But, it will be urged (for there is this excuse left), he was forced to yield against his better judgement, finding himself hemmed in between the Thessalian cavalry and the Theban heavy infantry. Good! So they say he is waiting to regard the Thebans with suspicion, and some circulate a rumor that he will fortify Elatea.To rebuild the walls of Elatea, destroyed in 346, would be a check to the Thebans, as barring their way to Phocis. Philip’s occupation of Elatea in 339 is the theme of the well-known passage in Dem. 18.169 ff. Demosthenes is playing on the two meanings of μέλλει, he is likely to and he is delaying to.

That is just what he is waiting to do, and will go on waiting, in my opinion. But he is not waiting to help the Messenians and Argives against the Lacedaemonians: he is actually dispatching mercenaries and forwarding supplies, and he is expected in person with a large force. What! The Lacedaemonians, the surviving enemies of Thebes, he is engaged in destroying; the Phocians, whom he has himself already destroyed, he is now engaged in preserving! And who is prepared to believe that?