Kitap 31
41
These considerations brought Damocritus and the Aetolians back to the side of the Romans, and in conjunction with Amynander king of the Athamanians they proceeded to invest Cercinium. The townsmen had closed their gates, whether spontaneously or under compulsion is not clear, as Philip's troops were holding the place. However, in a few days Cercinium was taken and burnt, and those who survived the wholesale slaughter, slaves and citizens alike, were carried off with the rest of the booty. Dread of a similar fate drove the inhabitants of all the cities round Lake Boebeis to abandon their homes and take to the mountains. There being no further chance of plunder, the Aetolians left that part of the country and proceeded to go into Perrhaebia. Here they took Cyretiae by storm and ruthlessly sacked it. The population of Maloea surrendered voluntarily and were admitted into the Aetolian League. Leaving Perrhaebia, Amynander advised them to attack Gomphi, as it was close to Athamania and there was every probability of its being carried without much fighting. The Aetolians, however, wanted plunder and made for the fertile plains of Thessaly. Amynander accompanied them, though he did not approve of the disorderly way in which they carried on their depredations nor of their careless method of pitching their camp on any chance ground without taking the trouble to select a good position or throw up proper intrenchments. He was afraid that their recklessness and carelessness might bring disaster to him and his men, and when he saw them fixing their camp on flat open ground below the hill on which the city of Phaeca stood, he took possession of some rising ground little more than a mile away which needed very slight fortifying to make it safe. Except that they continued their depredations the Aetolians seemed to have almost forgotten that they were in an enemy's country; some were roaming about unarmed, others were turning day into night with wine and sleep, leaving the camp altogether unguarded.
