ce he held possession of
Thebes in Phthiotis, of Echinus, Larissa, and Pharsalus."

34. Philip, provoked by this discourse of Alexander, pushed his ship
nearer to the land, that he might be the better heard, and began to
speak with much violence, particularly against the Aetolians. But
Phaeneas, interrupting him, said that "the business depended not upon
words; he must either conquer in war, or submit to his superiors."
"That, indeed, is evident," said Philip, "even to the blind,"
reflecting on Phaeneas, who had a disorder in his eyes: for he was
naturally fonder of such pleasantries than became a king; and even in
the midst of serious business, did not sufficiently restrain himself
from ridicule. He then began to express great indignation at the
"Aetolians assuming as much importance as the Romans, and insisting
on his evacuating Greece; people who could not even tell what were its
boundaries. For, of Aetolia itself, a large proportion, consisting of
the Agraeans, Apodeotians, and Amphilochians, was no part of Greece.
Have they just ground of complaint against me for not refraining from
war with their allies, when themselves, from the earliest period,
follow, as an established rule, the practice of suffering their young
men to carry arms against those allies, withholding only the public
authority of the state; while very frequently contending armies have
Aetolian auxiliaries on both sides? I did not seize on Cius by force,
but assisted my friend and ally, Prusias, who was besieging it, and
Lysimachia I rescued from the Thracians. But since necessity diverted
my attention from the guarding of it to this present war, the
Thracians have possession of it. So much for the Aetolians. To Attalus
and the Rhodians I in justice owe nothing; for not to me, but to
themselves, is the commencement of hostilities to be attributed.
However, out of respect to the Romans, I will restore Peraea to the
Rhodians, and to Attalus his ships, and such prisoners as can be
found. As to what concerns Nicephorium, and the temple of Venus, what
other answer can I make to those who require their restoration, than
that I will take on myself the trouble and expense of replanting
them--the only way in which woods and groves which have been cut down
can be restored,--since it is thought fit that, between kings, such
kinds of demands should be made and answered." The last part of his
speech was directed to the Achaeans, wherein he enumerated, first, the