32.12
The
detached force reached the height which was their objective on the third day,
and signalled by a column of smoke that they had seized and were holding it.
Thereupon the consul, having formed his army into three divisions, advanced
up the bottom of the ravine with his main strength and sent his right and left
wings against the camp. The enemy showed no less alertness in meeting the
attack. Eager to come to blows they moved out of their lines, and as long as
they fought in the open, the Romans were vastly superior in courage and
training and arms. But after losing many men in killed and wounded the
king's troops retired upon positions strongly fortified or naturally secure, and
then it was the turn of the Romans to be in difficulties, as they were
advancing over dangerous ground where the narrow space made retreat
almost impossible. Nor would they have been able to retire without paying
heavily for their rashness had not the Macedonians heard shouts and found
that a battle had begun in their rear. This unforeseen danger drove them
frantic with terror, some fled in disorder, others who stood their ground, not
so much because they had the courage to fight, as because there was no
place for escape, were surrounded by the enemy who were pressing on in
front and rear. The whole army might have been annihilated had the victors
been able to keep up the pursuit, but the cavalry were hampered by the
rough and confined ground and the infantry by the weight of their armour.
The king galloped off the field without looking behind him. After he had
ridden some five miles, and rightly suspected from the nature of the country
that the enemy would find it impossible to follow him, he came to a halt on
some rising ground and sent his escort in all directions over hill and dale to
rally his scattered troops. Out of the whole force his losses did not amount
to more than 2000, and all the rest, as if in obedience to a signal, collected
together and marched off in a strong column for Thessaly. After continuing
the pursuit as far as they could with safety, cutting down the fugitives and
despoiling the dead, they plundered the king's camp which even in the
absence of defenders was difficult to approach. During the night they
remained in camp, and the next day the consul followed the enemy through
the gorge at the bottom of which the river wound its way.
