to me, his elder brother, but, they want little of preferring him to yourself, his king and father. For, he is the person out of regard to whom the senate remitted to you the intended punishment, who now screens you from the Roman arms; who thinks it fit that your advanced age should be under obligation to, and dependent on, his youth. Him the Romans, him the cities freed from thy jurisdiction, and him the Macedonians, rejoicing at the peace with Rome, defend; but for me, father, what hope or protection have I any where except in thee? 11. “What do you suppose to be the intention of the letter lately sent to you by Titus Quintius, in which he not only says, that you acted wisely for your own interest in sending Demetrius to Rome, but also advises you to send him back again, with a greater number of ambassadors, and nobles of Macedonia? Titus Quintius is now his counsellor, and master, in every thing. Having renounced you his father, he has substituted him in your place. There in preference to all other places their secret plans are concocted. When he desires you to send greater numbers, and the chief men of Macedon they are seeking assistants in their schemes. For those who go from this place unchanged and uncorrupted, and impressed with the idea that they had Philip as their king, return from thence tainted—infected by Roman blandishments. Demetrius alone is every thing to them. They give him the title of king already, even in his father’s life-time. If I express my indignation at these things, you must forthwith understand that the crime of thirsting for dominion has been laid to my charge; not only by others, father, but even by you. But this charge, if made against both, I do not admit; for whom do I remove from his place, that I may succeed in his room? My father alone is before me; and that he may long be so, I entreat the gods. I his survivor, (and may I be so only on these terms, if, by my desert, he shall wish me to be so,) shall receive the inheritance of his kingdom, provided my father shall bequeath it to me. He covets rule, and covets it with criminal passion, since he hastily overleaps the order of age, of nature, of the Macedonian custom, and of the laws of nations. An elder brother stands in his way, to whom by right, and by the wish of his father, the kingdom belongs. Let him be carried off: I shall not be the first that acquired a kingdom by spilling a brother’s blood. My father, being old, and forlorn from being bereaved of his son, will rather fear for himself, than revenge his son’s death. The Romans will rejoice, they will approve, they will defend the deed. Father, these prospects are uncertain, but they are not groundless. For the matter stands thus: you can repel from me the fatal danger, by inflicting punishment on those who have taken up arms to kill me; if success attend the daring deed, you the very same shall not be able to avenge my death.”