things which had been said in the interview with Marcius, and endeavoured to justify their master principally upon the attempt he was accused of having made on the person of Eumenes. They were heard with little or no attention, and the senate ordered them, and all the Macedonians at Rome, to quit the city immediately, and Italy in thirty days. The consul Licinius, who was to command in Macedonia, had orders to march as soon as possible with his army. The prætor Lucretius, who had the command of the fleet, set out with 45 galleys from Cephalonia, and arrived in five days at Naples, where he was to wait for the land forces. SECTION II. LICINIUS AND PERSEUS TAKE THE FIELD. THE LAT TER HAS AT FIRST CONSIDERABLY THE ADVANTAGE. THE Consul Licinius*, after having offered vows to the gods in the capitol, set out from Rome, covered with a coat of arms, according to the custom. The departure of the con. suls, says Livy, was always attended with great solemnity, and an incredible concourse of people, especially upon an im. portant war, and against a powerful enemy. Besides the interest every particular might have in the glory of the consul, the citizens were induced to throng about him, out of curi osity to see the general to whose prudence and valour the fate of the republic was confided. A thousand anxious thoughts presented themselves at that time to their minds upon the events of the war, which are always precarious and uncertain. They remembered the defeats which had happened through the bad conduct and temerity, and the victories for which they were indebted to the wisdom and courage, of their generals. "What mortal," said they, "can know the fate of a "consul at his departure; whether we shall see him with his "victorious army return in triumph to the capitol, from "whence he sets out, after having offered up his prayers to "the gods, or whether the enemy may not rejoice in his over"throw?" The ancient glory of the Macedonians, that of Phi lip, who had made himself famous by his wars, and particularly by that against the Romans, added very much to the reputation of Perseus; and every body knew, from his succession to the crown, a war had been expected from him. Full of such thoughts the citizens conducted the consul cut of the city. C. Claudius and Q. Mutius, who had both been consuls, did not • A. M. 3733. Ant. J. C. 171. think it below them to serve in his army in quality of military tribunes, or as colonels or brigadiers, and went with him; as did P. Lentulus and the two Manlii Acidini. The consul repaired in their company to Brundusium, which was the rendezvous of the army, and passing the sea with all his troops, arrived at Nymphæum in the country of the Apollonians. Perseus, some days before, upon the return of his ambassadors from Rome, and their assuring him that there remained no hope of peace, held a great council, in which opinions were dif ferent. Some thought it necessary for him either to pay tribute, if required, or give up a part of his dominions, if the Romans insisted upon it; in a word to suffer every thing supportable for the sake of peace, rather than expose his person and kingdom to the danger of entire destruction: that if a part of his kingdom was left him, time and chance might produce favourable conjunctures, to put him in a condition not only to recover all he had lost, but to render him formidable to those who at present made Macedonia tremble. The greater number were of a quite different opinion. They insisted that by making cession of a part, he must determine to lose all his kingdom: that it was neitheir money nor land that incited the ambition of the Romans, but universal empire: that they knew the greatest kingdoms and most powerful empires were subject to frequent revolutions: that they had humbled, or rather ruined Carthage, without taking possession of its territories, contenting themselves with keeping it in awe by the neighbourhood of Masinissa: that they had driven Antiochus and his son beyond mount Taurus: that there was no kingdom but Macedonia to give umbrage to, or make head against the Romans; that prudence required Perseus, whilst he was still master of it, seriously to consider with himself, whether by making the Romans sometimes one concession, and sometimes another, he was resolved to see himself deprived of all power, expelled from his dominions, and obliged to ask, as a favour of the Romans, permission to retire and confine himself in Samothracia, or some other island, there to pass the rest of his days in contempt and misery, with the mortification of having survived his glory and empire; or whether he would choose to hazard in arms all the dangers of the war in defence of his fortunes and dignity, as became a man of courage, and in case of being victorious, have the glory of delivering the universe from the Roman yoke: that it would be no more a wonder to drive the Romans out of Greece, than it had been to drive Hannibal out of Italy: besides, was it consistent for Perseus, after having opposed his brother with all his efforts, when he attempted to usurp the crown, to resign it meanly to strangers, who endeavoured to wrest it out of his hands? That, in fine, all the world agreed, that there was nothing more inglorious than to give up empire without resistance, nor more laudable than to have used all possible endeavours to preserve it. This council was held at Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. "Since you think it so necessary," said the king, "let "us make war then with the help of the gods." He gave orders at the same time to his generals, to assemble all their troops at Citium, whither he went soon after himself, with all the lords of his court, and his regiments of guards, after having offered a sacrifice of an hecatomb, or an hundred oxen, to Minerva Alcidemia. He found the whole army assembled there. It amounted, including the foreign troops, to 39,000 foot, of whom almost half composed the phalanx, and 4000 horse. It was agreed, that since the army Alexander the great led into Asia, no king of Macedonia had commanded one so numerous. It was 26 years since Philip had made peace with the Romans, and as during all that time Macedonia had remained in tranquillity, and without any considerable war, there were in it great numbers of youth capable of le ring arms, who had already begun to exercise and form themselves in the wars Macedonia had supported against the Thracians their neighbours. Philip besides, and Perseus after him, had long before formed the design of undertaking a war with the Romans. Hence it was, that at the time we are now speaking of, every thing was ready for beginning it. Perseus, before he took the field, thought it necessary to harangue his troops. He mounted his throne therefore, and from thence, having his two sons on each side of him, spoke to them with great force. He began with a long recital of all the injuries the Romans had committed with regard to his father, which had induced him to resolve to take up arms against them; but that design a sudden death had prevented him from putting into execution. He added, that presently after the death of Philip, the Romans had sent ambassadors to him, and at the same time marched troops into Greece, to take possession of the strongest places; that afterwards, in order to gain time, they had amused him during all the winter with deceitful interviews, and a pretended truce, under the specious pretext of negociating a reconciliation. He compared the consuls' army, which was actually on its march, with that of the Macedonians; which, in his sense, was much superior to the other, not only in the number and valour of his troops, but in ammunition and provisions of war, laid up with infinite care during a great number of years. "It remains therefore, Macedonians," said he in concluding, "only to act with the same courage your an"cestors showed, when, having triumphed over all Europe, "they crossed into Asia, and set no other bounds to their con quests than those of the universe. You are not now to carry 66 your arms to the extremities of the east, but to defend your"selves in the possession of the kingdom of Macedonia. When "the Romans attacked my father, they covered that unjust "war with the false pretence of re-establishing the ancient li "berty of Greece; the present they undertake, without any "disguise, to reduce and enslave Macedonia. That haughty "people cannot bear that the Roman empire should have any "king for its neighbour, nor that any warlike nation should "have arms for its defence; for you may be assured, if you "refuse to make war, and will submit to the orders of those "insulting masters, that you must resolve to deliver up your arms with your king and his kingdom to them." At these words the whole army, which had expressed no immoderate applause for the rest of his discourse, raised cries of anger and indignation, exhorting the king to entertain the best hopes, and demanding earnestly to be led against the ene my. Perseus then gave audience to the ambassadors from the cities of Macedonia, who came to offer him money and provisions for the occasions of his army, each according to their power. The king thanked them in the kindest manner, but did not accept their offers; giving for his reason, that the army was abundantly provided with all things necessary. He only demanded carriages for the battering-rams, catapultæ, and other machines of war. The two armies were now in motion. That of the Macedonians, after some days march, arrived at Sycurium, a city situated at the foot of Mount Eta; the consul's was at Gomphi in Thessaly, after having surmounted the most in credible difficulties in ways and defiles almost impracticable. The Romans themselves confessed, that had the enemy defended those passes, they might easily have destroyed their whole army in them. The consul advanced within three miles of the country called Tripolis, and encamped upon the banks of the river Peneus. At the same time Eumenes arrived at Chalcis with his brothers Attalus and Athenæus; Phileteres, the fourth, was left at Pergamus for the defence of the country. Eumenes and Atta lus joined the consul with 4000 foot and 1000 horse. They had left Athenæus with 2000 foot at Chalcis, to reinforce the garrison of that important place. The allies sent also other troops, though in numbers sufficiently inconsiderable, and some galleys. Perseus, in the mean time, sent out several detachments to ravage the country in the neighbourhood of Pheræ, in hopes, that if the consul should quit his camp, and march to the aid of the cities in his alliance, that he might surprise and attack him to advantage; but he was disappointed, and obliged to content himself with distributing the booty he had made among his soldiers, which was very considerable, and consisted principally in cattle of all sorts. that The consul and king held each of them a council at the same time, in order to resolve in what manner to begin the war. The king, highly proud of having been suffered to ravage the territories of the Pheræans without opposition, thought it advisable to go and attack the Romans in their camp without loss of time. The Romans judged rightly, their slowness and delays would discredit them very much with their allies, and reproached themselves with not having defended the people of Phera. Whilst they were consulting upon the measures it was necessary to take, Eumenes and Attalus being present, a courier came in upon the spur, and said the enemy were very near with a numerous army. The signal was immediately given for the soldiers to stand to their arms, and 100 horse detached, with as many of the lightarmed foot, to take a view of the enemy. Perseus, at ten in the morning, finding himself no farther from the Roman camp than a small half league, made his foot halt, and advanced with his horse and light-armed soldiers. He had scarce marcheda quarter of a league, when he perceived a body of the enemy, against which he sent a small detachment of horse, supported by some light-armed troops. As the two detachments were very near equal in number, and neither side sent any fresh troops to their aid, the skirmish ended without its being possible to say which side was victorious. Perseus marched back his troops to Sycurium. The next day, at the same hour, Perseus advanced with all his troops to the same place. They were followed by chariots laden with water, for there was none to be found within six leagues of the place; the way was very dusty, and the troops might have been obliged to fight immediately, which would have incommoded them exceedingly. The Romans keeping close in their camp, and having withdrawn their advanced guards within their intrenchments, the king's troops returned to their camp. They did the same several days, in hopes the Romans |