University of Virginia Library

45.9

After this the army went into winter quarters. Amphipolis took in the greater portion. The rest were disposed in the neighbouring cities. Such was the end of the war which had for four successive years been waged between the Romans and Perseus, and the end, too, of a kingdom long renowned through the whole of Asia and most of Europe. From Caranus, the first king, twenty monarchs are enumerated down to Perseus. He received the crown in the consulship of L. Fulvius and L. Manlius, and was recognised as king by the senate when M. Junius and A. Manlius were the consuls. His reign lasted eleven years. The nation of the Macedonians was almost unknown to fame down to the time of Philip, the son of Amyntas. From that time it began to extend under his rule, but it still confined itself within the limits of Europe, embracing the whole of Greece and portions of Thrace and Illyria. Then it overflowed into Asia and during the thirteen years of Alexander's reign he first brought under his power the whole of the Persian dominions, the extent of which was almost illimitable, and then he traversed Arabia and India up to where the Red Sea washes the remotest frontiers of the world. In those days the empire of Macedonia was the greatest in the world, but after Alexander's death it was broken up into numerous kingdoms, each man grasping at power for himself until its strength was exhausted by internal conflicts, and it sank from the highest pinnacle of prosperity to its final disappearance. It stood for about 150 years.