A sum of 300 talents was mentioned and Perseus sent his companion Pantauchus to make the arrangements. In the city of Meteon (now Medun, Montenegro) hostages were agreed and Gentius accepted the oath of the king. He sent Olympio with a delegation to Perseus to collect the money, and the treaty was concluded with some ceremony at Dium on the Thermaic Gulf. A formal parade of the Macedonian cavalry was held which may have impressed the Illyrians and the cavalry may have represented the Macedonians in the ratification of the treaty. The 300 talents were counted out of the royal treasure at Pella and the Illyrians were permitted to mark it with their own stamp. An advance of ten talents was forwarded to Gentius and when this was passed over by Pantauchus the king was urged to commence hostilities against the Romans. When Gentius imprisoned two Roman envoys sent by Appius Claudius at Lychnidus, Perseus recalled the rest of the subsidy in belief that Gentius was now his ally, come what may. Rise to power Gentius accompanied the new anti-Roman orientation in Illyrian foreign policy with a series of measures to strengthen his state. First, he concentrated the finances by establishing a single tax over all the subjects and by taking royal control of the monetary workshops or mints of Lissus and Scodra, the two cities where he resided. At this time Gentius was issuing bronze coins. In the Selcë hoard there are two coins of Gentius with Macedonian emblems. The other coins of Gentius have what is probably his head with a cap not unlike the petasos, and a torque around his head, and on the reverse in one case a thunderbolt and in the others a warship, the lembi. Thus, according to an inventory made by the Romans, the state treasury had 27 pounds of gold, 19 of silver, 120,000 Illyrian drachmas and 13,000 Roman denarii on the eve of the war with Rome. Gentius and Perseus sent a joint embassy to invite Rhodes in the war against Rome. Gentius also built up a fleet of 270 lembi, showing that he awaited an enemy in the Adriatic. His army numbered 15,000 men. Gentius was now prepared to go to war with Rome. Third Illyrian War In January/February 168 BC Gentius, having mustered his force of 15,000 men and fleet of lembi at Lissus, the southernmost city of his