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Polybius Goes to Lilybaeum to Negotiate

A despatch from Manius Manilius to the Achaeans
Polybius sent for to negotiate with Carthage, B. C. 149.
having reached the Peloponnese, saying that they would oblige him by sending Polybius of Megalopolis with all speed to Lilybaeum, as he was wanted on account of certain public affairs, the Achaeans decided to send him in accordance with the letter of the consul. And as I felt bound to obey the Romans, I put everything else aside, and sailed at the beginning of summer. But when we arrived at Corcyra, we found another despatch from the consul to the Corcyreans had come, announcing that the Carthaginians had already surrendered all the hostages to them, and were prepared to obey them.1 Thinking, therefore, that the war was at an end, and that there was no more occasion for our services, we sailed back to the Peloponnese. . . .

1 Livy, Ep. 49.

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

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  • Cross-references to this page (2):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CIRTA
    • Smith's Bio, Masinissa
  • Cross-references in notes to this page (1):
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