§42.65.1inde offensus longinquitate itineris rex ad Mopselum castra movit; et Romani demessis Crannonis segetibus in Phalannaeum agrum transeunt.
Then, the king, weary of the length of the march, moved his camp to Mopselum; and the Romans, having harvested the crops of Crannon, crossed into the territory of Phalanna.
§42.65.2ibi cum ex transfuga cognosset rex sine ullo armato praesidio passim vagantis per agros Romanos metere, cum mille equitibus, duobus milibus Thracum et Cretensium profectus, cum, quantum adcelerare poterat, effuso agmine isset, inproviso adgressus est Romanos.
There, when the king had learned from a deserter that the Romans, scattered here and there through the fields, were harvesting without any armed guard, he set out with a thousand cavalry and two thousand Thracians and Cretans, and having advanced at full speed, as fast as he could hasten, he fell upon the Romans unexpectedly.
§42.65.3iuncta vehicula, pleraque onusta, mille admodum capiuntur, sescenti ferme homines.
Yoked vehicles, most of them loaded, to the number of just about a thousand were captured, and nearly six hundred men.
§42.65.4praedam custodiendam ducendamque in castra trecentis Cretensium dedit; §42.65.5ipse revocato ab effusa caede equite et reliquis peditum ducit ad proximum praesidium, ratus haud magno certamine opprimi posse.
He gave the task of guarding the booty and bringing it to the camp to three hundred of the Cretans; He himself, having recalled the cavalry and the rest of the infantry from the disorganized slaughter, led them to the nearest outpost, thinking that it could be overwhelmed without any great struggle.
§42.65.6L. Pompeius tribunus militum praeerat, qui perculsos milites repentino hostium adventu in propinquum tumulum recepit, loci se praesidio, quia numero et viribus impar erat, defensurus.
Lucius Pompeius, a military tribune, was in command there; he withdrew his soldiers, who were terrified by the sudden arrival of the enemy, to a neighboring hill, intending to defend himself by the strength of the position, since he was unequal in number and strength.
§42.65.7ibi cum in orbem milites coegisset, ut densatis scutis ab ictu sagittarum et iaculorum sese tuerentur, Perseus circumdato armatis tumulo alios ascensum undique temptare iubet et comminus proelium conserere, alios eminus tela ingerere.
There, when he had drawn up the soldiers into a circle, so that with close-locked shields they might protect themselves from the blow of arrows and javelins, Perseus, having surrounded the hill with armed men, ordered some to attempt the ascent from all sides and join in close combat, and others to shower weapons from a distance.
§42.65.8ingens Romanos terror circumstabat; nam neque conferti propellere eos, qui in tumulum conitebantur, poterant et, ubi ordines procursando solvissent, patebant iaculis sagittisque.
A great terror surrounded the Romans; for neither could they, in close array, drive back those who were struggling up the hill, and whenever they broke their ranks by rushing forward, they lay open to javelins and arrows.
§42.65.9maxime cestrosphendonis vulnerabantur.
They were wounded especially by cestrosphendonae.
hoc illo bello novum genus teli inventum est.
This was a new kind of weapon invented during that war.
bipalme spiculum hastili semicubitali infixum erat, crassitudine digiti; §42.65.10huic abiegnae breves pinnae tres, velut sagittis solent, circumdabantur; funda media duo scutalia inparia habebat; cum maiori nisu libratum funditor habena rotaret, excussum velut glans emicabat.
A two-palm point was fixed to a shaft half a cubit long, of the thickness of a finger; around this, three short fir-wood feathers were fitted, as is customary with arrows; the middle of the sling had two unequal thongs; when the slinger, having balanced it, whirled it with the strap with greater effort, once discharged, it shot forth like a lead bullet.
§42.65.11cum et hoc et alio omni genere telorum pars vulnerata militum esset nec facile iam arma fessi sustinerent, instare rex, ut dederent se, fidem dare, praemia interdum polliceri.
When a part of the soldiers had been wounded by this and every other kind of weapon, and being exhausted, they could no longer easily bear their arms, the king began to urge them to surrender, to pledge his word, and sometimes to promise rewards.
nec cuiusquam ad deditionem flectebatur animus, cum ex insperato iam obstinatis mori spes adfulsit.
Yet no one's mind was bent on surrender, when unexpectedly a hope shone upon those who were already resolved to die.
§42.65.12nam cum ex frumentatoribus refugientes quidam in castra nuntiassent consuli circumsideri praesidium, motus periculo tot civium — nam octingenti ferme et omnes Romani erant — cum equitatu ac levi armatura (accesserant nova auxilia, Numidae pedites equitesque et elephanti) castris egreditur et tribunis militum imperat, ut legionum signa sequantur.
For when some fugitives from among the foragers had reported to the consul in the camp that the outpost was besieged, moved by the danger of so many citizens—for they were nearly eight hundred, and all Romans—he marched out of the camp with the cavalry and light infantry (new auxiliaries had arrived: Numidian infantry and cavalry, and elephants) and ordered the military tribunes that the standards of the legions should follow.
§42.65.13ipse velitibus ad firmanda levium armorum auxilia adiectis ad tumulum praecedit.
He himself, having added the velites to strengthen the light-armed auxiliaries, went ahead to the hill.
§42.65.14consulis latera tegunt Eumenes et Attalus et Misagenes, regulus Numidarum.
Guarding the flanks of the consul were Eumenes, Attalus, and Misagenes, a petty king of the Numidians.