Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Terentius marched behind him in the triumphal procession, wearing a felt cap just like an emancipated slave. [*](Cf. Livy, xxx. 45; Valerius Maximus, v. 2. 5.)And when Scipio died, Terentius provided wine with honey for all who attended the funeral to drink their fill, and did everything else connected with his burial on a grand scale. But this, of course, was later. [*](Cf. Livy, xxxviii. 55.)

Antiochus the king, [*](Antiochus the Great.) after the Romans had crossed over to attack him, [*](In 190 B.C.) sent to Scipio to ask about terms of peace. This should have been done before, said Scipio, but not now, when you have taken the bit and the rider is in the saddle. [*](Cf. Polybius, xxi. 15; Livy, xxxvii. 36; Appian, Roman History, the Syrian Wars, vi. 29.)

The Senate voted that he should receive a sum of money from the treasury, but the treasurers were not willing to open it on that day; whereupon he said that he would open it himself, for the reason it was kept closed, he declared, was because he had fdled it with so much money. [*](Cf. Polybius, xxxiii. 14; and Valerius Maximus, iii. 7. 1.)

When Petillius and Quintus brought before the people many accusations against him, he remarked that on this very day he had conquered the Carthaginians and Hannibal, and he said that he himself, with a garland on, was on his way up to the Capitol to offer sacrifice, and he bade anyone who so

Titus Quintius, from the very first, was a man of such conspicuous talent that he was chosen consul without having been tribune, praetor, or aedile.[*](That is, without passing through the regular cursus honorum. Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. ii. (369 C).) He was sent in command of the army against Philip, and was prevailed upon to meet him in conference. Philip insisted that he ought to receive some Romans as a guarantee of his safety, since Quintius was accompanied by many of his countrymen and he all alone represented the Macedonians. The truth is, said Quintius, that it is you who have made yourself all alone by putting to death your friends and kindred. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. (378 D); Polybius, xviii. 7.)

Having vanquished Philip in battle, [*](At Cynoscephalae in 197 B.C.: see Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. viii. (372 F); Polybius, xviii. 20-27; Livy, xxxiii. 7-10.) he proclaimed at the Isthmian games that henceforth he left the Greeks free and independent. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. x. (374 D); Livy, xxxiii. 32.) Whereupon, all the Romans who had been taken captive in the days of Hannibal and were the slaves of Greek masters the Greeks purchased from their owners at twenty pounds for each man, and gave them as a present to Quintius; and these followed him in his triumphal procession wearing felt caps on their heads as is the custom for slaves that have been emancipated. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. xiii. (376 F); Livy, xxxiv. 52; Valerius Maximus, v. 2. 6.)

When the Achaeans were minded to send an army against the island of the Zacynthians, he bade them beware lest, if they extended their head, tortoise-like, outside of the Peloponnesus they should find themselves in danger. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. (378 D); Livy xxxvi. 32.)

When Antiochus the king, with a great force, arrived in Greece, and all were terror-stricken at the great numbers of the men and their armament, Flamininus told a story for the benefit of the Achaeans as follows: He said he was in Chalcis dining with a friend, and was amazed at the great number of the meats served. But his friend said that these were all pork, differing only in their seasoning and the way they were cooked. So then, he said, do not you, either, be amazed at the king’s forces when you hear the names: 4 pikemen, panoplied, foot-guards, archers with two horses. For all these are but Syrians differing from one another only in their paraphernalia. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. (378 E); Livy, xxxv. 49.)

He made a joke at the expense of Philopoemen, general of the Achaeans, who had plenty of horsemen and men-at-arms, but was not well off for money; Quintius said that Philopoemen had arms and legs but no belly. As a matter of fact, Philopoemen, in physical appearance, was something like this. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Philopoemen, chap. ii. (357 A).)

Gnaeus Domitius, whom Scipio the Great appointed in his stead as a colleague for his brother Lucius in the war against Antiochus, when he had inspected the battle-line of the enemy, and the officers of his

Publius Licinius, consul in command of the army, was defeated by Perseus, king of the Macedonians, in a cavalry battle, with the loss of two thousand eight hundred men killed or captured. After the battle, when Perseus sent envoys regarding a treaty of peace, the vanquished bade the victor submit his case to the Romans. [*](Cf. Polybius, xxvii. 8; Livy, xlii. 62.)

Paulus Aemilius, when he was a candidate for a second term as consul, failed of election. But when the war against Perseus and the Macedonians dragged on because of the inexperience and effeminacy of the generals, the people appointed him consul. But he said he owed no thanks to them; for it was not because he wanted office, but because they wanted an officer, that he was chosen general. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. vi. (258 B), chap. ix. (259 C), chap. xi. (260 C).)

Coming home from the Forum and finding Tertia, his little daughter, in tears, he asked the reason. And she said, Our Perseus is dead. (It

Finding at camp much boldness and talk on the part of would-be generals and meddlers, he told them to keep quiet, and only sharpen their swords, and he would attend to everything else.[*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xiii. (261 F), and chap. xi. (260 C); Livy, xliv. 22 and 34.)

He gave orders that the sentinels at night should stand guard without spear or sword, so that, with no hope of defending themselves against the enemy, they might better contend against sleep. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xiii. (262 A); Livy, xliv. 33, says without shield. )

Having invaded Macedonia by way of the mountains, and seeing the enemy standing in battle array, he said, in answer to Nasica’s urgings to attack at once, Oh yes, if I were of your age; but much experience forbids me to fight, immediately after a march, against an army standing in battle array. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xvii. (263 F).)

Having vanquished Perseus, he said, as he was carrying out the entertainments to celebrate the victory, that it was a part of the same proficiency to provide an army most terrifying to an enemy and a party most agreeable to friends. [*](Ibid. chap. xxviii. (270 D); Moralia, 615 E. Cf. Stobaeus, Florilegium, xviii. 22.)

Perseus, having been made a prisoner, indignantly spurned the thought of being made a part of his victor’s triumph. That rests with you, said Aemilius, thereby giving him leave to make away with himself. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xxxiv. (273 C).)

Of the unlimited treasure which was found he took nothing himself, but to his son-in-law Tubero [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. v. (257 C).) he gave a silver goblet of five pounds weight in recognition of his supreme valour. And this, they say, is the first silver heirloom that ever found its way into the Aelian house. [*](Ibid. chap. xxviii. (270 E); cf. also Pliny, Natural History, xxxiii. 50 (142); and Valerius Maximus, iv. 4. 9.)

Of the four male children that were born to him, two he happened to have given to others for adoption. [*](To the houses of Scipio and of Fabius.) Of the two that were at home one died five days before his triumph, at the age of fourteen, and the other five days after the triumph, at the age of twelve. When he went forth, and the people expressed their compassion and sympathy, he said that now he had no fears or misgivings about his country, since Fortune had thrust upon his house the retribution due for all their good fortune, and he had received this in behalf of all. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chaps. xxxv. and xxxvi. (274 A and F); Seneca, Ad Marciam de consolatione, 13; Valerius Maximus, v. 10. 2; Velleius Paterculus, i. 10. Cicero refers briefly to Aemilius’s fortitude (De amicit, 2 (9); Tusc. Disput. iii. 28 (70); Letters, iv. 6).)