ing advantage of so happy a disposition, ventured to give him the advice which it made him capable of appreciating, this was, to make the best of his late success, and conclude an honourable peace with the Romans. They represented to him, that the most certain mark of a prudent and really happy prince/ was not to rely too much upon the present favours of fortune, nor abandon himself to the delusive glitter of prosperity. That, therefore, he would do well to send to the consul, and propose a renewal of the treaty upon the same conditions as had been imposed by T. Quintius, when victorious, upon his father Philip. That he could not put an end to the war more gloriously for himself than after so memorable a battle; nor hope a more favourable occasion of concluding a sure and lasting peace, than at a conjuncture, when the check the Romans had received, would render them more tractable, and better inclined to grant him good conditions. That if notwithstanding that check, the Romans, out of a pride too natural to them, should reject a just and equitable accommodation, he would at least have the consolation of having the gods and men for witnesses of his own moderation, and the haughty obstinacy of the Romans.

The king gave into these wise remonstrances, to which he never was averse, The majority of the council also applauded them. Ambassadors were accordingly sent to the consul, who gave them audience in the presence of a numerous assembly. They told him they came to demand peace; that Perseus would pay the same tribute to the Romans as his father Philip had done, and abandon all the cities, territories, and places, which that prince had abandoned.

When they withdrew, the council deliberated upon the answer it was proper to make. The Roman firmness displayed itself upon this occasion in an extraordinary manner. It was the custom at that time,

* Ita tum mos erat, in adversis vultum sccunda fortunæ gerere, moderari animos in secundis, LIV.

to express in adversity all the assurance and loftiness. of good fortune, and to act with moderation in prosperity. The answer was, That no peace could be granted to Perseus, unless he submitted himself and his kingdom to the discretion of the senate. When it was related to the king and his friends, they were strangely surprised at so extraordinary, and, in their opinion, so ill-timed a pride; most of them believed it needless to talk any further of peace, and that the Romans would be soon reduced to demand what they now refused. Perseus was not of the same opinion. He judged rightly that Rome was not so haughty, but from a consciousness of superiority, and that reflexion daunted him exceedingly. He sent again to the consul, and offered a more considerable tribute than had been imposed upon Philip. When he saw the consul would retract nothing from his first answer, having no longer any hopes of peace, he returned to his former camp at Sycurium, determined to try again the fortune of the war.

We may conclude, from the whole conduct of Perseus, that he must have undertaken this war with great imprudence, and without having compared his strength and resources with those of the Romans. To think himself fortunate in being able, after a signal victory, to demand peace, and submit to more oppressive conditions than his father Philip had complied with till after a bloody defeat, seems to argue, that he had taken his measures, and concerted the means of success very ill; since, after a first action entirely to his advantage, he begins to discern all his weakness and inferiority, and in some sort inclines to despair. Why then was he the first to break the peace? Why was he the aggressor? Why was he in such haste? Was it to stop short at the first step? How came he not to know his weakness, till his own victory shewed it him? These are not the signs of a wise and judicious prince.

The news of the battle of the cavalry, which soon spread in Greece, made known what the people

thought, and discovered in full light, to which side they inclined. It was received with joy, not only by the partizans of Macedonia, but even by most of those whom the Romans had obliged, of whom some suffered with pain their haughty manners, and insolence of power.

The prætor Lucretius, at the same time was besieging the city of Haliartus in Boeotia. After a long and vigorous defence, it was taken at last by storm, plundered, and afterwards entirely demolished. Thebes soon after surrendered, and then Lucretius returned with his fleet.

Perseus, in the mean time, who was not far from the camp of the Romans, gave them great trouble; harassing their troops, and falling upon their foragers, whenever they ventured out of their camp. He took one day a thousand carriages, laden principally with sheafs of corn, which the Romans had been to reap, and made six hundred prisoners. He afterwards attacked a small body of troops in the neighbourhood, of which he expected to make himself master with little or no difficulty; but he found more resistance than he had imagined. That small body was commanded by a brave officer, called L. Pompeius, who retiring to an eminence, defended himself there with intrepid courage, determined to die with his troops, rather than surrender. He was upon the point of being borne down by numbers, when the consul arrived to his assistance with a strong detachment of horse and light-armed foot; the legions were ordered to follow him. The sight of the consul gave Pompeius and his troops new courage, who were eight hundred men, all Romans. Perseus immediately sent for his phalanx; but the consul did not wait its coming up, and came directly to blows. The Macedonians, after having made a very vigorous resistance for some time, were at last broken, and put to the rout. Three hundred foot were left upon the

c Liv. 1. xlii. n. 64-67.

3834. Ant. J.C.

170.

field, with twenty-four of the best horse, of the troop called the Sacred Squadron, of which the commander himself, Antimachus, was killed.

The success of this action re-animated the Romans, and very much alarmed Perseus. After having put a strong garrison into Gonna, he marched back his army into Macedonia.

The consul having reduced Perrhobia, and taken Larissa and some other cities, dismissed all the allies, except the Achæans; dispersed his troops in Thessaly, where he left them in winter-quarters, and went into Boeotia, at the request of the Thebans, upon whom the people of Coronæa had made incursions.

SECT. III. The senate pass a wise decree to put a stop to the avarice of the generals and magistrates, who oppressed the allies. The consul Marcius, after sustaining great fatigue, enters Macedonia. Perseus takes the alarm, and leaves the passes open: He resumes courage afterwards. Insolent embassy of the Rhodians to Rome.

A. M. NOTHING memorable passed the following year. The consul Hostilius had sent Ap. Claudius into Illyria with four thousand foot, to defend such of the inhabitants of that country as were allies of the Romans; and the latter had found means to add eight thousand men, raised among the allies, to his first body of troops. He encamped at Lychnidus, a city of the Dassareta. Near that place was another city, called Uscana, which belonged to Perseus, and where he had a strong garrison. Claudius, upon the promise which had been made him of having the place put into his hands, in hopes of making great booty, approached it with almost all his troops, without any order, distrust, or precaution. Whilst he thought least of it, the garrison made a furious sally upon

Liv. 1. xliii. n. 9, 10.

him, put his whole army to flight, and pursued them a great way with dreadful slaughter. Of eleven thousand men, scarce two thousand escaped into the camp, which a thousand had been left to guard: Claudius returned to Lychnidus with the ruins of his army. The news of this loss very much afflicted the senate, and the more, because it had been occasioned by the im prudence and avarice of Claudius.

This was the almost universal disease of the commanders at that time. The senate received various complaints from many cities, as well of Greece as the other provinces, against the Roman officers, who treated them with unheard-of rapaciousness and cruelty. They punished some of them, redressed the wrongs they had done the cities, and dismissed the ambassadors well satisfied with the manner in which their remonstrances had been received. Soon after, to prevent such disorders for the future, they passed a decree, which expressed that the cities should not furnish the Roman magistrates with any thing more than what the senate expressly appointed; which ordinance was published in all the cities of Peloponnesus.

C. Popilius and Cn. Octavius, who were charged with this commission, went first to Thebes, where they very much praised the citizens, and exhorted them to continue firm in their alliance with the Roman people. Proceeding afterwards to the other cities of Peloponnesus, they boasted every where of the lenity and moderation of the senate, which they proved by their late decree in favour of the Greeks. They found great divisions in almost all the cities, especially among the Etolians, occasioned by two factions which divided them, one for the Romans, and the other for the Macedonians. The assembly of Achaia was not exempt from these divisions; but the wisdom of the persons of greatest authority pre