§44.14.1dum bellum in Macedonia geritur, legati Transalpini ab regulo Gallorum — Balanus ipsius traditur nomen; gentis ex qua fuerit, non traditur — Romam venerunt pollicentes ad Macedonicum bellum auxilia.
While the war was being waged in Macedonia, Transalpine envoys from a petty king of the Gauls—Balanus is handed down as his own name; the tribe from which he came is not handed down—came to Rome promising auxiliaries for the Macedonian war.
§44.14.2gratiae ab senatu actae muneraque missa, torquis aureus duo pondo et paterae aureae quattuor pondo, equus phaleratus armaque equestria.
Thanks were returned by the senate, and gifts were sent: a golden collar of two pounds in weight, and four golden bowls of four pounds in weight, a horse with trappings, and equestrian armor.
§44.14.3secundum Gallos Pamphylii legati coronam auream ex viginti milibus Philippicorum factam in curiam intulerunt, petentibusque iis, ut id donum in cella Iovis optimi maximi ponere et sacrificare in Capitolio liceret, permissum;
Following the Gauls, Pamphylian envoys brought into the senate-house a golden crown made from twenty thousand Philippics; and when they requested that they might be permitted to place that gift in the shrine of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and to offer sacrifice on the Capitol, permission was granted.
§44.14.4benigneque amicitiam renovare volentibus legatis responsum et binum milium aeris singulis missum munus.
And a gracious answer was returned to the envoys who wished to renew friendship, and a gift of two thousand asses of bronze was sent to each.
§44.14.5tum ab rege Prusia et paulo post ab Rhodiis de eadem re longe aliter disserentes legati auditi sunt.
Then envoys from King Prusias, and shortly after from the Rhodians, were heard, arguing far differently about the same matter.
§44.14.6utraque legatio de pace reconcilianda cum rege Perseo egit.
Both embassies pleaded for the restoration of peace with King Perseus.
Prusiae preces magis quam postulatio fuere, profitentis et ad id tempus se cum Romanis stetisse et, quoad bellum foret, staturum;
The words of Prusias were prayers rather than a demand, as he declared both that up to that time he had stood with the Romans and that, as long as the war should last, he would continue to stand.
§44.14.7ceterum cum ad se a Perseo legati venissent de finiendo cum Romanis bello, eis pollicitum deprecatorem apud senatum futurum; petere, si possent inducere in animum, ut finiant iras, se quoque in gratia reconciliatae pacis ponerent.
But when envoys had come to him from Perseus concerning the ending of the war with the Romans, he had promised them that he would be an intercessor before the senate; he requested that, if they could bring their minds to end their anger, they should also place him in the favor of the restored peace.
§44.14.8haec regii legati.
Thus spoke the king's envoys.
Rhodii superbe commemoratis meritis suis erga populum Romanum et paene victoriae, utique de Antiocho rege, maiore parte ad se vindicata, adiecerunt: §44.14.9cum pax inter Macedonas Romanosque esset, sibi amicitiam cum rege Perseo coeptam; eam se invitos, nullo eius in se merito, quoniam ita Romanis visum sit in societatem se belli trahere, interrupisse.
The Rhodians, after arrogantly recounting their services toward the Roman people and claiming for themselves the greater part of the victory, especially over King Antiochus, added: That when there was peace between the Macedonians and the Romans, their friendship with King Perseus had begun; and that they had interrupted it against their will, although he had done nothing to deserve it from them, because it had seemed fit to the Romans to draw them into an alliance of the war.
§44.14.10tertium se annum multa eius incommoda belli sentire mari intercluso; inopem insulam esse nec, nisi maritimis iuvetur commeatibus, colendam.
That they were now in the third year of feeling many inconveniences of that war, the sea being closed; and that their island was destitute and could not be inhabited unless it were aided by maritime supplies.
§44.14.11itaque cum id ultra pati non possent, legatos alios ad Persea in Macedoniam misisse, qui ei denuntiarent Rhodiis placere pacem eum conponere cum Romanis; §44.14.12se Romam eadem nuntiatum missos.
And so, since they could no longer endure this, they had sent other envoys to Perseus in Macedonia to announce to him that it was the pleasure of the Rhodians that he should make peace with the Romans; And that they themselves had been sent to Rome to announce the same things.
per quos stetisset, quo minus belli finis fieret, adversus eos quid sibi faciendum esset, Rhodios consideraturos esse.
That they would consider, on the part of the Rhodians, what they ought to do against those through whom it should have been due that an end to the war was not made.
§44.14.13ne nunc quidem haec sine indignatione legi audirive posse certum habeo; inde existimari potest, qui habitus animorum audientibus ea patribus fuerit.
I hold it certain that even now these things cannot be read or heard without indignation; from this it can be estimated what the state of mind of the senators must have been as they listened to them.