Aemilius invited Eumenes over from Pergamum and held a council, at which both Eumenes and the Rhodians were present. The Rhodians were not disinclined for peace, but Eumenes said that no peace proposals could be honourably entertained at that moment, nor could any final settlements be made.“.How," he asked,“shall we, beleaguered and shut within our walls, listen with honour to any terms of peace?Or Who will regard any peace settlement as valid if made without the consent of the,, consul, the authority of the senate and the order of the people of Rome?I put this question to you-If peace be made through you, are you going to return at once to Italy and carry away your army and your fleet, or will you wait to learn what the consul thinks, what decision the senate comes to, what order the people make?It remains, then, that you must stay in Asia and, all active operations suspended; your troops must be sent into winter quarters to drain the resources of your allies by the requisitions of your commissariat. And then, if the supreme powers so decide, we must begin the war all over again, whereas, if our strong offensive were in no way slackened or hampered by delay, we could have brought it to a close, if the gods so willed it, before winter sets in." This argument prevailed, and Antiochus was told that, till the consul arrived, there could be no discussion of the terms of peace. Finding his efforts to procure peace fruitless, Antiochus proceeded to devastate the lands of the people of Elea and then those belonging to Pergamum. Here he left Seleucus and continued his march with the intention of attacking Adramytteum, till he reached the rich district known as the“Plain of Thebe," celebrated in the poem of Homer.u In no other locality in Asia was a greater amount of plunder secured by the king's troops. Aemilius and Eumenes, sailing round with their fleet, also appeared before Adramytteum as a protection to the city.