46.
When Perseus had returned to Macedonia from his conference with the Romans, he sent to Rome envoys about the terms of peace outlined with Marcius; also to Byzantium and Rhodes . . . he gave the envoys [letters] to present.1
[2]
In the letters the same sentiments were expressed to all, namely, that he had conferred with envoys from Rome; what he had heard and what he had said had turned out to be such that he might seem to have had the better of the discussion.
[3]
Before the Rhodians2 the envoys added that the king was sure there would be peace; for at the suggestion of Marcius and Atilius envoys had been sent to Rome. If the Romans continued to stir up war contrary to the treaty, then the Rhodians must strive with all their resources of friendly influence to bring peace again; if they did not succeed with their entreaties, they must act to prevent authority and power over everything coming into the hands of a single people.
[4]
This was to the interest both of all states and especially of the Rhodians, in proportion as they were outstanding [p. 431]among other states in position and resources;3 4 these blessings would be enslaved and in bondage, if there were no recourse to anyone but
[5]
the Romans. The friendly hearing given to the letter and the words of the envoys was greater than the weight they had in changing the Rhodians' minds; the influence of the better5 party began to be
[6]
the stronger. The reply as voted was that the Rhodians hoped for peace; if there were war, the king must not expect or ask anything of the Rhodians which would destroy between them and the Romans the ancient friendship, cemented by many great services in peace
[7]
and war. On the way back from Rhodes,6 the envoys also approached the cities of Boeotia, not only Thebes but also Coronea and Haliartus, for it was believed that their desertion of the alliance with the king and adhesion to the Romans had been forced upon them against
[8]
their will. The Thebans were not at all moved, although, both for the condemnation of the chief men and the restoration of the exiles, they were angry with
[9]
the Romans.7 The peoples of Coronea and Haliartus, through some inborn prejudice in favour of kings, sent envoys to Macedonia asking for a garrison, by which they might protect themselves against the reckless insolence of
[10]
the Thebans. To this embassy the king's reply was, that because of the truce made with the Romans he could not send them a garrison; however, [p. 433]he advised them to protect themselves as best they8 might against the injustice of the Thebans in such a way as not to offer the Romans an excuse for harshness against them.
1 Names of other cities may have fallen out; “letters” is an obvious inference from the context.
2 With this chapter cf. Polybius XXVII. 4.
3 Polybius, loc. cit., puts at this point a loftier reason —that the Rhodians especially valued their own independence and the freedom of Greece: ὅσῳ γὰρ πλεῖον ὀρέγονται τῆς ἰσηγορίας καὶ παρρησίας καὶ διατελοῦσι προστατοῦντες... τῆς τῶν ἄλλων ῾ελλήνων ἐλευθερίας.
4 B.C. 172
5 Polybius uses the corresponding adjective τοῦ βελτίονος; such adjectives are likely in Greek and Roman literature to connote the conservative aristocracy, or upper class.
6 A separate embassy, according to Polybius.
7 Polybius XXVII. 5 does not mention the Thebans, but speaks of the embassy going to This be, as well as Coronea and Haliartus. In view of this, and of the apparently unchallenged dominance of the pro-Roman party at Thebes (cf. sees. 9-10 below), it seems certain that Livy, either because of a faulty MS., or because of his own slip, read θήβας for θίσβας in Polybius, and should not have brought Thebes in at this point.
8 B.C. 172
Livy. Books XL-XLII With An English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1938: published without copyright notice.
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