§44.6.1lavanti regi dicitur nuntiatum hostis adesse.
It is said that the news of the enemy's approach was brought to the king as he was bathing.
quo nuntio cum pavidus exiluisset e solio, victum se sine proelio clamitans proripuit; §44.6.2et subinde per alia atque alia pavida consilia et imperia trepidans duos ex amicis, Pellam alterum, ut, quae ad Phacum pecunia deposita erat, in mare proiceret, Thessalonicam alterum, ut navalia incenderet, misit; Asclepiodotum et Hippiam, quique cum iis erant, ex praesidiis revocat omnisque aditus aperit bello.
Having leaped in terror from his seat at this news, he rushed away, crying out that he was defeated without a battle; and immediately, trembling through one fearful plan and order after another, he sent two of his friends, one to Pella to throw into the sea the money which had been deposited at Phacus, the other to Thessalonica to set fire to the dockyards; he recalled Asclepiodotus and Hippias, and those who were with them, from their garrisons, and opened all approaches to war.
§44.6.3ipse ab Dio auratis statuis omnibus raptis, ne praeda hosti essent, incolas eius loci demigrare Pydnam cogit, et, quae temeritas consulis videri potuisset, quod eo processisset, unde invito hoste regredi nequiret, eam non inconsultam audaciam fecit.
He himself, having carried off all the gilded statues from Dium lest they should be booty for the enemy, forced the inhabitants of that place to move to Pydna, and, what might have seemed the rashness of the consul, because he had advanced to a place from which he could not retreat if the enemy were unwilling, he made that a not uncalculated audacity.
§44.6.5duos enim saltus, per quos inde evadere possent, habebant Romani, unum per Tempe in Thessaliam, alterum in Macedoniam praeter Dium; quae utraque regiis tenebantur praesidiis.
For the Romans had two passes through which they could escape from there: one through Tempe into Thessaly, the other into Macedonia past Dium; both of which were held by the king's garrisons.
§44.6.6itaque si sua intrepidus defendens primam speciem adpropinquantis terroris sustinuisset, neque receptus Romanis per Tempe in Thessaliam neque commeatibus pervehendis ea patuisset iter.
Therefore, if he, fearlessly defending his own, had withstood the first appearance of the approaching terror, neither would a retreat have been open for the Romans through Tempe into Thessaly, nor a route for conveying supplies by that way.
§44.6.7sunt enim Tempe saltus, etiamsi non bello fiat infestus, transitu difficilis.
For Tempe is a pass difficult of passage, even if it is not made hostile by war.
§44.6.8nam praeter angustias per quinque milia, qua exiguum iumento onusto iter est, rupes utrimque ita abscisae sunt, ut despici vix sine vertigine quadam simul oculorum animique possit.
For besides the narrowness for five miles, where there is a path barely sufficient for a laden beast, the cliffs on both sides are so steep that one can scarcely look down without a certain dizziness of both eyes and mind.
terret et sonitus et altitudo per mediam vallem fluentis Penei amnis.
The sound and depth of the Peneus river flowing through the middle of the valley also terrify.
§44.6.9hic locus tam suapte natura infestus per quattuor distantia loca praesidiis regiis fuit insessus.
This place, so hostile by its very nature, was occupied by the king's garrisons at four different points.
§44.6.10unum in primo aditu ad Gonnum erat, alterum in Condylo, castello inexpugnabili, tertium circa Lapathunta, quem Characa appellant, §44.6.11quartum viae ipsi, qua et media et angustissima valles est, inpositum quam vel decem armatis tueri facile est.
One was at the first entrance, at Gonnus; another at Condylus, an impregnable fortress; a third around Lapathus, which they call Charax; the fourth placed upon the road itself, where the valley is both central and narrowest, which it is easy for even ten armed men to defend.
§44.6.12intercluso per Tempe simul aditu commeatibus, simul reditu ipsis, montes, per quos descenderant, repetendi erant.
If the approach through Tempe were closed both to supplies and to their own retreat, they would have had to seek again the mountains through which they had descended.
§44.6.13quod, ut furto fefellerant, ita propalam tenentibus superiora cacumina hostibus non poterant; et experta difficultas spem omnem incidisset.
And this they could not do openly, with the enemy holding the higher peaks, as they had done by stealth; and the experienced difficulty would have cut off all hope.
§44.6.14supererat nihil aliud in temere commisso quam in Macedoniam ad Dium per medios evadere hostis; quod, nisi di mentem regi et ipsum ingentis difficultatis erat.
There remained nothing else in their rash enterprise than to escape through the midst of the enemy into Macedonia toward Dium; which, unless the gods had [deprived] the king of his mind, was itself also of immense difficulty.
§44.6.15nam cum Olympi radices montis paulo plus quam mille passuum ad mare relinquant spatium, cuius dimidium loci occupat ostium late restagnans Baphri amnis, partem planitiae aut Iovis templum aut oppidum tenet, §44.6.16relicum perexiguum fossa modica valloque claudi poterat, et saxorum ad manum silvestrisque materiae tantum erat, ut vel murus obici turresque excitari potuerint.
For since the foothills of Mount Olympus leave a space of a little more than a mile to the sea, of which space the widely flooding mouth of the Baphras river occupies half, and either the temple of Jupiter or the town occupies a part of the plain, the very small remainder could have been closed by a modest ditch and rampart, and there was so much stone at hand and timber from the woods, that even a wall could have been thrown up and towers erected.
§44.6.17quorum nihil cum dispexisset caecata mens subito terrore, nudatis omnibus praesidiis patefactisque bello ad Pydnam refugit.
Since his mind, blinded by sudden terror, had perceived none of these things, having stripped all his garrisons and opened them to war, he fled to Pydna.