40.20
Some
deputations were introduced to the senate. The first to be received were
those from Eumenes, Ariarathes of Cappadocia and Pharnaces, King of
Pontus. They were simply informed that commissions would be sent to
examine and settle the conflicting claims. These were followed by envoys
from the Lacedaemonian refugees and the Achaeans; the refugees were led
to hope that the senate would order the Achaeans to repatriate them. The
Achaeans explained to the satisfaction of the House the recovery of Messene
and the settlement which had been made there. Two envoys also arrived
from Philip of Macedonia -Philocles and Apelles. They were not sent with
the view of obtaining anything from the senate, but simply to watch what
was going on and to find out what those conversations were which Perseus
had accused Demetrius of holding with the Romans, and in particular those
with T. Quinctius, about the succession to the throne in opposition to his
brother. The king had sent these men as being impartial and not biassed in
favour of either, but they, too, were agents and accomplices in Perseus'
treachery against his brother. Demetrius, ignorant of all the intrigues against
him save what he had learnt from the recent outbreak of his brother's malice,
was neither very sanguine nor altogether hopeless of a reconciliation with his
father, but he gradually felt less confidence in his father's feelings towards
him as he observed his brother constantly at his ear. To avoid grounds for
further suspicion he was circumspect in all he said and did, and he took
particular care to abstain from any mention of the Romans or any intercourse
with them. He would not even have them write to him, because he saw that
his father was particularly exasperated by this charge being brought against
him.