Livy: AB VRBE CONDITA LIBRI

[1] Victoriae nuntii, Q. Fabius et L. Lentulus et Q. Metellus, quanta potuit adhiberi festinatio, celeriter Romam cum uenissent, praeceptam tamen eius rei laetitiam inuenerunt. quarto post die, quam cum rege est pugnatum, cum in circo ludi fierent, murmur repente populi tota spectacula peruasit pugnatum in Macedonia et deuictum regem esse; dein fremitus increuit; postremo clamor plausus<que> uelut certo nuntio uictoriae allato est exortus. mirari magistratus et quaerere auctorem repentinae laetitiae; qui postquam nullus erat, euanuit quidem tamquam certae rei gaudium, omen tamen laetum insidebat animis.

[1] The messengers of victory, Q. Fabius and L. Lentulus and Q. Metellus, although they came quickly to Rome with as much haste as could be applied, nevertheless found the joy of that event forestalled. On the fourth day after the battle with the king had been fought, while games were being held in the Circus, a murmur suddenly spread through the whole audience among the people that there had been fighting in Macedonia and that the king had been conquered; then the rumbling grew; at last a shout and applause arose, as if a sure message of victory had been brought. The magistrates were astonished and sought the author of the sudden joy; when none was found, the rejoicing, as if over a certain fact, did indeed vanish, yet a happy omen settled in their minds.

quod postquam ueris nuntiis Fabi Lentulique et Metelli aduentu firmatum est, cum uictoria ipsa, tum augurio animorum suorum laetabantur. et altera traditur circensis turbae non minus similis ueri laetitia. ante diem quintum decimum kalendas Octobres, ludorum Romanorum secundo die, C. Licinio consuli ad quadrigas mittendas escendenti tabellarius, qui se ex Macedonia uenire diceret, laureatas litteras <reddidisse> dicitur.

After this had been confirmed by the arrival of true messengers—Fabius, Lentulus, and Metellus—they rejoiced both in the victory itself and in the augury of their own spirits. And a second rejoicing of the circus throng is handed down, no less like the true one: on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of October, on the second day of the Roman Games, as Gaius Licinius, the consul, was mounting to send off the four-horse chariots, a letter-carrier, who said that he was coming from Macedonia, is said to have delivered laurel-decked letters.

quadrigis missis consul currum conscendit et, cum per circum reueheretur ad foros publicos, laureatas tabellas populo ostendit. quibus conspectis repente inmemor spectaculi populus in medium decurrit. eo senatum consul uocauit recitatisque tabellis ex auctoritate patrum pro foris publicis denuntiauit populo L. Aemilium collegam signis conlatis cum rege Perseo pugnasse; Macedonum exercitum caesum fusumque; regem cum paucis fugisse; ciuitates omnes Macedoniae in dicionem populi Romani uenisse.

after the four-horse chariots were sent off, the consul mounted his chariot and, as he was being carried back through the Circus to the public fora, he showed the laurel-wreathed dispatches to the people. At the sight of these, suddenly forgetful of the spectacle, the people ran down into the middle. To that place the consul summoned the senate, and when the dispatches had been read aloud, by authority of the senate he proclaimed before the public fora to the people that L. Aemilius, his colleague, had fought a pitched battle with King Perseus; that the army of the Macedonians had been cut down and routed; that the king had fled with a few; that all the communities of Macedonia had come into the power of the Roman People.

his auditis clamor cum ingenti plausu ortus; ludis relictis domos magna pars hominum ad coniuges liberos<que> laetum nuntium portabant. tertius decimus dies erat ab eo, quo in Macedonia pugnatum est.

When these things were heard, a clamor arose with immense applause; the games being abandoned, a great part of the people were carrying the glad news home to their wives and children. It was the 13th day from that on which the battle was fought in Macedonia.

[2] Postero die senatus in curia habitus, supplicationesque decretae et senatus consultum factum est, ut consul, quos praeter milites sociosque nauales coniuratos haberet, dimitteret: de militibus sociisque naualibus dimittendis referretur, cum legati ab L. Aemilio consule, a quibus praemissus tabellarius esset, <uenissent>. ante diem sextum kal. Octobres hora fere secunda legati urbem ingressi sunt; ingentem secum occurrentium, quacumque ibant, prosequentiumque trahentes turbam in forum perrexerunt. senatus forte in curia erat; eo legatos consul introduxit.

[2] On the next day the senate was held in the Curia, and public thanksgivings were decreed, and a senatorial decree was passed that the consul should dismiss those whom, apart from the soldiers and the naval allies, he had as oath-bound men; a motion about discharging the soldiers and the naval allies would be brought when the envoys from L. Aemilius, the consul, by whom the courier had been sent ahead, <had come>. On the sixth day before the Kalends of October, at about the second hour, the envoys entered the city; drawing along with them a huge crowd of those running to meet them, and, wherever they went, accompanying them, they went on into the Forum. The senate happened to be in session in the Curia; there the consul introduced the envoys.

ibi tantum temporis retenti, dum exponerent, quantae regiae <copiae> peditum equitumque fuissent, quot milia ex iis caesa, quot capta forent, quam paucorum militum iactura tanta hostium strages facta, quam praeceps rex fugisset; existimari Samothraciam petiturum; paratam classem ad persequendum esse, neque terra neque mari elabi posse. eadem haec paulo post in contionem traducti exposuerunt; renouataque laetitia, cum consul edixisset, ut omnes aedes sacrae aperirentur, pro se quisque ex contione ad gratias agendas ire dis, ingentique turba non uirorum modo sed etiam feminarum conpleri tota urbe deorum immortalium templa. senatus reuocatus in curiam supplicationes ob rem egregie gestam ab L. Aemilio consule in quinque dies circa omnia puluinaria decreuit hostiisque maioribus sacrificari iussit.

there they were detained only so long as to set forth how great the royal forces of infantry and cavalry had been, how many thousands of them had been slain, how many captured, with how small a loss of soldiers so great a slaughter of the enemy had been wrought, how headlong the king had fled; it was thought he would make for Samothrace; that a fleet was prepared to pursue, and that he could not slip away either by land or by sea. These same things, a little later, when they had been led before the public assembly, they explained; and joy was renewed, when the consul had proclaimed that all sacred shrines be opened, and each man from the assembly should go to give thanks to the gods, and throughout the whole city the temples of the immortal gods were filled with a huge crowd not of men only but of women also. The senate, recalled into the Curia, decreed supplications for five days around all the pulvinars on account of the affair excellently accomplished by L. Aemilius the consul, and ordered sacrifices of the greater victims to be offered.

naues, quae in Tiberi paratae instructaeque stabant, ut, si res posceret, in Macedoniam mitterentur, subduci et in naualibus conlocari, socios naualis dato annuo stipendio dimitti et cum iis omnes, qui in consulis uerba iurauerant; et quod militum Corcyrae, Brundisi, ad mare superum aut in agro Larinati esset—omnibus his locis dispositus exercitus fuerat, cum quo, si res posceret, C. Licinius collegae ferret opem—, hos omnes milites dimitti placuit. supplicatio pro contione populo indicta est ex ante diem quintum idus Octobres cum eo die in quinque dies.

the ships which stood prepared and equipped on the Tiber, so that, if the situation should demand it, they might be sent into Macedonia, were to be hauled up and placed in the dockyards; the naval allies were to be discharged with a year’s stipend given, and along with them all who had sworn to the consul’s words; and as to whatever soldiers there were at Corcyra, at Brundisium, on the Upper Sea, or in the Larinatian country—an army had been posted in all these places, with which, if the situation should demand it, Gaius Licinius might bring aid to his colleague—it was decided that all these soldiers be discharged. a thanksgiving was proclaimed to the people before the assembly from the 5th day before the Ides of October, and from that day for five days.

[3] Ex Illyrico duo legati, C. Licinius Nerua et P. Decius, nuntiarunt exercitum Illyriorum caesum, Gentium regem captum, in dicione populi Romani [et] Illyricum esse. ob eas res gestas ductu auspicioque L. Anici praetoris senatus in triduum supplicationes decreuit. indictae a consule sunt in ante <diem> quartum et tertium et pridie idus Nouembres.

[3] From Illyricum two envoys, C. Licinius Nerva and P. Decius, announced that the army of the Illyrians had been cut down, that King Gentius had been captured, and that Illyricum was in the dominion of the Roman People. For these achievements, under the leadership and auspices of L. Anicius, the praetor, the senate decreed supplications for three days. They were proclaimed by the consul for the 10th and 11th and the day before the Ides of November.

Tradidere quidam legatos Rhodios nondum <di>missos post uictoriam nuntiatam uelut ad ludibrium stolidae superbiae in senatum uocatos esse; ibi Agepolim, principem eorum, ita locutum: missos esse legatos ab Rhodiis ad pacem inter Romanos et Persea faciendam, quod id bellum graue atque incommodum Graeciae omni, sumptuosum ac damnosum ipsis Romanis esset. fortunam populi Romani bene fecisse, quod finito aliter bello gratulandi sibi de uictoria egregia Romanis opportunitatem dedisset. haec ab Rhodio dicta.

Some have handed down that the Rhodian envoys, not yet <di>smissed after the victory was announced, were called into the senate as if for a mockery of stolid arrogance; there Agepolis, their chief, spoke thus: that envoys had been sent by the Rhodians to make peace between the Romans and Perseus, because that war was grievous and incommodious to all Greece, and costly and damaging to the Romans themselves. Fortune of the Roman people had done well, because, the war having been ended otherwise, it had given to the Romans an opportunity of congratulating themselves on an outstanding victory. These things were said by the Rhodian.

responsum ab senatu esse: Rhodios nec utilitatium Graeciae cura neque inpensarum populi Romani, sed pro Perseo legationem eam misisse. nam si ea fuisset cura, quae simularetur, tum mittendos legatos fuisse, cum Perseus in Thessaliam exercitu inducto per biennium Graecas urbes alias obsideret, alias denuntiatione armorum terreret; tum nullam pacis ab Rhodiis mentionem factam. postquam superatos saltus transgressosque in Macedoniam Romanos audissent et inclusum teneri Persea, tunc Rhodios legationem misisse, non ad ullam aliam rem quam ad Persea ex inminenti periculo eripiendum.

it was answered by the senate: that the Rhodians had sent that legation not out of concern for the interests of Greece nor for the expenses of the Roman people, but on behalf of Perseus. For if that had been the concern which they pretended, then envoys ought to have been sent when Perseus, having led an army into Thessaly, for two years was besieging some Greek cities and terrifying others by a denunciation of arms; at that time no mention of peace was made by the Rhodians. After they heard that the Romans had forced the passes and crossed into Macedonia and that Perseus was being held hemmed in, then the Rhodians sent a legation, for no other purpose than to snatch Perseus from imminent peril.

cum hoc responso legatos dimissos.

with this response the legates were dismissed.

[4] Per eosdem dies et M. Marcellus, ex prouincia Hispania decedens Marcolica nobili urbe capta, decem pondo auri et argenti ad summam sestertii deciens <in> aerarium rettulit.

[4] During those same days, M. Marcellus, departing from the province of Hispania after the noble city Marcolica had been captured, brought into the treasury ten pounds of gold and silver to the sum of one million sesterces.

Paulus Aemilius consul cum castra, ut supra dictum est, ad Siras terrae Odomanticae haberet, litterae ab rege Perseo per ignobiles tres legatos <ei allatae sunt. quos cum flentes ac sordidatos> cerneret, et ipse inlacrimasse dicitur sorti humanae, quod, qui paulo ante non contentus regno Macedoniae Dardanos Illyriosque oppugnasset, Bastarnarum <ac>ciuisset auxilia, is tum amisso exercitu, extorris regno, in paruam insulam conpulsus, supplex, fani religione, non uiribus suis tutus esset. sed postquam regem Persea consuli Paulo salutem legit, miserationem omnem stultitia ignorantis fortunam suam exemit.

Paulus Aemilius, consul, when he had his camp, as said above, at Sirae in the land of the Odomantes, letters from King Perseus were brought <to him. When he saw them weeping and in shabby dress> by three ignoble envoys; and he himself is said to have wept for the lot of humankind, because the man who a little before, not content with the kingdom of Macedonia, had attacked the Dardanians and Illyrians, had <and> summoned the auxiliaries of the Bastarnae, then, with his army lost, banished from his kingdom, driven onto a small island, as a suppliant was safe by the sanctuary’s sacredness, not by his own powers. But after King Perseus read a greeting to Consul Paulus, he removed all compassion by the stupidity of one ignorant of his own fortune.

itaque, quamquam in reliqua parte litterarum minime regiae preces erant, tamen sine responso ac sine litteris ea legatio dimissa est. sensit Perseus, cuius nominis obliuiscendum uicto esset; itaque alterae litterae cum priuati nominis titulo missae et petiere et impetrauere, ut aliqui ad eum mitterentur, cum quibus loqui de statu et condicione suae fortunae posset. missi sunt tres legati, P. Lentulus, A. Postumius Albinus, A. Antonius.

and so, although in the remaining part of the letters the petitions were in no way regal, nevertheless that legation was dismissed without reply and without letters. Perseus perceived that, as a conquered man, he ought to forget that name; and so a second set of letters, sent with the title of a private name, both sought and obtained that some should be sent to him with whom he might speak about the state and condition of his fortune. Three envoys were sent, P. Lentulus, A. Postumius Albinus, A. Antonius.

nihil ea legatione perfectum est, Perseo regium nomen omni ui amplectente, Paulo, ut se suaque omnia in fidem et clementiam populi Romani permitteret, tendente.

nothing was accomplished by that legation, Perseus embracing the royal title with all his force, while Paulus pressed that he commit himself and all that was his to the faith and clemency of the Roman people.

[5] <quae> dum aguntur, classis Cn. Octaui Samothracam est adpulsa. is quoque praesenti admoto terrore modo minis, modo spe perlicere, ut se traderet, <cum> conaretur, adiuuit in hoc eum res seu casu contracta seu consilio. L. Atilius, inlustris adulescens, cum in contione esse populum Samothracum animum aduertisset, a magistratibus petit, ut sibi paucis adloquendi populi potestatem facerent.

[5] <which> while these things were being done, the fleet of Cn. Octavius put in at Samothrace. He too, <when> he was trying, by the present terror brought close at hand, now by threats, now by hope, to entice him to surrender himself, was aided in this by a development brought about either by chance or by design. L. Atilius, a distinguished youth, when he noticed that the people of Samothrace were in assembly, asked the magistrates to grant him the power to address the people briefly.

permisso 'utrum nos, hospites Samothraces, uere accepimus an falso sacram hanc insulam et augusti totam atque inuiolati soli esse?' cum creditae sanctitati adsentirentur omnes, 'cur igitur' inquit 'polluit eam homicida, sanguine regis Eumenis uiolauit, et, cum omnis praefatio <sacro>rum eos, quibus non sint purae manus, sacris arceat, uos penetralia uestra contaminari cruento latronis corpore sinetis?' nobilis fama erat apud omnes Graeciae ciuitates Eumenis regis per Euandrum Delphis prope perpetrata caedes. itaque, praeterquam quod in potestate Romanorum sese insulamque totam et templum cernebant esse, ne inmerito quidem ea sibi exprobrari rati, Theondan, qui summus magistratus apud eos erat—regem ipsi appellant—, ad Persea mittunt, qui nuntiaret argui caedis Euandrum Cretensem; esse autem iudicia apud sese more maiorum conparata de iis, qui incestas manus intulisse intra terminos sacratos templi dicantur; si confideret Euander innoxium se rei capitalis argui, ueniret ad causam dicendam; si committere se iudicio non auderet, liberaret religione templum ac sibimet ipse consuleret. Perseus seuocato Euandro iudicium subeundi nullo pacto <aucto>r esse: nec causa nec gratia parem fore.

permission having been granted, 'have we, hosts, Samothracians, truly received or falsely that this island is sacred and that all its soil is august and inviolable?' when all assented to the credited sanctity, 'why then,' he says, 'does a homicide pollute it, has violated it with the blood of King Eumenes, and, since every preface of the rum keeps from the sacred rites those whose hands are not pure, will you allow your penetralia to be contaminated by the bloody body of a bandit?' there was a notorious report among all the cities of Greece that the slaughter of King Eumenes at Delphi had been almost perpetrated by Evander. and so, besides the fact that they perceived that they themselves and the whole island and the temple were in the power of the Romans, thinking that these reproaches were not being cast at them without desert, they send Theondas, who was the highest magistrate among them—they themselves call him “king”—to Perseus, to announce that Evander the Cretan was being accused of the slaughter; that, moreover, there were courts among them, established by the custom of the ancestors, concerning those who are said to have brought unchaste hands within the consecrated bounds of the temple; if Evander was confident that, though charged with a capital matter, he was guiltless, let him come to plead his case; if he did not dare to commit himself to the judgment, let him free the temple from religious pollution and take counsel for himself. Perseus, having called Evander aside, was in no way an <aucto>r for undergoing the trial: neither the case nor influence would be a match.

suberat et ille metus, ne damnatus auctorem se nefandi facinoris protraheret. reliqui quid esse, nisi ut fortiter moriatur? nihil palam abnuere Euander; sed cum ueneno se malle mori quam ferro dixisset, occulte fugam parabat.

There was also that fear, lest, once condemned, he would drag forth the author of the nefarious deed. As for what remained, what was there except that he should die bravely? Evander refused nothing openly; but when he had said that he preferred to die by poison rather than by steel, he was secretly preparing a flight.

quod cum renuntiatum regi esset, metuens, ne tamquam a se subtracto poenae reo iram Samothracum in se conuerteret, interfici Euandrum iussit. qua perpetrata temere caede subit extemplo animum, in se nimirum receptam labem, quae Euandri fuisset; ab illo Delphis uolneratum Eumenen, ab se Samothracae Euandrum occisum; ita duo sanctissima in terris templa se uno auctore sanguine humano uiolata. huius rei crimen corrupto pecunia Theonda auertit, ut renuntiaret populo Euandrum sibi ipsum mortem conscisse.

when this had been reported back to the king, fearing lest, as if the defendant had been withdrawn from punishment by him, he should turn the wrath of the Samothracians upon himself, he ordered Evander to be killed. With this rash slaughter perpetrated, immediately it comes into his mind that the stain, which would have been Evander’s, had plainly been taken upon himself; that by that man at Delphi Eumenes had been wounded, by himself at Samothrace Evander had been slain; thus the two most sacred temples on earth had, with himself as the sole author, been violated with human blood. He averted the charge of this matter by corrupting Theondas with money, to announce to the people that Evander had taken his own life.

[6] Ceterum tanto facinore in unicum relictum amicum admisso, per tot casus expertum proditumque, quia non prodiderat, omnium ab se abalienauit animos. pro se quisque transire ad Romanos; fugaeque consilium capere solum prope relictum coegerunt; Oroandem <deni>que Cretensem, cui nota Threciae ora erat, quia mercaturas in ea regione fecerat, appellat, ut se sublatum <in> lembum ad Cotym deueheret. Demetrium est portus in promunturio quodam Samothracae; ibi lembus stabat.

[6] However, by committing so great a crime against the only friend left to him—one proved through so many crises and then betrayed, because he had not betrayed—he alienated from himself everyone’s feelings. Each man for himself began to pass over to the Romans; and they forced him, almost left alone, to adopt the counsel of flight. Finally he addresses Oroandes the Cretan, to whom the Thracian shore was known, because he had carried on merchandize in that region, to convey him, once taken aboard, in a skiff to Cotys. Demetrium is a harbor on a certain promontory of Samothrace; there the skiff was lying.

sub occasum solis deferuntur, quae ad usum necessaria erant; defertur et pecunia, quanta clam deferri poterat. rex ipse nocte media cum tribus consciis fugae <per> posticum aedium in propincum cubiculo hortum atque inde maceriam aegre transgressus ad mare peruenit. Oroandes tantum <moratus>, dum pecunia deferretur, primis tenebris soluerat nauem ac per altum Cretam petebat.

Toward sunset the things that were necessary for use were carried down; money too was carried down, as much as could be secretly conveyed. The king himself at midnight, with three privy to the flight, <through> the postern of the house into the garden near the bedchamber, and from there, having with difficulty crossed the garden wall, reached the sea. Oroandes, having only <delayed> until the money was being brought down, at the first darkness had loosed the ship and was making for Crete over the deep.

postquam in portu nauis non inuenta est, uagatus Perseus aliquamdiu in litore, postremo timens lucem iam adpropinquantem, in hospitium redire non ausus in latere templi prope angulum obscurum delituit. pueri regii apud Macedonas uocabantur principum liberi ad ministerium electi regis; ea cohors persecuta regem fugientem ne tum quidem abscedebat, donec iussu Cn. Octaui pronuntiatum est per praeconem regios pueros Macedonasque alios, qui Samothracae essent, si transirent ad Romanos, incolumitatem libertatemque et sua omnia seruaturos, <quae> aut secum haberent aut in Macedonia reliquissent. ad hanc uocem transitio omnium facta est, nominaque dabant ad C. Postumium tribunum militum.

after the ship was not found in the harbor, Perseus wandered for some time along the shore, and at last, fearing the light now approaching, not daring to return to his lodging, he hid on the side of the temple near a dark corner. among the Macedonians, “royal pages” were what they called the sons of the chiefs chosen for the king’s ministry; that cohort, having pursued the fleeing king, did not even then withdraw, until by order of Cn. Octavius it was proclaimed by a herald that the royal pages and the other Macedonians who were on Samothrace, if they crossed over to the Romans, would keep safety and liberty and all their own property, which they either had with them or had left in Macedonia. at this word the going-over of all took place, and they were giving in their names to C. Postumius, tribune of the soldiers.

liberos quoque paruos regios Ion Thessalonicensis Octauio tradidit, nec quisquam praeter Philippum, maximum natu e filiis, cum rege relictus. tum sese filiumque Octauio tradidit, fortunam deosque, quorum <in> templo erat, nulla ope supplicem iuuantis accusans. in praetoriam nauem inponi iussus, eodem et pecunia, quae superfuit, delata est; extemploque classis Amphipolim repetit.

Ion of Thessalonica also handed over the young royal children to Octavius, and no one, except Philip, the eldest of the sons, was left with the king. Then he surrendered himself and his son to Octavius, accusing Fortune and the gods, in whose temple he was, of offering no aid to a suppliant. Ordered to be put aboard the praetorian ship, to the same place the money that had remained was also brought; and at once the fleet returned to Amphipolis.

inde Octauius regem in castra ad consulem misit praemissis litteris, ut in potestate eum esse et adduci sciret.

Then Octavius sent the king to the camp to the consul, with letters sent on ahead, so that he might know that he was in his power and was being brought.

[7] Secundam eam Paulus, sicut erat, uictoriam ratus uictimas cecidit eo nuntio, et consilio aduocato <litteras> praetoris cum recitasset, Q. Aelium Tuberonem obuiam regi misit, ceteros manere in praetorio frequentis iussit. non alias ad ullum spectaculum tanta multitudo occurrit. patrum aetate Syphax rex captus in castra Romana adductus erat; praeterquam quod nec sua nec gentis fama conparandus, ~tunc quod accessio Punici belli fuerat, sicut Gentius Macedonici: Perseus caput belli erat, nec ipsius tantum patris auique <ceterorumque>, quos sanguine et genere contingebat, fama conspectum eum efficiebat, sed effulgebant Philippus ac magnus Alexander, qui summum inperium in orbe terrarum Macedonum fecerant.

[7] Paulus, reckoning that, as it was, a second victory, sacrificed victims upon that news; and, a council having been called, when he had read aloud the praetor’s <letters>, he sent Q. Aelius Tubero to meet the king; the rest he ordered, in throngs, to remain in the praetorium. On no other occasion did so great a multitude run together to any spectacle. In their fathers’ time King Syphax, captured, had been brought into the Roman camp; apart from the fact that he was to be compared in fame neither with his own nor with that of his nation, ~then because he had been an accession to the Punic war, just as Gentius to the Macedonian: Perseus was the head of the war, and it was not only the fame of himself, his father and grandfather <and the others>, whom he touched by blood and lineage, that made him a spectacle, but Philip and Alexander the Great shone forth, who had made the Macedonians’ empire supreme in the world.

pullo amictu <cum> filio Perseus ingressus est castra nullo suorum alio comite, qui socius calamitatis miserabiliorem eum faceret. progredi prae turba occurrentium ad spectaculum non poterat, donec a consule lictores missi sunt, qui summoto iter ad praetorium facerent. consurrexit consul [et] iussis sedere aliis progressusque paulum introeunti regi dextram porrexit summittentemque se ad pedes sustulit nec attingere genua passus introductum in tabernaculum aduersus aduocatos in consilium considere iussit.

Perseus, in dark garb, entered the camp with his son, with no other companion of his own, who, as a companion in calamity, would have made him the more pitiable. He could not advance before the crowd running up for the spectacle, until lictors were sent by the consul to clear the way and make a path to the praetorium. The consul rose, and, the others having been ordered to sit, having gone forward a little he extended his right hand to the king as he entered; and as he lowered himself to the feet, he raised him up, not allowing him to touch his knees; and, after he had been led into the tent, he ordered him to sit opposite those called in to the council.

[8] Prima percontatio fuit, qua subactus iniuria contra populum Romanum bellum tam infesto animo suscepisset, quo se regnumque suum ad ultimum discrimen adduceret? cum responsum expectantibus cunctis terram intuens diu tacitus fleret, rursus consul: 'si iuuenis regnum accepisses, minus equidem mirarer ignorasse te, quam grauis aut amicus aut inimicus esset populus Romanus; nunc uero, cum et bello patris tui, quod nobiscum gessit, interfuisses, et pacis postea, quam cum summa fide aduersus eum coluimus, meminisses, <quod fuit> consilium, quorum et uim <in> bello et fidem in pace expertus esses, cum iis tibi bellum esse quam pacem malle?' nec interrogatus nec accusatus cum responderet, 'utcumque tamen haec, siue errore humano seu casu seu necessitate inciderunt, bonum animum habe. multorum regum populorum<que> casibus cognita populi Romani clementia non modo spem tibi, sed prope certam fiduciam salutis praebet.' haec Graeco sermone Perseo; Latine deinde suis 'exemplum insigne cernitis' inquit 'mutationis rerum humanarum.

[8] The first percontation was, by what wrong compelled he had undertaken war against the Roman people with so hostile a spirit, to bring himself and his kingdom to the ultimate crisis? while, as all were awaiting a response, gazing at the earth he for a long time silently wept; again the consul: 'if you had received the kingdom as a young man, I should indeed wonder less that you were ignorant how weighty a friend or an enemy the Roman people was; but as it is, since you both took part in your father’s war, which he waged with us, and would remember afterwards the peace which we cultivated with the highest good faith toward him, <what was> the counsel, of those whose force <in> war and whose faith in peace you had experienced, that you preferred to have war rather than peace with them?' and when, though neither interrogated nor accused, he answered, 'however these things, whether they fell out by human error or by chance or by necessity, keep a good spirit. The clemency of the Roman people, known from the cases of many kings and peoples, offers to you not only hope, but almost a sure confidence of safety.' These things in the Greek tongue to Perseus; then in Latin to his own men: 'you behold a notable exemplar of the mutation of human affairs.

uobis hoc praecipue dico, iuuenes. ideo in secundis rebus nihil in quemquam superbe ac uiolenter consulere decet nec praesenti credere fortunae, cum, quid uesper ferat, incertum sit. is demum uir erit, cuius animum neque prosperae <res> flatu suo efferent nec aduersae infringent.' consilio dimisso tuendi cura regis Q. Aelio mandatur.

To you I say this especially, young men. Therefore in prosperous affairs it is not fitting to resolve upon anything against anyone arrogantly and violently, nor to trust present fortune, since what evening may bring is uncertain. He will then be a man indeed, whose spirit neither prosperous circumstances, by their own blast, puff up, nor adverse ones break. With the council dismissed, the charge of guarding the king is entrusted to Q. Aelius.

eo die et inuitatus ad consulem Perseus et alius omnis ei honos habitus est, qui haberi in tali fortuna poterat. exercitus deinde in hiberna dimissus est.

on that day Perseus too was invited to the consul, and every other honor that could be shown in such a fortune was accorded to him. then the army was dismissed into winter quarters.

[9] Maximam partem copiarum Amphipolis, reliquas propinquae urbes acceperunt.

[9] Amphipolis received the greatest part of the forces; the neighboring cities received the rest.

Hic finis belli, cum quadriennium continuum bellatum esset, inter Romanos ac Persea fuit idemque finis incluti per Europae plerumque atque Asiam omnem regni. uicensimum ab Carano, qui primus regnabat, Persea numerabant. Perseus Q. Fuluio <L.> Manlio consulibus regnum accepit, a senatu rex est appellatus M. Iunio A. Manlio consulibus; regnauit undecim annos.

Here was the end of the war, since for a continuous four-year period there had been fighting, between the Romans and Perseus; and the same was the end of the renowned kingdom, throughout most of Europe and all Asia. They counted Perseus as the twentieth from Caranus, who first held the kingship. Perseus received the kingdom in the consulship of Quintus Fulvius and <Lucius> Manlius; he was styled king by the Senate in the consulship of Marcus Junius and Aulus Manlius; he reigned eleven years.

Macedonum <gens> obscura admodum fama usque ad Philippum, Amyntae filium, fuit; inde ac per eum crescere cum coepisset, Europae se tamen finibus continuit, Graeciam omnem et partem Threciae atque Illyrici amplexa. superfudit deinde se in Asiam, et tredecim annis, quibus Alexander regnauit, primum omnia, qua Persarum prope inmenso spatio imperium fuerat, suae dicionis fecit; Arabas hinc Indiamque, qua terrarum ultumos finis rubrum mare amplectitur, peragrauit. tum maximum in terris Macedonum regnum nomenque; inde morte Alexandri distractum <in> multa regna, dum ad se quisque opes rapiunt, laceratis uiribus a summo culmine fortunae ad ultimum finem centum quinquaginta annos stetit.

The nation of the Macedonians was of very obscure renown down to Philip, son of Amyntas; then, when through him it began to grow, it nevertheless confined itself within the boundaries of Europe, embracing all Greece and part of Thrace and Illyricum. Thereafter it overflowed into Asia, and in the 13 years during which Alexander reigned, it first made all that had been the empire of the Persians over a nearly immense expanse subject to its own jurisdiction; from there he traversed the Arabs and India, where at the uttermost limits of the lands the Red Sea encloses. Then the kingdom and the name of the Macedonians were the greatest on earth; thereafter, at Alexander’s death, torn apart into many kingdoms, while each snatched the resources to himself, with its strength lacerated it lasted, from the highest pinnacle of fortune to the uttermost end, 150 years.

[10] Victoriae Romanae fama cum peruasisset in Asiam, Antenor, qui cum classe lemborum ad Phanas stabat, Cassandriam inde traiecit. C. Popilius, qui Deli in praesidio nauibus Macedoniam petentibus erat, postquam debellatum in Macedonia et statione summotos hostium lembos audiuit, dimissis et ipse Attali nauibus ad susceptam legationem peragendam nauigare Aegyptum pergit, ut prius occurrere Antiocho posset, quam ad Alexandreae moenia accederet. cum praeterueherentur Asiam legati et Loryma uenissent, qui portus uiginti paulo amplius milia ab Rhodo abest, ex aduerso urbi ipsi positus, principes Rhodiorum occurrunt—iam enim eo quoque uictoriae fama perlata erat—orantes, ut Rhodum deueherentur: pertinere id ad famam salutemque ciuitatis, noscere ipsos omnia, quae acta essent <quae>que agerentur Rhodi, et conperta per se, non uolgata fama Romam referre.

[10] When the report of the Roman victory had permeated into Asia, Antenor, who was stationed with a fleet of light craft (lembi) at Phanas, crossed from there to Cassandria. Gaius Popilius, who was at Delos on guard-duty with ships for those making for Macedonia, after he heard that the war had been brought to an end in Macedonia and that the enemy’s lembi had been driven from their station, having also dismissed the ships of Attalus, made for Egypt, sailing on to carry through the embassy he had undertaken, so that he might encounter Antiochus before he approached the walls of Alexandria. As the envoys were coasting along Asia and had come to Loryma—a harbor a little more than twenty miles distant from Rhodes, lying directly opposite the city itself—the leading men of the Rhodians met them—for by then the report of the victory had reached that place too—begging that they be conveyed to Rhodes: that this pertained to the reputation and the safety of the state, that they themselves should learn everything that had been done and was being done at Rhodes, and report to Rome what they had ascertained for themselves, not what was spread by common rumor.

diu negantes perpulerunt, ut moram nauigationis breuem pro salute sociae urbis paterentur. postquam Rhodum uentum est, in contionem quoque eos iidem precibus pertraxerunt. aduentus legatorum auxit potius timorem ciuitati quam minuit; omnia enim Popilius, quae singuli uniuersique eo bello hostiliter dixerant fecerantque, rettulit, et uir asper ingenio augebat atrocitatem eorum, quae dicerentur, uoltu truci et accusatoria uoce, ut, cum propriae simultatis nulla causa cum ciuitate ei esset, ex unius senatoris Romani acerbitate, qualis in se uniuersi senatus animus esset, coniectarent.

After long refusing, they prevailed on them to endure a brief delay of the voyage for the safety of the allied city. After Rhodes was reached, the same men by entreaties drew them also into a public assembly. The advent of the legates augmented rather than diminished the city’s fear; for Popilius reported all that individuals and all collectively had said and done in a hostile fashion in that war, and the man, harsh in disposition, increased the atrocity of the things being said with a truculent visage and an accusatory voice, so that, although he had no cause of personal enmity with the commonwealth, from the acerbity of a single Roman senator they might conjecture what the spirit of the entire senate toward them was.

C. Decimi moderatio<r oratio> fuit, qui in plerisque eorum, quae commemorata a Popilio essent, culpam non penes populum, sed penes paucos concitores uolgi esse dixit: eos, uenalem linguam habentis, decreta plena regiae adsentationis fecisse et eas legationes misisse, quarum Rhodios semper non minus puderet quam paeniteret. quae omnia, si sana mens populo foret, in capita noxiorum uersura. cum magno adsensu auditus est, non magis eo, quod multitudinem noxa leuabat, quam quod culpam in auctores uerterat.

The speech of C. Decimius was moderate, who in most of those things which had been recounted by Popilius said that the fault lay not with the people, but with a few inciters of the crowd: that they, having a venal tongue, had passed decrees full of royal adulation and had sent embassies of which the Rhodians would always be no less ashamed than regretful. All which things, if the people had a sound mind, would be turned upon the heads of the guilty. He was heard with great assent, not so much because he lightened the guilt of the multitude, as because he shifted the blame onto the authors.

itaque cum principes Rhodiorum Romanis responderent, nequaquam tam grata oratio eorum fuit, qui, quae Popilius obiecerat, diluere utcumque conati sunt, quam eorum, qui Decimio in auctoribus ad piaculum noxae obiciendis adsensi sunt. decretum igitur extemplo, ut, qui pro Perseo aduersus Romanos dixisse quid aut fecisse conuincerentur, capitis condemnarentur. excesserant urbe sub aduentum Romanorum quidam, alii mortem sibi consciuerunt.

Therefore, when the leading men of the Rhodians were responding to the Romans, by no means was the oration of those who had tried somehow to wash away what Popilius had objected as welcome as that of those who assented to Decimius in putting forward the “authors” to the expiation of the offense. Accordingly it was decreed forthwith that whoever should be convicted of having said or done anything on behalf of Perseus against the Romans be condemned on a capital charge. Some had left the city at the approach of the Romans; others procured death for themselves.

legati non ultra quam quinque dies Rhodi morati Alexandream proficiscuntur. nec eo segnius iudicia ex decreto coram iis facto Rhodii exercebant; quam perseuerantiam in exequenda re tam Decimi lenitas quam <Popili effecerat asperitas>.

the envoys, having stayed at Rhodes no longer than five days, set out for Alexandria. Nor did the Rhodians any the less actively conduct the trials decreed in their presence; such perseverance in executing the matter had been produced both by Decimius’s lenity and by <Popilius’s asperity>.

[11] <Cum> haec gererentur, Antiochus frustra temptatis moenibus Alexandreae abscesserat ceteraque Aegypto potitus, relicto Memphi maiore Ptolemaeo, cui regnum quaeri suis uiribus simulabat, ut uictorem mox adgrederetur, in Syriam exercitum abduxit. nec huius uoluntatis eius ignarus Ptolemaeus, dum conterritum obsidionis metu minorem fratrem haberet, posse se recipi Alexandreae et sorore adiuuante et non repugnantibus fratris amicis ratus primum ad sororem, deinde ad fratrem amicosque eius non prius destitit mittere, quam pacem cum iis confirmaret. suspectum Antiochum effecerat, quod cetera Aegypto sibi tradita Pelusi ualidum relictum erat praesidium.

[11] <While> these things were being conducted, Antiochus, after the walls of Alexandria had been tried in vain, had withdrawn and, having gotten possession of the rest of Egypt, with the elder Ptolemy left at Memphis—for whom he was pretending that a kingdom was being sought by his own forces—in order that he might soon attack him as victor, led his army away into Syria. Nor was Ptolemy unaware of this intention of his; while he had his younger brother cowed by the fear of a siege, thinking that he could be received back at Alexandria, both with his sister aiding and with his brother’s friends not resisting, he did not cease to send first to his sister, then to his brother and his friends, until he should confirm peace with them. What had made Antiochus suspect was that, although the rest of Egypt had been handed over to him, a strong garrison had been left at Pelusium.

apparebat claustra Aegypti teneri, ut, cum uellet, rursus exercitum induceret; bello intestino cum fratre eum exitum fore, ut uictor fessus certamine nequaquam par Antiocho futurus esset. haec prudenter animaduersa <a> maiore cum adsensu minor frater quique cum eo erant acceperunt; soror plurimum adiuuit non consilio modo, sed etiam precibus. itaque consentientibus cunctis pace facta Alexandream recipitur, ne multitudine quidem aduersante, quae in bello non per obsidionem modo, sed etiam, postquam amoenibus abscessum est, quia nihil ex Aegypto subuehebatur, omnium rerum adtenuata inopia erat.

it was apparent that the barriers of Egypt were being held, so that, whenever he wished, he might again lead the army in; in a civil war with his brother the outcome would be that, though victor, wearied by the contest, he would by no means be a peer to Antiochus. these points, prudently observed, <a> the younger brother and those who were with him received with greater assent; the sister aided very much not only by counsel but also by entreaties. accordingly, with all consenting, peace having been made, he is received back into Alexandria, with not even the multitude opposing, which in the war, not only by the siege but also, after there had been a withdrawal from the walls, because nothing was being shipped up from Egypt, had been worn down by a scarcity of all things.

his cum laetari Antiochum conueniens esset, si reducendi eius causa exercitum Aegyptum induxisset, quo specioso titulo ad omnis Asiae et Graeciae ciuitates legationibus recipiendis litterisque dimittendis usus erat, adeo est offensus, ut multo acrius infestiusque aduersus duos, quam ante aduersus unum pararet bellum. Cyprum extemplo classem misit; ipse primo uere cum exercitu Aegyptum petens in Coelen Syriam processit. circa Rhinocolura Ptolemaei legatis agentibus gratias, quod per eum regnum patrium recepisset, petentibusque, ut suum munus tueretur et diceret potius, quid fieri uellet, quam hostis ex socio factus ui atque armis ageret, respondit non aliter neque classem reuocaturum neque exercitum reducturum, nisi sibi et tota Cypro et Pelusio agroque, qui circa Pelusiacum ostium Nili esset, cederetur; diemque praestituit, intra quam de condicionibus peractis responsum acciperet.

Although it would have been fitting for Antiochus to rejoice at this, if he had brought his army into Egypt for the sake of restoring him—a specious title which he had employed in receiving legations and sending letters to all the cities of Asia and Greece—he took offense to such a degree that he prepared war much more sharply and more hostilely against two than previously against one. He sent a fleet to Cyprus at once; he himself, at the beginning of spring, aiming for Egypt with the army, advanced into Coele-Syria. Around Rhinocolura, while Ptolemy’s envoys were giving thanks that through him he had recovered his ancestral kingdom, and were asking that he maintain his beneficence and rather state what he wished to be done than, turned from ally into enemy, proceed by force and arms, he replied that he would by no means either recall the fleet or lead back the army unless both all Cyprus and Pelusium and the territory which was around the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile were ceded to him; and he set a day within which he would receive an answer regarding the conditions being fulfilled.

[12] Postquam dies data indutiis praeteriit, nauigantibus ostio Nili ad Pelusium <praefectis ipse> per deserta Arabiae <est profectus receptusque et ab iis, qui> ad Memphim incolebant, et ab ceteris Aegyptiis, partim uoluntate partim metu, ad Alexandream modicis itineribus descendit. ad Eleusinem transgresso flumen, qui locus quattuor milia ab Alexandrea abest, legati Romani occurrerunt. quos cum aduenientis salutasset dextramque Popilio porrigeret, tabellas ei Popilius <senatus consultum> scriptum habentis tradit atque omnium primum id legere iubet.

[12] After the day granted for the truce had passed, while the prefects were sailing by the mouth of the Nile to Pelusium, <he himself> set out through the deserts of Arabia <and was received both by those who> dwelt at Memphis and by the other Egyptians, partly by good will, partly by fear; by moderate marches he descended to Alexandria. Having crossed the river at Eleusis, which place is 4 miles from Alexandria, Roman envoys met him. When he had greeted them as they arrived and extended his right hand to Popilius, Popilius handed to him tablets <holding the senatus consultum> written, and orders him to read that before all things.

quibus perlectis cum se consideraturum adhibitis amicis, quid faciendum sibi esset dixisset, Popilius pro cetera asperitate animi uirga, quam in manu gerebat, circumscripsit regem ac 'priusquam hoc circulo excedas' inquit 'redde responsum, senatui quod referam.' obstupefactus tam uiolento imperio parumper cum haesitasset, 'faciam' inquit 'quod censet senatus.' tum demum Popilius dextram regi tamquam socio atque amico porrexit. die deinde finita cum excessisset Aegypto Antiochus, legati concordia etiam auctoritate sua inter fratres firmata, inter quos uixdum conuenerat pax, Cyprum nauigant et inde, quae iam uicerat proelio Aegyptias naues, classem Antiochi dimittunt. clara ea per gentis legatio fuit, quod haud dubie adempta Antiocho Aegyptus habenti iam redditumque patrium regnum stirpi Ptolemaei fuerat.

when these had been read through, when he had said that, with friends called in, he would consider what ought to be done by himself, Popilius, in keeping with his other asperity of spirit, with the rod which he was carrying in his hand, drew a circle around the king and said, “before you step out of this circle, give a response that I may report to the senate.” Thunderstruck at so violent a command, after he had hesitated a little, he said, “I will do what the senate decrees.” Then at last Popilius extended his right hand to the king as to an ally and friend. Then, the day being ended, when Antiochus had withdrawn from Egypt, the envoys, the concord even having been strengthened by their own authority between the brothers, between whom peace had scarcely just been agreed, sail to Cyprus and from there dismiss Antiochus’s fleet, which already had conquered the Egyptian ships in battle. That embassy was renowned among the nations, because without doubt Egypt had been taken away from Antiochus who already possessed it, and the ancestral kingdom had been restored to the stock of Ptolemy.

consulum eius anni sicut alterius clarus consulatus insigni uictoria, ita alterius obscura fama, quia materiam res gerendi non habuit. iam primum cum legionibus ad conueniendum <diem> edixit, non auspicato templum intrauit. uitio diem dictam esse augures, cum ad eos relatum esset, decreuerunt.

Of the consuls of that year, just as the one man’s consulship was renowned with a distinguished victory, so the other’s fame was obscure, because he had no material for conducting affairs. At the very outset, when he proclaimed a <day> for the legions to assemble, he entered the temple without taking the auspices. The augurs, when the matter had been referred to them, decreed that the day had been declared vitiated.

profectus in Galliam circa Macros campos ad montis Siciminam et Papinum statiua habuit; deinde circa eadem loca cum sociis nominis Latini hibernabat; legiones Romanae, quod uitio dies exercitui ad conueniendum dicta erat, Romae manserant. et praetores praeter C. Papirium Carbonem, cui Sardinia euenerat, in prouincias iere. eum ius dicere Romae—nam eam quoque sortem habebat—inter ciues et peregrinos patres censuerant.

setting out into Gaul, he held a stationary camp around the Long Fields, by Mount Sicimina and Mount Papinus; then around the same places he was wintering with the allies of the Latin name; the Roman legions, because the day for the army to convene had been declared faulty in the auspices, had remained at Rome. And the praetors, except Gaius Papirius Carbo, to whom Sardinia had fallen, went into their provinces. The Fathers had decreed that he pronounce judgment at Rome—for he had that lot as well—between citizens and peregrines.

[13] Et Popilius et ea legatio, quae missa ad Antiochum erat, Romam redit; rettulit controuersias inter reges sublatas esse exercitumque ex Aegypto in Syriam reductum. post ipsorum regum legati uenerunt: Antiochi legati referentes omni uictoria potiorem pacem regi, senatui quae placuisset, uisam, eumque haud secus quam deorum imperio legatorum Romanorum iussis paruisse; gratulati dein de uictoria sunt, quam ope s<ua>, si quid imperatum foret, adiuturum regem fuisse. Ptolemaei legati communi nomine regis et Cleopatrae gratias egerunt: plus eos senatui populoque Romano quam parentibus suis, plus quam diis immortalibus debere, per quos obsidione miserrima liberati essent, regnum patrium prope amissum <recepissent.

[13] And Popilius and the embassy which had been sent to Antiochus returned to Rome; it reported that the controversies between the kings had been removed and that the army had been led back from Egypt into Syria. Afterward the envoys of the kings themselves came: the envoys of Antiochus reporting that peace, preferable to any victory, had seemed good to the king—that which had pleased the senate—and that he had obeyed the orders of the Roman legates no otherwise than the command of the gods; then they offered congratulations for the victory, which with his s<ua> help, if anything had been ordered, the king would have aided. The envoys of Ptolemy, in the common name of the king and Cleopatra, gave thanks: that they owed more to the senate and Roman people than to their own parents, more than to the immortal gods—by whose agency they had been freed from a most wretched siege and had recovered their ancestral kingdom, almost lost—<recepissent.

responsum> ab senatu est Antiochum recte atque ordine fecisse, quod legatis paruisset, gratumque id esse senatui populoque Romano: regibus Aegypti Ptolemaeo Cleopatraeque, si quid per se boni commodique euenisset, id magno opere senatum laetari, daturumque operam, ut regni sui maximum semper praesidium positum esse in fide populi Romani ducant. munera legatis ut ex instituto mittenda curaret, C. Papirio praetori mandatum. litterae deinde <e> Macedonia allatae, quae uictoriae laetitiam geminarent: Persea regem in potestatem consulis uenisse.

It was answered by the senate that Antiochus had acted rightly and in order, in that he had obeyed the legates, and that this was pleasing to the senate and the Roman people: that, as for the kings of Egypt, Ptolemy and Cleopatra, if anything of good and advantage had befallen them of itself, the senate rejoiced greatly at it, and would take pains that they always reckon the greatest safeguard of their kingdom to be placed in the good faith of the Roman people. That gifts for the legates, to be sent according to established practice, should be seen to, was entrusted to the praetor Gaius Papirius. Then letters were brought from Macedonia, which doubled the joy of the victory: that King Perseus had come into the power of the consul.

dimissis legatis <regiis> disceptatum inter Pisanos Lunensesque legatos est, Pisanis querentibus agro se a colonis Romanis pelli, Lunensibus adfirmantibus eum, de quo agatur, ab triumuiris agrum sibi adsignatum esse. senatus, qui de finibus cognoscerent statuerentque, quinque uiros misit Q. Fabium Buteonem, P. Cornelium Blasionem, T. Sempronium Muscam, L. Naeuium Balbum, C. Apuleium Saturninum.

With the envoys <royal> dismissed, a dispute was held between the envoys of the Pisans and the Lunensians, the Pisans complaining that they were being driven from their land by Roman colonists, the Lunensians affirming that the land at issue had been assigned to them by the triumvirs. The senate sent five men to take cognizance of and determine the boundaries: Q. Fabius Buteo, P. Cornelius Blasio, T. Sempronius Musca, L. Naevius Balbus, C. Apuleius Saturninus.

Et ab Eumene et ab Attalo et ab Athenaeo fratribus communis legatio de uictoria gratulatum uenit. et Masgabae, regis Masinissae filio, Puteolis naue egresso praesto fuit obuiam missus cum pecunia L. Manlius quaestor, qui Romam eum publico sumptu perduceret. aduenienti extemplo senatus datus est.

And from Eumenes and from Attalus and from Athenaius, the brothers, a joint legation came to offer congratulations on the victory. And for Masgaba, son of King Masinissa, after he disembarked from ship at Puteoli, L. Manlius, the quaestor, sent with money, was on hand to meet him, to conduct him to Rome at public expense. On his arrival, the senate was at once granted an audience.

ibi adulescens ita locutus est, ut, quae rebus grata erant, gratiora uerbis faceret. commemorauit, quot pedites equitesque, quot elephantos, quantum frumenti eo quadriennio pater suus in Macedoniam misisset: duas res ei rubori fuisse, unam, quod rogasset eum per legatos senatus, quae ad bellum opus essent, et non inperasset, alteram, quod pecuniam ei pro frumento misisset. Masinissam meminisse <se> regnum a populo Romano partum auctumque et multiplicatum habere; usu regni contentum scire dominium et ius eorum, qui dederint, esse.

there the youth spoke in such a way that what was welcome in deeds he made even more welcome by words. he commemorated how many foot-soldiers and horsemen, how many elephants, how much grain his father had sent into Macedonia in that quadrennium: that two things had been to his shame—first, that the senate had asked him through its envoys for the things needed for the war and had not commanded him; second, that it had sent him money for the grain. Masinissa, he said, remembered that he held his kingdom as begotten, augmented, and multiplied by the Roman people; content with the use of the kingdom, he knew that the dominion and the right belonged to those who had given it.

sumere itaque eos de se, non rogare aequom esse, neque emere ea ex fructibus agri ab se dati, * * * quae ibi proueniant. id Masinissae satis esse et fore, quod populo Romano superesset. cum iis mandatis a patre profectum postea consecutos equites, qui deuictam Macedoniam nuntiarent gratularique senatui iuberent et indicare tantae eam rem laetitiae patri suo esse, ut Romam uenire uelit Iouique optimo maximo in Capitolio sacrificare et grates agere; id, nisi molestum sit, ut ei permittatur, ab senatu petere.

to take them, then, from himself, not to ask, was just, nor to buy those things from the fruits of land granted by himself, * * * which come forth there. that, for Masinissa, what was in surplus to the Roman People was and would be sufficient. with these mandates from his father he set out; afterward horsemen overtook him to announce that Macedonia had been conquered and to bid him congratulate the senate and to indicate that this matter was of so great joy to his father that he wishes to come to Rome and to sacrifice and give thanks to Jupiter Best and Greatest on the Capitol; this, unless it be troublesome, that it be permitted to him, he asks of the senate.

[14] Responsum regulo est facere patrem eius Masinissam, quod uirum gratum bonumque facere deceat, ut pretium honoremque debito beneficio addat. et populum Romanum ab eo bello Punico forti fidelique opera adiutum, et illum fauente populo Romano regnum adeptum; aequatis iis postea trium regum bellis deinceps omnibus eum functum officiis. uictoria uero populi Romani laetari eum regem mirum non esse, qui sortem omnem fortunae regnique sui cum rebus Romanis miscuisset.

[14] It was answered to the prince that his father Masinissa is doing what it befits a grateful and good man to do: to add reward and honor to a deserved benefit. The Roman people were aided by him in the Punic war with brave and faithful service, and he, with the Roman people favoring, obtained the kingdom; and thereafter, in the wars against three kings, alike and in turn, he discharged his duties in all of them. That the king rejoices at the victory of the Roman people is not marvelous, seeing that he has mingled his whole lot of fortune and of his kingship with Roman affairs.

grates deis pro uictoria apud suos penates ageret; Romae filium pro eo acturum. gratulatum quoque satis suo ac patris nomine esse. ipsum relinquere regnum et Africa excedere, praeterquam quod illi inutile esset, non esse e re publica populi Romani senatum censere.

that he should render thanks to the gods for the victory before his own Penates; at Rome his son would act on his behalf. That congratulations too had been offered sufficiently in his and his father’s name. That for him himself to relinquish the kingdom and depart from Africa, besides its being useless to him, the senate judged not to be in the public interest of the Roman people.

petenti Masgabae, ut Hanno, Hamilcaris filius, obses in locum * <exigeretur, responsum est haud aequum uideri senatum a Carthaginiensibus obsides arbitrio Masinissae> exigere. munera ex senatus consulto emere regulo quaestor iussus ex centum pondo argenti et prosequi eum Puteolos omnemque sumptum, quoad in Italia esset, praebere et duas naues conducere, quibus ipse comitesque eius in Africam deueherentur; et comitibus omnibus, liberis seruisque, uestimenta data. haud ita multo post de altero Masinissae filio Misagene litterae adlatae sunt, missum eum ab L. Paulo post deuictum Persea in Africam cum equitibus suis; nauigantem dispersa classe in Hadriatico mari Brundisium tribus nauibus aegrum delatum.

To Masgaba, who was requesting that Hanno, son of Hamilcar, a hostage, be demanded in place of * <it was answered that it did not seem equitable to the senate to exact hostages from the Carthaginians at the discretion of Masinissa>, it was replied that the senate did not think it fair to demand them. The quaestor was ordered, in accordance with a senatorial decree, to purchase gifts for the prince with 100 pounds of silver, and to escort him to Puteoli, and to provide all expenses so long as he should be in Italy, and to hire two ships by which he and his companions might be conveyed to Africa; and garments were given to all the companions, both free and slave. Not long after, letters were brought concerning another son of Masinissa, Misagenes: that he had been sent by Lucius Paulus, after Perseus had been defeated, into Africa with his own horsemen; as he was sailing, when the fleet had been scattered in the Adriatic Sea, he, sick, was brought to Brundisium with three ships.

<ad> eum cum isdem muneribus, quae data Romae fratri eius erant, L. Stertinius quaestor Brundisium missus <iussus>que curare, ut aedes hospi<tio> * * * * *

to him, with the same gifts which had been given at Rome to his brother, Lucius Stertinius, the quaestor, was sent to Brundisium and was ordered to see to it that a house for hospitality * * * * *

[15] In quattuor urbanas tribus discripti erant libertini praeter eos, quibus filius quinquenni maior ex se natus esset,—eos, ubi proxumo lustro censi essent, censeri iusserunt—et eos, qui praedium praediaue rustica pluris sestertium triginta milium haberent, * * * censendi ius factum est. hoc cum ita seruatum esset, negabat Claudius suffragii lationem iniussu populi censorem cuiquam homini, nedum ordini uniuerso adimere posse. neque enim, si tribu mouere possit, quod sit nihil aliud quam mutare iubere tribum, ideo omnibus quinque et triginta tribubus emouere posse, id esse ciuitatem libertatemque eripere, non, ubi censeatur, finire, sed censu excludere.

[15] Freedmen had been distributed into the four urban tribes, except those to whom a son, older than five years, had been born from themselves—those, when they had been registered at the next lustrum, they ordered to be enrolled—and those who had a rural holding or holdings worth more than thirty thousand sesterces, * * * the right of being registered was established. Since this had been so observed, Claudius said that a censor could not, without the order of the people, take away the carrying of suffrage from any man, much less from an entire order. For even if he can “move” a man from a tribe, which is nothing other than to order a change of tribe, therefore he cannot remove him from all the 35 tribes; that is to snatch away citizenship and liberty, not to determine where one is assessed, but to exclude by the census.

haec inter ipsos disceptata; postremo eo descensum est, ut ex quattuor urbanis tribubus unam palam in atrio Libertatis sortirentur, in quam omnes, qui seruitutem seruissent, conicerent. Esquilinae sors exiit: in ea Ti. Gracchus pronuntiauit libertinos omnis censeri placere. magno ea res honori censoribus apud senatum fuit.

these things were debated among themselves; at last they came down to this: that from the four urban tribes they should draw lots for one, publicly in the Atrium of Liberty, into which they would cast all who had served servitude. The lot of the Esquiline came out: in that one Tiberius Gracchus proclaimed that it was pleasing that all freedmen be registered. This matter was a great honor to the censors with the senate.

gratiae actae et Sempronio, qui in bene coepto perseuerasset, et Claudio, qui non inpedisset. plures quam ab superioribus et senatu moti sunt et equos uendere iussi. omnes iidem ab utroque et tribu moti et aerarii facti; neque ullius, quem alter notarat, <ab> altero leuata ignominia.

Thanks were given both to Sempronius, who had persevered in the well-begun course, and to Claudius, who had not impeded it. More were removed from the senate and ordered to sell their horses than under earlier censors; all those same men, by both alike, were moved from their tribe and made aerarii; nor was the ignominy of any man whom the one had marked lifted by the other.

petentibus, ut ex instituto ad sarta tecta exigenda et ad opera, quae locassent, probanda anni et sex mensum tempus prorogaretur, Cn. Tremellius tribunus, quia lectus non erat in senatum intercessit.

As they were requesting that, according to established practice, the time of a year and six months be extended for exacting repairs of buildings and for approving the works which they had let on contract, Cn. Tremellius, the tribune, interposed his veto, because he had not been enrolled in the senate.

Eodem anno C. Cicereius aedem Monetae <in monte> Albano dedicauit quinquennio post, quam uouit. flamen Martialis inauguratus est eo anno L. Postumius Albinus.

In the same year Gaius Cicereius dedicated the temple of Moneta <on the mount> Alban five years after he had vowed it. In that year Lucius Postumius Albinus was inaugurated as Flamen of Mars.

[16] Q. Aelio M. Iunio consulibus de prouinciis referentibus censuere patres duas prouincias Hispaniam rursus fieri, quae una per bellum Macedonicum fuerat; et Macedoniam Illyricumque eosdem, L. Paulum et L. Anicium, obtinere, donec de sententia legatorum res et bello turbatas et <in> statum alium ex regno formandas conposuissent. consulibus Pisae et Gallia decretae cum binis <legionibus quinum milium et ducenorum> peditum et equitum quadringenorum. praetorum sortes fuere, Q. Cassi urbana, M'. Iuuenti Talnae inter peregrinos, Ti. Claudi Neronis Sicilia, Cn. Fului Hispania citerior, <ulterior> C. Licini Neruae.

[16] Under the consulship of Q. Aelius and M. Junius, when they were reporting on the provinces, the Fathers decreed that Hispania should again be made two provinces, which had been one during the Macedonian War; and that the same men, L. Paulus and L. Anicius, should hold Macedonia and Illyricum until, in accordance with the judgment of the legates, they had settled affairs both thrown into disorder by the war and to be reshaped from a kingdom into another form. To the consuls Pisae and Gaul were allotted, with two legions apiece of 5,200 infantry and 400 cavalry. The praetors’ lots were: the urban jurisdiction to Q. Cassius; among the peregrines to M'. Iuventius Talna; Sicily to Ti. Claudius Nero; Hispania Citerior to Cn. Fulvius; the Further to C. Licinius Nerva.

A. Manlio Torquato Sardinia obuenerat: <at> nequiit ire in prouinciam, ad res capitalis quaerendas ex senatus consulto retentus. de prodigiis deinde nuntiatis senatus est consultus. aedes deum Penatium in Uelia de caelo tacta erat et in oppido Mineruio duae portae et muri aliquantum.

A. Manlius Torquatus had had Sardinia fall to him by lot: <but> he was unable to go into the province, being retained, by decree of the senate, to conduct inquiries into capital matters. Then, after prodigies had been reported, the senate was consulted. The temple of the Penate gods in Uelia had been struck from the sky, and in the town of Mineruio two gates and some portion of the walls.

Anagniae terra pluerat et Lanuui fax in caelo uisa erat; et Calatiae in publico agro M. Ualerius ciuis Romanus nuntiabat e foco suo sanguinem per triduum et duas noctes manasse. ob id maxime decemuiri libros adire iussi supplicationem in diem unum populo edixerunt et quinquaginta capris in foro sacrificauerunt. et aliorum prodigiorum causa diem alterum supplicatio circa omnia puluinaria fuit et hostiis maioribus sacrificatum est et urbs lustrata.

Anagnia had rained earth, and at Lanuvium a torch was seen in the sky; and at Calatia, in the public field, M. Valerius, a Roman citizen, was reporting that from his own hearth blood had flowed for three days and two nights. On account of that especially the decemvirs were ordered to consult the Books; they proclaimed to the people a supplication for one day and sacrificed fifty goats in the forum. And for the sake of other prodigies, on the following day there was a supplication around all the pulvinar shrines, and sacrifice was made with greater victims, and the city was lustrated.

item, quod ad honorem deum inmortalium pertineret, decreuit senatus, ut, quoniam perduelles superati, Perseus et Gentius reges cum Macedonia atque Illyrico in potestate populi Romani essent, ut, quanta dona Ap. Claudio M. Sempronio consulibus ob deuictum Antiochum regem data ad omnia puluinaria essent, tanta Q. Cassius et M'. Iuuentius praetores curarent danda.

likewise, insofar as it pertained to the honor of the immortal gods, the senate decreed that, since the public enemies had been overcome, Perseus and Gentius, kings, with Macedonia and Illyricum, were in the power of the Roman people, the same amount of gifts as had been given, under the consuls Appius Claudius and Marcus Sempronius, on account of King Antiochus having been defeated, to all the pulvinaria, such gifts Quintus Cassius and Manius Juventius, praetors, should see to be given.

[17] Legatos deinde, quorum de sententia imperatores L. Paulus, L. Anicius conponerent res, decreuerunt decem in Macedoniam, quinque <in> Illyricum. in Macedoniam primi nominati: A. Postumius Luscus, C. Claudius, ambo illi censorii, <Q. Fabius Labeo, Q. Marcius Philippus,> C. Licinius Crassus, collega in consulatu Pauli; tum prorogato imperio prouinciam Galliam habebat. his consularibus addidere Cn. Domitium Ahenobarbum, Ser.

[17] Then they decreed legates, by whose counsel the commanders L. Paulus and L. Anicius should settle affairs: ten to Macedonia, five <to> Illyricum. To Macedonia the first named were: A. Postumius Luscus, C. Claudius, both of them censorial (ex‑censors), <Q. Fabius Labeo, Q. Marcius Philippus,> C. Licinius Crassus, colleague in the consulship of Paulus; at that time, with his imperium prorogued, he held the province Gaul. To these of consular rank they added Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, Ser.

Cornelium Sullam, L. Iunium, T. Numisium Tarquiniensem, A. Terentium Uarronem. <in> Illyricum autem hi nominati: P. Aelius Ligus consularis, C. Cicereius et Cn. Baebius Tampilus —hic priore anno, Cicereius multis ante annis praetor fuerat—, P. Terentius Tusciuicanus, P. Manilius. moniti deinde consules a patribus, ut, quoniam alterum ex his succedere C. Licinio, qui legatus nominatus erat, in Gallia oporteret, primo <quoque> tempore prouincias aut conpararent inter se aut sortirentur, sortiti sunt.

Cornelius Sulla, L. Junius, T. Numisius the Tarquinian, A. Terentius Varro. <in> Illyricum, moreover, the following were named: P. Aelius Ligus, a consular, C. Cicereius and Cn. Baebius Tampilus —he in the previous year, Cicereius many years before, had been praetor—, P. Terentius Tusciuicanus, P. Manilius. Then the consuls, having been advised by the Fathers, that, since it was fitting that one of these should succeed C. Licinius in Gaul, who had been named legate, they should, at the earliest <quoque> time, either arrange the provinces between themselves or cast lots, they cast lots.

M. Iunio Pisae obuenerunt, quem, priusquam in prouinciam iret, legationes, quae undique Romam gratulatum conuenerant, introducere in senatum placuit, Q. Aelio . ceterum quamquam tales uiri mitterentur, quorum de consilio sperari posset imperatores nihil indignum nec clementia nec grauitate populi Romani decreturos esse, tamen in senatu quoque agitata sunt summa consiliorum, ut inchoata omnia legati ab domo ferre ad imperatores possent.

Pisa fell by lot to M. Junius; and it was decided that, before he went to his province, he should introduce into the senate the embassies which had assembled from every side at Rome to offer congratulations; to Q. Aelius, . Moreover, although men of such a sort were being sent, by whose counsel it could be hoped that the commanders would decree nothing unworthy either of the clemency or the gravity of the Roman people, nevertheless in the senate too the chief points of policy were debated, so that the envoys might be able to carry from home to the commanders all measures to be initiated.

[18] Omnium primum liberos esse placebat Macedonas atque Illyrios, ut omnibus gentibus appareret arma populi Romani non liberis seruitutem, sed contra seruientibus libertatem adferre, ut et, in libertate gentes quae essent, tutam eam sibi perpetuamque sub tutela <populi Romani> esse, et, quae sub regibus uiuerent, et in praesens tempus mitiores eos iustioresque respectu populi Romani habere se crederent et, si quando bellum cum populo Romano regibus fuisset suis, exitum eius uictoriam Romanis adlaturum, sibi libertatem. metalli quoque Macedonici, quod ingens uectigal erat, locationes praediorumque rusticorum tolli placebat; nam neque sine publicano exerceri posse et, ubi publicanus esset, ibi aut ius publicum uanum aut libertatem sociis nullam esse. ne ipsos quidem Macedonas id exercere posse; ubi in medio praeda administrantibus esset, ibi numquam causas seditionum et certaminis defore.

[18] First of all, it was decided that the Macedonians and the Illyrians should be free, so that it might appear to all nations that the arms of the Roman people bring not servitude to the free, but, contrariwise, liberty to the enslaved; so that the peoples who were in liberty might hold that liberty to be safe and perpetual for themselves under the guardianship <of the Roman people>, and that those who lived under kings might believe that, for the present time, they would have those kings milder and more just out of regard for the Roman people; and that, if ever there should be war between the Roman people and their own kings, its outcome would bring victory to the Romans, to themselves liberty. It was also decided that the farmings (leases) of the Macedonian mines—which were an immense revenue—and of rural estates be abolished; for they could not be worked without a publican, and wherever a publican was, there either public law was vain or there was no liberty for the allies. Nor indeed could the Macedonians themselves manage that; where booty lay in the midst of administrators, there would never be lacking causes of sedition and contest.

<denique ne, si> commune concilium gentis esset, inprobus uulgi adsentator aliquando libertatem salubri moderatione datam ad licentiam pestilentem traheret, in quattuor regiones discribi Macedoniam, ut suum quaeque concilium haberet, placuit et dimidium tributi, quam quod regibus ferre soliti erant, populo Romano pendere. similia his et <in> Illyricum mandata. cetera ipsis imperatoribus legatisque relicta, in quibus praesens tractatio rerum certiora subiectura erat consilia.

<finally, lest, if> there were a common council of the nation, some shameless flatterer of the mob should at some time drag liberty, given by wholesome moderation, into pestilent license, it was decided that Macedonia be divided into four regions, so that each should have its own council, and that they pay to the Roman people half the tribute which they had been accustomed to pay to their kings. Similar mandates were given also <for> Illyricum. The rest was left to the generals themselves and to the legates, in which matters the present handling of affairs would be able to supply more certain counsels.

[19] Inter multas regum gentiumque et populorum legationes Attalus, frater regis Eumenis, maxime conuertit in se omnium oculos animosque. exceptus enim est ab iis, qui simul eo bello militauerant, haud paulo benignius, quam si ipse rex Eumenes uenisset. adduxerant eum duae in speciem honestae res, una gratulatio conueniens in ea uictoria, quam ipse adiuuisset, altera querimonia Gallici tumultus acceptaeque cladis, qua regnum in dubium adductum esset.

[19] Among the many embassies of kings and of nations and peoples, Attalus, brother of King Eumenes, most of all turned upon himself the eyes and minds of all. For he was received by those who had served together in that war not a little more graciously than if King Eumenes himself had come. Two matters, honorable in appearance, had brought him: one, a congratulation fitting to that victory which he himself had aided; the other, a complaint of the Gallic tumult and of the disaster sustained, whereby the kingdom had been brought into jeopardy.

suberat et secreta spes honorum praemiorumque ab senatu, quae uix salua pietate ei contingere poterant. <erant> enim quidam Romanorum quoque non boni auctores, qui spe cupiditatem eius elicerent: eam opinionem de Attalo et Eumene Romae esse, tamquam de altero Romanis certo amico, altero nec Romanis nec Persei fido socio. itaque uix statui posse, utrum, quae pro se, an, quae contra fratrem petiturus esset, ab senatu magis inpetrabilia forent; adeo uniuersos omnia et huic tribuere et illi uero negare.

There was also an undercurrent of secret hope for honors and rewards from the senate, which could scarcely befall him with loyalty intact. For <there were> even certain not-good instigators among the Romans, who by hope would elicit his cupidity: that such an opinion about Attalus and Eumenes existed at Rome, as though the one were a sure friend to the Romans, the other a faithful ally neither to the Romans nor to Perseus. And so it could hardly be determined whether the things he was going to ask on his own behalf, or the things against his brother, would be more obtainable from the senate; so completely did all alike grant everything to this man and indeed deny it to that one.

eorum hominum, ut res docuit, Attalus erat, qui, quantum spes spopondisset, cuperent, ni unius amici prudens monitio uelut frenos animo eius gestienti secundis rebus inposuisset. Stratius cum eo fuit medicus, ad id ipsum a non securo Eumene Romam missus speculator rerum, quae a fratre agerentur, monitorque fidus, si decedi fide uidisset: is ad occupatas iam aures sollicitatumque iam animum cum uenisset, adgressus tempestiuis sermonibus rem prope prolapsam restituit, aliis alia regna creuisse rebus dicendo: regnum eorum nouum, nullis uetustis fundatum opibus, fraterna stare concordia, quod unus nomen regium et praecipuum capitis insigne gerat, omnes fratres regnent. Attalum uero, qui aetate proximus sit, quis non pro rege habeat?

Attalus was, as the matter taught, of those men who would desire as much as hope had pledged, had not the prudent monition of a single friend put, as it were, a bridle upon his spirit exulting in prosperous affairs. Stratius was with him, a physician, sent to Rome for this very purpose by a not-unanxious Eumenes, as a speculator of the things that were being transacted by his brother, and a faithful monitor if he should see a departure from loyalty: he, when he had come to ears already preoccupied and a mind already solicited, by timely discourses addressed him and restored a situation almost slipped away, saying that different kingdoms had grown by different means: that their kingdom was new, founded on no ancient resources, that it stood by fraternal concord—because, though one bears the royal name and the preeminent insignia of the head, all the brothers reign. As for Attalus, moreover, who is nearest in age, who does not hold him as a king?

neque eo solum, quia tantas praesentes eius opes cernat, sed quod haud ambiguum <sit> prope diem regnaturum; eam infirmitatem aetatemque Eumenis esse nullam stirpem liberum habentis; necdum enim agnouerat eum, qui postea regnauit. quid adtinere uim adferre rei sua sponte ad eum mox uenturae? accessisse etiam nouam tempestatem regno tumultus Gallici, cui uix consensu et concordia regum resisti queat; si uero ad externum bellum domestica seditio adiciatur, sisti non posse.

not for that reason only, because they behold such great present resources of his, but because it is hardly doubtful <sit> that he will soon be reigning; such is the infirmity and age of Eumenes, having no stock of children; for he had not yet acknowledged him who afterwards reigned. What does it avail to apply force to a matter that of its own accord will soon come to him? There has also come upon the kingdom a new tempest, a Gallic tumult, which can scarcely be resisted by the consensus and concord of the kings; but if to an external war domestic sedition be added, it cannot be checked.

nec aliud eum, quam, ne frater in regno moriatur, sibi ipsi spem propinquam regni erepturum. si utraque gloriosa res esset, et seruasse fratri regnum et eripuisse, seruati tamen regni, quae iuncta pietati sit, potiorem laudem <futuram> fuisse. sed enimuero cum detestabilis altera res et proxima parricidio sit, quid ad deliberationem dubii superesse?

nor would he be doing anything other than, so that his brother not die in the kingdom, robbing from himself his own near hope of the kingdom. if both deeds were glorious, both to have preserved the kingdom for his brother and to have snatched it away, yet the praise of a kingdom preserved, which is joined to pietas, would have been the preferable renown. but indeed, since the latter deed is detestable and next to parricide, what remains for deliberation of a doubt?

utrum enim partem regni petiturum esse, an totum erepturum? si partem, ambo infirmos distractis uiribus et omnibus iniuriis pro<palam> obnoxios fore; si totum, priuatumne ergo maiorem fratrem, an exulem <esse> illa aetate, illa corporis infirmitate, an <ad> ultimum mori iussurum? egregium enim, ut fabulis traditus impiorum fratrum euentus taceatur, Persei exitum uideri, qui ex fraterna caede raptum diadema in templo Samothracum, uelut praesentibus dis exigentibus poenas, ad pedes uictoris hostis prostratus posuerit.

for would he seek a part of the kingdom, or snatch away the whole? if a part, both would be weak, with their forces divided, and openly liable to all injuries; if the whole, will he then make his elder brother a private man, or an exile at that age, with that infirmity of body, or, at the last, order him to die? admirable indeed—so that the outcome of impious brothers handed down by fables may be passed over in silence—that the end of Perseus should be seen: who, from fraternal slaughter, laid the diadem he had snatched in the temple of the Samothracians, as though, with the gods present exacting penalties, prostrate he placed it at the feet of his victorious foe.

eos ipsos, qui non illi amici, sed Eumeni infesti stimulent eum, pietatem constantiamque laudaturos, si fidem ad ultimum fratri praestitisset.

those very men, who are not friends to him, but hostile to Eumenes, who goad him on, would praise piety and constancy, if he had shown faith to his brother to the end.

[20] Haec plus ualuere in Attali animo. itaque introductus in senatum gratulatus uictoriam est; sua merita eo bello fratrisque, si qua erant, et Gallorum defectionem, quae nuper ingenti motu facta erat, exposuit; petit, ut legatos mitteret ad eos, quorum auctoritate ab armis auocarentur. his pro regni utilitate editis mandatis, Aenum sibi et Maroneam petit.

[20] These things had more weight in Attalus’s mind. And so, having been introduced into the senate, he offered congratulations for the victory; he set forth his own merits in that war and his brother’s, if there were any, and the defection of the Gauls, which had recently been made with an immense commotion; he asks that the senate send envoys to them, by whose authority they might be called away from arms. With these mandates issued for the utility of the kingdom, he asks Aenus and Maronea for himself.

ita destituta eorum spe, qui fratre accusato partitionem regni petiturum crediderant, curia excessit. [ut] raro alias quisquam rex aut priuatus tanto fauore tantoque omnium adsensu est auditus: omnibus honoribus muneribusque <et> praesens est cultus et proficiscentem prosecuti sunt. inter multas Asiae Graeciaeque legationes Rhodiorum maxime legati ciuitatem conuerterunt.

thus, with the hope of those who had believed that, with his brother accused, he would seek a partition of the kingdom, left in the lurch, he departed the curia. [so that] rarely at any other time has anyone, king or private man, been heard with such favor and with such assent of all: with every honor and gift <and> he was honored in person, and they escorted him as he set out. among the many embassies of Asia and Greece, the envoys of the Rhodians especially turned the state.

nam cum primo in ueste candida uisi essent, quod et gratulantis decebat, et, si sordidam uestem habuissent, lugentium Persei casum praebere speciem poterant, postquam consulti ab M. Iunio consule patres stantibus in comitio legatis, an locum, lautia senatumque darent, nullum hospitale ius in iis esse seruandum censuerunt, egressus e curia consul, cum Rhodii gratulatum se de uictoria purgatumque ciuitatis crimina dicentes uenisse petissent, ut senatus sibi daretur, pronuntiat sociis et amicis et alia comiter atque hospitaliter praestare Romanos et senatum dare consuesse: Rhodios non ita meritos eo bello, ut amicorum sociorum<que> numero habendi sint; his auditis prostrauerunt se omnes humi consulemque et cunctos, qui aderant, orantes, ne noua falsaque crimina plus obesse Rhodiis aecum censerent quam antiqua merita, quorum ipsi testes essent. extemplo ueste sordida sumpta domos principum cum precibus ac lacrimis circumibant orantes, ut prius cognoscerent causam quam condemnarent.

for when at first they had been seen in white clothing, which befitted those offering congratulations—and, had they worn soiled dress, they could have presented the appearance of mourning the fall of Perseus—after the Fathers had been consulted by Marcus Junius the consul, with the envoys standing in the Comitium, whether they should grant them a place, entertainments, and a hearing of the senate, they judged that no right of hospitality was to be observed in their case. The consul, having gone out from the Curia, when the Rhodians, saying that they had come to congratulate on the victory and to purge the charges against their city, had asked that the senate be granted to them, announced that to allies and friends the Romans were accustomed both to provide other things courteously and hospitably and to grant an audience of the senate: the Rhodians had not so merited in this war as to be held in the number of friends and allies. On hearing this, they all prostrated themselves on the ground, beseeching the consul and all who were present not to deem it equitable that new and false charges should harm the Rhodians more than their ancient merits, of which they themselves were witnesses. Immediately, putting on soiled clothing, they went round the houses of the leading men with prayers and tears, begging that they first examine the case before they condemn.

[21] M'. Iuuentius Talna praetor, cuius inter ciues et peregrinos iurisdictio erat, populum aduersus Rhodios incitabat rogationemque promulgauerat, ut Rhodiis bellum indiceretur, et ex magistratibus eius anni deligerent, qui ad id bellum cum classe mitteretur, se eum sperans futurum esse. huic actioni M. Antonius et M. Pomponius tribuni plebis aduersabantur. sed et praetor nouo maloque exemplo rem ingressus erat, quod non ante consulto senatu, non consulibus certioribus factis de sua unius sententia rogationem ferret, uellent iuberentne Rhodiis bellum indici, cum antea semper prius senatus de bello consultus esset, deinde <ex auctoritate> patrum ad populum latum, et tribuni plebis, cum ita traditum esset, ne quis prius intercederet legi, quam priuatis suadendi dissuadendique legem potestas facta esset, eoque persaepe euenisset, ut et, qui non professi essent se intercessuros, animaduersis uitiis legis ex oratione dissuadentium intercederent, et, qui ad intercedendum uenissent, desisterent uicti auctoritatibus suadentium legem.

[21] M’. Juventius Talna, the praetor whose jurisdiction was between citizens and foreigners, was inciting the people against the Rhodians and had published a rogation that war be declared upon the Rhodians, and that from the magistrates of that year there be chosen a man who should be sent to that war with a fleet—hoping that he himself would be that man. This action was opposed by M. Antonius and M. Pomponius, tribunes of the plebs. But the praetor too had entered upon the matter with a new and evil precedent, in that, with the senate not first consulted and the consuls not informed, he was bringing a rogation on his single judgment, whether they wished and ordered that war be declared upon the Rhodians—whereas previously the senate had always been consulted first about war, then, of the fathers, it was carried to the people—and the tribunes of the plebs, since it had been handed down thus, that no one should intercede against a law before to private persons the power had been given of recommending and dissuading the law; and thereby it had very often happened both that those who had not declared that they would intercede, once the vices of the law had been noticed from the speech of the dissuaders, did intercede, and that those who had come to intercede desisted, overcome by the authorities of those recommending the law.

tum inter praetorem tribunosque omnia intempestiue agendi certamen erat: tribuni festinationem praetoris ante tempus intercedendo * * * in aduentum im<peratoris> * *

then between the praetor and the tribunes there was a contest about doing everything unseasonably: the tribunes, by interceding before the due time against the praetor’s haste, * * * until the arrival of the commander * *

[22] ' * * est. peccauerimusne adhuc dubium est; poenas, ignominias omnes iam patimur. antea, Carthaginiensibus uictis, Philippo, Antiocho superatis, cum Romam uenissemus, ex publico hospitio in curiam gratulatum uobis, patres conscripti, ex curia in Capitolium ad deos uestros dona ferentes <escendebamus;> nunc ex sordido deuersorio, uix mercede recepti ac prope hostium more extra urbem manere iussi, in hoc squalore uenimus in curiam Romanam Rhodii, quos prouinciis nuper Lycia atque Caria, quos praemiis atque honoribus amplissumis donastis.

[22] “... it is. Whether we have sinned is still in doubt; we are already suffering all penalties and disgraces. Formerly, with the Carthaginians conquered, Philip and Antiochus overcome, when we came to Rome, from the public hospitium we went up into the Curia to offer you congratulations, Conscript Fathers, and from the Curia we ascended to the Capitol, bearing gifts to your gods; now, from a sordid lodging-house, scarcely admitted for a fee and, almost in the manner of enemies, ordered to remain outside the city, in this squalor we have come into the Roman Curia—we Rhodians, whom you lately endowed with the provinces of Lycia and Caria, whom you have presented with the most ample rewards and honors.”

et Macedonas Illyriosque liberos esse, ut audimus, iubetis, cum seruierint, antequam uobiscum bellarent—nec cuiusquam fortunae inuidemus, immo agnoscimus clementiam populi Romani —: Rhodios, qui nihil aliud quam quieuerunt hoc bello, hostes ex sociis facturi estis? certe iidem uos estis Romani, qui ideo felicia bella uestra esse, quia iusta sint, prae uobis fertis, nec tam exitu eorum, quod uincatis, quam principiis, quod num<quam> sine causa suscipiatis, gloriamini. Messana in Sicilia oppugnata Carthaginienses, Athenae oppugnatae et Graecia in seruitutem petita et adiutus Hannibal pecunia auxiliis Philippum hostem fecerunt.

and you order, as we hear, that the Macedonians and Illyrians be free, though they had been in servitude before they fought with you—nor do we envy anyone’s fortune; rather, we acknowledge the clemency of the Roman people—: will you make the Rhodians, who did nothing other than keep quiet in this war, enemies out of allies? surely you are the same Romans who profess that for this reason your wars are felicitous, because they are just, and you glory not so much in their outcome, that you conquer, as in their beginnings, that you undertake them never without cause. the attack on Messana in Sicily made the Carthaginians enemies; Athens being assaulted and Greece sought into servitude, and Hannibal aided with money and auxiliaries, made Philip an enemy.

Antiochus ipse ultro, ab Aetolis, hostibus uestris, accersitus, ex Asia classe in Graeciam traiecit; Demetriade et Chalcide et saltu Thermopylarum occupato de possessione imperii uos deicere <est> conatus. cum Perseo socii uestri oppugnati, aut interfecti reguli principesque gentium aut populorum causa belli uobis fuere. quem tandem titulum nostra calamitas habitura est, si perituri sumus?

Antiochus himself, indeed, having been summoned by the Aetolians, your enemies, crossed over from Asia into Greece with a fleet; with Demetrias and Chalcis and the pass of Thermopylae occupied, he attempted to cast you down from the possession of imperium <est>. In the case of Perseus, your allies having been attacked, or the reguli and princes of nations or peoples having been slain, these were grounds of war for you. What, then, title will our calamity have, if we are going to perish?

nondum segrego ciuitatis causam a Polyarato et Dinone, ciuibus nostris, et iis, quos ut traderemus uobis, adduximus. si omnes Rhodii aeque noxii essemus, quod nostrum in hoc bello crimen esset? Persei partibus fauimus et, quemadmodum Antiochi Philippique bello pro uobis aduersus reges, sic nunc pro rege aduersus uos stetimus.

I do not yet segregate the cause of the city from Polyaratus and Dinon, our fellow citizens, and from those whom we have brought to hand over to you. If all the Rhodians were equally guilty, what charge of ours would there be in this war? We favored the party of Perseus and, just as in the war of Antiochus and of Philip we stood for you against kings, so now we have stood for a king against you.

quemadmodum soleamus socios iuuare et quam inpigre capessere bella, C. Liuium, L. Aemilium Regillum interrogate, qui classibus uestris in Asia praefuerunt. numquam uestrae naues pugnauere sine nobis. <nos> nostra classe pugnauimus semel ad Samum, iterum in Pamphylia aduersus Hannibalem inperatorem; quae uictoria nobis eo gloriosior est, quod, cum ad Samum magnam partem nauium aduersa pugna et egregiam iuuentutem amisissemus, ne tanta quidem clade territi iterum ausi <sumus> regiae classi ex Syria uenienti obuiam ire.

How we are accustomed to aid our allies and how energetically we take up wars—ask Gaius Livius, Lucius Aemilius Regillus, who were in command of your fleets in Asia. Your ships never fought without us. We with our own fleet fought once at Samos, again in Pamphylia against General Hannibal; which victory is all the more glorious for us because, when at Samos we had lost a great part of our ships in an adverse battle and our distinguished youth, not even by so great a disaster were we deterred from daring again to go to meet the royal fleet coming from Syria.

haec non gloriandi causa rettuli—neque enim ea nunc nostra est fortuna—, sed ut admonerem, quemadmodum adiuuare socios solerent Rhodii.'

I have recounted these things not for the sake of glorying—for indeed such is not now our fortune—but to remind how the Rhodians were accustomed to aid their allies.'

[23] 'Praemia et <Philippo et> Antiocho deuictis amplissima accepimus a uobis. si, quae uestra nunc est fortuna deum benignitate et uirtute uestra, ea Persei fuisset, et praemia petitum ad uictorem regem uenissemus in Macedoniam, quid tandem diceremus? pecuniane a nobis adiutum an frumento?

[23] 'We received from you most ample rewards with <Philip and> Antiochus defeated. If the fortune which is now yours, by the benignity of the gods and your virtue, had been Perseus’s, and we had come into Macedonia to seek rewards from the victor king, what, pray, should we say? was it with money that help was given by us, or with grain?'

auxiliis terrestribus an naualibus? quod praesidium tenuisse nos? ubi pugnasse aut sub illius ducibus <aut> per nos ipsos?

with terrestrial or with naval assistance? what garrison have we held? where have we fought, either under his commanders or by ourselves?

si quaereret, ubi miles noster, ubi nauis intra praesidia sua fuisset, quid responderemus? causam fortasse diceremus apud uictorem, quem ad modum apud uos dicimus. hoc enim legatos utroque <de> pace mittendo consecuti sumus, ut ne ab utraque parte gratiam iniremus, ab altera etiam crimen et periculum esset.

if he were to ask where our soldier, where a ship had been within his defenses, what would we answer? We would perhaps plead our case before the victor, just as we plead before you. For by sending envoys about peace to both sides we have achieved this: that we should not enter into favor with either party, and that from the other there should even be accusation and peril.

quamquam Perseus uere obiceret, id quod uos non potestis, patres conscripti, nos principio belli misisse ad uos legatos, qui pollicerentur uobis, quae ad bellum opus essent; nauibus, armis, iuuentute <nos> nostra, sicut prioribus bellis, ad omnia paratos fore. ne praestaremus, per uos stetit, qui de quacumque causa tum aspernati nostra auxilia estis. neque fecimus igitur quicquam tam<quam> hostes, neque bonorum sociorum defuimus officio, sed a uobis prohibiti praestare fuimus.

Although Perseus could truly object—which you, Conscript Fathers, cannot—that at the beginning of the war we sent to you legates to promise you what things were needful for war: that with ships, arms, and our own youth we would, as in prior wars, be ready for everything. That we did not make good stood by your doing, who then, for whatever cause, spurned our assistance. Therefore we did nothing as though enemies, nor did we fall short of the duty of good allies; rather, we were prevented by you from rendering it.

"quid igitur? nihilne factum neque dictum est in ciuitate uestra, Rhodii, quod nolletis, quo merito offenderetur populus Romanus?" hinc iam non, quod factum est, <sum> defensurus—non adeo insanio—, sed publicam causam a priuatorum culpa segregaturus. nulla est ciuitas, quae non et improbos ciues aliquando et imperitam multitudinem semper habeat.

"What then? Has nothing been done nor said in your city, Rhodians, which you would not wish, whereby the Roman People would deservedly be offended?" From this point I am not, what has been done, <sum> going to defend—I am not so insane—but I am going to segregate the public cause from the fault of private persons. There is no city which does not have both depraved citizens at times and an ignorant multitude always.

etiam apud uos fuisse audiui, qui adsentando multitudini grassarentur, et secessisse aliquando a uobis plebem nec in potestate uestra rem publicam fuisse. si hoc in hac tam bene morata ciuitate accidere potuit, mirari quisquam potest aliquos fuisse apud nos, qui regis amicitiam petentes plebem nostram consiliis deprauarent? qui tamen nihil ultra ualuerunt, quam ut in officio cessaremus.

I have heard that even among you there were those who, by assenting to and flattering the multitude, made their way forward, and that the plebs at some time seceded from you and the commonwealth was not in your power. If this could happen in so well-governed a state, can anyone wonder that there were some among us who, seeking the friendship of the king, depraved our plebs by counsels? who nevertheless prevailed in nothing further than that we should be remiss in our duty.

non praeteribo id, quod grauissimum est in hoc bello crimen ciuitatis nostrae: legatos eodem tempore et ad uos et ad Persea de pace misimus; quod infelix consilium furiosus, ut postea audiuimus, orator stultissimum fecit, quem sic locutum constat, tamquam C. Popilius legatus Romanus, quem ad summouendos a bello Antiochum et Ptolemaeum reges misistis, loqueretur. sed tamen ea siue superbia, siue stultitia appellanda est, eadem, quae apud uos, et apud Persea fuit. tam ciuitatium quam singulorum hominum mores sunt: gentes quoque aliae iracundae, aliae audaces, quaedam timidae, in uinum, in Uenerem proniores aliae sunt.

I will not pass over that which is the gravest charge in this war against our state: we sent envoys at the same time both to you and to Perseus about peace; which unhappy counsel a mad orator—as we afterward heard—made most foolish, who is agreed to have spoken as though Gaius Popilius, the Roman legate, whom you sent to remove from war the kings Antiochus and Ptolemy, were speaking. But yet whether that is to be called arrogance or stupidity, it was the same both among you and with Perseus. As much the characters of city-states as of individual men are a thing: nations too are various—some irascible, others bold, certain timid; others are more prone to wine, to Venus.

Atheniensium populum fama est celerem et supra uires audacem esse ad conandum, Lacedaemoniorum cunctatorem et uix in ea, quibus fidit, ingredientem. non negauerim et totam Asiae regionem inaniora parere ingenia, et nostrorum tumidiorem sermonem esse, quod excellere inter finitimas ciuitates uideamur, et id ipsum non tam uiribus nostris quam uestris honoribus ac iudiciis. satis quidem et tunc in praesentia castigata illa legatio erat, cum tam tristi responso uestro dimissa.

There is a report that the people of the Athenians are swift and, beyond their powers, audacious in attempting, and that the Lacedaemonians are procrastinators and scarcely enter even upon those matters in which they trust. I would not deny either that the whole region of Asia produces more inane dispositions, and that the speech of our own is more tumid, because we seem to excel among the neighboring cities—and that very thing not so much by our own forces as by your honors and judgments. Indeed, even then, on the spot, that legation was sufficiently castigated, when it was dismissed with so sad a reply from you.

si tum parum ignominiae pensum est, haec certe tam miserabilis ac supplex legatio etiam insolentioris, quam illa fuit, legationis satis magnum piaculum esset. superbiam, uerborum praesertim, iracundi oderunt, prudentes inrident, utique si inferioris aduersus superiorem est; capitali poena nemo umquam dignam iudicauit. id enimuero periculum erat, ne Romanos Rhodii contemnerent.

if then too small a reckoning of ignominy was paid, this surely, so miserable and suppliant an embassy, would be a sufficiently great expiation even for a more insolent embassy than that one was. The irascible hate arrogance, especially of words; the prudent deride it, particularly if it is of an inferior against a superior; no one ever judged it worthy of capital punishment. This indeed was the danger: lest the Rhodians despise the Romans.

etiam deos aliqui uerbis ferocioribus increpant, nec ideo quemquam fulmine ictum audimus.'

even some reproach the gods with more ferocious words, and not on that account do we hear of anyone struck by a thunderbolt.'

[24] 'Quid igitur superat, quod purgemus, si nec factum hostile ullum nostrum est, <et> uerba tumidiora legati offensionem aurium, non perniciem ciuitatis meruerunt? uoluntatis nostrae tacitae uelut litem aestimari uestris inter uos sermonibus audio, patres conscripti: fauisse nos regi et illum uincere maluisse. ideo bello persequendos esse credunt alii; <alii> uestrum uoluisse quidem nos hoc, non tamen ob id bello persequendos esse: neque moribus neque legibus ullius ciuitatis ita conparatum esse, ut, si qui uelit inimicum perire, si nihil fecerit, quo id fiat, capitis damnetur.

[24] 'What, then, remains for us to purge, if neither any hostile deed is ours, <and> the more tumid words of the legate have deserved an offense to the ears, not the perdition of the state? I hear, Conscript Fathers, that as it were a lawsuit of our silent will is being assessed in your conversations among yourselves: that we favored the king and preferred that he should conquer. Therefore some believe we must be pursued with war; <others> that we indeed wished this, yet not on that account are to be pursued with war: that neither by the customs nor by the laws of any state is it so established, that if someone should wish an enemy to perish, if he has done nothing by which that may come to pass, he be condemned on a capital charge.

his, qui nos poena, non crimine liberant, gratiam quidem habemus; ipsi nobis hanc dicimus legem: si omnes uoluimus, quod arguimur—non distinguimus uoluntatem a facto—, omnes plectamur: si alii principum nostrorum uobis, alii regi fauerunt, non postulo, ut propter nos, qui partium uestrarum fuimus, regis fautores salui sint; illud deprecor, ne nos propter illos pereamus. non estis uos illis infestiores, quam ciuitas est ipsa; et hoc quia sciebant, plerique eorum aut profugerunt aut mortem sibi consciuerunt; alii damnati a nobis in potestate uestra erunt, patres conscripti. ceteri Rhodii sicut gratiam nullam meriti hoc bello, ita ne poenam quidem sumus.

to those who release us with a penalty, not as criminals, we indeed are grateful; we ourselves lay down this law for us: if we all wished what we are accused of—we do not distinguish will from deed—let us all be punished; if some of our leading men favored you, others the king, I do not demand that, on account of us who were of your party, the king’s favorers be spared; this I beseech, that we not perish on account of those. you are not more hostile to them than the city itself is; and because they knew this, most of them either fled or contrived death for themselves; others, condemned by us, will be in your power, Conscript Fathers. the rest of the Rhodians, just as we have merited no favor in this war, so neither are we even subject to punishment.

priorum nostrorum benefactorum cumulus hoc, quod nunc cessatum in officio est, expleat. cum tribus regibus gessistis bella per hos annos; ne plus obsit nobis, quod uno bello cessauimus, quam quod duobus bellis pro uobis pugnauimus. Philippum, Antiochum, Persea tamquam tris sententias ponite: duae nos absoluunt, una dubia est; ut grauior sit, illi de nobis <si> iudicarent, damnati essemus; uos iudicatis, patres conscripti, sit Rhodus in terris an funditus deleatur; non enim de bello deliberatis, patres conscripti, quod inferre potestis, gerere non potestis, cum nemo Rhodiorum arma aduersus uos <sit> laturus.

let the accumulation of our earlier benefactions make amends for this, that now there has been a lapse in duty. You have waged wars with three kings during these years; let it not harm us more that we stood aside in one war than it helps that we fought on your behalf in two wars. Set Philip, Antiochus, Perseus as though three verdicts: two acquit us, one is doubtful; and, to make it the weightier, if they were the judges of us, we would be condemned; you are judging, Conscript Fathers, whether Rhodes shall be upon the earth or be utterly destroyed from the foundations; for you are not deliberating about a war, Conscript Fathers, which you can bring on but cannot wage, since no Rhodian will bear arms against you.

si perseuerabitis in ira, tempus a uobis petemus, quo hanc funestam legationem domum referamus; omnia libera capita, quidquid Rhodiorum uirorum feminarum est, cum omni pecunia nostra naues conscendemus ac relictis penatibus publicis priuatisque Romam ueniemus et omni auro et argento, quidquid publici, quid<quid> priuati est, in comitio, in uestibulo curiae uestrae cumulato, corpora nostra coniugumque ac liberorum uestrae potestati permittemus, hic passuri, quodcumque patiendum erit; procul ab oculis nostris urbs nostra diripiatur, incendatur. hostis Rhodios esse Romani iudicare <possunt, facere non> possunt; est enim et nostrum aliquod de nobis iudicium, quo numquam iudicabimus nos uestros hostis, nec quicquam hostile, etiam si omnia patiemur, faciemus.'

if you persevere in anger, we shall ask from you time, in which we may carry home this funereal embassy; all free persons, whatever there is of Rhodian men and women, with all our money we shall board the ships and, the Penates both public and private left behind, we shall come to Rome, and, with all the gold and silver—whatever is public, whatever private—heaped up in the Comitium, in the vestibule of your Curia, we shall surrender our bodies and those of our spouses and children to your power, here to suffer whatever must be suffered; let our city, far from our eyes, be plundered, be burned. The Romans can judge the Rhodians to be enemies; they cannot make them so; for there is also some judgment of our own concerning ourselves, by which we shall never judge ourselves your enemies, nor shall we do anything hostile, even if we suffer everything.'

[25] Secundum talem orationem uniuersi rursus prociderunt supplices ramosque oleae iactantes; tandem excitati curia excesserunt. tunc sententiae interrogari coeptae. infestissimi Rhodiis erant, qui consules praetoresue aut legati gesserant in Macedonia bellum.

[25] After such a speech, all again fell down as suppliants, throwing olive branches; at length, raised up, they departed from the curia. Then opinions began to be asked. Most hostile to the Rhodians were those who, as consuls or praetors or legates, had conducted the war in Macedonia.

plurimum causam eorum adiuuit M. Porcius Cato, qui, asper ingenio, tum lenem mitemque senatorem egit. non inseram simulacrum ueri copiose, quae dixerit, referendo: ipsius oratio scripta extat, Originum quinto libro inclusa. Rhodiis responsum ita redditum est, ut nec hostes fierent nec socii permanerent.

their cause was most aided by M. Porcius Cato, who, though harsh in disposition, then acted a gentle and mild senator. I will not insert a copious simulacrum of the truth by recounting what he said: his speech itself stands written, included in book 5 of the Origins. To the Rhodians the answer was returned thus, that they should neither become enemies nor remain allies.

Philocrates et Astymedes principes legationis erant. partim cum Philocrate renuntiare Rhodum legationem placuit, partim cum Astymede Romae subsistere, <qui,> quae agerentur, scirent certioresque suos facerent. in praesentia deducere ante certam diem ex Lycia Cariaque iusserunt praefectos.

Philocrates and Astymedes were the chiefs of the legation. It was resolved that part should return to Rhodes with Philocrates to report back the legation, and part should remain at Rome with Astymedes, who, to know what was being done and to make their people more certain, would stay. For the present they ordered the prefects to withdraw from Lycia and Caria before a fixed day.

haec Rhodum nuntiata, quae per se tristia fuissent, quia maioris mali leuatus erat timor, cum bellum timuissent, in gaudium uerterunt. itaque extemplo coronam uiginti milium aureorum decreuerunt; Theodotum, praefectum classis, in eam legationem miserunt. societatem ab Romanis ita uolebant peti, ut nullum de ea re scitum populi fieret aut litteris mandaretur, quod, nisi impetrarent, maior a repulsa ignominia esset.

When these things were reported at Rhodes—things which would have been sad in themselves—they turned into joy, because the fear of a greater evil had been lightened, since they had been afraid of a war. And so at once they decreed a crown of twenty thousand in gold; they sent Theodotus, prefect of the fleet, on that embassy. They wished the alliance to be sought from the Romans on such terms that no decree of the people be made about the matter nor that it be committed to letters, because, if they did not obtain it, the ignominy from a repulse would be greater.

praefecti classis id unius erat ius, ut agere de ea re sine rogatione ulla perlata posset. nam ita per tot annos in amicitia fuerant, ut sociali foedere se cum Romanis non inligarent, ob nullam aliam causam, quam ne spem regibus absciderent auxilii sui, si quid opus esset, neu sibi ipsis fructus ex benignitate et fortuna eorum percipiendi. tunc utique petenda societas uidebatur, non quae tutiores eos ab aliis faceret—nec enim timebant quemquam praeter Romanos—, sed quae ipsis Romanis minus suspectos.

it was the exclusive right of the prefect of the fleet to be able to act on that matter without any rogation being carried. For they had been in amicitia for so many years in such a way that they did not bind themselves to the Romans by a social treaty, for no other cause than lest they cut off from kings the hope of their aid, if there were need, and lest they deprive themselves of the fruits of enjoying the Romans’ benignity and fortune. Then, at any rate, a societas seemed to be sought—not one that would make them safer from others (for they feared no one except the Romans), but one that would make them less suspect to the Romans themselves.

sub idem fere tempus et Caunii desciuere ab iis, et Mylassenses Euromensium oppida occuparunt. non ita fracti animi ciuitatis erant, ut non sentirent, si Lycia et Caria ademptae ab Romanis forent, cetera aut se ipsa per defectionem liberarent aut a finitumis occuparentur, includi se insulae paruae et sterilis agri litoribus, quae nequaquam alere tantae urbis populum posset. missa igitur iuuentute propere et Caunios, quamquam Cibyratarum asciuerant auxilia, coegerunt imperio parere; et Mylassenis Alabandensisque, qui Euromensium prouinciam ademptum et ipsi coniuncto exercitu uenerant, circa Orthosiam acie uicerunt.

At about the same time both the Caunians defected from them, and the Mylassians occupied the towns of the Euromenians. The spirits of the state were not so broken that they did not perceive that, if Lycia and Caria were taken away by the Romans, the rest would either free themselves by defection or be occupied by their neighbors, and that they would be shut in within the shores of a small island of barren soil, which could by no means nourish the population of so great a city. Therefore, with the youth dispatched in haste, they compelled the Caunians—although they had adscited auxiliaries from the Cibyratae—to obey their command; and they defeated in line of battle near Orthosia the Mylassians and the Alabandians, who had come, with their forces joined, to have the province of the Euromenians taken away for themselves as well.

[26] Dum haec ibi, alia in Macedonia, alia Romae <in Asia> geruntur, interim <in> Illyrico L. Anicius rege Gentio, sicut ante dictum est, in potestatem redacto Scodrae, quae regia fuerat, praesidio inposito Gabinium praefecit, Rhizoni et Olcinio, urbibus opportunis, C. Licinium. praepositis his Illyrico, reliquo exercitu in Epirum est profectus. ubi prima Phanote ei dedita est omni multitudine cum infulis obuiam effusa.

[26] While these things are going on there, others in Macedonia, others at Rome <in Asia>, meanwhile <in> Illyricum, with King Gentius, as was said before, reduced into his power, at Scodra, which had been the royal residence, after a garrison was placed, he appointed Gabinius commander; and over Rhizon and Olcinium, cities advantageously situated, Gaius Licinius. With these set over Illyricum, with the rest of the army he set out into Epirus. There first Phanote was surrendered to him, the whole multitude having poured out to meet him with fillets.

hinc praesidio inposito in Molossidem transgressus, cuius omnibus oppidis praeter Passaronem et Tecmonem et Phylacen et Horreum receptis primum ad Passaronem ducit. Antinous et Theodotus principes eius ciuitatis erant, insignes et fauore Persei et odio aduersus Romanos, iidem uniuersae genti auctores desciscendi ab Romanis. hi conscientia priuatae noxae, quia ipsis nulla spes ueniae erat, ut communi ruina patriae opprimerentur, clauserunt portas, multitudinem, ut mortem seruituti praeponerent, hortantes.

From here, with a garrison set in place, he transgressed into Molossia; and of its towns, with all received except Passaron, Tecmon, Phylace, and Horreum, he leads first against Passaron. Antinous and Theodotus were the chiefs of that state, distinguished both for favor toward Perseus and for hatred against the Romans—these same men being the authors for the entire nation of defecting from the Romans. They, with the consciousness of private guilt, because for themselves there was no hope of pardon, in order that they might be crushed in the common ruin of their fatherland, shut the gates, exhorting the multitude to prefer death to servitude.

nemo aduersus praepotentis uiros hiscere audebat; tandem Theodotus quidam, nobilis et ipse adulescens, cum maior a Romanis metus timorem a principibus suis uicisset, 'quae uos rabies' inquit 'agitat, qui duorum hominum noxae ciuitatem accessionem facitis? equidem pro patria qui letum oppetissent, saepe fando audiui: <qui> patriam pro se perire aecum censerent, hi primi inuenti sunt. quin aperimus portas et imperium accipimus, quod orbis terrarum accepit?' haec dicentem cum multitudo sequeretur, Antinous et Theodotus in primam stationem hostium inruperunt atque ibi offerentes se ipsi uolneribus interfecti; urbs dedita est Romanis.

no one dared to whisper against the over-mighty men; at length a certain Theodotus, himself a noble youth, when a greater fear of the Romans had overcome the terror felt for their own chiefs, said: 'what rabies drives you, you who make the commonwealth an accession to the guilt of two men? for my part, I have often heard in report of those who met death for their fatherland: those who judged it equitable that the fatherland perish for themselves—these are the first ever found. why do we not open the gates and accept the imperium which the orb of lands has accepted?' as the multitude was following him saying these things, Antinous and Theodotus burst into the foremost station of the enemy and there, offering themselves to wounds, were slain; the city was surrendered to the Romans.

simili pertinacia Cephalonis principis clausum Tecmonem ipso interfecto per deditionem recepit. nec Phylace nec Horreum oppugnationem tulerunt. pacata Epiro diuisisque in hiberna copiis per opportunas urbes, regressus ipse in Illyricum Scodrae, quo quinque legati ab Roma uenerant, euocatis ex tota prouincia principibus conuentum habuit.

With similar pertinacity, he received Tecmon—shut in by the chieftain Cephalon—by surrender, the man himself having been slain. Neither Phylace nor Horreum sustained an assault. With Epirus pacified and the forces divided into winter quarters among opportune cities, he himself returned into Illyricum, at Scodra, where five legates had come from Rome; with the leading men summoned from the whole province, he held an assembly.

ibi pro tribunali pronuntiauit de sententia consilii senatum populumque Romanum Illyrios esse liberos iubere: praesidia ex omnibus oppidis, arcibus, castellis sese deducturum. non solum liberos, sed etiam inmunes fore Issenses et Taulantios, Dassaretiorum Pirustas, Rhizonitas, Olciniatas, quod incolumi Gentio ad Romanos defecissent. Daorsis quoque immunitatem dare, quod relicto Carauantio cum armis ad Romanos transissent.

there, before the tribunal, he proclaimed, in accordance with the council’s opinion, that the Senate and People of Rome ordered the Illyrians to be free: that he would withdraw the garrisons from all towns, citadels, and forts. Not only free, but also immune (exempt from tribute) would be the Issaeans and Taulantii, the Pirustae of the Dassaretii, the Rhizonitae, and the Olciniatae, because, with Gentius still unharmed, they had defected to the Romans. To the Daorsi likewise he granted immunity, because, abandoning Caravantius, they had crossed over with arms to the Romans.

Scodrensibus et Dassarensibus et Selepitanis ceterisque Illyriis uectigal dimidium eius, quod regi pependissent, <inpositum>. inde in tres partes Illyricum diuisit. unam eam fecit, quae supra ~Dictam est, alteram Labeatas omnis, tertiam Agrauonitas et Rhizonitas et Olciniatas accolasque eorum. hac formula dicta [in] Illyrico ipse inde Epiri Passaronem in hiberna redit.

To the Scodrenses and the Dassarenses and the Selepitae and the other Illyrians, a tribute of half of that which they had paid to the king was <imposed>. Then he divided Illyricum into three parts. One he made that which has been named above, the second, all the Labeatae, the third, the Agravonitae and the Rhizonitae and the Olciniatae and their neighbors. With this arrangement declared [in] Illyricum, he himself from there returned into winter quarters to Passaron of Epirus.

[27] Dum haec in Illyrico geruntur, Paulus ante aduentum decem legatorum Q. Maximum filium iam ab Roma regressum ad Aeginium et Agassas diripiendas mittit, Agassas, quod, cum Marcio consuli tradidissent urbem petita ultro societate Romana, defecerant rursus ad Persea; Aeginiensium nouum crimen erat: famae de uictoria Romanorum fidem non habentes in quosdam militum urbem ingressos hostiliter saeuierant. ad Aeniorum quoque urbem diripiendam L. Postumium misit, quod pertinacius quam finitumae ciuitates in armis fuerant. autumni fere tempus erat; cuius temporis initio ad circumeundam Graeciam uisendaque, <quae> nobilitata fama maiora auribus accepta sunt, quam oculis noscuntur, uti statuit.

[27] While these things are being transacted in Illyricum, Paulus, before the arrival of the ten legates, sends Q. Maximus, his son, now returned from Rome, to Aeginium and to the Agassae to be plundered—the Agassae, because, after they had handed over their city to the consul Marcius, having of their own accord sought Roman alliance, they had again defected to Perseus; the Aeginians’ offense was new: not putting faith in the report of the Roman victory, they had savagely treated as enemies certain soldiers who had entered the city. He also sent L. Postumius to plunder the city of the Aenii, because they had been in arms more obstinately than the neighboring communities. It was almost the time of autumn; at the beginning of that season he resolved to go round Greece and to view the things <which>, made famous by fame, are received as greater by the ears than they are known by the eyes.

praeposito castris C. Sulpicio Galo profectus cum haud magno comitatu, tegentibus latera Scipione filio et Athenaeo, Eumenis regis fratre, per Thessaliam Delphos petit, inclutum oraculum. ubi sacrificio Apollini facto inchoatas in uestibulo columnas, quibus imposituri statuas regis Persei fuerant, suis statuis uictor destinauit. Lebadiae quoque templum Iouis Trophonii adit: ibi cum uidisset os specus, per quod oraculo utentes sciscitatum deos descendunt, sacrificio Ioui Hercynnaeque facto, quorum ibi templum est, Chalcidem ad spectaculum Euripi Euboeaeque, tantae insulae, ponte continenti iunctae descendit.

With Gaius Sulpicius Gallus put in charge of the camp, he set out with no great retinue, his flanks being covered by his son Scipio and Athenaius, brother of King Eumenes; through Thessaly he made for Delphi, the renowned oracle. There, sacrifice having been made to Apollo, the columns begun in the vestibule, on which they had intended to place the statues of King Perseus, he, as victor, designated for his own statues. He likewise goes to the temple of Jupiter Trophonius at Lebadea: there, when he had seen the mouth of the cavern, through which those using the oracle descend to inquire of the gods, a sacrifice having been made to Jupiter and to Hercyna, whose joint temple is there, he went down to Chalcis to view the Euripus and Euboea, so great an island, joined to the continent by a bridge.

a Chalcide Aulidem traicit, trium milium spatio distantem, portum inclutum statione quondam mille nauium Agamemnoniae classis, Dianaeque templum, ubi nauibus cursum ad Troiam filia uictima aris admota rex ille regum <petiit. inde Oropum> Atticae uentum est, ubi pro deo uates anticus colitur templumque uetustum est fontibus riuisque circa amoenum; Athenas inde, plenas quidem et ipsas uetustae famae, multa tamen uisenda habentis, arcem, portus, muros Piraeum urbi iungentis, naualia, <monumenta> magnorum imperatorum, simulacra deorum hominumque, omni genere et materiae et artium insignia.

a Chalcis he crosses over to Aulis, distant by a span of 3 miles, a harbor renowned for the station once of a thousand ships of Agamemnon’s fleet, and the Temple of Diana, where that king of kings, his daughter brought as a victim to the altars, <sought. then to Oropus> of Attica they came, where in place of a god an ancient seer is worshiped, and there is an old temple, pleasant around with springs and streams; thence to Athens, itself indeed full of ancient fame, yet having many sights to be seen: the citadel, the harbors, the walls joining the Piraeus to the city, the dockyards, the <monuments> of great commanders, the simulacra of gods and men, distinguished in every kind both of material and of arts.

[28] Sacrificio Mineruae, praesidi arcis, in urbe facto profectus Corinthum altero die peruenit. urbs erat tunc praeclara ante excidium; arx quoque et Isthmus praebuere spectaculum: arx intra moenia in immanem altitudinem edita, scatens fontibus; Isthmus duo maria <ab> occasu et ortu solis finitima artis faucibu<s> dirimens. Sicyonem inde et Argos, nobiles urbes, adit; inde haud parem opibus Epidaurum, sed inclutam Aesculapi nobili templo, quod quinque milibus passuum ab urbe distans nunc uestigiis reuolsorum donorum, tum donis diues erat, quae remediorum salutarium aegri mercedem sacrauerant deo.

[28] A sacrifice to Minerva, the guardian of the citadel, having been made in the city, he set out and on the next day arrived at Corinth. The city was then very illustrious before its destruction; the citadel too and the Isthmus furnished a spectacle: the citadel, raised within the walls to an immense altitude, abounding in springs; the Isthmus, separating two seas, adjacent to the setting and the rising of the sun, by a narrow throat. Thence he goes to Sicyon and Argos, noble cities; then to Epidaurus, not equal in resources, but renowned for Aesculapius with his noble temple, which, five miles distant from the city, now is rich in traces of offerings torn away, but then was rich in gifts which the sick, as a recompense for salutary remedies, had consecrated to the god.

inde Lacedaemonem adit, non operum magnificentia, sed disciplina institutisque memorabilem; unde per Megalopolim Olympiam escendit. ubi et alia quidem spectanda ei uisa: Iouem uelut praesentem intuens motus animo est. itaque haud secus, quam si in Capitolio immolaturus esset, sacrificium amplius solito apparari iussit.

thence he goes to Lacedaemon, memorable not for the magnificence of works, but for discipline and institutions; whence by way of Megalopolis he ascended to Olympia. where also other sights indeed seemed to him worth seeing: gazing upon Jove as if present, he was moved in spirit. and so, no otherwise than if he were about to immolate on the Capitol, he ordered a sacrifice more ample than usual to be prepared.

ita peragrata Graecia, ut nihil eorum, quae quisque Persei bello priuatim aut publice sensisset, inquireret, ne cuius metu sollicitaret animos sociorum, Demetriadem cum <comitatu> reuertit. in itinere sordidata turba Aetolorum occurrit; mirantique et percunctanti, quid esset, defertur quingentos quinquaginta principes ab Lycisco et Tisippo, circumsesso senatu per milites Romanos, missos <ab> A. Baebio, <praefecto> praesidii, interfectos, alios in exilium actos esse, bonaque eorum, qui interfecti essent, et exulum possideri. iussis, qui arguebantur, Amphipoli adesse ipse conuento Cn. Octauio Demetriade, postquam fama accidit traiecisse iam mare decem legatos, omnibus aliis omissis Apolloniam ad eos pergit.

thus, after traversing Greece, in such a way that he inquired into none of those things which anyone had felt in the war of Perseus, either privately or publicly—lest by the fear of any person he agitate the spirits of the allies—he returned to Demetrias with his retinue. on the journey a begrimed crowd of Aetolians met him; and to him, wondering and asking what it was, it was reported that five hundred fifty leaders had been slain by Lyciscus and Tisippus, the senate having been surrounded by Roman soldiers, sent by A. Baebius, prefect of the garrison; others had been driven into exile, and the goods of those who had been killed and of the exiles were being possessed. having ordered those who were accused to be present at Amphipolis, he himself, after a meeting with Cn. Octavius at Demetrias—after the report arrived that ten legates had already crossed the sea—letting all other things go, proceeds to Apollonia to them.

quo cum Perseus obuiam Amphipoli omni solutus custodia processisset—id diei iter est—, ipsum quidem benigne <ad>locutus est; ceterum postquam in castra ad Amphipolim uenit, grauiter increpuisse traditur C. Sulpicium, primum quod Persea tam procul a se uagari per prouinciam passus esset, deinde quod adeo indulsisset militibus, ut nudare tegulis muros urbis ad tegenda hibernacula sua pateretur; referrique tegulas et refici detecta, sicut fuerant, iussit. et Persea quidam cum maiore filio Philippo traditos A. Postumio in custodiam misit; filiam cum minore filio a Samothrace accitos Amphipolim omni liberali cultu habuit.

When Perseus had gone out to meet him at Amphipolis, freed from all guard—that is a day’s march—, he indeed spoke kindly to him; but after he came into the camp at Amphipolis, he is said to have severely rebuked Gaius Sulpicius, first because he had allowed Perseus to wander so far from himself through the province, then because he had so indulged the soldiers that he permitted them to strip the city’s walls of tiles to cover their winter-quarters; and he ordered the tiles to be brought back and the stripped parts to be repaired just as they had been. And indeed he sent Perseus with his elder son Philip, having been handed over, to Aulus Postumius into custody; his daughter with his younger son, summoned from Samothrace to Amphipolis, he kept with every liberal refinement.

[29] Ipse, ubi dies uenit, quo adesse Amphipoli denos principes ciuitatium iusserat litterasque omnis, quae ubique depositae essent, et pecuniam regiam conferri, cum decem legatis circumfusa omni multitudine Macedonum in tribunali consedit. adsuetis regio imperio tamen noui in<perii> formam terribilem praebuit tribunal, summoto aditus, praeco, accensus, insueta omnia oculis auribusque, quae uel socios, nedum hostis uictos terrere possent. silentio per praeconem facto Paulus Latine, quae senatui, quae sibi ex consilii sententia uisa essent, pronuntiauit.

[29] He himself, when the day came on which he had ordered at Amphipolis that ten leading men from the cities be present, and that all letters, wherever deposited, and the royal money be brought together, took his seat upon the tribunal with the ten legates, the whole multitude of Macedonians thronging around. To those accustomed to a royal command, nevertheless the tribunal presented the terrifying form of a new imperium—access shut off, a herald, an accensus—everything unfamiliar to their eyes and ears, things that could terrify even allies, to say nothing of conquered enemies. Silence having been made by the herald, Paullus in Latin proclaimed what had seemed good to the Senate, and what to himself in accordance with the judgment of his council.

ea Cn. Octauius praetor— nam et ipse aderat—interpretata sermone Graeco referebat: omnium primum liberos esse iubere Macedonas, habentis urbes easdem agrosque, utentes legibus suis, annuos creantis magistratus; tributum dimidium eius, quod pependissent regibus, pendere populo Romano. deinde in quattuor regiones diuidi Macedoniam: unam fore et primam partem quod agri inter Strymonem et Nessum sit amnem; accessurum huic parti trans Nessum ad orientem uersum, qua Perseus tenuisset, uicos, castella, oppida, praeter Aenum et Maroneam et Abdera; cis Strymonem autem uergentia ad occasum, Bisalticam omnem cum Heraclea, quam Sinticen appellant. secundam fore regionem, quam ab ortu Strymo amplecteretur amnis, praeter Sinticen, Heracleam et Bisaltas, ab occasuque Axius terminaret fluuius, additis Paeonibus, qui prope Axium flumen ad regionem orientis colerent.

These things Gnaeus Octavius the praetor—for he too was present—was reporting, interpreted in the Greek tongue: first of all, to order the Macedonians to be free, holding the same cities and fields, using their own laws, creating annual magistrates; to pay to the Roman People a tribute half of what they had paid to the kings. Next, that Macedonia be divided into four regions: the first part would be the land which lies between the Strymon and Nessus rivers; to this part there would be added beyond the Nessus toward the east, where Perseus had held, villages, forts, and towns, except Aenus and Maronea and Abdera; on this side of the Strymon, however, the tracts inclining toward the west, the whole Bisaltica with Heraclea, which they call Sintice. The second region would be that which the river Strymon would embrace on the east, except Sintice, Heraclea, and the Bisaltae, and on the west the river Axius would bound it, with the Paeonians added, who dwelt near the river Axius toward the region of the east.

tertia pars facta, quam Axius ab oriente, Peneus amnis ab occasu cingunt; ad septentrionem Bora mons obicitur; adiecta huic parti regio Paeoniae, qua ab occasu praeter Axium amnem porrigitur; Edessa quoque et Beroea eodem concesserunt. quarta regio trans Boram montem, una parte confinis Illyrico, altera Epiro. capita regionum, ubi concilia fierent, primae regionis Amphipolim, secundae Thessalonicen, tertiae Pellam, quartae Pelagoniam fecit.

the third part was made, which the Axius encloses on the east, and the river Peneus on the west; to the north Mount Bora is interposed; to this part there was added the region of Paeonia, in so far as on the west it extends beyond the river Axius; Edessa also and Beroea were assigned to the same. the fourth region is beyond Mount Bora, bordering in one part on Illyricum, in another on Epirus. he made the heads of the regions, where councils should be held, for the first region Amphipolis, for the second Thessalonica, for the third Pella, for the fourth Pelagonia.

eo concilia suae cuiusque regionis indici, pecuniam conferri, ibi magistratus creari iussit. pronuntiauit deinde neque conubium neque commercium agrorum aedificiorumque inter se placere cuiquam extra fines regionis suae esse. metalla quoque auri atque argenti non exerceri, [nec] ferri et aeris permitti.

there he ordered the councils of each respective region to be proclaimed, money to be contributed, and magistrates to be created there. He then pronounced that neither connubium nor commerce of fields and buildings among them should exist for anyone outside the bounds of his own region. He also declared that the mines of gold and silver were not to be worked, and [nor] were those of iron and bronze to be permitted.

uectigal exercentibus dimidium eius inpositum, quod pependissent regi. et sale inuecto uti uetuit. Dardanis repetentibus Paeoniam, quod et sua fuisset et continens esset finibus suis, omnibus dare libertatem pronuntiauit, qui sub regno Persei fuissent.

upon those exercising the revenue, he imposed a half of that which they had paid to the king; and he forbade the use of imported salt. When the Dardani were demanding back Paeonia, because it both had been theirs and was contiguous to their borders, he pronounced that liberty should be given to all who had been under the kingdom of Perseus.

post non impetratam Paeoniam salis commercium dedit; tertiae regioni imperauit, ut Stobos Paeoniae deueherent, pretiumque statuit. naualem materiam et ipsos caedere et alios pati uetuit. regionibus, quae adfines barbaris essent—excepta autem tertia omnes erant—, permisit, ut praesidia armata in finibus extremis haberent.

after Paeonia not having been obtained, he granted commerce in salt; he ordered the third region to deliver it to Stobi in Paeonia, and he fixed the price. he forbade them both to cut naval material themselves and to allow others to do so. to the regions that were adjacent to barbarians—moreover, except for the third, all were—he permitted that they should have armed garrisons on their outermost borders.

[30] Haec pronuntiata primo die conuentus uarie adfecerunt animos. libertas praeter spem data adrexit et leuatum annuum uectigal; regionatim commercio interruptis ita uideri lacerata <Macedonia>, tamquam animali in artus alterum alterius indigentis distracto: adeo, quanta Macedonia esset, quam diuisui facilis, quam se ipsa quaeque contenta pars esset, Macedones quoque ignorabant. pars prima Bisaltas habet, fortissimos uiros —trans Nessum amnem incolunt et circa Strymonem —, et multas frugum proprietates et metalla et opportunitatem Amphipolis, quae obiecta claudit omnes ab oriente sole in Macedoniam aditus.

[30] These things, proclaimed on the first day of the assembly, affected minds in various ways. Liberty, granted beyond hope, uplifted them, and the annual tribute was alleviated; but, with commerce interrupted region by region, seemed so lacerated, as if an animal were torn apart into limbs, each needing the other: to such a degree that even the Macedonians did not know how great Macedonia was, how easy to divide, how content each part would be with itself. The first region contains the Bisaltae, very brave men — they inhabit across the river Nessus and around the Strymon —, and many properties of crops and mines, and the strategic opportuneness of Amphipolis, which, set in the way, shuts all approaches into Macedonia from the rising sun.

secunda pars celeberrimas urbes Thessalonicen <et> Cassandream habet, ad hoc Pallenen, fertilem ac frugiferam terram; maritimas quoque opportunitates ei praebent portus ad Toronen ac montem Atho Aeneam<que> et Acanthum, alii <ad Thessaliam> insulamque Euboeam, alii ad Hellespontum opportune uersi. tertia regio nobilis urbes Edessam et Beroeam et Pellam habet et Uettiorum bellicosam gentem, incolas quoque permultos Gallos et Illyrios, inpigros cultores. quartam regionem Eordaei et Lyncestae et Pelagones incolunt; iuncta his Atintania et Tymphaeis et Elimiotis.

the second part has the most celebrated cities Thessalonica and Cassandrea, in addition Pallene, a fertile and frugiferous land; maritime opportunities also are provided to it by harbors toward Torone and Mount Athos and Aenea and Acanthus, some conveniently oriented toward Thessaly and the island Euboea, others toward the Hellespont. the third region, noble, has the cities Edessa and Beroea and Pella and the warlike nation of the Vettii, and as inhabitants very many Gauls and Illyrians, energetic cultivators. the fourth region is inhabited by the Eordaei and the Lynkestae and the Pelagones; joined to these are Atintania and the Tymphaeans and the Elimiotae.

frigida haec omnis duraque cultu et aspera plaga est; cultorum quoque ingenia terrae similia habet. ferociores eos et accolae barbari faciunt, nunc bello exercentes, nunc in pace miscentes ritus suos. diuisa itaque Macedonia partium usibus separatis, quanta uniuersa <esset>, ostendit.

this whole region is cold, hard in cultivation, and a rugged tract; it has also the dispositions of its cultivators similar to the soil. the neighboring barbarians make them more ferocious, now exercising them in war, now in peace commingling their own rites. thus, Macedonia, divided with the uses of the parts separated, showed how great it was in its entirety.

[31] Macedoniae formula dicta cum leges quoque se daturum ostendisset, Aetoli deinde citati. in qua cognitione magis utra pars Romanis, utra regi fauisset quaesitum est, quam utra fecisset iniuriam aut accepisset; noxa liberati interfectores; exilium pulsis aeque ratum fuit ac mors interfectis; A. Baebius unus est damnatus, quod milites Romanos praebuisset ad ministerium caedis. hic euentus Aetolorum causae in omnibus Graeciae gentibus populisque eorum, qui partis Romanorum fuerant, inflauit ad intolerabilem superbiam animos et obnoxios pedibus eorum subiecit, quos aliqua parte suspicio fauoris in regem contigerat.

[31] With the formula for Macedonia declared, when he had shown that he would also give laws, then the Aetolians were summoned. In that inquiry it was asked rather which side had favored the Romans, which the king, than which had done or received injury; the killers were released from guilt; exile for the banished was held as valid as death for the slain. Only A. Baebius was condemned, because he had supplied Roman soldiers for the service of the slaughter. This outcome of the Aetolians’ case, among all the nations of Greece and the peoples who had been of the Roman party, inflated spirits to intolerable arrogance and cast beneath their feet those on whom any suspicion, in any part, of favor toward the king had fallen.

tria genera principum in ciuitatibus erant, duo, quae adulando aut Romanorum imperium aut amicitiam regum sibi priuatim opes oppressis faciebant ciuitatibus; media una <pars> utrique generi aduersa libertatem leges<que> tuebatur. his <ut maior> apud suos caritas, ita minor ad externos gratia erat. secundis rebus elati Romanorum partis eius fautores soli tum in magistratibus, soli in legationibus erant.

There were three kinds of leading men in the commonwealths: two, who by adulation either of the dominion of the Romans or of the friendship of kings made private riches for themselves, with the states oppressed; a single middle <party>, opposed to both sorts, safeguarded liberty and the laws<and>. These, as they had greater affection among their own, so had less favor with outsiders. Lifted up by prosperous circumstances, the fautors of that Roman party were then alone in magistracies, alone in legations.

hi cum frequentes et ex Peloponneso et ex Boeotia et ex aliis Graeciae conciliis adessent, impleuere aures decem legatorum: non eos tantum, qui se propalam per uanitatem iactassent tamquam hospites et amicos Persei, sed multo plures alios ex occulto fauisse regi, qui per speciem tuendae libertatis in conciliis aduersus Romanos omnia instruxissent, nec aliter eas mansuras in fide gentes, nisi fractis animis <aduersarum> partium aleretur confirmareturque auctoritas eorum, qui nihil praeter imperium Romanorum spectarent. ab his editis nominibus euocati litteris imperatoris ex Aetolia Acarnaniaque et Epiro et Boeotia, qui Romam ad causam dicendam sequerentur; in Achaiam ex decem legatorum numero profecti duo, C. Claudius et Cn. Domitius, ut ipsi edicto euocarent. id duabus de causis factum, una, quod fiduciae plus animorumque esse Achaeis ad non parendum credebant et forsitan etiam in periculo fore Callicraten et ceteros criminum auctores delatoresque; altera, cur praesentes euocarent, causa erat, quod ex aliis gentibus principum litteras deprensas in commentariis regiis habebant, in Achaeis caecum erat crimen nullis eorum litteris inuentis.

When these, being numerous and present both from the Peloponnesus and from Boeotia and from other councils of Greece, had filled the ears of the ten envoys: that not only those who had openly through vanity had boasted themselves as guests and friends of Perseus, but that many more others had favored the king from concealment, who under the appearance of defending liberty had in the councils arranged everything against the Romans; and that the nations would not otherwise remain in loyalty, unless, the spirits of the <adversarum> parties being broken, the authority of those who looked to nothing except the dominion of the Romans were nourished and strengthened. Their names having been published by these, there were summoned by letters of the commander from Aetolia and Acarnania and Epirus and Boeotia those who should follow to Rome to plead their case; into Achaea two from the number of the ten envoys set out, C. Claudius and Cn. Domitius, in order that they themselves might summon by an edict. This was done for two reasons: one, because they believed the Achaeans had more confidence and spirit for not obeying, and that perhaps Callicrates and the other authors and informers of the charges would even be in danger; the other reason why they summoned them in person was that from other peoples they had letters of leading men, seized among the royal records, whereas among the Achaeans the charge was blind, no letters of theirs having been found.

Aetolis dimissis Acarnanum citata gens. in his nihil nouatum, nisi quod Leucas exempta est Acarnanum concilio. quaerendo deinde latius, qui publice aut priuatim partium regis fuissent, in Asiam quoque cognitionem extendere et ad Antissam in Lesbo insula dirundam <ac> traducendos Methymnam Antissaeos Labeonem miserunt, quod Antenorem, regium praefectum, quo tempore cum lembis circa Lesbum esset uagatus, portu receptum commeatibus iuuissent.

With the Aetolians dismissed, the nation of the Acarnanians was summoned. Among these nothing was innovated, except that Leucas was exempted from the council of the Acarnanians. Then, by inquiring more broadly who, publicly or privately, had been of the king’s party, they extended the inquiry also into Asia and sent Labeo to Antissa on the island of Lesbos for razing Antissa and transferring the Antissaeans to Methymna, because they had aided Antenor, the royal prefect, at the time when, with lembi roaming around Lesbos, he had been received into their port and assisted with provisions.

duo securi percussi uiri insignes, Andronicus, Andronici filius, Aetolus, quod patrem secutus arma contra populum Romanum tulisset, et Neo Thebanus, quo auctore societatem cum Perseo iunxerant.

two distinguished men were struck by the axe: Andronicus, son of Andronicus, an Aetolian, because, following his father, he had borne arms against the Roman people; and Neo the Theban, at whose instigation they had joined an alliance with Perseus.

[32] His rerum externarum cognitionibus interpositis Macedonum rursus aduocatum concilium; pronuntiatum, quod ad statum Macedoniae pertinebat, senatores, quos synhedros uocant, legendos esse, quorum consilio res publica administraretur. nomina deinde sunt recitata principum Macedonum, quos cum liberis maioribus quam quindecim annos natis praecedere in Italiam placeret. id, prima specie saeuom, mox apparuit multitudini Macedonum pro libertate sua esse factum.

[32] With these inquiries into external affairs interposed, the council of the Macedonians was again convened; it was pronounced, as pertained to the condition of Macedonia, that senators—whom they call synhedri—were to be chosen, by whose counsel the commonwealth would be administered. Then the names of the leading men of the Macedonians were read out, whom it was decided should go on ahead to Italy with their children older than fifteen years. That measure, savage at first sight, soon appeared to the multitude of the Macedonians to have been done for their liberty.

nominati sunt enim regis amici purpuratique, duces exercituum, praefecti nauium aut praesidiorum, seruire regi humiliter, aliis superbe imperare adsueti; praediuites alii, alii, quos fortuna non aequarent, his sumptibus pares; regius omnibus uictus uestitusque, nulli ciuilis animus, neque legum neque libertatis aequae patiens. omnes igitur, qui in aliquis ministeriis regiis, etiam qui in legationibus fuerant, iussi Macedonia excedere atque in Italiam ire: qui non paruisset imperio, mors denuntiata. leges Macedoniae dedit cum tanta cura, ut non hostibus uictis, sed sociis bene meritis dare uideretur, et quas ne usus quidem longo tempore, qui unus est legum corrector, experiendo argueret.

for those named were the king’s friends and the purple-clad, commanders of armies, prefects of ships or of garrisons, accustomed to serve the king humbly and to command others arrogantly; some very wealthy, others, whom fortune did not equal, yet equal to them in expenditures; royal was the fare and dress of all, in none a civic spirit, tolerant of neither laws nor equitable liberty. therefore all who had been in any royal ministries, and even those who had been on embassies, were ordered to leave Macedonia and go into Italy; death was proclaimed for whoever did not obey the command. he gave laws to Macedonia with such care that he seemed to give them not to conquered enemies, but to allies who had deserved well, and such that not even long-continued use, which alone is the corrector of laws, would by testing find fault with them.

ab seriis rebus ludicrum, quod ex multo ante praeparato et in Asiae ciuitates et ad reges missis, qui denuntiarent, et, cum circumiret ipse Graeciae ciuitates, indixerat principibus, magno apparatu Amphipoli fecit. nam et artificum omnis generis, qui ludicram artem faciebant, ex toto orbe terrarum multitudo et athletarum et nobilium equorum conuenit et legationes cum uictimis et quidquid aliud deorum hominumque causa fieri magnis ludis in Graecia solet, ita factum est, ut non magnificentiam tantum, sed prudentiam in dandis spectaculis, ad quae rudes tum Romani erant, admirarentur. epulae quoque legationibus paratae et opulentia et cura eadem.

From serious matters he turned to a spectacle, which, long prepared beforehand, and with messengers sent both to the cities of Asia and to kings to give notice, and—while he himself was making a circuit of the cities of Greece—having proclaimed it to the leading men, he staged at Amphipolis with great apparatus. For a multitude assembled from the whole orb of lands: artists of every kind who practiced the ludic art, athletes too, and noble horses, and legations with victims; and whatever else is accustomed to be done, for the sake of gods and men, at the great games in Greece—so was it done that they admired not only the magnificence, but the prudence in the giving of spectacles, at which the Romans were then untrained. Banquets also were prepared for the legations with the same opulence and care.

uulgo dictum ipsius ferebant et conuiuium instruere et ludos parare eiusdem esse, qui uincere bello sciret.

they reported his common saying: that to array a banquet and to prepare games belonged to the same man who knew how to conquer in war.

[33] Edito ludicro [omnis generis] clupeisque aereis in naues inpositis cetera omnis generis arma cumulata <in> ingentem aceruum, precatus Martem, Mineruam Luamque matrem et ceteros deos, quibus spolia hostium dicare ius fasque est, ipse imperator face subdita succendit; deinde circumstantes tribuni militum pro se quisque ignes coniecerunt. notata est in illo conuentu Europae Asiaeque, undique partim ad gratulationem, partim ad spectaculum contracta multitudine, tantis naualibus terrestribusque exercitibus, ea copia rerum, ea uilitas annonae, ut et priuatis et ciuitatibus et gentibus dona data pleraque eius generis sint ab imperatore, non in usum modo praesentem, sed etiam quod domos aueherent. spectaculo fuit ei, quae uenerat, turbae non scaenicum magis ludicrum, non certamina hominum aut curricula equorum, quam praeda Macedonica omnis, ut uiseretur, exposita, statuarum tabularumque <et> textilium et uasorum ex auro et argento et aere et ebore factorum ingenti cura in ea regia, ut non in praesentem modo speciem, qualibus referta regia Alexandreae erat, sed in perpetuum usum fierent.

[33] Once the spectacle [of every kind] had been presented, and with bronze shields placed upon the ships and the rest of the arms of every sort heaped up <in> a huge pile, after praying to Mars, Minerva, and Lua the Mother, and the other gods to whom it is right and lawful to dedicate the spoils of enemies, the imperator himself, a torch applied beneath, set it alight; then the military tribunes standing around each on his own behalf cast in fires. It was remarked in that gathering of Europe and Asia, a multitude drawn together from everywhere partly for congratulation, partly for the spectacle, with such great naval and land armies, such abundance of resources, such cheapness of the grain-supply, that to private persons and to cities and to nations gifts were given by the imperator, most of them of this kind, not only for present use, but also to carry home. For the crowd that had come, the spectacle was not so much the scenic entertainment, not the contests of men or the races of horses, as the entire Macedonian booty set out to be viewed, of statues and paintings and textiles and vessels made of gold and silver and bronze and ivory, arranged with vast care in that royal repository, so that they might be not only for present display, with which the royal palace of Alexandria had been crammed, but for perpetual use <et> purpose.

haec in classem inposita deuehenda Romam Cn. Octauio data. Paulus benigne legatis dimissis transgressus Strymonem mille passuum ab Amphipoli castra posuit; inde profectus Pellam quinto die peruenit. praetergressus urbem, ad Pellaeum, quod uocant, biduum moratus, P. Nasicam et Q. Maximum filium cum parte copiarum ad depopulandos Illyrios, qui Persea iuuerant bello, misit iussos ad Oricum sibi occurrere; ipse Epirum petens quintis decimis castris Passaronem peruenit.

These things, having been placed on the fleet to be conveyed to Rome, were given to Cn. Octavius. After kindly dismissing the legates, Paulus crossed the Strymon and pitched camp a thousand paces from Amphipolis; setting out thence, he arrived at Pella on the fifth day. Having passed by the city, at the place they call the Pellaeum he stayed for two days, and he sent P. Nasica and Q. Maximus his son with part of the forces to devastate the Illyrians, who had assisted Perseus in the war, ordering them to meet him at Oricum; he himself, making for Epirus, reached Passaron at the fifteenth camp.

[34] Haud procul inde Anici castra aberant. ad quem litteris missis, ne quid ad ea, quae fierent, moueretur; senatum praedam Epiri ciuitatium, quae ad Persea defecissent, exercitui dedisse suo, missis centurionibus in singulas urbes, qui se dicerent ad praesidia deducenda uenisse, ut liberi Epirotae sicut Macedones essent, denos principes ex singulis euocauit ciuitatibus; quibus cum denuntiasset, ut aurum atque argentum in publicum proferretur, per omnes ciuitates cohortes dimisit. ante in ulteriores quam in propiores profecti, ut uno die in omnes perueniretur.

[34] Not far from there was Anicius’s camp. To him letters were sent that he should not take any action regarding what was being done; that the senate had granted the booty of the Epirote cities which had defected to Perseus to his own army. Centurions were sent into each city to say that they had come to lead away the garrisons, so that the Epirotes might be free, as the Macedonians were; he summoned ten leading men apiece from each city. And when he had formally notified them that gold and silver should be brought forth into the public (treasury), he sent cohorts through all the cities. They set out to the more distant before the nearer, in order that on one day there might be an arrival in all.

edita tribunis centurionibusque erant, quae agerentur. mane omne aurum argentumque conlatum; hora quarta signum ad diripiendas urbes datum est militibus; tantaque praeda fuit, ut in equitem quadringeni denarii, peditibus duceni diuiderentur, centum quinquaginta milia capitum humanorum abducerentur. muri deinde direptarum urbium diruti sunt; ea fuere oppida circa septuaginta.

Orders as to what was to be done had been issued to the tribunes and centurions. In the morning all the gold and silver were collected; at the 4th hour the signal was given to the soldiers to sack the cities; and such was the booty that 400 denarii were distributed to each cavalryman, and 200 to the infantry, and 150,000 human captives were led away. Then the walls of the ravaged cities were torn down; the towns were about 70 in number.

uendita praeda omnis, inde ea summa militi numerata est. Paulus ad mare Oricum descendit nequaquam, ut ratus erat, expletis militum animis, qui, tamquam nullum in Macedonia gessissent bellum, expertis regiae praedae esse indignabantur. Orici cum missas cum Scipione Nasica Maximoque filio copias iuuenisset, exercitu in naues inposito in Italiam traiecit.

All the booty having been sold, from it that sum was paid out to the soldiery. Paulus went down to the sea at Oricum by no means, as he had reckoned, with the soldiers’ spirits satisfied, who, as though they had waged no war in Macedonia, were indignant at having gone unexperienced in royal booty. At Oricum, when he had found the forces that had been sent with Scipio Nasica and with his son Maximus, he put the army aboard the ships and carried it across to Italy.

et post paucos dies Anicius conuentu reliquorum Epirotarum Acarnanumque acto iussisque in Italiam sequi principibus, quorum cognitionem causae <senatui> reseruarat, et ipse nauibus expectatis, quibus usus Macedonicus exercitus erat, in Italiam traiecit.

and after a few days Anicius, a convocation of the remaining Epirotes and Acarnanians having been held, and the leaders ordered to follow to Italy—whose hearing of the case he had reserved to the senate—and he himself, the ships having been awaited which the Macedonian army had used, crossed over to Italy.

Cum haec in Macedonia Epiroque gesta sunt, legati, qui cum Attalo ad finiendum bellum inter Gallos et regem Eumenem missi erant, in Asiam peruenerant. indutiis per hiemem factis et Galli domos abierant et rex in hiberna concesserat Pergamum grauique morbo aeger fuerat. uer primum eos domo exciuit iamque Synnada peruenerant et Eumenes ad Sardis undique exercitum contraxerat.

While these things were done in Macedonia and Epirus, the legates who had been sent with Attalus to bring to an end the war between the Gauls and King Eumenes had arrived in Asia. With an armistice made for the winter, both the Gauls had gone home and the king had withdrawn to his winter quarters at Pergamum and had been sick with a grave disease. The spring first called them from home, and already they had reached Synnada, and Eumenes at Sardis had concentrated his army from every side.

ibi Romani cum et Solouettium, ducem Gallorum, ~Synnades adlocutus ettalus cum eis profectus, sed castra Gallorum intrare eum non placuit, ne animi ex disceptatione inritarentur. P. Licinius consularis <cum> regulo Gallorum est locutus rettulitque ferociorem eum deprecando factum, ut mirum uideri possit inter tam opulentos reges, Antiochum Ptolemaeumque, tantum legatorum Romanorum uerba ualuisse, ut extemplo pacem facerent, apud Gallos nullius momenti fuisse.

there the Romans, when both Solouettius, leader of the Gauls, had been addressed ~Synnades, Attalus set out with them; but it did not please him to enter the camp of the Gauls, lest tempers be provoked by a dispute. P. Licinius, a man of consular rank, spoke the petty king of the Gauls and reported that by entreaty he had been made more ferocious, so that it could seem a marvel that among such opulent kings, Antiochus and Ptolemy, the words of the Roman envoys had had such power that they made peace at once, whereas among the Gauls they were of no moment.

[35] Romam primum reges captiui, Perseus et Gentius, in custodiam cum liberis abducti, dein turba alia captiuorum, tum quibus Macedonum denuntiatum erat, ut Romam uenirent, principum<que> Graeciae; nam ii quoque non solum praesentes exciti erant, sed etiam, si qui apud reges esse dicebantur, litteris arcessiti sunt. Paulus ipse post dies paucos regia naue ingentis magnitudinis, quam sedecim uersus remorum agebant, ornata Macedonicis spoliis non insignium tantum armorum, sed etiam regiorum textilium, aduerso Tiberi ad urbem est subuectus, conpletis ripis obuiam effusa multitudine. paucos post dies Anicius et Octauius classe sua aduecti.

[35] To Rome first the captive kings, Perseus and Gentius, were led off into custody with their children; then another crowd of captives; then those among the Macedonians to whom it had been given notice to come to Rome, and the leaders of Greece; for they too had not only been summoned in person, but even those said to be at the courts of kings were called by letters. Paulus himself, after a few days, on a royal ship of immense size, which they drove with sixteen banks of oars, adorned with Macedonian spoils not only of distinguished arms but also of royal textiles, was borne up the Tiber to the city—the banks filled by a multitude poured out to meet him. A few days later Anicius and Octavius arrived with their fleet.

tribus iis omnibus decretus est ab senatu triumphus mandatumque Q. Cassio praetori, cum tribunis plebis ageret, ex auctoritate patrum rogationem ad plebem ferrent, ut iis, quo die urbem triumphantes inueherentur, imperium esset. intacta inuidia media sunt: ad summa ferme tendit. nec de Anici nec de Octaui triumpho dubitatum est; Paulum, cui ipsi quoque se conparare erubuissent, obtrectatio carpsit.

To all three a triumph was decreed by the senate, and a mandate was given to the praetor Q. Cassius that, when he dealt with the tribunes of the plebs, they should, by the authority of the Fathers, carry a rogation to the plebs, that on the day on which they should bear their triumph into the city they should have imperium. Envy leaves the middle ranks untouched; it almost always tends toward the highest. Nor was there any doubt about the triumph of Anicius or of Octavius; Paulus—whom they themselves would have blushed to compare themselves to—detraction assailed.

antiqua disciplina milites habuerat; de praeda parcius, quam sperauerant ex tantis regiis opibus, dederat nihil relicturis, si auiditati indulgeretur, quod in aerarium deferret. totus Macedonicus exercitus imperatori ita * * * neglegenter adfuturus comitiis ferendae legis. sed eos Ser.

he had maintained the soldiers in ancient discipline; of the plunder he had given more sparingly than they had hoped from such great royal resources—since, if greed were indulged, they would leave nothing to be brought into the treasury. the whole Macedonian army was going to be so * * * negligent in attending their commander at the comitia for carrying the law. but them, Ser.

Sulpicius Galba, qui tribunus militum secundae legionis in Macedonia fuerat, priuatim imperatori inimicus, prensando ipse et per suae legionis milites sollicitando stimulauerat, ut frequentes ad suffragium adessent. imperiosum ducem et malignum antiquando rogationem, quae de triumpho eius ferretur, ulciscerentur. plebem urbanam secuturam esse militum iudicia.

Sulpicius Galba, who had been a military tribune of the Second Legion in Macedonia, privately an enemy to the general, by canvassing in person and by soliciting through the soldiers of his own legion had spurred them to be present in force for the suffrage; they should avenge themselves upon the imperious and malignant leader by antiquating the rogation that was being brought concerning his triumph (i.e., by rejecting the bill). He said that the urban plebs would follow the soldiers’ judgments.

pecuniam illum dare non potuisse: militem honorem dare posse. ne speraret ibi fructum gratiae, ubi non meruisset.

that man had not been able to give money: the soldier is able to give honor. Let him not hope there for the fruit of favor, where he had not merited it.

[36] His incitatis cum in Capitolio rogationem eam Ti. Sempronius tribunus plebis ferret et priuatis <de> lege dicendi locus esset <et> ad suadendum, ut in re minime dubia, haud quisquam procederet, Ser. Galba repente processit et a tribunis postulauit, ut, quoniam hora iam octaua diei esset, nec satis temporis ad demonstrandum haberet, cur L. Aemilium non iuberent triumphare, in posterum diem differrent et mane eam rem agerent: integro sibi die ad causam eam orandam opus esse. cum tribuni dicere eo die, si quid uellet, iuberent, in noctem rem dicendo extraxit referendo admonendoque exacta acerbe munia militiae; plus laboris, plus periculi, quam desiderasset res, iniunctum; contra in praemiis, in honoribus omnia artata; militiamque, si talibus succedat ducibus, horridiorem asperiorem<que> bellantibus, eandem uictoribus inopem atque inhonoratam futuram.

[36] With these men incited, while Ti. Sempronius, tribune of the plebs, was carrying that rogation on the Capitol, and there was room for private citizens to speak on the law and to recommend it, as in a matter least in doubt no one was coming forward, Ser. Galba suddenly stepped forth and asked the tribunes that, since it was already the eighth hour of the day and he did not have enough time to demonstrate why they ought not to order L. Aemilius to triumph, they defer it to the following day and take it up in the morning: he needed an entire day to plead that case. When the tribunes ordered him to say whatever he wished that day, he drew the matter out into the night by speaking, recounting and reminding how the duties of military service had been exacted harshly: more toil, more peril than the situation required had been imposed; conversely, in rewards and in honors everything had been cramped; and that soldiering, if it falls to such leaders, will be rougher and harsher for those waging war, and for the victors the same will prove needy and dishonored.

Macedonas in meliore fortuna quam milites Romanos esse. si frequentes postero die ad legem antiquandam adessent, intellecturos potentis uiros non omnia in ducis, aliquid et in militum manu esse. his uocibus incitati postero die milites tanta frequentia Capitolium conpleuerunt, ut aditus nulli praeterea ad suffragium ferendum esset.

that the Macedonians were in better fortune than the Roman soldiers. if they should be present in full numbers on the next day for abrogating the law, the powerful men would understand that not everything is in the leader’s hand, but something also in the soldiers’ hand. incited by these words, on the next day the soldiers filled the Capitol with such a throng that there was access for no one else besides to exercise suffrage.

intro uocatae primae tribus cum antiquarent, concursus in Capitolium principum ciuitatis factus est, indignum facinus esse clamitantium L. Paulum tanti belli uictorem despoliari triumpho: obnoxios imperatores tradi licentiae atque auaritiae militari. iam nunc nimis saepe per ambitionem peccari; quid, si domini milites imperatoribus imponantur? in Galbam pro se quisque probra ingerere.

when, as the first tribes, called in, were voting to reject it, there was a concourse into the Capitol of the chiefs of the state, shouting that it was an unworthy deed for L. Paulus, the victor of so great a war, to be despoiled of a triumph: that commanders were being made obnoxious, handed over to the license and avarice of the soldiery. even now, they said, offenses were committed too often through ambition; what, if soldiers are imposed as masters upon their commanders? each man for his part was heaping reproaches upon Galba.

tandem hoc tumultu sedato M. Seruilius, qui consul et magister equitum fuerat, ut de integro eam <rem> agerent ab tribunis petere, dicendique sibi ad populum potestatem facerent. tribuni cum ad deliberandum secessissent, uicti auctoritatibus principum de integro agere coeperunt reuocaturosque se easdem tribus pronuntiarunt, si M. Seruilius aliique priuati, qui dicere uellent, dixissent.

at length, with this tumult settled, M. Servilius, who had been consul and master of horse, asked from the tribunes that they should take up that matter afresh and grant to himself the power of speaking to the people. The tribunes, when they had withdrawn to deliberate, overcome by the authority of the leading men, began to proceed anew, and announced that they would recall the same tribes, if M. Servilius and other private citizens who wished to speak should speak.

[37] <Tum Seruilius:> 'quantus imperator L. Aemilius fuerit, Quirites, si ex alia re nulla aestimari posset, uel hoc satis erat, quod, cum tam seditiosos et leues milites, tam nobilem, tam temerarium, tam eloquentem ad instigandam multitudinem inimicum in castris haberet, nullam in exercitu seditionem habuit. eadem seueritas imperii, quam nunc oderunt, tum eos continuit. itaque antiqua disciplina habiti <neque dixerunt seditiose quicquam> neque fecerunt.

[37] <Then Servilius:> 'How great a commander L. Aemilius was, Quirites, if he could be estimated from no other matter, this alone was enough: that, although he had in the camp soldiers so seditious and inconstant, and an enemy so noble, so rash, so eloquent for inciting the multitude, he had no sedition in the army. The same severity of command, which they now hate, then restrained them. And so, held by ancient discipline, <they neither said anything seditiously> nor did they do anything.'

Seruius quidem Galba, si in L. Paulo accusando tirocinium ponere et documentum eloquentiae dare uoluit, non triumphum inpedire debuit, quem, si nihil aliud, senatus iustum esse iudicauerat, sed postero die quam triumphatum esset, priuatum eum <cum> uisurus esset, nomen deferret et legibus interrogaret; aut serius paulo, cum primum magistratum ipse cepisset, diem diceret inimico <et> eum ad populum accusaret. ita et pretium recte facti triumphum haberet L. Paulus pro egregie bello gesto et poenam, si quid et uetere gloria sua et noua indignum fecisset. sed uidelicet, cui <nullum> crimen, nullum probrum dicere poterat, eius obtrectare laudes uoluit.

Servius indeed Galba, if he wished to make his debut in accusing L. Paulus and to give a demonstration of eloquence, ought not to have impeded the triumph, which, if nothing else, the senate had judged to be just, but on the next day, after the triumph had been celebrated, when he was going to see him as a private citizen, he should have brought a charge and questioned him under the laws; or a little later, when he himself first took a magistracy, he should have named a day for his enemy accused him before the people. Thus L. Paulus would both have the reward of a rightly done deed—the triumph—for a war conducted exceedingly well, and also the penalty, if he had done anything unworthy both of his old glory and of his new. But plainly, since he could allege crime, no disgrace, he wished to disparage that man’s praises.

diem integrum hesterno die <ad> accusandum L. Paulum petit: quattuor horas, quantum supererat diei, dicendo absumpsit. quis umquam tam nocens reus fuit, cuius uitia uitae tot horis expromi non possent? quid interim obiecit, quod L. Paulus, si causam dicat, negatum uelit?

yesterday he requested a full day <for> accusing L. Paulus; he consumed four hours, as much as remained of the day, by speaking. Who was ever so guilty a defendant, whose vices of life could not be brought out in so many hours? Meanwhile, what did he allege that L. Paulus, if he should plead his case, would wish to deny?

duas mihi aliquis contiones parumper faciat, unam militum Macedonicorum, puram alteram et integrioris iudicii a fauore et odio, uniuersi populi Romani; apud contionem togatam et urbanam prius reus agatur. quid apud Quirites Romanos, Ser. Galba, diceres?

Let someone for me for a little while arrange two assemblies, one of the Macedonian soldiers, the other pure and of more integral judgment, free from favor and hatred, of the entire Roman people; before the toga-clad and urban assembly let the defendant be tried first. What would you say among the Roman Quirites, Servius Galba?

illa enim tibi tota abscisa oratio esset "in statione seuerius et intentius stetisti; uigiliae acerbius et diligentius circumitae sunt; operis plus quam antea fecisti, cum ipse imperator ut exactor circumiret; eodem die et iter fecisti et in aciem ex itinere exi<sti; ne> uictorem quidem te adquiescere passus est; statim ad persequendos hostes duxit. cum te praeda partienda locupletem facere posset, pecuniam regiam translaturus in triumpho est et in aerarium laturus." haec sicut ad militum animos stimulandos aliquem aculeum habent, qui parum licentiae, parum auaritiae suae inseruitum censent, ita apud populum Romanum nihil ualuissent, qui, ut uetera atque audita a parentibus suis non repetat, quae ambitione imperatorum clades acceptae sint, quae seueritate imperii uictoriae partae, proxumo certe Punico bello, quid inter M. Minucium magistrum equitum et Q. Fabium Maximum dictatorem interfuerit, meminit. itaque <apparuisset neque> accusatorem hiscere potuisse et superuacaneam defensionem Pauli fuisse.

for that whole oration of yours would have been cut off: “you stood on post more severely and more intently; the watches were patrolled more sharply and more diligently; you did more work than before, when the commander himself went around like a taskmaster; on the same day you both made a march and from the march went out into the battle exi<sti; ne> he did not allow you, even as victor, to rest; straightway he led you to pursue the enemies. although he could have made you opulent by dividing the booty, he is going to transfer the royal money in a triumph and to bring it into the treasury.” these points, just as for stimulating the spirits of the soldiers they have some stinger—men who think that too little license, too little service has been rendered to their avarice—so with the Roman people they would have availed nothing, who, even if he does not recall the old things and what he heard from his parents—what disasters were incurred through the ambition of commanders, what victories were won by the severity of command—yet in the most recent Punic war he remembers what difference there was between Marcus Minucius, master of horse, and Quintus Fabius Maximus, dictator. and thus <it would have appeared that neither> the accuser could open his mouth, and that the defense of Paulus was superfluous.

transeatur ad alteram contionem; nec Quirites uos, sed milites uideor appellaturus, si nomen hoc saltem ruborem incutere et uerecundiam aliquam imperatoris uiolandi adferre possit.'

let us pass over to the other assembly; nor do I seem about to call you Quirites, but soldiers, if at least this name can instill a blush and bring some modesty about violating a commander.'

[38] 'Equidem ipse aliter adfectus animo sum, qui apud exercitum mihi loqui uidear, quam paulo ante eram, cum ad plebem urbanam spectabat oratio. quid autem dicitis, milites? aliquis est Romae, praeter Persea, qui triumphari de Macedonibus nolit: et eum non isdem manibus discerpitis, quibus Macedonas uicistis?

[38] 'Indeed I myself am differently affected in mind, who seem to myself to be speaking before the army, than I was a little before, when the speech was directed to the urban plebs. But what do you say, soldiers? Is there anyone at Rome, except Perseus, who would not want a triumph to be celebrated over the Macedonians: and would you not tear that man to pieces with the same hands with which you conquered the Macedonians?

uincere uos prohibuisset, si potuisset, qui triumphantis urbem inire prohibet. erratis, milites, si triumphum imperatoris tantum et non militum quoque et uniuersi populi Romani esse decus censetis. non unius in hoc Pauli * * * . multi etiam, qui ab senatu non inpetrarunt triumphum, in monte Albano triumpharunt; nemo L. Paulo magis eripere decus perfecti belli Macedonici potest quam C. Lutatio primi Punici belli, quam P. Cornelio secundi, * * * quam illi, qui triumphauerant; nec L. Paulum minorem aut maiorem imperatorem triumphus faciet—, militum magis in hoc uniuersi<que> populi Romani fama agitur, primum ne inuidiae et ingrati animi aduersus clarissimum quemque ciuem opinionem habeat et imitari in hoc populum Atheniensem lacerantem inuidia principes suos uideatur.

he would have forbidden you to conquer, if he could have, who forbids the triumphant to enter the city. you err, soldiers, if you judge the triumph to be the glory of the commander only and not also of the soldiers and of the entire Roman people. not of Paulus alone in this * * * . many also, who did not obtain a triumph from the Senate, triumphed on the Alban Mount; no one can more snatch away from L. Paulus the honor of the completed Macedonian war than from C. Lutatius of the First Punic War, than from P. Cornelius of the Second, * * * than from those who had triumphed; nor will a triumph make L. Paulus a lesser or a greater commander—, rather, in this the reputation of the soldiers and of the whole<que> Roman people is at stake, first, lest it possess a reputation of envy and an ungrateful spirit against each most illustrious citizen, and seem in this to imitate the Athenian people, lacerating their leaders with envy.

satis peccatum in Camillo a maioribus uestris est, quem tamen ante receptam per eum a Gallis urbem uiolarunt; satis nuper <a> uobis in P. Africano. Literni domicilium et sedem fuisse domitoris Africae, Literni sepulcrum ostendi erubescamus. gloria sit par illis uiris L. Paulus, iniuria uestra <ne> exaequetur.

Enough offense has been committed against Camillus by your forefathers, whom, however, they wronged before the city was taken back by him from the Gauls; enough, recently, <a> by you, against P. Africanus. Let us blush that the subduer of Africa had his domicile and seat at Liternum, that at Liternum his sepulchre is shown. Let L. Paulus be equal to those men in glory, let him not be equated by your injury <ne>.

haec igitur primum infamia deleatur, foeda apud alias gentes, damnosa apud nostros. quis enim aut Africani aut Pauli similis esse <in tam> ingrata et inimica bonis ciuitate uelit? si infamia nulla esset et de gloria tantum ageretur, qui tandem triumphus non communem nominis Romani gloriam habet?

Therefore let this infamy first be erased, foul among other nations, damaging among our own. For who indeed would wish to be like either Africanus or Paulus <in such an> ungrateful city, inimical to good men? If there were no infamy and the matter concerned glory only, what triumph, pray, does not possess the common glory of the Roman name?

tot de Gallis triumphi, tot de Hispanis, tot de Poenis ipsorum tantum imperatorum an populi Romani dicuntur? quemadmodum non de Pyrrho modo nec de Hannibale, sed de Epirotis Carthaginiensibusque [et Macedonibus] triumphi acti sunt, sic non M'. Curius tantum nec P. Cornelius, sed Romani triumpharunt. militum quidem propria est causa, qui et ipsi laureati et quisque donis, quibus donati sunt, insignes Triumphum nomine cient<es> suasque et imperatoris laudes canentes per urbem incedunt.

Are so many triumphs over the Gauls, so many over the Spaniards, so many over the Carthaginians said to belong only to the generals themselves, or to the Roman people? Just as triumphs were celebrated not only over Pyrrhus nor over Hannibal, but over the Epirotes and Carthaginians [and Macedonians], so it was not M’. Curius only nor P. Cornelius, but the Romans who triumphed. As for the soldiers, indeed, their cause is their own: they too, laureate, and each distinguished by the gifts with which they have been gifted, hailing the Triumph by name and singing their own and the general’s praises, march through the city.

si quando non deportati ex prouincia milites ad triumphum sunt, fremunt; et tamen tum quoque se absentis, quod suis manibus parta uictoria sit, triumphare credunt. si quis uos interroget, milites, ad quam rem in Italiam deportati et non statim confecta prouincia dimissi sitis, quid Romam frequentes sub signis ueneritis, quid moremini hic et non diuersi domos quisque abeatis uestras, quid aliud respondeatis, quam uos triumphantis uideri uelle? uos certe uictores conspici uelle debebatis.

if ever soldiers are not brought back from a province for a triumph, they growl; and yet then too they believe that, though absent, they triumph, because the victory has been achieved by their own hands. if anyone should ask you, soldiers, for what purpose you have been brought back into Italy and not dismissed at once when the province was finished, why you have come to Rome in crowds under your standards, why you linger here and do not each go off separately to your own homes, what else would you answer, than that you wish to seem to be triumphing? you certainly ought to wish to be seen as victors.

[39] Triumphatum nuper de Philippo, patre huius, et de Antiocho est; ambo regnabant, cum de iis triumphatum est. de Perseo capto, in urbem cum liberis adducto non triumphabitur? quodsi in curru scandentis Capitolium, auratos purpuratosque, ex inferiore loco L. Paulus in turba togatorum unus priuatus interroget "L. Anici, Cn. Octaui, utrum uos digniores triumpho esse an me censetis?" curru ei cessuri et prae pudore uidentur insignia ipsi sua tradituri.

[39] A triumph was lately celebrated over Philip, the father of this man, and over Antiochus; both were reigning when a triumph was celebrated over them. Over Perseus, captured and led into the city with his children, will there not be a triumph? But if, as they ascend the Capitol in a chariot, gilded and purple-clad, from a lower place L. Paulus, a single private man in the crowd of the toga-clad, should ask, "L. Anici, Cn. Octaui, do you judge yourselves more worthy of a triumph, or me?" they would seem ready to yield the chariot to him and, for very shame, to hand over to him their own insignia.

et uos Gentium quam Persea duci in triumpho mauoltis, Quirites, et de accessione potius belli quam de bello triumphari? et legiones ex Illyrico laureatae urbem inibunt et nauales socii: Macedonicae legiones suo abrogato triumphos alienos spectabunt? quid deinde tam opima praeda, tam opulentae uictoriae spoliis fiet?

and do you, Quirites, prefer that Gentius rather than Perseus be led in triumph, and that there be a triumph over an accessory of the war rather than over the war itself? and will the legions from Illyricum enter the city laureate, and the naval allies as well, while the Macedonian legions, their own triumph abrogated, look upon others’ triumphs? what then will be done with such rich booty, with the spoils of so opulent a victory?

quonam abdentur illa tot milia armorum detracta corporibus hostium? an in Macedoniam remittentur? quo signa aurea, marmorea, eburnea, tabulae pictae, textilia, tantum argenti caelati, tantum auri, tanta pecunia regia?

Whither will those so many thousands of arms stripped from the bodies of the enemy be stowed away? Or will they be sent back to Macedonia? Where are the statues of gold, of marble, of ivory to go, the painted panels, the textiles, so much chased silver, so much gold, so great a royal treasure?

an noctu tamquam furtiua in aerarium deportabuntur? quid? illud spectaculum maximum, nobilissimus opulentissimus<que> rex captus, ubi uictori populo ostendetur?

or will they by night, as if stolen goods, be carried into the treasury? What? That greatest spectacle, the most noble and most opulent king captured, where will he be shown to the victorious people?

quos Syphax rex captus, accessio Punici belli, concursus fecerit, plerique meminimus. Perseus rex captus, Philippus et Alexander, filii regis, tanta nomina, subtrahentur ciuitatis oculis? ipsum L. Paulum, bis consulem, domitorem Graeciae, omnium oculi conspicere urbem curru ingredientem auent; ad hoc fecimus consulem, ut bellum per quadriennium ingenti etiam pudore nostro tractum perficeret.

what throngs the capture of King Syphax, an accession of the Punic War, produced, most of us remember. Perseus the king captured, Philip and Alexander, the king’s sons—such great names—shall they be withdrawn from the eyes of the citizenry? the eyes of all are eager to behold L. Paulus himself, twice consul, the subduer of Greece, entering the city in his chariot; for this we made him consul, that he might complete the war, drawn out for four years, to our immense shame as well.

cui sortito prouinciam, cui proficiscenti praesagientibus animis uictoriam triumphumque destinauimus, ei uictori triumphum negaturi <sumus?> et quidem non tantum <eum>, sed deos etiam suo honore fraudaturi? dis quoque enim, non solum hominibus, debetur triumphus. maiores uestri omnium magnarum rerum et principia exorsi a dis sunt et finem statuerunt.

To whom the province was allotted by lot, to whom, as he was setting out, with minds presaging we destined victory and a triumph—are we going to deny a triumph to that victor? And indeed, are we about to defraud not only him, but even the gods, of their own honor? For a triumph is owed to the gods as well, not only to human beings. Your ancestors began all great undertakings from the gods and established their end.

consul proficiscens praetorue paludatis lictoribus in prouinciam et ad bellum uota in Capitolio nuncupat: uictor perpetrato <bello> eodem in Capitolium triumphans ad eosdem deos, quibus uota nuncupauit, merita dona portans redit. pars non minima triumphi est uictimae praecedentes, ut appareat dis grates agentem imperatorem ob rem publicam bene gestam redire. omnis illas uictimas, quas ~traducendo in triumpho uindicauit, ~alias alios dente mactati.

A consul setting out, or a praetor, with lictors in the military cloak, pronounces vows on the Capitol for the province and for war: as victor, the having been brought to completion, he returns to the same Capitol in triumph, to the same gods to whom he pronounced the vows, carrying merited gifts. No small part of the triumph are the sacrificial victims going before, so that it may appear that the commander returns giving thanks to the gods for the Republic well conducted. All those victims, whom by ~leading across in triumph he claimed, ~some have been slaughtered by the tooth of others.

quid? illae epulae senatus, quae nec priuato loco nec publico profano, sed in Capitolio eduntur, utrum hominum uoluptatis causa an deorum * * * hominumque auctore Seruio Galba turbaturi estis? L. Pauli triumpho portae claudentur?

What? Those banquets of the senate, which are set forth neither in a private place nor in a profane public one, but on the Capitol—are you going to disturb them for the sake of human pleasure or of the gods * * * with Servius Galba as proposer for men? Will the gates be shut for the triumph of L. Paulus?

rex Macedonum Perseus cum liberis et turba alia captiuorum, spolia Macedonum, <in> circo Flaminio relinquentur? L. Paulus priuatus tamquam rure rediens a porta domum ibit? ~et tu, centurio, miles, quibus ab imperatore Paulo donatus decreuit potius quam Seruius Galba fabulentur audis et hoc dicere me potius quam illum audi.

will Perseus, king of the Macedonians, with his children and another throng of captives, the spoils of the Macedonians, be left the Circus Flaminius? Will L. Paulus, as a private citizen, go home from the gate as if returning from the countryside? ~and you, centurion, soldier—you to whom the commander Paulus decreed a donative—do you listen to Servius Galba telling tales, and hear me say this rather than him.

ille nihil praeterquam loqui, et <id> ipsum maledice ac maligne, didicit: ego ter et uiciens cum hoste ex prouocatione pugnaui; ex omnibus, cum quibus manum conserui, spolia rettuli; insigne corpus honestis cicatricibus, omnibus aduerso corpore exceptis, habeo.' nudasse deinde se dicitur et, quo quaeque bello uolnera accepta essent, rettulisse. quae dum ostentat, adapertis forte, quae uelanda erant, tumor inguinum proximis risum mouit. tum 'hoc quoque, quod ridetis', inquit 'in equo dies noctesque persedendo habeo, nec magis me eius quam cicatricum harum pudet paenitetque, quando numquam mihi impedimento ad rem publicam bene gerendam domi militiaeque fuit.

‘he has learned nothing except to talk, and to do that very thing maliciously and malignly; I have fought with the enemy three and twenty times upon provocation; from all with whom I joined hand-to-hand I carried off spoils; I bear a notable body with honorable scars, all received on the front of my body.’ Then he is said to have stripped himself and to have related in what war each wound had been received. While he displays these, those things which ought to have been veiled having by chance been laid open, a swelling of the groin stirred laughter in those nearest. Then he said, ‘this too, which you are laughing at, I have from sitting on horseback day and night, nor am I more ashamed or regretful of it than of these scars, since it has never been an impediment to me for managing the commonwealth well, at home and in the field.’

ego hoc ferro saepe uexatum corpus uetus miles adulescentibus militibus ostendi: Galba nitens et integrum denudet. reuocate, si uidetur, tribuni, ad suffragium tribus; ego ad uos, milites, * * * *

I, an old soldier, have shown to the young soldiers this body often vexed by iron: let Galba, sleek and whole, strip bare. Recall, if it seems good, tribunes, the tribes to the suffrage; I to you, soldiers, * * * *

[40] <Sum>mam omnis captiui auri argentique translati <sestertium> milliens ducenties fuisse Ualerius Antias tradit; qua haud dubie maior aliquanto summa ex numero plaustorum ponderibusque auri, argenti generatim ab ipso scriptis efficitur. alterum tantum aut in bellum proxumum absumptum aut in fuga, cum Samothracen peteret, dissipatum tradunt; eoque id mirabilius erat, quod tantum pecuniae intra triginta annos post bellum Philippi cum Romanis partim ex fructu metallorum, partim ex uectigalibus aliis coaceruatum fuerat. itaque admodum inops pecuniae Philippus, Perseus contra praediues bellare cum Romanis coepit.

[40] Valerius Antias reports that the <sum> of all the captured gold and silver transferred was <sesterces> 120,000,000; a total doubtless somewhat greater is made out from the number of wagons and from the weights of the gold and the silver, itemized by himself by kind. They relate that just as much again was either used up in the next war or dissipated in his flight, when he was making for Samothrace; and this was the more marvelous, because so great an amount of money had been heaped up within thirty years after the war of Philip with the Romans, partly from the yield of the mines, partly from other taxes. And so Philip was very poor in money, whereas Perseus, by contrast, began to wage war with the Romans very rich.

ipse postremo Paulus in curru, magnam cum dignitate alia corporis, tum senecta ipsa maiestatem prae se ferens; <post> currum inter alios inlustres uiros fili duo, <Q.> Maximus et P. Scipio; deinde equites turmatim et cohortes peditum suis quaeque ordinibus. pediti in singulos dati centeni <denarii>, duplex <centurioni, triplex> equiti. <alterum> tantum pediti daturum fuisse credunt et pro rata aliis, si aut in suffragio honori eius fauissent, aut benigne hac ipsa summa <pro>nuntiata <ac>clamassent.

he himself, finally, Paulus, in a chariot, bearing before him great majesty, both from the other dignity of his person and from old age itself; <after> the chariot, among other illustrious men, his two sons, <Q.> Maximus and P. Scipio; then the horsemen by squadrons and the cohorts of infantry, each in its own ranks. To the foot-soldier there were given, to each, a hundred <denarii>; double <to the centurion, triple> to the horseman. They believe he would have given as much again to the foot-soldier and pro rata to the others, if either in the suffrage they had favored his honor, or had kindly <pro>claimed at the very announcement of this sum and <ac>claimed.

sed non Perseus tantum per illos dies documentum humanorum casuum fuit, in catenis ante currum uictoris ducis per urbem hostium ductus, sed etiam uictor Paulus, auro purpuraque fulgens. nam duobus e filiis, quos duobus datis in adoptionem solos nominis, sacrorum familiaeque heredes retinuerat domi, minor, <duodecim> ferme annos natus, quinque diebus ante triumphum, maior, quattuordecim annorum, triduo post triumphum decessit; quos praetextatos curru uehi cum patre, sibi ipsos similis destinantis triumphos, oportuerat. paucis post diebus data a M. Antonio tribuno plebis contione, cum de suis rebus gestis more ceterorum imperatorum edissereret, memorabilis eius oratio et digna Romano principe fuit.

but not Perseus only, during those days, was an object-lesson of human fortunes—led in chains before the chariot of the victor general through the city of his enemies—but the victor Paulus as well, gleaming with gold and purple. For of his sons—two having been given in adoption—he had kept at home the sole heirs of the name, of the sacred rites, and of the family: the younger, about 12 years old, died five days before the triumph; the elder, 14 years of age, died three days after the triumph—boys in the toga praetexta who ought to have been carried in the chariot with their father, themselves destined for triumphs like his own. A few days later, when an assembly was granted by M. Antonius, tribune of the plebs, as he expounded his achievements in the manner of the other imperators, his speech was memorable and worthy of a Roman princeps.

[41] 'Quamquam, et qua felicitate rem publicam administrauerim, et <quae> duo fulmina domum meam per hos dies perculerint, non ignorare uos, Quirites, arbitror, cum spectaculo uobis nunc triumphus meus, nunc funera liberorum meorum fuerint, tamen paucis, quaeso, sinatis me cum publica felicitate conparare eo, quo debeo, animo priuatam meam fortunam. profectus ex Italia classem a Brundisio sole orto solui; nona diei hora cum omnibus meis nauibus Corcyram tenui. inde quinto die Delphis Apollini pro me exercitibusque et classibus uestris sacrificaui.

[41] 'Although both with what felicity I have administered the republic, and what two thunderbolts have smitten my house during these days, I judge you, Quirites, not to be ignorant—since now my triumph, now the funerals of my children have been a spectacle for you—yet allow me in a few words, I beg, to compare my private fortune with the public felicity, with the mind with which I ought. Setting out from Italy, I loosed the fleet from Brundisium with the sun risen; at the ninth hour of the day I made Corcyra with all my ships. Thence, on the fifth day, at Delphi I sacrificed to Apollo for myself and for your armies and fleets.

a Delphis quinto die in castra perueni: ubi exercitu accepto, mutatis quibusdam, quae magna impedimenta uictoriae erant, progressus, quia inexpugnabilia <castra> hostium erant neque cogi pugnare poterat rex, inter praesidia eius saltum ad Petram euasi et ad Pydnam regem acie uici; Macedoniam in potestatem populi Romani redegi et, quod bellum per quadriennium tres ante me consules ita gesserunt, ut semper successori traderent grauius, id ego quindecim diebus perfeci. aliarum deinde secundarum rerum uelut prouentus secutus: ciuitates omnes Macedoniae se dediderunt, gaza regia in potestatem uenit, rex ipse tradentibus prope ipsis dis in templo Samothracum cum liberis est captus. mihi quoque ipsi nimia iam fortuna uideri eoque suspecta esse.

from Delphi on the fifth day I arrived in the camp: where, the army having been received, and certain things changed which were great impediments to victory, I advanced; because the enemy’s <camp> was inexpugnable and the king could not be compelled to fight, I slipped through his garrisons to the pass at Petra and at Pydna I defeated the king in pitched battle; I brought Macedonia into the power of the Roman people, and the war which for a four-year period three consuls before me had conducted in such a way that they always handed it on more grievous to their successor, I completed in fifteen days. then a sort of harvest of other favorable outcomes followed: all the cities of Macedonia surrendered themselves, the royal treasure came into our power, the king himself—almost delivered up by the gods themselves—was captured with his children in the temple of the Samothracians. even to me myself my fortune now seemed excessive and therefore suspect.

maris pericula timere coepi in tanta pecunia regia in Italiam traicienda et uictore exercitu transportando. postquam omnia secundo nauium cursu in Italiam peruenerunt neque erat, quod ultra precarer, illud optaui, ut, cum ex summo retro uolui fortuna consuesset, mutationem eius domus mea potius quam res publica sentiret. itaque defunctam esse fortunam publicam mea tam insigni calamitate spero, quod triumphus meus, uelut ad ludibrium casuum humanorum, duobus funeribus liberorum meorum est interpositus.

I began to fear the perils of the sea in carrying across to Italy so great a royal treasure and in transporting the victorious army. After everything, with the ships’ course favorable, had arrived in Italy, and there was nothing further for which I might pray, I wished this: that, since Fortune was accustomed to roll back from the summit, my household rather than the commonwealth might feel her change. And so I hope that public Fortune has been satisfied by my so conspicuous calamity, in that my triumph, as though for the mockery of human chances, has been set between two funerals of my children.

et cum ego et Perseus nunc nobilia maxime sortis mortalium exempla spectemur, illi, qui ante se captiuos <captiuus> ipse duci liberos uidit, incolumes tamen eos habet: ego, qui de illo triumphaui, ab alterius funere filii currum <escendi, alterum rediens> ex Capitolio prope iam expirantem <in>ueni; neque ex tanta stirpe liberum superest, qui L. Aemili Pauli nomen ferat. duos enim tamquam ex magna progenie liberorum in adoptionem datos Cornelia et Fabia gens habent: Paulus in domo praeter senem nemo superest. sed hanc cladem domus meae uestra felicitas et secunda fortuna publica consolatur.'

and while both I and Perseus are now beheld as the most noble exemplars of the lot of mortals, he, who saw his children led as captives, himself, before him, nevertheless has them safe and sound; I, who triumphed over him, from the funeral of one son I stepped down from the chariot , and returning from the Capitol I found the other almost already expiring I came upon; nor out of so great a stock does there survive a child to bear the name of L. Aemilius Paulus. For two, as if from a great progeny of children, given in adoption, the Cornelian and the Fabian clan possess; in the house of Paulus, besides an old man, no one survives. But this disaster of my house is consoled by your happiness and the favorable public fortune.'

[42] Haec tanto dicta animo magis confudere audientium animos, quam si miserabiliter orbitatem suam deflendo locutus esset.

[42] These things, spoken with such great spirit, confounded the minds of the hearers more than if he had spoken by pitiably lamenting his bereavement.

Cn. Octauius kalendis Decembribus de rege Perseo naualem triumphum egit. is triumphus sine captiuis fuit, sine spoliis. dedit sociis naualibus in singulos denarios septuagenos quinos, gubernatoribus, qui in nauibus fuerant, duplex, magistris nauium quadruplex.

Gnaeus Octavius on the Kalends of December (December 1) celebrated a naval triumph over King Perseus. That triumph was without captives, without spoils. He gave to the naval allies seventy-five denarii apiece; to the helmsmen, who had been on the ships, double; to the masters of the ships, fourfold.

senatus deinde habitus est. patres censuerunt, ut Q. Cassius Persea regem cum Alexandro filio Albam in custodiam duceret; comites, pecuniam, argentum, instrumentum, quod haberet, nihil <detrahens habere sineret; Bithys, filius Cotyis,> regis Thracum, <cum> obsidibus in custodiam Carseolos est missus. ceteros captiuos, qui in triumpho ducti erant, in carcerem condi placuit.

then a meeting of the senate was held. the fathers decreed that Q. Cassius should lead King Perseus with his son Alexander to Alba into custody; his companions, money, silver, equipment which he had, allowing him to have, nothing king of the Thracians, hostages, was sent into custody to Carseoli. it was resolved that the other captives, who had been led in the triumph, be confined in prison.

paucos post dies, quam haec <sunt> acta, legati ab Cotye, rege Thracum, uenerunt pecuniam ad redimendum filium aliosque obsides adportantes. eis in senatum introductis et id ipsum argumenti praetendentibus orationi, non sua uoluntate Cotyn bello iuuisse Persea, quod obsides dare coactus esset, orantibusque, ut eos pretio, quantum ipsi statuissent patres, redimi paterentur, responsum ex auctoritate senatus est, populum Romanum meminisse amicitiae, quae cum Cotye maioribusque eius et gente Thracum fuisset. obsides datos crimen, non criminis defensionem esse, cum Thracum genti ne quietus quidem Perseus, nedum bello Romano occupatus timendus fuerit.

a few days after these things had been done, envoys from Cotys, king of the Thracians, came, bringing money to ransom his son and the other hostages. when they had been brought into the senate and were putting forward this very point as the ground of their speech—that Cotys had not of his own will aided Perseus in the war, since he had been compelled to give hostages—and begging that they be allowed to ransom them at a price, as much as the senators themselves should set, the reply, by authority of the senate, was that the Roman people remembered the friendship which had existed with Cotys, with his forefathers, and with the nation of the Thracians. that the hostages given were an indictment, not a defense of the charge; since for the Thracian nation Perseus was not to be feared even in peacetime, much less when occupied with the Roman war.

ceterum, etsi Cotys Persei gratiam praetulisset amicitiae populi Romani, magis, quid se dignum esset, quam quid merito eius fieri posset, aestimaturum, filium atque obsides ei remissurum. beneficia gratuita esse populi Romani; pretium eorum malle relinquere in accipientium animis quam praesens exigere. legati tres nominati, T. Quinctius Flamininus, C. Licinius Nerua, M. Caninius Rebilus, qui obsides in Thraciam reducerent; et Thracibus munera data in singulos binum milium aeris.

however, although Cotys had preferred the favor of Perseus to the friendship of the Roman people, they would evaluate rather what was worthy of themselves than what could be done according to his desert, and would remit to him his son and the hostages. The benefits of the Roman people are gratuitous; they prefer to leave their price in the minds of the recipients rather than to exact it on the spot. Three envoys were named, T. Quinctius Flamininus, C. Licinius Nerua, M. Caninius Rebilus, to lead the hostages back into Thrace; and to the Thracians gifts were given, two thousand asses apiece.

Bithys cum ceteris obsidibus a Carseolis accersitus ad patrem cum legatis missus. naues regiae captae de Macedonibus inuisitatae ante magnitudinis in campo Martio subductae sunt.

Bithys, having been summoned from Carseoli with the other hostages, was sent to his father with the legates. The royal ships captured from the Macedonians, of a magnitude unseen before, were hauled up in the Campus Martius.

[43] Haerente adhuc non in animis modo, sed paene in oculis memoria Macedonici triumphi L. Anicius Quirinalibus triumphauit de rege Gentio Illyriisque. similia omnia magis uisa hominibus quam paria: minor ipse imperator, et nobilitate Anicius cum Aemilio et iure imperii praetor cum consule conlatus; non Gentius Perseo, non Illyrii Macedonibus, non spolia spoliis, non pecunia pecuniae, non dona donis conparari poterant. itaque sicut praefulgebat huic triumphus recens, ita apparebat ipsum per se intuentibus nequaquam esse contemnendum.

[43] With the memory of the Macedonian triumph still clinging not only in minds but almost before the eyes, L. Anicius on the Quirinalia triumphed over King Gentius and the Illyrians. All things seemed to people more similar than equal: the commander himself was lesser, and Anicius, when compared with Aemilius, in nobility—and in the right of command, a praetor when set against a consul; nor could Gentius be compared with Perseus, nor the Illyrians with the Macedonians, nor the spoils with the spoils, nor the money with the money, nor the gifts with the gifts. And so, just as the recent triumph outshone this one, thus it appeared to those viewing it in itself to be by no means to be despised.

perdomuerat intra paucos dies terra marique ferocem, locis munimentisque fretam gentem Illyriorum; regem regiaeque omnes stirpis ceperat. transtulit in triumpho multa militaria signa spoliaque alia et supellectilem regiam, auri pondo uiginti et septem, argenti decem et nouem pondo, denarium decem tria milia et centum uiginti milia Illyrici argenti. ante currum ducti Gentius rex cum coniuge et liberis et Carauantius, frater regis, et aliquot nobiles Illyrii.

He had, within a few days, by land and sea, completely subdued the fierce nation of the Illyrians, trusting in their positions and fortifications; he had captured the king and all of the royal stock. He carried in his triumph many military standards and other spoils and the royal furnishings: 27 pounds of gold, 19 pounds of silver, and 133,000 denarii of Illyrian silver. Led before the chariot were King Gentius with his wife and children, and Caravantius, the king’s brother, and several noble Illyrians.

de praeda militibus in singulos quadragenos quinos denarios, duplex centurioni, triplex equiti, sociis nominis Latini quantum ciuibus, et sociis naualibus dedit quantum militibus. laetior hunc triumphum est secutus miles, multisque dux ipse carminibus celebratus. sestertium ducentiens ex ea praeda redactum esse auctor est Antias, praeter aurum argentumque, quod in aerarium sit latum; quod quia unde redigi potuerit non apparebat, auctorem pro re posui.

From the booty he gave to the soldiers forty-five denarii apiece, double to a centurion, triple to a horseman; to the allies of the Latin name as much as to the citizens, and to the naval allies he gave as much as to the soldiers. The soldiery followed this triumph more joyfully, and the leader himself was celebrated by many songs. Antias is authority that 20,000,000 sesterces were realized from that booty, besides the gold and silver which were carried into the treasury; and since it did not appear whence it could have been realized, I have set down the author as responsible for the statement.

rex Gentius cum liberis et coniuge et fratre Spoletium in custodiam ex senatus consulto ductus, ceteri captiui Romae in carcerem coniecti; recusantibusque custodiam Spoletinis Iguuium reges traducti. relicum ex Illyrico praedae ducenti uiginti lembi erant; de Gentio rege captos eos Corcyraeis et Apolloniatibus et Dyrrhachinis Q. Cassius ex senatus consulto tribuit.

King Gentius, with his children and wife and brother, was led to Spoleto into custody by decree of the senate, and the rest of the captives were thrown into prison at Rome; and when the people of Spoleto refused the custody, the kings were conveyed to Iguvium. The remainder of the booty from Illyricum was 220 lembi; as taken from King Gentius, Q. Cassius, by decree of the senate, assigned them to the Corcyraeans, the Apolloniates, and the Dyrrhachians.

[44] Consules eo anno agro tantum Ligurum populato, cum hostes exercitus numquam eduxissent, nulla re memorabili gesta Romam ad magistratus subrogandos redierunt et primo comitiali die consules crearunt M. Claudium Marcellum, C. Sulpicium Gallum, deinde praetores postero die L. Iulium, L. Apuleium Saturninum, A. Licinium Neruam, P. Rutilium Caluum, P. Quinctilium Uarum, M. Fonteium. his praetoribus duae urbanae prouinciae sunt decretae, duae Hispaniae, Sicilia ac Sardinia.

[44] The consuls that year, after laying waste only the land of the Ligurians—since the enemy had never led out their armies—and with nothing memorable accomplished, returned to Rome to appoint substitute magistrates; and on the first comitial day they elected as consuls M. Claudius Marcellus and C. Sulpicius Gallus; then on the next day the praetors: L. Julius, L. Apuleius Saturninus, A. Licinius Nerva, P. Rutilius Calvus, P. Quinctilius Varus, M. Fonteius. To these praetors there were decreed two urban provinces, the two Spains, Sicily, and Sardinia.

Intercalatum eo anno; postridie Terminalia <kal.> intercalariae fuerunt. augur eo anno mortuus est C. Claudius; in eius locum augures legerunt T. Quinctium Flamininum. et flamen Quirinalis mortuus Q. Fabius Pictor.

Intercalation was made that year; on the day after the Terminalia the intercalary Kalends fell. An augur died that year, Gaius Claudius; in his place the augurs elected Titus Quinctius Flamininus. And the Quirinal Flamen, Quintus Fabius Pictor, died.

Eo anno rex Prusia uenit Romam cum filio Nicomede. is magno comitatu urbem ingressus ad forum a porta tribunalque <Q.> Cassi praetoris perrexit concursuque undique facto deos, qui urbem Romam incolerent, senatumque et populum Romanum salutatum se dixit uenisse et gratulatum, quod Persea Gentiumque reges uicissent, Macedonibusque et Illyriis in dicionem redactis auxissent imperium. cum praetor senatum ei, si uellet, eo die daturum dixisset, biduum petit, quo templa deum urbemque et hospites amicosque uiseret.

In that year King Prusias came to Rome with his son Nicomedes. He, having entered the city with a great retinue, from the gate went to the Forum and proceeded to the tribunal of <Q.> Cassius the praetor; and when a crowd had gathered from all sides, he said that he had come to salute the gods who dwelt in the city of Rome, and the senate and the Roman people, and to offer congratulations because they had conquered Perseus and the kings of the nations, and, with the Macedonians and Illyrians reduced into subjection, had increased their imperium. When the praetor said that he would grant him the senate, if he wished, on that day, he asked for a two-day period in which to visit the temples of the gods and the city and his hosts and friends.

datus, qui circumduceret eum, <L.> Cornelius Scipio quaestor, qui et Capuam ei obuiam missus fuerat; et aedes, quae ipsum comitesque eius benigne reciperent, conductae. tertio post die senatum adit; gratulatus uictoriam est; merita sua in eo bello commemorauit; petiit, ut uotum sibi soluere, Romae in Capitolio decem maiores hostias et Praeneste unam Fortunae, liceret— ea uota pro uictoria populi Romani esse—, et ut societas secum renouaretur agerque sibi de rege Antiocho captus, quem nulli datum <a> populo Romano Galli possiderent, daretur. filium postremo Nicomedem senatui commendauit.

assigned to conduct him around was <L.> Cornelius Scipio, quaestor, who also had been sent to meet him at Capua; and houses were hired which would kindly receive himself and his companions. On the third day thereafter he approaches the senate; he offered congratulations for the victory; he recounted his services in that war; he asked that it be permitted to discharge his vow—to sacrifice at Rome on the Capitol ten greater victims and at Praeneste one to Fortuna—these vows being for the victory of the Roman People—and that the alliance with him be renewed and that the land captured from King Antiochus, which the Gauls possessed, though given to no one <a> the Roman People, be granted to him. Finally he commended his son Nicomedes to the senate.

omnium, qui in Macedonia imperatores fuerant, fauore est adiutus. itaque cetera, quae petebat, concessa; de agro responsum est legatos ad rem inspiciendam missuros; <si> is ager populi Romani fuisset nec cuiquam datus esset, dignissimum eo dono Prusiam habituros esse: si autem Antiochi non fuisse et eo ne populi quidem Romani factum appareret aut datum Gallis esse, ignoscere Prusiam debere, si ex nullius iniuria quidquam ei datum uellet populus Romanus. ne cui detur quidem, gratum esse donum posse, quod eum, qui det, ubi uelit, ablaturum esse sciat.

he was aided by the favor of all who had been commanders in Macedonia. and so the other things he was asking were granted; concerning the land the response was that they would send legates to inspect the matter; <if> that land had been of the Roman People and had been given to no one, they would consider Prusias most worthy of that gift; but if it should appear that it had not been Antiochus’s and had not even become the Roman People’s, or that it had been given to the Gauls, Prusias ought to pardon it, if the Roman People wished to give him anything with injury to no one. even if it be assigned to no one, a gift can be welcome, since he knows that the giver will take it away whenever he pleases.

filii Nicomedis commendationem accipere. quanta cura regum amicorum liberos tueatur populus Romanus, documento Ptolemaeum, Aegypti regem, esse. cum hoc responso Prusias est dimissus.

they agreed to accept the commendation of Nicomedes’s son. As evidence of how great a care the Roman people safeguards the children of friendly kings, Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was the proof. With this response Prusias was dismissed.

munera ei ex * * sestertiis iussa dari et uasorum argenteorum pondo quinquaginta. et filio regis Nicomedi ex ea summa munera dari censuerunt, ex qua Masgabae, filio regis Masinissae, data essent; et ut uictimae aliaque, quae ad sacrificium pertinerent, seu Romae seu Praeneste immolare uellet, regi ex publico sicut magistratibus Romanis praeberentur; et ut ex classe, quae Brundisi esset, naues longae uiginti adsignarentur, quibus uteretur; donec ad classem dono datam ei rex peruenisset, L. Cornelius Scipio ne ab eo abscederet sumptumque ipsi et comitibus praeberet, donec nauem conscendisset. mire laetum ea benignitate in se populi Romani regem fuisse ferunt; munera sibi ipsi emi non sisse, filium iussisse donum populi Romani accipere.

Gifts to him were ordered to be given out of * * sesterces, and fifty pounds in weight of silver vessels. And they decreed that gifts be given to Nicomedes, the king’s son, from that same sum, out of which they had been given to Masgaba, son of King Masinissa; and that victims and other things which pertained to sacrifice, whether he should wish to immolate at Rome or at Praeneste, be supplied to the king from the public funds just as to Roman magistrates; and that out of the fleet which was at Brundisium twenty long ships be assigned, for him to use; until the king had come to the fleet given to him as a gift, that L. Cornelius Scipio should not withdraw from him and should furnish expense/maintenance to him and to his companions, until he had boarded ship. They report that the king was wondrously glad at that benevolence of the Roman people toward himself; that he did not allow the gifts to be bought for himself, but ordered his son to accept the gift of the Roman people.

haec de Prusia nostri scriptores. Polybius eum regem indignum maiestate nominis tanti tradit; pilleatum, capite raso, obuiam <ire> legatis solitum libertumque se populi Romani ferre: ideo insignia ordinis eius gerere; Romae quoque, cum ueniret in curiam, summisisse se et osculo limen curiae contigisse et deos seruatores suos senatum appellasse aliamque orationem non tam honorificam audientibus quam sibi deformem habuisse. moratus circa urbem triginta haud amplius dies in regnum est profectus, actumque in Asia bellum inter Eumenen et Gallos in . . . .it.

These things about Prusias from our writers. Polybius relates that that king was unworthy of the majesty of so great a name; that, wearing the felt cap, with his head shaved, he was accustomed to <go> to meet ambassadors and to pass himself off as a freedman of the Roman people: therefore he wore the insignia of that order; at Rome too, when he came into the curia, he would lower himself and touch the threshold of the curia with a kiss, and call the senate his preserver gods, and he delivered an address not so much honorific to the hearers as deforming to himself. Having stayed around the city thirty days, not more, he set out to his kingdom, and the war in Asia between Eumenes and the Gauls was carried on in . . . .it.