38.4
Induced
by these considerations the consul advanced through Epirus, but when he
came to Ambracia he saw that its siege would be a serious undertaking.
Ambracia lies at the foot of a rugged eminence which the natives call
Perranthes. The city on the side where the wall skirts the river and the plain
looks to the west; the citadel built on the hill lies to the east. The Aretho,
which rises in Athamania, falls into the gulf named after the city -the
Ambracian Gulf. In addition to the protection afforded by the river on the
one side and the hill on the other, the city was enclosed by a strong wall
more than four miles in circumference. Fulvius constructed two entrenched
camps at a short distance from each other in the direction of the plain and
one fort on a height over against the citadel, and made preparations for
connecting the whole by a rampart and fosse, so that those shut up in the city
would not be able to leave it, nor would it be possible to introduce succours
from outside. When the news of the siege of Ambracia reached them, the
Aetolian national council assembled at Stratus, on the summons of Nicander,
their captain-general. Their first intention was to march thither with all their
forces and raise the siege, but when they found that a great part of the city
was already invested and that the Epirot camp was fixed on the level ground
the other side the river, they divided their forces. Eupolemus with 1000 light
infantry succeeded in entering the city at a point where the lines were not yet
closed. Nicander intended to make a night attack with the rest of the troops
upon the Epirot camp, as the Romans would find it difficult to come to their
assistance with the river between them. On second thoughts, however, the
risk seemed too great in case the Romans took the alarm and endangered his
retreat, so he marched away and ravaged Acarnania.
