45.38
"While
I fancy myself addressing the army, I am in a very different state of mind
from what I was in a few moments ago, when my words were addressed to
the citizens. What do you say, soldiers? Is there a single man in Rome
besides Perseus who would object to a triumph over the Macedonians, and
you do not tear him in pieces with the same arms with which you conquered
the Macedonians? The man who prevents you from entering the City in
triumph would have prevented you, had it been in his power, from winning
the war. You are mistaken, soldiers, if you think that a triumph is an honour
to the general alone, and not to the soldiers also, and to the whole people of
Rome. It is not the glory of Paulus alone that is at stake here -many who
failed to obtain the senate's sanction have triumphed on the Alban Mount; no
one can snatch from Paulus the glory of bringing the Macedonian war to a
close any more than he could deprive C. Lutatius of his glory in the first
Punic war, or P. Cornelius of his glory in the second. A triumph will not
diminish or enhance L. Paulus' greatness as a commander -it is the fair fame
of the soldiers and the people of Rome that is in question. Take care that this
action be not looked upon as an instance of jealousy and ingratitude towards
all our noblest citizens, copying the example of the Athenians, who
persecuted their foremost men because they were jealous of their greatness.
Enough wrong was done by your ancestors in the case of Camillus, whom
they treated with injustice -it was, however, before he rescued the City from
the Gauls -enough, too, by yourselves in the case of P. Africanus. We must
blush with shame when we remember that the domicile and home of the man
who subjugated Africa was at Liternum; that it is at Liternum we are shown
his tomb. If the glory of L. Paulus is on a par with theirs, do not let the
injustice you are showing to him equal what was shown to them. Let us
begin then by effacing this infamy so ugly in the eyes of other nations, so
disastrous to our own people; for who would wish to resemble either
Africanus or Paulus in a community which was ungrateful and hostile to its
good citizens? If there were no question of disgrace, if it were only one of
glory, what triumph, pray, does not bring with it a glory in which every
Roman has a share? All those triumphs over the Gauls, all those over the
Spaniards; all those over the Carthaginians, are they spoken of as the
triumphs of the commanders only, and not rather of the people of Rome as a
whole? As it was not over Pyrrhus or Hannibal personally but over the
Epirots and the Carthaginians, so it was not Manlius Curius or P. Cornelius
alone who celebrated them but the Romans. Especially is this true of the
soldiers. With their laurel wreaths, each wearing his decorations, they shout
their 'Io Triumphe' and make their progress through the City, hymning their
commander's praises. If at any time the soldiers have not been brought back
from the province for their triumph they murmur, yet even then they consider
that they are taking their part in it because it was by their hands that the
victory was won. If any one were to ask you soldiers for what object you
were brought back to Italy and not disbanded as soon as the province was
brought into order; why you have come to Rome in your thousands and
under your standards; why you remain here and do not disperse each of you
to your homes; what answer would you give except that you want to appear
in the triumph? You, at all events, ought to wish to be seen as victors.