THE LIFE OF PAULUS EMILIUS.(@) SUMMARY. Plan Plutarch's motives in writing the Lives of illustrious men. Noble extraction of Paulus Emilius. His birth, first offices, and exploits. His marriages; war in Liguria, and taste for the sciences. War with Perseus, king of Macedon. Origin of the Roman war with that country. Paulus Emilius is elected consul a second time, and appointed to the management of the Macedonian war. He harangues the people, and sets off. Perseus' avarice; and Emilius' judicious conduct. Different opinions about springs and fountains. Emilius enters Macedon by mount Olympus. Height of that mountain. Scipio crosses it. Perseus' consternation; and the prudent measures of Æmilius. Eclipse of the moon. of the battle. Perseus retreats. Vigorous resistance of the Macedonian phalanx; which, however, is at last broken. Æmilius gains a complete victory: is alarmed for his son. Perseus flies, and carries off his treasures to Samothrace. Æmilius in two days takes possession of the whole of Macedon. Despatch with which the intelligence is conveyed to Rome. Other instances of the speedy circulation of news. Perseus is taken, and kindly treated by Emilius. His abject behaviour. Æmilius' speech to his soldiers upon the vicissitudes of human affairs. He travels in Greece, and introduces there many judicious regulations. His great satisfaction in that country. He passes into Epirus; and a This Life is, by the modern editors of Amyot, and by M. Ricard, judiciously made to precede that of Timoleon, as the preface clearly indicates it ought to be; in opposition to most of the editors of Plutarch, who seem to have thought, without sufficient founda tion, that the Greek should always go before his Roman parallel.* VOL. III. B returns to Italy. Servius Galba endeavours to deprive him of the honour of a triumph. Servilius addresses the people in his favour. A triumph is decreed to him. Its extraordinary magnificence. Perseus is led up in it, with his children. Emilius' personal splendour. He loses his two sons; but supports his misfortune with great magnanimity. Death of Perseus, and fate of his children. Taxes abolished at Rome. Difference of Æmilius' conduct from that of his son Scipio. He is elected censor: dies. Honours paid him. He leaves behind him very inconsiderable property. WHEN I first applied myself to the writing of these Lives, it was for the sake of others; but I pursue and persevere in that study for my own; availing myself of history as of a mirror,(b) from which I learn to adjust and regulate my conduct. For it is like living and conversing with these illustrious men, when I invite, as it were, and receive them, one after another, under my roof; when I consider How great and wonderful they were, (c) and select from their actions the most memorable and glorious: What greater bliss! what medicine, of our manners Democritus has a position in his philosophy, (d) utterly false indeed, and leading to endless superstitions, that there are phantasms or images continually floating in the air, some propitious and some unlucky; and advises us to pray, that such may strike b So Terence, Denique Inspicere tanquam in speculum, in vitas omnium And Livy, Adelph. iii. 4. Hoc illud est præcipue in cognitione rerum salubre ac frugiferum omnis te exempli documenta in illustri posita monumento intueri: inde tibi, tuæ que reip. quod imitere capias; inde fœdum inceptu, fæ dum exitu, quod vites. Præf.* Ο οσσός την 135 τ -Hoм. Il. xxiv. 629, where the phrase is applied to Priam's admiration of Achilles. These allusions at once prove the fulness of Plutarch's mind, and set off his compositions.* ✔ Democritus held that visible objects produced their image in the ambient air, which image produced a second, and the second a third, still less than the former, and so on till the last produced its For upon our senses, as are agreeable to and perfective of our nature, and not such as have a tendency to vice and error. my part, instead of this, I fill my mind with the sublime images of the best and greatest men, by attention to history and biography; and if I contract any blemish, any ill custom, or ungenerous feeling, from other company in which I am unavoidably engaged, I correct and expel them, by calmly and dispassionately turning my thoughts to these excellent examples. For the same purpose, 1 now put into your(e) hands the life of Timoleon the Corinthian, and that of Æmilius Paulus, men celebrated not only for their pursuits, but their virtues; insomuch that they have left room to doubt, whether their great achievements were not more owing to their good fortune, than to their prudence. Most writers agree, that the Emilian family was one of the most ancient among the Roman nobility: and it is asserted that the founder of it, who also left it his surname, was Mamercus,(ƒ) the son of Pythagoras the philosopher,(g) who, for the peculiar charms and gracefulness of his elocution, was called Emilius ;(h) such, at least, is the opinion of those who say that Numa was educated under Pythagoras. Those of this family that distinguished themselves,(i) found their attachment to virtue generally blessed with success. And notwithstanding the ill fortune of Lucius Paulus at Cannæ, he displayed upon that occasion both his prudence and his valour : for when he could not dissuade his colleague from fighting, he joined him in the combat, though much against his will, but did counterpart in the eye. This he supposed to be the process of the act of vision, and called '-. But he went on to what is infinitely more absurd. He maintained that thought was formed, accordingly as those images struck upon the imagination; that of these there were some good and some evil; that the good produced virtuous thoughts in us, and the evil the contrary. (L.) Plutarch, however, has made a fine use of this whimsical theory. Lucretius has amplified the notion of images (simulacra) in the beginning of his fourth book, ver. 34, &c. For an account of Democritus, see Diog. Laert. ix. 34. e Viz. those of Sessius Senecio. See note c, at the beginning of the Life of Theseus.* f See the Life of Numa, vol. i. g He is called Pythagoras the philosopher, to distinguish him from Pythagoras the wrestler. 'h From the Greek i From Lucius Æmilius, who was consul A. U. C. 270, and overcame the Volsci, to Lucius Paulus, who was father to Paulus Æmi. lius, and fell at Cannæ, A. U. C. 538. There were many of those Emilii renowned for their victories and triumphs. not partake with him in his flight: on the contrary, when he who had plunged them into danger deserted the field, Paulus stood his ground, and fell bravely amidst the enemy, with his sword in his hand. (j) This Paulus had a daughter named Æmilia, who was married to Scipio the Great, and a son called Paulus, whose history I am now writing. At the time in which he made his appearance in the world, Rome abounded in men celebrated for their virtues and other excellent accomplishments;(k) and even among these Æmilius made a distinguished figure, without having pursued the same studies, or set out in the same track, with the young nobility of that age. For he did not exercise himself in pleading causes, neither could he stoop to salute, and solicit, and caress the people, which was the method that most men took who aimed at popularity. Not but that he had received talents from nature to acquit himself well in either of these respects, but he reckoned the honour that flows from bravery, justice, and probity, preferable to both; and in these virtues he soon surpassed all the young men of his time. The first of the high offices of state, for which he was a candidate, was that of Edile; and he carried it against twelve competitors, who, we are told, were all afterward consuls. And when he was appointed one of the priests called Augurs, whom the Romans employ in the inspection and care of divination by the flight of birds and by prodigies in the air, he studied se attentively the usages of his country, and acquainted himself so perfectly with the ancient ceremonies of religion, that what before was only considered as an honour, and courted on account of the authority annexed to it,() appeared in his hands to be one of the principal arts. Thus he confirmed the definition, which is given by some philosophers, "that religion is the science of worshipping the gods."(m) He did every thing with skill and application; he laid aside all other concerns while he attended to this, and made not the least omission or innovation; j See the Life of Fabius Maximus, vol. ii. k In that period we find the Sempronii, the Albini, the Fabii Maximi, the Marcelli, the Scipiones, the Fulvii, the Sulpitii, the Cethegi, the Metelli, &c. &c.!! 7 Under pretence that the auspices were favourable or otherwise, the Augurs had it in their power to promote or put a stop to any public affair whatever. Cic. de Legg. ii, 12. Of this college most of the patrician youth, who wished to take a part in state affairs, were admitted members. m See Plato's Euthyphron. |