Syrian Wars

Gnæus,[*](The name of this ambassador, according to Polybius (xvii. 31), was Lucius Cornelius. In other respects the account of the conference by Polybius agrees with that of our author. The conference took place at Lysimacheia.) the chief of the embassy, demanded that Antiochus should allow Ptolemy, who was a friend of the Roman people, to rule over all the countries that his father had left to him, and that the cities of Asia that had been part of the dominions of Philip should be independent, for it was not right that Antiochus should usurp powers of which the Romans had deprived Philip. "We are wholly at a loss to know," he said, "why Antiochus should come from Media bringing such a fleet and such an army from the upper country to the Asiatic coast, make an incursion into Europe, build cities there, and subdue Thrace, unless these are the preparations for another war." Antiochus replied that Thrace had belonged to his ancestors, that it had fallen away from them when they were occupied elsewhere, and that he had resumed possession because he had leisure to do so. He had built Lysimacheia as the future seat of government of his son Seleucus. He would leave the Greek cities of Asia independent if they would acknowledge the gratitude therefor as due to himself and not to the Romans. "I am a relative of Ptolemy," he said, "and I shall be his father-in-law, although I am not so now, and I will see to it that he renders gratitude to you. I am at a loss to know by what right you meddle with the affairs of Asia when I never interfere with those of Italy." And so they separated without coming to any understanding, and both sides broke into more open threats. [*](Y.R. 559)

A rumor having spread abroad that Ptolemy Philopator [*](B.C.195) was dead, Antiochus hastened to Egypt in order to seize the country while bereft of a ruler. While on this journey Hannibal the Carthaginian met him at Ephesus. He was now a fugitive from his own country on account of the accusations of his enemies, who reported to the Romans that he was hostile to them, that he wanted to bring on a war, and that he could never enjoy peace. This was a time when the Carthaginians were leagued with the Romans by treaty. Antiochus received Hannibal in a magnificent manner on account of his great military reputation, and kept him near himself. At Lycia he learned that Ptolemy was alive. So he gave up the idea of seizing Egypt and turned his attention to Cyprus, hoping to take it instead of Egypt, and sailed thither with all speed. Encountering a storm at the mouth of the river Sarus and losing many of his ships, some of them with his soldiers and friends, he sailed back to Seleucia in Syria to repair his damaged fleet. There he celebrated the nuptials of his children, Antiochus and Laodice, whom he had joined together in marriage. [*](Y.R. 561)