The History of Rome, Books 27 to 36

by Livy

As the taking of this town was a source of great joy to those who effected it, as well as to the general and the rest of the army, so their approach to their camp also presented a splendid spectacle, on account of the immense crowd of captives they drove before them. Scipio, having bestowed high commendations upon his brother, representing the capture of Orinx as equal in importance to the capture of Carthage by himself, led his forces back into hither Spain. He could not make an attempt on Gades, or pursue the army of Hasdrubal, now dispersed through all parts of the province, in consequence of the approach of winter. He therefore dismissed the legions into winter quarters, and sent his brother Lucius Scipio with Hanno, the enemy's general, and other distinguished prisoners, to Rome, while he retired himself to Tarraco. During the same year, the Roman fleet under Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the proconsul, sailing over from Sicily into Africa, devastated to a wide extent the fields about Utica and Carthage. They carried off plunder from the remotest borders of the Carthaginian territory around the very walls of Utica. On their return to Sicily they were met by a Carthaginian fleet of seventy ships of war, of which seventeen were taken and four sunk; the rest were dispersed and compelled to fly. The Romans, victorious both by land and sea, returned to Lilybaeum with immense booty of every kind. The ships of the enemy having thus been driven from the whole sea, large supplies of corn were conveyed to Rome.

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In the beginning of the summer in which these events occurred, Publius Sulpicius, proconsul, and king Attalus, having passed the winter at Aegina, as before observed, united their fleets, consisting of twenty-three Roman quinqueremes and thirty-five belonging to the king, and proceeded to Lemnos. Philip also, that he might be prepared for every kind of measure, whether it should be necessary to meet the enemy on land or sea, came down to the coast of Demetrias and appointed to his army a day on which to meet him at Larissa. On the news of the king's arrival, ambassadors from his allies came to Demetrias from all sides. For the Aetolians, inspirited both by their alliance with the Romans and the approach of king Attalus, were ravaging the neighbouring states; not only the Acarnanians, Boeotians, and Euboeans were very much alarmed, but the Achaeans also were kept in a state of terror, both by the hostile proceedings of the Aetolians, and also by Machanidas, tyrant of Lacedaemon, who had encamped at a short distance from the borders of the Argives. All of these stating the dangers which threatened their possessions, both by land and sea, entreated succour from the king. Philip received accounts even from his own kingdom, that things were not in a state of tranquillity; that both Scerdilaedus and Pleuratus were in motion, and that some of the Thracians, and particularly the Maedians, would certainly make incursions on the contiguous provinces of Macedonia, should the king be occupied with a distant war. The Boeotians, indeed, and the people inhabiting the inland parts of Greece, told him that the Aetolians had obstructed by a ditch and rampart the straits of Thermopylae, where the road is very narrow and confined, in order to prevent their passing to the assistance of the allied states. So many disturbances arising on all hands were sufficient to awaken an inactive general. He dismissed the ambassadors, promising to assist them all according as opportunity and circumstances allowed. For the present, he sent to Peparethus a body of troops to garrison the city, for this was the most urgent business, as information had been received thence that Attalus, crossing over to Lemnos, was devastating all the neighbouring country. He sent Polyphantas with a small detachment to Boeotia, and also Menippus, one of his guards, with one thousand targeteers (the target is not unlike the ordinary buckler) to Chalcis. Five hundred Agrianians were added, that every part of the island might be secured. He went himself to Scotussa, and ordered the Macedonian soldiers to be removed thither from Larissa. Here he heard that the Aetolians had been summoned to an assembly at Heraclea, and that king Attalus was to come and advise with them as to the conduct of the war. Determining to interrupt this meeting by his sudden approach, he led his troops by forced marches to Heraclea, where he arrived just after the assembly had broken up. However, he destroyed the crops, which were nearly ripe, particularly those round the Aenian bay. He then marched back to Scotussa, and leaving there the main army, retired to Demetrias with the royal guards. In order to be prepared against every attempt of the enemy, he sent persons hence to Phocis, Euboea, and Peparethus, to select elevated situations, from which fires lighted upon them might be seen from a distance. He fixed a watch-tower on Tisaeum, a mountain whose summit is prodigiously high, in order that when the enemy made any attempt he might instantly receive intimation of it by means of fires lighted up at a distance. The Roman general and king Attalus then passed over from Peparethus to Nicaea, and thence sailed to Orcus, the first city of Euboea, on the left as you proceed to Chalcis and the Euripus from the bay of Demetrias. It was agreed upon between Attalus and Sulpicius, that the Romans should attack the town on the side next the sea, and the king's forces on the land side.

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Four days after the fleet arrived, they attacked the city. That time had been employed in private conferences with Plator, whom Philip had put in command of the place. The city has two citadels, one overhanging the coasts, the other in the middle of the town, from which there is a subterraneous passage to the ocean, whose entrance next the sea is defended by a strong fortification, a tower five stories high. Here the affair commenced with a most furious contest, the tower being furnished with all kinds of weapons, and engines and machines of every kind for the purpose of the assault having been landed from the ships. While the eyes and attention of all were turned to that quarter, Plator opened one of the gates and received the Romans into the citadel next the sea, which they instantly became masters of. The inhabitants, driven thence, fled to the other citadel in the middle of the city; but there had been troops posted there to shut the gates against them; so that, being thus excluded, they were surrounded and either slain or made prisoners. Meanwhile the Macedonian garrison stood under the wall of the citadel, formed into a compact body, neither confusedly attempting a retreat, nor obstinately engaging in a contest. These men Plator, after obtaining permission from Sulpicius, put on board ships and landed them at Demetrias in Phthiotis; he himself withdrew to Attalus. Sulpicius, elated with the success at Oreum, gained with so much ease, proceeded to Chalcis with his victorious fleet, where the issue by no means answered his expectations. The sea, which is wide on both sides, being here contracted into a narrow strait, might perhaps, at first view, exhibit the appearance of two harbours facing the two entrances of the Euripus. It would be difficult to find a station more dangerous for shipping; for not only do the winds come down with great violence from the high mountains on each side, but the strait itself of the Euripus does not ebb and flow seven times a day at stated times, as is reported, but the current changing irregularly, like the wind, now this way now that, is hurried along like a torrent rolling headlong down a steep mountain, so that no quiet is given to vessels there day or night. But not only did so perilous a station receive his ships, but the town was strong and impregnable, covered on one side by the sea, and very well fortified on the other towards the land, secured by a strong garrison, and above all, by the fidelity of the praefects and principal men, which was wavering and unsettled at Oreum. Though the business had been rashly undertaken, the Roman still acted with prudence, in so far as he speedily gave up the attempt, after he had seen all the difficulties which surrounded him, that he might not waste time, and passed his fleet over from thence to Cynus in Locris, the port of the town of Opus, which is one mile distant from the sea.

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