Book 34
22
At this juncture there was handed to him the decree of the senate declaring war on Nabis the Lacedaemonian. After reading it he summoned a meeting of delegates from every State in Greece to be held in Corinth. It was attended by representatives from all quarters, even the Aetolians put in an appearance. The consul addressed the gathering in the following terms: "The war against Philip was conducted by the Romans and the Greeks with a common aim and united action, though each had their own grounds of quarrel. He had broken off friendly relations with Rome by first assisting her enemies the Carthaginians and then by attacking her allies in this country. Towards you his conduct has been such that, if we could have forgotten our own wrongs, those inflicted on you would have been a sufficient justification for war. Today's deliberation, however, solely concerns yourselves. The question I am laying before you is whether you are willing that Argos, which as you know has been taken possession of by Nabis, should remain under his rule, or whether you think it right that a city of such antiquity and renown, situated in the heart of Greece, should be restored to liberty and placed in the same condition as all the other cities in the Peloponnese and the mainland of Greece. This question, as you see, is one that you must decide wholly for yourselves; it in no way touches the Romans except so far as the servitude of any one city deprives them of the full and untarnished glory of effecting the liberation of Greece."
