16 The Latin festival was celebrated on the third day before the nones of May;[73] and because, on the offering of one of the victims, the magistrate of Lanuvium had not prayed for the Roman people, the Quirites, religious scruples were felt. When the matter was laid before the senate, and they referred it to the college of pontiffs, the latter determined that the Latin festival had not been duly performed, and must be repeated; and that the Lanuvians, on whose account they were repeated, should furnish the victims. Besides the concern excited by matters of a religious nature, another incident caused no small degree of uneasiness. The consul Cneius Cornelius, as he was returning from the Alban mount, fell down. And being paralysed in part of his limbs, set out for the waters of Cumæ, where, his disorder still increasing, he died. His body was conveyed to Rome to be buried, and the funeral obsequies were performed with great magnificence: he was likewise a pontiff. The other consul, Quintus Petillius, was ordered to hold an assembly, as soon as the auspices could be taken, for the election of a consul in the room of his late colleague, and to proclaim the Latin festival. Accordingly, by proclamation, he fixed the election for the third day before the nones of August,[74] and the Latin festival for the third before the ides of the same month.[75] While the minds of the people were full of religious fears, to add thereto, several prodigies were reported to have happened; that a blazing torch was seen in the sky at Tusculum; that the temple of Apollo, and many private buildings at Gabii, and a wall and gate at Graviscæ, were struck by lightning. The senate ordered these to be expiated as the pontiffs should direct. While the consuls were detained, at first by religious ceremonies, and afterwards, one of them, by the death of the other, and then by the election and the repetition of the Latin festival, in the mean time Caius Claudius marched the army to Mutina, which the Ligurians had taken the year before. Before three days had elapsed from the commencement of the siege he retook it, and delivered it back to the colonists; on this occasion eight thousand Ligurians were killed within the walls. He immediately despatched a letter to Rome, in which he not only represented this success, but likewise boasted that through his good conduct and good fortune there was not one enemy of the Roman people left on this side the Alps; and that a large tract of land had been taken, which might be distributed among many thousand men, giving each a share.
17 During the same period, Tiberius Sempronius, after gaining many victories, totally subdued the people of Sardinia. Fifteen thousand of the enemy were slain. All the tribes of the Sardinians, who had revolted, were brought under the dominion of Rome. On those which had formerly been tributary, double taxes were, imposed and levied; the rest paid a contribution in corn. When he had thus restored peace in the province, and received hostages from all parts of the island, to the number of two hundred and thirty, deputies are sent by him to Rome, to give information of these transactions, and to request of the senate, that in consideration of those services, performed under the conduct and auspices of Tiberius Sempronius, a thanksgiving might be offered to the immortal gods, and permission granted him to quit the province and bring home the army with him. The senate, having given audience to the deputies in the temple of Apollo, ordered a thanksgiving for two days, and that the consuls should sacrifice forty victims of the larger kinds; but commanded the proconsul, Tiberius Sempronius, and his army, to continue in the province for the year. Then the election for filling the vacant place of a consul, which had been fixed by proclamation for the third day before the nones of August, was finished in one day, and the consul Quintus Petillius declared Caius Valerius Lævinus duly elected his colleague, who was to assume immediately the administration of his office. This man, having been long ambitious of the government of a province, when, very seasonably for the gratification of his wishes, a letter now arrived with intelligence that the Ligurians were again in arms, on the nones of August[76] assumed the military habit; and ordered that, on account of this alarm, the third legion should march into Gaul, and join Caius Claudius, proconsul, and that the commanders of the fleet should sail with their ships to Pisæ, and coast along the Ligurian shore, to terrify that people by the sight of a naval power also. The other consul, Quintus Petillius, had appointed a day for his troops to assemble in the same place. Besides, Caius Claudius, proconsul, on hearing of the rebellion in Liguria, having hastily collected some soldiers, in addition to those whom he had with him at Parma, brought this army to the frontiers of Liguria.
18 On the approach of Caius Claudius, the enemy, reflecting that this was the same commander who had defeated them at the river Scultenna, resolving to rely on situation, rather than arms, for their defence against a force with which they had so unsuccessfully struggled, took post in two mountains, called Letum and Balista; and, for greater security, surrounded their encampment with a wall. Some, who were too slow in removing from the low grounds, were surprised and put to the sword,—one thousand five hundred in number. The others kept themselves close on the mountains; and retaining, in the midst of their fears, their native savage disposition, vented their fury on the prey taken at Mutina. They put their prisoners to death after shocking mutilation: the cattle they butchered in the temples, rather than decently sacrificed: and then (satiated with the destruction of living creatures) they turned their fury against things inanimate, dashing against the walls even vessels made for use rather than for show. Quintus Petillius, the consul, fearing that the war might be brought to a conclusion before he arrived in the province, wrote to Caius Claudius to bring the army into Gaul, saying, that he would wait for him at the Long Plains. Claudius, immediately on receipt of the letter, marched out of Liguria, and gave up the command of the army to the consul at the Long Plains. To the same place came, in a few days after, the other consul, Caius Valerius. There having divided their forces before they separated, they both together performed a purification of the troops. They then cast lots for their respective routes, it having been resolved that they should not assail the enemy on the same side. It was certain that Valerius cast his lot auspiciously, because he was in the consecrated ground; the augurs afterwards announced that there was this defect in the case of Petillius, that he himself when outside the consecrated ground cast his lot into the urn, which was subsequently brought into the sacred place. They then began their march in different directions; Petillius pitched his camp against the ridge of Balista and Letum, which joined the two together with one continued range. They report, that while he was here encouraging his soldiers, whom he had assembled for the purpose, without reflecting on the ambiguity of the word, he uttered this ominous expression: “This day I will have Letum.”[77] He made his troops march up the mountain in two places at the same time. The division in which he was advanced briskly: the other was repulsed by the enemy; and the consul riding up thither, to remedy the disorder, rallied his troops; but whilst he moves about too carelessly in the front, he was pierced through with a javelin, and fell. The commanders of the enemy did not know that he was killed; and the few of his own party who saw the disaster, carefully covered the body from view, knowing that the victory rested on this. The rest of the troops, horse and foot, though deprived of their leader, dislodged the enemy, and took possession of the mountains. Five thousand of the Ligurians were slain and of the Roman army only fifty-two were lost. Besides this evident completion of the unhappy omen, the keeper of the chickens was heard to say, that there had been a defect in the auspices, and that the consul was not ignorant of it. Caius Valerius, when he was informed of the death of Quintus Petillius, made the army, thus bereft of its commander, join his own; then, attacking the enemy again, in their blood he offered a noble sacrifice to the shade of his departed colleague. He had the honour of a triumph over the Ligurians. The legion, at whose head the consul was killed, was severely punished by the senate. They determined that the campaign of this year should not be counted to the entire legion, and that their pay should be stopped, for not exposing themselves to the enemy’s weapons in defence of their commander. About this time ambassadors came to Rome from the Dardanians, who mere greatly distressed by the numerous army of Bastarnians, under Clondicus, mentioned above. These ambassadors, after describing the vast multitude of the Bastarnians, their tall and huge bodies, and their daring intrepidity in facing danger, added, that there was an alliance between them and Perseus, and that the Dardanians were really more afraid of him than even of the Bastarnians; and therefore begged of the senate that assistance should be sent them. The senate thereupon agreed, that ambassadors should be sent to examine into the affairs of Macedonia; and immediately a commission was given to Aulus Postumius to go thither. They gave to him as colleagues some young men, that he might have the principal direction and management of the embassy. The senate then took into consideration the election of magistrates for the ensuing year, on which subject there was a long debate: for people skilled in the rules of religion and politics affirmed, that, as the regular consuls of the year had died, one by the sword, the other by sickness, the substituted consuls could not with propriety hold the elections. An interregnum, therefore, took place, and the interrex elected consuls Publius Mucius Scævola, and Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, a second time Then Caius Popillius Lænas, Titus Annius Luscus, Caius Memmius Gallus, Caius Cluvius Saxula, Servius Cornelius Sulla, and Appius Claudius Centho, were chosen prætors. The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. Of the prætors, Cornelius Sulla obtained Sardinia, Claudius Centho gained Hither Spain. There is no record of those to whom the other prætorian provinces fell. This year was notorious for an epidemic, which however attacked cattle only. The Ligurians, a nation ever vanquished, yet ever rebelling, ravaged the lands of Luna and Pisæ; and at the same time there were alarming rumours of disturbances in Gaul. Lepidus having easily quelled the commotions among the Gauls, then marched into Liguria. Several states of this country submitted themselves to his disposal; and he, supposing that they were rendered savage by the rugged mountain tops which they inhabited, as the dispositions of the inhabitants of a country generally resemble its natural features, by the precedent of some former consuls, brought them down to the plains. Of these the Garulians, Lapicinians, and Hercatians had lived on the other side of the Apennine, and the Briniatians on the farther side.
19 On the hither side of the river Audena, Quintus Mucius made war on those who had wasted the lands of Luna and Pisæ: and having reduced them all to subjection, he took away their arms from them. On account of these services, performed under the conduct and auspices of the two consuls, the senate voted a thanksgiving for three days, and sacrifices of forty victims. The commotions which broke out in Gaul and Liguria, at the beginning of this year, were thus speedily suppressed, without any great difficulty; but the apprehensions of the public, respecting a war with Macedon, still continued. For Perseus laboured to embroil the Bastarnians with the Dardanians; and the ambassadors, sent to examine into the state of affairs in Macedon, returned to Rome, and brought certain information that hostilities had commenced in Dardania. At the same time came envoys from king Perseus, to plead in excuse that neither had the Bastarnians been invited by him, nor had they done any thing at his instigation. The senate neither acquitted the king of the imputation, nor urged it against him; they only ordered him to be warned to be very careful to show, that he considered the treaty between him and the Romans as inviolable. The Dardanians, perceiving that the Bastarnians, so far from quitting their country, as they had hoped, became daily more troublesome, as they were supported by the neighbouring Thracians and Scordiscians, thinking it necessary to make some effort against them, though without any reasonable prospect of success, assembled together in arms from all quarters, at the town that was nearest to the camp of the Bastarnians. It was now winter, and they chose that season of the year, as supposing that the Thracians and Scordiscians would return to their own countries. As soon as they heard that these were gone, and the Bastarnians left by themselves, they divided their forces into two parts, that one might march openly along the straight road to attack the enemy; and that the other, going round through a wood, which lay out of sight, might assault them on the rear. But, before these could arrive at the enemy’s post, the fight commenced, and the Dardanians were beaten, and pursued to the town, which was about twelve miles from the Bastarnian camp. The victors immediately invested the city, not doubting that, on the day following, either the enemy would surrender it from fear, or they might take it by storm. Meanwhile the other body of Dardanians, which had gone round, not having heard of the defeat of their countrymen, easily possessed themselves of the camp of the Bastarnians, which had been left without a guard. The Bastarnians, thus deprived of all their provisions and warlike stores, which were in their camp, and having no means of replacing them in a hostile country, and at that unfavourable season, resolved to return to their native home. Having therefore retreated to the Danube, they found it, to their great joy, covered with ice, so thick as to seem capable of sustaining any weight. But when the entire body of men and cattle, hastening on, and crowding together, pressed on it at the same time, the ice, splitting under the immense weight, suddenly parted, and being overcome and broken up, left in the middle of the water the entire army which it had supported so long. Most of them were immediately swallowed in the eddies of the river. The fragments of the broken ice passed over many of them in their attempt to swim and drowned them. A few out of the entire nation with difficulty escaped to either bank, with their persons severely crushed. About this time, Antiochus, son to Antiochus the Great, who had been for a long time a hostage at Rome, came into possession of the kingdom of Syria, on the death of his brother Seleucus. For Seleucus, whom the Greeks call Philopator, after having received the kingdom of Syria, which had been greatly debilitated by the misfortunes of his father, during an idle reign of twelve years never distinguished by any memorable enterprise at all, called home from Rome this his younger brother, sending, in his stead, his own son Demenlius, according to the terms of the treaty, which allowed the changing of the hostages from time to time. Antiochus had but just reached Athens on his way, when Seleucus was murdered, in consequence of a conspiracy formed by Heliodorus, one of the nobles. Eumenes and Attalus expelled him aiming at the crown, and put Antiochus in possession of it, and valued it highly that they had bound him to them by this so important a favour. They now began to harbour some jealousy of the Romans, on account of several trifling causes of disgust. Antiochus, having gained the kingdom by their aid, was received by the people with such transports of joy, that they gave him the surname of Epiphanes, or Rising Star, because when aliens to the royal blood were about to seize the throne, he appeared like a propitious star, to assert his hereditary right. He was not deficient in capacity or vigour of mind to make a figure in war; but he was so perverse and indiscreet in the whole tenor of his conduct and behaviour, that they soon changed the surname which they had given him, and instead of Epiphanes, called him Epimanes or Madman. For often having gone forth from the palace without the knowledge of his servants, with one or two attendants, crowned with roses, and dressed in robes embroidered with gold, he used to go through the city, sometimes striking those that he met with stones that he carried under his arms; sometimes, on the other hand, throwing money among the mob, and shouting out, “Let him take to whom fortune shall give.” But at another time he used to go through the workshops of the goldsmiths, and engravers and other artisans, arguing vainly concerning the art of each; at another time he engaged in conversation in public with any of the plebeian he met; again, wandering around the common taverns, he indulged in potations with foreigners and strangers of the lowest grade. If by chance he had learned that any young men were celebrating an untimely banquet, he himself at once came upon them suddenly, with a glass and a concert, revelling and wantoning, so that most of them, struck with terror at the strangeness of the matter, fled away, and the remainder were silent in fear. It is ascertained also that, in the public baths, he used to bathe with the mob. As however there he was in the habit of using the most precious unguents, they report that a plebeian one day said to him. “You are happy, O king: you savour of perfumes of the highest value.” To whom Antiochus, delighted at his words, said, “I will immediately make you so happy, that you will confess that you are sated:” and immediately ordered a large pot of most valuable unguent to be poured on his head, so that, the floor being drenched with it, both the others began to fall on the slippery surface, and the king himself, laughing heartily, came to the ground.
20 Lastly, having assumed the Roman gown instead of his royal robes, he used to go about the market-place, as lie had seen done by the candidates for office at Rome, saluting and embracing each of the plebeians; soliciting at one time for the ædileship, at another for the plebeian tribuneship, until at last he obtained the office by the suffrages of the people, and then, according to the Roman custom, he took his seat in an ivory chair, where he heard causes, and listened to debates on the most trivial matters. So far was his mind from adhering to any routine, for it wandered through every sort of life, that it was not ascertained either by himself or any one else what was his real character. He was accustomed not to speak to his friends, nor scarcely afford a smile, to his acquaintance. By an inconsistent kind of liberality, he made himself and others subjects of ridicule; for to some in the most elevated stations, and who thought highly of themselves, he would give childish presents of sweetmeats, cakes, or toys; others expecting nothing he enriched. Wherefore to many he appeared not to know what he was doing; some said that he acted from a silly, sportive temper; others, that he was evidently mad. In two great and honourable instances, however, he showed a spirit truly royal,—in the presents which he made to several cities, and the honour he paid to the gods. To the inhabitants of Megalopolis, in Arcadia, he made a promise to build a wall round their city, and he gave them the greater part of the money requisite for the purpose. At Tegea he began to erect a magnificent theatre of marble. At Cyzicum, he presented a set of golden utensils for the service of one table in the Prytaneum, the state-room of the city; where such as are entitled to that honour dine together. To the Rhodians he gave presents of every kind that their convenience required, but none very remarkable. Of the magnificence of his notions, in every thing respecting the gods, the temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens can be a sufficient testimony: being the only one in the world, the plan of which was suitable to the greatness of the deity. He likewise ornamented Delos with altars of extraordinary beauty, and abundance of statues. A magnificent temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which he promised to build at Antioch, of which not only the ceilings, but all the walls, were to be covered with plates of gold, and many other edifices which he intended in various places, he did not finish, as his reign was very short. He surpassed his predecessors, too, in the magnificence of the public games of every description; of which all the games but one were after their own custom, and celebrated by an immense number of Grecian actors. He gave a show of gladiators in the Roman manner, which at first, among & people unaccustomed to such sights, caused more terror than pleasure; but by frequently repeating them, and sometimes permitting the combatants to go no further than wounds, at other times to fight until one was killed, he rendered such kind of shows not only familiar to people’s eyes, but even agreeable, and kindled in most of the young men a passion for arms; so much so that, although, at the beginning, he was obliged to entice gladiators from Rome, by high rewards, he soon found a sufficient number in his own dominions willing to perform for a moderate hire. But he displayed the same worthlessness and levity in exhibiting the games, as in the rest of his life, so that nothing could be seen more magnificent than the preparation for the games, nothing more vile or contemptible than the king himself. And when this appeared often on other occasions, it was then most conspicuous in those games, which, in emulation of the magnificence of those which were given by Paulus in Macedon, after the conquest of Perseus, he exhibited at immense expense, and with corresponding dishonour. To return, however, to the Roman affairs, from which the mention of this king has caused us to digress too far. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, after holding the government of Sardinia two years, resigned it to Servius Cornelius Sulla, the prætor, and, coming home to Rome, triumphed over the Sardinians. We are told that he brought such a multitude of captives from, that island, that from the long continuance of the sale, “Sardinians for sale” became a vulgar proverb, to denote things of little price. Both the consuls (Scævola and Lepidus) triumphed over the Ligurians; Lepidus over the Gauls also. Then were held the elections of magistrates for the ensuing year. Spurius Postumius Albinus and Quintus Mucius Scævola were chosen consuls. In the election of prætors, fortune involved Lucius or Cneius Cornelius Scipio, son of Publius Africanus, one of the candidates, in a very invidious struggle with Caius Cicereius, who had been his father’s secretary. For, after five prætors had been declared, namely, Caius Cassius Longinus, Publius Furius Philus, Lucius Claudius Asellus, Marcus Atilius Serranus, and Cneius Servilius Cæpio; although Scipio struggled hard to be admitted even in the last place, yet he was thought to have degenerated so far from the virtues of his father, that Cicereius would have been preferred by the votes of all the centuries, had not the latter, with singular modesty, corrected what might be considered either the fault of fortune or error of the elections. He could not reconcile it to himself, that, in a struggle in the elections, he should gain the victory over the son of his patron; but immediately throwing off the white gown, he became, from a competitor sure of success, the grateful friend and supporter of the interest of his rival. Thus, by the help of Cicereius Scipio obtained an honour which he did not seem likely to gain from the people, and which reflected greater glory on Cicereius than on himself.
21 The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. On the prætors casting lots, the city jurisdiction fell to Caius Cassius Longinus, and the foreign, to Lucius Cornelius Scipio. The province of Sardinia fell to Marcus Atilius, who was ordered to sail over to Corsica with a new legion, raised by the consuls, and consisting of five thousand foot and three hundred horse; and while he was engaged in carrying on the war there, Cornelius was continued in command, that he might hold the government of Sardinia. To Cneius Servilius Cæpio, for the service of Farther Spain, and to Publius Furius Philus for that of Hither Spain, the following troops were assigned—to each, three thousand Roman foot with one hundred and fifty horse, and five thousand Latin foot with three hundred horse. Sicily was decreed to Lucius Claudius, without any reinforcement. The consuls were ordered to levy two more legions, of the regular numbers of foot and horse, and to demand from the allies ten thousand foot and six hundred horse: but they met great difficulty in making the levies; for the pestilence, which the year before had fallen on the cattle, in the present year attacked the human species. Such as were seized by it, seldom survived the seventh day; those who did survive, lingered under a tedious disorder, which generally turned to a quartan ague. The slaves especially perished, of whom heaps lay unburied on all the roads. The necessary requisites could not be procured for the funerals of those of free condition. The bodies were consumed by putrefaction, without being touched by the dogs or vultures; and it was universally observed, that during that and the preceding year, while the mortality of cattle and men was so great, no vultures were any where seen. Of the public priests, there died by this contagion, Cneius Servilius Cæpio, father of the prætor, a pontiff; Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, decemvir of religious rites; Publius Ælius Pætus, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, augurs; Caius Mamilius Vitulus, chief curio; and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus, a pontiff. In the vacant places of pontiffs[78] were chosen * * * * and Caius Sulpicius Galba, in the room of Tuditanus. The augurs substituted were, Titus Veturius Gracchus Sempronianus, in place of Gracchus; and Quintus Ælius Pætas, in place of Publius Ælius. Caius Sempronius Longus was made decemvir of religious rites, and Caius Scribonius Curio, chief curio. When the termination of the plague was not visible, the senate voted that the decemvirs should consult the Sibylline books; and, by their directions, a supplication of one day was performed; and the people assembled in the forum made a vow, whilst Quintus Marcius Philippus dictated the words, that “if the sickness and pestilence should be removed out of the Roman territory, they would solemnize a festival and thanksgiving of two days’ continuance.” In the district of Veii, a boy was born with two heads; at Sinuessa, one with a single hand; and at Oximum, a girl with teeth; in the middle of the day, the sky being perfectly clear, a rainbow was seen, stretching over the temple of Saturn, in the Roman forum, and three suns shone at once; and the following night many lights were seen gliding through the air, about Lanuvium. The people of Cære affirmed that there had appeared in their town a snake with a mane, having its body marked with spots like gold; and it was fully proved that an ox had spoken in Campania.
22 On the nones of June,[79] the ambassadors returned from Africa, who having first had an interview with king Masinissa, proceeded to Carthage; but they received much more certain information respecting what had taken place in Carthage from the king than from the Carthaginians themselves. They said they had sufficient proof that ambassadors had come from king Perseus, and that an audience of the senate was given to them by night, in the temple of Æsculapius; and the king asserted, that the Carthaginians had sent ambassadors to Macedon, which they themselves did not positively deny. The senate, hereupon, resolved to send an embassy to Macedonia. They made choice of Caius Lælius, Marcus Valerius Messala, and Sextus Digitius, who accordingly proceeded thither. About this time, Perseus, because some of the Dolopians were refractory, and in the matters in dispute were for referring the decision from the king to the Romans, marched an army into their country, and reduced the whole nation under his jurisdiction and dominion. Thence he passed through the mountains of Œta, and on account of some religious scruples affecting his mind, went up to Delphi, to apply to the oracle. His sudden appearance in the middle of Greece caused a great alarm, not only in the neighbouring states, but also caused alarming intelligence to be brought into Asia to king Eumenes. He staid only three days at Delphi, and then returned to his own dominions, through Phthiotis, Achaia, and Thessaly, without doing the least injury or damage to those countries. He did not think it sufficient to conciliate the esteem of the several states through which his road lay; but despatched either ambassadors or letters to every one of the Grecian powers, requesting that they would “think no more of the animosities which had subsisted between them and his father; that the disputes had not been so violent that they might not, and ought not, to cease with regard to himself. On his part, there was no kind of obstacle to the forming of a cordial friendship.” Above all, he wished particularly to find some way of ingratiating himself with the Achæan nation.
23 This nation, and the state of Athens, solitary exceptions to the whole of Greece, had carried their resentment to such a length, as to prohibit the Macedonians entering their territories. In consequence of this, Macedonia became a place of refuge for slaves running away out of Achaia; for, as the Achæans had forbidden the inhabitants of Macedon to set foot in their territories, they could not presume to pass the boundaries of that kingdom. When Perseus observed this, he seized all the fugitives, and wrote a letter * * * * * * * “but that they ought to consider of the proper means of preventing such elopements for the future.” When this letter was read by the proætor Xenarchus, who was seeking a path to private influence with the king, the greater part who were present, but especially those who, contrary to their expectations, were about to receive the slaves they had lost, commended the moderation and kindness with which it was written; but Callierates, one who thought that the safety of the nation depended on the treaty with Rome being preserved inviolate, delivered his sentiments to this effect;—“To some of you, Achæans, the matter under consideration appears trifling and unimportant. I think that a very great and important subject is not only under consideration, but to a certain extent decided. For we, who prohibited the kings of Macedonia, and all their subjects, from entering our territories, and made a perpetual decree, not to receive from those sovereigns either ambassadors or messengers, by whom the minds of any of us might be tampered with; we, I say, listen to the king speaking in a manner, though absent, and what is more, approve of his discourse. Although wild beasts generally reject and shun the food laid in their way for their destruction; yet we, blinded by the specious offer of an insignificant favour, swallow the bait, and would, for the sake of recovering a parcel of wretched slaves, of no value worth mentioning, suffer our independence to be undermined and subverted. For who does not see that a way is being paved to an alliance with the king, by which the treaty with Rome in which all our interests are involved would be violated? That there must be a war between Perseus and the Romans, is not, I believe, a matter of doubt to any one, and the struggle which was expected during the life of Philip, and interrupted by his death, will, now that he is dead, most certainly ensue. Philip, you all know, had two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Demetrius was much superior in birth, on the mother’s side, in merit, capacity, and in the esteem of the Macedonian nation. But Philip, having set up the crown as the prize of hatred towards the Romans, put Demetrius to death, for no other crime than having contracted a friendship with that people; and made Perseus king, because he knew him to be an enemy to the Roman people almost before he determined on making him king. Accordingly, what else has the present king done since his father’s death, than prepare for the war? In the first place, to the terror of all the surrounding nations, he brought the Bastarnians into Dardania; where if they had made a lasting settlement, Greece would have found them more troublesome neighbours than Asia found the Gauls. Disappointed in that hope, he did not drop his design of a war; nay, if we choose to speak the truth, he has already commenced hostilities. He subdued Dolopia by force of arms; and would not listen when they wished to appeal concerning their disputes to the arbitration of the Romans. Then, crossing Œta, that he might show himself in the very centre of Greece, he went up to Delphi. To what, think you did his taking a journey so uncommon tend? He next traversed Thessaly; and as to his refraining on his route from doing injury to the people whom he hated, I dread his machinations the more on that very account. He then sent a letter to us, with the hollow show of an act of kindness, and bade us to consider measures by which we may not require this gift for the future; that is, to repeal the decree by which the Macedonians are excluded from Peloponnesus; to receive again ambassadors from him their king; to renew intimacies contracted with his principal subjects; and, in a short time, we should see Macedonian armies, with himself at their head, crossing over the narrow strait from Delphi into Peloponnesus, and thus we should be blended with the Macedonians, while they are arming themselves against the Romans. My opinion is, that we ought not to resolve on any new proceeding, but to keep every thing in its present state, until the question shall be reduced to a certainty, whether these our fears be well or ill grounded. If the peace between the Romans and Macedonians shall continue inviolate, then may we also have a friendship and intercourse with Perseus; but to think of such a measure now, appears to me both premature and dangerous.”
24 After him, Arco, brother to the prætor Xenarchus, said:—“Callicrates hath made the delivery of our sentiments difficult both to me and to every one who differs in opinion from him; for after his pleading in favour of the Roman alliance, alleging that it was undermined and attacked, (although no one either undermines or attacks it,) he has caused that whoever dissents from him must seem to argue against the cause of the Romans. In the first place, as if he had not been here with us, but had just left the senate-house of the Roman people, or had been admitted into the privy councils of kings, he knows and tells us every transaction that passes in secret. Nay more, he divines what would have happened if Philip had lived, why Perseus became heir of the kingdom: in such a manner, what are the intentions of the Macedonians, and what the thoughts of the Romans. But we, who neither know for what cause, nor in what manner, Demetrius perished, nor what Philip would have done, if he had lived, ought to accommodate our resolutions to the transactions that have passed in open view. We know that Perseus, on his coming to the throne, sent ambassadors to Rome, and received the title of king from the Roman people, and we hear that ambassadors came from Rome to the king, and were graciously received by him. I consider that all these circumstances are signs of peace, not of war; and that the Romans cannot be offended, if as we imitated their conduct in war, so we follow now their example in peace. For my part, I cannot see why we alone, of all mankind, wage implacable war against the kingdom of the Macedonians. Are we exposed to insult by a close neighbourhood to Macedon? or are we like the Dolopians, whom Perseus subdued lately, the weakest of all states? No; on the contrary, by the bounty of the gods, we are sufficiently secured, as well by our own strength, as by the remoteness of our situation. But we have as much reason to apprehend ill treatment, as the Thessalians and Ætolians; have we no more credit or influence with the Romans, though we were always their friends and allies, than the Ætolians, who but lately were their enemies? Whatever reciprocal rights the Ætolians, the Thessalians, the Epirots, in short, every state in Greece, allow to subsist between them and the Macedonians, let us allow the same. Why have we alone what may be termed a cursed neglect of the ties of humanity? Philip may have done some act on account of which we should pass this decree against him when in arms and waging war against us: What has Perseus deserved, a king just seated on the throne, guiltless of all injury against us, and effacing by his own kindness his father’s feuds? Why should we be his only enemies? Although I might make this assertion, that so great have been our obligations to the former kings of Macedon, that the ill usage, suffered from a single prince of their line, if any has really been suffered from Philip, * * * especially after his death. When a Roman fleet was lying at Cenchreæ, and the consul, with his army, was at Elatia, we were three days in council, deliberating whether we should follow the Romans or Philip. Now, granting that the fear of immediate danger from the Romans had no influence on our judgments, yet there was, certainly, something that made our deliberation last so long; and that was, the connexion which had long subsisted between us and the Macedonians; the distinguished favours in ancient times received from their kings. Let the same considerations prevail at present,—not to make us his singular friends, but to hinder us from becoming his singular enemies. Let us not, Callicrates, pretend what is not even thought of. No one advises us to form a new alliance, or sign a new treaty, by which we might inconsiderately compromise ourselves, but merely that we may have the intercourse of affording and demanding justice, and that we may not by excluding his subjects from our territories, exclude ourselves from his dominions, and that our slaves may not have any refuge to fly to. How does this operate against the Roman treaty? Why do we give an air of importance and suspicion to a matter which is trifling and open to the world? Why do we raise groundless alarms? Why, for the sake of ingratiating ourselves still more particularly with the Romans, render others odious and suspected? If war shall take place even Perseus himself does not doubt our taking part with the Romans. While peace continues, let animosities if they are not terminated, be at least suspended.” When those who approved of the king’s letter expressed their approbation of this speech, the decree was postponed, owing to the indignation of the chief men that Perseus should obtain by a letter of a few lines a matter which he did not even deign worthy of an embassy. Ambassadors were afterwards sent by the king, when a council was held at Megalopolis; but exertions were made by those, who dreaded a rupture with Rome, that they should not be admitted to an audience.