Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
great and inordinate, and so to mingle the affairs of human life that no
one should be entirely free and exempt from calamities; but, as we read
in Homer, that those should think themselves truly blessed to whom
fortune has given an equal share of good and evil.
Aemilius had four sons, of whom Scipio and Fabius, as is already related,
were adopted into other families; the other two, whom he had by a second
wife, and who were yet but young, he brought up in his own house. One of
these died at fourteen years of age, five days before his father's
triumph; the other at twelve, three days after: so that there was no
Roman without a deep sense of his suffering, and who did not shudder at
the cruelty of fortune, that had not scrupled to bring so much sorrow
into a house replenished with happiness, rejoicing, and sacrifices, and
to intermingle tears and laments with songs of victory and triumph.
Aemilius, however, reasoning justly that courage and resolution was not
merely to resist armor and spears, but all the shocks of ill fortune, so
met and so adapted himself to these mingled and contrasting
circumstances, as to outbalance the evil with the good, and his private
concerns with those of the public; and thus did not allow anything
either to take away from the grandeur, or sully the dignity of his
victory. For as soon as he had buried the first of his sons, (as we have
already said,) he triumphed; and the second dying almost as soon as his
triumph was over, he gathered together an assembly of the people, and
made an oration to them, not like a man that stood in need of comfort
from others, but one that undertook to support his fellow-citizens in
their grief for the sufferings he himself underwent.
"I," he said, "who never yet feared anything that was human, have,
amongst such as were divine, always had a dread of fortune as faithless
and inconstant; and, for the very reason that in this war she had been as
a favorable gale in all my affairs, I still expected some change and
reflux of things. In one day I passed the Ionian sea, and reached
Corcyra from Brundisium; thence in five more I sacrificed at Delphi, and
in other five days came to my forces in Macedonia, where, after I had
finished the usual sacrifices for the purifying of the army, I entered on
my duties, and, in the space of fifteen days, put an honorable period to
the war. Still retaining a jealousy of fortune, even from the smooth
current of my affairs, and seeing myself secure and free from the danger
of any enemy, I chiefly dreaded the change of the goddess at sea, whilst
conveying home my victorious army, vast spoils, and a captive king. Nay,
indeed, after I was returned to you safe, and saw the city full of joy,
congratulating, and sacrifices, yet still I distrusted, well knowing that
fortune never conferred any great benefits that were unmixed and
unattended with probabilities of reverse. Nor could my mind, that was
still as it were in labor, and always foreseeing something to befall this
city, free itself from this fear, until this great misfortune befell me
in my own family, and till, in the midst of those days set apart for
triumph, I carried two of the best of sons, my only destined successors,
one after another to their funerals. Now, therefore, I am myself safe
from danger, at least as to what was my greatest care; and I trust and am
verily persuaded, that for the time to come Fortune will prove constant
and harmless unto you; since she has sufficiently wreaked her jealousy at
our great successes on me and mine, and has made the conqueror as marked
an example of human instability as the captive whom he led in triumph,
with this only difference, that Perseus, though conquered, does yet enjoy
his children, while the conqueror, Aemilius, is deprived of his." This
was the generous and magnanimous oration Aemilius is said to have spoken
to the people, from a heart truly sincere and free from all artifice.
Although he very much pitied the condition of Perseus, and studied to
befriend him in what he was able, yet he could procure no other favor,
than his removal from the common prison, the Carcer, into a more cleanly
and humane place of security, where, whilst he was guarded, it is said,
he starved himself to death. Others state his death to have been of the
strangest and most unusual character: that the soldiers who were his
guard, having conceived a spite and hatred against him for some reason,
and finding no other way to grieve and afflict him, kept him from sleep,
took pains to disturb him when he was disposed to rest, and found out
contrivances to keep him continually awake, by which means at length he
was utterly worn out, and expired. Two of his children, also, died soon
after him; the third, who was named Alexander, they say proved an
exquisite artist in turning and graving small figures, and learned so
perfectly to speak and write the Roman language, that he became clerk to
the magistrates, and behaved himself in his office with great skill and
conduct.
They ascribe to Aemilius's conquest of Macedonia, this most acceptable
benefit to the people, that he brought so vast a quantity of money into
the public treasury, that they never paid any taxes, until Hirtius and
Pansa were consuls, which was in the first war between Antony and Caesar.
This also was peculiar and remarkable in Aemilius, that though he was
extremely beloved and honored by the people, yet he always sided with the
nobles; nor would he either say or do anything to ingratiate himself
with the multitude, but constantly adhered to the nobility, in all
political matters, which in after-times was cast in Scipio Africanus's
teeth by Appius; these two being in their time the most considerable men
in the city, and standing in competition for the office of censor. The
one had on his side the nobles and the senate, to which party the Appii
were always attached; the other, although his own interest was great, yet
made use of the favor and love of the people. When, therefore, Appius
saw Scipio come to the market-place, surrounded with men of mean rank,
and such as were but newly made free, yet were very fit to manage a
debate, to gather together the rabble, and to carry whatsoever they
designed by importunity and noise, crying out with a loud voice: "Groan
now," said he, "O Aemilius Paulus, if you have knowledge in your grave of
what is done above, that your son aspires to be censor, by the help of
Aemilius, the common crier, and Licinius Philonicus." Scipio always had
the good-will of the people, because he was constantly heaping favors on
them; but Aemilius, although he still took part with the nobles, yet was
as much the people's favorite as those who most sought popularity and
used every art to obtain it. This they made manifest, when, amongst
other dignities, they thought him worthy of the office of censor, a trust
accounted most sacred and of great authority, as well in other things, as
in the strict examination into men's lives. For the censors had power to
expel a senator, and enroll whom they judged most fit in his room, and to
disgrace such young men as lived licentiously, by taking away their
horses. Besides this, they were to value and assess each man's estate,
and register the number of the people. There were numbered by Aemilius,
337,452 men. He declared Marcus Aemilius Lepidus first senator, who had
already four times held that honor, and he removed from their office
three of the senators of the least note. The same moderation he and his
fellow censor, Marcius Philippus, used at the muster of the knights.
Whilst he was thus busy about many and weighty affairs, he fell sick of a
disease, which at first seemed hazardous; and although after awhile it
proved without danger, yet was troublesome and difficult to be cured: so
that by the advice of his physicians he sailed to Velia, in South Italy,
and there dwelt a long time near the sea, where he enjoyed all possible
quietness. The Romans, in the meanwhile, longed for his return, and
oftentimes by their expressions in the theaters, gave public testimony of
their great desire and impatience to see him. When, therefore, the time
drew nigh that a solemn sacrifice was of necessity to be offered, and he
found, as he thought, his body strong enough, he came back again to Rome,
and there performed the holy rites with the rest of the priests, the
people in the mean time crowding about him, and congratulating his
return. The next day he sacrificed again to the gods for his recovery;
and, having finished the sacrifice, returned to his house and sat down to
dinner, when, all on a sudden and when no change was expected, he fell
into a fit of delirium, and, being quite deprived of his senses, the
third day after ended a life, in which he had wanted no manner of thing
which is thought to conduce to happiness. Nay, his very funeral pomp had
something in it remarkable and to be admired, and his virtue was graced
with the most solemn and happy rites at his burial; consisting, not in
gold and ivory, or in the usual sumptuousness and splendor of such
preparations, but in the good-will, honor, and love, not only of his
fellow-citizens, but of his enemies themselves. For as many Spaniards,
Ligurians, and Macedonians, as happened to be present at the solemnity,
that were young and of vigorous bodies, took up the bier and carried it
whilst the more aged followed, calling Aemilius the benefactor and
preserver of their countries. For not only at the time of his conquest
had he acted to all with kindness and clemency, but, through the whole
course of his life, he continued to do them good and look after their
concerns, as if they had been his familiars and relations. They report,
that the whole of his estate scarce amounted to three hundred and seventy
thousand drachmas; to which he left his two sons coheirs; but Scipio, who
was the youngest, being adopted into the more wealthy family of
Africanus, gave it all to his brother. Such are said to have been the
life and manners of Aemilius.
COMPARISON OF TIMOLEON WITH AEMILIUS PAULUS
Such being the story of these two great men's lives, without doubt in the
comparison very little difference will be found between them. They made
war with two powerful enemies: the one against the Macedonians, and the
other with the Carthaginians; and the success was in both cases glorious.
One conquered Macedon from the seventh succeeding heir of Antigonus; the
other freed Sicily from usurping tyrants, and restored the island to its
former liberty. Unless, indeed, it be made a point on Aemilius's side,
that he engaged with Perseus when his forces were entire, and composed of
men that had often successfully fought with the Romans; whereas, Timoleon
found Dionysius in a despairing condition, his affairs being reduced to
the last extremity: or, on the contrary, it be urged in favor of
Timoleon, that he vanquished several tyrants, and a powerful Carthaginian
army, with an inconsiderable number of men gathered together from all
parts, not with such an army as Aemilius had, of well disciplined
soldiers, experienced in war, and accustomed to obey; but with such as
through the hopes of gain resorted to him, unskilled in fighting and
ungovernable. And when actions are equally glorious, and the means to
compass them unequal, the greatest esteem is certainly due to that
general who conquers with the smaller power.
Both have the reputation of having behaved themselves with an uncorrupted
integrity, in all the affairs they managed: but Aemilius had the
advantage of being, from his infancy, by the laws and customs of his
country, brought up to the proper management of public affairs, which
Timoleon brought himself to by his own efforts. And this is plain; for