Perseus spent his last days in confinement near Rome, enduring, it is alleged, base and cruel treatment. He was the last king of Macedonia. After the victory at Pydna, the sympathy shown in Greece for the conquered monarch made the Romans more watchful of her interests there. All suspected to be enemies were removed as hostages to Italy, and among these was the historian POLYBIUS. He lived in Rome for more than twenty years, and became a great friend of the younger Africanus, whom he accompanied to the siege of Carthage. Like Macedonia, Greece was separated into parts, independent of each other, with no rights of _connubium_ or _commercium_. Utter demoralization soon ensued, which proved a sure preventive to all alliances liable to shake the authority of Rome. Trouble again arose in Macedonia twenty years after Pydna, culminating in what is sometimes called the FOURTH MACEDONIAN WAR (149-146). Under the leadership of ANDRISCUS, who claimed to be a son of Perseus, the people rebelled against the protection of Rome. They were twice defeated in 148 by the praetor QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS, who gained the agnomen of MACEDONICUS. The country was made a Roman province, with a Roman magistrate at its head. At this time the Achaeans were quarrelling with Sparta. Metellus warned them to desist, and when the Achaeans advanced against him, he easily defeated them near SCARPHEIA. Metellus was a moderate reformer and a model man. He belonged to an illustrious plebeian _gens_, the Caecilian. Before his death in 115 three of his sons had been consuls, one censor, and the fourth was a candidate for the consulship. Metellus was succeeded in Greece by LUCIUS MUMMIUS, a cruel and harsh leader. The remnant of the Achaean army had taken refuge in CORINTH. The Senate directed Mummius to attack the city. Its capture in 146 was marked by special cruelties. The city was burned to the ground; beautiful pictures and costly statuary were ruthlessly destroyed. Gold in abundance was carried to Rome. The last vestige of Greek liberty vanished. The country became a Roman province under the name of ACHAIA. Corinth, the "eye of all Greece," remained in ruins for a century, when it was rebuilt in 46 by Julius Caesar, who planted on its site a colony of veterans and freedmen. CHAPTER XIX. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR, AND FALL OF CARTHAGE. Fifty years had passed since Zama. It was a period of great commercial prosperity for Carthage, but her government was weakened by the quarrels of conflicting factions.