Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 42
William A. McDevitte, Sen. Class. Mod. Ex. Schol. A.B.T.C.D., Ed.

52. It was now twenty-six years since peace had been granted to the suit of Philip; [2] and Macedon, having through all that period enjoyed quiet, was become exceedingly populous, and very many were now grown up, and become qualified for the duties of the field; and owing to the unimportant wars with the neighbouring states of Thrace, which had given them exercise rather than fatigue, were in continual practice of military service. [3] Besides, a war with Rome having been long meditated by, first, Philip, and afterwards by Perseus, had effected that all things should be arranged and prepared. [4] The troops performed some few movements, but not the regular course of exercise, only that they might not seem to have stood motionless under arms. He then called them, armed as they were, to an assembly. [5] He himself stood on his tribunal, with his two sons, one on each side of him; the elder of whom, Philip, was by birth his brother, his son by adoption; the younger, named Alexander, was his son by birth. The king exhorted his troops to a vigorous prosecution of the war. [6] He enumerated the injuries offered by the Romans to Philip and himself; told them, that “his father, having been compelled, by every kind of indignity, to resolve on a renewal of hostilities, was, in the midst of his preparations for war, arrested by fate: [7] that ambassadors were sent by himself at the same time that soldiers were sent to seize the cities of Greece: [8] that then, under the pretext of re-establishing peace, they spun out the winter, by means of a fallacious conference, in order to gain time to make their preparations; that their consul was now coming, with two Roman legions, containing each six thousand foot and three hundred horse, and nearly the same number of auxiliaries; and that, should they even be joined by the troops of Eumenes and Masinissa, yet these could not amount to more than seven thousand foot and two thousand horse.” [9] He desired them, “after hearing the number of the enemy's forces, to reflect on their own army, how far it excelled both in number and in the qualifications of the men, a body of raw recruits, enlisted hastily for the present occasion; [10] whereas they them- [p. 2011]selves had from childhood been instructed in the military art, and had been disciplined and inured to toil in a course of many wars. The auxiliaries of the Romans were Lydians, Phrygians, and Numidians; while his were Thracians and Gauls, the bravest nations in the world. [11] Their troops had such arms as each needy soldier procured for himself; but those of the Macedonians were furnished out of the royal stores, and had been made with much care at the expense of his father, in a course of many years. [12] They must bring their provisions not only from a great distance, but expose them to all the hazards of the sea; while he, besides his revenue from the mines, had laid up a store, both of money and food, sufficient for the consumption of ten years. [13] The Macedonians possessed in abundance every advantage, in point of preparation, that depended on the kindness of the gods, or the care of their sovereign: they ought therefore to have the same daring spirit which their fathers had before them; [14] who, after subduing all Europe, passed over into Asia, and opened by their arms a world unknown to fame, and never ceased to conquer until they were stopped by the Red Sea, and when nothing remained for them to subdue. But in truth fortune has determined the present struggle to be carried on, not for the far remote regions of India, but for the possession of Macedon itself. [15] When the Romans made war on his father, they held out the specious pretence of liberating Greece; now, they avowedly aimed at reducing Macedon to slavery, that there might be no king in the neighbourhood of the Roman empire, and that no nation, renowned in war, should have the possession of arms; [16] for these must be delivered up to their imperious masters, together with the king and kingdom, if they chose to decline a war, and obey their orders.”