XV.  In the mean time Taxiles, the general of Mithridates, coming down from Thrace and Macedonia with one hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and ninety scythe-bearing four-horse chariots, summoned Archelaus, who was still lying with his ships near Munychia,[225] and was neither inclined to give up the sea nor ready to engage with the Romans:  his plan was to protract the war and to cut off the supplies of the enemy.  But Sulla was as quick as Archelaus, and moved into Boeotia from a niggardly region, which even in time of peace could not have maintained his troops.  Most people thought that he had made a false calculation in leaving Attica, which is a rough country and ill adapted for the movements of cavalry, to throw himself into the champaign and open tracts of Boeotia, when he knew that the strength of the barbarians lay in their chariots and cavalry.  But in his flight from famine and scarcity, as I have already observed, he was compelled to seek the hazard of a battle.  Besides, he was alarmed for Hortensius,[226] a skilful general and a man ambitious of distinction, who was conducting a force from Thessaly to Sulla, and had to pass through the straits where the enemy was waiting for him.  For all these reasons Sulla moved into Boeotia.  But Kaphis, who was from my town, evading the barbarians by taking a different route from what they expected, led Hortensius over Parnassus, close by Tithora, which was not at that time so large a city as it is now, but only a fort on a steep rock scarped all round, to which place in time of old the Phokians who fled from Xerxes escaped with their property and were there in safety.  Hortensius having encamped there during the day repelled the attacks of the enemy, and at night descending to Patronis, through a difficult path joined Sulla, who met him with his forces.

XVI.  Having united their forces, Sulla and Hortensius occupied an elevation rising out of the midst of the plains of Elateia,[227] which was fertile and extensive, and had water at its base:  it is called Philoboeotus, and its natural qualities and position are most highly commended by Sulla.  When they were encamped, the weakness of the Roman force was apparent to the enemy; for the cavalry did not exceed fifteen hundred, and the infantry was below fifteen thousand.  Accordingly the rest of the generals, against the wish of Archelaus, drew out their forces in order of battle, and filled the plain with horses, chariots, shields, and bucklers; and the heavens could not contain the shouts and cries of so many nations putting themselves in battle array.  At the same time the pomp and costly splendour of the troops were not without effect nor their use in causing alarm; but the glittering of the arms, which were curiously ornamented with gold and silver, and the colour of the Median and Scythian dresses mingled with the brightness of the brass and steel, produced a firelike and formidable appearance as the masses moved like