_When Philip had ordered the children of those whom he had put to
death, to be sought after as hostages, Theoxena, fearing the king’s
passion for her own children and those of her sister, who were
still quite young, brought forward swords and a cup in which there
was poison, and persuaded them to escape, by putting an end to
their existence, the mockery that awaited them; after administering
which advice, she in company with her husband plunged headlong from
the ship into the sea. The quarrels between Perseus and Demetrius,
the sons of Philip, king of Macedon, are related; and how that
Demetrius was first assailed by accusations invented through his
brother’s guile, and among the rest, an impeachment for parricide
and aspiring to the throne, and at last, since he was the friend of
the Roman people, cut off by poison; and the kingdom of Macedon, on
the death of Philip, fell to Perseus. It contains likewise the
exploits successfully achieved by very many commanders in Liguria,
and against the Celtiberians in Spain. Under the Janiculum, in the
field of L. Petillius, the secretary, the books of Numa Pompilius
were found by the labourers of the field, enclosed in a stone
chest, written in both Latin and Greek characters; in which, when
the prætor, to whom they had been brought, had read very many
things calculated to overthrow the present system of religion, he
swore to the senate that their being read and preserved would be
detrimental to the state. And by a decree of the senate they were
burned in the Comitium. The colony of Aquilia was planted. Philip,
worn out by the pangs of conscience, because, influenced by the
false information of his other son Perseus, he had by poison
removed from life’s scene his son Demetrius, both resolved on the
punishment of Perseus and desired to leave his friend Antigonus,
rather than him, as his successor. But, whilst forming this
project, he was hurried off by death. Perseus received the
kingdom._
1. At the commencement of the next year, the consuls and prætors
determined the provinces by lot. For the consuls there was no province
to be decreed, except Liguria. The city jurisdiction fell to Marcus
Ogulnius Gallus; that among foreigners, to Marcus Valerius; of the
Spains, the Hither, to Marcus Fulvius Flaccus; the Farther, to Publius
Manlius; Sicily, to Lucius Ctecilius Denter; and Sardinia, to Caius
Terentius Istra. The consuls were ordered to hold levies, for Quintus
Fabius had written from Liguria, that the Apuani seemed inclined to a
renewal of hostilities, and that it was to be feared that they would
make an irruption into the district of Pisæ. From the Spains, also, they
received intelligence that the Hither province was in arms; that the war
still continued with the Celtiberians: that, in the Farther province,
because the prætor had been for a long time indisposed, military
discipline was relaxed by intemperance and inactivity. For these reasons
it was decreed that new armies should be raised; four legions for
Liguria, that each might contain five thousand two hundred foot, and
three hundred horse, and to these same were added, fifteen thousand foot
and eight hundred horse of the Latin allies. These were to complete the
two consular armies. They were ordered, also, to enrol seven thousand
foot and four hundred horse, of the allies and Latins, and to send them
into Gaul to Marcus Marcellus, whose command was prolonged on the
expiration of his consulship. There were ordered to be levied, of Roman
citizens, four thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry, and of the
allies, seven thousand infantry with three hundred cavalry, which should
be also led into both Spains. And to Quintus Fabius Labeo, with the army
which he had in Liguria, was the command prolonged for a year.
2. The spring of this year was remarkable for storms. On the day before
the feast of Pales, a tremendous hurricane arose about mid-day, and made
havoc in many places, both sacred and common. It threw down the brazen
statues in the Capitol; tore away a gate from the temple of Luna, which
is on the Aventine, and fastened it to the back parts of the temple of
Ceres; overturned other statues in the Circus Maximus, together with the
pillars on which they stood; tore off several cupolas from the roofs of
temples, and scattered them in an unseemly manner. This storm was
converted into a prodigy, and the aruspices ordered it to be attended
to. At the same time expiation was made, because it had been reported
that a three-footed mule was born at Reate, and that the temple of
Apollo, at Formiæ and at Caieta, was struck with lightning. On account
of these prodigies, a sacrifice of twenty larger victims was offered,
and there was a supplication of one day’s continuance. About the same
time information was obtained from a letter of Aulus Terentius, the
proprætor, that Publius Sempronius, after being sick for more than a
year, had died in the Farther province: on this account the prætors were
ordered to set out sooner for Spain. The foreign embassies were then
brought before the senate; and first, those of the kings Eumenes and
Pharnaces, and of the Rhodians, complaining of the sufferings of the
inhabitants of Sinope. There came also, about the same time, the
ambassadors of Philip, the Achæans, and Lacedæmonians. Answers were
given to these, after Marcius, who had been sent to inspect the affairs
of Greece and Macedonia, had first received an audience. To the Asiatic
kings and the Rhodians, they answered, that the senate would send
ambassadors to examine into those matters.
3. Marcius had increased their anxiety respecting Philip; for, he
acknowledged that the latter had acquiesced with the will of the senate
in such a manner, as to render it very evident, that he would conform to
it no longer than necessity obliged him; nor was it difficult to see,
that he intended to renew hostilities, and that every thing which he
then said and did had a tendency that way. Now, in the first place, he
removed almost the whole body of the citizens, with their families, from
the maritime cities, into Emathia, which is its modern name, it was
formerly called Pæonia; he gave up those cities to be inhabited by
Thracians, and other barbarians, thinking that this kind of people would
prove more faithful to him in case of a war with Rome. This proceeding
caused great discontent over all Macedonia; and of those who, with their
wives and children, left their dwellings, few concealed their grief in
silence; and, their hatred overcoming their fear, imprecations against
the king were heard, as they proceeded along in groups. His mind,
rendered savage by these things, entertained suspicions of all men,
places, and seasons; at last he began to confess openly, that he had
nothing sufficiently safe without seizing and confining the sons of
those whom he had destroyed, and sending them out of the world at
different times.
4. This cruelty, horrible in itself, the calamities of one particular
family rendered still more so. Philip had, many years before, put to
death Herodicus, a Thessalian of distinction; and afterwards his
sons-in-law. His daughters were left widows, having each a little son.
The names of the women were Theoxena and Archo. Theoxena, though
courted by many, rejected every offer of marriage. Archo married a
certain Poris, by far the first of the Ænean nation; and, after bearing
him many children, died, leaving them all quite young. Theoxena then, in
order that her sister’s children might be educated under her own
inspection, married Poris, and as if she herself had borne them all,
treated her own and her sister’s sons with the same affectionate care.
When she heard of the king’s order for seizing the children of the
persons who had been put to death, supposing that they were destined to
afford sport not only to the king’s lust, but to that of his guards, she
formed in her mind a horrid project, and had the hardiness to declare,
that she would kill them all with her own hand, rather than they should
come into the power of Philip. Poris, abhorring the mention of such a
dreadful deed, told her that he would carry them away to Athens, to some
faithful friends, and would himself accompany them in their flight. They
all went from Thessalonica to Ænea, to a stated sacrifice, which they
offer yearly, with great solemnity, in honour of Æneas, the founder of
the nation. Having spent the day there, in the anniversary feast, about
the third watch, when all were asleep, they embarked in a vessel ready
prepared by Poris, as if intending to return to Thessalonica; but their
design was to cross over to Eubœa. However, daylight surprised them at
a small distance from the land, struggling in vain against a contrary
wind, and the king’s officers, who commanded the garrison of the port,
despatched an armed bark to bring back their ship, with a strict
injunction not to return without it. When they were now drawing nigh,
Poris was intently occupied in animating the rowers and sailors, and, at
times, raising his hands towards heaven, supplicated the gods to assist
him. Meanwhile, the woman, with desperate fury recurring to the shocking
design which she had long premeditated, dissolves some poison, and
produces swords; then, placing the cup in their view, and unsheathing
the swords, she says, “Death is our only refuge. These paths lead
thither, by whichever of them each one’s inclination leads them to
adopt, let them escape the tyranny of the king. Come then, dear youths,
let those of you who are the elder, first take the sword; or, if a
slower death is your choice, drain the cup.” At the same time the enemy
was fast approaching, and she, who urged them to despatch themselves,
was urgent; the young men, having put an end to their lives some by the
one and some by the other fatal expedient, were thrown expiring into the
sea. Then, embracing her husband and companion in death, she plunged
into the deep. The king’s officers then took possession of the ship,
deserted by its owners.
5. The barbarity connected with this deed added fresh fuel to the flame
of public resentment kindled against the king, insomuch that most people
uttered imprecations on himself and his children; which curses being in
a short time heard by all the gods, caused him to vent his cruelty on
his own blood relations. For Perseus, when he perceived that the
popularity and high reputation of his brother Demetrius among the
Macedonian people, and interest among the Romans, increased more and
more every day, and that no hope was left him of obtaining the crown
save by the instrumentality of some wicked device, bent all his thoughts
to that one object. But not thinking himself alone strong enough even
for the dastardly project, which he meditated in his effeminate mind, he
began to tamper with each of his father’s friends by dark suggestions.
At first, several of these showed an appearance of rejecting with scorn
any such overtures, because they entertained higher expectations from
Demetrius. Afterwards Philip’s animosity to the Romans increased every
day, which Perseus fomented; but Demetrius, with all his might, opposed.
Foreseeing the fatal doom of the youth, who heeded not a brother’s
guile, and thinking that they must lend their assistance to the
accomplishment of what was likely to take place, and cherish the hopes
of the more powerful, they united themselves to Perseus. They defer the
execution of other measures till their proper season; for the present,
it seems good that the king should by every strenuous exertion be
inflamed against the Romans, and urged to form resolutions for war, to
which he had already of his own accord turned his attention. At the same
time, in order that Demetrius might be a greater object of suspicion
every day, they used deliberately to prolong the conversations even to
the use of insulting language towards the Romans; thereupon, when some
depreciating their manners and institutions, some their military
achievements, some the appearance of the city itself, unadorned either
by public or private structures; others spoke scornfully of some
particular individuals among their principal men. On these occasions,
the young prince unwary, both out of affection for the Roman nation, and
opposition to his brother, by maintaining their cause in all things,
rendered himself an object of suspicion to his father, and a fit subject
for their accusations. His father therefore kept him a stranger to all
his designs respecting the Romans; he was entirely devoted to Perseus,
and held with him, daily and nightly, deliberations on that subject. The
envoys had returned whom he happened to have sent to the Bastarnians, to
solicit aid, and brought with them from thence young men of distinction,
and some of royal extraction; one of whom promised his sister in
marriage to Philip’s son, and the connexion with that nation raised the
king’s spirits. Hereupon Perseus said, “What does that avail? There is
by no means as much protection afforded by foreign aid, as there is
danger arising from domestic treachery. I am unwilling to call him
traitor, but a spy we certainly have in our bosom, and although the
Romans have restored to us his body, since he was a hostage at Rome, yet
they still possess his heart. The faces of almost all the Macedonians
are turned towards him, and they think they are to have no other king
but him whom the Romans would give them.” By such discourses the old
man’s mind, distempered in itself, was stimulated to passion, and these
imputations he received deeper in his mind, than appeared from his
countenance.
6. It happened to be the time of the purification of the army; which
ceremony is thus performed:—The head and fore part of a dog cut through
the middle is laid at the right side of the way, and the hinder part
with the entrails at the left. Between the parts of the victim, thus
divided, the forces are led under arms. In the front of the van, are
carried the remarkable suits of armour of all the kings of Macedon, from
the remotest origin; next follows the king himself, with his children;
then the royal cohort and body guards, and the remaining body of the
Macedonians close the rear. The two young sons of the king attend by his
side; Perseus being now in his thirtieth year, Demetrius five years
younger; the former in the full strength of manhood, the latter in its
bloom; the mature offspring of a fortunate parent, if his mind had been
influenced by reason. The custom was, that when the purificatory
sacrifice was finished, the army should perform their evolutions, and
the two lines divided on both sides should engage in a mock fight. The
young princes were appointed commanders in this mock engagement; but it
was not the mere representation of a battle, for they engaged as if they
were fighting for the throne: many wounds were given with stakes, nor
was any thing but the steel wanting to give it the form of a regular
battle. The party which was under the command of Demetrius, was far
superior. While Perseus was vexed thereat, his considerate friends
rejoiced; and said, that that very circumstance would afford grounds for
impeaching the youth.
7. Each of the princes gave an entertainment that day to his comrades,
who had exercised under his command. Perseus being invited to supper by
Demetrius, refused; kind hospitality and youthful merriment led both to
excess in wine. Thereupon mention was made of the mock engagement, and
numerous remarks were thrown out against the antagonists in such a
manner as not to spare even the leaders themselves. To learn these
expressions, a spy was sent from among the guests of Perseus; but not
conducting himself with sufficient caution, he was detected by some
young men who happened to come out of the banqueting-room, and severely
beaten. Demetrius, knowing nothing of this matter, said, “Why do we not
go to my brother, join with him in merriment, and by our frankness and
gaiety assuage his resentment, if any, arising from the engagement, as
yet remains?” All with one accord cried out that they would attend him,
except those who were afraid of the immediate revenge of the spy that
had been beaten by them. When Demetrius pressed these also, they
concealed swords under their clothes, with which they might defend
themselves if any violence should be offered. In the case of domestic
discord, nothing that is concealed can remain so. Both houses were full
of spies and traitors. An informer ran on before to Perseus, and told
him, that four young men, armed with swords, were coming with Demetrius.
Though the reason was evident, (for he had heard that his guest had been
beaten by them,) yet, for the purpose of blackening the matter, he
ordered his gate to be locked, and from the upper part of the house and
the windows facing the street, he drives away the revellers, as if they
were come to murder him, from the entrance to the gate. Demetrius
flushed with wine, having for a little exclaimed loudly at his being
shut out, returns home to his own feast entirely ignorant of the meaning
of the whole proceeding.
8. Next day, Perseus, as soon as an opportunity of seeing his father was
afforded him, entered the palace, and with looks expressive of
disquietude stood silent in the presence of his sire but at some
distance. Of whom when his father inquired “if all was well, and what
was the cause of that sadness?” he answers, “Know that it is by the
sufferance of another that your son survives. We are now attacked by my
brother with no secret treachery; he came by night to my house, with
armed men to take away my life, and it was by shut doors, and the
protection afforded by the walls, that I was saved from his fury.” When
he had inspired into his father a horror mixed with wonder, he adds, “If
you can listen to me, I shall cause you to understand the affair as an
evident truth.” But Philip replied that he would hear him, and ordered
Demetrius to be instantly summoned. He then sent for two friends of
advanced age, Lysimachus and Onomastus, (who never interfered in the
juvenile disputes of the brothers, and were of late rare visitors in the
palace,) that he might have their assistance in counsel. While his
friends are coming he walked about by himself, secretly revolving many
things in his mind; his son still standing at a distance. On being told
that they had arrived, he retired with his two friends, and the same
number of his life-guards, into an inner apartment; he permitted each of
his sons to bring in three persons unarmed. Here, having taken his seat,
he says, “I, the most unhappy of fathers, sit here as judge between my
two sons, the accuser and the accused of the crime of fratricide; about
to find, in my nearest of relations, the foul stain either of falsehood
or a commission of crime. For a long time, indeed, I have apprehended an
impending storm, after I perceived your mutual looks, which showed no
sign of brotherly affection, and after I had overheard some expressions.
But I sometimes cherished the hope that your passions would subside, and
that your suspicions could be removed; that even enemies lay down their
arms and form a treaty, and that the private disputes of many have been
ended; and I trusted that the remembrance of your fraternal relationship
would at some time or other occur to you, and of the simplicity and
intimacy that subsisted between you in your boyish days; and finally, of
my instructions, which, I fear, I have fruitlessly poured into deaf
ears. How often have I, in your hearing, mentioned, with abhorrence,
examples of the disagreements of brothers, and recounted the dreadful
consequences of them, by which themselves, their offspring, their
houses, and their kingdoms, have been utterly ruined. I have
represented, on the other hand, more laudable examples; also the social
intercourse between the two kings of the Lacedæmonians, beneficial to
themselves and to their country for many ages; and that this same state,
after the custom of each one arbitrarily seizing on absolute power
prevailed, was quite overturned. Then, that these brothers, Eumenes and
Attalus, raised their dominions (from so small circumstances, that they
were almost ashamed of the title of king), to an equality with mine, or
with those of Antiochus, or indeed of any monarch of this age, and by
nothing else than by brotherly concord. Nor did I decline showing you
examples even from among the Romans that I had either seen or heard; as
of Titus and Lucius Quintius, who carried on the war against me; the two
Scipios, Publius and Lucius, who vanquished Antiochus; and their father
and uncle, the lasting harmony of whose life even death could not
dissolve. But neither could the wickedness of the former, attended by an
issue suitable to their crimes, deter you from your foolish quarrels;
nor could the sound judgment and good fortune of the latter bend you to
wisdom. While I am alive and in health, you have both in your hopes and
wicked desires laid hold on my inheritance. You wish me to live just so
long as that, surviving one, I should, by my death, make the other king
without a competitor. You cannot endure to have either brother or
father. You have no sense of affection, no religion, your insatiable
passion for regal sway alone has supplied the place of all other
feelings. Come, then, pollute your father’s ears, contend with mutual
accusations, as you soon will with the sword; speak openly either
whatever truth you can, or are pleased to invent. My ears are now
opened, which henceforward will be shut against all secret charges of
one against the other.” When with furious passion he had uttered these
words, tears gushed from the whole assembly and a sorrowful silence long
prevailed.
9. At length Perseus spoke to this effect: “I ought then, it seems, to
have opened my gate in the night, and admitted those armed revellers,
and held out my throat to their swords; since nothing less than the
perpetration of the deed can gain belief, and since I, who have been
assailed by secret treachery am accosted in the same language as a
robber and an assassin might expect. It is not without reason, that
those people say that you have but one son, Demetrius; and that I am
supposititious, and born of a concubine; for if I held in your breast
the rank of a son, or the affection due to one, you would wreak your
anger not on me, who complain of discovered treachery, but on him who
was the author of it; nor would my life be so worthless in your eyes,
that you should neither be moved by the danger which I have already
undergone, nor by that to which I must be exposed in future, if
punishment be not inflicted on the assassins. If, therefore, it be our
doom to die secretly let us be silent, only offering prayers to the gods
that the wickedness commenced with me may terminate in me, and that you
be not aimed at through my side. But if, as nature itself suggests to
those encompassed with perils in a desert place, to implore assistance
even from men whom they had never seen, so I, on seeing a sword drawn
against me, may be allowed to raise my voice. I beseech you then, by
your own person, by the name of father, (and you long know which of us
reveres that title most,) that you may hear me in the same manner as you
would if, roused by cries and lamentations by night, you had come up,
when I was crying for help, and in the dead of night had found
Demetrius, with armed men, in the porch of my house. What I should, at
that time, and in that case, have exclaimed with terror, I now, next
day, lay before you in form of a complaint. Brother, it is long since
you and I lived together on the terms of mutual hospitality; you
certainly wish to be king; this my expectation, my age, opposes, the law
of nations opposes, the ancient practice of Macedon opposes, and
moreover the judgment of my father opposes. These you can surmount by no
other means than by shedding my blood. You are making every scheme and
every attempt. Hitherto, either my care or fortune has prevented the
fratricide you intended to commit. Yesterday, on occasion of the
purification, the military exercise and mock representation of a fight,
you almost rendered it a bloody battle; nor was I saved from death by
any other means than by suffering myself and my party to be overcome.
Pretending brotherly sport, you wanted to drag me from a hostile fight
to your house to supper. Father, do you think that I, to whom they came
in arms, that they might drink with me, would have supped there with
unarmed guests. Do you think that I would have been in no danger from
their swords by night, when they almost killed me with stakes, of which
you were a spectator. Why, Demetrius, did you come at that time of
night; why an enemy come to a person provoked; why with young men in
arms? I did not venture to trust myself with you as a guest, and shall I
admit you as a reveller, coming with armed men? Father, if the gate had
been open, you would be preparing my funeral at this moment, in which
you are hearing my complaint. I do not, as an accuser, urge any thing
for the purpose of accusation; nor by collecting doubtful circumstances,
in a train of artful arguments. For what can he say? Does he deny that
he came to my gate with a large party, or that there were armed men with
him? Send for the persons, whom I will name; they who dared to do this,
might dare to do any thing; nevertheless, they will not dare to deny it.
If I brought before you any who had been caught within my doors in arms,
you would consider this an evident proof; consider those who confess in
the same light as if actually caught in the fact.
10. “Curse now thirst for dominion. Call up the furies, the avengers of
the wrongs of brothers; but, father, let not your curses be
undiscriminating. Separate and distinguish the assassin, and him by
treachery assailed, and charge the guilty head. Let him, who intended to
kill a brother, feel the wrath of the gods, of his father; and let him,
who was to have perished by a brother’s wickedness, find refuge in his
father’s compassion and justice. For where else shall I seek refuge, who
cannot find safety in the solemn purification of your army, in the
exercise of the troops, in my own house, in a feast, nor in the night,
which nature’s bounty granted to mankind for a season of repose. If I go
to my brother, according to his invitation, I must die. If I admit my
brother to a party of pleasure within my own gates, I must die. Neither
by going, nor by staying, do I escape secret treachery. Whither then
shall I betake me? Father, I have courted nothing save the gods and
thee. I have not the Romans, to whom I may fly. They seek my
destruction, because I grieve at the injuries which they have done you;
because I resent your being deprived of so many cities, so many nations,
and, lately, of the coast of Thrace. They have no hope that Macedonia
will ever be their property, while either you or I am safe. If a
brother’s wickedness shall have carried off me, and old age thee, or if
even this should not be waited for, they know that both the king and
kingdom of Macedonia will become theirs. If the Romans had left you any
thing beyond the limits of Macedon, I would suppose that even that had
been left me as a shelter. But I have protection enough in the
Macedonians. You were an eye-witness yesterday of the attack made on me
by the soldiers. What did they want, but the steel? And what they
wanted, in the day, my brother’s guests took to themselves in the night.
Why need I mention the greater part of the nobles, who have placed all
their hopes of honour and fortune in the Romans, and in him who is
all-powerful with the Romans? Nor, in truth, do they prefer him merely
to me, his elder brother, but, they want little of preferring him to
yourself, his king and father. For, he is the person out of regard to
whom the senate remitted to you the intended punishment, who now screens
you from the Roman arms; who thinks it fit that your advanced age should
be under obligation to, and dependent on, his youth. Him the Romans, him
the cities freed from thy jurisdiction, and him the Macedonians,
rejoicing at the peace with Rome, defend; but for me, father, what hope
or protection have I any where except in thee?
11. “What do you suppose to be the intention of the letter lately sent
to you by Titus Quintius, in which he not only says, that you acted
wisely for your own interest in sending Demetrius to Rome, but also
advises you to send him back again, with a greater number of
ambassadors, and nobles of Macedonia? Titus Quintius is now his
counsellor, and master, in every thing. Having renounced you his father,
he has substituted him in your place. There in preference to all other
places their secret plans are concocted. When he desires you to send
greater numbers, and the chief men of Macedon they are seeking
assistants in their schemes. For those who go from this place unchanged
and uncorrupted, and impressed with the idea that they had Philip as
their king, return from thence tainted—infected by Roman blandishments.
Demetrius alone is every thing to them. They give him the title of king
already, even in his father’s life-time. If I express my indignation at
these things, you must forthwith understand that the crime of thirsting
for dominion has been laid to my charge; not only by others, father, but
even by you. But this charge, if made against both, I do not admit; for
whom do I remove from his place, that I may succeed in his room? My
father alone is before me; and that he may long be so, I entreat the
gods. I his survivor, (and may I be so only on these terms, if, by my
desert, he shall wish me to be so,) shall receive the inheritance of his
kingdom, provided my father shall bequeath it to me. He covets rule, and
covets it with criminal passion, since he hastily overleaps the order of
age, of nature, of the Macedonian custom, and of the laws of nations. An
elder brother stands in his way, to whom by right, and by the wish of
his father, the kingdom belongs. Let him be carried off: I shall not be
the first that acquired a kingdom by spilling a brother’s blood. My
father, being old, and forlorn from being bereaved of his son, will
rather fear for himself, than revenge his son’s death. The Romans will
rejoice, they will approve, they will defend the deed. Father, these
prospects are uncertain, but they are not groundless. For the matter
stands thus: you can repel from me the fatal danger, by inflicting
punishment on those who have taken up arms to kill me; if success attend
the daring deed, you the very same shall not be able to avenge my
death.”
12. When Perseus concluded his speech, the eyes of all present were
turned to Demetrius, as if he were going to reply immediately. Then,
when it was evident to all that, bathed in tears, he was unable to
speak, silence for a long time reigned: at length necessity itself,
inasmuch as they called on him to speak, overcame his grief, and he
began thus: “Father, all the aids which heretofore have been the
privilege of the accused, my accuser has preoccupied. By his tears,
counterfeited for the purpose of working another’s ruin, he has caused
my unfeigned tears to be suspected by you. Although, ever since I
returned from Rome, he, by holding secret consultations with his
confederates, labours night and day to insnare me, yet nevertheless he
represents me in the character, not only of a conspirator, but of an
open assassin and murderer. He terrifies you with his danger, in order
to hasten, through your means, the ruin of an innocent brother. He
asserts, that he has a place of refuge no where in the world, that I may
have no remaining hope even in thee. Circumvented, destitute, and
helpless as I am, he loads me with odium arising from foreign favour,
which proves detrimental rather than advantageous. Then how,
accuser-like, has he blended that which was the crime of this night with
other invectives against my conduct, that he might, by representing the
tenor of the rest of my life, throw a colour of guilt both on the late
transaction, the true nature of which you shall soon understand; and
that he might support the other groundless insinuations respecting my
views, wishes, and designs, by this latter, fictitious, fabricated
story. He had, at the same time, this design, that his accusation might
appear to be sudden and by no means premeditated, as if occasioned by
sudden fright and disturbance of this night. But, Perseus, if I were a
traitor against my father and his government; if I had formed plans with
the Romans, or with other enemies of my father, the tale of last night
ought not to have been waited for; I ought to have been long ago brought
to answer for my treason. And if the former charge apart from the latter
were unfounded, and tended to discover your hatred towards me, rather
than my guilt, it ought on the present day also to be either omitted or
postponed to some future period; in order that it might clearly appear,
whether I plotted against you; or you, with indeed a strange and
singular kind of hatred, against me. However, I will, as well as I am
able in my present unforeseen perturbation of mind, distinguish those
matters which you have confounded; and I will unveil the plot of the
preceding evening, whether mine or yours. Perseus wishes it to be
believed, that I had formed a design to take his life, with the view,
forsooth, that having removed the elder brother, on whom by the law of
nations, by the custom of Macedonia, and likewise by your judgment, as
he says, the kingdom was to devolve, I, the younger, should succeed in
the room of him whom I had slain. What, then, can be the meaning of that
other part of his speech, where he says that the Romans were courted by
me, and from my reliance on them that I conceived hopes of the crown?
For, if I believed that the Romans possessed such influence, that they
could appoint whomsoever they pleased king of Macedon, and if I had such
confidence in my interest with them, what need was there of fratricide?
Could it be my wish to wear a diadem stained with a brother’s blood, or
to become execrable and odious in the eyes of those very people, with
whom whatever interest I may happen to have, has been procured by zeal,
or at least affected integrity of conduct? unless you believe that Titus
Quintius, by whose power and advice you allege I am at present governed,
though he lives in such cordial affection with his own brother, would
recommend to me to murder mine? He has united for me, not only the
favour of the Romans, but the opinions of the Macedonians, and the
concurring sentiments almost of all the gods and men, by reason of all
which he cannot believe that he would prove equal to me in the
competition. Yet the same man accuses me of having (though I was
inferior to him in every mode of proceeding) had recourse to an act of
wickedness as my last resource. Do you wish that the formula of the
judicial inquiry should be to this effect, that whichever feared lest
the other should seem more worthy of the throne, shall be deemed guilty
of designing his brother’s destruction?
13. “But let us examine the process of this accusation, in whatever
manner it has been fabricated. He has arraigned me of attempting his
life, by several methods; and all these modes of attack he has crowded
into the space of one day. I intended to kill him by day when we engaged
after the purification, and, if it seems good to the gods, even on the
day of purification. I intended, when I invited him to supper, to take
him off by poison of course. I intended, when some armed persons
followed me to join his party in their conviviality, to kill him with
the sword. You see what sort of opportunities were chosen for this
murder; those of sport, feasting, and revelling. What? on what sort of a
day! On the day in which the army was purified; in which, after the
royal armour of all the former kings of Macedon was carried in
procession between the divided victim, when we two only rode along with
you, father, at your sides, and the body of the Macedonian troops
followed. Now, even supposing that I had formerly been guilty of some
crime requiring expiation, could I, after being purified and expiated in
this sacred solemnity, at the very time especially when I was looking at
the victim laid on each side of our road, revolved in my mind
fratricide, poisons and swords prepared against the feast? With what
other sacred rites could I afterwards atone for the guilt of a mind,
contaminated with every kind of villany? But whilst his understanding,
blinded by a desire for accusing, wishes to render every thing an object
of suspicion, it confounds one thing with another. For if I intended to
take you off by poison at supper, what could be more incongruous with my
design, than to provoke you to rage by an obstinate contest and
engagement, that you might have reason to refuse, as you did, my
invitation to supper? But when, in your anger, you had refused, whether
ought I to have taken pains to pacify you, that I might find another
opportunity, since I had got the poison ready, or to pass over, as it
were, from that design to another, namely, that of killing you with the
sword, and on that same day, under pretence of feasting with you? If I
thought that you declined supping with me, through fear for your life,
how could I suppose that you would not, through the same fear, have
declined drinking with me also.
14. “Father, I have no cause to blush, that on a festival day, among
companions of my own age, I should have indulged too freely in wine; and
I wish you would also inquire with what cheerfulness and mirth
yesterday’s entertainment, at my house, was rendered festive, that joy
also (perhaps a blamable one) increasing it, our party not having been
worsted in the fight. This my present misfortune, and my fears, have
effectual dissipated the fumes of the liquor; but, if these had not
intervened, we, the conspirators, would have been now lying fast asleep.
If, Perseus, I designed to storm your house, and after the house had
been taken to kill the owner, ought I not to have refrained from wine
for that one day, and to have kept my soldiers sober? And that I should
not be the only one to defend my cause with excessive candour, my
brother himself also, not in the least inclined to malice or suspicion,
says, I know nothing more, I charge them with nothing more, than that
they came in arms to drink with me. If I should ask, From what source
have you become acquainted with that very circumstance? you must
necessarily acknowledge, either that my house was full of your spies;
or that my companions took arms so openly, as that every one could see
them. Lest he should seem either on a prior occasion to have made any
investigation, or now to adduce arguments for the purpose of convicting,
he desired you to inquire of the persons whom he would name, whether
they had swords, in order that, as it were, in a doubtful case, when you
had investigated into that which they themselves confessed, they might
be deemed convicted. Why do you not rather desire inquiry to be made
after this, whether they carried swords for the purpose of killing you;
whether by my direction and knowledge? this you wish to be believed, and
not that which they confess, and what is, indeed, notorious, they say
they carried them for the purpose of defending themselves. Whether they
acted right or wrong, let them account for their own conduct. My cause,
which is no way affected by this act, do not blend with it. Explain
whether we intended to attack you openly, or secretly. If openly, why
had we not all swords? why had no one a sword except those who had
beaten your spy? If privately, what was the arrangement of our plan?
Were four to remain, in order to fall on you in your sleep, when the
banquet broke up, and I your guest had departed? How would they have
escaped detection, as being strangers, and belonging to me; and, above
all, being liable to suspicion, because they had been in a quarrel a
little before? But how were they to have escaped after having killed
you? Could your house have been taken and stormed by two swords?
15. “Why not rather, having dropped that fable of last night, recur to
what really grieves you, what kindles your envy? Say,—Why, Demetrius, is
mention made any where of your mounting the throne? Why do you appear,
to some, a more worthy successor to your father’s dignity than I? Why do
you disturb with doubt and anxiety my hopes, which would be certain if
you were not in being? These are the thoughts of Perseus, though he does
not express them; these make that man my enemy, these create my accuser;
these fill your house, these your kingdom, with accusations and
suspicions. But, father, as I ought not now either to hope for the
crown, or perhaps ever to contend for it, because I am the younger
brother, and because you wish that I should yield to the elder; so
neither ought I at any former time, or at the present, to act in such a
manner as to appear undeserving of you my father, and of all. For I
should attain that by my own vices, not by yielding to him on whose side
is law both human and divine, not by moderation. You upbraid me with the
Romans; and what ought to be deemed an honour, you convert into a crime.
I did not request, that I should either be delivered a hostage to the
Romans, or sent as an ambassador to Rome. Being commissioned by you, I
did not refuse to go. On both occasions, I conducted myself in such a
manner, as to be no disgrace to you, to your kingdom, or to the
Macedonian nation. You, therefore, father, have been the cause of my
friendship with the Romans. As long as peace shall subsist between you
and them, so long will I also continue in friendship with them; but, if
war should arise, I, the same who have been there a hostage, and no
unprofitable ambassador in my father’s behalf, will be their most
determined enemy. Nor do I, this day, require that the favour of the
Romans should be any advantage to me; I only entreat that it be not
detrimental. It neither commenced in war, nor is it reserved for war. I
have been a pledge of peace; and, to procure a continuance of peace, I
was sent ambassador. Let neither be esteemed an honour or a crime.
Father, if I have been guilty of any undutiful behaviour towards you, or
any criminal behaviour towards my brother, I beg to be freed from no
punishment. If I be innocent, let me not, I beseech you, be destroyed by
envy when I cannot by crime. My brother’s accusation, this day, is not
the first that he has brought against me; but it is the first made
openly, and owing to no offence given him by me. If my father were angry
with me, it would become you, the elder brother, to intercede for the
younger, you to obtain pardon for his youth, and you for his error; but
in the very person from whom I ought to receive protection, in him I
meet my ruin. From a feast and revelry I have been hurried, almost half
asleep, to plead my cause on a charge of fratricide. Without advocates,
without patrons, I am compelled to plead my own cause. If I were to
speak for another, I would have taken time to study and compose a
speech; though, what else would I endanger than that of my reputation
for abilities. But, before I knew why I had been summoned, I heard you,
in a paroxysm of passion, ordering me to account for my conduct, and my
brother accusing me. He employed against me a speech long before
prepared and studied; I had only the time in which the accusations were
recited, for hearing what were the impeachments. During that short space
whether should I listen to my accuser, or study a defence?
Thunder-struck by the sudden and unthought-of calamity, I was scarcely
capable of understanding what was alleged against me, much less of being
sufficiently aware what defence I should make. What hope indeed could I
have, if I had not my father as judge, with whom, though I am
outstripped by an elder brother in affection, yet surely, when accused,
I ought not to be outstripped in his compassion. For my prayer is, that
you would save me, for my sake, and for your own; he demands, that, for
his security, you should put me to death. What do you think will he do,
when you shall have delivered the kingdom into his hands, who even now
thinks it reasonable that he should be gratified with my blood?” While
he was uttering these words, tears interrupted his breath and voice at
the same time. Philip, having sent them away, and conferred a short time
with his friends, declared, that “he could not from a single hour’s
discussion give a formulary judgment on the cause between them, but by a
scrutiny into the conduct and manners of both, and a close observation
of their words and actions, on occasions great and small.” That it
appeared clearly to all, that the charge relating to the preceding night
was effectually refuted; but that Demetrius’ favour with the Romans had
been an object of suspicion, as being too great. These, as it were, the
seeds of the Macedonian war which was to be waged with Perseus, in
particular, were sown, when Philip was still alive.
16. Both the consuls set out into Liguria, which at that time was the
only consular province. A supplication for one day was decreed because
prosperity had attended their affairs in that quarter. About two
thousand Ligurians came to the extreme borders of the Gallic province,
where Marcellus lay encamped, requesting him to receive their
submission. Marcellus, having ordered the Ligurians to wait in the same
place, consulted the senate through the medium of a letter. The senate
ordered Marcus Ogulnius, præetor, to write back to Marcellus, that “it
would have been more proper for the consuls, whose province it was, than
for them, to decide what might tend to the interest of the republic;
that in this case too it was their pleasure, if he should receive the
surrender of the Ligurians, that their arms should not be taken from
them admitted to a surrender, and that the senate thought proper that
the Ligurians should be sent to the consul.” The prætors arrived at the
same time in Spain; Publius Manlius in the Farther province, which he
had governed in his former prætorship, and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus in
the Hither one, and he received the command of the army from Terentius;
for the Farther province, by the death of the proprætor, Publius
Sempronius, had been without a governor. The Celtiberians attacked
Fulvius Flaccus while besieging a town of the Spaniards, called Urbicua.
Many severe actions were fought there, and many of the Roman soldiers
killed and wounded. They were vanquished by Fulvius’ perseverance,
because he could by no force be diverted from the siege; the
Celtiberians, wearied out with so many battles, retired. The city,
having lost their assistance, was within a few days taken and sacked;
the prætor bestowed the booty on the soldiers. Fulvius having taken this
town, and Publius Manlius having only gathered together his army, which
had been scattered, without having achieved any other memorable action,
led their armies into winter quarters. These were the transactions of
that summer in Spain. Terentius, who had come home from that province,
entered the city in ovation. He carried in the procession nine thousand
three hundred and twenty pounds’ weight of silver, eighty pounds’ weight
of gold, and two golden crowns of the weight of sixty-seven pounds.
17. In the same year the Romans were arbitrators on the spot in a
dispute, subsisting between the people of Carthage and king Masinissa,
about a tract of ground. This ground Gala, father of Masinissa, had
taken from the Carthaginians. Syphax had expelled Gala, and afterwards,
from respect to Hasdrubal, his father-in-law, had made a present of it
to the Carthaginians. In this year, Masinissa had expelled the
Carthaginians. This matter was debated before the Romans with no less
mental ardour than they had contended for it with the sword, even in the
field of battle. The Carthaginians claimed the ground first, as having
been the property of their ancestors; and next, because it had come to
them from Syphax. Masinissa urged, that “he had retaken possession of it
as part of his father’s kingdom, and held it under the law of nations;
and that he had the advantage, both in the merits of his cause and in
the present possession. That, in this discussion, he had no other fear,
than lest the moderation of the Romans might operate to his loss, whilst
they dreaded the appearance of any partiality to a king who was their
friend and ally, in prejudice to the common enemy of him and them.” The
deputies did not alter the right of possession, but referred the cause
entire to the senate at Rome. There was nothing done afterwards in
Liguria. The inhabitants, at first, retired into pathless forests; and
afterwards, disbanding their army, separated in every direction among
the villages and forts. The consuls, too, wished to disband their
forces, and consulted the senators on this matter. They ordered that one
of them should discharge his troops, and come to Rome to elect
magistrates for the year; and that the other, with his legions, should
pass the winter at Pisæ. A report prevailed, that the transalpine Gauls
were arming their young men, and it was not known on what quarter of
Italy that multitude would pour itself. The consuls settled the matter
between them,—that Cneius Bæbius should go home to the elections,
because his brother, Marcus Bæbius, was a candidate for the consulship.
18. The assembly for the election of consuls was held, and Publius
Cornelius Cethegus and Marcus Bæbius Tamphilus were chosen. The prætors
were afterwards elected, Quintus Fabius Maximus, Quintus Fabius Buteo,
Tiberius Claudius Nero, Quintus Petillius Spurinus, Marcus Pinarius
Posca, and Lucius Duronius. When the magistrates entered into office,
the provinces fell to these by lot in the following order: to the
consuls, Liguria; to the prætors, Quintus Petillius, the city, and
Quintus Fabius Maximus, the foreign jurisdiction; to Quintus Fabius
Buteo, Gaul; to Tiberius Claudius Nero, Sicily; to Marcus Pinarius,
Sardinia; and to Lucius Duronius, Apulia, to which was annexed Istria
also, because information was received at Tarentum and Brundusium, that
the lands bordering on the sea were infested by robberies committed by
foreign piratical ships. The Massilians made the same complaint, with
regard to the ships of the Ligurians. The armies were then voted, to the
consuls four Roman legions (each consisting of five thousand two hundred
foot and three hundred horse); and fifteen thousand foot and eight
hundred horse of the allies and Latins. In the Spains, the old praætors
were continued in command, with the armies which they then had; and as
an augmentation, there were voted for them, three thousand Roman
citizens with two hundred horse, and six thousand foot and three hundred
horse of the Latin confederates. Nor was the business of the fleet
neglected. The consuls were ordered to constitute duumvirs for
conducting that department; by whom, twenty ships which they had
launched were to be manned with Roman citizens who had been in
servitude; with this proviso only, that free-born officers should
command them. The duty of guarding the coast was so arranged between the
duumvirs, each of whom had the command of ten ships, that the promontory
of Minerva formed the point of division between them: one was to defend
the part on the right, as far as Marseilles; the other, that on the
left, extending to the town of Barium.
19. Many horrid prodigies were seen at Rome this year, and reported from
abroad. It rained blood in the courts of the temples of Vulcan and
Concord, and the priests reported that spears moved, and that the image
of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium shed tears. There was a pestilence in the
country, in the market towns and market-places: and so violent was it in
the city, that Libitina could scarcely supply the requisites for burying
the dead. These prodigies, and the mortality, alarmed the senate so
much, that they ordered the consuls to sacrifice to such gods as they
thought proper, victims of the larger kinds, and likewise the decemvirs
to consult the books. Pursuant to their direction, a supplication for
one day was proclaimed, to be performed at every shrine in Rome. On the
authority of these same, both the senate voted, and the consuls
announced, that there should be a supplication and holidays for three
days throughout the whole of Italy. The pestilence raged with so great
fury, that when, in consequence of the revolt of the Corsicans, and a
war raised in Sardinia by the Iliensians, it seemed good, that, from
among the Latin allies, eight thousand foot and three hundred horse
should be raised, whom Marcus Pinarius the prætor should convey with him
into Sardinia;—the consuls returned a representation, that so great a
number of men had died, and so many were sick, in every place that the
number of soldiers could not be made up. The prætor was ordered to take
from Cneius Bæbius, proconsul, who was in winter quarters at Pisæ, as
many soldiers as would make up the deficiency, and transport them from
thence to Sardinia. To Lucius Duronius the prætor, to whose lot Apulia
had fallen, was given in addition the charge of making inquiry
concerning the Bacchanalians; for some remaining seeds of the evils,
formerly excited by those people, had shown themselves there the year
before. The inquiries were rather commenced under the prætor, Lucius
Pupius, than brought to any issue; the senate therefore ordered the new
prætor to cut up that evil by the roots, lest it might spread again more
extensively. The consuls, also, by direction of the senate, proposed to
the people certain laws concerning canvassing for elections.
20. They next introduced the embassies to audience. And first, those of
the kings, Eumenes and Ariarathes the Cappadocian; and Pharnaces of
Pontus. No further answer was given to these, than that the senate would
send persons to examine, and decide their disputes. Ambassadors from the
Lacedæmonian exiles, and from the Achæans, were next brought in. Hopes
were given to the exiles, that the senate would write to the Achæans
that they should be restored. The Achæans gave an account, to the
satisfaction of the senate, of the recovery of Messene, and the
settlement of affairs there. From Philip, king of Macedonia, came two
ambassadors also,—Philocles and Appelles; not on any business with the
senate, but rather to pry into and inquire concerning the correspondence
with the Romans, of which Perseus had accused Demetrius, and,
particularly, into that with Titus Quintius, concerning the kingdom, to
the prejudice of his brother. The king had employed these men, believing
them unbiassed and inclined in favour of neither party; but they were
accomplices and agents of Perseus, in his treacherous designs against
his brother. Demetrius, ignorant of all except the villanous scheme of
his brother which had lately broke out, at first neither utterly
despaired, nor yet entertained much hope of being reconciled with his
father; but afterwards he trusted less and less every day to Philip’s
affection, having observed that an audience with him was prevented by
his brother. Wherefore, not to increase the suspicions lie laboured
under, he used extreme circumspection in all his words and actions, and
carefully avoided all mention of, and communication with, the Romans;
to such a degree as to wish that they should not write, as he knew that
his father’s mind was principally exasperated by charges of this nature.
21. Philip, lest his troops should be enervated by inactivity, and at
the same time, to avert all suspicion of his harbouring any design of a
war with Rome, ordered his army to assemble at Stobi, in Pæonia; and
thence he led it on into Mædica. He had been seized with an earnest
desire of ascending to the summit of Mount Hæmus, for he gave credit to
a vulgar opinion, that from thence could be seen at once the Pontic and
Adriatic Seas, the river Danube, and the Alps; and he thought that the
having a view of all those places, would be of no small consequence
towards forming his plans of a war with Rome. On inquiry, from people
acquainted with the country, respecting the ascent to Mount Hæmus, when
it was ascertained from them all, that there was no way by which an army
could go up it, but that there was access for a small party, lightly
accoutred, that he might soothe with familiar discourse his younger son,
whom he had determined not to take with him, he first asked his opinion,
“whether, as the difficulty of the journey was represented to be so
great, he ought to persist in his design, or not?” He added, that, if he
should resolve to proceed, he could not forget the caution of Antigonus,
respecting undertakings of that kind; who being tossed about by a
violent storm, when he had all his family in the same ship with him, was
said to have advised his sons to remember, and hand down to their
children, this maxim: “never to have the hardihood to rush into danger
themselves, and their whole family together.” He would therefore attend
to this warning, and not expose his two sons at once to the chance of
those perils, which were represented to lie in his way; and as he meant
to take his elder son with him, he would send back the younger into
Macedon, as a reserve to his hopes, and as guardian of the kingdom. It
did not escape Demetrius that he was sent out of the way, that lie might
not be present at their deliberations, when, in view of those places,
they should consult which were the shortest roads to the Adriatic Sea
and to Italy, and what was the general plan to be pursued in the war. He
was obliged however not only to obey his father on the occasion, but to
express his approbation of the measure, lest a reluctant obedience
might beget suspicion. In order that his journey into Macedonia might be
safe, Didas, one of the king’s general officers and governor of Pæonia,
was ordered to escort him with a small party of men. Perseus took this
man, as well as most of his father’s friends, into the conspiracy to
ruin his brother, from the time that it became plain to every one, from
the tendency of the king’s feelings, to which of the two the inheritance
of the throne should come; and Perseus charged him on this occasion, to
insinuate himself by every kind of obsequiousness into the most familiar
communication with Demetrius, so as to draw from him all his secrets,
and to pry into his hidden thoughts. The prince, therefore, set out with
a guard more dangerous to him than if he had gone alone.
22. Philip marched first into Mædica, then crossing the deserts that lie
between Mædica and Hæmus, at length, at his seventh encampment, he
reached the foot of the mountain. There he halted one day, to make
choice of those who were to accompany him, and on the next proceeded on
his journey. At first, while they ascended the lower parts of the hills,
the fatigue was moderate; but as they advanced upwards, they found the
ground more thickly covered with woods, and many places impassable. They
then came to a part of the way so shaded by the thickness of the trees,
and the branches so interwoven with each other, that the sky could
scarcely be seen; but when they drew near to the top, what is rarely
seen in other places, the whole tract was covered with so thick a fog,
that they were impeded no less than if they were journeying by night. At
last, on the third day, they arrived at the summit. On coming down they
did not discountenance the vulgar opinion, more, I suppose, lest the
folly of the journey should be exposed to derision, than that it was
there possible to see those seas, and mountains, and rivers, so widely
distant from each other. They were all greatly fatigued by the
difficulty of the way; and chiefly the king himself, in proportion as he
was less fitted for exertion, owing to his advanced age. After
sacrificing to Jupiter and the sun, on two altars which he consecrated
on the spot, he descended in two days, though the ascent had cost him
three: for he was particularly afraid of the night cold, which even at
the rising of the dog-star was like the cold of winter. After
struggling with numerous hardships during those days, he found his camp
in a condition not more pleasing, for as it lay in a country enclosed on
all sides by deserts, there was extreme want. He halted therefore but
one day, to refresh those whom he had taken with him, and then hastened
away into the country of the Dentheletians, with a rapid march close
resembling flight. These were allies, but the Macedonians, on account of
their own necessities, plundered their country, as if it belonged to an
enemy; for they first pillaged the country houses, and afterwards
ravaged several villages, overwhelming the king with shame, when he
heard the cries of his allies, calling in vain on the gods who witnessed
their league, and on himself by name. Having carried off corn from
hence, he marched back into Mædica, and laid siege to a town called
Petra. He pitched his camp in a plain, and sent his son Perseus with a
small party to attack the city from the higher ground. The townsmen,
when danger pressed them on all sides, gave hostages, and for the
present surrendered themselves; but as soon as the army retired,
regardless of the hostages, they deserted the city, and fled into
fastnesses and mountains. Philip returned to Macedon, after having
exhausted his troops by every kind of fatigue, without effecting any
purpose, and with his suspicions of his son augmented through the
treachery of the governor Didas.
23. This man being sent, as before mentioned, to escort Demetrius, had,
by flattering discourses, and even expressing his own indignation at the
treatment shown him, imposed on the open temper of the youth, who was
too much off his guard, and justly incensed against his relations; and
by a voluntary offer of his assistance in all his measures, and giving a
solemn assurance of fidelity, he elicited his secrets. Demetrius was
meditating flight to Rome; and the governor of Pæonia appeared to him to
have been sent by the kindness of the gods to aid him in his
design;—through whose province he supposed he might make his escape.
This scheme was immediately betrayed to his brother, and, by his
direction, discovered to his father. A letter was brought the king while
he was besieging Petra; and in consequence of it, Herodotus, who was the
most intimate friend of Demetrius, was taken into custody, and an order
was given that Demetrius himself should be guarded, without his
perceiving it. These occurrences, added to what had passed before, made
the king’s arrival in Macedon a sad one. The present charges had an
effect on him; yet he resolved to wait the return of those whom he had
sent to Rome, to procure intelligence of every particular. After he had
passed several months under this uneasiness and anxiety, the
ambassadors, who had preconcerted before they left Macedon, what
information they should bring home from Rome, at last arrived; who, in
addition to other grounds of accusation, produced to the king a forged
letter, sealed with a counterfeit seal of Titus Quintius. In this letter
was a kind of interceding apology, that if the young prince, misled by
the ambition of reigning, had offered some propositions to him on the
subject, yet he was sure that “Demetrius would never attempt any thing
against his relations; and that he himself was not such an individual as
to appear capable of giving an undutiful advice.” This letter confirmed
the charges made by Perseus: Herodotus was, therefore, immediately put
to the rack, which he endured a long time, and died under the torture,
without giving information of any sort.
24. Perseus now brought before his father a second formal accusation
against Demetrius. His preparations for flight through Pæonia were
alleged against him, and his having bribed certain persons to accompany
him on the journey; but the forged letter of Titus Quintius pressed
hardest on him. There was, however, no severe sentence pronounced
openly, in order that he might be put to death in secrecy, which they
considered a preferable course: nor was this done through regard for
himself, but lest the inflicting punishment on him might unmask designs
against the Romans. The king himself having occasion to go from
Thessalonica to Demetrias, sent Demetrius, with the same attendant
Didas, to Astræum in Pæonia, and Perseus to Amphipolis, to receive
hostages from the Thracians, and is said, on parting with Didas, to have
given him directions to put his son to death. A sacrifice was either
intended or counterfeited by Didas, and Demetrius, being invited to be
present at the solemnity, came from Astræum to Heraclea. It is said that
poison was administered to him in that supper. The moment he had
swallowed the draught, he was conscious of its deadly properties; and
being quickly after seized with violent pains, left the banquet, and
retired to a chamber, where he continued for some time in agony,
complaining of the cruelty of his father, inveighing against the
fratricide of Perseus, and the villany of Didas. Then one Thyrsis of
Stubera, and one Alexander of Berœa, were sent in, who, covering his
head and mouth with blankets, suffocated him. In this manner perished
that innocent youth, since in his case his enemies were not even content
with a common kind of murder.
25. While these matters were passing in Macedon, Lucius Æmilius Paullus,
being, on the expiration of his consulate, continued in command, led his
army at the commencement of spring into the country of the Ingaunian
Ligurians. He had no sooner pitched his camp in the enemy’s territory,
than ambassadors came to him under pretext of suing for peace, but in
reality as spies. When Paullus declared that he would enter into no
treaty whatever, unless they first surrendered; to this they did not
object, but said that it would require time to procure the consent of
such a rude kind of people. When, for that purpose, a suspension of arms
for ten days was granted, then they further requested that his men might
not go beyond the mountains for wood or forage, for that was the part of
their lands which they had under tillage. After they obtained this
request, they collected all their forces behind those mountains, which
they had prevented the Romans from approaching; and on a sudden, with a
vast multitude, assaulted every gate of his camp at once. During that
whole day, they prosecuted the attack with such vigour, that Paullus had
not time to march out of the camp, nor room to draw out his troops:
crowding together at the gates, they defended their camp by blocking up
the passage, rather than by fighting. When the enemy had retired a
little before sun-set, the general despatched two horsemen to Pisæ, to
Cneius Bæbius, proconsul, with a letter, requesting him to come with all
speed to his relief, as he was besieged in the midst of a truce. Bæbius
had given up his army to Marcus Pinarius, the prætor, who was going into
Sardinia, but he informed the senate by letter that Lucius Æmilius was
besieged by the Ligurians, and also wrote to Marcus Claudius Marcellus,
whose province lay the nearest, that, if he thought proper, he should
march his army out of Gaul into Liguria, and relieve Lucius Æmilius from
the blockade. These succours would have come too late. The Ligurians
returned next day to the attack of the camp. Æmilius, although he was
aware that they would come, and although he could have drawn out his
army to meet them, yet kept his men within the lines, in order that he
might protract the business until such time as Bæbius should come with
his army from Pisæ.
26. Bæbius’s letter caused a great alarm at Rome, and it was increased
by this circumstance, that, in a few days after Marcellus coming to
Rome, having given up the command of the army to Fabius, banished all
hope of a possibility of the forces, then in Gaul, being removed into
Liguria; for hostilities had commenced with the Istrians, who obstructed
the settlement of the colony of Aquileia; and, as Fabius had led his
army thither, he could not quit that country now that the war was begun.
There was but one hope of relief, and even that too slow for the
exigency of the time,—this was, that the consuls might hasten their
march into that province, and the senators earnestly pressed them to do
so. The consuls declared that they would not set out until the levies
were completed, and that no indolence in them, but the violence of the
epidemic sickness, was the cause of their being so long in finishing the
levy. However, they could not withstand the united wishes of the whole
senate, in urging them to depart in the military habit, and to proclaim
a day to the troops which they had enlisted, on which they should
assemble at Pisæ. Authority was given them to enlist hasty levies on
their march, wherever they should go, and take them with them. Orders
were likewise issued to the prætors, Quintus Petillius and Quintus
Fabius, that Petillius should raise two tumultuary legions of Roman
citizens, and compel every person under fifty years of age to enlist;
and that Fabius should demand from the Latin allies, fifteen thousand
foot and eight hundred horse. Two commanders were appointed to the
fleet, Caius Matienus and Caius Lucretius, and ships were put in
readiness for them. An order was given Matienus, whose station was at
the Gallic bay, to steer his squadron, with all expedition, to the coast
of Liguria, and to try if he could be of any service to Lucius Æmilius
and his army.
27. Æmilius, when no aid appeared in any quarter, believing that his
couriers had been intercepted, resolved to wait no longer, but to make
a trial of fortune by himself; and for this purpose, before the coming
of the enemy, who now made their attacks with less briskness and vigour,
he drew up his troops at the four gates, that, on a signal being given,
might sally out from all sides at once. To four independent cohorts of
auxiliaries, he added two others, and gave the command to Marcus
Valerius, lieutenant-general, with orders to make his sally by the
prætorian gate. At the right gate of the first cohort he formed the
spearmen of the first legion, placing the first-rank men of the same
legion in reserve: Marcus Servilius and Lucius Sulpicius, military
tribunes, had the command of these. The third legion was drawn up
opposite to the left gate of the first cohort, with this difference
only, that here the first-rank men were posted in front, and the
spearmen in reserve. Sextus Julius Cæsar and Lucius Aurelius Cotta,
military tribunes, had the command of this legion. Quintus Fulvius
Flaccus, lieutenant-general, with the right wing of the allies, was
posted at the quæstorian gate: and two cohorts, with the veterans of the
two legions, were ordered to stay within to guard the camp. The general
himself went round by all the gates, haranguing the troops, and excited
the wrath of the soldiers by all the incentives that he could use; at
one time declaiming against the treachery of the enemy, who after suing
for peace, and obtaining a truce, had come during the very time of that
truce, in violation of the law of nations, to attack his camp; at
another, setting before them what a shame it was that a Roman army
should be besieged by Ligurians, people more properly styled robbers
than a regular enemy. “With what face,” continued he, “if you make your
way hence by the assistance of others, and not by your own valour, will
any of you meet, I do not say those soldiers that conquered Hannibal, or
Philip, or Antiochus, the greatest kings and generals of the present
age, but those who often drove those very Ligurians before them, flying
like cattle through pathless forests, and put them to the sword? What
the Spaniards, the Gauls, the Macedonians, or Carthaginians, never dared
to attempt, a Ligurian enemy dares: he marches up to the trenches of a
Roman camp, unexpectedly besieges and assaults it; although, formerly,
we, searching carefully the recesses of the forests, were with
difficulty able to find them lurking in their hiding-places.” This was
answered by a general clamour, “that it was no fault of the soldiers, as
no one had given them the order to sally forth Let him but give the
order, and he should soon be convinced, that both the Romans and the
Ligurians were the same that ever they were.”