Book 30
42
Then the admission of the embassies from Philip and the Carthaginians was discussed. It was decided that the Macedonians should be introduced first. Their address dealt with various points. They began by disclaiming all responsibility for the depredations on the friendly countries of which the Roman envoys had complained to the king. Then they themselves brought charges against the allies of Rome and a much more serious one against M. Aurelius, one of the three envoys, who they said had stayed behind and after raising a body of troops commenced hostilities against them in violation of treaty rights, and fought several engagements with their commanders. They ended with a demand that the Macedonians with their general Sopater who had served as mercenaries under Hannibal and were then prisoners in chains should be restored to them. In reply, M. Furius, who had been sent from Macedonia by Aurelius to represent him, pointed out that Aurelius had certainly been left behind, but it was for the purpose of preventing the allies of Rome from being driven to secede to the king in consequence of the injuries and depredations from which they were suffering. He had not overstepped their frontiers; he had made it his business to see that no hordes of plunderers crossed those frontiers with impunity. Sopater, who was one of the purple-clad nobles who stood near the throne and was related to the monarch, had recently been sent to Africa to assist Hannibal and Carthage with money and also with a force of 4000 Macedonians.
