§35.30.1Philopoemen postquam citatum agmen per angustam et proclivem viam duci raptim vidit, equitatum omnem et Cretensium auxiliares in stationem hostium, quae pro castris erat, §35.30.2emittit.
Philopoemen, after he saw the rapid column being led in haste through a narrow and steep road, sent all the cavalry and the Cretan auxiliaries against the enemy's outpost which was in front of the camp.
illi ubi hostis adesse et a suis se desertos viderunt, primo in castra recipere se conati sunt; §35.30.3deinde, postquam instructa acies tota Achaeorum admovebatur, metu, ne cum ipsis castris caperentur, sequi suorum agmen aliquantum praegressum insistunt.
They, when they saw that the enemy was at hand and that they had been deserted by their own men, at first attempted to retreat into the camp; then, after the entire drawn-up battle line of the Achaeans was moving closer, from fear lest they be captured along with the camp itself, they resolved to follow the column of their own men which had gone ahead by some distance.
§35.30.4extemplo caetrati Achaeorum in castra impetum faciunt et ea diripiunt; ceteri ad persequendos hostes ire pergunt.
Immediately the targeteers of the Achaeans made an attack on the camp and plundered it; the others proceeded to pursue the enemy.
erat iter tale, per quod vix tranquillum ab hostili metu agmen expediri posset; §35.30.5ut vero ad postremos proelium ortum est, clamorque terribilis ab tergo paventium ad prima signa est perlatus, pro se quisque armis abiectis in circumiectas itineri silvas diffugiunt, momentoque temporis strage armorum saepta via est, §35.30.6maxime hastis, quae pleraeque adversae cadentes velut vallo obiecto iter impediebant.
The route was of such a kind that through it a column could scarcely extricate itself even when undisturbed by fear of the enemy; but when the battle arose at the rear, and a terrible shout of those panic-stricken from behind was carried to the front ranks, each for himself, throwing away their arms, fled into the woods surrounding the road, and in a moment of time the road was blocked by a heap of weapons, especially by spears, which, most of them falling facing the path, blocked the road as if a rampart had been thrown up.
§35.30.7Philopoemen, utcumque possent, instare et persequi auxiliaribus iussis — utique enim equitibus haud facilem futuram fugam —, ipse gravius agmen via patentiore ad Eurotan amnem deduxit.
Philopoemen, having ordered the auxiliaries to press on and pursue in whatever way they could—for indeed flight would not be easy for the cavalry—himself led the heavier column by a more open route to the river Eurotas.
§35.30.8ibi castris sub occasum solis positis levem armaturam, quam ad persequendum reliquerat hostem, opperiebatur.
There, after pitching camp near sunset, he waited for the light-armed troops whom he had left to pursue the enemy.
qui ubi prima vigilia venerunt, nuntiantes tyrannum cum paucis ad urbem penetrasse, ceteram multitudinem inermem toto sparsam vagari saltu, corpora curare eos iubet; §35.30.9ipse ex cetera copia militum, qui quia priores in castra venerant, refecti et cibo sumpto et modica quiete erant, delectos nihil praeter gladios secum ferentis extemplo educit et duarum portarum itineribus, quae Pharas quaeque Barnosthenem ferunt, eos instruxit, qua ex fuga recepturos sese hostis credebat.
When they arrived at the first watch, reporting that the tyrant had penetrated to the city with a few men, and that the rest of the unarmed multitude was wandering scattered throughout the whole forest, he ordered them to refresh themselves; he himself, from the remaining force of soldiers—who, because they had come into the camp earlier, had been refreshed both by taking food and by a moderate rest—immediately led out selected men carrying nothing with them except swords, and stationed them on the roads of the two gates, one which leads to Pharae and the other to Barnosthenes, where he believed the enemy would retreat from their flight.
§35.30.10nec eum opinio fefellit.
Nor did his expectation deceive him.
nam Lacedaemonii, quoad lucis superfuit quicquam, deviis callibus medio saltu recipiebant se; primo vespere, ut lumina in castris hostium conspexere, e regione eorum occultis semitis se tenuerunt; §35.30.11ubi ea sunt praetergressi, iam tutum rati in patentis vias descenderunt.
For the Lacedaemonians, as long as any light remained, retreated by out-of-the-way paths in the midst of the forest; at early evening, when they caught sight of the lights in the enemy's camp, they kept themselves to hidden paths opposite them; when they had passed these, thinking it now safe, they descended into the open roads.
ibi excepti ab insidente hoste passim ita multi caesi captique sunt, ut vix quarta pars de toto exercitu evaserit.
There, intercepted on all sides by the enemy lying in wait, so many were killed and captured that scarcely a fourth part of the entire army escaped.
§35.30.12Philopoemen incluso tyranno in urbem insequentis dies prope triginta vastandis agris Laconum absumpsit, debilitatisque ac prope fractis tyranni viribus domum rediit, aequantibus eum gloria rerum Achaeis imperatori Romano et, §35.30.13quod ad Laconum bellum attineret, praeferentibus etiam.
Philopoemen, having shut the tyrant up in the city, spent nearly the next thirty days in laying waste the lands of the Lacedaemonians, and having weakened and almost broken the power of the tyrant, returned home, with the Achaeans equaling him in the glory of his achievements to the Roman commander, and, as far as the Lacedaemonian war was concerned, even preferring him.