Shortly after this L. Scipio's lieutenant, M. Aurelius Cotta, accompanied by the deputation from Antiochus, arrived in Rome. as did also Eumenes and the Rhodians. [2] Cotta made his report of the proceedings in Asia to the senate, and they ordered him to lay it before the Assembly. A three days' thanksgiving was proclaimed and orders were given for forty full-grown victims to be sacrificed. Then Eumenes was received in audience. [3] He began with a few words of thanks to the senate for having delivered him and his brother from a state of siege and rescuing his realm from the attacks of Antiochus. [4] He went on to congratulate them upon their successes by sea and land and their expulsion of Antiochus, after he had been routed and driven out of his camp, first from Europe and then from the whole of Asia on this side the Taurus. What services he himself had rendered he preferred that they should learn from their own commanders rather than from him. [5] His words were listened to with universal approval, and the senators urged him to lay aside all modest reserve and tell them frankly what he considered would be a fitting return from the senate and people of Rome; [6] the senate, he was assured, would be more ready to do what his services merited than he could either ask or expect. [7] To this the king replied that if the choice of rewards were left to him he would, now that he had the privilege of consulting the Roman senate, gladly avail himself of the advice of the highest order in the State, so that his desires might not be thought extravagant or his requests lacking in modesty. As, however, it was they who were to be the givers, he thought it much more fitting that they should themselves determine the extent of their munificence towards his brothers and himself. [8] Notwithstanding this protest the senators continued to press him to state his wishes. [9] This friendly contest lasted some time, the senate ready to grant whatever the king asked for, and the king maintaining a modest reserve, each leaving the decision to the other and animated by a courtesy in which neither party would be outdone. As no definite conclusion was reached the king at last left the House, but the senators adhered to their opinion that it was absurd to suppose that the king should not know what expectations he entertained or what requests he had come to make. [10] He knew best what would be most advantageous to his dominions, he was much more familiar with Asia than the senate were; he must therefore be recalled and forced to express his real sentiments and wishes.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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