The Rise of Rome (Penguin Classics)

by Plutarch

  70. provided by Nasica … in a short letter: Plutarch prefers Nasica here presumably because he was an eyewitness to the events, but there are sound reasons for rejecting his account in favour of the version recoverable from Polybius and Livy: see Hammond–Walbank, pp. 545–6. We do not know to which of the Hellenistic kings Nasica addressed his public letter.

  71. mixed … contingent commanded by Harpalus: Mentioned only here.

  72. Xenagoras … made this measurement: If Xenagoras used Attic feet, his measurement was 2066 metres (6788 feet), to which one should add the elevation of Pythium (approximately 900 metres or 2953 feet), to get 2966 metres (9741 feet). The correct figure is 2985 metres (9793 feet). Xenagoras is not otherwise known.

  73. Hail, O lord!: The epigram seems to address the god Apollo.

  74. no mountain has a height … exceeding 10 stades: Cf. Cleomedes (an astronomer writing around AD 325) 1.56: ‘for neither does the height of any mountain nor the depth of any sea exceed 5 stades and 10 plethra, as measured by a plumb-line’.

  75. This is where Nasica spent the night: Their journey to this point took two days to complete, not one, as Plutarch here indicates. During the two days it took Nasica to reach the pass, Roman light-armed troops attacked Perseus’ forces, often with severe losses (Livy 44.35.16–19).

  76. Milo: He is called Midon at Livy 44.32.9. Perseus’ command was logistically impossible: Milo could never have covered the distance to the pass in time to confront the Romans.

  77. Polybius reports …: The accounts of both Polybius and Livy are missing for this episode.

  78. Pydna: A Greek city in Macedon, located near its modern namesake, north of the Pierian Plain near the Thermaic Gulf.

  79. His position: Perseus camped to the south of Pydna, with his forces facing south (and awaiting the Romans’ advance).

  80. near the end of summer: On the eve of the battle there was an eclipse (ch. 17), which can be dated to 21 June 168; however, at that time the Roman calendar was not in phase with the seasons (the pre-Julian Roman calendar required routine recalibration with the seasons, corrections not always dutifully or correctly carried out). Livy (44.37.8) gives the date as 3 September, and this may explain Plutarch’s confusion.

  81. Aeson … Leucus … difficulties: The rivers are the modern Ayios Dimitrios and Ayios Yeorios respectively. Perseus intended to meet the Romans on his side of these rivers (hence their difficulty for the Romans, who would have to cross them).

  82. ‘Yes of course … battle formation’: Also reported at Moralia 198a.

  83. ordered his vanguard … fortifications: This manoeuvre became a celebrated one; see Frontinus, Stratagems 3.20.

  84. During the night: Of 21 June. Plutarch agrees with Livy (44.40.2) in setting the eclipse and final battle immediately after Aemilius’ arrival, but according to Zonaras (9.23) there was a delay of several days, and there are good reasons to prefer his (less dramatic) account: see N. G. L. Hammond, JHS 104 (1984), pp. 43–4.

  85. the moon … disappeared from sight: The story of this eclipse is variously told (e.g. Polybius 29.16 and Livy 44.37.5–8). A good discussion of the reliability of its variations is provided by A. C. Bowen in C. J. Tuplin and T. E. Rihll (eds.), Science and Mathematics in Ancient Greek Culture (2002), pp. 76–111.

  86. in accordance with their custom … torches: Plutarch is our only source for this Roman practice.

  87. morning light … fighting: The Roman battle array faced east.

  88. an unbridled horse … caused the battle to begin: Livy (44.40.3) and Zonaras (9.23) agree that the battle began as the result of chance (and in this they probably agree with Polybius). Only Plutarch attributes the battle to a ruse. A frieze on Aemilius’ victory monument at Delphi (ch. 28) depicts, in the centre of the battle, a fleeing horse, which Plutarch (who will have viewed it) perhaps interpreted as evidence of a ruse (in a Life that persistently seeks to avoid giving undue prominence to accidental good luck).

  89. Thracians under Alexander’s command: This Alexander is mentioned only here.

  90. the Paeonians: People of a region in northern Macedon, originally independent but incorporated into the kingdom by Philip II.

  91. Bronze Shields: An elite unit of heavily armed infantrymen (Polybius 2.66.5 and 4.67.6).

  92. Poseidonius: This historian is otherwise unknown.

  93. the Paelignians: A people of central Italy, inhabiting the modern Abruzzo, who were long-standing allies of Rome. Salvius’ action is mentioned by Frontinus (Stratagems 2.8.5).

  94. the Marrucinians: Another tribe of central Italy, who lived along the Adriatic coast (largely in what is now the province of Chieti).

  95. Marcus … son-in-law of Aemilius: See ch. 5. Marcus Cato did not marry Aemilius’ daughter until after the battle of Pydna (Elder Cato 20).

  96. 25,000 … according to Nasica, eighty: Livy (44.42.7–9) offers slightly different figures.

  97. ninth hour … tenth: The battle took place between three and four in the afternoon.

  98. 120 stades: Slightly more than 13 miles (21 km).

  99. younger one … little more than a boy: That is, Scipio Aemilianus (ch. 5). According to Livy (44.54.3), he was seventeen years old.

  100. the Scipio who … destroyed Carthage and Numantia: Scipio Aemilianus destroyed Carthage in 146 and Numantia (modern Garray, a city in Spain) in 133.

  101. postponed for another time: Until ch. 35.

  102. Pella: The chief city of Macedon and the site of a royal palace.

  103. men of the infantry: These survivors were light-armed soldiers; the infantry that manned the Macedonian phalanx had been cut down.

  104. Evander: The commander of Perseus’ Cretan mercenaries and a trusted agent; he once attempted, on Perseus’ behalf, to assassinate King Eumenes of Pergamum (Livy 42.15.3). Perseus put him to death on Samothrace when his past assault on Eumenes II became a political liability (45.5.2–14).

  105. Archedamus: Aetolian statesman and general; he commanded Aetolian troops under Flamininus in 197 (Polybius 18.21.5), but in 169 was denounced as anti-Roman (28.4.8) and so joined Perseus (Livy 43.21.9, 44.43.6).

  106. Neon: A Theban statesman with pro-Macedonian sentiments (Polybius 20.5.14, 27.1.2), he fled to Perseus at the outbreak of the war (27.2.8). After the war, he was executed by the Romans at Amphipolis (Livy 45.23.3).

  107. Amphipolis … Galepsus: Cities east of modern Thessaloniki.

  108. playing the part of a Cretan: Plutarch plays on the proverb ‘all Cretans are liars’ (e.g. Titus 1:12).

  109. sanctuary of the Cabiri: See Marcellus, note 139. At this point in Plutarch’s text there is a lacuna, filled in by some manuscripts with the Dioscuri, but the more likely supplement (the one accepted here) is the Cabiri. However, the Cabiri were sometimes identified with the Dioscuri.

  110. informed of the victory: The news is brought by the Dioscuri at Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.6; Valerius Maximus 1.8.1; Pliny, Natural History 7.86; and Florus 1.28.14–15. Livy (45.1.1–5), like Plutarch, is unspecific.

  111. battle was fought: This battle took place in the sixth century BC between Epizephyrian Locris and Croton; see also Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.6; Strabo 6.261; and Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus 20.3.9. The River Sagra has not been identified.

  112. battle … Plataeans: The Greeks defeated the Persians in simultaneous battles on or about 27 August in 479, one of which took place at Plataea in Boeotia, the other at Mycale in Asia Minor. According to Herodotus (9.100; see also Diodorus 11.35.1–3), it was the participants in the battle of Mycale who learned of the victory at Plataea on the same day (not the other way round, as Plutarch has it here).

  113. Romans defeated the Tarquins … Dioscuri: The (probably legendary) battle of Lake Regillus took place in 499 or 496 (Coriolanus 3). The involvement of the Dioscuri is also related at Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.6, 3.11 and 3.13; and Dion. Hal. 6.13.

  114. Ahenobarbus: Suetonius (Nero 1) says that this man was Lu
cius Domitius, the first of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, of which family Nero was the last.

  115. Antonius … defeat: In AD 88 Lucius Antonius Saturninus, the commander of Upper Germany, rebelled against Domitian but was defeated by Aulus Lappius Maximus, who commanded in Lower Germany (Suetonius, Domitian 6.2; Cassius Dio 67.11.1).

  116. victory … stades: The decisive battle occurred somewhere along the Rhine, probably near Mainz, which is only about 5,192 stades (597 miles) from Rome.

  117. Gnaeus Octavius: Praetor in 168, consul in 165. Plutarch’s formulation is a bit misleading inasmuch as Octavius’ was an independent command, for which he earned a triumph (although he was naturally expected to cooperate with the consul).

  118. His children: Perseus’ eldest son, Philip, was not captured by Ion (Livy 45.6.9–10).

  119. with tears in his eyes: See Camillus 5, with note 20.

  120. Tubero: Aemilius’ son-in-law, Quintus Aelius Tubero (chs. 5 and 28).

  121. The legacy of Alexander … collapsed in a single hour: The battle of Pydna was fought within an hour (ch. 22).

  122. busied himself … humane: Aemilius’ command was extended into 167 so that he could oversee the disposition of Macedon. The Romans sacked several cities, and their settlement of the kingdom, while formulated in terms that stressed freedom and liberation, was in many respects severe: see Hammond–Walbank, pp. 558–69; and Derow in CAH viii, pp. 316–19.

  123. tall square pillar … statue of himself: Remains of this monument still exists in Delphi, see Hammond–Walbank, pp. 613–17.

  124. at Olympia … the Zeus of Homer: Pheidias was the leading sculptor of the fifth century BC. His statue of Zeus at Olympia was widely admired, as was his statue of Athena in the Parthenon in Athens. According to Strabo (8.30), Pheidias, when asked how he chose his model for the statue of Zeus, responded that he was inspired by Homer’s lines at Iliad 1.528–30:

  Zeus, son of Cronos, nodded his dark brows. The divine hair on the king of gods fell forward, down over his immortal head, shaking Olympus to its very base.

  125. commissioners arrived from Rome: It was routine for the senate to send commissioners to assist in making the final arrangements after a war of this magnitude. Their identities are listed at Livy 45.17.1–4.

  126. the same intelligence … a good symposium … companions: Plutarch repeats this saying at Moralia 615e–f; also cited by Polybius (30.14) and Livy (45.32.11).

  127. his quaestors: We do not know their identities.

  128. as I said earlier: In ch. 5, though there Tubero is one of sixteen relations.

  129. Epirus: The region stretching from the Ionian Sea in the west to the Pindus mountains to the east, and in the north from southwestern Albania to the Gulf of Arta in the south. It was dominated in the fourth century BC by the Molossians, whose kingdom was closely associated with Macedon. By Aemilius’ day, however, the region, including the Molossians, had united to form the Epirote League. During the Third Macedonian War, the Molossians sided with Perseus, and it was against the Molossian cities that Aemilius marched after the war.

  130. at the expense of the cities: Plutarch does not observe that these cities had been allies of Perseus in the war, an omission which puts the senate’s decision in an even worse light inasmuch as a reader might be forgiven for not recognizing how it marked a continuation of the war against Perseus (the region had in fact been pacified by Anicius before Aemilius’ arrival: Livy 45.26.3–11).

  131. each Roman soldier received … so meagre a profit: Livy (45.34.5) reports that each cavalryman received 400 denarii and each infantryman 200 denarii. Plutarch’s figure (Plutarch tends to equate a denarius with a drachma) is clearly much lower and it has been suggested that it refers to the profits of individual pillaging and does not include the wholesale plundering carried out under the terms of Aemilius’ decree to the cities.

  132. Oricum: Now Orikum, in southwestern Albania.

  133. his desire for a triumph: The senate endorsed triumphs for Anicius, Octavius Gnaeus and Aemilius and entrusted the tribunes of the people to put forward enabling legislation (Livy 45.35.4). Tiberius Sempronius (not otherwise known) was the tribune who put forward the appropriate legislation for Aemilius’ triumph (Livy 45.36.1). On this process, see Beard, Roman Triumph, pp. 202–3; and M. R. P. Littenger, Contested Triumphs: Politics, Pageantry, and Performances in Livy’s Republican Rome (2008), pp. 33–53.

  134. Servius Galba: Servius Sulpicius Galba, destined for the consulship of 144 and one of the leading orators of his day (Cicero, Brutus 85–90).

  135. the Capitol: That is, the area Capitolina, the open space in front of the temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest, on the south summit of the Capitoline Hill. This is where Sempronius had decided to conduct the vote. Aemilius could not be there himself, since, while awaiting a triumph, he had to remain outside the city.

  136. the assembly: This was a meeting of the plebeian assembly, the voting units of which were tribes (not dissimilar from modern voting precincts). The decision of the first tribe was often very influential among remaining voters.

  137. The multitude … could do nothing: The multitude are helpless in this instance because Aemilius’ soldiers have occupied the Capitol and intimidated all other voters (Livy 45.36.6).

  138. Marcus Servilius: Marcus Servilius Pulex Geminus, consul in 202.

  139. Illyrians … Libyans: By Illyrians, Servilius refers to Anicius’ triumph over the Illyrian king Genthius. Although the manuscripts read Ligurians it is usually corrected to Libyans (i.e. Africans) and construed as a reference to Scipio Africanus’ triumph over King Syphax of Numidia. In Livy’s version of this speech (45.39.3 and 7) he mentions each of these triumphs but says nothing about Ligurians. This is almost certainly correct, although it must be observed that Aemilius had previously been allowed to triumph over the Ligurians in 181 (ch. 6).

  140. when … rumour … reached the city: See ch. 24.

  141. a man: Sulpicius Galba.

  142. Three days were devoted to … the triumph: In September 167. Plutarch’s is the most extended account we possess. Another version (Diodorus 31.8.10–12) varies from this one.

  143. Thericlean bowls: See Philopoemen, note 53.

  144. as Homer says … now in the other: Here Plutarch distils Achilles’ advice to Priam at Iliad 24.525–51, in which Priam is encouraged to bear the death of his son Hector with resolution.

  145. already said: At ch. 5.

  146. addressed them: Aemilius surrendered his public authority with the conclusion of his triumph and therefore did not have the right to summon the people. He was allowed to address the people by a sympathetic tribune of the people, Marcus Antonius (Livy 45.40.9).

  147. brought the war to its … conclusion: At the battle of Pydna.

  148. carcer: Located at the base of the Capitoline Hill and used in the republic for detentions and executions, not as a prison. According to Diodorus (31.9), Perseus was deposited in a ghastly dungeon in Alba Fucens (near the modern Massa d’Albe) in central Italy, from which he was rescued through the intervention of Aemilius.

  149. in a peculiar … way … died: Diodorus (31.9) also preserves this story.

  150. Alexander: Nothing more is known of this Alexander. Magisterial scribes, though not grand personages, were nonetheless often wealthy and influential: see E. Badian, Klio 71 (1989), pp. 582–603.

  151. the people no longer had to pay taxes: The annual tax on Romans’ property (tributum) was discontinued after 167. Other forms of taxation, however, subsisted.

  152. Hirtius … Caesar: Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa were consuls in 43 BC. They campaigned with Caesar’s heir, Octavian (later Augustus), against Mark Antony in the conflict at Mutina.

  153. Appius … Scipio Africanus: In 142 Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143, competed with Scipio Aemilianus for the censorship. Although the Romans elected two censors, only one of them could be a patrician, and, because both Claudius and Scipio were patricians, they were nece
ssarily competing against one another. Appius lost, but was elected censor for 136.

  154. your son is being conducted … by Aemilius the auctioneer and Licinius Philonicus: It was a recognized asset, during electoral campaigns, to be accompanied in the forum by men of distinguished status, especially nobles and former consuls, hence the force of Appius’ jibe: an auctioneer in Rome may have been wealthy, but he was undistinguished, and the otherwise unknown Licinius Philonicus has a name suggesting that he is a freedman. The details of Scipio Aemilianus’ election to the censorship are discussed by Astin, Scipio Aemilianus, pp. 111–13.

  155. elected him censor: Aemilius was censor in 164.

  156. depriving him of his horse: By depriving anyone of his public horse, the censors removed him from the equestrian order, to which order the sons of senators also belonged. On the responsibilities of censors, see Lintott, Constitution, pp. 115–20.

  157. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus: Consul in 187 and censor in 179, from which time he was princeps senatus (the leading man of the senate) until his death in 152.

  158. Marcius Philippus: Quintus Marcius Philippus, consul in 186.

  159. Elea: Modern Castellammare della Bruca, a Greek city in southern Italy.

  160. a … ritual required his presence: It is not known what ritual Plutarch has in mind, but in any case he here reprises the theme of Aemilius’ religiosity, emphasized at ch. 3.

  161. he died: In 160.

  162. Iberians … Macedonians: These were the populations conquered by Aemilius during his praetorship and his two consulships (chs. 4, 6 and 10–26). In 171 Aemilius had served as an advocate of the Spanish provinces when they complained about the conduct of their Roman governors (Livy 43.2.5–12).

  163. His estate … 370,000 drachmas: Polybius (31.28.3) says that Aemilius’ estate was valued at ‘more than 60 talents’, which comes to 360,000 drachmas (on drachmas see General Introduction VI). Presumably Plutarch’s exact figure is intended to correspond with Polybius’ inexact one.