45.25
Such
was the speech. At its close they all again prostrated themselves, waving
their suppliant olive branches to and fro. At last they rose and left the
senate-house. Then the senators were asked to state their view. The bitterest
opponents of the Rhodians were those who as consuls or praetors or staff
officers had taken part in the war. The one who did most to help them was
M. Porcius Cato, who though naturally stern and inflexible acted on this
occasion the part of a lenient and conciliatory senator. I will not insert a
specimen of his fluency and eloquence by transcribing his speech, it is extant
in the Fifth Book of his Origines. The reply made to the Rhodians was to the
effect that they would neither be declared enemies nor allowed to remain as
allies. The leaders of the deputation were Philocrates and Astymedes. Some
of the delegates decided to accompany Philocrates back to Rhodes with the
report of the proceedings, others elected to remain in Rome with Astymedes
so that they could find out what was going on and inform their countrymen.
For the time being they were only required to withdraw their governors from
Lycia and Caria. This would in itself have created a painful impression, but
as they were relieved from the apprehension of a worse evil, that of war, the
announcement was received with joy. They at once decreed a crown of
20,000 gold pieces in value and sent it to Theaetetus, the commandant of the
fleet, for him to carry it to Rome. They wished him to press for an alliance
with Rome, but in such a way that the terms would not be submitted to the
people, nor reduced to writing, because in case he was unsuccessful the
failure would be all the more humiliating. It was the sole prerogative of the
commandant of the fleet to act in these matters without any formal decree
being made. For all those years they had maintained friendly relations with
Rome without binding themselves by an express treaty of alliance, their only
reason being that they did not wish to preclude the kings from all hopes of
their assistance should it ever be needed, nor themselves from the advantage
to be derived from the bounty and good fortune of those monarchs. Under
present circumstances it seemed especially desirable that an alliance should
be formed, not to give them additional security against other nations -for
they feared none but the Romans -but to make them less suspected by the
Romans themselves. Just at this time the Caunians revolted from them and
the Mylasensians seized the towns of the Euromensians. The Rhodian
government was not so broken in spirit as not to become aware that if Lycia
and Caria had been taken from them by Rome the other subject countries
would either win their freedom by revolt or be seized by their neighbours,
and they themselves would be shut up in a small and unfertile island which
was quite incapable of supporting the population of so large a city. A body
of troops was accordingly despatched to the disaffected districts and reduced
the Caunians to submission, though they had summoned help from the
Cibyratae. They also defeated in an action near Orthosia the Mylasensians
and Alabandians who had joined forces to wrest from them the province of
Euromos.
