37 Paullus, as soon as he saw the camp marked out, and the baggage laid up, drew off, first, the veterans from the rear line, then the first-rank men, while the spearmen stood in the front, lest the enemy might make any attempt; and lastly, the spearmen, beginning at the right wing, and leading them away, gradually, by single companies. Thus were the infantry drawn off without tumult; and, in the mean time, the cavalry and light infantry faced the enemy; nor were the cavalry recalled from their station, until the rampart and trench were finished. The king, though he was disposed to have given battle that day, was yet satisfied; since his men knew, that, the delay was owing to the enemy: and he led back his troops to their station. When the camp had been thoroughly fortified, Caius Sulpicius Gallus, a military tribune of the second legion, who had been prætor the year before, with the consul’s permission collected the soldiers in assembly, and gave them notice, lest they should any of them consider the matter as a prodigy, that, “on the following night, the moon would be eclipsed, from the second hour to the fourth.” He mentioned that, “as this happened in the course of nature, at stated times, it could be known, and foretold. As, therefore, they did not wonder at the regular rising and setting of the sun and moon, or at the moon’s sometimes shining with a full orb, and sometimes in its wane, showing only small horns, so neither ought they to construe as a portent, its being obscured when covered with the shadow of the earth.” When on the night preceding the day before the nones of September, at the hour mentioned, the eclipse took place, the Roman soldiers thought the wisdom of Gallus almost divine; but the Macedonians were shocked, as at a dismal prodigy, foreboding the fall of their kingdom and the ruin of their nation; nor did their soothsayers explain it otherwise. There was shouting and yelling in the camp of the Macedonians, until the moon emerged forth into its full light. Both armies had been so eager for an engagement, that, next day, both the king and the consul were censured by many of their respective men for having separated without a battle. The king could readily excuse himself, not only as the enemy had led back his troops into camp, openly declining a battle; but, also, as he had posted his men on ground of such a nature, that the phalanx (which even a small inequality of surface renders useless) could not advance on it. The consul, besides appearing to have neglected an opportunity of fighting, and to have given the enemy room to go off in the night, if he were so inclined, was thought to waste time at the present, under pretence of offering sacrifice, though the signal had been displayed, at the first light, for going out to the field. At last, about the third hour, the sacrifices being duly performed, he summoned a council, and there, too, he was deemed by several to spin out, in talking and unseasonable consultation, the time that ought to be employed in action; after the conversation, however, the consul addressed to them the following speech.

38 “Publius Nasica, a youth of uncommon merit, was the only one of those who were for fighting yesterday, that disclosed his sentiments to me; and even he was afterwards silent, so that he seems to have come over to my opinion. Some others have thought proper, rather to carp at their general in his absence, than to offer advice in his presence. Now, I shall, without the least reluctance, make known to you, Publius Nasica, and to any who, with less openness, entertained the same opinion with you, my reasons for deferring an engagement. For, so far am I from being sorry for yesterday’s inaction, that I am convinced that by that course I preserved the army. And if any of you think that I hold this opinion groundlessly, let him come forward, if he pleases, and take with me a review of how many things were favourable to the enemy and adverse to us. In the first place, how far they surpass us in numbers, I am sure not one of you was at any time ignorant; and yesterday, I am convinced that you must have observed it, when you saw their line drawn out. Of our small force, a fourth part had been left to guard the baggage; and you know that they are not the worst of the soldiers who are left in custody of the baggage. But suppose we were all here, can we believe it a matter of little moment, that, with the blessing of the gods, we shall this day, if judged proper, or tomorrow at farthest, march to battle out of this our own camp, where we have lodged last night? Is there no difference whether you order a soldier to take arms in his own tent, when he has not suffered any fatigue on that day, either from a long march or laborious work; after he has enjoyed his natural rest, and is fresh; so as to lead him into the field vigorous both in body and mind; or whether, when he is wearied by such a march, or fatigued with carrying a load; while he is wet with sweat, and while his throat is parched with thirst, and his mouth and eyes filled with dust, you oppose him, under a scorching noon-day sun, to an enemy who has had full repose, and who brings into the battle his strength unimpaired by any previous circumstance? Is there, in the name of the gods, any one so dastardly, that, if matched in this manner, he would not overcome the bravest man? We must consider, that the enemy had, quite at their leisure, formed their line of battle; had recruited their spirits, and were standing in regular order; whereas we must have formed our line in hurry and confusion, and have engaged before it was completed.

39 “We should then confessedly have an irregular and disorderly line, but should we have had a camp fortified, a watering-place provided, and the passage to it secured by troops, and all the country round reconnoitred; or should we have been without any one spot of our own, except the naked field on which we fought? Your fathers considered a fortified camp as a harbour of safety in all the emergencies of an army; out of which they were to march to battle, and in which, after being tossed in the storm of the fight, they had a safe retreat. For that reason, besides enclosing it with works, they strengthened it further with a numerous guard; for any general who lost his camp, though he should have been victorious in the field, yet was deemed vanquished. A camp is a residence for the victorious, a refuge for the conquered. How many armies, to whom the fortune of the fight has been adverse, when driven within their ramparts, have, at their own time, and sometimes the next moment, sallied out and defeated their victors! This military settlement is another native country to every soldier: the rampart is as the wall of his city, and his own tent his habitation and his home. Should we have fought while in that unsettled state, and without quarters prepared, to which, even if victorious, we might retire? In opposition to these considerations of the difficulties and impediments to the fighting at that time, one argument is urged: What if the enemy had marched off in the course of last night? What immense fatigue, it is observed, must have been undergone in pursuing him to the remotest parts of Macedonia! But, for my part, I take it as a certainty, that if he had had any intention of retreating, he would neither have waited, nor drawn out his troops to battle. For, how much more easily could he have gone off while we were at a great distance, than now, when we are close behind him! Nor could he escape observation in departing either by day or by night. What could be more desirable to us, who were obliged to attack their camp, defended as it was by a very high bank of a river, and enclosed likewise with a rampart and a number of towers, than that they should quit their fortifications, and, marching off with haste, give us an opportunity of attacking their rear in an open plain? These were the reasons for deferring a battle from yesterday to this day. For I am myself also inclined to fight; and for that reason, as the way to come at the enemy over the river Enipeus was stopped, I have opened a new way, by dislodging the enemy’s guards from another pass. Nor will I rest until I shall have brought the war to a conclusion.”

40 Silence ensued after this address; for some were convinced by his arguments, and the rest were fearful of giving offence needlessly in a matter which, from whatever cause overlooked, could not now be regained. Even on that day, neither the king nor the consul was desirous of engaging; not the king, because he was not going, as on the day before, to attack men who were fatigued after their march, were hurried in forming their line, and not completely marshalled; nor the consul, because, in his new camp, no collection was yet made of wood or forage, to bring which from the adjacent country a great number of his men had gone forth from the camp. Still fortune, whose power prevails over all human schemes, brought about a battle. Nearer to the enemy’s camp was a river, not very large, from which both parties supplied themselves with water; and that this might be done with safety, guards were stationed on each bank. On the Roman side were two cohorts, a Marrucinian and a Pelignian, with two troops of Samnite horse, commanded by a lieutenant-general, Marcus Sergius Silus; and in the front of the camp there was posted another guard, under Caius Cluvius, lieutenant-general, composed of three cohorts, a Firmian, a Vestinian, and a Cremonian; besides two troops of horse, a Placentine and an Æsernian. While there was quiet at the river, neither party making an attack; about the ninth hour, a horse, breaking loose from those who had the care of him, ran off towards the farther bank, and three Roman soldiers followed him through the water, which was about as high as their knees. At the same time two Thracians endeavoured to bring the horse from the middle of the channel to their own bank; but one of these having been slain, and the horse having been recovered, they retired to their post. On the enemy’s bank there was a body of eight hundred Thracians, of whom a few, at first enraged at their countryman being killed before their eyes, crossed the river in pursuit of his slayers; in a little time some more, and at last all of them, and engaged with the guard which defended the bank on the Roman side. Some authors say, that by the command of Paullus, the horse was driven without a bridle to the enemy’s side, and men sent to bring him back, in order that the enemy might first provoke the conflict. For when favourable auspices were not obtained by the first twenty victims, at length the haruspices declared, “that the entrails of the twenty-first portended victory to the Romans, provided they acted only upon the defensive, without striking the first blow.” However, whether by the design of the leader or by accident, the battle was certainly brought about from this commencement, and, in a short time, was so augmented by party after party on both sides flying to carry succour to their comrades, that the commanders were compelled to come down to a general decision of the contest; for Æmilius, on hearing the tumult, came forth from his tent, and when it seemed neither easy nor safe to recall or stop the impetuosity of those who were rushing to arms, he thought it best to avail himself of the ardour of the soldiers, and to turn an accident into an opportunity. He therefore led out his forces from the camp, and riding among their ranks exhorted them to enter upon the contest they had so greatly desired with corresponding ardour. At the same time Nasica, having been sent forward to reconnoitre what was the position of affairs amongst those who were engaged in the commencing conflict, announced that Perseus was approaching with his army in battle-array. First marched the Thracians, men of fierce countenance and tall of stature, and protected on their left side by bucklers which shone with remarkable brightness. A black cloak covered both shoulders, and on their right they brandished from time to time a sword of enormous weight. Next to the Thracians stood the hired auxiliaries, their armour and costume differing according to their respective nations; and among these were some Pæonians. Next came a band of the Macedonians themselves, which they called the phalanx of the Leucaspides. A few selected for their strength and valour were more conspicuous, shining in gilded armour and scarlet cloaks: this was the middle of the army. These were succeeded by those whom they called Chalcaspides, from their brazen and glittering bucklers. This phalanx was placed next to the other on the right wing. Besides these two phalanxes, which constituted the chief strength of the Macedonian army, the targeteers, who were also Macedonians, and carried pikes like those of the phalanx, but in other respects more lightly armed, were distributed on the wings advanced, and projecting beyond the rest of the line. The plain was illuminated with the brightness of their arms, the neighbouring hills echoed with their shouts, as they mutually cheered each other on. Such was the swiftness and boldness of all these forces as they came out to the fight, that those who were first slain fell at two hundred and fifty paces from the Roman camp. Meanwhile Æmilius advanced, and when he saw not only the other Macedonians, but those who constituted the phalanx, some with their bucklers, and some with their targets removed from their shoulders, and with their pikes inclined in one direction receiving the attack of the Romans, admiring the firmness of the serried ranks, and the bristling rampart of outstretched pikes, he was smitten at once with astonishment and terror, as if he had never seen so fearful a spectacle, and was afterwards in the habit of frequently referring to it, and making this statement respecting himself. Carefully concealing however at the time the agitation of his troubled mind, he with serene countenance and careless aspect, and with his head and body undefended, drew up his line. The Pelignians were now fighting against the targeteers, who were ranged opposite to them, and when, after long and laborious efforts, they were unable to break through that compact array, Salius, who was commanding the Pelignians, seized a standard and threw it among the enemy. On this a prodigious conflict was excited, whilst on the one side the Pelignians strove with all their might to recover the standard, the Macedonians on the other to retain possession of it. The former strove either to cut through the long spears of the Macedonians, or to repel them with the bosses of their bucklers, or in some instances to turn them aside even with their naked hands, while the latter drove them firmly grasped with both hands with such force against the enemy, who rushed on with rash and heedless fury, that, penetrating shields and bucklers, they overthrew the men transfixed in like manner. The first ranks of the Pelignians having been thus defeated, those who stood behind them were also cut down, and the rest retreated towards the mountain which the inhabitants call Mount Olocrus, though not yet in open flight. On this the grief of Æmilius burst forth, so that he even rent his robe with mortification, for in other places as well he saw that his men were hanging back and approaching with timidity that hedge of steel, as it were, with which the Macedonian line bristled in every part. But that skilful general observed that this conjunction of the foe was not every where close, but that here and there it opened with little interstices, either on account of the unevenness of the ground, or on account of the very length of its front, which was immensely extended, while those who attempted to occupy higher ground were necessarily, though unwillingly, separated from those who occupied lower positions, or those who were slower from those who were faster, and those who advanced from those who held back, and lastly, those who pressed upon the enemy from those who were repulsed. In order, therefore, entirely to break the ranks of the enemy, and to distribute the irresistible attack of the entire phalanx into a number of separate conflicts, he commanded his men, that wherever they should see the line of the enemy present openings, they should individually rush to those spots, and insinuating themselves like a wedge into such spaces, however narrow their extent, they should fight with impetuosity. This order having been issued and spread through the whole army, he led on in person one of the legions to the battle.

41 The troops were impressed by the high dignity of his office, the personal renown of the man, and, above all, by his age: for, though more than sixty years old, he discharged the duties of youth, taking on himself the principal share both of the labour and danger. His legion filled up the space between the targeteers and the phalanxes, and thus disunited the enemy’s line. Behind him were the targeteers, and his front faced the shielded phalanx of Chalcaspides. Lucius Albinus, a man of consular rank, was ordered to lead on the second legion against the phalanx of the Leucaspides, which formed the centre of the enemy’s line. On the right wing, where the fight began, at the river, he brought forward the elephants, with the cohorts of allied cavalry; and from this quarter the retreat of the Macedonians first began. For as new contrivances generally make an important figure in the words of men, but on being put in practice ofttimes prove vain and ineffectual, so on that occasion the elephants in the line of battle were a mere name, without the least use. Their attack was followed by the Latin allies, who forced the enemy’s left wing to give way. In the centre, the second legion charged and dispersed the phalanx; nor was there any more evident cause of the victory, than there being many distinct fights, which first disordered that body, when it wavered, and at last quite broke it. Its force, while it is compact and bristling with extended spears, is irresistible; but if, by attacking them separately, you force them to turn about their spears, which, on account of their length and weight, are unwieldy, they are mingled in a confused mass; and, if any disorder arises on the flank or rear, they fall into irretrievable disorder. Thus, now, they were obliged to oppose the Romans in small parties, and with their own line broken into numerous divisions; and the Romans, when any opening was made, worked themselves into their ranks. But had they advanced with their entire line, straight against the phalanx when in its regular order, just as happened to the Pelignians, who, in the beginning of the battle, incautiously engaged the targeteers; they would have impaled themselves on the spears, and would have been unable to withstand such a firm body.

42 But though a massacre was made of the infantry on all sides, except those who threw away their arms and fled, the cavalry quitted the field with scarcely any loss. The king himself was the first in flight. With the sacred squadrons of horse he took the road to Pella, and was quickly followed by Cotys and the Odrysian cavalry. The other wings of the Macedonians, likewise, went off with full ranks: because, as the line of infantry stood in the way, the slaughter of them detained the conquerors, and made them careless of pursuing the cavalry. For a long time, the men of the phalanx were cut off, in front, on the flanks, and on the rear; at last, such as could avoid the enemy’s hands, fled unarmed towards the sea; some even ran into the water, and, stretching out their hands to those on board the fleet, humbly begged their lives. And when they saw boats coming from all the ships, supposing that they were coming to take them in rather than to slay them, advanced farther into the water, so that some of them even swam. But, when they were cut to pieces as enemies by the boats, such as were able regained the land by swimming back, where they met with a more dreadful death; for the elephants, which their riders had driven down to the shore, trod them under foot, and crushed them in pieces. It was generally acknowledged, that the Macedonians never lost so great a number of men in any battle with the Romans; for their killed amounted to twenty thousand; six thousand, who made their escape from the field to Pydna, fell alive into the hands of the Romans, and five thousand were taken straggling through the country. Of the victorious army there fell not more than one hundred, the greater part of whom were Pelignians; but a much greater number were wounded. If the battle had been begun earlier, so that the conquerors might have had daylight enough for a pursuit, all their troops must have been utterly destroyed. As it happened, the approach of night both screened the fugitives, and made the Romans unwilling to follow them through an unknown country.

43 Perseus fled as far as the Pierian wood, with a military appearance, being attended by a numerous body of horse, together with his royal retinue; but when he came into the thicket, where there were numerous paths in different directions, and when darkness came on, he turned out of the main path with a very few, in whom he placed the greatest confidence. The horsemen, abandoned by their leader, dispersed, in different directions, to their respective homes; some of whom made their way to Pella, quicker than Perseus himself, because they went by the straight and open road. The king was hindered by his fears and the many difficulties of the way, till near midnight. Perseus was met at the palace by Euctus, governor of Pella, and the royal pages; but of all his friends who had escaped from the battle by various chances, and had reached Pella, not one would come near him, though they were repeatedly sent for. Only three persons accompanied him in his flight; Evander a Cretan, Neo a Bœotian, and Archidamus an Ætolian. With these he continued his retreat, at the fourth watch; for he began to fear, lest those who had refused to obey his summons, might, presently, attempt something more audacious. He had an escort of about five hundred Cretans. He took the road to Amphipolis; leaving Pella in the night, and hastening to get over the river Axius before daylight, as he thought that it, from the difficulty of passing it, would put an end to the further pursuit of the Romans.

44 The consul, when he returned victorious to his camp, to mar his entire joy, was much distressed by concern for his younger son. This was Publius Scipio, who afterwards acquired the title of Africanus by the destruction of Carthage. He was, by birth, the son of the consul Paullus, and by adoption, the grandson of the elder Africanus. He was then only in the seventeenth year of his age, which circumstance heightened his father’s anxiety; for, pursuing the enemy with eagerness, he had been carried away by the crowd to a distant part. But when he returned late in the evening, the consul, having received his son in safety, felt unmixed joy for the very important victory. When the news of the battle reached Amphipolis, the matrons ran together to the temple of Diana, whom they style Tauropolos, to implore her aid. Diodorus, who was governor of the city, fearing lest the Thracians, of whom there were two thousand in garrison, might, during the confusion, plunder the city, contrived to receive in the middle of the forum a letter through a person whom he had deceitfully suborned to personate a courier. The contents of it were, that “the Romans had put in their fleet at Emathia, and were ravaging the territory round; and that the governors of Emathia besought him to send a reinforcement to oppose the ravagers.” After reading this, he desired the Thracians to march to the relief of the coast of Emathia, telling them, as an encouragement, that the Romans being dispersed through the country, they might easily kill many of them, and gain a large booty. At the same time he threw discredit on the report of the defeat, alleging that, if it were true, many would have come thither direct from the retreat. Having, on this pretence, sent the Thracians out of the town, he no sooner saw them pass the river Strynion, than he shut the gates.

45 On the third day after the battle, Perseus arrived at Amphipolis, and sent thence to Paullus suppliant ambassadors, with the wand of peace. In the mean time, Hippias Medon, and Pantauchus, the principal friends of the king, went themselves to the consul, and surrendered to the Romans the city of Berœa, to which they had fled after the battle; and several other cities, struck with fear, prepared to do the same. The consul despatched to Rome, with letters and the news of his victory, his son Quintus Fabius, Lucius Lentulus, and Quintus Metellus. He gave to his infantry the spoils of the enemy who were slain, and to his cavalry the plunder of the circumjacent country, provided, however, that they did not stay out of the camp longer than two nights. He himself then removed nearer the sea towards Pydna. Berœa, Thessalonica, and Pella, and indeed almost every city in Macedonia, successively surrendered within two days. The inhabitants of Pydna, which was the nearest, had not yet sent any ambassadors; the confused multitude, made up of many different nations, with the numbers who had been driven into one place in their flight from the battle, embarrassed the counsels and unanimity of the inhabitants; the gates, too, were not only shut, but closed up with walls. Milo and Pantauchus were sent to confer, under the wall, with Solon, who commanded in the place. By his means the crowd of military people were sent away, and the town was surrendered and given up to the soldiers to be plundered. Perseus, after making a single effort to procure the assistance of the Basaltians, to whom he had sent ambassadors in vain, came forth into a general assembly, bringing with him his son Philip, in order to encourage the Amphipolitans themselves, and to raise the spirits of those horse and foot soldiers who had either constantly accompanied him, or had happened to fly to the same place. But, though he made several attempts to speak, he was always stopped by his tears; so that, finding himself unable to proceed, he told Evander, the Cretan, what he wished to have laid before the people, and came down from the tribunal. Although the multitude, on observing the aspect of the king, and his pitiable weeping, had themselves sighed and wept with him, yet they refused to listen to the discourse of Evander; and some, from the middle of the assembly, had the assurance to interrupt him, exclaiming, “Depart to some other place, that the few of us who are left alive may not be destroyed on your account.” Their daring opposition stopped Evander’s mouth. The king retired to his palace; and, causing his treasures to be put on board some barks which lay in the Strymon, went down himself to the river. The Thracians would not venture to trust themselves on board, but went off to their own homes, as did the rest of the soldiers. The Cretans only followed in hope of the money: but, as any distribution of it among them would probably raise more discontent than gratitude, fifty talents97 were laid for them on the bank, to be scrambled for. After this scramble they went on board, yet in such hurry and disorder, that they sunk one of the barks, which was swamped by numbers in the mouth of the river. They arrived that day at Galepsus, and the next at Samothrace, to which they were bound. Thither it is said that as many as two thousand talents98 were conveyed.

46 Paullus sent officers to hold the government of the several cities which had surrendered; lest, at a time when peace was but newly restored, the conquered might suffer any ill treatment. He detained with himself the ambassadors of Perseus; and, being uninformed of the flight of the king, detached Publius Nasica, with a small party of horse and foot, to Amphipolis, both that he might lay waste the country of Sintice, and be ready to obstruct every effort of the king. In the mean time, Melibœa was taken and sacked by Cneius Octavius. At Æginium, to which Cneius Anicius, a lieutenant-general, had been despatched, two hundred men were lost by a sally made from the town; the Æginians not being aware that the war was at an end. The consul, quitting Pydna, arrived with his whole army, on the second day, at Pella; and, pitching his camp at the distance of a mile from it, remained in that station for several days, reconnoitring on all sides the situation of the city; and he perceived that it was chosen to be the capital of the kingdom, not without good reason. It stands on a hill which faces the south-west, and is surrounded by morasses, formed by stagnant waters from the adjacent lakes, so deep as to be impassable either in winter or summer. In the part of the morass nearest to the city the citadel rises up like an island, being built on a mound of earth formed with immense labour, so as to be capable of supporting the wall, and secure against any injury from the water of the surrounding marsh. At a distance it seems to join the city rampart, but is divided from it by a river, and united by a bridge; so that if externally invaded it has no access from any part, and if the king chooses to confine any person within it, there is no way for an escape except by that bridge, which can be guarded with great ease. This was the depository of the royal treasure; but, at that time, there was nothing found there but the three hundred talents which had been sent to king Gentius, and afterwards brought back. While they were stationed at Pella, audience was given to a great number of embassies, which came with congratulations, especially out of Thessaly. Then, receiving intelligence that Perseus had passed over to Samothrace, the consul departed from Pella, and after four days’ march, arrived at Amphipolis. Here the whole multitude poured out of the town to meet him; a plain demonstration that the people considered themselves not as bereft of a good and just king, but as delivered from a haughty tyrant. Paullus having entered the city while engaged in religious services, and performing a solemn sacrifice, the altar was suddenly kindled by lightning, while all considered the event to signify that the offerings of the consul were most acceptable to the gods, since they were consecrated by fire from heaven. The consul, after a short delay at Amphipolis, proceeded at once in pursuit of Perseus, and also that he might carry his victorious arms round to all the nations which had been under his sway, made for the province of Odomantice, a region beyond the river Strymon, and encamped at Siræ.

BOOK XLV.

1 Although Quintus Fabius, Lucius Lentulus, and Quintus Metellus, who were sent with the news of the victory, made all possible haste to Rome, yet they found rejoicings for that event anticipated there. The fourth day after the battle with Perseus, while games were exhibiting in the circus, a faint rumour spread itself suddenly among the people through all the seats, “that a battle had been fought in Macedon, and that the king was entirely defeated.” The rumour gathered strength, until at last arose shouting and clapping of hands, as if certain tidings of victory were brought to them. The magistrates were surprised, and caused inquiry to be made for the originator of this sudden rejoicing; but as none was found, the joy of course vanished, since the matter was uncertain; yet the prestige of conquest still remained impressed on their minds; and when, on the arrival of Fabius, Lentulus, and Metellus, the fact was established by authentic information, they rejoiced on a twofold account,—on that of the victory, and their happy presage of it. This exultation in the circus is related in another manner, with equal appearance of probability: that on the fifteenth day before the calends of October, being the second day of the Roman games, as the consul Licinius was going down to give the signal for the race, a courier, who said he came from Macedon, delivered to him a letter decorated with laurel. As soon as he had started the chariots, he mounted his own, and as he rode back through the circus to the seats of the magistrates, showed to the people the embellished tablets, at the sight of which the multitude, regardless of the games, ran down at once into the middle of the area. The consul held a meeting of the senate on the spot; and after reading the letter to them, by their direction told the people, before the seats of the magistrates, that “his colleague, Lucius Æmilius, had fought a general engagement with Perseus; that the Macedonian army was beaten and put to flight; that the king had fled with few attendants; and that all the states of Macedon had submitted to the Romans.” On hearing this, a universal shouting and clapping of hands arose among the commons; and most of them, leaving the games, hastened home to communicate the joyful tidings to their wives and children. This was the thirteenth day after the battle was fought in Macedon.

2 On the following day a meeting of the senate was held in the council-chamber, and a general supplication was voted, and likewise a decree of the senate was passed, that the consul should disband all his troops, excepting the legionary soldiers and seamen; and that their disbandment should be taken into consideration as soon as the deputies from the consul Æmilius, who had sent forward the courier, should arrive in town. On the sixth day before the calends of October, about the second hour, the deputies came into the city, and proceeded directly to the tribunal in the forum, drawing after them, wherever they went, an immense crowd, composed of those who went forth to meet and escort them. The senate happened to be then in the council-chamber, and the consul introduced the deputies to them. They were detained there no longer than to give an account, “how very numerous the king’s forces of horse and foot had been; how many thousands of them were killed, how many taken; with what small loss of men the Romans had made such havoc of the enemy, and with how small a retinue Perseus had fled; that it was supposed he would go to Samothrace, and that the fleet was ready to pursue him; so that he could not escape, either by sea or land.” They were then brought out into the assembly of the people, where they repeated the same particulars, and the general joy was renewed in such a degree, that no sooner had the consul published an order, “that all the places of worship should be opened,” than every one proceeded, with as much speed as he could use, to return thanks to the gods, and the temples of the immortal gods, throughout the entire city, were filled with vast crowds, not only of men, but of women. The senate, being re-assembled, ordered thanksgivings in all the temples, during five days, for the glorious successes obtained by the consul Lucius Æmilius, with sacrifices of the larger kinds of victims. They also voted that the ships, which lay in the Tiber fit for sea, and ready to sail for Macedon, in case the king had been able to maintain the contest, should be hauled up, and placed in the docks, and that the seamen belonging to them should be discharged, after receiving a year’s pay; and, together with these, all who had taken the military oath to the consul; that all the soldiers in Corcyra and Brundusium, on the coast of the Hadriatic and in the territory of Larinum, (for in all these places had troops been cantoned, in order that the consul Licinius might, if occasion required, take them over to reinforce his colleague,) should be disbanded. The thanksgiving was fixed, by proclamation in the assembly, for the fifth day before the ides of October, and the five days following.

3 Two deputies, Caius Licinius Nerva and Publius Decius, arriving from Illyria, brought intelligence that the army of the Illyrians was defeated, their king, Gentius, taken prisoner and all Illyria reduced under the dominion of the Roman people. On account of these services, under the conduct and auspices of the prætor, Lucius Anicius, the senate voted a supplication of three days’ continuance, and it was accordingly appointed, by proclamation, to be performed on the fourth third, and second days before the ides of November. Some writers tell us that the Rhodian ambassadors, who had not yet been dismissed, were, when the news of the victory was received, called before the senate in order to expose their absurd arrogance. On this occasion, Agesipolis, their principal, spoke to this effect: that “they had been sent by the Rhodians to effect an accommodation between the Romans and Perseus; because the war subsisting between them was injurious and burdensome to all Greece, and expensive and detrimental to the Romans themselves; but that fortune had acted very kindly, since, by terminating the war after another manner, it afforded them an opportunity of congratulating the Romans on a glorious victory.” This was the discourse of the Rhodians. The senate returned the following answer: that “the Rhodians had sent that embassy, not through anxiety for the interests of Greece, or for the expenses of the Roman people, but merely from their wish to serve Perseus. For, if their concern had been such as they pretended, they should have sent ambassadors at the time when Perseus, leading an army into Thessaly, had continued, for two years, to besiege some of the cities of Greece, and to terrify others with denunciations of vengeance. All this time not the least mention of peace was made by the Rhodians; but when they heard that the Romans had passed the defiles, and penetrated into Macedon, and that Perseus was held enclosed by them, then they sent an embassy, from no other motive whatever, but a wish to rescue Perseus from the impending danger.” With this answer the ambassadors were dismissed.

4 About the same time Marcus Marcellus, coming home from Spain, where he had taken Marcolica, a city of note, brought into the treasury ten pounds’ weight of gold, and a quantity of silver, amounting to a million of sesterces.99 While the consul, Paullus Æmilius, lay encamped at Siræ, in Odomantice, as mentioned above, a letter from king Perseus was brought to him by three ambassadors of mean appearance, and it is reported that he, on looking at them, shed tears at the uncertainty of the lot of man; because he who, a short time before, not content with the kingdom of Macedon, had invaded Dardania and Illyria, and had called out to his aid the whole Bastarnian nation, now banished from his kingdom after the loss of his army, was forced to take refuge in a little island, where, as a suppliant, he was protected by the sanctity of the place, not by any strength of his own. But when he read the address, “King Perseus to the consul Paullus, greeting,” the folly of a man, who seemed insensible to his condition, banished every feeling of compassion; therefore, although there were, in the remaining part of the letter, entreaties ill suited to royalty, yet the embassy was dismissed without an answer and without a letter. Perseus felt that he must, now that he was conquered, forego the name of king, and consequently sent another letter, inscribed simply with his name, in which he made a request, and obtained it too, that some persons should be sent to him, with whom he might confer on the state and condition of his affairs. Three ambassadors were accordingly despatched, Publius Lentulus, Aulus Postumius Albinus, and Aulus Antonius; but nothing was effected by this embassy, for Perseus clung with all the energy of despair to the regal title, while Paullus insisted on an absolute submission of himself, and every thing belonging to him, to the honour and clemency of the Roman people.

5 Whilst these things are going on, the fleet of Cneius Octavius put in at Samothrace. When he also, by presenting immediate danger to Perseus’s view, was endeavouring at one time by menaces, at another by hopes, to prevail on him to surrender; in this design he was greatly assisted by a circumstance which may have occurred either by accident or design. Lucius Atilius, a distinguished young man, observing that the people of Samothrace were met in a general assembly, requested permission of the magistrate to address a few words to them; which being granted, he said,—“People of Samothrace, our good hosts; is the account which we have heard true or false, that this island is sacred, and the entire soil holy and inviolable?” They all agreed in asserting the supposed sanctity of the place; whereupon he proceeded thus: “Why, then, has a murderer, stained with the blood of king Eumenes, presumed to profane it? And though, previous to every sacrifice, a proclamation forbids all who have not pure hands to assist at the sacred rites, will you, nevertheless, suffer your holy places to be polluted by an assassin who bears the mark of blood on his person?” The story of king Eumenes having been nearly murdered by Evander at Delphi, was now well known by report through all the cities of Greece. The Samothracians, therefore, besides the consideration of their being themselves, as well as the temple and the whole island, in the power of the Romans, were convinced that the censure thrown on them was not unjust, and therefore sent Theondas, their chief magistrate, whom they style king, to Perseus, to acquaint him, that “Evander the Cretan was accused of murder; that they had a mode of trial established among them, by the practice of their ancestors, concerning such as were charged with bringing impure hands into the consecrated precincts of the temple. If Evander was confident that he was innocent of the capital charge made against him, let him come forth, and stand a trial; but, if he would not venture to undergo an inquiry, let him free the temple from profanation, and provide for his own safety.” Perseus, calling Evander aside, advised him not on any account to stand a trial, because he was no match for his accusers, either in the merits of the cause, or in influence. He had secret apprehensions that Evander, on being condemned, would expose him, as the instigator of that abominable act. “What then remained,” he said, “but to die bravely?” Evander made, openly, no objection; but telling the king that he chose to die by poison rather than by the sword, took measures in secret for effecting his escape. When this was told the king, fearing lest he should direct the anger of the Samothracians against himself as accessory to the escape of a guilty person, he ordered Evander to be put to death. No sooner was this rash murder perpetrated, than the idea immediately struck his mind that he had now drawn on himself the whole of the guilt, which before had affected Evander only; that the latter had wounded Eumenes at Delphi, and he had slain Evander in Samothrace; and thus the two most venerable sanctuaries in the world had, through his means alone, been defiled with human blood. However, he avoided the imputation of this deed, by bribing Theondas to tell the people that Evander had laid violent hands on himself.

6 But by such an atrocious act, committed on his only remaining friend, on one whose fidelity he had experienced on so many trying occasions, and who, in return for not proving a traitor, was himself betrayed, he alienated the feelings of every one. All went over to the Romans as soon as they could, and consequently obliged him, now left almost alone, to adopt the design of flying. He applied to a Cretan, called Oroandes, to whom the coast of Thrace was well known, since he carried on traffic in that country, to take him on board his vessel, and convey him to Cotys. At one of the promontories of Samothrace, is the harbour of Demetrium; there the vessel lay. About sun-set every thing necessary for the voyage was carried thither, together with as much money as could be transported with secrecy; and at midnight, the king himself, with three persons, who were privy to his flight, going out through a back door into a garden near his chamber, and having, with much difficulty, climbed over the wall, went down to the shore. Oroandes had set sail, at the dusk of the evening, the very moment the money arrived, and was now steering for Crete. Perseus, after he could not find the ship in the harbour, wandered about for a long time on the coast, but at last, fearing the approach of day, and not daring to return to his lodging, he hid himself in a dark corner at one side of the temple. The royal pages was the name given among the Macedonians to a band of the children of the leading noblemen, who were selected to wait on the king: this band had accompanied Perseus in his flight, and did not even now desert him, until a proclamation was made by the herald of Cneius Octavius, that, “if the royal pages, and other Macedonians, then in Samothrace, would come over to the Romans, they should have impunity, liberty, and all their property, both what they had in the island, and what they had left in Macedon.” On this notice they all passed over to the Romans, and gave in their names to Caius Postumius, a military tribune. Ion of Thessalonica delivered up to Octavius the king’s younger children also; nor was any one now left with Perseus, except Philip, his eldest son. Then, after uttering many execrations against fortune, and the gods to whom the temple belonged, for not affording aid to a suppliant, he surrendered himself and his son to Octavius, who gave orders to put him on board the prætor’s ship; the remainder of his money was put on board the same ship; and the fleet immediately returned to Amphipolis. Thence Octavius sent the king into the camp to the consul, having previously sent forward a letter to inform him that he was a prisoner, and on the road thither.

7 Paullus, considering this a second victory, as it really was, offered sacrifices on receiving the intelligence; then, calling a council, and reading to them the prætor’s letter, he sent Quintus Ælius Tubero to meet the king; the rest he desired to remain assembled in the prætorium. Never, on any other occasion, did so great a multitude gather about a spectacle. In the time of their fathers, king Syphax had been made prisoner, and brought into the Roman camp; but, besides that he could not be compared with Perseus, either in respect of his own reputation or that of his country, he was at the time merely a subordinate party in the Carthaginian war, as Gentius was in the Macedonian. Whereas Perseus was the principal in this war; and was not only highly conspicuous through his own personal renown, and that of his father, grandfather, and other relations in blood and extraction, but of these, two shone with unparalleled lustre,—Philip, and Alexander the Great, who made the empire of the Macedonians the first in the world. Perseus came into the camp, dressed in mourning, unattended by any of his countrymen, except his own son, who being a sharer in the calamity, made him more wretched. He could not advance on account of the number of persons that had collected to see him, until the lictors were sent by the consul, and they, after clearing the way, opened a passage to the prætorium. The consul arose to do him honour, but ordered the rest to keep their seats, and, advancing a little, held out his right hand to the king, on his entrance; and raised him up when he endeavoured to throw himself at his feet: nor would he suffer him to embrace his knees, but led him into the tent, and desired him to sit on the side opposite to the officers assembled in council.

8 The first question asked Perseus was, “by what injuries had he been compelled to enter into a war against the Roman people with such violent animosity, and to bring himself and his kingdom to the extremity of danger?” While all expected his answer, fixing his eyes on the ground, he wept a long time in silence. The consul, again addressing him, said, “If you had succeeded to the government in early youth, I should have wondered less at your not being sensible of the great importance of the friendship, or enmity, of the Roman people: but that was not the case, as you bore a part in the war which your father waged with us, and, afterwards, must have remembered the peace which we observed towards him with the strictest sincerity. What then was your design in preferring war to peace, with those, whose power in war, and whose good faith in peace, you had so fully experienced?” Neither questions nor reproaches could draw an answer from him: on which the consul added, “Howsoever these things may have occurred, whether through the frailty of mankind, or accident, or necessity, be of good spirits. The clemency of the Roman people, displayed in the distress of numerous kings and nations, affords you not only hope, but almost perfect confidence of safety.” This he said in the Greek language to Perseus; and then, turning to his own people, he said, in the Latin tongue, “You observe this striking instance of the instability of human affairs. To you, young men, principally, I address the observation. In the hour of prosperity, therefore, we ought to adopt against no man measures dictated by either pride or violence, nor confide implicitly in present advantages; since we know not what the evening may produce. He is really a man, whose spirit neither prosperity can elate by success, nor adversity break by misfortune.” On the dismissal of the council, the charge of guarding the king is given to Quintus Ælius. Perseus was invited to dine that day with the consul, and every other honour, which could be shown him under existing circumstances, was paid to him.

9 The troops were immediately sent off to their winter cantonments. Amphipolis furnished the greater part with quarters, and the towns in that neighbourhood received the rest. Thus ended the war between the Romans and Perseus, which had lasted, without intermission, four years; and thus ended a kingdom, long renowned through a great part of Europe, and throughout all Asia. From Caranus, who was their first king, they reckoned Perseus the fortieth. Perseus came to the crown in the consulate of Quintus Fulvius and Lucius Manlius, received the title of king from the senate in that of Marcus Junius and Aulus Manlius, and reigned eleven years. The Macedonians were little known by fame until the reign of Philip, son of Amyntas; although the empire began to increase in his time, and through his agency, still it was confined within the limits of Europe, extending over all Greece with a part of Thrace, and Illyria. Afterwards the power of Macedon poured down like a deluge on Asia, and in the course of the thirteen years of the reign of Alexander, reduced under its dominion that almost immense tract which had constituted the empire of the Persians. Hence it overspread the Arabias and India, as far as where the Red Sea forms the utmost boundary of the earth. At that time their empire and name were the first in the world; but on the death of Alexander, it was torn asunder into a number of kingdoms, whilst his successors, in the general scramble for power, dismembered it by their struggles. From the time of its highest elevation to this its final downfall, it stood one hundred and fifty years.

10 When the news of the victory, obtained by the Romans, was carried into Asia, Antenor, who lay with a fleet of small vessels at Phanæ, sailed over to Cassandrea. Caius Popilius, who staid at Delos to protect the ships bound to Macedon, learning that the war there was at an end, and that the enemy’s fleet had left its station, sent home the Athenian squadron, and proceeded on his voyage for Egypt, to finish the business of the embassy with which he was charged, in order that he might meet Antiochus before he should approach the walls of Alexandria. When the ambassadors, after sailing along the coast of Asia, arrived at Loryma, a port somewhat more than twenty miles from Rhodes, and just opposite to that city, some of the principal Rhodians (for the news of the victory had by this time reached them too) met them, and requested them “to sail over to their city; that it was of the utmost consequence to the character and safety of the Rhodian state that they should, in person, inform themselves of what had been done, and what was then passing at Rhodes; so as to carry to Rome intelligence, founded on their own knowledge, and not on vague reports.” After refusing for a long time, they were at length prevailed on to submit to a short delay of their voyage, for the sake of the safety of an allied city. When they came to Rhodes, the same persons, by urgent entreaties, persuaded them to come into a general assembly. The arrival of the ambassadors rather heightened, than allayed, the fears of the public. For Popilius enumerated all the hostile expressions and actions, both of the community and of individuals, during the war: and, being naturally of an austere temper, he magnified the atrociousness of the matters which he mentioned, by the sternness of his countenance, and the harshness of his tone of voice; so that, as he had no cause of personal quarrel with their state, people judged from the severity of one Roman senator, what was the feeling of the whole senate towards them. The speech of Caius Decimius was more moderate; for he said, “that in most of the particulars mentioned by Popilius, the blame lay, not on the nation, but on a few incendiary ringleaders of the populace, who, employing their tongues for hire, procured the passing of several decrees, full of flattery towards the king; and had sent those embassies, at which the Rhodians should always feel not less shame than grief; all which proceedings, however, if the people were disposed to act properly, would fall on the heads of the guilty.” He was heard with great satisfaction; not only because he extenuated the offences of the community, but because he threw the whole blame on the authors of their misconduct. When, therefore, their own magistrates spoke in answer to the Romans, the speech of those who endeavoured to exculpate them, in some measure, from the charges advanced by Popilius, was not so pleasing to them as the advice of those who concurred with the opinion of Decimius, in the necessity of giving up the principal instigators to atone for their crime. A decree was therefore immediately passed, that all who should be convicted of having, in any instance, spoken or acted in favour of Perseus, against the Romans, should be condemned to die. Several of those concerned had left the city on the arrival of the Romans: others put an end to their own lives. The ambassadors staid only five days at Rhodes, and then proceeded to Alexandria. Nor were the trials instituted, pursuant to the decree passed in their presence, carried on at Rhodes with less activity; and this perseverance of the Rhodians, in the execution of that business, was entirely owing to the mild behaviour of Decimius.

11 Whilst these events were going on, Antiochus, after a fruitless attempt on the walls of Alexandria, had retired: and being now master of all the rest of Egypt, he left, at Memphis, the elder Ptolemy, whose restoration to the throne was the pretended object of his armament, though, in reality, he meant to attack him, as soon as he should have vanquished his competitors; and then he led back his army into Syria. Ptolemy, who was not ignorant of his intention, conceived hopes, that, while he held his younger brother under terror, and in dread of a siege, he might be received into Alexandria, provided his sister favoured the design, and his brother’s friends did not oppose it. Accordingly, he never ceased sending proposals to his sister first, and his brother and his friends afterwards, until he effected an accommodation with them. His suspicions of Antiochus were awakened by this circumstance, that, when he gave him possession of the rest of Egypt, he left a strong garrison in Pelusium: a plain proof that he kept that key of Egypt in his hands, in order that he might be able, whenever he pleased, to introduce an army again into the country; and he foresaw, that the final issue of a civil war with his brother must be, that the conqueror, thoroughly weakened by the contest, would be utterly unable to contend with Antiochus. In these prudent observations of the elder brother, the younger, and those about him, concurred; while their sister greatly promoted the negotiation, both by her advice and entreaties. Accordingly, peace being made with the approbation of all, the elder Ptolemy was received into Alexandria, without any opposition even from the populace; who, during the war, had been severely distressed by a general scarcity, not only in consequence of the siege, but from receiving no provisions from the rest of Egypt after the enemy had retired from the walls. Although it was reasonable to suppose that Antiochus would be rejoiced at these events, if he had really marched his army into Egypt for the purpose of reinstating Ptolemy on the throne,—(the plausible pretext which he had professed to all the states of Asia and Greece, in his answers to their embassies, and in the letters that he wrote,)—yet he was so highly offended, that he prepared to make war on the two brothers, with much greater acrimony and fury of resentment than he had shown against the one. He instantly sent his fleet to Cyprus; and, as soon as the spring appeared, he directed his route towards Egypt at the head of his army, and advanced into Cœle-syria. Near Rhinocolura he was met by ambassadors from Ptolemy, who gave him thanks, because through his assistance he had recovered the throne of his fathers; and requested him to secure to him the enjoyment of the benefit, which he had himself conferred; and rather to signify what he wished to be done, than from an ally to become an enemy, and proceed by force of arms. To this he answered, that “he would neither recall his fleet, nor stop the march of his army, on any other conditions than the cession of all Cyprus and the city of Pelusium, together with the lands adjoining the Pelusian mouth of the Nile;” and he even named a particular day, on or before which he expected to receive an answer that these demands were complied with.

12 When the time fixed for the suspension of hostilities had elapsed, Antiochus ordered the commanders of his fleet to sail up the mouth of the Nile to Pelusium, while he himself entered Egypt, through the deserts of Arabia. He was amicably received by the people about Memphis, as he was, afterwards, by the rest of the Egyptians; some being led by inclination, others by fear; and he proceeded thus, by short marches, down to Alexandria. The Roman ambassadors met him after crossing the river at Eleusine, four miles from that city. On their approach he saluted them, and held out his right hand to Popilius; but Popilius put into his hand a written tablet, containing the decree of the senate, and desired him first to peruse that. On perusing it, he said, that he, after calling his friends together, would consult on what was to be done; on which Popilius, with the usual asperity of his disposition, drew a line round the king, with a wand which he held in his hand, and said, “Before you go out of that circle, give me an answer to report to the senate.” Astonished at such a peremptory injunction, the king hesitated for some time; but at last replied, “I will do as the senate directs.” Popilius then thought proper to stretch out his right hand to him; as to a friend and ally. Antiochus having retired out of Egypt, on the day appointed, the ambassadors, after confirming by their influence the reconciliations between the brothers, as concord was far from being established among them, sailed to Cyprus: from which they sent home the ships of Antiochus, which had fought and defeated an Egyptian fleet. This embassy attracted a great share of respect from all nations; because it had manifestly rescued Egypt out of the hands of the Syrian, when he had it within his grasp, and restored to the race of Ptolemy the kingdom of their forefathers While one of the consuls of this year distinguished his administration by a glorious victory, the reputation of the other was thrown into the shade, because he had no opportunity of displaying his talents. When, in the beginning of his administration, he had appointed his troops to assemble, he entered the consecrated place without due auspices; and the augurs, on the matter being laid before them, pronounced the appointment improper. Going into Gaul, he lay encamped near the long plains, at the foot of the mountains Sicimina and Papirus, and passed the winter in the same country with the troops of the Latin allies. The Roman legions staid all the while in the city, because the day had been irregularly appointed for the meeting of the soldiers. The prætors went to their several provinces, except Caius Papirius Carbo, to whose lot Sardinia had fallen; the senate having commanded him to administer justice, at Rome, between natives and foreigners; a duty to which he had been already named.

13 Popilius, with his colleagues in the embassy to Antiochus, returned to Rome, and gave information, that all disputes between the kings had terminated, and that the army had marched out of Egypt into Syria. Soon after, ambassadors arrived from the kings themselves. Those of Antiochus represented, that “their king had considered a peace, which was agreeable to the senate, as preferable to a victory, how complete soever, and had, accordingly, obeyed the order of the Roman ambassadors, as implicitly as if it had been a mandate of the gods.” They then offered his congratulations on their victory, “to which,” they said, “the king would have contributed with his utmost power, if any commands to that effect had been given him.” The ambassadors of Ptolemy, in the joint names of that prince and Cleopatra, presented their thanks, acknowledging that “they were more indebted to the senate and people of Rome than to their own parents, more than to the immortal gods; since through their intervention they had been relieved from a most distressing siege, and had recovered the kingdom of their fathers, when it was almost entirely lost.” The answer given by the senate was that “Antiochus had acted rightly and properly, in complying with the demand of their ambassadors; and that his conduct was pleasing to the senate and people of Rome.” To Ptolemy and Cleopatra, king and queen of Egypt, they answered, that “the senate rejoiced very much, that any benefit or advantage had accrued to the Egyptian monarchs, through their instrumentality; and would take care, that they should always have reason to consider, that the strongest bulwark of their kingdom lay in the protection of the Roman people.” Caius Papirius, the prætor, was commissioned to send the usual presents to the ambassadors. A letter now arrived from Macedon, which doubled the public joy, as it brought information that “king Perseus was in the hands of the consul.” After the ambassadors were dismissed, a controversy between deputies from Pisa and others from Luna came on; the former, complaining that they were dispossessed of their lands by the Roman colonists; while the latter insisted that the lands in question had been marked out to them by the triumvirs. The senate sent five commissioners to examine and fix the boundaries, Quintus Fabius Buteo, Publius Cornelius Blasio, Tiberius Sempronius Musca, Lucius Nævius Balbus, and Caius Apuleius Saturninus. A joint embassy from the three brothers, Eumenes, Attalus, and Athenæus, came with congratulations on the victory; and Masgaba, son of king Masinissa, having landed at Puteoli, Lucius Manlius, the quæstor, was immediately despatched with money to meet him, and conduct him to Rome at the public expense. An audience of the senate was immediately given him on his arrival. This young prince spoke in such a manner that he made services, which were meritorious in themselves, still more gratifying. He recounted what numbers of foot and horse, how many elephants, and what quantities of corn his father had sent into Macedon in aid of the Romans during the last four years. “But there were two things,” he said, “that made him blush; one, the senate having sent by their ambassadors a request, instead of an order, to furnish necessaries for their army; the other, their having sent money in payment for the corn. Masinissa well remembered that the kingdom which he held had been acquired, and increased, and multiplied by the Roman people; and contenting himself with the management of it, acknowledged the right and sovereignty to be vested in those who granted it to him. It was just, therefore, to take, and not to ask from him nor purchase, any of the produce of lands made over by themselves. Whatever remained, after supplying the Roman people, would be fully sufficient for Masinissa.” That with these instructions he parted with his father; but he was afterwards overtaken by some horsemen, who announced to him the conquest of Macedon, with directions to congratulate the senate, and acquaint them that his father felt so much joy at that circumstance, that he wished to come to Rome, and in the Capitol to offer thanks to Jupiter supremely good and great. He requested, therefore, that if it were not disagreeable, the senate would give him. permission to do so.

14 Masgaba was answered, that “his father, Masinissa, acted as became a prince of a benevolent and grateful disposition; to such a degree that, by acknowledging the kindness of his friends, he added value and dignity to it. The Roman people had been assisted by him in the Carthaginian war with exertions at once faithful and brave; by the favour of the Roman people he had obtained his kingdom, and had afterwards, in the successive wars with the three kings, discharged with his usual readiness every duty. That it was not surprising, that a king who had so intimately blended his own interests, and those of his kingdom, with the interests of the Romans, should be delighted at the victory of the Roman people. That he should return thanks to the immortal gods for the victory of the Roman people, before the tutelary deities of his family; that his son could return thanks in his stead at Rome; as he had already said enough in the way of congratulation, both in his own name and in his father’s. But that the senate were of opinion, that his leaving his own kingdom, and going out of Africa, besides being inconvenient to himself, was detrimental to the Roman people.” On Masgaba making a request that Hanno, son of Hamilcar, might be brought to Rome as a hostage in the place of some other, the senate replied, that they could not reasonably require hostages from the Carthaginians, at the choice of any other person. The quæstor was ordered, by a vote of the senate, to purchase presents for the young prince to the value of one hundred pounds’ weight of silver, to accompany him to Puteoli, to defray all his expenses while he staid in Italy, and to hire two ships to carry him and the retinue of the king to Africa; clothes were given to every one of his attendants, both freemen and slaves. Soon after this a letter was brought concerning Masinissa’s other son, Misagenes, stating that, after the conquest of Perseus, he was sent by Lucius Paullus, with his horsemen, to Africa; and that while he was on his voyage in the Adriatic Sea, his fleet was dispersed, and himself, in a bad state of health, driven into Brundusium with only three ships. Lucius Stertinius, the quæstor, was sent to him to Brundusium, with presents of the same kind as those given to his brother at Rome, and he was ordered to provide lodgings for the prince and his retinue, and every thing necessary for his health and convenience; and that the expenses of himself and his entire retinue should be paid liberally; that he should look out for ships by which the prince might pass over into Africa with ease and safety. The quæstor was ordered to give to each of the horsemen a pound of silver, and five hundred sesterces. The assemblies, for the election of consuls for the ensuing year, were held by Caius Licinius the consul. Quintus Ælius Pætus, Marcus Junius Pennus, were appointed consuls. Then Quintus Cassius Longinus, Manius Juventius Thalna, Tiberius Claudius Nero, Aulus Manlius Torquatus, Cneius Fulvius Gillo, C. Licinius Nerva, were made prætors. In the same year the censors, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Caius Claudius Pulcher, at length united in passing a decree on a matter, which had been for a long time discussed among themselves in different disputes. Gracchus, when the freed-men, after being repeatedly confined within the four city tribes, had once more spread themselves through them all, wished to pluck up by the root the evil which was always sending fresh shoots, and to exclude from enrolment all who had ever been slaves. Claudius struggled energetically against him, and made frequent references to the institutions of their ancestors, who had often tried to restrain the freed-men, but never to totally exclude them from the rights of citizens. He said that some relaxation of the former strictness had been conceded even by the censors, Caius Flaminius and Lucius Æmilius. And indeed, although even at that time those dregs of the people had spread themselves through all the tribes, and it appeared requisite to reduce them again within what might be considered their original settlement, still at the time some important concessions were made to several of that rank.

15 For by those censors the freed-men were enrolled in the four city tribes, excepting such as had a son more than five years old, who was their own offspring; all these the censors ordered to be surveyed in the tribe wherein they had been surveyed within the last five years; and such as had a farm, or farms, in the country, exceeding in value thirty thousand sesterces,100 were allowed the privilege of being included in the country tribes. Though this reservation was made in their favour, yet Claudius still insisted, that “a censor could not, without an order of the people, take away from any man, and much less from a whole class of men, the right of suffrage. For though he can remove a man from his tribe, which is nothing more than ordering him to change it, yet he cannot, therefore, remove him out of all the thirty-five tribes; which would be to strip him of the rights of a citizen, and of liberty; not to fix where he should be surveyed, but to exclude him from the survey.” These points were discussed by the censors, who at last came to this compromise: that out of the four city tribes, they should openly, in the court of the temple of Liberty, select one by lot, in which they should include all those who had ever been in servitude. The lot fell on the Æsquiline tribe; on which Tiberius Gracchus published an order, that all sons of freed-men should be surveyed in that tribe. This proceeding gained the censors great honour with the senate, who gave thanks to Sempronius for his perseverance in so good a design, and also to Claudius for not obstructing it. Greater numbers were expelled from the senate, and ordered to sell their horses, by them than by their predecessors. They both concurred in removing from their tribes and disfranchising the same persons, in every instance; nor did one of them remove any mark of disgrace inflicted by the other. They petitioned that, according to custom, the year and half’s time allowed for enforcing the repairs of buildings, and for approving the execution of works contracted for, should be prolonged; but Cneius Tremellius, a tribune, protested against it, because he had not been chosen into the senate. This year Caius Cicereius dedicated a temple to Juno Monita on the Alban mount, five years after he had vowed it; and Lucius Postumius Albinus was inaugurated flamen of Mars.

16 The consuls, Quintius Ælius and Marcus Junius, having proposed the business of distributing, the provinces, the senate decreed that Spain, which during the Macedonian war had been but one province, should be again formed into two; and that the present governors, Lucius Paullus and Lucius Anicius, should continue in the government of Macedonia and Illyria, until, with the concurrence of commissioners, they should adjust the affairs of those countries disordered by the war, and reduce them to a form of government different from the regal. The provinces assigned to the consuls were Pisæ and Gaul, with two legions to each, containing separately five thousand two hundred foot and four hundred horse. The lots of the prætors were as follows: the city jurisdiction fell to Quintus Cassius; the foreign, to Manius Juventius Thalna; Sicily, to Tiberius Claudius Nero; Hither Spain, to Cneius Fulvius; and to Caius Licinius Nerva, Farther Spain. Sardinia had fallen to Aulus Manlius Torquatus, but he could not proceed thither, being detained by a decree of the senate, to preside at trials of capital offences. The senate was then consulted concerning prodigies which were reported: the temple of the tutelar deities, on the Velian hill, had been struck by lightning; and two gates, and a large part of the wall, in the town of Minervium. At Anagnia, a shower of earth had fallen; and, at Lanuvium, a blazing torch was seen in the sky. Marcus Valerius, a Roman citizen, reported, that at Calatia, on the public lands, blood had flowed from his hearth, during three days and two nights. On account of this last occurrence in particular, the decemvirs were directed to consult the books; on which they ordered a general supplication for one day, and sacrificed in the forum fifty goats. On account of the other prodigies, there was a supplication for another day, with sacrifices of the larger victims, and the city was purified. Then, with reference to the gratitude due to the immortal gods, the senate decreed, that, “forasmuch as their enemies were subdued, and the kings Perseus and Gentius, with Macedon and Illyria, were in the power of the Roman people, whatever offerings were made in all the temples by Appius Claudius and Marcus Sempronius, the consuls, on occasion of the conquest of king Antiochus, offerings of the same value should then be made, and that Quintus Cassius and Manius Juventius, the prætors, should superintend them.