44.4
Hippias
had recently been sent by the king to guard the pass, and as soon as he
caught sight of the Roman camp on the hill he prepared his men for battle
and marched to meet the enemy's column as it advanced. The Romans went
into the fight in light equipment; the enemy force, too, consisted of light
infantry; these troops are the readiest to commence an action. When the two
bodies met they at once discharged their missiles; many wounds were
inflicted in their random charges, a few were killed. The following day they
engaged in a more exasperated temper and in great strength, and had there
been more space in which to deploy their lines a decisive action might have
been fought. The summit of the mountain narrows into a wedge-shaped
ridge which hardly allows a front to be formed of three men abreast. So
while the actual fighting was carried on by a few, the rest, especially the
heavy infantry, stood and watched it. The light infantry were able to run
forward through the dips in the ridge and attack the flanks of the enemy's
light infantry, both where the ground was favourable and where it was not.
Night put an end to the battle in which more had been wounded than killed.
The next day the Roman commander was at a loss what to do. To
stay on the bare mountain height was impossible; it was equally impossible
for him to retreat without loss of honour and even without danger should the
enemy attack him from the higher ground. There was only one course left, to
carry through the adventure with the same rashness with which he had
entered upon it; a policy which the result sometimes proves to be a wise one.
Matters had come to this -if the consul had had an enemy like the old kings
of Macedonia he might have incurred a crushing defeat. Whilst, however,
Perseus was riding with his cavalry along the coast at Dium and heard twelve
miles away the noise and clamour of the fighting, he did not strengthen his
line by sending fresh men to replace those who had borne the burden of the
combat, nor, what was most important of all, did he himself appear on the
field. And yet the Roman commander, more than sixty years old and very
stout, was discharging personally all the duties of a soldier with unflagging
energy. To the very last he showed the same splendid audacity as he had at
the beginning. Leaving Popilius to hold the summit he made preparations to
cross the ridge and sent men to clear a way where before there was not even
a track. Attalus and Misagenes with their two contingents were told off to
protect the pioneers. The cavalry and baggage formed the front part of the
column, the consul with his legions followed.
