28.
After sacrificing to Minerva, the guardian of the citadel, [p. 2149]he continued his journey, and on the second day arrived at Corinth.
[2]
The city was then flourishing, as this visit was prior to its fall; the citadel too, and the isthmus, afforded admirable views; the former, within the walls, and towering up to an immense height, yet abounding with springs; and the latter, separating by a narrow neck two seas, which wash it on the east and west.
[3]
He next visited the celebrated cities of Sicyon and Argos; then Epidaurus, which, though unequal to them in opulence, was yet remarkable for a famous temple of Esculapius, which, standing at five miles' distance from the city, was at that time rich in offerings, which the sick had dedicated to that deity, as an acknowledgment for the remedies which restored them to health; but now, full of the traces of them only, whence they have been torn away.
[4]
Thence he proceeded to Lacedaemon, renowned, not for magnificent works of art, but for its laws and discipline; and then, passing through Magalopolis, he went up to Olympia.
[5]
Here, having taken a view of all things worthy of notice, and beholding Jupiter in a manner present before him, he was struck with the deepest reverence; therefore he ordered preparations to be made for a sacrifice, with more than usual magnificence, and as if he were going to make offerings in the Capitol;
[6]
having made his circuit through Greece in such a manner as not to inquire into the sentiments which any one, either in his public or private capacity, entertained in the war against Perseus, lest he might disturb the minds of the allies with any kind of apprehensions.
[7]
On his way back to Demetrias, a crowd of Aetolians, in mourning apparel, met him: on his expressing surprise, and asking the reason of this proceeding, he was told that five hundred and fifty of the chief of their countrymen had been put to death by Lyciscus and Tisippus, who surrounded their senate with Roman soldiers, sent by their commander Baebius; that others had been driven into exile; and that the accusers were in possession of the goods of the killed and exiled.
[8]
They were ordered to wait on him at Amphipolis; and then, having met Cneius Octavius at Demetrias, who informed him that the ten commissioners were landed, he laid aside all other business, and went to Apollonia to meet them.
[9]
And when Perseus, owing to the negligence of his guard, had come hither to meet him from Amphipolis, (the distance is a day's journey,) Aemilius spoke to him with great courtesy; [p. 2150]but is said to have severely reprimanded Caius Sulpicius, when he reached the camp at Amphipolis;
[10]
first, for allowing Perseus thus to ramble through the province, and next, for indulging the soldiers so far as to suffer them to strip the buildings on the city walls of the tiles, in order to cover their own winter huts. These tiles he ordered to be carried back, the buildings to be repaired, and put in their former condition.
[11]
He gave in charge to Aulus Postumius, Perseus, with his elder son Philip, and sent them into a place of confinement; his daughter and younger son he ordered to be brought from Samothrace to Amphipolis, and treated them with all possible kindness.
Livy. History of Rome by Titus Livius, books thirty-seven to the end, with the epitomes and fragments of the lost books. literally translated, with notes and illustrations, by. William A. McDevitte. York Street, Covent Garden, London. Henry G. Bohn. John Child and son, printers, Bungay. 1850. 4.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
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.