Polyaratus of Rhodes
But in respect to folly and baseness of spirit, Polyaratus
The vain attempts of Polyaratus to escape, |
surpassed Deinon. For when Popilius Laenas
charged king Ptolemy to send Polyaratus to
Rome, the king, from a regard both to Polyaratus himself and his country, determined not to send him
to Rome but to Rhodes, this being also what Polyaratus himself asked him to do. Having therefore caused a galley to
be prepared, the king handed him over to Demetrius, one of
his own friends, and despatched him, and wrote a despatch to
the Rhodians notifying the fact.
But touching at Phaselis in
the course of the voyage, Polyaratus, from some
notion or another which he had conceived,
took suppliant branches in his hand, and fled for safety to the
city altar. If any one had asked him his intention in thus
acting, I am persuaded that he could not have told it. For if
he wanted to go to his own country, where was the need of suppliant branches? For his conductors were charged to take him
there. But if he wished to go to Rome, that was sure to take
place whether he wished it or no. What other alternative was
there? Other place that could receive him with safety to himself
there was none. However, on the people of Phaselis sending
to Rhodes to beg that they would receive Polyaratus, and take
him away, the Rhodians came to the prudent resolution of
sending an open vessel to convoy him; but forbade the captain
of it to actually take him on board, on the ground that the
officers from Alexandria had it in charge to deliver the man
in Rhodes. When the vessel arrived at Phaselis, and its captain, Epichares, refused to take the man on board, and
Demetrius, who had been deputed by the king for that business, urged him to leave the altar and resume his voyage; and
when the people of Phaselis supported his command, because
they were afraid they would incur some blame from Rome on
that account, Polyaratus could no longer resist the pressure of
circumstances, but once more went on board Demetrius's galley.
But in the course of the voyage he seized an opportunity of
doing the same again at Caunus, flying for
safety there in the same way, and begging the
Caunians to save him.
Upon the Caunians rejecting him, on
the grounds of their being leagued with Rhodes, he sent
messages to Cibyra, begging them to receive him in their
city, and to send him an escort. He had some claim upon
this city, because the sons of its tyrant, Pancrates, had been
educated at his house; accordingly, they listened to his request, and did what he asked.
But when he
got to Cibyra, he placed himself and the
Cibyratae into a still greater difficulty than that which he
caused before when at Phaselis. For they neither dared to
retain him in their town for fear of Rome, nor had the
power of sending him to Rome, because of their ignorance of the sea, being an entirely inland folk. Eventually they were reduced to send envoys to Rhodes and the
Roman proconsul in Macedonia, begging them to take over
the man. Lucius Aemilius wrote to the Cibyratae, ordering
them to keep Polyaratus in safe custody; and to the Rhodians
to make provision for his conveyance by sea and his safe
delivery upon Roman territory. Both peoples obeyed the
despatch: and thus Polyaratus eventually came to Rome, after
making a spectacle of his folly and cowardice to the best of
his ability; and after having been, thanks to his own folly,
four times surrendered—by king Ptolemy, the people of
Phaselis, the Cibyratae, and the Rhodians.
The reason of my having dwelt at some length on the
story of Polyaratus and Deinon is not that I have any desire
to trample upon their misfortunes, for that would be ungenerous in the last degree; but in order that, by clearly showing
their folly, I might instruct those who fall into similar difficulties
and dangers how to take a better and wiser course. . . .