36.16
In a
state of mind very unlike theirs Antiochus pitched his camp inside the
narrowest part of the pass and barricaded it with defensive works, protecting
every part of it with a double line of fosse and rampart and where it seemed
necessary with a wall built up from the stones which were lying about
everywhere. He felt pretty confident that the Roman army would never force
a passage there, and so he sent two detachments out of the 4000 Aetolians
who had joined him, one to hold Heraclea, a place just in front of the pass,
the other to Hypata. He quite expected that the consul would attack
Heraclea; and from Hypata numerous messages had come stating that the
whole of the surrounding country was being laid waste. The consul ravaged
the territory of Hypata first and then that of Heraclea; in neither place did the
Aetolians prove of the slightest use, and finally encamped opposite the king
in the mouth of the pass at the hot springs. Both the Aetolian detachments
shut themselves up in Heraclea. Before the actual appearance of his enemy
Antiochus thought that the whole of the pass was fortified and blocked by
his troops, but now he felt anxious lest the Romans might find some paths on
the surrounding heights by which they could turn his defences, for the
Lacedaemonians were stated to have been similarly taken in the rear by the
Persians, and Philip quite recently by the Romans. Accordingly he sent a
message to the Aetolians at Heraclea asking them to do him this service at
least in the war, namely, to seize and hold the crests of the surrounding
mountains and prevent the Romans from crossing them anywhere. On the
receipt of this message there was a sharp difference of opinion among the
Aetolians. Some thought that they ought to comply with the king's request
and go; others were in favour of remaining in their quarters at Heraclea,
prepared for either eventuality. If the king were defeated they would then
have their forces intact and be able to assist in the defence of the cities round
them, if on the other hand he were victorious they would then be in a
position to take up the pursuit of the fugitive Romans. Each party held to its
opinion, and not only held to it but acted upon it; 2000 remained in
Heraclea, and the others, formed into three divisions, occupied the three
heights of Callidromus, Rhoduntia and Tichius.
