Aemilius Paullus (Routledge Revivals)

Aemilius Paullus (Routledge Revivals) Synopsis

Lucius Aemilius Paullus was largely responsible for the inclusion of Greece in the growing empire of the Republic. He is most often presented as a man of pristine virtue and philhellenic persuasion, but this image has clouded his personality as well as the events in which he was involved. Aemilius Paullus: Conqueror of Greece, first published in 1988, aims to construct an accurate picture of the soldier and politician by scrutiny of the main sources – Livy, Plutarch and Polybius (the last of whom worked under the direct patronage of Paullus).

The Polybian concepts of the statesman and the conqueror, Livy’s portrayal of a man schooled in the mos maiorum and Plutarch’s moralistic use of the image of Paullus for didactic purposes are each investigated. The author shows how each writer moulds a Paullus according to his own preconceptions, and suggests that he may have been little more than a competent general and politician.