Phaselis is situated on the confines of Lycia and Pamphylia and stands on a headland jutting out into the sea. It is the first land visible to ships sailing from Cilicia to Rhodes, and affords an extensive view seawards. This position was selected mainly because it lay on the route of the enemy fleet. One thing, however, had not been foreseen. Owing to the unhealthiness of the locality and the season of the year - it was midsummer - and also in consequence of a strange and mysterious smell, there was a great deal of sickness, especially among the men at the oars. Alarmed at the spread of this epidemic they sailed away and passing the Pamphylian Gulf anchored off the mouth of the Eurymedon. Here they were informed by messengers from Aspendus that the enemy were at Sida. The progress of the king's fleet had been retarded by the Etesian winds, which blow from the N.W. at a fixed season. The Rhodian force consisted of thirty-two quadriremes and four triremes; the king's fleet numbered thirty-seven vessels of larger build; amongst them were three hepteres and EX0-101 four hexeres. There were in addition to these ten triremes. They, too, discovered from an observation post that the enemy were not far off. On the morrow, as soon as it was light, the two fleets left their anchorage, prepared to fight on that day. As soon as the Rhodians had rounded the point which projects into the sea from Sida, both fleets came at once in sight of each other. The left division of the king's fleet which stood out to sea was under Hannibal's command, the right under that of Apollonius, one of the court nobles, and they already had their ships in line. The Rhodians came on in a long column, Eudamus' ship leading, Chariclitus closing the rear and Pamphilidas commanding the centre. When Eudamus saw that the enemy were in line and prepared to engage, he too put out to the open sea and signalled to the ships which followed to move into line as they came up, keeping their order. This at first led to some confusion as he had gone sufficiently far out to sea to allow of all the ships coming into line towards the land, and in his extreme haste he had only five ships with him when he met Hannibal, the rest were not following, but were, as ordered, getting into line. On the extreme left there was no further room towards the land, and they were still in confusion when the fighting began on the right with Hannibal.
[37.24]But the excellence of their vessels and their own practiced seamanship took away all fear from the Rhodians in a moment. Each ship in turn steered towards the open sea and so allowed room on the land side for the one which followed it, and whenever any of them closed with an enemy vessel with its beak foremost, it either tore a hole in its prow or sheared off its oars, or else, where it found a clear way through the line, it passed it and attacked its stern. What caused the greatest alarm was the sinking of one of the hepteres at a single stroke by a much smaller Rhodian vessel; and on this, the right division were showing unmistakable signs of preparing for flight. Hannibal, on the other hand, in the open sea, was closing with a large number of ships on Eudamus, and in spite of the Rhodian's superiority in all other respects, would have hemmed him in had not the signal which is customarily used to call a scattered fleet together been given from the commander's ship. All the ships which had won the day on the right immediately rushed to their comrades' help. Now it was Hannibal and the ships round him which took to flight; the Rhodians, however, were unable to pursue them as most of the rowers were out of health, and therefore more quickly tired. Whilst they were recruiting their strength with food as they lay on the water, Eudamus from the turret of his ship was watching the enemy as they employed their open ships to tow away the damaged and crippled ones, not much more than twenty getting away uninjured. He called for silence and then said, "Come and feast your eyes on a wonderful sight." They all got up, and after watching the hurried flight of the enemy exclaimed, with almost one voice, that they ought to follow them up. Eudamus' own ship had been repeatedly struck, so he ordered Pamphilidas and Chariclitus to go in pursuit as far as they could do so with safety. 9L0-006 They kept up the chase for a considerable time, but when Hannibal drew near the land they were afraid of being wind-bound off the enemy shores, and so they returned to Eudamus with the captured heptere which had been struck in the beginning of the battle, and with some difficulty they succeeded in towing it to Phaselis. From there they sailed back to Rhodes, not so much delighted at their victory as angry with one another because they had not sunk or captured the whole of the hostile fleet, when it was in their power to do so. So deeply did Hannibal feel this one defeat that though he was very anxious to join the king's fleet as soon as he could, he did not venture to sail beyond the coast of Lycia, and to prevent him from being at liberty to do this the Rhodians sent Chariclitus with twenty ships of war to Patara and the harbour of Megiste. Eudamus received instructions to return to the Romans at Samos with seven of the largest vessels out of his fleet and use all the influence he possessed and every argument he could employ to induce the Romans to take Patara.
[37.25]The news of the victory followed by the appearance of the Rhodians caused much rejoicing amongst the Romans; it was quite evident that if the Rhodians were relieved from that cause of anxiety they would make all the seas in that part of the world safe. But the departure of Antiochus from Sardis and the danger of his seizing the cities on the coast forbade their abandoning the defence of the shores of Ionia and Aeolis. Consequently, they sent Pamphilidas with four ships to reinforce the fleet off Patara. Antiochus had been busy collecting contingents from all the cities round him, and had also sent a letter to Prusias the king of Bithynia. In this despatch he bitterly complained of the Roman expedition to Asia; they had come, he wrote, to deprive them all of their crowns so that there might be no sovereignty but that of the Romans anywhere in the world; Philip and Nabis had been reduced to submission; he, Antiochus, was to be the third victim; like a spreading conflagration they would envelop all, as each lay nearest to the one already overthrown. Now that Eumenes had voluntarily accepted the yoke of servitude, it would be but a step from Antiochus to Bithynia. Prusias was much perturbed by this letter, but any doubts or suspicions which it might have created were set at rest by a letter from the consul and still more so by one from the consul's brother, Africanus. In this letter he showed how it was the uniform practice of the Roman people to enhance the dignity of their royal allies by bestowing every honour upon them, and quoted instances of his own policy in order to persuade Prusias to show himself worthy of his friendship. The chieftains whom he had taken under his protection in Spain he had left with the title of kings; Masinissa he had established on his throne and on that of Syphax, who had expelled him, as well, and now he was not only by far the most prosperous monarch in Africa, but the peer in greatness and power of any monarch in the world. Philip and Nabis, who had been enemies and whom T. Quinctius had conquered, had still their thrones left them; in the case of Philip even the payment of tribute had been remitted during the past year, his son who had been a hostage was restored to him, and he had been allowed to recapture some cities outside Macedonia without any interference from the Roman generals. Nabis, too, would have retained his honour and dignity had not his own madness and the treachery of the Aetolians proved fatal to him. Such was the tenor of Africanus' communication. What did most to determine the king's attitude was a visit from C. Livius, the late commandant 9L0-619 of the fleet. He came on a special mission from Rome and made the king understand how much more certain the prospect of victory was for the Romans than for Antiochus, and how much more inviolable and secure his friendship would be in their eyes than in those of the king.
[37.26]Now that he had lost all hope of securing Prusias as an ally, Antiochus left Sardis for Ephesus in order to inspect the fleet which had been fitted out and in readiness for several months. It was the impossibility of offering an effective resistance to the Roman army with the two Scipios in command rather than any naval successes in the past or any well-grounded confidence he felt at the time which made him interest himself in his fleet. For the moment, however, there were some things to encourage him. He had learned that a large part of the Rhodian fleet was at Patara and that Eumenes had gone with all his ships to the Hellespont to meet the consul. The destruction of the Rhodian fleet at Samos, as the result of treachery, also did something to raise his spirits. These considerations led him to send Polyxenidas with his fleet to try the chances of battle at all hazards, whilst he himself led his forces to Notium. This place belongs to Colophon and is about two miles distant from it and overlooks the sea. He wanted to get Colophon itself into his power, for it was so near Ephesus that he could take no action by sea or land which was not visible to the people of Colophon who at once informed the Romans. When once the Romans heard that Notium was besieged he felt sure that they would bring up their fleet from Samos to help their ally, and this would give Polyxenidas his opportunity.