31.23
Some
refugees from Chalcis who had been expelled by the king's adherents
reported that the place could be seized without any serious resistance, for as
there was no enemy to be feared in the neighbourhood the Macedonians
were strolling about everywhere, and the townsmen, trusting to the
Macedonians for protection, made no attempt to guard the city. On this
information C. Claudius proceeded to Chalcis, and although he reached
Sunium early enough to allow of his entering the strait of Euboea the same
day, he kept his fleet at anchor till nightfall that his approach might not be
observed. As soon as it was dark he sailed on over a calm sea and reached
Chalcis a little before dawn. He selected the least populous part of the city
for his attempt, and finding the guards at some points asleep and other places
without any guard at all, he directed a small body of soldiers to place their
scaling-ladders against the nearest tower, which was taken with the wall on
either side of it. Then they advanced along the wall to where the buildings
were numerous, killing the guards on their way, till they reached the gate
which they broke down and so admitted the main body of troops. Dispersing
in all directions they filled the city with tumult, and, to add to the confusion,
the buildings round the forum were set on fire. They burnt the king's
granaries and the arsenal with an immense number of military engines and
artillery. This was followed by an indiscriminate slaughter of those who
offered resistance and those who tried to escape, and at last every man
capable of bearing arms was either killed or put to flight. Amongst the
former was Sopater, an Acarnanian, the commandant of the garrison. All the
plunder was collected in the forum and then placed on board the ships. The
gaol too was broken open by the Rhodians, and the prisoners of war whom
Philip had immured there as being the safest place of custody were released.
After the statues of the king had been thrown down and mutilated the signal
for embarkation was given, and they sailed back to the Piraeus. Had there
been a sufficient force of Roman soldiery to allow of Chalcis being occupied
without interfering with the protection of Athens, Chalcis and the Euripus
would have been wrested from the king; a most important success at the
very outset of the war. For the Euripus is the key to Greece by sea as the
pass of Thermopylae is by land.
