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First Acts of Perseus as King

Having renewed the alliance with Rome, Perseus immediately began intriguing in Greece. He
The opening of the reign of Perseus.
invited back into Macedonia absconding debtors, condemned exiles, and those who had been compelled to leave their country on charges of treason. He caused notices to be put up to that effect at Delos, Delphi, and the temple of Athena at Iton,1 offering not only indemnity to all who returned, but also the restoration of the property lost by their exile. Such also as still remained in Macedonia he released from their debts to the Royal exchequer, and set free those who had been confined in fortresses upon charges of treason. By these measures he raised expectations in the minds of many, and was considered to be holding out great hopes to all the Greeks. Nor were other parts of his life and habits wanting in a certain royal magnificence. His outward appearance was striking, and he was well endowed with all the physical advantages requisite for a statesman. His look and mien were alike dignified and such as became his age. He had moreover avoided his father's weakness for wine and women, and not only drank moderately at dinner himself, but was imitated in this respect by his intimates and friends. Such was the commencement of the reign of Perseus. . . .

When king Philip had become powerful and had obtained

Philip V. in misfortune.
supremacy over the Greeks, he showed the most utter disregard of faith and principle; but when the breeze of fortune again set against him, his moderation was as conspicuous in its turn. But after his final and complete defeat, he tried by every possible expedient to consolidate the strength of his kingdom.

1 The notices are put up at the three places visited yearly by great numbers, and by many separate pilgrims. It is interesting to notice the persistence in a custom common from the earliest times, at any rate as far as Delos and Delphi are concerned. Iton was in Thessaly, and the temple and oracle of Athena there was celebrated throughout Greece, and was the central place of worship for the Thessalians. The town stood in a rich plain on the river Cuarius, and hence its name—sometimes written Siton—was connected by some with σιτόφορος, "corn-bearing" (Steph. Byz.) Homer calls it μητέρα μήλων, "mother of sheep." Pyrrhus hung up in this temple the spoils of Antigonus and his Gallic soldiers about B. C. 273. [Pausan. 1.13.2], "Itonian Athena" had temples in other parts of Greece also, e.g. in Boeotia [Paus. 9, 34, 1].

Histories. Polybius. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh. translator. London, New York. Macmillan. 1889. Reprint Bloomington 1962.

Robert B. Strassler provided support for entering this text.

This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry, Running heads in Walbank's reprint have been converted to chapter titles, and titles have been added, usually from the marginal notes, for chapters without them. Some pages have notes of the form "line X: A should read B," which I believe are Walbank's; they have "resp=fww". Summaries of missing sections are encoded as inline notes with "resp=ess." A very few unidentified quotations are marked in notes with "resp=aem" (the markup editor) Citations are marked using Perseus abbreviations. and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.

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273 BC (1)
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  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.30
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  • Cross-references in notes from this page (2):
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.13.2
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.34.1
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