Philip, being told of his coming, received him as a guest, not an enemy; desired him to take a seat, and join the entertainment; and afterwards, when he dismissed the rest, detained him alone, and told him, that he had nothing to fear for himself.

He censured severely the conduct of the Aetolians, in bringing, first the Romans, and afterwards Antiochus, into Greece; designs which originated in a want of judgment, and always recoiled on their own heads.

But "he would forget," he said, "all past transactions, which it was easier to blame than to amend; nor would he act in such a manner as to appear to insult their misfortunes.

On the other hand, it would become the Aetolians to lay aside, at length, their animosity towards him; and it would become Nicander himself, in his private capacity, to remember that day, on which he had been preserved by him." Having then appointed persons to escort him to a place of safety, Nicander arrived at Hypata, while his countrymen were consulting about the peace with Rome.
30.

Manius Acilius having sold, or given to the soldiers, the booty found near Heraclea, and having learned that the counsels adopted at Hypata were not of a pacific nature, but that the Aetolians had hastily assembled at Naupactum, with intention to make a stand there against the whole brunt of the war, sent forward Appius Claudius, with four thousand men, to seize the heights of the mountains, where the passes were difficult; and he himself, ascending Mount Oeta, offered sacrifices to Hercules, in the spot called Pyra,[1] because there the mortal part of the demi-god was burned.