Diodorus Siculus, Library

Contents of the Sixteenth Book of Diodorus

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¹

When Nicomachus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Marcius and Titus Manlius Torquatus.² In this year, Phocion the Athenian defeated and expelled Cleitarchus, the tyrant of Eretria who had been installed by Philip. [2] In Caria, Pizodarus,³ the younger of the brothers, ousted Ada from her rule as dynast and held sway for five years until Alexander's crossing over into Asia.

Philip, whose fortunes were constantly on the increase, made an expedition against Perinthus, which had resisted him and inclined toward the Athenians.⁴ He instituted a siege and advancing engines to the city assailed the walls in relays day after day. [3] He built towers eighty cubits high, which far overtopped the towers of Perinthus, and from a superior height kept wearing down the besieged. He rocked the walls with battering rams and undermined them with saps, and cast down a long stretch of the wall. The Perinthians fought stoutly in their own defence and quickly threw up a second wall; many admirable feats were performed in the open and on the fortifications. [4] Both sides displayed great determination. The king, for his part, rained destruction with numerous and varied catapults upon the men fighting steadfastly along the battlements, while the Perinthians, although their daily losses were heavy, received reinforcements of men, missiles, and artillery from Byzantium. [5] When they had again become a match for the enemy, they took courage and resolutely bore the brunt of battle for their homeland. Still the king persevered in his determination. He divided his forces into several divisions and with frequent reliefs kept up a continuous attack on the walls both day and night. He had thirty thousand men and a store of missiles and siege engines besides other machines in plenty, and kept up a steady pressure against the besieged people.

¹  LXXIV. 341/0 B.C.

² Nicomachus was archon at Athens from July 341 to June 340 B.C. The consuls of 344 B.C. were C. Marcius Rutilius and T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus (Broughton, 1.132).

³ Above, Chap. 69.2.

⁴ These events in Philip's career are barely noticed by Justin 9.1.25-5, and only casual references to them occur elsewhere.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
OCLC: 24758311
ISBN: 0674994132, 0674994221, 0674994396, 0674994280, 0674994647

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