TALES OF THE ROMANS
singing lustily, and shouting, “Yo! Yo! Triumph!”
Alas! the general's heart was sorrowful. Five days before the Triumph his son, aged fourteen, had died.
And another grief was to come. Three days after the Triumph another son, aged twelve, also died.
At a meeting of the citizens Æmilius Paulus spoke.
“Friends,” he said, “the winds of Fortune blow soft and fair, and sometimes they blow in dreadful tempest. In fifteen days I conquered Macedonia. I took much spoil, and had princes among my prisoners. Thus did Fortune blow fair. But two of my dear sons are now no more. I have buried them in the days of my triumph. The sons of Perseus, who was conquered, are still alive. The sons of Paulus, who conquered, are dead.”
The people listened in deep silence, their hearts touched by the general's grief.
When Æmilius Paulus died the city greatly mourned. His bier (or funeral litter) was carried by young Macedonians and Spaniards. And some old Macedonians and Spaniards went behind, saying:
“He was good to us, even when he conquered us.”
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