The History of Rome, Books 27 to 36 - Livy

The consul having put a stop to the assault at midnight, renewed it on three of the sides, at the fourth watch, with the utmost vigour; ordering Tiberius Sempronius, on the fourth, to keep his party alert, and ready to obey his signal; for he concluded assuredly, that in the tumult by night the enemy would all run to those quarters whence the shouting was heard. Of the Aetolians, such as had gone to rest, with difficulty roused their bodies from sleep, exhausted as they were with fatigue and watching; and such as were still awake, ran in the dark to the places where they heard the noise of fighting. Meanwhile the Romans endeavoured some to climb over the ruins of the walls, through the breaches; others, to scale the walls with ladders; while the Aetolians hastened in all directions to defend the parts attacked. In one quarter, where the buildings stood outside the city, there was neither attack nor defence. A party stood ready, waiting for the signal to make an attack, but there was none within to oppose them. The day now began to dawn, and the consul gave the signal; on which the party, without any opposition, made their way into the town; some through parts that had been battered, others scaling the walls where they were entire. As soon as the Aetolians heard them raise the shout, which denoted the place being taken, they every where forsook their posts, and fled into the citadel. The victors sacked the city; the consul having given permission, not for the sake of gratifying resentment or animosity, but that the soldiers, after having been restrained from plunder in so many cities captured from the enemy, might at last, in some one place, enjoy the fruits of victory. About mid-day he recalled the troops, and dividing them into two parts, ordered one to be led round by the foot of the mountain to a rock, which was of equal height with the citadel, and seemed as if it had been broken off from it, leaving a hollow between; but the summits of these eminences are so nearly contiguous that weapons may be thrown into the citadel from the top of the other. With the other half of the troops the consul intended to march, up from the city to the citadel, and waited to receive a signal from those who were to mount the rock on the farther side. The Aetolians in the citadel could not support the shout of the party which had seized the rock, and the consequent attack of the Romans from the city; for their courage was now broken, and the place was by no means in a condition to hold out a siege of any continuance; the women, children, and great numbers of other helpless people, being crowded together in a fort, which was scarce capable of containing, much less of affording protection to such a multitude. On the first assault, therefore, they laid down their arms and submitted. Among the rest was delivered up Damocritus, chief magistrate of the Aetolians, who at the beginning of the war, when Titus Quinctius asked for a copy of the decree passed by the Aetolians for inviting Antiochus, told him, that, "in Italy, when the Aetolians were encamped there, it should be delivered to him." On account of this presumptuous insolence of his, his surrender was a matter of greater satisfaction to the victors.

At the same time, while the Romans were employed in the reduction of Heraclea, Philip, by concert, besieged Lamia. He had an interview with the consul, as he was returning from Boeotia, at Thermopylae, whither he came to congratulate him and the Roman people on their successes, and to apologize for his not having taken an active part in the war, being prevented by sickness; and then they went from thence, by different routes, to lay siege to the two cities at once. The distance between these places is about seven miles; and as Lamia stands on high ground, and has an open prospect, particularly towards the region of Mount Oeta, the distance seems very short, and every thing that passes can be seen from thence. The Romans and Macedonians, with all the emulation of competitors for a prize, employed the utmost exertions, both night and day, either in the works or in fighting; but the Macedonians encountered greater difficulty on this account, that the Romans made their approaches by mounds, covered galleries, and other works, which were all above ground; whereas the Macedonians worked under ground by mines, and, in that stony soil, often met a flinty rock, which iron could not penetrate. The king, seeing that his undertaking succeeded but ill, endeavoured, by conversations with the principal inhabitants, to prevail on the townspeople to surrender the place; for he was fully persuaded, that if Heraclea should be taken first, the Lamians would then choose to surrender to the Romans rather than to him; and that the consul would take to himself the merit of relieving them from a siege. Nor was he mistaken in that opinion; for no sooner was Heraclea reduced, than a message came to him to desist from the assault; because "it was more reasonable that the Roman soldiers, who had fought the Aetolians in the field, should reap the fruits of the victory." Thus was Lamia relieved, and the misfortune of a neighbouring city proved the means of its escaping a like disaster.

A few days before the capture of Heraclea, the Aetolians, having assembled a council at Hypata, sent ambassadors to Antiochus, among whom was Thoas, the same who had been sent on the former occasion. Their instructions were in the first place, to request the king again to assemble his land and marine forces and cross over into Greece; and, in the next place, if any circumstance should detain him, then to send them supplies of men and money. They were to remind him, that "it concerned his dignity and his honour, not to abandon his allies; and it likewise concerned the safety of his kingdom, not to leave the Romans at full leisure, after ruining the nation of the Aetolians, to carry their whole force into Asia." What they said was true, and therefore made the deeper impression on the king; in consequence of which, he immediately supplied the ambassadors with the money requisite for the exigencies of the war, and assured them, that he would send them succours both of troops and ships. One of the ambassadors, namely, Thoas, he kept with him, by no means against his will, as he hoped that, being present, he might induce the performance of the king's promises.