Greeks, and reminding the Macedonians to keep by orderly and unanimous
conduct the liberty which the Romans had bestowed upon them, he started
for Epirus, as the Senate had passed a decree that the soldiers who had
been present in the battle against Perseus should be gratified with the
spoil of the cities of Epirus. Desiring therefore to fall upon them all
at once and unexpectedly, he sent for ten of the chief men from each
city, and ordered them to bring together, on a fixed day, all the gold
and silver which they had in their houses and temples. With each party
he sent, as if for this purpose, a guard of soldiers and a captain, who
was to pretend that he came to seek for and receive the money. But when
day broke, they all at the same time fell to sacking and plundering the
cities, so that, in one hour, a hundred and fifty thousand people were
reduced to slavery, and seventy cities plundered; yet from such ruin and
destruction as this, there resulted no more than eleven drachmae for
each soldier, while all mankind shuddered at this termination of the
war, that a whole nation should be cut to pieces to produce such a
pitiful present.
XXX. Aemilius, having performed this work, greatly against his real
nature, which was kind and gentle, proceeded to Oricum, and thence
crossed to Italy with his army. He himself sailed up the river Tiber in
the king's own ship of sixteen banks of oars, adorned with the arms of
the vanquished, and crowns of victory and crimson flags, so that all the
people of Rome came out in a body as if to a foretaste of the spectacle
of his triumphal entry, and walked beside his ship as she was gently
rowed up the river. But the soldiery, casting longing glances at the
king's treasure, like men who had not met with their deserts, were angry
and dissatisfied with Aemilius; for this reason really, though the
charge they openly put forward was that he was a harsh and tyrannical
ruler: so they showed no eagerness for the triumph.
Servius Galba,[A] an enemy of Aemilius, who had once commanded a legion
under him, hearing this, plucked up spirit to propose openly that he
should not be allowed a triumph. He disseminated among the soldiers many
calumnies against their general, and so still more exasperately their
present temper; next he asked the tribunes of the plebs for another day,
as that day would not suffice for his speech, only four hours remaining
of it. However, the tribunes bade him speak, and he, beginning a long
and abusive speech, consumed all the time. At nightfall the tribunes
dismissed the assembly. But the soldiers, now grown bolder, assembled
round Galba, and, forming themselves into an organized body, again at
daybreak occupied the capitol; for it was thither that the tribunes had
summoned the people.
[Footnote A: He had been military tribune of the second legion in
Macedonia. Liv. xlv. 35.]
XXXI. The voting began as soon as it was day, and the first tribe voted
against the triumph. Soon the rumour of this spread to the rest of the
people and to the Senate. Though the masses were grieved at the shameful
treatment of Aemilius, they exhausted themselves in useless clamour, but
the leading men of the Senate crying out one to another that what was
going on was scandalous, encouraged each other to resist the licentious
violence of the soldiers, who, if not restrained, were ready to use any
kind of lawless violence to prevent Paulus Aemilius enjoying the reward
of his victory. These men pushed the mob aside, and mounting to the
capitol in a body, bade the tribunes stop the voting until they had said
what they wished to the people. When voting ceased and silence was
obtained, Marcus Servilius, a man of consular rank, who had challenged
and slain twenty-three enemies in single combat, spoke as
follows:--"What a commander Aemilius Paulus must be, you are now best
able to judge, seeing with what a disobedient and worthless army he has
succeeded in such great exploits; but I am surprised at the people's
being proud of the triumphs over the Illyrians and Ligurians, and
begrudging itself the sight of the king of Macedon brought alive, and
all the glories of Philip and Alexander carried captive to the arms of
Rome. Is it not a strange thing that on the unfounded rumour of this
victory being circulated, you sacrificed to the gods, praying that you
soon might behold this spectacle, yet now that the army has returned
after a real victory, you refuse the gods the honour and yourself the
pleasure of it, as if you feared to see the extent of your successes, or
wished to spare the feelings of your captive enemy; though it would show
a nobler feeling than pity for him, not to deprive your general of his
triumph for a mean grudge. Your baseness has reached such a pitch that a
man without a scar, with his body delicately nurtured in the shade,
dares to speak about generalship and triumphs before us who have learned
by so many wounds to judge of a general's vice and virtues." As he
spoke, he opened his clothes, and showed his breast with an incredible
number of scars upon it; then turning to Galba, who had made some
remarks not very decent "You laugh," said he, "at these other marks: but
I glory in them before my countrymen, for I got them by riding, night
and day, in their service. But come, bring them to vote; I will go
amongst them and follow them all to the poll, that I may know those who
are cowardly and ungrateful, and like rather to be ruled by a demagogue
than by a true general."
XXXII. These words are said to have caused such remorse and repentance
among the soldiers, that all the tribes voted Aemilius his triumph. It
is said to have been celebrated thus. The people, dressed in white
robes, looked on from platforms erected in the horse course, which they
call the Circus, and round the Forum, and in all other places which gave
them a view of the procession. Every temple was open, and full of
flowers and incense, and many officials with staves drove off people who
formed disorderly mobs, and kept the way clear. The procession was
divided into three days. The first scarcely sufficed for the display of
the captured statues, sculptures, and paintings, which were carried on
two hundred and fifty carriages. On the following day the finest and
most costly of the Macedonian arms and armour were borne along in many
waggons, glittering with newly burnished brass and iron, and arranged in
a carefully studied disorder, helmets upon shields, and corslets upon
greaves, with Cretan targets, Thracian wicker shields and quivers mixed
with horses' bits, naked swords rising out of these, and the long spears
of the phalanx ranged in order above them, making a harmonious clash of
arms, as they were arranged to clatter when they were driven along, with
a harsh and menacing sound, so that the sight of them even after victory
was not without terror. After the waggons which bore the arms walked
three thousand men, carrying the silver coin in seven hundred and fifty
earthen vessels, each carrying three talents, and borne by four men.
Others carried the silver drinking horns, and goblets and chalices, each
of them disposed so that it could be well seen, and all remarkable for
their size and the boldness of their carving.
XXXIII. On the third day, at earliest dawn, marched the trumpeters, not
playing the music of a march, but sounding the notes which animate the
Romans for a charge. After them were led along a hundred and twenty fat
oxen with gilded horns, adorned with crowns and wreaths. They were led
by youths clad in finely-fringed waistcloths in which to do the
sacrifice, while boys carried the wine for the libations in gold and
silver vessels. After these came men carrying the gold coin, divided
into vessels of three talents each like the silver. The number of these
vessels was eighty all but three. Then came those who carried the
consecrated bowl which Aemilius had made of ten talents of gold adorned
with jewels, and men carrying the plate of Antigonus and Seleukus, and
cups of Therikles-ware,[A] and all Perseus's own service of gold plate.
[Footnote A: This was a particular kind of pottery, originally made at
Corinth.]
Next came the chariot of Perseus with his armour; and his crown set upon
the top of his armour: and then after a little interval came the captive
children of the king, and with them a tearful band of nurses and
teachers, who held out their hands in supplication to the spectators,
and taught the children to beg them for mercy. There were two boys and
one girl, all too young to comprehend the extent of their misfortune.
This carelessness made their fallen state all the more pitiable, so that
Perseus himself walked almost unnoticed; for the Romans in their pity
had eyes only for the children, and many shed tears, while all felt that
the sight was more painful than pleasing till the children were gone by.
XXXIV. Behind the children and their attendants walked Perseus himself,
dressed in a dark-coloured cloak with country boots, seeming to be dazed
and stupefied by the greatness of his fall. A band of his friends and
associates followed him with grief-laden countenances, and, by their
constantly looking at Perseus, and weeping, gave the spectators the idea
that they bewailed his fate without taking any thought about their own.
However, Perseus had sent to Aemilius asking to be excused the walking
in procession; but he, as it seems in mockery of his cowardice and love
of life, answered, "That was formerly in his own hands, and is now if he
pleases." Meaning that death was preferable to dishonour; but the
dastard had not spirit enough for that, but buoyed up by some hope,
became a part of his own spoils.
After these were borne golden crowns, four hundred in number, which the
cities of Greece had sent to Aemilius with deputations, in recognition
of his success. Next he came himself, sitting in a splendid chariot, a
man worth looking upon even without his present grandeur, dressed in a
purple robe sprinkled with gold, and holding a branch of laurel in his
right hand. All the army was crowned with laurel and followed the car of
the general in military array, at one time singing and laughing over old
country songs, then raising in chorus the paean of victory and recital
of their deeds, to the glory of Aemilius, who was gazed upon and envied
by all, disliked by no good man. Yet it seems that some deity is charged
with tempering these great and excessive pieces of good fortune, and
skimming as it were the cream off human life, so that none may be
absolutely without his ills in this life; but as Homer says, they may
seem to fare best whose fortune partakes equally of good and evil.
XXXV. For he had four sons, two, as has been already related, adopted
into other families, Scipio and Fabius; and two others who were still
children, by his second wife, who lived in his own house. Of these, one
died five days before Aemilius's triumph, at the age of fourteen, and
the other, twelve years old, died three days after it; so that there was
no Roman that did not grieve for him, and all trembled at the cruelty of
fortune, which had burst into a house filled with joy and gladness, and
mingled tears and funeral dirges with the triumphal paeans and songs of
victory.
XXXVI. Yet Aemilius, rightly thinking that courage is as valuable in
supporting misfortunes as it is against the Macedonian phalanx, so
arranged matters as to show that for him the evil was overshadowed by
the good, and that his private sorrows were eclipsed by the successes of
the state, lest he should detract from the importance and glory of the
victory. He buried the first child, and immediately afterwards
triumphed, as we have said: and when the second died after the triumph,
he assembled the people and addressed them, not so much in the words of
one who needs consolation, as of one who would console his countrymen,
who were grieved at his misfortunes. He said, that he never had feared
what man could do to him, but always had feared Fortune, the most fickle
and variable of all deities; and in the late war she had been so
constantly present with him, like a favouring gale, that he expected now
to meet with some reverse by way of retribution. "In one day," said he,
"I crossed the Ionian sea from Brundisium to Corcyra; on the fifth day I
sacrificed at Delphi; in five more I entered upon my command in
Macedonia, performed the usual lustration of the army; and, at once
beginning active operations, in fifteen days more I brought the war to a
most glorious end. I did not trust in my good fortune as lasting,
because every thing favoured me, and there was no danger to be feared
from the enemy, but it was during my voyage that I especially feared
that the change of fortune would befall me, after I had conquered so
great a host, and was bearing with me such spoils and even kings as my
captives. However, I reached you safe, and saw the city full of gladness
and admiration and thanksgiving, but still I had my suspicions about
Fortune, knowing that she never bestows any great kindness unalloyed and
without exacting retribution for it. And no sooner had I dismissed this
foreboding about some misfortune being about to happen to the state,
than I met with this calamity in my own household, having during these
holydays had to bury my noble sons, one after the other, who, had they
lived, would alone have borne my name.
"Now therefore I fear no further great mischance, and am of good cheer;
for a sufficient retribution has been exacted from me for my successes,
and the triumpher has been made as notable an example of the uncertainty
of human life as the victim; except that Perseus, though conquered,
still has his children, while Aemilius, his conqueror, has lost his."
XXXVII. Such was the noble discourse which they say Aemilius from his
simple and true heart pronounced before the people. As to Perseus,
though he pitied his fallen fortunes and was most anxious to help him,
all he could do was to get him removed from the common prison, called
Carcer by the Romans, to a clean and habitable lodging, where, in
confinement, according to most authors, he starved himself to death; but
some give a strange and extraordinary account of how he died, saying
that the soldiers who guarded him became angry with him, and not being
able to vex him by any other means, they prevented his going to sleep,
watching him by turns, and so carefully keeping him from rest by all
manner of devices, that at last he was worn out and died. Two of his
children died also; but the third, Alexander, they say became
accomplished in repoussé work and other arts. He learned to speak and
write the Roman language well, and was employed by the magistrates as a
clerk, in which profession he was much esteemed.
XXXVIII. The most popular thing which Aemilius did in connection with
Macedonia was that he brought back so much money that the people were
not obliged to pay any taxes till the consulship of Hirtius and Pausa,
during the first war between Antony and Augustus Caesar. This was
remarkable about Aemilius, that he was peculiarly respected and loved by
the people, though of the aristocratical party; and though he never said
or did anything to make himself popular, but always in politics acted
with the party of the nobles. Scipio Africanus was afterwards reproached
with this by Appius. These were the leading men in the city, and were
candidates for the office of Censor: the one with the Senate and nobles
to support him, that being the hereditary party of the Appii; the other
being a man of mark in himself, and one who ever enjoyed the greatest
love and favour with the people. So when Appius saw Scipio coming into
the forum surrounded by men of low birth and freed men, yet men who knew
the forum, and who could collect a mob and by their influence and noise
could get any measure passed, he called out, "O Paulus Aemilius, groan
in your grave, at your son being brought into the Censorship by Aemilius
the crier and Licinius Philonicus." But Scipio kept the people in good
humour by constantly augmenting their privileges, whereas Aemilius,
though of the aristocratic party, was no less loved by the people than
those who courted their favour and caressed them. They showed this by
electing him, amongst other dignities, to the Censorship; which office
is most sacred, and confers great power, especially in examining men's
lives; for the Censor can expel a senator of evil life from his place,
and elect the President of the Senate, and punish licentious young men
by taking away their horses. They also register the value of property,
and the census of the people. In his time they amounted to three hundred
and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and fifty-two. He appointed
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus President of the Senate, who four times already
had enjoyed that dignity, and he expelled three senators, not men of
mark. With regard to the Equites, he and his colleague Marcius Philippus
showed equal moderation.
XXXIX. After most of the labours of his life were accomplished, he fell
sick of a disorder which at first seemed dangerous, but as time went on
appeared not to be mortal, but wearisome and hard to cure.
At length he followed the advice of his physicians, and sailed to
Paestum, in Italy. There he passed his time chiefly in the peaceful
meadows near the sea-shore; but the people of Rome regretted his
absence, and in the public theatre often would pray for his return, and
speak of their longing to see him. When the time for some religious
ceremony at which he had to be present approached, and he also
considered himself sufficiently strong, he returned to Rome. He
performed the sacrifice, with the other priests, the people surrounding
him with congratulations. On the next day he again officiated, offering
a thank-offering to the gods for his recovery. When this sacrifice was
finished, he went home and lay down, and before any one noticed how
changed he was, he fell into a delirious trance, and died in three days,
having in his life wanted none of those things which are thought to
render men happy. Even his funeral procession was admirable and
enviable, and a noble tribute to his valour and goodness. I do not mean
gold, ivory, and other expensive and vain-glorious apparatus, but love,
honour, and respect, not only shown by his own countrymen, but also by
foreigners. For of the Iberians, Ligurians, and Macedonians who happened
to be in Rome, the strongest carried the bier, while the elder men
followed after, praising Aemilius as the saviour and benefactor of their
countries. For he not only during his period of conquest had treated
them mildly and humanely, but throughout the rest of his life was always
bestowing benefits upon them as persons peculiarly connected with
himself. His estate, they say, scarcely amounted to three hundred and
seventy thousand sesterces,[A] which he left to be shared between his
two sons; but Scipio, the younger, consented to give up his share to his
brother, as he was a member of a rich family, that of Africanus. Such is
said to have been the life and character of Aemilius Paulus.
[Footnote A: Little more than £3000.]
COMPARISON OF PAULUS AEMILIUS AND TIMOLEON.
I. The characters of these men being such as is shown in their
histories, it is evident that in comparing them we shall find few
differences and points of variance. Even their wars were in both cases
waged against notable antagonists, the one with the Macedonians, the
other with the Carthaginians: while their conquests were glorious, as
the one took Macedonia, and crushed the dynasty of Antigonus in the
person of its seventh king, while the other drove all the despots from
Sicily and set the island free. Unless indeed any one should insinuate
that Aemilius attacked Perseus when he was in great strength and had
conquered the Romans before, whereas Timoleon fell upon Dionysius when
he was quite worn out and helpless: though again it might be urged on
behalf of Timoleon that he overcame many despots and the great power of
Carthage, with an army hastily collected from all sources, not, like
Aemilius, commanding men who were inured to war and knew how to obey,
but making use of disorderly mercenary soldiers who only fought when it
pleased them to do so. An equal success, gained with such unequal means,
reflects the greater credit on the general.
II. Both were just and incorruptible in their conduct: but Aemilius
seems to have had the advantage of the customs and state of feeling
among his countrymen, by which he was trained to integrity, while
Timoleon without any such encouragement acted virtuously, from his own
nature. This is proved by the fact that the Romans of that period were
all submissive to authority, and carried out the traditions of the
state, respecting the laws and the opinions of their countrymen:
whereas, except Dion, no Greek leader or general of that time had
anything to do with Sicilian affairs who did not take bribes: though
many suspected than Dion was meditating making himself king, and that he
had dreams of an empire like that of Sparta.
Timaeus tells us that the Syracusans sent away Gylippus in disgrace for
his insatiable covetousness, and the bribes which they discovered that
he received when in command. And many writers had dwelt upon the wicked
and treacherous acts which Pharax the Spartan and Kallippus the Athenian
committed, when they were endeavouring to make themselves masters of
Sicily. Yet, what were they, and what resources had they, that they
conceived such great designs: the one being only a follower of Dionysius
when he was banished from Syracuse, the other a captain of mercenaries
under Dion? But Timoleon, who was sent to the Syracusans as
generalissimo at their own request and prayer, did not seek for command,
but had a right to it. Yet when he received his power as general and
ruler from them of their own free will, he voluntarily decided to hold
it only till he should have expelled from Sicily all those who were
reigning despotically. In Aemilius again we must admire this, that he
subdued so great an empire and yet did not enrich himself by one
drachma, and never even saw or touched the king's treasures, although he
distributed much of them in presents to others. And still, I do not say
that Timoleon is to be blamed for having received a fine house and
estate; for there is no disgrace in receiving it by such means, though
not to take it is better, and shows almost superhuman virtue, which
cares not to take what is lawfully within its reach. Yet, as the
strongest bodies are those which can equally well support the extremes
of heat and cold, so the noblest minds are those which prosperity does
not render insolent and overbearing, nor ill fortune depress: and here
Aemilius appears more nearly to approach absolute perfection, as, when
in great misfortune and grief for his children, he showed the same
dignity and firmness as after the greatest success. Whereas Timoleon,
though he acted towards his brother as became a noble nature, yet could
not support himself against his sorrow by reason, but was so crushed by
remorse and grief that for twenty years he could not appear or speak in
the public assembly. We ought indeed to shrink from and feel shame at
what is base; but the nature which is over-cautious to avoid blame may
be gentle and kindly, but cannot be great.
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