Livy

“ At the outset of the war the Roman people had ascertained on trustworthy evidence that the Rhodians had been forming secret designs in conjunction with Perseus against the Republic, and if there had been any doubt as to this before, the language of the envoys had now reduced it to a certainty. Dishonest dealing, even if at the beginning it has been somewhat cautious, generally betrays itself in the long run. The Rhodians were now acting as arbitrators of peace and war over the whole world; the Romans were to take up and lay down their arms at the beck and nod of Rhodes ”

“ What could we wish for better than, instead of being obliged to attack their camp in its strong position on the bank of a river, fenced with a rampart and numerous towers, we attack them in the rear after they have left their intrenchments and are making their way in a straggling column through open country? ”

“ Perseus reminded them that free commonwealths and monarchs are in the nature of things antagonistic. Rome was attacking them one by one, and what was still worse, kings were using their power against kings. His own father had been crushed by the help of Attalus; the attack on Antiochus had been made with the assistance of Eumenes and, to some extent, of his own father Philip; now Eumenes and Prusias were in arms against himself. If royalty were abolished in Macedonia, Asia would be the next. They had already become masters of some parts of it under the pretext of making the cities free. ”

“ The Romans had two passes through which they might emerge from their present position: one through Tempe into Thessaly, the other past Dium and into Macedonia; and both were held by the king's troops. If, therefore, there had been an intrepid general who could have held out for ten days against what at first sight looked like a steadily advancing danger, there would have been no retreat open to the Romans through Tempe into Thessaly, nor any possibility of carrying supplies through; for the pass of Tempe is a difficult one to traverse, even if it is not occupied by an enemy. ”

“ Had we nothing which we could call our own except the bare ground on which to fight?' Your ancestors looked upon a camp as a safe haven for the army against every mischance, from which they went out to battle, where, after being tossed in the storm of battle, they could find a safe retreat. ”

“ But when they found that they were being killed by the men in the boats, those who could swim back to land met with a more wretched fate, for the elephants, forced by their drivers to the water's edge, trampled on them and crushed them to death as they came out. It is universally admitted that never had so many Macedonians been killed by the Romans in a single battle. As many as 20,000 men perished; 6000 who had fled to Pydna fell into the enemy's hands, and 5000 were made prisoners in their flight. ”

“ They used to stand all day under arms, the cavalry with their horses bridled, and in the days of summer under a cloudless and scorching sun, the men themselves and their horses were so languid and exhausted by the heat after so many hours that often, when attacked by a small body of the enemy who were fresh and unwearied, they were discomfited, though greatly superior in numbers. ”

“ Men were sent with him to receive the money, and at the suggestion of Pantauchus, Parmenio and Morcus were selected to accompany them to Rhodes. Their instructions were not to go to Rhodes till they had received the king's sworn word and the hostages, as at the request of both kings the Rhodians might be induced to declare war against Rome. The adhesion of that nation, whose naval reputation was then at its height, would, it was supposed, leave the Romans no hope of victory either on sea or land. Perseus went from his camp by the Elpeus with all his cavalry, and met the Illyrians at Dium. ”

“ The Romans went into the fight in light equipment; the enemy force, too, consisted of light infantry; these troops are the readiest to commence an action. When the two bodies met they at once discharged their missiles; many wounds were inflicted in their random charges, a few were killed. The following day they engaged in a more exasperated temper and in great strength, and had there been more space in which to deploy their lines a decisive action might have been fought. The summit of the mountain narrows into a wedge-shaped ridge which hardly allows a front to be formed of three men abreast. ”

“ In the night . . . not only the walls . . . but even their fields they felt sure could be protected from ravages. They made sorties and attacked the scattered groups of plunderers, not without wounding many of them. However, the praetor and Eumenes rode round the walls, examining the situation of the city, to see if they could not make an attempt somewhere, either by siege-works or by storm. There was a rumour that negotiations for the establishment of friendly relations between Perseus and Eumenes had been carried on by Cydas of Crete and Antimachus, the governor of Demetrias. ”

“ And yet the Roman commander, more than sixty years old and very stout, was discharging personally all the duties of a soldier with unflagging energy. To the very last he showed the same splendid audacity as he had at the beginning. Leaving Popilius to hold the summit he made preparations to cross the ridge and sent men to clear a way where before there was not even a track. Attalus and Misagenes with their two contingents were told off to protect the pioneers. The cavalry and baggage formed the front part of the column, the consul with his legions followed. ”

“ Its height was such that it commanded a view not only of the enemy's camp, which was not more than a mile distant, but of the whole of the country up to Dium and Phila and the far-extended line of the sea coast. The soldiers' spirits rose when they saw the whole weight of the war, the entire military strength of the king and the hostile country so near them. They pressed the consul to lead them at once against the enemy, but he allowed them one day's rest after the toils of the march. The next day, leaving a detachment to guard the camp, he led them out to battle. ”

“ L. Albinus, an ex-consul, was ordered to lead the second legion against the phalanx of "leucaspides"; these formed the centre of the enemy's line. On the Roman right, where the battle had begun, close to the river, he brought up the elephants and the cohorts of allied troops. It was here that the Macedonians first gave ground. For just as most new devices amongst men seem valuable as far as words go, but when they are put to a practical test and have to be acted upon they fail to produce results, so it was with the elephants ”

“ Tell the king the Gauls will not move a step further unless they receive the gold and the hostages." On this being reported to the king he held a council of war. When it became obvious what the unanimous decision would be, the king began to descant on the perfidy and savagery of the Gauls, vices which many had already experienced to their ruin. It was a dangerous thing to admit so vast a multitude into Macedonia; they might find them more troublesome as allies than the Romans as enemies; 5000 cavalry were quite enough to make use of in the war, and not too many to be dangerous. ”

“ The intelligence brought to him of the league between Perseus and Gentius, and the outrageous treatment of the Roman envoys, decided him to commence hostilities against him. The praetor Anicius, who was at this time in Apollonia, heard what was going on in Illyria, and sent a message to Appius requesting him to wait for him by the Genusus. In three days he arrived at the camp and brought with him in addition to his own force 2000 infantry and 200 cavalry, sent by the Parthini, the infantry under the command of Epicadus, the cavalry under that of Algalus. ”

“ Matters had come to this - if the consul had had an enemy like the old kings of Macedonia he might have incurred a crushing defeat. Whilst, however, Perseus was riding with his cavalry along the coast at Dium and heard twelve miles away the noise and clamour of the fighting, he did not strengthen his line by sending fresh men to replace those who had borne the burden of the combat, nor, what was most important of all, did he himself appear on the field. ”

“ For three years they had been suffering many of the evils of war; the sea had been closed to them, and without supplies by sea their island was in a state of destitution. They could not put up with this state of things any longer, and had therefore sent to Macedonia to inform Perseus that the Rhodians wished him to come to terms with Rome, and they had sent their envoys on a similar mission to Rome. The Rhodians would consider how they would have to act against those who prevented the war from being brought to a close. ”

“ In all public places where people congregate, and actually - would you believe it! - in private parties, there are men who know who are leading the armies into Macedonia, where their camps ought to be placed, what strategical positions ought to be occupied, when and by what pass Macedonia ought to be entered, where the magazines are to be formed, by what mode of land and sea transport supplies are to be conveyed, when actions are to be fought, and when it is better to remain inactive. ”

“ A body of 1000 cavalry came to offer their services, and with them the same number of foot soldiers. These latter used to run alongside the horses and when the trooper fell they seized the riderless horses and rode on them into the battle. These men had agreed to serve for ten gold pieces for each horseman and five for each footman; their leaders were to receive a thousand. Perseus went with half his whole force from his camp at the Elpeus and began to give notice through all the villages and cities adjoining their route that they were to prepare ample supplies of corn, wine and cattle. ”

“ All other matters, he must understand, are under the care of the gods and of his general. In an army where the soldiers take upon them to give advice and the general is swayed by the opinions of the multitude, there is no safety. He, as their commander, would do his duty and be on the watch to give them an opportunity of fighting a successful battle. ”

“ Perseus heard that Meliboea was being attacked by the consul's army and that the fleet was lying off Iolcus, preparatory to an attack on Demetrias. He sent one of his generals, a man called Euphranor, with a picked force of 2000 men to Meliboea. This officer was ordered, in case he cleared the Romans away from Meliboea, to make a secret march to Demetrias and enter the city before the Romans advanced against it from Iolcus. His sudden appearance on the ground above the Roman lines created great alarm amongst the besiegers of Meliboea; their works were abandoned and burnt. ”

“ If by attacking them at various points you compel them to bring round their spears, which owing to their length and weight are cumbersome and unwieldy, they become a confused and involved mass, but if any sudden and tumultuous attack is made on their flank or rear, they go to pieces like a falling house. In this way they were forced to meet the repeated charges of small bodies of Roman troops with their front dislocated in many places, and wherever there were gaps the Romans worked their way amongst their ranks. ”

“ Before the extravagant habit came in of filling the Circus with animals from all parts of the world, it was the practice to devise various forms of amusement, as the chariot and horse races were over within the hour. ”

“ From a distance of fifty feet two fully armed men ran forward and, pretending to threaten one another, went from the lowest to the highest part of the testudo over the closely locked shields; at one moment assuming an attitude of defiance on the very edge, and then rushing at one another in the middle of it just as though they were jumping about on solid ground. ”

“ So that anyone could easily see that on the very first opportunity of coming to close quarters with the enemy they would finish the war by a splendid victory or, in their own case, by a glorious death. Perseus, too, when he saw that after the consul's arrival - it was the beginning of spring as well - all was bustle and movement with the enemy as though for a fresh campaign, and that the camp was shifted from Phila to the bank of the river, and the consul was going on his rounds, at one time to inspect the works and evidently looking out for a place where he could cross the river ”

“ The spurs of Mount Olympus leave only a width of a mile between the mountain and the sea. Half this space is filled by the broad marshes at the mouth of the Baphyrus, the rest of the ground is taken up either by the temple of Jupiter or the town itself. The little bit that is left could be blocked by a small fosse and rampart, and there was such a quantity of stones and growing timber at hand that a wall might have been thrown up and turrets raised. ”

“ First of all Beroea, then Thessalonica and Pella, and almost the whole of Macedonia, city by city, surrendered within two days. The people of Pydna, who were the nearest to the consul, had not yet sent envoys, for their citizens were prevented from coming to any decision in their council by the mixed population drawn from many nationalities and also by the crowd of fugitives from the battle. The gates were not only closed but walled up. Midon and Pantauchus were sent up to the walls to hold a parley with Solon, the commandant of the garrison; by his means the mob of fighting men was sent way. ”

“ The city itself affords plenty of subjects for conversation, let him confine his loquacity to these; he may rest assured that the discussions in our councils of war will satisfy us." After delivering this speech and offering the customary sacrifice on the Alban Mount at the Latin Festival on March 31, the consul left, in company with the praetor, for Macedonia. It is recorded that the consul was escorted by an unusually large crowd of well-wishers, and that people predicted with hopeful confidence the near close of the Macedonian war and the early return and brilliant triumph of the consul. ”

“ C. Marius, the praetor, who had taken over the command of the fleet, was also present. They decided not to waste any more time in Thessaly, but to go forward at once into Macedonia, and the praetor was to make a naval attack on the enemy's coast at the same time. The consul issued orders for the soldiers to take a month's supply of corn. Ten days after taking over the command of the army he broke up the camp, and at the end of the first day's march he called the guides together and told them to explain to the council what route each of them would choose. ”

“ Hearing this he thought that by a sudden night attack delivered in force, when the enemy were not expecting it, they could be dislodged and driven back. Javelins and arrows and other missiles were useless in the dark, when it was impossible to see what to aim at; it was in close hand-to-hand fighting with the sword, in the melee of battle, that the Roman soldier was victorious. He decided to take these men as guides, and sent for Octavius, to whom he explained his plans, and he gave him instructions to sail to Heracleum and have in readiness ten days' rations for 1000 men. ”