31.43
Athenagoras, Philip's lieutenant, in the
meanwhile caught up the Dardanians as they were retiring within their
frontiers and created considerable confusion in the rear of their column.
They faced about and formed in line of battle, and a regular engagement
ensued in which neither side gained the advantage. When the Dardanians
began again to go forward the king's cavalry continued to harass them, as
they had no troops of the same kind to protect them, and their equipment
rendered them immobile. The ground, too, was in favour of the assailants.
Very few were actually killed, but there were many wounded; no prisoners
were taken because they were cautious about leaving their ranks and kept up
the retreating fight in close order. Thus Philip through his bold initiative as
much as by its successful results kept the two nations in check by his
well-timed movements and so made good the losses he had sustained in the
war with Rome. An incident which occurred subsequently gave him a further
advantage by diminishing the number of his Aetolian enemies. Scopas, one of
their principal men, who had been sent by King Ptolemy from Alexandria
with a considerable amount of gold, conveyed to Egypt a mercenary army
consisting of 6000 infantry and 500 cavalry. He would not have left a single
man of military age in Aetolia if Damocritus had not kept some of them at
home by sternly reminding them of the war which was imminent and the
defenceless condition of a country deprived of its manhood. It is uncertain
whether his action was dictated by patriotism or by personal enmity to
Scopas who had not bribed him. Such were the various undertakings in
which the Romans and Philip were engaged during this summer.