The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

his intrigues were carried to a greater extent than
ever. He accused a great number of the most
eminent of his countrymen of having favored the
cause of Perseus; and although the conduct of the
Achaian government toward Rome had been
perfectly blameless, and nothing was found among
the papers of the king of Macedon which
confirmed the charge, even against any of its
individual citizens, yet, on the demand of the
Romans, more than a thousand of the most eminent
men in the commonwealth were arrested and sent
into Italy, under pretense that they should be tried
for their conduct at Rome. On their arrival in Italy,
they were confined in the different cities of
Tuscany, and there remained nearly seventeen
years. The senate repeatedly refused the petition of
the Achaian government, that they might either be
released or else be brought to trial. It is added that
whoever among them were at any time detected in
endeavoring to escape were invariably put to death.
At last, after most of them had died in captivity, the
influence of Cato, the censor, was exerted in behalf
of the survivors, at the request of Scipio
Æmilianus, who was anxious to serve one of their
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