When the news of the victory of Rome had spread into Asia, Antenor, who was lying with a fleet of swift ships at Phanae, left that place for Cassandrea. [2] C. Popilius was at Delos to escort the supply ships destined for Macedonia, and when he learnt that the war in Macedonia was at an end and that the enemy vessels had left their station he sent home the ships of the allies which were under his command and set sail for Egypt to [3??] carry out the mission with which he was charged. He was anxious to meet Antiochus, if possible, before he approached the walls of Alexandria. [4] Coasting along the shores of Asia the commissioners arrived at Loryma, a harbour little more than twenty miles from Rhodes and facing the city. Here some of the leading Rhodians had come to meet them-for by this time the news of the victory had been carried to Rhodes-and begged them to break their journey at Rhodes. [5] They said that it deeply concerned the good name and safety of their city that the commissioners should find out for themselves what had been going on and what was going on at the time, and should carry back to Rome what they had personally ascertained and not simply empty rumours. [6] For a long time they refused, but at last consented to a brief interruption of their voyage for the sake of an allied city. After they had entered Rhodes, these same men persuaded them to appear before their assembly. [7] The appearance of the commissioners increased rather than allayed the fears of the citizens. Popilius brought up all the hostile speeches and acts of which they had been guilty during the war, whether individually or collectively. [8] Being a man of fierce temper, he made the matters he spoke about appear still more heinous by his angry expression and the sternness of his voice. [9] So though the citizens had given him no personal offence, they could gather from the embittered tone of one Roman senator what the feelings of the senate as a whole were towards them. The address of C. Decimius was much more moderate. [10] With regard to most of the things that Popilius had mentioned, he said that the blame did not rest with the people, but with a few agitators who had stirred up the mob, and, winning their votes by bribery, had passed decrees filled with flattery of the king, and had been the means of those embassies being sent to him which had caused the Rhodians as much shame as regret. [11] All this, if the people were sound at heart, would recoil on the heads of the guilty parties. [12] His words were loudly applauded, for he not only exculpated the great body of the citizens, but he fastened the guilt on those who were really responsible for the mischief. [13] When, therefore, their leaders spoke in reply, those of them who tried to explain away the charges which Popilius had made were not listened to with anything like the approval which greeted those who agreed with Decimius that the authors of the evil should be made to atone for the evil they had done. A decree was at once passed that those who were convicted of having spoken or acted in favour of Perseus against the Romans should be sentenced to death. [14] Some had left the city before the Romans came, others took their own lives. The commissioners did not stay beyond five days in Rhodes, and then went on to Alexandria. [15] Their departure did not make the Rhodians any the more slack in commencing the trials under the decree passed when the commissioners were present; the mildness of Decimius did quite as much to strengthen their resolution to see the thing through as the severity of Popilius.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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