These expressions, delivered with eagerness and vehemence by every one in the assembly, reached the ears of Philip, though he stood at a distance. He therefore requested of Quinctius, that the whole business might be deferred until the next day; and then he would, positively, either prevail on the allies, or suffer himself to be prevailed on by them. The shore at Thronium was appointed for their meeting, and there they assembled early. Philip began with entreating Quinctius, and all who were present, not to harbour such sentiments as must embarrass a negotiation of peace; and then desired time, while he could send ambassadors to Rome, to the senate, declaring, that "he would either obtain a peace on the terms mentioned, or would accept whatever terms the senate should prescribe." None by any means approved of this; they said, he only sought a delay, and leisure to collect his strength. But Quinctius observed, "that such an objection would have been well founded, if it were then summer and a season fit for action; as matters stood, and the winter being just at hand, nothing would be lost by allowing him time to send ambassadors. For, without the authority of the senate, no agreement which they might conclude with the king would be valid; and besides, they would by this means have an opportunity, while the winter itself would necessarily cause a suspension of arms, to learn the authoritative decision of the senate." The other chiefs of the allies came over to this opinion: and a cessation of hostilities for two months being granted, they resolved that each of their states should send an ambassador with the necessary information to the senate, and in order that it should not be deceived by the misrepresentations of Philip. To the above agreement for a truce, was added an article, that all the king's troops should be immediately withdrawn from Phocis and Locris. With the ambassadors of the allies, Quinctius sent Amynander, king of Athamania; and, to add a degree of splendour to the embassy, a deputation from himself, composed of Quintus Fabius, the son of his wife's sister, Quintus Fulvius, and Appius Claudius.
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On their arrival at Rome, the ambassadors of the allies were admitted to audience before those of the king. Their discourse, in general, was filled up with invectives against Philip. What produced the greatest effect on the minds of the senate was, that, by pointing out the relative situations of the lands and seas in that part of the world, they made it manifest to every one, that if the king held Demetrias in Thessaly, Chalcis in Euboea, and Corinth in Achaia, Greece could not be free; and they added, that Philip himself, with not more insolence than truth, used to call these the fetters of Greece. The king's ambassadors were then introduced, and when they were beginning a long harangue, a short question cut short their discourse:--Whether he was willing to yield up the three above-mentioned cities? They answered, that they had received no specific instructions on that head: on which they were dismissed, the negotiation being left unsettled. Full authority was given to Quinctius to determine every thing relative to war and peace. As this demonstrated clearly that the senate were not weary of the war, so he, who was more earnestly desirous of conquest than of peace, never afterwards consented to a conference with Philip; and even gave him notice that he would not admit any embassy from him, unless it came with information that he was retiring from the whole of Greece.
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Philip now perceived that he must decide the matter in the field, and collect his strength about him from all quarters. Being particularly uneasy in respect to the cities of Achaia, a country so distant from him, and also of Argos, even more, indeed, than of Corinth, he resolved, as the most advisable method, to put the former into the hands of Nabis, tyrant of Lacedaemon, in trust, as it were, on the terms, that if he should prove successful in the war, Nabis should re-deliver it to him; if any misfortune should happen, he should keep it himself. Accordingly, he wrote to Philocles, who had the command in Corinth and Argos, to have a meeting with the tyrant. Philocles, besides coming with a valuable present, added to that pledge of future friendship between the king and the tyrant, that it was Philip's wish to unite his daughters in marriage to the sons of Nabis. The tyrant, at first, refused to receive the city on any other conditions than that of being invited to its protection by a decree of the Argives themselves: but afterwards, hearing that in a full assembly they had treated the name of the tyrant not only with scorn, but even with abhorrence, he thought he had now a sufficient excuse for plundering them, and he accordingly desired Philocles to give him possession of the place as soon as he pleased. Nabis was admitted into the city in the night, without the privity of any of the inhabitants, and, at the first light, seized on the higher parts of it, and shut the gates. A few of the principal people having made their escape, during the first confusion, the properties of all who were absent were seized as booty: those who were present were stripped of their gold and silver, and loaded with exorbitant contributions. Such as paid these readily were discharged, without personal insult and laceration of their bodies; but such as were suspected of hiding or reserving any of their effects, were mangled and tortured like slaves. He then summoned an assembly, in which he promulgated two measures; one for an abolition of debts, the other for a distribution of the land, in shares, to each man--two fire-brands in the hands of those who were desirous of revolution, for inflaming the populace against the higher ranks.
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