32.5
Everybody else made the most of the short
rest allowed in seeking relaxation for mind and body, but the respite which
Philip gained from the ceaseless strain of marches and battles only left him
the more free for anxious thought as he contemplated the issues of the war
as a whole. He viewed with alarm the enemy who was pressing on him by
land and sea, and he felt grave misgivings as to the intentions of his allies and
even of his own subjects, lest the former should prove false to him in the
hope of gaining the friendship of Rome and the latter break out in
insurrection against his rule. To make sure of the Achaeans he sent envoys to
require them to renew the oath of fidelity which they had undertaken to
renew annually, and also to announce his intention of restoring to the
Achaeans the cities of Orchomenos and Heraea and the district of Triphylia
and to the Megalopolitans the city of Aliphera, as they maintained that it had
never belonged to Triphylia, but was one of the places from which by
direction of the council of the Arcadians the population had been drawn to
found Megalopolis, and therefore it ought to be restored to them. By
adopting this course he sought to consolidate his alliance with the Achaeans.
His hold upon his own subjects was strengthened by the action he took in the
case of Heraclides. He had made a friend of this man, but when he saw that
he was making himself intensely disliked, and that many charges had been
brought against him, he threw him into prison to the great joy of the
Macedonians. His preparations for war were as carefully and thoroughly
made as any he had ever made before. He constantly exercised the
Macedonians and mercenary troops and at the commencement of the spring
he sent Athenagoras with all the foreign auxiliaries and light infantry through
Epirus into Chaonia to seize the pass at Antigonea, which the Greeks call
Stena. A few days later he followed with the heavy troops, and after
surveying all the positions in the country he considered that the most suitable
place for an entrenched camp was one before the river Aous. This runs
through a narrow ravine between two mountains which bear the local names
of Meropus and Asnaus, and affords a very narrow path along its bank. He
gave orders to Athenagoras to occupy Asnaus with his light infantry and
intrench himself; and he himself fixed his camp on Meropus. Where there
were precipitous cliffs, small outposts mounted guard, the more accessible
parts he fortified with fosse or rampart or towers. A large quantity of
artillery was disposed in suitable places to keep the enemy at a distance by
missiles. The king's tent was pitched on a most conspicuous height in front
of the lines to overawe the enemy and to give his own men confidence.
