d to action without more delay.
The fight was begun by small advanced parties; and afterwards the
numbers of the combatants were increased by reinforcements of men, who
supported those who gave way. In this contest the Romans, being far
inferior to their adversaries, sent message after message to the
general, that they were being overpowered; on which he hastily sent
five hundred horse and two thousand foot, mostly Aetolians, under the
command of two military tribunes, who relieved them, and restored the
fight. The Macedonians, distressed in turn by this change of fortune,
sent to beg succour from their king; but as, on account of the general
darkness from the fog, he had expected nothing less, on that day, than
a battle, and had therefore sent a great number of men, of every kind,
to forage, he was, for a considerable time, in great perplexity, and
unable to form a resolution. Subsequently, as the messengers still
continued to urge him, and the covering of clouds was now removed
from the tops of the mountains, and the Macedonian party was in view,
having been driven up to the highest summit, and trusting for safety
rather to the nature of the ground than to their arms, he thought it
necessary, at all events, to hazard the whole, in order to prevent
the loss of a part, for want of support; and, accordingly, he sent
up Athenagoras, general of the mercenary soldiers, with all the
auxiliaries, except the Thracians, joined by the Macedonian and
Thessalian cavalry. On their arrival, the Romans were forced from the
top of the hill, and did not face about until they came to the level
plain. The principal support which saved them from being driven down
in disorderly flight, was the Aetolian horsemen. The Aetolians
were then by far the best cavalry in Greece; in infantry, they were
surpassed by some of their neighbours.

8. This affair was represented as more successful than the advantage
gained in the battle could warrant; for people came, one after
another, and calling out that the Romans were flying in a panic; so
that, though reluctant and hesitating declaring it a rash proceeding,
and that he liked not either place or the time, yet he was prevailed
upon to draw out his whole force to battle. The Roman general did the
same, induced by necessity, rather than by the favourableness of the
occasion. Leaving the right wing as a reserve, having the elephants
posted in front, he, with the left, and all the right infantry,
advanced