Book 36
14
The consul remained a few days at Larisa, mainly in order to recruit the horses and draught cattle, which owing to the voyage and the subsequent marching had got out of condition. When his army was, so to speak, renewed by the short rest, he marched to Crannon, and on his way he received the surrender of Pharsalus, Scotusa and Pherae, together with the garrisons which Antiochus had placed in them. These troops were asked whether they would be willing to remain with him. A thousand volunteered, and these he handed over to Philip; the rest he disarmed and sent back to Demetrias. He next captured Proerna and the fortified posts in the neighbourhood, and continued his march towards the Maliac Gulf. As he approached the pass above which Thaumaci is situated, all the men who could bear arms armed themselves, left the city and occupied the woods and roads, and from their higher ground made attacks upon the Roman column of march. The consul sent parties to approach them within speaking distance and warn them against such madness, but when he saw that they persisted he ordered a military tribune to work round them with two maniples and cut off their retreat to the city, which in the absence of its defenders the consul occupied. When they heard the shouts from the captured city behind them, they fled back from all sides and were cut to pieces. The next day the consul reached the Spercheus, and from there ravaged the fields of the Hypataeans.
