t in his power to give matters a turn
towards war, in case he remained in the province, or towards peace,
if he were to be removed. They chose for the meeting a part of the
sea-shore, in the Malian gulf, near Nicaea. Thither Philip came from
Demetrias, with five barks and one ship of war: he was accompanied by
some principal Macedonians, and an Achaean exile, name Cycliades, a
man of considerable note. With the Roman general, were king Amynander,
Dionysidorus, ambassador from king Attalus, Agesimbrotus, commander
of the Rhodian fleet, Phaeneas, praetor of the Aetolians, and two
Achaeans, Aristaenus and Xenophon. Attended by these, the Roman
general advanced to the brink of the shore, when the king had come
forward to the prow of his vessel, as it lay at anchor; and said, "If
you will come on the shore, we shall mutually speak and hear with
more convenience." This the king refused; and on Quinctius asking him,
"Whom do you fear?" With the haughty spirit of royalty, he replied,
"Fear I have none, but of the immortal gods; but I have no confidence
in the faith of those whom I see about you, and least of all in the
Aetolians." "That danger," said the Roman, "is equal to all in common
who confer with an enemy, if no confidence subsists." "But, Titus
Quinctius," replied the king, "if treachery be intended, the prizes of
perfidy are not equal, namely, Philip and Phaeneas. For it will not
be so difficult for the Aetolians to find another praetor, as for the
Macedonians to find another king in my place."--Silence then ensued.

33. The Roman expected that he who solicited the conference should
open it; and the king thought that he who was to prescribe, not he who
received, terms of peace, ought to begin the conference. At length the
Roman said, that "his discourse should be very simple; for he
would only mention those articles, without which there could be no
conditions of peace. These were, that the king should withdraw his
garrisons from all the cities of Greece. That he should deliver up
to the allies of the Roman people the prisoners and deserters; should
restore to the Romans those places in Illyricum of which he had
possessed himself by force, since the peace concluded in Epirus; and
to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, the cities which he had seized since the
death of Ptolemy Philopater." These were the terms which he required,
on behalf of himself and the Roman people: but it was proper that the
demands of the allies, also, should