the king replied that in the first place he was at a loss to know by what right they disputed his possession of the Asiatic towns; they were the last people who had any title to do so.
Next he requested them not to trouble themselves at all about Asiatic affairs; for he himself did not in the least go out of his way to concern himself with the affairs of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Italy&groupId=656&placeId=1199">Italy</a>.
He said that he had crossed to Europe with his army for the purpose of recovering the Chersonese and the cities in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Thrace&groupId=1030&placeId=509">Thrace</a>, for he had a better title to the sovereignty of these places than anyone else.
They originally formed part of Lysimachus's kingdom, but when Seleucus went to war with that prince and conquered him in the war, the whole of Lysimachus's kingdom came to Seleucus by right of conquest.
But during the years that followed, when his ancestors had their attention deflected elsewhere, first of all Ptolemy and then Philip had robbed them of those places and appropriated them.
At present he was not possessing himself of them by taking advantage of Philip's difficulties, but he was repossessing himself of them by his right as well as by his might.
As for the Lysimachians, who had been unexpectedly expelled from their homes by the Thracians, he was doing no injury to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> in bringing them back and resettling them
for he did this not with the intention of doing violence to the Romans, but of providing a residence for Seleucus.
And regarding the autonomous cities of Asia it was not proper for them to receive their liberty by order of the Romans, but by his own act of grace.
As for his relations with Ptolemy, he would himself settle everything in a manner agreeable to that king, for he had decided not only to establish friendship with him but to unite him to himself by a family alliance.
Walbank Commentary