Most of what is known on the final military operations of the Third Macedonian War derive from two lost—and conflicting—sources, quoted by later classical writers. The first one is the "Histories" of Polybius, who talked to several witnesses of the war (Romans and Macedonians); his story was mostly followed by Livy. The second account is a letter or memoir written by Corculum himself and addressed to a king, possibly Massinissa of Numidia, as the Cornelii had personal ties with him since Scipio Africanus. This memoir was used by Plutarch in his "Life of Aemilius", who notes the discrepancies with Polybius. The memoir is considered to be one of the earliest Roman autobiographical texts, second to a long letter of Scipio Africanus to Philip V, which likely inspired Corculum. Opinions on the memoir have widely diverged among modern historians; some consider it to be a faithful account of the events, while others have rejected it as an act of self-advertising, with further opinions in-between.