These men pushed the mob aside, and mounting to the
capitol in a body, bade the tribunes stop the voting until they had said
what they wished to the people. When voting ceased and silence was
obtained, Marcus Servilius, a man of consular rank, who had challenged
and slain twenty-three enemies in single combat, spoke as
follows:--"What a commander Aemilius Paulus must be, you are now best
able to judge, seeing with what a disobedient and worthless army he has
succeeded in such great exploits; but I am surprised at the people's
being proud of the triumphs over the Illyrians and Ligurians, and
begrudging itself the sight of the king of Macedon brought alive, and
all the glories of Philip and Alexander carried captive to the arms of
Rome. Is it not a strange thing that on the unfounded rumour of this
victory being circulated, you sacrificed to the gods, praying that you
soon might behold this spectacle, yet now that the army has returned
after a real victory, you refuse the gods the honour and yourself the
pleasure of it, as if you feared to see the extent of your successes, or
wished to spare the feelings of your captive enemy; though it would show
a nobler feeling than pity for him, not to deprive your general of his
triumph for a mean grudge. Your baseness has reached such a pitch that a
man without a scar, with his body delicately nurtured in the shade,
dares to speak about generalship and triumphs before us who have learned
by so many wounds to judge of a general's vice and virtues.
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