The History of Rome, Books 37 to the End with the Epitomes and Fragments of the Lost Books. Livy

after, Marcus Aurelius Cotta, deputy from Lucius Scipio, with ambassadors from king Antiochus and king Eumenes, and the Rhodian delegates, arrived at Rome. Cotta, first in the senate, and then by their order in the assembly of the people, stated the services which were performed in Asia. Then a supplication for three days was decreed, and forty victims of the greater kinds ordered to be sacrificed. Then audience was given first to Eumenes. He, when he had briefly returned thanks to the senate, “because they had relieved him and his brother from a siege, and protected his kingdom from the unjust attacks of Antiochus” and had congratulated them “because they had carried on affairs successfully by sea and land, and because they had utterly routed, driven out of his camp, and expelled king Antiochus, first from Europe, and then from all Asia on this side of Mount Taurus;” then said “he preferred that they should learn his own deserts from their generals and deputies, rather than from his mouth.” All being pleased with his discourse, and desiring him to tell frankly, bashfulness being for the present laid aside, “what recompence he thought proper to be given by the senate and people of Rome;” assuring him that “the senate were inclined to act with greater zeal and more abundant liberality, if possible, according to his deserts.” To this the king answered, “if the choice of rewards were offered him by others, if only permission to consult the Roman senate were given to him, he would have availed himself of the advice of that most noble body, lest he might appear to have been either immoderate in his desires or shameless in his requests. But now, when they themselves were the donors, it was much more proper that their munificence towards him and his brothers should be regulated by their own judgment.” The senate were not discouraged by this answer from desiring him to speak; and when there had been a long contest of kindness on one side, and reserve on the other, whilst they deferred to one another with a politeness not more mutual than insuperable, Eumenes departed from the senate-house. The senate persisted in their resolution so far as to say, “that it was absurd that the king should not know with what hopes or request he came. That he himself best knew what would be suitable to his own dominions. He was much better acquainted with Asia than were the senate. That he ought to be called back and compelled to state what were his wishes and sentiments.”

      53 The king, being brought back by the prætor into the senate-house, and desired to speak freely, began thus: “Conscript fathers. I should have persevered in being silent, but that I knew you would presently call in the Rhodian ambassadors, and that when they had been heard, the necessity of speaking would be imposed on me. And this my speech will be the more difficult on this account, because their demands will be of such a nature, that they will appear not only to make no demands which may be contrary to my interests, but not even to request any thing which may be intimately connected with themselves. For they will plead the cause of the Grecian states, and allege that they ought to be set free; which point being gained, to whom is it doubtful that they will alienate from us not only those states which shall be liberated, but likewise our ancient tributaries; and that after having bound them under so great an obligation, they will keep them under the denomination of allies, in reality subject to their government and entirely at their disposal? And, if it pleases the gods, while they will aspire to this so great power, they will pretend that this is no way connected with them; they will only say, that it is becoming you and conformable to your past conduct. You must be cautious, therefore, lest this speech deceive you; and lest by an unfair distribution, you not only depress some of your allies too much, while you exalt others beyond measure, but also put those who bore arms against you in a better state than your allies and friends. As to what regards myself in other cases, I should prefer to appear to any one to have yielded within the limit of my right, rather than to have struggled too obstinately in maintaining it; but in a contest of friendship and good-will towards you, and of the respect to be paid to you, I cannot with any patience bear to be outdone. This was the principal inheritance that I received from my father; who, of all the inhabitants of Asia and Greece, was the first who embraced your friendship; and this he maintained with constant and invariable fidelity to the last hour of his life. Nor did he display merely a faithful and kind inclination towards you, but was actively engaged in all the wars which you waged in Greece, whether on land or sea; he aided you with all kinds of provisions in such a manner, that not one of your allies could vie with him in any respect; and finally, while he was exhorting the Bœotians to an alliance with you, having fainted in the middle of his discourse, he shortly expired. In his steps have I trodden; and though I could not surpass the warmth of his wishes, and his zeal in courting your friendship—for these could not be exceeded—yet fortune, the times, Antiochus, and the war waged in Asia, afforded me occasions of surpassing him in real acts and merits, and valuable services. Antiochus, king of Asia, and of a part of Europe, offered me his daughter in marriage; offered to restore immediately the states that had revolted from us, and gave great hopes of enlarging my dominions, if I would have carried on war in conjunction with him against you. I will not boast on this account, because I was guilty of no trespass against you; but I will rather mention those instances of conduct which are worthy of the very early friendship between our house and you. I assisted your commanders with forces by land and sea, so that not one of your allies can stand in competition with me. I supplied them with provisions by land and sea. I was present in all the naval engagements which are fought in many places; and I never was sparing of my labour and danger. I underwent a siege, the most dreadful suffering that can occur in war, being shut up in Pergamus, in the utmost danger both of my kingdom and of my life. Afterwards when liberated from the siege, although in one part Antiochus, in another Seleucus, were encamped about the citadel of my kingdom, having deserted my own affairs, I went with my whole fleet to the Hellespont, to meet your consul Lucius Scipio, to assist in transporting his army. From the time that the army came over into Asia, I never quitted the consul; no Roman soldier was more regular in his attendance in your camp, than I and my brothers. No expedition, no cavalry action, was undertaken without me. In the field I took that post, and I maintained that ground, in which the consul wished me to be. I do not intend, conscript fathers, to say who in that war can be compared to me in services towards you. I would not hesitate to compare myself to any of those nations or kings whom you hold in great honour. Masinissa was your enemy before he became your ally; nor did he repair to you with his auxiliaries when his kingdom was safe; but dethroned, exiled, and stripped of all his forces, he fled for refuge to your camp with one troop of horse. Nevertheless, because he faithfully and diligently adhered to your cause in Africa, against Syphax and the Carthaginians, you not only restored him to the throne of his father, but by adding to his domain the most opulent part of the kingdom of Syphax, rendered him the most potent of all the kings in Africa. What reward then, and what honour are we worthy of at your hands, who have never been foes, but always allies? My father, myself, my brothers, have carried arms in your cause by sea and land, not only in Asia, but in countries remote from our home; in Peloponnesus, in Bœotia, in Ætolia, during the wars with Philip, and Antiochus, and the Ætolians. Some one may say, what therefore do you demand? Conscript fathers, since I must obey you when you desire me to explain my wishes: if you have removed Antiochus beyond the mountains of Taurus with the intention of holding those countries yourselves, I wish for no other people to settle near me, no other neighbours than you; nor could I hope that my kingdom would be rendered safer or firmer by any other event. But if your purpose is to retire hence, and withdraw your armies, I may venture to affirm, that not one of your allies is more deserving than I am of possessing what you have acquired. But then it will be a glorious act to liberate states that are in slavery. I agree that it will, provided they have committed nothing hostile against you. But if they took part with Antiochus, is it not much more becoming your wisdom and equity, to consult the interest of your well-deserving friends than that of your enemies?”

      54 The king’s speech was pleasing to the senate, and it was very evident that they would do all things liberally, and with a desire to serve him. As one of the Rhodian ambassadors was absent, an embassy from Smyrna was next introduced, which was briefly disposed of. When the Smyrnæans were highly complimented because they had resolved to endure the last extremities rather than surrender to the king, the Rhodians were next introduced. The chief of their embassy, after stating the commencement of their friendship with the Roman people and merits of the Rhodians, first in the war with Philip, and afterwards in that with Antiochus, said: “Conscript fathers, there is nothing in the whole course of our affairs that gives us more trouble and uneasiness than that we should have a debate with Eumenes; with whom alone, of all the kings in the world, each