of spirit; afterwards, when they felt the effects of fatigue, a great many being likewise wounded, and a part of the wall demolished by the enemy’s works, they became disposed to capitulate.  But they had a garrison of Macedonians, of whom they stood in no less dread than of the Romans; and Philocles, the king’s general, sent frequent messages from Chalcis, that he would bring them succour in due time, if they could hold out the siege.  The hope of this, in conjunction with their fears, obliged them to protract the time longer than was consistent either with their wishes or their strength.  However, having learned soon after that Philocles had been repulsed in the attempt, and forced to fly back, in disorder, to Chalcis, they instantly sent deputies to Attalus, to beg pardon and protection.  While intent on the prospect of peace, they executed with less energy the duties of war, and kept armed guards in that quarter only where the breach had been made in the wall, neglecting all the rest; Quinctius made an assault by night on the side where it was least apprehended, and carried the town by scalade.  The whole multitude of the townsmen, with their wives and children, fled into the citadel, but soon after surrendered themselves prisoners.  The quantity of money, of gold and silver, taken was not great.  Of statues and pictures, the works of ancient artists, and other ornaments of that kind, a greater number was found than was proportionate either to the size of the city, or its opulence in other particulars.

17.  The design on Carystus was then resumed, and the fleets sailed thither; on which the whole body of the inhabitants, before the troops were disembarked, deserted the city and fled into the citadel, whence they sent deputies to beg protection from the Roman general.  To the townspeople life and liberty were immediately granted; and it was ordered, that the Macedonians should pay a ransom of three hundred drachmas[1] a head, deliver up their arms, and quit the country.  After being ransomed for the said amount, they were transported, unarmed, to Boeotia.  The combined fleets having, in the space of a few days, taken these two important cities of Euboea, sailed round Sunium, a promontory of Attica, and steered their course to Cenchreae, the grand mart of the Corinthians.  In the mean time, the consul found the siege of Atrax more tedious and severe than had been universally expected, and the enemy resisted in the way which they had least anticipated.  He had supposed that the whole of the trouble would be in demolishing the wall, and that if he could once open a passage for his soldiers into the city, the consequence would then be, the flight and slaughter of the enemy, as usually happens on the capture of towns.  But when, on a breach being made in the wall by the rams, and when the soldiers, by mounting over the ruins, had entered the place, this proved only the beginning, as it were, of an unusual and fresh labour.  For the Macedonians