+15.+ Having at length got a suitable opportunity, he disclosed to him
the offers with which he was charged. These were that the king would
first restore his son without ransom, who had been taken prisoner in
the early part of the war; and was prepared, secondly, to pay him any
sum of money he might name, and thenceforth share with him the wealth
of his kingdom, if he would only support the acceptance of the terms
offered by the king. Publius replied that the promise as to his son
he accepted, and would feel under an obligation to the king if he
fulfilled it; but as to the rest he assured him that the king, among
his other delusions, was under a complete mistake as to the course
demanded by his own interests. “For if he had made these offers while
still master of Lysimacheia and the entrance into the Chersonese, he
would at once have got what he asked: and so too, even after evacuating
these places, if he had appeared with his army at the Hellespont and
shown that he meant to prevent our crossing, and then had sent his
envoys, he might even thus have obtained his demands. But when he comes
with his proposals of equitable terms, after allowing our troops to
set foot in Asia, and having so not only submitted to the bridle, but
allowed the rider to mount, he must expect to fail and be disappointed
of his hopes. Therefore, I advise him to adopt wiser measures, and look
at the facts in their true light. In return for his promise in regard
to my son, I will give him a hint which is well worth the favour he
offers me: make any concession, do anything, rather than fight with
the Romans.” With this answer Heracleides returned and told the king
everything. And Antiochus, considering that no severer terms could be
imposed on him if he were beaten in the field, abandoned all idea of
negotiation, and began making preparations of all sorts and in every
direction for the battle....
_Antiochus sent Scipio’s son back. The decisive battle took place in
the neighbourhood of Thyatira, and proved a decisive victory for the
Romans. This was in the late autumn of B.C. 190. See Livy, 37, 38-44._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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