42.65
The
distance he had to march annoyed the king and he advanced his camp to
Mopselus. The Romans, having cut all the standing corn round Crannon,
moved into the district of Phalanna. The king learnt from a deserter that the
Romans were dispersed over the country, cutting the corn, without any
remaining on guard. He started off with 1000 cavalry and 2000 Thracian and
Cretan light infantry. Marching with the utmost possible speed he attacked
the Romans when they were least expecting it. Nearly 1000 carts most of
them loaded, were captured with their teams, and also 600 prisoners taken.
He gave the plunder to the Cretans to escort back to their camp. Then he
recalled the cavalry and the rest of the infantry, who were everywhere
slaughtering the enemy, and led them against the nearest detachment who
were on guard, thinking to overwhelm them without much trouble. A
military tribune, L. Pomponius, was in command of the detachment and
withdrew his men, who were dismayed by the sudden appearance of the
enemy, to a hill near by, to serve as a defensive position since he was inferior
in numbers and strength. Here he made his soldiers close up in a circular
formation, with their shields touching one another, so that they might be
protected from the arrows and javelins.
Perseus surrounded the hill with his troops and ordered one body to
attempt the ascent of the hill and come to close quarters with the enemy,
whilst the others discharged their missiles from a distance. The Romans were
in very great danger, for they could not fight in close order against those
who were struggling up the hill, and if they left their ranks and ran forward
they were exposed to the javelins and arrows. They suffered mainly from the
cestrosphendons, a novel kind of weapon invented during the war. It
consisted of a pointed iron head two palms long, fastened to a shaft made of
pinewood, nine inches long and as thick as a man's finger. Round the shaft
three feathers were fastened as in the case of arrows, and the sling was held
by two thongs, one shorter than the other. When the missile was poised in
the centre of the sling, the slinger whirled it round with great force and it
flew out like a leaden bullet. Many of the soldiers were wounded by these
and by missiles of all kinds, and they were becoming so exhausted that they
were hardly capable of holding their weapons. Seeing this, the king urged
them to surrender and pledged his word for their safety and promised to
reward them. Not a single man had any thought of surrender. They had made
up their minds to die, when an unlooked-for gleam of hope appeared. Some
of the foragers, who had fled to the camp, informed the consul that the
detachment on guard was surrounded. Alarmed for the safety of so many
fellow-citizens -there were about 800, all Romans -he sallied forth from the
camp with a force of cavalry and infantry, including the new reinforcement
of Numidian horse and foot, as well as the elephants. The order was given to
the military tribunes to follow with the legionaries. Bringing up the velites to
stiffen the auxiliary light infantry, he went forward to the hill. Eumenes,
Attalus and Misagenes, the Numidian leader, rode by his side.