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being those who had experienced fortune, and to some of them they restored their rule, bringing them back with a strong hand, while others they greatly benefited and, causing them to forget their own people by the excess of their gifts, they persuaded to remain with them for life, considering servitude under the emperor to be much better and more admirable than rule over their own people. In this same way, then, Sisman has now become a suppliant of the Roman empire, not asking to be brought back to his own land, but to receive some providence, being in misfortune and having been driven from his rule. But Alexander, your king, it seems, because of the emperor's death, thinking that the affairs of the Romans were utterly ruined and that they possessed no one to lead them, sent him demanding with great boldness and expecting you to do his bidding without any further ado. But the situation is the opposite of what you yourselves thought. For while the emperor was still alive, employing us he punished those who wished to do wrong, and now that he has departed from mankind, we will defend ourselves, if anyone attacks, being subject to the emperor who is his son, and we will both guard our country unharmed from evils, and for the sake of the honor that has belonged to the Romans from of old we will eagerly make war on you. For it is no small matter for us, nor one to be lightly esteemed as a cause for disgrace, to betray to his death the fugitive who has come to us, at the command of you or of others. If, therefore, you yourselves desist from the absurdity of such demands and are willing to keep the peace and abide by the treaties and the oaths which you made to the emperor, we too will try to disturb none of the existing arrangements. But if you yourselves are the first to begin a war, we too, calling God to witness the injustice—whom you yourselves perjure by breaking the treaties—will teach you not to think beyond what is proper. And either by sending Sisman with triremes down the Ister to Vidin and kindling a civil war for you—for you yourselves surely know that many Mysians will join him on account of their ancient friendship and kinship—we will either drive Alexander entirely from his rule, or at the very least, we will inflict no small damage on him; or if this should not seem feasible, because less aid than is needed is being provided, then I myself with an army of Romans and Sisman will march against you and will fight you most eagerly, not only as one who has been wronged by the breaking of a treaty, but also as one aiding a wronged man, and furthermore against men who are in sedition among themselves, some siding with Alexander, and others who would gladly be rid of him and would go over to Sisman, a course which I do not think will be to your advantage. And I will not hide another way of war, by which it will be possible for us both to harm your country and to save our own, so that if any irreparable things happen in the war, you may know that not we, but you yourselves are to blame for them. For the most powerful of the Satraps in Asia, whom you yourselves are not unaware of, having heard of him, Amour son of Aitin, having learned of the emperor’s death and thinking that he too could most easily plunder the Romans because there was no one to defend them, manned two hundred and fifty ships, and made every effort to harm our land. But when I myself learned of the impending invasion of the Persians, I sent an embassy to him, one of my most proven friends, and I ordered him to turn back and to refrain from the attempt, as he would be marching against none other than me. And he at once received the embassy and turned back from the middle of his journey. And now, having sent an embassy here to me, he begs me not to allow his army to have been gathered in vain, but if we have any war against anyone, to make use of it, so that the army might benefit from the enemy’s spoils, and he himself might not have spent so much money for nothing, but might at least reap this reward, that he had spent it for a friend. But you should not disbelieve what is said, thinking it to have been fabricated for the sake of boasting and empty vaunting. For besides the fact that we are not prone to fabrications and falsehoods, it is also possible

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τύχῃ χρησαμένων ὄντες, καὶ τοῖς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπέδοσαν τὰς ἀρχὰς, χειρὶ πολλῇ καταγαγόντες, ἐνίους δὲ εὐεργετήσαντες μεγάλα καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ποιήσαντες ἐκλαθέσθαι τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῶν δωρεῶν, ἔπεισαν αὐτοῖς συνεῖναι διὰ βίου, τὴν παρὰ βασιλεῖ δουλείαν πολὺ βελτίω νομίσαντας καὶ θαυμασιωτέραν τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν 2.54 ὁμοφύλων. τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον καὶ νῦν Σίσμανος ἱκέτης γέγονε τῆς Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας, οὐ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν δεόμενος καταγαγεῖν, ἀλλὰ προνοίας τινὸς τυχεῖν, κακοπραγῶν καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκβεβλημένος. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ ὑμέτερος βασιλεὺς, ὡς ἔοικε, διὰ τὴν βασιλέως τελευτὴν τὰ Ῥωμαίων πράγματα παντάπασι νομίζων διεφθάρθαι καὶ μηδένα τὸν προστησόμενον κεκτῆσθαι, ἐκεῖνον ἀπέστειλεν αἰτῶν μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς παῤῥησίας καὶ τὸ κελευόμενον ποιεῖν, μηδὲν πολυπραγμονοῦντας ἀξιῶν. τὸ δ' ἐναντίως ἔχει ἢ ᾠήθητε αὐτοί. βασιλεύς τε γὰρ ἔτι περιὼν, ἡμῖν χρώμενος τοὺς ἀδικεῖν ἐθέλοντας ἐτιμωρεῖτο, καὶ νῦν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐκείνου γεγενημένου, ἡμεῖς ἀμυνούμεθα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, ἄν τις ἐπίῃ, ὑπὸ βασιλέα τὸν ἐκείνου παῖδα τεταγμένοι, καὶ τήν τε χώραν ἡμῶν φυλάξομεν ἀπαθῆ κακῶν, καὶ ὑπὲρ φιλοτιμίας τῆς ἀνέκαθεν Ῥωμαίοις προσηκούσης πολεμήσομεν ὑμῖν προθύμως. οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν τοῦτό γε, οὐδὲ εὐκαταφρόνητον ἡμῖν εἰς ἀδοξίας λόγον, τὸ τὸν φυγάδα παρ' ἡμῖν γεγενημένον, ἢ ὑμῶν ἢ ἑτέρων κελευόντων, ἐπὶ θανάτῳ προδιδόναι. ἂν μὲν οὖν καὶ αὐτοὶ τῆς ἀτοπίας τῶν τοιούτων ζητημάτων ἀποστάντες, εἰρήνην ἄγειν καὶ ταῖς σπονδαῖς ἐμμένειν καὶ τοῖς ὅρκοις, οὓς πρὸς βασιλέα ἔθεσθε, ἐθέλητε, πειρασόμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς τῶν καθεστώτων μηδὲν κινεῖν. ἂν δ' ἄρχητε αὐτοὶ πρότεροι πολέμου, τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἡμεῖς μάρτυρα τῆς ἀδικίας προστησάμενοι, ὃν 2.55 αὐτοὶ ἐπιορκεῖτε διαλύοντες τὰς σπονδὰς, διδάξομεν ὑμᾶς μηδὲν πέρα τοῦ προσήκοντος φρονεῖν. καὶ ἢ Σίσμανον τριήρεσι διὰ τοῦ Ἴστρου καταστήσαντες ἐπὶ Βιδήνην καὶ πόλεμον ἐμφύλιον ἀνάψαντες ὑμῖν, ἴστε γὰρ δήπου καὶ αὐτοὶ, ὡς πολλοὶ Μυσῶν προσχωρήσουσιν ἐκείνῳ διὰ τὴν ἀρχαίαν φιλίαν καὶ τὴν οἰκειότητα τοῦ γένους, ἢ παντάπασιν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐκβαλοῦμεν τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἢ τά γε δεύτερα, οὐ μέτριά τινα ζημιώσομεν αὐτὸν, ἢ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο δοκοίη, ὡς ἐλάττονος ἢ προσῆκε τῆς ἐπικουρίας γινομένης, ἀλλ' ἔγωγε αὐτὸς ἅμα στρατιᾷ Ῥωμαίων ἔχων καὶ Σίσμανον, ὑμῖν ἐπιστρατεύσω καὶ μαχοῦμαι προθυμότατα ὑμῖν, οὐ μόνον παρασπονδούμενος αὐτὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδικουμένῳ βοηθῶν, καὶ προσέτι γε στασιάζουσι πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τοῖς μὲν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ προσκειμένοις, τοῖς δὲ ἥδιον ἂν ἀπαλλαξομένοις καὶ πρὸς Σίσμανον ἀποχωρήσουσιν, ὅπερ οὐκ οἴομαι ὑμῖν λυσιτελήσειν. ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τρόπον ἕτερον πολέμου, ἐξ οὗ τήν τε ὑμετέραν κακοῦν ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐξέσται διασώζειν, οὐκ ἀποκρύψω, ἵνα μή τινων ἀνηκέστων πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον συμβάντων, οὐχ ἡμᾶς αἰτίους, ἀλλὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς εἰδείητε αὐτοῖς. τῶν γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Σατραπῶν ὁ δυνατώτατος, ὃν οὐδ' αὐτοὶ ἀγνοεῖτε παρειληφότες ἀκοῇ, Ἀμοὺρ ὁ τοῦ Ἀϊτίνη, τὴν βασιλέως πεπυσμένος τελευτὴν καὶ νομίσας καὶ αὐτὸς ῥᾷστα ληΐσεσθαι Ῥωμαίους διὰ τὸ μηδένα εἶναι τὸν ἀμυνούμενον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίας πληρώσας ναῦς, πᾶσαν ἐποι 2.56 εῖτο σπουδὴν κακοῦν τὴν ἡμετέραν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπυθόμην αὐτὸς τῶν Περσῶν τὴν ἐσομένην εἰσβολὴν, πρεσβείαν πέμψας πρὸς ἐκεῖνον, ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα ἐξητασμένον τῶν φίλων τῶν ἐμῶν, ἐκέλευον ἀναστρέφειν καὶ ἀπέχεσθαι τῆς πείρας, ὡς οὐδέσιν ἄλλοις ἐπιστρατεύσοντα ἢ ἐμοί. ὁ δ' ἅμα τε ἐδέξατο τὴν πρεσβείαν καὶ ἀνέστρεφεν ἐκ μέσης τῆς ὁδοῦ. νυνὶ δὲ ἐνταῦθα πρὸς ἐμὲ πρεσβείαν πεπομφὼς, δεῖται μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν στρατιὰν εἰκῇ συνειλεγμένην, ἀλλ' εἴ τις πρός τινα πόλεμος ἡμῖν, χρήσασθαι αὐτῇ, ὡς ἂν ἥ τε στρατιὰ ὠφεληθείη ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων τῶν λαφύρων, ἐκεῖνός τε μὴ μάτην εἴη τοσαῦτα χρήματα ἀναλωκὼς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τοῦτό γε καρπώσαιτο, τὸ ἀναλωκέναι ὑπὲρ φίλου. οὐ χρὴ δὲ ἀπιστεῖν τοῖς λεγομένοις, κόμπου ἕνεκα καὶ αὐχήματος διακένου πεπλάσθαι οἰομένους. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ μὴ εὐχερεῖς ἡμᾶς πρὸς πλάσματα καὶ ψεύδη εἶναι, ἔξεστι καὶ