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| Lucius Aemilius Paullus Lepidus Macedonicus |
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(also spelled PAULUS)
L.
Aemilius Paullus defeated the Macedonians in BC 168 and brought their
king , Perseus, and his sons to Rome to adorn his triumph. A trophy is
centered in the coin with TER printed above it. The togate L Aemilius
Paullus is standing to the right of a trophy with his right hand raised
and to the far left of the trophy is Perseus, with his hands bound
behind him, and his two sons before him are shown as prisoners; PAVLLVS
is printed in the exergue.
Roman
general whose victory over the Macedonians at Pydna ended the Third
Macedonian War (171-168 Bc) . Paullus' father, a consul of the same
name, had been killed fighting the Carthaginians at Cannae in 216. He
was curule aedile (193 B.C.), praetor (191), and consul (182). Paullus
campaigned against the Lusitanians in Spain (191-189) and the Ingauni
in Liguria (181). As consul again in 168, he decisively defeated the
Macedonian king Perseus at Pydna (June 22). Paullus carried out the
settlement with Macedonia and Greece, and, on orders from the Senate,
he sacked the cities of Epirus. He was censor in 164. Paullus was the
father of Scipio Aemilianus.
The
Macedonian war between Rome and King Perseus had dragged on since 171;
Paullus accepted (168) a second consulship to fight in Macedonia.
Capturing the king near Pydna, he set up the country as a Roman
dominion; he also sacked Epirus.
Plutarch wrote his life.
"His
first wife was Papiria, the daughter of Maso, who had formerly been
consul. With her he lived a considerable time in wedlock, and then
divorced her, though she had made him the father of noble children;
being mother of the renowned Scipio, and Fabius Maximus. The reason of
this separation has not come to our knowledge; but there seems to be a
truth conveyed in the account of another Roman's being divorced from
his wife, which may be applicable here. This person being highly blamed
by his friends, who demanded, Was she not chaste? was she not fair? was
she not fruitful? holding out his shoe, asked them, Whether it was not
new? and well made? Yet, added he, none of you can tell where it
pinches me. Certain it is, that great and open faults have often led to
no separation; while mere petty repeated annoyances, arising from
unpleasantness or incongruity of character, have been the occasion of
such estrangement as to make it impossible for man and wife to live
together with any content. Aemilius, having thus put away Papiria,
married a second wife, by whom he had two sons, whom he brought up in
his own house, transferring the two former into the greatest and most
noble families of Rome. The elder was adopted into the house of Fabius
Maximus, who was five times consul; the younger, by the son of Scipio
Africanus, his cousin-german, and was by him named Scipio. Of the
daughters of Aemilius, one was married to the son of Cato, the other to
Aelius Tubero, a most worthy man, and the one Roman who best succeeded
in combining liberal habits with poverty. " (Plutarch, Life of Paullus
Aemilius)
Lucius
Aemilius Paullus was consul in 182 and in 168, when he dealt with the
last Macedonian leader, Perseus. Paullus was as destructive, brutal and
greedy a Roman as they come, but because he was the father of
Polybius's friend Scipio Aemilianus, he did not receive his due share
of opprobrium in antiquity.
Victory
over Macedon meant that it was time to call accounts with those who had
not supported Rome to the fullest. In Aetolia, the pro-Roman faction
killed 500 of its opponents and exiled more. Paullus then praised those
who had carried out this act, thereby encouraging similar purges
elsewhere. In addition, accusations were laid against many others, who
were arrested and deported to Italy to be dealt with there. Among these
were 1000 members of the Achaean League, including Polybius, whose
father was a leading member of the faction supporting Achaean
independence (and hence implicit opposition to the Romans). All
Macedonians of any consequence were also deported to Italy.
Perseus
was humiliated by being paraded in Paullus's triumph, and was kept in
miserable circumstances in Italy. (It was pointedly but unsuccessfully
suggested that he should commit suicide.)
The
plunder made from conquering Macedon was immense, but apparently it was
not sufficient to satisfy the avarice of Paullus, whose troops were
discontended (they felt that Paullus had been keeping too much for
himself). Accordingly, during his return in 167 to Italy he took
advantage of a decree of the senate stating that Epirus, some of whose
leaders had foolishly espoused Perseus's cause, should serve as
plunder. The area had already been subdued by a praetor whose camp was
nearby. Paullus told the praetor not to interfere in his actions. He
sent envoys to each of 70 towns (mainly in Molossia) saying that he
would remove the garrisons if they collected all the gold and silver of
the town in the agora (market place). When this was all arranged, he
commanded his troops to attack suddenly all the towns on the same day
at the same time. 150,000 people were enslaved through this act of
treachery, so many in fact that the slave markets were glutted and the
troops did not realize as much as had been expected. This of course did
no good to the enslaved thousands. Strabo reports that even a century
and a half later this once thickly populated area was a desert.
One
can only hope that the "tragedy" that soon befell Paullus was the work
of the gods. He had four sons, and gave away two to be adopted by
famous but childless senators. One was adopted by a descendant of the
famous Cunctator and became Q. Fabius Maximus Aemilianus (the last name
indicating that he had originally been an Aemilius); the other was
adopted by the son of Scipio Africanus and became P. Cornelius Scipio
Aemilianus. Just before Paullus celebrated his triumph, one of the sons
remaining to him died and the same fate befell the other in its
immediate aftermath. The triumph was one of unbelievable splendor (not
surprising given Paullus' greed), spoiled only by the complaints about
his cheapness made by his soldiers. Paullus could not ask for his other
sons back, and his miserable name died with him (though it was revived
at the time of the emperor Augustus by collateral members of the
Aemilian gens). |
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