e receiver."

43. There are no dispositions more prone to envy than those of persons
whose mental qualifications are inferior to their birth and rank in
life; because they are indignant both at the merit and the possessions
of another. The design of the expedition, to be commanded by Hannibal,
the only one thought of that could be of use, in the beginning of the
war, was immediately laid aside. The king, highly flattered by the
defection of Demetrias from the Romans to the Aetolians, resolved to
delay no longer his departure into Greece. Before the fleet weighed
anchor he went up from the shore to Ilium, to offer sacrifice to
Minerva. Immediately on his return he set sail with forty decked ships
and sixty open ones, followed by two hundred transports, laden with
provisions and warlike stores. He first touched at the island of
Imbrus; thence he passed over to Sciathus; whence, after collecting
the ships which had been separated during the voyage, he proceeded
to Pteleum, toe nearest part of the continent. Here, Eurylochus the
Magnetarch, and other principal Magnetians from Demetrias, met him.
Being greatly gratified by their numerous appearance, he carried his
fleet the next day into the harbour of their city. At a small distance
from the town he landed his forces, which consisted of ten thousand
foot, five hundred horse, and six elephants; a force scarcely
sufficient to take possession of Greece alone, much less to sustain
a war with Rome. The Aetolians, as soon as they were informed of
Antiochus's arrival at Demetrias, convened a general council, and
passed a decree, inviting him into their country. The king had already
left Demetrias, (for he knew that such a decree was to be passed,) and
had advanced as far as Phalara on the Malian bay. Here the decree
was presented to him, and then he proceeded to Lamia, where he was
received by the populace with marks of the warmest attachment,
with clapping of hands and shouting, and other signs by which the
extravagant joy of the vulgar is testified.

44. When he came into the council he was introduced by Phaeneas, the
praetor, and other persons of eminence, who, with difficulty, made
way for him through the crowd. Then, silence being ordered, the king
addressed himself to the assembly. He began with accounting for his
having come with a force so much smaller than every one had hoped and
expected. "That," he said, "ought to be deemed the strongest proof of
the warmth of his goo