36.35
The
consul quite agreed, but he felt it somewhat humiliating to abandon the siege
without accomplishing anything. Finally the matter was left for Quinctius to
settle. He went back to that section of the walls from which the Aetolians
had been calling out to him. They were still there and began to implore him
still more earnestly to take pity on the nation of the Aetolians. On this he
told some of them to come out to him; Phaeneas and others of their leaders
at once went out. As they prostrated themselves at his feet, he said, "Your
unhappy plight makes me check the expression of my angry feelings. What I
told you beforehand would come to pass has actually happened, and you
have not even the comfort left you of believing that you do not deserve your
fate. Since, however, I have been somehow destined to be the nursing father
of Greece, I shall not desist from showing kindness even to those who have
shown themselves ungrateful. Send a deputation to the consul and ask him
for an armistice to allow you time to send envoys to Rome with instructions
to place yourselves entirely at the mercy of the senate. I will support you
before the consul as your advocate and intercessor." They followed his
advice and the consul was not deaf to their appeal; an armistice was granted
until the result of the mission to Rome was known; the siege was raised and
the army sent into Phocis. The consul accompanied by T. Quinctius went to
Aegium to attend a meeting of the Achaean council. The subjects of
discussion were the entrance of the Eleans into the league and the restoration
of the Lacedaemonian exiles. Neither question was settled; the Achaeans
preferred that the latter should be left to them to carry out as an act of grace,
and the Eleans wished their incorporation into the league to be spontaneous
on their part rather than that it should be effected through the Romans.
A deputation from the Epirots visited the consul. It was pretty
generally understood that their professions of friendship were insincere, for
though they had not furnished Antiochus with troops it was alleged that they
had given him pecuniary assistance and they made no attempt to deny that
they had opened negotiations with him. Their request to be allowed to
continue on the old friendly footing was met by the consul with the remark
that he did not know whether he was to regard them as friends or as foes.
The senate would decide that; he referred their whole cause to Rome, and
for that purpose he granted them an armistice for ninety days. When they
appeared before the senate they were more concerned to mention acts of
hostility which they had not committed than to clear themselves from the
actual charges made against them. The reply they received was such as to
make them understand that they had obtained pardon rather than proved
their innocence. Just before this a deputation from Philip was introduced into
the senate to present his congratulations upon the recent victory and to
request to be allowed to offer sacrifices in the Capitol and place an offering
of gold in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. On receiving the senate's
permission they deposited a golden crown weighing 100 pounds. Not only
was this gracious reception accorded to them, but Philip's son Demetrius,
who was living in Rome as a hostage, was placed in their hands to be taken
back to his father. Such was the close of the campaign which Manius Acilius
the consul conducted against Antiochus in Greece.