Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
result of unseasonable haste, not observing what he did,) mounted an
eminence outside their camp, which proved to be a burying-place; and
much disturbed by the despondency that seized his army at the
unluckiness of the omen, all that day kept in his camp, and declined
fighting.
But on the morrow, as day came on, after a soft and rainy night, the
clouds changing into a mist filled all the plain with thick darkness;
and a dense foggy air descending, by the time it was full day, from
the adjacent mountains into the ground betwixt the two camps,
concealed them from each other's view. The parties sent out on
either side, some for ambuscade, some for discovery, falling in upon
one another quickly after they were thus detached, began the fight at
what are called the Cynos Cephalae, a number of sharp tops of hills
that stand close to one another, and have the name from some
resemblance in their shape. Now many vicissitudes and changes
happening, as may well be expected, in such an uneven field of
battle, sometimes hot pursuit, and sometimes as rapid a flight, the
generals on both sides kept sending in succors from the main bodies,
as they saw their men pressed or giving ground, till at length the
heavens clearing up, let them see what was going on, upon which the
whole armies engaged. Philip, who was in the right wing, from the
advantage of the higher ground which he had, threw on the Romans the
whole weight of his phalanx, with a force which they were unable to
sustain; the dense array of spears, and the pressure of the compact
mass overpowering them. But the king's left wing being broken up by
the hilliness of the place, Titus observing it, and cherishing little
or no hopes on that side where his own gave ground, makes in all
haste to the other, and there charges in upon the Macedonians; who,
in consequence of the inequality and roughness of the ground, could
not keep their phalanx entire, nor line their ranks to any great
depth, (which is the great point of their strength,) but were forced
to fight man for man under heavy and unwieldy armor. For the
Macedonian phalanx is like some single powerful animal, irresistible
so long as it is embodied into one, and keeps its order, shield
touching shield, all as in a piece; but if it be once broken, not
only is the joint-force lost, but the individual soldiers also who
composed it; lose each one his own single strength, because of the
nature of their armor; and because each of them is strong, rather, as
he makes a part of the whole, than in himself. When these were
routed, some gave chase to the flyers, others charged the flanks of
those Macedonians who were still fighting, so that the conquering
wing, also, was quickly disordered, took to flight, and threw down
its arms. There were then slain no less than eight thousand, and
about five thousand were taken prisoners; and the Aetolians were
blamed as having been the main occasion that Philip himself got safe
off. For whilst the Romans were in pursuit, they fell to ravaging
and plundering the camp, and did it so completely, that when the
others returned, they found no booty in it.
This bred at first hard words, quarrels, and misunderstandings
betwixt them. But, afterwards, they galled Titus more, by ascribing
the victory to themselves, and prepossessing the Greeks with reports
to that effect; insomuch that poets, and people in general in the
songs that were sung or written in honor of the action, still ranked
the Aetolians foremost. One of the pieces most current was the
following epigram: --
Naked and tombless see, O passer-by,
The thirty thousand men of Thessaly,
Slain by the Aetolians and the Latin band,
That came with Titus from Italia's land:
Alas for mighty Macedon! that day,
Swift as a roe, king Philip fled away.
This was composed by Alcaeus in mockery of Philip, exaggerating the
number of the slain. However, being everywhere repeated, and by
almost everybody, Titus was more nettled at it than Philip. The
latter merely retorted upon Alcaeus with some elegiac verses of his
own: --
Naked and leafless see, O passer-by,
The cross that shall Alcaeus crucify.
But such little matters extremely fretted Titus, who was ambitious of
a reputation among the Greeks; and he, therefore, acted in all
after-occurrences by himself, paying but very slight regard to the
Aetolians. This offended them in their turn; and when Titus listened
to terms of accommodation, and admitted an embassy upon the proffers
of the Macedonian king, the Aetolians made it their business to
publish through all the cities of Greece, that this was the
conclusion of all; that he was selling Philip a peace, at a time when
it was in his hand to destroy the very roots of the war, and to
overthrow the power which had first inflicted servitude upon Greece.
But whilst with these and the like rumors, the Aetolians labored to
shake the Roman confederates, Philip, making overtures of submission
of himself and his kingdom to the discretion of Titus and the Romans,
puts an end to those jealousies, as Titus by accepting them, did to
the war. For he reinstated Philip in his kingdom of Macedon, but
made it a condition that he should quit Greece, and that he should
pay one thousand talents; he took from him also, all his shipping,
save ten vessels; and sent away Demetrius, one of his sons, hostage
to Rome; improving his opportunity to the best advantage, and taking
wise precautions for the future. For Hannibal the African, a
professed enemy to the Roman name, an exile from his own country, and
not long since arrived at king Antiochus's court, was already
stimulating that prince, not to be wanting to the good fortune that
had been hitherto so propitious to his affairs; the magnitude of his
successes having gained him the surname of the Great. He had begun
to level his aim at universal monarchy, but above all he was eager to
measure himself with the Romans. Had not, therefore, Titus upon a
principle of prudence and foresight, lent all ear to peace, and had
Antiochus found the Romans still at war in Greece with Philip, and
had these two, the most powerful and warlike princes of that age,
confederated for their common interests against the Roman state, Rome
might once more have run no less a risk, and been reduced to no less
extremities than she had experienced under Hannibal. But now, Titus
opportunely introducing this peace between the wars, dispatching the
present danger before the new one had arrived, at once disappointed
Antiochus of his first hopes, and Philip of his last.
When the ten commissioners, delegated to Titus from the senate;
advised him to restore the rest of Greece to their liberty, but that
Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias should be kept garrisoned for
security against Antiochus; the Aetolians, on this, breaking out into
loud accusations, agitated all the cities, calling upon Titus to
strike off the shackles of Greece, (so Philip used to term those
three cities,) and asking the Greeks, whether it were not matter of
much consolation to them, that, though their chains weighed heavier,
yet they were now smoother and better polished than formerly, and
whether Titus were not deservedly admired by them as their
benefactor, who had unshackled the feet of Greece, and tied her up by
the neck? Titus, vexed and angry at this, made it his request to the
senate, and at last prevailed in it, that the garrisons in these
cities should be dismissed, that so the Greeks might be no longer
debtors to him for a partial, but for an entire, favor. It was now
the time of the celebration of the Isthmian games; and the seats
around the racecourse were crowded with an unusual multitude of
spectators; Greece, after long wars, having regained not only peace,
but hopes of liberty, and being able once more to keep holiday in
safety. A trumpet sounded to command silence; and the crier,
stepping forth amidst the spectators, made proclamation, that the
Roman senate, and Titus Quintius, the proconsular general, having
vanquished king Philip and the Macedonians, restored the Corinthians,
Locrians, Phocians, Euboeans, Achaeans of Phthiotis, Magnetians,
Thessalians, and Perrhaebians to their own lands, laws, and
liberties; remitting all impositions upon them, and withdrawing all
garrisons from their cities. At first, many heard not at all, and
others not distinctly, what was said; but there was a confused and
uncertain stir among the assembled people, some wondering, some
asking, some calling out to have it proclaimed again. When,
therefore, fresh silence was made, the crier raising his voice,
succeeded in making himself generally heard; and recited the decree
again. A shout of joy followed it, so loud that it was heard as far
as the sea. The whole assembly rose and stood up; there was no
further thought of the entertainment; all were only eager to leap up
and salute and address their thanks to the deliverer and champion of
Greece. What we often hear alleged, in proof of the force of human
voices, was actually verified upon this occasion. Crows that were
accidentally flying over the course, fell down dead into it. The
disruption of the air must be the cause of it; for the voices being
numerous, and the acclamation violent, the air breaks with it, and
can no longer give support to the birds; but lets them tumble, like
one that should attempt to walk upon a vacuum; unless we should
rather imagine them to fall and die, shot with the noise as with a
dart. It is possible, too, that there may be a circular agitation of
the air, which, like marine whirlpools, may have a violent direction
of this sort given to it from the excess of its fluctuation.
But for Titus, the sports being now quite at an end, so beset was he
on every side, and by such multitudes, that had he not, foreseeing
the probable throng and concourse of the people, timely withdrawn, he
would scarce, it is thought, have ever got clear of them. When they
had tired themselves with acclamations all about his pavilion, and
night was now come, wherever friends or fellow-citizens met, they
joyfully saluted and embraced each other, and went home to feast and
carouse together. And there, no doubt, redoubling their joy, they
began to recollect and talk of the state of Greece, what wars she had
incurred in defense of her liberty, and yet was never perhaps
mistress of a more settled or grateful one that this which other
men's labors had won for her: almost without one drop of blood, or
one citizen's loss to be mourned for, she had this day had put into
her hands the most glorious of rewards, and best worth the contending
for. Courage and wisdom are, indeed, rarities amongst men, but of
all that is good, a just man it would seem is the most scarce. Such
as Agesilaus, Lysander, Nicias, and Alcibiades, knew how to play the
general's part, how to manage a war, how to bring off their men
victorious by land and sea; but how to employ that success to
generous and honest purposes, they had not known. For should a man
except the achievement at Marathon, the sea-fight at Salamis, the
engagements at Plataea and Thermopylae, Cimon's exploits at
Eurymedon, and on the coasts of Cyprus, Greece fought all her battles
against, and to enslave, herself; she erected all her trophies to her
own shame and misery, and was brought to ruin and desolation almost
wholly by the guilt and ambition of her great men. A foreign people,
appearing just to retain some embers, as it were, some faint
remainders of a common character derived to them from their ancient
sires, a nation from whom it was a mere wonder that Greece should
reap any benefit by word or thought, these are they who have
retrieved Greece from her severest dangers and distresses, have
rescued her out of the hands of insulting lords and tyrants, and