re 



PERSEUS. 



PKRSIUS, AULUS FLA.OCU8. 



7*9 



general promises of assistance in procuring a 

 situation was Mr. Urquhart the bookseller. 



who had mad* him ,. 



situation was Mr. Drqubui the bookseller. Perry hd m the mean- 

 time dropped ome anonymous contribution* into the letter-box of 

 the ' Otaeral Advertiser,' which duly appeared in it* columns. In one 

 of hu uasutcossful viit to Urquhsrt, that gentleman, who bad been 

 highly pleased ith the last subject of hu reading, f oiutod to an article 

 in the ' Advertiser,' and told Perry that if be could write lite that he 

 would at once procure an engagement The delighted aspirant claimed 

 the article aa hii own, and produced from hit pocket the next contri- 

 bution, which he was about to drop into the letter-box. He wai 

 immediately engaged ai a stip- ndiary contributor, both to the 'General 

 Advertiser r and the ' Evening Post.' During the trials of Keppel and 

 Palliwr. be surprised the London world by the rapidity and complete- 

 ness of the report* of the proceedings. Becoming subsequently editor 

 of the ' Gasettoer,' he systematised the method of rapid reporting, by 

 establishing the employment of relays of reporter?, which has made BO 

 marked a change in the nature of the daily press. He became after- 

 wards joint proprietor and editor of the ' Morning Chronicle,' to which 

 he communicated a decided Whig spirit. From his marked position 

 he was the first selected to be the victim of Sir Vicary Gibb's attempt 

 to crush the independent press. On the 24th of February 1810 his 

 case came on for trial before Lord Ellenborough and a special jury, on 

 an ' ex officio ' information for libel. The substance of the charge was 

 a reprint in the ' Chronicle' of a paper in the ' Examiner' descriptive 

 of the blcwings which might be anticipated from a new reign com- 

 mencing with a change of system. This waa interpreted as an insinuation 

 that the existence of George III. was a barrier to improvement. Perry 

 defended himself, maintaining his right to inculcate the necessity of 

 improvement, and to look with hopeful anticipations towards any 

 quarter whence it might come. The jury pronounced a verdict of 

 not guilty, and the other official informations were dropped. Mr. 

 Perry died at Brighton December 6, 1821. He was the author of some 

 pamphlets and poetical pieces, the reputation of which was temporary. 



PERSEUS, son of Philip V., king of Macedonia, began at an early 

 age to serve in bis father's army, and distinguished himself by some 

 successes against the barbarous nations which bordered on Macedonia. 

 His younger brother Demetrius was carried away as a hostage by the 

 Consul Flamiuius at the time of the peace between Rome and 

 Philip, and after remaining several yean at Home, where he won the 

 favour of the senate, was sent back to Macedonia. After a time he 

 ws again sent by his father to Rome, on a mission, in consequence of 

 fresh disagreements which bad sprung up between the two states. 

 Demetrius succeeded in maintaining peace ; but after his return to 

 Macedonia he was accused of ambitions designs, of aspiring to the 

 crown, and of being in secret correspondence with Rome. Perseus, 

 who waa jealous of him, supported the charges, and Philip doomed 

 his younger son to death ; but not daring to have him openly exe- 

 cuted, for fear of the Romans, be caused him to be poisoned. It is 

 said that having discovered his innoctnce, his remorse and indignation 

 against Perseus hastened hi* death. Perseus ascended the throne in 

 the year B.C. 179. 



Perseus had been brought up by his father with sentiments of hatred 

 against the Romans for the humiliation which they had inflicted upon 

 Macedonia ; however, he dissembled bis feelings at the beginning of 

 his reign, and confirmed the treaty existing between his father and 

 the senate. But he soon began to prepare himself for war, and he 

 endeavoured to form alliances with the states of Greece, and espe- 

 cially with the Acheeans. The senate, hearing of this, sent legates to 

 Macedonia to examine the state of affairs. Eumenes, king of Perga- 

 mus, a staunch ally of the Romans, was also closely watching the 

 doings of Perseus, and be even went to Rome to report to the senate 

 the hostile preparations of the Macedonians. On his return from 

 Italy, as he was going to visit the temple of Delphi, an attempt was 

 made upon his life by assassins hired by Perseus. Eumenes escaped, 

 and the Roman senate declared Perseus to be the enemy of Rome, 

 B.o.172. 



The consul P. Licinins waa appointed to proceed with an army to 

 Macedonia. At the tame time commissioners were sent to Greece to 

 exhort the allies of the Romans to join in the impending struggle 

 against Perseus. Perseus had a conference with Q. Marcius, one of 

 the commissioners, who granted him a truce, during which the king 

 might wnd ambassadors to Rome to plead bis cause. When the com- 

 missioners returned to Rome they boasted of having deceived Perseus 

 by holding out the hope of peace, in order to give time to Borne to 

 prepare for war, whilst the delay could only be of disadvantage to 

 the king, whose army was ready to take the field. Some of the older 

 senators are said to have disapproved of thi. conduct as more deserving 

 of the name of Punic than of Roman faith ; but the majority of the 

 senate, " who cared more for what was advantageous than for what 

 was honest," supported the commissioners. (Livy, xlii. 47.) The 

 legatee of Peneos, after being heard by the senate, were dismissed 

 without any satisfactory answer. Licinius, on arriving in Tbessaly, 

 B.C. 171, met the army of Perseus on the banks of the Peneus, but 

 only partial engagement* took place, in on* of which the Roman 

 cavalry was defeated, but in another it bad the advantage, after which 

 both armie. went into winter-quarter*. The following year, B.C. 170, 

 seems to have been spent by both parties in preparations and desultory 

 The Consul Hostilius Maodnus made some attempts 



to enter Macedonia from Thessaly, bat did not succeed. HU legate 

 Appius Claudius, being sent to Lyci. nidus in Illyria, attempted to 

 surprise a town called Usoana, which was held by Perseus ; but he 

 was foiled, with the loss of most of his men. Meantime the exactions 

 of the Roman praetors Lucretius and liortensius bad indisposed several 

 of the cities of Greece against Rome, and produced a feeling favour- 

 able to Perseus. Those officers plundered Chalcis in Eubooa, a town 

 allied to Rome, and allowed their soldier* to abuse the wives and 

 children of the citizens. A citizen of Chalcis, who came to Rome to 

 complain, said it had been found much safer to shut the gates against 

 the Roman proton than to receive them ; for those who hod shut 

 their gates had escaped unhurt, whilst the allies of Rome were plun- 

 dered. The people of Abdera, being required to furnish a heavy con- 

 tingent of money and corn for the army, asked for a respite ; but 

 Hortenaius entered the town, beheaded the principal citizens, and sold 

 the rest as slaves. Envoys being sent to Rome by those unfortunate 

 cities, the senate ordered the Abderites to be restored to liberty, and 

 Lucretius, being summoned to Rome, was tried before the tribe*, and 

 fined a million of use*. (Livy, xliii. 4, 7, 8.) The Roman com- 

 missioners to the friendly states of Epirua, .Etolia, and Achica, acted 

 with less disregard to appearances, but with equal dishonesty. Those 

 states, like all weak countries that submit to the dictates of a powerful 

 stranger under the specious name of alliance, were divided into two 

 parties : one willing to keep on friendly terms with Rome, but still 

 mindful of their national honour and independence ; the other ser- 

 vilely devoted to Rome. The leaders of the Utter party sought the 

 favour of the Roman consuls and pnetors by accusing those whose 

 views were not the same as their own of being secret enemies of 

 Rome. Some of the persons thus accused were summoned, or in 

 other words transported to Rome, to await the pleasure of the senate. 



In the next year, B.C. 169, the new consul Q. Marcius came to take 

 the command of the army against Perseus. Ho entered Macedonia 

 unopposed, and took possession of the town of Dium ; but finding 

 it difficult to get supplies for hi* army, he withdrew to the frontiers 

 of Thesealy, retaining possession however of the strong defile of Dium, 

 which commanded the entrance of Macedonia on that side. On this 

 occasion Polybius, with others of his countrymen, being sent by the 

 Achicons to offer their assistance to the consul, remained some time 

 with the Roman army. 



In the year B.C. 163 Paulus /Kinilius was sent to command the army 

 against Macedonia. He passed the mountains from Thessaly and 

 advanced to Pydna, where he met Perseus with his army. The 

 Homnns found means to break through the Macedonian phalanx, und 

 a frightful confusion and butchery followed, in which 20,000 Mace- 

 donians ore said to have lost their lives. This single battle decided 

 the fate of a powerful and ancient kingdom : all Macedonia submitted 

 to the Romans. Perseus fled, almost alone, without waiting for the 

 end of the battle. He went first to Pella, the ancient seat of the 

 Macedonian kings, then to Amphipolis, and thence to the island of 

 Samothrace, whose asylum was considered inviolable ; thence he 

 attempted to escape by sea to Thrace, but a Cretan master of a vessel, 

 after having shipped part of his treasures, sailed away, leaving the 

 king on the shore. The king's attendants having also forsaken him 

 except one, Perseus, with his eldest son Philip, came out of the temple 

 where he had taken refuge and surrendered to the Romans. He was 

 treated at first by JEniilius with considerate indulgence, but was 

 obliged to parade the streets of Rome with his children, to grace the 

 triumph of hi* conqueror. He was afterwards confined, by order of 

 the senate, at Alba, in the mountains of the Marai, near the Lake 

 Fucinus, where be died in a few years. His son Philip also died at 

 Alba, Another and a younger sou is said to have become a scribe or 

 writer to the municipality of Alba. 



PE'RSIUS, AULUS FLACCUS, a Roman satirist, was born at 

 Volaterno, a town of Etruria, about the 20th year of the reign of 

 Tiberius, A.D. 34. He was of equestrian rank. At the early oga of six 

 years he lost his father. His mother, who was afterwards married to 

 another Roman knight, appears to have bestowed extraordinary care 

 upon Peraius ; and he appears to have shown towards her the strongest 

 filial affection. Persiu* waa trained at Volaternn till hi* twelfth year, 

 and be then proceeded to Rome, where be studied grammar under 

 lihemnius Polgcmon, and rhetoric under Virginiu* Flaocus. At the 

 ago of sixteen be became a pupil of Ann:rua CornutuR, a Stoic philo- 

 pber, who had come from Leptia in Africa to settle at Home. Lucan, 

 the poet, was hi* fellow-disciple in the school of Cumulus. Persius 

 and Cornutus were bound to each other by feelings more like those 

 of father and son than such as usually subsist between preceptor and 

 scholar. This friendship continued without interruption till the death 

 of Persius, which took place in his twenty-eighth or thirtieth year. 

 He bequeathed hi* book* and a Urge sum of money to Cornutus, who 

 however declined to receive the latter, and gave it up to the sisters of 

 Persius. 



The materials for a life of IVrsiuiaro scanty; but they are sufficient 

 to show him in s very favourable light. Amidst prevailing corruption 

 ue maintained a high moral character. He consistently applied his 

 principles a* a Stoic to the purpose* of self-discipline. His acquaint- 

 ance with men and things was the remit of private study more than 

 of actual converse with the world, so that, a* bis writings testify, ho 

 viewed human life as he thought it should be, rather than a* it really 



