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Now the king in the course of only three days made everything ready for the assault. He divided his forces into three parts and ordered one to attack the palisades which had been erected before the city, the second to face the Theban battle line, and the third as a reserve to support any hard pressed unit of his forces and to enter the battle in its turn. [2] For their part, the Thebans stationed the cavalry within the palisades, assigned their enfranchised slaves, along with refugees and resident aliens, to face those who drove at the walls, and themselves made ready to fight before the city with the Macedonian force about the king which was many times their number. [3] Their children and wives flocked to the temples and implored the gods to rescue the city from its dangers.

When the Macedonians approached and each division encountered the opposing force of Thebans, the trumpets blew the call to arms and the troops on both sides raised the battle cry in unison and hurled their missiles at the enemy. [4] These were soon expended and all turned to the use of the sword at close quarters, and a mighty struggle ensued. The Macedonians exerted a force that could hardly be withstood because of the numbers of their men and the weight of the phalanx, but the Thebans were superior in bodily strength and in their constant training in the gymnasium. Still more, in exaltation of spirit they were lifted out of themselves and became indifferent to personal danger. [5] Many were wounded in both armies and not a few fell facing the blows of the enemy. The air was filled with the roar of fighters locked in the struggle, moans and shouts and exhortations: on the Macedonian side, not to be unworthy of their previous exploits, and on the Theban, not to forget children and wives and parents threatened with slavery and their every household lying exposed to the fury of the Macedonians, and to remember the battles of Leuctra and of Mantineia and the glorious deeds which were household words throughout Greece. So for a long time the battle remained evenly poised because of the surpassing valour of the contestants.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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