It was all an invention of their enemies.

This point seems to have been overruled, and then they attempted to give the passage some other than the obvious interpretation.

Finally they maintained that, although it prohibited their furnishing Ptolemy himself with troops, it did not forbid their sending an armed force into Egypt under leaders of their own.

_That_ they could certainly do; and then, when the rebellion was suppressed, and Berenice's government overthrown, they could invite Ptolemy to return to his kingdom and resume his crown in a peaceful manner.

This, they alleged, would not be "furnishing him with troops," and, of course would not be disobeying the oracle.
These attempts to evade the direction of the oracle on the part of Ptolemy's friends, only made the debates and dissensions between them and his enemies more violent than ever.