37.54
The
king's speech gave great pleasure to the senators, and it was easy to see that
they were prepared to do everything in a generous and ungrudging spirit. As
one of the Rhodian envoys was absent, the delegation from Smyrna was
introduced, and they were highly commended for having chosen to endure
every extremity rather than give themselves up to Antiochus. Then the
Rhodians were received in audience. Their spokesman commenced by stating
how their friendship with the Roman people began and what services they
had rendered, first in the war with Philip and then in that with Antiochus. He
continued: "Nothing in the whole conduct of our case, senators, is more
difficult or painful than our having to enter into controversy with King
Eumenes. We are bound to him more than to any other monarch by personal
and (what we feel most) political ties of hospitality. It is not, however, our
own feelings but nature itself which sets us at variance; we, free ourselves,
are pleading for the liberty of others, but kings will have all subservient and
submissive to their rule. But however this may be, we find ourselves more
embarrassed by respect and regard for the king than by any difficulty in
stating our case, or any likelihood of involving you in a perplexed discussion.
For if you could not honour and reward a monarch who is your friend and
ally, and has done you good service in this very war, otherwise than by
giving up free cities to a state of servitude under him, you would have to
choose one of two alternatives. Either you would have to send away a
friendly monarch unhonoured and unrewarded, or you would have to depart
from your settled policy and sully the glory you have acquired in the war
with Philip by enslaving so many cities. But your good fortune entirely
releases you from the necessity of either stinting your gratitude to a friend or
tarnishing your glory. Through the favour of the gods your triumphal
success is not more glorious than it is rich in results, sufficient to clear you
from what I might call your debt to him. Lycaonia, Pisidia, the Chersonese,
and all the adjacent portions of Europe are at your disposal, and the addition
of any one of these countries would enlarge the king's dominions to many
times their present size; if all were given him they would put him on a level
with the greatest of monarchs. It is then open to you to enrich your allies
with the prizes of war, and at the same time to avoid any departure from
your settled policy, and to bear in mind the reason you alleged for your war
with Philip and your present war with Antiochus, and the course you
pursued after Philip's defeat, the course which we desire and expect you to
take now, not more because you took it then, than because it is the right and
proper course to take. There are various good and sound pretexts for taking
up arms. Some fight to obtain territory, others villages, others fortified
towns, others ports and a strip of sea-coast. You did not covet these things
before you possessed them, nor can you possibly covet them now when the
whole world is beneath your sway. You fought for the honour of your
commonwealth and the renown which you enjoy throughout the whole race
of man, who have long looked upon your sovereignty and your name as only
second to the immortal gods. To gain and acquire these things has been an
arduous task, I am inclined to think it is a harder task to defend them. You
have undertaken to protect from the tyranny of monarchs the liberties of an
ancient people famous for their military reputation, and for all that is
commendable in refinement and learning. Now that the nation has placed
itself as a whole under your protection as clients, it is incumbent on you to
show yourselves its patrons for all time. Those Greek cities which stand on
their ancient soil are in no way more Greek than those colonies which have
gone forth from them into Asia; they have changed their land but not their
character or their blood. We have ventured -each city amongst us -to vie in
dutiful rivalry with our parents and our founders in all honourable and
praiseworthy arts and excellences. You have, most of you, visited the cities
of Greece and Asia: we are at no disadvantage compared with them, except
that we are at a greater distance from you. If the native temperament of the
Massilians could have yielded to the influence of their soil they would have
been long ago barbarised by the wild untamed tribes all round them, but we
are given to understand that they are held in as much honour as though they
were living in the heart of Greece. They have preserved their language, their
dress, their personal habits, but above all, they have maintained their laws
and customs and their open, straightforward character, untainted by any
contact with their neighbours. The Taurus range now forms a frontier of
your empire, and all within that line ought not to appear distant to you.
Wherever your arms have penetrated there should the laws of Rome also
penetrate. Let barbarians, who have always the commands of their masters
for laws, keep their kings to their joy; the Greeks submit to their fate, but
they have the same love of freedom that you have. At one time they too
grasped at empire in their own strength, now they pray that where the seat of
empire, is there it may remain; they count it enough to protect their freedom
with your arms.
"'But,' it may be replied, 'some cities took sides with Antiochus.'
Yes, and others before that with Philip; the Terentines sided with Pyrrhus.
Not to mention others, Carthage remains free, under her own laws. See,
senators, how you are bound by this precedent which you yourselves have
established. You will surely bring yourselves to refuse to the grasping
ambition of Eumenes what you refused to the dictates of a just resentment.
We leave you to judge with what effective and loyal service we Rhodians
assisted you in this late war, and indeed in all the wars which you have ever
waged on those shores. Now that peace is settled we suggest a course such
that, if you approve of it, the whole world will regard the use you make of
your victory as a more striking proof of your greatness than even the
winning it." This speech was felt to be quite befitting to the greatness and
majesty of Rome.
