Cato the Elder and his speech for the Rhodians

[James Lamiell]

I've been trying to make sense of this speech for awhile now, but I can't
seem to get the meaning behind it. If anyone has read this speech, please
tell me what he's talking about.

Also, I'm having trouble with the last line. Since this is a speech, I'm
assuming he is leaving certain words out, maybe for vernacular reasons, or
because it's an oration, but here's the line:

quod illi tamen perpessi

which they have endured??

Any help on this would be nice.

[Joop Jagers]

James Lamiell wrote:

In the Macedonian war the Rhodians had been (rather passive) allies of the
Macedonian king. After his defeat the Rhodians had every reason to be
concerned about the Roman reaction, so they sent an embassy to Rome, which was
at first denied access to the senate. When they finally had the opportunity to
speak in the senate and some senators felt that Rome should declare war on the
Rhodians, Cato came to their rescue in a famous speech, of which only
fragments have survived (in my edition seven).

'quod illi tamen perpessi' is the last sentence of the second fragment. In the
previous lines Cato states that the Rhodians like many other people for fear
of Roman slavery supported the Macedonian king, but they never actually helped
him. So, while any normal human being would do anything to prevent damage to
his interests, the Rhodians did no such thing: they simply let it happen (=
quod illi tamen perpessi <sunt>).

--

Joop Jagers (Eindhoven, NL)

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