61.
To the king were brought the spoils of the slain enemy.
[2]
Of these he gave as gifts, to some the noteworthy arms, to others horses, and to some few prisoners. There were over fifteen hundred shields; coats of mail and breastplates made up a total of [p. 481]over a thousand; of helmets, swords and missiles1 of all sorts the number was somewhat greater.
[3]
These gifts, splendid and agreeable in themselves, were augmented by the words of the king, which he pronounced before the army summoned to assembly.
“You have advance notice of the outcome of the war!
[4]
You have routed the better part of the enemy, the Roman cavalry, in which they used to boast that they were unconquered.
[5]
For among the Romans the cavalrymen are the leading young men,2 the cavalry is the training-school for the senate; from it their consuls are chosen to be among the Fathers; from it they select their generals: it is the spoils of these men which we have recently divided among you.
[6]
And no less a victory have you over the legions of the infantry, which, escaping from you by a night retreat, filled the river everywhere with the panic of shipwrecked swimmers.
[7]
But it will be easier for us as we pursue the conquered to pass over the Peneiis than it was for them in their panic; once we have crossed, we shall immediately attack their camp, which we would have captured to-day if they had not fled;
[8]
or if they wish to decide the issue by battle in the open, look for the same outcome of the infantry fight as took place in the clash of the cavalry.”
[9]
Both those who had conquered, wearing on their shoulders the spoils of the slain enemy, eagerly heard their own praises, anticipating a happy outcome in the future because of what had happened, [p. 483]and also the infantry,
[10??]
fired by the glory which others3 had won, especially those of the Macedonian phalanx, hoped for themselves also an opportunity both of achieving some service for the king and of winning a like glory from the enemy. The assembly was dismissed.
[11]
Next day the king set out from there and pitched camp at Mopselus. This is a hill looming up before Tempê and halfway as one goes from Larisa to Gonnus.
1 B.C. 171
2 Cf. II. xx. 10-11, IX. xiv. 14-16, X. xxviii. 7, and Polybius VI. 20. 9; but not all the cavalry were young men of high rank, cf. XXX. xviii. 15, where the equites illustres are specially mentioned, and XXXIX. xxxi. 16; the transition from a cavalry composed of noble citizens to one composed of foreign auxiliaries was at this time under way.
3 B.C. 171
Livy. Books XL-XLII With An English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1938: published without copyright notice.
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