Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 44
Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Ed.

19. In the consulship of Lucius Aemilius Paulus¹ and Gaius Licinius, on the fifteenth of March, at the beginning of the new year, the senators were on the qui vive, especially as to what the consul in charge of Macedonia would bring before them about his field of operations. [2] But Paulus said that he had nothing to present until the envoys returned, but that the envoys were now at Brundisium, after having been blown back twice to Dyrrachium on their voyage. [3] As soon as he acquired the information which was the first necessity, he would lay matters before the senate, and this would take place within a very few days. [4] In order to avoid any delay to his [p. 151]settingout, said Paulus, the day for the Latin Festival had² been set at April twelfth³ ; after the proper performance of the sacrifice, if the senate concurred, he and Gnaeus Octavius would both set out. [5] His colleague Gaius Licinius would take care, in his absence, to get ready and send out what should be made ready and sent to the war; meanwhile, said Paulus, the embassies of foreign nations might be given audience.

[6] First the envoys from King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra at Alexandria were announced. [7] Grimy,⁴ with untrimmed beard and hair, they entered the senate-house bearing olive-branches, and prostrated themselves; their speech was more pitiable than their array. [8] Antiochus, the king of Syria, who had been a hostage at Rome, under the decent pretext of restoring the elder Ptolemy to his throne, was waging war against the younger brother, who was then in possession of Alexandria.⁵ [9] Antiochus had won a naval battle at Pelusium and, after leading his forces across the Nile on a hastily-constructed bridge, was overawing Alexandria with his siege and seemed to be on the very point of laying his hands on a very rich kingdom. Complaining of this attack, the envoys begged the senate to come to the rescue of a kingdom and a royal pair who were friends of Roman rule. [10] Such, they argued, were the benefits conferred on Antiochus by the [11??] Roman people, and such their influence with all kings and nations that, if they sent [p. 153]envoys to declare to Antiochus that the senate did not⁶ wish war to be made on kings allied to it, Antiochus would at once depart from the walls of Alexandria and would lead his army back into Syria. [12] If they hesitated to do this, shortly Ptolemy and Cleopatra, robbed of their kingdom, would arrive in Rome, somewhat to the shame of the Roman people, because they had offered no aid in the final crisis of their fortunes. [13] The senators, stirred by the entreaties of the Alexandrines, at once⁷ sent Gaius Popilius Laenas, Gaius Decimius, and Gaius Hostilius as envoys to bring an end to the war between the kings. [14] They were instructed to approach first Antiochus and then Ptolemy, and to proclaim that if war was not concluded, the party constituting the obstacle would not be considered either a friend or an ally to the Romans.