45.40
Valerius Antias states that all the gold
and silver coinage carried in the procession amounted to 120,000,000
sesterces, but from his own account of the number of wagons and the weight
carried in each, the amount must undoubtedly have exceeded this. It is also
asserted that a second sum equal to this had been either expended in the war
or dispersed by the king during his flight to Samothrace, and this was all the
more surprising, since all that money had been accumulated during the thirty
years from the close of the war with Philip either as profits from the mines or
from other sources of revenue, so that while Philip was very short of money,
Perseus was able to commence his war with Rome with an overflowing
exchequer. Last of all came Paulus himself, majestic alike in the dignity of his
personal presence and the added dignity of years. Following his chariot were
many distinguished men, amongst them his two sons, Quintus Maximus and
Publius Nasica. Then came the cavalry, troop after troop, and the
legionaries, cohort after cohort. The legionaries were given 100 denarii each,
the centurions twice as much, and the cavalry three times that amount. It is
believed that he would have doubled these grants had they not tried to
deprive him of the honour, or even if they had been grateful for the actual
amount which he did give them.
Perseus, however, was not the only instance during those days of
triumph of sudden changes in the fortunes of men. He, it is true, was led in
chains through the city of his foes in front of his conqueror's chariot, but
Paulus, resplendent in gold and purple, was suffering too. Of the two sons
whom he kept with him as the heirs to his name and his house and to the
sacred rites of his yens -he had parted with two who had been adopted -the
younger one, a boy of about twelve, died five days before his triumph, and
the elder, a boy of fourteen, died three days after it. They ought to have been
riding with their father, wearing the praetexta and anticipating triumphs
similar to his. A few days later M. Antonius, a tribune of the plebs,
summoned a meeting of the Assembly that Aemilius might address it.
Following the practice of other commanders, he gave an account of what he
had done. It was a memorable speech worthy of a Roman leader.
