BOOK XXXVIII.
Marcus Fulvius the consul besieged Ambracia, in Epirus, and received its surrender; he reduced Cephallenia, and granted peace to the Ætolians, on their complete subjection. Cneius Manlius the consul, his colleague, conquered the Gallogræcians, including the Tolistoboii, Tectosagi, and Trocmi who, under the command of Brennus, had crossed over into Asia, since they were the only refractory nation on this side of Mount Taurus. Their origin is related, and likewise the manner in which they became masters of the territories which they now hold. An instance, also, of virtue and chastity in a woman is recorded: for when the wife of Ortiagon, king of the Gallogræcians, was a captive, she slew a centurion who was sentinel over her, because he offered her violence. The lustrum was closed by the censors. Two hundred and fifty-eight thousand three hundred and twenty-eight citizens were rated. A treaty of amity was entered into with Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. Cneius Manlius, although the ten ambassadors by whose advice he had written the terms of the treaty with Antiochus, opposed him, pleaded his cause in person in the senate, and triumphed over the Gallogræcians. Scipio Africanus, a day of trial being appointed him, as some say, by Quintus Petillius, tribune of the people, as others say, by Nævius, on the charge of having fraudulently deprived the treasury of the plunder taken from Antiochus, when the day of trial came on, was summoned to the rostrum, and said, “On this day, Romans, I conquered Carthage;” and, followed by the people, ascended the Capitol. Subsequently, that he might not receive any further annoyance front the injuries done him by the tribunes, he retired into voluntary exile at Liternum: it is uncertain whether he died there or at Rome, for monuments were erected to his memory in both places. Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, brother of Africanus, was accused and condemned on the same charge of embezzlement as his brother: when he was being led to prison, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, tribune of the commons, who had been previously on unfriendly terms with the Scipios, vetoed it; and in return for that kindness, received in marriage the daughter of Africanus. When the quæstors were sent to take public possession of the property of Lucius Scipio, not only was no trace of the king’s money apparent in it, but not even so much was raised thereby as the amount in which he was fined. He would not receive the countless sum collected by his relations and friends: the mere necessaries of life were purchased back.
1 While the war is being carried on in Asia, matters were not even then tranquil among the Ætolians, a commencement of these disturbances having originated with the nation of the Athamanians. At that period, since the expulsion of Amynander, Athamania was kept in subjection by royal garrisons, under governors appointed by Philip, who by their haughty and overbearing exercise of power, had made the people regret the loss of Amynander. The hope of recovering the kingdom was presented to Amynander, then an exile in Ætolia, by the letters of his partisans, who informed him of the state of Athamania: and messengers were sent to Argithea, (for that was the chief city of Athamania,) to inform the principal men, that, if they were sufficiently assured of the inclinations of their countrymen, he, having obtained succours from the Ætolians, would come, into Athamania with a chosen body of Ætolians, who constituted the council of that nation, and their prætor, Nicander. And, when he found that they were prepared for every thing, he gave them notice, immediately after, of the day on which he would enter Athamania at the head of an army. At first there were four conspirators against the Macedonian garrison; then each of these took as associates six assistants for the execution of the business; but, afterwards, distrusting their small number, which was rather calculated for the concealment than for the execution of the design, they took in a number of associates, equal to the former. Being thus increased to fifty-two, they divided themselves into four parties, one of which repaired to Heraclea, another to Tetraphylia, where the royal treasure used to be kept, a third to Theudoria, and the fourth to Argithea. It was agreed that they should at first appear in the forum publicly, without any bustle, as if they had come about their own ordinary concerns; and then, on a certain day, raise the whole populace, so as to dislodge the Macedonian garrisons from the citadels. When the day came, and Amynander with a thousand Ætolians was on the frontiers, by the preconcerted plan the Macedonian garrisons were driven from the four places at once, and letters were despatched to all the other cities, calling on them to rescue themselves from the exorbitant tyranny of Philip, and to reinstate their hereditary and lawful prince. Accordingly, the Macedonians were, every where, expelled. The town of Theium, (in consequence of the letters being intercepted by Teno, commander of the garrison, and owing to the citadel being occupied by the king’s troops,) stood a siege of a few days, and then surrendered to Amynander, who had now all Athamania in his power, except the fort of Athenæum, on the borders of Macedonia.
2 When Philip heard of the defection of Athamania, he out at the head of six thousand men, and proceeded, with the utmost speed, to Gomphi. Having left the greater part of his force, as they would not have been equal to such long marches, he went forward, with two thousand, to Athenæum, the only place which had been retained by his troops. Then, having made attempts on the nearest places, when he clearly perceived that all the rest of the country was hostile to him, he retreated to Gomphi, and returned with the whole of his army into Athamania. He then sent Zeno, at the head of one thousand foot, with orders to seize on Ethopia, which stands advantageously for commanding Argithea; and, as soon as he understood that this post was in possession of his party, he himself encamped near the temple of Acræan Jupiter. Here he was detained one whole day, by a tremendous storm; and on the next, proceeded to lead them towards Argithea. On the troops commencing their march the Athamanians immediately appeared hastening to the hills which overlooked the road. On the sight of whom, the foremost battalions halted, while fear and confusion spread through the whole army, and every one began to consider what might have been the consequence, if the troops had gone down into the valleys commanded by those cliffs. This confusion compelled the king, who wished, if his men would follow him, to push on rapidly through the defile, to call back the foremost, and return by the same road by which he came. The Athamanians at first followed at a distance, without making any attempt: after the Ætolians joined them, they left these to harass the rear, and extended themselves on both flanks. Some of them, by taking a shorter way, through known paths, seized the passes; and such terror was struck into the Macedonians, that they repassed the river in a manner more like a hasty flight than a regular march, leaving behind many of their men and arms. Here was the end of the pursuit, and the Macedonians, in safety, returned to Gomphi, and from Gomphi into Macedonia. The Athamanians and Ætolians ran together, from all sides, to Ethopia, to crush Zeno and his thousand Macedonians. The Macedonians, distrusting their position, removed from Ethopia, to a hill which was higher and steeper on all sides; from which the Athamanians, having found access in several places, dislodged them; and while they were dispersed, and unable to find the road for flight, through impassable and unknown rocks, slew part of them and made part prisoners. Great numbers, in their panic, tumbled down the precipices; very few, with Zeno, effected their escape to the king. Afterwards, permission to bury their dead was given to them during the truce.
3 Amynander, on recovering possession of his kingdom, sent ambassadors, both to the senate at Rome and to the Scipios in Asia, who, since the grand battle with Antiochus, stayed at Ephesus. He requested a treaty of amity, and apologized for having had recourse to the Ætolians, for the recovery of his hereditary dominions. He made many charges against Philip. The Ætolians from Athamania proceeded into Amphilochia, and, with the consent of the greater part of the inhabitants, reduced that nation under their power and dominion. After the recovery of Amphilochia, for it had formerly belonged to the Ætolians, they passed on, with hopes of equal success, into Aperantia. That also, for the most part, surrendered to the Ætolians without a contest. The Dolopians had never been subject to the Ætolians, but they were to Philip. These, at first, ran to arms; but when they were informed of the Amphilochians taking part with the Ætolians, of Philip’s flight from Athamania, and the destruction of his detachment, they also revolted from Philip to the Ætolians. Whilst the Ætolians believed that they were now secured against the Macedonians on all sides, by these nations surrounding them, the report is brought to them that Antiochus was conquered in Asia by the Romans. Not very long after, their ambassadors came home from Rome, without the prospect of peace, announcing that the consul Fulvius, with his army, had already crossed the sea. Dismayed at these accounts, they send the chief men of the state to Rome to try the last hope, having previously solicited embassies from Rhodes and Athens, that, through the influence of those states, their petitions, lately rejected, might meet with a more favourable reception from the senate: they took no kind of precaution to avert the war, before it was almost within sight. Marcus Fulvius, having brought over his army to Apollonia, was, at this time, consulting with the Epirot chiefs where he should commence his operations. It was the opinion of the Epirots that he should attack Ambracia, which had lately united itself to Ætolia; alleging, that, “in case the Ætolians should come to its relief, there were open plains around it, to fight in; or that if they should avoid a battle there would be no great difficulty in the siege, for there were at hand abundant materials for raising mounds and other works, while the Arachthus, a navigable river, well adapted to convey every thing requisite, flowed by the walls; besides, the summer was just approaching, the fittest season for the enterprise.” By these arguments they persuaded him to march on through Epirus.
4 To the consul, on his arrival at Ambracia, the siege appeared to be a work of no small difficulty. Ambracia stands at the foot of a rocky hill, called by the natives Perranthe: the city, where the wall faces the plain and the river, looks towards the west; the citadel, which is seated on the hill, towards the east. The river Arachthus, which rises in Athamania, falls here into a gulf of the sea, called the Ambracian, from the name of the adjacent city. Besides that the river defended it on one side and the hills on the other, it was also surrounded by a strong wall, extending in circuit somewhat more than three miles. Fulvius formed two camps at a short distance from each other, and one fort on the high ground opposite to the citadel; all which he intended to join together by a rampart and trench, in such a manner that there should be no exit from the city for the besieged, nor entrance For the introduction of assistance from without. The Ætolians, on the report of the siege of Ambracia, were by this time assembled at Stratus, in obedience to an edict of their prætor, Nicander. At first they intended to have marched hence, with their whole force, to raise the siege; afterwards, when they heard that the place was already, in a great measure, surrounded with works, and that the Epirots were encamped on level ground, on the other side of the river, they resolved to divide their forces. Eupolemus, with one thousand light troops, marching to Ambracia, made his way into the city, though the works were joined to each other. Nicander’s first plan was to have attacked the camp of the Epirots in the night, with the rest of the troops, as assistance could not be easily received from the Romans, because the river ran between them. Afterward, judging it too dangerous an undertaking, lest the Romans should by any means discover it, and his retreat become unsafe, he was deterred from this design, and marched away to ravage the country of Acarnania.
5 The consul having now finished the intrenchments with which it was necessary to surround the city, and likewise the works which he was preparing to bring forward to the walls, attacked the city in five different places; three attacks, at equal distances from each other, he directed against the quarter which they called Pyrrheum, as the approach was easier from the plain; one opposite to the temple of Æsculapius, and one against the citadel. He broke down the walls with battering-rams, and tore down the battlements with poles armed with scythes. At first, terror and dismay seized the townsmen, at the formidable appearance of the works, and the shocks given to the walls, which were attended with a dreadful noise: afterwards, when they beheld them contrary to their hopes standing, having again resumed courage, they, by means of cranes, threw down upon the battering-rams weighty masses of lead, or stone, or beams of timber; dragging the armed poles, with iron grapples, within the walls, they broke off the hooks; besides, by sallies, both by night against the watch-guards of the engines, and by day against the advanced posts, they kept the besiegers in a state of continual alarm. While affairs at Ambracia were in this state, the Ætolians had returned from ravaging Acarnania, to Stratus. Their prætor, Nicander, having conceived hopes of raising the siege by a bold effort, sent a person called Nicodamus, with five hundred Ætolians, into Ambracia, and appointed a certain night, and even the time of the night, on which, from within the city, they were to assault the works of the enemy, opposite to the Pyrrheum, while he himself should alarm the Roman camp. He supposed that, in consequence of the alarm on both sides, and night increasing the terror, something memorable might be achieved. And Nicodamus, in the dead of the night, (when he had escaped the notice of some of the parties on watch, and broken through others by his determined onset,) having passed the intrenchment, penetrated into the city; and gave the besieged considerable hope and courage for any enterprise; and as soon as the appointed time arrived, according to the plan preconcerted, he made a sudden assault on the works. This undertaking was more formidable in the attempt than in the effect, because no attack was made from without; for the prætor of the Ætolians had either been deterred by fear, or had judged it more advisable to carry succours to Amphilochia, which had been lately reduced; which Perseus, the son of Philip, who was sent to recover Dolopia and Amphilochia, was besieging with the greatest vigour.
6 The works of the Romans against the Pyrrheum were carried on in three different places, as has been mentioned before, all which works the Ætolians assaulted at once, but not with similar weapons or similar force. Some advanced with burning torches, others carrying tow and pitch, and fire-darts, their entire line being illuminated by the blaze. At the first assault they cut off many of the men on guard. Afterwards, when the shout and uproar reached the camp, and the signal was given by the consul, the troops took arms and poured out of all the gates to succour their friends. In one place the contest was carried on with fire and sword; from the other two, the Ætolians retired with disappointment, after essaying rather than supporting a fight. The whole brunt of the battle fell on the one quarter with great fury. Here the two commanders, Eupolemus and Nicodamus, in their different posts, encouraged their men and animated them with hope amounting almost to certainty, that Nicander would, according to his agreement, come up speedily and attack the enemy’s rear. This expectation for some time supported their courage in the fight. But at last, as they did not receive the concerted signal from their friends, and saw the number of their enemies continually increasing, they pressed on with less energy, as if deserted; finally, having abandoned the attempt, their retreat now becoming almost impracticable, they were driven in flight into the city, after having burned a part of the works, however, and killed a much greater number than they lost themselves. If the affair had been conducted according to the plan concerted, there was no reason to doubt but that one part at least of the works might have been stormed with great havoc of the Romans;. The Ambracians and the Ætolians, who were within, not only renounced the enterprise of that night, but supposing themselves betrayed by their friends, became much less spirited. None of them any longer sallied out, as before, against the enemy’s stations, but posted on the walls and towers, fought without danger.
7 Perseus, on hearing of the approach of the Ætolians, having raised the siege of the city in which he was employed, and having ravaged the country, quitted Amphilochia, and returned into Macedon. The devastation of their sea-coast called away the Ætolians from this region. Pleuratus, king of the Illyrians, entered the Corinthian gulf with sixty barks, and having formed a junction with the ships of the Achæans lying at Patræ, wasted the maritime parts of Ætolia. Against these one thousand Ætolians were sent, who, by taking short routes, met the fleet wherever it, while sailing around the indentations of the coast, attempted a landing. The Romans at Ambracia, by the battering of their rams in many places at once, laid open a great part of the city; but nevertheless were unable to penetrate into the heart of it. For instead of the wall knocked down a new one was raised with proportionate speed, while the armed men standing on the ruins, formed a kind of bulwark. The consul, therefore, when he made no progress by open force, resolved to form a secret mine, covering the ground first with his machines. And for a long time his workmen, though employed both night and day, not only in digging under the ground but also in carrying away the earth, escaped the observation of the enemy. A heap of it, however, rising suddenly, gave the townsmen intimation of their work, and terrified lest, the wall being undermined, a passage should be opened into the city, they determined to draw a trench within, opposite to the work that was covered with machines. In which when they reached such a depth as the bottom of the mine could well be, then keeping profound silence, having applied their ears to several different places, they endeavoured to catch the sound of the miners; which being heard, they opened a way directly towards them. Nor did it require much exertion, for they came in a short time to an open space where the wall was supported with props by the enemy. The works joining here, as the passage was open from the trench to the mine, the parties began to fight in the dark under ground, first of all with the tools which they had used in the works, but afterwards armed men came quickly up. Subsequently the contest became less spirited; as the besieged stopped the passage, sometimes by stretching strong hair-cloths across it, sometimes by hastily placing doors in the way of their antagonists. A new engine, requiring no great labour, was invented against those who were in the mine. The besieged bored a hole in the bottom of a cask, by which a moderate-sized pipe could be inserted, and made an iron pipe and iron head for the cask, which was perforated in many places. They placed this cask, filled with small feathers, with its mouth turned towards the mine. Through, the holes in the head of the cask projected those very long spears, which they call sarissas, to keep off the enemy. They kindled a small spark of fire, placed among the feathers, by blowing with a smith’s bellows, inserted into the end of the pipe. After that the smoke arising from this, not only in great quantities, but also more offensive from the nauseous stench proceeding from the burnt feathers, had filled the mine, scarcely any one could stay within.