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At the same time there arrived in Rome, ambassadors from the Rhodians and from king Attalus, to complain also of the enterprises of the two kings; and to inform the Romans, that Philip, either in person or by his deputies, was soliciting several cities of Asia to take up arms, and was certainly meditating some great design. This was an additional motive for hastening the departure of the three ambassadors.

On arriving at Rhodes, and hearing of the siege of Abydos, they sent to Philip the youngest of their colleagues, named Emilius, who, as has been observed, arrived at Abydos at the time that the city was on the point of being surrendered. Emilius informed Philip that he was ordered, in the name of the senate, to exhort him not to make war upon any of the states of Greece, nor to invade any part of Ptolemy's dominions; but to refer to a just arbitration his pretensions upon Attalus and the Rhodians: that, provided he acquiesced with these remonstrances, he would continue in peace; but, that if he refused, the Romans would proclaim war against him. Philip endeavoured to show, that the Rhodians had occasioned the rupture. "But," said Æmilius, interrupting him, "did the Athenians and Abydonians attack you first? Philip, who had not been used to hear truth, offended at the boldness of such an answer addressed to a king, replied: "your age, your beauty," for Polybius informs us that this ambassador had really a fine person, and especially the Roman name, exalt your pride to a prodigious degree. For my part, I wish your republic may observe punctually the treaties it has concluded with me; but, in case I should be invaded by it, I hope to show that the empire of Macedonia does not yield to Rome either in valour or reputation." The deputy withdrew from Abydos with this answer: and Philip, having taken that city, left a strong garrison in it, and returned to Macedonia.

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It appears that Æmilius went into Egypt, while the two other ambassadors went very properly to Antiochus. Emilius having arrived at Alexandria, assumed the guardianship of Ptolemy, in the name of the Romans, pursuant to the instructions he had received from the senate at his setting out; and settled every thing to as much advantage as the state of affairs in Egypt would then admit. He appointed Aristomenes the Acarnanian to superintend the education and person of the young monarch, and made him prime minister. This Aristomenes had grown old in the court of Egypt, and acted with the utmost prudence and fidelity in the employment conferred upon him.

In the mean time, the forces of Philip laid waste Attica, the pretence of which invasion was as follows. Two young men of Acarnania being in Athens, at the time when the citizens were solemnizing the grand mysteries there, had crowded into the temple of Ceres, not knowing that it was forbidden. Though their fault proceeded entirely from ignorance, they were immediately massacred, as guilty of impiety and sacrilege. The Acarna nians, justly exasperated at so cruel a treatment, had recourse to Philip, who gladly embraced this opportunity, and gave them a body of forces, with which they entered Attica, ravaged the whole country, and returned home laden with spoils.t

The Athenians carried their complaints against this enterprise to Rome, and were joined on that occasion by the Rhodians and king Attalus. The Romans only sought for an opportunity to break with king Philip, at whom they were very much offended. He had infringed the condition of the treaty of peace concluded with him three years before, in not ceasing to infest the allies who were included in it. He had just before sent troops and money to Hannibal in Africa; and a report was spread, that he was at that time very

* Insueta vera audire, ferocior oratio visa est. quam quæ habenda apud regem esset. Etas, inquit, et forma, et super omnia, Romanum nomen te ferociorem facit. Ego autem primum velim vos fæderum memores servare mecum pacem. Si bello lacesseritis, mihi quoque in animo est facere, ut regnum Macedonum nomenque haud minus quam Romanum nobile bello sentiatis.-Liv. 1. xxxi. n. 13.

↑ Liv. 1. xxxi. n. 14.

busy in Asia. This made the Romans uneasy, who called to mind the troubles which Pyrrhus had brought upon them, with only a handful of Epirots, a people very much inferior to the Macedonians. Having thus ended the war against Carthage, they judged it adviseable to prevent the enterprises of this new enemy, who might become formidable, in case they should give him time to increase his strength. The senate, after making such an answer as pleased all the ambassadors, ordered M. Valerius Levinus, the proprætor, to advance toward Macedonia with a fleet, in order to examine matters nearer at hand, and be in a condition to give immediate aid to the allies.*

In the mean time, the Roman senate deliberated seriously on what was to be done in the present juncture. At the very time it assembled to consider that important affair, a second embassy arrived from the Athenians, which brought advice that Philip was upon the point of invading Attica in person; and that in case they were not immediately succoured, he would infallibly make himself master of Athens. They also received letters from Levinus the proprætor and from Aurelius his lieutenant, by which they were informed, that they had, the strongest reasons to believe that Philip had some design against them; and that the danger being imminent, they had no time to lose.t

Upon this news, the Romans resolved to proclaim war against Philip. Accordingly, P. Sulpitius the consul, to whom Macedonia had fallen by lot, put to sea with an army, and soon arrived there. Here he was soon informed that Athens was besieged, and implored his assistance. He detached a squadron of twenty galleys commanded by Claudius Cento, who set sail immediately. Philip had not laid siege to Athens in person, but deputed one of his lieutenants for that purpose; having taken the field in person against Attalus and the Rhodians.

SECTION II.-EXPEDITIONS of sulpitius.

PHILIP Loses A BATTLE. THE
ACHEANS DECLARE FOR THE ROMANS.

CLAUDIUS CENTO, whom the consul had sent to succour Athens, having entered the Piræus with his galleys, revived the drooping courage of the inhabitants. He was not satisfied with securing the city and country around it; but, having advice that the garrison of Chalcis did not observe the least order or discipline, as remote from danger, he sailed out with his fleet, arrived near the city before day, and finding the sentinels asleep, entered it without molestation, set fire to the public magazines which were full of corn, and to the arsenal that was well provided with machines of war; cut the whole garrison to pieces; and, after carrying on board his ships the immense booty he had amassed, he returned to the Piræus.§

Philip, who was then at Demetrias, the instant he heard of the disaster which had befallen that confederate city, flew thither in hopes of surprising the Romans. But they had gone; so that he seemed to have come for no other purpose, than to be a spectator of that city still burning and half ruined. He would certainly have treated Athens in the same manner, if one of the couriers called hemerodromi, who perceived the king's troops from the eminence where he was posted, had not carried the news of it immediately to Athens, where the inhabitants were all asleep. Philip arrived a few hours after, but before daybreak. Perceiving that this stratagem had not taken effect, he resolved to attack the city. The Athenians had drawn up their soldiers in order of battle, on the outside of the walls, at the gate Dipylos; Philip, marching at the head of his army, attacked them with vigour, and having killed several of them with his own hand, drove them back into the city, whither he did not think it adviseable to pursue them. But he wreaked his vengeance on the country seats, on the place for the public exercises, as

† Liv. 1. xxxi. n. 5.

* Liv l. xxxi. n. 1-3.
A. M. 3804. Ant. J. C. 200. Liv. 1. xxxi. n. 14.
A. M. 3804. Ant. J. C. 200. Liv. I. xxxvi. n. 22-28.
They were so called from running a great number of miles in one day.

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the Lyceum, and especially on such temples as stood without the city; setting fire to every thing, and ruining whatever came in his way, not sparing either the tombs or the most sacred places. He marched from hence with a view of surprising Eleusia, where his project also proved abortive. He then proceeded toward Corinth, when, hearing that the Achæans held their assembly at Argos, he went thither.

They were deliberating how to act in regard to Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, who had succeeded Machanidas, and infested the whole country with his incursions. Philip offered to charge himself entirely with that war, and his proposal was received with universal joy. He, however added a condition, which abated it very much; that they should furnish him with as many troops as were necessary for garrisoning Cræa, Chalcis, and Corinth; and that they should not leave the places behind him without defence, while he was fighting for them. They perceived that his design was to draw out of Peloponnesus all the Achaean youth, in order to make himself master of it, and engage in a war against the Romans. Cycliadus, who presided in the assembly, eluded the proposal, by observing, that it was not allowed, by their laws, to debate on any subject but that for which the assembly had been summoned. They therefore broke up, after having resolved upon the war against Nabis; and the hopes of Philip were again defeated.

He made a second attempt upon Athens, which succeeded no better than the former, except that he completed the demolition of such temples, statues, and valuable works, as remained in the country. After this expedition he retired into Boeotia.

The consul, who was encamped between Apollonia and Dyrrachium, sent to Macedonia a considerable detachment, under the command of Apustius the lieutenant, who laid waste the plains, and took several small cities. Philip, who had returned into Macedonia, carried on his military preparations with great vigour.*

The great object which both parties had in view, was to engage the Etolians on their side. They were now about to hold their general assembly, to which Philip, the Romans, and Athenians, sent their ambassadors; he who was deputed by Philip spoke first. All he required was, that the Etolians should observe strictly the treaties of peace which they had concluded three years before with Philip; having then experienced how useless their alliance with the Romans was to them. He instanced several cities, of which that people had possessed themselves, upon pretence of succouring them, at Syracuse, Tarentum, Capua; the last city especially, which was no longer Capua, but the grave of the Campanians, and the skeleton, as it were, of a city, having neither senate, inhabitants, nor magistrates; more barbarously used by those who had left it to be inhabited in this condition, than if they had entirely destroyed it. "If foreigners," said he, "who differ from us more by their language, their manners, and their laws, than by the wide distance of land and sea which separates us from them, should dispossess us of this country, it would be ridiculous in us to expect more humane treatment from them than their neighbours have met with. Among us, who are of the same country, whether Etolians, Acarnanians, or Macedonians, and who speak the same language, slight disputes may arise with little or no consequence or duration; but with foreigners, with barbarians, we, while we are Greeks, are and shall for ever be at war. Three years ago, you concluded a peace with Philip in this very place; now the same causes still subsist; and we hope that you will act in the same manner."

The Athenian ambassadors, by the consent of the Romans, spoke next. They began by displaying, in an affecting manner, the impious and sacrilegious fury which Philip had exercised on the most sacred monuments of Attica, on the most august temples, and the most awful tombs; as if he had

Liv. 1. xxxi. n. 27-32.

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declared war, not only against men, and the living, but against the manes of the dead, and the majesty of the gods. That Ætolia and all Greece must expect the same treatment, if Philip should have the like occasion. They concluded with conjuring the Etolians to take compassion on Athens, and to undertake, under the auspices of the gods, and of the Romans, whose power, that of the gods only could equal, so just a war as that proposed to them.

The Roman ambassador, after having refuted very circumstantially the reproaches of the Macedonians, with respect to the treatment which Rome had made the conquered cities suffer, and exemplified in Carthage, which, but just before, had been allowed a peace, and was restored to its liberty, declared that the only circumstance the Romans had to fear was, that the too great mildness and lenity which they exercised towards those whom they conquered, would prompt other nations to take up arms against them, because the vanquished might depend on the Roman clemency. He represented, in a short, but strong, and pathetic speech, the criminal actions of Philip, the murders committed by him on his own family and friends, his infamous debaucheries, which were still more detested than his cruelty; all, facts more immediately known to the persons whom he then addressed, as they were nearer neighbours to Macedonia. "But, to confine my speech to what directly relates to you," said the ambassador, addressing himself to the Etolians," we engage in the war against Philip, with no other view than to defend you; and have concluded a separate peace with him, possibly you may observe in your own justification, that seeing us employed in the war against the Carthaginians, and being awed by fear, you were obliged to submit to whatever conditions the victor was pleased to prescribe; while we, on the other side, employed in affairs of greater importance, neglected a war which you had renounced. Having, however now put an end, thanks to the gods, to the Carthaginian war, we are determined to turn the whole force of our arms against Macedonia. This gives you an opportunity of returning to our friendship and alliance, unless you should choose to perish ingloriously with Philip, rather than conquer with the Romans."

Damocritus, the Ætolian prætor, plainly perceived that this speech would gain all the suffrages. It is said, that he had been bribed by Philip. Without seeming inclined to either side, he represented the affair as too important to be determined immediately, and required time for a more mature deliberation. By this artifice he eluded the effect which the assembly would otherwise have had; and boasted his having done a very essential service to the republic, which now, he said, might wait the event before it took up arms, and then declare for the strongest party.

In the mean time, Philip was preparing for a vigorous war, both by sea and land; but the consul had already begun it. He had entered Macedonia, and advanced toward the Dassaretæ, and Philip had also taken the field. Neither party knew which way the enemy had marched; but each sent out a detachment upon the discovery, and the two parties met. As both consisted entirely of chosen troops, a bloody skirmish ensued, and the victory was doubtful. Forty Macedonian troopers, and thirty-five of the Romans, were killed upon the spot.*

The king, persuaded that the care which he should take to bury those who had lost their lives in this skirmish, would contribute very much to gain him the affection of his soldiers, and excite them to behave gallantly in his service, caused their dead bodies to be brought into the camp, in order that the whole army might be eye-witnesses of the honours paid to their memory. Nothing is less to be relied upon than the sentiments and dispositions of the vulgar. This spectacle, which Philip imagined would animate the soldiers, had a quite

* Liv. 1. xxx. n 33-39.

Nihil tam incertum nec tam instabile est, quam animi multitudinis. Quod promptiores ad supeundam omnem dimnicationem videbatur, factorum, id metram pigritiamque incussit.-Liv.

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contrary effect, and damped their courage. Hitherto he had engaged in war with none but Greeks and Illyrians, who seldom employed any other weapons than arrows, javelins, and lances; and for that reason, the wounds they made were not so deep. But when they saw the bodies of their comrades, covered with deep and wide gashes made by the Spanish sabres, whole arms cut off, shoulders lopped away, and heads separated from their bodies, they were terrified at the sight, and plainly perceived against what kind of enemies they were to act.

The king himself who had never seen the Romans engage in battle, was terrified at this sight. Being informed by some deserters of the place where the enemy had halted, he took guides and marched thither with his army, consisting of twenty thousand foot, and four thousand horse; and posted himself at a little more than two hundred paces from their camp, near the city of Athacus, on an eminence, which he fortified with good ditches and strong intrenchments. Surveying from the top of the hill the order and disposition of the Roman camp, he cried out, that what he saw was not the camp of barbarians.*

The consul and the king remained inactive the first two days, each waiting till the other should make some movement. On the third day, Sulpitius came out of his camp, and drew up his troops in battle. Philip, afraid of coming to a general battle, detached against the enemy a body consisting of but fifteen hundred men, the one half horse, and the other foot; against whom the Romans opposed an equal number, who had the advantage, and put the other to flight. They avoided, with no less prudence, an ambuscade which the king had laid for them. These two advantages, the one gained by open force, and the other by stratagem, inflamed the courage of the Roman soldiers. The consul marched them back into the camp, and after allowing them a day's repose, he led them out and offered the king battle, which he did not think proper to accept; and for that reason he lay close in his camp, in spite of all the insults, and reproaches of Sulpitius, who charged him with meanness of spirit and cowardice.

As foraging, where two armies lay so near one another, would be very dangerous, the consul drew off to about eight miles distance, and advanced towards a village, called Octolophos, where the foragers dispersed themselves over the neighbouring country in separate platoons. The king at first lay close in his intrenchments, as if afraid of venturing out; in order that the enemy, growing bolder on that account, might for that reason be less vigilant. This happened precisely as Philip had foreseen. When he saw great numbers of them spread over the plain, he quitted his camp on a sudden with all his horse, whom the Cretans followed as fast as it was possible for infantry to march, and rode full speed to post himself between the Roman camp and the foragers. There, dividing his forces, he detached part of them against the foragers, ordering them to cut to pieces all who should come in their way; while himself seized all the passes by which they could return. Every side now presented a scene of blood and slaughter; in the mean time, the Romans did not know what was doing out of their camp, because such as fled were intercepted by the king's forces; and those who guarded the passes killed a much greater number than the others detached in pursuit of the enemy.

At last the melancholy news of the slaughter arrived in the Roman camp. Upon which the consul ordered the cavalry to march and succour their comrades wherever they could; he marched the legions in a hollow square against the enemy. The troopers being dispersed, at first lost their way being deceived by the shouts and cries which echoed from different places. Many of these parties fell in with the enemy, and skirmishes were fought

* The same words are ascribed to Pyrrhus.

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