fell down in a fit. He was shortly afterwards conveyed by
sea to Asia Minor, and died there. However, the Boeotians accepted the
Roman alliance.

VII. Philip now sent an embassy to Rome; and Flamininus also sent
thither to beg the Senate to allow him to retain his office of consul,
in case they should continue the war, or if they decided otherwise, to
permit him to have the honour of concluding a peace with Philip; for
his ambitious spirit could not endure to be superseded by another
commander. His friends succeeded in obtaining the rejection of
Philip's demands, and his own continuance in office. As soon as he
received this intelligence, he started, full of hope, to attack Philip
in Thessaly, with an army of more than twenty-six thousand men, of
which the AEtolians supplied six thousand infantry and four hundred
cavalry. The army of Philip was of nearly equal numbers, and they
began to march towards one another until they both drew near the city
of Skotussa, where they determined to fight a decisive battle. When
the two armies found themselves so near each other they felt no fear,
as one might have expected, but each was confident of victory. The
Romans were eager for the honour of overcoming the Macedonians, who
had gained such glory under Alexander the Great; while the
Macedonians, admitting the Romans to be very different soldiers to the
Persians, swelled with pride at the thought that if they could conquer
them, they would prove their king Philip to be even more invincible
than Alexander himself. Titus also encouraged his soldiers to quit
them like men, pointing out that they were about to fight in Greece, a
noble theatre in which to display deeds of daring, and against worthy
antagonists; while Philip, either by chance, or not noticing what he
was doing in his haste, mounted upon a large sepulchre outside his
camp, and from it began to make the usual speech to his men to
encourage them for the coming struggle, but at length observing the
evil omen was much disheartened by it, broke off in confusion, and
would not fight that day.

VIII. On the following morning about dawn, as the night had been warm
and damp, the whole plain was covered with fog, and a thick mist
poured down from the neighbouring hills; which rendered it impossible
to distinguish any object. The parties which were sent out by each
army to reconnoitre fell in with one another and fought near the place
called Kynoskephalae, that is, Dogs' Heads, w