Chapter XII: Book XL (1)

_When Philip had ordered the children of those whom he had put to
death, to be sought after as hostages, Theoxena, fearing the king’s
passion for her own children and those of her sister, who were
still quite young, brought forward swords and a cup in which there
was poison, and persuaded them to escape, by putting an end to
their existence, the mockery that awaited them; after administering
which advice, she in company with her husband plunged headlong from
the ship into the sea. The quarrels between Perseus and Demetrius,
the sons of Philip, king of Macedon, are related; and how that
Demetrius was first assailed by accusations invented through his
brother’s guile, and among the rest, an impeachment for parricide
and aspiring to the throne, and at last, since he was the friend of
the Roman people, cut off by poison; and the kingdom of Macedon, on
the death of Philip, fell to Perseus. It contains likewise the
exploits successfully achieved by very many commanders in Liguria,
and against the Celtiberians in Spain. Under the Janiculum, in the
field of L. Petillius, the secretary, the books of Numa Pompilius
were found by the labourers of the field, enclosed in a stone
chest, written in both Latin and Greek characters; in which, when
the prætor, to whom they had been brought, had read very many
things calculated to overthrow the present system of religion, he
swore to the senate that their being read and preserved would be
detrimental to the state. And by a decree of the senate they were
burned in the Comitium. The colony of Aquilia was planted. Philip,
worn out by the pangs of conscience, because, influenced by the
false information of his other son Perseus, he had by poison
removed from life’s scene his son Demetrius, both resolved on the
punishment of Perseus and desired to leave his friend Antigonus,
rather than him, as his successor. But, whilst forming this
project, he was hurried off by death. Perseus received the
kingdom._

1. At the commencement of the next year, the consuls and prætors determined the provinces by lot. For the consuls there was no province to be decreed, except Liguria. The city jurisdiction fell to Marcus Ogulnius Gallus; that among foreigners, to Marcus Valerius; of the Spains, the Hither, to Marcus Fulvius Flaccus; the Farther, to Publius Manlius; Sicily, to Lucius Ctecilius Denter; and Sardinia, to Caius Terentius Istra. The consuls were ordered to hold levies, for Quintus Fabius had written from Liguria, that the Apuani seemed inclined to a renewal of hostilities, and that it was to be feared that they would make an irruption into the district of Pisæ. From the Spains, also, they received intelligence that the Hither province was in arms; that the war still continued with the Celtiberians: that, in the Farther province, because the prætor had been for a long time indisposed, military discipline was relaxed by intemperance and inactivity. For these reasons it was decreed that new armies should be raised; four legions for Liguria, that each might contain five thousand two hundred foot, and three hundred horse, and to these same were added, fifteen thousand foot and eight hundred horse of the Latin allies. These were to complete the two consular armies. They were ordered, also, to enrol seven thousand foot and four hundred horse, of the allies and Latins, and to send them into Gaul to Marcus Marcellus, whose command was prolonged on the expiration of his consulship. There were ordered to be levied, of Roman citizens, four thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry, and of the allies, seven thousand infantry with three hundred cavalry, which should be also led into both Spains. And to Quintus Fabius Labeo, with the army which he had in Liguria, was the command prolonged for a year.

2. The spring of this year was remarkable for storms. On the day before the feast of Pales, a tremendous hurricane arose about mid-day, and made havoc in many places, both sacred and common. It threw down the brazen statues in the Capitol; tore away a gate from the temple of Luna, which is on the Aventine, and fastened it to the back parts of the temple of Ceres; overturned other statues in the Circus Maximus, together with the pillars on which they stood; tore off several cupolas from the roofs of temples, and scattered them in an unseemly manner. This storm was converted into a prodigy, and the aruspices ordered it to be attended to. At the same time expiation was made, because it had been reported that a three-footed mule was born at Reate, and that the temple of Apollo, at Formiæ and at Caieta, was struck with lightning. On account of these prodigies, a sacrifice of twenty larger victims was offered, and there was a supplication of one day’s continuance. About the same time information was obtained from a letter of Aulus Terentius, the proprætor, that Publius Sempronius, after being sick for more than a year, had died in the Farther province: on this account the prætors were ordered to set out sooner for Spain. The foreign embassies were then brought before the senate; and first, those of the kings Eumenes and Pharnaces, and of the Rhodians, complaining of the sufferings of the inhabitants of Sinope. There came also, about the same time, the ambassadors of Philip, the Achæans, and Lacedæmonians. Answers were given to these, after Marcius, who had been sent to inspect the affairs of Greece and Macedonia, had first received an audience. To the Asiatic kings and the Rhodians, they answered, that the senate would send ambassadors to examine into those matters.

3. Marcius had increased their anxiety respecting Philip; for, he acknowledged that the latter had acquiesced with the will of the senate in such a manner, as to render it very evident, that he would conform to it no longer than necessity obliged him; nor was it difficult to see, that he intended to renew hostilities, and that every thing which he then said and did had a tendency that way. Now, in the first place, he removed almost the whole body of the citizens, with their families, from the maritime cities, into Emathia, which is its modern name, it was formerly called Pæonia; he gave up those cities to be inhabited by Thracians, and other barbarians, thinking that this kind of people would prove more faithful to him in case of a war with Rome. This proceeding caused great discontent over all Macedonia; and of those who, with their wives and children, left their dwellings, few concealed their grief in silence; and, their hatred overcoming their fear, imprecations against the king were heard, as they proceeded along in groups. His mind, rendered savage by these things, entertained suspicions of all men, places, and seasons; at last he began to confess openly, that he had nothing sufficiently safe without seizing and confining the sons of those whom he had destroyed, and sending them out of the world at different times.

4. This cruelty, horrible in itself, the calamities of one particular family rendered still more so. Philip had, many years before, put to death Herodicus, a Thessalian of distinction; and afterwards his sons-in-law. His daughters were left widows, having each a little son. The names of the women were Theoxena and Archo. Theoxena, though courted by many, rejected every offer of marriage. Archo married a certain Poris, by far the first of the Ænean nation; and, after bearing him many children, died, leaving them all quite young. Theoxena then, in order that her sister’s children might be educated under her own inspection, married Poris, and as if she herself had borne them all, treated her own and her sister’s sons with the same affectionate care. When she heard of the king’s order for seizing the children of the persons who had been put to death, supposing that they were destined to afford sport not only to the king’s lust, but to that of his guards, she formed in her mind a horrid project, and had the hardiness to declare, that she would kill them all with her own hand, rather than they should come into the power of Philip. Poris, abhorring the mention of such a dreadful deed, told her that he would carry them away to Athens, to some faithful friends, and would himself accompany them in their flight. They all went from Thessalonica to Ænea, to a stated sacrifice, which they offer yearly, with great solemnity, in honour of Æneas, the founder of the nation. Having spent the day there, in the anniversary feast, about the third watch, when all were asleep, they embarked in a vessel ready prepared by Poris, as if intending to return to Thessalonica; but their design was to cross over to Eubœa. However, daylight surprised them at a small distance from the land, struggling in vain against a contrary wind, and the king’s officers, who commanded the garrison of the port, despatched an armed bark to bring back their ship, with a strict injunction not to return without it. When they were now drawing nigh, Poris was intently occupied in animating the rowers and sailors, and, at times, raising his hands towards heaven, supplicated the gods to assist him. Meanwhile, the woman, with desperate fury recurring to the shocking design which she had long premeditated, dissolves some poison, and produces swords; then, placing the cup in their view, and unsheathing the swords, she says, “Death is our only refuge. These paths lead thither, by whichever of them each one’s inclination leads them to adopt, let them escape the tyranny of the king. Come then, dear youths, let those of you who are the elder, first take the sword; or, if a slower death is your choice, drain the cup.” At the same time the enemy was fast approaching, and she, who urged them to despatch themselves, was urgent; the young men, having put an end to their lives some by the one and some by the other fatal expedient, were thrown expiring into the sea. Then, embracing her husband and companion in death, she plunged into the deep. The king’s officers then took possession of the ship, deserted by its owners.

5. The barbarity connected with this deed added fresh fuel to the flame of public resentment kindled against the king, insomuch that most people uttered imprecations on himself and his children; which curses being in a short time heard by all the gods, caused him to vent his cruelty on his own blood relations. For Perseus, when he perceived that the popularity and high reputation of his brother Demetrius among the Macedonian people, and interest among the Romans, increased more and more every day, and that no hope was left him of obtaining the crown save by the instrumentality of some wicked device, bent all his thoughts to that one object. But not thinking himself alone strong enough even for the dastardly project, which he meditated in his effeminate mind, he began to tamper with each of his father’s friends by dark suggestions. At first, several of these showed an appearance of rejecting with scorn any such overtures, because they entertained higher expectations from Demetrius. Afterwards Philip’s animosity to the Romans increased every day, which Perseus fomented; but Demetrius, with all his might, opposed. Foreseeing the fatal doom of the youth, who heeded not a brother’s guile, and thinking that they must lend their assistance to the accomplishment of what was likely to take place, and cherish the hopes of the more powerful, they united themselves to Perseus. They defer the execution of other measures till their proper season; for the present, it seems good that the king should by every strenuous exertion be inflamed against the Romans, and urged to form resolutions for war, to which he had already of his own accord turned his attention. At the same time, in order that Demetrius might be a greater object of suspicion every day, they used deliberately to prolong the conversations even to the use of insulting language towards the Romans; thereupon, when some depreciating their manners and institutions, some their military achievements, some the appearance of the city itself, unadorned either by public or private structures; others spoke scornfully of some particular individuals among their principal men. On these occasions, the young prince unwary, both out of affection for the Roman nation, and opposition to his brother, by maintaining their cause in all things, rendered himself an object of suspicion to his father, and a fit subject for their accusations. His father therefore kept him a stranger to all his designs respecting the Romans; he was entirely devoted to Perseus, and held with him, daily and nightly, deliberations on that subject. The envoys had returned whom he happened to have sent to the Bastarnians, to solicit aid, and brought with them from thence young men of distinction, and some of royal extraction; one of whom promised his sister in marriage to Philip’s son, and the connexion with that nation raised the king’s spirits. Hereupon Perseus said, “What does that avail? There is by no means as much protection afforded by foreign aid, as there is danger arising from domestic treachery. I am unwilling to call him traitor, but a spy we certainly have in our bosom, and although the Romans have restored to us his body, since he was a hostage at Rome, yet they still possess his heart. The faces of almost all the Macedonians are turned towards him, and they think they are to have no other king but him whom the Romans would give them.” By such discourses the old man’s mind, distempered in itself, was stimulated to passion, and these imputations he received deeper in his mind, than appeared from his countenance.

6. It happened to be the time of the purification of the army; which ceremony is thus performed:—The head and fore part of a dog cut through the middle is laid at the right side of the way, and the hinder part with the entrails at the left. Between the parts of the victim, thus divided, the forces are led under arms. In the front of the van, are carried the remarkable suits of armour of all the kings of Macedon, from the remotest origin; next follows the king himself, with his children; then the royal cohort and body guards, and the remaining body of the Macedonians close the rear. The two young sons of the king attend by his side; Perseus being now in his thirtieth year, Demetrius five years younger; the former in the full strength of manhood, the latter in its bloom; the mature offspring of a fortunate parent, if his mind had been influenced by reason. The custom was, that when the purificatory sacrifice was finished, the army should perform their evolutions, and the two lines divided on both sides should engage in a mock fight. The young princes were appointed commanders in this mock engagement; but it was not the mere representation of a battle, for they engaged as if they were fighting for the throne: many wounds were given with stakes, nor was any thing but the steel wanting to give it the form of a regular battle. The party which was under the command of Demetrius, was far superior. While Perseus was vexed thereat, his considerate friends rejoiced; and said, that that very circumstance would afford grounds for impeaching the youth.

7. Each of the princes gave an entertainment that day to his comrades, who had exercised under his command. Perseus being invited to supper by Demetrius, refused; kind hospitality and youthful merriment led both to excess in wine. Thereupon mention was made of the mock engagement, and numerous remarks were thrown out against the antagonists in such a manner as not to spare even the leaders themselves. To learn these expressions, a spy was sent from among the guests of Perseus; but not conducting himself with sufficient caution, he was detected by some young men who happened to come out of the banqueting-room, and severely beaten. Demetrius, knowing nothing of this matter, said, “Why do we not go to my brother, join with him in merriment, and by our frankness and gaiety assuage his resentment, if any, arising from the engagement, as yet remains?” All with one accord cried out that they would attend him, except those who were afraid of the immediate revenge of the spy that had been beaten by them. When Demetrius pressed these also, they concealed swords under their clothes, with which they might defend themselves if any violence should be offered. In the case of domestic discord, nothing that is concealed can remain so. Both houses were full of spies and traitors. An informer ran on before to Perseus, and told him, that four young men, armed with swords, were coming with Demetrius. Though the reason was evident, (for he had heard that his guest had been beaten by them,) yet, for the purpose of blackening the matter, he ordered his gate to be locked, and from the upper part of the house and the windows facing the street, he drives away the revellers, as if they were come to murder him, from the entrance to the gate. Demetrius flushed with wine, having for a little exclaimed loudly at his being shut out, returns home to his own feast entirely ignorant of the meaning of the whole proceeding.

8. Next day, Perseus, as soon as an opportunity of seeing his father was afforded him, entered the palace, and with looks expressive of disquietude stood silent in the presence of his sire but at some distance. Of whom when his father inquired “if all was well, and what was the cause of that sadness?” he answers, “Know that it is by the sufferance of another that your son survives. We are now attacked by my brother with no secret treachery; he came by night to my house, with armed men to take away my life, and it was by shut doors, and the protection afforded by the walls, that I was saved from his fury.” When he had inspired into his father a horror mixed with wonder, he adds, “If you can listen to me, I shall cause you to understand the affair as an evident truth.” But Philip replied that he would hear him, and ordered Demetrius to be instantly summoned. He then sent for two friends of advanced age, Lysimachus and Onomastus, (who never interfered in the juvenile disputes of the brothers, and were of late rare visitors in the palace,) that he might have their assistance in counsel. While his friends are coming he walked about by himself, secretly revolving many things in his mind; his son still standing at a distance. On being told that they had arrived, he retired with his two friends, and the same number of his life-guards, into an inner apartment; he permitted each of his sons to bring in three persons unarmed. Here, having taken his seat, he says, “I, the most unhappy of fathers, sit here as judge between my two sons, the accuser and the accused of the crime of fratricide; about to find, in my nearest of relations, the foul stain either of falsehood or a commission of crime. For a long time, indeed, I have apprehended an impending storm, after I perceived your mutual looks, which showed no sign of brotherly affection, and after I had overheard some expressions. But I sometimes cherished the hope that your passions would subside, and that your suspicions could be removed; that even enemies lay down their arms and form a treaty, and that the private disputes of many have been ended; and I trusted that the remembrance of your fraternal relationship would at some time or other occur to you, and of the simplicity and intimacy that subsisted between you in your boyish days; and finally, of my instructions, which, I fear, I have fruitlessly poured into deaf ears. How often have I, in your hearing, mentioned, with abhorrence, examples of the disagreements of brothers, and recounted the dreadful consequences of them, by which themselves, their offspring, their houses, and their kingdoms, have been utterly ruined. I have represented, on the other hand, more laudable examples; also the social intercourse between the two kings of the Lacedæmonians, beneficial to themselves and to their country for many ages; and that this same state, after the custom of each one arbitrarily seizing on absolute power prevailed, was quite overturned. Then, that these brothers, Eumenes and Attalus, raised their dominions (from so small circumstances, that they were almost ashamed of the title of king), to an equality with mine, or with those of Antiochus, or indeed of any monarch of this age, and by nothing else than by brotherly concord. Nor did I decline showing you examples even from among the Romans that I had either seen or heard; as of Titus and Lucius Quintius, who carried on the war against me; the two Scipios, Publius and Lucius, who vanquished Antiochus; and their father and uncle, the lasting harmony of whose life even death could not dissolve. But neither could the wickedness of the former, attended by an issue suitable to their crimes, deter you from your foolish quarrels; nor could the sound judgment and good fortune of the latter bend you to wisdom. While I am alive and in health, you have both in your hopes and wicked desires laid hold on my inheritance. You wish me to live just so long as that, surviving one, I should, by my death, make the other king without a competitor. You cannot endure to have either brother or father. You have no sense of affection, no religion, your insatiable passion for regal sway alone has supplied the place of all other feelings. Come, then, pollute your father’s ears, contend with mutual accusations, as you soon will with the sword; speak openly either whatever truth you can, or are pleased to invent. My ears are now opened, which henceforward will be shut against all secret charges of one against the other.” When with furious passion he had uttered these words, tears gushed from the whole assembly and a sorrowful silence long prevailed.

9. At length Perseus spoke to this effect: “I ought then, it seems, to have opened my gate in the night, and admitted those armed revellers, and held out my throat to their swords; since nothing less than the perpetration of the deed can gain belief, and since I, who have been assailed by secret treachery am accosted in the same language as a robber and an assassin might expect. It is not without reason, that those people say that you have but one son, Demetrius; and that I am supposititious, and born of a concubine; for if I held in your breast the rank of a son, or the affection due to one, you would wreak your anger not on me, who complain of discovered treachery, but on him who was the author of it; nor would my life be so worthless in your eyes, that you should neither be moved by the danger which I have already undergone, nor by that to which I must be exposed in future, if punishment be not inflicted on the assassins. If, therefore, it be our doom to die secretly let us be silent, only offering prayers to the gods that the wickedness commenced with me may terminate in me, and that you be not aimed at through my side. But if, as nature itself suggests to those encompassed with perils in a desert place, to implore assistance even from men whom they had never seen, so I, on seeing a sword drawn against me, may be allowed to raise my voice. I beseech you then, by your own person, by the name of father, (and you long know which of us reveres that title most,) that you may hear me in the same manner as you would if, roused by cries and lamentations by night, you had come up, when I was crying for help, and in the dead of night had found Demetrius, with armed men, in the porch of my house. What I should, at that time, and in that case, have exclaimed with terror, I now, next day, lay before you in form of a complaint. Brother, it is long since you and I lived together on the terms of mutual hospitality; you certainly wish to be king; this my expectation, my age, opposes, the law of nations opposes, the ancient practice of Macedon opposes, and moreover the judgment of my father opposes. These you can surmount by no other means than by shedding my blood. You are making every scheme and every attempt. Hitherto, either my care or fortune has prevented the fratricide you intended to commit. Yesterday, on occasion of the purification, the military exercise and mock representation of a fight, you almost rendered it a bloody battle; nor was I saved from death by any other means than by suffering myself and my party to be overcome. Pretending brotherly sport, you wanted to drag me from a hostile fight to your house to supper. Father, do you think that I, to whom they came in arms, that they might drink with me, would have supped there with unarmed guests. Do you think that I would have been in no danger from their swords by night, when they almost killed me with stakes, of which you were a spectator. Why, Demetrius, did you come at that time of night; why an enemy come to a person provoked; why with young men in arms? I did not venture to trust myself with you as a guest, and shall I admit you as a reveller, coming with armed men? Father, if the gate had been open, you would be preparing my funeral at this moment, in which you are hearing my complaint. I do not, as an accuser, urge any thing for the purpose of accusation; nor by collecting doubtful circumstances, in a train of artful arguments. For what can he say? Does he deny that he came to my gate with a large party, or that there were armed men with him? Send for the persons, whom I will name; they who dared to do this, might dare to do any thing; nevertheless, they will not dare to deny it. If I brought before you any who had been caught within my doors in arms, you would consider this an evident proof; consider those who confess in the same light as if actually caught in the fact.

10. “Curse now thirst for dominion. Call up the furies, the avengers of the wrongs of brothers; but, father, let not your curses be undiscriminating. Separate and distinguish the assassin, and him by treachery assailed, and charge the guilty head. Let him, who intended to kill a brother, feel the wrath of the gods, of his father; and let him, who was to have perished by a brother’s wickedness, find refuge in his father’s compassion and justice. For where else shall I seek refuge, who cannot find safety in the solemn purification of your army, in the exercise of the troops, in my own house, in a feast, nor in the night, which nature’s bounty granted to mankind for a season of repose. If I go to my brother, according to his invitation, I must die. If I admit my brother to a party of pleasure within my own gates, I must die. Neither by going, nor by staying, do I escape secret treachery. Whither then shall I betake me? Father, I have courted nothing save the gods and thee. I have not the Romans, to whom I may fly. They seek my destruction, because I grieve at the injuries which they have done you; because I resent your being deprived of so many cities, so many nations, and, lately, of the coast of Thrace. They have no hope that Macedonia will ever be their property, while either you or I am safe. If a brother’s wickedness shall have carried off me, and old age thee, or if even this should not be waited for, they know that both the king and kingdom of Macedonia will become theirs. If the Romans had left you any thing beyond the limits of Macedon, I would suppose that even that had been left me as a shelter. But I have protection enough in the Macedonians. You were an eye-witness yesterday of the attack made on me by the soldiers. What did they want, but the steel? And what they wanted, in the day, my brother’s guests took to themselves in the night. Why need I mention the greater part of the nobles, who have placed all their hopes of honour and fortune in the Romans, and in him who is all-powerful with the Romans? Nor, in truth, do they prefer him merely to me, his elder brother, but, they want little of preferring him to yourself, his king and father. For, he is the person out of regard to whom the senate remitted to you the intended punishment, who now screens you from the Roman arms; who thinks it fit that your advanced age should be under obligation to, and dependent on, his youth. Him the Romans, him the cities freed from thy jurisdiction, and him the Macedonians, rejoicing at the peace with Rome, defend; but for me, father, what hope or protection have I any where except in thee?

11. “What do you suppose to be the intention of the letter lately sent to you by Titus Quintius, in which he not only says, that you acted wisely for your own interest in sending Demetrius to Rome, but also advises you to send him back again, with a greater number of ambassadors, and nobles of Macedonia? Titus Quintius is now his counsellor, and master, in every thing. Having renounced you his father, he has substituted him in your place. There in preference to all other places their secret plans are concocted. When he desires you to send greater numbers, and the chief men of Macedon they are seeking assistants in their schemes. For those who go from this place unchanged and uncorrupted, and impressed with the idea that they had Philip as their king, return from thence tainted—infected by Roman blandishments. Demetrius alone is every thing to them. They give him the title of king already, even in his father’s life-time. If I express my indignation at these things, you must forthwith understand that the crime of thirsting for dominion has been laid to my charge; not only by others, father, but even by you. But this charge, if made against both, I do not admit; for whom do I remove from his place, that I may succeed in his room? My father alone is before me; and that he may long be so, I entreat the gods. I his survivor, (and may I be so only on these terms, if, by my desert, he shall wish me to be so,) shall receive the inheritance of his kingdom, provided my father shall bequeath it to me. He covets rule, and covets it with criminal passion, since he hastily overleaps the order of age, of nature, of the Macedonian custom, and of the laws of nations. An elder brother stands in his way, to whom by right, and by the wish of his father, the kingdom belongs. Let him be carried off: I shall not be the first that acquired a kingdom by spilling a brother’s blood. My father, being old, and forlorn from being bereaved of his son, will rather fear for himself, than revenge his son’s death. The Romans will rejoice, they will approve, they will defend the deed. Father, these prospects are uncertain, but they are not groundless. For the matter stands thus: you can repel from me the fatal danger, by inflicting punishment on those who have taken up arms to kill me; if success attend the daring deed, you the very same shall not be able to avenge my death.”

12. When Perseus concluded his speech, the eyes of all present were turned to Demetrius, as if he were going to reply immediately. Then, when it was evident to all that, bathed in tears, he was unable to speak, silence for a long time reigned: at length necessity itself, inasmuch as they called on him to speak, overcame his grief, and he began thus: “Father, all the aids which heretofore have been the privilege of the accused, my accuser has preoccupied. By his tears, counterfeited for the purpose of working another’s ruin, he has caused my unfeigned tears to be suspected by you. Although, ever since I returned from Rome, he, by holding secret consultations with his confederates, labours night and day to insnare me, yet nevertheless he represents me in the character, not only of a conspirator, but of an open assassin and murderer. He terrifies you with his danger, in order to hasten, through your means, the ruin of an innocent brother. He asserts, that he has a place of refuge no where in the world, that I may have no remaining hope even in thee. Circumvented, destitute, and helpless as I am, he loads me with odium arising from foreign favour, which proves detrimental rather than advantageous. Then how, accuser-like, has he blended that which was the crime of this night with other invectives against my conduct, that he might, by representing the tenor of the rest of my life, throw a colour of guilt both on the late transaction, the true nature of which you shall soon understand; and that he might support the other groundless insinuations respecting my views, wishes, and designs, by this latter, fictitious, fabricated story. He had, at the same time, this design, that his accusation might appear to be sudden and by no means premeditated, as if occasioned by sudden fright and disturbance of this night. But, Perseus, if I were a traitor against my father and his government; if I had formed plans with the Romans, or with other enemies of my father, the tale of last night ought not to have been waited for; I ought to have been long ago brought to answer for my treason. And if the former charge apart from the latter were unfounded, and tended to discover your hatred towards me, rather than my guilt, it ought on the present day also to be either omitted or postponed to some future period; in order that it might clearly appear, whether I plotted against you; or you, with indeed a strange and singular kind of hatred, against me. However, I will, as well as I am able in my present unforeseen perturbation of mind, distinguish those matters which you have confounded; and I will unveil the plot of the preceding evening, whether mine or yours. Perseus wishes it to be believed, that I had formed a design to take his life, with the view, forsooth, that having removed the elder brother, on whom by the law of nations, by the custom of Macedonia, and likewise by your judgment, as he says, the kingdom was to devolve, I, the younger, should succeed in the room of him whom I had slain. What, then, can be the meaning of that other part of his speech, where he says that the Romans were courted by me, and from my reliance on them that I conceived hopes of the crown? For, if I believed that the Romans possessed such influence, that they could appoint whomsoever they pleased king of Macedon, and if I had such confidence in my interest with them, what need was there of fratricide? Could it be my wish to wear a diadem stained with a brother’s blood, or to become execrable and odious in the eyes of those very people, with whom whatever interest I may happen to have, has been procured by zeal, or at least affected integrity of conduct? unless you believe that Titus Quintius, by whose power and advice you allege I am at present governed, though he lives in such cordial affection with his own brother, would recommend to me to murder mine? He has united for me, not only the favour of the Romans, but the opinions of the Macedonians, and the concurring sentiments almost of all the gods and men, by reason of all which he cannot believe that he would prove equal to me in the competition. Yet the same man accuses me of having (though I was inferior to him in every mode of proceeding) had recourse to an act of wickedness as my last resource. Do you wish that the formula of the judicial inquiry should be to this effect, that whichever feared lest the other should seem more worthy of the throne, shall be deemed guilty of designing his brother’s destruction?

13. “But let us examine the process of this accusation, in whatever manner it has been fabricated. He has arraigned me of attempting his life, by several methods; and all these modes of attack he has crowded into the space of one day. I intended to kill him by day when we engaged after the purification, and, if it seems good to the gods, even on the day of purification. I intended, when I invited him to supper, to take him off by poison of course. I intended, when some armed persons followed me to join his party in their conviviality, to kill him with the sword. You see what sort of opportunities were chosen for this murder; those of sport, feasting, and revelling. What? on what sort of a day! On the day in which the army was purified; in which, after the royal armour of all the former kings of Macedon was carried in procession between the divided victim, when we two only rode along with you, father, at your sides, and the body of the Macedonian troops followed. Now, even supposing that I had formerly been guilty of some crime requiring expiation, could I, after being purified and expiated in this sacred solemnity, at the very time especially when I was looking at the victim laid on each side of our road, revolved in my mind fratricide, poisons and swords prepared against the feast? With what other sacred rites could I afterwards atone for the guilt of a mind, contaminated with every kind of villany? But whilst his understanding, blinded by a desire for accusing, wishes to render every thing an object of suspicion, it confounds one thing with another. For if I intended to take you off by poison at supper, what could be more incongruous with my design, than to provoke you to rage by an obstinate contest and engagement, that you might have reason to refuse, as you did, my invitation to supper? But when, in your anger, you had refused, whether ought I to have taken pains to pacify you, that I might find another opportunity, since I had got the poison ready, or to pass over, as it were, from that design to another, namely, that of killing you with the sword, and on that same day, under pretence of feasting with you? If I thought that you declined supping with me, through fear for your life, how could I suppose that you would not, through the same fear, have declined drinking with me also.

14. “Father, I have no cause to blush, that on a festival day, among companions of my own age, I should have indulged too freely in wine; and I wish you would also inquire with what cheerfulness and mirth yesterday’s entertainment, at my house, was rendered festive, that joy also (perhaps a blamable one) increasing it, our party not having been worsted in the fight. This my present misfortune, and my fears, have effectual dissipated the fumes of the liquor; but, if these had not intervened, we, the conspirators, would have been now lying fast asleep. If, Perseus, I designed to storm your house, and after the house had been taken to kill the owner, ought I not to have refrained from wine for that one day, and to have kept my soldiers sober? And that I should not be the only one to defend my cause with excessive candour, my brother himself also, not in the least inclined to malice or suspicion, says, I know nothing more, I charge them with nothing more, than that they came in arms to drink with me. If I should ask, From what source have you become acquainted with that very circumstance? you must necessarily acknowledge, either that my house was full of your spies; or that my companions took arms so openly, as that every one could see them. Lest he should seem either on a prior occasion to have made any investigation, or now to adduce arguments for the purpose of convicting, he desired you to inquire of the persons whom he would name, whether they had swords, in order that, as it were, in a doubtful case, when you had investigated into that which they themselves confessed, they might be deemed convicted. Why do you not rather desire inquiry to be made after this, whether they carried swords for the purpose of killing you; whether by my direction and knowledge? this you wish to be believed, and not that which they confess, and what is, indeed, notorious, they say they carried them for the purpose of defending themselves. Whether they acted right or wrong, let them account for their own conduct. My cause, which is no way affected by this act, do not blend with it. Explain whether we intended to attack you openly, or secretly. If openly, why had we not all swords? why had no one a sword except those who had beaten your spy? If privately, what was the arrangement of our plan? Were four to remain, in order to fall on you in your sleep, when the banquet broke up, and I your guest had departed? How would they have escaped detection, as being strangers, and belonging to me; and, above all, being liable to suspicion, because they had been in a quarrel a little before? But how were they to have escaped after having killed you? Could your house have been taken and stormed by two swords?

15. “Why not rather, having dropped that fable of last night, recur to what really grieves you, what kindles your envy? Say,—Why, Demetrius, is mention made any where of your mounting the throne? Why do you appear, to some, a more worthy successor to your father’s dignity than I? Why do you disturb with doubt and anxiety my hopes, which would be certain if you were not in being? These are the thoughts of Perseus, though he does not express them; these make that man my enemy, these create my accuser; these fill your house, these your kingdom, with accusations and suspicions. But, father, as I ought not now either to hope for the crown, or perhaps ever to contend for it, because I am the younger brother, and because you wish that I should yield to the elder; so neither ought I at any former time, or at the present, to act in such a manner as to appear undeserving of you my father, and of all. For I should attain that by my own vices, not by yielding to him on whose side is law both human and divine, not by moderation. You upbraid me with the Romans; and what ought to be deemed an honour, you convert into a crime. I did not request, that I should either be delivered a hostage to the Romans, or sent as an ambassador to Rome. Being commissioned by you, I did not refuse to go. On both occasions, I conducted myself in such a manner, as to be no disgrace to you, to your kingdom, or to the Macedonian nation. You, therefore, father, have been the cause of my friendship with the Romans. As long as peace shall subsist between you and them, so long will I also continue in friendship with them; but, if war should arise, I, the same who have been there a hostage, and no unprofitable ambassador in my father’s behalf, will be their most determined enemy. Nor do I, this day, require that the favour of the Romans should be any advantage to me; I only entreat that it be not detrimental. It neither commenced in war, nor is it reserved for war. I have been a pledge of peace; and, to procure a continuance of peace, I was sent ambassador. Let neither be esteemed an honour or a crime. Father, if I have been guilty of any undutiful behaviour towards you, or any criminal behaviour towards my brother, I beg to be freed from no punishment. If I be innocent, let me not, I beseech you, be destroyed by envy when I cannot by crime. My brother’s accusation, this day, is not the first that he has brought against me; but it is the first made openly, and owing to no offence given him by me. If my father were angry with me, it would become you, the elder brother, to intercede for the younger, you to obtain pardon for his youth, and you for his error; but in the very person from whom I ought to receive protection, in him I meet my ruin. From a feast and revelry I have been hurried, almost half asleep, to plead my cause on a charge of fratricide. Without advocates, without patrons, I am compelled to plead my own cause. If I were to speak for another, I would have taken time to study and compose a speech; though, what else would I endanger than that of my reputation for abilities. But, before I knew why I had been summoned, I heard you, in a paroxysm of passion, ordering me to account for my conduct, and my brother accusing me. He employed against me a speech long before prepared and studied; I had only the time in which the accusations were recited, for hearing what were the impeachments. During that short space whether should I listen to my accuser, or study a defence? Thunder-struck by the sudden and unthought-of calamity, I was scarcely capable of understanding what was alleged against me, much less of being sufficiently aware what defence I should make. What hope indeed could I have, if I had not my father as judge, with whom, though I am outstripped by an elder brother in affection, yet surely, when accused, I ought not to be outstripped in his compassion. For my prayer is, that you would save me, for my sake, and for your own; he demands, that, for his security, you should put me to death. What do you think will he do, when you shall have delivered the kingdom into his hands, who even now thinks it reasonable that he should be gratified with my blood?” While he was uttering these words, tears interrupted his breath and voice at the same time. Philip, having sent them away, and conferred a short time with his friends, declared, that “he could not from a single hour’s discussion give a formulary judgment on the cause between them, but by a scrutiny into the conduct and manners of both, and a close observation of their words and actions, on occasions great and small.” That it appeared clearly to all, that the charge relating to the preceding night was effectually refuted; but that Demetrius’ favour with the Romans had been an object of suspicion, as being too great. These, as it were, the seeds of the Macedonian war which was to be waged with Perseus, in particular, were sown, when Philip was still alive.

16. Both the consuls set out into Liguria, which at that time was the only consular province. A supplication for one day was decreed because prosperity had attended their affairs in that quarter. About two thousand Ligurians came to the extreme borders of the Gallic province, where Marcellus lay encamped, requesting him to receive their submission. Marcellus, having ordered the Ligurians to wait in the same place, consulted the senate through the medium of a letter. The senate ordered Marcus Ogulnius, præetor, to write back to Marcellus, that “it would have been more proper for the consuls, whose province it was, than for them, to decide what might tend to the interest of the republic; that in this case too it was their pleasure, if he should receive the surrender of the Ligurians, that their arms should not be taken from them admitted to a surrender, and that the senate thought proper that the Ligurians should be sent to the consul.” The prætors arrived at the same time in Spain; Publius Manlius in the Farther province, which he had governed in his former prætorship, and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus in the Hither one, and he received the command of the army from Terentius; for the Farther province, by the death of the proprætor, Publius Sempronius, had been without a governor. The Celtiberians attacked Fulvius Flaccus while besieging a town of the Spaniards, called Urbicua. Many severe actions were fought there, and many of the Roman soldiers killed and wounded. They were vanquished by Fulvius’ perseverance, because he could by no force be diverted from the siege; the Celtiberians, wearied out with so many battles, retired. The city, having lost their assistance, was within a few days taken and sacked; the prætor bestowed the booty on the soldiers. Fulvius having taken this town, and Publius Manlius having only gathered together his army, which had been scattered, without having achieved any other memorable action, led their armies into winter quarters. These were the transactions of that summer in Spain. Terentius, who had come home from that province, entered the city in ovation. He carried in the procession nine thousand three hundred and twenty pounds’ weight of silver, eighty pounds’ weight of gold, and two golden crowns of the weight of sixty-seven pounds.

17. In the same year the Romans were arbitrators on the spot in a dispute, subsisting between the people of Carthage and king Masinissa, about a tract of ground. This ground Gala, father of Masinissa, had taken from the Carthaginians. Syphax had expelled Gala, and afterwards, from respect to Hasdrubal, his father-in-law, had made a present of it to the Carthaginians. In this year, Masinissa had expelled the Carthaginians. This matter was debated before the Romans with no less mental ardour than they had contended for it with the sword, even in the field of battle. The Carthaginians claimed the ground first, as having been the property of their ancestors; and next, because it had come to them from Syphax. Masinissa urged, that “he had retaken possession of it as part of his father’s kingdom, and held it under the law of nations; and that he had the advantage, both in the merits of his cause and in the present possession. That, in this discussion, he had no other fear, than lest the moderation of the Romans might operate to his loss, whilst they dreaded the appearance of any partiality to a king who was their friend and ally, in prejudice to the common enemy of him and them.” The deputies did not alter the right of possession, but referred the cause entire to the senate at Rome. There was nothing done afterwards in Liguria. The inhabitants, at first, retired into pathless forests; and afterwards, disbanding their army, separated in every direction among the villages and forts. The consuls, too, wished to disband their forces, and consulted the senators on this matter. They ordered that one of them should discharge his troops, and come to Rome to elect magistrates for the year; and that the other, with his legions, should pass the winter at Pisæ. A report prevailed, that the transalpine Gauls were arming their young men, and it was not known on what quarter of Italy that multitude would pour itself. The consuls settled the matter between them,—that Cneius Bæbius should go home to the elections, because his brother, Marcus Bæbius, was a candidate for the consulship.