36.27
The
fall of Heraclea, however, broke the spirit of the Aetolians. Within a few
days of their asking Antiochus to resume hostilities and return to Greece
they laid aside all thoughts of war and sent envoys to the consul to sue for
peace. When they began to speak, the consul cut them short by saying that
there were other matters which had to be attended to first. He then granted
them a ten days' armistice and directed them to return to Hypata
accompanied by L. Valerius Flaccus, to whom they were to refer the
questions they had intended to discuss with him, and any other matters
which they wished to discuss. On his arrival at Hypata, Flaccus found the
Aetolian leaders assembled in council and deliberating as to what line they
should take in negotiating with the consul. They were preparing to begin by
alleging the old-standing treaty-rights and their service to Rome, when
Flaccus bade them desist from appealing to treaties which they had
themselves violated and broken. They would gain much more, he told them,
by confessing their misdoings and simply asking for mercy. Their only hope
of safety lay not in the strength of their case but in the clemency of the
Roman people, and if they adopted a suppliant attitude he would stand by
them before the consul and in the senate at Rome, for they would have to
send their delegates there also. All those present saw that only one path led
to safety, namely their formal submission to Rome. They believed that their
appearance as suppliants would give them an inviolable character in Roman
eyes, and they would still preserve their independence should Fortune hold
out any better prospect.
