§38.40.1his foederibus decretisque datis Manlius cum decem legatis omnique exercitu ad Hellespontum profectus, evocatis eo regulis Gallorum, leges, quibus pacem cum Eumene servarent, §38.40.2dixit, denuntiavit, ut morem vagandi cum armis finirent agrorumque suorum terminis se continerent.
After these treaties and decrees had been granted, Manlius set out with the ten commissioners and the entire army for the Hellespont, and having summoned there the petty kings of the Gauls, he declared the laws under which they were to maintain peace with Eumenes; he solemnly warned them to put an end to their custom of wandering about with arms and to confine themselves within the boundaries of their own lands.
§38.40.3contractis deinde ex omni ora navibus et Eumenis etiam classe per Athenaeum fratrem regis ab Elaea adducta copias omnes in Europam traiecit.
Then, having collected ships from the whole coast, and Eumenes' fleet also having been brought from Elaea by the king's brother Athenaeus, he transported all his forces into Europe.
§38.40.4inde per Chersonesum modicis itineribus grave praeda omnis generis agmen trahens Lysimachiae stativa habuit, ut quam maxime recentibus et integris iumentis Thraeciam, per quam iter vulgo horrebant, ingrederetur.
From there, making moderate marches through the Chersonesus and dragging a column heavy with booty of every kind, he established a stationary camp at Lysimachia, so that he might enter Thrace — a journey which was commonly dreaded — with the baggage animals as fresh and unimpaired as possible.
§38.40.5quo profectus est ab Lysimachia die, ad amnem Melana quem vocant, inde postero die Cypsela pervenit.
On the day he set out from Lysimachia, he arrived at the river which they call Melas, and thence on the following day he reached Cypsela.
§38.40.6a Cypselis via decem milium fere silvestris angusta confragosa excipiebat, propter cuius difficultatem itineris in duas partes divisus exercitus, et praecedere una iussa, altera magno intervallo cogere agmen, media impedimenta interposuit; plaustra cum pecunia publica erant pretiosaque alia praeda.
From Cypsela, a road of about ten miles, wooded, narrow, and rugged, lay before them; because of the difficulty of this march, the army was divided into two parts, and one being ordered to go ahead, while the other was to bring up the rear at a great interval, he interposed the baggage in the middle; there were wagons with public money and other valuable booty.
§38.40.7ita cum per saltum iret, Thraecum decem haud amplius milia ex quattuor populis, Astii et Caeni et Maduateni et Coreli, ad ipsas angustias viam circumsederunt.
Thus, while they were passing through the pass, no more than ten thousand Thracians from four tribes — the Astii, Caeni, Maduateni, and Coreli — beset the road at the very defile.
§38.40.8opinio erat non sine Philippi Macedonum regis fraude id factum; eum scisse non alia quam per Thraeciam redituros Romanos, et quantam pecuniam secum portarent.
There was an opinion that this was done not without the treachery of Philip, king of the Macedonians; and that he knew that the Romans would return by no other way than through Thrace, and how much money they were carrying with them.
§38.40.9in primo agmine imperator erat, sollicitus propter iniquitatem locorum.
In the front of the column was the general, anxious because of the inequality of the ground.
Thraeces nihil se moverunt, donec armati transirent; §38.40.10postquam primos superasse angustias viderunt, postremos nondum appropinquantis, impedimenta et sarcinas invadunt, caesisque custodibus partim ea, quae in plaustris erant, diripere, partim sub oneribus iumenta abstrahere.
The Thracians did not stir until the armed men had passed; when they saw that the first had cleared the defile, and that the last were not yet approaching, they fell upon the baggage and bundles, and having slain the guards, they began partly to plunder what was in the wagons, and partly to drive off the beasts of burden under their loads.
§38.40.11unde postquam clamor primum ad eos, qui iam ingressi saltum sequebantur, deinde etiam ad primum agmen est perlatus, utrimque in medium concurritur, et inordinatum pluribus simul locis proelium conseritur.
When the shouting from there was carried first to those who, having already entered the pass, were following, and then even to the front of the column, there was a rush from both sides into the middle, and an irregular battle was joined in several places at once.
§38.40.12Thraecas praeda ipsa impeditos oneribus et plerosque, ut ad rapiendum vacuas manus haberent, inermes ad caedem praebet; Romanos iniquitas locorum barbaris per calles notas obcursantibus et latentibus interdum per cavas valles prodebat.
The booty itself, hindering the Thracians with its weight — and most of them being unarmed so that they might have their hands free for plundering — offered them to slaughter; the disadvantage of the ground betrayed the Romans, as the barbarians ran to meet them through familiar paths and sometimes lay hid in hollow valleys.
§38.40.13ipsa etiam onera plaustraque, ut fors tulit, his aut illis incommode obiecta pugnantibus impedimento sunt.
Even the loads themselves and the wagons, as chance brought it about, being inconveniently thrown in the way of those fighting on this side or that, were a hindrance.
§38.40.14alibi praedo, alibi praedae vindex cadit.
In one place the plunderer fell, in another the avenger of the plunder.
prout locus iniquus aequusve his aut illis, prout animus pugnantium est, prout numerus — alii enim pluribus, quam ipsi erant, alii paucioribus occurrerant —, varia fortuna pugnae est; §38.40.15multi utrimque cadunt.
According as the ground was disadvantageous or advantageous to these or those, according as the courage of the fighters was, according as the number — for some had encountered more than they themselves were, others fewer — the fortune of the battle was various; many fell on both sides.
iam nox appetebat, cum proelio excedunt Thraeces, non fuga vulnerum aut mortis, sed quia satis praedae habebant.
Night was now approaching, when the Thracians withdrew from the battle, not in flight from wounds or death, but because they had enough booty.