From Book 50

[50.1] Thessaly, which the false Philip wanted to invade and occupy with his armies, was defended by Roman envoys and Achaean allies.

[50.2] King Prusias [II the Hunter] of Bithynia, a man full of the lowest moral defects, was killed by his son Nicomedes [Epiphanes], who received help from king Attalus [II] of Pergamon, but had a second son (who is said to have had one single bone growing in place of his upper teeth).

[50.3] When the Romans sent three envoys to negotiate peace between Nicomedes and Prusias, of which the first had many scars on his head, the second was gouty, and the third was considered to have a slow mind, Marcus [Porcius] Cato said that this was embassy without head, feet, and brains.

[50.4] In Syria, which had until then had a king [Alexander I Balas] who was equal to that of Macedonia in ancestry but to Prusias in laziness and slowness, and who took his ease in kitchens and brothels, Hammonius ruled, and he murdered all friends of the king, and queen Laodice, and Demetrius' son Antigonus.

[50.5] [148] More than ninety years old, king Massinissa of Numidia died, a remarkable man.

[50.6] He was so vigorous that among the other youthful exploits that he performed during his final years, he was still sexually active and begot a son when he was eighty-six.

[50.7] He left his undivided kingdom to his three sons (Micipsa the eldest, Gulussa, and Mastanabal, who was well-versed in Greek literature), and ordered them to divide it according to the instructions of Publius [Cornelius] Scipio Aemilianus, who accordingly assigned the part of the kingdom they were to rule.

[50.8] The same man persuaded Phameas Himilco, the commander of the Carthaginian cavalry and a man of valor who was important to the Carthaginians, to join the Romans with his squadron.

[50.9] From the three envoys that were sent to Massinissa, Marcus Claudius Marcellus drowned during a tempest at sea.

[50.10] In their Senate room, the Carthaginians killed Hasdrubal, a grandson of Massinissa who served them as general, because they believed he was a traitor. Their suspicion was based on his relation to the Romans' ally Gulussa.

[50.11] When Publius [Cornelius] Scipio Aemilianus ran for aedile, he was elected consul by the people.

[50.12] Because he could not lawfully be made consul as he was under age, there was a big struggle between the people, who campaigned for him, and the senators, who resisted him for some time, but eventually the law was repealed and he was made consul.

[50.13] Manius Manilius stormed several cities in the neighborhood of Carthage.

[50.14] [147] After the false Philip had massacred praetor Publius Juventius with his army in Macedonia, he was defeated and captured by Quintus Caecilius, and Macedonia was subdued again.