garrison into Gonna, he marched back his army into Macedonia.

The consul having reduced Perrhœbia, and taken Larissa, and some other cities, dismissed all the allies, except the Achæans; dispersed his troops in Thessaly, where he left them in winter-quarters, and went into Boeotia, at the request of the Thebans, upon whom the people of Coronæa had made incursions.

SECT. III.

Marcius enters Macedonia. Perseus takes the alarm ; butafterwards resumes courage.

Nothing memorable passed the following year. The consul Hostilius had sent Ap. Claudius into Illyria with four thousand foot, to defend such of the inhabitants of that country as were allies of the Romans; and the latter had found means to add eight thousand men, raised among the allies, to his first body of troops, He encamped at Lychnidus, a city of the Dassareta. Near that place was another city, called Usca. na, which belonged to Perseus, and where he had a strong garrison. Claudius, upon the promise which had been made him of having the place put into his hands, in hopes of making great booty, approached it with almost all his troops, without any order, distrust, or precaution. Whilst he thought least of it, the garrison made a furious sally upon him, put his whole army to flight, and pursued them a great way with dreadful slaughter. Of eleven thousand men, scarce two thousand escaped into the camp, which a thousand had been left to guard: Claudius returned to Lychnidus with the ruins of his army. The news of this loss very much afflicted the senate, and the more, because it had been occasioned by the imprudence and avarice of Claudius.

This was the almost universal disease of the commanders at that time. The senate received various complaints from many cities, as well of Greece as the other provinces, against the Roman officers, who treated them with unheard-of rapaciousness and cruelty. They punished some of them, redressed the wrongs they had done the cities, and dismissed the ambassadors, well satisfied with the manner in which their remonstrances had been received. Soon after, to prevent such disorders for the future, they passed a decree, which expressed that the cities should not furnish the Roman magistrates with any thing more than what the senate expressly appointed; which ordinance was published in all the cities of Peloponnesus.

a A. M. 3834. Ant. J. C. 170. Liv. l. xliii. n. 9, 10. Polyb. Legat. lxxiv. iv. L. xliîî, n. 175

C. Popilius and Cn. Octavius, who were charged with this commission, went first to Thebes, where they very much praised the citizens, and exhorted them to continue firm in their alliance with the Roman people. Proceeding afterwards to the other cities of Peloponnesus, they boasted every where of the lenity and moderation of the senate, which they proved by their late decree in favour of the Greeks. They found great divisions in almost all the cities, especially among the Etolians, occasioned by two factions which divided them, one for the Romans, and the other for the Macedonians. The assembly of Achaia was not exempt from these divisions; but the wisdom of the persons of greatest authority prevented their consequences. The advice of Archon, one of the principal persons of the league, was to act according to conjunctures, to leave no room for calumny to irritate either of the contending powers against the republic, and to avoid the misfortunes into which those were fallen, who had not been sufficiently aware of the power of the Romans. This advice prevailed, and it was resolved that Archon should be made chief magistrate, and Polybius captain-general of the horse.

About this time, Attalus, having something to demand of the Achæan league, caused the new magistrate to be sounded; who, being determined in favour of the Romans and their allics, promised that prince to support his suit with all his power. The affair in question was to have a decree reversed, by which it was ordained, that all the statues of king Eumenes should be removed from the public places. At the first council that was held, the ambassadors of Attalus were introduced to the assembly, who demanded, that in consideration of the prince who sent them, Eumenes, his brother, should be restored to the honours which the republic had formerly decreed him. Archon supported this demand, but with great moderation. Polybius spoke with more force, enlarged upon the merit and services of Eumenes, demonstrated the injustice of the first decree, and concluded that it was proper to repeal it. The whole assembly applauded his discourse, and it was resolved that Eumenes should be restored to all his honours.

It was at this time that Rome sent Popilius to Antiochus Epiphanes, to prevent his enterprises against Egypt, which we have mentioned before.

The Macedonian war gave the Romans great employment. Q. Marcius Philippus, one of the two consuls lately elected, was charged with it.

Before he set out, Perseus had conceived the design of

a A. M. 3835. gat. lxxvi. lxxvii. VeL. VII.

Ant. J. C. 169. Liv. 1. xliii. n. 11. and 18-23.

Polyb. Le

taking the advantage of the winter to make an expedition against Illyria, which was the only province from whence Macedonia had reason to fear irruptions during the king's being employed against the Romans. This expedition succeeded very happily for him, and almost without any loss on his side. He began with the siege of Uscana, which had fallen into the hands of the Romans, it is not known how, and took it, after a defence of some duration. He afterwards made himself master of all the strong places in the country, the most part of which had Roman garrisons in them, and took a great number of prisoners.

Perseus, at the same time, sent ambassadors to Gentius, one of the kings of Illyria, to induce him to quit the party of the Romans, and come over to him. Gentius was far from being averse to it; but he observed, that having neither ammunition for the war nor money, he was in no condition to declare against the Romans; which was explaining himself sufficiently. Perseus, who was avaricious, did not understand, or rather affected not to understand his demand, and sent a second embassy to him, without mention of money, and received the same answer. Polybius observes, that this fear of expense, which denotes a little and mean soul, and entirely dishonours a prince, made many of his enterprises miscarry, and that if he would have sacrificed certain sums, and those far from considerable, he might have engaged several republics and princes in his party. Can such a blindness be conceived in a rational creature! Polybius considers it as a punishment from the gods.

Perseus, having led back his troops into Macedonia, made them march afterwards to Stratus, a very strong city of Ætolia, above the gulf of Ambracia. The people had given him hopes that they would surrender it as soon as he appeared before the walls, but the Romans prevented them, and threw succours into the place.

Early in the spring the consul Marcius left Rome, and went to Thessaly, from whence, without losing time, he advanced into Macedonia, fully assured, that it was necessary to attack Perseus in the heart of his dominions.

Upon the report that the Roman army was ready to take the field, Árchon, chief magistrate of the Achæans, to justify his country from the suspicions and injurious reports that had been propagated against it, advised the Achaans to pass a decree, by which it should be ordained, that they should march an army into Thessaly, and share in all the dangers of the war with the Romans. That decree being confirmed, orders were given to Archon to raise troops, and to make all the necessary preparations. It was after

a Polyb. Legat. lxxviii

wards resolved, that ambassadors should be sent to the consul, to acquaint him with the resolution of the republic, and to know from him where and when the Achæan army should join him. Polybius, our historian, with some others, was charged with this embassy. They found the Romans had quitted Thessaly, and were encamped in Perrhobia, between Azora and Dolichæa, greatly perplexed about the route it was necessary to take. They followed them for a favourable opportunity of speaking to the consul, and shared with him in all the dangers he ran in entering Macedonia.

a Perseus, who did not know what route the consul would take, had posted considerable bodies of troops in two places, by which it was probable he would attempt to pass. For himself, he encamped with the rest of his army near Dium, marching and counter-marching without any fixed object.

Marcius, after long deliberation, resolved to pass the forest that covered part of the country in the direction of the city Octolophus. He had incredible difficulties to surmount, the ways were so steep and impracticable, but he had had the precaution to seize an eminence, which favoured his passage. From hence the enemy's camp, which was not distant above a thousand paces, and all the country about Dium and Phila might be discovered; which very much animated the soldiers, who had before their eyes such opulent lands, where they hoped to enrich themselves. Hippias, whom the king had posted to defend this pass, with a body of twelve thousand men, seeing the eminence possessed by a detachment of the Romans, marched to meet the consul, who was advancing with his whole army, harrassed his troops for two days, and distressed them very much by frequent attacks. Marcius was in great trouble, not being able either to advance with safety, or retreat without shame, or even danger. He had no other choice to make, than to pursue with vigour an undertaking, formed, perhaps, with too much boldness and temerity, but which could not succeed without a determinate perseverance, often crowned in the end with success. It is certain that if the consul had had to do with the ancient kings of Macedonia in the narrow defile, where his troops were pent up, he would infallibly have received a great blow. But Perseus, instead of sending fresh troops to support Hippias, the cries of whose soldiers in battle he could hear in his camp, and of going, in person to attack the enemy, amused himself with making useless excursions with his cavalry into the country about Dium, and by that neglect gave the Romans an opportunity of extricating themselves from the dangerous situation into which they had brought themselves. It was not without infinite pains that they effected this;

a Liv. 1. xliv. n. 1-10,

the horses laden with their baggage sinking under their burdens, as they descended the mountain, and falling down at almost every step they took. The elephants, especially, gave them great trouble: it was necessary to find some new means for their descent in such extremely steep places. Having cleared a level on the snow on these declivities, they drove two beams into the earth at the lower part of the road, at the distance of something more than the breadth of an elephant from each other. Upon those beams they laid planks of thirty feet in length, and formed a kind of bridge which they Sovered with earth. At the end of the first bridge, but at some little distance, they erected a second, then a third, and as many more of the same kind as were necessary. The elephant passed from the firm ground to the bridge, and, before he came to the end, they contrived to lower insensibly the beams that supported it, and let him gently down with the bridge: he went on in that manner to the second, and so to all the rest. It is not easy to express the fatigues they underwent in this pass, the soldiers being often obliged to roll upon the ground, because it was impossible for them to keep their legs. It was agreed that with an handful of men the enemy might have entirely defeated the Roman army. At length, after infinite difficulties and dangers, it arrived in a plain, and found itself in safety.

" As the consul seemed then to have happily overcome the greatest difficulty of his enterprise, Polybius thought this a proper time for presenting to Marcius the decree of the Achæans, and assuring him of their resolution to join him with all their forces, and to share with him in all the labours and dangers of this war. Marcius, after having thanked the Achæans for their good will, in the kindest terms told them, they might spare themselves the trouble and expense that war would give them; that he would dispense with both; and that, in the present posture of affairs, he had no occasion for the aid of his allies. After this discourse, Polybius's colleagues returned into Achaia.

Polybius alone continued in the Roman army till the consul, having received advice that Appius, surnamed Cento, had demanded of the Achæans a body of five thousand men to be sent him into Epirus, dispatched him home with advice not to suffer his republic to furnish those troops, or engage in expenses entirely unnecessary, as Appius had no reason to demand that aid. It is difficult, says the historian, to discover the real motives that induced Marcius to talk in this manner. Did he wish to spare the Achæans, or was he laying a snare for them; or did he intend to put it out of Appiit's power to undertake any thing.

a Polyb. Legat. lxxviii.