The Rise of Rome (Penguin Classics)

by Plutarch

  It was against such an adversary that Aemilius was sent. Perseus he despised, but he was very impressed by his preparations and his army, which consisted of 4,000 cavalry and nearly 40,000 heavy-infantry. Perseus had occupied a secure position,65 at the foot of Mount Olympus and with the sea behind him, which was unassailable by any approach and had on all sides been fortified by ramparts and wooden barricades. There he enjoyed complete confidence, certain that time and expense would exhaust Aemilius.

  For his part, Aemilius applied his active intelligence to every conceivable plan and tactic. He realized, however, that his men were vexed by any delay. Emboldened by the weak discipline imposed by their previous generals, they pressed him to consider many impractical suggestions, as if they were now in command. Aemilius took a dim view of this, urging his soldiers instead to concentrate on their physical fitness and on the condition of their weapons, so that, when their general gave them the order, they could wield their swords like proper Romans. He also ordered the night-watchmen to stand guard without spears, believing that his men would be more attentive and do a better job of staying awake if they were unable to defend themselves from an enemy attack.

  14. His men were extremely upset owing to a shortage of water fit for drinking. Only a few feeble streams formed pools at the edge of the sea, and their water was of a very poor quality. Aemilius observed that the heights of nearby Mount Olympus were covered with trees, and on the evidence of the forest’s green foliage he concluded that there must be sources of water flowing deep beneath the earth. Consequently, he dug numerous wells along the foot of the mountain which allowed these waters to escape. The wells were immediately filled with pure, flowing water, as the sheer force of the water’s pressure pumped it into the emptied spaces.

  There are some, however, who deny that where springs can be observed flowing from the earth, their source is an unseen supply of existing water. They insist that the emergence of a spring has nothing to do with the discharge of released water, but instead results from the instantaneous creation of water when solid matter is liquefied. In their view, moist vapour becomes liquid and fluid when, in the depths of the earth, it is put under pressure and cooled. Just as a woman’s breasts are not like vessels filled with a ready flow of milk but must first transform the nourishment they contain inside themselves into milk and then filter that through to their surface, in the same way places where the earth is cool and in which there are many springs do not rest upon hidden waters, nor are there reservoirs below, filled with water that already exists, from which streams and deep and mighty rivers issue forth. What actually happens, so they argue, is that in these places vapour and air are forcibly compressed and condensed, with the result that they turn into water. It is certainly the case, or so they maintain, that whenever digging is done in these places water gushes more freely, which is an effect of the physical manipulation entailed by the digging – just as a woman’s breasts react to the physical manipulation entailed by nursing, which moistens and softens the vapour. On the other hand, ground that is densely packed but is not manipulated (say, by digging) remains choked and incapable of creating water owing to the absence of the physical motion that allows for the production of moisture.

  Anyone who holds this opinion simply invites the sceptic to make the argument that blood does not actually exist inside living things; instead, it is created whenever a wound is suffered, because a transformation of air or of flesh takes place and it is this that generates the flow of liquid blood. In any case, this theory is entirely refuted by the experience of men who, when digging underground channels or excavating in mines, encounter underground rivers which do not form slowly (as one would reasonably expect if they were created instantly by this physical movement of the earth), but gush forth in a flood. Furthermore, we observe that, when a rock is split open, it shoots forth a violent stream of water, and then it stops.66 But that is enough on this topic.

  15. Aemilius remained inactive for several days, and they say that never before had there been such stillness when two armies of so great a size as these were situated so near to one another. Persisting in his efforts to probe and explore every possibility, he learned that there remained one, and only one, unguarded passage, the route through Perrhaebia past the Pythium and Petra.67 His hopefulness, owing to the fact that the passage had been left unguarded, exceeded his concerns about the roughness and difficulty of the terrain (which was the reason why the place had been left unguarded). And so he held a council of war to discuss the matter. Among those present, Scipio, surnamed Nasica, who was Scipio Africanus’ son-in-law and who would later become one of the most influential men in the senate,68 was the first to volunteer to lead a force through the pass in order to surround the enemy. Fabius Maximus, Aemilius’ eldest son, although at the time still a young man, was the next to put himself forward, and he did so eagerly.

  Aemilius was delighted, and he assigned them a force of men – but it was a smaller force than Polybius reports.69 The correct number is provided by Nasica himself, in a short letter70 he wrote for one of the kings, in which he recounted his exploits: 3,000 Italian auxiliaries, and 5,000 men for the left wing. In addition to these, Nasica took 120 cavalrymen as well as 200 men from the mixed Thracian and Cretan contingent commanded by Harpalus.71 He then set out on the road heading towards the sea and made camp at Heracleum, as if he planned to sail around the coast in order to attack the enemy from the rear. After his soldiers had eaten their supper and night had fallen, he revealed to his officers his true designs and then led his forces, under cover of darkness, in the opposite direction, away from the sea. He halted below the Pythium, where he rested his soldiers. From this point, Mount Olympus rises to a height of more than 10 stades, a fact commemorated on an inscription by the man who measured it:

  The sacred height of the summit of Olympus, at Apollo’s Pythium,

  As measured by a plumb-line, is 10 full stades and a plethron

  less 4 feet.

  Xenagoras the son of Eumulus made this measurement.72

  Hail, O lord!73 Please be generous.

  Geometers, however, say that no mountain has a height, and no sea a depth, exceeding 10 stades.74 Nevertheless, Xenagoras does not seem to have taken his measurement carelessly. On the contrary, he appears to have worked scientifically and with the appropriate instruments.

  16. This is where Nasica spent the night.75 As for Perseus, because he observed no change in Aemilius’ position, he did not know what was going on until a Cretan deserter, who had run away when the army was on the march, came to him with news of the Romans’ circuitous manoeuvre. Although vexed by this information, Perseus did not move his camp. Instead, he dispatched Milo76 with 10,000 foreign mercenaries and 2,000 Macedonians, with orders to move quickly in order to occupy the passes. Polybius reports77 that these men were still asleep when the Romans fell on them, whereas Nasica says that it was only after an intense and dangerous battle that the heights were secured. He also tells us how he killed a Thracian mercenary by driving a javelin through his chest when the man rushed at him, and that, after the enemy had all been driven away and Milo had made a disgraceful escape, without arms or armour and wearing only his tunic, he followed after them in safety and brought his forces down into the plain.

  Confronted by these adverse developments, Perseus hastily broke camp and withdrew. He was now frightened, and his hopes were shattered. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to make a stand in front of Pydna78 and risk battle there, unless he wanted his troops to disperse here and there among his cities, where they still could not escape the coming of the war. For now that the war had penetrated his country, it would not be possible to drive it out without bloodshed and loss of life. As it was, he enjoyed superiority in numbers if he kept his men where they were, and, in defence of their wives and children, they could be expected to fight strenuously – especially with their king observing everything and hazarding his own life in the struggle. It was by resorting to these arguments that Perseus�
� friends tried to encourage him, with the result that the king pitched camp and deployed his forces for battle.

  He surveyed the lie of the land and assigned commands to his officers. It was his plan to engage the Romans as soon as they made their approach. His position79 was not without advantages: there was a plain for his heavy-infantry, which required level footing and a smooth terrain, and there was a sequence of hills with places to where his skirmishers and light-armed troops could retreat and from where they could launch attacks. There were also rivers running through the middle of the plain, the Aeson and the Leucus, which at that time of year (it was near the end of summer80) were not very deep but which nevertheless seemed likely to cause the Romans difficulties.81

  17. Aemilius joined his army with Nasica’s forces and came down in battle formation against the enemy. When he observed their array, however, as well as their sheer numbers, he was so impressed that he halted his advance in order to think matters over. His young officers, by contrast, were keen to fight; they rode up and begged him not to delay. This was especially true of Nasica, whose success at Olympus had stimulated his boldness. But Aemilius smiled and said to him, ‘Yes of course – if I were so young as you! But my many victories have taught me to avoid the blunders of those who fall in defeat, and they will not allow me, immediately after a march, to do battle with heavy-infantry who are already drawn up in battle formation.’82 Thereupon he ordered his vanguard, which was visible to the enemy, to form into cohorts, thereby giving the appearance of readying for battle, while the men in the rear wheeled around, dug fortifications and constructed a camp. Then he removed his forward troops, line by line, beginning with those closest to the rear, so that before the enemy knew it he had broken up his battle-line and had in an orderly fashion brought all his men within their fortifications.83

  During the night,84 after the soldiers had eaten and were either resting or preparing to sleep, the moon, which was full and high in the sky, suddenly grew dark, taking on all sorts of colours as it lost its light, until it disappeared from sight.85 The Romans, in accordance with their custom, tried to call the moon’s light back by clashing metal objects together and by holding up to the heavens the flames of many brands and torches.86 The Macedonians did nothing like this. Instead, horror and astonishment gripped their camp, and a rumour quietly made its way among many of them that this portent signified the eclipse of a king. Now Aemilius possessed some knowledge and experience of the astronomical phenomenon of eclipses, which occur at fixed intervals, when the moon is carried in its course into the shadow of the earth and is hidden from sight until it passes out of the darkened region and again reflects the light of the sun. However, because he was devoted to religious observance, and was very given to sacrifice and divination, as soon as he saw that the moon was restored, he sacrificed eleven heifers to it.

  As soon as the next day arrived, he sacrificed twenty oxen to Heracles, none of which delivered favourable omens. The twenty-first, however, brought signs indicating victory so long as the Romans remained on the defensive. He then made a vow to sacrifice a hecatomb to the god and to celebrate games in his honour, after which he ordered his officers to draw up the troops in battle formation. He was waiting, however, for the sun to pass through its circuit and to decline, so that its morning light would not shine in the faces of his soldiers as they were fighting.87 He passed this time in his tent, which faced the plain and the enemy’s camp.

  18. Towards evening, according to some, Aemilius himself contrived a stratagem for inducing the enemy to attack: the Romans, as they were driving out an unbridled horse, came into contact with the enemy, so the pursuit of this horse caused the battle to begin.88 Others, however, say that the Thracians under Alexander’s command89 fell upon some Roman pack animals that were carrying in fodder and in reaction a sharp counter-attack was launched by 700 Ligurians, whereupon each side added reinforcements until both sides were joined in a full battle. Then Aemilius, like the pilot of a ship, gauged the magnitude of the looming contest by observing the swell and motion of the two armies. Leaving his tent, he moved among the ranks of his soldiers and encouraged them.

  Meanwhile, Nasica rode out to the skirmishers and saw that nearly all of the enemy were entering the fray. In the vanguard were the Thracians, whose appearance, Nasica says, was terrifying, for they were tall men clad in black tunics, over which they wore gleaming white armour, most notably their greaves and shields, and in their right hands they bore heavy iron broadswords at shoulder height. The Thracians were followed by the mercenaries, whose equipment varied, and the Paeonians90 were mixed with them. Next came a third division, elite troops selected from the best of the Macedonians on account of their valour and youth, shining brightly in their gilded armour and new red cloaks. As these men were occupying their positions in the battle formation, the heavy-infantry ranks of the Bronze Shields91 marched from the camp behind them, filling the plain with the gleam of iron and the flashing of bronze, while the hills resounded with their shouts and cheers. The Macedonian forces advanced with such daring and speed that the first of them to be slain fell only 2 stades from the Roman camp.

  19. As the attack began, Aemilius found on his arrival that the Macedonians, keeping their formation, had already lodged the tips of their pikes in the Romans’ shields, which made it impossible for the Romans to reach them with their short swords. He then saw how the rest of the Macedonian troops had removed their light shields from their shoulders and, by positioning their pikes at an angle, were withstanding his heavy-infantry. And when he observed the powerful battle-line formed by their interlocked shields and the ferocity of their attack, he was astounded and gripped by fear, for he had never before seen a sight so terrifying as this one. Often, in his later years, he used to recollect what he had seen and the emotions it aroused in him. In that moment, however, he put on a cheerful and pleasant expression for his men, and he rode past them wearing neither helmet nor breastplate.

  The Macedonian king, by contrast, according to Polybius, became frightened as soon as the battle had begun and rode back to the city on the pretext of making a sacrifice to Heracles, a god who does not accept craven sacrifices offered up by cowards, nor does he answer their unrighteous prayers. For it is unnatural that a man should hit the target who makes no shot, or win a battle without standing his ground, or, to put it more generally, that a man should succeed who fails to try, or that a wicked man should prosper. The god heard the prayers of Aemilius, however, because he asked for strength and victory with his spear in his hand, and from the thick of battle he invited the god to fight alongside him.

  However, a certain Poseidonius,92 who claims to have been a contemporary and to have taken part in this war, and who has composed a history of Perseus in several books, insists that it was not owing to cowardice, nor was it under the pretext of making a sacrifice, that the king left the battlefield, but instead because he had been kicked on the leg by a horse on the day before the battle. He goes on to say that during the battle, in spite of his pain and against the advice of his friends, he ordered a pack horse to be brought to him, mounted it and, without the protection of a breastplate, joined his heavy-infantry in the line of battle. Missiles of every sort were flying about him on all sides, and he was struck by an iron javelin, not by its tip but by its shaft, which ran along his left side with such force that it ripped his tunic and left a dark red bruise on his skin, which remained for a long time. This, then, is how Poseidonius defends Perseus.

  20. The Romans, although they withstood the Macedonian advance, were unable to break the line of the heavy-infantry, until Salvius, the commander of the Paelignians,93 seized his own troops’ standard and hurled it into the enemy’s ranks. At this, the Paelignians, for whom, like all other Italian soldiers, abandoning a standard is an unnatural and sacrilegious act, launched themselves against the place it lay, which resulted in dreadful casualties being suffered on both sides. The Romans tried using their swords to deflect the Macedonians’ pikes, then shov
ing them back with their shields, and they even resorted to using their bare hands to seize them and push them aside. Yet the Macedonians gripped their pikes with both hands and continued their advance, impaling their enemies, armour and all – for neither shield nor breastplate can offer any protection against the Macedonian pike – and they tossed over their heads the bodies of the Paelignians and Marrucinians,94 who abandoned reason and with bestial rage hurled themselves towards the enemy’s blows and a certain death. After the first line had been cut down in this way, the ranks behind them were beaten back by the Macedonians, and though they did not turn and flee, they nevertheless retreated towards a mountain called Olocrus. At the sight of this withdrawal, according to Poseidonius, Aemilius rent his tunic. For while these soldiers were retiring, the rest of the Romans were being turned aside by the formation of the Macedonians’ heavy-infantry, which offered no means of attacking it but instead met any assault with what one might call a dense palisade of pikes, which was entirely unassailable.

  But as the terrain became less even and the battle-line became too long for their shields to remain firmly locked together, Aemilius noticed that the lines of the Macedonians’ heavy-infantry were beginning to break up and suffer openings, a natural development when armies are large and the conditions of combat vary, some parts of the line being hard pressed whereas others advance steadily. Thereupon he rushed to the front, regrouped his cohorts and ordered them to make their way through the gaps and openings in the enemy lines, so that they could come to close quarters in many separate battles instead of fighting a single battle against the whole of the enemy’s army. Aemilius gave these orders to his officers, who passed them on to the soldiers, and as soon as his men had penetrated the ranks of the enemy, thereby breaking up their formation, they proceeded to attack some of them from the flank, where they were unprotected, or cut down others by falling upon them from the rear. The battle formation of the Macedonian heavy-infantry disintegrated and so too did the strength it possessed when all of its members worked together as a unit. Because they now fought on their own or in small groups, they could only stab with their short daggers at the long shields of the Romans, and they only had light wicker shields with which to defend themselves from the Romans’ swords, which were wielded with such force that they sliced through the Macedonians’ armour and into their bodies. Thus they put up a weak resistance and were defeated.