When he entered the council it was with difficulty that the president, Phaeneas, and the other leaders obtained silence in order that the king might speak. He began by apologising for having come with forces so much smaller than everyone had hoped and expected. This ought to be taken, he said, as the greatest proof of his friendship and devotion towards them, for though he was quite unprepared and the season was unsuitable for a sea-passage he had unhesitatingly complied with the request of their delegates, convinced as he was that when the Aetolians saw,Wm amongst them they would realise that, even had he come alone, it was in him that their safety and protection lay. At the same time. he was aoinLy to fulfil to the utmost the hones of those whose expectations seemed for the moment to be disappointed. As soon as ever the season of the 'year made navigation safe he should fill the whole of Greece with arms and men and horses and encircle its coasts with his fleets;he would shrink from no toil or danger till he had delivered Greece from the yoke of Roman dominion and made Aetolia her foremost State. Supplies of every description would accompany his armies from Asia;for the time being it must be the care of the Aetolians to furnish his troops with an abundant supply of corn and other provisions at-a reasonable price.