previous next

The Romans without quitting the river moved their camp into a safer position. [2] Whilst they were there Misagenes the Numidian came in with 1000 cavalry, the same number of infantry and 22 elephants. [3] The king was holding a council to decide upon the future conduct of the war, and as his exultation over his victory had cooled down, some of his friends ventured to give him advice. They argued that it would be better for him to take advantage of his good fortune by securing an honourable peace than to buoy himself up with idle hopes and so expose himself to chances that might be irrevocable. [4] To set a measure to one's prosperity and not to place too much confidence in the smiling fortune of the hour is the part of a wise man who has achieved a deserved success. [5] Let him send men to the consul with powers to make fresh proposals for peace on the same terms on which his father Philip had accepted peace from the victorious T. Quinctius. [6] There could be no grander close to the war than the late memorable battle and no surer grounds for hopes of a lasting peace than those which would make the Romans, disheartened as they were by their defeat, ready to come to terms. [7] If the Romans should then, with their inbred stubbornness, reject fair terms, gods and men would alike bear witness to the moderation of Perseus and the invincible arrogance of the Romans.

[8] The king never disliked advice of this character, and this policy was approved by the majority of the council. The deputation to the consul were received in audience in a full council. [9] They asked for peace, and promised that Perseus would give the Romans the amount of tribute which had been agreed upon with his father. [10] Such were their instructions. In the discussion which followed on their withdrawal Roman firmness won the day. [11] It was the custom in those days to wear the look of prosperity in adverse circumstances, and to curb and restrain the feelings in a time of prosperity. The reply decided upon was that peace would be granted only on the condition that the king placed himself entirely in the hands of the senate and allowed it the unrestricted right of determining his future and that of Macedonia. [12] When the report of the deputation became known, those who were unacquainted with the Roman character regarded it as an astounding exhibition of obstinacy and any further allusion to peace was generally forbidden. [13] Those, they said, who spurn the peace now offered will soon come to ask for it. [14] It was this very obstinacy that Perseus was afraid of; he looked upon it as due to a confidence in their strength, and on the chance of being able to purchase peace at a price, persisted in his attempts to bribe the consul by constantly increasing the sum offered. [15] As the consul adhered to his first reply Perseus despaired of peace and returned to Sycurium, prepared to face the hazards of war once more.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, 1880)
load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1876)
load focus Summary (English, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Summary (Latin, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
load focus English (Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
load focus Latin (Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
load focus English (William A. McDevitte, Sen. Class. Mod. Ex. Schol. A.B.T.C.D., 1850)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, 1876)
hide References (21 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (5):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.31
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 37.20
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.29
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42, commentary, 41.20
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 43-44, commentary, 44.27
  • Cross-references to this page (6):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, P Licinius Crassus
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Misagenes
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Perseus
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Romanae
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Sycurium
    • Smith's Bio, Medon
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (10):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: