which he could not approve. At length, seeing himself become suspected, and tacitly considered as a traitor, he had taken refuge among the Romans, and had been of great service to the consul. Having made this relation to the senate, they gave him a very favourable reception, and provided magnificently for his subsistence.

SECTION IV.

EMILIUS'S CELEBRATED VICTORY NEAR THE CITY OF PYDNA. PERSEUS TAKEN PRISONER, WITH ALL HIS CHILDREN.

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THE time for the comitia, or assemblies, to elect consuls at Rome, approaching, all the world were anxious to know upon whom so important a choice would fall, and nothing else was talked of in all conversations. They were not satisfied with the consuls, who had been employed for three years against Perseus, and had very ill sustained the honour of the Roman name. They called to mind the famous victories formerly obtained against his father Philip, who had been obliged to sue for peace, against Antiochus, who was driven beyond mount Taurus, and forced to pay a great tribute; and, what was still more considerable, against Hannibal, the greatest general that had ever appeared as their enemy, or perhaps in the world, whom they had reduced to quit Italy, after a war of more than sixteen years continuance, and conquered in his own country, almost under the very walls of Carthage. The

A. M. 3836. Ant. J. C. 168. Liv. I. xliv. n. 17. Plut. in Paul. Æm. p. 259,260.

formidable preparations of Perseus, and some, advantages gained by him in the former campaigns, aug mented the apprehension of the Romans. They plainly distinguished, that it was no time to confer the command of the armies by faction or favour; and, that it was necessary to choose a general for his wisdom, valor, and experience; in a word, one capable of presiding in so important a war as that now upon their hands.

All the world cast their eyes upon Paulus Emilius. There are times when distinguished merit unites the voices of the public; and nothing is more affecting than such a judgment, founded upon the knowledge of a man's past services, the army's opinion of his capacity, and the state's pressing occasion for his valor and conduct. Paulus Emilius was near sixty years old; but age, without impairing his faculties in the least, had rather improved them with maturity of wisdom and judgment; more necessary in a general than even valor and bravery. He had been consul thirteen years before, and had acquired the general esteem during his administration. But the people repaid his services with ingratitude, having refused to raise him again to the same dignity, though he had solicited it with sufficient ardour. For several years he had led a private and retired life, solely employed in the education of his children, in which no father ever succeeded better, nor was more gloriously rewarded for his care. All his relations, all his friends, made instances to him to comply with the people's wishes, in taking upon him the consulship; but believing himself no longer capable of commanding, he avoided appearing in

public, kept himself at home, and shunned honours with as much solicitude as others generally pursue them. However, when he saw the people assemble every morning in crowds before his door; that they summoned him to the forum, and exclaimed highly against his obstinate refusal to serve his country, he gave in at last to their remonstrances, and appearing among those who aspired to that dignity, he seemed less to receive the command of the army, than to give the people the assurance of an approaching and complete victory. The consulship was conferred upon him unanimously, and, according to Plutarch, the command of the army in Macedonia, decreed to him in preference to his colleague, though Livy says it fell to him by lot.

It is said, that the day he was elected general in the war against Perseus, at his return home, attended by all the people, who followed to do him honour, he found his daughter Tertia, at that time a little infant, who, on seeing him, fell a crying bitterly. He embraced, and asked her the cause of her tears. Tertia, hugging him with her little arms, " You do not know, then," said she, "that our Perseus is dead, papa." She spoke of a little dog she had brought up, called Perseus. "And at a very good time, my dear child," said Paulus Emilius, struck with the word, "I accept this omen with joy." The ancients carried their superstition upon this kind of fortuitous circumstances very high.

The manner in which Paulus Emilius prepared for the war he was charged with, gave room to judge of

Liv. l. xliv. n. 18--22. Plut. in Paul. Emil. p. 260.

the success to be expected from it. He demanded, first, that commissioners should be sent into Macedonia to inspect the army and fleet, and to make their report, after an exact inquiry, of the number of troops which were necessary to be added, both by sea and land. They were also to inform themselves, as near as possible, of the number of the king's forces; where they and the Romans actually lay; if the latter were actually encamped in the forests, or had entirely passed them, and were arrived in the plain; upon which of the allies they might rely for certainty; which of them were dubious and wavering; and, who they might regard as declared enemies; for how long time they had provisions, and from whence they might be supplied with them, either by land or water; what had passed during the last campaign, either in the army by land, or in the fleet. As an able and experienced general, he thought it necessary to be fully apprized in all these circumstances; convinced that the plan of the campaign, upon which he was about to enter, could not be formed, nor its operations concerted, without a perfect knowledge of them. The senate approved these wise measures very much, and appointed commissioners, with the approbation of Paulus Emilius, who set out two days after.

During their absence, audience was given the ambassadors from Ptolemy and Cleopatra, king and queen of Egypt, who brought complaints to Rome of the unjust enterprises of Antiochus, king of Syria, which have been before related.

The commissioners had made good use of their time. Upon their return, they reported, that Marcius

had forced the passes of Macedonia, to get entrance into the country, but with more danger than utility; that the king was advanced into Pieria, and in actual possession of it; that the two camps were very near each other, being separated only by the river Enipeus; that the king avoided a battle, and that the Roman army was neither in a condition to oblige him to fight, nor to force his lines; that, to the other inconveniences, a very severe winter had happened, from which they could not but suffer exceedingly in a mountainous country, and be entirely prevented from acting; and, that they had only provisions for six days; that the army of the Macedonians was supposed to amount to thirty thousand men; that, if Appius Claudius had been sufficiently strong in the neighbourhood of Lychnidus in Illyria, he might have acted with good effect against king Gentius; but, that Claudius and his troops, were actually in great danger, unless a considerable reinforcement was immediately sent him, or he ordered directly to quit the post he was in. That after having visited the camp, they had repaired to the fleet; that they had been told, that part of the crews were dead of diseases; that the rest of the allies, especially those of Sicily, were returned home; and, that the fleet was entirely in want of seamen and soldiers; that those who remained had not received their pay, and had no clothes; that Eumenes and his fleet, after having just shown themselves, disappeared immediately, without any visible cause; and, that it seemed his inclinations neither could nor ought to be relied on; but that, as for his brother Attalus, his good will was not to be doubted.