Livy 45.27-33 (Bettenson transl.)

Settlement of 3rd Macedonian War, Greek matters: 167 BCE

27. While this was happening in Illyricum, Paulus sent his son Quintus Maximus, who had by now returned from Rome, to sack Aeginium and Agassae before the arrival of the ten commissioners. Agassae was to be sacked because after the people had surrendered the city to the consul Marcius on their own initiative, requesting an alliance with Rome, they had again gone over to Perseus. The offence of Aeginium was a recent one; giving no credence to the report of the Roman victory, the people there had used violence on soldiers who had entered their city, treating them as enemies. Paulus also sent Lucius Postumius to sack the city of the Aenii, because the inhabitants had continued armed resistance more stubbornly than the neighboring states.

It was now about the season of autumn; Paulus decided to take advantage of the beginning of this season by travelling round Greece to visit the places which have become so famous by report that they are taken on hearsay as more impressive than they prove to be when actually seen. He put Gaius Sulpicius Gallus in command of the camp, and set out with a retinue of no great size, his son Scipio and Athenaeus, brother of King Eumenes, acting as his personal bodyguards. He went through Thessaly to Delphi, the world-famous oracle, where he offered sacrifice to Apollo. In the entrance to Apollo's temple there were columns which had been started with the intention of placing on them statues of King Perseus: Paulus, as the conqueror of Perseus, reserved these for statues of himself. At Lebadia he visited the shrine of Jupiter Trophonius; there he saw the mouth of the cave through which those who make use of the oracle descend to put their questions to the gods; afterwards he did sacrifice to Jupiter and Hercynna, who has a sanctuary there. Paulus then went down to Chalcis to view the spectacle of the Euripus and of that great island of Euboea, joined to the mainland by a bridge. From Chalcis he crossed to Aulis, three miles away, a harbor world-famed as the anchorage in days of old for the thousand ships of Agamemnon's fleet, with its temple of Diana where the great king of kings sought a passage to Troy for his ships by bringing his daughter to the altar as a victim. From there Paulus went on to Oropus in Attica where a prophet of ancient times (Amphiaraus) is worshipped as a god, and where there is an old sanctuary, a spot made delightful by the springs and streams surround-ing it. Thence he proceeded to Athens, which also has its full share of ancient renown; but apart from that, it possesses many sights worth seeing - the Acropolis, the harbor, the walls connecting Piraeus to the city, the docks, the monuments of great commanders, the statues of gods and men, remarkable for the use of every kind of material and as examples of every style of art.

28. After offering sacrifice at Athens to Minerva, the presiding deity of the Acropolis, Paulus left for Corinth, which he reached on the second day. This city was at that time, before its destruction, a place of outstanding beauty; its citadel, within the walls, rising up to an immense height, abounding in springs of water, while the isthmus separates by its narrow passage two neighboring seas to the east and to the west. From there Paulus visited Sicyon and Argos, two famous cities, and went on to Epidaurus, a city no match for those others in wealth, but renowned for the famous temple of Aesculapius, five miles from the city, which is now rich in traces of gifts which have been stripped from it; but at that time it was rich in the actual gifts which sick people had consecrated to the god in payment for his health-giving remedies. Then he visited Sparta, a place memorable not for the magnificence of its public buildings but for its discipline and its institutions; from there he went up to Olympia by way of Megalopolis. At Olympia he saw many sights which he regarded as well worth a visit; but he was moved in the depth of his soul when he gazed on what seemed like the very person of Jupiter. For that reason he ordered a sacrifice to be provided on a more lavish scale than usual, just as if he had been going to offer sacrifice on the Capitol.

In his travels through Greece Paulus avoided any inquiry about the sentiments of individuals or states in regard to the war with Perseus, to avoid troubling the minds of the allies with apprehensions of any reprisals. On his way back to Demetrias he met a crowd of Aetolians in the soiled garments of mourning: when he asked in amazement what was the meaning of this, the accusation was made that 550 leading citizens had been killed by Lyciscus and Tisippus, while the senate was surrounded by Roman soldiers sent by Aulus Baebius, commandant of the garrison; others had been driven into exile; and the property of those killed or exiled had been seized. Paulus gave orders that the men accused should present themselves at Amphipolis; and he went to meet Gnaeus Octavius at Demetrias. Then a report reached him that the ten commissioners had by this time crossed the sea; and so he dropped everything else and went to Apollonia to meet them.

At Apollonia, Perseus came to meet him from Amphipolis - a day's ' journey - having been released from any kind of custody. Paulus addressed the king himself in a kindly way; but we are told that after his arrival in the camp at Amphipolis, he administered a severe rebuke to Gaius Sulpicius for having allowed Perseus to roam so far from him through the province; he also reprimanded him for indulging the soldiers so far as to allow them to strip the tiles off the city walls to make roofs for their winter quarters; he ordered the tiles to be returned and the uncovered parts of the wall to be restored to their original condition. He put Perseus and his elder son Philip into custody, handing them over to Aulus Postumius; Perseus' daughter and his younger son he summoned to Amphipolis from Samothrace; but he treated them in every respect as free persons.

29. Paulus had given orders that on a certain day ten leading citizens from each city should present themselves at Amphipolis, that all official documents deposited in different places should be collected by that time, and the king's money should be brought in. When the day arrived, Paulus, accompanied by the ten commissioners, took his seat on his official platform, surrounded by the whole crowd of Macedonians. The Macedonians were accustomed to the power of kings; but this new sovereign power was displayed to them in a fashion to inspire dread; the consul's seat of judgement, his entrance after a path had been cleared, the herald, and the attendant - all these were novelties to their eyes and ears, and they were things which might have frightened even allies, not to speak of conquered enemies. When the herald had imposed silence, Paulus announced in Latin the decisions of the Senate, along with his own decisions, made on the advice of his council. The praetor Gnaeus Octavius - for he too was there - translated these announcements into Greek and conveyed them to the Macedonians.

The provisions were as follows: first of all, the Macedonians were to be free, keeping their own cities and territories, enjoying their own laws, and electing annual magistrates; they were to pay to the Roman, people half the tax they had paid to their kings. In the next place, Macedonia was to be divided into four districts; one district, the first division, would consist of the land between the rivers Strymon and Nessus; and to this division would be added, from across the Nessus to the east, the villages, fortified places, and towns which Perseus had held, except Aenus, Maronea, and Abdera, while on the nearer side of the Strymon, towards the west, there would be added all the country of the Bisaltae, including Heraclea (Heraclea Sintice as it is called). The second district was to consist of the part bounded on the east by the River Strymon, excluding Heraclea Sintice and the Bisaltae - and on the west by the Axius, and was to include the Paeonians dwelling near the Axius on the east bank of the river. The third district comprised the territory enclosed on the east by the Axius and on the west by the River Peneus - on the north Mount Bora forms a barrier; to this division was added the region of Paeonia which extends along the west bank of the Axius; Edessa and Beroea were also assigned to this district. The fourth district was on the other side of Mount Bora, one part of it bordering on Illyricum, the other on Epirus. The capitals of the districts, where their councils were to be held, were these: for the first district, Amphipolis; for the second, Thessalonica; for the third, Pella; for the fourth, Pelagonia. The consul gave orders that a council for each district should be called in each of these places, and that in these places money should be brought in, and magistrates elected.

Next he announced a decision that no one should have the right of marriage or of dealing in land or buildings outside the confines of his own district. Moreover, the mines of gold and silver were not to he worked, although the working of iron and copper mines was allowed," the tax on those working the mines was fixed at half the amount they had paid to the king. He forbade the use of imported salt. When the Dardanians asked for the restoration of Paeonia, on the ground that it had been theirs and that it adjoined their boundaries, Paulus announced that freedom was being given to all those who had been under the rule of King Perseus. But after refusing them Paeonia he gave them the right to import salt; he ordered the third district to convey salt to Stobi in Paeonia, and he fixed the price of this commodity. He forbade the Macedonians to cut timber for ships, or to allow others to do so. The district with barbarians on their borders - all the districts, that is, except the third - were given leave to have armed guards along their frontiers.

30. The announcement of these provisions on the first day of the meeting aroused varied feelings. The unexpected granting of freedom, and the lightening of the annual tax, raised men's spirits; but to those whose commercial activities were interrupted by the division into districts their country seemed cut into pieces, like an animal torn into separate parts, each of which needed the others; so unaware were the Macedonians themselves of the size of Macedonia, of the ease with which it could be divided, of the self-sufficiency of each part.

The first district enjoys many advantages; it has the Bisaltae, first- class fighting men (they live beyond the Nessus, in the neighborhood of the Strymon); it has crops of many kinds peculiar to the region, it has mines; and the strategic position of Amphipolis forms a barrier dosing all approaches into Macedonia from the east. The second division has the extremely populous cities of Thessalonica and Cassandrea, and it has besides, in Pallene, a fertile and fruitful territory; it is also provided with maritime advantages in the shape of the harbors at Torone, Mount Athos, Aenea, and Acanthus, all in convenient positions, some facing Thessaly and the island of Euboea, others looking towards the Hellespont. The third region has the notable cities of Edessa, Beroea, and Pella; it includes the warlike people of the Vettii, besides a large settlement of Gauls and Illyrians, who are energetic farmers. The fourth region is inhabited by the Eordaei, the Lyncestae, and the Pelagonians; added to these are Atintania, Tymphaeis, and Elimiotis. All this stretch of country is cold, difficult of cultivation and harsh; and it has inhabitants of a character resembling the land; and they are made fiercer by the wild tribesmen dwelling next to them, who sometimes give them practice in warfare, sometimes, in times of peace, an intermixture of their customs. The division of Macedonia thus demonstrated, by separating the advantages of the different parts, the greatness of the country as a whole.

31. After the dictation of the scheme for Macedonia, Paulus gave notice that he would also lay down laws. He then summoned the Aetolians to appear before him. In this examination the question was rather which party had supported the king and which had favored the Romans than which had done wrong or had been wronged. The killers were absolved of guilt; the exile of those expelled was ratified as certainly as the death of those who had been killed; Aulus Baebius was the only one condemned, and that was for providing Roman soldiers to assist in the massacre.

The result of the case of the Aetolians raised to an intolerable pitch of arrogance the feelings of those in all the states and peoples of Greece who had taken the Roman side; and it reduced to helplessness beneath their feet all those who had been in any degree touched by the suspicion of having supported the king. There were three classes of leaders in the Greek communities: two of these, by fawning either upon the Roman power or upon the friendship of kings sought private wealth for themselves by the oppression of their cities; the middle group alone, in opposition to both these others, strove to safeguard that freedom and their laws. These last won greater popu-larity among their own people, but correspondingly less favor with the foreign powers. The supporters of the pro-Roman party, elated by Roman successes, were at that time in sole possession of all the magistracies, and they alone made up all the delegations. These people presented themselves in large numbers, coming from the Peloponnese, and from Boeotia and the other leagues of Greece as well, and they filled the ears of the ten commissioners with their reports; they assured the Romans that the people who out of vanity had openly boasted of their friendship and intimacy with the king wen not the only ones who had taken his side; many more had secretly supported his cause, and under color of safeguarding liberty they had directed all the activities of their leagues against the Romans. These peoples, said the envoys, would not continue loyal to Rome unless the spirit of the party opposed to Rome was broken and the authority of those whose only aim was to support the Roman power was fostered and enhanced.

These envoys supplied names, and those who were thus accused were summoned from Aetolia, Acarnania, Epirus, and Boeotia, by letters from the general bidding them follow him to Rome to answer this indictment; in the case of Achaea, two members of the commission of ten proceeded there to summon the men by an edict delivered in person. There were two reasons for this course: first, the Romans believed that the Achaeans had more confidence and more pride than the others, which might lead them to refuse compliance, and perhaps also Callicrates and the other informers and bringers of charges might be in danger; the second reason for the summons on the spot was that in the case of the other peoples they had letters from their leading men which had been seized in the king's files, but no letter from the Achaeans had been found, and the charge against them was therefore unsupported.

After the dismissal of the Aetolians the Acarnanian representatives were called. In their case no changes were made, except that Leucas was removed from the Arcarnanian League. There followed a more widespread investigation to discover who had sided with the king, either as private individuals or in their public capacity; the inquiry was extended into Asia, and Labeo was sent to destroy Antissa on the island of Lesbos and to transport the inhabitants to Methymna. The reason for this was that when Antenor, the king's naval commander, had been scouting round Lesbos with his pinnaces, the people of Antissa had received him into their harbor and had helped him with food supplies. Two men of note in Greece were beheaded, Andronicus, son of Andronicus, an Aetolian, because he had followed his father's lead in bearing arms against the Roman people, and Neo of Thebes, who had been responsible for the alliance of that city with Perseus.

32. After the interruption caused by these inquiries into foreign affairs, the council of the Macedonians was again assembled. With regard to the Macedonian constitution it was announced that senators (synedri as they call them) were to be chosen, and public policy was to be conducted under their direction. The names were then read out of the leading Macedonians who, it had been decided, were to go in advance to Italy accompanied by their sons over fifteen years old. This decision seemed harsh at first sight; but it soon became evident to the general public of Macedonia that it had been made in the interests of their liberty. For those named were the royal councillors and court nobles, the army generals, the commanders of fleets and commandants of garrisons, men accustomed to humble servitude in relation to the king and arrogant power over others; some were extremely rich, others matching them in expenditure, though not their equals in fortune; all of them keeping the standards of the palace in diet and dress, and none of them having the outlook of a citizen, nor able to endure either the regime of law or equality in a free society. Thus all who had been in office under the king, and even those who had served on royal deputations, were bidden to leave Macedonia and go to Italy, under pain of death for disobedience to this command. The consul imposed laws for Macedonia with such care as to seem to be laying them down not for vanquished enemies but for well- deserving allies; they were laws which not even employment over a long period of time - the only genuine improver of legislation -could find fault with by the test of experience.

The serious business was followed by an entertainment, a most elaborate affair staged at Amphipolis. This had been under preparation for a considerable time, and Paulus had sent messengers to the cities and kings of Asia to give notice of the event, while he had announced it in person to the leading citizens in the course of his tour of the Greek states. A large number of skilled performers of all kinds in the sphere of entertainment assembled from all over the world, be-sides athletes and famous horses, and official representatives with sacrificial victims; and all the other usual ingredients of the great games of Greece, provided for the sake of gods and men, were sup-plied on such a scale as to excite admiration not merely for the splendor of the display but also for the well-organized showman-ship in a field where the Romans were at that time mere beginners. Banquets for the official delegations were put on, equally sumptuous and arranged with equal care. A remark of Paulus himself was com-monly quoted, to the effect that a man who knew how to conquer in war was also a man who would know how to arrange a banquet and to organize a show.

33. After the show had been put on, and the bronze shields had been loaded on the ships, the rest of the arms of all kinds were piled 'up into a huge heap, and, after prayers to Mars, to Minerva, to Mother Lua, (1) and to all the other gods to whom it is lawful and right to dedicate spoils taken from the enemy, the commander in chief in person applied the torch and kindled the pile; after that, each of the military tribunes, who were standing round, hurled in lighted torches.

It was observed as remarkable that with all that assembly of Europe and Asia, when such a vast number had assembled from all quarters, partly to offer congratulations and partly to see the show, with those large forces, naval and military, gathered there, supplies were so abundant and grain was so cheap that the general made a great many gifts of things of this kind both to individuals and to cities, not merely for their immediate use but also to take home with them.

The stage show, the contests between men, the horse races, were not the only sights to interest the crowds which had come to Amphipolis; they were equally attracted by the exhibition of all the booty from Macedonia. There were statues, pictures, textiles, vessels of gold, silver, bronze, and ivory, fashioned with immense pains in the king's palace, not for temporary display, like the objects with which the palace at Alexandria was crammed, but for lasting use. This booty was loaded on the fleet and handed over to Gnaeus Octavius for transport to Rome.

After dismissing the delegates with courtesy, Paulus crossed the Strymon and encamped a mile away from Amphipolis; from there he set out for Pella, which he reached on the fifth day. Going past the city to the place called the Pellaeum, he stayed there for two days, and sent his son Quintus Maximus and Publius Nasica with part of his troops to ravage the territory of the Illyrians, who had assisted Perseus in the war, ordering this force to meet him at Oricum. The consul himself made for Epirus and arrived at Passaron on the fifteenth day.