It was now the date for the elections in Aetolia, and Dorimachus was chosen strategus. As soon as he entered on office he summoned the Aetolians to arms and invading upper Epirus laid the country waste, carrying out the work of destruction in a thoroughly vindictive spirit;
for the measures he took were all not so much meant to secure booty for himself as to inflict damage on the Epirots.
On reaching the temple of Dodona he burnt the porticoes, destroyed many of the votive offerings and demolished the sacred building,
so that we may say that for the Aetolians no restrictions exist either in peace or war, but that in both circumstances they pursue their designs in defiance of the common usages and principles of mankind.
Dorimachus after this and similar exploits returned home.
As the winter was now advanced, everyone had given up any hope of Philip\'s reappearance owing to the season, but suddenly the king taking with him three thousand of his brazen-shielded hoplites, two thousand peltasts, three hundred Cretans, and about four hundred of his horse guards, started from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Larisa&groupId=669&placeId=1225">Larisa</a>.
Transporting this force from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Thessaly&groupId=1028&placeId=1816">Thessaly</a> to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Euboea&groupId=584&placeId=1091">Euboea</a> and thence to Cynus, he passed through Boeotia and <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Megaris&groupId=747&placeId=1362">Megaris</a> and reached <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Corinth&groupId=493&placeId=928">Corinth</a> about the winter solstice, having marched with such expedition and secrecy that no one in the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Peloponnese&groupId=861&placeId=1552">Peloponnese</a> was aware of what had happened.
Shutting the gates of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Corinth&groupId=493&placeId=928">Corinth</a> and posting patrols in the streets, he sent next day to Sicyon for the elder Aratus, at the same time dispatching letters to the strategus of the Achaeans and to the different cities informing them at what date and place he required them all to meet him in arms.
After making these arrangements he left <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Corinth&groupId=493&placeId=928">Corinth</a>, and advancing encamped near the temple of the Dioscuri in the territory of Phlius.
Walbank Commentary