xert
the whole strength of his kingdom, he collected a most powerful force,
both naval and military; and in the beginning of spring, sending
forward by land his two sons, Ardues and Mithridates, at the head of
the army, with orders to wait for him at Sardis, he himself set out
by sea with a fleet of one hundred decked ships, besides two hundred
lighter vessels, barks and fly-boats, designing to attempt the
reduction of all the cities under the dominion of Ptolemy along the
whole coast of Caria and Cilicia; and, at the same time, to aid Philip
with an army and ships, for as yet that war had not been brought to a
conclusion.

20. The Rhodians, out of a faithful attachment to the Roman people,
and an affection for the whole race of the Greeks have performed
many honourable exploits, both on land and sea: but never was their
gallantry more eminently conspicuous than on this occasion, when,
nowise dismayed at the formidable magnitude of the impending war,
they sent ambassadors to tell the king, that he should not double the
tribute of Cheledoniae, which is a promontory of Cilicia, rendered
famous by an ancient treaty between the Athenians and the king
of Persia; that if he did not confine his fleet and army to that
boundary, they would meet him there and oppose not out of any ill
will, but because they would not suffice to join Philip and obstruct
the Romans, who were resisting liberty to Greece. At this time
Antiochus was pushing the siege of Coracesium with his works; for,
after he had possession of Zephyrium, Solae, Aphrodisias, and Corycus;
and doubling Anemurium, another promontory of Cilicia, had taken
Selinus; when all these, and the other fortresses on that coast, had,
either through fear or inclination, submitted without resistance,
Coracesium shut its gates, and gave him a delay which he did not
expect. Here an audience was given to the ambassadors of the Rhodians,
and although the purport of their embassy was such as might kindle
passion in the breast of a king, yet he stifled his resentment, and
answered, that "he would send ambassadors to Rhodes, and would give
them instructions to renew the old treaties, made by him and his
predecessors, with that state; and to assure them, that they need not
be alarmed at his approach; that it would involve no injury or fraud
either to them or their allies; for that he was not about to violate
the friendship subsisting between himself and the Romans, both his own
late embass