engagement with an apparent retreat, he left one unit under Gabinius to occupy and defend the town of Chaeronea, had Murena retreat back onto Mount Thurium, while he himself marched alongside the right bank of the river Cephisus. Archelaus in response marched forth to occupy a position facing Chaeronea and extended a flanking force to occupy Murena's troops at Thurium. Sulla linked up with Chaeronea and extended the Roman line across the valley. Murena's position was the weakest, possibly untenable, to strengthen the position Gabinius recruited some of the locals to help deal with the danger, a proposition which Sulla approved. By this point, Sulla had taken up his position on the right and the battle began. Murena, assisted by the force of natives from Chaeronea, cautiously launched an attack against the right flank, the flank having been attacked from above is forced down the hill with disastrous consequences and possibly up to 3,000 casualties there. In exchange the chariots charged forth against Gabinius who was in the centre, Gabinius withdrew his troops behind defensive stakes thus forcing the chariots to retreat. As the chariots retreated they were met by a barrage of Roman javelins and arrows causing confusion and rendering Archelaus' main infantry line of phalanx vulnerable to attack. The entrenched Roman legions were then pitched in a battle against the Macedonian style phalanx troops in the centre with missile support in the form of stones and bolts coming from the rear. The phalanx, unable to put up a full charge, engaged the Roman legions. Despite this, the Romans still had to contend against pike phalanx units with their own short swords. In order for the troops to use their short-sword they had to swat away the opposing pikes with their bare hands before drawing themselves near enough to attack. In the meantime, Archelaus continued extending his line rightward to outflank Murena on the Roman left wing. Hortensius, with the reserve cohorts under his command, came to Murena's rescue, but Archelaus, with 2,000 cavalry, promptly wheeled and pushed him back to the foothills, whence Hortensius's force stood isolated and in danger of being annihilated. Seeing this, Sulla raced across the field with his cavalry from the Roman right, which was not yet engaged, forcing Archelaus to withdraw. The Pontic commander now took the opportunity to ride against the weakened Roman right, left vulnerable by Sulla's absence, and at the