places at once.
The hottest part of the action was at the station where the king
commanded; for the guard there was, in numbers both of horse and foot,
almost a complete army; and, as they were posted on the middle road,
the greatest number of the Romans fell in with them. The Macedonians
had also the advantage in this, that the king himself was present to
encourage them; and the Cretan auxiliaries, fighting in good
order, and in a state of preparation, against troops disordered
and irregular, wounded many at a distance, where no such danger was
apprehended. If they had acted with prudence in the pursuit, they
would have secured an advantage of great importance, not only in
regard to the glory of the present contest, but to the general
interest of the war; but, greedy of slaughter, and following with too
much eagerness, they fell in with the advanced cohorts of the Romans
under the military tribunes. The horsemen who were flying, as soon as
they saw the ensigns of their friends, faced about against the enemy,
now in disorder; so that in a moment's time the fortune of the battle
was changed, those now turning their backs who had lately been the
pursuers. Many were slain in close fight, many in the pursuit; nor was
it by the sword alone that they perished; several, being driven into
morasses, were, together with their horses, swallowed up in the
deep mud. The king himself was in danger; for his horse falling, in
consequence of a wound, threw him headlong to the ground, and he very
narrowly escaped being overpowered while prostrate. He owed his safety
to a trooper, who instantly leaped down and mounted the affrighted
king on his horse; himself, as he could not on foot keep up with the
flying horsemen, was slain by the enemy, who had collected about the
place where Philip fell. The king, in his desperate flight, rode about
among the morasses, some of which were easily passed, and others not;
at length, when most men despaired of his ever escaping in safety,
he arrived in safety at his camp. Two hundred Macedonian horsemen
perished in that action; about one hundred were taken: eighty horses,
richly caparisoned, were led off the field; at the same time the
spoils of arms were also carried off.

38. There were some who found fault with the king, as guilty of
rashness on that day; and with the consul, for want of energy. For
Philip, they say, on his part, ought to have avoided coming to
action, knowing that in a few days the e