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33. Silence followed, the Roman believing that the conference should be opened by him who had asked it, the king that he who was proposing terms of peace, and not he who was receiving them, should speak first; [2] then the Roman began: He said that his speech was simple; for he would say only what was essential if there were to be terms of peace. [3] The king must withdraw his garrisons from all the cities of Greece, must give up the captives and fugitives to the allies of the Roman people, must restore to the Romans the parts of Illyricum1 which he had occupied subsequent to the peace which had been made in Epirus, and must give back to King Ptolemy of Egypt the cities which he had seized since the death of Ptolemy Philopator. [4] These were his conditions and those of the Roman people; but the king must hear besides the demands of the allies. [5] The ambassador of King Attalus demanded that the ships and prisoners which had been taken in the naval battle off Chios be given back, and that the Nicephorium2 and the temple of Venus which he had despoiled and destroyed should be restored to [p. 255]their former state; [6] the Rhodians asked for Peraea3 —a district on the mainland opposite their island, and under their ancient rule4 —and demanded that the garrisons be withdrawn from Iasus and Bargyliae and the city of the Euromenses, and on the Hellespont [7] from Sestus and Abydus, and that Perinthus should be given back to the Byzantines and permitted to enjoy its ancient rights, and that all the markets and ports of Asia should be made free. [8] The Achaeans demanded Corinth and Argos. Phaeneas, praetor of the Aetolians, having made practically the same demands as the Romans, that Greece should be evacuated, and also that the [9] cities which had formerly been under the control and sway of the Aetolians should be returned to them, was interrupted in his speech by Alexander, an Aetolian noble, and considered eloquent, as Aetolians go. [10] He said that he had kept silent for a long time, not because he thought that anything was being accomplished at the conference, but to avoid breaking in on the speech of any of the allies. Philip, he said, had never kept peace with good faith or waged war with true courage. [11] In conference he plotted and tried to entrap his opponents; in battle he would not engage in the open field or fight hand to hand, but instead would retreat, burn and rob cities and, though conquered, destroy the prizes of the conquerors. [12] The Macedonian kings of old did not conduct matters thus,5 but were used to fight in battle array and to spare the cities, so far as they could, that they might have a richer empire. [13] For what sort of wisdom was it to destroy the things for the possession of which you fight, and leave yourself nothing but the fighting? [14] Philip had, during the preceding [p. 257]campaign, wasted more friendly cities in Thessaly than all6 the enemies Thessaly had ever had. [15] To the Aetolians themselves, too, he had as an ally done more damage than he had as an enemy: he had taken possession of Lysimachia after driving out the magistrate and the Aetolian garrison; he had utterly ruined and destroyed Cios, another city under their control; [16] with the same deceit he held Phthian Thebes, Echinus, Larisa, and Pharsalus.

1 After the peace of 205 B.C. (XXIX. xii. 1), Philip had occupied certain districts on the Illyrian coast which Rome had taken over after the defeat of the Illyrians in 229 B.C. (Per. XX).

2 A sacred grove outside Pergamum: Strabo, XII. iv.; Diodorus, XXVIII. 5.

3 B.C. 197

4 Taken at the time of the operations mentioned in XXXI. xiv. 4.

5 I have completed the apparent sense of the first clause.

6 B.C. 197

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load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
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  • Commentary references to this page (32):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, textual notes, 31.2
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.11
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.14
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.2
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.31
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.31
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.46
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.46
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.46
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.1
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.12
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.12
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.13
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.13
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.18
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.19
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.3
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.30
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.30
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.38
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.5
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.23
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.32
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.35
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.41
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.8
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 36.14
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.9
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.9
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.35
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.25
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER LXXXIV
  • Cross-references to this page (33):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (13):
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