37.21
The
next day the king's advanced posts, in better order and more careful
formation, entrenched themselves half a mile further from the city, and the
Achaeans went out about the same time and to the same place as on the
previous day. For several hours the two sides were on the alert, as though in
expectation of an immediate attack. When the hour for returning to camp
came, just before sunset, the king's troops massed their standards and
withdrew in order of march rather than of battle. As long as they could see
him Diophanes kept quiet, then he charged the rear of the column as
furiously as he did the day before, and again created such confusion and
panic that, though they were being cut down from behind, no attempt was
made to halt and face the enemy. They were driven to their camp in great
disorder, with their ranks almost completely broken up. This dashing exploit
of the Achaeans compelled Seleucus to remove his camp from Pergamene
soil. On learning that the Romans had gone to protect Adramytteum,
Antiochus left that city alone, and after ravaging the lands of Peraea, a
colony from Mitylene, he carried the city itself by assault. Cotton, Corylenus,
Aphrodisias and Prinne were taken at the first attempt. He then returned by
way of Thyatira to Sardis. Seleucus remained on the coast, a terror to some
and a protection to others. The Roman fleet in company with Eumenes and
the Rhodians sailed to Mitylene, and from there to their base at Elea. They
left that place for Phocaea and brought up at an island called Bacchium,
opposite the city, which was rich in works of art. On a former occasion they
had spared the numerous temples and statues, but now they treated them as
enemy property and plundered them. Then they sailed across to the city and
after distributing the troops at different points of attack they commenced the
assault. It seemed possible that it might be taken by escalade without the
usual siege machinery, but after a contingent of 3000 men which Antiochus
had sent for its defence had entered the city, the attack was at once
abandoned and the fleet withdrawn to the island without accomplishing
anything beyond the devastation of the country round the city.
