+19.+ A violent struggle at once began: and, as it went on, division
after division of the troops in the city came down to support him,
until at length the whole force had poured out to take part in the
engagement. The Romans who had landed in the night arrived at the
critical moment, after a march by an obscure route; and seizing a
strong position on some rising ground between the city and the harbour,
efficiently cut off from the city the troops that had sallied out.
When Demetrius became aware of what had taken place, he desisted from
opposing the disembarkation; and having rallied his men and addressed
the ranks, he put them in motion, with the resolution of fighting a
pitched battle with the troops on the hill. When the Romans saw the
Illyrian advance being made in good order and with great spirit, they
formed their ranks and charged furiously. At the same moment the Roman
troops which had just effected their landing, seeing what was going on,
charged the enemy on the rear, who being thus attacked on both sides,
were thrown into great disorder and confusion. The result was that,
finding both his van and his rear in difficulties, Demetrius fled.
Some of his men retreated towards the city; but most of them escaped
by bye-paths into various parts of the island. Demetrius himself made
his way to some galleys which he kept at anchor at a solitary point
on the coast, with a view to every contingency; and going on board,
he sailed away at nightfall, and arrived unexpectedly at the court of
King Philip, where he passed the remainder of his life:—a man whose
undoubted boldness and courage were unsupported by either prudence or
judgment. His end was of a piece with the whole tenor of his life; for
while endeavouring at the instigation of Philip to seize Messene, he
exposed himself during the battle with a careless rashness which cost
him his life; of which I shall speak in detail when I come to that
period.
The Consul Aemilius having thus taken Pharos at a blow, levelled the
city to the ground; and then having become master of all Illyria, and
having ordered all its affairs as he thought right, returned towards
the end of the summer to Rome, where he celebrated a triumph amid
expressions of unmixed approval; for people considered that he had
managed this business with great prudence and even greater courage.
[Sidenote: Indignation at Rome at the fall of Saguntum.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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