44.7
The
consul saw in the foolish and cowardly conduct of his enemy the strongest
assurance of safety for himself and his army, and the bright prospect of final
victory. Orders were despatched to Sp. Lucretius at Larisa to seize the
strongholds round Tempe which the enemy had abandoned and Popilius was
sent forward to reconnoitre the passes round Dium. When he found that the
country was clear in every direction he made an advance, and after marching
for two days arrived at Dium. He ordered the site for the camp to be marked
out just under the temple in order that the sanctity of the place might in no
way be violated. On entering the place he found that though it was not large,
it was, nevertheless, so adorned by public buildings and a whole multitude of
statues, and so strongly fortified, that it was difficult to believe there was not
some sinister motive behind the purposeless abandonment of so much wealth
and splendour. After spending a day in thoroughly exploring the
neighbourhood, he resumed his advance, and in the belief that there would
be an abundant supply of corn in Pieria, he marched as far as the River
Mitys, and the next day to Agassae. The population surrendered this city to
him, and with the view of making a favourable impression on the rest of the
Macedonians, he contented himself with demanding hostages, and left the
city without stationing a garrison and promised that the citizens should be
exempt from tribute and live under their own laws. Another day's march
brought him to the River Ascordus, where he encamped. As he found that
the further he advanced from Thessaly the greater was the difficulty of
obtaining any supplies whatever, he returned to Dium, and there was no
doubt in any one's mind as to what they would have had to endure had they
been cut off altogether from Thessaly, seeing that it was not safe to march
any distance from it. Perseus assembled all his troops together with their
generals and severely censured the commandants of the garrisons -Asclepiodotus and Hippias most of all. He declared that they had handed
over the keys of Macedonia to the Romans, but no one could more justly be
charged with this than he himself. When the consul descried the fleet out at
sea, he quite hoped that the ships were bringing supplies, for provisions were
extremely dear and the supply almost exhausted. But from those who had
already entered the harbour he learnt that the cargo ships had been left
behind at Magnesia. Whilst he was quite undecided what to do -for he had
to contend with the difficulties of the situation quite apart from anything the
enemy might do to aggravate them -a despatch was handed to him from Sp.
Lucretius stating that he had discovered that the strongholds commanding
the Vale of Tempe, and those in the neighbourhood of Phila, all held
abundance of corn and of other necessary supplies.