King Ariarathes arrived in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> while it was yet summer;
and then after the consuls Sextus Julius Caesar and Lucius Aurelius Orestes had entered on office, he occupied himself with private interviews, adapting his dress and retinue to his present distressed circumstances.
Miltiades also arrived on a mission from Demetrius, tuned to speak in either sense; for he was ready to defend Demetrius against Ariarathes, and to accuse the latter with the utmost bitterness.
Orophernes too had sent Timotheus and Diogenes as envoys bringing a crown dedicated to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> and charged to renew the alliance, but chiefly to confront Ariarathes and both to defend themselves and to accuse him.
In the private interviews Diogenes and Miltiades and their colleagues made a greater impression, being many against one, and having also all the outward appearance of a prosperity that contrasted with the king's distress.
They also possessed over him a decided advantage in the statement of their case;
for they had the courage to assert anything and to meet every kind of argument, with an utter disregard for truth, and they took no responsibility for what they said, as there was no one to confute them.
So that as falsehood had no trouble in gaining the day, their business seemed to be going on as they wished.
Walbank Commentary