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Marcus Popillius Laenas, sent out by the Roman senate to bring the war in Egypt to an end, was met by the Macedonian king, Antiochus, at Eleusis, a suburb of Alexandria. Calling out a verbal greeting from a distance, he stretched out his hand in welcome, but Marcus Popillius, having the senate’s decree in readiness, handed it to Antiochus and ordered him to read it, thereby avoiding the clasping of the kings hand in friendship until it was evident whether he was a friend or foe.
The king, after reading the document, said he would consult with friends on the matter. Upon hearing this, Popillius, in a manner offensive and arrogant in the extreme and having a vinestock at hand, took the stick and drew a circle around Antiochus and directed him to give an answer before stepping out of the circle.
The king, astonished by what had taken place, and awed by the majesty and might of Rome, was in a hopeless quandary. On full consideration, he agreed to immediately break off his war against Ptolemy, where upon Popillius and his colleagues shook hands and greeted the king cordially. Pursuant to these instructions the king withdrew his forces from Egypt, panic-stricken by the superior might of Rome, the more so as he had just had news of the Macedonian collapse.
Indeed, had he not known that this had taken place; never of his own free will would he have heeded the decree.
Reference to A Line in the Sand
1 comment:
You tell us such interesting tales! In reaction to your story, our resident 'Home' historian … ‘Hero’ D. Tuss related the following, and due to his age, we suspect that he was actually a witness. He swears it's all true! Here is what he said.
“In ancient yore [a small kingdom in never-never land], King Meander was roving the Egyptian sands, when he ran into Mace E. Donian, an old friend from college. Having been frat brothers, but going on to careers in feuding law firms...they wanted to do the secret handshake, but they couldn't because they were holding scrolls in both hands – These were very Important scrolls, given them by the Senators and various populi type folks .. known in some quarters as ‘The Peeples’… which was curious – because they were very poor and only had nickels … nary a quarter amongst’em .. but I digress … With all hands burdened with scrolls they could not do the secret handshake… and of course … it was soon clear why!
Meander was incensed – because his courtiers kept burning sticks of smelly thyme … and decided to decree to Mace that his scrolls had more 'Gravitas' than any others … and he quickly executed a Navajo painting in the burning sands... and instructed Mace to sit in the middle... and Mace replied … as only he could do .. ‘What, are you nuts? That sand is HOT!’... However, since Mace was junior to Meander he had to do as told!
Vexed and perplexed, Meander was forced to show his hand... both of them in fact... and gave his best scroll to Mace to read as he sat, and ‘Me’ [as his closest friends called him], told Mace not to get off that sand painting until he had it translated … this is what was on the scroll...
“O luk et vill e si ergo
Forte buss es inero
Ono vill e dae es trux
Filt vit chi kaen cau zen dux “
Now this was very mysterious to Mace... since it was well typed in English... but he quickly surmised that it seemed also to be a coded message in fake Latin... He was bewilderfied to say the least! He turned to his assistant named Self, who in turn asked his assistant ‘I’... but none of them could even begin to decipher the cipher.
After baking in the hot sun and sand for a long time, Mace decided to try and fake an answer, and told ‘Me’ that it was the daVinci code … and if he published it, it would be almost as famous as Harry Potter … 'Me' thought to hisself, “... what the heck is he talking about?“, but since ‘Me’ was also getting cooked in the sun, he finally said ..aw … just fehgetaboudit! Let’s get out of here, and go get a nice cuppa mead... besides I can’t stand that smelly incense!!
So in the end... it seemed the sands, and thyme won out... There is no morals in this lesson... except to consider... Me, Mace, Self, and I….!?
Hero said “… and that’s the way it was!” - Signing off from the home, Val N. Tino
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