A war went on for many years between the Macedonians, with the Achaians on the one hand and the Ætolians on the other.  Aratus was a friend and adviser to Philip, but would gladly have loosened the yoke he had helped to lay on Greece.  When the old Messenian town of Ithome fell into the hands of Philip, he went into the temple of Jupiter, with Aratus and another adviser called Demetrius the Pharian, to consult the sacrifices as to whether he should put a garrison into Ithome to overawe Messenia. The omens were doubtful, and Philip asked his two friends what they thought.  Demetrius said, “If you have the soul of a priest, you will restore the fort to the Messenians; if you have the soul of a prince, you will hold the ox by both his horns.”