[Footnote 54: The _Nobiles_ were distinguished from the _Ignobiles_. The outward distinction of the former was the _Jus Imaginum_. These Imagines were figures with painted masks of wax, representing the ancestors who had held any of the curule magistracies. They were placed in cases in the atrium or reception-hall of the house, and were carried in the funeral procession of a member of the family. Any one who first obtained a curule magistracy became the founder of the nobility of his family. Such a person was himself neither a _Nobilis_ nor an _Ignobilis_. He was termed a _Novus Homo_, or a new man.] [Footnote 55: The Latin word for bribery is _ambitus_, literally canvassing. It must not be confounded with _repetundae_, the offense of extortion or pecuniary corruption committed by magistrates in the provinces or at Rome.] [Footnote 56: See p. 127.(Second paragraph of Chapter XVIII.--Transcriber)] [Illustration: Island in the Tiber, with the Fabrician and Cestian Bridges.] CHAPTER XIX. THE THIRD MACEDONIAN, ACHAEAN, AND THIRD PUNIC WARS. B.C. 179-146. In B.C. 179 Philip died, and was succeeded by his son Perseus, the last monarch of Macedonia. The latter years of the reign of Philip had been spent in preparations for a renewal of the war, which he foresaw to be inevitable; and when Perseus ascended the throne, he found himself amply provided with men and money for the impending contest. But, whether from a sincere desire of peace, or from irresolution of character, he sought to avert an open rupture as long as possible, and one of the first acts of his reign was to obtain from the Romans a renewal of the treaty which they had concluded with his father. It is probable that neither party was sincere in the conclusion of this peace, at least neither could entertain any hope of its duration; yet a period of seven years elapsed before the mutual enmity of the two powers broke out into open hostilities. Meanwhile, Perseus was not idle; he secured the attachment of his subjects by equitable and popular measures, and formed alliances not only with the Greeks and the Asiatic princes, but also with the Thracian, Illyrian, and Celtic tribes which surrounded his dominions. The Romans naturally viewed these proceedings with jealousy and suspicion; and at length, in 172, Perseus was formally accused before the Roman Senate by Eumenes, king of Pergamus, in person, of entertaining hostile designs against the Roman power. The murder of Eumenes near Delphi, on his return homeward, of which Perseus was suspected, aggravated the feeling against him at Rome, and in the following year war was declared.