35.47
The
king had remained on board, and when this was reported to him he decided
for the present to return to Demetrias as he had not brought sufficient troops
to effect anything by force. As his first attempt had proved a complete failure
he consulted the Aetolians as to what the next step should be. They decided
to try what could be done with the Boeotians, the Achaeans and the
Athamanian king, Amynander. They were under the impression that the
Boeotians had been estranged from Rome ever since the death of Brachylles
and the results which flowed from it, and they also believed that
Philopoemen, the chief magistrate of the Achaeans, was an object of dislike
and jealousy on the part of Quinctius owing to the reputation he had gained
in the Laconian war. Amynander had married Apama, the daughter of a
certain Alexander of Megalopolis, who represented himself as being
descended from Alexander the Great and had given his three children the
names of Philip, Alexander and Apama. Her marriage with the king had
made Apama much talked about and her elder brother Philip had followed
her to Athamania. He was a weak and conceited young man, and Antiochus
and the Aetolians had persuaded him that if he brought Amynander and the
Athamanians over to the side of Antiochus he might hope to succeed to the
throne of Macedon, as he really belonged to the royal stock. These empty
promises carried weight not only with Philip but even with Amynander.
