53. The king, being brought back by the prætor into the senate-house, and desired to speak freely, began thus: “Conscript fathers. I should have persevered in being silent, but that I knew you would presently call in the Rhodian ambassadors, and that when they had been heard, the necessity of speaking would be imposed on me. And this my speech will be the more difficult on this account, because their demands will be of such a nature, that they will appear not only to make no demands which may be contrary to my interests, but not even to request any thing which may be intimately connected with themselves. For they will plead the cause of the Grecian states, and allege that they ought to be set free; which point being gained, to whom is it doubtful that they will alienate from us not only those states which shall be liberated, but likewise our ancient tributaries; and that after having bound them under so great an obligation, they will keep them under the denomination of allies, in reality subject to their government and entirely at their disposal? And, if it pleases the gods, while they will aspire to this so great power, they will pretend that this is no way connected with them; they will only say, that it is becoming you and conformable to your past conduct. You must be cautious, therefore, lest this speech deceive you; and lest by an unfair distribution, you not only depress some of your allies too much, while you exalt others beyond measure, but also put those who bore arms against you in a better state than your allies and friends. As to what regards myself in other cases, I should prefer to appear to any one to have yielded within the limit of my right, rather than to have struggled too obstinately in maintaining it; but in a contest of friendship and good-will towards you, and of the respect to be paid to you, I cannot with any patience bear to be outdone. This was the principal inheritance that I received from my father; who, of all the inhabitants of Asia and Greece, was the first who embraced your friendship; and this he maintained with constant and invariable fidelity to the last hour of his life. Nor did he display merely a faithful and kind inclination towards you, but was actively engaged in all the wars which you waged in Greece, whether on land or sea; he aided you with all kinds of provisions in such a manner, that not one of your allies could vie with him in any respect; and finally, while he was exhorting the Bœotians to an alliance with you, having fainted in the middle of his discourse, he shortly expired. In his steps have I trodden; and though I could not surpass the warmth of his wishes, and his zeal in courting your friendship—for these could not be exceeded—yet fortune, the times, Antiochus, and the war waged in Asia, afforded me occasions of surpassing him in real acts and merits, and valuable services. Antiochus, king of Asia, and of a part of Europe, offered me