Delphi Complete Works of Polybius

by Polybius

  About this time, just at the beginning of summer, the ten commissioners and king Eumenes arrived by sea at Ephesus; and, after giving themselves two days to recover from the voyage, proceeded up the country to Apameia. When their arrival was known to Cnaeus Manlius, he sent his brother Lucius with four thousand men to Oroanda (in Pisidia), as a forcible hint that they must pay the money owing, in accordance with the terms agreed on; while he himself marched his army at full speed to meet Eumenes and the commissioners. On his arrival he found the king and the ten commissioners, and immediately held a consultation with them on the measures to be taken. The first resolution come to was to confirm the sworn agreement and treaty with Antiochus, about which I need say no more, beyond giving the actual text of the treaty, which was as follows: —

  45. “There shall be perpetual peace between Antiochus and the Romans if he fulfils the provisions of the treaty.

  “Neither Antiochus nor any subject to him shall allow any to pass through their territories to attack the Romans or their allies, nor supply them with aught. Neither shall the Romans or their allies do the like for those attacking Antiochus or those subject to him.

  “Antiochus shall not wage war upon the Islanders or the dwellers in Europe.

  “He shall evacuate all cities and territory (this side Taurus). His soldiers shall take nothing out with them except the arms they are carrying. If they chance to have taken anything away they shall restore it to the same cities.

  “He shall receive neither soldiers nor other men from the territory of king Eumenes.

  “If there be any men in the army of Antiochus coming from any of the cities taken over by the Romans, he shall deliver them up at Apameia.

  “If there be any from the kingdom of Antiochus with the Romans or their allies, they may remain or depart as they choose.

  “Antiochus and those subject to him shall give back the slaves, captives, and deserters of the Romans or their allies and any captive received from any quarter. Antiochus shall give up, if it be within his power so to do, Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, Mnesilochus the Acarnanian, Thoas the Aetolian, Euboulidas and Philo the Chalcidians, and such of the Aetolians as have held national offices.

  “Antiochus shall give up all his elephants, and shall have none henceforth.

  “Antiochus shall surrender his ships of war, their tackle, and fittings, and henceforth have only ten decked ships. He shall not have a vessel rowed by thirty oars, [or by less] for purposes of war begun by himself.

  “He shall not sail west of the river Calycadnus and the promontory of Sarpedon, except to convey tribute or ambassadors or hostages.

  “It shall not be lawful for Antiochus to enlist soldiers or receive exiles from the territory subject to Rome.

  “Such houses as belonged to the Rhodians or their allies, in the territory subject to Antiochus, shall continue to belong to the Rhodians as before the war: any money owed to them shall still be recoverable: and any property left behind by them, if sought for, shall be restored.

  “The Rhodians shall, as before the war, be free from tribute.

  “If Antiochus has given any of the towns to others which he is bound to restore, he shall remove from them also his garrisons and men. And if any shall wish hereafter to desert to him, he shall not receive them.

  “Antiochus shall pay to the Romans ten thousand talents, in ten yearly instalments, of the best Attic silver, each talent to weigh not less than eighty Roman pounds, and ninety thousand medimni of corn.

  “Antiochus shall pay to king Eumenes three hundred and fifty talents in the five years next following, in yearly instalments of seventy talents; and in lieu of the corn, according to the valuation of Antiochus himself, one hundred and twenty-seven talents, two hundred and eight drachmae, which sum Eumenes has consented to accept ‘as satisfying his claims.’

  “Antiochus shall give twenty hostages, not less than eighteen nor more than forty-five years old, and change them every three years.

  “If there be in any year a deficit in the instalment paid, Antiochus shall make it good in the next year.

  “If any of the cities or nations, against whom it has been hereby provided that Antiochus should not make war, should commence war against him, it shall be lawful for Antiochus to war with them; but of such nations and cities he shall not have sovereignty nor attach them as friends to himself.

  “Such complaints as arise between the parties to this treaty shall be referred to arbitration.

  “If both parties agree in wishing anything to be added to or taken from this treaty, it shall be lawful so to do.”

  46. Immediately after this treaty had been solemnly sworn to, the proconsul Cnaeus sent Quintus Minucius Thermus and his brother Lucius, who had just brought the money from Oroanda to Syria, with orders to receive the oath from the king, and confirm the several clauses of the treaty. And to Quintus Fabius Labeo, who was in command of the fleet, he sent a despatch ordering him to sail back to Patara, and take over and burn the ships there....

  47. The proconsul Cnaeus Manlius made Ariarathes a friend of Rome on receipt of three hundred talents....

  48. At Apameia the Proconsul and the ten commissioners, after listening to all who appealed to them, assigned in the case of disputed claims to territory, money, or anything else, certain cities in which the parties might have their claims settled by arbitration. The general scheme which they drew out was as follows: Those of the autonomous cities which, having formerly paid tribute to Antiochus, had remained faithful to Rome, they relieved from tribute altogether. Those that had been tributary to Attalus they ordered to pay the same tribute to his successor Eumenes. Such as had abandoned the Roman friendship and joined Antiochus in the war, they ordered to pay Eumenes the amount of tribute imposed on them by Antiochus. The people of Colophon, Notium, Cymae, and Mylae, they freed from tribute. To the Clazomenians, besides this relief, they gave the Island Drymussa. To the Ephesians they restored the sacred district which they had been obliged by the enemy to evacuate.... To the people of Chios, Smyrna, and Erythrae, besides other marks of honour, they assigned the territory which they severally expressed a wish to have at the time, and alleged was their right, from regard for their loyalty and zeal which they had shown to Rome during the war. To the Phocaeans they restored their ancestral city and the territory which they possessed of old. They next transacted business with the Rhodians, giving them Lycia and Caria up to the river Maeander, except Telmissus. As to king Eumenes and his brothers, not content with the liberal provision made for them in their treaty with Antiochus, they now assigned him in addition the Chersonese, Lysimacheia, and the castles on the borders of these districts, and such country as had been subject to Antiochus in Europe; and in Asia, Phrygia on the Hellespont, Great Phrygia, so much of Mysia as he had before subjugated, Lycaonia, Milyas, Lydia, Tralles, Ephesus, and Telmissus: all these they gave to Eumenes. As to Pamphylia, Eumenes alleged that it was on this side Taurus, the ambassadors of Antiochus on the other; and the commissioners feeling unable to decide, referred the question to the Senate. Having thus decided the largest number and most important of the matters brought before them, they started on the road towards the Hellespont, intending on their journey to still further secure the settlement arrived at with the Gauls....

  BOOK XXII

  CONTENTS In the 148th Olympiad (B.C. 188-184) embassies came from Philip and the tribes bordering on Macedonia to Rome. The decrees of the Senate concerning them. In Greece the quarrel of Philip with the Thessalians and Perrhaebians about the cities held by Philip in their countries from the time of the war with Antiochus. The decision concerning them before Q. Caecilius at Tempe. Decisions of Caecilius. A difference of Philip with the ambassadors of Eumenes and the exiles from Maroneia; the pleadings on these points at Thessalonica and the decision of Caecilius. The massacre at Maroneia instigated by king Philip. The arrival of the Roman legates, and their decisions. The causes of the war between the Romans and Perseus. Arrival of ambassadors from ki
ngs Ptolemy and Eumenes and Seleucus in the Peloponnese. The decision of the Achaeans on the alliance with Ptolemy, and on the gifts offered them by these kings. Arrival of Q. Caecilius and his disapprobation of the measures taken in regard to Sparta. Embassy of Areus and Alcibiades, two of the earlier exiles from Sparta, to Rome, and their accusations against Philopoemen and the Achaeans. The Roman envoys come to Cleitor, where there is an Achaean assembly. The speeches delivered for both parties, and the Achaean decrees in the affair of Sparta. 3. After the execution of the men at Compasium, some of the Lacedaemonians, incensed at what had been done, and believing that the power and authority of the Romans had been set at naught by Philopoemen, went to Rome and accused Philopoemen and his proceedings; and finally obtained a letter addressed to the Achaeans from Marcus Lepidus, the consul of the year, and afterwards Pontifex Maximus, in which he told the Achaeans that they had not acted equitably in the matters of the Lacedaemonians. At the same time as this mission from Sparta, Philopoemen also appointed Nicodemus of Elis and others to go on an embassy to Rome.

  Just at that time Demetrius of Athens came on a mission from Ptolemy, to renew the existing alliance between the king and the Achaean league. This was eagerly accepted, and my father, Lycortas, and Theodoridas, and Rhositeles of Sicyon were appointed ambassadors to take the oaths on behalf of the Achaeans, and receive those of the king. And on that occasion a circumstance occurred, which, though not important perhaps, is still worth recording. After the completion of this renewal of alliance on behalf of the Achaeans, Philopoemen entertained the ambassador; and in the course of the banquet the ambassador introduced the king’s name, and said a great deal in his praise, quoting anecdotes of his skill and boldness in hunting, as well as his excellence in riding and the use of arms; and ended by quoting, as a proof of what he said, that the king on horseback once transfixed a bull with a javelin....

  4. In Boeotia, after the formation of the treaty between Rome and Antiochus, the hopes of the whole revolutionary party were destroyed. Politics therefore began to assume a new aspect; and whereas the administration of justice among them had been postponed for nearly the last twenty years, voices began to make themselves heard in the cities to the effect that “there ought to be an end and settlement of their mutual disputes.” But after considerable controversy on this point, because the discontented were more numerous than the wealthy, the following circumstance occurred which helped accidently to support the party of order. Titus Flamininus had for some time past been zealously working in Rome to secure the restoration of Zeuxippus to Boeotia, because he had found him serviceable on many occasions during the wars with Antiochus and Philip. And just at this time he had induced the Senate to send a despatch to the Boeotians ordering them to recall Zeuxippus and his fellow exiles. When this despatch arrived, the Boeotians, fearing that, if these men were restored, they would become detached from their good understanding with Macedonia, determined that the legal sentence upon Zeuxippus and the rest should be publicly proclaimed, which they had formerly drawn up against them. Thus they condemned them on two charges, first, of sacrilege for having stripped off the silver from the plated table of Zeus, and, secondly, of murder for having killed Brachylles. Having made this arrangement, they assumed that they need pay no further attention to the despatch of the Senate, but contented themselves with sending Callicritus and others to Rome with the message that they were unable to rescind what had been settled by their laws. Zeuxippus having sent an embassy to the Senate at the same time, the Romans wrote to the Aetolians and Achaeans an account of the attitude assumed by the Boeotians, and ordered them to restore Zeuxippus to his country. The Achaeans refrained from invading the country with an army, but selected some ambassadors to go and persuade the Boeotians to obey the orders from Rome; and also to settle the legal disputes existing between them and the Achaeans, on the same principles as they conducted the administration of justice at home: for it happened that there were some controversies between the two nations that had been dragging on for a long time. On receiving this message the Boeotians, whose Strategus was then Hippias, promised at the moment that they would do what was demanded of them, but shortly afterwards neglected it at every point. Therefore, when Hippias had laid down his office and Alcetas had succeeded him, Philopoemen gave all who chose license to make reprisals on the territories of the Boeotians; which proved the beginning of a serious quarrel between the two nations. For on the cattle of Myrrhichus and Simon being driven off, and a struggle arising over this transaction, the contest soon ceased to be political, and became the beginning and prelude of open war. If indeed the Senate had persisted in carrying out the restoration of Zeuxippus, war would quickly have been kindled; but as it maintained silence on the subject, the Megareans were induced by an embassy proposing terms to stop the reprisals....

  5. A quarrel arose between the Lycians and Rhodians from the following causes. When the ten commissioners were employed in the settlement of Asia, they were visited by Theaetetus and Philophron on a mission from Rhodes, demanding that Lycia and Caria should be given to them in return for the goodwill and zeal displayed by them in the war with Antiochus. At the same time Hipparchus and Satyrus came from Ilium begging, on the ground of their kindred with the Lycians, that the latter should receive pardon for their transgressions. The commissioners listened to these pleadings, and tried to do what they could to satisfy both. For the sake of the people of Ilium, they inflicted no severity on the Lycians, but gratified the Rhodians by presenting them with the sovereignty over that people. This decision was the origin of a serious division and controversy between the Lycians and Rhodians. For the envoys of Ilium visited the Lycian cities, giving out that they had succeeded in pacifying the Roman anger, and that they owed their liberty to them; while Theaetetus and his colleague took back word to their countrymen that Lycia and all Caria south of the Maeander had been given as a free gift by the Romans to Rhodes. Presently an embassy came from Lycia to Rhodes desiring an alliance; while the Rhodians on their part had elected certain of their citizens to go to Lycia and give orders to the several cities as to what they were to do. They were thus entirely at cross purposes, and for some time the cause of the misunderstanding was not generally intelligible. But when the Lycian ambassadors appeared in the assembly and began talking about an alliance, and Pothion the Prytanis rose after them and explained the different ideas which the two people entertained on the subject, and moreover, sternly rebuked the Lycian envoys, the latter declared that they would endure anything rather than be subject to the Rhodians....

  EGYPT UNDER PTOLEMY EPIPHANES AFTER THE DEATH OF ARISTOMENES (18, 53,

  54)

  6. All men admire the magnanimity of Philip towards Athens; for though he had been injured as well as abused by them, yet when he conquered them at Chaeroneia, so far from using this opportunity for injuring his opponents, he caused the corpses of the Athenians to be buried with the proper ceremonies; while those of them who had been taken prisoners he actually presented with clothes, and restored to their friends without ransom. But though men praise they do not imitate such conduct. They rather try to outdo those with whom they are at war, in bitterness of passion and severity of vengeance. Ptolemy, for instance, had men tied naked to carts and dragged at their tail, and then put to death with torture....

  7. When this same Ptolemy was besieging Lycopolis, the Egyptian nobles surrendered to the king at discretion; and his cruel treatment of them involved him in manifold dangers. The same was the result at the time Polycrates suppressed the revolt. For Athinis, Pausiras, Chesuphus, and Irobastus, who still survived of the rebellious nobles, yielding to necessity, appeared at the city of Sais and surrendered at discretion to the king. But Ptolemy, regardless of all pledges, had them tied naked to the carts and dragged off, and then put to death with torture. He then went to Naucratis with his army, where he received the mercenaries enlisted for him by Aristonicus from Greece, and thence sailed to Alexandria, without having taken any part whatever in the a
ctual operations of the war, thanks to the dishonest advice of Polycrates, though he was now twenty-five years old....

  8. At this time were sowed the seeds of fatal evils to the royal house of Macedonia. I am aware that some historians of the war between Rome and Perseus, when they wish to set forth the causes of the quarrel for our information, assign as the primary one the expulsion of Abrupolis from his principality, on the ground of having made a raid upon the mines at Pangaeum after the death of Philip, which Perseus repulsed, finally expelling him entirely out of his own dominions. Next they mention the invasion of Dolopia, and the visit of Perseus to Delphi, the plot against Eumenes at Delphi, and the murder of the ambassadors in Boeotia; and from these they say sprang the war between Perseus and the Romans. But my contention is that it is of most decisive advantage, both to historians and their readers, to know the causes from which the several events are born and spring. Most historians confound these, because they do not keep a firm hold upon the distinction between a pretext and a cause, or again between a pretext and a beginning of a war. And since events at the present time recall this distinction I feel compelled to renew my discussion of this subject. For instance, of the events just referred to, the first three are pretexts; the last two — the plot against Eumenes, the murder of the ambassadors, and other similar things that happened during the same period — are clear beginnings of the war between Rome and Perseus, and of the final overthrow of the Macedonian kingdom; but not one of them is a cause of these things. I will illustrate by examples. Just as we say that Philip son of Amyntas contemplated and determined upon accomplishing the war with Persia, while Alexander put into execution what he had projected, so in the present instance we say that Philip son of Demetrius first projected the last war against Rome, and had all his preparations ready for the execution of his design, but that after his death Perseus became the agent in carrying out the undertaking itself. If this be true, the following also is clear: it is impossible that the causes of the war should have been subsequent to the death of him who resolved upon and projected it; which would be the case if we accepted the account of these historians; for the events alleged by them as its causes were subsequent to the death of Philip....