37.34
During
this interval Heraclides of Byzantium had arrived at the camp with
instructions from Antiochus to negotiate a peace. He had been under the
impression that when once the Romans had set foot in Asia they would,
without a moment's delay, advance against the royal camp, and their
remaining by the Hellespont made him very sanguine of obtaining favourable
terms. Heraclides, however, decided that he would not approach the consul
till he had interviewed P. Scipio, and indeed such were the king's
instructions. His hopes rested mainly on him, for Scipio's greatness of soul
and the consciousness that he had enough of glory made him most gentle and
considerate. All the world, too, knew what he had been when victorious in
Spain and in Africa, and there was also the fact that his son had been made a
prisoner and was in the king's hands. As to where or when or by what
mischance he had been taken prisoner the authorities differ as they do in
most other matters. Some assert that it was at the beginning of the war when
he was intercepted by the king's ships on his voyage from Chalcis to Oreum;
others say that after the landing in Asia he was sent with a troop of Fregellan
cavalry to reconnoitre towards the king's camp, and that when a large body
of cavalry galloped out to meet him, he retreated and in the confusion fell
from his horse and with two other troopers was overpowered, and under
these circumstances was brought to the king. It is generally admitted that the
youth could not have been treated and courted with greater kindness and
generosity even if peace with Rome still prevailed and the personal ties of
hospitality between the king and the Scipios had remained unbroken. For
these reasons the envoy waited for Scipio to come, and on his arrival he
approached the consul and asked him to grant him an audience that he might
deliver his instructions.
