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20. After crossing the ridge of Mount Scordus, and passing through the desert regions of Illyricum, which the Macedonians had purposely made desert by ravaging, so that there might be no easy passage for the Dardanians to Illyricum or Macedonia, these envoys came at last with great toil to Scodra. [2] King Gentius was at Lissus. Thither the envoys were summoned, and their message was given a favourable hearing; but the reply which they took away accomplished nothing; it was to the effect that Gentius did not lack the will to fight the Romans, but to try to effect his will he did especially lack money. [3] These words the envoys reported at Stuberra to the king, who was at that moment engaged in selling the prisoners from Illyricum. At once the same envoys, with the addition of Glaucias from among the king's bodyguard, were sent back with no word about money, by which alone the poverty-stricken barbarian could be urged into war.1 [4] Thence, after ravaging Ancyra,2 Perseus led his army back again among the [p. 75]Penestae and, having strengthened the garrisons in3 Uscana and in all the forts that he had captured round about it, retired to Macedonia.

1 On Perseus' stinginess, cf. XLII. lxvii. 5 and the note, XLIV. xxvi. 1, Polybius XXVIII. 9; Plutarch, Aemilius xii. 4-xiii. 2 mentions the Bastarnae as also victims of Perseus' greed, and points out the contrast to Alexander the Great and Philip, his father, who disregarded money for the sake of conquest.

2 The situation of Ancyra is unknown; we cannot be sure whether it is a town, a district, or a mistake. In Polybius XXVIII. 8. 11, in place of a corrupt word (ἐπακκωναν), Ursinus proposed reading ἐπ᾽ ῎αγκυραν, on the basis of this reference in Livy; but modern editors prefer the emendation ἐφ᾽ ῞γσκανα.

3 B.C. 169

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  • Commentary references to this page (6):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 32.40
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 36.14
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.25
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 43-44, commentary, 44.23
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 43-44, commentary, 44.30
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 43-44, commentary, 44.8
  • Cross-references to this page (11):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Penestiana
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Perseus
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Phalangitas
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Stubera
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, Ancyra
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, C. Afranius
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Index, C. Carvilius
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PENESTAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SCARDUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), STY´MBARA
    • Smith's Bio, Pleuratus
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (6):
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