erformed these
achievements, not forgetting the war made upon him by the Aetolians
and Romans in conjunction, he marched down into Thessaly through
Pelagonia, Lyncus, and Bottiaea. He trusted that people might be
induced to take part with him in the war against the Aetolians, and,
therefore, leaving Perseus with four thousand armed men at the gorge,
which formed the entrance into Thessaly, to prevent the Aetolians from
passing it, before he should be occupied with more important business,
he marched his army into Macedonia, and thence into Thrace and
Maedica. This nation had been accustomed to make incursions into
Macedonia when they perceived the king engaged in a foreign war, and
the kingdom left unprotected. Accordingly, he began to devastate the
lands in the neighbourhood of Phragandae, and to lay siege to the city
Jamphorina, the capital and chief fortress of Maedica. Scopas, on
hearing that the king had gone into Thrace, and was engaged in a war
there, armed all the Aetolian youths, and prepared to invade
Acarnania. The Acarnanian nation, unequal to their enemy in point of
strength, and seeing that they had lost Aeniadae and Nasus, and
moreover that the Roman arms were threatening them, prepare the war
rather with rage than prudence. Having sent their wives, children, and
those who were above sixty years old into the neighbouring parts of
Epirus, all who were between the ages of fifteen and sixty, bound each
other by an oath not to return unless victorious. That no one might
receive into his city or house, or admit to his table or hearth, such
as should retire from the field vanquished, they drew up a form of
direful execration against their countrymen who should do so; and the
most solemn entreaty they could devise, to friendly states. At the
same time they entreated the Epirotes to bury in one tomb such of
their men as should fall in the encounter, adding this inscription
over their remains: HERE LIE THE ACARNANIANS, WHO DIED WHILE FIGHTING
IN DEFENCE OF THEIR COUNTRY, AGAINST THE VIOLENCE AND INJUSTICE OF THE
AETOLIANS. Having worked up their courage to the highest pitch by
these means, they fixed their camp at the extreme borders of their
country in the way of the enemy; and sending messengers to Philip to
inform him of the critical situation in which they stood, they obliged
him to suspend the war in which he was engaged, though he had gained
possession of Jamphorina by surrender, and had succeeded in other
r