Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus
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Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus (229 BC-160 BC) was a Roman general and politician. His father was Lucius Aemilius Paulus, the consul defeated and killed in the battle of Cannae. Lucius Aemilius was, in his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Pauli, an old and aristocratic patrician family. Their influence was immense, particularly due to their fortune and alliance with the Cornelii Scipiones.
After the fulfilment of his military service as military tribune, Paullus was elected curule aedile in 193 BC. The next step of his cursus honorum was the election as praetor in 191 BC. At the term of this office he went to the Hispania provinces, where he campaigned against the Lusitanians between 191 and 189 BC. Paullus was elected consul for the first time in 182 BC, with Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus as junior partner. His next military command, with proconsular imperium, was in the next year, against the Ingauni of Liguria.
The Third Macedonian War breaks in 171 BC, when king Perseus of Macedon defeated a Roman army led by the consul Publius Licinius Crassus in the battle of Callicinus. After two years of indecisive results for both sides, Paulus was elected consul again in 168 BC (with Gaius Licinius Crassus as colleague). As consul, he was appointed by the senate to deal with the Macedonian war. Shortly afterwards, in June 22, he won the decisive battle of Pydna. Perseus of Macedonia was made prisoner and the Third Macedonian War ended.
To set an example, Paulus ordered the killing of 500 Macedonians known for opposition against Rome. He also exiled many more to Italy and confiscated his belongings in the name of Rome but according to Plutarch, keeping too much to himself. On the return to Rome in 167 BC, his legions were displeased with their share of the plunder. To keep them happy, Paulus decided for a stop in Epirus, a kingdom suspected of sympathizing with the Macedonian cause. The region had been already pacified, but Paulus ordered the sacking of 70 its towns. 150,000 people were enslaved and the region was left to bankruptcy.
Paulus' return to Rome was glorious. With the immense plunder collected in Macedonia and Epirus, he celebrated a spectacular triumph, featuring no less than the captured king of Macedonia himself. As a gesture of acknowledgment, the senate awarded him the surname Macedonicus. This was the peak of his career. In 164 BC he was elected censor and died during his term in 160 BC.
With the death of Macedonicus, the fortunes of the Aemilii Paulii came to an end. The successes of his political and military career were not accompanied by a happy family life. He had been married to Papiria Masonis, from whom he divorced, according to Plutarch, for no particular reason. From this marriage four children were born: two sons and two daughters, one married to the son of Marcus Porcius Cato, another to Aelius Tubero, a rich man of a plebeian family. Paulus Macedonicus then married a second time and had two sons. Since four boys were too many for a father to support across the cursus honorum, he decided to give the oldest two up for adoption. One was taken by Quintus Fabius Maximus and became Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus. The other was adopted by Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of Scipio Africanus, and became Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. With the eldest sons safely adopted by two of the most powerful patrician houses, Paulus Macedonicus counted on the two younger ones to continue his own name. This was not due to happen. Both of them died young, one shortly after the other, at the same time that Paulus celebrated his Triumph.
He is also credited with a remarkable soliloquy regarding the intervention of political leaders in military matters:
"In every circle, and truly, at every table, there are people who lead armies into Macedonia; who know where the camp ought to be placed; what posts ought to be occupied by troops; when and through what pass that territory should be entered; where magazines should be formed; how provisions should be conveyed by land and sea; and when it is proper to engage the enemy, when to lie quiet and they not only determine what is best to be done, but if any thing is done in any other manner than what they have pointed out, they arraign the consul, as if he were on trial before them. These are great impediments to those who have the management of affairs; for every one cannot encounter injurious reports with the same constancy and firmness of mind as Fabius did, who chose to let his own ability be questioned through the folly of the people, rather than to mismanage the public business with a high reputation. I am not one of those who think that commanders ought at no time to receive advice; on the contrary, I should deem that man more proud than wise, who regulated every proceeding by the standard of his own single judgement. What then is my opinion? That commanders should be counselled, chiefly, by persons of known talent; by those who have made the art of war their particular study, and whose knowledge is derived from experience; from those who are present at the scene of action, who see the country, who see the enemy; who see the advantage that occasions offer, and who, like people embarked in the same ship, are sharers of the danger. If, therefore, any one thinks himself qualified to give advice respecting the war which I am to conduct, which may prove advantageous to the public, let him not refuse his assistance to the state, but let him come with me into Macedonia. He shall be furnished with a ship, a horse, a tent; even his traveling charges shall be defrayed. But if he thinks this too much trouble, and prefers the repose of a city life to the toils of war, let him not, on land, assume the office of a pilot. The city, in itself, furnishes abundance of topics for conversation; let it confine its passion for talking within its own precincts, and rest assured that we shall pay no attention to any councils but such as shall be framed within our camp."
Livy, "History of Rome", book 44, chapter 22.—Livy, trans. Alfred C. Schlesinger, vol. 13, p. 161 (1951).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus. [1]
- Livy, History of Rome XLIV, 17 - XLVI, 41.
- Polybius, Histories, XXXII, 8. [2]
| Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans |
|---|
| Alcibiades and Coriolanus - Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar - Aratus & Artaxerxes and Galba & Otho - Aristides and Cato the Elder |
| Crassus and Nicias - Demetrius and Antony - Demosthenes and Cicero - Dion and Brutus - Fabius and Pericles - Lucullus and Cimon |
| Lysander and Sulla - Numa and Lycurgus - Pelopidas and Marcellus - Philopoemen and Flamininus - Phocion and Cato the Younger - Pompey and Agesilaus |
| Poplicola and Solon - Pyrrhus and Gaius Marius - Romulus and Theseus - Sertorius and Eumenes |
| Tiberius Gracchus & Gaius Gracchus and Agis & Cleomenes - Timoleon and Aemilius Paullus - Themistocles and Camillus |
| Preceded by: Quintus Fabius Labeo and Marcus Claudius Marcellus |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus 182 BC |
Succeeded by: Publius Cornelius Cethegus and Marcus Baebius Tamphilus |
| Preceded by: Quintus Marcius Philippus and Gnaeus Servilius Caepio |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Gaius Licinius Crassus 168 BC |
Succeeded by: Quintus Aelius Paetus and Marcus Junius Pennus |
