42.19
During
this year a large part of the Campanian district, which had been in many
places appropriated by private individuals, was by the survey of the consul
Postumius recovered for the State, and M. Lucretius, one of the tribunes of
the plebs, gave notice of a proposal that the censors should let out the
Campanian land for cultivation, a thing that had not been done through all
the years since the fall of Capua, and as a consequence, the greed of private
citizens took its course in the unoccupied land. War had now been
determined upon, though not yet declared; the senate were waiting to see
which of the monarchs would befriend Perseus and who would support
them. Just at this time a mission from Ariarathes arrived, bringing with them
the king's young son. They explained that the king had sent his son to be
brought up in Rome, so that he might from his boyhood become familiar
with Roman manners and Roman men. He asked that they would allow him
to be not only under the charge of personal friends but also under the care
and guardianship, so to speak, of the State. The senate were highly pleased
with the proposal, and made a decree that Cn. Sicinius should hire a
furnished house where the king's son and his suite could live. Envoys also
from Thrace, with the Maedi and Astii, came to ask for alliance and
friendship. Their request was granted and each received a present of 2000
ases. The Romans were especially glad that these peoples had been received
into alliance, because Thrace lay at the back of Macedonia. But that the
whole situation in Asia and the islands might be thoroughly investigated,
Tiberius Claudius Nero and M. Decimius were sent with instructions to visit
Crete and Rhodes, to renew friendly relations, and at the same time to find
out whether the allies of Rome had been tampered with by Perseus.