20 Lastly, having assumed the Roman gown instead of his royal robes, he used to go about the market-place, as lie had seen done by the candidates for office at Rome, saluting and embracing each of the plebeians; soliciting at one time for the ædileship, at another for the plebeian tribuneship, until at last he obtained the office by the suffrages of the people, and then, according to the Roman custom, he took his seat in an ivory chair, where he heard causes, and listened to debates on the most trivial matters. So far was his mind from adhering to any routine, for it wandered through every sort of life, that it was not ascertained either by himself or any one else what was his real character. He was accustomed not to speak to his friends, nor scarcely afford a smile, to his acquaintance. By an inconsistent kind of liberality, he made himself and others subjects of ridicule; for to some in the most elevated stations, and who thought highly of themselves, he would give childish presents of sweetmeats, cakes, or toys; others expecting nothing he enriched. Wherefore to many he appeared not to know what he was doing; some said that he acted from a silly, sportive temper; others, that he was evidently mad. In two great and honourable instances, however, he showed a spirit truly royal,—in the presents which he made to several cities, and the honour he paid to the gods. To the inhabitants of Megalopolis, in Arcadia, he made a promise to build a wall round their city, and he gave them the greater part of the money requisite for the purpose. At Tegea he began to erect a magnificent theatre of marble. At Cyzicum, he presented a set of golden utensils for the service of one table in the Prytaneum, the state-room of the city; where such as are entitled to that honour dine together. To the Rhodians he gave presents of every kind that their convenience required, but none very remarkable. Of the magnificence of his notions, in every thing respecting the gods, the temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens can be a sufficient testimony: being the only one in the world, the plan of which was suitable to the greatness of the deity. He likewise ornamented Delos with altars of extraordinary beauty, and abundance of statues. A magnificent temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which he promised to build at Antioch, of which not only the ceilings, but all the walls, were to be covered with plates of gold, and many other edifices which he intended in various places, he did not finish, as his reign was very short. He surpassed his predecessors, too, in the magnificence of the public games of every description; of which all the games but one were after their own custom, and celebrated by an immense number of Grecian actors. He gave a show of gladiators in the Roman manner, which at first, among & people unaccustomed to such sights, caused more terror than pleasure; but by frequently repeating them, and sometimes permitting the combatants to go no further than wounds, at other times to fight until one was killed, he rendered such kind of shows not only familiar to people’s eyes, but even agreeable, and kindled in most of the young men a passion for arms; so much so that, although, at the beginning, he was obliged to entice gladiators from Rome, by high rewards, he soon found a sufficient number in his own dominions willing to perform for a moderate hire. But he displayed the same worthlessness and levity in exhibiting the games, as in the rest of his life, so that nothing could be seen more magnificent than the preparation for the games, nothing more vile or contemptible than the king himself. And when this appeared often on other occasions, it was then most conspicuous in those games, which, in emulation of the magnificence of those which were given by Paulus in Macedon, after the conquest of Perseus, he exhibited at immense expense, and with corresponding dishonour. To return, however, to the Roman affairs, from which the mention of this king has caused us to digress too far. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, after holding the government of Sardinia two years, resigned it to Servius Cornelius Sulla, the prætor, and, coming home to Rome, triumphed over the Sardinians. We are told that he brought such a multitude of captives from, that island, that from the long continuance of the sale, “Sardinians for sale” became a vulgar proverb, to denote things of little price. Both the consuls (Scævola and Lepidus) triumphed over the Ligurians; Lepidus over the Gauls also. Then were held the elections of magistrates for the ensuing year. Spurius Postumius Albinus and Quintus Mucius Scævola were chosen consuls. In the election of prætors, fortune involved Lucius or Cneius Cornelius Scipio, son of Publius Africanus, one of the candidates, in a very invidious struggle with Caius Cicereius, who had been his father’s secretary. For, after five prætors had been declared, namely, Caius Cassius Longinus, Publius Furius Philus, Lucius Claudius Asellus, Marcus Atilius Serranus, and Cneius Servilius Cæpio; although Scipio struggled hard to be admitted even in the last place, yet he was thought to have degenerated so far from the virtues of his father, that Cicereius would have been preferred by the votes of all the centuries, had not the latter, with singular modesty, corrected what might be considered either the fault of fortune or error of the elections. He could not reconcile it to himself, that, in a struggle in the elections, he should gain the victory over the son of his patron; but immediately throwing off the white gown, he became, from a competitor sure of success, the grateful friend and supporter of the interest of his rival. Thus, by the help of Cicereius Scipio obtained an honour which he did not seem likely to gain from the people, and which reflected greater glory on Cicereius than on himself.

21 The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. On the prætors casting lots, the city jurisdiction fell to Caius Cassius Longinus, and the foreign, to Lucius Cornelius Scipio. The province of Sardinia fell to Marcus Atilius, who was ordered to sail over to Corsica with a new legion, raised by the consuls, and consisting of five thousand foot and three hundred horse; and while he was engaged in carrying on the war there, Cornelius was continued in command, that he might hold the government of Sardinia. To Cneius Servilius Cæpio, for the service of Farther Spain, and to Publius Furius Philus for that of Hither Spain, the following troops were assigned—to each, three thousand Roman foot with one hundred and fifty horse, and five thousand Latin foot with three hundred horse. Sicily was decreed to Lucius Claudius, without any reinforcement. The consuls were ordered to levy two more legions, of the regular numbers of foot and horse, and to demand from the allies ten thousand foot and six hundred horse: but they met great difficulty in making the levies; for the pestilence, which the year before had fallen on the cattle, in the present year attacked the human species. Such as were seized by it, seldom survived the seventh day; those who did survive, lingered under a tedious disorder, which generally turned to a quartan ague. The slaves especially perished, of whom heaps lay unburied on all the roads. The necessary requisites could not be procured for the funerals of those of free condition. The bodies were consumed by putrefaction, without being touched by the dogs or vultures; and it was universally observed, that during that and the preceding year, while the mortality of cattle and men was so great, no vultures were any where seen. Of the public priests, there died by this contagion, Cneius Servilius Cæpio, father of the prætor, a pontiff; Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, decemvir of religious rites; Publius Ælius Pætus, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, augurs; Caius Mamilius Vitulus, chief curio; and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus, a pontiff. In the vacant places of pontiffs78 were chosen * * * * and Caius Sulpicius Galba, in the room of Tuditanus. The augurs substituted were, Titus Veturius Gracchus Sempronianus, in place of Gracchus; and Quintus Ælius Pætas, in place of Publius Ælius. Caius Sempronius Longus was made decemvir of religious rites, and Caius Scribonius Curio, chief curio. When the termination of the plague was not visible, the senate voted that the decemvirs should consult the Sibylline books; and, by their directions, a supplication of one day was performed; and the people assembled in the forum made a vow, whilst Quintus Marcius Philippus dictated the words, that “if the sickness and pestilence should be removed out of the Roman territory, they would solemnize a festival and thanksgiving of two days’ continuance.” In the district of Veii, a boy was born with two heads; at Sinuessa, one with a single hand; and at Oximum, a girl with teeth; in the middle of the day, the sky being perfectly clear, a rainbow was seen, stretching over the temple of Saturn, in the Roman forum, and three suns shone at once; and the following night many lights were seen gliding through the air, about Lanuvium. The people of Cære affirmed that there had appeared in their town a snake with a mane, having its body marked with spots like gold; and it was fully proved that an ox had spoken in Campania.

22 On the nones of June,79 the ambassadors returned from Africa, who having first had an interview with king Masinissa, proceeded to Carthage; but they received much more certain information respecting what had taken place in Carthage from the king than from the Carthaginians themselves. They said they had sufficient proof that ambassadors had come from king Perseus, and that an audience of the senate was given to them by night, in the temple of Æsculapius; and the king asserted, that the Carthaginians had sent ambassadors to Macedon, which they themselves did not positively deny. The senate, hereupon, resolved to send an embassy to Macedonia. They made choice of Caius Lælius, Marcus Valerius Messala, and Sextus Digitius, who accordingly proceeded thither. About this time, Perseus, because some of the Dolopians were refractory, and in the matters in dispute were for referring the decision from the king to the Romans, marched an army into their country, and reduced the whole nation under his jurisdiction and dominion. Thence he passed through the mountains of Œta, and on account of some religious scruples affecting his mind, went up to Delphi, to apply to the oracle. His sudden appearance in the middle of Greece caused a great alarm, not only in the neighbouring states, but also caused alarming intelligence to be brought into Asia to king Eumenes. He staid only three days at Delphi, and then returned to his own dominions, through Phthiotis, Achaia, and Thessaly, without doing the least injury or damage to those countries. He did not think it sufficient to conciliate the esteem of the several states through which his road lay; but despatched either ambassadors or letters to every one of the Grecian powers, requesting that they would “think no more of the animosities which had subsisted between them and his father; that the disputes had not been so violent that they might not, and ought not, to cease with regard to himself. On his part, there was no kind of obstacle to the forming of a cordial friendship.” Above all, he wished particularly to find some way of ingratiating himself with the Achæan nation.

23 This nation, and the state of Athens, solitary exceptions to the whole of Greece, had carried their resentment to such a length, as to prohibit the Macedonians entering their territories. In consequence of this, Macedonia became a place of refuge for slaves running away out of Achaia; for, as the Achæans had forbidden the inhabitants of Macedon to set foot in their territories, they could not presume to pass the boundaries of that kingdom. When Perseus observed this, he seized all the fugitives, and wrote a letter * * * * * * * “but that they ought to consider of the proper means of preventing such elopements for the future.” When this letter was read by the proætor Xenarchus, who was seeking a path to private influence with the king, the greater part who were present, but especially those who, contrary to their expectations, were about to receive the slaves they had lost, commended the moderation and kindness with which it was written; but Callierates, one who thought that the safety of the nation depended on the treaty with Rome being preserved inviolate, delivered his sentiments to this effect;—“To some of you, Achæans, the matter under consideration appears trifling and unimportant. I think that a very great and important subject is not only under consideration, but to a certain extent decided. For we, who prohibited the kings of Macedonia, and all their subjects, from entering our territories, and made a perpetual decree, not to receive from those sovereigns either ambassadors or messengers, by whom the minds of any of us might be tampered with; we, I say, listen to the king speaking in a manner, though absent, and what is more, approve of his discourse. Although wild beasts generally reject and shun the food laid in their way for their destruction; yet we, blinded by the specious offer of an insignificant favour, swallow the bait, and would, for the sake of recovering a parcel of wretched slaves, of no value worth mentioning, suffer our independence to be undermined and subverted. For who does not see that a way is being paved to an alliance with the king, by which the treaty with Rome in which all our interests are involved would be violated? That there must be a war between Perseus and the Romans, is not, I believe, a matter of doubt to any one, and the struggle which was expected during the life of Philip, and interrupted by his death, will, now that he is dead, most certainly ensue. Philip, you all know, had two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Demetrius was much superior in birth, on the mother’s side, in merit, capacity, and in the esteem of the Macedonian nation. But Philip, having set up the crown as the prize of hatred towards the Romans, put Demetrius to death, for no other crime than having contracted a friendship with that people; and made Perseus king, because he knew him to be an enemy to the Roman people almost before he determined on making him king. Accordingly, what else has the present king done since his father’s death, than prepare for the war? In the first place, to the terror of all the surrounding nations, he brought the Bastarnians into Dardania; where if they had made a lasting settlement, Greece would have found them more troublesome neighbours than Asia found the Gauls. Disappointed in that hope, he did not drop his design of a war; nay, if we choose to speak the truth, he has already commenced hostilities. He subdued Dolopia by force of arms; and would not listen when they wished to appeal concerning their disputes to the arbitration of the Romans. Then, crossing Œta, that he might show himself in the very centre of Greece, he went up to Delphi. To what, think you did his taking a journey so uncommon tend? He next traversed Thessaly; and as to his refraining on his route from doing injury to the people whom he hated, I dread his machinations the more on that very account. He then sent a letter to us, with the hollow show of an act of kindness, and bade us to consider measures by which we may not require this gift for the future; that is, to repeal the decree by which the Macedonians are excluded from Peloponnesus; to receive again ambassadors from him their king; to renew intimacies contracted with his principal subjects; and, in a short time, we should see Macedonian armies, with himself at their head, crossing over the narrow strait from Delphi into Peloponnesus, and thus we should be blended with the Macedonians, while they are arming themselves against the Romans. My opinion is, that we ought not to resolve on any new proceeding, but to keep every thing in its present state, until the question shall be reduced to a certainty, whether these our fears be well or ill grounded. If the peace between the Romans and Macedonians shall continue inviolate, then may we also have a friendship and intercourse with Perseus; but to think of such a measure now, appears to me both premature and dangerous.”

24 After him, Arco, brother to the prætor Xenarchus, said:—“Callicrates hath made the delivery of our sentiments difficult both to me and to every one who differs in opinion from him; for after his pleading in favour of the Roman alliance, alleging that it was undermined and attacked, (although no one either undermines or attacks it,) he has caused that whoever dissents from him must seem to argue against the cause of the Romans. In the first place, as if he had not been here with us, but had just left the senate-house of the Roman people, or had been admitted into the privy councils of kings, he knows and tells us every transaction that passes in secret. Nay more, he divines what would have happened if Philip had lived, why Perseus became heir of the kingdom: in such a manner, what are the intentions of the Macedonians, and what the thoughts of the Romans. But we, who neither know for what cause, nor in what manner, Demetrius perished, nor what Philip would have done, if he had lived, ought to accommodate our resolutions to the transactions that have passed in open view. We know that Perseus, on his coming to the throne, sent ambassadors to Rome, and received the title of king from the Roman people, and we hear that ambassadors came from Rome to the king, and were graciously received by him. I consider that all these circumstances are signs of peace, not of war; and that the Romans cannot be offended, if as we imitated their conduct in war, so we follow now their example in peace. For my part, I cannot see why we alone, of all mankind, wage implacable war against the kingdom of the Macedonians. Are we exposed to insult by a close neighbourhood to Macedon? or are we like the Dolopians, whom Perseus subdued lately, the weakest of all states? No; on the contrary, by the bounty of the gods, we are sufficiently secured, as well by our own strength, as by the remoteness of our situation. But we have as much reason to apprehend ill treatment, as the Thessalians and Ætolians; have we no more credit or influence with the Romans, though we were always their friends and allies, than the Ætolians, who but lately were their enemies? Whatever reciprocal rights the Ætolians, the Thessalians, the Epirots, in short, every state in Greece, allow to subsist between them and the Macedonians, let us allow the same. Why have we alone what may be termed a cursed neglect of the ties of humanity? Philip may have done some act on account of which we should pass this decree against him when in arms and waging war against us: What has Perseus deserved, a king just seated on the throne, guiltless of all injury against us, and effacing by his own kindness his father’s feuds? Why should we be his only enemies? Although I might make this assertion, that so great have been our obligations to the former kings of Macedon, that the ill usage, suffered from a single prince of their line, if any has really been suffered from Philip, * * * especially after his death. When a Roman fleet was lying at Cenchreæ, and the consul, with his army, was at Elatia, we were three days in council, deliberating whether we should follow the Romans or Philip. Now, granting that the fear of immediate danger from the Romans had no influence on our judgments, yet there was, certainly, something that made our deliberation last so long; and that was, the connexion which had long subsisted between us and the Macedonians; the distinguished favours in ancient times received from their kings. Let the same considerations prevail at present,—not to make us his singular friends, but to hinder us from becoming his singular enemies. Let us not, Callicrates, pretend what is not even thought of. No one advises us to form a new alliance, or sign a new treaty, by which we might inconsiderately compromise ourselves, but merely that we may have the intercourse of affording and demanding justice, and that we may not by excluding his subjects from our territories, exclude ourselves from his dominions, and that our slaves may not have any refuge to fly to. How does this operate against the Roman treaty? Why do we give an air of importance and suspicion to a matter which is trifling and open to the world? Why do we raise groundless alarms? Why, for the sake of ingratiating ourselves still more particularly with the Romans, render others odious and suspected? If war shall take place even Perseus himself does not doubt our taking part with the Romans. While peace continues, let animosities if they are not terminated, be at least suspended.” When those who approved of the king’s letter expressed their approbation of this speech, the decree was postponed, owing to the indignation of the chief men that Perseus should obtain by a letter of a few lines a matter which he did not even deign worthy of an embassy. Ambassadors were afterwards sent by the king, when a council was held at Megalopolis; but exertions were made by those, who dreaded a rupture with Rome, that they should not be admitted to an audience.

25 During this period the fury of the Ætolians, being turned against themselves, seemed likely to cause the total extinction of that nation by the massacres of the contending parties. Then both parties, being wearied, sent ambassadors to Rome, and also opened a negotiation between themselves for the restoration of concord: but this was broken off by an act of barbarity, which revived their old quarrels. When a return to their country had been promised to the exiles from Hypata, who were of the faction of Proxenus, and the public faith had been pledged to them by Eupolemus, the chief man of the state; eighty persons of distinction, whom even Eupolemus, among the rest of the multitude, had gone forth to meet on their return, though they were received with kind salutation, and right hands were pledged to them, were butchered on entering the gate, though they implored in vain the honour that had been pledged, and the gods the witnesses of the transaction. On this the war blazed out anew, with greater fury than ever. Caius Valerius Lævinus, Appius Claudius Pulcher, Caius Memmius, Marcus Popilius, and Lucius Canuleius, being sent as ambassadors by the senate, arrived in that country. When the deputies from both parties pleaded their respective causes with great energy, Proxenus appeared to have greatly the advantage as well in the justice of his cause as in eloquence; a few days after, he was poisoned by his wife Orthobula, who being convicted of the crime, went into banishment. The same madness was wasting the Cretans also; but, on the arrival of Quintus Minucius, lieutenant-general, who was sent with ten ships to quiet their contentions, the inhabitants had some prospect of peace; however, they only concluded a suspension of arms for six months, after which the war was again renewed with much greater violence. About this time, the Lycians, too, were harassed in war by the Rhodians. But the wars of foreign nations among themselves, or the several methods in which they were conducted, it is not my business to detail; since I have a task of more than sufficient weight in writing the deeds performed by the Roman people.

26 In Spain, the Celtiberians, (who, since their reduction by Tiberius Gracchus, and their consequent surrender to him, had remained quiet; when Marcus Titinius, the prætor, held the government of that province,) on the arrival of Appius Claudius, resumed their arms, and commenced hostilities by a sudden attack on the Roman camp. It was nearly the first dawn when the sentinels on the rampart, and the men on guard before the gates, descrying the enemy approaching at a distance, shouted “to arms.” Appius Claudius instantly displayed the signal of battle; and, after exhorting the troops, in few words, ordered them to rush out by three gates at once. But they were opposed by the Celtiberians in the very passage; and in consequence, the fight was for some time equal on both sides, as, on account of the narrowness, the Romans could not all come into action in the entrance; then pressing forward on one another, whenever it was possible, they made their way beyond the trenches, so that they were able to extend their line, and form a front equal to the wings of the enemy, by which they were surrounded; and now they made their onset with such sudden impetuosity, that the Celtiberians could not support the assault. Before the second hour, they were driven from the field; about fifteen thousand were either killed or made prisoners, and thirty-two standards were taken. Their camp, also, was stormed the same day, and a conclusion put to the war; for those who survived the battle fled by different ways, to their several towns, and thenceforth submitted quietly to the Roman government.

27 Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Aulus Postumius, being created censors, reviewed the senate this year. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, chief pontiff, was chosen chief of the senate. Nine senators were expelled. The remarkable censures pronounced were on Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis, who had been prætor in Spain two years before; on Lucius Cornelius Scipio, who was then prætor and exercised the jurisdiction between natives and foreigners; and on Cneius Fulvius, brother to the censor, and, as Valerius Antias says, partner in property. The consuls, after offering vows in the Capitol, set out for their provinces. Marcus Æmilius was commissioned by the senate to suppress an insurrection of the Patavians in Venetia; for their own ambassadors had given information that by the violent contests of opposing factions they had broken out into civil war. The ambassadors who had gone into Ætolia, to suppress commotions of a similar kind, reported on their return, that the outrageous temper of that nation could not be restrained. The consul’s arrival among the Patavians saved them from ruin; and having no other business in the province, he returned to Rome. The present censors were the first who contracted for paving the streets of Rome with flint stones, for laying with gravel the foundation of roads outside the city, and for forming raised foot-ways on the sides; for building bridges in several places; and affording seats in the theatre to the prætors and ædiles; they fixed up goals in the circus, with balls on the goals for marking the number of courses of the chariots; and erected iron grates, through which wild beasts might be let in. They caused the Capitoline hill to be paved with flint, and erected a piazza from the temple of Saturn, in the Capitol, to the council-chamber, and over that a public hall. On the outside of the gate Trigemina, they also paved a market-place with stones, and enclosed it with a paling; they repaired the Æmilian portico, and formed an ascent, by stairs, from the Tiber to the market-place. They paved, with flint, the portico, from the same gate to the Aventine, and built a court-house: contracted for walls to be built at Galatia and Oximum, and, after selling lots of ground there, which belonged to the public, employed the money arising from the sale in building shops round the forums of both places. Fulvius Flaccus (for Postumius declared, that, without a decree of the senate, or order of the people, he would not expend any money belonging to them) agreed for building a temple of Jupiter at Pisaurum; and another at Fundi; for bringing water to Pollentia; for paving the street of Pisaurum, and for many various works at Sinuessa; among which were, the structure of a sewer to fall into the river, the enclosure of the forum with porticoes and shops, and erection of three statues of Janus. These works were all contracted for by one of the censors, and gained him a high degree of favour with those colonists. Their censorship was also very active and strict in the superintendence of the morals of the people. Many knights were deprived of their horses.

28 At the close of the year, there was a thanksgiving, for one day, on account of the advantages obtained in Spain under the conduct and auspices of Appius Claudius, the proconsul; and they sacrificed twenty victims, of the larger kinds. There was also a supplication, for another day, at the temples of Ceres, Liber, and Liberia, because a violent earthquake with the destruction of many houses was announced from the Sabines. When Appius Claudius came home from Spain, the senate voted that he should enter the city in ovation. The election of consuls now came on: when they were held, after a violent struggle in consequence of the great number of candidates, Lucius Postumius Albinus and Marcus Popilius Lænas were elected consuls. Then Numerius Fabius Buteo, Marcus Matienus, Caius Cicereius, Marcus Furius Crassipes, a second time, Marcus Atilius Serranus, a second time, and Caius Cluvius Saxula, a second time, were chosen prætors. After the elections were finished, Appius Claudius Centho, entering the city in ovation over the Celtiberians, conveyed to the treasury ten thousand pounds’ weight of silver, and five thousand of gold. Cneius Cornelius was inaugurated flamen of Jupiter. In the same year a tablet was hung up in the temple of mother Matuta, with this inscription:—under the command and auspices of tiberius sempronius gracchus, consul, a legion and army of the roman people subdued sardinia; in which province above eighty thousand of the enemy were killed or taken. having executed the business of the public with the happiest success; having recovered the revenues, and restored them to the commonwealth,—he brought home the army safe, uninjured, and enriched with spoil, and, a second time, entered the city of rome in triumph. in commemoration of which event he presented this tablet as an offering to jupiter. A map of the island of Sardinia was engraved on the tablet, and pictures of the battles fought there were delineated on it. Several small exhibitions of gladiators were given to the public this year; the only one particularly remarkable, was that of Titus Flamininus, which he gave on occasion of his father’s death, and it was accompanied with a donation of meat, a feast, and stage-plays, and lasted four days. Yet, in the whole of this great exhibition, only seventy-four men fought in three days. The close of this year was rendered memorable by the proposal of a new and important rule, which occupied the state, since it was debated with great emotion. Hitherto, as the law stood, women were as equally capable of receiving inheritances as men. From which it happened that the wealth of the most illustrious houses was frequently transferred into other families, to the great detriment, as it was generally supposed, of the state; to which it was no small advantage that there should be a sufficiency of wealth to the descendants of distinguished ancestors, by which they might support and do honour to their nobility of birth, which otherwise would form a burden rather than honour to them. Besides, since with the now growing power of the empire, the riches of private persons also were increasing, fear was felt, lest the minds of women, being rather inclined by nature to luxury, and the pursuit of a more elegant routine of life, and deriving from unbounded wealth incentives to desire, should fall into immoderate expenses and luxury, and should subsequently chance to depart from the ancient sanctity of manners, so that there would be a change of morals no less than of the manner of living. To obviate these evils, Quintus Voconius Saxa, plebeian tribune, proposed to the people, that “no person who should be rated after the censorship of Aulus Postumius and Quintius Fulvius should make any woman, whether married or unmarried his heir; also, that no woman, whether married or unmarried, should be capable of receiving, by inheritance, goods exceeding the value of one hundred thousand sesterces.”80 Voconius, also, thought it proper to provide that estates should not be exhausted by the number of legacies, which sometimes happened. Accordingly he added a clause to his law, that no person should bequeath to any person or persons property exceeding in value what was to go to the immediate heirs.” This latter clause readily met the general approbation; it appeared reasonable, and calculated to press severely on nobody. Concerning the former clause, by which women were utterly disqualified from receiving inheritances, there were many doubts. Marcus Cato put an end to all hesitation, having been already, on a former occasion, a most determined adversary and reprover of women, in the defence of the Oppian law, who, although sixty-five years of age, with loud voice and good lungs advocated this law of still greater importance, against them, inveighing, with his usual asperity, against the tyranny of women, and their unsufferable insolence token opulent: on the present occasion, too, he declaimed against the pride and arrogance of the rich matrons, “because they oftentimes, after bringing a great dowry to their husband, kept back and retained for themselves a great sum of money, and lent that money on such terms afterwards to their husbands, on their asking it, that as often as they were angry they immediately pressed importunately on their husbands, as if they were strange debtors, by a reserved slave who followed them and daily importuned payment.” Moved by indignation at this, they voted for passing the law as Voconius proposed it.

BOOK XLII.

1 When Lucius Postumius Albinus and Marcus Popilius Lænas brought before the senate first of all the distribution of the provinces, Liguria was assigned the joint province of both, with directions that they should enlist new legions, by which they would hold that province (two were decreed to each); and also ten thousand foot and six hundred horse of the Latin confederates; and as a supplement to the army in Spain, three thousand Roman foot and two hundred horse. One thousand five hundred Roman foot and one hundred horse were ordered to be raised; with which the prætor, to whose lot Sardinia might fall, should cross over to Corsica, and carry on the war there; and it was further ordered, that in the mean time the former prætor, Marcus Atilius, should obtain the province of Sardinia. The prætors then cast lots for their provinces. Aulus Atilius Serranus obtained the city jurisdiction; Caius Cluvius Saxula, that between natives and foreigners; Numerius Fabius Buteo, Hither Spain; Marcus Matienus, Farther Spain; Marcus Furius Crassipes, Sicily; and Caius Cicereius, Sardinia. The senate resolved that, before the magistrates went abroad, Lucius Postumius should go into Campania, to fix the bounds between the lands which were private property and those which belonged to the public; for it was understood that individuals, by gradually extending their bounds, had taken possession of a very considerable share of the common lands. He, being enraged with the people of Præneste because, when he had gone thither as private individual to offer sacrifice in the temple of Fortune, no honour had been paid him, either in public or private, by the people of Præneste, before he set out from Rome, sent a letter to Præneste, ordering the chief magistrate to meet him, and to provide him lodging at the public expense; and that, at his departure, cattle should be ready to carry his baggage. No consul before him ever put the allies to any trouble or expense whatever. Magistrates were furnished with mules, tents, and every other requisite for a campaign, in order that they might not make any such demands. They had private lodgings, in which they behaved with courtesy and kindness, and their houses at Rome were always open to their hosts with whom they used to lodge. Ambassadors indeed sent to any place, on a sudden emergency, demanded each a single horse in the several towns through which their journey lay; but the allies never contributed any other portion of the expense of the Roman magistrates. The resentment of the consul, which, even if well founded, ought not to have been exerted during his office, and the too modest or too timid acquiescence of the Prænestines, gave to the magistrates, as if by an approved precedent, the privilege of imposing orders of this sort, which grew more burdensome daily.

2 In the beginning of this year the ambassadors, who had been sent to Ætolia and Macedon, returned, and reported that “they had not been able to obtain an interview with Perseus, as some of his court said that he was abroad, others that he was sick; both of which were false pretences. Nevertheless, that it was quite evident that war was in preparation, and that he would no longer put off the appeal to arms. That in Ætolia, likewise, the dissensions grew daily more violent; and the leaders of the contending parties were not to be restrained by their authority.” As a war with Macedon was daily expected, the senate resolved, that before it broke out all prodigies should be expiated, and the favour of such gods, as should be found expressed in the books of the Fates, invoked by supplications. It was said that at Lanuvium the appearance of large fleets was seen in the air; that at Privernum black wool grew out of the ground; that in the territory of Veii, at Remens, a shower of stones fell; and that the whole Pomptine district was covered with clouds of locusts; also that in the Gallic province, where a plough was at work, fishes sprung up from under the earth as it was turned. On account of these prodigies the books of the Fates were accordingly consulted, and the decemvirs directed both to what gods and with what victims, sacrifices should be offered; likewise that a supplication should be performed, in expiation of the prodigies; and also that another, which had been vowed in the preceding year for the health of the people, should be celebrated, and likewise a solemn festival. Accordingly, sacrifices were offered in accordance with the written directions of the decemvirs.

3 In the same year, the temple of Juno Lacinia was uncovered. Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, the censor, was erecting a temple to Equestrian Fortune, which he had vowed when prætor during the Celtiberian war, with anxious desire that it should not be surpassed by any other at Rome, either in size or magnificence. Thinking that he would add a very great ornament to this temple if the tiles were marble, he went to Bruttium, and stripped, off about the half of those belonging to the temple of the Lacinian Juno; for he computed that so many would be sufficient to cover the one he was building. Ships were in readiness to take on board the materials, while the allies were deterred by the authority of the censor from preventing the sacrilege. When the censor returned, the marble was landed and carried to the temple; but though he made no mention of the place from which it was brought, yet such an affair could not be concealed. Accordingly, considerable murmuring arose in the senate; from all sides of the house a demand was made that the consuls should lay that matter before the senate. When the censor, on being summoned, appeared in the senate-house, they all, both separately and in a body, inveighed against him with great asperity. They cried out that “he was not content with violating the most venerable temple in all that part of the world, a temple which neither Pyrrhus nor Hannibal had violated; but he had stripped it shamefully, and almost demolished it. Though created censor for the purpose of regulating men’s manners, and bound in duty, according to long-established rules, to enforce the repairing of edifices for public worship, and the keeping them in due order, he had nevertheless gone about through the cities of the allies, stripping the roofs of their sacred buildings, and even demolishing them. In a word, what might be deemed scandalous if practised on private houses, he committed against the temples of the immortal gods; and that he involved the Roman people in the guilt of impiety, building temples with the ruins of temples; as if the deities were not the same in all places, but that some should be decorated with the spoils of others.” When it was evident what were the sentiments of the senators, before their opinion was asked; when the question was put, they unanimously concurred in voting, that a contract should be entered into for carrying the tiles back to the temple, and that atonements should be offered to Juno. What regarded the atonements was carefully executed; the contractors made a report that they were obliged to leave the marble in the court of the temple, because no workman could be found who knew how to replace the same.

4 Of the prætors who set out for the provinces, Numerius Fabius, on his way to Hither Spain, died at Marseilles. Therefore when this was announced by envoys from Marseilles, the senate resolved that Publius Furius and Cneius Servilius, to whom successors had been sent, should cast lots to determine which of them should hold the government of Hither Spain, with a continuation of authority; and the lot determined, very fortunately, that Publius Furius, whose province it had formerly been, should continue. During the same year, on its appearing that large tracts of land in Gaul and Liguria, which had been taken in war, lay unoccupied, the senate passed a decree, that those lands should be distributed in single shares; and Aulus Titilius, city prætor, in pursuance of the said decree, appointed ten commissioners for that Purpose, namely, Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, Caius Cassius, Titus Æbutius Carus, Caius Tremellius, Publius Cornelius Cethegus, Quintus and Lucius Appuleius, Marcus Cæcilius, Caius Salonius, and Caius Munatius. They apportioned ten acres to each Roman, and three to each Latin colonist. During the same time in which these transactions took place, ambassadors came to Rome from Ætolia with representations of the quarrels and dissensions subsisting in that country; likewise Thessalian ambassadors, announcing the transactions in Macedon.

5 Perseus, revolving in his mind the war, which had been resolved on during the life-time of his father, endeavoured, by sending embassies, and by promising a great deal more than he performed, to attach to himself not only the commonwealth of Greece, but also each particular state. However the feelings of the majority were inclined in his favour, and much better disposed towards him than Eumenes, although all the states of Greece, and most of the leading men, were under obligations to the latter for benefits and gifts; and although he so conducted himself in his sovereignty, that the cities which were under his dominion would not exchange their condition for that of any free state. On the contrary, there was a general report that Perseus, after his father’s death, had killed his wife with his own hand; that Apelles, formerly the agent of his treachery in the destruction of his brother, and on that account sought anxiously by Philip, for punishment, being in exile, was invited by him, after the death of his father, by great promises, to receive a guerdon for rendering so important services, and was secretly put to death. Although he had rendered himself infamous by many other murders, both of his own relations and of others, and possessed not one good quality to recommend him, yet the Grecian states in general gave him the preference to Eumenes who was so affectionate towards his relations, so just toward his subjects, and so liberal towards all mankind; either because they were so prejudiced by the fame and dignity of the Macedonian kings, as to despise a kingdom lately formed, or were led by a wish for a change in affairs, and wished him to be exposed to the arms of the Romans. The Ætolians were not the only people in a state of distraction, on account of the intolerable burden of their debts: the Thessalians were in the same situation; and the evil, acting by contagion like a pestilence, had spread into Perrhæbia also. As soon as it was known that the Thessalians were in arms, the senate sent Appius Claudius, as ambassador, to examine and adjust their affairs. He severely reprimanded the leaders of both parties; and after cancelling so much of the debts as had been accumulated by iniquitous usury, which he did with the consent of the greater part of the creditors themselves, he ordered the remaining just debts to be discharged by annual payments. Affairs in Perrhæbia were arranged in the same manner by the same Appius. In the mean time, Marcellus, at Delphi, gave a hearing to the disputes of the Ætolians, which they maintained with no less hostile acrimony than they had shown against each other in the heat of their civil war. Perceiving that they vied with each other in inconsiderate violence, he did not choose to make any determination, to lighten or aggravate the grievances of either party, but required of both alike to cease from hostilities, and, forgetting what was past, to put an end to their quarrels. The good faith of the mutual reconciliation was confirmed by a reciprocal exchange of hostages.

6 Corinth was agreed upon as the place where the hostages should be lodged. Marcellus crossed over from Delphi, and the Ætolian council, into Peloponnesus, where lie had summoned a diet of the Achæans. There, by the praises which he bestowed on that nation, for having resolutely maintained their old decree, which prohibited the admission of the Macedonian kings within the limits of their territories, he manifested the inveterate hatred of the Romans towards Perseus; and this hatred broke out into effect the sooner, in consequence of king Eumenes coming to Rome, and bringing with him a written statement of the preparations made for war, which he had drawn up, after a full inquiry into every particular. Five ambassadors were now sent to the king, in order to take a view of affairs in Macedon. The same were ordered to proceed to Alexandria to Ptolemy, to renew the treaty of friendship. These were Caius Valerius, Cneius Lutatius Cerco, Quintus Bæbius Sulca, Marcus Cornelius Mammula, and Marcus Cæcilius Denter. About the same time, came ambassadors from king Antiochus; and the principal of them, called Apollonius, being admitted to an audience of the senate, presented, on behalf of his king, many and reasonable apologies for paying the tribute later than the day appointed. “He now brought,” he said, “the whole of it, that the king might require no favour except the delay of time. He brought besides a present of gold vases, in weight five hundred pounds. Antiochus requested, that the treaty of alliance and amity, which had been made with his father, might be renewed with him; and that the Roman people might demand from him every service which might be required from a king who was a good and faithful ally: that he would never be remiss in the performance of any duty. Such had been the kindness of the senate towards him when he was at Rome, such the courtesy of the young men, that, among all ranks of men, he was treated as a sovereign, not as a hostage.” A gracious answer was returned to the ambassadors, and Aulus Atilius, city prætor, was ordered to renew with Antiochus the alliance formerly made with his father. The city quæstors received the tribute, and the censors the golden vases; and the business of placing them in whatever temples they should judge proper, was assigned to them. “One hundred thousand asses81 were presented to the ambassador, and a house at the public cost was given him for his accommodation, and it was ordered that his expenses should be paid as long as he would remain in Italy. The ambassadors, who had been in Syria, represented him as standing in the highest degree of favour with the king, and a very warm friend to the Roman people.

7 The following were the events in the provinces during this year. Caius Cicereius, prætor in Corsica, fought the enemy in a pitched battle, in which seven thousand of the Corsicans were slain, and more than one thousand seven hundred taken. During the engagement the prætor vowed a temple to Juno Moneta. Peace was then granted to the Corsicans, on their petitioning for it, and a contribution was imposed, of two hundred thousand pounds’ weight of wax. Cicereius crossed over from Corsica, which he had reduced to subjection, to Sardinia. In Liguria, also, a battle was fought in the territory of Satiella, at the town of Carystas. A large army of Ligurians had assembled there, who, for some time after Marcus Popilius’ arrival, kept themselves within the walls; but afterwards, when they perceived that the Roman general would lay siege to the town, they marched out beyond the gates, and drew up in order of battle. The consul did not decline an engagement, as that was the object which he endeavoured to gain by threatening a siege. The fight was maintained for more than three hours, in such a manner, that the hope of victory leaned to neither side; but when the consul perceived that the Ligurian battalions no where gave ground, he ordered the cavalry to mount their horses, and charge in three places at once, with all possible violence. A great part of the horse broke through the middle of the enemy’s line, and made their way to the rear of the troops engaged, owing to which manœuvre, terror was struck into the Ligurians. They fled in different directions on all sides. Very few ran back into the town, because in that quarter, chiefly, the cavalry had thrown themselves in their way. So obstinate a contest swept off great numbers of the Ligurians, and many perished in the flight; ten thousand of them are said to have been killed, and more, than seven hundred taken, in various places; besides which, the victors brought off eighty-two of their military standards. Nor was the victory gained without loss of blood; above three thousand of the conquerors fell in the conflict; for as neither party gave way, the foremost on both sides were cut off.

8 When the Ligurians re-assembled in one body, after their scattered flight, they found that a much greater number of their countrymen were lost than left alive (for there were not above ten thousand men surviving); on which they surrendered. They did not stipulate for any terms, yet entertained hopes that the consul would not treat them with greater severity than former commanders. But he immediately took their arms from them, razed their town, and sold themselves and their effects; and he then sent a letter to the senate, relating the services which he had performed. When Aulus Atilius, the prætor, read this letter in the council, (for the other consul, Postumius, was absent, being employed in surveying the lands in Campania,) the proceeding appeared to the senate in a heinous light; “that the people of Satiella, who alone, of all the Ligurian nation, had not borne arms against the Romans, should be attacked, when not offering hostilities, and even after surrendering themselves in dependence on the protection of the Roman people, should be butchered and exterminated, that so many thousands of innocent persons suffering, who had implored the protection of the Roman people, established the worst possible precedent, calculated to deter any one from ever venturing to surrender to them; dragged as the were away into various parts of the country, and made slaves to those who were formerly the avowed enemies of Rome, though now reduced to quiet. That for these reasons the senate ordered, that the consul, Marcus Popilius, should reinstate the Ligurians in their liberty, repaying the purchase-money to the buyers, and should likewise use his best endeavours to recover and restore their effects. That arms should be made for them, as soon as possible; and that the consul should not depart from his province before he restored to their country the Ligurians that had surrendered. That victory derived its lustre from conquering the enemy in arms, not from cruelty to the vanquished.”

9 The consul exerted the same ferocious spirit in disobeying the senate, which he displayed towards the Ligurians. He immediately sent the legions into winter quarters at Pisæ, and, full of resentment against the senators and the prætor, went home to Rome; where, instantly assembling the senate in the temple of Bellona, he used many invectives against the prætor, who, “when he ought to have proposed to the senate that thanksgiving should be offered to the immortal gods, on account of the happy successes obtained by the Roman arms, had procured a decree of the senate against him, in favour of the enemy, by which he might transfer his victory to the Ligurians; and, though only a prætor, he had ordered the consul, in a manner, to be surrendered to them: he therefore gave notice, that he would sue to have him fined. From the senate he demanded, that they should order the decree of the senate passed against him to be cancelled; and that the thanksgiving, which they, though they were far from him, ought to have voted on the authority of his letter, sent from abroad, with an account of the success of the arms of the commonwealth, should, now when he was present, be voted; first, in consideration of the honour due to the immortal gods, and next, out of some kind of regard to himself.” Being censured to his face no less severely than in his absence, in the speeches of several of the senators, and having obtained neither request, he returned to his province. The other consul, Postumius, after spending the whole summer in surveying the lands, without even seeing his province, came home to Rome to hold the elections. He appointed Caius Popillius Lænas and Publius Ælius Ligus, consuls. Then Caius Licinius Crassus, Marcus Junius Pennus, Spurius Lucretius, Spurius Cluvius, Cneius Sicinius, and Caius Memmius, a second time, were elected prætors.

10 The lustrum was closed this year. The censors were Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Lucius Postumius Albinus, the latter of whom performed the ceremony. In this survey were rated two hundred and sixty-nine thousand and fifteen Roman citizens. The number was considerably less, because the consul Lucius Postumius, gave public orders, in assembly, that none of the Latin allies (who, according to the edict of the consul, Caius Claudius, ought to have gone home) should be surveyed at Rome, but all of them in their respective countries. Their censorship was conducted with perfect harmony and zeal for the public good. They disfranchised and degraded from their tribes every one whom they expelled the senate, or from whom they took away his horse; nor did either approve a person censured by the other. Fulvius, at this time, dedicated the temple of Equestrian Fortune, which he had vowed six years before, and when proconsul in Spain, during the battle with the Celtiberians; he also exhibited stage-plays, which lasted four days, in one of which the performance was in the circus. Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, decemvir in religious matters, died this year, and Aulus Postumius Albinus was substituted in his room. Such great crowds of locusts were suddenly brought by the wind over the sea into Apulia, that they covered the country far and wide with their swarms. In order to remove this pest, so destructive to the fruits of the earth, Caius Sicinius, prætor elect, was sent in command, with a vast multitude of people assembled, to gather them up, and spent a considerable time in that business. The beginning of the year in which Caius Popillius and Publius Ælius were consuls, was employed in the disputes which had arisen in the last. The senators were desirous that the business respecting the Ligurians should be re-considered, and the decree renewed. Ælius, the consul, was willing to propose it, but Popillius warmly interceded for his brother, both with his colleague and the senate; and by giving notice, that if they would pass any vote on the subject he would would enter his protest, he deterred him from proceeding in the matter. The senate being hereby equally incensed against them, persisted the more obstinately in their intention; and when they took into consideration the distribution of the provinces, although Macedon was earnestly sought by the consuls, because a war with Perseus was daily expected, yet the Ligurians were assigned as the province of both. They declare that they would not vote Macedonia to them, unless the question were put on the affair of Marcus Popilius. The consuls afterwards demanded that they might be authorized to raise either new armies, or recruits to fill up the old; both demands were refused. To the prætors also, when seeking a reinforcement for Spain, a refusal is given: to Marcus Junius for Hither Spain, and to Spurius Lucretius for the Farther. Caius Licinius Crassus obtained by lot the city jurisdiction; Cneius Sicinius, the foreign; Caius Memmius, Sicily; and Spurius Cluvius, Sardinia. The consuls, enraged against the senate on account of this conduct, having proclaimed an early day for the Latin festival, declared openly that they would go away to their province, and would not transact any kind of business, except what belonged to their own government.

11 Valerius Antias writes, that, in this consulate, Attalus, brother to king Eumenes, came to Rome as ambassador, to lay heavy charges against Perseus, and give an account of his preparations for war. But the greater number of historians, and those deemed most worthy of credit, assert, that Eumenes came in person. Eumenes then, on his arrival, being received with every degree of respect which the Roman people judged suitable, not merely to his deserts, but also to their own former favours, bestowed on him in great abundance, was introduced to the senate. He said, that “The cause of his coming to Rome, besides his wish to visit those gods and men who had placed him in a situation beyond which he could not presume to form a wish, was, that he might in person forewarn the senate to counteract the designs of Perseus.” Then, beginning with the projects of Philip, he mentioned his murder of Demetrius, because that prince was averse to a war with Rome; that the Bastarnian nation was summoned from their homes, that, relying on their aid, he might pass over into Italy. While his thoughts were busied in plans of this sort, he was surprised by the approach of death, and left his kingdom to the person whom he knew to be, of all men, the bitterest foe to the Romans. “Perseus therefore,” said he, “having received this scheme of a war, as a legacy bequeathed by his father, and descending to him along with the crown, advances and improves it, as his primary object, by every means that he can devise. He is powerful, in respect of the number of his young men, since a long peace has produced a plentiful progeny; he is powerful in respect to the resources of his kingdom, and powerful, likewise, in respect to his age. And as, at his time of life, he possesses vigour of body, so his mind has been thoroughly trained, both in the theory and practice of war; for even from his childhood he became inured to it, in his father’s tent, not only in the wars against the neighbouring states, but also against the Romans, being employed by him in many and various expeditions. Already, since he has received the government, he has, by a wonderful train of prosperous events, accomplished many things which Philip, after using his best efforts, could never effect, either by force or artifice.

12 “There is added to his strength such a degree of influence as is usually acquired, in a great length of time, by many and important kindnesses. For, in the several states throughout Greece and Asia, all men revere the dignity of his character; nor do I perceive for what deserts, for what generosity, such uncommon respect is paid him; neither can I with certainty say whether it occurs through some good fortune attending him, or whether, what I mention with reluctance a general dislike to the Romans attaches men to his interest. Even among sovereign princes he is great by his influence. He married the daughter of Seleucus, a match which he did not solicit, but to which he was solicited by her friends; and he gave his sister in marriage to Prusias, in compliance with his earnest prayers and entreaties. Both these marriages were solemnized amidst congratulations and presents from innumerable embassies, and were escorted by the most renowned nations, acting as bridal attendants. The Bœotians could never be brought, by all the intrigues of Philip, to sign a treaty of friendship with him; but now, a treaty with Perseus is engraved at three different places, at Thebes, in Delos, in the most venerable and celebrated temple, and at Delphi. Then, in the diet of Achaia, (only that the proceeding was quashed by a few persons, threatening them with the displeasure of the Roman government,) the business was nearly effected of allowing him admission into Achaia. But, as to the honours formerly paid to myself, (whose kindness to that nation have been such, that it is hard to say whether my public or private benefactions were the greater,) they have been lost, partly through neglect, and partly by hostile means Who does not know that the Ætolians, lately, on occasion of their intestine broils, sought protection, not from the Romans, but from Perseus? For, while he is upheld by these alliances and friendships, he has at home such preparations of every requisite for war, that he wants nothing from abroad. He has thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse, and is laying up a store of corn for ten years, so that he can be independent of his own territory or that of his enemies with respect to provisions. He has amassed money to such an amount, as to have in readiness the pay of ten thousand mercenary soldiers, besides the Macedonian troops, for the same number of years, as well as the annual revenue accruing from the royal mines. He has stored up arms for three times that number of men; and has Thrace under subjection, from which, as a never-failing spring, he can draw supplies of young men if ever Macedon should become exhausted.”

13 The rest of his discourse contained exhortations to timely exertions: “Conscript fathers,” said he, “I make these representations to you, and they are not founded on uncertain rumours, and too readily believed by me, because I wished such charges against my enemy to be true; but on a clear discovery of the facts, as if I had been sent by you to reconnoitre, and I were now relating what took place before my eyes. Nor would I have left my kingdom, which you have rendered ample and highly respectable, and crossed such a tract of sea, to injure my own credit by offering you unauthenticated reports. I saw the most remarkable states of Asia and Greece, every day, gradually unfolding their sentiments, and ready to proceed, shortly, to such lengths as would not leave them room for repentance. I saw Perseus, not confining himself within the limits of Macedonia, but seizing some places by force of arms, and seducing, by favour and kindness, those which could not be subdued by force. I perceived the unfair footing on which matters stood, while he was preparing war against you, and you bestowing on him the security of peace; although, to my judgment, he did not appear to be preparing, but rather waging war. He dethroned Abrupolis, your ally and friend. He put to death Artetarus, the Illyrian, another ally and friend of yours, because he heard that some information had been written to you by him. He managed that Eversa and Callicrates, the Thebans, who were leading men in their state, should be taken off, because, in the council of the Bœotians, they had spoken with more than ordinary freedom against him and declared that they would inform you of what was going on. He carried succour to the Byzantians, contrary to the treaty. He made war on Dolopia. He overran Thessaly and Doris with an army, in order to take advantage of the civil war then raging, and by the help of the party which had the worst cause to crush the other which had more justice on its side. He raised universal confusion and disorder in Thessaly and Perrhæbia, by holding out a prospect of an abolition of debts, that, by the means of the multitude of debtors thereby attached to his interest, he might overpower the nobles. Since he has performed all these acts with your acquiescence and silent endurance, and has seen Greece yielded up to him by you, he firmly believes that he will not meet with one opponent in arms, until he arrives in Italy. How safe or how honourable this might be for you, you yourselves may consider; for my part, I thought it would certainly reflect dishonour on me, if Perseus should come into Italy to make war, before I, your ally, came to warn you to be on your guard. Having discharged this duty, necessarily incumbent on me, and, in some measure, freed and exonerated my faith; what can I do further, but beseech the gods and goddesses that you may adopt such measures as will prove salutary to yourselves, to your commonwealth, and to us your allies and friends who depend upon you?”

14 His discourse made a deep impression on the senate. However, for the present, no one, without doors, could know any thing more than that the king had been in the senate-house, in such secrecy were the deliberations of the senate involved; and it was not until after the conclusion of the war, that the purport of king Eumenes’ speech, and the answer to it, transpired. In a few days after, the senate gave audience to the ambassadors of Perseus. But their feelings as well as their ears were so prepossessed by king Eumenes, that every plea offered in his justification by the ambassadors, and every argument to alleviate the charges against him, were disregarded. They were still further exasperated by the immoderate presumption of Harpalus, chief of the embassy, who said, that “the king was indeed desirous and even anxious that credit should be given to him when pleading in his excuse that he had neither said nor done any thing hostile; but that if he saw them obstinately bent on finding out a pretence for war, he would defend himself with determined courage. The fortune of war was open to all and the issue uncertain.” All the states of Greece and Asia were full of curiosity to learn what the ambassadors of Perseus, and what Eumenes, had effected with the senate; and most of them, on hearing of the latter’s journey to Rome, which they supposed might produce material consequences, had sent ambassadors thither who pretended other business. Among the rest came an embassy from Rhodes, at the head of which was a person named Satyrus, who had no kind of doubt but that Eumenes had included his state in the accusations brought against Perseus. He therefore endeavoured, by every means, through his patrons and friends, to get an opportunity of debating the matter with Eumenes in presence of the senate. When he obtained this, he inveighed against that king with intemperate vehemence, as having instigated the people of Lycia to an attack on the Rhodians, and as being more oppressive to Asia than Antiochus had been. He delivered a discourse flattering indeed, and acceptable to the states of Asia, (for the popularity of Perseus had spread even to them,) but very displeasing to the senate, and disadvantageous to himself and his nation. This apparent conspiracy against Eumenes, increased, indeed, the favour of the Romans towards him; so that every kind of honour was paid, and the most magnificent presents were made him; among which were a curule chair and an ivory sceptre.

15 After the embassies were dismissed, when Harpalus went back into Macedon with all the haste he could, and told the king that he had left the Romans, not indeed making immediate preparations for war, but in such an angry temper, that it was very evident they would not defer it long; Perseus himself, who all along believed that this would be the case, now even wished for it, as he thought himself at the highest pitch of power that he could ever expect to attain. He was more violently incensed against Eumenes than against any other; and being desirous of commencing the war with his bloodshed, he suborned Evander, a Cretan, commander of the auxiliaries, and three Macedonians, who were accustomed to the perpetration of such deeds, to murder that king; and gives them a letter to a woman called Praxo, an acquaintance of his, the wealthiest and most powerful person at Delphi. It was generally known that Eumenes intended going up to Delphi to sacrifice to Apollo. The assassins having reconnoitred the around with Evander, sought for nothing else than a fit place to execute their design. On the road from Cirrha to the temple, before you come to the places thickly inhabited, there was a wall on the left side of a narrow path projecting a little from the foundation, by which single persons could pass; the part on the right formed a precipice of considerable depth by the sinking of the ground. Behind this wall they concealed themselves, and raised up steps to it, that from thence, as from a fortress, they might discharge their weapons on the king, as he passed by. At first, as he came up from the sea, he was surrounded by a multitude of his friends and attendants; afterwards the increasing narrowness of the road made the train thinner about him. When they arrived at the spot where each was to pass singly, the first who advanced on the path was Pantaleon, an Ætolian of distinction, who was at the time in conversation with the king. The assassins now, starting up, rolled down two huge stones, by one of which the head of the king was struck, and by the other the shoulder; and being stunned by the blow, many stones having been cast on him after falling, he tumbled from the sloping path down the precipice. The rest of his friends and attendants, on seeing him fall, fled different ways; but Pantaleon, with great intrepidity and resolution, kept his ground, in order to protect the king.

16 The assassins might, by making a short circuit of the wall, have run down and completed their business; yet they fled off towards the top of Parnassus with such precipitation, that as one of them, by being unable to keep up with the rest through the pathless and steep grounds, retarded their flight, they killed him lest he should be taken, and a discovery ensue. The friends, and then the guards and servants of the king, ran together and raised him up, while stunned by the wound, and quite insensible. However, they perceived, from the warmth of his body, and the breath remaining in his lungs, that he was still alive, but had little or no hopes that he would ever recover. Some of his guards having pursued the tracks of the assassins, when they had reached even as far as the summit of Parnassus, and had fatigued themselves in vain, returned without being able to overtake them. As the Macedonians set about the deed injudiciously so, after making the attempt with boldness, they abandoned it in a manner both foolish and cowardly. His friends on the next day bore to his ship the king, now in possession of his faculties, and then, having drawn their vessel, across the neck of the isthmus, they cross over to Ægina. Here his cure was conducted with such secrecy, his attendants admitting no one, that a report of his death was carried into Asia. Attalus also gave more ready credence to it than was worthy the harmony of brothers; for he talked, both to Eumenes’ consort, and to the governor of the citadel, as if he had actually succeeded to the crown. This, afterwards, came to the knowledge of the king; who, though he had determined to dissemble, and to pass it over in silence, yet could not refrain, at their first meeting, from rallying Attalus, on his premature haste to get his wife. The report of Eumenes’ death spread even to Rome.

17 About the same time, Caius Valerius, who had been sent ambassador to examine the state of Greece, and to observe the movements of king Perseus, returned from that country, and made a report of all things, which agreed with the accusations urged by Eumenes. He brought with him from Delphi, Praxo, the woman whose house had served as a receptacle for the assassins; and Lucius Rammius, a Brundusian, who was the bearer of the following information. Rammius was a person of the first distinction at Brundusium, accustomed to entertain in his house the Roman commanders, and such ambassadors as came that way from foreign powers, especially those of the kings. By these means he had formed an acquaintance with Perseus, although he was distant from him; and in consequence of a letter from him, which gave hopes of a more intimate friendship, and of great advantages to accrue to him, he went on a visit to the king, and, in a short time, found himself treated with particular familiarity, and drawn, oftener than he wished, into private conversations. Perseus, after promises of the highest rewards, pressed him, with the most earnest solicitations, “as all the commanders and ambassadors of the Romans used to lodge at his house, to procure poison to be given to such of them as he should point out by letter;” and told him, that, “as he knew the preparation of poison to be attended with the greatest difficulty and danger, and that ordinarily it could not be administered without the privity of several; besides, the issue was uncertain, whether doses sufficiently powerful to produce the desired effect or calculated to escape detection, might be given;—he would, therefore, give him some which neither in administering nor when administered could be discovered by any means.” Rammius dreading, lest, in case of refusal, he should himself be the first on whom the poison would be tried, promised compliance, and departed; but did not wish to return to Brundusium, without first holding a conference with Caius Valerius, the ambassador, who was said to be at that time in the neighbourhood of Chalcis. Having first laid his information before him, by his order he accompanied him to Rome, where, being brought before the senate, he gave them an account of what had passed.