35.49
Quinctius replied: "Archidamus had in his
mind those in whose presence rather than those to whose ears he was
addressing his remarks, for you Achaeans know perfectly well that all the
warlike spirit of the Aetolians lies in words not in deeds, and shows itself in
haranguing councils more than on the battlefield. So they are indifferent to
the opinion which the Achaeans have of them, because they are aware that
they are thoroughly known to them. It is for the king's representatives, and
through them for the king himself, that he has uttered this bombast. If
anyone did not know before what it was that led Antiochus to make
common cause with the Aetolians, it came out clearly in their delegate's
speech. By lying to one another and boasting of forces which neither of them
possess they have filled each other with vain hopes. These say that it was
through them that Philip was defeated and by their courage that the Romans
were protected, and as you heard just now, they talk as though you and all
other cities and nations were going to follow their lead. The king, on the
other hand, vaunts of his clouds of infantry and cavalry and covers all the
seas with his fleets. It is very like something that happened when we were at
supper with my host in Chalcis, a worthy man and one who knows how to
feed his guests. It was at the height of summer; we were being sumptuously
entertained, and were wondering how he managed to get such an abundance
and variety of game at that season of the year. The man, not a boaster like
these people, smiled and said, 'That variety of what looks like wild game is
due to the condiments and dressing, it has all been made out of a home-bred
pig.' This might be fitly said of the king's forces which were just now so
extolled. All that variety of equipment and the crowd of names no one ever
heard of -Dahae, Medes, Cadusians and Elymaeans -are nothing but
Syrians, whose servile, cringing temper makes them much more like a breed
of slaves than a nation of soldiers. I wish I could bring before your eyes,
Achaeans, the flying visits which the 'Great King' paid to the national council
of the Aetolians at Lamia and afterwards to Chalcis. You would see what
looked like two badly depleted legions in the king's camp; you would see the
king almost on his knees begging corn from the Aetolians and trying to raise
a loan from which to pay his men, and then standing at the gates of Chalcis,
and on finding himself shut out from there returning to Aetolia having gained
nothing but a glimpse of Aulis and the Euripus. The king's confidence in the
Aetolians is misplaced, so is theirs in his empty professions. You must not,
therefore, let yourselves be deceived; trust rather in the good faith of Rome,
of which you have had actual experience. As to their saying that the best
course for you is to have nothing to do with the war, nothing on the contrary
could be further from your interests, for then, winning neither gratitude nor
respect, you would fall as a prize to the victor."
