31.1
I, too, feel as much
relief in having reached the end of the Punic War as if I had taken a personal
part in its toils and dangers. It ill befits one who has had the courage to
promise a complete history of Rome to find the separate sections of such an
extensive work fatiguing. But when I consider that the sixty-three years from
the beginning of the First Punic War to the end of the Second take up as
many books as the four hundred and eighty-seven years from the foundation
of the City to the consulship of Appius Claudius under whom the First Punic
War commenced, I see that I am like people who are tempted by the shallow
water along the beach to wade out to sea; the further I progress, the greater
the depth, as though it were a bottomless sea, into which I am carried. I
imagined that as I completed one part after another the task before me
would diminish; as it is, it almost becomes greater. The peace with Carthage
was very soon followed by war with Macedonia. There is no comparison
between them as regards the critical nature of the contest, or the personality
of the commander or the fighting quality of the troops. But the Macedonian
war was, if anything, more noteworthy owing to the brilliant reputation of
the former kings, the ancient fame of the nation and the vast extent of its
dominion when it held sway over a large part of Europe and a still larger part
of Asia. The war with Philip which had commenced some ten years
previously had been suspended for the last three years, and both the war and
its cessation were due to the action of the Aetolians. The peace with
Carthage now left the Romans free. They were angry with Philip for his
attacking the Aetolians and the other friendly States in Greece while he was
nominally at peace with Rome, and also for his having given assistance in
both men and money to Hannibal and Carthage. He had ravaged the
Athenian territory and driven the inhabitants into the city, and it was their
request for help which decided the Romans to recommence the war.