14. THE SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR (THE SOCIAL/SYMMACHIC WAR) 2. THE FIGHTING (220-217)

The declaration of war by the Symmachy at Corinth was implement• ed first by Achaia, with its own declaration in the autumn presum• ably at the equinox meeting of the league Assembly1• At the same time, the Aitolians held their electoral Assembly at Thermos. There, Skopas was elected strategos for the coming year2• Between the Sym• machy's declaration and these simultaneous meetings, Philip had attempted to bring the Aitolians to negotiations. Indeed this may have been the purpose of the declaration of war in the first place. Yet if the letter he sent is summarised accurately by Polybios, it is surpris• ing that they even replied, since it was so thoroughly offensive3• But Philip was actually invited to a meeting in their reply, and the Aitol• ians named Rhion as the place of appointment. Polybios said that they then pulled out, but in fact they pointed out that no decision could be made until the annual Themzike meeting4. Given the events of the last year, and the closeness of the election and the Assembly of Aitolian citizens at which the election took place, and which had the power of decision of war and peace, the Aitolian point was clearly a reasonable one. Whether Philip would have made another attempt at negotiations we cannot tell, for he did not get the chance. Before any results could come from the Aitolian meeting, the Achaians at their own meeting accepted the Symmachic decree, and went further: they proclaimed Aitolia subject to reprisal, by which its people would be enslaved and its lands plundered5• This clearly went much further than the original Symmachic decree concerning war aims; and it pre-empted any attempt at negotiation, since Philip's invitation had been intended to avoid the war which had now been declared. Philip could do nothing about it. In many ways he had been inveigled into the war by Aratos,

1 Pol. 4.26.7. 2 Pol. 4.27. I. i Pol. 4.26.3-4; it is scarcely to be believed that Polybios summarised accurately; it is in most undiplomatic terms. 4 Pol. 4.26.5-6. ·1 Pol. 4.26. 7. 270 PART FOUR: THE MACEDONIAN WARS and now he had been bounced one stage further, so that the war had become unavoidable6• The other members of the Symmachy had been notified also, as were Messenia7, Achaia's ally, and Sparta8, the ally of Macedon. Each was, in effect, invited to join in the war, with the prospect of acquiring land, or loot, or both, from Aitolia. But after the meeting of the Achaian Assembly, Philip and the Macedonian army marched home9• It was thus clear that nothing would actually happen in terms of active warfare until after the winter. And so the allies were given plenty of time to consider their responses, but, in the same way, the Aitolians were also given that time to prepare for the war, and to make their own diplomatic moves to try to limit the threat they faced. Thus the period following the declaration was a clear continuation of the situation as it had been beforehand. The Aitolians sent out their own envoys to dispute with those of the Symmachy, or to persuade the assemblies of the members of the league to stay out of the war. They were unable to affect the Achaians, for the decision to send these envoys was only taken at the September assembly at Thermos, too late to affect the simultaneous decision at Aigion. Nor do they seem to have been able to reach the Akarnanians in time to put their point of view. The Symmachy envoys were appar• ently sent to visit the members in sequence, so the Akarnanians were first on their list in the north west. They forthwith declared their acceptance of the decree, earning a nonsensical tribute from Polybios for forthrightness 10• By the time the envoys reached Epeiros, however, the Aitolians had realised what was happening and had reacted by sending their own envoys to the Epeirote centre at Phoenike. From Polybios' description the Symmachic envoys had been able to persuade the Epeirotes to declare war, but the Epeirotes, hemmed in by Aitolians, Macedonians, Romans, and Illyrians, were wary. They made their participation conditional on Philip himself taking the field 11 , which put off the moment of actual decision for several

h This is Walbank's point in Aratos, 119; he is not so explicit in Hammond, Hist Mac, 3.372-373. 7 Pol. 4.31.1. 8 Pol. 4.34.1. 9 Pol. 7 .27 .9. 10 Pol. 4.30.1-2; Polybios' tribute follows (3-5) and has little or no connection with what has gone before. 11 Pol. 4.30.6.