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About this time M. Marcellus, who was on his way home from Spain, captured the important city of Marcolica, and brought into the treasury 10 pounds' weight of gold and a quantity of silver amounting to one million sesterces. [2] The consul Paulus Aemilius was, as I have already said, still in camp at Sirae, in the Odomantic country, when three persons of mean appearance brought him a letter from Perseus. On seeing the missive he is said to have shed tears over the fate that befalls men, for the man who a short time ago was not contented with his kingdom of [3??] Macedonia, but made an attack on the Dardanians and the Illyrians, and had called out the auxiliary levies of the Bastarnae-that man had now lost his army, was driven out of his kingdom a homeless wanderer into a small island where, as a suppliant, he was protected by the sanctity of the temple, not by any strength which he possessed. [4] When, however, he read the salutation, "From King Perseus to the consul Paulus." the man's utter failure to realise his condition destroyed all feeling of compassion. [5] Consequently, though in the body of the letter there were appeals for mercy which were anything but kingly, the messengers were dismissed without any reply either by word of mouth or in writing. [6] Perseus saw that he must forget his royal title in his defeat, and a second letter was sent in which he described himself by his personal name. In this he begged most urgently that some persons might be sent to him with whom he could confer as to his status and the circumstances in which he was placed. [7] The three who were sent to him were P. Lentulus, A. Postumius Albinus and A. Antonius. Nothing resulted from this conference; Perseus clung desperately to his royal title, and Paulus was determined that he should place himself and all that he possessed at the mercy of Rome.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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