Meanwhile the king's agents arrived in Medione. They were received in audience by the council and in the subsequent discussion on the reply that they were to receive some speakers thought they ought to standb y by the alliance with Rome, others urged that they ought not to reject the proffered friendship of the king:Clvtus urged a middle course which the council decided v产砂几.冲 to adopt, viz., to send to the king and ask him to allow them to consult the National Council of Acarnania on such an important matter. Mnasilochus and his supporters managed to get themselves put on this commission, and they despatched a secret mess鳍e to Antiochus urging him to bring up his army while they wasted time by delay. The consequence was that the commission had hardly started when Antiochus a ppeared wit hin their frontiers and in a short time at their gates. Whilst those who were not privy to the plot were hurrying in confusion through the streets and calling their fighting men to arms, Antiochus was introduced into the city by Mnasilochus and Clytus. Many came round him of their own accord and even his opponents were constrained by their fears to meet him. He quieted their apprehensions by a gracious speech, and when his clemency became generally known several of the communities in Acarnania went over to him. From Medione he marched to Tyrrheum, having sent Mnasilochus and his agents on in advance. The Tyrrheans, however, saw through the treachery at Medione, and instead of intimidating them it only put them more on their guard. They returned a perfectly unambiguous answer to his summons and told him that they would not enter into any fresh alliance unless the Roman commanders authorised them to do so, at the same time they closed their gates and manned their walls. Cn. Octavius had been supplied with a body of troops and a few ships by A. Postumius, whom Atilius had placed in command at Cephalania, and his timely arrival in Leucas gave the Acarnanians fresh heart, as he reported that the consul Manius Acilius had crossed the sea with his legions and the Romans were encamped in Thessaly. His report was the more readily believed because the season of the year was favourable·for navigation, and the king, after placing garrisons in Medione and in one or two other towns in Acarnania, withdrew from Tyrrheum and passing through the cities of Aetolia and Phocis returned to Chalcis.