icle, that all the king's troops should be
immediately withdrawn from Phocis and Locris. With the ambassadors of
the allies, Quinctius sent Amynander, king of Athamania; and, to add
a degree of splendour to the embassy, a deputation from himself,
composed of Quintus Fabius, the son of his wife's sister, Quintus
Fulvius, and Appius Claudius.

37. On their arrival at Rome, the ambassadors of the allies were
admitted to audience before those of the king. Their discourse, in
general, was filled up with invectives against Philip. What produced
the greatest effect on the minds of the senate was, that, by pointing
out the relative situations of the lands and seas in that part of
the world, they made it manifest to every one, that if the king held
Demetrias in Thessaly, Chalcis in Euboea, and Corinth in Achaia,
Greece could not be free; and they added, that Philip himself, with
not more insolence than truth, used to call these the fetters of
Greece. The king's ambassadors were then introduced, and when they
were beginning a long harangue, a short question cut short
their discourse:--Whether he was willing to yield up the three
above-mentioned cities? They answered, that they had received no
specific instructions on that head: on which they were dismissed,
the negotiation being left unsettled. Full authority was given to
Quinctius to determine every thing relative to war and peace. As this
demonstrated clearly that the senate were not weary of the war, so
he, who was more earnestly desirous of conquest than of peace, never
afterwards consented to a conference with Philip; and even gave him
notice that he would not admit any embassy from him, unless it came
with information that he was retiring from the whole of Greece.

38. Philip now perceived that he must decide the matter in the
field, and collect his strength about him from all quarters. Being
particularly uneasy in respect to the cities of Achaia, a country
so distant from him, and also of Argos, even more, indeed, than of
Corinth, he resolved, as the most advisable method, to put the former
into the hands of Nabis, tyrant of Lacedaemon, in trust, as it were,
on the terms, that if he should prove successful in the war, Nabis
should re-deliver it to him; if any misfortune should happen, he
should keep it himself. Accordingly, he wrote to Philocles, who had
the command in Corinth and Argos, to have a meeting with the tyrant.
Philocles, besides coming with a valuable present