21.
Lucius Caelius, a Roman lieutenant-general, commanded at that time in Illyria. While the king was in that country, he did not venture to stir; but, on his departure, he made an attempt to recover Uscana, in Penestia; in which being repulsed, with great loss, by the Macedonian garrison, he led back his forces to Lychnidus.
[2]
In a short time after he sent Marcus Trebellius Fregellanus, with a very strong force, into Penestia, to receive hostages from the cities which had faithfully remained in friendship.
[3]
He ordered him, also, to march on to the Parthinians, who had likewise covenanted to give hostages, which were received from both nations without any trouble: those of the Penestians were sent to Apollonia; those of the Parthinians, to Dyrrachium, then more generally called by the Greeks Epidamnus.
[4]
Appius Claudius, wishing to repair the disgrace which he had suffered in Illyria, made an attack on Phanote, a fortress of Epirus; bringing with him, besides the Roman troops, Athamanian and Thesprotian auxiliaries, to the amount of six thousand men; nor did he gain any advantage to recompense his exertion, for Clevas, who had been left there with a strong garrison, effectually defended the place.
[5]
Perseus marched to Elimea, and, after reviewing his army in the vicinity of that town, led it to Stratus, in compliance with an invitation of the Epirotes. Stratus was then the strongest city in Aetolia.
[6]
It stands on the Ambracian Gulf, near the river Inachus. Thither he marched with ten thousand foot and three hundred horse; for, on account of the narrowness and ruggedness of the roads, he led a smaller army than he would otherwise have done.
[7]
On the third day he came to Mount Citium, which he could scarcely climb over, by reason of the depth of the snow, and with difficulty found even a place for his camp.
[8]
Leaving that spot, rather because he could not conveniently stay, than that either the road or the weather was tolerable, the army, after suffering severe hardships, which fell heaviest on the beasts of burden, encamped on the second day at the temple of Jupiter, called Nicaus.
[9]
After a very long march thence, he halted at the river Aracthus, being detained there by the depth of the water, during the time in which a bridge was being constructed; he then led over his army, and, having proceeded one day's march, met Archidamus, an Aetolian of distinction, who proposed delivering Stratus into his hands. [p. 2055]
Livy. History of Rome by Titus Livius, books thirty-seven to the end, with the epitomes and fragments of the lost books. literally translated, with notes and illustrations, by. William A. McDevitte. York Street, Covent Garden, London. Henry G. Bohn. John Child and son, printers, Bungay. 1850. 4.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.