35.17
He
then ordered the representatives of the States to be called in. Eumenes, who
quite expected that whatever strength Antiochus lost would prove an
accession to his own dominions, had prepared the representatives beforehand
and told them what to say. Several were brought in, and as they each stated
their grievances and put forward their demands quite regardless as to
whether these were fair or not, they changed the discussion into a heated
altercation. Unable either to make or to obtain any concessions, the
commissioners resumed to Rome leaving everything as unsettled as when
they came. On their departure the king held a council of war. Here each
speaker tried to outdo the rest in violence of language, for the more bitter he
showed himself against the Romans the better his chance of winning the
king's favour. One of them denounced the Roman demands as arrogant:
"They tried to impose on Antiochus, the greatest monarch in Asia, as though
he were the defeated Nabis, and yet even Nabis they allowed to remain as
sovereign over his own country and to retain Lacedaemon, whilst they
consider it an offence if Smyrna and Lampsacus are under the sway of
Antiochus." Others argued that those cities were for so great a monarch
slight and insignificant grounds of war, but unjust demands always began
with small matters, unless indeed they were to suppose that when the
Persians demanded earth and water from the Lacedaemonians they were
actually in need of a clod of earth and a draught of water. A similar attempt
was now being made by the Romans in respect of these two cities, and as
soon as others saw that these had shaken off the yoke they too would go
over to the people who posed as liberators. Even if liberty were not in itself
preferable to servitude, everyone, whatever his present condition may be,
finds the prospect of change more attractive.
