About the same time, and, as some writers say, on the same day, the Achaeans defeated Androsthenes, the king's commander, in a general engagement near Corinth. Philip, intending to use this city as a citadel, to awe the states of Greece, had invited the principal inhabitants to a conference, under pretence of agreeing with them as to the number of horsemen which the Corinthians could supply towards the war, and these he detained as hostages. Besides the force already there, consisting of five hundred Macedonians and eight hundred auxiliaries of various kinds, he had sent thither one thousand Macedonians, one thousand two hundred Illyrians, and of Thracians and Cretans (for these served in both the opposite armies) eight hundred. To these were added Botians, Thessalians, and Acarnanians, to the amount of one thousand, all carrying bucklers; with as many of the young Corinthians themselves, as filled up the number of six thousand men under arms,--a force which inspired Androsthenes with a confident wish to decide the matter in the field. Nicostratus, praetor of the Achaeans, was at Sicyon, with two thousand foot and one hundred horse; but seeing himself so inferior, both in the number and kind of troops, he did not go outside the walls: the king's forces, in various excursions, were ravaging the lands of Pellene, Phliasus, and Cleone. At last, reproaching the enemy with cowardice, they passed over into the territory of Sicyon, and, sailing round Achaia, laid waste the whole coast. As the enemy, while thus employed, spread themselves about too widely and too carelessly, (the usual consequence of too much confidence,) Nicostratus conceived hopes of attacking them by surprise. He therefore sent secret directions to all the neighbouring states, as to what day, and what number from each state, should assemble in arms at Apelaurus, a place in the territory of Stymphalia. All being in readiness at the time appointed, he marched thence immediately; and, without the knowledge of any one as to what he was contemplating, came by night through the territory of the Phliasians to Cleone. He had with him five thousand foot, of whom * * * * * * [[13]] were light-armed, and three hundred horse; with this force he waited there, having despatched scouts to watch on what quarter the enemy should make their irregular inroads.
15
Androsthenes, utterly ignorant of all these proceedings, set out from Corinth, and encamped on the Nemea, a river running between the confines of Corinth and Sicyon. Here, dismissing one half of his troops, he divided the remainder into three parts, and ordered all the cavalry of each part to march in separate divisions, and ravage, at the same time, the territories of Pellene, Sicyon, and Phlius. Accordingly, the three divisions set out by different roads. As soon as Nicostratus received intelligence of this at Cleone, he instantly sent forward a numerous detachment of mercenaries, to seize a pass at the entrance into the territory of Corinth; and he himself quickly followed, with his troops in two columns, the cavalry proceeding before the head of each, as advanced guards. In one column marched the mercenary soldiers and light infantry; in the other, the shield-bearers of the Achaeans and other states, who composed the principal strength of the army. Both infantry and cavalry were now within a small distance of the camp, and some of the Thracians had attacked parties of the enemy, who were straggling and scattered over the country, when the sudden alarm reached their tents. The commander was thrown into the utmost perplexity; for, having never had a sight of the Achaeans, except occasionally on the hills before Sicyon, when they did not venture to come down into the plains, he had never imagined that they would come so far as Cleone. He ordered the stragglers to be recalled by sound of trumpet; commanded the soldiers to take arms with all haste; and, marching out of the gate at the head of thin battalions, drew up his line on the bank of the river. His other troops, having scarcely had time to be collected and formed, did not withstand the enemy's first onset; the Macedonians had surrounded their standards in by far the greatest numbers, and now kept the prospect of victory a long time doubtful. At length, being left exposed by the flight of the rest, and pressed by two bodies of the enemy on different sides, by the light infantry on their flank, and by the shield-bearers and targeteers in front, and seeing victory declare against them, they at first gave ground; soon after, being vigorously pushed, they turned their backs; and most of them, throwing away their arms and having lost all hope of defending their camp, made the best of their way to Corinth. Nicostratus sent the mercenaries in pursuit of these; and the auxiliary Thracians against the party employed in ravaging the lands of Sicyon: occasioned great carnage in both instances, greater almost than occurred in the battle itself. Of those who had been ravaging Pellene and Phlius, some, returning to their camp, ignorant of all that had happened, and without any regular order, fell in with the advanced guards of the enemy, where they expected their own. Others, from the bustle which they perceived, suspecting what was really the case, fled and dispersed themselves in such a manner, that, as they wandered up and down, they were cut off by the very peasants. There fell, on that day, one thousand five hundred: three hundred were made prisoners. All Achaia was thus relieved from their great alarm.
16
Before the battle at Cynoscephalae, Lucius Quinctius had invited to Corcyra some chiefs of the Acarnanians, the only state in Greece which had continued to maintain its alliance with the Macedonians; and there made some kind of scheme for a change of measures. Two causes, principally, had retained them in friendship with the king: one was a principle of honour, natural to that nation; the other, their fear and hatred of the Aetolians. A general assembly was summoned to meet at Leucas; but neither did all the states of Acarnania come thither, nor were those who did attend agreed in opinion. However, the magistrates and leading men prevailed so far, as to get a decree passed, thus privately, for joining in alliance with the Romans. This gave great offence to those who had not been present; and, in this ferment of the nation, Androcles and Echedemus, two men of distinction among the Acarnanians, being commissioned by Philip, had influence enough in the assembly, not only to obtain the repeal of the decree for an alliance with Rome, but also the condemnation, on a charge of treason, of Archesilaus and Bianor, both men of the first rank in Acarnania, who had been the advisers of that measure; and to deprive Zeuxidas, the praetor, of his office, for having put it to the vote. The persons condemned took a course apparently desperate, but successful in the issue: for, while their friends advised them to yield to the necessity of the occasion, and withdraw to Corcyra, to the Romans, they resolved to present themselves to the multitude; and either, by that act, to mollify their resentment, or endure whatever might befall them. When they had introduced themselves into a full assembly, at first, a murmur arose, expressive of surprise; but presently silence took place, partly from respect to their former dignity, partly from commiseration of their present situation. Having been also permitted the liberty of speaking, at first they addressed the assembly in a suppliant manner; but, in the progress of their discourse, when they came to refute the charges made against them, they spoke with that degree of confidence which innocence inspires. At last, they even ventured to utter some complaints, and to charge the proceedings against them with injustice and cruelty; and this had such an effect on the minds of all present, that, with one consent, they annulled all the decrees passed against them. Nevertheless, they came to a resolution, to renounce the friendship of the Romans, and return to the alliance with Philip.
17
These decrees were passed at Leucas, the capital of Acarnania, the place where all the states usually met in council. As soon, therefore, as the news of this sudden change reached the lieutenant-general Flamininus, in Corcyra, he instantly set sail with the fleet for Leucas; and coming to an anchor at a place called Heraeus, advanced thence towards the walls with every kind of machine used in the attacking of cities; supposing that the first appearance of danger might bend the minds of the inhabitants to submission. But seeing no prospect of effecting any thing, except by force, he began to erect towers and sheds, and to bring up the battering-rams to the walls. The whole of Acarnania, being situated between Aetolia and Epirus, faces towards the west and the Sicilian sea. Leucadia, now an island, separated from Acarnania by a shallow strait which was dug by the hand, was then a peninsula, united on its eastern side to Acarnania by a narrow isthmus: this isthmus was about five hundred paces in length, and in breadth not above one hundred and twenty. At the entrance of this narrow neck stands Leucas, stretching up part of a hill which faces the east and Acarnania: the lower part of the town is level, lying along the sea, which divides Leucadia from Acarnania. Thus it lies open to attacks, both from the sea and from the land; for the channel is more like a marsh than a sea, and all the adjacent ground is solid enough to render the construction of works easy. In many places, therefore, at once the walls fell down, either undermined, or demolished by the ram. But the spirit of the besieged was as invincible as the town itself was favourably situated for the besiegers: night and day they employed themselves busily in repairing the shattered parts of the wall; and, stopping up the breaches that were made, fought the enemy with great spirit, and showed a wish to defend the walls by their arms rather than themselves by the walls. And they would certainly have protracted the siege to a length unexpected by the Romans, had not some exiles of Italian birth, who resided in Leucas, admitted a band of soldiers into the citadel: notwithstanding which, when those troops ran down from the higher ground with great tumult and uproar, the Leucadians, drawing up in a body in the forum, withstood them for a considerable time in regular fight. Meanwhile the walls were scaled in many places; and the besiegers, climbing over the rubbish, entered the town through the breaches. And now the lieutenant-general himself surrounded the combatants with a powerful force. Being thus hemmed in, many were slain, the rest laid down their arms and surrendered to the conqueror. In a few days after, on hearing of the battle at Cynoscephalae, all the states of Acarnania made their submission to the lieutenant-general.