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STILL WATERS RUN DEEP: PLUTARCH, AEMILIUS PAULUS 14
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2013
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In his Life of Aemilius Paulus, Plutarch (quite naturally) rehearses the initial phase of Aemilius Paulus' campaign against Perseus, when the Macedonian had occupied a position on the northern bank of the river Elpeus so strongly fortified that any direct assault could only be disastrous for the attackers. Aemilius instead resorted to a cunning strategy of synchronized surgical strikes, while a detachment, the departure and direction of which were successfully disguised, managed to round the Macedonian camp. Perseus' position was thus compromised, and in reaction the monarch hastily retreated to Pydna, where in the end his luck was even worse. Embedded in this narrative is the report that, prior to Aemilius' dislodging of Perseus, the morale of the legions was sorely depressed. The reason was simple and straightforward: they were suffering from a shortage of satisfactorily potable water. This difficulty Aemelius resolved by digging wells.
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References
1 Plut. Aem. 12–16. Digging wells: Aem. 14; cf. Liv. 44.33.1–4; Zonar. 9.23; Diod. Sic. 30.20. On Aemilius' campaign against Perseus up to his victory at Pydna, see the evidence and exposition, with further literature, in Hammond, N.G.L. and Walbank, F.W., A History of Macedonia, vol. 3 (Oxford, 1988), 539–57Google Scholar. I am very grateful to Chris Pelling and to the journal's anonymous referee for significantly improving this paper.
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