§36.43.1eo fere tempore consul Acilius Naupactum oppugnabat.
About this time the consul Acilius was besieging Naupactus.
Livium Deli per aliquot dies — et est ventosissima regio inter Cycladas fretis alias maioribus, alias minoribus divisas — adversi venti tenuerunt.
Contrary winds detained Livius at Delus for several days—and it is a very windy region among the Cyclades, which are divided by straits, some larger, some smaller.
§36.43.2Polyxenidas certior per dispositas speculatorias naves factus Deli stare Romanam classem, nuntios ad regem misit.
Polyxenidas, having been informed by scout-ships stationed for the purpose that the Roman fleet was staying at Delus, sent messengers to the king.
§36.43.3qui omissis, quae in Hellesponto agebat, cum rostratis navibus, quantum accelerare poterat, Ephesum redit et consilium extemplo habuit, faciendumne periculum navalis certaminis foret.
The king, abandoning what he was doing in the Hellespont, returned with his beaked ships as fast as he could to Ephesus, and immediately held a council as to whether he should risk a naval battle.
§36.43.4Polyxenidas negabat cessandum et utique prius confligendum quam classis Eumenis et Rhodiae naves coniungerentur Romanis; §36.43.5ita numero non ferme impares futuros se, ceteris omnibus superiores, et celeritate navium et varietate auxiliorum.
Polyxenidas maintained that they should not delay, but should by all means fight before the fleet of Eumenes and the Rhodian ships joined the Romans; in this way they would be not much inferior in number, and superior in all other respects, both in the speed of their ships and the variety of their auxiliaries.
§36.43.6nam Romanas naves cum ipsas inscite factas immobiles esse, tum etiam, ut quae in terram hostium veniant, oneratas commeatu venire; §36.43.7suas autem, ut pacata omnia circa se relinquentis, nihil praeter militem atque arma habituras.
For the Roman ships, besides being clumsily built and immobile, were also, as coming into hostile territory, heavily laden with provisions; whereas their own ships, leaving everything peaceful behind them, would carry nothing but soldiers and arms.
multum etiam adiuturam notitiam maris terrarumque et ventorum, quae omnia ignaros turbatura hostis essent.
Their knowledge of the sea, the lands, and the winds would also be of great assistance, all of which would confuse the enemy who were ignorant of them.
§36.43.8movit omnis auctor consilii, qui et re consilium exsecuturus erat.
The author of the plan, who was also to execute it in action, moved them all.
biduum in apparatu morati tertio die centum navibus, quarum septuaginta tectae, ceterae apertae, minoris omnes formae erant, profecti Phocaeam petierunt.
Having delayed for two days in preparation, on the third day they set out with a hundred ships, of which seventy were decked and the rest open, all of a smaller size, and made for Phocaea.
§36.43.9inde, cum audisset appropinquare iam Romanam classem, rex, quia non interfuturus navali certamini erat, Magnesiam, quae ad Sipylum est, concessit ad terrestris copias comparandas; §36.43.10classis ad Cissuntem portum Erythraeorum, tamquam ibi aptius expectatura hostem, contendit.
Thence, when he heard that the Roman fleet was already approaching, the king, since he was not to take part in the naval battle, withdrew to Magnesia, which is near Sipylus, to assemble his land forces; the fleet hastened to Cyssus, a harbor of the Erythraeans, as if they would await the enemy there more conveniently.
§36.43.11Romani, ubi primum aquilones — ii namque per aliquot dies tenuerant — ceciderunt, ab Delo Phanas, portum Chiorum in Aegaeum mare versum, §36.43.12petunt; inde ad urbem circumegere naves, commeatuque sumpto Phocaeam traiciunt.
The Romans, as soon as the north winds—for these had held them for several days—subsided, sailed from Delus to Phanae, a harbor of the Chians facing the Aegean Sea; thence they brought their ships round to the city, and having taken on provisions, crossed over to Phocaea.
Eumenes Elaeam ad suam classem profectus, paucis post inde diebus cum quattuor et viginti navibus tectis, apertis pluribus paulo Phocaeam ad Romanos parantis instruentisque se ad navale certamen rediit.
Eumenes, who had gone to Elaea to join his own fleet, returned a few days later to the Romans at Phocaea with twenty-four decked ships and a few more open ones, while they were preparing and drawing themselves up for a naval battle.
§36.43.13inde centum quinque tectis navibus, apertis ferme quinquaginta profecti, primo aquilonibus transversis cum urgerentur in terram, cogebantur tenui agmine prope in ordinem singulae naves ire; deinde, ut lenita paulum vis venti est, ad Corycum portum, qui super Cissuntem est, conati sunt traicere.
Setting out from there with one hundred and five decked ships and about fifty open ones, they were at first forced by cross north winds toward the land to go in a thin line, almost one by one; then, when the force of the wind abated a little, they attempted to cross to the harbor of Corycus, which is above Cyssus.