Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 24
Frank Gardener Moore, Professor Emeritus in Columbia University, Ed.

40. The same summer the war with King Philip also that for some time had been foreshadowed broke [p. 303]out. [2] Legates came from Oricum¹ to Marcus² Valerius, the praetor,³ who with his fleet was guarding Brundisium and the neighbouring coast of Calabria. They reported that Philip had first sailed up the river with a hundred and twenty small vessels having two banks of oars and attacked Apollonia;⁴ [3] and that then, when the undertaking proved slower than he anticipated, had secretly moved his army to Oricum by night; also that that city, situated in a plain and not strong either in walls or armed men, had been taken by assault. [4] Making this report, they begged him to lend aid and by land and sea to keep an undoubted enemy of the Romans away from the coast cities, which were being attacked for no other reason than that they faced Italy. [5] Marcus Valerius, after leaving a garrison of two thousand soldiers and placing Publius Valerius, his lieutenant, in command of them, with his fleet drawn up and in readiness, while such soldiers as the warships could not accommodate had been placed on transports, came on the second day to Oricum; [6] and as only a small garrison which the king had left when he withdrew held the city, he recaptured it after slight resistance. [7] To it came legates from Apollonia, reporting that they were being besieged because they refused to revolt from the Romans and could no longer withstand the attack of the Macedonians, unless a Roman force should be sent. [8] Valerius promised to do as they desired, and sent two thousand picked soldiers in [p. 305]warships to the mouth of the river⁵ under the⁶ command of a prefect of the allies, Quintus Naevius Crista, a man of action and an experienced soldier. [9] He landed his men, sent the ships back to the rest of the fleet at Oricum, his starting-point, led his soldiers at a distance from the river along the road least beset by the king's troops and entered the city by night, so that no one of the enemy was aware of it. [10] The following day they rested, that the prefect might inspect the young men of Apollonia and the arms and resources of the city. The result of that inspection gave him sufficient encouragement, and he learned also from scouts what carelessness and indifference there was among the enemy. [11] Thereupon in the silence of the night and without making any noise he went out of the city and entered the enemy's camp, so neglected and open that a thousand men had entered the wall before anyone was aware of it, so it was generally asserted; also, that if they had refrained from slaughter, they could have reached the king's tent. [12] The slaughter of the men nearest to the gate aroused the enemy. Then such alarm and panic took possession of them all that not only did no one else seize his arms and attempt to drive the [13??] enemy out of the camp, but even the king himself, fleeing almost half-naked, just as he was when awakened, fled to the river and his ships in a garb scarcely seemly even for a common soldier, much less a king. Thither the rest of the disorderly crowd also poured out. [14] Little fewer than three thousand soldiers were either captured or slain in the camp; a considerably larger number of men were captured than slain. [15] After plundering the camp the Apollonians carried away the catapults, ballistae and other [p. 307]engines which had been provided for a siege of the⁷ city to Apollonia, in order to defend their walls, if ever a similar situation should arise. All the remaining booty of the camp was left to the Romans. [16] When this news reached Oricum, Marcus Valerius at once led his fleet to the mouth of the river, to prevent the king from escaping by ship. [17] And so Philip, believing he would not be quite equal to a battle either on land or sea, stranded his ships, set fire to them, and started for Macedonia with an army in large part disarmed and despoiled. The Roman fleet wintered at Oricum under the command of Marcus Valerius.