32.  In this assembly he complained of their having acquired possession of the island of Zacynthus by unfair means, and demanded that it should be restored to the Romans.  Zacynthus had formerly belonged to Philip, king of Macedonia, and he had made it over to Amynander, on condition of his giving him leave to march an army through Athamania, into the upper part of Aetolia, on that expedition wherein he compelled the Aetolians with dejected spirits to sue for peace.  Amynander gave the government of the island to Philip, the Megalopolitan; and afterwards, during the war in which he united himself with Antiochus against the Romans, having called out Philip to the duties of the campaign, he sent, as his successor, Hierocles, of Agrigentum.  This man, after the flight of Antiochus from Thermopylae, and the expulsion of Amynander from Athamania by Philip, sent emissaries of his own accord to Diophanes, praetor of the Achaeans; and having bargained for a sum of money, delivered over the island to the Achaeans.  This acquisition, made during the war, the Romans claimed as their own; for they said, that “it was not for Diophanes and the Achaeans that the consul Manius Acilius, and the Roman legions, fought at Thermopylae.”  Diophanes, in answer, sometimes apologized for himself and his nation; sometimes insisted on the justice of the proceeding.  But several of the Achaeans testified that they had, from the beginning, disapproved of that business, and they now blamed the obstinacy of the praetor.  Pursuant to their advice, a decree was made, that the affair should be left entirely to the disposal of Titus Quinctius.  As Quinctius was severe to such as made opposition, so, when complied with, he was easily appeased.  Laying aside, therefore, every thing stern in his voice and looks, he said,—­“If, Achaeans, I thought the possession of that island advantageous to you, I would be the first to advise the senate and people of Rome to permit you to hold it.  But as I see that a tortoise, when collected within its natural covering, is safe against blows of any kind, and whenever it thrusts out any of its limbs, it feels whatever it has thus uncovered, weak and liable to every injury:  so you, in like manner, Achaeans, being enclosed on all sides by the sea, can easily unite among yourselves, and maintain by that union all that is comprehended within the limits of Peloponnesus; but whenever, through ambition of enlarging your possessions, you overstep these limits, then all that you hold beyond them is naked, and exposed to every attack.”  The whole assembly declaring their assent, and Diophanes not daring to give further opposition, Zacynthus was ceded to the Romans.