est son of Æmilius, though he was yet but a youth, expressed his readiness to join in the enterprise. Æmilius, delighted with this circumstance, gave them a detachment not so large indeed as Polybius records, but to the amount that Nasica mentions in a short letter in which he describes this action to a sertain king.(x) They had three thousand Italians, who were not Romans, and five thousand men besides, who composed the left wing. To these Nasica added a hundred and twenty horse, and two hundred Thracians and Cretans intermixed, who were of the troops of Harpalus.

With this detachment he began to march toward the sea, and encamped at Heracleum,(y) as if he intended to sail round and fall upon the enemy's camp behind; but when his soldiers had supped and night came on, he explained to the officers his real design, and directed them to follow a different route. Pursuing this without loss of time, he arrived at Pythium, where he ordered his men to take some rest. At this place Olympus is ten furlongs and ninety-six feet in height, as it is signified in the inscription(z) made by Xenagoras the son of Eumelus, the man who measured it. The geometers indeed affirm, that there is no mountain in the world more than ten furlongs high, nor any sea more than that in depth; yet it appears, that Xenagoras did not take the height in a careless manner, but regularly and with proper instruments.

There Nasica passed the night. Perseus, on his side, seeing

Neither the account of Polybius, nor the letter of Nasica, are now extant.*

y The consul gave out that they were to go on board the fleet, which under the command of Octavius the prætor had been ordered to lie off the coast, for the ostensible purpose of ravaging the mari time parts of Macedon, but in reality to draw Perseus from his camp. (Liv. xliv. 35.)

This Heracleum, a name belonging to upward of forty cities in different parts of the ancient world, was situated in Lyncestis, a province of Macedon, not far from the W. coast of the bay of Therma.*

z A numerical inscription of six lines, in which the only notable want of precision consists in a jumble of hexameters and pentameters, is given in the original, and preserved in some translations, but judiciously omitted by Langhorne. Plutarch in adding, from the geometers, that there is no mountain in the world more than ten furlongs high, is inaccurate. For a list of the loftiest see a paper, accompanied by an ingenious plate, in the Monthly Magazine 1798,ii. 107. M. Ricard specifies, among others, the Puy de Dome, Le Plomb de Cantal, and le Puy de Saincy du Mont d'Or in the Pyrenees, de Buet and Mont Blanc in the Alps, the Peak of Teneriffe, and Chim. boraco (the highest in the world) in the Andes or Cordilleras in S America.*

Emilius lie quiet in his camp, had not the least thought of the danger that threatened him; but a Cretan deserter, who had slipped from Scipio by the way, came and informed him of the circuit the Romans were taking in order to surprise him. This intelligence threw him in great confusion, yet he did not remove his camp; he only despatched ten thousand foreign mercenaries and two thousand Macedonians under Milo, and gave them orders to possess themselves of the heights with all possible expedition. Polybius states, that the Romans fell upon them while they were asleep, but Nasica informs us, there was a sharp and dangerous conflict for the heights; that he himself killed a Thracian mercenary, who engaged him, by piercing him through the breast with his spear; and that the enemy being routed, and Milo put to a shameful flight without his arms and in his under-garment only, he pursued them without any sort of hazard, and led his party down into the plain. Perseus, terrified at this disaster, and disappointed in his hopes, decamped and retired. Yet he was under a necessity of stopping before Pydna, and risking a battle, unless he had chosen to split his ar my into garrisons for his towns, (a) and there expect the enemy; who when once entered into his country, could not be driven out without much slaughter and bloodshed.

His friends represented to him, that his army was still supe rior in numbers; and that they would fight with the utmost resolution in defence of their wives and children, and in sight of their king, who was a partner in their danger. Encouraged by this representation, he fixed his camp there; prepared for battle, viewed the country, and assigned to each officer his post, as intending to meet the Romans when they came off their march. The field where he encamped was fit for the pha lanx, which required plain and even ground to act in near it was a chain of little hills, proper for the light-armed troops to retreat to, and from which they might wheel round and renew the attack; and through the middle ran the rivers son and Leucus, which though not very deep, because it was now the latter end of summer, were likely to give the Romans some trouble.

Æmilius, having joined Nasica, marched in good order against the enemy. But when he saw the disposition and number of their

a His most judicious friends advised him to garrison his strong. est cities with his best troops, and to protract the war; experience having proved, that the Macedonians were better able to defend cities, than the Romans were to take them: but this opinion the king rejected from the cowardly principle, that perhaps the town which he chose for his residence, might be the first besieged.

forces, he was astonished, and stood still to consider what was proper to be done. Upon this the young officers, eager for engagement, and particularly Nasica, flushed with his success at mount Olympus, pressed up to him, and entreated him to lead them forward without delay. Æmilius only smiled, and said, "My friend, if I were of your age, I should certainly do so: but the many victories which I have gained have made me observe the errors of the vanquished, and forbid me to give battle immediately after a march, to an army well drawn up and every way prepared."(b)

He then ordered the foremost ranks, who were within sight of the enemy, to present a front, as if they were ready to engage, and the rear in the meantime to mark out a camp and throw up entrenchments; after which he made the battalions wheel off by degrees, beginning with those next the soldiers at work, so that their disposition was insensibly changed, and his whole army encamped without noise.

When they had supped, and were thinking of nothing but going to rest, on a sudden the moon, which was then at full and very high, began to be darkened, and, after changing into various colours, was at last totally eclipsed. (c) The Romans, according to their custom, made a great noise by striking upon vessels of brass, and held up lighted faggots and torches in the air, in order to recall her light; but the Macedonians did no such thing; horror and astonishment seized their whole camp, and a whisper passed among the multitude, that this appearance portended the fall of the king. As for Æmilius, he was not entirely unacquainted with this matter; he had heard of the ecliptic inequalities, which bring the moon at certain periods in the shadow of the earth, and darken her till she has passed that quarter of obscurity, and receives light from the sun again. Nevertheless, as he was wont to subscribe most events to the Deity, and was a religious observer of sacrifices and of the art of divination, he offered up to the moon eleven heifers, as soon as he saw her regain her former lustre. At break of day also he sacrificed oxen to Hercules, to the number of

6 See Nasica's speech, and Æmilius' two replies (one given immediately, and one the next day) as well as other particulars of the action, in Liv. xliv. 36-38.*

c Livy informs us, that Sulpitius Gallus, one of the Roman tribunes, foretold this eclipse; first to the consul, and then with his leave to the army: and thus that terror, which eclipses were wont to breed in ignorant minds, was entirely taken off, and the soldiers more and more disposed to confide in officers of so much wisdom and general knowledge. Romanis militibus Galli sapientia prope divina videri. (ib.)

twenty, without any auspicious sign: but in the twenty-first the desired tokens appeared, and he announced victory to his troops, provided they stood upon the defensive. (d) At the same time he vowed a becatomb and solemn games in honour of that god, and then commanded the officers to marshal the army in order of battle: waiting however till the sun should decline, and get round to the west, lest if they came to action in the morning, it should dazzle the eyes of his soldiers, he sat down the meanwhile in his tent, which was open to the field and to the enemy's camp.

Some say, that toward evening he availed himself of an artifice, to make the enemy begin the fight. It seems he turned a horse loose without a bridle, and sent out some Romans to catch him, who were attacked while they were pursuing him, and so the engagement began. Others say that the Thracians, commanded by one Alexander, attacked a Roman convoy: that seven hundred Ligurians making up to its assistance, a sharp skirmish ensued; and that, large reinforcements being sent to both parties, at last the main bodies came into action. Æmilius, like a wise pilot, foreseeing by the agitation of both armies the violence of the impending storm, came out of his tent, passed through the ranks, and encouraged his men. the meantime Nasica, who had rode up to the place where the skirmish began, saw the whole of the enemy's army advancing to the charge.

In

First of all marched the Thracians, whose very aspect struck the beholders with terror. They were men of a prodigious size; their shields were white and glistering; their vests were black, their legs armed with greaves; and as they moved, their long pikes heavy-shod with iron shook on their right shoulders. Next came the mercenaries, variously armed, according to the manner of their respective countries: with these were mixed the Pæonians. In the third place advanced the battalions of Macedon, the flower of its youth and the bravest

d Here we see Æmilius availed himself of augury, to bring his troops the more readily to comply with what he knew was most prudent. He was sensible of their impetuosity, but he was sensible at the same time that coolness and calm valour were more necessary to be exerted against the Macedonian phalanx, which was not inferior in courage and discipline to the Romans; and therefore he told them, that the gods enjoined them to stand upon the defensive, if they desired to be victorious. Another reason why Emilius deferred the fight was, as Plutarch states, because the morning sun was full in the eyes of his soldiers.'

of its sons: their new purple vests and gilded arms made à splen did appearance. As these took their post, the Chalcaspides moved out of the camp; the fields gleamed with the polished steel and the brazen shields which they bore, and the mountains reechoed to their cheers. In this order they came forward, and that with so much boldness and speed, that the first of their slain(e) fell only two furlongs from the Roman fosse.

As soon as the attack began, Æmilius advanced to the first ranks, and found that the foremost of the Macedonians had struck the heads of their pikes into the shields of the Romans, so that it was impossible for his men to reach their adversaries with their swords. And when he saw the rest of the Macedonians take their bucklers from their shoulders, join them close together, and with one motion present their pikes against his legions, the strength of such a rampart and the formidable. appearance of such a front, struck him with terror and amazement. He never indeed beheld a more dreadful spectacle, and he frequently afterward mentioned the impression which it made upon him. He took care, however, to show a pleasant and cheerful countenance to his men, and even rode about without either helmet or breastplate. But the king of Macedon, as Polybius informs us, as soon as the engagement commenced, gave way to his fears, and withdrew into the town(ƒ) under pretence of sacrificing to Hercules; a god, that accepts not the timid offerings of cowards, nor favours any unjust vows. And surely it is unjust, that the man who never shoots should bear away the prize; that he who deserts his post should conquer; that he who is despicably indolent should be indulged with success; or that a bad man should be happy. But the god attended to the prayers of Æmilius; for he solicited military strength and victory with his sword in his hand, and fought while he implored the divine aid. Yet one Posidonius,(g) who says he lived in those times, and was present at

e The light-armed.

It is to be regretted that this imperfect statement of the Macedonian order of battle cannot be corrected either from Polybius, whose account of it is lost; or from Livy, whose xlivth book, where it is still unmutilated, differs widely from Plutarch. See ib. 41.*

f Pydna, says Livy ib. 42, a city in Pieria, a Macedonian province near the head of the bay Therma.

The Pella, to which he subsequently fled, was a little farther to the N. and chiefly distinguished as the birth-place of Alexander the Great.*

g This could not be Posidonius of Apamea, who wrote a continuation of Polybius's history; for he went to Rome during the consulship of Marcellus, a hundred and eighteen years after this battle.