Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 45.2

[2] ¹ after the battle with the king, while games were being celebrated in the circus, a rumour in the audience suddenly swept over the whole auditorium that a battle had been fought in Macedonia and the king beaten; then the buzz increased; finally there arose shouting and clapping, as if a definite report of victory had arrived.

The magistrates were astonished and sought after the originator of this sudden rejoicing. When no such person was found, the rejoicing as if for an established fact died away, but the happy omen lurked nevertheless in men's minds.

[3] After confirmation came through the genuine report on the arrival of Fabius, Lentulus, and Metellus, men rejoiced both in the actual victory and in the prophetic power of their spirits. The story is told of a second rejoicing by the mob at the circus, which seemed no less genuine.

[4] On the sixteenth of September, on the second day of the Roman Games, ² it is said that a messenger who said he came from Macedonia handed despatches wreathed with laurel to the consul Gaius Licinius as he was going up to start the chariot-race. When the race was over, the consul mounted his chariot and as he was being driven back to the reserved seats, showed the despatches to the people. At the sight of them the people at once forgot the show and rushed down into the arena. On the spot, the consul summoned the senate, had the despatches read, and on motion of the Fathers, announced to the people before the magistrates' seats that his colleague Lucius Aemilius had fought a pitched battle with King Perseus, that the Macedonian army had been slaughtered and routed, that the king had fled with but few followers, and that all the cities of Macedonia had come under the sway of the Roman people.

[5] On hearing this, shouting with great clapping of hands began; the games were deserted and most of the people took home the glad news to their wives and children. This was the twelfth day after the battle had taken place in Macedonia.

[6] II. Next day the senate met in the senate-house, a thanksgiving was voted, and a resolution passed that the consul should discharge men whom he had under oath, ³ except soldiers and sailors, and that the question of dismissing soldiers and sailors should be put when the envoys who had sent the messenger ahead should arrive from the consul Lucius Aemilius.

[7] On the twenty-fifth day of September, about the second hour the envoys entered the city, ⁴ and made ⁵ their way to the forum, drawing after them a huge crowd of people who met them at every point on their way, and proceeded to escort them. The senate happened to be in the senate-house; the consul presented the envoys there.

[8] They were kept there just long enough to explain how large the king's forces of infantry and cavalry had been, how many thousand of them had been slain and how many captured, with the loss of how few of our men this great slaughter of the enemy had been accomplished, and how hastily the king had fled; it was thought, the envoys said, that he would make for Samothrace; the fleet was ready to pursue, and it would be impossible for him to slip away either by land or sea.

[9] On being brought before a meeting shortly thereafter, the envoys related the same facts. Joy broke out anew when the consul proclaimed that all sacred buildings should be opened;

[10] from the meeting, each citizen went of his own accord to offer thanks to the gods, and all over the city the temples of the immortal gods were filled with a huge throng, not only of men, but of women too.

The senate was recalled to the senate-house, voted that thanksgiving for the glorious achievement of the consul Lucius Aemilius should be observed for five days at all the banquet-tables of the gods, and ordered sacrifice offered with the larger victims.

[11] The ships which were moored in the Tiber ready and equipped to be sent to Macedonia, if circumstances demanded it, were to be put ashore and housed in ⁶ the ship-sheds; the sailors were to be discharged after receiving their year's pay, and with them, all those who had taken the oath before the consul. It was voted to discharge all soldiers who were in Corcyra, at Brundisium, along the Adriatic, or in the territory of Larinum —for an army had been distributed among all these places, to enable Gaius Licinius to bring aid to his colleague, if the situation demanded it.

[12] At a meeting a thanksgiving was proclaimed to the people for the eleventh of October and the four days following.

On the following day a meeting of the senate was held in the council-chamber, and a general supplication was voted, and likewise a decree of the senate was passed, that the consul should disband all his troops, excepting the legionary soldiers and seamen;

[2] and that their disbandment should be taken into consideration as soon as the deputies from the consul Aemilius, who had sent forward the courier, should arrive in town.

[3] On the sixth day before the calends of October, about the second hour, the deputies came into the city, and proceeded directly to the tribunal in the forum, drawing after them, wherever they went, an immense crowd, composed of those who went forth to meet and escort them.

[4] The senate happened to be then in the council-chamber, and the consul introduced the deputies to them. They were detained there no longer than to give an account,

[5]

[6] They were then brought out into the assembly of the people, where they repeated the same particulars, and the general joy was renewed in such a degree, that no sooner had the consul published an order,

[7] than every one proceeded, with as much speed as he could use, to return thanks to the gods, and the temples of the immortal gods, throughout the entire city, were filled with vast crowds, not only of men, but of women.

[8] The senate, being re-assembled, ordered thanksgivings in all the temples, during five days, for the glorious successes obtained by the consul Lucius Aemilius, with sacrifices of the larger kinds of victims.

[9] They also voted that the ships, which lay in the Tiber fit for sea, and ready to sail for Macedon, in case the king had been able to maintain the contest, should

[10] be hauled up, and placed in the docks, and that the seamen belonging to them should be discharged, after receiving a year's pay;

[11] and, together with these, all who had taken the military oath to the consul; that all the soldiers in Corcyra and Brundusium, on the coast of the Hadriatic and in the territory of Larinum, (for in all these places had troops been cantoned, in order that the consul Licinius might, if occasion required, take them over to reinforce his colleague,) should be disbanded.

[12] The thanksgiving was fixed, by proclamation in the assembly, for the fifth day before the ides of October, and the five days following.

The following day there was a meeting of the senate in the senate-house, and a decree was made ordering public thanksgivings. The senators also passed a resolution that, with the exception of the regular soldiers and the seamen of the fleet the consul should disband those who had taken the military oath to him.

[2] The question of the disbandment of the soldiers and seamen was postponed until the arrival of the deputation from L. Aemilius, by whom the despatch-bearer had been sent on in advance.

[3] On 25th September, about 8 A.M., they entered the City. A vast crowd had gone out to meet them at various points and accompany them back to the City.

[4] Carrying the throng along with them they made their way to the Forum, and from there to the senate-house. The senate happened to be in session, and the consul brought them into the House.

[5] They were detained there for some time whilst they described the strength of the king's troops, both horse and foot, the numbers of those killed and those taken prisoners, the small cost at which such a slaughter of the enemy had been made, and the panic in which the king had fled.

[6] They thought he would probably make for Samothrace, and they informed the senate that the fleet was ready to take up the pursuit; he could not escape either by land or sea. Shortly afterwards they were conducted to the Assembly, where they made much the same statement, and the rejoicings were renewed on the consul

[7] giving notice that all the sacred buildings were opened, and every one was to go from the Assembly and offer, each for himself, his thanks to the gods.

[8] All the temples throughout the City were filled with crowds of women as well as men. The senators were recalled to the senate-house and made a decree that, in consideration of the glorious victory won by L. Aemilius, thanksgivings should be offered

[9] at all the shrines for five days, and the victims sacrificed were to be full-grown animals. Orders were given that the ships which were lying in the Tiber fully equipped for service,

[10] to be sent to Macedonia should occasion arise, were to be hauled up and placed in dock; the crews were to receive a year's pay and be discharged, as also all who had taken the military oath to the consul.

[11] In addition to these the troops in Corcyra, Brundisium and the coast of the Hadriatic, or in the district of Larinum-an army had been distributed in all these places as a reserve for C. Licinius to take to the support of his colleague, should it become necessary-were ordered to be disbanded.

[12] A five days' thanksgiving was proclaimed before the Assembly, to commence on 26th September.