Conference Between Roman Legates and Antiochus
Just when the designs of Antiochus in Thrace were succeeding to his heart's desire, Lucius Cornelius
note
and his party sailed into Selybria. These were
the envoys sent by the Senate to conclude a
peace between Antiochus and Ptolemy. And at the same
time there arrived Publius Lentulus from Bargylia, Lucius
Terentius and Publius Villius from Thasus, three of the ten
commissioners for Greece. Their arrival having been promptly
announced to Antiochus, they all assembled within the next
few days at Lysimacheia; and it so happened that Hegesianax
and Lysias, who had been on the mission to Flamininus,
arrived about the same time. The private intercourse between
the king and the Romans was informal and friendly; but when
presently they met in conference to discuss public affairs,
things took quite another aspect. note Lucius Cornelius demanded that Antiochus should
evacuate all the cities subject to Ptolemy which
he had taken in Asia; while he warned him in solemn and
emphatic language that he must do so also to the cities subject
to Philip, "for it was ridiculous that Antiochus should come in
and take the prizes of the war which Rome had waged with
Philip." He also admonished him to abstain from attacking
autonomous cities, and added that "He was at a loss to conjecture with what view Antiochus had crossed over to Europe
with such a powerful army and fleet; for if it were not with
the intention of attacking the Romans, there was no explanation left that any reasonable person could accept."
With these words the Romans ceased speaking.
