Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 42
Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Ed.

5. Perseus, pondering in his mind the war which had been planned even before his father's death, was striving to win over to himself not only all the states of Greece but also the cities, sending embassies and making promises rather than carrying them out. [2] Moreover, the sympathies of a large proportion of the people were for him, and they were much more [p. 305]inclined to favour him than Eumenes, although the¹ acts of kindness and generosity of Eumenes had put all of the cities of Greece and many important personages under obligations to him, and he so conducted himself in his kingdom that the cities which were under his control did not desire to exchange their condition for that of any free state. [3] On the other hand, there was the rumour that after his father's death Perseus had killed his wife with his own hand; [4] that Apelles, once the agent of treachery in the murder of his brother, who for that reason had been sought out for punishment by Philip, he had recalled from exile, after the death of his father, with lavish offers of rewards for performing so splendid a deed, and then had secretly put to death. [5] A man made infamous by many other murders of citizens and aliens, and worthy of praise for no good quality whatever, was generally preferred by the states to a king so devoted to his relatives, so just to his citizens, so generous to all men, whether because these states were predisposed, on account of the [6??] reputation and dignity of the Macedonian kings, to despise the origin of a kingdom recently formed,² or because they were eager for a change in their condition, or because they did not wish all things to become completely subject to the Romans.³ [7] But it was not the Aetolians alone who were in a state of civil war because of the huge burden of debt, but also the Thessalians; and spreading by contact like a pestilence, the evil had reached even into Perrhaebia. [8] When the news came [p. 307]that the Thessalians were in arms, the senate sent⁴ Appius Claudius as commissioner to investigate and settle these affairs. He, after reproving the leaders of both factions and lightening the burden of the [9??] debts which had been made more grievous by illegal interest, the majority of the creditors who had imposed it having made this concession, provided for the payment of the just debts in ten annual installments. The difficulties in Perrhaebia were settled by the same Appius and on the same basis. [10] Marcus Marcellus, who was at Delphi about the same time, learned that the Aetolians were pleading their cases in the same belligerent spirit which they had shown in their civil war. [11] When he saw that both sides were contending with reckless violence, he was unwilling, so far as his decree was concerned, either to lighten or to increase the burden of either side; he asked the two in common to refrain from their warfare and to end their quarrels in forgetfulness of the past. By an exchange of hostages they gave assurance of their mutual good faith in their reconciliation. [12] Corinth was designated as the place in which the hostages should be placed in custody.