Here the decree was presented to him, and then he proceeded to Lamia, where he was received by the populace with marks of the warmest attachment, with clapping of hands and shouting, and other signs by which the extravagant joy of the vulgar is testified.
44.

When he came into the council he was introduced by Phaeneas, the praetor, and other persons of eminence, who, with difficulty, made way for him through the crowd.

Then, silence being ordered, the king addressed himself to the assembly.

He began with accounting for his having come with a force so much smaller than every one had hoped and expected.

"That," he said, "ought to be deemed the strongest proof of the warmth of his good-will towards them; because, though he was not sufficiently prepared in any particular, and though the season was yet too early for sailing, he had, without hesitation, complied with the call of their ambassadors, and had believed that when the Aetolians should see him among them they would be satisfied that in him, even if he were unattended, they might be sure of every kind of support.