40.5
The
horror of this deed fanned afresh the flames of hatred against the king.
Curses were everywhere heaped upon him and upon his children, and the
dire imprecations soon reached the ears of all the gods, so that they drove
him into murderous cruelty against his own flesh and blood. Perseus saw that
his brother Demetrius was growing more every day in popularity and
influence with the mass of his nation and in favour with the Romans, and he
felt that no hope remained to him of winning the crown except through the
perpetration of a crime, and to its accomplishment he now devoted all his
thoughts. He did not think himself strong enough to carry out the purpose
which he was hatching in his weak and unmanly mind, and he began to sound
his father's friends one by one, dropping dark and dubious hints in his talks
with them. Some of them made it appear at first as though they rejected
anything of the kind, because they hoped more from Demetrius. But as
Philip's bitterness against the Romans, which Perseus encouraged and
Demetrius did his utmost to check, became more pronounced every day,
they foresaw the ruin of the youth who was taking no precautions against his
brother's intrigues. So they at last decided to help on what must inevitably
happen and advance the hopes of the stronger by taking the side of Perseus.
They left other measures to be carried out at a fitting time, for the present
they determined to use all their endeavours to inflame the king against the
Romans and induce him to expedite the warlike plans which he was already
contemplating. To aggravate the suspicions against Demetrius, they used to
bring up the subject of the Romans in their conversations with him. Some
would run down their national character and institutions, others spoke lightly
of their military achievements, others scoffed at the appearance of the City,
its lack of adornment in both public and private buildings, whilst others,
again, spoke contemptuously of different public men. The young man,
thrown off his guard by his devotion to the name of Rome and his opposition
to his brother, defended them in every way, and thus made himself an object
of suspicion to his father and laid himself open to charges of disloyalty. The
result was that his father excluded him from all consultations on matters
relating to Rome and took Perseus entirely into his confidence, discussing
these subjects with him day and night.
The envoys whom he had sent to the Bastarnae to summon
assistance had returned and brought back with them some young nobles,
amongst them some of royal blood. One of these promised to give his sister
in marriage to Philip's son, and the king was quite elated at the prospect of
an alliance with that nation. Perseus, on this, said to him, "What advantage is
there in that? Little protection will there be in foreign support, compared
with the danger of domestic treason. We have in our midst a spy, I do not
want to call him a traitor; ever since he was a hostage in Rome, the Romans
possess his heart and soul, though they have given us back his body. The
eyes of almost all Macedonia are turned towards him; they are fully
persuaded that they will have none else as king but the one whom the
Romans give them." The distempered mind of the old king was made still
more uneasy by these words, which he took more seriously than appeared
from his looks.
