Book 7
15.4
Critolaus and the Achaeans took to flight, but at a short distance from Scarpheia they were overtaken by the men of Metellus, who killed many and took about a thousand prisoners. Critolaus was neither seen alive after the battle nor found among the dead. If he dared to plunge into the marsh of the sea at the foot of Mount Oeta he must inevitably have sunk into the depths without leaving a trace to tell the tale.
15.5
So the end of Critolaus offers a wide field for conjecture. A thousand picked troops of Arcadia, who had joined Critolaus in his enterprise, took the field and advanced as far as Elateia in Phocis, into which city they were received by the inhabitants on the ground of some supposed ancient connection between them. But when the Phocians heard of the disaster to Critolaus and the Achaeans, they ordered the Arcadians to depart from Elateia.
15.6
As they were retreating to the Peloponnesus the Romans under Metellus fell upon them near Chaeroneia. It was then that the vengeance of the Greek gods overtook the Arcadians, who were slain by the Romans on the very spot on which they had deserted from the Greeks who were struggling at Chaeroneia against the Macedonians under Philip.
15.7
Diaeus once more came forward to command the Achaean army. He proceeded to set free slaves, following the example of Miltiades and the Athenians before the battle of Marathon, and enlisted from the cities of the Achaeans and Arcadians those who were of military age. The muster, including the slaves, amounted roughly to six hundred cavalry and fourteen thousand foot.
15.8
And here Diaeus sank into utter folly. Although he knew that Critolaus and the whole force of Achaia had put up such a poor fight against Metellus, he nevertheless detached about four thousand, put them under the command of Alcamenes, and despatched them to Megara to garrison the city, and to stay the advance of Metellus and the Romans, should they march that way.
