§16.18.1ὃ δὲ λέγειν βούλομαι, γένοιτʼ ἂν οὕτω μάλιστα καταφανές.
What I wish to say would become most manifest in the following way.
§16.18.2ἐξηγούμενος γὰρ ὁ προειρημένος συγγραφεὺς τήν τε Γάζης πολιορκίαν καὶ τὴν γενομένην παράταξιν Ἀντιόχου πρὸς Σκόπαν ἐν Κοίλῃ Συρίᾳ περὶ τὸ Πάνιον, περὶ μὲν τὴν τῆς λέξεως κατασκευὴν δῆλός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐσπουδακὼς ὡς ὑπερβολὴν τερατείας μὴ καταλιπεῖν τοῖς τὰς ἐπιδεικτικὰς καὶ πρὸς ἔκπληξιν τῶν πολλῶν συντάξεις ποιουμένοις, §16.18.3τῶν γε μὴν πραγμάτων ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὠλιγώρηκεν ὥστε πάλιν ἀνυπέρβλητον εἶναι τὴν εὐχέρειαν καὶ τὴν ἀπειρίαν τοῦ συγγραφέως.
For the aforementioned writer, in explaining the siege of Gaza and the battle that took place between Antiochus and Scopas in Coele-Syria near Panium, is so clearly earnest about the rhetorical embellishment of his style that he leaves no room for surpassing in sensationalism even those who produce showy works and compositions designed to astonish the multitude, but on the other hand, he has so neglected the facts that, conversely, the carelessness and lack of experience of the writer are unsurpassable.
§16.18.4προθέμενος γὰρ πρώτην διασαφεῖν τὴν τῶν περὶ τὸν Σκόπαν ἔκταξιν, τῷ μὲν δεξιῷ κέρατί φησι τῆς ὑπωρείας ἔχεσθαι τὴν φάλαγγα μετʼ ὀλίγων ἱππέων, τὸ δʼ εὐώνυμον αὐτῆς καὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς πάντας τοὺς ἐπὶ τούτου τεταγμένους ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις κεῖσθαι.
For having proposed first to make clear the disposition of those under Scopas, he says that on the right wing the phalanx, with a few horsemen, held to the foot of the hills, but its left wing and all the cavalry stationed on this wing lay in the plains.
§16.18.5τὸν δʼ Ἀντίοχον ἐπὶ μὲν τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἐκπέμψαι φησὶ τὸν πρεσβύτερον υἱὸν Ἀντίοχον ἔχοντα μέρος τι τῆς δυνάμεως, ἵνα προκαταλάβηται τῆς ὀρεινῆς τοὺς ὑπερκειμένους τῶν πολεμίων τόπους, §16.18.6τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν δύναμιν ἅμα τῷ φωτὶ διαβιβάσαντα τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν μεταξὺ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις ἐκτάττειν, τιθέντα τοὺς μὲν φαλαγγίτας ἐπὶ μίαν εὐθεῖαν κατὰ μέσην τὴν τῶν πολεμίων τάξιν, τῶν δʼ ἱππέων τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ λαιὸν κέρας τῆς φάλαγγος, τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ δεξιόν, ἐν οἷς εἶναι καὶ τὴν κατάφρακτον ἵππον, ἧς ἡγεῖτο πάσης ὁ νεώτερος Ἀντίοχος τῶν υἱῶν.
And he says that Antiochus sent out before dawn his elder son Antiochus with a certain part of the force, in order to preoccupy the places of the mountainous region that lay above the enemy, and that having made the rest of the force cross at daybreak the river between the camps, he drew them up in the plains, placing the phalangites in a single straight line against the center of the enemy's formation, and of the cavalry, some on the left wing of the phalanx and some on the right, among whom was also the cataphract cavalry, of all of which the younger of his sons, Antiochus, was in command.
§16.18.7μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά φησι τὰ θηρία προτάξαι τῆς φάλαγγος ἐν διαστήματι καὶ τοὺς μετʼ Ἀντιπάτρου Ταραντίνους, τὰ δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν θηρίων πληρῶσαι τοῖς τοξόταις καὶ σφενδονήταις, αὐτὸν δὲ μετὰ τῆς ἑταιρικῆς ἵππου καὶ τῶν ὑπασπιστῶν κατόπιν ἐπιστῆναι τοῖς θηρίοις.
After these things, he says that he stationed the beasts in front of the phalanx at intervals, as well as the Tarentines under Antipater, and filled the spaces between the beasts with the archers and slingers, and that he himself, with the companion cavalry and the hypaspists, took his stand behind the beasts.
§16.18.8ταῦτα δʼ ὑποθέμενος, τὸν μὲν νεώτερον Ἀντίοχόν φησιν, ὃν ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις ἔθηκε κατὰ τὸ λαιὸν τῶν πολεμίων ἔχοντα τὴν κατάφρακτον ἵππον, τοῦτον ἐκ τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἐπενεχθέντα τρέψασθαι τοὺς ἱππέας τοὺς περὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον τὸν Ἀερόπου καὶ καταδιώκειν, ὃς ἐτύγχανε τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς ἐπιτεταγμένος ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις ἐπὶ τῶν εὐωνύμων, §16.18.9τὰς δὲ φάλαγγας, ἐπεὶ συνέβαλλον ἀλλήλαις, μάχην ποιεῖν ἰσχυράν.
But having made these assumptions, he says that the younger Antiochus, whom he had placed in the plains with the cataphract cavalry opposite the left of the enemy, charging from the mountainous region, routed and pursued the horsemen under Ptolemy, the son of Aeropus, who happened to have been appointed to command the Aetolians in the plains on the left; and that the phalanxes, when they clashed with each other, fought a fierce battle.
§16.18.10ὅτι δὲ συμβαλεῖν ἀδύνατον ἦν τῶν θηρίων καὶ τῶν ἱππέων καὶ τῶν εὐζώνων προτεταγμένων, τοῦτʼ οὐκέτι συνορᾷ.
But that it was impossible for them to clash when the beasts, the cavalry, and the light-armed troops were stationed in front, this he no longer perceives.