Book 43
21
Perseus advanced to Elimea and offered the purificatory sacrifices for his army in its neighbourhood. He then marched to Stratus at the call of the Epirots. Stratus was at that time the strongest city in Aetolia. It lies beyond the Ambracian Gulf near the Inachus. Owing to the narrowness and roughness of the roads, Perseus took a comparatively small force with him-10,000 infantry and 300 cavalry. In a three days' march he reached Mount Citium which, owing to the deep snow, he had great difficulty in crossing, and only after much trouble was he able to find a position for his camp. Resuming his march, more because he could not stay where he was than because the road or the weather made progress tolerable, he encamped the next day, after much hardship and suffering, especially among the animals, at a temple sacred to Jupiter, called Nicaeum. From there he made a very long march to the River Arathus. The depth of the river necessitated his remaining there until a bridge could be built. After his troops had crossed the river he advanced a day's march and met Archidamus, an Aetolian magnate, through whom Stratus was to be betrayed.
