beholden to him, he might oppress the nobles.”

haec cum uobis quiescentibus et patientibus fecerit et concessam sibi Graeciam esse a uobis uideat, pro certo habet neminem sibi, antequam in Italiam traiecerit, armatum occursurum. hoc quam uobis tutum aut honestum sit, uos uideritis: ego certe mihi turpe esse duxi, prius Persea ad bellum inferendum, quam me socium ad praedicendum, ut caueretis, uenire in Italiam. functus necessario mihi officio, et quodam modo liberata atque exonerata fide mea, quid ultra facere possum, quam uti deos deasque precer, ut uos et uestrae rei publicae et nobis sociis atque amicis, qui ex uobis pendemus, consulatis?'

Since he has done these things while you kept quiet and were patient, and sees that Greece has been conceded to him by you, he holds it for certain that no one will meet him armed before he has crossed over into Italy. How safe or honorable this is for you, you must judge: I for my part held it a disgrace that Perseus should come into Italy to bring war before I, an ally, came to proclaim it in advance, that you might take precautions. Having discharged the duty that was necessary for me, and my good faith in a manner freed and exonerated, what more can I do than to pray the gods and goddesses that you take counsel for yourselves, for your commonwealth, and for us your allies and friends, who depend upon you?

[14] Haec oratio mouit patres conscriptos. ceterum in praesentia nihil, praeterquam fuisse in curia regem, scire quisquam potuit: eo silentio clausa curia erat. bello denique perfecto, quaeque dicta ab rege quaeque responsa essent, emanauere.

[14] This speech moved the senators. However, for the time being no one could know anything, except that the king had been in the Curia: so silent was the Curia closed. At last, when the war was finished, both what had been said by the king and what replies had been given leaked out.

Persei deinde regis legatis post paucos dies senatus datus est. ceterum praeoccupatis non auribus magis quam animis ab Eumene rege, omnis et defensio et deprecatio legatorum respuebatur; et exasperauit animos ferocia nimia Harpali, qui princeps legationis erat. is uelle quidem et laborare dixit regem, ut purganti, se nihil hostile dixisse aut fecisse, fides habeatur: ceterum si peruicacius causam belli quaeri uideat, forti animo defensurum se. Martem communem esse et euentum incertum belli.

Then, after a few days, an audience with the senate was given to the envoys of King Perseus. However, with not so much their ears as their minds preoccupied by King Eumenes, every defense and deprecation of the envoys was rejected; and the excessive ferocity of Harpalus, who was the chief of the embassy, further exasperated their feelings. He said that the king indeed wished and strove that, as he cleared himself—faith be given that he had said or done nothing hostile; but if he perceived that a cause for war was being sought more pervicaciously, he would defend himself with a brave spirit. Mars is common, and the outcome of war is uncertain.

Omnibus ciuitatibus Graeciae atque Asiae curae erat, quid Persei legati, quid Eumenes in senatu egisset; et propter aduentum eius, quem moturum aliquid rebantur, miserant pleraeque ciuitates alia in speciem praeferentis legatos. et legatio Rhodiorum ~erat hac falsa iturus princeps, haud dubius, quin Eumenes ciuitatis quoque suae <crimina> Persei criminibus iunxisset. itaque omni modo per patronos hospitesque disceptandi cum rege locum in senatu quaerebat.

It was a concern to all the cities of Greece and Asia what the envoys of Perseus, what Eumenes, had done in the senate; and on account of his arrival, whom they thought would stir something, most cities had sent envoys holding forth other things in appearance. And the legation of the Rhodians, ~the chief being about to proceed upon this falsehood~, not doubting that Eumenes had joined the <crimina> of his own city as well to Perseus’s charges. Therefore by every means, through patrons and guest‑friends, it was seeking in the senate a place for disputing with the king.

quod cum <non> contigisset, libertate intemperanti inuectus in regem, quod Lyciorum gentem aduersus Rhodios concitasset grauiorque Asiae esset, quam Antiochus fuisset, popularem quidem <neque Asiae> ingratam populis—nam eo quoque iam fauor Persei uenerat—orationem habuit, ceterum inuisam senatui inutilemque sibi et ciuitati suae. Eumeni uero conspiratio aduersus eum fauorem <maiorem> apud Romanos fecit. ita omnes ei honores habiti donaque quam amplissima data cum sella curuli atque eburneo scipione.

when this had <not> come to pass, with intemperate frankness he launched into an attack on the king, on the ground that he had stirred up the nation of the Lycians against the Rhodians and was more burdensome to Asia than Antiochus had been; he delivered, indeed, a popular speech, <nor to Asia> unpleasing to the peoples—for by then the favor of Perseus had reached there too—but hateful to the senate and unprofitable to himself and to his city. In truth, the conspiracy against Eumenes produced <greater> favor for him among the Romans. thus all honors were paid to him, and gifts most ample were given, together with a curule chair and an ivory staff.

[15] Legationibus dimissis cum Harpalus, quanta maxima celeritate poterat, regressus in Macedoniam nuntiasset regi, nondum quidem parantis bellum reliquisse se Romanos, sed ita infestos, ut facile appareret, non dilaturos, et ipse, praeterquam quod et ita credebat futurum, iam etiam uolebat, in flore uirium se credens esse. Eumeni ante omnis infestus erat; a cuius sanguine ordiens bellum, Euandrum Cretensem, ducem auxiliorum, et Macedonas tres adsuetos ministeriis talium facinerum ad caedem regis subornat litterasque eis dat ad Praxo hospitam, principem auctoritate et opibus Delphorum. satis constabat, Eumenem, ut sacrificaret Apollini, Delphos escensurum.

[15] With the embassies dismissed, when Harpalus, with the greatest speed he could, had returned to Macedonia and announced to the king that he had left the Romans not yet indeed preparing war, but so hostile that it was easy to see they would not defer it, and he himself, besides believing that it would be so, now even desired it, believing himself to be in the flower of his forces. He was hostile to Eumenes before all; beginning the war with his blood, he suborns Evander the Cretan, leader of the auxiliaries, and three Macedonians accustomed to the services of such crimes, for the murder of the king, and he gives them letters to Praxo, his hostess, a leading person in authority and resources among the Delphians. It was quite agreed that Eumenes, in order to sacrifice to Apollo, would go up to Delphi.

praegressi cum Euandro insidiatores nihil aliud ad peragendum inceptum quam loci opportunitatem, omnia circumeuntes, quaerebant. escendentibus ad templum a Cirrha, priusquam perueniretur ad frequentia aedificiis loca, maceria erat ab laeua ad semitam paulum extantem a fundamento, qua singuli transirent; dextra pars labe terrae in aliquantum altitudinis derupta erat. post maceriam se abdiderunt gradibus adstructis, ut ex ea uelut e muro tela in praetereuntem conicerent.

going on ahead with Euander, the ambushers sought nothing for carrying through the undertaking except the opportunity of the place, going all around for it. as they were ascending to the temple from Cirrha, before one came to places crowded with buildings, there was on the left, along the path, a rubble-wall rising only a little above its foundation, where they would pass one by one; the right-hand side had been torn away by a landslip into a drop of some height. they hid themselves behind the wall, steps having been built up, so that from it, as from a wall, they might hurl missiles at the passer-by.

primo a mari circumfusa turba amicorum ac satellitum procedebat, deinde extenuabant paulatim angustiae agmen. ubi ad eum locum uentum est, qua singulis eundum erat, primus semitam ingressus Pantaleon, Aetoliae princeps, cum quo institutus regi sermo erat. tum insidiatores exorti saxa duo ingentia deuoluunt, quorum altero caput ictum est regi, altero umerus; sopitusque ex semita procidit in decliue, multis super prolapsum iam saxis congestis.

at first from the sea the throng of friends and satellites, encircling him, was proceeding; then the narrows were gradually attenuating the column. when it was come to that place where it was necessary for individuals to go, Pantaleon, prince of Aetolia, was the first to enter the footpath, with whom a conversation had been instituted with the king. then the ambushers, having sprung up, roll down two huge rocks, by one of which the king’s head was struck, by the other his shoulder; and, stunned, he fell headlong from the path down the declivity, with many stones now heaped up over the fallen man.

et ceteri quidem, etiam amicorum et satellitum <turba>, postquam cadentem uidere, diffugiunt; Pantaleon contra inpauidus mansit ad protegendum regem.

and the rest indeed, even the <crowd> of friends and bodyguards, after they saw him falling, scattered; Pantaleon, on the contrary, fearless, remained to protect the king.

[16] Latrones, cum breui circumitu maceriae decurrere ad conficiendum saucium possent, uelut perfecta re in iugum Parnasi refugerunt eo cursu, ut, cum unus non facile sequendo per inuia atque ardua moraretur fugam eorum, <ne> ex conprenso indicium emanaret, occiderint comitem. ad corpus regis primo amici, deinde satellites ac serui concurrerunt; tollentes sopitum uolnere ac nihil sentientem, uiuere tamen ex calore et spiritu remanente in praecordiis senserunt: uicturum exigua ac prope nulla spes erat. quidam ex satellitibus secuti latronum uestigia, cum usque ad iugum Parnasi nequiquam fatigati peruenissent, re infecta redierunt.

[16] The brigands, although by a short circuit along the boundary-wall they could have run to dispatch the wounded man, fled back, as if the matter were accomplished, to the ridge of Parnassus with such speed that, since one of their company, not easily keeping up by following through pathless and steep places, was delaying their flight, lest evidence should leak out from a man taken, they killed their comrade. To the king’s body first the friends, then the satellites and slaves ran together; lifting him, stupefied by the wound and feeling nothing, they perceived from the warmth and breath remaining in his precordia that he was still alive; the hope that he would live was slight and almost none. Certain of the satellites, having followed the tracks of the brigands, when, wearied to no purpose, they had reached all the way to the ridge of Parnassus, returned with the business unfinished.

adgressi facinus Macedones ut <non> inconsulte ita audacter, coeptum nec consulte et timide reliquerunt. conpotem iam sui regem amici postero die deferunt ad nauem; inde Corinthum, ab Corintho per Isthmi iugum nauibus traductis, Aeginam traiciunt. ibi adeo secreta eius curatio fuit, admittentibus neminem, ut fama mortuum in Asiam perferret.

The Macedonians undertook the deed not unadvisedly but boldly; what they had begun they left off, not with counsel, and timidly. Their friends, the king now in control of himself, on the next day carry him to a ship; thence to Corinth, and from Corinth, with the ships conveyed across the ridge of the Isthmus, they cross over to Aegina. There his cure was so secret, admitting no one, that report carried to Asia that he was dead.

Attalus quoque celerius, quam dignum concordia fraterna erat, credidit; nam et cum uxore fratris et praefecto arcis tamquam iam haud dubius regni heres est locutus. quae postea non fefellere Eumenen; et quamquam dissimulare et tacite habere et pati statuerat, tamen in primo congressu non temperauit, quin uxoris petendae <im>maturam festinationem fratri obiceret. Romam quoque fama de morte Eumenis perlata est.

Attalus also believed more swiftly than was worthy of fraternal concord; for he even spoke with his brother’s wife and the prefect of the citadel as though already the undisputed heir of the kingdom. These things afterward did not deceive Eumenes; and although he had resolved to dissimulate and to keep silence and to endure, nevertheless at the first encounter he did not restrain himself from charging his brother with the premature haste in seeking a wife. Report too of the death of Eumenes was carried to Rome.

[17] Sub idem tempus C. Ualerius ex Graecia, quo legatus ad uisendum statum regionis eius speculandaque consilia Persei regis ierat, rediit, congruentiaque omnia criminibus ab Eumene adlatis referebat. simul et adduxerat secum Praxo a Delphis, cuius domus receptaculum latronum fuerat, et L. Rammium Brundisinum, qui talis indicii delator erat. princeps Brundisi Rammius fuit; hospitioque et duces Romanos omnes et legatos, exterarum quoque gentium insignis, praecipue regios, accipiebat.

[17] About the same time C. Valerius returned from Greece, whither he had gone as a legate to view the state of that region and to spy out the counsels of King Perseus, and he reported that everything agreed with the charges brought by Eumenes. At the same time he had also brought with him Praxo from Delphi, whose house had been a receptacle of brigands, and L. Rammius, a Brundisian, who was the informer of such evidence. Rammius was a leading man at Brundisium; and in his guest-friendship he received all the Roman commanders and legates, and distinguished men also of foreign nations, especially royal personages.

ex eo notitia ei cum absente Perseo fuerat; litterisque spem amicitiae interioris magnaeque inde fortunae facientibus ad regem profectus breui perfamiliaris haberi trahique magis, quam uellet, in arcanos sermones est coeptus. promissis enim ingentibus praemiis petere institit ab eo rex, quoniam duces omnes legatique Romani hospitio eius uti adsuessent, quibus eorum ipse scripsisset, ut uenenum dandum curaret. cuius scire se conparationem plurimum difficultatis et periculi habere; pluribus consciis conparari; euentu praeterea incerto esse, ut aut satis efficacia ad rem peragendam aut tuta ad rem celandam dentur.

From that, he had had an acquaintance with Perseus in his absence; and, with letters creating hope of a more interior friendship and of great fortune therefrom, having set out to the king he was in a short time begun to be held as very familiar, and to be drawn, more than he wished, into arcane conversations. For with immense rewards promised the king pressed him to undertake, since all the Roman commanders and envoys were accustomed to use his hospitality, that, to those of them to whom he himself should write, he should take care that poison be given. He said he knew the procurement of this had very much difficulty and danger; that it was procured with several privy; moreover that the event was uncertain, so that either draughts efficacious enough to accomplish the matter, or safe enough to conceal the matter, are administered.

se daturum, quod nec in dando nec datum ullo signo deprendi posset. Rammius ueritus, ne, si abnuisset, primus ipse ueneni experimentum esset, facturum pollicitus proficiscitur; nec Brundisium ante redire, quam conuento C. Ualerio legato, qui circa Chalcidem esse dicebatur, uoluit. ad eum primum indicio delato, iussu eius Romam simul uenit.

that he would supply something which could be detected by no sign either in the giving or once given. Rammius, fearing that, if he refused, he himself would be the first experiment of the poison, promised he would do it and set out; nor did he wish to return to Brundisium before meeting with C. Valerius, the legate, who was said to be around Chalcis. To him first, with the disclosure carried, and by his order, he came to Rome at once.

introductus in curiam, quae acta erant, exposuit.

Introduced into the curia, he set forth what had been done.

[18] Haec ad ea, quae ab Eumene delata erant, accessere, quo maturius hostis Perseus iudicaretur, quippe quem non iustum modo apparare bellum regio animo, sed per omnia clandestina grassari scelera latrociniorum ac ueneficiorum cernebant. belli administratio ad nouos consules reiecta est; in praesentia tamen Cn. Sicinium praetorem, cuius inter ciues et peregrinos iurisdictio erat, scribere milites placuit, qui Brundisium ducti primo quoque tempore Apolloniam in Epirum traicerentur ad occupandas maritimas urbes, ubi consul, cui prouincia Macedonia obuenisset, classem appellere tuto et copias per commodum exponere posset. Eumenes, aliquamdiu Aeginae retentus periculosa et difficili curatione, cum primum tuto potuit, profectus Pergamum, praeter pristinum odium recenti etiam scelere Persei stimulante <summa> ui parabat bellum.

[18] To these were added the matters that had been reported by Eumenes, so that Perseus might be judged an enemy the earlier; for they saw that he was not, in a regal spirit, preparing a merely regular war, but was prowling through all clandestine crimes of brigandage and poisonings. The administration of the war was deferred to the new consuls; in the meantime, however, it was decided that the praetor Cn. Sicinius, whose jurisdiction was between citizens and foreigners, should enroll troops, who, led to Brundisium, should at the earliest opportunity be transported to Apollonia in Epirus to seize the maritime towns, where the consul to whom the province of Macedonia should fall might safely make his fleet put in and disembark his forces to advantage. Eumenes, detained for some time at Aegina by a perilous and difficult cure, when he could first do so safely, set out for Pergamum and, beyond his former hatred, with the recent crime of Perseus also goading him, was preparing war with the utmost force <summa>.

legati eo ab Roma gratulantes, quod e tanto periculo euasisset, uenerunt. cum Macedonicum bellum in annum dilatum esset, ceteris praetoribus iam in prouincias profectis, M. Iunius et Sp. Lucretius, quibus Hispaniae prouinciae obuenerant, fatigantes saepe idem petendo senatum, tandem peruicerunt, ut supplementum sibi ad exercitum daretur: tria milia peditum, centum et quinquaginta equites in Romanas legiones <scribere>, in socialem exercitum quinque milia peditum et trecentos equites imperare sociis iussi. hoc copiarum in Hispanias cum praetoribus nouis portatum est.

Legates came thither from Rome, offering congratulations that he had escaped out of so great a peril. When the Macedonian war had been deferred to the next year, the other praetors now having set out to their provinces, M. Iunius and Sp. Lucretius, to whom the provinces of the Spains had fallen, by often asking the same thing and wearing down the senate, at last prevailed that a supplement should be given to them for the army: they were ordered to <enroll> three thousand foot-soldiers and one hundred and fifty horsemen into the Roman legions, and for the allied army to levy upon the allies five thousand foot-soldiers and three hundred horsemen. This force was conveyed into the Spains with the new praetors.

[19] Eodem anno, quia per recognitionem Postumi consulis magna pars agri Campani, quem priuati sine discrimine passim possederant, recuperata in publicum erat, M. Lucretius tribunus plebis promulgauit, ut agrum Campanum censores fruendum locarent, quod factum tot annis post captam Capuam non fuerat, ut in uacuo uageretur cupiditas priuatorum.

[19] In the same year, because through the recognition of the consul Postumius a great part of the Campanian land, which private individuals had possessed indiscriminately far and wide, had been recovered into the public domain, M. Lucretius, tribune of the plebs, promulgated that the censors should lease out the Campanian land for usufruct—something which had not been done for so many years after Capua was captured—so that the greed of private persons might roam in a vacuum.

Cum <in> expectatione senatus esset bello etsi non indicto, tamen iam decreto, qui regum suam, qui Persei secuturi amicitiam essent, legati Ariarathis puerum filium regis secum adducentes Romam uenerunt; quorum oratio fuit, regem educendum filium Romam misisse, ut iam inde a puero adsuesceret moribus Romanis hominibusque. petere, ut eum non sub hospitum modo priuatorum custodia, sed publicae etiam curae ac uelut tutelae uellent esse. ea legatio grata senatui fuit; decreuerunt, ut Cn. Sicinius praetor aedis instruendas locaret, ubi filius regis comitesque eius habitare possent.

When <in> expectation the senate was, with war although not declared yet already decreed—namely, which of the kings would follow their friendship and which the friendship of Perseus—the envoys of Ariarathes, bringing with them the boy, the king’s son, came to Rome; their speech was that the king had sent his son to Rome to be educated, so that from boyhood he might be accustomed to Roman morals and men. They asked that he be not under the custody of private hosts only, but that they should wish him to be under public care also and, as it were, tutelage. That embassy was pleasing to the senate; they decreed that Cn. Sicinius, praetor, should contract for quarters to be fitted out, where the king’s son and his companions might dwell.

et Threcum legatis, Maedis Cepnatisque et Astis societatem amicitiamque petentibus et, quod petebant, datum est, et munera <binum> milium aeris [summae] in singulos missa. hos utique populos, quod ab tergo Macedoniae Threcia esset, adsumptos in societatem gaudebant. sed ut in Asia quoque et insulis explorata omnia essent, Ti. Claudium Neronem M. Decimium legatos miserunt.

and to the legates of the Thracians—the Maedi, the Cepnates, and the Asti—seeking alliance and friendship, both what they asked was granted, and gifts of <two> thousand asses [sum] were sent to each. They rejoiced that these peoples especially, because Thrace was behind Macedonia, had been taken into alliance. But so that in Asia also and in the islands everything might be ascertained, they sent Ti. Claudius Nero and M. Decimius as legates.

adire eos Cretam et Rhodum iusserunt, simul renouare amicitiam, simul speculari, num sollicitati animi sociorum ab rege Perseo essent.

they ordered them to go to Crete and Rhodes, at the same time to renew the friendship, at the same time to spy out whether the allies’ minds had been agitated by King Perseus.

[20] In suspensa ciuitate ad expectationem noui belli, nocturna tempestate columna rostrata in Capitolio bello Punico <priore posita ob uictoriam M. Aemili> consulis, cui collega Ser. Fuluius fuit, tota ad imum fulmine discussa est. ea res prodigii loco habita ad senatum relata est; patres et <ad> haruspices referri et decemuiros adire libros iusserunt.

[20] With the state in suspense in expectation of a new war, in a nocturnal tempest the rostral column on the Capitol, in the Punic war <earlier set up on account of the victory of M. Aemilius> the consul, whose colleague was Servius Fulvius, was shattered by lightning entirely down to the base. This matter, held in the place of a prodigy, was reported to the senate; the Fathers ordered both that it be referred <to> the haruspices and that the decemvirs consult the books.

decemuiri lustrandum oppidum, supplicationem obsecrationemque habendam, uictimis maioribus sacrificandum et in Capitolio Romae et in Campania ad Mineruae promunturium renuntiarunt; ludos per decem dies Ioui optimo maximo primo quoque die faciendos. ea omnia cum cura facta. haruspices in bonum uersurum id prodigium, prolationemque finium et interitum perduellium portendi responderunt, quod ex hostibus spolia fuissent ea rostra, quae tempestas disiecisset.

the decemvirs declared that the town must be lustrated, that a supplication and obsecration must be held, that sacrifice with the greater victims must be made both on the Capitol at Rome and in Campania at the promontory of Minerva; that games for ten days in honor of Jupiter Best and Greatest were to be celebrated at the earliest possible day. all those things were done with care. the haruspices replied that that prodigy would turn to good, and that an extension of the boundaries and the destruction of public enemies were portended, because the rostra which the storm had scattered had been spoils taken from enemies.

accesserunt, quae cumularent religiones animis: Saturniae nuntiatum erat sanguine per triduum in oppido pluuisse; Calatiae asinum tripedem natum, et taurum cum quinque uaccis uno ictu fulminis exanimatos; Auximi terra pluuisse. horum quoque prodigiorum causa res diuinae factae et supplicatio unum diem feriaeque habitae.

there were added things which would heap up religious scruples in their minds: at Saturnia it was reported that it had rained blood in the town for three days; at Calatia a three-footed ass was born, and a bull together with five cows were struck dead by a single stroke of lightning; at Auximum it rained earth. on account of these prodigies too, religious rites were performed, and a supplication for one day and holidays were observed.

[21] Consules ad id tempus in prouinciam non exierant, quia neque, uti de M. Popilio referrent, senatui obsequebantur, et nihil aliud decernere prius statutum patribus erat. aucta etiam inuidia est Popili litteris [eius], quibus iterum cum Statellatibus Liguribus proconsul pugnasse se scripsit ac sex milia eorum occidisse; propter cuius iniuriam belli ceteri quoque Ligurum populi ad arma ierunt. tum uero non absens modo Popilius, qui deditis contra ius ac fas bellum intulisset <et> pacatos ad rebellandum incitasset, sed consules, quod non exirent in prouinciam, in senatu increpiti.

[21] The consuls up to that time had not gone out to their province, because they were neither complying with the senate so as to bring a motion concerning M. Popilius, and it had been established by the fathers that they should decree nothing else first. Ill-will was also increased by Popilius’s letters [his], in which he wrote that, as proconsul, he had fought again with the Ligurian Statellati and had slain six thousand of them; on account of the injustice of which war the other peoples of the Ligurians also took up arms. Then indeed not only Popilius in his absence—who had brought war against those who had surrendered, against law and right, <and> had incited the pacified to rebel—but the consuls too, because they were not going out to their province, were rebuked in the senate.

hoc consensu patrum accensi M. Marcius Sermo et Q. Marcius Scilla, tribuni plebis, et consulibus multam se dicturos, nisi in prouinciam exirent, denuntiarunt, et rogationem, quam de Liguribus deditis promulgare in animo haberent, in senatu recitarunt. sanciebatur, ut, qui ex Statellis deditis in libertatem restitutus ante kal. Sextiles primas non esset, cuius dolo malo is in seruitutem uenisset, ut iuratus senatus decerneret, qui eam rem quaereret animaduerteretque.

Fired by this consensus of the fathers, M. Marcius Sermo and Q. Marcius Scilla, tribunes of the plebs, gave notice that they would assess a fine upon the consuls unless they went out to their province, and they read in the senate the bill which they had in mind to promulgate concerning the surrendered Ligurians. It was ordained that whoever from the surrendered Statellates had not been restored to liberty before the first of August, and as to the malicious fraud by which he had come into slavery, the senate, under oath, should decree who should investigate that matter and inflict punishment.

ex auctoritate deinde senatus eam rogationem promulgarunt. priusquam proficiscerentur consules, C. Cicereio, <praetori> prioris anni, ad aedem Bellonae senatus datus est. is expositis, quas in Corsica res gessisset, postulatoque frustra triumpho, in monte Albano, quod iam in morem uenerat, ut sine publica auctoritate fieret, triumphauit.

Then, by the authority of the senate, they promulgated that bill. Before the consuls set out, a session of the senate was granted to Gaius Cicereius, praetor of the previous year, at the Temple of Bellona. After he set forth what affairs he had transacted in Corsica, and having asked in vain for a triumph, he celebrated a triumph on the Alban Mount, as it had by now become the custom for it to be done without public authority.

rogationem Marciam de Liguribus magno consensu plebes sciuit iussitque. ex eo plebiscito C. Licinius praetor consuluit senatum, quem quaerere ea rogatione uellet. patres ipsum eum quaerere iusserunt.

The plebs, with great consensus, passed and ordered the Marcia rogation concerning the Ligurians. On the basis of that plebiscite, Gaius Licinius, praetor, consulted the senate as to whom it wished to conduct the inquiry by that rogation. The Fathers ordered that he himself conduct the inquiry.

[22] Tum demum consules in prouinciam profecti sunt exercitumque a M. Popilio acceperunt. neque tamen M. Popilius reuerti Romam audebat, ne causam diceret aduerso senatu, infestiore populo, apud praetorem, qui de quaestione in se <pro>posita senatum consuluisset. huic detractationi eius tribuni plebis alterius rogationis denuntiatione occurrerunt, ut, si non ante idus Nouembres in urbem Romam introisset, de absente eo C. Licinius statueret ac iudicaret.

[22] Then at last the consuls set out into the province and received the army from M. Popilius. Nor, however, did M. Popilius dare to return to Rome, lest he should plead his case before an adverse senate, with the people more hostile, before the praetor who had consulted the senate about the investigation proposed against him. To this evasion of his the tribunes of the plebs countered by the announcement of another rogation, to the effect that, if he did not enter the city of Rome before the Ides of November, C. Licinius should determine and judge concerning him in absentia.

hoc tractus uinculo cum redisset, ingenti cum inuidia in senatum uenit. ibi cum laceratus iurgiis multorum esset, senatus consultum factum est, ut, qui Ligurum post Q. Fuluium L. Manlium consules hostes non fuissent, ut eos C. Licinius Cn. Sicinius praetores in libertatem restituendos curarent, agrumque iis trans Padum consul C. Popilius daret. multa milia hominum hoc senatus consulto restituta in libertatem, transductisque Padum ager est adsignatus.

Dragged by this bond, when he had returned, he came into the senate with immense odium. There, after being lacerated by the wranglings of many, a senatorial decree was passed: that those of the Ligurians who, after Q. Fulvius L. Manlius were consuls, had not been enemies, that the praetors C. Licinius and Cn. Sicinius should see to their being restored into liberty, and that the consul C. Popilius should give them land across the Po. Many thousands of men by this senatorial decree were restored to liberty, and when they had been led across the Po, land was assigned.

M. Popilius rogatione Marcia bis apud C. Licinium causam dixit; tertio praetor, gratia consulis absentis et Popiliae familiae precibus uictus, idibus Martiis adesse reum iussit, quo die noui magistratus inituri erant honorem, ne diceret ius, qui priuatus futurus esset. ita rogatio de Liguribus arte fallaci elusa est.

M. Popilius, on the Marcia rogation, pleaded his case twice before C. Licinius; a third time the praetor, overcome by favor toward the absent consul and by the prayers of the Popilian family, ordered the defendant to be present on the Ides of March, the day on which the new magistrates were about to enter upon office, so that he, who was going to be a private citizen, might not declare the law. Thus the rogation concerning the Ligurians was evaded by a fallacious artifice.

[23] Legati Carthaginienses eo tempore Romae erant et Gulussa, filius Masinissae. inter eos magnae contentiones in senatu fuere. Carthaginienses querebantur, praeter agrum, de quo ante legati ab Roma, qui <in> re praesenti cognoscerent, missi essent, amplius septuaginta oppida castellaque agri Carthaginiensis biennio proxumo Masinissam ui atque armis possedisse: id illi, cui nihil pensi sit, facile esse.

[23] At that time Carthaginian envoys were in Rome, and Gulussa, son of Masinissa. Between them there were great disputes in the senate. The Carthaginians complained that, besides the land about which previously envoys had been sent from Rome to investigate the matter on the spot, in the last two years Masinissa had by force and arms taken possession of more than seventy towns and forts of the Carthaginian territory: for a man to whom nothing is a scruple, that is easy.

Carthaginienses foedere inligatos silere; prohiberi enim extra fines efferre arma; quamquam sciant in suis finibus, si inde Numidas pellerent, se gesturos bellum, illo haud ambiguo capite foederis deterreri, quo diserte uetentur cum sociis populi Romani bellum gerere. sed iam ultra superbiam crudelitatemque et auaritiam eius pati non posse Carthaginienses. missos esse <se>, qui orarent senatum, ut trium harum rerum unam ab se impetrari sinerent: ut uel ex aequo in<ter regem> socium populumque <Carthaginiensem>, quid cuiusque esset, disceptarent; uel permitterent Carthaginiensibus, ut aduersus iniusta arma pio iustoque se tutarentur bello; uel ad extremum, si gratia plus quam ueritas apud eos ualeret, semel statuerent, quid donatum ex alieno Masinissae uellent.

The Carthaginians, bound by the treaty, keep silence; for they are forbidden to carry arms beyond their borders; although they know that, if within their own borders they were to drive out the Numidians, they would be waging war, they are deterred by that by-no-means-ambiguous clause of the treaty, by which they are expressly forbidden to wage war with the allies of the Roman People. But now the Carthaginians can no longer endure his pride, cruelty, and avarice. They have been sent to beseech the senate to allow one of these three things to be obtained from them: either that, on equal terms between the allied king and the Carthaginian People, they should arbitrate what belongs to each; or that they should permit the Carthaginians to defend themselves against unjust arms in a pious and just war; or, at the last, if favor weighed with them more than truth, to decide once for all what, out of another’s property, they wished to grant to Masinissa.

modestius certe daturos eos, et <se> scituros, quid dedissent; ipsum nullum praeterquam suae libidinis arbitrio <finem> facturum. horum si nihil impetrarent, et aliquod suum post datam a P. Scipione pacem delictum esset, ipsi potius animaduerterent in se. tutam seruitutem se sub dominis Romanis quam libertatem expositam ad iniurias Masinissae malle; perire denique semel ipsis satius esse, quam sub acerbissimi carnificis arbitrio spiritum ducere. sub haec dicta lacrimantes procubuerunt stratique humi non sibi magis misericordiam quam regi <inuidiam conciliarunt>.

that they would certainly grant more moderately, and would themselves know what they had granted; he would set no limit other than by the discretion of his own lust. If they obtained none of these, and if any offense of theirs had occurred after the peace granted by P. Scipio, let them themselves rather inflict punishment upon them. They preferred a safe servitude under Roman masters to a freedom exposed to the injuries of Masinissa; finally, that it was more satisfying for them to perish once than to draw breath under the arbitrium of a most bitter executioner. After these words, weeping they fell prostrate, and, stretched on the ground, they procured not so much compassion for themselves as they aroused ill-will toward the king.

[24] Interrogari Gulussam placuit, quid ad ea responderet, aut, si prius mallet expromere, super qua re Romam uenisset. Gulussa neque sibi facile esse dixit de iis rebus agere, de quibus nihil mandati a patre haberet, neque patri facile fuisse mandare, cum Carthaginienses nec, de qua re acturi essent, nec omnino ituros se Romam indicauerint. in aede Aesculapi clandestinum eos per aliquot noctes consilium principum habuisse, unde * * praeterea legatos occultis cum mandatis Romam mitti.

[24] It was resolved that Gulussa be questioned as to what he would answer to those points, or, if he preferred first to set it forth, on what matter he had come to Rome. Gulussa said that it was not easy for him to transact concerning matters for which he had no mandate from his father, nor had it been easy for his father to mandate anything, since the Carthaginians had indicated neither the matter about which they meant to act nor, in general, that they would go to Rome at all. In the temple of Aesculapius, he said, they had held for several nights a clandestine council of the leading men, whence * * moreover envoys were being sent to Rome with secret mandates.

eam causam fuisse patri mittendi se Romam, qui deprecaretur senatum, ne quid communibus inimicis criminantibus se <crederent>, quem ob nullam aliam causam nisi propter constantem fidem erga populum Romanum odissent. his utrimque auditis senatus, de postulatis Carthaginiensium consultus, responderi ita iussit: Gulussam placere extemplo in Numidiam proficisci et nuntiare patri, ut de iis, de quibus Carthaginienses querantur, legatos quam primum ad senatum mittat denuntietque Carthaginiensibus, ut ad disceptandum ueniant. se alia, quae possent, Masinissae honoris causa et fecisse et facturos esse; ius gratiae non dare.

that this had been the cause for his father’s sending him to Rome: to deprecate with the senate, that they should not anything with their common enemies bringing accusations against him, whom they hated for no other cause except on account of his constant fidelity toward the Roman people. With these things heard on both sides, the senate, being consulted about the demands of the Carthaginians, ordered that answer be given thus: that it pleased that Gulussa set out at once into Numidia and announce to his father that, concerning those matters about which the Carthaginians complain, he should send envoys as soon as possible to the senate, and that he give formal notice to the Carthaginians that they should come to dispute (for adjudication). That they themselves had both done and would do other things which they could for the sake of Masinissa’s honor; they would not grant the right of favor.

agrum, qua cuiusque sit, possideri uelle, nec nouos statuere fines, sed ueteres obseruare in animo habere. Carthaginiensibus uictis se et urbem et agros concessisse, non ut in pace eriperent per iniuriam, quae iure belli non ademissent. ita regulus Carthaginiensesque dimissi.

that he wished the land to be held where each one’s holding was, and intended not to establish new boundaries, but to observe the old ones. That, with the Carthaginians conquered, he had conceded both the city and the fields—not so that in peace they might seize by injustice what they had not taken away by the right of war. Thus the prince and the Carthaginians were dismissed.

munera ex instituto data utrisque aliaque hospitalia comiter conseruata.

Gifts, given according to established custom, were bestowed upon both, and the other hospitalities were courteously observed.

[25] Sub idem tempus Cn. Seruilius Caepio Ap. Claudius Cento T. Annius Luscus legati ad res repetendas in Macedoniam renuntiandamque amicitiam regi missi redierunt; qui iam sua sponte infestum Persei senatum insuper accenderunt, relatis ordine, quae uidissent quaeque audissent: uidisse se per omnes urbes Macedonum summa ui parari bellum. cum ad regem peruenissent, per multos dies conueniendi eius potestatem non factam; postremo, cum desperato iam conloquio profecti essent, tum demum se ex itinere reuocatos et ad eum introductos esse. suae orationis summam fuisse: foedus cum Philippo ictum <es>se, cum ipso eo post mortem patris renouatum, in quo diserte prohiberi eum extra fines arma efferre, prohiberi socios populi Romani lacessere bello.

[25] About the same time Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, Appius Claudius Cento, Titus Annius Luscus, legates sent to demand the restitution of property in Macedonia and to renounce friendship with the king, returned; and they, by reporting in order what they had seen and what they had heard, further inflamed the senate, already of its own accord hostile to Perseus: that they had seen through all the cities of the Macedonians war being prepared with the utmost force. When they had come to the king, for many days no permission to meet him was granted; finally, when they had set out with a conference now despaired of, then at last they were recalled from the road and introduced to him. The sum of their speech had been this: that a treaty had been struck with Philip, and with this man himself it had been renewed after his father’s death, in which it is expressly forbidden that he carry arms beyond his borders, and forbidden that he assail the allies of the Roman People with war.

exposita deinde ab se ordine, quae ipsi nuper in senatu Eumenen uera omnia et conperta referentem audissent. Samothracae praeterea per multos dies occultum consilium cum legationibus ciuitatium Asiae regem habuisse. pro his iniuriis satisfieri senatum aecum censere, reddique sibi res sociisque suis, quas contra ius foederis habeat.

then they set forth in order what they themselves had lately heard in the senate, Eumenes reporting all things as true and as ascertained. Moreover, at Samothrace the king had for many days held a secret council with the legations of the cities of Asia. For these injuries the senate deemed it equitable that satisfaction be made, and that there be restored to themselves and to their allies the possessions which he holds contrary to the law of the treaty.

regem ad ea primo accensum ira inclementer locutum, auaritiam superbiamque Romanis obicientem frementemque, quod alii super alios legati uenirent speculatum dicta factaque sua, quod se ad nutum imperiumque eorum omnia dicere ac facere aecum censerent; postremo multum ac diu uociferatum reuerti postero die iussisse: scriptum se responsum dare uelle. tum ita sibi scriptum traditum esse: foedus cum patre ictum ad se nihil pertinere; id se renouari, non quia probaret, sed quia in noua possessione regni patienda omnia essent, passum. nouom foedus si secum facere uellent, conuenire prius de condicionibus debere; si in animum inducerent, ut ex aequo foedus fieret, et se uisurum, quid sibi faciundum esset, et illos credere e re publica consulturos.

the king at these words at first, inflamed with anger, spoke inclemently, throwing in the Romans’ teeth avarice and arrogance and growling because envoys were coming one upon another to spy out his words and deeds, because they judged it fair that he should say and do everything at their nod and imperium; finally, after shouting much and long, he ordered them to return on the next day: he wished to give his answer in writing. then that in this manner a written reply had been delivered to them: that the treaty struck with his father pertained nothing to him; that he had allowed it to be renewed, not because he approved it, but because in a new possession of the kingdom everything had to be endured. if they wished to make a new treaty with him, they ought first to agree about the conditions; if they brought themselves to it, that the treaty be made on equal terms, both that he would see what he ought to do, and that they should believe they would consult for the commonwealth.

atque ita se proripuisse, et summoueri e regia omnes coeptos. tum se amicitiam et societatem renuntiasse. qua uoce eum accensum restitisse atque uoce clara denuntiasse sibi, ut triduo regni sui decederent finibus.

and that thus he had rushed out, and that all began to be removed from the royal palace. then that he had renounced friendship and alliance. at which word he, incensed, stood fast and with a loud voice gave formal notice to them, that within three days they should depart from the borders of his kingdom.

ita se profectos; nec sibi aut manentibus <aut abeuntibus> quidquam hospitaliter aut benigne factum. Thessali deinde Aetolique legati auditi. senatui, ut scirent quam primum, quibus ducibus usura res publica esset, litteras mitti consulibus placuit, ut, uter eorum posset, Romam ad magistratus creandos ueniret.

thus they set out; and for them, whether staying <or departing>, nothing was done hospitably or kindly. Then the Thessalian and Aetolian envoys were heard. It pleased the senate that letters be sent to the consuls, so that they might know as soon as possible with which commanders the Republic would be going to employ them; that whichever of them could should come to Rome to elect magistrates.

[26] Nihil magnopere, quod memorari adtineat, rei publicae eo anno consules gesserant. magis e re publica uisum erat, conprimi ac sedari exasperatos Ligures. cum Macedonicum bellum expectaretur, Gentium quoque, Illyriorum regem, suspectum Issaei legati fecerunt, simul questi fines suos eum depopulatum, simul nuntiantes uno animo uiuere Macedonum atque Illyriorum regem; communi consilio parare Romanis bellum; et specie legatorum Illyrios speculatores Romae esse Perse auctore missos, ut, quid ageretur, scirent.

[26] The consuls had accomplished nothing of great moment for the commonwealth that year that merits being recorded. It seemed more for the interest of the republic that the embittered Ligurians be repressed and calmed. While the Macedonian war was expected, the envoys from Issa also rendered Gentius, king of the Illyrians, suspect, at once complaining that he had ravaged their borders, and at once reporting that the king of the Macedonians and the king of the Illyrians were living with one mind; by common counsel they were preparing war against the Romans; and that, under the guise of envoys, Illyrians were in Rome as spies, sent at the instigation of Perseus, so that they might know what was being done.

Illyrii uocati in senatum; qui cum legatos se esse missos ab rege dicerent ad purganda crimina, si qua de rege Issaei deferrent, quaesitum est, quid ita non adissent magistratum, ut ex instituto loca, lautia acciperent, sciretur denique uenisse eos et super qua re uenissent? haesitantibus in responso, ut curia excederent, dictum; responsum tamquam legatis, qui ut adirent senatum non postulassent, dari non placuit; mittendosque ad regem legatos censuerunt, qui nuntiarent, quid socii quererentur; senatum existumare non aecum eum facere, qui ab sociis suis non abstineret iniuriam. in hanc legationem missi A. Terentius Uarro C. Plaetorius C. Cicereius.

The Illyrians were called into the senate; and when they said that they were envoys sent by the king to purge the charges, if any were being brought against the king by the Issaeans, it was asked why they had not approached the magistrate, so that, according to established usage, they might receive quarters and hospitality, and so that it might be known, finally, that they had come and on what business they had come. As they hesitated in their reply, it was ordered that they withdraw from the Curia; it did not please to give an answer to “envoys” who had not requested leave to approach the senate; and they voted that envoys be sent to the king to announce what the allies were complaining of; that the senate judged he was acting not equitably, in that he did not refrain from wrong against their allies. On this embassy were sent Aulus Terentius Varro, Gaius Plaetorius, and Gaius Cicereius.

ex Asia, qui circa socios reges missi erant, redierunt legati, qui rettulerunt Eumenen <Aeg>inae, Antiochum in Syria, Ptolemaeum Alexandriae sese conuenisse. omnes sollicitatos legationibus Persei, sed egregie <in> fide permanere pollicitosque omnia, quae populus Romanus imperasset, praestaturos. et ciuitates socias adisse: ceteras satis fidas, Rhodios fluctuantis et inbutos Persei consiliis inuenisse.

From Asia, the legates who had been sent around to the allied kings returned, and they reported that they had met Eumenes at Aegina, Antiochus in Syria, and Ptolemy at Alexandria. All had been solicited by the legations of Perseus, but declared that they were remaining outstandingly in fidelity and had promised to make good everything that the Roman People should command. They had also approached the allied cities: the rest they found sufficiently faithful; the Rhodians wavering and imbued with the counsels of Perseus.

uenerant Rhodii legati ad purganda ea, quae uolgo iactari de ciuitate sciebant; ceterum senatum iis non <prius dari, quam no>ui consules magistratum inissent, placuit.

the Rhodian envoys had come to purge those things which they knew were being bandied about in common report concerning the city; but it was resolved that the senate should not be w consuls had entered upon office.

[27] Belli apparatum non differendum censuerunt. C. Licinio praetori negotium datur, ut ex ueteribus quinqueremibus in naualibus Romae subductis, quae possent usui esse, reficeret pararetque naues quinquaginta. si quid ad eum numerum explendum deesset, C. Memmio collegae in Siciliam scriberet, ut eas, quae in Sicilia naues essent, reficeret atque expediret, ut Brundisium primo quoque tempore mitti possent.

[27] They judged that the apparatus of war was not to be deferred. The task is given to the praetor Gaius Licinius to refit, from the old quinqueremes hauled up in the shipyards at Rome, such as could be of use, and to prepare fifty ships. If anything were lacking to make up that number, he was to write to his colleague Gaius Memmius in Sicily, that he should refit and equip those ships which were in Sicily, so that they could be sent to Brundisium at the earliest possible time.

socios nauales libertini ordinis in uiginti et quinque naues exciuibus Romanis C. Licinius praetor scribere iussus; in quinque et uiginti parem numerum Cn. Sicinius sociis imperaret; idem praetor peditum octo milia, quadringentos <equites> ab sociis Latini nominis exigeret. hunc militem qui Brundisi acciperet atque in Macedoniam mitteret, A. Atilius Serranus, qui priore anno praetor fuerat, deligitur. Cn. Sicinius praetor ut exercitum paratum ad traiciendum haberet, C. Popilio consuli ex auctoritate senatus C. Licinius praetor scribit, ut et legionem secundam, quae maxume ueterana in Liguribus erat, et <ex> sociis Latini nominis quattuor milia peditum, ducentos equites idibus Februariis Brundisi adesse iuberet.

C. Licinius the praetor was ordered to enroll, from Roman citizens, naval auxiliaries of the freedman order for 25 ships; for 25 likewise, Cn. Sicinius should levy an equal number from the allies; the same praetor should require from the allies of the Latin name 8,000 infantry, 400 <horsemen>. To receive this soldiery at Brundisium and to send it into Macedonia, A. Atilius Serranus, who had been praetor the previous year, is chosen. In order that the praetor Cn. Sicinius might have an army prepared for crossing, by authority of the senate C. Licinius the praetor writes to C. Popilius the consul, that he should order both the second legion, which was most veteran among the Ligurians, and <from> the allies of the Latin name 4,000 infantry and 200 horse to be at Brundisium on the Ides of February.

hac classe et hoc exercitu Cn. Sicinius prouinciam Macedoniam obtinere, donec successor ueniret, iussus, prorogato in annum imperio. ea omnia, quae senatus censuit, inpigre facta sunt. duodequadraginta quinqueremes ex naualibus deductae; qui deduceret eas Brundisium, L. Porcius Licinus praepositus; duodecim ex Sicilia missae.

with this fleet and this army Gnaeus Sicinius was ordered to hold the province of Macedonia until a successor should arrive, his imperium prorogued for a year. All the things which the senate decreed were promptly carried out. Forty-eight quinqueremes were launched from the dockyards; to conduct them to Brundisium, L. Porcius Licinus was put in charge; twelve were sent from Sicily.

ad frumentum classi exercituique coemendum in Apuliam Calabriamque tres legati missi, Sex. Digitius T. Iuuentius M. Caecilius. ad omnia praeparata Cn. Sicinius praetor, paludatus ex urbe profectus, Brundisium uenit.

For grain to be bought up for the fleet and the army in Apulia and Calabria, three legates were sent, Sextus Digitius, Titus Juventius, Marcus Caecilius. With everything prepared, Gnaeus Sicinius, praetor, in his military cloak, having set out from the city, came to Brundisium.

[28] Exitu prope anni C. Popilius consul Romam redit aliquanto serius, quam <senatus> censuerat, cui primo quoque tempore magistratus creari, cum tantum bellum immineret, e re publica uisum erat. itaque non secundis auribus patrum auditus est consul, cum in aede Bellonae de rebus in Liguribus gestis dissereret. succlamationes frequentes erant interrogationesque, cur scelere fratris oppressos Ligures in libertatem non restituisset.

[28] With the year almost at its end, C. Popilius the consul returned to Rome somewhat later than the senate had decreed, which had judged it to be for the advantage of the commonwealth that magistrates be created at the earliest possible time, since so great a war was impending. And so the consul was not heard by the Fathers with favorable ears, while in the Temple of Bellona he was discoursing about the affairs done in Liguria. There were frequent shouts and questions as to why he had not restored to liberty the Ligurians oppressed by his brother’s crime.

comitia consularia, in quam edicta erant diem, ante diem duodecimum kal. Martias sunt habita. creati consules <P.> Licinius Crassus C. Cassius Longinus.

the consular comitia, on the day for which they had been proclaimed, were held on the twelfth day before the Kalends of March. the consuls elected were <P.> Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus.

postero die praetores facti C. Sulpicius Galba L. Furius Philus L. Canuleius Diues C. Lucretius <Gallus> C. Caninius Rebilus L. Uillius Annalis. his praetoribus prouinciae decretae, duae iure Romae dicendo, Hispania et Sicilia et Sardinia, ut uni sors integra esset, quo senatus censuisset. consulibus designatis imperauit senatus, ut, qua die magistratum inissent, hostiis maioribus rite mactatis precarentur, ut, quod bellum populus Romanus in animo haberet gerere, ut id prosperum eueniret.

On the next day the praetors were elected: Gaius Sulpicius Galba, Lucius Furius Philus, Lucius Canuleius Dives, Gaius Lucretius <Gallus>, Gaius Caninius Rebilus, Lucius Uillius Annalis. To these praetors provinces were decreed: two for pronouncing the law at Rome, Spain and Sicily and Sardinia, with one lot left intact, to whichever the senate should have resolved. The senate ordered the consuls designate that, on the day they should enter office, after the greater victims had been duly slaughtered, they should pray that the war which the Roman people had in mind to wage might turn out prosperous.

eodem die decreuit senatus, C. Popilius consul ludos per dies decem Ioui optumo maxumo <fieri> uoueret donaque circa omnia puluinaria dari, <si> res publica decem annos in eodem statu fuisset. ita ut censuerant, in Capitolio uouit consul, ludos fieri donaque dari, quanta ex pecunia decresset senatus, cum centum et quinquaginta non minus adessent. praeeunte uerba Lepido pontifice maxumo id uotum susceptum est.

on the same day the senate decreed that Gaius Popilius, the consul, should vow that games be held for ten days to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and that gifts be given around all the pulvinars, if the commonwealth should have been for ten years in the same condition. as they had resolved, on the Capitol the consul vowed that games be held and gifts be given, in such amount from the money as the senate had decreed, when not fewer than one hundred and fifty were present. with Lepidus, the pontifex maximus, prompting the words, that vow was undertaken.

eo anno sacerdotes publici mortui L. Aemilius Papus decemuir sacrorum et Q. Fuluius Flaccus pontifex, qui priore anno fuerat censor. hic foeda morte perit. ex duobus filiis eius, qui tum in Illyrico militabant, nuntiatum alterum <mortuum, alterum> graui et periculoso morbo aegrum esse.

In that year the public priests who died were L. Aemilius Papus, a decemvir of the sacred rites, and Q. Fuluius Flaccus, pontiff, who in the previous year had been censor. The latter perished by a foul death. Of his two sons, who at that time were serving in Illyricum, it was reported that one <dead, the other> was sick with a grave and perilous disease.

obruit animum simul luctus metusque: mane ingressi cubiculum serui laqueo dependentem inuenere. erat opinio post censuram minus conpotem fuisse sui; uulgo Iunonis Laciniae iram ob spoliatum templum alienasse mentem ferebant. suffectus in Aemili locum decemuir M. Ualerius Messalla; in Fului pontifex Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, oppido adulescens sacerdos, est lectus.

grief and fear at once overwhelmed his mind: in the morning the servants, having entered the bedroom, found him hanging by a noose. there was an opinion that after the censorship he had been less the master of himself; commonly they reported that the wrath of Juno Lacinia, on account of the despoiled temple, had alienated his mind. M. Valerius Messalla was appointed decemvir in Aemilius’s place; in Fulvius’s stead, as pontifex, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, a decidedly youthful priest, was chosen.

[29] P. Licinio C. Cassio consulibus non urbs tantum Roma nec terra Italia, sed omnes reges ciuitatesque, quae in Europa quaeque in Asia erant, conuerterant animos in curam Macedonici ac Romani belli. Eumenen cum uetus odium stimulabat, tum recens ira, quod scelere regis prope ut uictuma mactatus Delphis esset. Prusias, Bithyniae rex, statuerat abstinere armis <et> euentum expectare; nam neque Romanos posse aequom censere, aduersus fratrem uxoris <se> arma ferre, et apud Persea uictorem ueniam per sororem impetrabilem fore.

[29] In the consulship of P. Licinius and C. Cassius, not the city Rome only nor the land Italy, but all kings and cities, those which were in Europe and those in Asia, had turned their minds to the concern of the Macedonian and Roman war. Eumenes was stirred both by old hatred and by fresh anger, because by the crime of the king he had been nearly sacrificed as a victim at Delphi. Prusias, king of Bithynia, had determined to abstain from arms <and> await the outcome; for he could not think that the Romans would deem it equitable that he <himself> should bear arms against his wife’s brother, and that, with Perseus victorious, pardon would be obtainable through his sister.

Ariarathes, Cappadocum rex, praeterquam quod Romanis suo nomine auxilia pollicitus erat, ex quo est iunctus Eumeni adfinitate, in omnia belli pacisque se consociauerat consilia. Antiochus inminebat quidem Aegypti regno, et pueritiam regis et inertiam tutorum spernens; et ambigendo de Coele Syria causam belli se habiturum existumabat gesturumque id nullo impedimento occupatis Romanis in Macedonico bello; quod <ad> bellum tamen omnia et per suos legatos senatui et ipse legatis eorum enixe pollicitus erat. Ptolemaeus propter aetatem alieni etiam tum arbitrii erat; tutores et bellum aduersus Antiochum parabant, quo uindicarent Coelen Syriam, et Romanis omnia pollicebantur ad Macedonicum bellum.

Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians, besides the fact that in his own name he had promised auxiliaries to the Romans, ever since he was joined to Eumenes by affinity, had consociated himself with all counsels of war and peace. Antiochus was indeed menacing the kingdom of Egypt, spurning both the boyhood of the king and the inertia of his guardians; and by disputing about Coele Syria he supposed that he would have a cause of war, and that he would prosecute it with no impediment while the Romans were occupied with the Macedonian war; yet for that war he had most earnestly promised everything, both through his own envoys to the senate and himself to their envoys. Ptolemy, on account of his age, was even then under another’s discretion; his guardians also were preparing a war against Antiochus, by which they might vindicate Coele Syria, and they were promising everything to the Romans for the Macedonian war.

Masinissa et frumento iuuabat Romanos et auxilia cum elephantis Misagenenque filium mittere ad bellum parabat. consilia autem in omnem fortunam ita disposita habebat: si penes Romanos uictoria esset, sua quoque in eodem statu mansura esse, neque ultra quidquam mouendum; non enim passuros Romanos uim Carthaginiensibus adferri; si fractae essent opes Romanorum, quae tum protegerent Carthaginienses, suam omnem Africam fore. Gentius, rex Illyriorum, fecerat potius, cur suspectus esset Romanis, quam satis statuerat, utram foueret partem, impetuque magis quam consilio his aut illis se adiuncturus uidebatur.

Masinissa both aided the Romans with grain and was preparing to send auxiliaries with elephants and his son Misagenes to the war. His counsels, moreover, he had so disposed for every fortune: if victory were in the Romans’ hands, his own affairs too would remain in the same status, and nothing further should be moved; for the Romans would not suffer violence to be brought against the Carthaginians. If the resources of the Romans, which then protected the Carthaginians, were broken, all Africa would be his own. Gentius, king of the Illyrians, had done rather what made him suspect to the Romans than had adequately determined which side he should foster, and he seemed likely to join himself to one party or the other by impulse rather than by counsel.

Cotys Thrax, Odrysarum rex, clam Macedonum partis erat.

Cotys the Thracian, king of the Odrysians, was secretly on the Macedonians’ side.

[30] Haec sententia regibus cum esset de bello, in liberis gentibus populisque plebs ubique omnis ferme, ut solet, deterioris erat, ad regem Macedonasque inclinata; principum diuersa cerneres studia. pars ita in Romanos effusi erant, ut auctoritatem inmodico fauore corrumperent, pauci ex iis iustitia imperii Romani capti, plures ita, si praecipuam operam nauassent, potentes sese in ciuitatibus suis futuros rati. pars altera regiae adulationis erat; quos<dam> aes alienum et desperatio rerum suarum eodem manente statu praecipites ad nouanda omnia agebat; quosdam uentosum ingenium, quia <ad> Persea magis aura popularis ierat.

[30] Since this was the opinion of the kings about the war, among free nations and peoples the plebs almost everywhere, as is usual, was of the worse sort, inclined toward the king and the Macedonians; you could discern diverse zeal among the leading men. Some were so poured out toward the Romans that by immoderate favor they were corrupting their authority: a few of these were captivated by the justice of the Roman imperium; more thought that, if they had rendered exceptional service, they would become powerful in their own commonwealths. The other party was given to royal adulation; some, because of indebtedness and despair of their own affairs, with the situation remaining the same, were driven headlong to innovate everything; some by a windy disposition, because the popular breeze had gone more to Perseus.

tertia pars, optuma eadem et prudentissima, si utique optio domini potioris daretur, sub Romanis quam sub rege malebat esse; si liberum in ea re arbitrium fortunae esset, neutram partem uolebant potentiorem altera oppressa fieri, sed inlibatis potius uiribus utriusque partis pacem ex aequo manere; ita inter utrasque optimam condicionem ciuitatium fore. protegente altera semper inopem ab alterius iniuria. haec sentientes certamina fautorum utriusque partis taciti ex tuto spectabant.

the third faction, likewise the best and most prudent, if in any case the option of a stronger master were granted, preferred to be under the Romans rather than under the king; if in that matter the arbitration of Fortune were free, they wished that neither side become more powerful with the other oppressed, but rather that, with the forces of each party left unimpaired, peace remain on an equal footing; thus between the two there would be the best condition of the cities, with the one always protecting the needy from the other’s injury. Thinking thus, they, silent, watched from a safe position the contests of the fautors of each side.

Consules, quo die magistratum inierunt, ex senatus consulto cum circa omnia fana, in quibus lectisternium maiorem partem anni esse solet, maioribus hostiis immolassent, inde preces suas acceptas ab diis immortalibus ominati, senatui rite sacrificatum precationemque de bello factam renuntiarunt. haruspices ita responderunt: si quid rei nouae inciperetur, id maturandum esse; uictoriam, triumphum, propagationem <imperii portendi. patres, quod bonum faustum> felixque populo Romano esset, centuriatis comitiis primo <quoque> die ferre ad populum consules iusserunt, ut, quod Perseus Philippi filius, Macedonum rex, aduersus foedus cum patre Philippo ictum et secum post mortem eius renouatum sociis populi Romani arma intulisset, agros uastasset urbesque occupasset, quodque belli parandi aduersus populum Romanum consilia inisset, arma milites classem eius rei causa comparasset, ut, nisi de iis rebus satisfecisset, bellum cum eo iniretur.

The consuls, on the day they entered upon their magistracy, by decree of the senate, when around all the shrines in which a lectisternium is accustomed to be for the greater part of the year they had sacrificed with greater victims, then, taking as an omen that their prayers had been accepted by the immortal gods, reported to the senate that the sacrifice had been duly performed and that a prayer concerning war had been made. The haruspices replied thus: if any novel enterprise were undertaken, it must be expedited; that victory, triumph, and the propagation of the <empire was portended. The Fathers, as what would be good, favorable> and fortunate for the Roman People, ordered the consuls to bring before the people in the centuriate comitia on the <very> first day, that, because Perseus, son of Philip, king of the Macedonians, contrary to the treaty struck with his father Philip and renewed with himself after his death, had brought arms against the allies of the Roman People, had ravaged the fields and occupied cities, and because he had entered upon plans for preparing war against the Roman People and had procured arms, soldiers, and a fleet for that purpose, unless he made satisfaction concerning those matters, war should be entered upon with him.

haec rogatio ad populum lata est.

This rogation was brought before the people.

[31] Senatus consultum inde factum est, ut consules inter se prouincias Italiam et Macedoniam compararent sortirenturue; cui Macedonia obuenisset, ut is regem Persea quique eius sectam secuti essent, nisi populo Romano satisfecissent, bello persequeretur. legiones quattuor nouas scribi placuit, binas singulis consulibus. id praecipui prouinciae Macedoniae datum, quod, cum alterius consulis legionibus quina milia et duceni pedites ex uetere instituto darentur in singulas legiones, in Macedoniam sena milia peditum scribi iussa, equites treceni aequaliter in singulas legiones.

[31] Then a senatorial decree was passed that the consuls between themselves should either arrange or cast lots for the provinces of Italy and Macedonia; to whomever Macedonia fell, that he should prosecute with war King Perseus and those who had followed his faction, unless they made satisfaction to the Roman People. It was resolved that four new legions be enrolled, two for each consul. This special provision was granted to the province of Macedonia: whereas for the legions of the other consul 5,200 infantry, according to ancient custom, were assigned to each legion, for Macedonia 6,000 infantry were ordered to be enrolled, and 300 cavalry equally for each legion.

et in sociali exercitu consuli alteri auctus numerus: sedecim milia peditum octingentos equites, praeter eos, quos Cn. Sicinius duxisset, sescentos equites, in Macedoniam traiceret. Italiae satis uisa duodecim milia sociorum peditum, sescenti equites. illud quoque praecipuum datum sorti Macedoniae, ut centuriones militesque ueteres scriberet, quos uellet, consul usque ad quinquaginta annos.

and in the allied army the number for the other consul was increased: he should transport into Macedonia sixteen thousand infantry, eight hundred cavalry, besides those whom Cn. Sicinius had led, six hundred cavalry, into Macedonia. For Italy there seemed sufficient twelve thousand allied infantry, six hundred cavalry. That, too, was given as a special prerogative to the lot of Macedonia, that the consul should enroll centurions and veteran soldiers, whom he wished, up to fifty years of age.

in tribunis militum nouatum eo anno propter Macedonicum bellum, quod consules ex senatus consulto ad populum tulerunt, ne tribuni militum eo anno suffragiis crearentur, sed consulum praetorumque in iis faciendis iudicium arbitriumque esset. inter praetores ita partita imperia: praetorem, cuius sors fuisset, ut iret, quo senatus censuisset, Brundisium ad classem ire placuit, atque ibi recognoscere socios nauales, dimissisque, si qui parum idonei essent, supplementum legere ex libertinis et dare operam, ut duae partes ciuium Romanorum, tertia sociorum esset. commeatus classi legionibusque ut ex Sicilia Sardinia<que> subueherentur, praetoribus, <qui> eas prouincias sortiti essent, mandari placuit, ut alteras decumas Siculis Sardisque imperarent, quod frumentum ad exercitum in Macedoniam portaretur.

In the matter of the military tribunes, an innovation was made that year on account of the Macedonian war, which the consuls, by senatorial decree, brought before the people: that the military tribunes for that year should not be created by votes, but that the judgment and discretion in appointing them should belong to the consuls and praetors. Among the praetors the commands were thus apportioned: it was resolved that the praetor whose lot had fallen to go wherever the senate had decreed should go to Brundisium to the fleet, and there review the naval allies, and, after dismissing any who were less than suitable, levy a supplement from the freedmen and take care that two parts be Roman citizens, a third allies. That supplies for the fleet and the legions be brought up from Sicily and Sardinia<and>, it was resolved to be ordered to the praetors, <who> had drawn those provinces, that they should impose second tithes upon the Sicilians and Sardinians, for the grain to be carried to the army in Macedonia.

Siciliam C. Caninius Rebilus est sortitus, L. Furius Philus Sardiniam, <L. Canuleius Hispaniam,> C. Sulpicius Galba urbanam iurisdictionem, L. Uillius Annalis inter peregrinos; C. Lucretio Gallo, quo senatus censuisset, sors obuenit.

Sicily was allotted to C. Caninius Rebilus, Sardinia to L. Furius Philus, <Spain to L. Canuleius,> the urban jurisdiction to C. Sulpicius Galba, the peregrine jurisdiction to L. Uillius Annalis; to C. Lucretius Gallus the lot fell to go where the senate had resolved.

[32] Inter consules magis cauillatio quam magna contentio de prouincia fuit. Cassius sine sorte se Macedoniam optaturum dicebat, nec posse collegam saluo iureiurando secum sortiri. praetorem eum, ne in prouinciam iret, in contione iurasse se stato loco statisque diebus sacrificia habere, quae absente se recte fieri non possent; quae non magis consule quam praetore absente recte fieri posse, si senatus non, quid uelit in consulatu, potius quam, quid in praetura iurauerit P. Licinius, animaduertendum esse censeat; se tamen futurum in senatus potestate.

[32] Between the consuls there was more cavillation than great contention about the province. Cassius said that, without a lot, he would opt for Macedonia, and that his colleague could not, without violating his oath, draw lots with him. That man, as praetor, had sworn in the assembly not to go into a province, that he had to hold sacrifices at a fixed place and on fixed days, which could not rightly be performed in his absence; which could no more be rightly performed with the consul absent than with the praetor absent, if the senate should judge that regard must be had not to what it wishes in the consulship rather than to what P. Licinius swore in the praetorship; nevertheless, he would be in the senate’s power.

consulti patres, cui consulatum populus Romanus non negasset, <ei> ab se prouinciam negari, superbum rati, sortiri consules iusserunt. P. Licinio Macedonia, <C.> Cassio Italia obuenit. legiones inde sortiti sunt: prima et tertia <ut> in Macedoniam traicerentur, secunda et quarta ut in Italia remanerent.

The senators, when consulted, thinking it arrogant that a man to whom the Roman People had not denied the consulship should have a province denied him by themselves, ordered the consuls to cast lots. Macedonia fell to P. Licinius, Italy to C. Cassius. Then they cast lots for the legions: that the first and the third be transported into Macedonia, and that the second and the fourth remain in Italy.

dilectum consules multo intentiore, quam alias, cura habebant. Licinius ueteres quoque scribebat milites centurionesque; et multi uoluntate nomina dabant, quia locupletes uidebant, qui priore Macedonico bello aut aduersus Antiochum in Asia stipendia fecerant. cum tribuni militum, qui centuriones * * , sed primum quemque citarent, tres et uiginti centuriones, qui primos pilos duxerant, citati tribunos plebis appellarunt.

The consuls were having the levy in care with much more intensity than at other times. Licinius was enrolling even veterans, both soldiers and centurions; and many were giving in their names of their own will, because they saw wealthy men, those who had done their service in the earlier Macedonian war or against Antiochus in Asia. When the military tribunes, who the centurions * * , but were summoning each of the foremost first, twenty‑three centurions who had led the first spears, having been summoned, appealed to the tribunes of the plebs.

duo ex collegio, M. Fuluius Nobilior et M. Claudius Marcellus, ad consules <rem> reiciebant: eorum cognitionem esse debere, quibus dilectus quibusque bellum mandatum esset; ceteri cognituros se, de quo appellati essent, aiebant, et si iniuria fieret, auxilium ciuibus laturos.

two from the college, M. Fulvius Nobilior and M. Claudius Marcellus, referred <the matter> to the consuls: that the cognizance ought to belong to those to whom the levy and the war had been committed; the rest said that they would take cognizance of that about which they had been appealed to, and, if injustice were being done, would bring help to the citizens.

[33] Ad subsellia tribunorum res agebatur; eo M. Popilius consularis, aduocatus <centurionum, et> centuriones et consul uenerunt. consule inde postulante, ut in contione ea res ageretur, populus in contionem aduocatus. pro centurionibus M. Popilius, qui biennio ante consul fuerat, ita uerba fecit: militares homines et stipendia iusta et corpora et aetate et adsiduis laboribus confecta habere; nihil recusare tamen, quo minus operam rei publicae dent.

[33] At the benches of the tribunes the matter was being conducted; thither came M. Popilius, a man of consular rank, as advocate <of the centurions, and> the centurions and the consul. Then, at the consul’s request that the matter be transacted in a public assembly (contio), the people were summoned into an assembly. On behalf of the centurions M. Popilius, who two years before had been consul, spoke thus: that the military men had both their due terms of service and their bodies worn out by age and by assiduous labors; nevertheless they declined nothing that might prevent them from giving their service to the Republic.

id tantum deprecari, ne inferiores iis ordines, quam quos, <cum> militassent, habuissent, adtribuerentur. P. Licinius consul senatus consulta recitari iussit, primum, quo bellum senatus Perseo iussisset, deinde, quo ueteres centuriones quam plurimos ad id bellum scribi censuisset, nec ulli, qui non maior annis quinquaginta esset, uacationem militiae esse. deprecatus est deinde, <ne> in nouo bello, tam propinquo Italiae, aduersus regem potentissimum, aut tribunos militum dilectum habentis inpedirent, aut prohiberent consulem, quem cuique ordinem adsignari e re publica esset, eum adsignare.

they begged only this: that ranks not inferior to those which, when they had served, they had held, should be assigned to them. Publius Licinius the consul ordered the senate’s decrees to be recited—first, that by which the senate had ordered war against Perseus; then, that by which it had resolved that as many veteran centurions as possible be enrolled for that war, and that no one who was not over fifty years of age should have exemption from military service. Then he entreated that, in a new war so near to Italy, against a most powerful king, they should neither hinder the military tribunes holding the levy nor prevent the consul from assigning to each the rank which it was in the public interest to be assigned.

si quid in ea re dubium esset, ad senatum reicerent.

if anything in that matter were doubtful, let them refer it to the senate.

[34] Postquam consul, quae uoluerat, dixit, Sp. Ligustinus ex eo numero, qui tribunos plebis appellauerant, a consule et ab tribunis petit, ut sibi paucis ad populum agere liceret. permissu omnium ita locutus fertur: 'Sp. Ligustinus [tribus] Crustumina ex Sabinis sum oriundus, Quirites. pater mihi iugerum agri reliquit et paruom tugurium, in quo natus educatusque sum, hodieque ibi habito.

[34] After the consul said what he wished, Sp. Ligustinus, from that number who had appealed to the tribunes of the plebs, asked from the consul and from the tribunes that it be allowed him to address the people in a few words. With the permission of all he is reported to have spoken thus: 'Sp. Ligustinus, of the [tribe] Crustumina, I am sprung from the Sabines, Quirites. My father left me one iugerum of land and a small hut, in which I was born and brought up, and to this day I dwell there.'

cum primum in aetatem ueni, pater mihi uxorem fratris sui filiam dedit, quae secum nihil adtulit praeter libertatem pudicitiamque, et cum his fecunditatem, quanta uel in diti domo satis esset. sex filii nobis, duae filiae sunt, utraeque iam nuptae. filii quattuor togas uiriles habent, duo praetextati sunt.

as soon as I came of age, my father gave me as wife his brother’s daughter, who brought with her nothing except liberty and chastity, and along with these fecundity, as great as would be sufficient even in a rich house. we have six sons, two daughters, both already married. four sons have the toga virilis, two are praetextati.

miles sum factus P. Sulpicio C. Aurelio consulibus. in eo exercitu, qui in Macedoniam est transportatus, biennium miles gregarius fui aduersus Philippum regem; tertio anno uirtutis causa mihi T. Quinctius Flamininus decumum ordinem hastatum adsignauit. deuicto Philippo Macedonibusque cum in Italiam <re>portati ac dimissi essemus, continuo miles uoluntarius cum M. Porcio consule in Hispaniam sum profectus.

I was made a soldier under the consuls P. Sulpicius and C. Aurelius. In that army which was transported into Macedonia, I was for two years a rank-and-file soldier against King Philip; in the third year, on account of valor, T. Quinctius Flamininus assigned me to the tenth rank of the Hastati. With Philip and the Macedonians defeated, when we had been brought back to Italy and discharged, I immediately set out as a volunteer soldier with the consul M. Porcius to Spain.

neminem omnium imperatorum, qui uiuant, acriorem uirtutis spectatorem ac iudicem fuisse sciunt, qui et illum et alios duces longa militia experti sunt. hic me imperator dignum iudicauit, cui primum hastatum prioris centuriae adsignaret. tertio iterum uoluntarius miles factus sum in eum exercitum, qui aduersus Aetolos et Antiochum regem est missus.

Those who have tested both him and other leaders in long military service know that, of all the commanders who are alive, no one has been a keener spectator and judge of valor. This commander judged me worthy to assign me as First Hastatus of the foremost century. For the third time I again became a volunteer soldier in that army which was sent against the Aetolians and King Antiochus.

a M'. Acilio mihi primus princeps prioris centuriae est adsignatus. expulso rege Antiocho, subactis Aetolis reportati sumus in Italiam; et deinceps bis, quae annua merebant legiones, stipendia feci. bis deinde in Hispania militaui, semel Q. Fuluio Flacco, iterum Ti. Sempronio Graccho praetore.

By Manius Acilius the post of first princeps of the prior century was assigned to me. With King Antiochus driven out and the Aetolians subdued, we were brought back to Italy; and thereafter I completed two periods of service with the legions that drew annual pay. Then twice I served in Spain, once under Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, and again under Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, praetor.

a Flacco inter ceteros, quos uirtutis causa secum ex prouincia ad triumphum deducebat, deductus sum; a Ti. Graccho rogatus in prouinciam ii. quater intra paucos annos primum pilum duxi; quater et tricies uirtutis causa donatus ab imperatoribus sum; sex ciuicas coronas accepi. uiginti duo stipendia annua in exercitu emerita habeo, et maior annis sum quinquaginta. quodsi mihi nec stipendia omnia emerita essent necdum aetas uacationem daret, tamen, cum quattuor milites pro me uobis dare, P. Licini, possem, aecum erat me dimitti.

by Flaccus I was escorted among the others whom, for the sake of valor, he was leading with him from the province to a triumph; at the request of Tiberius Gracchus I went into the province. Four times within a few years I commanded the primus pilus; thirty-four times I was decorated by the commanders for valor; I received six civic crowns. I have twenty-two annual stipends completed in the army, and I am over fifty years old. And even if not all my stipends had been completed and my age had not yet granted exemption, nevertheless, since I could furnish to you, Publius Licinius, four soldiers in my place, it was equitable that I be discharged.

sed haec pro causa mea dicta accipiatis uelim; ipse me, quoad quisquam, qui exercitus scribit, idoneum militem iudicabit, numquam sum excusaturus. quo ordine me dignum iudicent tribuni militum, ipsorum est potestatis; ne quis me uirtute in exercitu praestet, dabo operam; et semper ita fecisse me et imperatores mei et, qui una stipendia fecerunt, testes sunt. uos quoque aecum est, commilitones, etsi appellatione uostrum usurpatis ius, cum adulescentes nihil aduersus magistratuum senatusque auctoritatem usquam feceritis, nunc quoque in potestate consulum ac senatus esse et omnia honesta loca ducere, quibus rem publicam defensuri sitis.'

but I would wish you to accept these things as spoken on behalf of my case; I myself, so long as anyone who levies armies shall judge me a suitable soldier, will never offer excuse. In what rank the tribunes of the soldiers judge me worthy is within their power; that no one may surpass me in valor in the army, I will take pains; and that I have always done so, both my commanders and those who have served campaigns together with me, are witnesses. You also it is equitable, fellow-soldiers, although by appeal you exercise your right, since as young men you have done nothing anywhere against the authority of the magistrates and the senate, now also to be under the power of the consuls and the senate, and to reckon all honorable posts to be those by which you will defend the Republic.'

[35] Haec ubi dixit, conlaudatum multis uerbis P. <Licinius> consul ex contione in senatum duxit. ibi quoque ei ex auctoritate senatus gratiae actae, tribunique militares in legione prima primum pilum uirtutis causa ei adsignarunt. ceteri centuriones remissa appellatione ad dilectum oboedienter responderunt.

[35] When he had said these things, Publius <Licinius>, the consul, after extolling him with many words, led him from the assembly into the senate. There also, by the authority of the senate, thanks were rendered to him, and the military tribunes in the first legion assigned to him the primus pilus for valor. The rest of the centurions, their appeal remitted, responded obediently to the levy.

quo maturius in prouincias magistratus proficiscerentur, Latinae kalendis Iuniis fuere; eoque sollemni perfecto C. Lucretius praetor omnibus, quae ad classem opus erant, praemissis Brundisium est profectus. praeter eos exercitus, quos consules comparabant, C. Sulpicio Galbae praetori negotium datum, ut quattuor legiones scriberet urbanas, iusto numero peditum equitumque, iisque quattuor tribunos militum ex senatu legeret, qui praeessent; sociis Latini nominis imperaret quindecim milia peditum, mille et ducentos equites; is exercitus uti paratus esset, quo senatus censuisset. P. Licinio consuli ad exercitum ciuilem socialemque petenti addita auxilia, Ligurum duo milia, Cretenses sagittarii—incertus numerus, quantum rogati [auxilia] Cretenses misissent—, Numidae item equites elephantique.

so that the magistrates might set out for their provinces the earlier, the Latin Festival was on the Kalends of June; and when that solemnity was completed, C. Lucretius, praetor, with everything that was needful for the fleet sent ahead, set out for Brundisium. Besides those armies which the consuls were assembling, the task was given to C. Sulpicius Galba, praetor, to enroll four urban legions, with the proper number of infantry and cavalry, and for them to choose four military tribunes from the senate to command; he was to levy upon the allies of the Latin name 15,000 infantry, 1,200 cavalry; that army was to be ready for whatever the senate should have decreed. To P. Licinius, the consul, requesting additions to the citizen and allied army, auxiliaries were added—2,000 Ligurians, Cretan archers (an uncertain number, depending on how many auxiliaries the Cretans had sent when asked), likewise Numidian horsemen and elephants.

in eam rem legati ad Masinissam Carthaginiensesque missi L. Postumius Albinus Q. Terentius Culleo C. Aburius. in Cretam item legatos tres ire placuit, A. Postumium Albinum C. Decimium A. Licinium Neruam.

For this purpose envoys were sent to Masinissa and to the Carthaginians, L. Postumius Albinus, Q. Terentius Culleo, C. Aburius. Likewise it was decided that three envoys should go to Crete, A. Postumius Albinus, C. Decimius, A. Licinius Nerva.

[36] Per idem tempus legati ab rege Perseo uenerunt. eos in oppidum intromitti non placuit, cum iam bellum regi eorum et Macedonibus et senatus decresset et populus iussisset. in aedem Bellonae in senatum introducti ita uerba fecerunt: mirari Persea regem, quid in Macedoniam exercitus transportati essent; si impetrari a senatu posset, ut ii reuocentur, regem de iniuriis, si quas sociis factas quererentur, arbitratu senatus satisfacturum esse.

[36] At the same time legates from King Perseus came. It did not please that they be admitted into the town, since already war had been decreed against their king and the Macedonians by the senate and ordered by the people. Led into the senate in the temple of Bellona, they spoke thus: that King Perseus marvels why armies had been transported into Macedonia; if it could be obtained from the senate that they be recalled, the king would make satisfaction concerning the injuries, if any were complained of as having been done to the allies, by the arbitration of the senate.

Sp. Caruilius, ad eam ipsam rem ex Graecia remissus ab Cn. Sicinio, in senatu erat. is Perrhaebiam expugnatam armis, Thessaliae aliquot urbes captas, cetera, quae aut ageret aut pararet rex, cum argueret, respondere ad ea legati iussi. postquam haesitabant, negantes sibi ultra quidquam mandatum esse, iussi renuntiare regi, consulem P. Licinium breui cum exercitu futurum in Macedonia esse: ad eum, si satisfacere in animo esset, mitteret legatos.

Sp. Caruilius, sent back from Greece by Cn. Sicinius for that very matter, was in the senate. When he was charging that Perrhaebia had been taken by storm, that several cities of Thessaly had been captured, and the rest—the things which the king either was doing or preparing—, the envoys were ordered to respond to these. After they hesitated, saying that nothing further had been mandated to them, they were ordered to report back to the king: that the consul P. Licinius would shortly with an army be in Macedonia; to him, if he had in mind to make satisfaction, he should send envoys.

Romam quod praeterea mitteret, non esse; nemini enim eorum per Italiam ire liciturum. ita dimissis P. Licinio consuli mandatum, ut intra undecimum diem iuberet eos Italia excedere, et Sp. Caruilium mitteret, qui, donec nauem conscendissent, custodiret. haec Romae acta nondum profectis in prouinciam consulibus.

that there was to be nothing further sent to Rome; for none of them would be permitted to go through Italy. Thus, when they were dismissed, instruction was given to the consul P. Licinius to order them to leave Italy within eleven days, and to send Sp. Carvilius to guard them until they had embarked on ship. These things were transacted at Rome, the consuls not yet having set out to their provinces.

iam Cn. Sicinius, qui, priusquam magistratu abiret, Brundisium ad classem et ad exercitum praemissus erat, traiectis in Epirum quinque milibus peditum, trecentis equitibus, ad Nymphaeum in agro Apolloniati castra habebat. inde tribunos cum duobus milibus militum ad occupanda Dassaretiorum et Illyriorum castella, ipsis accersentibus praesidia, ut tutiores a finitimorum impetu Macedonum essent, misit.

By now Cn. Sicinius, who, before he left his magistracy, had been sent ahead to Brundisium to the fleet and to the army, after ferrying across into Epirus five thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry, was encamped at Nymphaeum in the territory of the Apolloniates. From there he sent tribunes with two thousand soldiers to occupy the strongholds of the Dassaretii and the Illyrians, the people themselves calling in garrisons, so that they might be safer from the assault of the neighboring Macedonians.

[37] Paucis post diebus Q. Marcius <et> A. Atilius et P. et Ser. Cornelii Lentuli et L. Decimius, legati in Graeciam missi, Corcyram peditum mille secum aduexerunt; ibi inter se et regiones, quas obirent, et milites diuiserunt. L. Decimius missus est ad Gentium regem Illyriorum, quem si aliquem respectum amicitiae cum <populo Romano> habere cerneret, retentare aut etiam ad belli societatem perlicere iussus.

[37] A few days later, Q. Marcius <and> A. Atilius and Publius and Servius Cornelius Lentulus and L. Decimius, legates sent into Greece, brought to Corcyra a thousand infantry with them; there they divided among themselves both the regions which they were to traverse and the soldiers. L. Decimius was sent to Gentius, king of the Illyrians, and, if he should perceive that he had any regard for amity with <the Roman people>, he was ordered to sound him out again, or even to entice him into a war-alliance.

Lentuli in Cephallaniam missi, ut in Peloponnesum traicerent oramque maris in occidentem uersi ante hiemem circumirent. Marcio et Atilio Epirus, Aetolia, Thessalia circumeundae adsignantur; inde Boeotiam atque Euboeam adspicere iussi, tum in Peloponnesum traicere; ibi congressuros se cum Lentulis constituunt. priusquam digrederentur a Corcyra, litterae <a> Perseo adlatae sunt, quibus quaerebat, quae causa Romanis aut in Graeciam traiciendi copias aut urbes occupandi esset.

The Lentuli were sent into Cephallenia, to cross over into the Peloponnesus and to make a circuit of the sea-coast facing toward the west before winter. To Marcius and Atilius were assigned Epirus, Aetolia, and Thessaly to be gone around; thence they were ordered to inspect Boeotia and Euboea, then to cross into the Peloponnesus; there they set that they would meet with the Lentuli. Before they departed from Corcyra, letters from Perseus were brought, in which he inquired what cause the Romans had either for ferrying forces across into Greece or for occupying cities.

cui rescribi non placuit, nuntio ipsius, qui litteras attulerat, dici, praesidii causa ipsarum urbium Romanos facere. Lentuli circumeuntes Peloponnesi oppida, cum sine discrimine omnes ciuitates adhortarentur, ut, quo animo, qua fide adiuuissent Romanos Philippi primum, deinde Antiochi bello, eodem aduersus Persea iuuarent, fremitum in contionibus mouebant, Achaeis indignantibus eodem se loco esse, qui omnia a principiis Macedonici belli praestitissent Romanis, <quo> Messenii atque Elii, [qui] et [Macedonis] Philippi bello hostes fuissent <Romanis> et pro Antiocho postea arma aduersus populum Romanum tulissent ac, nuper in Achaicum contributi concilium, uelut praemium belli se uictoribus Achaeis tradi quererentur.

to which it did not please that a reply be written; it was said to his messenger, who had brought the letters, that the Romans were acting for the sake of the protection of the cities themselves. The Lentuli, going around the towns of the Peloponnese, when they were exhorting all the communities without distinction, that, with the same spirit, with the same faith as they had assisted the Romans first in Philip’s war, then in that of Antiochus, they should in the same way help against Perseus, they were stirring a murmur in the assemblies, as the Achaeans were indignant that they themselves, who had performed everything for the Romans from the beginnings of the Macedonian war, were in the same position as <that in which> the Messenians and Eleans stood, [who] both in the war of Philip [of Macedon] had been enemies <to the Romans> and afterwards had taken up arms for Antiochus against the Roman people, and, having been recently added into the Achaean council, were complaining that they were being handed over to the victorious Achaeans as though a prize of war.

[38] Marcius et Atilius ad Gitana, Epiri oppidum, decem milia <a> mari cum escenderent, concilio Epirotarum habito cum magno omnium adsensu auditi sunt; et quadringentos iuuentutis eorum in Orestas, ut praesidio essent liberatis ab Macedonibus, miserunt. inde in Aetoliam progressi ac paucos ibi morati dies, dum in praetoris mortui locum alius sufficeretur, [et] Lycisco praetore facto, quem Romanorum fauere rebus satis conpertum erat, transierunt in Thessaliam. eo legati Acarnanes et Boeotorum exules uenerunt.

[38] Marcius and Atilius, to Gitana, a town of Epirus, when they were ascending ten miles <a> from the sea, a council of the Epirotes having been held, were heard with the great assent of all; and they sent four hundred of their youth into Orestis, so that they might be a garrison for those liberated from the Macedonians. Thence, having advanced into Aetolia and having tarried there a few days, while another was being appointed in the place of the deceased praetor, [and] Lyciscus having been made praetor—who was well known to favor the interests of the Romans—they crossed into Thessaly. There envoys of the Acarnanians and exiles of the Boeotians came.

Acarnanes nuntiare iussi, quae Philippi primum, Antiochi deinde bello, decepti pollicitationibus regiis, aduersus populum Romanum commisissent, ea corrigendi occasionem illis oblatam. si male meriti clementiam populi Romani experti essent, bene merendo liberalitatem experirentur. Boeotis exprobratum, societatem eos cum Perseo iunxisse.

The Acarnanians were ordered to announce that the things which, in the war of Philip first and then in that of Antiochus, deceived by royal promises, they had committed against the Roman people—an opportunity of correcting these had been offered to them. If, after deserving ill, they had experienced the clemency of the Roman people, by deserving well they would experience their liberality. It was reproached to the Boeotians that they had joined an alliance with Perseus.

cum culpam in Ismeniam, principem alterius partis, conferrent et quasdam ciuitates dissentientis in causam deductas, appariturum id esse Marcius respondit; singulis enim ciuitatibus de se ipsis consulendi potestatem facturos. Thessalorum Larisae fuit concilium. ibi <et> Thessalis benigna materia gratias agendi Romanis pro libertatis munere fuit, et legatis, quod et Philippi prius et post Antiochi bello enixe adiuti a gente Thessalorum essent.

when they transferred the blame onto Ismenias, the leader of the other faction, and [said that] certain dissentient cities had been brought into the case, Marcius replied that this would become apparent; for they would grant to the individual cities the power of consulting and deliberating about themselves. The council of the Thessalians was at Larisa. There both for the Thessalians there was kindly occasion for giving thanks to the Romans for the gift of liberty, and for the envoys, because both earlier in Philip’s war and afterwards in that of Antiochus they had been earnestly aided by the nation of the Thessalians.

hac mutua commemoratione meritorum accensi animi multitudinis ad omnia decernenda, quae Romani uellent. secundum hoc concilium legati a Perseo rege uenerunt priuati maxime hospitii fiducia, quod ei paternum cum Marcio erat. ab huius necessitudinis commemoratione orsi petierunt legati, in conloquium ueniendi regi potestatem faceret.

By this mutual commemoration of merits the spirits of the multitude were kindled to decree everything that the Romans might wish. After this council envoys from King Perseus came, relying chiefly on the confidence of private hospitality, since he had a paternal bond of hospitality with Marcius. Beginning from the reminder of this relationship, the envoys requested that he grant the king permission to come into a conference.

Marcius et se ita a patre suo accepisse dixit, amicitiam hospitiumque cum Philippo fuisse, <et> minime immemorem necessitudinis eius legationem eam suscepisse. conloquium, si satis commode ualeret, non fuisse se dilaturum; nunc, ubi primum posset, ad Peneum flumen, qua transitus ab Homolio Dium esset, praemissis, qui nuntiarent regi, uenturos.

Marcius also said that he had thus received from his father: that there had been friendship and guest‑friendship with Philip, <et> that, by no means unmindful of that relationship, he had undertaken that legation. A colloquy, if he were well enough for it, he would not have deferred; now, as soon as he could, they would come to the river Peneus, where there is a crossing from Homolium to Dium, after sending ahead men to announce to the king.

[39] Et tum quidem ab Dio Perseus in interiora regni recepit se, leui aura spei obiecta, quod Marcius ipsius causa suscepisse se legationem dixisset; post dies paucos ad constitutum locum uenerunt. magnus comitatus fuit regius cum amicorum tum satellitum turba stipante. non minore agmine legati uenerunt et ab Larisa multis prosequentibus et legationibus ciuitatium, quae conuenerant Larisam et renuntiare domum certa, quae audissent, uolebant.

[39] And then indeed from Dium Perseus withdrew into the inner parts of the kingdom, a light aura of hope set before him, because Marcius had said that he had undertaken the embassy on his account; after a few days they came to the appointed place. Great was the royal retinue, with a throng both of friends and of satellites (bodyguards) pressing close. With no smaller column the legates came, both with many escorting from Larisa and with embassies of the cities, which had assembled at Larisa and wished to report home definite things they had heard.

inerat cura insita mortalibus uidendi congredientis nobilem regem et populi principis terrarum omnium legatos. <ut> in conspectu steterunt, dirimente amni, paulisper internuntiando cunctatio fuit, utri transgrederentur. aliquid illi regiae maiestati, aliquid <hi> populi Romani nomini, cum praesertim Perseus petisset conloquium, existumabant deberi.

There was a care inherent in mortals to see the noble king and the legates of the people, the chief of all lands, meeting together. <ut> when they stood within sight, with the river dividing them, for a short while there was hesitation, by sending go-betweens, as to which side should cross over. They thought that something was owed to that royal majesty, and something <hi> to the name of the Roman people, especially since Perseus had requested a colloquy.

ioco etiam Marcius cunctantis mouit. 'minor' inquit 'ad maiores et'—quod Philippo ipsi cognomen erat—'filius ad patrem transeat.' facile persuasum id regi est. aliud deinde ambigebatur, cum quam multis transiret.

Marcius also moved the hesitator with a jest. “Let the minor,” he said, “go over to the majors, and”—for this was Philip’s own cognomen—“let the son go to the father.” The king was easily persuaded of this. Then another point was disputed: with how many he should cross.

rex cum omni comitatu transire aecum censebat; legati uel cum tribus uenire iubebant uel, si tantum agmen traduceret, obsides dare, nihil fraudis fore in conloquio. Hippian et Pantauchum, quos et legatos miserat, principes amicorum, obsides dedit. nec tam in pignus fidei obsides desiderati erant, quam ut appareret sociis nequaquam ex dignitate pari congredi regem cum legatis.

the king judged it equitable to cross with all his retinue; the envoys bade him either to come with three, or, if he was to lead across so great a column, to give hostages, that there would be no fraud in the colloquy. Hippias and Pantauchus, whom he had also sent as envoys, foremost among his friends, he gave as hostages. Nor were hostages desired so much as a pledge of good faith, as that it might appear to the allies that the king was by no means meeting with the envoys on equal dignity.

salutatio non tamquam hostium, sed hospitalis ac benigna fuit, positisque sedibus consederunt.

The salutation was not as of enemies, but hospitable and benign, and, the seats having been set, they sat down.

[40] Cum paulisper silentium fuisset, 'expectari nos' inquit Marcius 'arbitror, ut respondeamus litteris tuis, quas Corcyram misisti, in quibus quaeris, quid ita legati cum militibus uenerimus et praesidia in singulas urbes dimittamus. ad hanc interrogationem tuam et non respondere, uereor, ne superbum sit, et uera respondere ne nimis acerbum audienti tibi uideatur. sed cum aut uerbis castigandus aut armis sit, qui foedus rumpit, sicut bellum aduersus te alii quam mihi mandatum malim, ita orationis acerbitatem aduersus hospitem, utcumque est, subibo, sicut medici, cum salutis causa tristiora remedia adhibent.

[40] When there had been silence for a little while, “I suppose,” said Marcius, “that we are being expected to respond to your letter which you sent to Corcyra, in which you ask why it is that we have come as envoys with soldiers and are dispatching garrisons into individual cities. To this interrogation of yours, not to respond I fear may be arrogant, and to respond with the truth may seem too bitter to your hearing. But since he who breaks a treaty must be chastised either by words or by arms, as I would prefer that war against you be entrusted to others rather than to me, so I will, however it is, undergo the bitterness of an oration against a host, just as physicians, for the sake of health, apply more grievous remedies.”

ex quo regnum adeptus es, unam rem te, quae facienda fuerit, senatus fecisse censet, quod legatos Romam ad renouandum <foedus miseris, quod tamen ipsum tibi non fuisse renouandum> iudicat potius quam, cum renouatum esset, uiolandum. Abrupolim, socium atque amicum populi Romani, regno expulisti; Arthetauri interfectores, ut caede, ne quid ultra dicam, <te> laetatum appareret, recepisti, qui omnium Illyriorum fidissimum Romanis regulum occiderant; per Thessaliam et Maliensem agrum cum exercitu contra foedus Delphos isti; Byzantiis item contra foedus misisti auxilia; cum Boeotis, sociis nostris, secretam tibi ipsi societatem, quam non licebat, iureiurando pepigisti; Thebanos legatos, Euersam et Callicritum, uenientis ad nos, quaerere malo, quis interfecerit, quam arguere. in Aetolia bellum intestinum et caedes principum per quos, nisi per tuos, factae uideri possunt?

from the time you obtained the kingdom, the senate judges you to have done one thing that ought to have been done, namely than, when it had been renewed, to be violated. You expelled Abrupolis, an ally and friend of the Roman people, from his kingdom; you received the murderers of Arthetaurus, so that it might appear that, at the slaughter—so that I say nothing further— rejoiced, men who had killed the most faithful to the Romans petty-king (regulus) of all the Illyrians; through Thessaly and the Malian country with an army, contrary to the treaty, you went to Delphi; likewise, to Byzantium, contrary to the treaty, you sent auxiliaries; with the Boeotians, our allies, you struck by oath a secret alliance for yourself alone, which was not lawful; as for the Theban envoys, Eversa and Callicritus, coming to us, I prefer to inquire who killed them rather than to accuse you. In Aetolia, a civil war and slaughters of the chiefs—through whom, unless through your own men, can they seem to have been done?

Dolopes a te ipso euastati sunt. Eumenes rex, ab Roma cum in regnum rediret, prope ut uictuma Delphis in sacrato loco ante aras mactatus, quem insimulet, piget referre; quae hospes Brundisinus occulta facinora indicet, certum habeo et scripta tibi omnia ab Roma esse et legatos renuntiasse tuos. haec ne dicerentur a me, uno modo uitare potuisti, non quaerendo, quam ob causam exercitus in Macedoniam traicerentur, aut praesidia in sociorum urbes mitteremus.

the Dolopes have been devastated by you yourself. King Eumenes, when returning to his kingdom from Rome, was well-nigh, as a victim, slain at Delphi in the sacred place before the altars; whom he does insimulate, I am loath to report; what occult crimes the Brundisian host does denounce, I am certain that everything has been written to you from Rome and that your legates have reported. To keep these things from being said by me, you could have avoided it in one way only: by not inquiring for what cause armies were being ferried into Macedonia, or we were sending garrisons into the cities of the allies.

quaerenti tibi superbius tacuissemus, quam uera respondimus. equidem pro paterno nostro hospitio faueo orationi tuae et opto, ut aliquid mihi materiae praebeas agendae tuae apud senatum causae.'

to your questioning we would more haughtily have kept silence than have responded with truths. Indeed, on account of our paternal hospitality, I favor your oration and I wish that you may furnish me with some material for advocating your cause before the senate.'

[41] Ad ea rex: 'bonam causam, si apud iudice aequos ageretur, apud eosdem et accusatores et iudices agam. eorum autem, quae obiecta sunt mihi, partim ea sunt, quibus nescio an gloriari debeam, neque quae fateri erubescam, partim quae uerbo obiecta uerbo negare <satis> sit. quid enim, si legibus uestris hodie reus sim, aut index Brundisinus aut Eumenes mihi obiciat, ut accusare potius uere quam conuiciari uideantur?

[41] To this the king [said]: 'I have a good cause—if it were being tried before equitable judges; as it is, I must plead it before the very same men both accusers and judges. Moreover, of the things that have been objected against me, some are such that I know not whether I ought rather to glory in them, nor would I blush to confess them; others are such that, being alleged in a word, to deny in a word is <satis>. For what, if today I should be a defendant under your laws, would either the Brundisian informer or Eumenes allege against me, so that they might seem to accuse truly rather than to rail?'

scilicet nec Eumenes, cum tam multis grauis publice ac priuatim sit, alium quam me inimicum habuit; neque ego potiorem quemquam ad ministeria facinorum quam Rammium, quem neque umquam ante uideram nec eram postea uisurus, inuenire potui. et Thebanorum, quos naufragio perisse constat, et Arthetauri caedis mihi reddenda ratio est; in qua tamen nihil ultra obicitur, quam interfectores eius in regno exulasse meo. cuius condicionis iniquitatem ita non sum recusaturus, si uos quoque accipitis, ut, quicumque exules in Italiam aut Romam se contulerunt, his facinerum, propter quae damnati sunt, auctores uos fuisse fateamini.

Of course neither Eumenes, since he is grievous to so many both publicly and privately, had any enemy other than me; nor could I find anyone more preferable for the services of crimes than Rammius, whom I had never before seen nor was I afterwards going to see. And I must render an account both of the Thebans, whom it is agreed perished by shipwreck, and of the murder of Arthetaurus; in which, however, nothing further is charged than that his murderers went into exile in my kingdom. The unfairness of which condition I will not, then, refuse—if you also accept this: that whoever of the exiles have betaken themselves into Italy or to Rome, you confess yourselves to have been the authors of the crimes on account of which they were condemned.

si hoc et uos recusabitis et omnes aliae gentes, ego quoque inter ceteros ero. et hercule, quid adtinet cuiquam exilium patere, si nusquam exuli futurus locus est? ego tamen istos, ut primum in Macedonia esse admonitus a uobis conperi, requisitos abire ex regno iussi et in perpetuum interdixi finibus meis.

if you also will refuse this, and all the other nations as well, I too will be among the rest. And, by Hercules, what does it avail anyone to endure exile, if nowhere will there be a place for an exile? I, however, as soon as I learned from your admonition that they were in Macedonia, after seeking them out I ordered them to depart from the kingdom, and I barred them from my borders in perpetuity.

et haec quidem mihi tamquam causam dicenti reo obiecta sunt; illa tamquam regi et quae de foedere, quod mihi est uobiscum, disceptationem habeant. nam si est in foedere ita scriptum, ut ne si bellum quidem quis inferat, tueri me regnumque meum liceat, mihi fatendum est, quod me armis aduersus Abrupolim, socium populi Romani, defenderim, foedus uiolatum esse. sin autem hoc et ex foedere licuit et iure gentium ita comparatum est, ut arma armis propulsentur, quid tandem me facere decuit, cum Abrupolis fines mei regni usque ad Amphipolim peruastasset, multa libera capita, magnam uim mancipiorum, multa milia pecorum abegisset?

and these indeed have been objected to me as to a defendant speaking his cause; those, as to a king, and such as have a disputation about the treaty which I have with you. For if it is written in the treaty thus, that not even if someone should bring war may it be permitted for me to protect myself and my kingdom, I must confess that, because I defended myself with arms against Abrupolis, an ally of the Roman People, the treaty was violated. But if, however, this was both permitted by the treaty and is so established by the law of nations, that arms are to be repelled by arms, what, pray, ought I to have done, when Abrupolis had laid waste the borders of my kingdom as far as Amphipolis, had carried off many free persons, a great number of slaves, many thousands of cattle?

quiescerem et paterer, donec Pellam et in regiam meam armatus peruenisset? at enim bello quidem iusto sum persecutus, sed uinci non oportuit eum, neque alia, quae uictis accidunt, pati; quorum casum cum ego subierim, qui sum armis lacessitus, quid potest queri sibi accidisse, qui causa belli fuit? non sum eodem modo defensurus, Romani, quod Dolopas armis coercuerim; quia, etsi non merito eorum, iure feci meo, cum mei regni, meae dicionis essent, uestro decreto patri adtributi meo.

Should I keep quiet and allow it, until he reached Pella and my royal palace in arms? But indeed I pursued him in a just war; yet he ought not to have been conquered, nor to suffer the other things that befall the vanquished; since I, who was provoked with arms, have undergone the lot of such things, what can he complain has happened to himself, who was the cause of the war? I am not going to defend in the same way, Romans, that I coerced the Dolopes by arms; because, even if not by their desert, I did it by my own right, since they were of my kingdom, under my dominion, assigned to my father by your decree.

nec, si causa reddenda sit, non uobis nec foederatis, sed iis, qui <ne> in seruos quidem saeua atque iniusta imperia probant, plus aequo et bono saeuisse in eos uideri possum; quippe Euphranorem, praefectum a me inpositum, ita occiderunt, ut mors poenarum eius leuissima fuerit.

nor, if an account must be rendered, can I seem to have raged beyond equity and right not to you nor to the federates, but to those who do not approve cruel and unjust commands even upon slaves; for they killed Euphranor, the prefect imposed by me, in such a way that death was the lightest of his punishments.

[42] At cum processissem inde ad uisendas Larisam et Antronas et Pteleon, qua in propinquo Delphi s<unt>, sacrificandi causa, <ut> multo ante debita uota persoluerem, Delphos escendi. et his, criminis augendi causa, cum exercitu me isse adicitur; scilicet, ut, quod nunc uos facere queror, urbes occuparem, arcibus inponerem praesidia. uocate in concilium Graeciae ciuitates, per quas iter feci, queratur unusquilibet militis mei iniuriam; non recusabo, quin simulato sacrificio aliud petisse uidear.

[42] But when I had proceeded from there to visit Larisa and Antrones and Pteleon, where Delphi are close by, for the sake of sacrificing, in order that I might pay the vows long before owed, I ascended to Delphi. And to these things, for the purpose of augmenting the charge, it is added that I went with an army; of course, so that I might seize cities, the very thing which I now complain that you are doing, and impose garrisons upon the citadels. Call into a council of Greece the cities through which I made my journey; let anyone at all complain of a wrong done by any of my soldiers; I will not refuse to appear to have sought something else under a pretended sacrifice.

Aetolis et Byzantiis praesidia misimus et cum Boeotis amicitiam fecimus. haec, qualiacumque sunt, per legatos meos non solum indicata sed etiam excusata sunt saepe in senatu uestro, ubi aliquos ego disceptatores non tam aequos quam te, <Q.> Marci, paternum amicum et hospitem, habebam. sed nondum Romam accusator Eumenes uenerat, qui calumniando omnia detorquendoque suspecta et inuisa efficeret et persuadere uobis conaretur, non posse Graeciam in libertate esse et uestro munere frui, quoad regnum Macedoniae incolume esset.

Aid and garrisons we sent to the Aetolians and Byzantines, and we made friendship with the Boeotians. These things, whatever they are, have been not only reported but even excused often through my legates in your senate, where I had some arbiters not so equitable as you, Q. Marcius, a paternal friend and guest-host. But as yet the accuser Eumenes had not come to Rome, who, by calumniating and by twisting everything, would render them suspect and hateful, and would try to persuade you that Greece could not be in liberty and enjoy your benefaction so long as the kingdom of Macedonia remained intact.

circumagetur hic orbis; erit mox, qui arguat nequiquam Antiochum ultra iuga Tauri emotum; grauiorem multo Asiae, quam Antiochus fuerit, Eumenen esse; conquiescere socios uestros non posse, quoad regia Pergami sit; eam arcem supra capita finitimarum ciuitatium impositam. ego haec, Q. Marci et A. Atili, quae aut a uobis obiecta aut purgata a me sunt, talia esse scio, ut aures, ut animi audientium sint, nec tam referre, quid ego aut qua mente fecerim, quam, quomodo id uos factum accipiatis. conscius mihi sum nihil me scientem deliquisse, et, si quid fecerim inprudentia lapsus, corrigi me et emendari castigatione hac posse.

This question will be swung round; soon there will be one to argue that Antiochus was removed beyond the ridges of Taurus in vain; that Eumenes is much more grievous to Asia than Antiochus was; that your allies cannot find rest so long as the royal palace at Pergamum stands; that that citadel is set above the heads of the neighboring cities. I, Q. Marcius and A. Atilius, know that these matters, which have either been objected by you or cleared by me, are such as the ears and the minds of the hearers are, and that it matters less what I have done, or with what intention, than how you receive that deed as done. I am conscious to myself that I have done nothing knowingly amiss; and if I have done anything, having slipped through imprudence, I can be corrected and amended by this chastisement.

nihil certe insanabile nec, quod bello et armis persequendum esse censeatis, commisi; aut frustra clementiae grauitatisque uestrae fama uolgata per gentes est, si talibus de causis, quae uix querella et expostulatione dignae sunt, arma capitis et regibus sociis bella infertis.'

I have certainly committed nothing incurable, nor anything which you would judge ought to be pursued with war and arms; or else the fame of your clemency and gravity, spread through the nations, is in vain, if for causes of such a sort, which are scarcely worthy of complaint and expostulation, you take up arms and wage wars upon allied kings.'

[43] Haec dicenti ei sum adsensum esset, Marcius auctor fuit mittendi Romam legatos; cum experienda omnia ad ultimum nec praetermittendam spem ullam censuisset <rex>, reliqua consultatio erat, quonam modo tutum iter legatis esset. ad id <cum> necessaria petitio indutiarum uideretur cuperetque Marcius neque aliud conloquio petisset, grauate et in magnam gratiam petentis concessit. nihil enim satis paratum ad bellum in praesentia habebant Romani, non exercitum, non ducem, cum Perseus, ni spes uana pacis occaecasset consilia, omnia praeparata atque instructa <haberet>, et suo maxime tempore atque alieno hostibus incipere bellum posset.

[43] When assent had been given to him as he said these things, Marcius was the proposer of sending envoys to Rome; since <the king> had judged that everything must be tried to the utmost and that no hope at all should be left untried, the remaining deliberation was as to by what means a journey would be safe for the envoys. For that end, <since> a necessary request for a truce seemed called for and Marcius wished it and would have asked nothing else in the conference, it was granted, though reluctantly and as a great favor to the petitioner. For the Romans at the present had nothing sufficiently prepared for war, neither an army nor a leader, whereas Perseus, unless a vain hope of peace had blinded his counsels, <he had> everything prepared and arrayed, and could begin the war at a time most timely for himself and untimely for the enemy.

ab hoc conloquio, fide indutiarum interposita, legati Romani in Boeotiam ~comparati sunt. ibi iam motus coeperat esse discedentibus a societate communis concilii Boeotorum quibusdam populis, ex quo renuntiatum erat respondisse legatos appariturum, quibus populis proprie societatem cum rege iungi displicuisset. primi a Chaeronia legati, deinde a Thebis in ipso itinere occurrerunt, adfirmantes non interfuisse se, quo societas ea decreta esset, concilio; quos legati, nullo in praesentia responso dato, Chalcidem se sequi iusserunt.

from this conference, with the pledge of a truce interposed, the Roman envoys were ~made ready for Boeotia. there already a commotion had begun, as certain peoples were withdrawing from the association of the common council of the Boeotians; from which it had been reported that the envoys had replied that provision would be made for those peoples to whom it had been particularly displeasing that a society with the king be joined. first envoys from Chaeronea, then from Thebes, met them on the very road, affirming that they had not been present at the council by which that association had been decreed; whom the envoys, giving no reply at present, ordered to follow them to Chalcis.

Thebis magna contentio orta erat ex alio certamine. comitiis praetoris <et> Boeot<arch>arum uicta pars iniuriam persequens coacta multitudine decreuit, ne Boeotarchae urbibus reciperentur. exules Thespias uniuersi concesserunt; inde—recepti enim sine cunctatione erant—Thebas iam mutatis animis reuocati decretum faciunt, ut duodecim, qui priuati coetum et concilium habuissent, exilio multarentur.

At Thebes a great contention had arisen out of another contest. At the elections of the praetor and of the Boeotarchs, the defeated party, pursuing redress for the injury, with a multitude assembled decreed that the Boeotarchs should not be received into the cities. The exiles all withdrew to Thespiae; from there—for they had been received without hesitation—recalled to Thebes, now that minds had changed, they pass a decree that the twelve who, as private persons, had held a meeting and council be punished with exile.

nouus deinde praetor—Ismenias is erat, uir nobilis ac potens— capitalis poenae absentis eos decreto damnat. Chalcidem fugerant; inde ad Romanos Larisam profecti causam cum Perseo societatis in Ismeniam contulerant; ex <ea> contentione ortum certamen. utriusque [tamen] partis legati ad Romanos uenerunt, et exules accusatoresque Ismeniae et Ismenias ipse.

then a new praetor—this was Ismenias, a noble and potent man— by decree condemned them to capital punishment in their absence. They had fled to Chalcis; from there, having set out to the Romans at Larisa, they had brought against Ismenias the case of the alliance with Perseus; from <that> contention a contest arose. Legates of both [however] parties came to the Romans, both the exiles and the accusers of Ismenias, and Ismenias himself.

[44] Chalcidem ut uentum est, aliarum ciuitatium principes, id quod maxume gratum erat Romanis, suo quique proprie decreto regiam societatem aspernati Romanis se adiungebant; Ismenias gentem Boeotorum in fidem Romanorum permitti aecum censebat. inde certamine orto, nisi in tribunal legatorum perfugisset, haud multum afuit, quin ab exulibus fautoribusque eorum interficeretur. Thebae quoque ipsae, quod Boeotiae caput est, in magno motu erant, aliis ad regem trahentibus ciuitatem, aliis ad Romanos; et turba Coronaeorum Haliartiorumque conuenerat ad defendendum decretum regiae societatis.

[44] When Chalcis was reached, the leaders of the other cities, which was most pleasing to the Romans, each by his own proper decree, having spurned the royal alliance, were joining themselves to the Romans; Ismenias judged it equitable that the nation of the Boeotians be committed into the faith of the Romans. Thence, a contest having arisen, unless he had taken refuge upon the tribunal of the legates, it was not far off but that he would be killed by the exiles and their supporters. Thebes itself too, which is the head of Boeotia, was in great commotion, some dragging the state to the king, others to the Romans; and a crowd of Coronaeans and Haliartians had assembled to defend the decree of the royal alliance.

sed constantia principum docentium cladibus Philippi Antiochique, quanta esset uis et fortuna imperii Romani, uicta tandem multitudo et, ut tolleretur regia societas, decreuit, et eos, qui auctores paciscendae amicitiae fuerant, ad satisfaciendum legatis Chalcidem misit fideique legatorum commendari ciuitatem iussit. Thebanos Marcius et Atilius laeti audierunt auctoresque et his <et> separatim singulis fuerunt ad renouandam amicitiam mittendi Romam legatos. ante omnia exules restitui iusserunt et auctores regiae societatis decreto suo damnarunt.

but by the constancy of the leading men, who taught by the calamities of Philip and Antiochus how great was the force and fortune of the Roman imperium, the multitude at length was overcome and decreed that the royal alliance be removed; and those who had been the authors of stipulating the friendship it sent to Chalcis to make satisfaction to the legates, and it ordered that the city be commended to the good faith of the legates. Marcius and Atilius heard the Thebans gladly and were the advisers both to these and, separately, to individuals to send legates to Rome for the renewing of friendship. Before all else they ordered the exiles to be restored, and by their own decree they condemned the authors of the royal alliance.

ita, quod maxume uolebant, discusso Boeotico concilio <in Pelo>ponnesum proficiscuntur Ser. Cornelio Chalcidem accersito. Argis praebitum est iis concilium; ubi res * * * aliud a gente Achaeorum petierunt, quam ut mille milites darent.

thus, what they most desired having been achieved, with the Boeotian council broken up, they set out into the Peloponnese, Ser. Cornelius having been summoned to Chalcis. At Argos a council was afforded to them; where the matter * * * they asked nothing else from the Achaean nation than that they should give one thousand soldiers.

id praesidium ad Chalcidem tuendam, dum Romanus exercitus in Graeciam traiceretur, missum est. Marcius et Atilius peractis, quae agenda in Graecia erant, principio hiemis Romam redierunt.

That garrison for the protection of Chalcis, while the Roman army was being transferred into Greece, was sent. Marcius and Atilius, the things which were to be done in Greece having been completed, at the beginning of winter returned to Rome.

[45] Inde legatio sub idem tempus in Asiam <et> circum insulas missa. tres erant legati, Ti. Claudius Sp. Postumius M. Iunius. ii circumeuntes hortabantur socios ad suscipiendum aduersus Persea <pro> Romanis bellum; et, quo quaeque opulentior ciuitas erat, eo accuratius agebant, quia minores secuturae maiorum auctoritatem erant.

[45] Then a legation, at about the same time, was sent into Asia and around the islands. There were three envoys: Tiberius Claudius, Spurius Postumius, Marcus Junius. These, going around, exhorted the allies to undertake war against Perseus on behalf of the Romans; and, in proportion as each city was more opulent, so much the more carefully they transacted the matter, because the lesser were going to follow the authority of the greater.

Rhodii maximi ad omnia momenti habebantur, quia non fouere tantum, sed adiuuare etiam uiribus suis bellum poterant, quadraginta nauibus auctore Hegesilocho praeparatis; qui cum in summo magistratu esset—prytanin ipsi uocant—, multis orationibus peruicerat Rhodios, ut omissa, quam saepe uanam experti essent, regum fouendorum spe Romanam societatem, unam tum in terris uel uiribus uel fide stabilem, retinerent. bellum imminere cum Perseo; desideraturos Romanos eundem naualem apparatum, quem nuper Antiochi, quem Philippi ante bello uidissent. trepidaturos tum repente paranda classe, cum mittenda esset, nisi reficere naues, nisi instruere naualibus sociis coepissent.

The Rhodians were held of the greatest moment in all matters, because they could not only favor, but assist also the war by their own forces, forty ships having been prepared at the instigation of Hegesilochus; who, since he was in the highest magistracy—the prytany they themselves call it—, by many speeches had prevailed upon the Rhodians that, laying aside the hope of fostering kings, which they had often found vain, they should retain the Roman alliance, then the only one on earth either in strength or in good faith stable. That war was impending with Perseus; that the Romans would require the same naval apparatus as they had lately seen in the war of Antiochus, and earlier of Philip. That they would then be in a flutter, with a fleet to be prepared suddenly when it must be sent, unless they had begun to refit the ships, unless to equip their naval allies.

<id> eo magis enixe faciundum esse, ut crimina delata ab Eumene fide rerum refellerent. his incitati quadraginta nauium classem instructam ornatamque legatis Romanis aduenientibus, ut non expectatam adhortationem esse appareret, ostenderunt. et haec legatio magnum ad conciliandos animos ciuitatium Asiae momentum fuit.

<id> all the more earnestly must it be seen to, that the accusations brought by Eumenes be refuted by the fidelity of the facts. stirred by these, they showed, to the Roman legates as they arrived, a fleet of forty ships equipped and adorned, so that it might appear that the exhortation had not been waited for. and this embassy was a great momentum toward conciliating the minds of the cities of Asia.

Decimius unus sine ullo effectu, captarum etiam pecuniarum ab regibus Illyriorum suspicione infamis, Romam redit.

Decimius alone, without any effect, infamous under suspicion of monies taken from the kings of the Illyrians, returns to Rome.

[46] Perseus, cum ab conloquio Romanorum in Macedoniam recepisset sese, legatos Romam de incohatis cum Marcio condicionibus pacis misit; et Byzantium et Rhodum et * * legatis ferendas dedit. in litteris eadem sententia ad omnis erat, conlocutum se cum Romanorum legatis; quae audisset quaeque dixisset, ita disposita, ut superior fuisse in disceptatione uideri posset. apud Rhodios legati adiecerunt confidere pacem futuram; auctoribus enim Marcio atque Atilio missos Romam legatos.

[46] Perseus, when he had withdrawn himself back into Macedonia from the colloquy with the Romans, sent legates to Rome concerning the conditions of peace initiated with Marcius; and to Byzantium and to Rhodes and * * he gave letters, to be borne by legates. In the letters the same tenor was addressed to all: that he had conferred with the legates of the Romans; what he had heard and what he had said had been so arranged that he might appear to have been the superior in the disputation. Among the Rhodians the legates added that they were confident peace would come to be; for, with Marcius and Atilius as sponsors, legates had been sent to Rome.

si pergerent Romani contra foedus mouere bellum, tum omni gratia, omni ope adnitendum fore Rhodiis, ut reconcilient pacem; si nihil deprecando proficiant, id agendum, ne omnium rerum ius ac potestas ad unum populum perueniat. cum ceterorum id interesse, tum praecipue Rhodiorum, quo plus inter alias ciuitates dignitate atque opibus excellant; quae serua atque obnoxia fore, si nullus alio sit quam ad Romanos respectus. magis et litterae et uerba legatorum benigne sunt audita, quam momentum ad mutandos animos habuerunt; potentior esse partis melioris auctoritas coeperat.

if the Romans should persist in moving war contrary to the treaty, then with every favor, with every aid the Rhodians would have to exert themselves to reconcile peace; if they accomplish nothing by deprecating, this must be done, lest the right and power of all things come to one people. since this concerns the rest, then especially the Rhodians, because the more they excel among other commonwealths in dignity and opulence; which would be servile and subject, if there were no regard anywhere other than toward the Romans. both the letters and the words of the envoys were listened to kindly, rather than had momentum for changing minds; the authority of the better party had begun to be more potent.

responsum ex decreto est optare pacem Rhodios; si bellum esset, ne quid ab Rhodiis speraret aut peteret rex, quod ueterem amicitiam, multis magnisque meritis pace belloque partam, diiungeret sibi ac Romanis. ab Rhodo redeuntes Boeotiae quoque ciuitates, [et] Thebas et Coroneam et Haliartum, adierunt, quibus expressum inuitis existimabatur, ut relicta regia societate Romanis adiungerentur. Thebani nihil moti sunt, quamquam et damnatis principibus et restitutis exulibus suscensebant Romanis.

the answer by decree was that the Rhodians opt for peace; if there were war, that the king should neither hope for nor seek anything from the Rhodians which would sever the old friendship, won by many and great merits in peace and in war, from himself and the Romans. returning from Rhodes they also approached the cities of Boeotia, [and] Thebes and Coronea and Haliartus, to whom it was thought that, against their will, it had been wrung out that, with the royal alliance abandoned, they should be joined to the Romans. the Thebans were not moved at all, although, with their leaders condemned and their restored exiles, they were incensed at the Romans.

Coronaei et Haliartii, fauore quodam insito in reges, legatos in Macedoniam miserunt praesidium petentes, quo se aduersus inpotentem superbiam Thebanorum tueri possint. cui legationi responsum ab rege est, praesidium se propter indutias cum Romanis factas mittere non posse; tamen ita suadere ab Thebanorum iniuriis, qua possent, ut se uindicarent, ne Romanis praeberent causam in se saeuiendi.

The Coronaeans and Haliartians, with a certain favor inborn toward kings, sent envoys into Macedonia asking for a garrison, by which they might be able to defend themselves against the unbridled arrogance of the Thebans. To that embassy the answer from the king was that he could not send a garrison because of the armistice concluded with the Romans; nevertheless he thus advised them, that, as to the injuries of the Thebans, by whatever means they could, they should vindicate themselves, lest they furnish the Romans a cause for raging against themselves.

[47] Marcius et Atilius Romam cum uenissent, legationem in Capitolio ita renuntiarunt, ut nulla re magis gloriarentur quam decepto per indutias et spem pacis rege. adeo enim apparatibus belli fuisse instructum, ipsis nulla parata re, ut omnia opportuna loca praeoccupari ante ab eo potuerint, quam exercitus in Graeciam traiceretur. spatio autem indutiarum sumpto aecum <bellum> futurum: illum nihilo paratiorem, Romanos omnibus instructiores rebus coepturos bellum.

[47] When Marcius and Atilius had come to Rome, they reported the embassy on the Capitol in such a way that in nothing did they boast more than that the king had been deceived by the armistice and the hope of peace. For he had been so equipped with the apparatus of war, while they themselves had nothing prepared, that all advantageous positions could have been preoccupied by him before the army was transported into Greece. But with a period of truce taken, the equitable <war> would result: he would be not a whit better prepared, the Romans would begin the war more fully furnished with all things.

Boeotorum quoque se concilium arte distraxisse, ne coniungi amplius ullo consensu Macedonibus possent. haec ut summa ratione acta magna pars senatus adprobabat; ueteres et moris antiqui memores negabant se in ea legatione Romanas agnoscere artes. non per insidias et nocturna proelia, nec simulatam fugam inprouisosque ad incautum hostem reditus, nec ut astu magis quam uera uirtute gloriarentur, bella maiores gessisse: indicere prius quam gerere solitos bella, denuntiare etiam interdum <pugnam et locum> finire, in quo dimicaturi essent.

He also alleged that he had by artifice distracted the council of the Boeotians, so that they could no longer be conjoined with the Macedonians by any consent. A great part of the senate was approving these things as done with highest reason; but the elders and those mindful of the ancient custom denied that they recognized Roman arts in that embassy. The ancestors, they said, did not wage wars by ambushes and nocturnal battles, nor by simulated flight and unexpected returns against an incautious enemy, nor so as to boast of astus rather than of true virtus; they were accustomed to proclaim wars before waging them, even sometimes to denounce and define <the battle and the place> in which they were going to contend.

eadem fide indicatum Pyrrho regi medicum uitae eius insidiantem; eadem Faliscis uinctum traditum proditorem liberorum; religionis haec Romanae esse, non uersutiarum Punicarum neque calliditatis Graecae, apud <quos> fallere hostem quam ui superare gloriosius fuerit. interdum in praesens tempus plus profici dolo quam uirtute; sed eius demum animum in perpetuum uinci, cui confessio expressa sit se neque arte neque casu, sed collatis comminus uiribus iusto ac pio esse bello superatum. haec seniores, quibus noua ac nimis <callida minus> placebat sapientia; uicit tamen ea pars senatus, cui potior utilis quam honesti cura erat, ut conprobaretur prior legatio Marci, et eodem rursus in Graeciam cum * quinqueremibus remitteretur iubereturque cetera, uti e re publica maxime uisum esset, agere.

by the same good faith it was indicated to King Pyrrhus that a physician was laying ambushes against his life; by the same good faith the betrayer of the children was handed over bound to the Falisci; that these are traits of Roman religion, not of Punic trickery nor of Greek cleverness, among <quos> to deceive the enemy has been held more glorious than to overcome by force. sometimes for the present moment more is accomplished by guile than by virtue; but only then is a man’s spirit conquered in perpetuity, when a confession has been wrung from him that he was overcome not by artifice nor by chance, but, forces brought together at close quarters, in a just and dutiful war. this the elders maintained, to whom a new and too <callida minus> pleasing wisdom appealed less; nevertheless that part of the senate prevailed to whom care for the useful was weightier than for the honorable: that the earlier embassy of Marcus should be approved, and that he should be sent back to the same place into Greece with * quinqueremes and be ordered to do the rest as should seem most for the advantage of the commonwealth.

A. quoque Atilium miserunt ad occupandam Larisam in Thessaliam timentes, ne, si indutiarum dies exisset, <Perseus> praesidio eo misso caput Thessaliae in potestate haberet. duo milia peditum Atilius ab Cn. Sicinio accersere ad eam rem agendam iussus. et P. Lentulo, qui ex Achaia redierat, trecenti milites Italici generis dati, ut Thebis daret operam, ut in potestate Boeotia esset.

They also sent A. Atilius to seize Larisa in Thessaly, fearing that, if the day of the truce had elapsed, with a garrison sent there by <Perseus>, he would hold the capital of Thessaly in his power. Atilius was ordered to summon from Cn. Sicinius two thousand infantry for carrying out that business. And to P. Lentulus, who had returned from Achaia, three hundred soldiers of Italian stock were given, that he might attend to matters at Thebes, so that Boeotia might be in Roman power.

[48] His praeparatis, quamquam ad bellum consilia erant destinata, senatum tamen praeberi legatis placuit. eadem fere, quae in conloquio ab rege dicta erant, relata ab legatis. insidiarum Eumeni factarum crimen et maxima cura et minime tamen probabiliter—manifesta enim res erat—defensum; cetera deprecatio erat.

[48] With these things prepared, although the counsels had been destined for war, nevertheless it pleased that the senate be presented to the legates. Nearly the same things which had been spoken by the king in the conference were reported by the legates. The charge of ambushes laid for Eumenes was defended with the greatest care and yet least plausibly—for the matter was manifest—; the rest was deprecation.

sed non eis animis audiebantur, qui aut doceri aut flecti possent. denuntiatum, extemplo moenibus urbis Romae, Italia intra tricesimum diem excederent. P. Licinio deinde consuli, cui Macedonia prouincia obuenerat, denuntiatum, ut exercitui diem primam quamque diceret ad conueniendum.

but they were not being heard with minds that could either be taught or bent. It was declared that, immediately from the walls of the city of Rome, they should depart from Italy within 30 days. Then it was declared to the consul Publius Licinius, to whom the province Macedonia had fallen, that he should appoint for the army the very first possible day for convening.

C. Lucretius praetor, cui classis prouincia erat, cum quadraginta quinqueremibus ab urbe profectus; nam ex refectis nauibus alias in alium usum retineri ad urbem placuit. praemissus a praetore est frater <M.> Lucretius cum quinqueremi una, iussusque ab sociis ex foedere acceptis nauibus ad Cephallaniam classi occurrere. ab Reginis triremi una <sumpta>, ab Locris duabus, ab Uritibus quattuor, praeter oram Italiae superuectus Calabriae extremum promunturium [in] Ionio mari Dyrrhachium traicit.

Gaius Lucretius, the praetor, to whom the province of the fleet had been assigned, set out from the city with forty quinqueremes; for of the repaired ships it was resolved that some be retained at the city for another use. His brother <M.> Lucretius was sent ahead by the praetor with one quinquereme, and was ordered, with ships received from the allies under the treaty, to meet the fleet at Cephallenia. From the Rhegines one trireme <taken>, from the Locrians two, from the Uritani four; having sailed past the coast of Italy and over the farthest promontory of Calabria, he crosses to Dyrrachium [in] the Ionian Sea.

ibi decem ipsorum Dyrrhachinorum, duodecim Issaeorum, quinquaginta quattuor Genti regis lembos nanctus, simulans se credere eos in usum Romanorum conparatos esse, omnibus abductis die tertio Corcyram, inde protinus in Cephallaniam traicit. C. Lucretius praetor ab Neapoli profectus, superato freto, die quinto in Cephallaniam transmisit. ibi stetit classis, simul opperiens, ut terrestres copiae traicerentur, simul ut onerariae ex agmine suo per altum dissipatae consequerentur.

there, having come upon 10 of the Dyrrhachians’, 12 of the Issaeans’, and 54 lembi of King Gentius, pretending to believe that they had been prepared for the use of the Romans, with them all carried off, on the 3rd day he crosses to Corcyra, and from there straightway to Cephallenia. Gaius Lucretius the praetor, having set out from Naples, the strait overcome, on the 5th day made the passage to Cephallenia. there the fleet stood, both waiting for the land forces to be ferried across, and for the transports, scattered over the deep from their column, to catch up.

[49] Per hos forte dies P. Licinius consul uotis in Capitolio nuncupatis paludatus ab urbe profectus est. semper quidem ea res cum magna dignitate ac maiestate agitur; praecipue conuertit oculos animosque, cum ad magnum nobilemque aut uirtute aut fortuna hostem euntem consulem prosecuntur. contrahit enim non officii modo cura, sed etiam studium spectaculi, ut uideant ducem suum, cuius imperio consilioque summam rem publicam tuendam permiserunt.

[49] About these same days, P. Licinius, consul, with vows pronounced on the Capitol, set out from the city in his military cloak. That ceremony is indeed always conducted with great dignity and majesty; it especially turns eyes and minds, when they escort the consul going against a great and noble enemy, either by valor or by fortune. For it gathers together not only the concern of duty, but also the eagerness for the spectacle, to see their leader, to whose command and counsel they have entrusted the highest concern of the commonwealth for safeguarding.

subit deinde cogitatio animos, qui belli casus, quam incertus fortunae euentus communisque Mars belli sit; aduersa secundaque, quae inscitia et temeritate ducum clades saepe acciderint, quae contra bona prudentia et uirtus attulerit. quem scire mortalium, utrius mentis, utrius fortunae consulem ad bellum mittant? triumphantemne mox cum exercitu uictore scandentem in Capitolium ad eosdem deos, a quibus proficiscatur, uisuri, an hostibus eam praebituri laetitiam sint?

Then a thought steals upon their minds—what the chances of war are, how uncertain the outcome of Fortune and the common Mars of war is; the adverse and the favorable: what disasters have often occurred through the ignorance and temerity of commanders, and what, on the contrary, good prudence and virtue have brought. Who of mortals knows of which mind, of which fortune, they are sending the consul to the war? Will they soon behold him, triumphing with a victorious army, climbing the Capitol to the same gods from whom he sets out, or are they to offer that joy to the enemies?

Persei autem regi, aduersus quem ibatur, famam et bello clara Macedonum gens et Philippus pater, inter multa prospere gesta Romano etiam nobilitatus bello, praebebat; tum ipsius Persei numquam, ex quo regnum accepisset, desitum belli expectatione celebrari nomen. cum his cogitationibus omnium ordinum homines proficiscentem consulem prosecuti sunt. duo consulares tribuni militum cum eo missi, C. Claudius, Q. Mucius, et tres inlustres iuuenes, P. Lentulus et duo Manli Acidini: alter M. Manli, alter L. Manli filius erat.

But for King Perseus, against whom the expedition was being directed, his renown was furnished by the Macedonian nation, renowned in war, and by his father Philip, ennobled also by a war with the Romans; then, too, the name of Perseus himself, from the time he had received the kingdom, had never ceased to be celebrated with the expectation of war. With these thoughts, men of all orders escorted the consul as he set out. Two consular military tribunes were sent with him, C. Claudius and Q. Mucius, and three illustrious youths, P. Lentulus and the two Manlii Acidini: the one was the son of M. Manlius, the other of L. Manlius.

cum iis consul Brundisium ad exercitum <profectus> atque inde cum omnibus copiis transuectus ad Nymphaeum in Apolloniatium agro posuit castra.

with these the consul set out to Brundisium to the army, and from there, having been conveyed across with all his forces, he pitched camp at Nymphaeum in the territory of the Apolloniates.

[50] Paucos ante dies Perseus, postquam legati ab Roma regressi praeciderant spem pacis, consilium habuit. ibi aliquam<diu> diuersis sententiis certatum est. erant, quibus uel stipendium <pendendum>, si iniungeretur, uel agri parte cedendum, si multarent, quidquid denique aliud pacis causa patiendum esset, non recusandum uideretur, nec committendum, ut in aleam tanti casus se regnumque daret.

[50] A few days earlier Perseus, after the envoys had returned from Rome and had cut off hope of peace, held a council. There, for some time, there was contention with divergent opinions. There were some to whom it seemed that either the stipend should be paid, if it were imposed, or a part of the land ceded, if they fined them; in short, that whatever else had to be endured for the sake of peace ought not to be refused, and that he must not commit himself and his kingdom into the hazard of so great a cast of the die.

si possessio haud ambigua regni maneret, multa diem tempusque adferre posse, quibus non amissa modo reciperare, sed timendus ultro iis esse, quos nunc timeret, posset. ceterum multo maior pars ferocioris sententiae erat. quidquid cessisset, cum eo simul regno protinus cedendum esse adfirmabant.

if an undisputed possession of the kingdom remained, time and the day could bring many things, by which he could not only recover what had been lost, but be feared in turn by those whom he now feared. however, by far the greater part was for the fiercer opinion. they affirmed that whatever had been conceded, along with it the kingdom must straightway be surrendered.

neque enim Romanos pecunia aut agro egere, sed hoc scire, cum omnia humana, tum maxima quaeque et regna et imperia sub casibus multis esse. Carthaginiensium opes fregisse sese, et ceruicibus eorum praepotentem finitimum regem inposuisse; Antiochum progeniemque eius ultra iuga Tauri emotum; unum esse Macedoniae regnum, et regione propincum, et quod, sicubi populo Romano sua fortuna labet, antiquos animos regibus suis uideatur posse facere. dum integrae <res sint, statuere> apud animum suum Persea debere, utrum singula concedendo nudatus ad extremum opibus extorrisque regno Samothraciam aliamue quam insulam petere ab Romanis, ubi priuatus superstes regno suo in contemptu atque inopia consenescat, malit, an armatus uindex fortunae dignitatisque suae, aut, <ut> uiro forti dignum sit, patiatur, quodcumque casus belli tulerit, aut uictor liberet orbem terrarum ab imperio Romano.

for the Romans were not in need of money or land, but know this: that, as all human things, so especially the greatest—both kingdoms and imperia—are subject to many chances. that they had broken the resources of the Carthaginians, and had set upon their necks a prepotent neighboring king; that Antiochus and his progeny had been removed beyond the ridges of Taurus; that there was one kingdom of Macedonia, near in region, and one which, if anywhere the Roman people’s own fortuna should waver, would seem able to make its kings take on ancient animus. while matters are still intact, Perseus ought to resolve in his mind whether, by yielding item after item, stripped at the last of resources and exiled from his kingdom, he should prefer to beg from the Romans Samothrace or some other island, where, a private man surviving his own kingship, he would grow old in contempt and want; or, armed as the avenger of his fortuna and dignitas, either, as befits a brave man, to endure whatever the chance of war may bring, or, as victor, to free the orb of lands from Roman imperium.

non esse admirabilius Romanos Graecia pelli, quam Hannibalem Italia pulsum esse. neque hercule uidere, qui conueniat, fratri adfectanti per iniuriam regnum summa ui restitisse, alienigenis bene parto eo cedere. postremo ita <de> bello et pace quaeri, ut inter omnes conueniat, nec turpius quicquam esse quam sine certamine cessisse regno nec praeclarius quam pro dignitate ac maiestate omnem fortunam expertum esse.

that it is no more admirable for the Romans to be driven out of Greece than that Hannibal was driven out of Italy. Nor, by Hercules, do they see how it accords to have resisted with utmost force a brother grasping at the kingship through injustice, yet to yield that, well-won, to foreigners. Finally, let inquiry be made about war and peace on this footing, as is agreed among all: that nothing is more shameful than to have yielded the kingdom without a contest, and nothing more illustrious than, for dignity and majesty, to have tried every fortune.

[51] Pellae, in uetere regia Macedonum, hoc consilium erat. 'geramus ergo' inquit, 'dis bene iuuantibus, quando ita uidetur, bellum'; litterisque circa praefectos dimissis, Citium—Macedoniae oppidum est— copias omnis contrahit. ipse centum hostiis sacrificio regaliter Mineruae, quam uocant Alcidemon, facto cum purpuratorum et satellitum manu profectus Citium est.

[51] At Pella, in the ancient royal palace of the Macedonians, this was the plan. “Let us then wage war,” he said, “with the gods well-aiding, since thus it seems”; and letters having been sent round to the prefects, at Citium—it is a town of Macedonia— he draws together all the forces. He himself, after a sacrifice with a hundred victims made regally to Minerva, whom they call Alcidemon, set out for Citium with a band of purple-clad courtiers and bodyguards.

eo iam omnes Macedonum <et> externorum auxiliorum conuenerant copiae. castra ante urbem ponit omnisque armatos in campo <in>struxit; summa omnium quadraginta <tria> milia armata fuere; quorum pars ferme dimidia phalangitae erant; Hippias Beroeaeus praeerat. delecta deinde et uiribus et robore aetatis ex omni caetratorum numero duo <milia> erant: agema hanc ipsi legionem uocabant; praefectos habebat Leonnatum et Thrasippum Eulyestas.

there already all the forces of the Macedonians and of the foreign auxiliaries had assembled. He pitches camp before the city and arrays all the armed men on the plain; the total of all the armed was forty-three thousand; of whom nearly half were phalangites; Hippias of Beroea was in command. Then, chosen both for their strength and the vigor of their age, from the whole number of targeteers there were two thousand: they themselves called this legion the agema; it had as prefects Leonnatus and Thrasippus Eulyestas.

ceterorum caetratorum, trium ferme milium hominum, dux erat Antiphilus Edessaeus. Paeones et ex Paroria et Parastrymonia—sunt autem ea loca subiecta Thraciae—et Agrianes, admixtis etiam Threcibus incolis, trium milium ferme et ipsi expleuerant numerum. armauerat contraxeratque eos Didas Paeon, qui adulescentem Demetrium occiderat.

the commander of the rest of the targeteers, about three thousand men, was Antiphilus of Edessa. The Paeonians and those from Paroria and Parastrymonia—and these places lie under Thrace—and the Agrianians, with Thracian inhabitants also mixed in, had themselves too made up a number of about 3,000. Didas the Paeonian, who had slain the young Demetrius, had armed and assembled them.

et armatorum duo milia Gallorum erant; praefectus Asclepiodotus ab Heraclea ex Sintis; tria milia Threcum liberorum suum ducem habebant. Cretensium par ferme numerus suos duces sequebatur, Susum Phalasarnaeum et Syllum Gnosium. et Leonides Lacedaemonius quingentis ex Graecia, mixto generi hominum, praeerat.

and there were two thousand Gauls among the armed men; the commander was Asclepiodotus from Heraclea among the Sintians; three thousand free Thracians had their own leader. A nearly equal number of Cretans followed their own leaders, Susus of Phalasarna and Syllus the Gnossian. And Leonidas the Lacedaemonian commanded five hundred from Greece, a mixed kind of men.

regii is generis ferebatur, exul, damnatus frequenti concilio Achaeorum litteris ad Persea deprensis. Aetolorum et Boeotorum, qui non explebant plus quam quingentorum omnes numerum, Lyco Achaeus praefectus erat. ex his mixtis tot populorum, tot gentium auxiliis duodecim milia armatorum ferme efficiebantur.

he was said to be of royal stock, an exile, condemned by a full council of the Achaeans, when letters to Perseus were intercepted. Over the Aetolians and Boeotians, who altogether did not amount to more than 500 in number, Lyco the Achaean was prefect. From these, with the auxiliaries of so many peoples, so many nations, mixed together, there were made up nearly 12,000 armed men.

equitum ex tota Macedonia contraxerat <tria> milia. uenerat eodem Cotys, Seuthis filius, rex gentis Odrysarum, cum mille delectis equitibus, pari ferme peditum numero. ita summa totius exercitus triginta nouem milia peditum erant, quattuor equitum.

He had mustered from all Macedonia three thousand horsemen. Cotys, son of Seuthes, king of the nation of the Odrysae, had come there as well with one thousand chosen horsemen, with nearly an equal number of foot. Thus the total of the whole army was 39,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry.

satis constabat, secundum eum exercitum, quem magnus Alexander in Asiam traiecit, numquam ullius Macedonum regis copias tantas fuisse.

It was well established that, next after that army which the great Alexander transported into Asia, never had the forces of any king of the Macedonians been so great.

[52] Sextus et uicesimus annus agebatur, ex quo petenti Philippo data pax erat; per id omne tempus quieta Macedonia et progeniem ediderat, cuius magna pars matura militiae esset, et leuibus bellis Thracum accolarum, quae exercerent magis quam fatigarent, sub adsidua tamen militia fuerat. et diu meditatum Philippo primo, deinde et Persei Romanum bellum, omnia ut instructa parataque essent, effecerat. mota parumper acies, non iusto decursu tamen, ne stetisse tantum in armis uiderentur; armatosque, sicut erant, ad contionem uocauit.

[52] The twenty-sixth year was passing since peace had been granted to Philip upon his seeking it; through all that time Macedonia had been quiet and had produced a progeny, a great part of which was mature for military service, and, with light wars of the Thracian neighbors—which exercised rather than fatigued them—had nevertheless been under continual soldiery. And the Roman war, long meditated by Philip first and then by Perseus as well, had brought it about that everything was equipped and prepared. The battle-line was moved for a short space, yet not with a regular full run, lest they seem only to have stood under arms; and he summoned the armed men, just as they were, to an assembly.

ipse constitit in tribunali, circa se habens filios duos, quorum maior Philippus natura frater, adoptione filius, minor, quem Alexandrum uocabant, naturalis erat. cohortatus est milites ad bellum; iniurias populi Romani in patrem seque commemorauit: illum omnibus indignitatibus conpulsum ad rebellandum, inter apparatum belli fato oppressum; ad se simul legatos, simul milites ad occupandas Graeciae urbes missos. fallaci dein conloquio per speciem reconciliandae pacis extractam hiemem, ut tempus ad conparandum haberent; consulem nunc uenire cum duabus legionibus Romanis, quae <singulae sena milia peditum>, trecenos equites habeant, et pari ferme numero sociorum peditum equitumque.

he himself took his stand on the tribunal, having around him his two sons, of whom the elder, Philip—by nature his brother, by adoption his son—the younger, whom they called Alexander, was his natural son. he exhorted the soldiers to war; he recalled the injuries of the Roman People against his father and himself: that the former, driven by every indignity to rebel, had been overwhelmed by fate amid the preparation for war; that against himself both envoys and soldiers had at once been sent to seize the cities of Greece. then, by a fallacious conference under the appearance of a peace to be reconciled, the winter had been drawn out, so that they might have time for preparing; that now the consul was coming with two Roman legions, which <each six thousand infantry>, have three hundred horsemen, and with a nearly equal number of allied infantry and cavalry.

eo ut accedant regum auxilia, Eumenis et Masinissae, non plus <triginta> septem milia peditum, duo equitum futura. auditis hostium copiis respicerent suum ipsi exercitum, quantum numero, quantum genere militum praestarent tironibus raptim ad id bellum conscriptis ipsi, a pueris eruditi artibus militiae, tot subacti atque durati bellis. auxilia Romanis Lydos et Phrygas et Numidas esse, sibi Thracas Gallosque, ferocissimas gentium.

that to these there should be added the auxiliaries of kings, of Eumenes and of Masinissa—no more than <thirty> seven thousand infantry, and 2 thousand of cavalry to be forthcoming. After the forces of the enemy had been heard, let them look to their own army, how far in number, how far in the kind of soldiers they excelled the recruits hastily conscripted for that war; they themselves, trained from boyhood in the arts of soldiery, having been subdued and hardened by so many wars. The auxiliaries for the Romans were Lydians and Phrygians and Numidians; for themselves Thracians and Gauls, the most ferocious of the nations.

arma illos habere ea, quae sibi quisque parauerit pauper miles, Macedonas prompta ex regio apparatu, per tot annos patris sui cura et inpensa facta. commeatum illis cum procul, tum omnibus sub casibus maritimis fore; se et pecuniam et frumentum, praeter reditus metallorum, in decem annos seposuisse. omnia, quae deorum indulgentia, quae regia cura praeparanda fuerint, plena cumulataque habere Macedonas; animos habendos esse, quos habuerint maiores eorum, qui Europa omni domita transgressi in Asiam incognitum famae aperuerint armis orbem terrarum nec ante uincere desierint, quam Rubro mari inclusis, quod uincerent, defuerit.

that those men have arms which each poor soldier has prepared for himself; the Macedonians [have] things ready from the royal apparatus, made through so many years by the care and expense of his father. that their commissariat will be both far away and under all maritime contingencies; that he has set aside both money and grain, besides the revenues of the mines, for ten years. that the Macedonians hold everything which, by the indulgence of the gods and by royal care, ought to have been prepared, full and heaped up; that they must have the spirits which their ancestors had, who, with all Europe subdued, crossing into Asia, opened by arms to fame the world unknown, and did not cease to conquer before, the Red Sea enclosing them, there failed them something to conquer.

at hercule nunc <non> de ultimis Indiae oris, sed de ipsius Macedoniae possessione certamen fortunam indixisse. cum patre suo gerentis bellum Romanos speciosum Graeciae liberandae <prae>tulisse titulum: nunc propalam Macedoniam in seruitutem petere, ne rex uicinus imperio sit Romano, ne gens bello nobilis arma habeat. haec enim tradenda superbis dominis esse cum rege regnoque, <si> absistere bello et facere imperata uelint.

But, by Hercules, now they have summoned Fortune to a contest not over the farthest shores of India, but over the possession of Macedonia herself. When they were waging war with his father, the Romans carried before them the specious title of “liberating Greece”; now they openly seek to reduce Macedonia into servitude, so that no king may be a neighbor to the Roman dominion, so that a nation noble in war may not have arms. For these things are to be handed over to haughty masters along with the king and the kingdom, if they are willing to desist from war and to do what is commanded.

[53] Cum per omnem orationem satis frequenti adsensu succlamatum esset, tum uero ea uociferatio simul indignantium minitantiumque, partim iubentium bonum animum habere regem, exorta est, ut finem dicendi faceret, tantum iussis ad iter <se> parare; iam enim dici mouere castra ab Nymphaeo Romanos. <contione> dimissa ad audiendas legationes ciuitatium Macedoniae se contulit. uenerant autem ad pecunias pro facultatibus quaeque suis et frumentum pollicendum ad bellum.

[53] When throughout the whole speech assent had been shouted with quite frequent approval, then indeed such a vociferation arose at once of men indignant and threatening, partly bidding the king to have good courage, that he should make an end of speaking, only with orders given to prepare for the march, to prepare for the journey; for already it was being said that the Romans were moving camp from Nymphaeum. With the dismissed he betook himself to hear the embassies of the cities of Macedonia. Moreover, they had come to promise money according to each one’s own resources and grain for the war.

omnibus gratiae actae, remissum omnibus; satis regios apparatus ad ea dictum sufficere. uehicula tantum imperata, ut tormenta telorumque missilium ingentem uim praeparatam bellicumque aliud instrumentum ueherent. profectus inde toto exercitu, Eordaeam petens, ad Begorritim, quem uocant, lacum positis castris, postero die in Elimeam ad Haliacmona fluuium processit.

thanks were given to all, and it was remitted to all; it was said that the royal preparations sufficed for those things. only vehicles were ordered, so that they might convey the artillery and a huge quantity of missiles that had been prepared, and other warlike equipment. setting out from there with the whole army, making for Eordaea, after pitching camp at the lake Begorritis, as they call it, on the next day he advanced into Elimea to the river Haliacmon.

deinde saltu angusto superatis montibus, quos Cambunios uocant, descendit ad Azorum, Pythoum, Dolichen: Tripolim uocant incolentes. haec tria oppida paulisper cunctati, quia obsides Larisaeis dederant, uicti tamen praesenti metu in deditionem concesserunt. benigne his appellatis, haud dubius Perrhaebos quoque idem <facturos>, * * urbem nihil cunctatis, qui incolebant, primo aduentu recipit.

then, a narrow pass having been traversed over the mountains which they call the Cambunian, he descended to Azorus, Pythium, Doliche: the inhabitants call it Tripolis. These three towns, after hesitating a little because they had given hostages to the Larisaeans, yet, overcome by present fear, conceded into surrender. With these kindly addressed, not doubting that the Perrhaebi also would do the same <facturos>, * * the city he received at the first arrival, the inhabitants not delaying at all.

Cyretias oppugnare coactus primo [etiam] die acri concursu ad portas armatorum est repulsus; postero die omnibus copiis adortus in deditionem omnes ante noctem accepit.

Compelled to assault the Cyretiae, on the first [even] day he was driven back by a fierce charge of the armed men at the gates; on the next day, attacking with all his forces, he received them all into surrender before nightfall.

[54] Mylae, proximum oppidum, ita munitum, ut inexsuperabilis munimenti spes incolas ferociores faceret, non portas claudere regi satis habuerunt, sed probris quoque in ipsum Macedonasque procacibus iaculati sunt. quae res cum infestiorem hostem ad oppugnandum fecisset, ipsos desperatione ueniae ad tuendos sese acrius accendit. itaque per triduum ingentibus utrimque animis et oppugnata est <urbs et> defensa.

[54] Mylae, the nearest town, so fortified that the hope of an insuperable fortification made the inhabitants more ferocious, did not consider it enough to shut the gates to the king, but even hurled impudent reproaches at him and the Macedonians. This, since it had made the enemy more hostile to assault, inflamed them themselves, through despair of pardon, to defend themselves more fiercely. And so for three days, with mighty courage on both sides, both was assaulted <the city and> defended.

multitudo Macedonum ad subeundum in uicem proelium haud difficulter suppetebat; oppidanos, diem noctem eosdem tuentis moenia, non uulnera modo, sed etiam uigiliae et continens labor conficiebat. quarto die cum et scalae undique ad muros erigerentur et porta ui maiore oppugnaretur, oppidani depul<sa ui> muris ad portam tuendam concurrunt eruptionemque repentinam in hostis faciunt; quae cum irae magis inconsultae quam uerae fiduciae uirium esset, pauci et fessi ab integris pulsi terga <dederunt> fugientesque per patentem portam hostes acceperunt. ita capta urbs ac direpta est; libera quoque corpora, quae caedibus superfuerunt, uenum data.

The multitude of Macedonians for undertaking the battle in turn was by no means lacking; the townspeople, the same men guarding the walls by day and night, were being worn out not only by wounds, but also by vigils and continuous labor. On the fourth day, when ladders were being erected on all sides against the walls and the gate was being attacked with greater force, the townspeople, having driven the force from the walls, ran together to defend the gate and made a sudden sally against the enemy; but since this was more the product of unconsidered anger than of true confidence in their strength, few and weary, driven by fresh troops, they turned their backs, and, fleeing, admitted the enemy through the standing-open gate. Thus the city was captured and sacked; even free persons, who survived the slaughters, were put up for sale.

diruto magna ex parte et incenso oppido profectus ad Phalannam castra mouit, inde postero die Gyrtonem peruenit. quo cum T. Minucium Rufum et Hippiam, Thessalorum praetorem, cum praesidio intrasse accepisset, ne temptata quidem oppugnatione praetergressus, Elatiam et Gonnum perculsis inopinato aduentu oppidanis recepit. utraque oppida in faucibus sunt, qua Tempe adeun<tur>, magis Gonnus.

With the town for the most part demolished and burned, he set out and moved camp to Phalanna; from there on the following day he arrived at Gyrtone. When he had learned that T. Minucius Rufus and Hippias, the praetor of the Thessalians, had entered that place with a garrison, passing by without even an attempted assault, he recovered Elateia and Gonnus, the townsmen being panic-stricken by his unexpected arrival. Both towns are in the throats (passes) by which Tempe is approached, Gonnus more so.

itaque et firmiore id praesidio tutum equitum peditumque, ad hoc fossa triplici ac uallo munitum reliquit. ipse ad Sycurium progressus opperiri ibi hostium aduentum statuit; simul et frumentari passim exercitum iubet in subiecto hostium agro. namque Sycurium est sub radicibus Ossae montis.

and so he left it safe with a stronger garrison of cavalry and infantry, and in addition fortified with a triple ditch and rampart. He himself, having advanced to Sycurium, decided to wait there for the enemy’s arrival; at the same time he orders the army to forage everywhere in the enemy’s subjacent territory. For Sycurium is at the foot of Mount Ossa.

<is>, qua in meridiem uergit, subiectos habet Thessaliae campos, ab tergo Macedoniam atque Magnesiam. ad has opportunitates accedit summa salubritas et copia pluribus circumiectis fontibus perennium aquarum.

it, on the side which inclines toward the south, has the plains of Thessaly lying beneath; at its back, Macedonia and Magnesia. To these opportunities there is added the utmost salubrity and copiousness, with several circumjacent springs of perennial waters.

[55] Consul Romanus, per eosdem dies Thessaliam cum exercitu petens, iter expeditum primo per Epirum habuit; deinde, postquam in Athamaniam est transgressus, asperi ac prope inuii soli, cum ingenti difficultate paruis itineribus aegre Gomphos peruenit; cui si uexatis hominibus equisque tironem exercitum ducenti acie instructa et loco suo et tempore obstitisset rex, ne Romani quidem abnuunt magna sua cum clade fuisse pugnaturos. postquam Gomphos sine certamine uentum est, praeter gaudium periculosi saltus superati, contemptus quoque hostium adeo ignoruntium opportunitates suas accessit. sacrificio rite perfecto consul et frumento dato militibus paucos ad requiem iumentorum hominumque moratus dies, cum audiret uagari Macedonas effusos per Thessaliam uastarique sociorum agros, satis iam refectum militem ad Larisam ducit.

[55] The Roman consul, during those same days making for Thessaly with the army, at first had an unencumbered march through Epirus; then, after he had crossed into Athamania, a land rough and almost impassable, with huge difficulty by short marches he scarcely reached Gomphi; and if at that point the king, with a battle-line drawn up and at a place and time of his own, had stood in the way—their men and horses harassed and their army raw as they were leading it—not even the Romans deny that they would have fought with great disaster to themselves. After Gomphi was reached without a contest, besides the joy at the dangerous pass having been surmounted, there was added also contempt for the enemy, so ignorant of their own opportunities. The sacrifice having been duly completed and grain given to the soldiers, the consul, after delaying a few days for the rest of the beasts of burden and of the men, when he heard that the Macedonians were roaming in disorder through Thessaly and that the fields of the allies were being ravaged, led the troops, now sufficiently refreshed, to Larisa.

inde cum tria milia ferme abesset, ad Tripolim—Scaeam uocant—, super Peneum amnem posuit castra. per idem tempus Eumenes ad Chalcidem nauibus accessit cum Attalo atque Athenaeo fratribus, Philetaero fratre relicto Pergami ad tutelam regni. Chalcide cum Attalo et quattuor milibus peditum, mille equitum ad consulem uenit; Chalcide relicta duo milia peditum, quibus Athenaeus praepositus.

thence, when he was about three miles away, he pitched camp at Tripolis—they call it Scaea—, above the river Peneus. At the same time Eumenes put in to Chalcis with ships, together with his brothers Attalus and Athenaeus, Philetaerus, their brother, having been left at Pergamum for the tutelage of the kingdom. From Chalcis, with Attalus and 4,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry, he came to the consul; 2,000 infantry were left at Chalcis, with Athenaeus set over them.

et alia eodem auxilia Romanis ex omnibus undique Graeciae populis conuenerunt, quorum pleraque—adeo parua erant—in obliuionem adducta. Apolloniatae trecentos equites, centum pedites miserunt. Aetolorum alae unius instar erat, quantum ab tota gente equitum uenerat, et Thessalorum, <quorum> omnis equitatus speratus erat, non plus quam trecenti erant equites in castris Romanis.

and other auxiliaries likewise convened for the Romans from all the peoples of Greece on every side, most of which—so small were they—have been consigned to oblivion. The Apolloniatae sent three hundred horse and one hundred foot. The Aetolians’ cavalry amounted to the likeness of a single ala, as much horse as had come from the whole nation; and of the Thessalians, <quorum> the whole cavalry had been hoped, there were not more than three hundred horsemen in the Roman camp.

Achaei iuuentutis suae, Cretico maxime armatu, ad mille quingentos dederunt.

The Achaeans furnished about 1,500 of their youth, chiefly with Cretan armament.

[56] Sub idem tempus et C. Lucretius praetor, qui nauibus praeerat ad Cephallaniam, M. Lucretio fratre cum classe super Maleum Chalcidem iusso petere, ipse triremem conscendit, sinum Corinthium petens ad praeoccupandas in Boeotia res. tardior ei nauigatio propter infirmitatem corporis fuit. M. Lucretius, Chalcidem adueniens, cum a P. Lentulo Haliartum oppugnari audisset, nuntium, praetoris uerbis qui abscedere eum inde iuberet, misit.

[56] About the same time also Gaius Lucretius, the praetor, who was in command of the ships at Cephallenia, with his brother Marcus Lucretius ordered to make for Chalcis with the fleet past Cape Malea, himself boarded a trireme, aiming at the Corinthian Gulf to pre‑occupy matters in Boeotia. His navigation was slower on account of weakness of body. Marcus Lucretius, arriving at Chalcis, when he heard that Publius Lentulus was assaulting Haliartus, sent a messenger, with the praetor’s words, to order him to withdraw from there.

Boeotorum iuuentute, quae pars cum Romanis stabat, eam rem adgressus legatus a moenibus abscessit. haec soluta obsidio locum alteri nouae obsidioni dedit; namque extemplo M. Lucretius cum exercitu nauali, decem milibus armatorum, ad hoc duobus milibus regiorum, qui sub Athenaeo erant, Haliartum circumsedit; parantibusque iam oppugnare superuenit a Creusa praetor. ad idem fere tempus et ab sociis naues Chalcidem conuenerunt, duae Punicae quinqueremes, duae ab Heraclea ex Ponto triremes, quattuor Chalcedone, totidem Samo, tum quinque Rhodiae quadriremes.

Boeotian youth, the faction which stood with the Romans, the legate, having addressed that matter, withdrew from the walls. this siege lifted gave place to another new siege; for immediately M. Lucretius, with the naval army, with 10,000 armed men, and in addition 2,000 royal troops, who were under Athenaeus, invested Haliartus; and when they were already preparing to storm, the praetor arrived from Creusa. at about the same time also ships from the allies assembled at Chalcis, two Punic quinqueremes, two triremes from Heraclea in Pontus, four from Chalcedon, just so many from Samos, then five Rhodian quadriremes.

has praetor, quia nusquam erat maritumum bellum, remisit sociis. et Q. Marcius Chalcidem nauibus uenit, Alope <Pthio>tica capta, Larisa, quae Cremaste dicitur, oppugnata.

these the praetor, because nowhere was there a maritime war, sent back to the allies. And Q. Marcius came to Chalcis with ships, Phthiotic Alope having been captured, Larisa, which is called Cremaste, having been attacked.

Cum hic status in Boeotia esset, Perseus, cum ad Sycurium, sicut ante dictum est, statiua haberet, frumento undique circa ex agris conuecto, ad uastandum Pheraeorum <agrum> misit, ratus ad iuuandas sociorum urbes longius a castris abstractos deprehendi Romanos posse. quos cum eo tumultu nihil motos animaduertisset, * * * * praedam quidem praeterquam hominum—pecora autem maxume omnis generis fuere—diuisit ad epulandum militibus * * * .

While matters stood thus in Boeotia, Perseus—since at Sycurium, as was said before, he had his standing-camp—having gathered grain on every side from the surrounding fields, sent men to devastate the land of the Pheraeans, thinking that the Romans, drawn farther from their camp to aid the cities of their allies, could be caught. When he noticed that they were not moved at all by that tumult, * * * * he divided the booty, indeed, except for human beings—the herds, moreover, were chiefly of every kind—for the soldiers to feast upon * * * .

[57] Sub idem deinde tempus consilium et consul et rex habuerunt, unde bellum ordirentur. regiis creuerant animi uastatione concessa sibi ab hoste Pheraei agri; itaque eundum inde ad castra nec dandum ultra spatium cunctandi censebant. et Romani sentiebant cunctationem suam infamem apud socios esse, maxume indigne ferentis non latam Pheraeis opem.

[57] About the same time then, both the consul and the king held a council on where they should commence the war. The spirits of the king’s party had grown, since the devastation of the Pheraean territory had been conceded to them by the enemy; therefore they judged that they must go from there against the camp and that no further space for delaying should be given. And the Romans perceived that their procrastination was disreputable among their allies, who most especially took it indignantly that aid had not been brought to the Pheraeans.

consultantibus, quid agerent—aderant autem Eumenes et Attalus in consilio—, trepidus nuntius adfert hostem magno agmine adesse. consilio dimisso signum extemplo datur, ut arma capiant. interim placet ex regiis auxiliis centum equites et parem numerum iaculatorum peditum exire.

While they were consulting what they should do—moreover Eumenes and Attalus were present in the council—an agitated messenger brings word that the enemy is at hand with a great column. The council being dismissed, the signal is given forthwith that they take up arms. Meanwhile it is decided that from the royal auxiliaries a hundred horsemen and an equal number of javelin-throwing infantry should go out.

Perseus <hora> ferme diei quarta, cum paulo plus mille passus abesset a castris Romanis, consistere signa peditum iussit; praegressus ipse cum equitibus ac leui armatura; et Cotys cum eo ducesque aliorum auxiliorum praecesserunt. minus quingentos passus ab castris aberant, cum in conspectu fuere hostium equites; duae alae erant magna ex parte Gallorum— Cassignatus praeerat—et leuis armaturae centum fere et quinquaginta Mysi et Cretenses. constitit rex, incertus, quantae <hostium copiae> essent.

Perseus, at about the fourth <hour> of the day, when he was a little more than a thousand paces away from the Roman camp, ordered the standards of the infantry to halt; he himself went on ahead with the cavalry and the light-armed troops; and Cotys with him and the leaders of the other auxiliaries advanced in front. They were less than five hundred paces from the camp when the enemy’s horsemen came into view; there were two alae, for the most part Gauls—Cassignatus was in command—and about one hundred and fifty light-armed Mysians and Cretans. The king halted, uncertain how large the <enemy forces> were.

duas inde ex agmine turmas Threcum, duas Macedonum cum binis Cretensium cohortibus et Threcum misit. proelium, cum pares numero essent neque ab hac aut illa parte noua auxilia subuenirent, incerta uictoria finitum est. Eumenis ferme triginta interfecti, inter quos Cassignatus dux Gallorum cecidit.

thence he sent out from the column two squadrons of Thracians, two of Macedonians, together with two cohorts of Cretans and of Thracians. the battle, since they were equal in number and no new auxiliaries came up from either side, was ended with the victory uncertain. on Eumenes’ side nearly thirty were slain, among whom Cassignatus, leader of the Gauls, fell.

et tunc quidem Perseus ad Sycurium copias reduxit; postero die circa eandem horam in eundem locum rex copias admouit plaustris cum aqua sequentibus; nam duodecim milium passuum <uia> omnis sine aqua et plurimi pulueris erat; aduectosque siti, si primo in conspectu dimicassent, pugnaturos fuisse apparebat. cum Romani quiessent, stationibus etiam intra uallum reductis, regii quoque in castra redeunt. hoc per aliquot dies fecerunt, sperantes fore, ut Romani equites abeuntium nouissimum agmen adgrederentur; inde certamine orto, cum longius a castris eos elicuissent, facile, ubiubi essent, se, qui equitatu et leui armatura plus possent, conuersuros aciem.

and then indeed Perseus led the forces back to Sycurium; on the next day about the same hour the king brought up the forces to the same place, wagons with water following; for the whole of twelve miles was without water and of very great dust; and it was evident that, arriving parched with thirst, if they had fought at the first sight, they would have fought. when the Romans kept quiet, even their outposts withdrawn within the rampart, the king’s men also return to camp. this they did for several days, hoping that the Roman cavalry would attack the rearmost column of those withdrawing; then, once a contest arose, when they had drawn them farther from the camp, they, being stronger in cavalry and light-armed troops, would easily, wherever they might be, wheel the battle-line round in their favor.

[58] Postquam inceptum non succedebat, castra propius hostem mouit rex et a quinque milibus passuum communiuit. inde luce prima in eodem, quo solebat, loco peditum acie instructa, equitatum omnem leuemque armaturam ad castra hostium ducit. uisus et plurium et propior solito puluis trepidationem in castris Romanis fecit.

[58] After the attempt was not succeeding, the king moved the camp nearer to the enemy and fortified it at a distance of five miles, and then at first light, with the battle line of the infantry drawn up in the same place as he was accustomed, he leads all the cavalry and the light-armed troops to the enemy’s camp. The sight of dust, both greater in quantity and nearer than usual, produced trepidation in the Roman camp.

et primo uix creditum nuntianti est, quia prioribus continuis diebus numquam ante horam quartam hostis apparuerat; tum solis ortus erat. deinde ut plurium clamore et cursu a portis dubitatio exempta est, tumultus ingens oboritur. tribuni praefectique et centuriones in praetorium, miles ad sua quisque tentoria discurrit.

and at first the one announcing was scarcely believed, because on the prior consecutive days the enemy had never appeared before the fourth hour; then it was the rising of the sun. then, when by the shouting of more and their running from the gates the doubt was removed, a huge tumult arises. the tribunes, prefects, and centurions to the praetorium; the soldiers run each to their own tents.

minus quingentos passus a uallo instruxerat Perseus suos circa tumulum, quam Callinicum uocant. laeuo cornu Cotys rex praeerat cum omnibus suae gentis; equitum ordines leuis armatura interposita distinguebat. in dextro cornu Macedones erant equites, intermixti turmis eorum Cretenses; huic armaturae Midon Beroeaeus, equitibus et summae partis eius Meno Antigonensis praeerat.

Less than five hundred paces from the rampart Perseus had drawn up his men around a mound which they call Callinicus. On the left wing King Cotys was in command with all of his nation; the squadrons of cavalry were distinguished by light-armed troops inserted between. On the right wing were Macedonian horsemen, with Cretans intermingled among their troops; over this light-armed force Midon the Beroean was in command, and over the cavalry and the overall direction of that sector Meno the Antigonian.

proximi cornibus constiterant regii equites, et, mixtum genus, delecta plurium gentium auxilia; Patrocles Antigonensis his et Paeoniae praefectus Didas erant praepositi. medius omnium rex erat; circa eum agema quod uocant, equitumque sacrae alae. ante se statuit funditores iaculatoresque: quadringentorum manus utraque numerum explebat; Ionem Thessalonicensem et Artemona Dolopem iis praefecit.

Nearest the wings had formed up the royal cavalry, and, a mixed kind, chosen auxiliaries of several nations; over these were set Patrocles the Antigonian and Didas, prefect of Paeonia. The king was in the middle of all; around him the agema, as they call it, and the sacred wings of the horse. Before himself he posted slingers and javelin-throwers: each band made up the number of four hundred; Ion the Thessalonican and Artemon the Dolopian he set over them.

sic regii constiterant. consul intra uallum peditum acie instructa et ipse equitatum omnem cum leui armatura emisit; pro uallo instructi sunt. dextro cornu praepositus C. Licinius Crassus, consulis frater, cum omni Italico equitatu, uelitibus intermixtis; sinistro M. Ualerius Laeuinus sociorum ex Graecis populis equites habebat <et> eiusdem gentis leuem armaturam; mediam autem aciem cum delectis equitibus extraordinariis tenebat Q. Mucius.

Thus the royal troops had taken their stand. The consul, the infantry drawn up in battle-line within the rampart, likewise sent out all the cavalry with the light-armed; before the rampart they were drawn up. Over the right wing was set C. Licinius Crassus, the consul’s brother, with all the Italian cavalry, the velites intermingled; over the left M. Valerius Laevinus had the cavalry of the allies from the Greek peoples, and light-armed of the same nation, <and> the center of the line was held by Q. Mucius with picked extraordinary cavalry.

ducenti equites Galli ante signa horum instructi et de auxiliis Eumenis Cyrtiorum gentis trecenti. Thessali quadringenti equites paruo interuallo super laeuum cornu locati. Eumenes rex Attalusque cum omni manu sua ab tergo inter postremam aciem ac uallum steterunt.

200 Gallic horsemen were drawn up before their standards, and from Eumenes’s auxiliaries 300 of the nation of the Cyrtii. 400 Thessalian horsemen were placed at a small interval before the left wing. King Eumenes and Attalus, with all their force, stood in the rear between the last line and the rampart.

[59] In hunc modum maxime instructae acies, par ferme utrimque numerus equitum ac leuis armaturae, concurrunt, a funditoribus iaculatoribusque, qui praecesserant, proelio orto. primi omnium Thraces, haud secus quam diu claustris retentae ferae, ita concitati cum ingenti clamore in dextrum cornu, Italicos equites, incurrerunt, ut usu belli et ingenio inpauida gens turbaretur * * <gla>diis hastas petere pedites * * nunc succidere crura <equ>is, nunc ilia suffodere. Perseus, in mediam inuectus aciem, Graecos primo impetu auertit; quibus <fus>is cum grauis ab tergo instaret hostis, Thessalorum equitatus, <qui a laeuo> cornu breui spatio diiunctus in subsidiis fuerat extra concursum, primo spectator certaminis, deinde inclinata re maxumo usui fuit.

[59] In this manner, the battle-lines being for the most part arrayed, with the number of horsemen and light-armed nearly equal on both sides, they clash, the fight having been set going by the slingers and javelin-throwers who had gone ahead. First of all the Thracians—no otherwise than beasts long held back by enclosures—thus roused, with an immense shout charged the right wing, the Italian cavalry, to such a degree that a nation fearless by practice of war and by temperament was thrown into disorder; * * the infantry to assail the spears with swords * * now to hew down the horses’ legs, now to stab their flanks. Perseus, having ridden into the midst of the line, turned the Greeks at the first onset; and when they were routed and a heavy foe pressed from behind, the Thessalian cavalry, which, separated by a short interval from the left wing, had been in the reserves outside the clash, at first a spectator of the combat, then, when the affair inclined, was of the greatest use.

cedentes enim sensim integris ordinibus, postquam se Eumenis auxiliis adiunxerunt, et cum eo tutum inter ordines suos receptum sociis fuga dissipatis dabant et, cum minus conferti hostes instarent, progredi etiam ausi multos fugientium obuios exceperunt. nec regii, sparsi iam ipsi passim sequendo, cum ordinatis et certo incedentibus gradu manus conserere audebant. cum uictor equestri proelio rex * * * * paruo momento si adiuuisset debellatum esse, et opportune adhortanti superuenit phalanx, quam sua sponte, ne audaci coepto deessent, Hippias et Leonnatus raptim adduxerant, postquam prospere pugnasse equitem acceperunt.

for indeed, withdrawing little by little in intact ranks, after they had joined themselves to Eumenes’s auxiliaries, and with him they were granting a safe reception among their own lines to allies scattered in flight; and, when the enemies pressed on less in close order, they even dared to advance and intercepted many of the fugitives who met them. nor did the king’s men, now themselves scattered everywhere by the pursuit, dare to join battle with troops in order and advancing with a steady step. when the king, victorious in the cavalry engagement, * * * * that the war would have been finished if he had aided for a brief moment, the phalanx arrived as he was exhorting at the opportune time, which—of their own accord, lest they be wanting to the bold enterprise—Hippias and Leonnatus had rapidly brought up, after they received the report that the cavalry had fought prosperously.

fluctuante rege inter spem metumque tantae rei conandae Cretensis Euander, quo ministro Delphis ad insidias Eumenis regis usus erat, postquam agmen peditum uenientium sub signis uidit, ad regem accurrit et monere institit, ne elatus felicitate summam rerum temere in non necessariam aleam daret; si contentus bene re gesta quiesset eo die, uel pacis honestae condicionem habiturum uel plurimos belli socios, qui fortunam sequerentur, si bellare mallet. in hoc consilium pronior erat animus regis. itaque conlaudato Euandro signa referri peditumque agmen redire in castra iubet, equitibus receptui canere.

While the king was wavering between hope and fear of attempting so great an enterprise, the Cretan Evander—whom he had employed as an agent at Delphi for the ambush against King Eumenes—after he saw the column of infantry coming under their standards, ran up to the king and began to warn him not, elated by felicity, to commit the supreme issue rashly to an unnecessary hazard; if he were content to rest that day with the affair well managed, he would either obtain the condition of an honorable peace or very many allies in war, who would follow fortune, if he preferred to wage war. To this counsel the king’s mind was more inclined. Therefore, after commending Evander, he orders the standards to be borne back and the infantry column to return to camp, and for the cavalry to sound the recall.

[60] Cecidere eo die ab Romanis ducenti equites, duo milia haud minus peditum; capti sescenti ferme. ex regiis autem uiginti equites, quadraginta pedites interfecti. postquam rediere in castra uictores, omnes quidem laeti, ante alios Thracum insolens laetitia eminebat; cum cantu enim superfixa <hastis> capita hostium portantes redierunt.

[60] On that day there fell on the Roman side two hundred horsemen, not less than two thousand infantry; about six hundred were taken prisoner. But of the royal troops twenty horsemen and forty infantry were slain. After the victors returned to camp, all indeed were glad, but above the others the insolent joy of the Thracians stood out; for they returned with song, carrying the heads of the enemy superfixed on <hastis> spears.

apud Romanos non maestitia tantum ex male gesta re, sed pauor etiam erat, ne extemplo castra hostis adgrederetur. Eumenes <consuli> suadere, ut trans Peneum transferret castra, ut pro munimento amnem haberet, dum perculsi milites animos colligerent. consul moueri flagitio timoris fatendi; uictus tamen ratione, silentio noctis transductis copiis, castra in ulteriore ripa communiuit.

Among the Romans there was not only sadness from the ill-conducted affair, but also fear, lest the enemy should forthwith attack the camp. Eumenes <consuli> advised that he transfer the camp across the Peneus, so that he might have the river as a muniment, while the stricken soldiers gathered their spirits. The consul was swayed by the disgrace of confessing fear; yet, overcome by reason, with the troops led across in the silence of the night, he fortified the camp on the farther bank.

rex postero die ad lacessendos proelio hostes progressus, postquam trans amnem in tuto posita castra animaduertit, fatebatur quidem peccatum, quod pridie non institisset uictis, sed aliquanto maiorem culpam esse, quod nocte foret cessatum; nam, ut neminem alium suorum moueret, leui armatura inmissa, trepidantium in transitu fluminis hostium deleri magna ex parte copias potuisse. Romanis quidem praesens pauor demptus erat, in tuto castra habentibus; damnum inter cetera praecipue famae mouebat. et in consilio apud consulem pro se quisque in Aetolos conferebant causam: ab iis fugae terrorisque principium ortum; secutos pauorem Aetolorum et ceteros socios Graecorum populorum.

the king on the next day, having advanced to provoke the enemy to battle, after he observed that the camp had been placed across the river in a safe position, admitted indeed a fault, that on the previous day he had not pressed the vanquished, but that there was a somewhat greater culpability, because there had been a cessation during the night; for, even if he moved no one else of his men, by sending in the light-armed troops, a large part of the forces of the enemy, panicking in the passage of the river, could have been destroyed. for the Romans the present fear was indeed removed, since they had the camp in safety; among other things, the damage to reputation especially moved them. and in council with the consul each, on his own behalf, laid the cause upon the Aetolians: from them the beginning of flight and terror had arisen; and the other allies of the Greek peoples had followed the panic of the Aetolians.

quinque principes Aetolorum, qui primi terga uertentes conspecti dicebantur, <Romam missi>. Thessali pro contione laudati, ducesque eorum etiam uirtutis causa donati.

five principal men of the Aetolians, who were said to have been seen the first to turn their backs, were sent to Rome. The Thessalians were praised before the assembly, and their leaders also were presented with gifts for their valor.

[61] Ad regem spolia caesorum hostium referebantur. [dona] ex his aliis arma insignia, aliis equos, quibusdam captiuos dono dabat. scuta erant supra mille quingenta; loricae thoracesque mille amplius summam explebant; galearum gladiorumque et missilium omnis generis maior aliquanto numerus.

[61] To the king the spoils of the slain enemies were being brought. [gifts] From these he was giving to some insignia-bearing arms, to others horses, to certain men captives as a gift. There were over 1,500 shields; cuirasses and breastplates made up a total of more than 1,000; of helmets and swords and missiles of every kind the number was somewhat greater.

haec per se ampla laetaque multiplicata uerbis regis, quae ad contionem uocato exercitu habuit. 'praeiudicatum euentum belli habetis. meliorem partem hostium, equitatum Romanum, quo inuictos se esse gloriabantur, fudistis.

These things, ample and gladsome in themselves, were amplified by the king’s words, which he delivered to the assembly, the army having been called together. ‘You have a prejudged outcome of the war. You have routed the better part of the enemy—the Roman cavalry—by which they boasted themselves to be unconquered.’

equites enim illis principes iuuentutis, equites seminarium senatus; inde lectos in patres consules, inde imperatores creant: horum spolia paulo ante diuisimus inter uos. nec minorem de legionibus peditum uictoriam habetis, quae nocturna fuga uobis subtractae naufragorum trepidatione passim natantium flumen compleuerunt. sed facilius nobis sequentibus uictos Peneum superare erit, quam illis trepidantibus fuit; transgressique extemplo castra oppugnabimus, quae hodie cepissemus, ni fugissent; aut si acie decernere uolent, eundem pugnae pedestris euentum expectate, qui equitum in certamine fuit.' et qui uicerant, alacres, spolia caesorum hostium umeris gerentes, decora sua audiuere, ex eo, quod acciderat, spem futuri praecipientes, et pedites aliena gloria accensi, praecipue qui Macedonum phalangis erant, sibi quoque et nauandae regi operae et similem gloriam ex hoste pariendi occasionem <optabant.

for their horsemen are the chiefs of the youth, the horsemen the seminary of the Senate; from there, those chosen into the Fathers they make Consuls, from there they create Commanders: the spoils of these men we a little before divided among you. Nor do you have a lesser victory over the legions of infantry, who, snatched from you by nocturnal flight, filled the river with the trepidation of shipwrecked men swimming everywhere. But it will be easier for us, pursuing, to get across the Peneus after the beaten than it was for them in their panic; and once we have crossed we shall at once assault the camp, which we would have taken today, had they not fled; or if they wish to decide it by battle-line, expect the same outcome of a foot-fight as there was in the contest of the cavalry.' And those who had won, brisk, carrying on their shoulders the spoils of the slain enemies, listened to their honors, from what had happened anticipating hope of the future; and the infantry, inflamed by another’s glory, especially those who were of the Macedonians’ phalanxes, were <desiring for themselves also an occasion both of service to be rendered to the king and of winning similar glory from the enemy.

contione> dimissa, postero die profectus inde ad Mopselum posuit castra. tumulus hic ante Tempe eminet et Larisa medius abest Gonnum <eunti>.

with the assembly> dismissed, on the following day he set out from there and pitched camp at Mopselus. This mound stands out before Tempe and, from Larisa, is midway for one <going> to Gonnum.

[62] <Romani> non abscedentes ab ripa Penei transtulerunt in locum tutiorem castra. eo Misagenes Numida uenit cum mille equitibus, pari peditum numero, ad hoc elephantis duobus et uiginti. per eos dies consilium habenti regi de summa <rerum>, cum iam consedisset ferocia ab re bene gesta, ausi sunt quidam amicorum consilium dare, ut secunda fortuna in condicionem honestae pacis uteretur potius, quam spe uana euectus in casum inreuocabilem se daret.

[62] <The Romans>, not departing from the bank of the Peneus, moved their camp into a safer place. There Misagenes the Numidian came with a thousand horsemen, an equal number of foot-soldiers, and, in addition, twenty-two elephants. During those days, as the king was holding counsel about the sum of <affairs>, when the ferocity arising from a well-achieved deed had now settled, certain of his friends dared to give advice: that he should employ his favorable fortune for the condition of honorable peace rather than, borne aloft by vain hope, give himself over to an irrecoverable hazard.

modum inponere secundis rebus nec nimis credere serenitati praesentis fortunae, prudentis hominis et merito felicis esse. mitteret ad consulem, qui foedus in easdem leges renouarent, quibus Philippus pater eius pacem ab T. Quinctio uictore accepisset. neque finiri bellum magnificentius quam ab tam memorabili pugna <posse, neque> spem firmiorem pacis perpetuae dari, quam quae perculsos aduerso proelio Romanos molliores factura sit ad paciscendum.

to impose a measure upon favorable circumstances, and not to trust too much in the serenity of present fortune, is the part of a prudent man and one fortunate with good desert. let him send to the consul, to have the treaty renewed on the same terms on which Philip, his father, received peace from T. Quinctius, the victor. nor could the war be ended more magnificently than by so memorable a battle <to be possible, nor> could a firmer hope of perpetual peace be given than that which would make the Romans, shaken by an adverse battle, more compliant for negotiating.

quodsi Romani tum quoque insita pertinacia aequa aspernarentur, deos hominesque et moderationis Persei et illorum peruicacis superbiae futuros testes. numquam ab talibus consiliis abhorrebat regis animus. itaque <ut> plurium adsensu conprobata est sententia, legati ad consulem missi; adhibito frequenti consilio auditi sunt.

but if the Romans then also, with their inborn pertinacity, should spurn equitable terms, the gods and men would be witnesses both of Perseus’s moderation and of their pervicacious arrogance. the king’s spirit never recoiled from such counsels. and so, as the opinion was approved by the assent of the majority, envoys were sent to the consul; a numerous council having been convened, they were heard.

pacem petiere, uectigal, quantum Philippus pactus esset, daturum Persea Romanis pollicentes; urbibus, agris locisque, quibus Philippus cessisset, cessurum <quam> primum. haec legati. summotis his cum consultarent, Romana constantia uicit in consilio.

they sought peace, promising that Perseus would give to the Romans tribute as much as Philip had agreed by pact; that he would cede the cities, fields, and places which Philip had yielded, as soon as possible. Such were the envoys’ proposals. With them removed, when they deliberated, Roman constancy prevailed in the council.

ita tum mos erat, in aduers<is reb>us uoltum secundae fortunae gerere, moderari animo in secundis. responderi placuit, ita pacem dari, si de summa rerum liberum senatui permittat rex de se deque uniuersa Macedonia statuendi ius. haec cum renuntiassent legati, miraculo ignaris <Romani> moris pertinacia esse, et plerique uetare amplius mentionem pacis facere; ultro mox quaesituros, quod oblatum fastidiant.

Thus at that time the custom was, in adverse circumstances to carry the countenance of prosperous fortune, to moderate one’s spirit in prosperous ones. It was resolved to reply that peace would be granted on this condition: if the king should permit to the Senate free right of determining concerning the sum of affairs—about himself and the whole of Macedonia. When the envoys reported these things, to those ignorant of the Roman custom their pertinacity was a marvel, and many forbade making any further mention of peace; they would soon of their own accord be seekers of that which they disdain when it is offered.

Perseus hanc ipsam superbiam—quippe ex fiducia uirium esse—timere, et summam pecuniae augens, si pretio pacem emere posset, non destitit animum consulis temptare. postquam nihil ex eo, quod primo responderat, mutabat, desperata pace ad Sycurium, unde profectus erat, redit, belli casum de integro temptaturus.

Perseus said that they feared this very superbity—indeed, that it arose from confidence in their forces—and, increasing the sum of money, in case he could buy peace at a price, did not cease to test the consul’s mind. After he altered nothing of what he had first answered, with peace despaired of he returns to Sycurium, whence he had set out, intending to try the chance of war afresh.

[63] Fama equestris pugnae uulgata per Graeciam nudauit uoluntates hominum. non enim solum qui partis Macedonum erant, sed plerique ingentibus Romanorum obligati beneficiis, quidam uim superbiamque experti <Persei>, laeti eam famam accepere, non ob aliam causam quam prauo studio, quo etiam in certaminibus ludicris uulgus utitur, deteriori atque infirmiori fauendo.

[63] The report of the cavalry battle, spread through Greece, laid bare the dispositions of men. For not only those who were of the Macedonian party, but most, obligated by the immense benefactions of the Romans, and certain men who had experienced the violence and arrogance of <Perseus>, gladly received that report, for no other cause than a perverse zeal, which even in ludicrous contests the crowd employs, by favoring the worse and the weaker.

Eodem tempore in Boeotia summa ui Haliartum Lucretius praetor oppugnabat; et quamquam nec habebant externa auxilia obsessi praeter Coronaeorum iuniores, qui prima obsidione moenia intrauerant, neque sperabant, tamen ipsi animis magis quam uiribus resistebant. nam et eruptiones in opera crebro faciebant, et arietem admotum nunc <saxis ingentibus, nunc> libramento plumbi grauatum ad terram urguebant, et si qua declinare nequiuerant ictum, pro diruto muro nouum tumultuario opere, raptim ex ipsa ruinae strage congestis saxis, extruebant. cum operibus lentior <oppugnatio> esset, scalas per manipulos diuidi praetor iussit, ut corona undique moenia adgressurus, eo magis suffecturam ad id multitudinem ratus, quod, qua parte palus urbem cingit, nec adtinebat oppugnari nec poterat.

At the same time in Boeotia Lucretius the praetor was assaulting Haliartus with the utmost force; and although the besieged had no foreign auxiliaries except the younger men of the Coronaeans, who at the first siege had entered within the walls, nor did they hope, nevertheless they themselves were resisting more by spirit than by strength. For they both frequently made sallies against the works, and when the battering-ram was brought up they pressed it down to the ground, now with weighted with a leaden counterpoise, and if in any place they had been unable to deflect the blow, in place of the demolished wall they would build up a new one with a tumultuary work, stones hastily heaped up from the very wreckage of the ruin. When the was slower with works, the praetor ordered the ladders to be divided among the maniples, intending to attack the walls on all sides in a ring, thinking the multitude would the more suffice for that, because, on the side where the marsh encircles the city, it neither had to be assaulted nor could it be.

ipse ab ea parte, qua duae turres quodque inter eas muri erat, <corruerat>, duo milia militum delectorum admouit, <ut> eodem tempore, quo ipse transcendere ruinas conaretur, concursu aduersus se oppidanorum facto, scalis uacua defensoribus moenia capi parte aliqua possent. haud segniter oppidani uim eius arcere parant. nam super stratum ruinis locum fascibus aridis sarmentorum iniectis stantes cum ardentibus facibus accensuros eam se saepem minabantur, ut, incendio intersaepti ab hoste, spatium ad obiciendum interiorem murum haberent.

he himself from that side where two towers and whatever of wall between them had collapsed, brought up two thousand select soldiers, so that at the same time at which he was attempting to climb over the ruins, with a rush made by the townsmen against himself, the walls, empty of defenders, might be taken by ladders at some point. Not sluggishly do the townsmen prepare to ward off his force. For, upon the ground strewn with ruins, having thrown in bundles of dry brushwood and standing with burning torches, they threatened that they would set that hedge ablaze, so that, shut off from the enemy by the conflagration, they might have space for throwing up an inner wall.

quod inceptum eorum fors inpediit; nam tantus repente effusus est imber, ut nec accendi facile pateretur et extingueret accensa. itaque et transitus per distracta fumantia uirgulta patuit, et in unius loci praesidium omnibus uersis moenia quoque pluribus simul partibus scalis capiuntur. in primo tumultu captae urbis seniores inpubesque, quos casus obuios obtulit, passim caesi; armati in arcem confugerunt; et postero die, cum spei nihil superesset, deditione facta sub corona uenierunt.

Their undertaking chance impeded; for such a torrent of rain suddenly poured down that it neither readily allowed it to be kindled nor failed to extinguish what had been kindled. And so a passage lay open through the torn, smoking brushwood, and, with everyone turned to the defense of a single spot, the walls too were taken at once in several places by ladders. In the first tumult of the captured city the seniors and those not yet of age, whom chance offered in the way, were cut down everywhere; the armed men fled into the citadel; and on the following day, when nothing of hope remained, a surrender having been made, they were sold under the garland.

fuerunt autem duo milia ferme et quingenti. ornamenta urbis, statuae et tabulae pictae, et quidquid pretiosae praedae fuit, ad naues delatum; urbs diruta a fundamentis. inde Thebas ductus exercitus; quibus sine certamine receptis urbem tradidit exulibus et qui Romanorum partis erant; aduersae factionis hominum fautorumque regis ac Macedonum familias sub corona uendidit.

there were about 2,500. The ornaments of the city, statues and painted panels, and whatever was of precious booty, were carried to the ships; the city was demolished from the foundations. Thence the army was led to Thebes; these being received without a contest, he handed over the city to the exiles and to those who were of the Roman party; the families of the men of the opposite faction and of the supporters of the king and of the Macedonians he sold under the crown.

his gestis in Boeotia ad mare ac naues redit.

With these things accomplished in Boeotia, he returned to the sea and the ships.

[64] Cum haec in Boeotia gererentur, Perseus ad Sycurium statiua dierum aliquot habuit. ubi cum audisset raptim Romanos circa ex agris demessum frumentum conuehere, deinde ante sua quemque tentoria spicas falcibus desecantem, quo purius frumentum tereret, ingentis aceruos per tota castra stramentorum fecisse, ratus incendio opportuna esse, faces taedamque et malleolos stuppae inlitos pice parari iubet; atque ita media nocte profectus, ut prima luce adgressus falleret. nequiquam primae stationes oppressae: tumultu ac terrore suo ceteros excitauerunt, signumque datum est arma extemplo capiendi; simulque in uallo, ad portas miles instructus erat.

[64] While these things were being done in Boeotia, Perseus held a stationary camp for several days at Sycurium. There, when he had heard that the Romans were hastily conveying in from the fields the grain that had been reaped, and then that each man before his own tent was cutting the ears with sickles, so that he might thresh the grain more cleanly, he judged that they had made huge heaps of straw throughout the camp, suitable for incendium, and he orders brands and torches and malleoli smeared with tow and pitch to be prepared; and so, setting out at midnight, in order by attacking at first light to catch them off guard. In vain, though, were the first pickets overwhelmed: by their own tumult and terror they roused the rest, and the signal was given for taking up arms instantly; and at the same time soldiers were drawn up on the rampart and at the gates.

<tum uero pudore coeptae temere> et incons<ul>te oppugnationis castrorum Perseus [et] extemplo circumegit aciem et prima impedimenta ire, deinde peditum signa ferri iussit; ipse cum equitatu et leui armatura substitit ad agmen cogendum, ratus, id quod accidit, insecuturos ad extrema ab tergo carpenda hostis. breue certamen leuis armaturae maxime cum procursatoribus fuit; equites peditesque sine tumultu in castra redierunt.

<then indeed, out of shame for the rashly> and ill‑advised assault on the camp, Perseus [also] immediately wheeled the battle line and ordered the foremost baggage to move, then the standards of the infantry to be borne; he himself halted with the cavalry and light‑armed troops to gather the column, thinking, as in fact happened, that the enemy would pursue to harry the hindmost from the rear. The fighting was brief, chiefly between the light‑armed and the skirmishers in front; horsemen and foot‑soldiers returned to the camp without tumult.

Demessis circa segetibus Romani ad Crannona, intactum agrum, castra mouent. ibi cum securi et propter longinquitatem et uiae inopis aquarum difficultatem, quae inter Sycurium et Crannona est, statiua haberent, repente prima luce <in> imminentibus tumulis equitatus regius cum leui armatura uisus ingentem tumultum fecit. pridie per meridiem profecti ab Sycurio erant; peditum agmen sub lucem reliquerant in proxuma planitie.

With the cornfields around having been reaped, the Romans move camp to Crannona, an untouched country. There, as they were keeping a standing camp at ease both because of the distance and because of the difficulty of the road lacking waters, which is between Sycurium and Crannona, suddenly at first light <in> the overhanging knolls the royal cavalry, with light-armed troops, was seen and made a huge tumult. The day before, about midday, they had set out from Sycurium; the column of infantry they had left toward dawn in the nearest plain.

stetit paulisper <Perseus> in tumulis, elici posse ratus ad equestre certamen Romanos; qui postquam nihil mouebant, equitem mittit, qui pedites referre ad Sycurium signa iuberet; ipse mox insecutus. Romani equites modico interuallo sequentes, sicubi sparsos ac dissipatos inuadere possent, postquam confertos abire signa atque ordines seruantes uiderunt, et ipsi in castra redeunt.

Perseus stood for a little while on the mounds, thinking the Romans could be elicited to an equestrian engagement; when they made no move, he sends a horseman to order the foot soldiers to carry back their standards to Sycurium; he himself soon followed. The Roman horsemen, following at a moderate interval, so that they might attack them wherever they were scattered and dissipated, after they saw them going away in close order, keeping their standards and ranks, they too return to the camp.

[65] Inde offensus longinquitate itineris rex ad Mopselum castra mouit; et Romani demessis Crannonis segetibus in Phalannaeum agrum transeunt. ibi cum ex transfuga cognosset rex sine ullo armato praesidio passim uagantis per agros Romanos metere, cum <mille> equitibus, duobus milibus Thracum et Cretensium profectus, cum, quantum adcelerare poterat, effuso agmine isset, inprouiso adgressus est Romanos. iuncta uehicula, pleraque onusta, mille admodum capiuntur, sescenti ferme homines.

[65] Thence, offended by the length of the march, the king moved camp to Mopselus; and the Romans, the crops of Crannon having been reaped, pass into the Phalannaean territory. There, when from a deserter the king learned that the Romans, roaming everywhere through the fields without any armed guard, were harvesting, setting out with <1000> horse and 2,000 Thracians and Cretans, and, with his column poured out as fast as he could hasten, he attacked the Romans unexpectedly. The wagons, coupled, most of them laden, about 1,000 are captured, and nearly 600 men.

praedam custodiendam ducendamque in castra trecentis Cretensium dedit; ipse reuocato ab effusa caede equite et reliquis peditum ducit ad proximum praesidium, ratus haud magno certamine opprimi posse. L. Pompeius tribunus militum praeerat, qui perculsos milites repentino hostium aduentu in propinquum tumulum recepit, loci se praesidio, quia numero et uiribus impar erat, defensurus. ibi cum in orbem milites coegisset, ut densatis scutis ab ictu sagittarum et iaculorum sese tuerentur, Perseus circumdato armatis tumulo alios ascensum undique temptare iubet et comminus proelium conserere, alios eminus tela ingerere.

He gave the booty to three hundred Cretans to be guarded and led into the camp; he himself, with the cavalry recalled from the unrestrained slaughter and the rest of the infantry, leads to the nearest garrison, thinking it could be overpowered with no great contest. L. Pompeius, a military tribune, was in command, who withdrew the soldiers, stricken by the sudden arrival of the enemy, onto a nearby mound, intending to defend himself by the protection of the place, since he was unequal in number and strength. There, when he had gathered the soldiers into a ring, so that, with shields packed together, they might protect themselves from the blow of arrows and javelins, Perseus, with the mound surrounded by armed men, orders some to attempt an ascent from every side and to join battle at close quarters, others to hurl missiles from a distance.

ingens Romanos terror circumstabat; nam neque conferti propellere eos, qui in tumulum conitebantur, poterant et, ubi ordines procursando soluissent, patebant iaculis sagittisque. maxime cestrosphendonis uulnerabantur. hoc illo bello nouum genus teli inuentum est.

an immense terror was standing around the Romans; for neither, packed together, could they repel those who were striving up the mound, and, when by running forward they had loosened their ranks, they were lying open to javelins and arrows. most of all they were being wounded by the cestrosphendone. in that war a new kind of missile was invented.

bipalme spiculum hastili semicubitali infixum erat, crassitudine digiti; huic abiegnae breues pinnae tres, uelut sagittis solent, circumdabantur; funda media duo scutalia inparia habebat; cum maiori nisu libratum funditor habena rotaret, excussum uelut glans emicabat. cum et hoc et alio omni genere telorum pars uulnerata militum esset nec facile iam arma fessi sustinerent, instare rex, ut dederent se, fidem dare, praemia interdum polliceri. nec cuiusquam ad deditionem flectebatur animus, cum ex insperato iam obstinatis mori spes adfulsit.

bipalmed a spiculum (dart) was fixed into a half‑cubit shaft, of a finger’s thickness; around it three short fir‑wood vanes, as is usual for arrows, were set; the sling in the middle had two unequal straps; when the slinger, with greater effort, whirled the poised missile by the thong, once cast out it shot forth like a bullet. when by this and by every other kind of missiles a portion of the soldiers had been wounded, and the weary could now hardly bear their arms, the king pressed them to surrender, offered assurance, at times promised rewards. yet no one’s spirit was bent toward capitulation, when unexpectedly a hope shone forth upon men now obstinate to die.

nam cum ex frumentatoribus refugientes quidam in castra nuntiassent consuli circumsideri praesidium, motus periculo tot ciuium—nam octingenti ferme et omnes Romani erant—cum equitatu ac leui armatura (accesserant noua auxilia, Numidae pedites equitesque et elephanti) castris egreditur et tribunis militum imperat, ut legionum signa sequantur. ipse uelitibus ad firmanda leuium armorum auxilia adiectis ad tumulum praecedit. consulis latera tegunt Eumenes <et> Attalus et Misagenes, regulus Numidarum.

for when some of the foragers, fleeing back, had reported to the consul that the garrison was being surrounded, moved by the danger to so many citizens— for about eight hundred, and all were Romans— with the cavalry and light-armed troops (new auxiliaries had come, Numidian infantry and cavalry and elephants) he goes out from the camp and orders the military tribunes to follow the standards of the legions. he himself, with velites added to strengthen the auxiliaries of the light arms, goes on ahead to the mound. the consul’s flanks are covered by Eumenes and Attalus and Misagenes, petty-king of the Numidians.

[66] Cum in conspectu prima signa suorum circumsessis fuerunt, Romanis quidem ab ultuma desperatione recreatus est animus. Perseus, cui primum omnium fuerat, ut contentus fortuito successu, captis aliquot frumentatoribus occisisque, non tereret tempus in obsidione praesidii, secundum, ea quoque temptata utcumque, cum sciret nihil roboris secum esse, dum liceret intacto abire, et ipse hostium aduentum elatus successu mansit et, qui phalangem arcesserent, propere misit; quae et serius, quam res postulabat, et raptim acta, turbata cursu aduersus instructos et praeparatos erat aduentura. consul anteueniens extemplo proelium conseruit.

[66] When the first standards of their own came into sight for the besieged, the spirit of the Romans was revived from ultimate desperation. Perseus—whose first plan of all had been that, content with the fortuitous success, after several foragers had been captured and killed, he should not waste time in the siege of the garrison; and, secondly, that, those attempts too having been made somehow, since he knew he had nothing of strength with him, he should withdraw intact while it was permitted—he himself, carried away by his success, remained for the enemy’s arrival and quickly sent those to summon the phalanx; which both later than the situation demanded and hurriedly brought up, its march disordered, was going to arrive against men drawn up and prepared. The consul, forestalling them, immediately joined battle.

primo resistere Macedones; deinde, ut nulla re pares erant, amissis trecentis peditibus, uiginti quattuor primoribus equitum ex ala, quam sacram uocant, inter quos Antimachus etiam praefectus alae cecidit, abire conantur. ceterum iter prope ipso proelio tumultuosius fuit. phalanx trepido nuntio accita cum raptim duceretur, primo in angustiis captiuorum agmini oblata uehiculisque frumento onustis haesit.

at first the Macedonians resisted; then, since they were in no respect a match, with three hundred infantry lost, and twenty-four leading horsemen from the wing which they call the Sacred, among whom Antimachus, the prefect of the ala, also fell, they try to withdraw. But the march was almost more tumultuous than the battle itself. The phalanx, summoned by a panicked message, as it was being led hastily, first, in the narrows, encountering the column of prisoners and the vehicles laden with grain, stuck fast.

ingens ibi uexatio partis utriusque fuit, nullo expectante, <dum> utcumque explicaretur agmen, sed armatis deicientibus <in> praeceps inpedimenta—neque enim aliter uia aperiri poterat—, iumentis, cum stimularentur, in turba saeuientibus. uix ab incondito agmine captiuorum expedierant sese, cum regio agmini perculsisque equitibus occurrunt. ibi uero clamor iubentium referre signa ruinae [quoque] prope similem trepidationem fecit, ut, <si> hostes intrare angustias ausi longius insecuti essent, magna clades accipi potuerit.

there was huge vexation for both parties there, no one waiting, <while> the column might somehow be unfolded, but with armed men casting the baggage-train headlong <down>—for the road could not be opened otherwise—and the pack-animals, when they were goaded, raging in the crowd. scarcely had they extricated themselves from the disorderly column of captives, when they encountered the royal column and the cavalry, who had been struck with panic. there indeed the shout of those ordering the standards to be borne back produced a trepidation almost like a collapse [also], such that, <if> the enemy had dared to enter the narrows and to pursue farther, a great disaster could have been suffered.

consul recepto ex tumulo praesidio contentus modico successu in castra copias reduxit. sunt, qui eo die magno proelio pugnatum auctores sint; octo milia hostium caesa, in his Sopatrum et Antipatrum, regios duces; uiuos captos circiter duo milia octingentos, signa militaria capta uiginti septem. nec incruentam uictoriam fuisse; supra quattuor milia et trecentos de exercitu consulis cecidisse; signa sinistrae alae quinque amissa.

the consul, with the garrison recovered from the mound and content with a modest success, led the forces back to camp. there are those who assert that on that day a great battle was fought; eight thousand of the enemy were cut down, among them Sopater and Antipater, royal commanders; about 2,800 were taken alive; 27 military standards were captured. nor was the victory bloodless: over 4,300 of the consul’s army fell; five standards of the left wing were lost.

[67] Hic dies et Romanis refecit animos et Persea perculit, ut dies paucos ad Mopselum moratus sepulturae maxume militum amissorum cura, praesidio satis ualido ad Gonnum relicto, in Macedoniam reciperet copias. Timotheum quendam ex regiis praefectis cum modica manu relinquit ad Philam, iussum Magnetas ex propinquo temptare. cum Pellam uenisset, exercitu in hiberna dimisso ipse cum Cotye Thessalonicam est profectus.

[67] This day both restored the spirits of the Romans and struck Perseus, so that, having stayed a few days at Mopselus, with his chief concern the burial of the soldiers who had been lost, and after leaving at Gonnus a garrison strong enough, he retired his forces back into Macedonia. He leaves a certain Timotheus, one of the royal prefects, with a moderate band at Phila, ordered to try the Magnetes from close by. When he had come to Pella, the army having been dismissed into winter quarters, he himself set out with Cotys to Thessalonica.

eo fama adfertur, Autlesbim, regulum Thracum, <et> Corragum, Eumenis praefectum, in Cotyis fines impetum fecisse et regionem, Marenen quam uocant, cepisse. itaque dimittendum Cotyn ad sua tuenda ratus, magnis proficiscentem donis prosequitur. ducenta talenta, semestre stipendium, equitatui numerat, cum primo annuum dare constituisset.

Thereupon a report is brought that Autlesbim, a petty king of the Thracians, <and> Corragus, Eumenes’s prefect, had made an attack into the borders of Cotys and had seized the region which they call Marene. Therefore, thinking that Cotys should be sent off to safeguard his own, he sends him on his way with great gifts. He pays out 200 talents, a half‑year’s stipend, to the cavalry, though at first he had resolved to give a year’s pay.

Consul postquam profectum Persea audiuit, ad Gonnum castra mouet, si potiri oppido posset. ante ipsa Tempe in faucibus situm Macedoniae claustra tutissima praebet et in Thessaliam opportunum Macedonibus decursum. cum et loco et praesidio ualido inexpugnabilis urbs esset, abstitit incepto.

After the Consul heard that Perseus had set out, he moves the camp to Gonnus, if he could gain possession of the town. Situated before Tempe itself in the defiles, it provides the safest barriers of Macedonia and for the Macedonians a convenient sally into Thessaly. Since the city was impregnable both by its position and by a strong garrison, he desisted from the undertaking.

in Perrhaebiam flexis itineribus Malloea primo impetu capta ac direpta, Tripoli aliaque Perrhaebia recepta, Larisam redit. inde Eumene atque Attalo domum remissis, Misageni Numidisque hiberna in proxumis Thessaliae urbibus distribuit, et partem exercitus ita per totam Thessaliam diuisit, ut et hiberna commoda omnes haberent et praesidio urbibus essent. Q. Mucium legatum cum duobus milibus ad obtinendam Ambraciam misit.

Turning his marches into Perrhaebia, Malloea was taken at the first assault and sacked, Tripolis and other Perrhaebian places were recovered, and he returns to Larisa. Thence, with Eumenes and Attalus sent home, he distributed winter-quarters to Misagenes and the Numidians in the nearest cities of Thessaly, and he so divided part of the army through all Thessaly that all had convenient winter-quarters and were a protection to the cities. He sent the legate Q. Mucius with 2,000 to secure Ambracia.

Graecarum ciuitatium socios omnes praeter Achaeos dimisit. cum exercitus parte profectus in Achaiam Pthiotim Pteleum desertum fuga oppidanorum diruit a fundamentis, Antronas uoluntate incolentium recepit. ad Larisam deinde exercitum admouit.

He dismissed all the allies of the Greek cities except the Achaeans. Having set out with part of the army into Achaea Phthiotis, he razed Pteleum, deserted by the flight of the townsmen, down to the foundations, and he received Antron by the volition of its inhabitants. Then he moved the army up to Larisa.

urbs deserta erat; in arcem omnis multitudo concesserat; eam oppugnare adgreditur. primi omnium Macedones, regium praesidium, metu excesserant: a quibus relicti oppidani in deditionem extemplo ueniunt. dubitantem inde, utrum Demetrias prius adgredienda foret, an in Boeotia aspiciendae res, Thebani uexantibus eos Coronaeis in Boeotiam arcessebant.

the city was deserted; into the citadel the whole multitude had withdrawn; he undertakes to assault it. The Macedonians, the royal garrison, were the first of all to withdraw in fear: left by them, the townspeople at once came into surrender. From there, as he hesitated whether Demetrias ought to be attacked first, or whether affairs in Boeotia should be looked to, the Thebans, with the Coronaeans harassing them, were summoning him into Boeotia.

et <ad> horum preces <et> quia hibernis aptior regio quam Magnesia erat, in Boeotiam duxit.

and in answer to their prayers, and because the region was more apt for winter quarters than Magnesia, he led his forces into Boeotia.