18 These discoveries were added to the information which had been given by Eumenes, and effected, that Perseus should the sooner be judged an enemy; as the senate perceived that he did not content himself with preparing, with the spirit of a king, for a fair and open war, but pushed his designs by all the base clandestine means of assassination and poison. The conduct of the war is conferred on the new consuls; but, in the mean time, an order was given, that Cneius Sicinius, the prætor, whose province was the jurisdiction between natives and foreigners, should raise soldiers who should be led with all expedition to Brundusium, and thence carried over into Apollonia in Epirus, in order to secure the cities on the sea-coasts; in order that the consul, who should have Macedon as his province, might put in his fleet with safety, and land his troops with convenience. Eumenes was detained a long time at Ægina, by a dangerous and difficult cure; but, as soon as could remove with safety, he went home to Pergamus, and set on foot the most vigorous preparations for war, since the late atrocious villany of Perseus now stimulated him, in addition to the ancient enmity which subsisted between them. Am-bassadors soon came from Rome, with congratulations on his escape from so great a danger. When the war with Macedon was deferred to the next year, (the other prætors having gone away to their provinces,) Marcus Junius and Spurius Lucretius, to whom the Spanish affairs had fallen, by importuning the senate with frequent repetitions of the same request obtained at last that a reinforcement for their army should be given them, viz. three thousand foot and one hundred and fifty horse, for the Roman legions; they are ordered to levy, from the allies, for the confederate troops, five thousand foot and three hundred horse: these forces were carried by the new prætors into Spain.

19 In the same year, because, in consequence of the inquiries made by the consul Postumius, a large portion of the lands of Campania, which had been usurped by private persons indiscriminately, in various parts, had been recovered to the public, Marcus Lucretius, plebeian tribune, published a proposal for an order of the people, that the censors should let the Campanian land to farm; a measure which had been omitted during so many years, since the taking of Capua, that the greediness of individuals might have clear room to work in. After war, though not yet proclaimed, had been resolved on, while the senate was anxious to know which of the several kings would espouse their cause, and which that of Perseus, ambassadors came to Rome from Ariarathes, bringing with them his younger son. The purport of their message was, that “the king had sent his son to be educated at Rome, in order that he might even from childhood be acquainted with the manners and the persons of the Romans; and he requested, that they would allow him to be not only under the protection of his particular friends, but likewise the care, and in some measure the guardianship, of the public.” This embassy was highly pleasing to the senate; and they ordered, that Cneius Sicinius, the prætor, should hire a furnished house for the accommodation of the young prince and his attendants. Then that which they sought was given to ambassadors of the Thracians, who were disputing among themselves, and requesting the friendship and alliance of the Roman people, and presents of the amount of two thousand asses82 were sent to each, for the Romans were rejoiced that these states were gained as allies the more so, as they lay at the back of Macedon. But, in order to acquire a clear knowledge of every thing in Asia and in the islands, they sent ambassadors, Tiberius Claudius Nero and Marcus Decimus, with orders to go to Crete and Rhodes, to renew the treaties of friendship, and at the same time to observe whether the affections of the allies had been tampered with by Perseus.

20 While the minds of the public were in a state of extreme anxiety and suspense with respect to the impending war, in consequence of a storm happening in the night the pillar in the Capitol, ornamented with beaks of ships, which had been erected in the first Punic war by the consul Marcus Æmilius, whose colleague was Servius Fulvius, was shattered to pieces, even to the very foundation, by lightning. This event, being deemed a prodigy, was reported to the senate, who ordered, that it should be laid before the aruspices, and that the decemvirs should consult the books. The decemvirs, in answer, directed that the city should be purified; that a supplication, and prayers, for the averting of misfortunes should be offered, and victims of the larger kinds sacrificed both in the Capitol at Rome, and at the promontory of Minerva in Campania; and that games should be celebrated as soon as possible in honour of Jupiter supremely good and great, during ten days. All these directions were carefully executed. The aruspices answered, that the prodigy would prove happy in the issue; that it portended extension of territory and destruction of enemies; for those beaks of ships which the storm had scattered were spoils. There were other occurrences which occasioned religious apprehensions: it was said, that at the town of Saturnia showers of blood fell during three successive days; that an ass with three feet was foaled at Calatia; that a bull, with five cows, were killed by one stroke of lightning; and that a shower of earth had fallen at Auximum. On account of these prodigies, also, public worship was performed, and a supplication and festival observed for one day.

21 The consuls had not yet gone to their provinces; for they would not comply with the senate, in proposing the business respecting Marcus Popilius; and, on the other hand, the senate was determined to proceed on no other until that was done. The general resentment against Popilius was aggravated by a letter received from him, in which he mentioned that he had, as proconsul, fought a second battle with the Ligurians of Statiella, six thousand of whom he had killed. On account of the injustice of this attack, the rest of the states of the Ligurians took up arms. Then not only was Popilius, in his absence, severely censured in the senate, for having, contrary to all laws, human and divine, made war on a people who had submitted to terms, and stirred up to rebellion states that were disposed to live in peace, but also the consuls for not having proceeded to that province. Encouraged by the unanimous opinion of the senators, two plebian tribunes, Marcus Marcius Sermo and Quintus Marcius Sylla, declared publicly that they would institute a suit for a fine to be laid on the consuls, if they did not repair to their destination. They likewise read before the senate a proposal for an order of the people respecting the Ligurians, which they intended to publish. By it a regulation was made, “that in case any of the surrendered Statiellans should not be restored to liberty before the calends of August, then next ensuing, the senate, on oath, should appoint a magistrate to inquire into the business, and to punish the person through whose wicked practices he had been brought into slavery;” and accordingly, by direction of the senate, they proclaimed the same in public. Before the departure of the consuls, the senate gave audience, in the temple of Bellona, to Caius Cicereius, prætor of the former year. After recounting what he had performed in Corsica, he demanded a triumph; but this being refused, he rode in state on the Alban mount; a mode of celebration for victory without public authority, which had now become usual. The people, with universal approbation, passed and ratified the order proposed by Marcius, respecting the Ligurians; and in pursuance of this resolution of the people, Caius Licinius, prætor, desired the senate to appoint a person to conduct the inquiry, according to the order; whereupon the senate directed that he himself should conduct it.

22 The consuls repaired, at last, to their province, and received the command of the army from Marcus Popilius. But the latter did not dare to go home to Rome, lest he might plead his cause while the senate were so highly displeased with him, the people still more exasperated, and before a prætor likewise who had taken the opinion of the senate on an inquiry pointed against him. The tribunes of the people met his evasion by the menace of another order,—that if he did not come into the city of Rome before the ides of November, Caius Licinius should judge and determine respecting him, though absent. When he, dragged by this fetter, had returned, his presence in the senate called forth general hatred. There, when he was censured by the severe reproaches of many, a decree was passed, that the prætors, Caius Licinius and Cneius Sicinius, should take care that such of the Ligurians as had not been in open arms since the consulate of Quintus Fulvius and Lucius Manlius, should all be restored to liberty; and that the consul, Caius Popilius, should assign them lands on the farther side of the Po. By this decree many thousands were restored in this manner, led beyond the Po, and received portions of land accordingly. Marcus Popilius, being tried by the Marcian law, twice pleaded his cause before Caius Licinius; but at a third hearing, the prætor, overcome by his regard for the absent consul, and the prayers of the Popilian family, ordered the defendant to appear on the ides of March, on which day the new magistrates were to enter into office; so that he, being then in a private capacity, could not preside at the trial. Thus was the order of the people, respecting the Ligurians, eluded by artifice.

23 There were at this time in Rome ambassadors from Carthage, and also Gulussa, son of Masinissa, between whom very warm words passed, in presence of the senate. The Carthaginians complained that, “besides the district, about which ambassadors were formerly sent from Rome, to determine the matter on the spot, Masinissa had, within the last two years, by force of arms, possessed himself of more than seventy towns and forts in the Carthaginian territories. This was easy for him, who cared for nothing. But the Carthaginians, being tied down by treaty, were silent; for they were prohibited from carrying arms beyond their own frontiers; and although they knew that if they forced the Numidians thence, they would wage the war within their own territory, yet they were deterred by another clause in the treaty, too clear to be mistaken, in which they were expressly forbidden to wage war against the allies of the Roman people. But the Carthaginians could not longer endure his pride, his cruelty, and his avarice. “They were sent,” they said, “to beseech the senate to grant them one of these three things: either that they should fairly decide what belonged to each, as became an ally of both; or give permission to the Carthaginians to defend themselves in a just war against unjust attacks; or finally, if favour swayed more with them than the truth, to fix at once how much of the property of others they wished should be bestowed on Masinissa. That the senate would certainly be more moderate in their grants, and they themselves would know the extent of them; whereas, he would set no limits but the arbitrary dictates of his own ambition. If they could obtain none of these, and if they had, since the peace granted by Publius Scipio, been guilty of any transgression, they begged that the Romans themselves would rather inflict the punishment. They preferred a secure bondage under Roman masters, to a state of freedom exposed to the injustice of Masinissa. It was better for them to perish at once, than to continue to breathe under the will of “an executioner.” After these words, they burst into tears, prostrated themselves on the ground, and, in this posture, excited both compassion for themselves, and no less displeasure against the king.

24 It was then voted, that Gulussa should be asked what answer he had to make to these charges; or that, if it were more agreeable to him, he should first tell on what business he had come to Rome. Gulussa said, that “it was not easy for him to speak on subjects concerning which he had no instructions from his father; and that it would have been hard for his father to have given him instructions, when the Carthaginians neither disclosed the business which they intended to bring forward, nor even their design of going to Rome. That they had, for several nights, held private consultations, composed of nobles, in the temple of Æsculapius, from whence ambassadors were despatched with secret information to Rome. This was his father’s reason for sending him into Italy, that he might entreat the senate not to give credit to the common enemy accusing him, whom they hated for no other cause than his inviolable fidelity to the Roman people.” After hearing both parties, the senate, on the question being put respecting the demands of the Carthaginians, ordered this answer to be given, that “it was their will that Gulussa should, without delay, return to Numidia, and desire his father to send ambassadors immediately to the senate, to answer the complaints of the Carthaginians, and to give notice to that people to come and support their allegation. They had hitherto paid to Masinissa, and would continue to pay him, all the honour in their power; that they could not sacrifice justice to favour. Their wish was, that the lands should every where be possessed by the real owners; nor did they intend to establish new boundaries, but that the old ones should be observed. When they vanquished the Carthaginians, they left them in possession of cities and lands, not with the purpose of stripping them by acts of injustice in time of peace of what they had not taken from them by the right of war.” With this answer the Carthaginians, and the prince, were dismissed. The customary presents were sent to both parties, and the other attentions which hospitality inquired were performed with all courtesy.

25 About this time Cneius Servilius Cæpio, Appius Claudius Centho, and Titus Annius Luscus, who had been sent ambassadors to Macedonia, to demand restitution and renounce the king’s friendship, returned, and inflamed to a still greater degree the senate, already predisposed to hostilities against Perseus, by relating, in order, what they had seen and heard. They said, that “through all the cities of Macedonia they saw preparations for war, carried on with the utmost diligence. When they arrived at the residence of the king, they were refused admission to him for many days; at last, when, despairing of a conference, they were just setting out, then at length they were called back from their journey and brought before him. That the leading subjects in their discourse were, the treaty concluded with Philip, and, after his father’s death, renewed with himself; in which he was expressly prohibited from carrying his arms beyond his own dominions, and, likewise, from making war on the allies of the Roman people. They then laid before him, in order, the true and well-authenticated accounts which they themselves had lately heard from Eumenes, in the senate. They took notice, besides, of his having held a secret consultation, in Samothracia, with ambassadors from the states of Asia; and told him, that the senate thought proper that satisfaction should be given for these injuries, as well as restitution, to them and their allies, of their property, which he held contrary to the tenor of the treaty. On this the king, being inflamed, spoke at first harshly, frequently upbraiding the Romans with pride and avarice, and with ambassadors coming one after another to pry into his words and actions; and with thinking proper that he should speak and do all things in compliance with their nod and order. After speaking a long time with great loudness and violence, he ordered them to return the next day, for he intended to give his answer in writing. Then the written answer was given to them; of which the purport was, that the treaty concluded with his father in no respect concerned him; that he had suffered it to be renewed, not because he approved of it, but because, being so lately come to the throne, he had to endure every thing. If they chose to form a new engagement with him, they ought first to agree on the terms; if they could bring themselves to make a treaty on an equal footing, he would consider what was to be done on his part, and he was convinced that they would provide for the interests of their own state. After this, he hastily turned away, and they were desired to quit the palace. They then declared, that they renounced his friendship and alliance; at which he was highly exasperated, stopped, and with a loud voice charged them to quit his dominions within three days. They departed accordingly; and neither on their coming, nor while they staid, was any kind of attention or hospitality shown them.” The Thessalian and Ætolian ambassadors were then admitted to audience. It pleased the senate, that a letter should be sent to the consuls, directing, that whichever of them was most able should come to Rome to elect magistrates, in order that they might know what commanders the state was about to employ.

26 The consuls, during that year, performed no business of the republic that deserved much notice. It appeared more advantageous to the republic, that the Ligurians, who had been highly exasperated, should be pacified and appeased. While a Macedonian war was expected, ambassadors from Issa gave them reason to suspect the inclinations of Gentius, king of Illyria; for they complained that “he had, a second time, ravaged their country;” affirming likewise, that “the kings of Macedon and Illyria lived on terms of the closest intimacy; that both were preparing, in concert, for war against the Romans, and that there were then in Rome Illyrian spies, under the appearance of ambassadors, and who were sent thither by the advice of Perseus, to ascertain what was going on.” The Illyrians, being called before the senate, said, that they were sent by their king, to justify his conduct, if the Issans should make any complaint against him. They were then asked why they had not applied to some magistrate, that they might, according to the regular practice, be furnished with lodging and entertainment, that their arrival might be known, and the business on which they came; when they hesitated in their reply, they were ordered to retire out of the senate-house. It was not thought proper to give them any answer, as delegates, because they had not applied for an audience of the senate; they resolved, “that ambassadors should be sent to the king, to announce to him the complaints made by the allies of his having ravaged their country; and that he acted unjustly, since he did not refrain from offering injury to their allies.” On this embassy Aulus Terentius Varro, Caius Plætorius, and Caius Cicereius, were sent. The ambassadors, who had been sent to the several kings in alliance with the state, came home from Asia, and reported that “they had conferred in it with Eumenes; in Syria, with Antiochus; and at Alexandria, with Ptolemy; all of whom, though strongly solicited by embassies from Perseus, remained perfectly faithful to their engagements, and gave assurances of their readiness to execute every order of the Roman people. That they had also visited the allied states; that all were firm in their attachment, except the Rhodians, who seemed to be wavering, and infected by the counsels of Perseus.” Ambassadors had come from the Rhodians, to exculpate them from the imputations which, they knew, were openly urged against them; but a resolution was made, that “an audience of the senate should be given, when the new magistrates came into office.”

27 The senate were of opinion, that the preparations for war should be deferred no longer. The duty is assigned to Caius Licinius, that out of the old galleys laid up in the docks at Rome, which might be rendered serviceable, he should refit and get ready for sea fifty ships. If any were wanting to make up that number, that he should write to his colleague, Caius Memmius, in Sicily, directing him to repair and fit out such vessels as were in that province, so that they might be sent, with all expedition, to Brundusium. Caius Licinius, the prætor, was ordered to enlist Roman citizens of the rank of freed-men’s sons, to man twenty-five ships; Cneius Sicinius, to levy, from the allies, an equal number for the other twenty-five, and likewise to require from the Latin confederates eight thousand foot and four hundred horse. Aulus Atilius Serranus, who had been prætor the year before, was commissioned to receive these troops at Brundusium, and transport them to Macedon; and Cneius Sicinius, the prætor, to keep them in readiness for embarkation. By direction of the senate, Caius Licinius, the prætor, wrote to the consul, Caius Popilius, to order the second legion, which was the oldest then in Liguria, together with four thousand foot and two hundred horse, of the Latin nation, to be in Brundusium on the ides of February, With this fleet, and this army, Cneius Sicinius, being continued a year in command for the purpose, was ordered to take care of the province of Macedon until a new governor should arrive. All these measures, which the senate voted, were vigorously executed; thirty-eight quinqueremes were drawn out of the docks; Lucius Porcius Licinus was appointed to the command, with directions to conduct them to Brundusium, and twelve were sent from Sicily; three commissaries were despatched into Apulia and Calabria, to buy up corn for the fleet and army; these were Sextus Digitius, Titus Juventius, and Marcus Cæcilius. When all things were in readiness, the prætor, Cneius Sicinius, in his military robes, set out from the city and went to Brundusium.

28 The consul, Caius Popilius, came home to Rome when the year had almost expired, much later than had been directed by the vote of the senate; to whom it had seemed advantageous to the republic, that magistrates should be elected as soon as possible, when so important a war was impending. Therefore the consul did not receive a favourable hearing from the senate, when he spoke in the temple of Bellona of his acts among the Ligurians. There were frequent interruptions and questions, why he had not restored to liberty the Ligurians, who had been oppressed by his brother? The election was held on the day appointed by proclamation, the twelfth before the calends of March. The consuls chosen were, Publius Licinius Crassus and Caius Cassius Longinus. Next day were elected prætors, Caius Sulpicius Galba, Lucius Furius Philus, Lucius Canuleius Dives, Caius Lucretius Gallus, Caius Caninius Rebilus, and Lucius Villius Annalis. The provinces decreed to these prætors were, the two civil jurisdictions in Rome, Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia; and one of them was kept disengaged, that he might be employed wherever the senate should direct. The senate ordered the consuls elect, that, on whatever day they would enter on their office, having sacrificed victims of the larger kind, they should pray to the gods that the war, which the Roman people intended to engage in, might prove fortunate in the issue. On the same day the senate passed an order, that the consul, Caius Popilius, should vow games, of ten days’ continuance, to Jupiter supremely good and great, with offerings in all the temples, if the commonwealth should remain for ten years in its present state. Pursuant to this vote, the consul made a vow in the Capitol, that the games should be celebrated, and the offerings made, at such expense as the senate should direct, when not less than a hundred and fifty persons were present. That vow was expressed in terms dictated by Lepidus, the chief pontiff. There died this year, of the public priests, Lucius Æmilius Papus, decemvir of religious rites, and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, a pontiff who had been censor the year before. The latter died in a shocking manner: he had received an account, that, of his two sons who were in the army in Illyria, one was dead, and the other labouring under a heavy and dangerous malady: his grief and fears, together, overwhelmed his reason, and his servants, on going into his chamber in the morning, found him hanging by a rope. There was a general opinion, that, since his censorship, his understanding had not been sound; and the report was popular, that the resentment of Juno Lacinia, for the spoil committed on her temple, had caused the derangement of his intellects. Marcus Valerius Messala was substituted decemvir in the place of Æmilius; and Cneius Domitius Ænobarbus, though a mere youth, was chosen into the priesthood as pontiff in the room of Fulvius.

29 In this consulate of Publius Licinius and Caius Cassius, not only the city of Rome, but the whole of Italy, with all the kings and states both in Europe and in Asia, had their attention fixed on the approaching war between Rome and Macedon. Not only old hatred, but also recent anger, because by the villany of Perseus he had been almost slaughtered like a victim at Delphi, urged Eumenes against him. Prusias, king of Bithynia, resolved to keep clear of hostilities, and to wait the event; for as he did not think it proper to carry arms on the side of the Romans against his wife’s brother, so he trusted that, in case of Perseus proving victorious, his favour might be secured through the means of his sister. Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, besides having, in his own name, promised aid to the Romans, had, ever since he was allied by affinity to Eumenes, united with him in all his plans, whether of war or peace. Antiochus indeed entertained designs on the kingdom of Egypt, since he despised the unripe age of Ptolemy, and the inactive disposition of his guardians, and thought that he might, by raising a dispute about Cœlesyria, find sufficient pretext for proceeding to extremities, and carry on a war there without any impediment, while the Roman arms were employed against Macedon: yet, by his ambassadors to the senate, and to their ambassadors sent to him, he made the fairest promises. Ptolemy, on account of his age, was then influenced by the will of others; and his guardians, at the same time while they were preparing for war with Antiochus, to secure possession of Cœlesyria, promised the Romans every support in the war against Macedon. Masinissa both assisted the Romans with supplies of corn, and prepared to send into the field, to their assistance, a body of troops and a number of elephants, with his son Misagenes. He so arranged his plans as to answer every event that might take place; for if success should attend the Romans, he judged that his own affairs would rest in their present state, and that he ought to seek for nothing further, as the Romans would not suffer violence to be offered to the Carthaginians; and if the power of the Romans, which at that time protected the Carthaginians, should be reduced, then all Africa would be his own. Gentius, king of Illyria, had indeed given cause of suspicion to the Romans; but he had not yet determined which party to espouse, and it was believed that he would join either one or the other through some sudden impulse of passion, rather than from any rational motive. Cotys, the Thracian king of the Odrysians, was openly in favour of the Macedonians.

30 Such were the inclinations of the several kings, while the free nations and states the plebeians, favouring as usual the weaker cause, were almost universally inclined to the Macedonians and their king; but among the nobles might be observed different views. One party was so warmly devoted to the Romans, that, by the excess of their zeal, they diminished their own influence. Of these a few were actuated by their admiration of the justice of the Roman government; but by far the greater number supposed that they would become powerful in their state, if they displayed remarkable exertions. A second party wished to court the king’s favour, as debt, and despair of their affairs, while the same constitution remained, urged them hastily to complete revolution; and others, through a fickleness of temper, followed Perseus as the more popular character. A third party, the wisest and the best, wished, in case of being allowed the choice of a master, to live under the Romans rather than under the king. Yet, could they have had the free disposal of events, they wished that neither party should become more powerful by the destruction of the other, but rather that, the strength of both being uninjured, peace should continue on that account; for thus the condition of their states would be the happiest, as one party would always protect a weak state from any ill treatment intended by the other. Judging thus, they viewed in silence from their safe position the contest between the partisans of the two contending powers. The consuls, having on the day of their entering on office, in compliance with the order of the senate, sacrificed victims of the larger kinds in all the temples where the lectisternium was usually celebrated for the greater part of the year, and having from them collected omens that their prayers were accepted by the immortal gods, reported to the senate that the sacrifices had been duly performed, and prayers offered respecting the war. The aruspices declared, that “if any new undertaking was intended, it ought to be proceeded in without delay; that victory, triumphs, and extension of empire were portended.” The senate then resolved, that “the consuls should, on the first proper day, propose to the people assembled by centuries,—that whereas Perseus, son of Philip, and king of Macedon, contrary to the league struck with his father, and after Philip’s death renewed with himself, had committed hostilities on the allies of Rome, had wasted their lands, and seized their towns, and also had formed a design of making war on the Roman people, and had for that purpose prepared arms, troops, and a fleet; unless he gave satisfaction concerning those matters, that war should be proclaimed against him.” The question was carried among the commons. Then a decree of the senate was passed, that “the consuls should settle between themselves, or cast lots, for the provinces of Italy and Macedon; that the one to whose lot Macedon fell should seek redress by force of arms from king Perseus, and all who concurred in his designs, unless they made amends to the Roman people.”

31 It was ordered that four new legions should be raised, two for each consul. This in particular was assigned to the province of Macedon, that although five thousand foot and two hundred horse were assigned to the other consul’s legions, according to the ancient practice, six thousand foot and three hundred horse were ordered to be enlisted for each of the legions that were to serve in Macedonia. Of the allied troops also, the number was augmented in the army ordered into Macedon,—namely, sixteen thousand foot and eight hundred horse, besides the six hundred horsemen carried thither by Cneius Sicinius. For Italy, twelve thousand foot and six hundred horse of the allies were deemed sufficient. The following remarkable concession was made to the service in Macedon; the consul was authorized to enlist at his option veteran centurions and soldiers, as old as fifty years. An unusual mode of proceeding with regard to the military tribunes was also introduced on the same occasion: for the consuls, by direction of the senate, recommended to the people, that, for that year, the military tribunes should not be created by their suffrages; but that the consuls and prætors should exercise their judgment and discrimination in their selection. Their respective commands were assigned to the prætors in the following manner: he to whose lot it fell to be employed wherever the senate should direct, had orders to go to Brundusium, to the fleet, that he might then review the crews, and, dismissing such men as appeared unfit for the service, enlist in their places sons of freed-men, taking care that two-thirds should be Roman citizens, and the remainder allies. For supplying provisions to the ships and legions, from Sicily and Sardinia, it was resolved, that the prætors who obtained the government of those provinces should be enjoined to levy a second tenth on the Sicilians and Sardinians, and that this corn should be conveyed into Macedon, to the army. The lots gave Sicily to Caius Caninius Rebilus; Sardinia, to Lucius Furius Philus; Spain, to Lucius Canuleius; the city jurisdiction, to Caius Sulpicius Galba; and the foreign, to Lucius Villius Annalis. The lot of Caius Lucretius Gallus was to be employed wherever the senate should direct.

32 The consuls had a slight dispute, rather than a great contest, about their province. Cassius said, that “he would select Macedon without casting lots, nor could his colleague, without perjury, abide their determination. When he was prætor, to avoid going to his province, he made oath in the public assembly, that he had sacrifices to perform on stated days, in a stated place, and that they could not be duly performed in his absence; and surely they could no more be performed duly in his absence when he was consul, than when he was prætor. If the senate thought proper to pay more regard to what Publius Licinius wished, in his consulship, than to what he had sworn in his prætorship, he himself, for his part, would at all events be ruled by that body.” When the question was put, the senators thought it would be a degree of arrogance in them to refuse a province to him, since the Roman people had not denied him the consulship. They, however, ordered the consuls to cast lots. Macedonia fell to Publius Licinius, Italy to Caius Cassius. They then cast lots for the legions: when it fell to the lot of the first and third to go over into Macedonia; and of the second and fourth, to remain in Italy. The consuls held the levy with much greater care than usual. Licinius enlisted even veteran centurions and soldiers; and many of them volunteered, as they saw that those men who had served in the former Macedonian war, or in Asia, had become rich. When the military tribunes cited the centurions, and especially those of the highest rank, twenty-three of them, who had held the first posts, appealed to the tribunes of the people. Two of that body, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, wished to refer the matter to the consuls; “the cognizance of it ought to rest with those to whom the levy and the war were intrusted:” but the rest declared, that since the appeal had been made to them, they would examine into the affair; and, if there were any injustice in the case, would support their fellow-citizens.

33 The business, therefore, came into the court of the tribunes. Thither Marcus Popilius, a man of consular dignity, the centurions, and the consul came. The consul then required that the matter might be discussed in a general assembly; and, accordingly, the people were summoned. On the side of the centurions, Marcus Popilius, who had been consul two years before, argued thus: that “as military men they had served out their regular time, and that they possessed bodies worn out through age and continual hardships. Nevertheless, they did not refuse to give the public the benefit of their services, they only entreated that they might be favoured so far, that posts inferior to those which they had formerly held in the army should not be assigned to them.” The consul, Publius Licinius, first ordered the decree of the senate to be read, in which war was determined against Perseus; and then the other, which directed that as many veteran centurions as could be procured should be enlisted for that war; and that no exemption from the service should be allowed to any who was not upwards of fifty years of age. He then entreated that, “at a time when a new war was breaking out so near to Italy, and with a most powerful king, they would not either obstruct the military tribunes in making the levies, or prevent the consul from assigning to each person such a post as best suited the convenience of the public; and that, if any doubt should arise in the proceedings, they might refer it to the decision of the senate.”

34 When the consul had said all that he thought proper, Spurius Ligustinus, one of those who had appealed to the plebeian tribunes, requested permission from the consul and tribunes to speak a few words to the people. By the permission of them all he spoke, we are told, to this effect: “Romans, I am Spurius Ligustinus, of the Crustuminian tribe, and I sprung from the Sabines. My father left me one acre of land, and a small cottage, in which I was born and educated, and I dwell there to-day. As soon as I came to man’s estate, my father married me to his brother’s daughter, who brought nothing with her but independence and modesty; except, indeed, a degree of fruitfulness that would have better suited a wealthier family. We have six sons and two daughters; the latter are both married; of our sons, four are grown up to manhood, the other two are as yet boys. I became a soldier in the consulate of Publius Sulpicius and Caius Aurelius. In the army which was sent over into Macedon I served as a common soldier, against Philip, for two years; and in the third year, Titus Quintius Flamininus, in reward of my good conduct, gave me the command of the tenth company of spearmen. When Philip and the Macedonians were subdued, and we were brought back to Italy and discharged, I immediately went as a volunteer, with the consul Marcus Porcius into Spain. Those who have had experience of him, and of other generals in a long course of service, know that no single commander living was a more accurate observer and judge of merit. This commander judged me deserving of being set at the head of the first company of spearmen. A third time I entered as a volunteer in the army which was sent against the Ætolians and king Antiochus; and Manius Acilius gave me the command of the first company of first-rank men. After Antiochus was driven out of the country, and the Ætolians were reduced, we were brought home to Italy, where I served the two succeeding years in legions that were raised annually. I afterwards made two campaigns in Spain; one under Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, the other under Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, prætors. I was brought by Flaccus among others whom he brought home from the province to attend his triumph, out of regard to their good services. At the request of Tiberius Gracchus, I went with him to his province. Four times within a few years was I first centurion of my corps; thirty-four times I was honoured by my commanders with presents for bravery. I have received six civic crowns, I have fulfilled twenty-two years of service in the army, and I am upwards of fifty years of age. But, if I had neither served out all my campaigns, nor was entitled to exemption on account of my age, yet Publius Licinius, as I can supply you with four soldiers instead of myself, it were reasonable that I should be discharged. But I wish you to consider these words merely as a state of my case; as to offering any thing as an excuse from service, that is what I will never do, so long as any officer, enlisting troops, shall believe me fit for it. What rank the military tribunes may think I deserve, rests with their power. That no one in the army may surpass me in a zealous discharge of duty, I shall use my best endeavours; and that I have always acted on that principle, my commanders and my comrades can testify. And now, fellow-soldiers, you who assert your privilege of appeal, as you have never, in your youthful days, done any act contrary to the directions of the magistrates and the senate, now too you ought to be amenable to the authority of the senate and consuls, and to think every post honourable in which you can act for the defence of the commonwealth.”

35 Having finished his speech, he was highly commended by the consul, who led him from the assembly into the senate-house, where, by order of the senate, he again received public thanks; and the military tribunes, in consideration of his meritorious behaviour, made him first centurion in the first legion. The rest of the centurions, dropping the appeal, submissively answered to their names in the levy. That the magistrates might the sooner go into their provinces, the Latin festival was celebrated on the calends of June; and as soon as that solemnity was ended, Caius Lucretius, the prætor, after sending forward every thing requisite for the fleet, went to Brundusium. Besides the armies which the consuls were forming, Caius Sulpicius Galba, the prætor, was commissioned to raise four city legions, with the regular number of foot and horse, and to choose out of the senate four military tribunes to command them; likewise, to require from the Latin allies fifteen thousand foot, with twelve hundred horse; that this army should be prepared to act wherever the senate should order. At the desire of the consul, Publius Licinius, the following auxiliaries were ordered to join the army of citizens and allies under his command: two thousand Ligurians; a body of Cretan archers (whose number was not specified, the order only mentioning whatever succours the Cretans, on being applied to, should send); likewise the Numidian cavalry and elephants. To settle concerning these last, ambassadors were sent to Masinissa and the Carthaginians,—Lucius Postumius Albinus, Quintus Terentius Culleo, and Caius Aburius: also, to Crete,—Aulus Postumius Albinus, Caius Decimius, and Aulus Licinius Nerva.

36 At this time arrived ambassadors from Perseus. It was the pleasure of the fathers that they should not be permitted to come into the city; as the senate had already decreed; and the people had ordered, a declaration of war against their king and the Macedonians. Being introduced before the senate in the temple of Bellona, they spoke in the following manner: that “king Perseus wondered what could be their motive for transporting troops into Macedon; and that if the senate could be prevailed on to recall them, the king would, at their arbitration, satisfactorily account for any injuries of which their allies might complain.” Spurius Carvilius had been sent home from Greece, by Cneius Sicinius, for the purpose of attending this business, and was present in the senate. He charged the king with taking military occupation of Perrhæbia, storming several cities of Thessaly, and other enterprises, in which he was either actually employed or preparing to engage; and the ambassadors were called on to answer to those points. After they declined to do so, declaring that they had no further instructions, they were ordered to tell their king, that “the consul Publius Licinius would soon be in Macedon at the head of an army. To him he might send ambassadors, if he were disposed to give satisfaction, but there was no use in his sending any more to Rome; for none of them would be permitted to pass through Italy.” After they were thus dismissed, a charge was given to Publius Sicinius, to insist on their quitting Italy within eleven days, and to send Spurius Carvilius to guard them, until they embarked. Such were the transactions at Rome, before the departure of the consuls for their provinces. Cneius Sicinius, who, before the expiration of his office, had been sent to Brundusium to the fleet and army, had by this time transported into Epirus five thousand foot and three hundred horse, and was encamped at Nymphæum, in the territory of Apollonia. From which place he sent tribunes, with two thousand men, to take possession of the forts of the Dassaretians and Illyrians; as those people themselves solicited garrisons, to secure them from the inroads of the Macedonians in their neighbourhood.

37 A few days after, Quintus Marcius, Aulus Atilius, Publius Cornelius Lentulus, Servius Cornelius Lentulus, and Lucius Decimius, who were sent ambassadors to Greece, carried with them one thousand soldiers to Corcyra; where they divided the troops among them, and settled what districts they were to visit. Decimius was sent to Gentius, king of Illyria, with instructions to sound him, as to whether he retained any regard for former friendship; and even to prevail on him to take part in the war. The two Lentuluses were sent to Cephallenia that they might cross over from it into Peloponnesus; and, before the winter, make a circuit round the western coast. The circuit of Epirus, Ætolia, and Thessaly is intrusted to Marcius and Atilius; they were directed to take a view afterwards of Bœotia and Eubœa, and then to pass over to Peloponnesus, where, by appointment, they were to meet the Lentuluses. Before they set out on their several routes from Corcyra, a letter was brought from Perseus, in which he inquired the reason of the Romans sending troops into Greece, and taking possession of the cities. They did not think proper to give him any answer in writing; but they told his messenger, who brought the letter, “for the sake of guarding the cities themselves.” The Lentuluses, going round the cities of Peloponnesus, after exhorting all the states, without distinction, as they had assisted the Romans with fidelity and spirit, first in the war with Philip, and then in that with Antiochus, to assist them now, in like manner, against Perseus, heard some murmuring in the assemblies; for the Achæans were highly offended that they, who, from the very first rise of the war with Macedon, had given every instance of friendship to the Romans, and had been open enemies to the Macedonians in the war with Philip, should be treated on the same footing with the Messenians and Elians, who had borne arms on the side of Antiochus against the Roman people, and who, being lately incorporated in the Achæan union, made heavy complaints, as if they were made over to the victorious Achæans as a prize.

38 When Marcius and Atilius went up to Gitanæ, a town of Epirus, about ten miles from the sea, a council of Epirotes being held there, they were listened to with universal approbation; and they sent thence four hundred young men of that country to Orestæ, to protect those whom they had freed from the dominion of the Macedonians. From this place they proceeded into Ætolia; where, having waited a few days, until a prætor was chosen, in the room of one who had died, and the election having fallen on Lyciscus, who was well known to be a friend to the interest of the Romans, they passed over into Thessaly. The envoys of the Acarnanians and the exiles of the Bœotians came thither. The Acarnanians had orders to represent that “whatever offences they had been guilty of towards the Romans, first in the war with Philip, and afterwards in that with Antiochus, in consequence of being misled by the professions of those kings, they had found an opportunity to expiate. Since in spite of their demerits they had experienced the clemency of the Roman people, so they would now, by their endeavours to merit favour, make trial of its generosity.” The Bœotians were upbraided with having united themselves in alliance with Perseus; but they threw the blame on Ismenias, the leader of a party, and alleged, that “several states were drawn into that measure, contrary to their own judgment:” to which Marcius replied, that “this would appear, as they intended to give to every one of the states the power of judging for itself.” The council of the Thessalians was held at Larissa. There too the Thessalians had a wide field for giving thanks to the Romans for the blessing of liberty conferred on them; and the ambassadors, because they had been vigorously assisted by the Thessalians in the wars with Philip and Antiochus. The feelings of the assembly were acted on by this mutual acknowledgment of favours to such a degree that they voted every measure which the Romans wished. Soon after this meeting, ambassadors arrived from king Perseus, chiefly through reliance on a connexion of hospitality subsisting between him and Marcius, which had existed between their fathers. The ambassadors began by reminding him of this bond of amity, and then requested him to give the king an opportunity of conferring with him. Marcius answered, that “he had received from his father the same account of the friendship and hospitable connexion between him and Philip; and the consideration of that connexion induced him to undertake the present embassy. That he would not have so long delayed giving the king a meeting, could it have been done without inconvenience; and that now he and his colleague would, as soon as it should be in their power, come to the river Peneus, where the passage was from Omolium to Dium; messengers being previously sent to announce it to the king.”

39 Perseus, on this, withdrew from Dium into the heart of the kingdom, having conceived a slight inspiration of hope from the expression of Marcius, that he had undertaken the embassy out of regard to him. After a few days they all met at the appointed place. The king’s suite was a large one, since a crowd of friends attended him, as well as his body-guards. The ambassadors came with a train not inferior in numbers, as many accompanied them from Larissa, and also the delegates of many states, who had met them there, wishing to carry home information on the positive testimony of what they themselves should hear. All men felt a strong curiosity to behold a meeting between so powerful a king, and the ambassadors of the first people in the world. After they came within sight, on the opposite sides of the river, some time was spent in sending messengers from one to the other, to settle which of the two should cross it; for one party thought the compliment due to royal majesty, the other to the fame of the Roman people, especially as Perseus had requested the conference. Marcius by a jest roused them from their delay:—“Let the younger,” said he, “cross over to the elder; the son to the father:” for his own surname was Philip. The king was easily persuaded to comply; but then another perplexity arose, about the number he should bring over with him. He thought it would be proper to be attended by his whole retinue; but the ambassadors required that he should either come with three attendants only, or if he brought so great a band, that he should give hostages that no treachery should be used during the conference. He accordingly sent as hostages Hippias and Pantaucus, two of his particular friends, and whom he had sent as ambassadors. The hostages were demanded not so much to get a pledge of good faith, as to make it apparent to the allies, that the king did not meet the ambassadors on a footing of equal dignity. Their salutations were not like those between enemies, but kind and friendly; and seats being placed for them, they sat down together.

40 After a short silence, Marcius began thus:—“I suppose you expect us to give an answer to your letter sent to Corcyra, in which you ask the reason, why we ambassadors come attended by soldiers, and why we send garrisons into the cities? To this your question I dread either to refuse an answer, lest it should appear haughty in me, or to give a true one, lest, to your ears, it might seem too harsh. But since the person who infringes a treaty must be reproved, either with words or with arms, as I could wish that the war against you had been intrusted to any other rather than to myself, so I will undergo the task, however disagreeable, of uttering rough language against my friend, as physicians, when they, for the recovery of health, sometimes apply painful remedies. The senate is of opinion that, since you came to the throne, you have acted but in one particular as you ought to have done, and that is, in sending ambassadors to Rome to renew the treaty made with your father,—and yet it would have been better never to have renewed it, (they think,) than afterwards to violate it. You expelled from his throne Abrupolis, an ally and friend of the Roman people. You gave refuge to the murderers of Artetarus, that it might appear that you were pleased at his assassination, to say nothing worse; though they put to death a prince, who, of all the Illyrians, was the most faithful to the Roman nation. You marched with an army through Thessaly and the Italian territory to Delphi, contrary to the treaty. You likewise, in violation of it, sent succours to the Byzantians. You concluded by an oath a separate alliance with the Bœotians our confederates, which you had no right to do. As to Eversa and Callicritus, the Theban ambassadors, who were slain in returning from Rome, I wish rather to inquire who were their murderers, than to charge any one of the crime. To whom else than your agents can the civil war in Ætolia, and the deaths of the principal inhabitants, be imputed? The country of the Dolopians was ravaged by you in person. King Eumenes, when he was returning from Rome to his own dominions, was almost butchered, as a victim, at the altars in consecrated ground, at Delphi, and it grieves me to know the person whom he accuses. With regard to the secret crimes which the host at Brundusium states in his communication, I take it for certain, that all the particulars were written you from Rome, and that your ambassadors reported them to you. There was one way by which you might have avoided my speaking of these matters, which was, by not inquiring why we brought troops into Macedonia, or sent garrisons into the cities of our allies. When you had asked the question, it would have been more haughty to keep silence, than to answer according to truth. Out of regard to the friendship derived to us from our fathers, I am really disposed to listen favourably to whatever you may say, and wish that you may afford me some grounds of pleading your cause before the senate.”

41 To this the king answered,—“A cause which would approve itself good if tried before impartial judges, I must plead before judges who are at the same time my accusers. Of the circumstances laid to my charge, some are of such a nature that I know not whether I ought not to glory in them; others there are which I would not blush to confess; and others, which as they are backed by bare assertions, it will be sufficient to deny. Supposing that I were this day to stand a trial, according to your laws, what does either the Brundusian informer, or Eumenes, allege against me that would be deemed a well-founded accusation, and not rather a malicious aspersion? Had Eumenes (although both in his public and private capacity he has done many grievous injuries to so many people) no other enemy than me? Could I not find a better agent for the perpetration of wickedness than Rammius, whom I had never seen before, nor had any probability of ever seeing again? Then, I must give an account of the Thebans, who, it is well known, perished by shipwreck; and of the death of Artetarus, with regard to whom nothing more is alleged against me, than that his murderers lived in exile in my dominions. I will not object to the injustice of this assumption, provided you will admit it on your side; and will acknowledge that, whatever exiles have taken refuge in Rome or in Italy, you are yourselves abettors of the crimes for which they have been condemned. If you admit not this principle, as other nations will not, neither will I. In truth, what advantage were it to any one that exile lay within his grasp, if no where was there room for an exile? As soon however as I understood from your representations, that those men were in Macedon, I ordered that search should be made for them, and that they should quit the kingdom; and I prohibited them for ever from setting foot on my dominions. These accusations are brought against me as if I were a criminal pleading my cause; the others affect me as a king, and must derive their decision from the treaty which exists between you and me. For if it is thus expressed in that treaty, that even if any one would wage war against me, I am not permitted to protect my kingdom; I must then confess I have infringed it, by defending myself with arms against Abrupolis, an ally of the Roman people. But, on the other hand, if it is both allowed by the treaty, and is an axiom established by the law of nations, that arms may be repelled by arms; how, I pray you, ought I to have acted when Abrupolis had spread devastation over the frontiers of my kingdom as far as Amphipolis, carried off great numbers of free persons a vast multitude of slaves, and many thousands of cattle? Ought I to have lain quiet, and let him proceed until he came in arms to Pella, into my very palace? But, allowing that I avenged my wrongs in a just war, yet he ought not to have been subdued, and made to suffer the evils which occur to the vanquished. Nay, but when I, who was the person attacked, underwent the hazard of all these, how can he, who was the cause of the war, complain if they happened to fall upon himself? As to my having punished the Dolopians by force of arms, I mean not, Romans, to defend myself in the same manner; because, whether they deserved that treatment or not, I acted in right of my own sovereign authority: for they were under my sovereign power and dominion, annexed to my father’s territories by your decree. Nor, even if I were to give an account of my conduct, I do not say to you, nor my other confederates, but even to such as disapprove of a severe and unjust exercise of authority, even over slaves, would I appear to have carried my severity against them beyond the limits of justice and equity; for they slew Euphranor, the governor whom I had set over them, in such a manner, that death was the slightest of his sufferings.

42 “But, when I proceeded to visit Larissa, Antron, and Pteleos, (that I might be within a convenient distance to pay vows, due long before,) I went up to Delphi, in order to offer sacrifice; and here, with the purpose of aggravating the imputed guilt, it is subjoined, that I went with an army, with intent to do what I now complain of your doing,—to seize the towns, and put garrisons in the citadels. Now, call together, in assembly, the states of Greece, through which I marched; and if any one person complain of ill treatment, offered by a soldier of mine, I will not deny that I may appear, under a pretence of sacrificing, to have had a different object. We sent aid to the Ætolians and Byzantians, and made a treaty of friendship with the Bœotians. These proceedings, of whatever nature they may be, have been repeatedly avowed by my ambassadors; and, what is more, excused before your senate, where I had several of my judges not so favourable as you, Quintus Marcius, my paternal friend and guest. But at that time, my accuser, Eumenes, had not come to Rome; one who, by misrepresenting and distorting every occurrence, rendered it suspicious and odious, and endeavoured to persuade you that Greece could not be in a state of freedom, nor enjoy your kindness, while the kingdom of Macedon subsisted. The wheel will come round; people will soon be found who will insist, that Antiochus was in vain removed beyond the mountains of Taurus; that Eumenes is more burdensome to Asia than Antiochus was; and that your allies can never enjoy peace so long as there is a palace at Pergamus: for this was raised as a citadel over the heads of the neighbouring states. Quintus Marcius and Aulus Atilius, I am aware that the charges which were made by you, and my reply to them, will have just so much weight as the ears and the tempers of the hearers are disposed to allow them to have; and that the question what I have done, or with what intention, is not of so much importance, as what construction you may put on what has been done. I am conscious to myself that I have not, knowingly, done wrong; and that, if I have done any wrong, erring through imprudence, I am capable of receiving correction and reformation from these reproofs. I have certainly committed no fault that is incurable, or deserving punishment by war and plunder: for surely the fame of your clemency and consistency of conduct, spread over the world, is ill-founded, if, on such causes as are scarcely deserving of complaint or expostulation, you take up arms against kings in alliance with you.”

43 As he uttered these words with the apparent approbation of the ambassadors, Marcius advised him to send ambassadors to Rome, as he thought it best to try every expedient to the last, and to omit nothing that might afford any prospect of peace. The consideration still remained, how the ambassadors might travel with safety; and although, to this end, it was necessary that the king should ask a truce, which Marcius wished for, and in fact had no other view in consenting to the conference, yet he granted it with apparent reluctance, and as a great favour to the persons requesting it. At that juncture the Romans had not made sufficient preparations for war; they had no army, no general: whereas Perseus had every thing prepared and ready; and if a delusive hope of peace had not blinded his judgment, he might have commenced hostilities at a time most advantageous to himself and distressing to his enemies. At the breaking up of this conference, (the truce being ratified by both parties,) the Roman ambassadors bent their route towards Bœotia, where great commotions were now beginning; for several of the states withdrew themselves from the union of the general confederacy of the Bœotians, from the time that the answer of the ambassadors was announced, that “it would appear what particular states were displeased at the formation of the alliance with the king.” First deputies from Chæronea, then others from Thebes, met the Romans on the road, and assured them, that they were not present in the council wherein that alliance was resolved on. The ambassadors, giving them no answer at the time, ordered that they should go with them to Chalcis. At Thebes a violent dissension arose out of another contest. The party defeated in the election of prætors of Bœotia, resolving to revenge the affront, collected the multitude, and passed a decree at Thebes, that the new Bœotarchs should not be admitted into the cities. All the persons thus exiled betook themselves to Thespiæ; being recalled from it (for they were received there without hesitation) to Thebes, owing to a change in the minds of the people, they passed a decree that the twelve persons who, without being invested with public authority, had held an assembly and council, should be punished by banishment: and afterwards the new prætor, (he was Ismenias, a man of distinction and power,) by another decree, condemns them, although absent, to capital punishment. They had fled to Chalcis; and thence they proceeded to Larissa, to the Romans, and threw on Ismenias alone the blame of the alliance concluded with Perseus, asserting that the contest originated in a party dispute; yet ambassadors from both sides waited on the Romans, as did the exiles, accusers of Ismenias, and Ismenias himself.

44 When they were all arrived at Chalcis, the chiefs of the other states, each by a particular decree of their own, renounced the alliance of Perseus, and joined themselves to the Romans, a circumstance which gave very great pleasure to the latter. Ismenias recommended, that the Bœotian nation should be placed under the orders of Rome; on which so violent a dispute arose, that, if he had not fled for shelter to the tribunal of the ambassadors, he would not have been far from losing his life by the hands of the exiles and their abettors. Thebes itself, the capital of Bœotia, was in a violent ferment, one party struggling hard to bring the state over to the king, the other to the Romans; and multitudes had come together, from Coronæ and Haliartus, to support the decree in favour of Perseus. But by the firmness of the chiefs, (who desired them to judge, from the defeats of Philip and Antiochus, how great must be the power and fortune of the Roman empire,) the same multitude was overcome, and not only resolved that the alliance with the king should be cancelled, but also, to gratify the ambassadors, sent the promoters of that alliance to Chalcis; and ordered, that the state should be recommended to the protection of the Romans. Marcius and Atilius heard the Thebans with joy, and advised both them and each state separately to send ambassadors to Rome to renew the treaty. They required, above all things, that the exiles should be restored; and condemned by their own decree the advisers of the treaty with the king. Having thus disunited the members of the Bœotian council, which was their grand object, they proceeded to Peloponnesus, after summoning Servius Cornelius to Chalcis. An assembly was summoned to meet them at Argos, where they demanded nothing more from the Achæans, than the furnishing of one thousand soldiers, which were sent as a garrison to defend Chalcis until a Roman army should come into Greece.

45 Marcius and Atilius having finished the business that was to be done in Greece, returned to Rome in the beginning of winter. An embassy had been despatched thence, about the same time, into Asia, to the several islands. The ambassadors were three; Tiberius Claudius, Publius Postumius, and Marcus Junius. These, making a circuit among the allies, exhorted them to undertake the war against Perseus, in conjunction with the Romans; and the more powerful any state was, the more earnestly they requested them, judging that the smaller states would follow the lead of the greater. The Rhodians were esteemed of the utmost consequence on every account; because they could not only countenance the war, but also assist in it by their own strength, having, pursuant to the advice of Hegesilochus, forty ships ready for sea. This man being chief magistrate, whom they call Prytanis, had, by many arguments, prevailed on the Rhodians to banish the hope of courting the favour of kings, which they had, in repeated instances, found fallacious; and to maintain firmly the alliance with Rome (which was the only one in the earth that could be relied on for strength or honour). He told them, that “a war was upon the point of breaking out with Perseus: that the Romans would expect the same naval armament which they had seen lately in that with Antiochus, and formerly in that with Philip: that they would be hurried, in the hasty equipment of a fleet, when it ought to be sent at once, unless they immediately set about the repairing and manning of their ships: and that they ought to do this with the greatest diligence, in order to refute, by the evidence of facts, the imputations thrown on them by Eumenes.” Roused by these arguments, they showed to the Roman ambassadors, on their arrival, a fleet of forty ships rigged and fitted out, so that it might appear that they did not require to be urged. This embassy had great effect in conciliating the affections of the states in Asia. Decimius alone returned to Rome without effecting any thing, and disgraced by the suspicion of having received money from the Illyrian kings.

46 When Perseus, after the conference with the Romans, had retired into Macedon, he sent ambassadors to Rome to carry on the negotiation for peace commenced with Marcius, giving them letters, to be delivered at Byzantium and Rhodes. The purport of the letters to all was the same, viz. that he had conferred with the Roman ambassadors. What he had heard from them, and what he had said, was, however, represented in such a manner that he might seem to have had the advantage in the debate. In presence of the Rhodians, the ambassadors added, that “they were confident of a continuation of peace, for it was by the advice of Marcius and Atilius that they were sent to Rome. But if the Romans should commence their hostilities, contrary to treaty, it would then be the business of the Rhodians to labour, with all their power and all their interest, for the re-establishment of peace; and that, if they should effect nothing by their mediation, they ought then to take such measures as would prevent the dominion of the whole world from coming into the hands of one nation only. That, as this was a matter of general concern, so it was peculiarly interesting to the Rhodians, as they surpassed the other states in dignity and power, which must be held on terms of servility and dependence, if there were no other resource for redress than the Romans.” Both the letter and the discourse of the ambassadors were received by the Rhodians with every appearance of kindness, but by no means exerted any influence in working a change in their minds, for by this time the best-judging party had the superior influence. By a public order this answer was given:—that “the Rhodians wished for peace; but, if war should take place, they hoped that the king would not expect or require from them any thing that might break off their ancient friendship with the Romans, the fruit of many and great services performed on their part both in war and peace.” The Macedonians, on their way home from Rhodes, visited also the states of Bœotia. Thebes, Coronæa, and Haliartus; for it was thought that the measure of abandoning the alliance with the king, and joining the Romans, was extorted from them against their will. The Thebans were not influenced by his representations, though they were somewhat displeased with the Romans, on account of the sentence passed on their nobles, and the restoration of the exiles; but the Coronæans and Haliartians, out of a kind of natural attachment to kings, sent ambassadors to Macedon, requesting the aid of a body of troops to defend them against the insolent tyranny of the Thebans. To this application the king answered, that, “on account of the truce concluded with the Romans, it was not in his power to send troops; but he recommended to them, to guard themselves against ill-treatment from the Thebans, as far as they were able, without affording the Romans a pretext for venting their resentment on him.”

47 When Marcius and Atilius returned to Rome, they reported in the Capitol the result of their embassy, in such a manner that they assumed no greater merit for any one matter, than for having overreached the king by the suspension of arms, and the hope of peace given him; for “he was so fully provided,” they said, “with every requisite for the immediate commencement of war, while on their side no one thing was in readiness, that all the convenient posts might have been preoccupied by him before an army could be transported into Greece; but, by gaining so much time by the truce, the Romans would begin the war better provided with every thing; whereas he would come into the field in no respect better prepared.” They mentioned, also, that “they had so effectually disunited by stratagem the members of the Bœotian council, that they could never again, with any degree of unanimity, connect themselves with the Macedonians.” A great part of the senate approved of these proceedings, as conducted with consummate wisdom; but the older members, and those who retained the ancient simplicity of manners, declared, that “in the conduct of that embassy, they could discover nothing of the Roman genius. Their ancestors waged war not by stratagems and attacks in the night, nor by counterfeiting flight and returning unexpectedly on an unguarded foe, nor in such a manner as to glory in cunning more than in real valour. That they were accustomed to proclaim war before they waged it, that they sometimes appointed the day of battle and marked out the ground on which they were to fight. That with the same honourable feeling information was given to king Pyrrhus of his physician plotting against his life; and, from the same motive, they delivered bound, to the Faliscians, the betrayer of their children. These were the acts of the Roman law, not resulting from the craft of Carthaginians or the subtlety of Greeks, among whom it is reckoned more glorious to deceive an enemy than to overcome him by force. Sometimes greater present advantages may be acquired by artifice than by bravery. But an adversary’s spirit is finally subdued for ever, when the confession has been extorted from him, that he was vanquished, not by artifice, nor by chance, but in a just and open war, in a fair trial of strength hand to hand.” Such were the sentiments of the elder members, to whom this modern kind of wisdom was displeasing. But that part of the senate who paid more regard to utility than to honour, prevailed, and passed a vote approving of Marcius’ conduct in his former embassy; at the same time ordering that he should be sent again into Greece with some ships, and with authority to act in other matters as he should judge most conducive to the public good. They also sent Aulus Atilius to keep possession of Larissa in Thessaly; fearing lest, on the expiration of the armistice, Perseus might send troops and secure to himself that metropolis. For the execution of this, Atilius was ordered to receive from Cneius Sicinius two thousand infantry. And three hundred soldiers of the Italian race were given to Publius Lentulus, who had returned from Achaia, that he should fix his quarters at Thebes, in order that Bœotia might be kept in obedience.

48 After these preparations were made, the senate, notwithstanding their determination for war was fixed, yet judged it proper to give audience to the king’s ambassadors. Their discourse was, principally, a repetition of what had been urged by Perseus in the conference. The accusation of laying the ambush against Eumenes was defended with the greatest care, and yet with the least success, for the thing was manifest. The rest consisted of apologies: but their hearers were not in a temper to be either convinced or persuaded. Orders were given them to quit the city of Rome instantly, and Italy within thirty days. Then orders were given to Publius Licinius, the consul, to whose lot the province of Macedon had fallen, to appoint as early as possible the day for assembling the army. Caius Lucretius, the prætor, whose province was the fleet, sailed from the city with forty quinqueremes; for it was judged proper that some of the vessels that were repaired should be kept at Rome for other exigencies. The prætor sent forward his brother, Marcus Lucretius, with one quinquereme; ordering him to collect from the allies the ships due by treaty, and to join the fleet at Cephalonia. He received from the Rhegians one trireme, from the Locrians two, and from the Urites four; and then, coasting along the shore of Italy, until he passed the farthest promontory of Calabria, in the Ionian Sea, he shaped his course over to Dyrrachium. Finding there ten barks belonging to the Dyrrachians, twelve belonging to the Issæans, and fifty-four to king Gentius, affecting to understand that they had been brought thither for the use of the Romans, he carried them all off, and sailed in three days to Corcyra, and thence directly to Cephalonia. The prætor Caius Lucretius set sail from Naples, and, passing the strait, arrived on the fifth day at Cephalonia. There the fleet halted, waiting until the land forces should be carried over, and until the transport vessels, which had been separated from the fleet and scattered over the sea, might rejoin it.

49 About this time the consul Publius Licinius, after offering vows in the Capitol, marched out of the city in his military robes. This ceremony is always conducted with great dignity and solemnity; on this occasion particularly, it engaged people’s eyes and thoughts in an unusual degree,—and this, by reason that they escorted the consul against an enemy formidable and conspicuous both for abilities and resources. For not only their desire to pay him the customary respect, but an earnest wish to behold the show, and see the commander, to whose wisdom and conduct they intrusted the maintenance of the public safety, brought them together. Then such reflections as these entered their minds: “How various were the chances of war; how uncertain the issue of the contest; how variable the success of arms; how frequent the vicissitudes of losses and successes; what disasters often happened through the unskilfulness and rashness of commanders; and on the contrary, what advantages their judgment and valour conferred. What human being could yet know either the capacity or the fortune of the consul whom they were sending against the enemy; whether they were shortly to see him at the head of a victorious army ascending the Capitol in triumph, to revisit the same gods from whom he now took his departure, or whether they were to give a like cause of exultation to their enemies.” Then king Perseus, against whom he was going, had a high reputation, derived from the great martial character of the Macedonian nation, and from his father Philip, who, besides many prosperous achievements, had gained a large share of renown even in his war with the Romans. Besides too, the name of Perseus himself, which had never ceased, since his accession to the throne, to be the subject of conversation, owing to the expectation of the war. Two military tribunes, of consular rank, Caius Claudius and Quintus Mucius, were sent with him; and three illustrious young men, Publius Lentulus, and two of the name of Manlius Acidinus, one the son of Marcus Manlius, the other of Lucius. With these he went to Brundusium to the army; and sailing over thence with all his forces, pitched his camp at Nymphæum, in the territory of Apollonia.