It is evident from this, that they would naturally have condemned themselves, and approved and admired Philip, as having acted nobly and like a king in thus respecting religion and curbing his just anger against themselves.
And surely to conquer one's enemies by generosity and equity is of far higher service than any victory in the field;
for to arms the vanquished yield from necessity, to virtue from conviction; in the one case the correction of error is made with much sacrifice, in the other the erring are guided to better ways without suffering hurt.
And, what is of greatest moment, in the one case the achievement is chiefly the work of subordinates, in the other the victory is solely due to the commander.
Possibly indeed we should not attach the whole blame to Philip for what happened, taking his extreme youth into consideration, but rather attribute it to the friends who associated and co-operated with him, among whom were Aratus and Demetrius of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Pharos&groupId=879&placeId=1586">Pharos</a>.
To pronounce which of the two was likely to give such advice is not difficult even for one who was not actually present.
For apart from the general tenour of their lives, in which we never find Aratus to have been guilty of impulsiveness or want of judgement, while the contrary is true of Demetrius, we have an undisputed example of their divergent principles in the counsel they once both offered to Philip under similar circumstances.
When the proper time comes I shall make due mention of this.
Walbank Commentary