Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 45
Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Ed.

[2] As the consul Aemilius Paulus was encamped near Sirae in the Odomantian territory, as was mentioned [p. 259]above,² despatches from King Perseus were brought³ to him by three envoys of no rank. [3] When Paulus perceived them in soiled garb and with tears streaming, it is said that he himself wept for the lot of man, since that king who shortly before, discontented with the kingdom of Macedonia, had attacked the Dardanians and Illyrians and summoned the Bastarnae to his aid, had now lost his army, and, stripped of his kingdom and driven to a small island, was a suppliant, protected by the sanctity of a temple, not by his own powers. [4] But after he read “King Perseus to the Consul Paulus, greeting,” the folly of the man who did not realize the state of his fortunes erased all pity. [5] Therefore, although the body of the letter contained entreaties far from royal, yet that embassy was dismissed without an answer and without dispatches. [6] Perseus understood what title the conquered must forget; therefore other dispatches, sent under his name without title, requested and obtained the sending of certain persons with whom he might discuss the status and the terms of his new lot. [7] Three envoys were sent, Publius Lentulus, Aulus Postumius Albinus, and Aulus Antonius. Nothing was accomplished by that embassy, since Perseus clung with all his might to the title of king, while Paulus urged him to entrust himself and all he had to the discretion and mercy of the Roman People.