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As a special measure of defence against the Romans' elephants he had trained a phalanx of heavy-armed warriors whose shields and helmets he had had studded with sharp iron nails. Also, in order to make sure that the beasts should not prove a source of terror to the horses, he constructed images of elephants and smeared them with some kind of ointment to give them a dreadful odour. They were terrible both to see and to hear, since they were skilfully arranged to emit a roar resembling thunder; and he would repeatedly lead the horses up to these figures until they gained courage.
Ernest Cary, trans, Dio's Roman History, London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1961, p.337.
PLACE: Thessaly, Greece
TIME: 169 B.C.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Roman war of conquest over Perseus of Macedonia, (the "he" in this quotation).
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