Lives by Plutarch - 11 - Aemilius Paullus
Aemilius Paullus
Quote
"Courage in those who meet with misfortune goes a long way towards enabling them to win the respect even of their enemies, but for Romans there is nothing more dishonourable than cowardice, even if the coward prospers."
Notes
Aemilius Paullus (A.P.) grows up among a lot of great men, but he still stands out because of his courage and action. He becomes a priest who is very attentive to the details and he carries that quality into the military later, too.
He wins military victories but doesn't enrich himself. He doesn't care a lot about money. He acts honourably toward his enemies, too, and earns their trust with his positive treatment.
He's a great parent to his sons, helps with their education, and he makes sure they receive a Greek education.
Macedonia, years after Alexander and much less powerful now, is causing trouble for Rome, which feels itself showing weakness after the heights of their former military victories against others. The Romans persuade A.P. to take command against the Macedonians. He accepts on condition that they don't interfere with his planning. Rome accepts.
The Macedonian King, Perseus, had recruited a mercenary force, the Basternae, to help him, but he refuses to pay them, even though Perseus is a descendant of Philip and Alexander, "who conquered all their enemies thanks to their belief that money was to be spent in acquiring power, not the other way around."
There's an eclipse before the battle. A.P. knows about eclipses and how they work, but he still does a bunch of sacrifices until he gets a positive sign. The battle starts and he eventually wins after a long struggle. At the end he thinks he's lost his son and is beside himself with grief, but then his son reappears and he's extremely relieved. Perseus flees in disgrace.
Back in Rome at a horse race a rumour starts spreading about A.P.'s victory, but it can't be traced to a starting point. Then they later find out it's true and are "astonished at how there was truth in the lie."
Perseus is captured and brought to A.P. and he grovels before him. A.P. replies to him, "Why are you undermining my victory and denying my success its significance, by showing that in you the Romans found a mean and unworthy opponent? Courage in those who meet with misfortune goes a long way towards enabling them to win the respect even of their enemies, but for Romans there is nothing more dishonourable than cowardice, even if the coward prospers."
But then A.P. reflects on life and the wheel of fortune. "... fate follows a cyclical course and attaches itself to different people at different times. When you consider that it took just one hour for the heritage of Alexander, the man who scaled the greatest heights of power and won the mightiest empire ever, to come tumbling down to where you have it now, under you feet, ... can you suppose that fortune holds out for our affairs any guarantee that they will survive over time?" He won't let this victory go to their heads. Perseus' fortune could be their own next.
He follows this victory by traveling around Greece, putting on feasts and public shows. And he gives the Macedonians freedom in exchange for payment, which is actually more reasonable than what they were paying before.
A.P. really loves giving feasts and parties and paying attention to the details as he does with everything else. "If anyone expressed amazement at the care with which he prepared these feasts, he used to tell him that the same mental faculty was involved in taking charge of a military formation and a symposium; the only difference was that you had to make one strike as much fear as possible into the enemy, and the other give as much pleasure as possible to the guests."
At the same time, he allows his soldiers to sack and loot surrounding communities, which seems to run contrary to the decency he shows elsewhere.
However, soldiers and other opportunists start to turn on A.P. since they want more riches for themselves. They vote against giving him a triumph (which is the highest honour given to a Roman general). But some of his friends speak on his behalf and ultimately the Romans give him a triumph. However, the occasion is a bit mixed. Two of his sons tragically die right around the time of his triumph. Plutarch wonders that "perhaps there is a some deity whose job it is to prune immoderately great success and make human life a mixture so that every life might be tempered and tainted with trouble." A.P. similarly had the suspicion that he had been too lucky, and that "payment is always required."
Still, A.P.'s victories bring so much wealth to Rome that no one has to pay taxes for many years. He's elected censor as well. Later he dies from an illness and has an honourable funeral. Many people come from all over, including people he'd conquered, such was his reputation.
Extras
Plutarch on the enjoyment he gets for himself writing these Lives:
"Although I originally took up the writing of Lives for others, I find that the task has grown on me and I continue with it for my own sake too, in the sense that I treat the narrative as a kind of mirror and try to find a way to arrange my life and assimilate it to the virtues of my subjects. The experience is like nothing so much as spending time in their company and living with them: I receive and welcome each of them in turn as my guest, so to speak, observe his stature and his qualities, and choose from his achievements those which it is particularly important and valuable for me to know. And oh, what greater delight could one find than this? And could one find a more effective means of moral improvement either?"