Livy

“ Here the commissioners discussed for days the measures for securing the freedom of Greece. Again and again Quinctius urged that the whole of Greece must be declared free if they wanted to stop the tongues of the Achaeans and inspire all with a true affection for Rome and an appreciation of her greatness - if, in fact, they desired to convince the Greeks that they had crossed the seas with the sole purpose of winning their freedom and not of transferring Philip's dominion over them to themselves. ”

“ Even the Aetolians, a nation naturally restless and now intensely embittered against the Romans, would no longer remain quiet. And there was another most formidable mischief with its roots in the very vitals of Greece - Nabis, who was for the time being tyrant of Lacedaemon, but who if he were allowed would soon become tyrant of the whole of Greece, a man who in greed and brutality rivalled the most notorious tyrants in history. ”

“ It was provided by treaty from the very first that the spoils of war, including all movable goods and all livestock and prisoners, should go to the Romans; the conquered cities and territories to the Aetolians. "You yourselves," replied Quinctius, "broke that treaty when you left us and made peace with Philip. If it were still in force, it would only apply to the cities which have been captured; the cities of Thessaly have passed into our power of their own free will." ”

“ One of the military tribunes, seeing the position, suddenly made up his mind what to do, and leaving that part of his line which was undoubtedly winning, wheeled round with twenty maniples and attacked the enemy's right from behind. No army when attacked in the rear can fail to be shaken, but the inevitable confusion was increased by the inability of the Macedonian phalanx, a heavy and immobile formation, to face round on a new front. ”

“ But so thick a fog had blotted out the daylight that the standard-bearers could not see their way, nor could the men see their standards. Misled by the confused shouts, the column was thrown into as great disorder as if it had lost its way in a night march. When they had surmounted the range of hills called Cynoscephalae, where they left a strong force of infantry and cavalry in occupation, they formed their camp. The Roman general was still in camp at Thetideum ”

“ Antiochus was openly and unequivocally warned to evacuate all the cities in Asia which had belonged to either Philip or Ptolemy, to leave the free States alone, and never to make aggressions on them, as all the cities through the length and breadth of Greece must continue to enjoy peace and liberty. He was especially warned not to lead his forces into Europe or go there himself. On the dismissal of the king's ambassadors a convention of those from the different cities and States was held and the proceedings were expedited by the reading out of the names in the decree of the ten commissioners. ”

“ The armies marched the whole day without once getting sight of each other owing to a continuous range of hills which lay between them. The Romans encamped at Eretria in Phthiotis, Philip fixed his camp by the river Onchestus. The next day Philip encamped at Melambium in the territory of Scotusa and Quinctius at Thetideum in the neighbourhood of Pharsalia, but not even then did either side know for certain where their enemy was. The third day heavy clouds came up, followed by a darkness as black as night which kept the Romans in their camp for fear of a surprise attack. ”

“ The other troops had hardly had time to collect and form, and did not withstand the first charge, but the Macedonians, who formed the bulk of the fighting line, made the victory for a long time doubtful. At length, with their flank exposed by the flight of the rest of the army and subjected to two separate attacks from the light infantry on their flank and the hoplites and heavy armed on their front, they began to give ground, and, as the pressure increased, turned and fled. The greater number flung away their arms and, abandoning all hope of holding their camp, made for Corinth. ”

“ With regard to the freedom of Cios, Quinctius undertook to communicate the decision of the senate and the commissioners to Prusias, King of Bithynia. The king was also to restore all prisoners and deserters to the Romans, and all his decked ships, save five, were to be surrendered, but he could retain his royal galley, which was all but unmanageable owing to its size and was propelled by sixteen banks of oars. His army was never to exceed 5000 men and he was not allowed to have a single elephant, nor was he permitted to make war beyond his frontiers without the express sanction of the senate. ”

“ After the council broke up Quinctius only stayed in Thebes as long as Attalus' sudden attack made it necessary, and as soon as he saw that there was no immediate danger to life but only powerlessness in the limbs, he left him to undergo the necessary treatment and returned to Elatia. The Boeotians, like the Achaeans before them, were thus admitted as allies, and as he was leaving everything behind in peaceful security, he was able to devote all his thoughts to Philip and the means of bringing the war to a close. ”

“ A much more pressing question was what Hannibal and Carthage were likely to do in case of war with Antiochus. The members of the party opposed to Hannibal were constantly writing to their friends in Rome. According to their account, messengers and letters were being sent by Hannibal to Antiochus and emissaries from the king were holding secret conferences with him. Just as there were wild beasts which no skill could tame, so this man was untamable and implacable. ”

“ It was, however, perfectly clear to them and to all the world that they would enjoy their liberty as the free gift of the king and not because they had seized a favourable opportunity of winning it. They told the envoys in reply that Antiochus must be neither surprised nor angry if they did not patiently resign themselves to the indefinite postponement of their hopes of liberty. ”

“ No sooner, therefore, did he hear of the Dardanian invasion than he hurriedly levied troops in all the cities of his kingdom and with a force of 6000 infantry and 500 cavalry he came upon the enemy unexpectedly near Stobi in Paeonia. A great many men fell in the battle, a greater number amongst the fields, where they were dispersed in the hope of plunder. Where there was no obstacle to flight they were in no mood to risk the chance of a battle, and so they retired within their own borders. ”

“ The consuls were ordered to furnish the two praetors who were to proceed to Spain with one legion each from the four new legions they were raising and also 4000 allied infantry and 300 cavalry. These two praetors were ordered to proceed to their provinces at the earliest possible moment. The Spanish war, which was practically a fresh war, because the natives had resorted to arms on their own account without any Carthaginian army or general to support them, broke out five years after the former war had been brought to a close simultaneously with the Punic War. ”

“ As soon as their alarm at the unexpected sight subsided they sent messages to their generals in camp and did not hesitate any longer to engage. The action was begun by the advanced patrols, and then as the supports came up the fighting became general. The Romans were by no means a match for their opponents, and they sent message after message to their general to inform him that they were being overpowered. A reinforcement of 500 cavalry and 2000 infantry, mostly Aetolians, under two military tribunes, was hastily despatched and restored the battle, which was going against the Romans. ”

“ Some were caught in the high roads by men who lay in wait for them, others were led on false pretences to lonely inns and then seized and murdered. These crimes were committed from greed quite as much as from hatred, because the men carried silver in their belts for making purchases. As more and more men were amongst the missing every day, the whole of Boeotia acquired an evil reputation, and the men were more afraid to go outside their camp than if they had been in an enemy's country. On this, Quinctius sent officers to the different cities to investigate the murders. ”

“ On the former occasion, when they failed to maintain their hold on the pass leading into Epirus, he pointed out that the fault lay, first, with those who had been careless in their outpost duties and then in the behaviour of the light infantry and the mercenaries in the actual battle. But the Macedonian phalanx stood its ground, and on favourable ground and in a fair field would always remain unbeaten. The phalanx consisted of 16,000 men, the flower of the military strength of his dominions. ”

“ Philip! Do you at last restore to us Larisa, Cremaste, Echinus and Phthiotic Thebes?" On Philip replying that he placed no difficulty in the way of their resuming possession of these places, a dispute arose between Quinctius and the Aetolians over Thebes. Quinctius asserted that it belonged to Rome by the right of war, for before the war broke out he marched there and invited the citizens to enter into friendly relations with him, and whilst they were at full liberty to abandon Philip they preferred his allegiance to that of the Romans. ”

“ They did not, however, abandon the other object, the defence of the liberties of the States in alliance with Ptolemy which Antiochus was now threatening. To some they gave active assistance, others they forewarned of the movements of the enemy; it was thus that Caunos, Myndus, Halicarnassus and Samos owed their liberty to Rhodes. It is not worth while to go in detail into the events which happened in this part of the world, seeing that it is almost beyond my powers to deal with those especially connected with the war with Rome. ”

“ Philip himself rode off at a hard gallop in the direction of Tempe and drew rein at Gomphi, where he remained for a day to pick up any survivors from the battle. The Romans broke into the hostile camp in hopes of plunder, but they found that it had to a large extent been cleared out by the Aetolians. 8000 of the enemy perished that day; 5000 were made prisoners. Of the victors about 700 fell. If we are to believe Valerius, who is given to boundless exaggeration, 40,000 of the enemy were killed and - here his invention is not so wild - 5700 made prisoners and 249 standards captured. ”

“ Owing to the perpetual wars which had for so many generations drained the manhood of Macedonia there was a serious lack of men of military age, and under Philip's own rule vast numbers had perished in the naval battles against the Rhodians and Attalus and in the campaigns against the Romans. ”

“ The Aetolian Council had been summoned to meet at Heraclea to decide the strength of the contingent which was to follow the Roman general to war, and he waited at Thermopylae for a couple of days to learn the result. When he had been informed of their decision he started, and marching past Xyniae fixed his camp where the frontiers of Acarnania and Thessaly meet. Here he waited for the Aetolian contingent, who came up without any loss of time under the command of Phaeneas. They numbered 600 infantry and 400 cavalry. ”

“ The senate decided that since the war in Spain was spreading to such a serious extent as to require the presence of a consul and a consular army, Hither Spain should be one of the two consular provinces. The consuls were instructed to come to a mutual arrangement or else ballot for that province and Italy. Whichever of them drew Spain was to take with him two legions, 15,000 allied infantry and 800 cavalry and a fleet of 20 ships of war. ”

“ There were in addition 1000 heavy-armed troops, consisting of Boeotians, Thessalians and Acarnanians. A draft from Corinth itself made up the whole force to 6000 men, and Androsthenes felt himself strong enough to give battle. The Achaean captain-general, Nicostratus, was at Sicyon with 2000 infantry and 200 cavalry, but seeing that he was inferior in both the number and the quality of his troops, he did not venture outside the walls. The king's troops overran and ravaged the territories of Pellene, Phlius and Cleonae. ”

“ Accordingly he sent Athenagoras, the commander of the mercenaries, with the whole of the foreign contingent, except the Thracians, and also the Macedonian and Thessalian cavalry. Their appearance resulted in the Romans being dislodged from the hill and compelled to retreat to lower ground. That they were not driven in disorderly flight was mainly owing to the Aetolian cavalry, which at that time was the best in Greece, though in infantry they were inferior to their neighbours. ”

“ The Rhodians were quite ready for battle, and as the camps lay near one another they at once took the field. Dinocrates posted his 500 Macedonians on his right and the Agrianians on his left, and formed his centre from the troops of the various garrisons, mostly Carians, whilst the flanks were covered by the Macedonian horse and the Cretan and Thracian irregulars. The Rhodians had the Achaeans on their right and a picked force of mercenaries on their left ”

“ The property, reputation and life of everyone were in their power. Whoever offended one of the order had an enemy in every member, and when the judges were hostile there was always a prosecutor to be found amongst them. Whilst these men were exercising this unbridled despotism, for they used their power without any regard to the rights of their fellow-citizens, Hannibal, who had been appointed one of the presiding magistrates, ordered the quaestor to be summoned before him. ”