During the incidents in the Peloponnese from which I have made a digression, Demetrius and his legation returned to Macedonia. There was much divergence of view as to the results of their embassy. The bulk of the Macedonian people, appalled at the imminent prospect of a war with Rome, were enthusiastic supporters of Demetrius. They looked upon him as the author of peace and regarded his succession to the throne after his father's death as a certainty. Although younger than Perseus, he was a legitimate son, the other was the son of a concubine. People said that Perseus, the offspring of a prostitute, had no note or mark of any particular father, whereas Demetrius showed a remarkable likeness to his father; moreover, Perseus was no favourite with the Romans and they would place Demetrius on his father's throne. Such was the common talk. Perseus felt himself superior to his brother in everything else, but he was haunted by the thought that his age alone would count but little in his favour. Philip himself, too, whilst feeling doubtful whether it would be in his power to decide whom he should leave as heir to the throne, considered that his younger son was assuming more authority than he wished him to possess. He was annoyed at the way in which the Macedonians resorted to Demetrius and he looked upon the existence of a second royal court as an indignity to himself. The young prince had certainly come home with a much higher sense of his own importance, presuming as he did upon the compliments paid him by the senate and the concessions they had made to him after refusing them to his father. Every allusion he made to the Romans raised his prestige amongst the Macedonians and evoked a corresponding amount of jealousy and ill-will in his father and brother. This was particularly the case when the fresh commissioners arrived from Rome and Philip was compelled to evacuate Thrace and withdraw his garrisons and carry out the other measures demanded by the previous commissioners and the fresh orders of the senate. All these things were a source of grief and bitterness to him, all the more so because he saw him associating with the Romans much more frequently than with himself. Still he acted in obedience to the orders of Rome that there might be no pretext for commencing hostilities. Thinking to divert any suspicions the Romans might entertain as to his designs, he led his army into the interior of Thrace, against the Odrysae, the Dentheleti and the Bessi. He took the city of Philippopolis which had been deserted by the inhabitants, who with their families had taken refuge in the nearest mountains. After ravaging the fields of the barbarians who lived in the lowlands, he accepted their surrender. Leaving a garrison in Philippopolis which was shortly afterwards expelled by the Odrysae, he began to build a town in Deuriopus, a district in Paeonia, near the river Erigonus which, rising in Illyria, flows through Paeonia into the Axius, not far from the ancient city of Stobae. He ordered the new city to be called Perseis in honour of his eldest son.