The Macedonians did nothing of the sort, but dismay spread over
their camp, and they muttered under their breath that this portended the
eclipse of their king. Now Aemilius was not unacquainted with the
phenomena of eclipses, which result from the moon being at fixed periods
brought into the shadow of the earth and darkened, until it passes the
obscured tract and is again enlightened by the sun, yet being very
devout and learned in divination, he offered to her a sacrifice of
eleven calves. At daybreak he sacrificed twenty oxen to Herakles without
obtaining a favourable response; but with the one-and-twentieth
favourable signs appeared and portents of victory for them, provided
they did not attack. He then vowed a hecatomb and sacred games in
honour of the god, and ordered his officers to arrange the men in line
of battle. But he waited till the sun declined and drew towards the
west, that his troops might not fight with the morning sun in their
eyes. He passed away the day sitting in his tent, which was pitched
looking towards the flat country and the camp of the enemy.
XVIII. Some writers tell us, that about evening, by a device of
Aemilius, the battle was begun by the enemy, the Romans having driven a
horse without a bridle out of their camp and then tried to catch it,
from which pursuit the battle began; but others say that Roman soldiers
who were carrying fodder for the cattle were set upon by the Thracians
under Alexander, and that to repel them a vigorous sortie was made with
seven hundred Ligurians; that many on both sides came up to help their
comrades, and so the battle began.
Pages:
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670