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 Kynoskephalæ, that is, Dogs' Heads, which is so named because a number of small hills near together have something of this appearance. In the combat, as usually happens in such rough ground, each side alternately had the advantage, and as each gave way they were reinforced from the respective camps. Now the fog lifted, and the two commanders resolved upon a general engagement. Philip's right wing, on which the phalanx charged down-hill with all its weight, was victorious, the Romans being unable to stand before that hedge of spears, or break through that closely-locked array of shields. But on the left the Macedonians were unable to maintain their line, because of the inequalities of the ground, and Titus, seeing that his left was hopelessly routed, rode quickly to his own right, and suddenly attacked the enemy, who, because of the uneven nature of the ground, were unable to form their phalanx with its deep ranks, in which lies the peculiar strength of that order of battle, while the soldiers of which it is composed are armed in an unwieldy fashion which renders them helpless in a hand-to-hand fight. For the Macedonian phalanx[34] is like some huge beast of invincible strength so long as it remains one body, close locked together in serried ranks; but when broken up it loses even the advantage of each individual soldier's strength, because of the fashion in which they are armed, as they can only act together, not separately. When this body was routed some of the Romans pursued the fugitives, while others charged the victorious Macedonians in flank, soon forcing them to break up their array and fly in confusion, throwing away their arms. There fell no less than eight thousand of them, and five thousand were taken prisoners. The Ætolian cavalry were blamed for letting Philip escape, because they betook themselves to plundering the camp of the Macedonians even before the Romans ceased their pursuit, so that on their return they found that nothing had been left for them. IX. From this there arose quarrels between the Ætolians and the Romans; and afterwards they exasperated Titus by taking to themselves the credit of the victory, and being the first to spread abroad that report among the Greeks so that they received all the honours due to victors, and were mentioned first in all the poems and ballads written about the battle. Of these, that which was most in vogue was the following:--