§44.35.1quae res Romanis auxit animos.
This event increased the spirits of the Romans.
Macedonibus regique eorum haud mediocrem attulit terrorem. §44.35.2et primo supprimere in occulto famam eius rei est conatus, missis, qui Pantauchum inde venientem adpropinquare castris vetarent. §44.35.3sed iam et pueri quidam visi ab suis erant inter obsides Illyrios ducti, et quo quaeque accuratius celantur, eo facilius loquacitate regiorum ministrorum emanant. §44.35.4sub idem tempus Rhodii legati in castra venerunt cum isdem de pace mandatis, quae Romae ingentem iram patrum excitaverant.
To the Macedonians and their king, it brought no small terror. And at first he attempted to suppress the rumor of this matter in secret, by sending men to forbid Pantauchus, who was coming from there, to approach the camp. But already some boys had been seen by their own people, led among the Illyrian hostages, and the more carefully each thing is hidden, the more easily it leaks out through the talkativeness of the royal servants. Around the same time, the Rhodian envoys came to the camp with the same instructions regarding peace that had excited the great wrath of the senators in Rome.
multo iniquioribus animis a castrensi consilio auditi sunt. §44.35.5itaque cum alii legatos in vincula coniciendos censerent, alii praecipites sine responso agendos e castris, pronuntiavit consul post diem quintum decimum se responsum daturum. §44.35.6interim, ut appareret, quantum pacificantium Rhodiorum auctoritas valuisset, consultare de ratione belli gerendi coepit.
They were heard with much more hostile minds by the camp council. Therefore, while some thought the envoys should be thrown into chains, and others that they should be driven headlong from the camp without a response, the consul announced that he would give his reply after fifteen days. Meanwhile, so that it might appear how little the authority of the peacemaking Rhodians had availed, he began to consult on the plan of conducting the war.
placebat quibusdam et maxime minoribus natu per Elpei ripam munitionesque vim facere: §44.35.7confertis et uno agmine impetum facientibus resistere Macedonas non posse, ex tot castellis aliquanto altioribus ac munitioribus, quae validis praesidiis insedissent, priore anno deiectos. §44.35.8aliis placebat Octavium cum classe Thessalonicam eam petere et populatione maritumae orae distringere copias regias, ut altero ab tergo se ostendente bello circumactus ad interiorem partem regni tuendam nudare aliqua parte transitus Elpei cogeretur.
It pleased some, and especially the younger ones, to force their way through the bank of the Elpeus and its fortifications: they argued that the Macedonians could not resist those making an attack in close formation and in a single column, since they had been dislodged the previous year from so many forts, somewhat higher and more fortified, which they had occupied with strong garrisons. To others, it was pleasing that Octavius with the fleet should head for Thessalonica and distract the royal forces by devastating the coastal shore, so that, with another war showing itself from the rear, the king, turned about to protect the interior part of his kingdom, would be forced to leave some part of the crossings of the Elpeus undefended.
ipsi natura et operibus inexsuperabilis ripa videbatur, §44.35.9et praeterquam quod tormenta ubique disposita essent, missilibus etiam melius et certiore ictu hostis uti audierat. §44.35.10alio spectabat mens tota ducis; dimissoque consilio Perrhaebos mercatores Coenum et Menophilum, notae iam sibi et fidei et prudentiae homines, accersitos secreto percunctatur, quales ad Perrhaebiam transitus sint. §44.35.11cum loca non iniqua esse dicerent, praesidiis autem regiis obsideri, spem cepit, si nocte inproviso valida manu adgressus necopinantis esset, deici praesidia posse: §44.35.12iacula enim et sagittas et cetera missilia in tenebris, ubi, quid petatur, procul provideri nequeat, inutilia esse; gladio comminus geri rem in permixta turba, quo miles Romanus vincat. §44.35.13his ducibus usurus praetorem Octavium accersitum, exposito, quid pararet, Heracleum cum classe petere iubet et mille hominibus decem dierum cocta cibaria habere. §44.35.14ipse P. Scipionem Nasicam, Q. Fabium Maximum filium suum cum quinque milibus delectis militum Heracleum mittit, velut classem conscensuros ad maritumam oram interioris Macedoniae, quod in consilio agitatum erat, vastandam. §44.35.15secreto indicatum cibaria his praeparata ad classem esse, ne quid eos moraretur.
To the consul himself, the bank seemed insurmountable by nature and by fortifications, and besides the fact that artillery was arranged everywhere, he had heard that the enemy also used missiles better and with a surer strike. The whole mind of the general was looking elsewhere; and having dismissed the council, he secretly summoned the Perrhaebian merchants Coenus and Menophilus, men already known to him for both their loyalty and prudence, and inquired what kind of crossings there were to Perrhaebia. When they said that the places were not unfavorable, but were blocked by royal garrisons, he conceived the hope that if he attacked the unsuspecting enemy by night with a strong force unexpectedly, the garrisons could be dislodged: for he reasoned that javelins, arrows, and other missiles are useless in the dark, where what is being aimed at cannot be foreseen from afar, and that in a confused crowd the business is conducted at close quarters with the sword, in which the Roman soldier is victorious. Intending to use them as guides, he summoned the praetor Octavius, and having explained what he was preparing, ordered him to head for Heracleum with the fleet and to have ten days' cooked provisions for a thousand men. He himself sent Publius Scipio Nasica and Quintus Fabius Maximus, his own son, with five thousand chosen soldiers to Heracleum, as if they were about to embark on the fleet to devastate the coastal shore of interior Macedonia, which had been discussed in the council. It was secretly indicated to them that provisions had been prepared for them at the fleet, so that nothing would delay them.
inde iussi duces itineris ita dividere viam, ut quarta vigilia tertio die Pythoum adoriri possent. §44.35.16ipse postero die, ut detineret regem ab circumspectu rerum aliarum, prima luce medio in alveo cum stationibus hostium proelium commisit; pugnatumque utrimque est levi armatura.
From there, the guides of the march were ordered to divide the route in such a way that they could attack Pythoum at the fourth watch on the third day. He himself, on the following day, in order to keep the king from observing other matters, joined battle at dawn in the middle of the riverbed with the outposts of the enemy; and the battle was fought on both sides by the light-armed troops.
nec gravioribus armis in tam inaequali alveo pugnari poterat. §44.35.17descensus ripae utriusque in alveum trecentorum ferme passuum erat; medium spatium torrentis alibi aliter cavati paulo plus quam mille passus patebat. §44.35.18ibi in medio spectantibus utrimque ex vallo castrorum hinc rege, hinc consule cum suis legionibus pugnatum est. §44.35.19missilibus procul regia auxilia melius pugnabant; comminus stabilior et tutior aut parma aut scuto Ligustico Romanus erat. §44.35.20meridie fere receptui cani suis consul iussit.
Nor could they fight with heavier weapons in such an uneven riverbed. The descent of each bank into the riverbed was about three hundred paces; the middle space of the torrent, hollowed out differently in different places, lay open a little more than a thousand paces. There, in the middle, the battle was fought while the king from his side and the consul from his side watched with their legions from the rampart of the camp. At a distance, the royal auxiliaries fought better with missiles; at close quarters, the Roman was steadier and safer with either his round shield or the Ligurian shield. Around noon, the consul ordered the retreat to be sounded for his men.
ita eo die diremptum proelium est haud paucis utrimque interfectis. §44.35.21sole orto postero die inritatis certamine animis etiam acrius concursum est.
Thus the battle was broken off on that day, with not a few killed on both sides. On the following day, at sunrise, with their minds provoked by the combat, they clashed even more fiercely.
sed Romani non ab iis tantum, cum quibus contractum certamen erat, sed multo magis ab ea multitudine, quae disposita in turribus stabat, omni genere missilium telorum ac saxis maxime volnerabantur. §44.35.22ubi propius ripam hostium subissent, tormentis missa etiam ad ultimos perveniebant.
But the Romans were wounded not only by those with whom they had joined battle, but much more by that multitude which stood arranged on the towers, with every kind of missile weapons and especially with stones. When they had come closer to the enemy's bank, those things discharged by the artillery even reached the rearmost.
multo pluribus eo die amissis consul paulo serius recepit suos. §44.35.23tertio die proelio abstinuit, degressus ad imam partem castrorum, veluti per devexum in mare bracchium transitum temptaturus. §44.35.24Perseus, quod in oculis erat.
Having lost far more men on that day, the consul withdrew his forces a little later. On the third day, he abstained from battle, going down to the lowest part of the camp, as if about to attempt a crossing through the rampart sloping toward the sea. Perseus, because what was before his eyes [was watched by him].