by Polybius
68. It is clear that Antigonus at any rate entertained that opinion, for after the battle he asked Alexander, the commander of the cavalry, with the view of convicting him of his shortcoming, “Why he had engaged before the signal was given?” And upon Alexander answering that “He had not done so, but that a young officer from Megalopolis had presumed to anticipate the signal, contrary to his wish:” Antigonus replied, “That young man acted like a good general in grasping the situation; you, general, were the youngster.”
What Eucleidas ought to have done, when he saw the enemy’s lines advancing, was to have rushed down at once upon them; thrown their ranks into disorder; and then retired himself, step by step, to continually higher ground into a safe position: for by thus breaking them up and depriving them, to begin with, of the advantages of their peculiar armour and disposition, he would have secured the victory by the superiority of his position. But he did the very opposite of all this, and thereby forfeited the advantages of the ground. As though victory were assured, he kept his original position on the summit of the hill, with the view of catching the enemy at as great an elevation as possible, that their flight might be all the longer over steep and precipitous ground. The result, as might have been anticipated, was exactly the reverse. For he left himself no place of retreat, and by allowing the enemy to reach his position, unharmed and in unbroken order, he was placed at the disadvantage of having to give them battle on the very summit of the hill; and so, as soon as he was forced by the weight of their heavy armour and their close order to give any ground, it was immediately occupied by the Illyrians; while his own men were obliged to take lower ground, because they had no space for manœuvring on the top. The result was not long in arriving: they suffered a repulse, which the difficult and precipitous nature of the ground over which they had to retire turned into a disastrous flight.
[1] ἅμα δὲ τούτοις ὁ περὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς συνετελεῖτο κίνδυνος, ἐκπρεπῆ ποιουμένων τὴν χρείαν τῶν Ἀχαϊκῶν ἱππέων ἁπάντων, μάλιστα δὲ Φιλοποίμενος, διὰ τὸ περὶ τῆς αὐτῶν ἐλευθερίας συνεστάναι τὸν ὅλον ἀγῶνα. [2] καθ᾽ ὃν καιρὸν τῷ προειρημένῳ συνέβη τὸν μὲν ἵππον πεσεῖν πληγέντα καιρίως, αὐτὸν δὲ πεζομαχοῦντα περιπεσεῖν τραύματι βιαίῳ δι᾽ ἀμφοῖν τοῖν μηροῖν. [3] οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς κατὰ τὸν Ὄλυμπον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐποιοῦντο διὰ τῶν εὐζώνων καὶ μισθοφόρων τὴν συμπλοκήν, παρ᾽ ἑκατέροις σχεδὸν ὑπαρχόντων τούτων εἰς πεντακισχιλίους. [4] ὧν ποτὲ μὲν κατὰ μέρη, ποτὲ δ᾽ ὁλοσχερῶς συμπιπτόντων, διαφέρουσαν συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι τὴν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν χρείαν, ὁμοῦ τῶν τε βασιλέων καὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἐν συνόψει ποιουμένων τὴν μάχην. [5] ἡμιλλῶντο δὲ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ κατ᾽ ἄνδρα καὶ κατὰ τάγμα ταῖς εὐψυχίαις. [6] ὁ δὲ Κλεομένης ὁρῶν τοὺς μὲν περὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν πεφευγότας, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις ἱππεῖς ὅσον οὔπω κλίνοντας, καταπλαγὴς ὢν μὴ πανταχόθεν προσδέξηται τοὺς πολεμίους, ἠναγκάζετο διασπᾶν τὰ προτειχίσματα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν ἐξάγειν μετωπηδὸν κατὰ μίαν πλευρὰν τῆς στρατοπεδείας. [7] ἀνακληθέντων δὲ τῶν παρ᾽ ἑκατέροις εὐζώνων ἐκ τοῦ μεταξὺ τόπου διὰ τῆς σάλπιγγος, συναλαλάξασαι καὶ καταβαλοῦσαι τὰς σαρίσας συνέβαλλον αἱ φάλαγγες ἀλλήλαις. [8] ἀγῶνος δὲ γενομένου κραταιοῦ, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ πόδα ποιουμένων τὴν ἀναχώρησιν καὶ πιεζομένων ἐπὶ πολὺ τῶν Μακεδόνων ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν Λακώνων εὐψυχίας, ποτὲ δὲ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐξωθουμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ βάρους τῆς τῶν Μακεδόνων τάξεως, [9] τέλος οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον συμφράξαντες τὰς σαρίσας καὶ χρησάμενοι τῷ τῆς ἐπαλλήλου φάλαγγος ἰδιώματι, βίᾳ προσπεσόντες ἐξέωσαν ἐκ τῶν ὀχυρωμάτων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. [10] τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄλλο πλῆθος ἔφευγε προτροπάδην φονευόμενον: ὁ δὲ Κλεομένης ἱππεῖς τινας ἔχων περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀπεχώρησε μετὰ τούτων ἀσφαλῶς εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην. [11] ἐπιγενομένης δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς καταβὰς εἰς Γύθιον, ἡτοιμασμένων αὐτῷ τῶν πρὸς τὸν πλοῦν ἐκ πλείονος χρόνου πρὸς τὸ συμβαῖνον, ἀπῆρε μετὰ τῶν φίλων εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν.
69. Simultaneously with these events the cavalry engagement was also being brought to a decision; in which all the Achaean cavalry, and especially Philopoemen, fought with conspicuous gallantry, for to them it was a contest for freedom. Philopoemen himself had his horse killed under him, and while fighting accordingly on foot received a severe wound through both his thighs. Meanwhile the two kings on the other hill Olympus began by bringing their light-armed troops and mercenaries into action, of which each of them had five thousand. Both the kings and their entire armies had a full view of this action, which was fought with great gallantry on both sides: the charges taking place sometimes in detachments, and at other times along the whole line, and an eager emulation being displayed between the several ranks, and even between individuals. But when Cleomenes saw that his brother’s division was retreating, and that the cavalry in the low ground were on the point of doing the same, alarmed at the prospect of an attack at all points at once, he was compelled to demolish the palisade in his front, and to lead out his whole force in line by one side of his position. A recall was sounded on the bugle for the light-armed troops of both sides, who were on the ground between the two armies: and the phalanxes shouting their war cries, and with spears couched, charged each other. Then a fierce struggle arose: the Macedonians sometimes slowly giving ground and yielding to the superior courage of the soldiers of Sparta, and at another time the Lacedaemonians being forced to give way before the overpowering weight of the Macedonian phalanx. At length Antigonus ordered a charge in close order and in double phalanx; the enormous weight of this peculiar formation proved sufficient to finally dislodge the Lacedaemonians from their strongholds, and they fled in disorder and suffering severely as they went. Cleomenes himself, with a guard of cavalry, effected his retreat to Sparta: but the same night he went down to Gythium, where all preparations for crossing the sea had been made long before in case of mishap, and with his friends sailed to Alexandria.
[1] Ἀντίγονος δ᾽ ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος ἐξ ἐφόδου τῆς Σπάρτης τά τε λοιπὰ μεγαλοψύχως καὶ φιλανθρώπως ἐχρήσατο τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, τό τε πολίτευμα τὸ πάτριον αὐτοῖς ἀποκαταστήσας ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῶν δυνάμεων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, προσαγγελθέντος αὐτῷ τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς εἰσβεβληκότας εἰς Μακεδονίαν πορθεῖν τὴν χώραν. [2] οὕτως ἀεί ποθ᾽ ἡ τύχη τὰ μέγιστα τῶν πραγμάτων παρὰ λόγον εἴωθε κρίνειν. [3] καὶ γὰρ τότε Κλεομένης, εἴτε τὰ κατὰ τὸν κίνδυνον παρείλκυσε τελέως ὀλ
ίγας ἡμέρας, εἴτ᾽ ἀναχωρήσας ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ βραχὺ τῶν καιρῶν ἀντεποιήσατο, διακατέσχεν ἂν τὴν ἀρχήν. [4] οὐ μὴν ἀλλ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ Ἀντίγονος παραγενόμενος εἰς Τεγέαν καὶ τούτοις ἀποδοὺς τὴν πάτριον πολιτείαν δευτεραῖος ἐντεῦθεν εἰς Ἄργος ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν ἦλθε τὴν τῶν Νεμέων πανήγυριν. [5] ἐν ᾗ τυχὼν πάντων τῶν πρὸς ἀθάνατον δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν ἀνηκόντων ὑπό τε τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ἑκάστης τῶν πόλεων ὥρμησε κατὰ σπουδὴν εἰς Μακεδονίαν. [6] καταλαβὼν δὲ τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ καὶ συμβαλὼν ἐκ παρατάξεως τῇ μὲν μάχῃ κατώρθωσε, τῇ δὲ παρακλήσει καὶ κραυγῇ τῇ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν κίνδυνον ἐκθύμως χρησάμενος εἰς αἵματος ἀναγωγὴν καί τινα τοιαύτην διάθεσιν ἐμπεσὼν μετ᾽ οὐ πολὺ νόσῳ τὸν βίον μετήλλαξε, [7] καλὰς ἐλπίδας ὑποδείξας ἐν αὑτῷ πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὑπαίθροις χρείαν, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον κατὰ τὴν ὅλην αἵρεσιν καὶ καλοκἀγαθίαν. [8] τὴν δὲ Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν ἀπέλιπε Φιλίππῳ τῷ Δημητρίου.
70. Having surprised and taken Sparta, Antigonus treated the citizens with magnanimity and humanity; and after re-establishing their ancient constitution, he left the town in a few days, on receiving intelligence that the Illyrians had invaded Macedonia and were laying waste the country. This was an instance of the fantastic way in which Fortune decides the most important matters. For if Cleomenes had only put off the battle for a few days, or if when he returned to Sparta he had only held out for a brief space of time, he would have saved his crown.
As it was, Antigonus after going to Tegea and restoring its constitution, arrived on the second day at Argos, at the very time of the Nemean games. Having at this assembly received every mark of immortal honour and glory at the hands of the Achaean community, as well as of the several states, he made all haste to reach Macedonia. He found the Illyrians still in the country, and forced them to give him battle, in which, though he proved entirely successful, he exerted himself to such a pitch in shouting encouragement to his men, that he ruptured a bloodvessel, and fell into an illness which terminated shortly in his death. He was a great loss to the Greeks, whom he had inspired with good hopes, not only by his support in the field, but still more by his character and good principles. He left the kingdom of Macedonia to Philip, son of Demetrius.
[1] τίνος δὲ χάριν ἐποιησάμεθα τὴν ἐπὶ πλεῖον ὑπὲρ τοῦ προειρημένου πολέμου μνήμην; [2] διότι τῶν καιρῶν τούτων συναπτόντων τοῖς ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ἱστορεῖσθαι μέλλουσι χρήσιμον ἐδόκει, μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν τὸ ποιῆσαι πᾶσιν ἐναργῆ καὶ γνώριμον τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν περὶ Μακεδόνας καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας τότε κατάστασιν. [3] περὶ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς καὶ Πτολεμαίου νόσῳ τὸν βίον μεταλλάξαντος Πτολεμαῖος ὁ κληθεὶς Φιλοπάτωρ διεδέξατο τὴν βασιλείαν. [4] μετήλλαξε δὲ καὶ Σέλευκος ὁ Σελεύκου τοῦ Καλλινίκου καὶ Πώγωνος ἐπικληθέντος: Ἀντίοχος δὲ διεδέξατο τὴν ἐν Συρίᾳ βασιλείαν, ἀδελφὸς ὢν αὐτοῦ. [5] παραπλήσιον γὰρ δή τι συνέβη τούτοις καὶ τοῖς πρώτοις μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν κατασχοῦσι τὰς ἀρχὰς ταύτας, λέγω δὲ Σελεύκῳ, Πτολεμαίῳ, Λυσιμάχῳ. [6] ἐκεῖνοί τε γὰρ πάντες περὶ τὴν εἰκοστὴν καὶ τετάρτην πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν ὀλυμπιάδα μετήλλαξαν, καθάπερ ἐπάνω προεῖπον, οὗτοί τε περὶ τὴν ἐνάτην καὶ τριακοστήν. [7] ἡμεῖς δ᾽ ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἐπίστασιν καὶ προκατασκευὴν τῆς ὅλης ἱστορίας διεληλύθαμεν, δι᾽ ἧς ὑποδέδεικται πότε καὶ πῶς καὶ δι᾽ ἃς αἰτίας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν κρατήσαντες Ῥωμαῖοι πρῶτον ἐγχειρεῖν ἤρξαντο τοῖς ἔξω πράγμασι καὶ πρῶτον ἐτόλμησαν ἀμφισβητεῖν Καρχηδονίοις τῆς θαλάττης, [8] ἅμα δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὴν περὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ Μακεδόνας, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ Καρχηδονίους ὑπάρχουσαν τότε κατάστασιν δεδηλώκαμεν, [9] καθῆκον ἂν εἴη παραγεγονότας ἐπὶ τοὺς καιροὺς τούτους κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν, ἐν οἷς ἔμελλον οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες τὸν συμμαχικόν, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τὸν Ἀννιβιακόν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν βασιλεῖς τὸν περὶ Κοίλης Συρίας ἐνίστασθαι πόλεμον, [10] καὶ τὴν βύβλον ταύτην ἀφορίζειν ἀκολούθως τῇ τε τῶν προγεγονότων πραγμάτων περιγραφῇ καὶ τῇ τῶν κεχειρικότων τὰ πρὸ τοῦ δυναστῶν καταστροφῇ.
71. My reason for writing about this war at such length, was the advisability, or rather necessity, in view of the general purpose of my history, of making clear the relations existing between Macedonia and Greece at a time which coincides with the period of which I am about to treat.
Just about the same time, by the death of Euergetes, Ptolemy Philopator succeeded to the throne of Egypt. At the same period died Seleucus, son of that Seleucus who had the double surnames of Callinicus and Pogon: he was succeeded on the throne of Syria by his brother Antiochus. The deaths of these three sovereigns — Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus — fell in the same Olympiad, as was the case with the three immediate successors to Alexander the Great, — Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus, — for the latter all died in the 124th Olympiad, and the former in the 139th.
I may now fitly close this book. I have completed the introduction and laid the foundation on which my history must rest. I have shown when, how, and why the Romans, after becoming supreme in Italy, began to aim at dominion outside of it, and to dispute with the Carthaginians the dominion of the sea. I have at the same time explained the state of Greece, Macedonia, and Carthage at this epoch. I have now arrived at the period which I originally marked out, — that namely in which the Greeks were on the point of beginning the Social, the Romans the Hannibalic war, and the kings in Asia the war for the possession of Coele-Syria. The termination therefore of the wars just described, and the death of the princes engaged in them, forms a natural period to this book.
BOOK 3
[1] ὅτι μὲν ἀρχὰς ὑποτιθέμεθα τῆς αὑτῶν πραγματείας τόν τε συμμαχικὸν καὶ τὸν Ἀννιβιακόν, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸν περὶ Κοίλης Συρίας πόλεμον, ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ μὲν τῆς ὅλης συντάξεως, τρίτῃ δὲ ταύτης ἀνώτερον βύβλῳ δεδηλώκαμεν: [2] ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰς αἰτίας, δι᾽ ἃς ἀναδραμόντες τοῖς χρόνοις πρὸ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν συνεταξάμεθα τὰς πρὸ ταύτης βύβλους, ἐν αὐτῇ �
�κείνῃ διεσαφήσαμεν. [3] νῦν δὲ πειρασόμεθα τοὺς προειρημένους πολέμους καὶ τὰς αἰτίας, ἐξ ὧν ἐγένοντο καὶ δι᾽ ἃς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ηὐξήθησαν, μετ᾽ ἀποδείξεως ἐξαγγέλλειν, βραχέα προειπόντες ὑπὲρ τῆς αὑτῶν πραγματείας. [4] ὄντος γὰρ ἑνὸς ἔργου καὶ θεάματος ἑνὸς τοῦ σύμπαντος, ὑπὲρ οὗ γράφειν ἐπικεχειρήκαμεν, τοῦ πῶς καὶ πότε καὶ διὰ τί πάντα τὰ γνωριζόμενα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης ὑπὸ τὴν Ῥωμαίων δυναστείαν ἐγένετο, [5] τούτου δ᾽ ἔχοντος καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν γνωριζομένην καὶ τὸν χρόνον ὡρισμένον καὶ τὴν συντέλειαν ὁμολογουμένην, χρήσιμον ἡγούμεθ᾽ εἶναι καὶ τὸ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἐν αὐτῷ μερῶν, ὅσα μεταξὺ κεῖται τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τοῦ τέλους, κεφαλαιωδῶς ἐπιμνησθῆναι καὶ προεκθέσθαι. [6] μάλιστα γὰρ οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνομεν τοῖς φιλομαθοῦσι παρασκευάσειν ἱκανὴν ἔννοιαν τῆς ὅλης ἐπιβολῆς. [7] πολλὰ μὲν γὰρ προλαμβανούσης τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκ τῶν ὅλων πρὸς τὴν κατὰ μέρος τῶν πραγμάτων γνῶσιν, πολλὰ δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν κατὰ μέρος πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπιστήμην, ἀρίστην ἡγούμενοι τὴν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐπίστασιν καὶ θέαν ἀκόλουθον τοῖς εἰρημένοις ποιησόμεθα τὴν προέκθεσιν τῆς αὑτῶν πραγματείας. [8] τὴν μὲν οὖν καθόλου τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἔμφασιν καὶ τὴν περιγραφὴν ἤδη δεδηλώκαμεν. [9] τῶν δὲ κατὰ μέρος ἐν αὐτῇ γεγονότων ἀρχὰς μὲν εἶναι συμβαίνει τοὺς προειρημένους πολέμους, καταστροφὴν δὲ καὶ συντέλειαν τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ βασιλείας, χρόνον δὲ τὸν μεταξὺ τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τοῦ τέλους ἔτη πεντήκοντα τρία, [10] περιέχεσθαι δ᾽ ἐν τούτῳ τηλικαύτας καὶ τοιαύτας πράξεις, ὅσας οὐδεὶς τῶν προγεγονότων καιρῶν ἐν ἴσῳ περιέλαβε διαστήματι. [11] περὶ ὧν ἀπὸ τῆς ἑκατοστῆς καὶ τετταρακοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος ἀρξάμενοι τοιάνδε