ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῷ τέσσαρες υἱοί, δύο μὲν εἰς ἑτέρας ἀπῳκισμένοι συγγενείας, ὡς ἤδη λέλεκται, Σκηπίων καὶ Φάβιος, δύο δὲ παῖδες ἔτι τὴν ἡλικίαν, οὓς ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας εἶχε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γεγονότας ἐξ ἑτέρας γυναικός,
For Aemilius had four sons, of whom two, as I have already said, had been adopted into other families, namely, Scipio and Fabius; and two sons still boys, the children of a second wife, whom he had in his own house.
ὧν ὁ μὲν ἡμέραις πέντε πρὸ τοῦ θριαμβεύειν τὸν Αἰμίλιον ἐτελεύτησε τεσσαρεσκαιδεκέτης, ὁ δὲ δωδεκέτης μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας θριαμβεύσαντος ἐπαπέθανεν,
One of these, fourteen years of age, died five days before Aemilius celebrated his triumph, and the death of the other, who was twelve years of age, followed three days after the triumph,
ὥστε μηδένα γενέσθαι Ῥωμαίων τοῦ πάθους ἀνάλγητον, ἀλλὰ φρῖξαι τὴν ὠμότητα τῆς τύχης ἅπαντας, ὡς οὐκ ᾐδέσατο πένθος τοσοῦτον εἰς οἰκίαν ζήλου καὶ χαρᾶς καὶ θυσιῶν γέμουσαν εἰσάγουσα, καὶ καταμιγνύουσα θρήνους καὶ δάκρυα παιᾶσιν ἐπινικίοις καὶ θριάμβοις.
so that there was no Roman who did not share the father’s grief; nay, they all shuddered at the cruelty of Fortune, seeing that she had not scrupled to bring such great sorrow into a house that was full of gratulations, joy, and sacrifices, or to mingle lamentations and tears with paeans of victory and triumphs.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ Αἰμίλιος ὀρθῶς λογιζόμενος ἀνδρείας καὶ θαρραλεότητος ἀνθρώποις οὐ πρὸς ὅπλα καὶ σαρίσας χρῆσιν εἶναι μόνον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς πᾶσαν ὁμαλῶς τύχης ἀντίστασιν, οὕτως ἡρμόσατο καὶ κατεκόσμησε τὴν τῶν παρόντων σύγκρασιν ὥστε τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τὰ φαῦλα καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα τοῖς δημοσίοις ἐναφανισθέντα μὴ ταπεινῶσαι τὸ μέγεθος μηδὲ καθυβρίσαι τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς νίκης,
Aemilius, notwithstanding, rightly considering that men have need of bravery and courage, not only against arms and long spears, but against every onset of Fortune as well, so adapted and adjusted the mingled circumstances of his lot that the bad was lost sight of in the good, and his private sorrow in the public welfare, thus neither lowering the grandeur nor sullying the dignity of his victory.
τὸν μέν γε πρότερον τῶν παίδων ἀποθανόντα θάψας εὐθὺς ἐθριάμβευσεν, ὡς λέλεκται· τοῦ δὲ δευτέρου μετὰ τὸν θρίαμβον τελευτήσαντος συναγαγὼν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὸν Ῥωμαίων δῆμον ἐχρήσατο λόγοις ἀνδρὸς οὐ δεομένου παραμυθίας, ἀλλὰ παραμυθουμένου τοὺς πολίτας δυσπαθοῦντας ἐφʼ οἷς ἐκεῖνος ἐδυστύχησεν.
The first of his sons who died he buried, and immediately afterwards celebrated the triumph, as I have said; and when the second died, after the triumph, he gathered the Roman people into an assembly and spoke to them as a man who did not ask for comfort, but rather sought to comfort his fellow-citizens in their distress over his own misfortunes.
ἔφη γάρ ὅτι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων οὐδὲν οὐδέποτε δείσας, τῶν δὲ θείων ὡς ἀπιστότατον καὶ ποικιλώτατον πρᾶγμα τὴν τύχην ἀεὶ φοβηθείς, μάλιστα περὶ τοῦτον αὐτῆς τὸν πόλεμον, ὥσπερ πνεύματος λαμπροῦ, ταῖς πράξεσι παρούσης, διατελοίη μεταβολήν τινα καὶ παλίρροιαν προσδεχόμενος.
He said, namely, that he had never dreaded any human agency, but among agencies that were divine he had ever feared Fortune, believing her to be a most untrustworthy and variable thing; and since in this war particularly she had attended his undertakings like a prosperous gale, as it were, he had never ceased to expect some change and some reversal of the current of affairs.
μιᾷ μὲν γὰρ, εἶπεν, ἡμέρᾳ τὸν Ἰόνιον ἀπὸ Βρεντεσίου περάσας εἰς Κέρκυραν κατήχθην πεμπταῖος δʼ ἐκεῖθεν ἐν Δελφοῖς τῷ θεῷ θύσας, ἑτέραις αὖθις αὖ πέντε τὴν δύναμιν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ παρέλαβον, καὶ τὸν εἰωθότα συντελέσας καθαρμὸν αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν πράξεων εὐθὺς ἐναρξάμενος ἐν ἡμέραις ἄλλαις πεντεκαίδεκα τὸ κάλλιστον ἐπέθηκα τῷ πολέμῳ τέλος.
For in one day, said he, I crossed the Ionian Sea from Brundisium and put in at Corcyra; thence, in five days, I came to Delphi and sacrificed to the god; and again, in other five days, I took command of the forces in Macedonia, and after the usual lustration and review of them I proceeded at once to action, and in other fifteen days brought the war to the most glorious issue.
ἀπιστῶν δὲ τῇ Τύχῃ διὰ τὴν εὔροιαν τῶν πραγμάτων, ὡς ἄδεια πολλὴ καὶ κίνδυνος οὐδεὶς ἦν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, μάλιστα κατὰ πλοῦν ἐδεδίειν τὴν μεταβολὴν τοῦ δαίμονος ἐπʼ εὐτυχίᾳ, τοσοῦτον στρατὸν νενικηκότα καὶ λάφυρα καὶ βασιλεῖς αἰχμαλώτους κομίζων.
But I distrusted Fortune because the current of my affairs ran so smoothly, and now that there was complete immunity and nothing to fear from hostile attacks, it was particularly during my voyage home that I feared the reversal of the Deity’s favour after all my good fortune, since I was bringing home so large a victorious army, such spoils, and captured kings.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ σωθεὶς πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὁρῶν εὐφροσύνης καὶ ζήλου καὶ θυσιῶν γέμουσαν, ἔτι τὴν Τύχην διʼ ὑποψίας εἶχον, εἰδὼς οὐδὲν εἰλικρινὲς οὐδʼ ἀνεμέσητον ἀνθρώποις τῶν μεγάλων χαριζομένην.
Nay more, even when I had reached you safely and beheld the city full of delight and gratulation and sacrifices, I was still suspicious of Fortune, knowing that she bestows upon men no great boon that is without alloy or free from divine displeasure.
καὶ τοῦτον οὐ πρότερον ἡ ψυχὴ τὸν φόβον ὠδίνουσα καὶ περισκοπουμένη τό μέλλον ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ἀφῆκεν ἢ τηλικαύτῃ με προσπταῖσαι δυστυχίᾳ περὶ τὸν οἶκον, υἱῶν ἀρίστων, οὓς ἐμαυτῷ μόνους ἐλιπόμην διαδόχους, ταφὰς ἐπαλλήλους ἐν ἡμέραις ἱεραῖς μεταχειρισάμενον.
Indeed, my soul was in travail with this fear and could not dismiss it and cease anxiously forecasting the city’s future, until I was smitten with this great misfortune in my own house, and in days consecrated to rejoicing had carried two most noble sons, who alone remained to be my heirs, one after the other to their graves.
νῦν οὖν ἀκίνδυνός εἰμι τὰ μέγιστα καὶ θαρρῶ, καὶ νομίζω τὴν Τύχην ὑμῖν παραμενεῖν ἀβλαβῆ καὶ βέβαιον.
Now, therefore, I am in no peril of what most concerned me, and am confident, and I think that Fortune will remain constant to our city and do her no harm.
ἱκανῶς γὰρ ἐμοὶ καὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς κακοῖς εἰς τὴν τῶν κατωρθωμένων ἀποκέχρηται νέμεσιν, οὐκ ἀφανέστερον ἔχουσα παράδειγμα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας τοῦ θριαμβευομένου τὸν θριαμβεύοντα πλὴν ὅτι Περσεὺς μὲν ἔχει καὶ νενικημένος τοὺς παῖδας, Αἰμίλιος δὲ τοὺς αὑτοῦ νικήσας ἀπέβαλεν.
For that deity has sufficiently used me and my afflictions to satisfy the divine displeasure at our successes, and she makes the hero of the triumph as clear an example of human weakness as the victim of the triumph; except that Perseus, even though conquered, has his children, while Aemilius, though conqueror, has lost his.
οὕτω μὲν εὐγενεῖς καὶ μεγάλους λόγους τὸν Αἰμίλιον ἐξ ἀπλάστου καὶ ἀληθινοῦ φρονήματος ἐν τῷ δήμῳ διαλεχθῆναι λέγουσι.
With such noble and lofty words, we are told, did Aemilius, from an unfeigned and sincere spirit, address the people.
τῷ δὲ Περσεῖ, καίπερ οἰκτείρας τὴν μεταβολὴν καὶ μάλα βοηθῆσαι προθυμηθείς, οὐδὲν εὕρετο πλὴν μεταστάσεως ἐκ τοῦ καλουμένου κάρκερε παρʼ αὐτοῖς εἰς τόπον καθαρὸν καὶ φιλανθρωποτέραν δίαιταν, ὅπου φρουρούμενος, ὡς μὲν οἱ πλεῖστοι γεγράφασιν, ἀπεκαρτέρησεν, ἔνιοι δὲ τῆς τελευτῆς ἴδιόν τινα καὶ παρηλλαγμένον τρόπον ἱστοροῦσι.
But for Perseus, although he pitied him for his changed lot and was very eager to help him, he could obtain no other favour than a removal from the prison which the Romans called carcer to a clean place and kindlier treatment; and there, being closely watched, according to most writers the king starved himself to death. But some tell of a very unusual and peculiar way in which he died, as follows.
μεμψαμένους γάρ τι καὶ θυμωθέντας αὐτῷ τοὺς περὶ τὸ σῶμα στρατιώτας, ὡς ἕτερον οὐδὲν ἠδύναντο λυπεῖν καὶ κακοῦν αὐτόν, ἐξείργειν τῶν ὕπνων, καὶ προσέχοντας ἀκριβῶς ἐνίστασθαι ταῖς καταφοραῖς καὶ συνέχειν ἐγρηγορότα πάσῃ μηχανῇ, μέχρι οὗ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐκπονηθεὶς ἐτελεύτησεν.
The soldiers who guarded his person found some fault with him and got angry at him, and since they could not vex and injure him in any other way, they prevented him from sleeping, disturbing his repose by their assiduous attentions and keeping him awake by every possible artifice, until in this way he was worn out and died.
ἐτελεύτησε δὲ καὶ τῶν παιδίων τὰ δύο. τὸν δὲ τρίτον, Ἀλέξανδρον, εὐφυᾶ μὲν ἐν τῷ τορεύειν καὶ λεπτουργεῖν γενέσθαι φασίν, ἐκμαθόντα δὲ τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ γράμματα καὶ τὴν διάλεκτον ὑπογραμματεύειν τοῖς ἄρχουσιν, ἐπιδέξιον καὶ χαρίεντα περὶ ταύτην τὴν ὑπηρεσίαν ἐξεταζόμενον.
Two of his children also died. But the third, Alexander, is said to have become expert in embossing and fine metal work; he also learned to write and speak the Roman language, and was secretary to the magistrates, in which office he proved himself to have skill and elegance.
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