Book 45
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Their departure was followed by the arrival of deputations from Pisae and Luna, who had a dispute. The Pisans complained that they had been expelled from their territory by the Roman colonists; those from Luna asseverated that the land in question had been assigned to them by the commissioners who settled the colony. The senate sent five commissioners to investigate the facts and fix the boundaries-namely, Q. Fabius Buteo, P. Cornelius Blasio, T. Sempronius Musca, L. Naevius Balbus and C. Apuleius Saturninus. A joint deputation from Eumenes and the brothers Attalus and Athenaeus also came to offer their congratulations on the victory. Masgaba, the son of Masinissa, had landed at Puteoli, and the quaestor L. Manlius was sent with a sum of money to meet him and conduct him to Rome at the expense of the State. Immediately on his arrival in Rome the senate granted him an audience. The young prince spoke in such a way as to make the matter of his speech still more welcome by the way he put it. He stated the force of cavalry and infantry, the number of elephants, the quantity of corn which his father had sent to Macedonia during the last four years. Two things made him blush; one was that the senate through their ambassadors had requested him instead of commanding him to furnish what was necessary for the war, the other was that they had sent money to pay for the corn. Masinissa, he said, had not forgotten that it was to the Romans that he owed his kingdom and the subsequent extension of it; he was quite contented with enjoying the usufruct of it and was fully aware that the proprietary remained with those who gave it to him. He thought it only right that they should take and not ask or pay for the produce of the soil which they had given. What was over and above the requirements of the people of Rome would be amply sufficient for him. He then informed the senate that after leaving his father with these instructions he was overtaken by mounted messengers who informed him of the final defeat of Macedonia and brought an order for him to offer his father's congratulations to the senate, and to say that he was so rejoiced at this that he wished to go to Rome and offer sacrifices and thanksgivings in the Capitol if the senate would give him permission.
