§32.17.1Carystus inde repetita, unde, priusquam e navibus copiae exponerentur, omnis multitudo urbe deserta in arcem confugit. §32.17.2inde ad fidem ab Romano petendam oratores mittunt.
Then Carystus was attacked again, from where, before the troops were landed from the ships, the entire multitude deserted the city and fled into the citadel. From there they sent envoys to request protection from the Roman.
oppidanis extemplo vita ac libertas concessa est; Macedonibus treceni nummi in capita statutum pretium est, et ut armis traditis abirent. §32.17.3hac summa redempti inermes in Boeotiam traiecti.
To the townspeople, life and liberty were immediately granted; for the Macedonians, a price of three hundred nummi per head was determined, and that they should depart after surrendering their arms. Having been ransomed at this sum, they were transported unarmed into Boeotia.
navales copiae duabus claris urbibus Euboeae intra dies paucos captis circumvectae Sunium, Atticae terrae promunturium, Cenchreas, Corinthiorum emporium, petierunt. §32.17.4consul interim omnium spe longiorem Atracis atrocioremque oppugnationem habuit, et ea, qua minimum credidisset, resistebant hostes. §32.17.5nam omnem laborem in muro crediderat diruendo fore; si aditum armatis in urbem patefecisset, fugam inde caedemque hostium fore, qualis captis urbibus fieri solet; §32.17.6ceterum postquam parte muri arietibus decussa per ipsas ruinas transcenderunt in urbem armati, illud principium velut novi atque integri laboris fuit. §32.17.7nam Macedones, qui in praesidio erant et multi et delecti, §32.17.8gloriam etiam egregiam rati, si armis potius et virtute quam moenibus urbem tuerentur, conferti, pluribus introrsus ordinibus acie firmata, cum transcendere ruinas sensissent Romanos, per impeditum ac difficilem ad receptum locum expulerunt. §32.17.9id consul aegre passus nec eam ignominiam ad unius modo oppugnandae moram urbis sed ad summam universi belli pertinere ratus, quod ex momentis parvarum plerumque rerum penderet, §32.17.10purgato loco, qui strage semiruti muri cumulatus erat, turrem ingentis altitudinis magnam vim armatorum multiplici tabulato portantem promovit §32.17.11et cohortes in vicem sub signis, quae cuneum Macedonum — phalangem ipsi vocant —, si possent, vi perrumperent, emittebat. §32.17.12sed ad loci angustias, haud late patente intervallo diruti muri, genus armorum pugnaeque hosti aptius erat. §32.17.13ubi conferti hastas ingentis longitudinis prae se Macedones obiecissent, velut in constructam densitate clipeorum testudinem Romani pilis nequiquam emissis cum strinxissent gladios, §32.17.14neque congredi propius neque praecidere hastas poterant, et, si quam incidissent aut praefregissent, hastile fragmento ipso acuto inter spicula integrarum hastarum velut vallum explebat. §32.17.15ad hoc et muri pars adhuc integra utraque tuta praestabat latera, nec ex longo spatio aut cedendum aut impetus faciendus erat, quae res turbare ordines solet. §32.17.16accessit etiam fortuita res ad animos eorum firmandos; nam cum turris per aggerem parum densati soli ageretur, §32.17.17rota una in altiorem orbitam depressa ita turrim inclinavit, ut speciem ruentis hostibus, trepidationem † insanam superstantibus armatis praebuerit.
The naval forces, having captured two famous cities of Euboea within a few days, sailed around Sunium, the promontory of the Attic land, and headed for Cenchreae, the emporium of the Corinthians. Meanwhile, the consul had a siege at Atrax longer and more severe than everyone's expectation, and the enemy resisted at that very point where he had least believed they would. For he had believed that all the labor would be in demolishing the wall; if he opened an approach into the city for the armed men, there would be from then on flight and slaughter of the enemy, such as is accustomed to happen in captured cities; but after a part of the wall was thrown down by battering rams and the armed men climbed over through the ruins themselves into the city, that was the beginning, as it were, of a new and fresh labor. For the Macedonians, who were in the garrison, both numerous and select, thinking it also an extraordinary glory if they should defend the city by arms and valor rather than by walls, having crowded together, with their battle line strengthened by several ranks inward, when they perceived that the Romans were climbing over the ruins, drove them out through a place obstructed and difficult for retreat. The consul took this hard, and, thinking that this disgrace pertained not merely to the delay of besieging one city but to the sum of the whole war, which usually depended on the turning points of small things, having cleared the place which was piled up with the debris of the half-ruined wall, advanced a tower of immense height carrying a great force of armed men on its multiple stories, and sent out cohorts in turn under their standards to break through by force, if they could, the wedge of the Macedonians—which they themselves call a phalanx. But in the narrowness of the place, since the gap in the demolished wall did not open widely, the kind of weapons and of fighting was more suited to the enemy. When the crowded Macedonians had thrust forward their spears of immense length, the Romans, having discharged their javelins in vain, as if against a testudo built of dense shields, when they drew their swords, could neither engage closer nor cut off the spears, and if they cut or broke any, the shaft of the spear, by its very sharp fragment among the points of the intact spears, filled up the gap like a rampart. In addition to this, the part of the wall that was still intact kept both sides safe, nor was it necessary to retreat or make an attack over a long distance, which is a thing that usually throws ranks into disorder. A fortuitous event also occurred to strengthen their courage; for when the tower was being driven along the ramp of insufficiently compacted soil, one wheel, sinking into a deeper rut, tilted the tower in such a way that it presented the appearance of falling to the enemy, and caused insane panic among the armed men standing on top.