⚪️ HOSTAGE MEETS EXILE
“As King Ptolemy, now in exile, was approaching Rome on foot, Demetrius the son of Seleucus recognized him, and shocked by his strange plight, gave a truly royal and magnificent example of his own character. For he prepared at once a royal costume and diadem, and in addition a valuable horse with trappings of gold, and with his family went out to meet Ptolemy. Encountering him at a distance of two hundred stades from the city and giving him a friendly salute, he urged him to adorn himself with the insignia of kingship, and make an entrance into Rome worthy of his rank, so that he might not be thought a person of no account whatever. Ptolemy appreciated his zeal, but was so far from accepting any part of the offer that he even asked Demetrius to remain behind in one of the towns along the way, and wanted Archias and the others to remain with him.”
Diodorus Siculus
