edonia. To Amynander he allotted the part of exciting the Aetolians
to war. To the ambassadors of Attalus, (for they also had come at the
same time,) he gave directions that the king should wait at Aegina,
where he wintered, for the arrival of the Roman fleet; and when joined
by that, he should, as before, harass Philip with attacks by sea. To
the Rhodians, also, an embassy was sent, to engage them to contribute
their share towards carrying on the war. Nor was Philip, who had by
this time arrived in Macedonia, remiss in his preparations for the
campaign. He sent his son Perseus, then very young, with part of his
forces to block up the pass near Pelagonia, appointing persons out of
the number of his friends to direct his inexperienced age. Sciathus
and Peparethus, no inconsiderable cities, he demolished, lest they
should become a prey and prize to the enemy's fleet; despatching at
the same time ambassadors to the Aetolians, lest that restless nation
might change sides on the arrival of the Romans.

29. The assembly of the Aetolians, which they call Panaetolium, was
to meet on a certain day. In order to be present at this, the king's
ambassadors hastened their journey, and Lucius Furius Purpureo also
arrived, deputed by the consul. Ambassadors from the Athenians,
likewise, came to this assembly. The Macedonians were first heard, as
with them the latest treaty had been made; and they declared, that
as no change of circumstances had occurred, they had nothing new to
introduce: for the same reasons which had induced them to make peace
with Philip, after experiencing the unprofitableness of an alliance
with the Romans, should engage them to preserve it now that it was
established. "Do you rather choose," said one of the ambassadors, "to
imitate the inconsistency, or levity, shall I call it, of the Romans,
who ordered this answer to be given to your ambassadors at Rome: 'Why,
Aetolians, do you apply to us, when, without our approbation, you have
made peace with Philip?' Yet these same people now require that you
should, in conjunction with them, wage war against Philip. Formerly,
too, they pretended that they took arms on your account, and in your
defence against Philip: now they do not allow you to continue at peace
with him. To assist Messana, they first embarked for Sicily; and a
second time, that they might redeem Syracuse to freedom when oppressed
by the Carthaginians. Both Messana and Syracuse, and all Sicily, they
hold