7 When the ambassadors of the Cretans mentioned that they had sent into Macedon the number of archers which had been demanded by the consul, Publius Licinius, on being interrogated, they did not deny that a greater number of their archers were serving in the army of Perseus than in that of the Romans: on which they received this answer; that “if the Cretans were candidly and sincerely resolved to prefer the friendship of the Roman people to that of king Perseus, the Roman senate, on their part, would answer them as allies who could be relied on. In the mean time, that they should announce to their countrymen, that the senate required that the Cretans should endeavour to call home, as soon as possible, all the soldiers who were in the service of king Perseus.” The Cretans being dismissed, the ambassadors from Chalcis were called, whose embassy seemed to be a matter of extreme necessity, from the very circumstance of their entering the senate-house at all, since Miction, their chief, having lost the use of his limbs, was introduced on a litter: and either the plea of bad health had not appeared to himself an adequate motive for seeking exemption from duty, though he was in such a distressing state, or exemption had not been given him at his request. After premising that no other part was alive but his tongue, which served him to deplore the calamities of his country, he represented, first, the friendly assistance given by his state to the Roman commanders and armies, both on former occasions and in the war with Perseus; and then, the instances of pride, avarice, and cruelty, which his countrymen had suffered from the Roman prætor, Caius Lucretius, and were at that very time suffering from Lucius Hortensius; notwithstanding which, they were resolved to endure all hardships, should they be even more grievous than they underwent at present, rather than swerve from their allegiance. “With regard to Lucretius and Hortensius, they knew that it would have been safer to have shut their gates against them, than to receive them into the city. For those cities which had so done, remained in safety, as Emathea, Amphipolis Maronea, and Ænus; whereas, in Chalcis, the temples were robbed of all their ornaments. Caius Lucretius had carried off in ships, to Antium, the plunder amassed by such sacrilege and had dragged persons of free condition into slavery; the property of the allies of the Roman people was subjected to rapine and plunder every day. For Hortensius, pursuing the practice of Caius Lucretius, kept the crews of his ships in lodgings both in summer and winter alike; so that their houses were filled with a crowd of seamen, and those men who showed no regard to propriety, either in their words or actions, lived among the inhabitants, their wives, and children.”

8 The senate resolved to call Lucretius before them, that he might argue the matter in person, and exculpate himself. But when he appeared, he heard many more crimes alleged against him than had been mentioned in his absence; and two more weighty and powerful accusers stood forth in support of the charges, Manius Juventius Thalna and Cneius Aufidius, plebeian tribunes. These not only arraigned him bitterly in the senate, but dragged him out into the assembly of the people, and there, after reproaching him with many heinous crimes, they instituted a legal prosecution against him. By order of the senate, the prætor, Quintus Mænius, gave this answer to the ambassadors of Chalcis: that “the senate acknowledged their account of the good offices done by them to the Roman people, both on former occasions and during the present war, to be true; and that their conduct met with gratitude, as it ought: that as to the ill treatment, which they complained of having received formerly from Caius Lucretius, and now from Lucius Hortensius, Roman prætors, who could suppose that such things were done with the approbation of the senate, who would consider that the Roman people had made war on Perseus, and, before that, on his father Philip, for the express purpose of asserting the liberties of Greece, and not that their friends and allies should receive such treatment from their magistrates: that they would give them a letter to the prætor, Lucius Hortensius, informing him that the proceedings, of which the people of Chalcis complained, were highly displeasing to the senate; charging him to take care that all free persons, who had been reduced to slavery, should be sought out as soon as possible, and restored to liberty; and commanding that no seamen, except the masters of vessels, should be permitted to lodge on shore.” Pursuant to the senate’s order, a letter to this purport was written to Hortensius. A present of two thousand asses was made to each of the ambassadors, and carriages were hired for Miction, at the public expense, to carry him commodiously to Brundusium. When the day of Caius Lucretius’s trial came, the tribunes pleaded against him before the people, and demanded that he should be fined in the sum of one million of asses;87 and an assembly of the people being held, every one of the thirty-five pronounced him guilty.

9 In Liguria, nothing worthy of record occurred in that year; for the enemy made no hostile attempt, nor did the consul march his legions into their country; on the contrary, having made himself sure that there would be peace that year, he discharged the soldiers of the two Roman legions within sixty days after his arrival in the province, sent the troops of the Latin confederates early into winter quarters at Luna and Pisæ, and himself, with the cavalry, visited most of the towns in the Gallic province. Although there was no open war any where but in Macedon, yet the Romans suspected Gentius, king of Illyria. The senate, therefore, voted that eight ships, fully equipped, should be sent from Brundusium to Issa, to Caius Furius, lieutenant-general, who, with only two vessels belonging to the inhabitants, held the government of that island. In this squadron were embarked two thousand soldiers, whom the prætor, Quintus Mænius, in pursuance of a decree of the senate, had raised in the quarter of Italy opposite Illyria; and the consul Hostilius sent Appius Claudius, with four thousand foot, into Illyria, to protect the states that bordered on it. But Appius Claudius, not content with the force which he brought with him, collected aid from the allies, until he armed as many as eight thousand men of different nations; and after overrunning all that country, took post at Lychnidus, in the territory of the Dassaretians.

10 Not far from this place was Uscana, a town generally deemed part of the dominions of Perseus. It contained ten thousand inhabitants, and a small party of Cretans, who served as a garrison. From this place messengers came secretly, to Claudius, telling him that “if he brought his army nearer, there would be people ready to put the town into his hands; and that it would be well worth his while; for he would satiate with plunder not only his friends, but also his soldiers.” The hopes presented to his avarice “blinded his understanding to that degree, that he neither detained any of those who came, nor required hostages as a pledge for his security, in a business which was to be transacted clandestinely and treacherously; neither did he send scouts to examine matters, nor require an oath from the messengers; but, on the day appointed, he left Lychnidus, and pitched his camp twelve miles from the city, which was the object of his design. At the fourth watch he set out, leaving about one thousand men to guard the camp. His forces, in disorder, extending themselves in a long irregular train, and few in number, as they were separated by a mistake in the night, arrived in this state at the city. Their carelessness increased when they saw not a soldier on the walls. But as soon as they approached within a weapon’s cast, a sally was made from two gates at once. Besides the shout raised by the sallying party, a tremendous noise was heard on the walls, composed of the yells of women and the sound of brazen instruments, while the rabble of the place, mixed with a multitude of slaves, made the air resound with various cries. Such a number of terrific circumstances, presented to them on all sides, had such an effect, that the Romans were unable to support the first onset of the sallying party; so that a greater number of them were killed in the flight than in the battle, and scarcely two thousand, with the lieutenant-general himself, effected their escape. The enemy had the greater opportunity of overtaking the weary Romans, in proportion to their distance from the camp. Appius, without even halting in the camp to collect his scattered troops, which would have been the means of saving many stragglers, led back, directly, to Lychnidus, the remains of his unfortunate army.

11 These and other unfavourable occurrences in Macedon were learned from Sextus Digitius, a military tribune, who came to Rome to perform a sacrifice. The senate being apprehensive on account of these advices of some greater disgrace ensuing, deputed Marcus Fulvius Flaccus and Marcus Caninius Rebilus to go to Macedon, and bring certain information of what was going on there; at the same time ordering that the consul, Aulus Hostilius, should summon the assembly for the election of consuls, and arrange that it might be held in the month of January, and should come home to the city as soon as possible. In the mean time instructions were given to the prætor, Marcus Recius, to call home to Rome, by proclamation, all the senators from every part of Italy, except such as were absent on public business; and it was resolved that none of those who were in Rome should go further than one mile from the city. All this was done pursuant to the votes of the senate. The election of consuls was held on the fifth day before the calends of February. Quintus Marcius Philippus a second time, and Cneius Servilius Cæpio, were elected consuls. Three days after, Caius Decimius, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Caius Sulpicius Gallus, Caius Marcius Figulus, Servius Cornelius Lentulus, and Publius Fonteius Capito, were chosen prætors. Four other provinces in addition to the two in the city were assigned to the prætors elect; these provinces were Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, and the fleet. Towards the end of February the deputies returned from Macedon, and gave an account of the successful enterprises of Perseus during the preceding summer, and of the great fears which had taken possession of the allies of the Roman people, on account of so many cities being reduced under the king’s power. They reported, that “the consul’s troops were very thin, in consequence of leave of absence being granted to great numbers, with the view of gaining popularity; the blame of which the consul laid upon the military tribunes, and they, on the other hand, on the consul.” The senate understood them to make little of the disgrace sustained through the rashness of Claudius, since they represented “that very few soldiers of Italian extraction were lost, the greatest part being the soldiers raised in that country by an irregular levy.” The consuls elect received orders, immediately on entering into office, to propose the affairs of Macedon to the consideration of the senate; and Italy and Macedon were appointed their provinces. An intercalation was made in the calendar of this year, intercalary calends being reckoned on the third day after the feast of Terminus. There died of the priests during this year, Lucius Flaminius, augur, and two pontiffs, Lucius Furius Philus, and Caius Livius Salinator. In the room of Furius, the pontiffs chose Titus Manlius Torquatus, and in that of Livius, Marcus Servilius.

12 In the beginning of the ensuing year, when the new consuls, Quintus Marcius and Cneius Servilius, had proposed the distribution of the provinces for consideration, the senate voted that they should, without delay, either settle between themselves about Macedon and Italy, or cast lots for them; and that, before the lot should decide this matter, and while the destination of each was uncertain, lest interest might have any influence, the supplies of men, which the exigency required for each province, should be ordered. Six thousand Roman foot and six thousand of the Latin allies, two hundred and fifty Roman horse and three hundred of the allies, were voted for Macedon. The old soldiers were to be discharged, so that there should be in each Roman legion no more than six thousand foot and three hundred horse. The number of Roman citizens, which the other consul was to enlist for a reinforcement, was not precisely determined; there was only this limitation mentioned, that he should raise two legions, each of them to contain five thousand two hundred foot and three hundred horse. A larger number of Latin infantry was decreed to him than to his colleague; no less than ten thousand foot, with six hundred horse. An order was given for raising four other legions, to serve wherever occasion might require. The consuls were not allowed the appointment of the military tribunes; the people elected them. The confederates of the Latin nation were ordered to furnish sixteen thousand foot and one thousand horse. This force was intended only to be kept in readiness, to march out should any exigency demand it. Macedon gave the senate most anxiety; they ordered, that one thousand Roman citizens, of the rank of freed-men, should be enlisted in Italy, as seamen, to man the fleet, and the same number in Sicily; and instructions were given the prætor, to whose lot the government of the latter province fell, to the effect that he should take care to carry these over to Macedon, to whatever place the fleet should be stationed at. Three thousand Roman foot and three hundred horse were voted to recruit the army in Spain. Then also the number of men in each legion was limited to five thousand foot and three hundred and thirty horse. Besides these, the prætor, to whose lot Spain should fall, was ordered to levy from the allies four thousand foot and three hundred horse.

13 I am well aware, that, through the same disregard of religion, owing to which the men of the present day generally believe that the gods never give portents of any future events, no prodigies are now either reported to government, or recorded in histories. But for my part, while I am writing the transactions of ancient times, my sentiments, I know not how, become antique; and a kind of religious awe prevents me from considering events, which the men of those days, renowned for wisdom, judged deserving of the attention of the state and of public expiation, unworthy of being recorded in my history. From Anagnia two prodigies were reported this year: that a blazing torch was seen in the air; and that a cow spoke, and was maintained at the public expense. About the same time, at Minturnæ, the sky appeared as in a blaze of fire. At Reate, a shower of stones fell. At Cumæ, the image of Apollo, in the citadel, shed tears during three days and three nights. In the city of Rome, two of the keepers of the temples made strange announcements, one that in the temple of Fortune, a snake, with a mane like that of a horse, had been seen by many; the other, that, in the temple of Fortuna Primigenia on the hill, a palm sprung up in the court, and that a shower of blood fell in the middle of the day. Two prodigies were not attended to: one, because it happened in a place belonging to a private person; Titus Marcius Figulus having reported, that a palm sprung up in the inner court of his house; the other, because it occurred in a foreign place, Fregellæ,—where, in the house of Lucius Arreus, a spear which he had bought for his son, who was a soldier, burned, as was said, for more than two hours, and notwithstanding the fire consumed none of it. The Sibylline books were consulted by the decemvirs on account of the public prodigies. They directed that the consuls should sacrifice forty of the larger victims to the deities, whom they pointed out; that a supplication should be performed; and that all the magistrates should sacrifice victims of the larger kinds in all the temples, and the people wear garlands. All these acts were performed according to the injunctions of the decemvirs.

14 Then the elections were held for the creation of censors. Several of the first men in the state, including Caius Valerius Lævinus, Lucius Postumius Albinus, Publius Mucius Scævola, Marcus Junius Brutus, Caius Claudius Pulcher, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, were candidates for this office. The Roman people appointed the two last censors. As, on account of the Macedonian war, greater attention was paid to holding the levy than usual, the consuls made a complaint to the senate against the plebeians, that even the younger men did not obey their summons. But, in opposition to them, Caius Sulpicius and Marcus Claudius, tribunes of the people, pleaded in favour of the plebeians; asserting, that “the levying of soldiers was a difficult task, not to the consuls in general, but to such consuls as affected popularity; that no man was made a soldier by them against his inclination; and that the conscript fathers might be convinced of the truth of this, the prætors, who in their office had less power and authority, would, if it seemed good to the senate, complete the levy.” That business was accordingly committed to the care of the prætors by an unanimous vote of the senate, not without great murmuring on the part of the consuls. The censors, in order to forward it, published, in a general assembly, the following notice: that “they would make it a rule in conducting the survey, that, besides the common oath taken by all citizens, the younger part should swear in this manner, when challenged,—You are younger than forty-six years, and you shall attend at the levy, pursuant to the edict of Caius Claudius and Tiberius Sempronius, censors; and you shall attend at the levy, as often as there shall be a levy held by any magistrate during the aforesaid censors’ continuance in office, if you shall not have been already enlisted.” Also as there was a report, that many men belonging to the legions in Macedon were absent from the army on furloughs, which did not limit the time, and were granted by the commanders to ingratiate themselves with the soldiers, they issued a proclamation concerning all who had been draughted for Macedon in the consulate of Publius Ælius and Caius Popilius, or since that period; that “such as were in Italy should, after being first registered by them in the survey, repair within thirty days to the province in which they served; and that, if any were under the power of a father or grandfather, the names of such should be notified to them. That they would also make inquiry into the cases of the soldiers who had been discharged; and that they would order those, whose discharge should appear to have been obtained through favour, before the regular number of campaigns were served, to be enlisted again.” In consequence of this proclamation, and letters from the censors being dispersed through the market-towns and villages, such multitudes of young men flocked to Rome, that the extraordinary crowd was even inconvenient to the city. Besides enrolling those whom it was necessary to send as a reinforcement for the armies, four legions were raised by the prætor, Caius Sulpicius, and the levies were completed within eleven days.

15 The consuls then cast lots for their provinces; the prætors, on account of the civil jurisdiction, had determined theirs earlier in the season. The civil jurisdiction had fallen to Caius Sulpicius; the foreign, to Caius Decimius; Marcus Claudius Marcellus had obtained by lot Spain; Servius Cornelius Lentulus, Sicily; Publius Fonteius Capito, Sardinia; and Caius Marcius Figulus had received the command of the fleet. In the arrangement of the consular provinces, Italy fell to Cneius Servilius, and Macedon to Quintus Marcius; and the latter set out as soon as the Latin festival could be celebrated. Cæpio then desired the senate to direct which two of the new legions he should take with him into Gaul; when they ordered, that the prætors Caius Sulpicius and Marcus Claudius should give the consul such of the legions, which they had raised, as they should think fit. The latter, highly offended at a consul being subjected to the will of prætors, adjourned the senate; and standing at the tribunal of the prætors, demanded, that pursuant to the decree, they should assign him two legions; but the prætors left the consul to his own discretion in selecting them. The censors then called over the list of the senate. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus was now, by the third censors, chosen prince of the senate. Seven were expelled that body. In making the survey of the people, they discovered from the rolls how many of the soldiers belonging to the army in Macedonia were absent, and obliged them all to return to that province. They inquired into the cases of the men who had been discharged; and, when any of their discharges appeared irregular in respect of time, they put the following oath to them: “Do you truly swear, that you will, without deceit or evasion, return into the province of Macedon, according to the edict of the censors, Caius Claudius and Tiberius Sempronius?”

16 In the review of the knights their censorship was very severe and harsh: they deprived many of their horses; and after giving offence to the equestrian order in this matter, they inflamed the general displeasure to a higher degree by an edict, in which they ordered, that “no person who had farmed the public revenues or taxes from the censors Quintus Fulvius and Aulus Postumius, should attend their sale, or have any partnership or connexion in the contracts then to be made.” When the former tax-contractors could not prevail on the senate, by their frequent complaints, to check the power of the censors, at length they found a patron of their cause in Publius Rutilius, a plebeian tribune, who was incensed against the censors in consequence of a dispute about a private concern. They had ordered a client of his, a freed-man, to throw down a wall, which stood opposite to a public building in the Sacred Street, because it was built on ground belonging to the public. The tribunes were appealed to by the citizen. When none of them would interfere, except Rutilius, the censors were sent to seize the property of the citizen, and imposed a fine on him in a public assembly. When the present dispute broke out, and the old revenue-farmers had recourse to the tribunes, a bill was suddenly promulgated under the name of one of the tribunes, that “with regard to the public revenues and taxes, which Caius Claudius and Tiberius Sempronius should have hired out, all contracts made by them should be null and void: that they should all be let anew, and that every person, without distinction, should be at liberty to bid for and take them.” The tribune appointed the day for an assembly to vote on this bill. When the day came, and the censors stood forth to argue against the order, there was deep silence while Gracchus addressed them: when the voice of Claudius was drowned in the murmurs, he directed the crier to cause silence, that he might be heard. When this was done, the tribune, complaining that the assembly which he had summoned was taken out of his rule, and that he was reduced to a private capacity, retired from the Capitol, where the assembly met. Next day he raised a violent commotion. In the first place, he declared the property of Tiberius Gracchus forfeited to the gods, because he, by fining and seizing the goods of a person who had appealed to a tribune, and by refusing to admit the tribune’s right of protesting, had reduced him to a private capacity. He instituted a criminal process against Caius Claudius because he had summoned the assembly away from him, and declared his intention of prosecuting both the censors for treason; and he demanded of Caius Sulpicius, the city prætor, that he would fix a day for an assembly to try them. As the censors offered no objection to the people passing their sentence on them as soon as they pleased, their trial for treason was fixed to come the eighth and seventh days before the calends of October. The censors went up immediately to the temple of Liberty, where they sealed the books of the public accounts, shut up the office, and dismissed the clerks; affirming, that they would do no kind of public business until the sentence of the people was passed on them. Claudius was first brought to trial; and after eight out of the eighteen centuries of knights, and many others of the first class, had given sentence against him, the principal men in the state, immediately taking off their gold rings, in the sight of the people, put on mourning, in order that they might suppliantly solicit the commons in his favour. Yet, it is said, that Gracchus was the chief means of making a change in their sentiments; for when shouts arose from the commons on all sides that Gracchus was in no danger, he took a formal oath, that if his colleague were condemned, he would be his companion in exile, without waiting for their judgment concerning himself. After all, the case of the accused was so near being desperate, that the votes of eight centuries only were wanting to condemn him. When Claudius was acquitted, the tribune said, that he would not delay Gracchus.

17 This year, when the ambassadors of the Aquileians demanded that the number of the colonists should be increased, one thousand five hundred families were enrolled by a decree of the senate; and Titus Annius Luscus, Publius Decius Subulo, and Marcus Cornelius Cethegus, were appointed commissioners to conduct them. During the same year, Caius Popilius and Cneius Octavius, who had been sent ambassadors into Greece, read, first at Thebes, and afterwards carried about to all the other states of Peloponnesus, a decree, ordering, that “no person should furnish the Roman magistrates with any thing for the use of the war, except what the senate should determine.” This afforded the allies a pleasing confidence, with regard to the future also, that they would be relieved from the heavy burdens and expenses, by which they were exhausted, in consequence of the various demands of those magistrates. In the council of Achaia, held at Ægium, the ambassadors spoke, and were heard with sentiments of mutual esteem and affection; and then, leaving that faithful nation in confident assurance of lasting prosperity, they crossed over to Ætolia. No civil war had yet broke out in that country; but all places were full of suspicion and mutual recrimination. The ambassadors having demanded hostages on account of these disputes, set out from this place to Acarnania, without putting an end to the evil. The Acarnanians gave to the ambassadors an audience of their general council at Thyrium. Here, too, there was a struggle between opposite factions; some of the nobles required that garrisons might be placed in their cities, to protect them against the madness of those who were endeavouring to bring the nation over to the Macedonians; and others objected to the measure, lest peaceful and allied cities should receive such an insult, as was usually offered only to towns taken in war, or engaged in hostilities. Their objection was reckoned reasonable. The ambassadors returned to Larissa, to Hostilius, for by him they had been sent. He kept Octavius with him, and sent Popilius, with about a thousand soldiers, into winter quarters at Ambracia.

18 Perseus did not venture, at the commencement of winter, to go out of the limits of Macedon, lest the Romans might make an irruption into the kingdom by some unguarded quarter; but on the approach of the winter solstice, when the depth of the snow renders the mountains between it and Thessaly impassable, he thought the season favourable for crushing the hopes and spirits of his neighbours, lest any danger should be lurking there, while his attention was turned to the Romans; since Cotys afforded him security in the direction of Thrace, and Cephalus, by his sudden revolt from the Romans, freed him from uneasiness on the side of Epirus, and his late expedition had subdued the Dardanians, he considered that Macedon was only exposed on the side next to Illyria, the Illyrians themselves being in motion, and having offered a free passage to the Romans: hoping, however, that if he reduced the nearest tribes of Illyrians, Gentius himself, who had long been wavering, might be brought into alliance with him, he set out at the head of ten thousand foot, the greater part of whom were soldiers of the phalanx, two thousand light infantry, and five hundred horse, and proceeded to Stubera. Having there supplied himself with corn sufficient for many days, and ordered every requisite for besieging towns to be sent after him, he encamped on the third day before Uscana, the largest city in the Penestian country. Before he employed force, he sent emissaries to sound the dispositions, sometimes of the commanders of the garrison, sometimes of the inhabitants; for, besides some troops of Illyrians, there was a Roman garrison in the place. When his emissaries brought back no friendly message, he resolved to attack the town, and made an attempt to take it by a line of circumvallation formed of troops; but though his men, relieving one another, continued without intermission, either by day or night, some to apply ladders to the walls, others to attempt to set fire to the gates, yet the defenders of the city sustained that shock, for they had hopes that the Macedonians would not be able to endure any longer the severity of the winter in the open field; and besides, that the king would not have so long a respite from the war with Rome, that he would be able to stay there. But, when they saw the machines in motion, and towers erected, their resolution was overcome; for, besides that they were unequal to a contest with his force, they had not a sufficient store of corn, or any other necessary, as they had not expected a siege. Therefore when they had no hopes of being able to hold out, Caius Carvilius Spoletinus and Caius Afranius were sent by the Roman garrison to request from Perseus, first, to allow the troops to march out with their arms, and to carry their effects with them; and then, if they could not obtain that, to receive his promise of their lives and liberty. The king promised more generously than he performed; for, after desiring them to march out with their effects, the first thing he did was to take away their arms. As soon as they left the city, both the cohort of Illyrians, five hundred in number, and the inhabitants of Uscana, immediately surrendered themselves and the city.

19 Perseus, placing a garrison in Uscana, carried away to Stubera the whole multitude of prisoners, almost equal to his army in number. He then distributed the Romans, who amounted to four thousand, besides officers, among several cities, to be kept in custody; and, having sold the Uscanians and Illyrians, led back his army to Penestia, to reduce the city of Oæneus: the town is advantageously situated in other respects, and besides, in that direction there is a passage into the country of the Labeatians, where Gentius was king. As he passed by a fort, named Draudacum, which was full of men, one of the persons, well acquainted with the country, told him that “there was no use in taking Oæneus unless he had Draudacum in his power; for the latter was situated more advantageously in every respect.” When his army was brought against it, the garrison surrendered unanimously and at once. Encouraged by the surrender of this place, which was earlier than he hoped, and perceiving what terrors his march diffused, by taking advantage of the like fears, he reduced eleven other forts to submission. Against a very few he had occasion to use force; the rest submitted voluntarily; among whom one thousand five hundred Roman soldiers were taken, who had been divided among the Roman garrisons. Carvilius Spoletinus was very serviceable to him in his conferences with the garrison, by declaring that no severity had been shown to his own party. At length he arrived at Oæneus, which could not be taken without a regular siege. The town possessed a much greater number of young men than the others, and was strong in its fortifications. It was enclosed on one side by a river called Artatus, and on another by a very high mountain of difficult access; these circumstances gave the inhabitants courage to make resistance. Perseus, having drawn lines of circumvallation, began, on the higher ground, to raise a mound, which he intended should exceed the wall in height. By the time that this work was completed, the besieged, in their many actions, when sallying out to defend their works, or to obstruct those of the enemy, had lost great numbers by various chances; while the survivors were rendered useless by wounds, and by continual labour both in the day and night. As soon as the mound was brought close to the wall, the royal cohort (the men of which are called Nicators) rushed from it into the town, while an assault was made by scalade in many places at once. All the males, who had reached the age of puberty, were put to the sword, their wives and children were thrown into confinement, and every thing else was given as booty to the soldiers. Returning thence victorious to Stubera, he sent, as ambassadors to Gentius,—Pleuratus, an Illyrian, who lived in exile at his court, and Adæus, a Macedonian, from Berœa. He gave them instructions to represent his exploits against the Romans and Dardanians during the preceding summer and winter, and to add the recent operations of his winter campaign in Illyria, and to exhort Gentius to unite with him and the Macedonians in a treaty of friendship.

20 They crossed over the top of Mount Scordus, and through desert tracts of Illyria, which the Macedonians had laid waste, for the purpose of preventing the Dardanians from passing easily into Illyria or Macedon; and, at length, after undergoing prodigious fatigue, arrived at Scodra. King Gentius was at Lissus; to which place the ambassadors were invited, and received a favourable audience while stating their instructions, but obtained an indecisive answer: that “he wanted not inclination to go to war with the Romans, but was in extreme want of money to enable him to enter on such an undertaking, though he wished to do so.” This answer they brought to the king at Stubera, whilst he was engaged in selling the Illyrian prisoners. The same ambassadors were immediately sent back, with an accession to their numbers in Glaucias, one of his body guards, but without any mention of money; the only thing by which the needy barbarian could be induced to take a part in the war. Then Perseus, after ravaging Ancyra, led back his army once more into Penestia; and having strengthened the garrison of Uscana, and the surrounding fortresses which he had taken, he retired into Macedon.

21 Lucius Cælius, a Roman lieutenant-general, commanded at that time in Illyria. While the king was in that country he did not venture to stir; but, on his departure, he made an attempt to recover Uscana, in Penestia; in which being repulsed, with great loss, by the Macedonian garrison, he led back his forces to Lychnidus. In a short time after he sent Marcus Trebellius Fregellanus, with a very strong force, into Penestia, to receive hostages from the cities which had faithfully remained in friendship. He ordered him, also, to march on to the Parthinians, who had likewise covenanted to give hostages, which were received from both nations without any trouble: those of the Penestians were sent to Apollonia; those of the Parthinians, to Dyrrachium, then more generally called by the Greeks Epidamnus. Appius Claudius, wishing to repair the disgrace which he had suffered in Illyria, made an attack on Phanote, a fortress of Epirus; bringing with him, besides the Roman troops, Athamanian and Thesprotian auxiliaries, to the amount of six thousand men; nor did he gain any advantage to recompense his exertion, for Clevas, who had been left there with a strong garrison, effectually defended the place. Perseus marched to Elimea, and, after reviewing his army in the vicinity of that town, led it to Stratus, in compliance with an invitation of the Epirotes. Stratus was then the strongest city in Ætolia. It stands on the Ambracian Gulf, near the river Inachus. Thither he marched with ten thousand foot and three hundred horse; for, on account of the narrowness and ruggedness of the roads, he led a smaller army than he would otherwise have done. On the third day he came to Mount Citium, which he could scarcely climb over, by reason of the depth of the snow, and with difficulty found even a place for his camp. Leaving that spot, rather because he could not conveniently stay, than that either the road or the weather was tolerable, the army, after suffering severe hardships, which fell heaviest on the beasts of burden, encamped on the second day at the temple of Jupiter, called Nicæus. After a very long march thence, he halted at the river Aracthus, being detained there by the depth of the water, during the time in which a bridge was being constructed; he then led over his army, and, having proceeded one day’s march, met Archidamus, an Ætolian of distinction, who proposed delivering Stratus into his hands.

22 On that day Perseus encamped at the borders of the Ætolian territory; and, on the next, arrived before Stratus, where, pitching his camp near the river Achelous, he expected that the Ætolians would come in crowds to put themselves under his protection; but on the contrary, he found the gates shut, and discovered that the very night on which he arrived, a Roman garrison, under Caius Popilius, lieutenant-general, had been received into the town. The nobles, who, induced by the authority of Archidamus, while he was present, had invited the king, as soon as he went out to meet Perseus had become less zealous, and had given an opportunity to the opposite faction to call in Popilius, with one thousand foot, from Ambracia. At the same juncture came also Dinarchus, general of the Ætolian cavalry, with six hundred foot and one hundred horse. It was well known that he came to Stratus intending to act with Perseus; but that, with the change of fortune, he had changed his mind, and joined the Romans, against whom he had come. Nor was Popilius less on his guard than he ought to be among people of such fickle tempers. He immediately took into his own keeping the keys of the gates, with the direction of the guard of the walls, and removed Dinarchus and the Ætolians, together with the young men of Stratus, into the citadel, under pretence of garrisoning it. Perseus sounded the garrison, by addressing them from the eminences that hung over the upper part of the city, and finding that they were obstinate, and even kept him at a distance with weapons, removed his camp to the other side of the river Petitarus, about five miles from the town: there he held a council, wherein Archidamus and the refugees from Epirus were for detaining him there; but the Macedonian nobles were of opinion that he ought not to fight against the severity of the season without having magazines of provisions; in which case the besiegers would feel a scarcity sooner than the besieged, especially as the winter quarters of the enemy were at no great distance: being deterred by these considerations, he removed his camp into Aperantia. The Aperantians, in consequence of the great interest and influence which Archidamus possessed among them, submitted to Perseus with universal consent; and Archidamus himself was appointed their governor, with a body of eight hundred soldiers.

23 The king then returned into Macedon with his men and horses, not less harassed than they had been in their advance to Stratus. However, the report of Perseus’s march to that place obliged Appius to raise the siege of Phanote. Clevas, with a body of active young men, pursued him to the foot of some mountains, which formed a defile almost impassable, killed one thousand men of his disordered troops, and took two hundred prisoners. Appius, when he got clear of the defile, encamped for a few days in a plain named Meleon. Meanwhile Clevas, being joined by Philostratus, who was invested with the chief power among the nation of the Epirotes, proceeded over the mountains into the lands of Antigonea. The Macedonians setting out to plunder, Philostratus, with his division, posted himself in ambush, in a place where he could not be seen. When the troops at Antigonea sallied out against the straggling plunderers, they pursued them in their flight with too great eagerness, until they precipitated themselves into the valley which was beset by the enemy, who killed one thousand, and made about one hundred prisoners. Being thus successful every where, they encamped near the post of Appius, in order to prevent the Roman army from offering any violence to their allies. Appius, as he was wasting time there to no purpose, dismissed the Chaonian and other Epirotes, and with his Italian soldiers marched back to Illyria; then sending the troops to their several winter quarters, in the confederate cities of the Parthinians, he went home to Rome on account of a sacrifice. Perseus recalled from the nation of the Penestians one thousand foot and two hundred horse, and sent them to garrison Cassandria. His ambassadors returned from Gentius with the same answer as before. Still he did not cease from soliciting him, but sent embassy after embassy; yet, notwithstanding that he was sensible of the powerful support he would find in Gentius, the Macedonian could not prevail on himself to expend money on the business, although it was to him a question of vital importance.

BOOK XLIV.

1 Early in the spring which succeeded the winter in which these transactions took place, the consul, Quintus Marcius Philippus, set out from Rome, with five thousand men, whom he was to carry over to reinforce his legions, and arrived at Brundusium. Marcus Popilius, of consular rank, and other young men of equal dignity, accompanied him, in the capacity of military tribunes for the legions in Macedonia. Nearly at the same time, Caius Marcius Figulus, the prætor, whose province was the fleet, came to Brundusium; and, both sailing from Italy, made Corcyra on the second day, and Actium, a port of Acarnania, on the third. The consul, then, disembarking at Ambracia, proceeded towards Thessaly by land. The prætor, doubling Cape Leucate, sailed into the gulf of Corinth; then, leaving his ships at Creusa, he went by land also through the middle of Bœotia, and, by a quick journey of one day, came to the fleet at Chalcis. Aulus Hostilius at that time lay encamped in Thessaly, near Palæpharsalus; and though he had performed no warlike act of any consequence, yet he had reformed his troops from a state of dissolute licentiousness, and brought them to exact military discipline; had faithfully consulted the interest of the allies, and defended them from every kind of injury. On hearing of his successor’s approach, he carefully inspected the arms, men, and horses; and then, with the army in complete order, he marched out to meet the consul. Their first meeting was such as became their own dignity and the Roman character; and in transacting business afterwards, they preserved the greatest harmony and propriety.88 The proconsul, addressing himself to the troops, exhorted them to behave with courage, and with due respect to the orders of their commander. He then recommended them, in warm terms, to the consul, and, as soon as he had despatched the necessary affairs, set off for Rome.88 A few days after, the consul made a speech to his soldiers, which began with the unnatural murder which Perseus had perpetrated on his brother, and meditated against his father; he then mentioned “his acquisition of the kingdom by nefarious practices; his poisonings and murders; his abominable attempt to assassinate Eumenes; the injuries he had committed against the Roman people; and his plundering the cities of their allies, in violation of the treaty.” “How detestable such proceedings were in the sight of the gods, Perseus would feel,” he said, “in the issue of his affairs; for the gods always favoured righteous and honourable dealings; by means of which the Roman people had risen to so great an exaltation.” He next compared the strength of the Roman people, which now embraced the whole world, with that of Macedonia, and the armies of the one with those of the other; and then added, “How much more powerful armies of Philip and Antiochus had been conquered by forces not more numerous than the present!”

2 Having animated the minds of his soldiers by such exhortations, he began to consult on a general plan of operations for the campaign; being joined by the prætor, Caius Marcius, who, after receiving the command of the fleet, came thither from Chalcis. It was resolved not to waste time by delaying longer in Thessaly; but to decamp immediately, and advance thence into Macedonia; and that the prætor should exert himself to the utmost, that the fleet might appear, at the same time, on the enemy’s coasts. The prætor then having been sent away, the consul, having ordered the soldiers to carry with them a month’s provisions, struck his tents, on the tenth day after he received the command of the army, and proceeded one day’s march. He then called together his guides, and ordered them to explain, in the presence of the council, by what road each of them proposed to lead him; then, having dismissed them, he asked the opinion of the council, as to what route he should prefer. Some advised the road through Pythium; others, that over the Cambunian mountains, by which the consul Hostilius had marched the year before; while others, again, preferred that which passed by the side of the Lake Ascuris. There was yet before him a considerable length of road common to each of these routes; the further consideration of this matter was therefore postponed until they should encamp near the place where the roads diverged. He then marched into Perrhæbia, and posted himself between Azorus and Doliche, in order to consider again which was the preferable road. In the mean time, Perseus, understanding that the enemy was marching towards him, but unable to guess what route he might take, resolved to secure all the passes by guards. To the top of the Cambunian mountains, called by the natives Volustana, he sent ten thousand light infantry, under the command of Asclepiodotus; ordering Hippias, with a detachment of twelve thousand Macedonians, to guard the pass called Lapathus, near a fort which stood over the Lake Ascuris. He himself, with the rest of his forces, lay for some time in camp at Dium; but afterwards, as if he had lost the use of his judgment, and was incapable of forming any plan, he used to gallop along the coast, with a party of light horse, sometimes to Heracleum, sometimes to Phila, and then return with the same speed to Dium.

3 By this time the consul had determined to march through the pass near Octolophus, where, as we have mentioned, the camp of the king formerly stood. But he deemed it prudent to despatch before him four thousand men, to secure such places as might be useful: the command of this party was given to Marcus Claudius, and Quintus Marcius the consul’s son. The main body followed close after; but the road was so steep, rough, and craggy, that the advanced party of light troops, with great difficulty, effected in two days a march of fifteen miles; and then encamped. They call the place which they took, the tower of Eudicru. Next day they advanced seven miles; and, having seized on a hill at a small distance from the enemy’s camp, sent back a message to the consul, that “they had come up with the enemy; and had taken post in a place which was safe and convenient in every respect; urging him to join them with all possible speed.” This message came to the consul at the Lake Ascuris, at a time when he was full of anxiety, on account of the badness of the road on which he had entered, and for the fate of the small force he had sent forward into the midst of the posts of the enemy. His spirits were therefore greatly revived; and, soon effecting a junction of all his forces, he pitched his camp on the side of the hill that had been seized, where the ground was the most commodious. This hill was so high as to afford a wide-extended prospect presenting to their eyes, at one view, not only the enemy’s camp, which was little more than a mile distant, but the whole extent of territory to Dium and Phila, together with a large tract of the sea-coast; circumstances which greatly enlivened the courage of the soldiers, giving them so near a view of the grand theatre of the war, of all the king’s forces, and of the country of the enemy. So eager were they, that they pressed the consul to lead them on directly to the enemy’s camp; but, after the fatigue that they had suffered on the road, one day was set apart for repose. On the third day, the consul, leaving one half of his troops to guard the camp, drew out his forces against the enemy.

4 Hippias had been sent by the king, a short time before, to maintain that pass; and having employed himself, since he first saw the Roman camp on the hill, in preparing his men’s minds for a battle, he now went forth to meet the consul’s army as it advanced. The Romans came out to battle with light armour, as did the enemy; light troops being the fittest to commence the engagement. As soon as they met, therefore, they instantly discharged their javelins, and many wounds were given and received on both sides in a disorderly kind of conflict; but few of either party were killed. This only roused their courage for the following day, when they would have engaged with more numerous forces, and with greater animosity, had there been room to form a line; but the summit of the mountain was contracted into a ridge so narrow, as scarcely to allow space for three files in front; so that, while but few were fighting, the greater part, especially such as carried heavy arms, stood mere spectators of the fight. The light troops even ran through the hollows of the hill, and attacked the flanks of the light-armed troops of the enemy; and alike through even and uneven places, sought to come to action. That day, greater numbers were wounded than killed, and night put a stop to the dispute. The Roman general was greatly at a loss how to proceed on the third day; for to remain on that naked hill was impossible, and he could not return without disgrace, and even danger, if the enemy with the advantage of the ground, should press on his troops in their retreat: he had therefore no other plan left than to improve his bold attempt, by persevering resolution, which sometimes, in the issue, proves the wiser course. He had, in fact, brought himself into such a situation, that if he had had to deal with an enemy like the ancient kings of Macedon, he might have suffered a severe defeat. But while the king, with his horsemen, ran up and down the shore at Dium; and, though at a distance of twelve miles, he was almost within hearing of the shout and noise of his forces who were engaged, neither strengthened his forces by sending up fresh men to relieve the weary, nor, what was most material, appeared himself in the action; the Roman general, notwithstanding that he was above sixty years old, and unwieldy through corpulency, performed actively every duty of a commander. He persisted with extraordinary resolution in his bold undertaking; and, leaving Popilius to guard the summit, marched across, through trackless places, having sent forward a party to open a road. Attalus and Misagenes, with the auxiliary troops of their own nations, were ordered to protect them, while clearing the way through the forests. He himself, keeping the cavalry and baggage before him, closed the rear with the legions.

5 In descending the mountain, the men suffered inexpressible fatigue, besides the frequent falling of the cattle and their loads, so that, before they had advanced quite four miles, they began to think that their most eligible plan would be to return, if they could, by the way they had come. The elephants caused almost as much confusion among the troops as an enemy could; for, when they came to impassable steeps, they threw off their riders, and set up such a hideous roar, as spread terror through all, especially among the horses, until a method was contrived for bringing them down. They fastened in the earth, in the line of descent, some way from the top, two long, strong posts, distant from each other a little more than the breadth of the animal, on which were fastened beams thirty feet long, so as to form a kind of bridge, and covered it with earth; after a little intermediate space, a second and similar bridge was formed; then a third bridge, with several others one after another, where the rocks were precipitous. The elephant walked forward on solid footing upon the bridge; but before he came to the end, the posts underneath were cut, and the bridge falling, obliged him to slide down gently to the beginning of the next bridge, which some of them performed standing, others on their haunches. When they arrived at the level of another bridge, they were again carried down, by its falling in like manner; and so on until they came to more level ground. The Romans advanced that day scarcely more than seven miles; and even of this journey little was performed on foot. Their method of proceeding in general was rolling themselves down, together with their arms and other encumbrances, with every kind of discomfort; insomuch, that even their commander, who led them such a march, did not deny, but that tho whole army might have been cut off by a small party. During the night, they arrived at a small plain; but, as it was hemmed in on every side, there was no opportunity of discovering whether it was a position of danger or not. However, as they had, beyond their expectation, at length found good footing, they judged it necessary to wait, during the next day, in that deep valley for Popilius, and the forces left behind with him; who, though the enemy gave them no disturbance from any quarter, suffered severely from the difficulties of the ground,—as if they had been harassed by an enemy. These having joined the main body, the whole proceeded, on the third day, through a pass called by the natives Callipeuce. On the fourth day they marched down through places equally trackless, but more cleverly in consequence of their experience, and with more comfortable hopes, as they saw no enemy any where, and as they were coming nearer to the sea, into the plains, where they pitched their camp of infantry between Heracleum and Libethrus, the greater part being posted on hills, the rest occupying a valley and part of the plain where the cavalry encamped.

6 The king, it is said, was bathing, when he was informed of the enemy’s approach; on hearing which, he started up from his seat, and rushed out in a fright, crying out, that he was conquered without a battle; and afterwards, in a state of great perturbation, amidst plans and orders dictated by fear, he recalled two most intimate friends from his garrisons, and sent one to Pella, where his treasure was lodged, and the other to Parthus, and opened all the passes to the invasion of the enemy. He himself, having suddenly removed from Dium all the gilded statues, that they might not fall a prey to the enemy, ordered all the inhabitants to remove to Pydna; and thus made the conduct of the consul, in venturing into a situation out of which he could not retreat without the enemy’s permission, although it might have been deemed rash and inconsiderate, to wear the appearance of judicious boldness. For there were only two passes through which the Romans could remove from their present situation; one through Tempe into Thessaly, the other by Dium into Macedonia; and both these were occupied by parties of the king’s troops. So that if an intrepid commander had, only for ten days, maintained his ground, without yielding to the first appearance of an approaching terror, the Romans could neither have retreated by Tempe into Thessaly, nor have had any road open for the conveyance of provisions to their position. For Tempe is a pass of such a nature, that even supposing no obstruction was given by an enemy, it is difficult to get through it; being so narrow for the distance of five miles, that there is barely room for a loaded horse to pass: the precipices, also, on both sides, are so abrupt, that it is scarcely possible to look down from them, without a dizziness alike of the eyes and the mind; while the roaring and depth of the river Peneus, flowing through the middle of the glen, increases the terrific effect. This defile, in its nature so dangerous, was guarded by parties of the king’s troops, stationed in four different places: one near Gonnus, at the first entrance; another in an impregnable fortress at Condylos; a third near Lapathus, in a place called Charax; and the fourth on the road itself about midway, where the valley is narrowest, and might have been easily defended even by half a score men. All possibility either of retreating, or of receiving provisions through Tempe, being cut off, the Romans, in order to return, must have crossed over the same mountains from which they came down; but even though they might have been able to effect this by passing unobserved, they never could have accomplished it openly, and while the enemy kept possession of the heights; and besides, the difficulties which they had already experienced would have precluded every hope of the kind. In this rash enterprise they would have no other plan left than to force their way into Macedonia, through the midst of the enemy posted at Dium; and if the gods had not deprived the king of his understanding, this would have been extremely difficult For the space between the foot of Mount Olympus and the sea is not much more than a mile in breadth; one half of which is taken up by the mouth of the river Baphirus, which forms a large morass, and, of the remaining plain, a great share is occupied by the town and the temple of Jupiter: the rest, being a very small space, might have been shut up with a trench and rampart of no great length; or, so great was the plenty of stones and timber on the spot, that a wall might have been drawn across, and towers erected. But the king’s judgment was so entirely blinded by the sudden fright, that he reflected not upon any one of these circumstances; on the contrary, he evacuated all his strong posts, and leaving them open to the enemy, fled back to Pydna.

7 The consul, perceiving in the folly and sloth of the enemy a most favourable prospect, not only of safety, but of success, sent back a messenger to Larissa, with orders to Spurius Lucretius to seize on the deserted forts about Tempe; then, sending forward Popilius, to examine all the passes round Dium, and learning that all was clear, he marched in two days to that town, ordering the camp to be fixed under the walls of the temple, that no violation might be offered to that sacred place. He went himself into the city; and seeing it, though not large, yet highly ornamented with public buildings and abundance of statues, and remarkably well fortified, he could scarcely believe that there was not some stratagem concealed in the abandonment of such important advantages without cause. He waited therefore one day to examine all the country round; then he decamped; and supposing that he should find plenty of corn in Pieria, advanced to a river called the Mytis. On the day following, continuing his march, he received the voluntary surrender of the city of Agassæ; whereupon, in order to gain the good opinion of the rest of the Macedonians, he contented himself with receiving hostages, assuring the inhabitants, that he would leave them their city without a garrison, and that they should live free from taxes, and under their own laws. Proceeding thence one day’s march, he encamped at the river Ascordus; but, finding that the farther he removed from Thessaly, the greater was the scarcity of every thing, he returned to Dium; which clearly demonstrated how much he must have suffered if he had been cut off from Thessaly, since he found it unsafe to go to any great distance from it. Perseus, having drawn all his forces into one body, and assembled all his generals, reprimanded severely the commanders of the garrisons, and particularly Hippias, and Asclepiodotus; asserting that they had betrayed to the Romans the keys of Macedonia; of which charge no one was more truly guilty than himself. The consul, on seeing the fleet at sea, conceived hopes that they were coming with provisions, for every article had now become very dear and very scarce; but when the ships came into harbour, he was informed that the transports had been left behind at Magnesia. He was then under great perplexity to determine what measures to take; so hard did he find it to struggle with the difficulties of his situation, though not aggravated by any effort of the enemy; when, very seasonably, a letter arrived from Lucretius, acquainting him that he was in possession of all the forts about Tempe and Phila, and had found in them great plenty of corn and other necessaries.

8 The consul, highly delighted with this intelligence, removed his quarters from Dium to Phila, in order to strengthen that post, and, at the same time, to distribute corn to the soldiers, on the spot, as the carriage of it thence would be tedious. That march gave rise to opinions not at all favourable to his reputation: some said that he retired from the enemy through fear; because if he had staid in Pieria he must have risked a battle: others, that, not considering the daily changes produced by fortune in the affairs of war, he had let slip out of his hands advantages which threw themselves in his way, and which, in all probability, he could never regain. For, by giving up the possession of Dium, he at once roused the enemy to action; who at length saw the necessity of endeavouring to recover what he had lost before, through his own fault. On hearing of the consul’s departure, therefore, Perseus marched back to Dium, repaired whatever had been destroyed and laid waste by the Romans, rebuilt the battlements which they had thrown down, strengthened the fortifications all round, and then pitched his camp within five miles of the city, on the hither bank of the Enipeus, in order to have the river itself, the passage of which was extremely difficult, as a defence to his post. The Enipeus, which rises in a valley of Mount Olympus, is a small stream during the summer, but is raised by the winter rains to a violent torrent, when, as it runs over the rocks, it forms furious eddies, and, by sweeping away the earth at the bottom into the sea, makes very deep gulfs, while the sinking of the middle of the channel renders the banks both high and steep. Perseus, thinking that the advance of the enemy was sufficiently obstructed by this river, contemplated spending there the remainder of the summer. In the mean time, the consul sent Popilius, with two thousand men, from Phila to Heracleum. It is distant about five miles from Phila, midway between Dium and Tempe, and stands on a steep rock hanging over the river.

9 Popilius, before he brought his troops up to the walls, sent to recommend to the magistrates and principal men, rather to try the honour and clemency of the Romans than their power; but this advice produced no effect, the fires in the king’s camp on the Enipeus being now within their sight. The attack was then commenced by assaults, and with works and machines, as well on the side facing the sea, (for the ships had been brought up close to the shore,) as on land. A party of Roman youths actually gained possession of the lowest part of the wall, by turning to the purposes of war a kind of sport which they were accustomed to practise in the circus. In those times, when the present extravagant fashion of filling the area with beasts of every kind was yet unknown, it was customary to contrive various kinds of amusements; for when one chariot race and one equestrian performer were exhibited, both the performances scarcely filled up the space of an hour. Among other diversions, in the more elaborate games, about sixty young men in arms, sometimes more, used to be introduced, whose performances were partly a representation of troops going through the military exercise, and partly a display of more accurate skill than appeared in the practice of soldiers, and which approached nearer to the mode of fighting used by gladiators. After performing various evolutions, they formed in a square body with their shields raised over their heads, and closed together, the foremost standing upright, the next stooping a little, the third and fourth lines more and more, and so on, until the hindmost rested on their knees, thus composing a covering in the shape of a tortoise-shell, and sloping, like the roof of a house. Then two armed men, who stood at the distance of about fifty feet, ran forward, and after some menacing flourishes of their arms, mounted over the closed shields, from the bottom to the top of this roof; and, treading as steadily as if on solid ground, sometimes paraded along the extreme edges of it, as if repelling an enemy, and sometimes encountered each other on the middle of it. A body similar to this was brought up against the lowest part of the wall, and the soldiers, standing thereon, mounted until they were as high as the defendants on the battlements; and these having been beaten off, the soldiers of two companies climbed over into the town. The only difference was, that here the outside men in the front and in the two flanks alone did not raise their shields over their heads, lest they should expose their bodies, but held them before them, as in battle; so that the weapons thrown at them from the walls, as they advanced, did them no injury, while those that were poured like a shower on the roof glided down the smooth slope to the bottom, without doing any mischief. When Heracleum was taken, the consul removed his quarters thither, as if he intended to besiege Dium; and, after driving the king thence, to advance to Pieria. But as he was now preparing his quarters for the winter, he ordered roads to be made for the conveyance of provisions from Thessaly, and proper places to be chosen for store-houses; also huts to be built, where the people employed in bringing the provisions might lodge.

10 Perseus, having at length recovered his spirits, after the panic with which he had been seized, began to wish that obedience had not been paid to the orders which he had given in his fright, to throw the treasures at Pella into the sea, and to burn the naval arsenals at Thessalonica. Andronicus, indeed, whom he had sent to Thessalonica, had spun out the time, leaving him time for repentance, which actually took place; but Nicias, less provident, threw into the sea what money he found at Pella. He seems, however, to have fallen into a mistake which was not without remedy, inasmuch as the greatest part of that treasure was brought up again by divers. Nevertheless, such shame did the king feel for his terror on the occasion, that he caused the divers to be privately put to death, together with Andronicus and Nicias, that there might be no living witnesses of so preposterous an order. In the mean time, Caius Marcius, with the fleet, sailed from Heracleum to Thessalonica. Landing his men, he made wide depredations on the country; and when the troops from the city came out against him, he defeated them in several actions, and drove them back in dismay within their walls. He even alarmed the city itself; but the townsmen, erecting engines of every kind, wounded, with stones thrown from them, not only such as straggled carelessly near the walls, but even those who were on board the ships. He therefore re-embarked his troops; and giving up the design of besieging Thessalonica, proceeded thence to Ænia, fifteen miles distant, situated opposite to Pydna, in a fertile country. After ravaging the lands in that quarter, he coasted along the shore until he arrived at Antigonea. Here his troops landed, and for some time carried their depredations through all the country round, putting a great deal of booty on board the ships; but afterwards a party of Macedonians, consisting of foot and horse intermixed, fell upon them as they straggled, and, pursuing them as they fled to the shore, killed near five hundred, and took as many prisoners. Extreme necessity, on finding themselves hindered from safely regaining their vessels, roused the courage of the Roman soldiers, at once with despair of any other means of safety, (than by resistance,) and also with indignation. They renewed the fight on the shore, and those who were on board assisted them; and here about two hundred Macedonians were killed, and a like number taken. From Antigonea the fleet sailed on to the district of Pallene, where a descent was made for the purpose of plundering. This district belonged to the territory of Cassandrea, and was by far the most plentiful of any at which they had yet touched on the coast. There they were met by king Eumenes, who came from Elea with twenty decked ships; and king Prusias also sent thither five ships of war.

11 By this accession of strength the prætor was encouraged to lay siege to Cassandrea. This city was built by king Cassander, in the pass which connects the territory of Pallene with the rest of Macedonia. It is bounded on one side by the Toronæan, on another by the Macedonian Sea; for it stands on a neck of land which stretches into the ocean, and rises in the part opposite Magnesia to a height equal to that of Mount Athos, forming two unequal promontories, the larger called Posideum, the smaller Canastræum. The besiegers formed their attacks on two different sides; the Roman general, at a place called Clitæ, drew a trench from the Macedonian to the Toronæan Sea, to which he added pointed palisades, to cut off the communication; while on the other side is the Euripus, where Eumenes carried on his attack. The Romans underwent a vast deal of labour in filling up a trench, which Perseus had recently dug in the way; and on the prætor inquiring where the earth that had been taken out of it was thrown, as he saw no heaps of it any where, some arches were shown him that were closed up with it, not of equal thickness with the old wall, but with a single row of brick. On this, he formed the design of opening a way into the city, by breaking through that wall; and he hoped to be able to escape observation, if, by assaulting another part by scalade, and raising a tumult there, he could divert the attention of the besieged to the defence of the place attacked. There were in garrison at Cassandrea, besides the younger inhabitants, who formed no contemptible body, eight hundred Agrians and two thousand Illyrians from Penestia, sent thither by Pleuratus, each being a warlike race. While these were busy in defending the walls, and the Romans using their utmost efforts to scale them, in an instant of time the arches were broken through, and the city laid open; and if those who made this irruption had been armed, they must have immediately become masters of the town. When the soldiers were told that this work was accomplished, they were so elated with joy, that they raised a sudden shout, expecting to force their way in, some in one part, and others in another.

12 At first the enemy was seized with wonder at to what this sudden shout could mean; but when Pytho and Philip, the commanders of the garrison, were told that the city was laid open, they concluded that every advantage resulting from that event would be in favour of whichever party should make the first charge; and, therefore, they sallied out, with a strong body of Agrians and Illyrians, who, while the Romans were coming together and being congregated from various parts that they might march in order into the city, routed them while thus disordered and irregular, and drove them to the trench, into which they tumbled them, in heaps, one over another. About six hundred were killed in this action, and almost every one that was found between the wall and the trench was wounded. The blow meditated by the prætor having thus recoiled on himself, made him slower to form any other attempts; and as Eumenes made little or no progress though he carried on his operations both by land and sea, they concurred in a resolution to strengthen their guards, in order to prevent the introduction of any reinforcement from Macedonia: and, since they had not succeeded by assault, to carry on the siege by regular approaches. While they were making preparations for this, ten barks, belonging to the king, sent from Thessalonica, with a chosen body of Gallic auxiliaries, observing the enemy’s ships lying at anchor in the road, and keeping as close to the shore as possible, amidst the darkness of the night, in a single line, effected their entrance to the city. Intelligence of this new addition of force obliged both the Romans and Eumenes to raise the siege. They then sailed round the promontory, and brought the fleet into the harbour of Torone. This town also they attempted to besiege; but, perceiving that it was defended, by a strong garrison, they dropped the design, and proceeded to Demetrias. When they approached this place, they saw the walls fully manned with armed troops; they therefore sailed on, and brought the fleet into harbour at Iolcos, intending, after ravaging the country there, to proceed to the siege of Demetrias.