The History of Rome, Books 37 to the End / with the Epitomes and Fragments of the Lost Books

by Livy

33 The business, therefore, came into the court of the tribunes. Thither Marcus Popilius, a man of consular dignity, the centurions, and the consul came. The consul then required that the matter might be discussed in a general assembly; and, accordingly, the people were summoned. On the side of the centurions, Marcus Popilius, who had been consul two years before, argued thus: that “as military men they had served out their regular time, and that they possessed bodies worn out through age and continual hardships. Nevertheless, they did not refuse to give the public the benefit of their services, they only entreated that they might be favoured so far, that posts inferior to those which they had formerly held in the army should not be assigned to them.” The consul, Publius Licinius, first ordered the decree of the senate to be read, in which war was determined against Perseus; and then the other, which directed that as many veteran centurions as could be procured should be enlisted for that war; and that no exemption from the service should be allowed to any who was not upwards of fifty years of age. He then entreated that, “at a time when a new war was breaking out so near to Italy, and with a most powerful king, they would not either obstruct the military tribunes in making the levies, or prevent the consul from assigning to each person such a post as best suited the convenience of the public; and that, if any doubt should arise in the proceedings, they might refer it to the decision of the senate.”

34 When the consul had said all that he thought proper, Spurius Ligustinus, one of those who had appealed to the plebeian tribunes, requested permission from the consul and tribunes to speak a few words to the people. By the permission of them all he spoke, we are told, to this effect: “Romans, I am Spurius Ligustinus, of the Crustuminian tribe, and I sprung from the Sabines. My father left me one acre of land, and a small cottage, in which I was born and educated, and I dwell there to-day. As soon as I came to man’s estate, my father married me to his brother’s daughter, who brought nothing with her but independence and modesty; except, indeed, a degree of fruitfulness that would have better suited a wealthier family. We have six sons and two daughters; the latter are both married; of our sons, four are grown up to manhood, the other two are as yet boys. I became a soldier in the consulate of Publius Sulpicius and Caius Aurelius. In the army which was sent over into Macedon I served as a common soldier, against Philip, for two years; and in the third year, Titus Quintius Flamininus, in reward of my good conduct, gave me the command of the tenth company of spearmen. When Philip and the Macedonians were subdued, and we were brought back to Italy and discharged, I immediately went as a volunteer, with the consul Marcus Porcius into Spain. Those who have had experience of him, and of other generals in a long course of service, know that no single commander living was a more accurate observer and judge of merit. This commander judged me deserving of being set at the head of the first company of spearmen. A third time I entered as a volunteer in the army which was sent against the Ætolians and king Antiochus; and Manius Acilius gave me the command of the first company of first-rank men. After Antiochus was driven out of the country, and the Ætolians were reduced, we were brought home to Italy, where I served the two succeeding years in legions that were raised annually. I afterwards made two campaigns in Spain; one under Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, the other under Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, prætors. I was brought by Flaccus among others whom he brought home from the province to attend his triumph, out of regard to their good services. At the request of Tiberius Gracchus, I went with him to his province. Four times within a few years was I first centurion of my corps; thirty-four times I was honoured by my commanders with presents for bravery. I have received six civic crowns, I have fulfilled twenty-two years of service in the army, and I am upwards of fifty years of age. But, if I had neither served out all my campaigns, nor was entitled to exemption on account of my age, yet Publius Licinius, as I can supply you with four soldiers instead of myself, it were reasonable that I should be discharged. But I wish you to consider these words merely as a state of my case; as to offering any thing as an excuse from service, that is what I will never do, so long as any officer, enlisting troops, shall believe me fit for it. What rank the military tribunes may think I deserve, rests with their power. That no one in the army may surpass me in a zealous discharge of duty, I shall use my best endeavours; and that I have always acted on that principle, my commanders and my comrades can testify. And now, fellow-soldiers, you who assert your privilege of appeal, as you have never, in your youthful days, done any act contrary to the directions of the magistrates and the senate, now too you ought to be amenable to the authority of the senate and consuls, and to think every post honourable in which you can act for the defence of the commonwealth.”

35 Having finished his speech, he was highly commended by the consul, who led him from the assembly into the senate-house, where, by order of the senate, he again received public thanks; and the military tribunes, in consideration of his meritorious behaviour, made him first centurion in the first legion. The rest of the centurions, dropping the appeal, submissively answered to their names in the levy. That the magistrates might the sooner go into their provinces, the Latin festival was celebrated on the calends of June; and as soon as that solemnity was ended, Caius Lucretius, the prætor, after sending forward every thing requisite for the fleet, went to Brundusium. Besides the armies which the consuls were forming, Caius Sulpicius Galba, the prætor, was commissioned to raise four city legions, with the regular number of foot and horse, and to choose out of the senate four military tribunes to command them; likewise, to require from the Latin allies fifteen thousand foot, with twelve hundred horse; that this army should be prepared to act wherever the senate should order. At the desire of the consul, Publius Licinius, the following auxiliaries were ordered to join the army of citizens and allies under his command: two thousand Ligurians; a body of Cretan archers (whose number was not specified, the order only mentioning whatever succours the Cretans, on being applied to, should send); likewise the Numidian cavalry and elephants. To settle concerning these last, ambassadors were sent to Masinissa and the Carthaginians,—Lucius Postumius Albinus, Quintus Terentius Culleo, and Caius Aburius: also, to Crete,—Aulus Postumius Albinus, Caius Decimius, and Aulus Licinius Nerva.

36 At this time arrived ambassadors from Perseus. It was the pleasure of the fathers that they should not be permitted to come into the city; as the senate had already decreed; and the people had ordered, a declaration of war against their king and the Macedonians. Being introduced before the senate in the temple of Bellona, they spoke in the following manner: that “king Perseus wondered what could be their motive for transporting troops into Macedon; and that if the senate could be prevailed on to recall them, the king would, at their arbitration, satisfactorily account for any injuries of which their allies might complain.” Spurius Carvilius had been sent home from Greece, by Cneius Sicinius, for the purpose of attending this business, and was present in the senate. He charged the king with taking military occupation of Perrhæbia, storming several cities of Thessaly, and other enterprises, in which he was either actually employed or preparing to engage; and the ambassadors were called on to answer to those points. After they declined to do so, declaring that they had no further instructions, they were ordered to tell their king, that “the consul Publius Licinius would soon be in Macedon at the head of an army. To him he might send ambassadors, if he were disposed to give satisfaction, but there was no use in his sending any more to Rome; for none of them would be permitted to pass through Italy.” After they were thus dismissed, a charge was given to Publius Sicinius, to insist on their quitting Italy within eleven days, and to send Spurius Carvilius to guard them, until they embarked. Such were the transactions at Rome, before the departure of the consuls for their provinces. Cneius Sicinius, who, before the expiration of his office, had been sent to Brundusium to the fleet and army, had by this time transported into Epirus five thousand foot and three hundred horse, and was encamped at Nymphæum, in the territory of Apollonia. From which place he sent tribunes, with two thousand men, to take possession of the forts of the Dassaretians and Illyrians; as those people themselves solicited garrisons, to secure them from the inroads of the Macedonians in their neighbourhood.

37 A few days after, Quintus Marcius, Aulus Atilius, Publius Cornelius Lentulus, Servius Cornelius Lentulus, and Lucius Decimius, who were sent ambassadors to Greece, carried with them one thousand soldiers to Corcyra; where they divided the troops among them, and settled what districts they were to visit. Decimius was sent to Gentius, king of Illyria, with instructions to sound him, as to whether he retained any regard for former friendship; and even to prevail on him to take part in the war. The two Lentuluses were sent to Cephallenia that they might cross over from it into Peloponnesus; and, before the winter, make a circuit round the western coast. The circuit of Epirus, Ætolia, and Thessaly is intrusted to Marcius and Atilius; they were directed to take a view afterwards of Bœotia and Eubœa, and then to pass over to Peloponnesus, where, by appointment, they were to meet the Lentuluses. Before they set out on their several routes from Corcyra, a letter was brought from Perseus, in which he inquired the reason of the Romans sending troops into Greece, and taking possession of the cities. They did not think proper to give him any answer in writing; but they told his messenger, who brought the letter, “for the sake of guarding the cities themselves.” The Lentuluses, going round the cities of Peloponnesus, after exhorting all the states, without distinction, as they had assisted the Romans with fidelity and spirit, first in the war with Philip, and then in that with Antiochus, to assist them now, in like manner, against Perseus, heard some murmuring in the assemblies; for the Achæans were highly offended that they, who, from the very first rise of the war with Macedon, had given every instance of friendship to the Romans, and had been open enemies to the Macedonians in the war with Philip, should be treated on the same footing with the Messenians and Elians, who had borne arms on the side of Antiochus against the Roman people, and who, being lately incorporated in the Achæan union, made heavy complaints, as if they were made over to the victorious Achæans as a prize.

38 When Marcius and Atilius went up to Gitanæ, a town of Epirus, about ten miles from the sea, a council of Epirotes being held there, they were listened to with universal approbation; and they sent thence four hundred young men of that country to Orestæ, to protect those whom they had freed from the dominion of the Macedonians. From this place they proceeded into Ætolia; where, having waited a few days, until a prætor was chosen, in the room of one who had died, and the election having fallen on Lyciscus, who was well known to be a friend to the interest of the Romans, they passed over into Thessaly. The envoys of the Acarnanians and the exiles of the Bœotians came thither. The Acarnanians had orders to represent that “whatever offences they had been guilty of towards the Romans, first in the war with Philip, and afterwards in that with Antiochus, in consequence of being misled by the professions of those kings, they had found an opportunity to expiate. Since in spite of their demerits they had experienced the clemency of the Roman people, so they would now, by their endeavours to merit favour, make trial of its generosity.” The Bœotians were upbraided with having united themselves in alliance with Perseus; but they threw the blame on Ismenias, the leader of a party, and alleged, that “several states were drawn into that measure, contrary to their own judgment:” to which Marcius replied, that “this would appear, as they intended to give to every one of the states the power of judging for itself.” The council of the Thessalians was held at Larissa. There too the Thessalians had a wide field for giving thanks to the Romans for the blessing of liberty conferred on them; and the ambassadors, because they had been vigorously assisted by the Thessalians in the wars with Philip and Antiochus. The feelings of the assembly were acted on by this mutual acknowledgment of favours to such a degree that they voted every measure which the Romans wished. Soon after this meeting, ambassadors arrived from king Perseus, chiefly through reliance on a connexion of hospitality subsisting between him and Marcius, which had existed between their fathers. The ambassadors began by reminding him of this bond of amity, and then requested him to give the king an opportunity of conferring with him. Marcius answered, that “he had received from his father the same account of the friendship and hospitable connexion between him and Philip; and the consideration of that connexion induced him to undertake the present embassy. That he would not have so long delayed giving the king a meeting, could it have been done without inconvenience; and that now he and his colleague would, as soon as it should be in their power, come to the river Peneus, where the passage was from Omolium to Dium; messengers being previously sent to announce it to the king.”

39 Perseus, on this, withdrew from Dium into the heart of the kingdom, having conceived a slight inspiration of hope from the expression of Marcius, that he had undertaken the embassy out of regard to him. After a few days they all met at the appointed place. The king’s suite was a large one, since a crowd of friends attended him, as well as his body-guards. The ambassadors came with a train not inferior in numbers, as many accompanied them from Larissa, and also the delegates of many states, who had met them there, wishing to carry home information on the positive testimony of what they themselves should hear. All men felt a strong curiosity to behold a meeting between so powerful a king, and the ambassadors of the first people in the world. After they came within sight, on the opposite sides of the river, some time was spent in sending messengers from one to the other, to settle which of the two should cross it; for one party thought the compliment due to royal majesty, the other to the fame of the Roman people, especially as Perseus had requested the conference. Marcius by a jest roused them from their delay:—“Let the younger,” said he, “cross over to the elder; the son to the father:” for his own surname was Philip. The king was easily persuaded to comply; but then another perplexity arose, about the number he should bring over with him. He thought it would be proper to be attended by his whole retinue; but the ambassadors required that he should either come with three attendants only, or if he brought so great a band, that he should give hostages that no treachery should be used during the conference. He accordingly sent as hostages Hippias and Pantaucus, two of his particular friends, and whom he had sent as ambassadors. The hostages were demanded not so much to get a pledge of good faith, as to make it apparent to the allies, that the king did not meet the ambassadors on a footing of equal dignity. Their salutations were not like those between enemies, but kind and friendly; and seats being placed for them, they sat down together.

40 After a short silence, Marcius began thus:—“I suppose you expect us to give an answer to your letter sent to Corcyra, in which you ask the reason, why we ambassadors come attended by soldiers, and why we send garrisons into the cities? To this your question I dread either to refuse an answer, lest it should appear haughty in me, or to give a true one, lest, to your ears, it might seem too harsh. But since the person who infringes a treaty must be reproved, either with words or with arms, as I could wish that the war against you had been intrusted to any other rather than to myself, so I will undergo the task, however disagreeable, of uttering rough language against my friend, as physicians, when they, for the recovery of health, sometimes apply painful remedies. The senate is of opinion that, since you came to the throne, you have acted but in one particular as you ought to have done, and that is, in sending ambassadors to Rome to renew the treaty made with your father,—and yet it would have been better never to have renewed it, (they think,) than afterwards to violate it. You expelled from his throne Abrupolis, an ally and friend of the Roman people. You gave refuge to the murderers of Artetarus, that it might appear that you were pleased at his assassination, to say nothing worse; though they put to death a prince, who, of all the Illyrians, was the most faithful to the Roman nation. You marched with an army through Thessaly and the Italian territory to Delphi, contrary to the treaty. You likewise, in violation of it, sent succours to the Byzantians. You concluded by an oath a separate alliance with the Bœotians our confederates, which you had no right to do. As to Eversa and Callicritus, the Theban ambassadors, who were slain in returning from Rome, I wish rather to inquire who were their murderers, than to charge any one of the crime. To whom else than your agents can the civil war in Ætolia, and the deaths of the principal inhabitants, be imputed? The country of the Dolopians was ravaged by you in person. King Eumenes, when he was returning from Rome to his own dominions, was almost butchered, as a victim, at the altars in consecrated ground, at Delphi, and it grieves me to know the person whom he accuses. With regard to the secret crimes which the host at Brundusium states in his communication, I take it for certain, that all the particulars were written you from Rome, and that your ambassadors reported them to you. There was one way by which you might have avoided my speaking of these matters, which was, by not inquiring why we brought troops into Macedonia, or sent garrisons into the cities of our allies. When you had asked the question, it would have been more haughty to keep silence, than to answer according to truth. Out of regard to the friendship derived to us from our fathers, I am really disposed to listen favourably to whatever you may say, and wish that you may afford me some grounds of pleading your cause before the senate.”

41 To this the king answered,—“A cause which would approve itself good if tried before impartial judges, I must plead before judges who are at the same time my accusers. Of the circumstances laid to my charge, some are of such a nature that I know not whether I ought not to glory in them; others there are which I would not blush to confess; and others, which as they are backed by bare assertions, it will be sufficient to deny. Supposing that I were this day to stand a trial, according to your laws, what does either the Brundusian informer, or Eumenes, allege against me that would be deemed a well-founded accusation, and not rather a malicious aspersion? Had Eumenes (although both in his public and private capacity he has done many grievous injuries to so many people) no other enemy than me? Could I not find a better agent for the perpetration of wickedness than Rammius, whom I had never seen before, nor had any probability of ever seeing again? Then, I must give an account of the Thebans, who, it is well known, perished by shipwreck; and of the death of Artetarus, with regard to whom nothing more is alleged against me, than that his murderers lived in exile in my dominions. I will not object to the injustice of this assumption, provided you will admit it on your side; and will acknowledge that, whatever exiles have taken refuge in Rome or in Italy, you are yourselves abettors of the crimes for which they have been condemned. If you admit not this principle, as other nations will not, neither will I. In truth, what advantage were it to any one that exile lay within his grasp, if no where was there room for an exile? As soon however as I understood from your representations, that those men were in Macedon, I ordered that search should be made for them, and that they should quit the kingdom; and I prohibited them for ever from setting foot on my dominions. These accusations are brought against me as if I were a criminal pleading my cause; the others affect me as a king, and must derive their decision from the treaty which exists between you and me. For if it is thus expressed in that treaty, that even if any one would wage war against me, I am not permitted to protect my kingdom; I must then confess I have infringed it, by defending myself with arms against Abrupolis, an ally of the Roman people. But, on the other hand, if it is both allowed by the treaty, and is an axiom established by the law of nations, that arms may be repelled by arms; how, I pray you, ought I to have acted when Abrupolis had spread devastation over the frontiers of my kingdom as far as Amphipolis, carried off great numbers of free persons a vast multitude of slaves, and many thousands of cattle? Ought I to have lain quiet, and let him proceed until he came in arms to Pella, into my very palace? But, allowing that I avenged my wrongs in a just war, yet he ought not to have been subdued, and made to suffer the evils which occur to the vanquished. Nay, but when I, who was the person attacked, underwent the hazard of all these, how can he, who was the cause of the war, complain if they happened to fall upon himself? As to my having punished the Dolopians by force of arms, I mean not, Romans, to defend myself in the same manner; because, whether they deserved that treatment or not, I acted in right of my own sovereign authority: for they were under my sovereign power and dominion, annexed to my father’s territories by your decree. Nor, even if I were to give an account of my conduct, I do not say to you, nor my other confederates, but even to such as disapprove of a severe and unjust exercise of authority, even over slaves, would I appear to have carried my severity against them beyond the limits of justice and equity; for they slew Euphranor, the governor whom I had set over them, in such a manner, that death was the slightest of his sufferings.

42 “But, when I proceeded to visit Larissa, Antron, and Pteleos, (that I might be within a convenient distance to pay vows, due long before,) I went up to Delphi, in order to offer sacrifice; and here, with the purpose of aggravating the imputed guilt, it is subjoined, that I went with an army, with intent to do what I now complain of your doing,—to seize the towns, and put garrisons in the citadels. Now, call together, in assembly, the states of Greece, through which I marched; and if any one person complain of ill treatment, offered by a soldier of mine, I will not deny that I may appear, under a pretence of sacrificing, to have had a different object. We sent aid to the Ætolians and Byzantians, and made a treaty of friendship with the Bœotians. These proceedings, of whatever nature they may be, have been repeatedly avowed by my ambassadors; and, what is more, excused before your senate, where I had several of my judges not so favourable as you, Quintus Marcius, my paternal friend and guest. But at that time, my accuser, Eumenes, had not come to Rome; one who, by misrepresenting and distorting every occurrence, rendered it suspicious and odious, and endeavoured to persuade you that Greece could not be in a state of freedom, nor enjoy your kindness, while the kingdom of Macedon subsisted. The wheel will come round; people will soon be found who will insist, that Antiochus was in vain removed beyond the mountains of Taurus; that Eumenes is more burdensome to Asia than Antiochus was; and that your allies can never enjoy peace so long as there is a palace at Pergamus: for this was raised as a citadel over the heads of the neighbouring states. Quintus Marcius and Aulus Atilius, I am aware that the charges which were made by you, and my reply to them, will have just so much weight as the ears and the tempers of the hearers are disposed to allow them to have; and that the question what I have done, or with what intention, is not of so much importance, as what construction you may put on what has been done. I am conscious to myself that I have not, knowingly, done wrong; and that, if I have done any wrong, erring through imprudence, I am capable of receiving correction and reformation from these reproofs. I have certainly committed no fault that is incurable, or deserving punishment by war and plunder: for surely the fame of your clemency and consistency of conduct, spread over the world, is ill-founded, if, on such causes as are scarcely deserving of complaint or expostulation, you take up arms against kings in alliance with you.”