Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/298

Rh 286 PHILIPPUS. 4000 of his men. The recollection of his defeat ■ivas preserved by the name of the saltus Marcius, which was given to the spot from this time. In B.C. 183, Philippiis was sent as ambassador into Macedonia, with orders to watch likewise the Roman interests in Southern Greece; and although he compelled Philippus to withdraw his garrisons from various places, yet the report which he pre- sented to the senate was unfavourable to the Ma- cedonian monarch. In B.C. 180, Philippus was chosen a decemvir sacrorum. Some years after- wards, B.C. 171, Philippus was again sent with several others as ambassador into Greece to coun- teract the designs and influence of Perseus. He and Atilius were ordered first to visit Epeirus, Aetolia, and Thessaly, next to proceed to Boeotia and Euboea, and from thence to cross over to Peloponnesus, where the}"^ were to join their other colleagues. In Thessaly Philippus received an em- bassy from Perseus, praying for a conference, and grounding his plea on the hospitable connection which had been established between his father and the father of the Roman ambassador. With this request Philippus complied, and the conference took place on the banks of the river Peneus. The Roman ambassador persuaded the king to send ambassadors to Rome, and for this purpose a sus- pension of hostilities was agreed upon ; and thus Philippus completely accomplished the object he liad in view, as the Romans were not yet prepared to carry on the war. Philippus next went to Boeotia, where he was also successful in carrying out the Roman views, and he then returned to Rome. In the report of the embassy which he gave to the senate, he dwelt with pride upon the way in which he had deceived Perseus ; and al- though the senators of the old school denounced such conduct as unworthy of their ancestors, the majority of the body viewed it with so much ap- probation as to send Philippus again into Greece, with unlimited power to do whatever he might think most for the interest of the state. These services did not go unrewarded, and in B. c. 169 Philippus was a second time chosen con- sul, and had as his colleague Cn. Servilius Caepio. The conduct of the Macedonian war fell to Phi- lippus. This war had already lasted two cam- paigns, during which Perseus had maintained his ground against two consular armies. Philippus lost no time in crossing over into Greece, where he arrived early in the spring of B.C. 169, and re- ceived in Thessaly the army of the consul of the preceding year, A. Hostilius Mancinus. Here he did not remain long, but resolved to cross over the mountain ridge of Olympus and thus descend into Macedonia near Heracleium. Perseus was sta- tioned with the main body of his foices near Dium, and had taken possession of the mountain passes which led into the plain. If Perseus had remained firm, he might have cut off the Roman army, or compelled it to retrace its steps across the moun- tains with great loss ; but, at the approach of the consul, he lost courage, forfeited the advantages of his position, and retreated to Pydna. Philippus followed him, but was unable to accomplish any thing worthy of mention, and in the following year handed over the army to his successor L. Aemilius Paulus, who brought the Avar to a close. We learn from Livy that Philippus was at this time more than sixty years of age. In B. c. 164, Phi- lippus was censor with L. Aemilius Paulus, and in PHILIPPUS. his censorship he set up in the city a new sun diaL (Liv. xxxviii. 35, xxxix. 6, 14, 20, 48, xl. 2,3, 42, xlii. 37—47, xliii. 13, xliv. 1 — 16; Polyb. xxiv. 4, 6, 10, xxvii. 1, xxviii. 10, &c. ; Plin. H. N. vii. 60 ; Cic. Brut 20.) 4. Q. Marcius Philippus, the son of No. 3, served under his father in Macedonia, B.c. 169. (Liv. xliv. 3.) This is the only time he is men- tioned, unless, perchance, he is the same as the Q. Philippus, of whom Cicero says {pro Balb. 1 ] ) that he had been condemned, and lived as an exile at Nuceria, of which state he was made a citizen. 5. L. Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Philippus, failed in obtaining the military tribuneship, but nevertheless acquired afterwards all the high offices of state (Cic. pro Plane. 21). He was tribune of the plebs, B, c. 104, in which year he brought forward an agrarian law, of the details of which we are not informed, but which is chiefly memorable for the statement he made in recommending the measure, that there were not two thousand men in the state who possessed property (Cic. de Off. ii. 21), He seems to have brought forward this measure chiefly with the view of acquiring popularity, and he quietly dropped it when he found there was no hope of carrying it. In B. c. 100, he was one of the distinguished men in the state who took up arms against Saturninus and his crew (Cic. pro C. Rabir. 7). He was a candidate for the consul- ship B. c. 93, but was defeated in the comitia by Herennius ; but two years afterwards he carried his election, and was consul in B. c. 91, with Sex. Julius Caesar. This was a very important year in the internal history of Rome, though the events of it are very difficult clearly to understand. It was the year in which M. Livius Drusus, who was then tribune of the plebs, brought forward the various important laws, the object and tendency of which have been discussed elsewhere [Drusus, No. 6]. It is sufficient to state here that Drusus at first enjoyed the full confidence of the senate, and en- deavoured by his measures to reconcile the people to the senatorial party. Philippus was a personal enemy of Drusus, and as he belonged to the popular party, he offered a vigorous opposition to the tribune, and thus came into open conflict with the senate. The exasperation of parties rose to the greatest height, and even the senate itself was disgraced by scenes of turbulence and indecorum. On one occasion Philippus declared in the senate that he could no longer carry on the government with such a body, and that there was need of a new senate. This roused the great orator L. Lici- nius Crassus, who asserted in the course of his speech, in which he is said to have surpassed his usual eloquence, that that man could not be his consul who refused to recognise him as senator (Cic. de Orat. iii. 1 ; Quintil. viii. 3. § 89 ; Val. Max. vi. 2. § 2), In the forum scenes of still greater violence occurred. There Philippus strained every nerve to prevent Drusus from carrying his laws. On one occasion he interrupted the tribune while he»was haranguing the people ; whereupon Drusus ordered one of his clients to drag Philippus to prison : and the order was executed with such violence that the blood started from the nostrils of the consul, as he was dragged away by the throat (Val. Max. ix. 5. § 2 ; Florus, iii. 17 ; Aur. Vict. de Vir. III. QQ). The opposition of the consul was, however, in vain ; and the laws of the tribune were carried. But a reaction followed almost im-