37.25
The
news of the victory followed by the appearance of the Rhodians caused
much rejoicing amongst the Romans; it was quite evident that if the
Rhodians were relieved from that cause of anxiety they would make all the
seas in that part of the world safe. But the departure of Antiochus from
Sardis and the danger of his seizing the cities on the coast forbade their
abandoning the defence of the shores of Ionia and Aeolis. Consequently,
they sent Pamphilidas with four ships to reinforce the fleet off Patara.
Antiochus had been busy collecting contingents from all the cities round him,
and had also sent a letter to Prusias the king of Bithynia. In this despatch he
bitterly complained of the Roman expedition to Asia; they had come, he
wrote, to deprive them all of their crowns so that there might be no
sovereignty but that of the Romans anywhere in the world; Philip and Nabis
had been reduced to submission; he, Antiochus, was to be the third victim;
like a spreading conflagration they would envelop all, as each lay nearest to
the one already overthrown. Now that Eumenes had voluntarily accepted the
yoke of servitude, it would be but a step from Antiochus to Bithynia. Prusias
was much perturbed by this letter, but any doubts or suspicions which it
might have created were set at rest by a letter from the consul and still more
so by one from the consul's brother, Africanus. In this letter he showed how
it was the uniform practice of the Roman people to enhance the dignity of
their royal allies by bestowing every honour upon them, and quoted
instances of his own policy in order to persuade Prusias to show himself
worthy of his friendship. The chieftains whom he had taken under his
protection in Spain he had left with the title of kings; Masinissa he had
established on his throne and on that of Syphax, who had expelled him, as
well, and now he was not only by far the most prosperous monarch in
Africa, but the peer in greatness and power of any monarch in the world.
Philip and Nabis, who had been enemies and whom T. Quinctius had
conquered, had still their thrones left them; in the case of Philip even the
payment of tribute had been remitted during the past year, his son who had
been a hostage was restored to him, and he had been allowed to recapture
some cities outside Macedonia without any interference from the Roman
generals. Nabis, too, would have retained his honour and dignity had not his
own madness and the treachery of the Aetolians proved fatal to him. Such
was the tenor of Africanus' communication. What did most to determine the
king's attitude was a visit from C. Livius, the late commandant of the fleet.
He came on a special mission from Rome and made the king understand how
much more certain the prospect of victory was for the Romans than for
Antiochus, and how much more inviolable and secure his friendship would
be in their eyes than in those of the king.
