IX, 21.--The AEtolians when they had sent ambassadors to Rome the second time in regard to peace themselves raised the standard of rebellion. Hence the Romans immediately dismissed the ambassadors and referred the conduct of affairs in Greece to Marcus Fulvius. He set out first for the large city of Ambracia (it had once been the royal residence of Pyrrhus and was now occupied by the AEtolians) and proceeded to besiege it. So the AEtolians held a conference with him about peace, but finding him disinclined to a truce they sent a part of their army into Ambracia. The Romans undertook to capture the town by an underground passage and pushed their mine straight forward, temporarily eluding the notice of the besieged party; but the latter began to suspect the true state of affairs when the excavated earth attained some dimensions. As they were not aware in what direction the trench was being dug, they kept applying a bronze shield to the surface of the ground all about the circuit of the walls. By means of the resonance they found out the place and went to work in their turn to dig a tunnel from inside and approached the Romans, with whom they battled in obscurity. Finally they devised the following sort of defence. They filled a huge jar with feathers and put fire in it. To this they attached a bronze cover that had a number of holes bored in it. Then, after carrying the jar into the mine and turning the mouth of it toward the enemy, they inserted a bellows in the bottom, and by blowing this bellows with vigor they caused a tremendous amount of unpleasant smoke, such as feathers would naturally create, to pour out, so that not one of the Romans could endure it. Hence the Romans in despair of succeeding made a truce and raised the siege. When they had agreed to treat, the AEtolians also changed their course and secured an armistice. Subsequently they obtained a peace from the People by the gift of considerable money and many hostages. Fulvius induced Cephallenia to capitulate and reduced to order the Peloponnesus, which was in a state of factional turmoil. [Sidenote: B.C. 187 (_a.u._ 567)] After a little, in the consulship of Gaius Flaminius and AEmilius Lepidus, Antiochus died and his son Seleucus succeeded him. Much later, at the demise of Seleucus, the Antiochus who spent some time as a hostage in Rome became king. [Sidenote: B.C. 183 (_a.u._ 571)] And Philip had courage enough to revolt because he had been deprived of some towns in Thessaly and of AEnus and Maronea besides, but he was unable to do so on account of his age and what had happened to his sons.--Some Gauls crossed the Alps and desired to found a city to the south of the mountains. Marcus Marcellus took away their arms and everything that they had brought: the Romans in the capital, however, upon receiving an embassy from them restored everything on condition that they should at once retire.