previous next
3. With regard to Philip, Marcius had increased the senate's concern: for he admitted that Philip had done what it had demanded, but in such a way that it was clearly evident that he would not continue to do so longer than was necessary.1 [2] Nor was it a secret that he would resort to arms, and that everything that he did and said had this in view. [3] In the first place he moved almost the entire population of citizens, families and all, from the towns along the coast to what is now called Emathia [4??] and was formerly Paeonia, and the cities he gave as [p. 9]homes to Thracians and other barbarians, thinking B.C. 182 that these tribes would be more loyal in a Roman war. [5] This act caused tremendous lamentation throughout all Macedonia, and few, as they left their ancestral homes with their wives and children, kept their grief concealed; and from the columns of migrants curses upon the king were heard, hatred getting the better of their fear. [6] The king's temper, made fierce by these things, held all men, all places and occasions in suspicion. [7] Finally he began to say publicly that he could not find any real security unless the children of those whom he had executed were arrested, kept under guard, and killed one by one, as occasion offered.2

1 Polybius (XXIV. x (XXIII. ix)) says more explicitly “that he had indeed done all that was enjoined on him, but with great reluctance; and that if he got an opportunity, he would go to all lengths against the Romans” (Shuckburgh's translation).

2 Polybius (XXIV. viii a (XXIII. x)) represents him as quoting a verse from the epic poet Stasinus: νήπιος ὃς πατέρα κτείνας υἱοὺς καταλείπει, “A fool is he who, having slain the father, leaves the sons behind.” Both Polybius and Livy seem to conceive of the fall of Philip in dramatic form and to employ some of the technique of tragedy in their narratives.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, 1875)
load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1875)
load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Summary (English, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Summary (Latin, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, 1875)
load focus English (William A. McDevitte, Sen. Class. Mod. Ex. Schol. A.B.T.C.D., 1850)
load focus Latin (Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., 1938)
hide References (20 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (5):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.39
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 32.39
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.52
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.42
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 43-44, commentary, 43.7
  • Cross-references to this page (13):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: