Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
When Antiochus the king, with a great force, arrived in Greece, and all were terror-stricken at the great numbers of the men and their armament, Flamininus told a story for the benefit of the Achaeans as follows: He said he was in Chalcis dining with a friend, and was amazed at the great number of the meats served. But his friend said that these were all pork, differing only in their seasoning and the way they were cooked. So then, he said, do not you, either, be amazed at the king’s forces when you hear the names: 4 pikemen, panoplied, foot-guards, archers with two horses. For all these are but Syrians differing from one another only in their paraphernalia. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. (378 E); Livy, xxxv. 49.)
He made a joke at the expense of Philopoemen, general of the Achaeans, who had plenty of horsemen and men-at-arms, but was not well off for money; Quintius said that Philopoemen had arms and legs but no belly. As a matter of fact, Philopoemen, in physical appearance, was something like this. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Philopoemen, chap. ii. (357 A).)
Gnaeus Domitius, whom Scipio the Great appointed in his stead as a colleague for his brother Lucius in the war against Antiochus, when he had inspected the battle-line of the enemy, and the officers of his
staff urged him to attack at once, said that there was not time enough to hew down so many thousands, plunder their baggage, return to camp, and enjoy their usual comforts; but all this they would do on the morrow at the right time. And on the next day he engaged the enemy, and slew fifty thousand of them. [*](Cf. Appian, Roman History, the Syrian Wars, vi. 30-36; Livy, xxxviii. 39.)Publius Licinius, consul in command of the army, was defeated by Perseus, king of the Macedonians, in a cavalry battle, with the loss of two thousand eight hundred men killed or captured. After the battle, when Perseus sent envoys regarding a treaty of peace, the vanquished bade the victor submit his case to the Romans. [*](Cf. Polybius, xxvii. 8; Livy, xlii. 62.)
Paulus Aemilius, when he was a candidate for a second term as consul, failed of election. But when the war against Perseus and the Macedonians dragged on because of the inexperience and effeminacy of the generals, the people appointed him consul. But he said he owed no thanks to them; for it was not because he wanted office, but because they wanted an officer, that he was chosen general. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. vi. (258 B), chap. ix. (259 C), chap. xi. (260 C).)
Coming home from the Forum and finding Tertia, his little daughter, in tears, he asked the reason. And she said, Our Perseus is dead. (It
was a pet dog which had that name.) Good luck be with me, my girl, said he; I accept the omen. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. x. (260 B), quoted from Cicero, De divinatione, i. 46 (103); see too Valerius Maximus, i. 5. 3.)