History of Rome, Vol III by Titus Livius

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11. Antiochus went from Demetrias to Chalcis, where he became
captivated with a young woman, daughter of Cleoptolemus. When he
had plied her father, who was unwilling to connect himself with
a condition in life involving such serious consequences, first by
messages, and afterwards by personal importunities, and had at length
gained his consent; he celebrated his nuptials in the same manner
as if it were a time of profound peace. Forgetting the two important
undertakings in which he was at once engaged,--the war with Rome, and
the liberating of Greece,--he banished every thought of business
from his mind, and spent the remainder of winter in feasting and the
pleasures connected with wine; and then in sleep, produced rather
by fatigue than by satiety with these things. The same spirit of
dissipation seized all his officers who commanded in the several
winter quarters, particularly those stationed in Boeotia, and even the
common men abandoned themselves to the same indulgences; not one of
whom ever put on his armour, or kept watch or guard, or did any
part of the duty or business of a soldier. When, therefore, in the
beginning of spring, the king came through Phocis to Chaeronea, where
he had appointed the general assembly of all the troops, he perceived
at once that the soldiers had spent the winter under discipline no
more rigid than that of their commander. He ordered Alexander, an
Acarnanian and Menippus, a Macedonian, to lead his forces thence
to Stratum, in Aetolia; and he himself, after offering sacrifice to
Apollo at Delphi, proceeded to Naupactum. After holding a council of
the chiefs of Aetolia, he went by the road which leads by Chalcis and
Lysimachia to Stratum, to meet his army, which was coming along
the Malian bay. Here Mnasilochus, a man of distinction among the
Acarnanians, being bribed by many presents, not only laboured himself
to dispose that nation in favour of the king, but had brought to a
concurrence in the design their praetor, Clytus, who was at that time
invested with the highest authority. This latter, finding that the
people of Leucas, the capital of Acarnania, could not be easily
seduced to defection, because they were afraid of the Roman fleets,
one under Atilius, and another at Cephallenia, practised an artifice
against them. He observed in the council, that the inland parts of
Acarnania should be guarded from danger, and that all who were able
to bear arms ought to march out to Medio and Thurium, to prevent those
places from being seized by Antiochus, or the Aetolians; on which
there were some who said, that there were no necessity for all the
people to be called out in that hasty manner, for a body of five
hundred men would be sufficient for the purpose. Having got this
number of soldiers at his disposal, he placed three hundred in
garrison at Medio, and two hundred at Thurium, with the design that
they should fall into the hands of the king, and serve hereafter as
hostages.

12. At this time, ambassadors from the king came to Medio, whose
proposal being heard, the assembly began to consider what answer
should be returned to the king; when some advised to adhere to the
alliance with Rome, and others, not to reject the friendship of the
king; but Clitus offered an opinion, which seemed to take a middle
course between the other two, and which was therefore adopted. It
was, that ambassadors should be sent to the king, to request of him
to allow the people of Medio to deliberate on a subject of such great
importance in a general assembly of the Acarnanians. Mnasilochus, and
some others of his faction, were studiously included in this embassy;
who, sending private messengers to desire the king to bring up his
army, wasted time on purpose; so that the ambassadors had scarcely set
out, when Antiochus appeared in the territory, and presently at the
gates of the city; and, while those who were not concerned in the plot
were all in hurry and confusion, and hastily called the young men to
arms, he was conducted into the place by Clitus and Mnasilochus. One
party of the citizens now joined him through inclination, and those
who were of different sentiments were compelled by fear to attend him.
He then calmed their apprehensions by a discourse full of mildness;
and in the hope of experiencing his clemency, which was reported
abroad, several of the states of Acarnania went over to his side. From
Medio he went to Thurium, whither he had sent on before him the same
Mnasilochus, and his colleagues in the embassy. But the detection of
the treachery practised at Medio rendered the Thurians more cautious,
but not more timid. They answered him explicitly, that they would form
no new alliance without the approbation of the Romans: they then shut
their gates, and posted soldiers on the walls. Most seasonably for
confirming the resolution of the Acarnanians, Cneius Octavius, being
sent by Quinctius, and having received a party of men and a few ships
from Aulus Postumius, whom Atilius had appointed his lieutenant to
command at Cephallenia, arrived at Leucas, and filled the allies
with hope; assuring them, that the consul Manius Acilius had already
crossed the sea with his legions, and that the Roman camp was in
Thessaly. As the season of the year, which was by this time favourable
for sailing, strengthened the credibility of this report, the king,
after placing a garrison in Medio and borne other towns of Acarnania,
retired from Thurium and returned through the cities of Aetolia and
Phocis to Chalcis.

13. About the same time, Marcus Baebius and king Philip, after the
meeting which they had in the winter in Dassaretia, when they sent
Appius Claudius into Thessaly to raise the siege of Larissa, had
returned to winter quarters, the season not being sufficiently
advanced for entering on action; but now in the beginning of spring,
they united their forces, and marched into Thessaly. Antiochus was
then in Acarnania. As soon as they entered that country, Philip laid
siege to Mallaea, in the territory of Perrhaebia, and Baebius, to
Phacium. This town of Phacium he took almost at the first attempt, and
then reduced Phaestus with the same rapidity. After this, he retired
to Atrax; and from thence having seized on Cyretiae and Eritium, and
placed garrisons in the places which he had reduced, he again joined
Philip, who was carrying on the siege of Mallaea. On the arrival of
the Roman army, the garrison, either awed by its strength, or hoping
for pardon, surrendered themselves, and the combined forces marched,
in one body, to recover the towns which had been seized by the
Athamanians. These were Aeginium, Ericinum, Gomphi, Silana, Tricca,
Meliboea, and Phaloria. Then they invested Pellinaeum, where Philip of
Megalopolis was in garrison, with five hundred foot and forty horse;
but before they made an assault, they sent messengers to warn Philip
not to expose himself to the last extremities; to which he answered,
with much confidence, that he could intrust himself either to the
Romans or the Thessalians, but never would put himself in the power of
the Macedonian. When it appeared that recourse must be had to force,
and that Limnaea might be attacked at the same time; it was agreed,
that the king should go against Limnaea, while Baebius staid to carry
on the siege of Pellinaeum.

14. It happened that, just at this time, the consul, Manius Acilius,
having crossed the sea with twenty thousand foot, two thousand horse,
and fifteen elephants, ordered some military tribunes, chosen for
the purpose, to lead the infantry to Larissa, and he himself with
the cavalry came to Limnaea, to Philip. Immediately on the consul's
arrival a surrender was made without hesitation, and the king's
garrison, together with the Athamanians, were delivered up.
From Limnaea the consul went to Pellinaeum. Here the Athamanians
surrendered first, and afterwards Philip of Megalopolis. King Philip,
happening to meet the latter as he was coming out from the town,
ordered his attendants, in derision, to salute him with the title
of king; and he himself, coming up to him, with a sneer, highly
unbecoming his own exalted station, addressed him as Brother.
Having been brought before the consul he was ordered to be kept in
confinement, and soon after was sent to Rome in chains. All the rest
of the Athamanians, together with the soldiers of king Antiochus, who
had been in garrison in the towns which surrendered about that time,
were delivered over to Philip. They amounted to three thousand men.
The consul went thence to Larissa, in order to hold a consultation on
the general plan of operations; and on his way was met by ambassadors
from Pieria and Metropolis, with the surrender of those cities.
Philip treated the captured, particularly the Athamanians, with
great kindness, in order that through them he might conciliate their
countrymen; and having hence conceived hopes of getting Athamania
into his possession, he first sent forward the prisoners to their
respective states, and then marched his army thither. These also,
making mention of the king's clemency and generosity towards them,
exerted a powerful influence on the minds of their fellow-countrymen;
and Amynander, who, by his presence, had retained many in obedience,
through the respect paid to his dignity, began now to dread that
he might be delivered up to Philip, who had been long his professed
enemy, or to the Romans, who were justly incensed against him for his
late defection. He, therefore, with his wife and children, quitted the
kingdom, and retired to Ambracia. Thus all Athamania came under the
authority and dominion of Philip. The consul delayed a few days at
Larissa, for the purpose chiefly of refreshing the horses, which, by
the voyage first, and marching afterwards, had been much harassed and
fatigued; and when he had renewed the vigour of his army by a moderate
share of rest, he marched to Cranon. On his way, Pharsalus, Scotussa,
and Pherae were surrendered to him, together with the garrisons placed
in them by Antiochus. He asked these men whether any of them chose to
remain with him; and one thousand having declared themselves willing,
he gave them to Philip; the rest he sent back, unarmed, to Demetrias.
After this he took Proerna, and the forts adjacent; and then began to
march forwards toward the Malian bay. When he drew near to the pass
on which Thaumaci is situated, all the young men of that place, having
taken arms and quitted the town, placed themselves in ambush in the
woods and roads, and thence, from the higher grounds, made attacks on
the Roman troops as they marched. The consul first sent people to
talk with them from a short distance, and deter them from such a mad
proceeding; but, finding that they persisted in their undertaking, he
sent round a tribune, with two companies of soldiers, to cut off the
retreat of the men in arms, and took possession of the defenceless
city. The shouting on the capture of the city having been heard from
behind, a great slaughter was made of those who had been in ambuscade,
and who fled homewards from all parts of the woods. From Thaumaci the
consul came, on the second day, to the river Spercheus; and, sending
out parties, laid waste the country of the Hypataeans.

15. During these transactions, Antiochus was at Chalcis; and now,
perceiving that he had gained nothing from Greece agreeable, except
winter quarters and a disgraceful marriage at Chalcis, he warmly
blamed Thoas, and the fallacious promises of the Aetolians; while he
admired Hannibal, not only as a prudent man, but as the predicter of
all those events which were then transpiring. However, that he might
not still further defeat his inconsiderate enterprise by his own
inactivity, he sent requisitions to the Aetolians, to arm all
their young men, and assemble in a body at Lamia. He himself also
immediately led thither about ten thousand foot (the number having
been filled up out of the troops which had come after him from Asia)
and five hundred horse. Their assembly on this occasion was far less
numerous than ever before, none attending but the chiefs with a few
of their vassals. These affirmed that they had, with the utmost
diligence, tried every method to bring into the field as great a
number as possible out of their respective states, but that they had
not prevailed either by argument, persuasion, or authority, against
those who declined the service. Being disappointed thus on all sides,
both by his own people, who delayed in Asia, and by his allies, who
did not fulfil those engagements by which they had prevailed on him
to comply with their invitation, the king retired beyond the pass
of Thermopylae. A range of mountains here divides Greece in the same
manner as Italy is divided by the ridge of the Apennines. Outside
the strait of Thermopylae, towards the north, lie Epirus, Perrhaebia,
Magnesia, Thessaly, the Achaean Phthiotis, and the Malian bay; on the
inside, towards the south, the greater part of Aetolia, Acarnania,
Phocis, Locris, Boeotia, and the adjacent island of Euboea, the
territory of Attica, which stretches out like a promontory into the
sea, and, behind that, the Peloponnesus. This range of mountains,
which extends from Leucas and the sea on the west, through Aetolia to
the opposite sea on the east, is so closely covered with thickets
and craggy rocks, that, not to speak of an army, even persons lightly
equipped for travelling can with difficulty find paths through which
they can pass. The hills at the eastern extremity are called Oeta, and
the highest of them Callidromus; in a valley, at the foot of which,
reaching to the Malian bay, is a passage not broader than sixty paces.
This is the only military road by which an army can be led, even if it
should not be opposed. The place is therefore called Pylae, the gate;
and by some, on account of a warm spring, rising just at the entrance
of it, Thermopylae. It is rendered famous by the memorable battle
of the Lacedaemonians against the Persians, and by their still more
glorious death.

16. With a very inferior portion of spirit, Antiochus now pitched his
camp within the enclosures of this pass, the difficulties of which
he increased by raising fortifications; and when he had completely
strengthened every part with a double rampart and trench, and,
wherever it seemed requisite, with a wall formed of the stones which
lay scattered about in abundance, being very confident that the Roman
army would never attempt to force a passage there, he sent away one
half of the four thousand Aetolians, the number that had joined him,
to garrison Heraclea, which stood opposite the entrance of the defile,
and the other half to Hypata; for he concluded, that the consul would
undoubtedly attack Heraclea, and he received accounts from many hands,
that all the districts round Hypata were being laid waste. The consul,
after ravaging the lands of Hypata first, and then those of Heraclea,
in both which places the Aetolian detachments proved useless, encamped
opposite to the king, in the very entrance of the pass, near the
warm springs; both parties of the Aetolians shutting themselves up in
Heraclea. Antiochus, who, before he saw the enemy, thought every
spot perfectly well fortified, and secured by guards, now began to
apprehend, that the Romans might discover some paths among the hills
above, through which they could make their way; for he had heard that
the Lacedaemonians formerly had been surrounded in that manner by the
Persians, and Philip, lately, by the Romans themselves. He therefore
despatched a messenger to the Aetolians at Heraclea, desiring them to
afford him so much assistance, at least in the war, as to seize and
secure the tops of the hills, so that the Romans might not be able to
pass them at any part. When this message was received, a dissension
arose among the Aetolians: some insisted that they ought to obey
the king's orders, and go; others, that they ought to lie still at
Heraclea, and wait the issue, whatever it might be; for if the king
should be defeated by the consul, their forces would be fresh, and in
readiness to carry succour to their own states in the neighbourhood;
and if he were victorious, they could pursue the Romans, while
scattered in their flight. Each party not only adhered positively to
its own plan, but even carried it into execution; two thousand lay
still at Heraclea; and two thousand, divided into three parties, took
possession of the summits called Callidromus, Rhoduntia, and Tichiuns.

17. When the consul saw that the heights were possessed by the
Aetolians, he sent against those posts two men of consular rank, who
acted as lieutenant-generals, with two thousand chosen troops;--Lucius
Valerius Flaccus against Rhoduntia and Tichiuns, and Marcus Porcius
Cato against Callidromus. Then, before he led on his forces against
the enemy, he called them to an assembly, and thus briefly addressed
them: "Soldiers, I see that the greater part of you who were present,
of all ranks, are men who served in this same province, under the
conduct and auspices of Titus Quinctius. Now, in the Macedonian war,
the pass at the river Aous was much more difficult than this before
us. For this is only a gate, a single passage, formed as it were by
nature; every other in the whole tract, between the two seas, being
impassable. In the former case, there were stronger fortifications,
and placed in more advantageous situations. The enemy's army was
both more numerous, and composed of very superior men; for they were
Macedonians, Thracians, and Illyrians,--all nations of the fiercest
spirit; your present opponents are Syrians, and Asiatic Greeks, the
most unsteady of men, and born for slavery. The commander, there, was
a king of extraordinary warlike abilities, improved by practice from
his early youth, in wars against his neighbours, the Thracians and
Illyrians, and all the adjoining nations. But this man is one who
(to say nothing of his former life) after coming over from Asia into
Europe to make war on the Roman people, has, during the whole length
of the winter, accomplished no more memorable exploit, than the taking
a wife, for passion's sake, out of a private house, and a family
obscure even among its neighbours; and now as a newly married man,
surfeited as it were with nuptial feasts, comes out to fight. His
chief reliance and strength was in the Aetolians,--a nation of
all others the most faithless and ungrateful, as you have formerly
experienced, and as Antiochus now experiences; for they neither joined
him with numbers, nor could they be kept in the camp; and, besides,
they are now in a state of dissension among themselves. Although they
requested permission to defend Hypata and Heraclea, yet they defended
neither; but one half of them fled to the tops of the mountains, while
the others shut themselves up in Heraclea. The king himself, plainly
confessing that, so far from daring to meet us in battle on the level
plain, he durst not even encamp in open ground, has abandoned all that
tract in front, which he boasted of having taken from us and Philip,
and has hid himself behind the rocks; not even appearing in the
opening of the pass, as it is said the Lacedaemonians did formerly,
but drawing back his camp completely within it. What difference is
there, as a demonstration of fear, between this and his shutting
himself up within the walls of a city to stand a siege? But neither
shall the straits protect Antiochus, nor the hills which they have
seized, the Aetolians. Sufficient care and precaution have been used
on every quarter, that you shall have nothing to contend with in the
fight but the enemy himself. On your parts, you have to consider, that
you are not fighting merely for the liberty of Greece; although, were
that all, it would be an achievement highly meritorious to deliver
that country now from Antiochus and the Aetolians, which you formerly
delivered from Philip; and that the wealth in the king's camp will not
be the whole prize of your labour; but that the great collection of
stores, daily expected from Ephesus, will likewise become your prey;
and also, that you will open a way for the Roman power into Asia and
Syria, and all the most opulent realms to the extremity of the East.
What then must be the consequence, but that, from Gades to the Red
Sea, we shall have no limit but the ocean, which encircles in its
embrace the whole orb of the earth; and that all mankind shall regard
the Roman name with a degree of veneration next to that which they
pay to the divinities? For the attainment of prizes of such magnitude,
prepare a spirit adequate to the occasion, that, to-morrow, with the
aid of the gods, we may decide the matter in the field."

18. After this discourse he dismissed the soldiers, who, before they
went to their repast, got ready their armour and weapons. At the first
dawn, the signal of battle being displayed, the consul formed his
troops with a narrow front, adapted to the nature and the straitness
of the ground. When the king saw the enemy's standards in motion,
he likewise drew out his forces. He placed in the van, before the
rampart, a part of his light infantry; and behind them, as a support,
close to the fortifications, the main strength of his Macedonians,
whom they call Sarissophori. On the left wing of these, at the foot
of the mountain, he posted a body of javelin-bearers, archers, and
slingers; that from the higher ground they might annoy the naked flank
of the enemy: and on the right of the Macedonians, to the extremity of
the works, where the deep morasses and quicksands, stretching thence
to the sea, render the place impassable, the elephants with their
usual guard; in the rear of them, the cavalry; and then, with a
moderate interval between, the rest of his forces as a second line.
The Macedonians, posted before the rampart, for some time easily
withstood the efforts which the Romans made every where to force a
passage; for they received great assistance from those who poured down
from the higher ground a shower of leaden balls from their slings,
and of arrows, and javelins, all together. But afterwards, the enemy
pressing on with greater and now irresistible force, they were obliged
to give ground, and, filing off from the rear, retire within the
fortification. Here, by extending their spears before them, they
formed as it were a second rampart, for the rampart itself was of such
a moderate height that, while it afforded to its defenders a higher
situation, they at the same time, by the length of their spears, had
the enemy within reach underneath. Many, inconsiderately approaching
the work, were run through the body; and they must either have
abandoned the attempt and retreated, or have lost very great numbers,
had not Marcus Porcius come from the summit of Callidromus, whence he
had dislodged the Aetolians, after killing the greater part of them.
These he had surprised, quite unprepared, and mostly asleep, and now
he appeared on the hill which overlooked the camp.

19. Flaccus had not met the same good fortune at Tichiuns and
Rhoduntia; having failed in his attempts to approach those fastnesses.
The Macedonians, and others, in the king's camp, as long as, on
account of the distance, they could distinguish nothing more than a
body of men in motion, thought they were the Aetolians, who, on seeing
the fight, were coming to their aid. But when, on a nearer view, they
knew the standards and arms, and thence discovered their mistake,
they were all instantly seized with such a panic, that they threw down
their arms and fled. Both the fortifications retarded the pursuers,
and the narrowness of the valley through which the troops had to pass;
and, above all, the circumstance that the elephants were on the rear
of the enemy. These the infantry could with difficulty pass, and the
cavalry could by no means do so, their horses being so frightened,
that they threw one another into greater confusion than when in
battle. The plundering of the camp also caused a considerable delay.
But, notwithstanding all this, the Romans pursued the enemy that day
as far as Scarphea, killing and taking on the way great numbers both
of men and horses, and also killing such of the elephants as they
could not capture; and then they returned to their camp. This had been
attacked, during the time of the action, by the Aetolians who were
occupying Heraclea as a garrison, but the enterprise, which certainly
showed no want of boldness, was not attended with any success. The
consul, at the third watch of the following night, sent forward his
cavalry in pursuit of the enemy; and, as soon as day appeared, set out
at the head of the legions. The king had got far before him, as he
did not halt in his precipitate flight until he came to Elatia. There
having collected the survivors of the battle and the retreat, he, with
a very small body of half-armed men, betook himself to Chalcis. The
Roman cavalry did not overtake the king himself at Elatia; but they
cut off a great part of his soldiers, who either halted through
weariness, or wandered out of the way through mistake, as they fled
without guides through unknown roads; so that, out of the whole army,
not one escaped except five hundred, who kept close about the king;
and even of the ten thousand men, whom, on the authority of Polybius,
we have mentioned as brought over by the king from Asia, a very
trifling number got off. But what shall we say if we are to believe
Valerius Antias, who records that there were in the king's army sixty
thousand men, of whom forty thousand fell, and above five thousand
were taken, with two hundred and thirty military standards? Of the
Romans were slain in the action itself a hundred and fifty; and of the
party that defended themselves against the assault of the Aetolians,
not more than fifty.