36.
These expressions, delivered with eagerness and vehemence by every one in the assembly, reached the ears of Philip, though he stood at a distance.
[2]
He therefore requested of Quinctius, that the whole business might be deferred until the next day; and then he would, positively, either prevail on the allies, or suffer himself to be prevailed on by them.
[3]
The shore at Thronium was appointed for their meeting, and there they assembled early. Philip began with entreating Quinctius, and all who were present, not to harbour such sentiments as must embarrass a negotiation of peace;
[4]
and then desired time, while he could send ambassadors to Rome, to the senate, declaring, that “he would either obtain a peace on the terms mentioned, or would accept whatever terms the senate should prescribe.” None by any means approved of this; they said, he only sought a delay, and leisure to collect his strength.
[5]
But Quinctius observed, “that such an objection would have been well founded, if it were then summer and a season fit for action;
[6]
as matters stood, and the winter being just at hand, nothing would be lost by allowing him time to send ambassadors.
[7]
For, without the authority of the senate, no agreement which they might conclude with the king would be valid; and besides, they would by this means have an opportunity, while the winter itself would necessarily cause a suspension of arms, to learn the authoritative decision of the senate.” The other chiefs of the allies came over to this opinion:
[8]
and a cessation of hostilities for two months being granted, they resolved that each of their states should send an ambassador with the necessary information to the senate, and in order that it should not be deceived by the misrepresentations of Philip.
[9]
To the above agreement for a truce, was added an article, that all the king's troops should be immediately withdrawn from Phocis and Locris.
[10]
With the ambassadors of the allies, Quinctius sent Amynander, king of Athamania; and, to add a degree of splendour to the embassy, a deputation from himself, composed of Quintus Fabius, the son of his wife's sister, Quintus Fulvius, and Appius Claudius.
Livy. History of Rome by Titus Livius, books twenty-seven to thirty-six. literally translated, with notes and illustrations, by. Cyrus Edmonds. York Street, Covent Garden, London. Henry G. Bohn. John Child and son, printers, Bungay. 1850. 3.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.