Menippus lifted a voice of protest. He entreated the Romans, in the name of the peace of the world, to pause, and reiterated the pacific disposition of his master; diplomacy might still find a solution of the deadlock. The Senate on its side was not anxious to precipitate the conflict, and resolved to send an embassy to the King. For this office the persons chosen were Publius Sulpicius, Publius Villius (who had confronted Antiochus at Lysimachia) and Publius Aelius.1 These emissaries were instructed first to visit the court of Pergamos and ascertain the leanings of Eumenes. Antiochus had indeed been doing his utmost to induce the powers of Asia Minor to oppose a solid front to the Roman aggression. On Prusias of Bithynia he could count, Prusias, the foe of Pergamos, and the ally of Philip before he had been humbled. Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia Antiochus essayed to bind to himself in the same way as he had bound Ptolemy; he had other daughters to give. We last heard of the Cappadocian court when Antiochus Hierax took refuge with Ariamnes about 230. Since then it had continued its tranquil existence aloof from the broils of the world. Ariamnes, celebrated for the warmth of his domestic affections, had died after an uneventful reign of about forty years at a date probably not far removed from the visit of Hierax. His son, Ariarathes III, who had already borne the name of king during his father's lifetime, then reigned alone. It was this Ariarathes whose wife was a Seleucid princess, Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus Theos, and aunt therefore of Antiochus III. The reign of Ariarathes III, like that of his father, is wrapped in complete obscurity. Only his coins bear witness to the Hellenic influence at work in his court. It is no Oriental potentate, with beard and tiara, that here is shown, but a king of the regular Hellenistic type, clean-shaven, with short hair and the simple diadem. On the reverse of his coins the barbarian goddess of Cappadocia is replaced by a 1 Liv. xxxiv. 57 f.; Diod. xxviii. 15. Appian and Justin make Publius Scipio chief of this embassy, and Livy mentions this as being related in the History of Acilius. Nissen (Kritisch. Unters. p. 167 f.) thinks that Scipio really did go to Asia on a later embassy which Appian has confused with that of Sulpicius. On the whole I think it most probable that the embassy of Scipio is a fable. His interview with Hannibal made a dramatic situation. classical Athena copied from the money of Lysimachus. Already under Ariamnes, it will be remembered, Greek had superseded Aramaïc for the legend. Ariarathes III had died about 220, and the son who succeeded him, Ariarathes IV, was at that time quite an infant.1 He inherited the family characteristics of simplicity and affection, so far as we can judge by the little told us. He is the first of the dynasty for whom a surname appears, the modest one of Eusebes, the Pious.2 In an evil day for himself he received the Great King's daughter Antiochis to wife. He was no mate for one of those tigress princesses whom the old Macedonian blood continued to produce.3 Antiochus had yet a third daughter, and by means of her he did not despair of even overcoming the hostility of Eumenes, of bringing Pergamos into line with the other Asiatic courts. Together with her hand he offered the restoration of the cities which had once obeyed Pergamos and indefinite services in the future.4 But Eumenes was shrewd enough to refuse the splendid bribe. It was the policy of his house to ally itself with the more distant against the nearer power, and the wars, in which Attalus had fought side by side with the Romans, had led the Pergamene court to form a true estimate of the strength and persistency of the Republic; so that now, when their old confederates, the Aetolians, were estranged, Pergamos stood stoutly by the Roman alliance as the soundest speculation.5 Sulpicius and his colleagues touched in 192 at Elaea, the harbour-town of Pergamos, and thence went up to the capital. They found Eumenes a strong advocate of war; he knew that a decisive conflict must come sooner or later between Pergamos and the Seleucid power, and grasped at the chance of entering into it side by side with Rome. In such a contingency he saw the prospect, not only of safety, but of aggrandizement, of recovering that dominion in Asia Minor which his father had held for a moment amid the broils of the Seleucid princes. He now used all his influence, as Hannibal was doing on the other side, to force on hostilities." 1 Diod. xxxi. 19, 6; Polyb. iv. 2, 8; Justin xxix. 1, 4. 2 Reinach, Trois royaumes, p. 36. 3 Diod. xxxi. 19, 7; App. Syr. 5. 6 Liv. xxxv. 13, 6 f. PLATE II 1. ANTIOCHUS III, THE GREAT KING. 2. THE SAME. 3. SELEUCUS IV PHILOPATOR. 4. PHILIP, THE SON OF DEMETRIUS, KING OF MACEDONIA (229-179). 5. ANTIOCHUS, THE SON OF SELEUCus IV (?). See Vol. II, p. 126. 6. DEMETRIUS, THE SON OF EUTHYDEMUS, OF Bactria. 7. ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES, 8. HEAD OF ZEUS ON A COIN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, SUPPOSED TO SHOW RESEMBLANCE TO THE KING'S PORTRAIT. 9. ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES. 10. ANTIOCHUS V EUPATOR. II. DEMETRIUS I SOTFR. 12. THE SAME. |