44.29
During
these operations the Roman commissioners, C. Popilius, C. Decimius and C.
Hostilius, left Chalcis with three quinqueremes and arrived at Delos. There
they found the forty vessels belonging to the Macedonians and five
quinqueremes belonging to Eumenes. The sanctity of the temple and the
island prevented them from injuring one another. The Romans, the
Macedonians and the crews from Eumenes' ships went about together in the
city and the temple in the peaceful security of a locality sacred and inviolate.
Antenor received a signal from the look-out that several transports were
sailing past. He started in pursuit with some of his ships and dispersed the
rest among the Cyclades. He either sunk or plundered them all, with the
exception of those heading for Macedonia. Popilius tried to save all he
could, both of his own ships and those of Eumenes, but the Macedonian
barques sailed by night, two or three together, and so escaped observation.
About this time the Macedonian and Illyrian envoys arrived in Rhodes. Their
representations had all the more weight owing to the appearance of the
Macedonian ships cruising amongst the Cyclades and in the Aegean, the
united action which Perseus and Gentius were taking, and the rumour that
the Gauls were coming with a large force of infantry and cavalry. Dinon and
Polyaratus, the leaders of Perseus' faction, felt themselves now strong
enough to send a favourable reply to the two monarchs, and even went so
far as to proclaim publicly that they possessed sufficient authority to put an
end to the war, the kings themselves therefore must resign themselves to the
acceptance of peace terms.