T. QUINCTIUS
T. QUINCTIUS. T. Quinctius was eminent so early, that
before he had been tribune, praetor, or aedile, he was
chosen consul. Being sent as general against Philip, he
was persuaded to come to a conference with him. And
when Philip demanded hostages of him, because he was
accompanied with many Romans while the Macedonians
had none but himself; You, said Quinctius, have created
this solitude for yourself, by killing your friends and kindred. Having overcome Philip in battle, he proclaimed
in the Isthmian games that the Grecians were free and
to be governed by their own laws. And the Grecians
redeemed all the Roman prisoners that in Hannibal's days
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were sold for slaves in Greece, each of them with two
hundred drachms, and made him a present of them; and
they followed him in Rome in his triumph, wearing caps
on their heads such as they use to wear who are made free.
He advised the Achaeans, who designed to make war
upon the Island Zacynthus, to take heed lest, like a tortoise,
they should endanger their head by thrusting it out of
Peloponnesus. When King Antiochus was coming upon
Greece with great forces, and all men trembled at the
report of his numbers and equipage, he told the Achaeans
this story: Once I dined with a friend at Chalcis, and
when I wondered at the variety of dishes, said my host,
‘All these are pork, only in dressing and sauces they differ.’ And therefore be not you amazed at the king's
forces, when you hear talk of spearmen and men-at-arms
and choice footmen and horse-archers, for all these are but
Syrians, with some little difference in their weapons. Philopoemen, general of the Achaeans, had good store of
horses and men-at-arms, but could not tell what to do for
money; and Quinctius played upon him, saying, Philopoemen had arms and legs, but no belly; and it happened
his body was much after that shape.
