The Situation in the Summer of B. C. 218
THE year of office as Strategus of the younger Aratus had
now come to an end with the rising of the
Pleiades; for that was the arrangement of
time then observed by the Achaeans.
1 Accordingly he laid
down his office and was succeeded in the command of the
Achaeans by Eperatus; Dorimachus being still Strategus of
the Aetolians.
It was at the beginning of this summer that Hannibal entered
upon open war with
Rome; started from New Carthage; and
crossing the Iber, definitely began his expedition and march
into
Italy; while the Romans despatched Tiberius Sempronius
to
Libya with an army, and Publius Cornelius to
Iberia.
This year, too, Antiochus and Ptolemy, abandoning
diplomacy, and the support of their mutual claims upon
Coele-Syria by negotiation, began actual war with each other.
As for Philip, being in need of corn and money for his
Recognition of Philip's services by the assembly of the Achaean league. |
army, he summoned the Achaeans to a general
assembly by means of their magistrates. When
the assembly had met, according to the federal
law, at Aegium,
2 the king saw that Aratus and
his son were indisposed to act for him, because
of the intrigues against them in the matter of the election,
which had been carried on by Apelles; and that Eperatus was
naturally inefficient, and an object of general contempt. These
facts convinced the king of the folly of Apelles and Leontius,
and he once more decided to stand by Aratus. He therefore
persuaded the magistrates to transfer the assembly to
Sicyon;
and there inviting both the elder and younger Aratus to an
interview, he laid the blame of all that had happened upon
Apelles, and urged them to maintain their original policy.
Receiving a ready consent from them, he then entered the
Achaean assembly, and being energetically supported by these
two statesmen, carried all the measures that he desired. For
the Achaeans past
3 a vote decreeing "that five hundred talents
should be paid to the king at once for his last campaign; that
three months' pay should be given to his army, and ten
thousand medimni of corn: and that, for the future, so long
as the king should remain in the
Peloponnese as their ally in
the war, he should receive seventeen talents a month from the Achaeans.
Philip Decides to Fight at Sea
Having passed this decree, the Achaeans dispersed to
The king prepares to carry on the war by sea. |
their various cities. And now the king's forces
mustered again from their winter quarters; and
after deliberations with his friends, Philip
decided to transfer the war to the sea. For he had become
convinced that it was only by so doing that he would himself
be able to surprise the enemy at all points at once, and would
best deprive them of the opportunity of coming to each others'
relief; as they were widely scattered, and each would be in
alarm for their own safety, because the approach of an enemy
by sea is so silent and rapid. For he was at war with three
separate nations,—Aetolians, Lacedaemonians, and Eleans.
Having arrived at this decision, he ordered the ships of
the Achaeans as well as his own to muster at Lechaeum; and
there he made continual experiments in practising the soldiers
of the phalanx to the use of the oar. The Macedonians
answered to his instructions with ready enthusiasm; for they
are in fact the most gallant soldiers on the field of battle, the
promptest to undertake service at sea if need be, and the
most laborious workers at digging trenches, making palisades,
and all such engineering work, in the world: just such as
Hesiod describes the Aeacidae to be
“"Joying in war as in a feast."
”
4
The king, then, and the main body of the Macedonian army,
remained in
Corinth, busied with these practisings and preparations for taking the sea.
Fresh intrigue of Apelles. |
But
Apelles, being neither able to retain an ascendency over Philip, nor to submit to the loss of influence which
resulted from this disregard, entered into a conspiracy with
Leontius and Megaleas, by which it was agreed that these two
men should stay on the spot and damage the king's service by
deliberate neglect; while he went to
Chalcis, and contrived
that no supplies should be brought the king from thence for the
promotion of his designs. Having made this arrangement and
mischievous stipulation with these two men, Apelles set out
for
Chalcis, having found some false pretexts to satisfy the king
as to his departure. And while protracting his stay there, he
carried out his sworn agreement with such determination, that,
as all men obeyed him because of this former credit, the king was
at last reduced by want of money to pawn some of the silverplate used at his own table,
to carry on his affairs.
Philip starts on his naval expedition, B. C. 218. |
However, when the ships were all collected, and
the Macedonian soldiers already well trained to
the oar; the king, giving out rations of corn and pay to the
army, put to sea, and arrived at
Patrae on the second day, with
six thousand Macedonians and twelve hundred mercenaries.
Philip In Cephallenia
Just at that time the Aetolian Strategus Dorimachus
sent Agelaus and Scopas with five hundred Neo-Cretans
5 into
Elis; while the Eleans, in fear of Philip's attempting the siege
of Cyllene, were collecting mercenaries, preparing their own
citizens, and carefully strengthening the defences of Cyllene.
When Philip saw what was going on, he stationed a force at
Dyme, consisting of the Achaean-mercenaries, some of the
Cretans serving with him, and some of the Gallic horse,
together with two thousand picked Achaean infantry. These he
left there as a reserve, as well as an advance guard to prevent
the danger of an attack from
Elis; while he himself, having
first written to the Acarnanians and Scerdilaidas, that each of
their towns should man such vessels as they had and meet him
at Cephallenia, put to sea from
Patrae at the time arranged, and
arrived off Pronni in Cephallenia. But when he saw that this
fortress was difficult to besiege, and its position a contracted
one, he coasted past it with his fleet and came
to anchor at Palus.
Finding that the country
there was full of corn and capable of supporting
an army, he disembarked his troops and encamped close to
the city: and having beached his ships close together, secured
them with a trench and palisade, and sent out his Macedonian
soldiers to forage. He himself made a personal inspection of the
town, to see how he could bring his siege-works and artillery to
bear upon the wall. He wished to be able to use the place as a
rendezvous for his allies; but he was also desirous of taking it:
first, because he would thereby deprive the Aetolians of their
most useful support,—for it was by means of Cephallenian
ships that they made their descents upon the
Peloponnese, and
ravaged the sea-boards of
Epirus and
Acarnania,—and,
secondly, that he might secure for himself and his allies a
convenient base of operations against the enemy's territory.
For Cephallenia lies exactly opposite the Corinthian Gulf, in
the direction of the Sicilian Sea, and commands the northwestern district of the
Peloponnese, and especially
Elis; as well
as the south-western parts of
Epirus,
Aetolia, and
Acarnania.
Philip Besieges Palus
The excellent position, therefore, of the island, both as
a rendezvous for the allies and as a base of attack against the
hostile, or of defence for the friendly, territory, made the king
very anxious to get it into his power. His survey of the town
showed him that it was entirely defended by the sea and steep
hills, except for a short distance in the direction of
Zacynthus,
where the ground was flat; and he accordingly resolved to
erect his works and concentrate his attack at that spot.
While the king was engaged in these operations fifty galleys
Arrival of the allies at Palus. |
arrived from Scerdilaidas, who had been prevented from sending more by the plots and
civil broils throughout
Illyria, caused by the
despots of the various cities. There arrived also the appointed
contingents of allies from
Epirus,
Acarnania, and even
Messenia; for the Messenians had ceased to excuse themselves
from taking part in the war ever since the capture of
Phigalia.
Having now made his arrangements for the siege, and
The walls are undermined and a breach made. Leontius plays the traitor. |
having got his catapults and ballistae in
position to annoy the defenders on the walls,
the king harangued his Macedonian troops, and,
bringing his siege-machines up to the walls,
began under their protection to sink mines.
The Macedonians worked with such enthusiastic eagerness
that in a short time two hundred feet of the wall were undermined and underpinned: and the king then approached the
walls and invited the citizens to come to terms. Upon their
refusal, he set fire to the props, and thus brought down
the whole part of the wall that rested upon them simultaneously. Into this breach he first sent his peltasts under the
command of Leontius, divided into cohorts, and with orders
to force their way over the ruin. But Leontius, in fulfilment of
his compact with Apelles, three times running prevented the
soldiers, even after they had carried the breach, from effecting
the capture of the town. He had corrupted beforehand the
most important officers of the several cohorts; and he himself
deliberately affected fear, and shrunk from every service of danger; and finally they were ejected from the town with considerable loss, although they could have mastered the enemy with
ease. When the king saw that the officers were behaving with
cowardice, and that a considerable number of the Macedonian
soldiers were wounded, he abandoned the siege, and deliberated
with his friends on the next step to be taken.
Philip Invades Aetolia
Meanwhile Lycurgus had invaded
Messenia; and Dorimachus had started for
Thessaly with half the
Aetolian army,—both with the idea that they
would thus draw off Philip from the siege of
Palus. Presently ambassadors arrived at the
court to make representations on these subjects
from
Acarnania and
Messenia: the former
urging Philip to prevent Dorimachus's invasion of
Macedonia
by himself invading
Aetolia, and traversing and plundering the
whole country while there was no one to resist him; the latter
begged him to come to their assistance, representing that in the
existing state of the Etesian winds the passage from Cephallenia to
Messenia could be effected in a single day, whereby,
so
Gorgus of
Messenia and his colleagues argued, a sudden
and effective attack would be made upon Lycurgus. In
pursuance of his policy Leontius eagerly supported
Gorgus,
seeing that by this means Philip would absolutely waste the
summer. For it was easy enough to sail to
Messenia; but to
sail back again, while the Etesian winds prevailed, was impossible. It was plain therefore that Philip would get shut up
in
Messenia with his army, and remain inactive for what
remained of the summer; while the Aetolians would traverse
Thessaly and
Epirus and plunder them at their pleasure.
Such was the insidious nature of the advice given by
Gorgus
and Leontius. But Aratus, who was present, advocated an
exactly opposite policy, urging the king to sail to
Aetolia and
devote himself to that part of the campaign: for as the
Aetolians had gone on an expedition across the frontier under
Dorimachus, it was a most excellent opportunity for invading
and plundering
Aetolia.
Philip decides on the invasion of Aetolia. |
The king had begun
to entertain distrust of Leontius since his
exhibition of cowardice in the siege; and had
detected his dishonesty in the course of the discussions held
about Palus: he therefore decided to act in the present
instance in accordance with the opinion of Aratus. Accordingly he wrote to the Achaean Strategus Eperatus, bidding him
take the Achaean levies, and go to the aid of the Messenians;
while he himself put to sea from Cephallenia, and arrived at
night after a two days' voyage at
Leucas: and having managed
by proper contrivances to get his ships through the channel
or Dioryctus,
6 he sailed up the Ambracian Gulf, which, as I
have already stated,
7 stretches from the Sicilian Sea a long
distance into the interior of
Aetolia. Having made the whole
length of this gulf, and anchored a short time before daybreak
at Limnaea, he ordered his men to get their breakfast, and
leaving the greater part of their baggage behind them, to make
themselves ready in light equipment for a march; while he
himself collected the guides, and made careful inquiries of
them about the country and neighbouring towns.
Aristophanes the Acarnanian Joins Forces with Philip
Before they started, Aristophanes the Acarnanian
