and Heraclea, yet they defended neither; but one half
of them fled to the tops of the mountains, while the
others shut themselves up in Heraclea. The king
himself, plainly confessing that, so far from daring
to meet us in battle on the level plain, he durst
not even encamp in open ground, has abandoned all that
tract in front, which he boasted of having taken from
us and Philip, and has hid himself behind the rocks;
not even appearing in the opening of the pass, as
it is said the Lacedaemonians did formerly, but drawing
back his camp completely within it. What difference
is there, as a demonstration of fear, between this
and his shutting himself up within the walls of a
city to stand a siege? But neither shall the
straits protect Antiochus, nor the hills which they
have seized, the Aetolians. Sufficient care and
precaution have been used on every quarter, that you
shall have nothing to contend with in the fight but
the enemy himself. On your parts, you have to
consider, that you are not fighting merely for the
liberty of Greece; although, were that all, it would
be an achievement highly meritorious to deliver that
country now from Antiochus and the Aetolians, which
you formerly delivered from Philip; and that the wealth
in the king’s camp will not be the whole prize
of your labour; but that the great collection of stores,
daily expected from Ephesus, will likewise become your
prey; and also, that you will open a way for the Roman
power into Asia and Syria, and all the most opulent
realms to the extremity of the East. What then
must be the consequence, but that, from Gades to the
Red Sea, we shall have no limit but the ocean, which
encircles in its embrace the whole orb of the earth;
and that all mankind shall regard the Roman name with
a degree of veneration next to that which they pay
to the divinities? For the attainment of prizes
of such magnitude, prepare a spirit adequate to the
occasion, that, to-morrow, with the aid of the gods,
we may decide the matter in the field.”
18. After this discourse he dismissed the soldiers,
who, before they went to their repast, got ready their
armour and weapons. At the first dawn, the signal
of battle being displayed, the consul formed his troops
with a narrow front, adapted to the nature and the
straitness of the ground. When the king saw the
enemy’s standards in motion, he likewise drew
out his forces. He placed in the van, before the
rampart, a part of his light infantry; and behind them,
as a support, close to the fortifications, the main
strength of his Macedonians, whom they call Sarissophori.
On the left wing of these, at the foot of the mountain,
he posted a body of javelin-bearers, archers, and
slingers; that from the higher ground they might annoy
the naked flank of the enemy: and on the right
of the Macedonians, to the extremity of the works,
where the deep morasses and quicksands, stretching
thence to the sea, render the place impassable, the
elephants with their usual guard; in the rear of them,