s thirty thousand lie;
They fell before AEtolia's sons in war.
And Romans, brought by Titus from afar.
AEmathia weeps their loss. Bold Philip too,
Flies like a deer, and knows not what to do."

This was written by Alkaeus to insult Philip, exaggerating the number
of the slain; but when it came to be repeated many times and by many
men, it vexed Titus more than Philip. The latter indeed parodied it in
the following lines.

"Unshaped, unpolished, stands a gibbet strong,
Upon this hill to hang Alkaeus on."

But Titus, who felt that the eyes of Greece were upon him, was
wonderfully vexed by these incidents. For this reason he conducted the
operations which followed without in the least degree consulting the
AEtolians. They were angry at this neglect, and when Titus began
negotiations with Philip, and received an embassy from him to treat
for peace, they spread it abroad throughout Greece that Titus was
being bribed by Philip into making peace, when he had it in his power
to utterly cut off and destroy that power which first destroyed the
independence of Greece. Philip himself however put an end to this
suspicion, by placing himself and all his resources in the hands of
Titus and the people of Rome. So now Titus brought the war to a close.
He restored Philip to his kingdom of Macedonia, but forbade him to
interfere in the affairs of Greece. He also imposed upon him a fine of
a thousand talents, took away all but ten of his ships of war, and
sent one of his two sons, Demetrius, to Rome as a hostage for the
fulfilment of these conditions. In their making terms with Philip
Titus showed himself wise and provident: for Hannibal the
Carthaginian, who was at that time an exile, was already at the court
of King Antiochus, urging him to follow up his good fortune and
increase his empire. Antiochus had already been so successful as to
have gained the surname of 'the Great,' and was now aiming at
universal dominion. He especially intended to attack the Romans, and
unless Titus had foreseen this, and granted favourable terms of peace,
Philip would have been his ally, the two most powerful kings of the
age would have been arrayed against the Romans, and a struggle no less
important than that of Rome against Hannibal would have begun. As it
was, Titus interposed this peace between the two wars, finishing the
one before he began the other; by which means he took from one of the
kings his last, and from the othe