5 As is usual in an unexpected affair, great consternation and tumult ensued; yet the besieged, with greater resolution than any one could suppose them capable of under such a sudden alarm, when the men fought, and the women brought weapons of every kind, and stones, to the walls, defended the city for that day, although the scaling ladders were raised against the walls. About mid-day, Acilius, the signal for retreat being given, drew off his men to their camp. After their bodies were refreshed by food and rest, before he dismissed the meeting in the Prætorium, he gave them notice, “to be ready and under arms before day; and that they were not to return to their tents until the city should be taken.” Next day, at the same hour as before, having began the assault in a greater number of places, as not only the strength, but also the weapons, and above all, the courage of the garrison began to fail, he took the town in the space of a few hours. One half of the spoil found there was sold in parcels; the other was divided among the soldiers; and a council was held to determine what he should next undertake. No one approved of going against Naupactum, while the pass at Corax was occupied by the Ætolians. That, however, the summer campaign might not be an idle one, and that the Ætolians might not through his supineness possess the peace that they could not obtain from the senate, Acilius resolved to besiege Amphissa; his army was led thither from Heraclea by Œta. Having encamped under the walls, he proceeded to attack the town, not by general assault, as at Lamia, but by regular approaches. The ram was brought up to the walls in many places at once; and though these were shaken by it, yet the townsmen never attempted to provide or contrive any sort of defence against such a description of mechanism. All their hope was in arms and courage. By frequent sallies they much annoyed not only the advanced guards of the Romans, but even those who were employed at the works and machines.
6 However, the wall was broken down in many places, when word was brought, that his successor, having landed his army at Apollonia, was coming through Epirus and Thessaly. The consul came with thirteen thousand foot and five hundred horse. He had already arrived at the Malian bay; and after that, to his messengers sent forward to Hypata, to order a surrender of the city, this response was given, that they would do nothing except by the common consent of the Ætolians: that the siege of Hypata might not detain him while Amphissa was not yet recovered, having sent forward his brother Africanus, he leads his forces to Amphissa. A little before their arrival, the towns-people having abandoned the city, for it was now, for the most part, stripped of its walls; all, armed and unarmed, retired into the citadel, which they deemed an impregnable fortress. The consul pitched his camp at the distance of about six miles from the town; and thither came ambassadors from the Athenians, addressing, first, Publius Scipio, who preceded the main body as before mentioned, and afterwards the consul, with earnest supplications in favour of the Ætolians. They received a milder answer from Africanus, who, wishing for an honourable pretext for relinquishing the Ætolian war, was directing his views towards Asia and king Antiochus, and had recommended to the Athenians to persuade, not only the Romans, but the Ætolians likewise, to prefer peace to war. By the advice of the Athenians a numerous embassy of the Ætolians came speedily from Hypata, and the discourse of Africanus, whom they addressed first, augmented their hopes of peace; for he mentioned, that “many nations and states, first in Spain, and afterwards in Africa, had thrown themselves on his protection; and that, in all of them, he had left greater monuments of clemency and kindness than of military prowess.” The business seemed to be concluded, when the consul, on being applied to, repeated the very same answer with which they had been driven off by the senate. When the Ætolians were thunderstruck at this, as if they had never heard it before, (for they now perceived that no progress was made either from the Athenian embassy or the favourable reply of Africanus,) they said that they wished to consult their countrymen on the affair.
7 They then returned to Hypata, nor were their plans cleared of difficulties. For they had no means of paying the thousand talents; and, in case of an unconditional submission, they dreaded lest cruelty should be inflicted on their persons. They, therefore, ordered the same ambassadors to return to the consul and Africanus, and to request, that if they meant in reality to grant them peace, and not merely to amuse them with a prospect of it, frustrating the hopes of the wretched, they would either remit some part of the money required to be paid, or order that the unconditional submission should not extend to their persons. Nothing was accomplished whereby the consul might change his resolution; and that embassy, also, was dismissed without effect. The Athenian ambassadors accompanied them. And Echedemus, their principal in the embassy, recalled to hope the Ætolians, dejected by so many repulses, and deploring with unavailing lamentations the hard fate of their nation—by advising them to request a suspension of arms for six months, in order that they might send an embassy to Rome. He urged that “the delay could add nothing to their present calamities, which were already severe in the extreme; but that, if time intervened, their present calamities might be alleviated by many chances. Agreeably to this advice of Echedemus, the same ambassadors were sent again; who, making their first application to Publius Scipio, obtained, through him, from the consul, a suspension of arms for the time they desired: and the siege of Amphissa being raised, Manius Acilius, the army being delivered to the consul, left the province; and the consul returned from Amphissa into Thessaly, with intention of leading his troops into Asia through Macedonia and Thrace. Here Africanus said to his brother, Lucius Scipio, “I also, Lucius Scipio, approve of the route which you adopt. But the whole matter rests on the inclinations of Philip; for if he be faithful to our government, he will afford us a passage, and provisions and all things which support and aid an army on a long march. But if he should fail in this, you will find no safety in any part of Thrace. In my opinion, therefore, the king’s disposition ought in the first place to be discovered. He will be best tested if the person who shall be sent will come suddenly upon him, doing nothing by a preconcerted plan.” Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a young man, the most active of all the youths at that time, being selected for this purpose, by means of relays of horses, and travelling with almost incredible expedition, made good the journey from Amphissa, whence he had been despatched, to Pella, on the third day. The king was sitting at a banquet, and was far gone in his cups: that very relaxation of mind removed all suspicion of any intention of changing his measures. His guest was kindly entertained for the present; and next day he saw provisions in abundance already prepared for the army, bridges made over rivers, and roads fortified where the passage was difficult. As he was bringing back this intelligence, with the same speed which he had used in coming, he met the consul at Thaumaci. From this the army rejoicing, marched with more certain and greater hopes into Macedon, where all things were prepared. On their arrival, the king received them with royal magnificence, and accompanied them on their march. Much pleasantry and good humour appeared in him, which recommended him much to Africanus, a man who, as he was unparalleled in other respects, was not averse to courteousness unaccompanied by luxury. Passing from this not only through Macedon, but also through Thrace, they arrived at the Hellespont, Philip escorting them and making every preparation.
8 Antiochus, after the sea-fight at Corycus, when he had the whole winter disengaged to carry on his preparations by land and water, was chiefly intent on the refitting of his ships, lest he should be entirely excluded from the sea. It occurred to him that he had been defeated when the Rhodian fleet was absent; if this fleet were present in an engagement, (and the Rhodians would certainly not be guilty of being late a second time,) he required a vast number of ships to equal the fleet of the enemy, in the strength of their crews and size of their vessels. For this reason, he sent Hannibal into Syria, to bring in the Phœnician navy, and gave orders to Polyxenidas, that, the more unsuccessfully affairs had been managed before, the more diligently he should now repair the ships which he had, and procure others. He himself passed the winter in Phrygia, calling in auxiliaries from every quarter. He had even sent for that purpose to Gallogræcia. The people of that country were then more warlike than at present, retaining the Gallic spirit, as the generation which had emigrated thither was not yet extinct. He had left