Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/304

274 a colony from Naupactus, a town which had been presented to them by Philip II. in B.C. 341. These terms are that the Ætolians are to abstain from pillaging the Ceans by land and sea; are not to summon them before the Amphictyonic Council (which only had jurisdiction between two foreign states); complaints of pillage on the part of Ceans are to go before the Strategus and courts of Ætolia. A state conducted on these principles was likely to rouse enmity in every direction, and in B.C. 220 a war was declared against them by many states in Greece, which is sometimes called the "Social War," and lasted till July, B.C. 217 with the usual effect of bringing foreign intervention.

The centre of the opposition to the Ætolians, however, was another league which had become by this time the best organised body in Greece. The had always enjoyed a reputation for moderation and honesty, and from very early times formed a league of twelve cities. During the troubles of the Peloponnesian war they had been forced to join Athens and Sparta alternately; but at its end regained some