Hellespont, that at Sinope, and that at the shore of the opposite coast, in which the maritime Cilicians dwell. It is also contiguous to the borders of many and great nations, the commerce of which has been centred by mutual convenience principally in this place. The Romans found the town deserted owing to the flight of the inhabitants, yet at the same time filled with plenty of every thing. While they halted here, ambassadors came from Eposognatus, with information that “he had applied to the petty princes of the Gauls, and had been unable to bring them to reason; that they were removing in crowds from the villages and lands in the open country; and, with their wives and children, carrying and driving whatever could be carried or driven, were going to Mount Olympus, that there they might defend themselves by their arms and the nature of the ground.” 19. Deputies from the Oroandensians afterwards brought more particular intelligence; that “the state of the Tolistoboians had seized Mount Olympus, but that the Tectosagians, taking a different route, were gone to another mountain called Magaba; and that the Trocmians, leaving their wives and children in charge with the Tectosagians, had resolved to carry their armed force to the assistance of the Tolistoboians.” The chieftains of the three states were at that time, Ortiagon, Combolomarus, and Gaulotus; and this was their reason in particular for choosing this mode of warfare, because as they had possession of the highest mountains in that part of the world, and had conveyed thither stores of every kind, sufficient for their consumption during the time, although long, they thought that they would weary out the enemy by the tediousness of the enterprise: “for neither would they dare to climb over places so steep and uneven; and if they should attempt it, they could be prevented and driven down, even by a small band; nor would they, sitting in inactivity at the foot of the frosty mountains, endure cold and hunger.” Although the height of their posts was in itself a strong defence, yet they drew, besides, a trench and other fortifications round the summits which they occupied. The least part of their care was employed in providing a stock of missile weapons; for they trusted that the rocky ground itself would furnish stones in abundance.