At the time when Perseus was beaten and ran away, the senate decided to summon the envoys from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rhodes&groupId=931&placeId=1665">Rhodes</a>, who had come with the object of bringing the war with Perseus to an end:
Fortune, as if of set purpose, bringing on the stage the folly of the Rhodians — if indeed we should say that of the Rhodians, and not rather that of the men who had then come to the surface at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rhodes&groupId=931&placeId=1665">Rhodes</a>.
Agepolis and his colleagues, on entering, said they had come to bring the war to an end; for that the people of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rhodes&groupId=931&placeId=1665">Rhodes</a>, when they saw that the war still continued to drag on, and observed that it was unprofitable to all the Greeks and to the Romans themselves owing to its great expense, had decided on this step;
but now that war had terminated in the way that the Rhodians had wished, they congratulated the Romans. Having said this very briefly they departed.
But the senate, availing itself of this opportunity and wishing to make and example of the Rhodians, issued an answer, the main tenour of which was that they did not believe that the Rhodians had sent the embassy on behalf of the Greeks or of themselves, but on behalf of Perseus.
For if the embassy were on behalf of the Greeks, it would have been a more suitable time to send it then when Perseus was encamped for nearly two years in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Thessaly&groupId=1028&placeId=1816">Thessaly</a>, and was devastating the land and cities of Greece;
but from their having neglected to come at that time, and coming now when the Roman legions were encamped in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Macedonia&groupId=723&placeId=428">Macedonia</a>, when Perseus was surrounded and had scarcely any hope of escape, it was obvious to anyone who judged correctly that they had sent their embassies with no wish to bring the war to a close, but desiring, as far as lay in their power, to rescue and save Perseus.
For this reason, they said, the present was no moment for doing them favours of returning them a courteous answer.
Such were the proceedings in the senate regarding the Rhodian envoys.
Walbank Commentary