Mount
Sipylus not far from Smyrna, the Roman troops fell in with the enemy
late in the autumn of 564. The force of Antiochus numbered close on
80,000 men, of whom 12,000 were cavalry; the Romans--who had along
with them about 5000 Achaeans, Pergamenes, and Macedonian volunteers
--had not nearly half that number, but they were so sure of victory,
that they did not even wait for the recovery of their general who had
remained behind sick at Elaea; Gnaeus Domitius took the command in his
stead. Antiochus, in order to be able even to place his immense mass
of troops, formed two divisions. In the first were placed the mass of
the light troops, the peltasts, bowmen, slingers, the mounted archers
of Mysians, Dahae, and Elymaeans, the Arabs on their dromedaries, and
the scythe-chariots. In the second division the heavy cavalry (the
Cataphractae, a sort of cuirassiers) were stationed on the flanks;
next to these, in the intermediate division, the Gallic and
Cappadocian infantry; and in the very centre the phalanx armed after
the Macedonian fashion, 16,000 strong, the flower of the army, which,
however, had not room in the narrow space and had to be drawn up in
double files 32 deep. In the space between the two divisions were
placed 54 elephants, distributed between the bands of the phalanx and
of the heavy cavalry. The Romans stationed but a few squadrons on the
left wing, where the river gave protection; the mass of the cavalry
and all the light armed were placed on the right, which was led by
Eumenes; the legions stood in the centre. Eumenes began the battle by
despatching his archers and slingers against the scythe-chariots with
orders to shoot at the teams; in a short time not only were these
thrown into disorder, but the camel-riders stationed next to them were
also carried away, and even in the second division the left wing of
heavy cavalry placed behind fell into confusion. Eumenes now threw
himself with all the Roman cavalry, numbering 3000 horse, on the
mercenary infantry, which was placed in the second division between
the phalanx and the left wing of heavy cavalry, and, when these gave
way, the cuirassiers who had already fallen into disorder also fled.
The phalanx, which had just allowed the light troops to pass through
and was preparing to advance against the Roman legions, was hampered
by the attack of the cavalry in flank, and compelled to stand still
and to form front on both sides--a movement which the de