Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

When Antiochus the king, with a great force, arrived in Greece, and all were terror-stricken at the great numbers of the men and their armament, Flamininus told a story for the benefit of the Achaeans as follows: He said he was in Chalcis dining with a friend, and was amazed at the great number of the meats served. But his friend said that these were all pork, differing only in their seasoning and the way they were cooked. So then, he said, do not you, either, be amazed at the king’s forces when you hear the names: 4 pikemen, panoplied, foot-guards, archers with two horses. For all these are but Syrians differing from one another only in their paraphernalia. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. (378 E); Livy, xxxv. 49.)