Livy

“ It was not only to honour their chief magistrate that the citizens had collected together, but also to see the leader to whose wisdom and authority they had entrusted the supreme defence of the commonwealth. They thought of the chances of war, the caprice of Fortune, the risks and uncertainty of battle the defeats and successes of the past - defeats often incurred by the ignorance and rashness of commanders, successes again won by skill and courage. Who of mortal men could know the capability of the consul whom they were sending to war or the fortune which would attend him? ”

“ Let him send men to the consul with powers to make fresh proposals for peace on the same terms on which his father Philip had accepted peace from the victorious T. Quinctius. There could be no grander close to the war than the late memorable battle and no surer grounds for hopes of a lasting peace than those which would make the Romans, disheartened as they were by their defeat, ready to come to terms. If the Romans should then, with their inbred stubbornness, reject fair terms, gods and men would alike bear witness to the moderation of Perseus and the invincible arrogance of the Romans. ”

“ The king was holding a council to decide upon the future conduct of the war, and as his exultation over his victory had cooled down, some of his friends ventured to give him advice. They argued that it would be better for him to take advantage of his good fortune by securing an honourable peace than to buoy himself up with idle hopes and so expose himself to chances that might be irrevocable. To set a measure to one's prosperity and not to place too much confidence in the smiling fortune of the hour is the part of a wise man who has achieved a deserved success. ”

“ The Romans were not in need of money or territory, but this they knew, that while all human affairs were liable to many accidents, kingdoms and empires were especially so. They had shattered the power of the Carthaginians and saddled them with a very powerful monarch to keep them down. They had sent Antiochus and his posterity into banishment beyond the Taurus mountains. The kingdom of Macedonia alone remained, a near neighbour and ready, whenever Rome lost the good fortune she once enjoyed, to animate the kings of Macedonia with their ancient courage. ”

“ During all that time Macedonia had been undisturbed and a new generation had grown up, ripe for military service, and in the small wars with their Thracian neighbours, which exercised rather than exhausted them, they had been constantly trained and disciplined. The prospect of a war with Rome, which had during the whole period been cherished by Philip and then by Perseus, had led to everything being in a state of readiness and efficiency. The army performed a few movements, not as regular maneuvers, but simply in order to avoid the appearance of only standing under arms. ”

“ Or if they are willing to fight in the open field, look for the same result in an infantry battle which you have seen in the cavalry action." Those who had taken part in the victory and were carrying the enemy's spoils on their shoulders listened eagerly to the recital of their exploits and formed their hopes of the future from what had already happened. The infantry, too, especially the men of the phalanx, were fired by the glory which their comrades had won, and looked forward to the opportunity of doing their king signal service and winning equal glory from their vanquished foe. ”

“ Not only the open supporters of Macedonia, but most of those who were under the greatest obligations to Rome, some having experienced the violence and tyranny of Perseus, were delighted at hearing it for no other reason than that morbid eagerness which a mob watching gymnastic contests displays in favour of the weaker and more disreputable competitor. In Boeotia meanwhile Lucretius was pressing the siege of Haliartus with the utmost vigour. ”

“ Whilst revolving these schemes in his mind he was surprised by death and left the crown to one whom he knew to be Rome's greatest enemy. The war had thus been left as a heritage to Perseus by his father, bequeathed to him together with the crown, and from the first day of his rule all his plans were laid to feed and foster it. He has abundant resources; the long years of peace have produced a numerous progeny of men of military age; moreover he is in the prime of life, in the full strength of manhood, and with a mind strengthened and disciplined in the science and practice of war. ”

“ Not a single man had any thought of surrender. They had made up their minds to die, when an unlooked-for gleam of hope appeared. Some of the foragers, who had fled to the camp, informed the consul that the detachment on guard was surrounded. Alarmed for the safety of so many fellow-citizens - there were about 800, all Romans - he sallied forth from the camp with a force of cavalry and infantry, including the new reinforcement of Numidian horse and foot, as well as the elephants. The order was given to the military tribunes to follow with the legionaries. ”

“ Occasionally more can be gained for the time being by craft than by courage, but it is only when you have forced your enemy to confess that he has been overcome not by cleverness nor by accident, but after a fair trial of strength where the rules of war are properly observed - it is only then that his spirit is broken and his defeat a lasting one." Such were the views of the older senators, who regarded the new policy with disfavour, but the majority preferred expediency to honour and signified their approval of what Marcius had done. ”

“ For two years I was a common soldier in the army, fighting against Philip in Macedonia; in the third year T. Quinctius Flamininus gave me in consideration of my courage the command of the tenth company of the hastati. After Philip and the Macedonians were vanquished and we were brought back to Italy and disbanded, I at once volunteered to go with the consul M. Porcius to Spain. Men who during a long service have had experience of him and of other generals know that of all living commanders not one has shown himself a keener observer or more accurate judge of military valour. ”

“ Moved by these considerations the senate determined that M. Popilius should restore the Ligurians to liberty and return the purchase-money, and see that as much of their property as could be recovered should be given back to them; their arms also were to be restored. All this was to be done as soon as possible; the consul was not to leave his province till he had replaced the surrendered Ligurians in their homes. He was reminded that the glory of victory was won by overcoming the enemy in fair fight, not by cruelty to those who cannot defend themselves. ”

“ Good heavens! what boots it for a man to be free to go into exile, if there is nowhere a place where an exile can go? Nevertheless, as soon as I was advised by you and ascertained that these men were in Macedonia, I ordered that search should be made for them, and that they should quit the kingdom, and I forbade them ever to cross my frontiers.
"These charges have been brought against me as though I were a defendant in a criminal trial, but those others touch my conduct as king, and depend upon the interpretation of the treaty which is in force between us. ”

“ By building and beautifying one temple out of the ruins of another he is involving the people of Rome in the guilt of impiety, as though the immortal gods are not the same everywhere, but some must be honoured and adorned with the spoils of others. ”

“ In their address to the Rhodians, his envoys said that they were confident that there would be peace, for it was on the advice of Marcius and Atilius that they were sent to Rome. If the Romans in violation of the treaty proceeded to war, then the Rhodians must use all their influence and all their power to restore peace, but if their appeals proved fruitless, then they must make it their business to prevent the power and authority over the whole world from passing into the hands of one single nation. ”

“ Eumenes is a much greater oppressor of Asia than Antiochus ever was, your allies can have no rest as long as the kingdom of Pergamum exists, it stands like a citadel to command all the States round it. ”

“ Amongst the Romans there was not only grief at their defeat, but a fear lest the enemy should make a sudden attack on the camp. Eumenes urged the consul to transfer the camp to the opposite bank of the Peneus, that they might have the protection of the river until the shaken soldiers could recover their morale. The consul felt bitterly the disgrace of admitting that he was afraid, but yielding to reason, he took the troops across in the dead of night and entrenched himself on the further bank. The next day the king marched up to provoke his enemy to battle. ”

“ That so many thousands of freeborn persons, guiltless of any crime, should have been sold into slavery, in spite of their appeals to the honour of Rome, is a terrible example and warning against any one henceforth making a surrender, and sharing the fate of those who have been dragged off to various places to be the slaves of men who were formerly the enemies of Rome and are hardly even now at peace with her. ”

“ Who does not know that in their party conflicts the Aetolians appeal for help not to the Romans, but to Perseus? Though he had these friendships and alliances to lean upon, he has made such ample preparations for war at home that he has no need of outside help. He has stored corn for 30,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry which will last for ten years, so that he can leave the harvests of his own and of the enemy's fields untouched. He is now in possession of so much money that he has a reserve sufficient to pay 10,000 mercenary troops, in addition to his Macedonian force, for the same period. ”

“ But even if I had not served my full time and my age did not give me exemption, still, P. Licinius, as I was able to give you four soldiers for one, namely, myself, it would have been a right and proper thing that I should be discharged. But I want you to take what I have said simply as a statement of my case. So far as anyone who is raising troops judges me to be an efficient soldier, I am not going to plead excuses. What rank the military tribunes think that I deserve is for them to decide; I will take care that no man shall surpass me in courage ”

“ The other side were sycophants and flatterers of the king; the pressure of debt and the hopelessness of their condition, if things remained as they were, drove many in sheer desperation into revolutionary projects; others supported Perseus from sheer caprice because he was popular. A third party, comprising the most respectable and sensible men, if they had in any case to choose a master, would have preferred the Romans to Perseus. ”

“ Ismenias thought that the right course to adopt would be for the Boeotian nation as a whole to place itself under the suzerainty of Rome. This led to a quarrel, and if he had not taken refuge at the commissioners' tribunal he would have had a narrow escape from being killed by the exiles and their supporters. Thebes, the capital of Boeotia, was itself in a state of great excitement, one faction trying to bring the city over to the king, the other to the Romans. People from Coronea and Haliartus had flocked in crowds to Thebes to defend the decree for alliance with the king. ”

“ The king pressed a proposal upon him and promised him a huge bribe if he would consent to it. As all the Roman generals and ambassadors usually accepted his hospitality, Perseus suggested that he should arrange for poison to be administered to those whose names he should give him. He knew that the preparation of poison was extremely difficult and dangerous, as so many must know of its preparation and, besides that, there is uncertainty as to its working, whether it will be strong enough to accomplish its task or safe as against any discovery. ”

“ Even if the troops sent by Eumenes and Masinissa were counted in, there would not be more than 7000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. The king proceeded: "You have heard what the strength of the enemy is; now look at your own army, its superiority in numbers and in the quality of the soldiers as compared with the raw conscripts hastily embodied for this war, soldiers who have from their boyhood been trained in the school of war, disciplined and hardened by so many campaigns. Lydians, Phrygians and Numidians are furnishing troops for the Romans ”

“ The letter and the address of the envoys received a favourable hearing, but they did not avail to make the Rhodians change their minds; the influence and authority of the better citizens prevailed. The answer which they decided to give was to the effect that the Rhodians wanted peace; if there was war, the king need not expect or ask for anything from them, since he was trying to break up the long-standing friendship between them and the Romans, a friendship which was the fruit of many valuable services rendered in both peace and war. ”

“ When all doubt was dispelled by the many shouts and men running from the gates there was great confusion. The military tribunes, the officers of the allied troops and the centurions hurried to the headquarters tent; the soldiers ran to their own tents. Perseus had drawn up his men less than a mile and a half from the Roman lines round a hill called Callinicus. Cotys commanded the left wing with the whole of his native troops, the light infantry being disposed between the ranks of the cavalry. On the right were the Macedonian cavalry, the Cretans being intermixed with them in the same way. ”