37.19
Aemilius invited Eumenes over from
Pergamum and held a council, at which both Eumenes and the Rhodians
were present. The Rhodians were not disinclined for peace, but Eumenes
said that no peace proposals could be honourably entertained at that
moment, nor could any final settlements be made. "How," he asked, "shall
we, beleaguered and shut within our walls, listen with honour to any terms
of peace? Or who will regard any peace settlement as valid if made without
the consent of the consul, the authority of the senate and the order of the
people of Rome? I put this question to you -If peace be made through you,
are you going to return at once to Italy and carry away your army and your
fleet, or will you wait to learn what the consul thinks, what decision the
senate comes to, what order the people make? It remains, then, that you
must stay in Asia and, all active operations suspended, your troops must be
sent into winter quarters to drain the resources of your allies by the
requisitions of your commissariat. And then, if the supreme powers so
decide, we must begin the war all over again, whereas, if our strong
offensive were in no way slackened or hampered by delay, we could have
brought it to a close, if the gods so willed it, before winter sets in." This
argument prevailed, and Antiochus was told that, till the consul arrived,
there could be no discussion of the terms of peace. Finding his efforts to
procure peace fruitless, Antiochus proceeded to devastate the lands of the
people of Elea and then those belonging to Pergamum. Here he left Seleucus
and continued his march with the intention of attacking Adramytteum, till he
reached the rich district known as the "Plain of Thebe," celebrated in the
poem of Homer. In no other locality in Asia was a greater amount of plunder
secured by the king's troops. Aemilius and Eumenes, sailing round with their
fleet, also appeared before Adramytteum as a protection to the city.
