Now he was able to prove that he had a vice yet more sordid than avarice, namely, base love of life; by which he lost even his title to pity, the only consolation of which fortune does not deprive the fallen.  He begged to be brought into the presence of Aemilius, who, to show respect to a great man who had met with a terrible misfortune, rose, and walked to meet him with his friends, with tears in his eyes.  But Perseus offered a degrading spectacle by flinging himself down upon his face and embracing his knees, with unmanly cries and entreaties, which Aemilius could not endure to listen to; but looking on him with a pained and sad expression, said, “Wretched man:  why do you by this conduct deprive fortune of all blame, by making yourself seem to deserve your mishaps, and to have been unworthy of your former prosperity, but worthy of your present misery?  And why do you depreciate the value of my victory, and make my success a small one, by proving degenerate and an unworthy antagonist for Romans?  Valour, however unfortunate, commands great respect even from enemies:  but the Romans despise cowardice, even though it be prosperous.”

XXVII.  However, he raised him from the ground, and, having given him his hand, he entrusted him to Tubero, and then taking into his own tent his sons, sons-in-law, and most of the younger officers, he sat silent, wrapt in thought for some time, to their astonishment.  Then he said, “Ought a man to be confident that he deserves his good fortune, and think much of himself when he has overcome a nation, or city, or empire; or does fortune give this as an example to the victor also of the uncertainty of human affairs, which never continue in one stay?  For what time can there be for us mortals to feel confident, when our victories over others especially compel us to dread fortune, and while we are exulting, the reflection that the fatal day comes now to one, now to another, in regular succession, dashes our joy.  Can we, who in less than an hour have trampled under our feet the successor of Alexander the Great, who was so powerful and mighty, and who see these kings who but lately were guarded by their tens of thousands of foot and thousands of horse, now receiving their daily bread from the hands of their foes, can we suppose that our present prosperity is likely to endure for all time?  You, young men, be sure that you lay aside your haughty looks and vainglory in your victory, and await with humility what the future may bring forth, ever considering what form of retribution Heaven may have in store for us to set off against our present good fortune.”  They say that Aemilius spoke long in this strain, and sent away his young officers with their pride and boastfulness well curbed and restrained by his words, as though with a bridle.