§44.4.1Hippias nuper ad tuendum saltum ab rege missus erat; qui ex quo castra Romana in tumulo conspexit, praeparatis ad certamen animis suorum venienti agmini consulis obvius fuit.
Hippias had recently been sent by the king to defend the pass; who, from the time he descried the Roman camp on the hill, having prepared the minds of his men for the contest, went to meet the advancing column of the consul.
et Romani expediti ad pugnam exierant, §44.4.2et hostes levis armatura erat, promptissimum genus ad lacessendum certamen.
The Romans also had gone out to battle light-armed, and the enemy were light infantry, a class of troops most prompt to provoke a contest.
§44.4.3congressi igitur extemplo tela coniecerunt; multa utrimque volnera temerario incursu et accepta et inlata; pauci utriusque partis ceciderunt.
Therefore, having immediately clashed, they hurled their weapons; many wounds were both received and inflicted on both sides in a rash onset; few of either party fell.
§44.4.4inritatis in posterum diem animis maioribus copiis atque infestius concursum est; decrevissentque de summa belli, si loci satis ad explicandam aciem fuisset; sed iugum montis in angustum dorsum cuneatum vix ternis ordinibus armatorum in fronte patuit.
Their minds being provoked for the following day, a conflict was joined with larger forces and more fiercely; and they would have decided the issue of the war, if there had been sufficient space to deploy a line of battle; but the ridge of the mountain, wedged into a narrow back, lay open in front scarcely for three ranks of armed men.
§44.4.5itaque paucis pugnantibus cetera multitudo, praecipue qui gravium armorum erant, spectatores pugnae stabant; §44.4.6levis armatura etiam per anfractus iugi procurrere et ab lateribus cum levi armatura conserere per iniqua atque aequa loca pugnam poterat.
Therefore, while a few were fighting, the rest of the multitude, especially those who were of the heavy-armed, stood as spectators of the fight; the light-armed were able to run forward even through the windings of the ridge and to join battle from the flanks with the enemy's light troops through difficult and level places alike.
pluribus ea die volneratis quam interfectis proelium nocte diremptum est.
More being wounded than killed on that day, the battle was broken off by the night.
§44.4.7tertio die egere consilio Romanus imperator; nam neque manere in iugo inopi neque regredi sine flagitio atque etiam periculo, si cedenti ex superioribus locis instaret hostis, poterat; §44.4.8nec aliud restabat quam audacter commissum pertinaci audacia, quae prudens interdum in exitu est, corrigere.
On the third day the Roman general was in want of a plan; for he was neither able to remain on the destitute ridge, nor to retreat without disgrace and even danger, if the enemy should press upon him from the higher ground as he withdrew; nor did anything else remain than to correct what had been boldly undertaken by persistent boldness, which is sometimes prudent in the outcome.
§44.4.9ventum quidem erat eo, ut, si hostem similem antiquis Macedonum regibus habuisset consul, magna clades accipi potuerit.
Indeed, things had come to such a pass that, if the consul had had an enemy similar to the ancient kings of the Macedonians, a great disaster could have been sustained.
sed cum ad Dium per litora cum equitibus vagaretur rex et ab duodecim milibus prope clamorem et strepitum pugnantium audiret, nec auxit copias integros fessis summittendo neque ipse, quod plurimum intererat, certamini adfuit, §44.4.10cum Romanus imperator, maior sexaginta annis et praegravis corpore, omnia militaria munera ipse inpigre obiret.
But though the king was wandering with his cavalry along the coast near Dium and heard the shout and noise of the combatants from nearly twelve miles away, he neither increased his forces by sending fresh men to the exhausted, nor was he himself present at the contest, which was of the greatest importance, while the Roman general, though more than sixty years old and very heavy in body, performed all military duties himself with vigor.
§44.4.11egregie ad ultimum in audaciter commisso perseveravit et Popilio relicto in custodia iugi per invia transgressurus praemissis, qui repurgarent iter, Attalum et Misagenem cum suae gentis utrumque auxiliaribus praesidio esse saltum aperientibus iubet; §44.4.12ipse equites impedimentaque prae se habens cum legionibus agmen cogit.
He persevered splendidly to the last in what had been boldly undertaken, and leaving Popilius in guard of the ridge, being about to cross through pathless regions, having sent ahead men to clear the road, he ordered Attalus and Misagenes, each with the auxiliaries of his own nation, to be a protection to those clearing the pass; he himself, having the cavalry and baggage before him, brought up the rear with the legions.