§35.28.1erat autem Philopoemen praecipuae in ducendo agmine locisque capiendis solertiae atque usus, nec belli tantum temporibus, sed etiam in pace ad id maxime animum exercuerat.
Philopoemen, moreover, possessed exceptional skill and experience in leading a column and occupying positions, and he had trained his mind to this very thing with the greatest care, not only in times of war but also in peace.
§35.28.2ubi iter quopiam faceret et ad difficilem transitu saltum venisset, contemplatus ab omni parte loci naturam, cum solus iret, secum ipse agitabat animo, cum comites haberet, ab his quaerebat, §35.28.3si hostis eo loco apparuisset, quid, si a fronte, quid, si ab latere hoc aut illo, quid, si ab tergo adoriretur, capiendum consilii foret; posse instructos recta acie, posse inconditum agmen et tantummodo aptum viae occurrere.
Whenever he was making a journey anywhere and had come to a pass difficult to traverse, having contemplated the nature of the place from every side, if he was going alone, he would ponder with himself in his mind, and if he had companions, he would ask them, if the enemy had appeared in that place, what plan should be adopted, whether they should attack from the front, or from this side or that, or from the rear; that it was possible for them to meet in a regular line of battle, or in a column disordered and fit only for the road.
§35.28.4quem locum ipse capturus esset, cogitando aut quaerendo exequebatur, aut quot armatis, aut quo genere armorum — plurimum enim interesse — usurus; quo impedimenta, quo sarcinas, quo turbam inermem reiceret; §35.28.5quanto ea aut quali praesidio custodiret, et utrum pergere, qua coepisset ire, via, an eam, qua venisset, repetere melius esset; §35.28.6castris quoque quem locum caperet, quantum munimento amplecteretur loci, qua opportuna aquatio, qua pabuli lignorumque copia esset; qua postero die castra moventi tutum maxime iter, quae forma agminis esset.
What position he himself should occupy, he would work out by thinking or asking, or how many armed men, or what kind of armor — for it made a very great difference — he should use; where he should send back the baggage, where the bundles, where the unarmed crowd; with how great or what kind of guard he should protect them, and whether it would be better to proceed by the road on which he had begun to go, or to retrace that by which he had come; also what place he should take for a camp, how much space he should enclose with a rampart, where there was convenient watering, where there was an abundance of forage and wood; by which route it was safest for one moving the camp on the following day, and what should be the form of the column.
§35.28.7his curis cogitationibusque ita ab ineunte aetate animum agitaverat, ut nulla ei nova in tali re cogitatio esset.
With these cares and reflections he had so exercised his mind from his early youth that no new thought could occur to him in such a situation.
§35.28.8et tum omnium primum agmen constituit; dein Cretensis auxiliares et quos Tarentinos vocabant equites, binos secum trahentis equos, ad prima signa misit et iussit equitibus subsequi super torrentem, §35.28.9unde aquari possent, rupem occupavit; eo impedimenta omnia et calonum turbam collectam armatis circumdedit et pro natura loci castra communivit; tabernacula statuere in aspretis et inaequabili solo difficile erat.
And then, first of all, he halted the column; then he sent the Cretan auxiliaries and the horsemen whom they called Tarentines, each leading two horses with him, to the front signs, and ordered the cavalry to follow after them up above the torrent, from where they could get water, and he occupied a ridge; there he surrounded all the baggage and the gathered crowd of camp-servants with armed men, and fortified the camp according to the nature of the place; it was difficult to pitch tents on rough and uneven ground.
§35.28.10hostes quingentos passus aberant.
The enemy were five hundred paces away.
ex eodem rivo utrique cum praesidio levis armaturae aquati sunt; et priusquam, qualia propinquis castris solent, §35.28.11contraheretur certamen, nox intervenit.
Both parties drew water from the same stream under the protection of light infantry; and before a skirmish could be engaged, such as is usual when camps are close together, night intervened.
postero die apparebat pugnandum pro aquatoribus circa rivum esse.
On the following day, it was apparent that they must fight for the water-carriers around the stream.
nocte in valle a conspectu hostium aversa, quantam multitudinem locus occulere poterat, condidit caetratorum.
During the night, in a valley turned away from the sight of the enemy, he hid as great a multitude of targeteers as the place was able to conceal.