Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
vanquished in a pitched battle by Titus Flamininus near Scotussa, his
resolution failed, and he yielded himself and all that he had to the
mercy of the Romans, well contented that he could escape with paying a
small tribute. Yet afterwards, recollecting himself, he bore it with
great impatience, and thought he lived rather like a slave that was
pleased with ease, than a man of sense and courage, whilst he held his
kingdom at the pleasure of his conquerors; which made him turn his whole
mind to war, and prepare himself with as much cunning and privacy as
possible. To this end, he left his cities on the high roads and
sea-coast ungarrisoned, and almost desolate, that they might seem
inconsiderable; in the mean time, collecting large forces up the country,
and furnishing his inland posts, strongholds, and towns, with arms,
money, and men fit for service, he thus provided himself for war, and yet
kept his preparations close. He had in his armory arms for thirty
thousand men; in granaries in places of strength, eight millions of
bushels of corn, and as much ready money as would defray the charge of
maintaining ten thousand mercenary soldiers for ten years in defense of
the country. But before he could put these things into motion, and carry
his designs into effect, he died for grief and anguish of mind, being
sensible he had put his innocent son Demetrius to death, upon the
calumnies of one that was far more guilty. Perseus, his son that
survived, inherited his hatred to the Romans as well as his kingdom, but
was incompetent to carry out his designs, through want of courage, and
the viciousness of a character in which, among faults and diseases of
various sorts, covetousness bore the chief place. There is a statement
also of his not being true born; that the wife of king Philip took him
from his mother Gnathaenion (a woman of Argos, that earned her living as
a seamstress), as soon as he was born, and passed him upon her husband as
her own. And this might be the chief cause of his contriving the death
of Demetrius; as he might well fear, that so long as there was a lawful
successor in the family, there was no security that his spurious birth
might not be revealed.
Notwithstanding all this, and though his spirit was so mean, and temper
so sordid, yet, trusting to the strength of his resources, he engaged in
a war with the Romans, and for a long time maintained it; repulsing and
even vanquishing some generals of consular dignity, and some great armies
and fleets. He routed Publius Licinius, who was the first that invaded
Macedonia, in a cavalry battle, slew twenty-five hundred practiced
soldiers, and took six hundred prisoners; and, surprising their fleet as
they rode at anchor before Oreus, he took twenty ships of burden with all
their lading, sunk the rest that were freighted with corn, and, besides
this, made himself master of four galleys with five banks of oars. He
fought a second battle with Hostilius, a consular officer, as he was
making his way into the country at Elimiae, and forced him to retreat;
and, when he afterwards by stealth designed an invasion through Thessaly,
challenged him to fight, which the other feared to accept. Nay more, to
show his contempt of the Romans, and that he wanted employment, as a war
by the by, he made an expedition against the Dardanians, in which he slew
ten thousand of those barbarian people, and brought a great spoil away.
He privately, moreover, solicited the Gauls (also called Basternae), a
warlike nation, and famous for horsemen, dwelling near the Danube; and
incited the Illyrians, by the means of Genthius their king, to join with
him in the war. It was also reported, that the barbarians, allured by
promise of rewards, were to make an irruption into Italy, through the
lower Gaul by the shore of the Adriatic Sea.
The Romans, being advertised of these things, thought it necessary no
longer to choose their commanders by favor or solicitation, but of their
own motion to select a general of wisdom and capacity for the management
of great affairs. And such was Paulus Aemilius, advanced in years, being
nearly threescore, yet vigorous in his own person, and rich in valiant
sons and sons-in-law, besides a great number of influential relations and
friends, all of whom joined in urging him to yield to the desires of the
people, who called him to the consulship. He at first manifested some
shyness of the people, and withdrew himself from their importunity,
professing reluctance to hold office; but, when they daily came to his
doors, urging him to come forth to the place of election, and pressing
him with noise and clamor, he acceded to their request. When he appeared
amongst the candidates, it did not look as if it were to sue for the
consulship, but to bring victory and success, that he came down into the
Campus; they all received him there with such hopes and such gladness,
unanimously choosing him a second time consul; nor would they suffer the
lots to be cast, as was usual, to determine which province should fall to
his share, but immediately decreed him the command of the Macedonian war.
It is told, that when he had been proclaimed general against Perseus, and
was honorably accompanied home by great numbers of people, he found his
daughter Tertia, a very little girl, weeping, and taking her to him asked
her why she was crying. She, catching him about the neck and kissing
him, said, "O father, do you not know that Perseus is dead?" meaning a
little dog of that name that was brought up in the house with her; to
which Aemilius replied, "Good fortune, my daughter; I embrace the omen."
This Cicero, the orator, relates in his book on divination.
It was the custom for such as were chosen consuls, from a stage designed
for such purposes, to address the people, and return them thanks for
their favor. Aemilius, therefore, having gathered an assembly, spoke and
said, that he sued for the first consulship, because he himself stood in
need of such honor; but for the second, because they wanted a general;
upon which account he thought there was no thanks due: if they judged
they could manage the war by any other to more advantage, he would
willingly yield up his charge; but, if they confided in him, they were
not to make themselves his colleagues in his office, or raise reports,
and criticize his actions, but, without talking, supply him with means
and assistance necessary to the carrying on of the war; for, if they
proposed to command their own commander, they would render this
expedition more ridiculous than the former. By this speech he inspired
great reverence for him amongst the citizens, and great expectations of
future success; all were well pleased, that they had passed by such as
sought to be preferred by flattery, and fixed upon a commander endued
with wisdom and courage to tell them the truth. So entirely did the
people of Rome, that they might rule, and become masters of the world,
yield obedience and service to reason and superior virtue.
That Aemilius, setting forward to the war, by a prosperous voyage and
successful journey, arrived with speed and safety at his camp, I
attribute to good fortune; but, when I see how the war under his command
was brought to a happy issue, partly by his own daring boldness, partly
by his good counsel, partly by the ready administration of his friends,
partly by his presence of mind and skill to embrace the most proper
advice in the extremity of danger, I cannot ascribe any of his remarkable
and famous actions (as I can those of other commanders) to his so much
celebrated good fortune; unless you will say that the covetousness of
Perseus was the good fortune of Aemilius. The truth is, Perseus' fear of
spending his money was the destruction and utter ruin of all those
splendid and great preparations with which the Macedonians were in high
hopes to carry on the war with success. For there came at his request
ten thousand horsemen of the Basternae, and as many foot, who were to
keep pace with them, and supply their places in case of failure; all of
them professed soldiers, men skilled neither in tilling of land, nor in
navigation of ships, nor able to get their livings by grazing, but whose
only business and single art and trade it was to fight and conquer all
that resisted them. When these came into the district of Maedica, and
encamped and mixed with the king's soldiers, being men of great stature,
admirable at their exercises, great boasters, and loud in their threats
against their enemies, they gave new courage to the Macedonians, who were
ready to think the Romans would not be able to confront them, but would
be struck with terror at their looks and motions, they were so strange
and so formidable to behold. When Perseus had thus encouraged his men,
and elevated them with these great hopes, as soon as a thousand gold
pieces were demanded for each captain, he was so amazed and beside
himself at the vastness of the amount, that out of mere stinginess he
drew back and let himself lose their assistance, as if he had been some
steward, not the enemy of the Romans, and would have to give an exact
account of the expenses of the war, to those with whom he waged it. Nay,
when he had his foes as tutors, to instruct him what he had to do, who,
besides their other preparations, had a hundred thousand men drawn
together and in readiness for their service; yet he that was to engage
against so considerable a force, and in a war that was maintaining such
numbers as this, nevertheless doled out his money, and put seals on his
bags, and was as fearful of touching it, as if it had belonged to some
one else. And all this was done by one, not descended from Lydians or
Phoenicians, but who could pretend to some share of the virtues of
Alexander and Philip, whom he was allied to by birth; men who conquered
the world by judging that empire was to be purchased by money, not money
by empire. Certainly it became a proverb, that not Philip, but his gold
took the cities of Greece. And Alexander, when he undertook his
expedition against the Indians, and found his Macedonians encumbered, and
appear to march heavily with their Persian spoils, first set fire to his
own carriages, and thence persuaded the rest to imitate his example, that
thus freed they might proceed to the war without hindrance. Whereas
Perseus, abounding in wealth, would not preserve himself; his children,
and his kingdom, at the expense of a small part of his treasure; but
chose rather to be carried away with numbers of his subjects with the
name of the wealthy captive, and show the Romans what great riches he had
husbanded and preserved for them. For he not only played false with the
Gauls, and sent them away, but also, after alluring Genthius, king of the
Illyrians, by the hopes of three hundred talents, to assist him in the
war, he caused the money to be counted out in the presence of his
messengers, and to be sealed up. Upon which Genthius, thinking himself
possessed of what he desired, committed a wicked and shameful act: he
seized and imprisoned the ambassadors sent to him from the Romans.
Whence Perseus, concluding that there was now no need of money to make
Genthius an enemy to the Romans, but that he had given a lasting earnest
of his enmity, and by his flagrant injustice sufficiently involved
himself in the war, defrauded the unfortunate king of his three hundred
talents, and without any concern beheld him, his wife, and children, in a
short time after, carried out of their kingdom, as from their nest, by
Lucius Anicius, who was sent against him with an army.
Aemilius, coming against such an adversary, made light indeed of him, but
admired his preparation and power. For he had four thousand horse, and