31.46
.Leaving the rest of the fleet there they
entered the Maliac Gulf with ten swift vessels to discuss the conduct of the
war with the Aetolians. Pyrrhias the Aetolian was the head of the deputation
which came to Heraclea to share their views with Attalus and the Roman
commander. Attalus was requested to furnish a thousand soldiers, as under
the terms of the treaty he was bound to supply that number if they made war
on Philip. The demand was refused on the ground that the Aetolians had
declined to march out and ravage the Macedonian country at the time that
Philip was burning everything round Pergamum, sacred and profane, and so
draw him off to look after his own interests. So the Aetolians were dismissed
with expectations rather than with actual assistance, as the Romans confined
themselves to promises. Apustius returned with Attalus to the fleet. Plans
were now discussed for attacking Oreus. This was a strongly fortified city
and, after the former attempt upon it, had been held by a strong garrison.
After the capture of Andros twenty Rhodian vessels commanded by
Agesimbrotus, all decked ships, joined the Roman fleet. This squadron was
sent to take its station off Zelasium, a promontory in Phthinia beyond
Demetrias, where it would be admirably placed for meeting any movement
on the part of the Macedonian ships. Heraclides, the king's admiral, was
anchored at Demetrias, waiting for any chance which the enemy's negligence
might offer him rather than venturing on open battle.
The Romans and Attalus attacked Oreus on different sides; the
former directed their assault against the citadel which faced the sea, whilst
Attalus directed his towards the hollow between the two citadels where a
wall separates one portion of the city from the other. And as they attacked at
different points, so they employed different methods. The Romans brought
their vineae and battering rams close up to the wall, protecting themselves
with their shield-roof; the king's troops poured in a hail of missiles from their
ballistae and catapults of every description. They hurled huge pieces of rock,
and constructed mines and made use of every expedient which they had
found useful in the former siege. The Macedonians, however, who were
defending city and citadel were not only in greater force but they not
forgotten Philip's censures for their former misconduct nor his threatenings
and promises in the respect of the future, and so they exhibited more
courage and resolution. The Roman general found that more time was being
spent there than he expected and that there was a better prospect of success
in a regular investment than in a sudden assault. Other operations might be
conducted during the siege, so, leaving a sufficient force to complete the
investment, he sailed to the nearest point on the mainland, and suddenly
appearing before Larissa -not the well-known city in Thessaly, but another,
called Cremaste -he captured all the city but the citadel. Attalus, too,
surprised Aegeleon, where the inhabitants were not in the least apprehending
an attack from an enemy who was engaged in the siege of another city. By
this time the siege-works round Oreus had begun to tell upon the place and
the garrison were weakened by their losses and exhausted by the incessant
labour of watches and guards by night and day alike. A part of the wall had
been loosened by the blows of the battering-rams and had fallen down in
several places. The Romans broke through the breach during the night and
forced their way into the citadel commanding the harbour. On receiving a
signal from the Romans in the citadel Attalus entered the city at daybreak
where a large portion of the wall lay in ruins. The garrison and townsmen
fled to the other citadel and in two days' time surrendered. The city fell to
Attalus, the prisoners to the Romans.
