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Livy · History of Rome §37.35.1-37.35.10

Heraclides' Peace Proposals and Roman Rejection

Passage 1360 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The ambassador Heraclides presents Antiochus' peace proposals to the Roman council, offering withdrawal from Europe, surrender of certain Asian cities, and half of the war expenses; however, the Romans reject these as insufficient and demand that the king cede all of Asia on this side of Mount Taurus.

§37.35.1Advocato frequenti consilio legati verba sunt audita.
A well-attended council having been summoned, the words of the ambassador were heard.
§37.35.2is, multis ante legationibus ultro citroque nequiquam de pace missis, eam ipsam fiduciam impetrandi sibi esse dixit, quod priores legati nihil impetrassent: Zmyrnam enim et Lampsacum et Alexandriam Troadem et Lysimachiam in Europa iactatas in illis disceptationibus esse;
He, although many embassies had previously been sent back and forth in vain concerning peace, said that he had this very confidence of obtaining it, because the former ambassadors had obtained nothing; for he said that Smyrna, Lampsacus, Alexandria Troas, and Lysimachia in Europe had been the subjects of discussion in those debates.
§37.35.3quarum Lysimachia iam cessisse regem, ne quid habere eum in Europa dicerent; eas quae in Asia sint civitates tradere paratum esse, et si quas alias Romani, quod suarum partium fuerint, vindicare ab imperio regio velint;
Of these, the king had already withdrawn from Lysimachia, so that they might not say he had anything in Europe; he was ready to surrender those cities which were in Asia, and any others that the Romans, because they had been of their party, might wish to rescue from the royal dominion.
§37.35.4impensae quoque in bellum factae partem dimidiam regem praestaturum populo Romano.
The king would also pay to the Roman people half of the expenses incurred in the war.
§37.35.5hae condiciones erant pacis; reliqua oratio fuit, ut memores rerum humanarum et suae fortunae moderarentur et alienam ne urgerent.
These were the conditions of peace; the rest of his speech was an exhortation that, mindful of human affairs and moderating their own fortune, they should not press hard upon that of another.
finirent Europa imperium, id quoque immensum esse; §37.35.6et parari singula acquirendo facilius potuisse quam universa teneri posse;
They should limit their empire by Europe; that too was immense; and that individual possessions could have been more easily acquired one by one than the whole could be retained.
§37.35.7quod si Asiae quoque partem aliquam abstrahere velint, dummodo non dubiis regionibus finiant, vinci suam temperantiam Romana cupiditate pacis et concordiae causa regem passurum.
But if they wished to abstract some part of Asia also, provided they defined it with undisputed boundaries, the king, for the sake of peace and harmony, would allow his own moderation to be overcome by Roman greed.
ea, quae legato magna ad pacem impetrandam videbantur, §37.35.8parva Romanis visa: nam et impensam, quae in bellum facta esset, §37.35.9omnem praestare regem aequum censebant, cuius culpa bellum excitatum esset, et non Ionia modo atque Aeolide deduci debere regia praesidia, §37.35.10sed sicut Graecia omnis liberata esset, ita, quae in Asia sint, omnes liberari urbes; id aliter fieri non posse, quam ut cis Taurum montem possessione Asiae Antiochus cedat.
These things, which to the ambassador seemed great toward obtaining peace, seemed small to the Romans; for they thought it just that the king, by whose fault the war had been excited, should pay all the expense incurred in the war, and that the royal garrisons should be withdrawn not only from Ionia and Aeolis, but that, just as all Greece had been liberated, so all the cities in Asia should be liberated; and that this could not be done otherwise than by Antiochus withdrawing from the possession of Asia on this side of Mount Taurus.

Notes

  1. §37.35.2quod priores legati nihil impetrassent — The conjunction `quod` introduces an appositive noun clause explaining the content of the preceding demonstrative `eam ipsam fiduciam` ("this very confidence"), meaning "the fact that the former ambassadors had obtained nothing."
  2. §37.35.3ne quid habere eum in Europa dicerent — A clause of negative purpose introduced by `ne`. The subject of the subjunctive imperfect `dicerent` is indefinite ("so that people might not say"), and `eum`, the subject accusative of `habere`, refers to King Antiochus.
  3. §37.35.5suae fortunae moderarentur — The verb `moderari` ("to moderate, restrain") governs the object in the dative case (`suae fortunae`). Unlike when it governs the accusative to mean direct control or governance, the dative construction here implies setting limits to or restraining one's own success.
  4. §37.35.10aliter fieri non posse, quam ut — A correlative construction where `aliter... quam` is followed by a clause with the consecutive conjunction `ut`, expressing an indispensable condition ("otherwise than that..."). It means that the objective cannot be achieved unless Antiochus withdraws from his possession of Asia on this side of Mount Taurus.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §37.35.1-37.35.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:37.35.1-37.35.10

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