24.40
The
war with Philip which had been for some time apprehended actually broke
out this summer. The praetor, M. Valerius, who had his base at Brundisium
and was cruising off the Calabrian coast, received information from Oricum
that Philip had made an attempt on Apollonia by sending a fleet of 120 light
vessels up the river Aous, and then finding that matters were moving too
slowly, he had brought up his army by night to Oricum, and as the place lay
in a plain and was not strong enough to defend itself either by its
fortifications or its garrison, it was taken at the first assault. His informants
begged him to send help and to keep off one who was unmistakably an
enemy to Rome from injuring the cities on the coast which were in danger
solely because they lay opposite to Italy. M. Valerius complied with their
request, and leaving a small garrison of 2000 men under P. Valerius, set sail
with his fleet ready for action, and such soldiers as the warships had not
room for he placed on the cargo boats. On the second day he reached
Oricum, and as the king on his departure had only left a weak force to hold
it, it was taken with very little fighting. Whilst he was there envoys came to
him from Apollonia with the announcement that they were undergoing a
siege because they refused to break with Rome, and unless the Romans
protected them, they should be unable to withstand the Macedonian any
longer. Valerius promised to do what they wanted and he sent a picked force
of 2000 men on warships to the mouth of the river under the command of Q.
Naevius Crista, an active and experienced soldier. He disembarked his men
and sent the ships back to rejoin the fleet at Oricum, whilst he marched a
some distance from the river, where he would be least likely to meet any of
the king's troops, and entered the city by night, without being observed by
any of the enemy. The following day they rested to give him an opportunity
of making a thorough inspection of the armed force of Apollonia and the
strength of the city. He was much encouraged by the result of his inspection
and also by the account which his scouts gave of the indolence and
negligence which prevailed amongst the enemy. Marching out of the city in
the dead of the night, without the slightest noise or confusion, he got within
the enemy's camp, which was so unguarded and open that it is credibly
stated that more than a thousand men were inside the lines before they were
detected, and if they had only refrained from using their swords they could
actually have reached the king's tent. The slaughter of those nearest the
camp gates aroused the enemy, and such universal panic and terror ensued
that no one seized his weapons or made any attempt to drive out the
invaders. Even the king himself, suddenly wakened from sleep, fled
half-dressed, in a state not decent for a common soldier, to say nothing of a
king, and escaped to his ships in the river. The rest fled wildly in the same
direction. The losses in killed and prisoners were under three thousand, the
prisoners being much the most numerous. After the camp had been
plundered the Apollonians removed the catapults, the ballistae, and the other
siege artillery, which had been put in readiness for the assault, into the city
for the defence of their own walls if such an emergency should ever occur
again; all the other booty was given to the Romans. As soon as the news of
this action reached Oricum, Valerius sent the fleet to the mouth of the river
to prevent any attempt on the part of Philip to escape by sea. The king did
not feel sufficient confidence in risking a contest either by sea or land, and
hauled his ships ashore or burnt them and made his way to Macedonia by
land, the greater part of his army having lost their arms and all their
belongings. M. Valerius wintered with his fleet at Oricum.
