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.
