23. This nation, and the state of Athens, solitary exceptions to the whole of Greece, had carried their resentment to such a length, as to prohibit the Macedonians entering their territories. In consequence of this, Macedonia became a place of refuge for slaves running away out of Achaia; for, as the Achæans had forbidden the inhabitants of Macedon to set foot in their territories, they could not presume to pass the boundaries of that kingdom. When Perseus observed this, he seized all the fugitives, and wrote a letter * * * * * * * “but that they ought to consider of the proper means of preventing such elopements for the future.” When this letter was read by the proætor Xenarchus, who was seeking a path to private influence with the king, the greater part who were present, but especially those who, contrary to their expectations, were about to receive the slaves they had lost, commended the moderation and kindness with which it was written; but Callierates, one who thought that the safety of the nation depended on the treaty with Rome being preserved inviolate, delivered his sentiments to this effect;—“To some of you, Achæans, the matter under consideration appears trifling and unimportant. I think that a very great and important subject is not only under consideration, but to a certain extent decided. For we, who prohibited the kings of Macedonia, and all their subjects, from entering our territories, and made a perpetual decree, not to receive from those sovereigns either ambassadors or messengers, by whom the minds of any of us might be tampered with; we, I say, listen to the king speaking in a manner, though absent, and what is more, approve of his discourse. Although wild beasts generally reject and shun the food laid in their way for their destruction; yet we, blinded by the specious offer of an insignificant favour, swallow the bait, and would, for the sake of recovering a parcel of wretched slaves, of no value worth mentioning, suffer our independence to be undermined and subverted. For who does not see that a way is being paved to an alliance with the king, by which the treaty with Rome in which all our interests are involved would be violated? That there must be a war between Perseus and the Romans, is not, I believe, a matter of doubt to any one, and the struggle which was expected during the life of Philip, and interrupted by his death, will, now that he is dead, most certainly ensue. Philip, you all know, had two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Demetrius was much superior in birth, on the mother’s side, in merit, capacity, and in the esteem of the Macedonian nation. But Philip, having set up the crown as the prize of hatred towards the Romans, put Demetrius to death, for no other crime than having contracted a friendship with that people; and made Perseus king, because he knew him to be an enemy to the Roman people almost before he determined on making him king. Accordingly, what else has the