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Treaty With Antiochus

"There shall be perpetual peace between Antiochus
Text of the treaty between Antiochus and Rome.
and the Romans if he fulfils the provisions of the treaty.

"Neither Antiochus nor any subject to him shall allow any to pass through their territories to attack the Romans or their allies, nor supply them with aught. Neither shall the Romans or their allies do the like for those attacking Antiochus or those subject to him.

"Antiochus shall not wage war upon the Islanders or the dwellers in Europe.

"He shall evacuate all cities and territory (this side Taurus1). His soldiers shall take nothing out with them except the arms they are carrying. If they chance to have taken anything away they shall restore it to the same cities.

"He shall receive neither soldiers nor other men from the territory of king Eumenes.

"If there be any men in the army of Antiochus coming from any of the cities taken over by the Romans, he shall deliver them up at Apameia.

"If there be any from the kingdom of Antiochus with the Romans or their allies, they may remain or depart as they choose.

"Antiochus and those subject to him shall give back the slaves, captives, and deserters of the Romans or their allies and any captive received from any quarter. Antiochus shall give up, if it be within his power so to do, Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, Mnesilochus the Acarnanian, Thoas the Aetolian, Euboulidas and Philo the Chalcidians, and such of the Aetolians as have held national offices.

"Antiochus shall give up all his elephants, and shall have none henceforth.

"Anitiochus shall surrender his ships of war, their tackle, and fittings, and henceforth have only ten decked ships. He shall not have a vessel rowed by thirty oars, [or by less] 2 for purposes of war begun by himself.

"He shall not sail west of the river Calycadnus and the promontory of Sarpedon, except to convey tribute or ambassadors or hostages.

"It shall not be lawful for Antiochus to enlist soldiers or receive exiles from the territory subject to Rome.

"Such houses as belonged to the Rhodians or their allies, in the territory subject to Antiochus, shall continue to belong to the Rhodians as before the war: any money owed to them shall still be recoverable: and any property left behind by them, if sought for, shall be restored.

"The Rhodians shall, as before the war, be free from tribute.

"If Antiochus has given any of the towns to others which he is bound to restore, he shall remove from them also his garrisons and men. And if any shall wish hereafter to desert to him, he shall not receive them.

"Antiochus shall pay to the Romans ten thousand talents, in ten yearly instalments, of the best Attic silver, each talent to weigh not less than eighty Roman pounds, and ninety thousand medemni of corn.

"Antiochus shall pay to king Eumenes three hundred and fifty talents in the five years next following, in yearly instalments of seventy talents; and in lieu of the corn, according to the valuation of Antiochus himself, one hundred and twenty-seven talents, two hundred and eight drachmae, which sum Eumenes has consented to accept 'as satisfying his claims.'

"Antiochus shall give twenty hostages, not less than eighteen nor more than forty-five years old, and change them every three years.

"If there be in any year a deficit in the instalment paid, Antiochus shall make it good in the next year.

"If any of the cities or nations, against whom it has been hereby provided that Antiochus should not make war, should commence war against him, it shall be lawful for Antiochus to war with them; but of such nations and cities he shall not have sovereignty nor attach them as friends to himself.

"Such complaints as arise between the parties to this treaty shall be referred to arbitration.

"If both parties agree in wishing anything to be added to or taken from this treaty, it shall be lawful so to do."

1 These words are wanting in the text. From Livy (38, 38) it appears that the territory was defined as between the Taurus and the R. Halys as far as the borders of Lycaonia.

2 Livy (l. c.) has neve monerem ex belli causa quod ipse illaturus erit.

Histories. Polybius. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh. translator. London, New York. Macmillan. 1889. Reprint Bloomington 1962.

Robert B. Strassler provided support for entering this text.

This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry, Running heads in Walbank's reprint have been converted to chapter titles, and titles have been added, usually from the marginal notes, for chapters without them. Some pages have notes of the form "line X: A should read B," which I believe are Walbank's; they have "resp=fww". Summaries of missing sections are encoded as inline notes with "resp=ess." A very few unidentified quotations are marked in notes with "resp=aem" (the markup editor) Citations are marked using Perseus abbreviations. and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.

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  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 38, 38
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