§2.69.1ἅμα δὲ τούτοις ὁ περὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς συνετελεῖτο κίνδυνος, ἐκπρεπῆ ποιουμένων τὴν χρείαν τῶν Ἀχαϊκῶν ἱππέων ἁπάντων, μάλιστα δὲ Φιλοποίμενος, διὰ τὸ περὶ τῆς αὐτῶν ἐλευθερίας συνεστάναι τὸν ὅλον ἀγῶνα. §2.69.2καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν τῷ προειρημένῳ συνέβη τὸν μὲν ἵππον πεσεῖν πληγέντα καιρίως, αὐτὸν δὲ πεζομαχοῦντα περιπεσεῖν τραύματι βιαίῳ διʼ ἀμφοῖν τοῖν μηροῖν. §2.69.3οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς κατὰ τὸν Ὄλυμπον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐποιοῦντο διὰ τῶν εὐζώνων καὶ μισθοφόρων τὴν συμπλοκήν, παρʼ ἑκατέροις σχεδὸν ὑπαρχόντων τούτων εἰς πεντακισχιλίους. §2.69.4ὧν ποτὲ μὲν κατὰ μέρη, ποτὲ δʼ ὁλοσχερῶς συμπιπτόντων, διαφέρουσαν συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι τὴν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν χρείαν, ὁμοῦ τῶν τε βασιλέων καὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἐν συνόψει ποιουμένων τὴν μάχην. §2.69.5ἡμιλλῶντο δὲ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ κατʼ ἄνδρα καὶ κατὰ τάγμα ταῖς εὐψυχίαις. §2.69.6ὁ δὲ Κλεομένης ὁρῶν τοὺς μὲν περὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν πεφευγότας, τοὺς δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις ἱππεῖς ὅσον οὔπω κλίνοντας, καταπλαγὴς ὢν μὴ πανταχόθεν προσδέξηται τοὺς πολεμίους, ἠναγκάζετο διασπᾶν τὰ προτειχίσματα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν ἐξάγειν μετωπηδὸν κατὰ μίαν πλευρὰν τῆς στρατοπεδείας. §2.69.7ἀνακληθέντων δὲ τῶν παρʼ ἑκατέροις εὐζώνων ἐκ τοῦ μεταξὺ τόπου διὰ τῆς σάλπιγγος, συναλαλάξασαι καὶ καταβαλοῦσαι τὰς σαρίσας συνέβαλλον αἱ φάλαγγες ἀλλήλαις. §2.69.8ἀγῶνος δὲ γενομένου κραταιοῦ, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ πόδα ποιουμένων τὴν ἀναχώρησιν καὶ πιεζομένων ἐπὶ πολὺ τῶν Μακεδόνων ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν Λακώνων εὐψυχίας, ποτὲ δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐξωθουμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ βάρους τῆς τῶν Μακεδόνων τάξεως, §2.69.9τέλος οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον συμφράξαντες τὰς σαρίσας καὶ χρησάμενοι τῷ τῆς ἐπαλλήλου φάλαγγος ἰδιώματι, βίᾳ προσπεσόντες ἐξέωσαν ἐκ τῶν ὀχυρωμάτων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. §2.69.10τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄλλο πλῆθος ἔφευγε προτροπάδην φονευόμενον· ὁ δὲ Κλεομένης ἱππεῖς τινας ἔχων περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀπεχώρησε μετὰ τούτων ἀσφαλῶς εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην. §2.69.11ἐπιγενομένης δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς καταβὰς εἰς Γύθιον, ἡτοιμασμένων αὐτῷ τῶν πρὸς τὸν πλοῦν ἐκ πλείονος χρόνου πρὸς τὸ συμβαῖνον, ἀπῆρε μετὰ τῶν φίλων εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν.
At the same time, the combat of the cavalry was being brought to a close, as all the Achaean horsemen, and especially Philopoemen, performed brilliant service, because the entire struggle was waged for their own freedom. At which time, it happened to the aforementioned man that his horse fell, mortally wounded, and he himself, while fighting on foot, suffered a severe wound through both his thighs. As for the kings on Mount Olympus, they at first engaged in conflict by means of their light-armed troops and mercenaries, who numbered nearly five thousand on each side. As these sometimes in detachments, and sometimes in a body, clashed with each other, their services on both sides proved to be outstanding, while both the kings and the entire armies watched the battle in full view. And they vied with one another in courage, both man to man and regiment to regiment. Cleomenes, seeing his brother's men in flight, and the cavalry on the plain on the point of giving way, and being terrified lest he should be attacked by the enemy from all sides, was forced to throw down his outer defenses and lead out his entire force in line from one side of the camp. When the light-armed troops on both sides had been recalled from the intervening space by the trumpet, the phalanxes, shouting their battle cry and lowering their sarisas, clashed with one another. A fierce struggle ensued, and at one time the Macedonians retreated step by step, being hard pressed by the courage of the Laconians, and at another time the Lacedaemonians were forced back by the weight of the Macedonian formation; until at last Antigonus and his men, closing up their sarisas and employing the peculiar charge of the double-phalanx, fell upon the Lacedaemonians with violence and drove them from their entrenchments. The rest of the multitude fled headlong, being slaughtered as they went; but Cleomenes, having some horsemen with him, retreated safely with them to Sparta. When night came on, he went down to Gythium, where preparations for a voyage had been made for him long before in view of any contingency, and set sail with his friends for Alexandria.