After the sea-fight at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Lade&groupId=663&placeId=1213">Lade</a> was over, the Rhodians being out of the way and Attalus not yet having joined, it was evidently quite possible for Philip to sail to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Alexandria&groupId=1063&placeId=1868">Alexandria</a>. This is the best proof that Philip had become like a madman when he acted thus.
What was it then that arrested his impulse? Simply the nature of things.
For at a distance many men at times strive after impossibilities owing to the magnitude of the hopes before their eyes, their desires getting the better of their reason:
but when the hour of action approaches they abandon their projects again without any exercise of reason, their faculty of thought being confused and upset by the insuperable difficulties they encounter.
Walbank Commentary