_Perseus was captured by Æmilius Paulus in Samothrace. When
Antiochus, king of Syria, was besieging Ptolemy and Cleopatra, king
and queen of Egypt, and ambassadors were sent to him by the senate,
to order him to desist from besieging a king in alliance with Rome,
on his being informed of the mandates of the senate, he answered,
that he would consider what line of conduct he should adopt. Then
Popilius, one of the ambassadors, described, with his wand, a
circle around the king, and ordered him to give a decided answer
before he passed it. By which decided conduct he compelled the king
to desist from the war. The embassies of the nations and king, that
came to congratulate the Romans, were admitted into the
senate-house, with the exception of the embassy from the Rhodians,
which was excluded because their feelings in that war were opposed
to the Roman people. The next day, when the question was put “that
war should be proclaimed against them,” the Rhodian ambassadors
pleaded the cause of their country before the senate, and were
dismissed in a manner that rendered it uncertain whether they were
looked on as enemies or allies. Macedon was reduced to the form of
a Roman province. Æmilius Paulus triumphed; although his own
soldiers opposed him, because they were dissatisfied with their
share of the plunder, and Servius Sulpicius Galba spoke against
him; Perseus and his three sons preceded his triumphal chariot.
Still the joy of this triumph was not unmingled, for it was
rendered remarkable by the death of his two sons: one of whom died
before his father’s triumph; the death of the other speedily
followed. The ceremony of the conclusion of the census was
performed by the censors. Three hundred and twelve thousand eight
hundred and five citizens were enrolled. Prusias, king of Bithynia,
came to Rome, to congratulate the senate on the victory gained over
Macedon; and committed his son Nicomedes to the charge of the
senate: being full of servility, he called himself the freed-man of
the Roman people._
1. Although Quintus Fabius, Lucius Lentulus, and Quintus Metellus, who
were sent with the news of the victory, made all possible haste to Rome,
yet they found rejoicings for that event anticipated there. The fourth
day after the battle with Perseus, while games were exhibiting in the
circus, a faint rumour spread itself suddenly among the people through
all the seats, “that a battle had been fought in Macedon, and that the
king was entirely defeated.” The rumour gathered strength, until at last
arose shouting and clapping of hands, as if certain tidings of victory
were brought to them. The magistrates were surprised, and caused inquiry
to be made for the originator of this sudden rejoicing; but as none was
found, the joy of course vanished, since the matter was uncertain; yet
the prestige of conquest still remained impressed on their minds; and
when, on the arrival of Fabius, Lentulus, and Metellus, the fact was
established by authentic information, they rejoiced on a twofold
account,—on that of the victory, and their happy presage of it. This
exultation in the circus is related in another manner, with equal
appearance of probability: that on the fifteenth day before the calends
of October, being the second day of the Roman games, as the consul
Licinius was going down to give the signal for the race, a courier, who
said he came from Macedon, delivered to him a letter decorated with
laurel. As soon as he had started the chariots, he mounted his own, and
as he rode back through the circus to the seats of the magistrates,
showed to the people the embellished tablets, at the sight of which the
multitude, regardless of the games, ran down at once into the middle of
the area. The consul held a meeting of the senate on the spot; and after
reading the letter to them, by their direction told the people, before
the seats of the magistrates, that “his colleague, Lucius Æmilius, had
fought a general engagement with Perseus; that the Macedonian army was
beaten and put to flight; that the king had fled with few attendants;
and that all the states of Macedon had submitted to the Romans.” On
hearing this, a universal shouting and clapping of hands arose among the
commons; and most of them, leaving the games, hastened home to
communicate the joyful tidings to their wives and children. This was the
thirteenth day after the battle was fought in Macedon.
2. On the following day a meeting of the senate was held in the
council-chamber, and a general supplication was voted, and likewise a
decree of the senate was passed, that the consul should disband all his
troops, excepting the legionary soldiers and seamen; and that their
disbandment should be taken into consideration as soon as the deputies
from the consul Æmilius, who had sent forward the courier, should
arrive in town. On the sixth day before the calends of October, about
the second hour, the deputies came into the city, and proceeded directly
to the tribunal in the forum, drawing after them, wherever they went, an
immense crowd, composed of those who went forth to meet and escort them.
The senate happened to be then in the council-chamber, and the consul
introduced the deputies to them. They were detained there no longer than
to give an account, “how very numerous the king’s forces of horse and
foot had been; how many thousands of them were killed, how many taken;
with what small loss of men the Romans had made such havoc of the enemy,
and with how small a retinue Perseus had fled; that it was supposed he
would go to Samothrace, and that the fleet was ready to pursue him; so
that he could not escape, either by sea or land.” They were then brought
out into the assembly of the people, where they repeated the same
particulars, and the general joy was renewed in such a degree, that no
sooner had the consul published an order, “that all the places of
worship should be opened,” than every one proceeded, with as much speed
as he could use, to return thanks to the gods, and the temples of the
immortal gods, throughout the entire city, were filled with vast crowds,
not only of men, but of women. The senate, being re-assembled, ordered
thanksgivings in all the temples, during five days, for the glorious
successes obtained by the consul Lucius Æmilius, with sacrifices of the
larger kinds of victims. They also voted that the ships, which lay in
the Tiber fit for sea, and ready to sail for Macedon, in case the king
had been able to maintain the contest, should be hauled up, and placed
in the docks, and that the seamen belonging to them should be
discharged, after receiving a year’s pay; and, together with these, all
who had taken the military oath to the consul; that all the soldiers in
Corcyra and Brundusium, on the coast of the Hadriatic and in the
territory of Larinum, (for in all these places had troops been cantoned,
in order that the consul Licinius might, if occasion required, take them
over to reinforce his colleague,) should be disbanded. The thanksgiving
was fixed, by proclamation in the assembly, for the fifth day before the
ides of October, and the five days following.
3. Two deputies, Caius Licinius Nerva and Publius Decius, arriving from
Illyria, brought intelligence that the army of the Illyrians was
defeated, their king, Gentius, taken prisoner and all Illyria reduced
under the dominion of the Roman people. On account of these services,
under the conduct and auspices of the prætor, Lucius Anicius, the senate
voted a supplication of three days’ continuance, and it was accordingly
appointed, by proclamation, to be performed on the fourth third, and
second days before the ides of November. Some writers tell us that the
Rhodian ambassadors, who had not yet been dismissed, were, when the news
of the victory was received, called before the senate in order to expose
their absurd arrogance. On this occasion, Agesipolis, their principal,
spoke to this effect: that “they had been sent by the Rhodians to effect
an accommodation between the Romans and Perseus; because the war
subsisting between them was injurious and burdensome to all Greece, and
expensive and detrimental to the Romans themselves; but that fortune had
acted very kindly, since, by terminating the war after another manner,
it afforded them an opportunity of congratulating the Romans on a
glorious victory.” This was the discourse of the Rhodians. The senate
returned the following answer: that “the Rhodians had sent that embassy,
not through anxiety for the interests of Greece, or for the expenses of
the Roman people, but merely from their wish to serve Perseus. For, if
their concern had been such as they pretended, they should have sent
ambassadors at the time when Perseus, leading an army into Thessaly, had
continued, for two years, to besiege some of the cities of Greece, and
to terrify others with denunciations of vengeance. All this time not the
least mention of peace was made by the Rhodians; but when they heard
that the Romans had passed the defiles, and penetrated into Macedon, and
that Perseus was held enclosed by them, then they sent an embassy, from
no other motive whatever, but a wish to rescue Perseus from the
impending danger.” With this answer the ambassadors were dismissed.
4. About the same time Marcus Marcellus, coming home from Spain, where
he had taken Marcolica, a city of note, brought into the treasury ten
pounds’ weight of gold, and a quantity of silver, amounting to a million
of sesterces.[99] While the consul, Paullus Æmilius, lay encamped at
Siræ, in Odomantice, as mentioned above, a letter from king Perseus was
brought to him by three ambassadors of mean appearance, and it is
reported that he, on looking at them, shed tears at the uncertainty of
the lot of man; because he who, a short time before, not content with
the kingdom of Macedon, had invaded Dardania and Illyria, and had called
out to his aid the whole Bastarnian nation, now banished from his
kingdom after the loss of his army, was forced to take refuge in a
little island, where, as a suppliant, he was protected by the sanctity
of the place, not by any strength of his own. But when he read the
address, “King Perseus to the consul Paullus, greeting,” the folly of a
man, who seemed insensible to his condition, banished every feeling of
compassion; therefore, although there were, in the remaining part of the
letter, entreaties ill suited to royalty, yet the embassy was dismissed
without an answer and without a letter. Perseus felt that he must, now
that he was conquered, forego the name of king, and consequently sent
another letter, inscribed simply with his name, in which he made a
request, and obtained it too, that some persons should be sent to him,
with whom he might confer on the state and condition of his affairs.
Three ambassadors were accordingly despatched, Publius Lentulus, Aulus
Postumius Albinus, and Aulus Antonius; but nothing was effected by this
embassy, for Perseus clung with all the energy of despair to the regal
title, while Paullus insisted on an absolute submission of himself, and
every thing belonging to him, to the honour and clemency of the Roman
people.
5. Whilst these things are going on, the fleet of Cneius Octavius put in
at Samothrace. When he also, by presenting immediate danger to Perseus’s
view, was endeavouring at one time by menaces, at another by hopes, to
prevail on him to surrender; in this design he was greatly assisted by a
circumstance which may have occurred either by accident or design.
Lucius Atilius, a distinguished young man, observing that the people of
Samothrace were met in a general assembly, requested permission of the
magistrate to address a few words to them; which being granted, he
said,—“People of Samothrace, our good hosts; is the account which we
have heard true or false, that this island is sacred, and the entire
soil holy and inviolable?” They all agreed in asserting the supposed
sanctity of the place; whereupon he proceeded thus: “Why, then, has a
murderer, stained with the blood of king Eumenes, presumed to profane
it? And though, previous to every sacrifice, a proclamation forbids all
who have not pure hands to assist at the sacred rites, will you,
nevertheless, suffer your holy places to be polluted by an assassin who
bears the mark of blood on his person?” The story of king Eumenes having
been nearly murdered by Evander at Delphi, was now well known by report
through all the cities of Greece. The Samothracians, therefore, besides
the consideration of their being themselves, as well as the temple and
the whole island, in the power of the Romans, were convinced that the
censure thrown on them was not unjust, and therefore sent Theondas,
their chief magistrate, whom they style king, to Perseus, to acquaint
him, that “Evander the Cretan was accused of murder; that they had a
mode of trial established among them, by the practice of their
ancestors, concerning such as were charged with bringing impure hands
into the consecrated precincts of the temple. If Evander was confident
that he was innocent of the capital charge made against him, let him
come forth, and stand a trial; but, if he would not venture to undergo
an inquiry, let him free the temple from profanation, and provide for
his own safety.” Perseus, calling Evander aside, advised him not on any
account to stand a trial, because he was no match for his accusers,
either in the merits of the cause, or in influence. He had secret
apprehensions that Evander, on being condemned, would expose him, as the
instigator of that abominable act. “What then remained,” he said, “but
to die bravely?” Evander made, openly, no objection; but telling the
king that he chose to die by poison rather than by the sword, took
measures in secret for effecting his escape. When this was told the
king, fearing lest he should direct the anger of the Samothracians
against himself as accessory to the escape of a guilty person, he
ordered Evander to be put to death. No sooner was this rash murder
perpetrated, than the idea immediately struck his mind that he had now
drawn on himself the whole of the guilt, which before had affected
Evander only; that the latter had wounded Eumenes at Delphi, and he had
slain Evander in Samothrace; and thus the two most venerable sanctuaries
in the world had, through his means alone, been defiled with human
blood. However, he avoided the imputation of this deed, by bribing
Theondas to tell the people that Evander had laid violent hands on
himself.
6. But by such an atrocious act, committed on his only remaining friend,
on one whose fidelity he had experienced on so many trying occasions,
and who, in return for not proving a traitor, was himself betrayed, he
alienated the feelings of every one. All went over to the Romans as soon
as they could, and consequently obliged him, now left almost alone, to
adopt the design of flying. He applied to a Cretan, called Oroandes, to
whom the coast of Thrace was well known, since he carried on traffic in
that country, to take him on board his vessel, and convey him to Cotys.
At one of the promontories of Samothrace, is the harbour of Demetrium;
there the vessel lay. About sun-set every thing necessary for the voyage
was carried thither, together with as much money as could be transported
with secrecy; and at midnight, the king himself, with three persons, who
were privy to his flight, going out through a back door into a garden
near his chamber, and having, with much difficulty, climbed over the
wall, went down to the shore. Oroandes had set sail, at the dusk of the
evening, the very moment the money arrived, and was now steering for
Crete. Perseus, after he could not find the ship in the harbour,
wandered about for a long time on the coast, but at last, fearing the
approach of day, and not daring to return to his lodging, he hid himself
in a dark corner at one side of the temple. The royal pages was the name
given among the Macedonians to a band of the children of the leading
noblemen, who were selected to wait on the king: this band had
accompanied Perseus in his flight, and did not even now desert him,
until a proclamation was made by the herald of Cneius Octavius, that,
“if the royal pages, and other Macedonians, then in Samothrace, would
come over to the Romans, they should have impunity, liberty, and all
their property, both what they had in the island, and what they had left
in Macedon.” On this notice they all passed over to the Romans, and gave
in their names to Caius Postumius, a military tribune. Ion of
Thessalonica delivered up to Octavius the king’s younger children also;
nor was any one now left with Perseus, except Philip, his eldest son.
Then, after uttering many execrations against fortune, and the gods to
whom the temple belonged, for not affording aid to a suppliant, he
surrendered himself and his son to Octavius, who gave orders to put him
on board the prætor’s ship; the remainder of his money was put on board
the same ship; and the fleet immediately returned to Amphipolis. Thence
Octavius sent the king into the camp to the consul, having previously
sent forward a letter to inform him that he was a prisoner, and on the
road thither.
7. Paullus, considering this a second victory, as it really was, offered
sacrifices on receiving the intelligence; then, calling a council, and
reading to them the prætor’s letter, he sent Quintus Ælius Tubero to
meet the king; the rest he desired to remain assembled in the prætorium.
Never, on any other occasion, did so great a multitude gather about a
spectacle. In the time of their fathers, king Syphax had been made
prisoner, and brought into the Roman camp; but, besides that he could
not be compared with Perseus, either in respect of his own reputation or
that of his country, he was at the time merely a subordinate party in
the Carthaginian war, as Gentius was in the Macedonian. Whereas Perseus
was the principal in this war; and was not only highly conspicuous
through his own personal renown, and that of his father, grandfather,
and other relations in blood and extraction, but of these, two shone
with unparalleled lustre,—Philip, and Alexander the Great, who made the
empire of the Macedonians the first in the world. Perseus came into the
camp, dressed in mourning, unattended by any of his countrymen, except
his own son, who being a sharer in the calamity, made him more wretched.
He could not advance on account of the number of persons that had
collected to see him, until the lictors were sent by the consul, and
they, after clearing the way, opened a passage to the prætorium. The
consul arose to do him honour, but ordered the rest to keep their seats,
and, advancing a little, held out his right hand to the king, on his
entrance; and raised him up when he endeavoured to throw himself at his
feet: nor would he suffer him to embrace his knees, but led him into the
tent, and desired him to sit on the side opposite to the officers
assembled in council.
8. The first question asked Perseus was, “by what injuries had he been
compelled to enter into a war against the Roman people with such violent
animosity, and to bring himself and his kingdom to the extremity of
danger?” While all expected his answer, fixing his eyes on the ground,
he wept a long time in silence. The consul, again addressing him, said,
“If you had succeeded to the government in early youth, I should have
wondered less at your not being sensible of the great importance of the
friendship, or enmity, of the Roman people: but that was not the case,
as you bore a part in the war which your father waged with us, and,
afterwards, must have remembered the peace which we observed towards him
with the strictest sincerity. What then was your design in preferring
war to peace, with those, whose power in war, and whose good faith in
peace, you had so fully experienced?” Neither questions nor reproaches
could draw an answer from him: on which the consul added, “Howsoever
these things may have occurred, whether through the frailty of mankind,
or accident, or necessity, be of good spirits. The clemency of the Roman
people, displayed in the distress of numerous kings and nations, affords
you not only hope, but almost perfect confidence of safety.” This he
said in the Greek language to Perseus; and then, turning to his own
people, he said, in the Latin tongue, “You observe this striking
instance of the instability of human affairs. To you, young men,
principally, I address the observation. In the hour of prosperity,
therefore, we ought to adopt against no man measures dictated by either
pride or violence, nor confide implicitly in present advantages; since
we know not what the evening may produce. He is really a man, whose
spirit neither prosperity can elate by success, nor adversity break by
misfortune.” On the dismissal of the council, the charge of guarding the
king is given to Quintus Ælius. Perseus was invited to dine that day
with the consul, and every other honour, which could be shown him under
existing circumstances, was paid to him.
9. The troops were immediately sent off to their winter cantonments.
Amphipolis furnished the greater part with quarters, and the towns in
that neighbourhood received the rest. Thus ended the war between the
Romans and Perseus, which had lasted, without intermission, four years;
and thus ended a kingdom, long renowned through a great part of Europe,
and throughout all Asia. From Caranus, who was their first king, they
reckoned Perseus the fortieth. Perseus came to the crown in the
consulate of Quintus Fulvius and Lucius Manlius, received the title of
king from the senate in that of Marcus Junius and Aulus Manlius, and
reigned eleven years. The Macedonians were little known by fame until
the reign of Philip, son of Amyntas; although the empire began to
increase in his time, and through his agency, still it was confined
within the limits of Europe, extending over all Greece with a part of
Thrace, and Illyria. Afterwards the power of Macedon poured down like a
deluge on Asia, and in the course of the thirteen years of the reign of
Alexander, reduced under its dominion that almost immense tract which
had constituted the empire of the Persians. Hence it overspread the
Arabias and India, as far as where the Red Sea forms the utmost boundary
of the earth. At that time their empire and name were the first in the
world; but on the death of Alexander, it was torn asunder into a number
of kingdoms, whilst his successors, in the general scramble for power,
dismembered it by their struggles. From the time of its highest
elevation to this its final downfall, it stood one hundred and fifty
years.
10. When the news of the victory, obtained by the Romans, was carried
into Asia, Antenor, who lay with a fleet of small vessels at Phanæ,
sailed over to Cassandrea. Caius Popilius, who staid at Delos to protect
the ships bound to Macedon, learning that the war there was at an end,
and that the enemy’s fleet had left its station, sent home the Athenian
squadron, and proceeded on his voyage for Egypt, to finish the business
of the embassy with which he was charged, in order that he might meet
Antiochus before he should approach the walls of Alexandria. When the
ambassadors, after sailing along the coast of Asia, arrived at Loryma, a
port somewhat more than twenty miles from Rhodes, and just opposite to
that city, some of the principal Rhodians (for the news of the victory
had by this time reached them too) met them, and requested them “to sail
over to their city; that it was of the utmost consequence to the
character and safety of the Rhodian state that they should, in person,
inform themselves of what had been done, and what was then passing at
Rhodes; so as to carry to Rome intelligence, founded on their own
knowledge, and not on vague reports.” After refusing for a long time,
they were at length prevailed on to submit to a short delay of their
voyage, for the sake of the safety of an allied city. When they came to
Rhodes, the same persons, by urgent entreaties, persuaded them to come
into a general assembly. The arrival of the ambassadors rather
heightened, than allayed, the fears of the public. For Popilius
enumerated all the hostile expressions and actions, both of the
community and of individuals, during the war: and, being naturally of an
austere temper, he magnified the atrociousness of the matters which he
mentioned, by the sternness of his countenance, and the harshness of his
tone of voice; so that, as he had no cause of personal quarrel with
their state, people judged from the severity of one Roman senator, what
was the feeling of the whole senate towards them. The speech of Caius
Decimius was more moderate; for he said, “that in most of the
particulars mentioned by Popilius, the blame lay, not on the nation, but
on a few incendiary ringleaders of the populace, who, employing their
tongues for hire, procured the passing of several decrees, full of
flattery towards the king; and had sent those embassies, at which the
Rhodians should always feel not less shame than grief; all which
proceedings, however, if the people were disposed to act properly, would
fall on the heads of the guilty.” He was heard with great satisfaction;
not only because he extenuated the offences of the community, but
because he threw the whole blame on the authors of their misconduct.
When, therefore, their own magistrates spoke in answer to the Romans,
the speech of those who endeavoured to exculpate them, in some measure,
from the charges advanced by Popilius, was not so pleasing to them as
the advice of those who concurred with the opinion of Decimius, in the
necessity of giving up the principal instigators to atone for their
crime. A decree was therefore immediately passed, that all who should be
convicted of having, in any instance, spoken or acted in favour of
Perseus, against the Romans, should be condemned to die. Several of
those concerned had left the city on the arrival of the Romans: others
put an end to their own lives. The ambassadors staid only five days at
Rhodes, and then proceeded to Alexandria. Nor were the trials
instituted, pursuant to the decree passed in their presence, carried on
at Rhodes with less activity; and this perseverance of the Rhodians, in
the execution of that business, was entirely owing to the mild behaviour
of Decimius.
11. Whilst these events were going on, Antiochus, after a fruitless
attempt on the walls of Alexandria, had retired: and being now master
of all the rest of Egypt, he left, at Memphis, the elder Ptolemy, whose
restoration to the throne was the pretended object of his armament,
though, in reality, he meant to attack him, as soon as he should have
vanquished his competitors; and then he led back his army into Syria.
Ptolemy, who was not ignorant of his intention, conceived hopes, that,
while he held his younger brother under terror, and in dread of a siege,
he might be received into Alexandria, provided his sister favoured the
design, and his brother’s friends did not oppose it. Accordingly, he
never ceased sending proposals to his sister first, and his brother and
his friends afterwards, until he effected an accommodation with them.
His suspicions of Antiochus were awakened by this circumstance, that,
when he gave him possession of the rest of Egypt, he left a strong
garrison in Pelusium: a plain proof that he kept that key of Egypt in
his hands, in order that he might be able, whenever he pleased, to
introduce an army again into the country; and he foresaw, that the final
issue of a civil war with his brother must be, that the conqueror,
thoroughly weakened by the contest, would be utterly unable to contend
with Antiochus. In these prudent observations of the elder brother, the
younger, and those about him, concurred; while their sister greatly
promoted the negotiation, both by her advice and entreaties.
Accordingly, peace being made with the approbation of all, the elder
Ptolemy was received into Alexandria, without any opposition even from
the populace; who, during the war, had been severely distressed by a
general scarcity, not only in consequence of the siege, but from
receiving no provisions from the rest of Egypt after the enemy had
retired from the walls. Although it was reasonable to suppose that
Antiochus would be rejoiced at these events, if he had really marched
his army into Egypt for the purpose of reinstating Ptolemy on the
throne,—(the plausible pretext which he had professed to all the states
of Asia and Greece, in his answers to their embassies, and in the
letters that he wrote,)—yet he was so highly offended, that he prepared
to make war on the two brothers, with much greater acrimony and fury of
resentment than he had shown against the one. He instantly sent his
fleet to Cyprus; and, as soon as the spring appeared, he directed his
route towards Egypt at the head of his army, and advanced into
Cœle-Syria. Near Rhinocolura he was met by ambassadors from Ptolemy,
who gave him thanks, because through his assistance he had recovered the
throne of his fathers; and requested him to secure to him the enjoyment
of the benefit, which he had himself conferred; and rather to signify
what he wished to be done, than from an ally to become an enemy, and
proceed by force of arms. To this he answered, that “he would neither
recall his fleet, nor stop the march of his army, on any other
conditions than the cession of all Cyprus and the city of Pelusium,
together with the lands adjoining the Pelusian mouth of the Nile;” and
he even named a particular day, on or before which he expected to
receive an answer that these demands were complied with.
12. When the time fixed for the suspension of hostilities had elapsed,
_Antiochus ordered the commanders of his fleet_ to sail up the mouth of
the Nile to Pelusium, while _he himself entered Egypt_, through the
deserts of Arabia. _He was amicably received by the people_ about
Memphis, as he was, afterwards, by the rest of the Egyptians; some being
led by inclination, others by fear; and he proceeded thus, by short
marches, down to Alexandria. The Roman ambassadors met him after
crossing the river at Eleusine, four miles from that city. On their
approach he saluted them, and held out his right hand to Popilius; but
Popilius put into his hand a written tablet, containing the decree of
the senate, and desired him first to peruse that. On perusing it, he
said, that he, after calling his friends together, would consult on what
was to be done; on which Popilius, with the usual asperity of his
disposition, drew a line round the king, with a wand which he held in
his hand, and said, “Before you go out of that circle, give me an answer
to report to the senate.” Astonished at such a peremptory injunction,
the king hesitated for some time; but at last replied, “I will do as the
senate directs.” Popilius then thought proper to stretch out his right
hand to him; as to a friend and ally. Antiochus having retired out of
Egypt, on the day appointed, the ambassadors, after confirming by their
influence the reconciliations between the brothers, as concord was far
from being established among them, sailed to Cyprus: from which they
sent home the ships of Antiochus, which had fought and defeated an
Egyptian fleet. This embassy attracted a great share of respect from
all nations; because it had manifestly rescued Egypt out of the hands
of the Syrian, when he had it within his grasp, and restored to the race
of Ptolemy the kingdom of their forefathers While one of the consuls of
this year distinguished his administration by a glorious victory, the
reputation of the other was thrown into the shade, because he had no
opportunity of displaying his talents. When, in the beginning of his
administration, he had appointed his troops to assemble, he entered the
consecrated place without due auspices; and the augurs, on the matter
being laid before them, pronounced the appointment improper. Going into
Gaul, he lay encamped near the long plains, at the foot of the mountains
Sicimina and Papirus, and passed the winter in the same country with the
troops of the Latin allies. The Roman legions staid all the while in the
city, because the day had been irregularly appointed for the meeting of
the soldiers. The prætors went to their several provinces, except Caius
Papirius Carbo, to whose lot Sardinia had fallen; the senate having
commanded him to administer justice, at Rome, between natives and
foreigners; a duty to which he had been already named.
13. Popilius, with his colleagues in the embassy to Antiochus, returned
to Rome, and gave information, that all disputes between the kings had
terminated, and that the army had marched out of Egypt into Syria. Soon
after, ambassadors arrived from the kings themselves. Those of Antiochus
represented, that “their king had considered a peace, which was
agreeable to the senate, as preferable to a victory, how complete
soever, and had, accordingly, obeyed the order of the Roman ambassadors,
as implicitly as if it had been a mandate of the gods.” They then
offered his congratulations on their victory, “to which,” they said,
“the king would have contributed with his utmost power, if any commands
to that effect had been given him.” The ambassadors of Ptolemy, in the
joint names of that prince and Cleopatra, presented their thanks,
acknowledging that “they were more indebted to the senate and people of
Rome than to their own parents, more than to the immortal gods; since
through their intervention they had been relieved from a most
distressing siege, and had recovered the kingdom of their fathers, when
it was almost entirely lost.” The answer given by the senate was that
“Antiochus had acted rightly and properly, in complying with the demand
of their ambassadors; and that his conduct was pleasing to the senate
and people of Rome.” To Ptolemy and Cleopatra, king and queen of Egypt,
they answered, that “the senate rejoiced very much, that any benefit or
advantage had accrued to the Egyptian monarchs, through their
instrumentality; and would take care, that they should always have
reason to consider, that the strongest bulwark of their kingdom lay in
the protection of the Roman people.” Caius Papirius, the prætor, was
commissioned to send the usual presents to the ambassadors. A letter now
arrived from Macedon, which doubled the public joy, as it brought
information that “king Perseus was in the hands of the consul.” After
the ambassadors were dismissed, a controversy between deputies from Pisa
and others from Luna came on; the former, complaining that they were
dispossessed of their lands by the Roman colonists; while the latter
insisted that the lands in question had been marked out to them by the
triumvirs. The senate sent five commissioners to examine and fix the
boundaries, Quintus Fabius Buteo, Publius Cornelius Blasio, Tiberius
Sempronius Musca, Lucius Nævius Balbus, and Caius Apuleius Saturninus. A
joint embassy from the three brothers, Eumenes, Attalus, and Athenæus,
came with congratulations on the victory; and Masgaba, son of king
Masinissa, having landed at Puteoli, Lucius Manlius, the quæstor, was
immediately despatched with money to meet him, and conduct him to Rome
at the public expense. An audience of the senate was immediately given
him on his arrival. This young prince spoke in such a manner that he
made services, which were meritorious in themselves, still more
gratifying. He recounted what numbers of foot and horse, how many
elephants, and what quantities of corn his father had sent into Macedon
in aid of the Romans during the last four years. “But there were two
things,” he said, “that made him blush; one, the senate having sent by
their ambassadors a request, instead of an order, to furnish necessaries
for their army; the other, their having sent money in payment for the
corn. Masinissa well remembered that the kingdom which he held had been
acquired, and increased, and multiplied by the Roman people; and
contenting himself with the management of it, acknowledged the right and
sovereignty to be vested in those who granted it to him. It was just,
therefore, to take, and not to ask from him nor purchase, any of the
produce of lands made over by themselves. Whatever remained, after
supplying the Roman people, would be fully sufficient for Masinissa.”
That with these instructions he parted with his father; but he was
afterwards overtaken by some horsemen, who announced to him the conquest
of Macedon, with directions to congratulate the senate, and acquaint
them that his father felt so much joy at that circumstance, that he
wished to come to Rome, and in the Capitol to offer thanks to Jupiter
supremely good and great. He requested, therefore, that if it were not
disagreeable, the senate would give him permission to do so.
14. Masgaba was answered, that “his father, Masinissa, acted as became a
prince of a benevolent and grateful disposition; to such a degree that,
by acknowledging the kindness of his friends, he added value and dignity
to it. The Roman people had been assisted by him in the Carthaginian war
with exertions at once faithful and brave; by the favour of the Roman
people he had obtained his kingdom, and had afterwards, in the
successive wars with the three kings, discharged with his usual
readiness every duty. That it was not surprising, that a king who had so
intimately blended his own interests, and those of his kingdom, with the
interests of the Romans, should be delighted at the victory of the Roman
people. That he should return thanks to the immortal gods for the
victory of the Roman people, before the tutelary deities of his family;
that his son could return thanks in his stead at Rome; as he had already
said enough in the way of congratulation, both in his own name and in
his father’s. But that the senate were of opinion, that his leaving his
own kingdom, and going out of Africa, besides being inconvenient to
himself, was detrimental to the Roman people.” On Masgaba making a
request that Hanno, son of Hamilcar, _might be brought to Rome as a_
hostage in the place _of some other, the senate replied, that they could
not reasonably require hostages from the Carthaginians, at the choice of
any other person_. The quæstor was ordered, by a vote of the senate, to
purchase presents for the young prince to the value of one hundred
pounds’ weight of silver, to accompany him to Puteoli, to defray all his
expenses while he staid in Italy, and to hire two ships to carry him and
the retinue of the king to Africa; clothes were given to every one of
his attendants, both freemen and slaves. Soon after this a letter was
brought concerning Masinissa’s other son, Misagenes, stating that, after
the conquest of Perseus, he was sent by Lucius Paullus, with his
horsemen, to Africa; and that while he was on his voyage in the Adriatic
Sea, his fleet was dispersed, and himself, in a bad state of health,
driven into Brundusium with only three ships. Lucius Stertinius, the
quæstor, was sent to him to Brundusium, with presents of the same kind
as those given to his brother at Rome, and he was ordered to provide
lodgings for the prince and his retinue, and _every thing necessary for
his health and convenience; and that the expenses of himself and his
entire retinue should be paid liberally; that he should look out for
ships by which the prince might pass over into Africa with ease and
safety. The quæstor was ordered to give to each of the horsemen a pound
of silver, and five hundred sesterces. The assemblies, for the election
of consuls for the ensuing year, were held by Caius Licinius the consul.
Quintus Ælius Pætus, Marcus Junius Pennus, were appointed consuls. Then
Quintus Cassius Longinus, Manius Juventius Thalna, Tiberius Claudius
Nero, Aulus Manlius Torquatus, Cneius Fulvius Gillo, C. Licinius Nerva,
were made prætors. In the same year the censors, Tiberius Sempronius
Gracchus and Caius Claudius Pulcher, at length united in passing a
decree on a matter, which had been for a long time discussed among
themselves in different disputes. Gracchus, when the freed-men, after
being repeatedly confined within the four city tribes, had once more
spread themselves through them all, wished to pluck up by the root the
evil which was always sending fresh shoots, and to exclude from
enrolment all who had ever been slaves. Claudius struggled energetically
against him, and made frequent references to the institutions of their
ancestors, who had often tried to restrain the freed-men, but never to
totally exclude them from the rights of citizens. He said that some
relaxation of the former strictness had been conceded even by the
censors, Caius Flaminius and Lucius Æmilius. And indeed, although even
at that time those dregs of the people had spread themselves through all
the tribes, and it appeared requisite to reduce them again within what
might be considered their original settlement, still at the time some
important concessions were made to several of that rank._
15. _For by those censors_ the freed-men were enrolled in the four city
tribes, excepting such as had a son more than five years old, who was
their own offspring; all these the censors ordered to be surveyed in the
tribe wherein they had been surveyed within the last five years; and
such as had a farm, or farms, in the country, exceeding in value thirty
thousand sesterces,[100] were allowed the privilege of being included in
the country tribes. Though this reservation was made in their favour,
yet Claudius still insisted, that “a censor could not, without an order
of the people, take away from any man, and much less from a whole class
of men, the right of suffrage. For though he can remove a man from his
tribe, which is nothing more than ordering him to change it, yet he
cannot, therefore, remove him out of all the thirty-five tribes; which
would be to strip him of the rights of a citizen, and of liberty; not to
fix where he should be surveyed, but to exclude him from the survey.”
These points were discussed by the censors, who at last came to this
compromise: that out of the four city tribes, they should openly, in the
court of the temple of Liberty, select one by lot, in which they should
include all those who had ever been in servitude. The lot fell on the
Æsquiline tribe; on which Tiberius Gracchus published an order, that all
sons of freed-men should be surveyed in that tribe. This proceeding
gained the censors great honour with the senate, who gave thanks to
Sempronius for his perseverance in so good a design, and also to
Claudius for not obstructing it. Greater numbers were expelled from the
senate, and ordered to sell their horses, by them than by their
predecessors. They both concurred in removing from their tribes and
disfranchising the same persons, in every instance; nor did one of them
remove any mark of disgrace inflicted by the other. They petitioned
that, according to custom, the year and half’s time allowed for
enforcing the repairs of buildings, and for approving the execution of
works contracted for, should be prolonged; but Cneius Tremellius, a
tribune, protested against it, because he had not been chosen into the
senate. This year Caius Cicereius dedicated a temple to Juno Monita on
the Alban mount, five years after he had vowed it; and Lucius Postumius
Albinus was inaugurated flamen of Mars.
16. The consuls, Quintius Ælius and Marcus Junius, having proposed the
business of distributing, the provinces, the senate decreed that Spain,
which during the Macedonian war had been but one province, should be
again formed into two; and that the present governors, Lucius Paullus
and Lucius Anicius, should continue in the government of Macedonia and
Illyria, until, with the concurrence of commissioners, they should
adjust the affairs of those countries disordered by the war, and reduce
them to a form of government different from the regal. The provinces
assigned to the consuls were Pisæ and Gaul, with two legions to each,
containing separately five thousand two hundred foot and four hundred
horse. The lots of the prætors were as follows: the city jurisdiction
fell to Quintus Cassius; the foreign, to Manius Juventius Thalna;
Sicily, to Tiberius Claudius Nero; Hither Spain, to Cneius Fulvius; and
to Caius Licinius Nerva, Farther Spain. Sardinia had fallen to Aulus
Manlius Torquatus, but he could not proceed thither, being detained by a
decree of the senate, to preside at trials of capital offences. The
senate was then consulted concerning prodigies which were reported: the
temple of the tutelar deities, on the Velian hill, had been struck by
lightning; and two gates, and a large part of the wall, in the town of
Minervium. At Anagnia, a shower of earth had fallen; and, at Lanuvium, a
blazing torch was seen in the sky. Marcus Valerius, a Roman citizen,
reported, that at Calatia, on the public lands, blood had flowed from
his hearth, during three days and two nights. On account of this last
occurrence in particular, the decemvirs were directed to consult the
books; on which they ordered a general supplication for one day, and
sacrificed in the forum fifty goats. On account of the other prodigies,
there was a supplication for another day, with sacrifices of the larger
victims, and the city was purified. Then, with reference to the
gratitude due to the immortal gods, the senate decreed, that, “forasmuch
as their enemies were subdued, and the kings Perseus and Gentius, with
Macedon and Illyria, were in the power of the Roman people, whatever
offerings were made in all the temples by Appius Claudius and Marcus
Sempronius, the consuls, on occasion of the conquest of king Antiochus,
offerings of the same value should then be made, and that Quintus
Cassius and Manius Juventius, the prætors, should superintend them.”
17. They then constituted commissioners, by whose advice the generals,
Lucius Paullus and Lucius Anicius, were to regulate the affairs of their
provinces; ten for Macedon, and five for Illyria. Those nominated for
Macedon were, Aulus Postumius Luscus, Caius Claudius, both of whom had
been censors, Caius Licinius Crassus, the colleague of Paullus in the
consulship; he then held the province of Gaul, as he had the command
continued to him. To these, who were of consular rank, the senate added
Cneius Domitius Ænobarbus, Servius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Junius, Caius
Antistius Labeo, Titus Numisius Tarquiniensis, and Aulus Terentius
Varro. The following were nominated for Illyria: Publius Ælius Ligus, a
man of consular rank, Caius Cicereius, Cneius Bæbius Tamphilus, (he had
been prætor the last year, as had Cicereius many years before,) Publius
Terentius Tuscivicanus, and Publius Manilius. The consuls were then
advised by the senate, that, as one of them must go into Gaul, in the
room of Caius Licinius, who was appointed a commissioner, they should,
as soon as possible, either settle their provinces between themselves,
or cast lots, as might be agreeable to them. They chose to cast lots;
when Pisæ fell to Marcus Junius, (who was ordered to introduce to the
senate the embassies that came to Rome from all quarters, with
congratulations before he went to his province,) and Gaul to Quintus
Ælius.
18. But although men of such characters were sent on the commission,
that confident hopes might be entertained that the generals, influenced
by their counsel, would determine on nothing derogatory either to the
clemency or dignity of the Roman people, yet the heads of a plan of
settlement were considered in the senate, that the said commissioners
might carry, from Rome to the generals, an outline of the entire plan.
First, it was determined, that “the Macedonians and Illyrians should be
free; in order to demonstrate to all the world that the arms of the
Roman people did not bring slavery to the free, but freedom to slaves,
and that the nations which already enjoyed freedom, should be convinced
that it would be safe and permanent under the protection of the _Roman
people_; and that such nations as lived under regal government should be
convinced that their princes, under awe of the Roman people, would be,
at present, more just and mild; and that, should war break out at any
time between their kings and the Roman people, the issue would bring
victory to the latter, and liberty to themselves. It was also provided,
that the farming both of the Macedonian mines, which produced a very
large profit, and that of crown lands, should be abolished; as business
of this kind could not be managed without the intervention of revenue
farmers; and wherever a tax-contractor was employed, either the rights
of the people were a nonentity, or the freedom of the allies destroyed.
Nor could the Macedonians themselves conduct such affairs; for while
they afforded the managers opportunities of acquiring plunder for
themselves, there never would be wanting causes of disputes and
seditions. It was further determined, that there should be a general
council of the nation; lest the perverseness of the populace might, some
time or other, convert into pestilent licentiousness the liberty granted
by the senate with a wholesome degree of moderation: but that Macedonia
should be divided into four districts, each of which should have a
council of its own; and that they should pay to the Roman people half
the tribute which they used formerly to pay to their kings.” Similar
instructions were given respecting Illyria. Other particulars were left
to the generals and commissioners; whose investigation of matters on the
spot would enable them to form more accurate plans.
19. Among the many embassies from kings, nations, and states, Attalus,
the brother of Eumenes, attracted the general attention in a very
particular manner; for he was received by those who had served along
with him in the late war, with even greater demonstration of kindness
than if Eumenes had come in person. Two reasons, both, apparently,
highly honourable, had induced him to come; one to offer
congratulations, which were quite proper, in the case of a victory to
which he himself had contributed; the other to complain of disturbances
raised by the Gauls, and of a defeat received, by which his brother’s
kingdom was endangered. But he had, also, secret hopes of honours and
rewards from the senate, which he could scarcely receive without
infringing on his duty to his brother. There were among the Romans some
evil advisers, who were working on his ambition by promises. They told
him, that “the general opinion concerning Attalus and Eumenes was, that
one was a steady friend to the Romans, and that the other was not a
faithful ally either to them or to Perseus. That it was not easy to
determine whether the requests that he might make for himself, or those
against his brother, were more likely to be obtained from the senate; so
entirely were all disposed to gratify the one, and to grant nothing to
the other.” As the event proved, Attalus was one of those who would have
coveted all that hope can promise to itself, had not the prudent
admonitions of one friend put a curb on those passions, which were
growing wanton through prosperity. He had, in his retinue, a physician,
called Stratius sent to Rome by Eumenes, who distrusted Attalus, for the
purpose of watching over his conduct, and giving him faithful advice, if
he should perceive him swerve from his allegiance. This man, although he
had to address ears already prepossessed, and a mind already biassed,
yet, by addressing him at judiciously selected times, restored the thing
to its proper state, even after it had become almost desperate. He said
that “different kingdoms grew into power by different means: that their
kingdom being lately formed, and unsupported by any long-established
strength, was upheld solely by the concord of the brothers; for, while
one bore the title and the ornament which distinguishes the head of a
sovereign, each of the brothers was considered as a king. As to Attalus,
in particular, being the next in years, was there any man who did not
consider him as king? and that, not only because they perceived his
present power to be great, but because there was not a doubt but he must
ascend the throne, in a very short time, in consequence of the age and
infirmity of Eumenes, who had no legitimate issue” (for he had not at
this time acknowledged the son who afterwards reigned). “To what
purpose, then, employ violence, to attain what must come to him
presently without any exertions on his part? Besides, a new storm had
fallen on the kingdom, from the insurrection of the Gauls, which could
scarcely be resisted by the most perfect harmony and union of the
brothers. But if to a foreign war domestic dissensions were added, the
evil could not be checked; nor would he effect any thing else than
preventing his brother from dying on the throne, and depriving himself
of the hope of ascending it. If both modes of acting were
honourable,—either to preserve the kingdom for his brother, or to take
it from him,—yet the honour that would result to him from the
preservation of the kingdom, since it was united to brotherly love,
would be the greater. The latter indeed, would be detestable, and
bordering nearly on parricide; what room, then, could there be for
deliberation? For, whether did he mean to demand a share of the kingdom,
or to seize the whole? If he would demand a share, then both, by the
separation of their strength, would be rendered feeble, and exposed to
injuries of every kind; if the whole, would he then require his elder
brother, reduced to a private station, at his time of life and labouring
under such bodily infirmities, to live in exile, and die in such a
wretched state. For, not to mention the catastrophes of undutiful
brothers recorded in stories, the fate of Perseus seemed a striking
instance, who, prostrated at the feet of a victorious enemy, laid down,
in the temple of the Samothracians, before the gods, who, as it were,
demanded satisfaction for his crimes, the crown which he had seized
after the death of his brother.” “Those very men,” he continued, “who not
through friendship for him, but enmity to Eumenes, had instigated him to
the adoption of such measures, would praise his affection and firmness,
if he preserved to the last his allegiance to his brother.”
20. These arguments prevailed in the mind of Attalus. Therefore, on
being introduced to the senate, he congratulated them on their success,
and made mention of his own services during the war, and those of his
brother, whatever he had performed; of the defection of the Gauls, which
had lately happened, and which had caused violent commotions; and he
entreated that they should send ambassadors to those people, by whose
authority they should be summoned to desist. After delivering these
messages respecting the general interest of the state, he requested a
grant of Ænus and Maronea to himself. Having thus disappointed the hopes
of those who expected that he, after arraigning his brother’s conduct,
would solicit a partition of the kingdom, he retired from the
senate-house. Seldom on other occasions was either a king or private
person heard with such a degree of favour and approbation by all; during
his stay he received presents and honours of every description, and they
treated him similarly at his departure. Of the many embassies which came
from Greece and Asia, that of the Rhodians engaged the greatest share of
the public attention. At first they appeared in white, the colour which
was most becoming to persons congratulating others, for had they worn
mourning, they might seem to be lamenting the misfortunes of Perseus.
Afterwards the senate being consulted by the consul, Marcus Junius, (the
ambassadors standing in the Comitium,) whether they should grant them
lodgings, entertainments, and an audience of the senate they voted that
no duty of hospitality was due to them. When the consul came out of the
senate-house, after the Rhodians had told him that they were come to
congratulate the Romans on their late success, and to clear their state
of the charges made against it, and requested an audience of the senate,
he returned this answer, that “it was the custom of the Romans both to
grant audience in their senate, and to perform other acts of kindness
and hospitality to their friends and allies; but that the Rhodians had
not deserved in that war to be ranked in the number of friends or
allies.” On hearing this, they all prostrated themselves on the ground,
beseeching the consul and all present not to think it right that new and
false imputations should operate more powerfully to their prejudice,
than their long course of services, which they had themselves witnessed.
They immediately assumed a mourning dress, and going round to the houses
of the principal men, supplicated with prayers and tears that their
cause might be heard before they were condemned.
21. Marcus Juventius Thalna, the prætor who had the jurisdiction between
natives and foreigners, stimulated the public resentment against the
Rhodians, and promulgated a bill, that “war should be declared against
the Rhodians, and that the people should choose one of the magistrates
of the present year, who should be sent with a fleet to carry on that
war;” with the hope that he himself should be the person chosen. Two of
the plebeian tribunes, Marcus Antonius and Marcus Pomponius, opposed
this proceeding. But the prætor, on his part, commenced the business in
an unprecedented and pernicious manner; for without first consulting the
senate, and without acquainting the consuls, of his own sole judgment he
proposed to the people the question, “was it their will and order that
war should be declared against the Rhodians?” whereas, ever until then,
the senate was first consulted concerning the war, and then the business
was laid before the people. On the other side, the plebeian tribunes
_opposed this proceeding_; although it was a received rule that no
tribune should protest against a proposal, until opportunity was given
to private citizens to argue for and against it; in consequence of which
it had often happened that some, who had avowed no intention of
protesting, having discovered defects in the law from the discourses of
those who opposed it, on that account did protest; and some who came
avowedly to protest, abstained from it, being convinced by the arguments
of those who spoke in favour of the law. On this occasion the prætor and
tribunes vied with each other in doing every thing out of time. _While
the tribunes blamed the hasty proceeding of the prætor, they imitated
the example by protesting before their time. The only pretence they
alleged for it was, the necessity for adjourning the entire deliberation
concerning the Rhodians until the return of the general and the ten
commissioners from Macedon, who, after most carefully weighing the
matter according to the communications received in their letters and
tablets, were likely to give certain information relative to the
feelings which each state had borne towards Perseus or the Romans. But
when the prætor, nevertheless, persisted in his determination, the
matter came to this, that Antonius, the tribune of the commons, after
bringing the ambassadors before the people, dragged down from the
rostrum Thalna, who was attempting to ascend it contrary to his wishes,
and was beginning to address the people, and gave the Rhodians an
opportunity of speaking before the general assembly. But although the
violent and, impetuous attempt of the prætor had been defeated by
corresponding firmness on the part of the tribune, still anxiety did not
as yet leave the minds of the Rhodians; for the senators bore them a
most unfriendly feeling; so that the Rhodians were relieved from the
impending evil for the present, rather than completely rescued from it.
Therefore, when a meeting of the senate was granted to them, after
requesting it for a long time and frequently, on their introduction by
the consul they lay at first for a long time with their persons
prostrated on the ground; afterwards, when the consul raised them up and
ordered them to speak, Astymedes, whose appearance was most calculated
to excite pity, spoke to the following effect: “Conscript fathers, this
grief and degradation of allies, who enjoyed your friendship a short
time ago, cannot fail to be pitied even by those who are irritated
against us; and how much more justly will compassion enter your minds,
if you will but consider the hard conditions under which we this day,
in your presence, plead the cause of our state, already almost
condemned. Others are accused prior to their condemnation; nor do they
suffer punishment until their guilt is ascertained._
22. “Whether we Rhodians have transgressed, or not is yet doubtful;
meanwhile we suffer punishments and disgraces of all sorts. In former
times, when we visited Rome, after the conquest of Carthage, after the
defeat of Philip, and after that of Antiochus, we _were escorted_ from a
mansion furnished us by the public, into the senate-house, to present
our congratulations to you, conscript fathers, and, from the
senate-house to the Capitol, carrying offerings to your gods. But now,
from a vile and filthy inn, scarcely gaining a reception for our money,
treated as enemies, and forbid to lodge within the city, we come in this
squalid dress to the Roman senate-house: we, Rhodians, on whom a short
time ago you bestowed the provinces of Lycia and Caria; on whom you
conferred the most ample rewards and honours. You order even the
Macedonians and Illyrians, as we hear, to be free; though they were in
servitude before they waged war with you: (nor do we envy the good
fortune of any; on the contrary, we acknowledge therein the usual
clemency of the Roman people.) But will you convert, from allies into
enemies, the Rhodians, who were guilty of nothing more than remaining
neutral during the war? You are in truth the same Romans, who boast that
your wars are successful because they are just; who glory not so much in
the issue of them, in that you conquer, as in the commencement of them,
because you do not undertake them without a just cause. The attack on
Messana, in Sicily, made the Carthaginians your enemies. The siege of
Athens, and attempt to reduce Greece to slavery, together with the
assistance of men and money given to Hannibal, led to hostilities with
Philip. Antiochus, on the invitation of the Ætolians, your enemies, came
over in person with a fleet from Asia to Greece; and by seizing
Demetrias, Chalcis, and the pass of Thermopylæ, endeavoured to
dispossess you of empire. The motives to your war with Perseus were his
attacks on your allies, and his putting to death the princes and leading
members of certain states. But, if we are doomed to ruin, to what motive
will our misfortune be ascribed? I do not yet separate the cause of the
state from that of our countrymen, Polyaratus and Dino, with others,
whom we have brought hither in order to deliver them into your hands.
But supposing every one of us were equally guilty, I ask what was our
crime with respect to the late war? We favoured the interest of Perseus;
and we have supported that prince against you in like manner as, in the
wars of Antiochus and Philip, we supported you against those kings. Now,
in what manner we are accustomed to assist our allies, and with what
vigour to conduct wars, ask Caius Livius and Lucius Æmilius Regillus,
who commanded your fleets on the coasts of Asia. Your ships never fought
a battle without us. We, with our own fleet, fought one engagement at
Samos and a second on the coast of Pamphylia, against that distinguished
commander, Hannibal. The victory, which we gained in the latter, was the
more glorious to us because, although we lost a great part of our navy
and the flower of our youth in the unsuccessful action at Samos, we were
not deterred from venturing again to give battle to the king’s fleet on
its return from Syria. These matters I have mentioned not out of
ostentation, (that would ill become our present situation,) but to
remind you in what way the Rhodians assist their allies.
23. “When Philip and Antiochus were subdued, we received from you very
ample rewards. If the fortune of Perseus were such as yours now is by
the favour of the gods and your own courage, and we were to go into
Macedon, to the victorious king, to demand rewards from him, what merit
should we have to plead? Is it that he was aided by us with money or
corn; with land or sea forces? Had we defended his garrison? where had
we, either under his generals or by ourselves? If he should inquire
where were our soldiers or ships acting in concert with his; what answer
could we give? Perhaps we might be pleading our cause before him, if
successful, as we are now, before you. All that we have gained by
sending ambassadors to both, to mediate a peace, is, that we received no
thanks from either party, and incurred from one of them accusations and
danger. Perseus, indeed, might justly object to us what you cannot,
conscript fathers, that at the commencement of the war we sent
ambassadors to Rome, promising supplies of all sorts requisite for the
war, and engaging to be ready, as in former wars, with our docks, our
arms, and our men. It was your fault that we did not perform this, since
you, whatever was the reason, rejected our assistance on that occasion.
We have, therefore, neither acted in any instance as enemies, nor been
deficient in the duty of well-affected allies; but we were prevented by
you from performing it. What then shall we say? Rhodians, has there been
nothing said or done in your country which you disapprove of, and at
which the Roman people would be justly offended? Henceforth I do not
mean to defend what has been done, (I am not so weak,) but to
distinguish the cause of the public from the guilt of private men. For
there is no nation whatever that has not, generally, some ill-disposed
members, and always an ignorant populace. I have heard, that even among
the Romans there have been men who worked themselves into power by
courting the multitude; that the plebeians sometimes seceded from you,
and that the government was not always in your hands. If it were
possible for this to happen in a state so well constituted, who can
wonder at there being some among us, who, out of a wish to gain the
king’s friendship, led our commons astray by bad advice? Yet they
effected nothing more than our remaining inactive, without infringing on
our duty. I shall not pass by that, which has been made the heaviest
charge against our state during the war. We sent ambassadors at the same
time to you and Perseus, to mediate a peace; and that unfortunate design
was, by a furious orator, as we afterwards heard, rendered foolish to
the last degree; for it is ascertained that he spoke in such a manner as
Caius Popilius, the Roman ambassador, should have spoken, when you sent
him to the two kings, Antiochus and Ptolemy, to induce them to cease
from hostilities. But still, whether this conduct is to be called
arrogance or folly, it was the same towards Perseus as towards you.
States, as well as individuals, have their different characters; some
are violent, others daring, others timid; some addicted to wine, others
more particularly to women. Fame says that the Athenian nation was quick
and bold, beyond its strength, in beginning an enterprise; and that the
Lacedæmonian was dilatory and backward in entering upon business, even
when confident of success. I cannot deny that Asia, throughout its whole
extent, produces men too much inclined to vanity, and that the speech of
even the Rhodians is too much tinctured with vain-glory, because we
seem to have the pre-eminence above the neighbouring states; and that,
too, owing not so much to our strength as to the marks of honour and
esteem conferred on us by you. That embassy received on the spot
sufficient reproof for its immediate misconduct, when it was dismissed
with so severe an answer. But, if the disgrace which we then suffered
was too trifling, surely the present mournful and suppliant embassy
would be a sufficient expiation for an embassy even more insolent than
that was. Irritable men hate arrogance; men of sense despise it,
particularly if shown in words; more especially, if it be shown by an
inferior towards a superior; but no one has ever yet thought it
deserving of capital punishment. There was, in truth, danger lest the
Rhodians should contemn the Romans! Some men have spoken, even of the
gods, in terms too presumptuous; yet we have never heard of any one
being struck with thunder on that account.
24. “What charge then remains, of which we are to acquit ourselves,
since there has been no hostile act on our part, and the insolent
language of an ambassador, though grating to the ear, has not deserved
the ruin of a state. Conscript fathers, I hear that the estimate of the
penalty for our secret wishes has become the subject of your
conversation. Some assert that we favoured the king, and therefore that
we should be punished with war; others, that we did indeed wish him
success, but ought not, on that account, to suffer the penalty of war,
since it has not been so instituted either by the practice or laws of
any state, that if any one should wish an enemy to perish, he should be
condemned, provided that he did nothing towards effecting his wishes. We
feel, indeed, grateful to those who absolve us from the punishment,
though not from the crime; but we lay down this law for ourselves: if we
all entertained the wishes of which we are accused, we will then make no
distinction between the will and the deed: let us all be punished. If
some of our people in power favoured you, and others the king, I do not
demand, that for the sake of us who were on your side, the favourers of
the king may be saved; but I deprecate our perishing through them. You
are not more inveterate against them than is our state itself; and most
of them, when they ascertained this, fled, or put themselves to death,
the others have been condemned by us, and they will soon be in your
power, conscript fathers. The rest of us Rhodians, as we have merited no
thanks during the war, so neither have we deserved punishment. Let the
accumulation of our former services atone for our present dereliction of
duty. You have recently waged war with three kings: let not the
circumstance of our having been inactive in one of these wars, be more
injurious to us than our having fought on your side in the other two has
served us. Consider Philip, Antiochus, and Perseus, as you would three
votes; two of them acquit us; one, although it would be unfavourable, is
nevertheless doubtful. If they were to sit in judgment over us, we would
be condemned. Conscript fathers, you are to decide, whether Rhodes is to
continue on the earth or to be utterly destroyed. You are not
deliberating concerning war, conscript fathers, for though it is in your
power to declare war, it is not in your power to wage it, as not a
single Rhodian will take up arms against you. If you persist in your
anger, we will beg time from you, until we carry home an account of this
unhappy embassy. We will then, every free person of all the Rhodians,
both men and women, with all our wealth, embark in ships, and leaving
the seats of our tutelar deities, both public and private, repair to
Rome, where, heaping together in the Comitium, at the door of your
senate-house, all our gold and silver, all the public and private
property that we possess, we will submit our persons, and those of our
wives and children, to your disposal; that, whatever we are to suffer,
we may suffer here. Let our city be sacked and burned far away from our
view. The Romans may pass a judgment, that the Rhodians are enemies; but
we have also a right, in some degree, to judge ourselves; and we never
will judge ourselves your enemies, nor do one hostile act, should we
even suffer extreme calamities.”