Book 26
25
Philip was wintering in Pella when the news of the defection of the Aetolians reached him. He had intended to march into Greece at the beginning of the spring, and with the view of keeping the Illyrians and the cities adjacent to his western frontier quiet he made a sudden invasion into the territories of Oricum and Apollonia. The men of Apollonia came out to give battle, but he drove them back in great panic to their walls. After devastating the neighbouring district of Illyria, he turned swiftly into Pelagonia and captured Sintia, a city of the Dardani, which gave them easy access into Macedonia. After these rapid incursions he turned his attention to the war which the Aetolians, in conjunction with the Romans, were commencing against him. Marching through Pelagonia, Lyncus and Bottiaea he descended into Thessaly, whose population he hoped to rouse to joint action with him against the Aetolians. Leaving Perseus with a force of 4000 men to hold the pass into Thessaly against them he returned to Macedonia, before engaging in the more serious contest, and from there marched into Thrace to attack the Maedi. This tribe were in the habit of making incursions into Macedonia whenever they found the king occupied with some distant war and his kingdom unprotected. To break their aggressiveness he devastated their country, and attacked Iamphoryna, their chief city and stronghold.
