42.47
On
their return to Rome, Marcius and Atilius reported the results of their
mission to the senate in the Capitol. The thing for which they took most
credit to themselves was the way in which they had hoodwinked the king by
holding out hopes of peace. He was so fully provided with all the means of
war, whilst they themselves had nothing ready, that all the strategic positions
could have been occupied by him before their armies had landed in Greece.
The interval of the armistice, however, would place them on equal terms, he
would no longer have the advantage of preparation, the Romans would
begin the war better equipped in every way. They had also succeeded by a
clever stroke in breaking up the national council of Boeotia, they could never
again be united in support of the Macedonians. A good many of the senators
approved of these proceedings as showing very skilful management. The
elder senators, however, and others who had not forgotten the moral
standards of earlier days, said that they failed to recognise anything of the
Roman character in these negotiations. "Our ancestors," they said, "did not
conduct their wars by lurking in ambush and making attacks at night, nor by
feigning flight and then turning back upon the enemy when he was off his
guard. They did not pride themselves on cunning more than on true courage,
it was their custom to declare war before commencing it, sometimes even to
give the enemy notice of the time and place where they would fight. This
sense of honour made them warn Pyrrhus against his physician, who was
plotting against his life, it made them hand over to the Faliscans as a prisoner
the betrayer of their children. This is the true Roman spirit, there is nothing
here of the cunning of the Carthaginians or the cleverness of the Greeks,
who pride themselves more in deceiving an enemy than in overcoming him in
fair fight. Occasionally more can be gained for the time being by craft than
by courage, but it is only when you have forced your enemy to confess that
he has been overcome not by cleverness nor by accident, but after a fair trial
of strength where the rules of war are properly observed -it is only then that
his spirit is broken and his defeat a lasting one." Such were the views of the
older senators, who regarded the new policy with disfavour, but the majority
preferred expediency to honour and signified their approval of what Marcius
had done. It was decided that he should be sent back to Greece with the fifty
quinqueremes, and should be at full liberty to act as he thought best in the
interest of the republic. A. Atilius was also sent to occupy Larisa in Thessaly,
as there was the danger of Perseus sending a garrison there on the expiration
of the armistice, and so keeping the capital of Thessaly under his power.
Atilius sent for 2000 infantry from the army of Cnaeus Sicinius to hold the
city. P. Lentulus, who had returned from Achaia, was supplied with 300
Italian troops to look after Thebes and overawe Boeotia.