Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 45
William A. McDevitte, Sen. Class. Mod. Ex. Schol. A.B.T.C.D., Ed.

38. "Let us now pass to the other assembly; and here I am not to address you as citizens, but as soldiers, if, indeed, this name can cause a blush, and inspire you with shame, for your injurious treatment of your general. [2] And I for my part feel my own mind affected in a very different manner, when I suppose myself speaking to an army, from what it was, just now, when my speech was addressed to the commons of the city. [3] For what say you, soldiers, is there any man in Rome, except Perseus, that wishes there should be no triumph over Macedon; and are you not tearing him in pieces with the same hands with which you subdued the Macedonians? [4] That man, who would hinder you from entering the city in triumph, would, if it had been in his power, have hindered you from conquering. Soldiers, you are mistaken, if you imagine that a triumph is an honour to the general only, and not to the soldiers also, as well as to the whole Roman people. This honour does not belong to Paullus alone. Many who failed of obtaining a triumph from the senate, have triumphed on the Alban Mount. [5] No man can wrest from Lucius Paullus the honour of having brought the Macedonian war to a conclusion, any more than he can from Caius Lutatius, that of [p. 2162]putting an end to the first Punic war, or from Publius Cornelius, that of finishing the second; or from those who, since those generals, have triumphed. [6] Neither will a triumph add to, or diminish, the honour of Lucius Paullus as a commander: [7] the character of the soldiers, and of the whole Roman people, is more immediately concerned therein, lest they should incur the imputation of envy and ingratitude towards one of their most illustrious citizens, and appear to imitate, in this respect, the Athenians, who have persecuted their distinguished men by exciting the hatred of the populace. Sufficient error was committed by your ancestors in the case of Camillus, whom they treated injuriously, before the city was recovered from the Gauls through his means; error sufficient, and more than sufficient, was committed by you in the case of Publius Africanus. [8] How must we blush, when we reflect that the habitation and house of the conqueror of Africa was at Liternum; that his tomb is shown at Liternum! [9] And shall Lucius Paullus, equal to any of those men in renown, receive from you an equal share of ill-treatment? [10] Let then this infamy be first blotted out, which is shameful in the eyes of other nations, and injurious to ourselves; for who will wish to resemble either Africanus, or Paullus, in a state ungrateful and inimical to the virtuous? [11] If there were no disgrace in the case, and the question merely concerned glory, what triumph does not imply the general glory of the Roman race? Are all the numerous triumphs over the Gauls, the Spaniards, and the Carthaginians, called the triumphs of the generals only, or of the Roman people? As the triumphs were celebrated not merely over Pyrrhus, or Hannibal, or Philip, but over the Epirotes and Carthaginians; so it was not the individual Manius Curius, or Publius Cornelius, nor Titus Quinctius, but the Romans, that triumphed. [12] This, indeed, is the peculiar case of the soldiers, who, themselves both crowned with laurel, and conspicuous for the presents each one has received, proclaim the triumph by name, and march in procession through the city, singing their own and their commander's praises. [13] If, at any time, soldiers are not brought home from a province to such honours, they murmur; and yet, even in that case, they consider themselves distinguished, even in their absence, because by their hands the victory was obtained. [14] Soldiers, if it should be asked, for what purpose you were brought [p. 2163]home to Italy, and not disbanded immediately, when the business of the province was finished; why you came to Rome, in a body, round your standards; why you loiter here, and do not repair to your several homes: what other answer can you give, than that you wished to be seen triumphing? And, certainly, you have a right to show yourselves as conquerors.