2.
Having animated the minds of his soldiers by such exhortations, he began to consult on a general plan of operations for the campaign; being joined by the praetor, Caius Marcius, who, after receiving the command of the fleet, came thither from Chalcis.
[2]
It was resolved not to waste time by delaying longer in Thessaly; but to decamp immediately, and advance thence into Macedonia;
[3]
and that the praetor should exert himself to the utmost, that the fleet might appear, at the same time, on the enemy's coasts.
[4]
The praetor then having been [p. 2059]sent away, the consul, having ordered the soldiers to carry with them a month's provisions, struck his tents, on the tenth day after he received the command of the army, and proceeded one day's march.
[5]
He then called together his guides, and ordered them to explain, in the presence of the council, by what road each of them proposed to lead him; then, having dismissed them, he asked the opinion of the council, as to what route he should prefer.
[6]
Some advised the road through Pythium; others, that over the Cambunian mountains, by which the consul Hostilius had marched the year before; while others, again, preferred that which passed by the side of the Lake Ascuris.
[7]
There was yet before him a considerable length of road common to each of these routes; the further consideration of this matter was therefore postponed until they should encamp near the place where the roads diverged.
[8]
He then marched into Perrhaebia, and posted himself between Azorus and Doliche, in order to consider again which was the preferable road.
[9]
In the mean time, Perseus, understanding that the enemy was marching towards him, but unable to guess what route he might take, resolved to secure all the passes by guards.
[10]
To the top of the Cambunian mountains, called by the natives Volustana, he sent ten thousand light infantry, under the command of Asclepiodotus; ordering Hippias, with a detachment of twelve thousand Macedonians, to guard the pass called Lapathus, near a fort which stood over the Lake Ascuris.
[11]
He himself, with the rest of his forces, lay for some time in camp at Dium;
[12]
but afterwards, as if he had lost the use of his judgment, and was incapable of forming any plan, he used to gallop along the coast, with a party of light horse, sometimes to Heracleum, sometimes to Phila, and then return with the same speed to Dium.
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.
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