<head>Embassies from Demetrius</head>Envoys headed by Menochares also came from King Demetrius bringing the "crown" of ten thousand gold pieces dedicated to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>, and with the assassin of Gnaeus Octavius in their custody.
The senate remained long in doubt as to how to deal with the matter, but nevertheless they received the crown and the envoys.
They did not, however, take over the men who were in custody.
And yet Demetrius had not only sent Leptines, the murderer of Gnaeus, but also Isocrates.
This man was one of those grammarians who declaim in public, and being by nature a chatterbox, a braggart, and a bore, had given offence in Greece also, where Alcaeus<note place="end" resp="tr" id="note1">Probably an Epicurean philosopher and writer of this name.</note>had very cleverly taken him off and made fun of him in his Comparisons, and when he came to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Syria&groupId=995&placeId=502">Syria</a> and conceived a contempt for the inhabitants, he was not satisfied with holding forth on his own subjects, but gave vent to pronouncements on public affairs, saying that Gnaeus had met with his deserts, and that the other legates should have been killed also, so that not one should be left to report the matter to the Romans, and this would put a stop to their haughty orders and their unrestrained exercise of power.
It was by these incautious utterances that he got himself into trouble as I have stated.
Walbank Commentary