35.38
After
the expulsion of Euthymidas the chief command was vested in Micythio and
Xenoclides. Either suspecting what was going on or having received
information about it, they were at first in a state of panic and thought that
their only safety lay in flight, but when their fears subsided and they saw that
they would be deserting not only their city but their alliance with Rome, they
thought out the following plan of operations. It so happened that the annual
festival of Diana of Amarynthis was being held at the time in Eretria, and this
festival was attended not only by the natives but also by the people of
Carystus. A deputation was sent from Chalcis to beg the Eretrians and the
Carystians to take compassion on those who were born in the same island as
themselves, to remember their alliance with Rome, and not to allow Chalcis
to pass into the hands of the Aetolians. If they held Chalcis they would hold
Euboea; the Macedonians had been harsh masters, the Aetolians would be
much more insupportable. The two cities were influenced mainly by their
respect for the Romans, whose courage in the late war as well as their justice
and considerateness they had had practical experience of. Each city
accordingly armed and despatched all their fighting men. The Chalcidians left
the defence of their walls to them, and crossing the Euripus with their entire
force fixed their camp at Salganeus. From there they sent first a herald and
then delegates to the Aetolians to inquire what they had done or said that
their allies and friends should come to attack them. Thoas, who was in
command, replied that they were come not to attack them but to deliver
them from the Romans. "You are fettered," he said, "with more glittering but
also with heavier chains than when you had a Macedonian garrison in your
citadel." The Chalcidians declared that they were not in bondage to any man,
nor did they need any man's protection. They then left the conference and
returned to their camp. Thoas and the Aetolians had placed all their hopes on
taking the enemy by surprise, and as they were unequal to a sustained
conflict and the siege of a city powerfully protected both by land and sea
they returned home. When Euthymidas heard that his countrymen were
encamped at Salganeus and that the Aetolians had gone away he returned to
Athens. Herodorus after anxiously awaiting the signal from Atalanta sent a
despatch-boat to find out the cause of the delay, and when he learnt that his
associates had abandoned their enterprise he went back to Thronium.
