Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 45
Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Ed.

23. "The rewards which we received from you after the conquest of Philip and of Antiochus were most abundant.¹ If the good fortune which is now yours by the grace of the gods and because of your valour had fallen to Perseus, and we had come to Macedonia to seek a reward from the victorious king, what pray would we say? [2] That we had aided him with money or with grain, with forces on land or on sea? What fortress had we held? Where had we fought either under his commanders or by ourselves? [3] If he asked where there had been a soldier of ours, or where a ship, within his lines, what in the world would be our answer? [4] Perhaps we should be defending ourselves before the conqueror, as now we are before you. For the result we obtained by sending envoys to both parties concerning peace was that we [p. 321]won no favour from either side, but incurred even² accusation and danger from one of them. [5] Yet Perseus might truly reproach us, as you cannot, gentlemen of the senate, because we sent to you at the beginning of the war envoys to promise you whatever was needed for the war; we would be ready, we said, as in the former wars, with ships, arms, and young men for every demand. [6] The obstacle to our furnishing these things was of your making, since you for whatever reason spurned our aid at that time.³ Neither therefore have we in any way acted as enemies, nor have we failed in the duty of good allies, but we were prevented from performing that duty by you. 'What then? [7] Has nothing been said or done in your city, Rhodians, which you would wish undone, at which the Roman People might justly take offence? ' From this point I do not propose to defend what has happened —I am not so mad —but I propose to separate the defence of the state from the guilt of private citizens. [8] There is no state which will not have not only wicked citizens at certain times but an inexperienced commonalty always.: [9] Even in your city I hear that there have been those who pursued ill-gotten gain by toadying to the mob, and that at certain times the commons seceded from you and you lost control of the commonwealth.⁴ [10] If this could happen in a state-with -so well disciplined a character, can any one marvel that there were some among us who in grasping after the king's friendship led our commons astray with their [p. 323]counsel?⁵ However, these people wrought no⁶ harm beyond slackness in our loyalty as friends. [11] I shall not pass over the most serious charge against our city in this war: we sent envoys at the same time both to you and to Perseus on the subject of peace; [12] this unhappy plan, through a madman, as we heard later, who was spokesman, became something extremely stupid, for he spoke, it is well known, as the Roman envoy Gaius Popilius might have spoken, whom you sent to turn back from war Kings Antiochus and Ptolemy. But nevertheless this error, whether it should be called arrogance or folly, was no different before you from what it was before Perseus. [13] The character of states is like that of individual men; some nations are hot-tempered, some bold, some diffident, some over-indulgent in wine, others in sex. [14] The people of Athens, report has it, is quick and bold beyond its strength in adventure, the Spartan hesitant and hardly undertaking matters of which it is sure.⁷ [15] I would not deny that all the region of Asia breeds somewhat flighty temperaments, and that our rhetoric is rather inflated⁸ because we might seem to be outstanding among the states in our area-a position due precisely not to our own powers but to your favours and your choice of us. [16] Enough punishment was meted out to that embassy on the spot and to their faces, when they were sent away with so grim an answer from you. [17] But if at that time they paid too small a penalty of disgrace, certainly the present embassy, so [p. 325]pitiable and so humble, would be atonement⁹ great¹⁰ enough for an even more arrogant embassy than that other one was. Arrogance, especially of speech, is hated by the hot-tempered, but laughed at by the wise, especially if directed by an inferior against his superior; no one has ever thought it worthy of the death-penalty. [18] There was danger, to be sure, that the Rhodians should despise the Romans! Even the gods are assailed by some with overbold language, but we have never heard that any one has on that [19??] account been struck by a thunderbolt.