Livy wrote that Perseus fled to Pella, the capital, through the Pierian wood with his cavalry, which had survived the battle almost intact, and the royal retinue. In the darkness he left the main path with a few trusted men. The abandoned cavalrymen went back to their respective homes. Plutarch, instead, wrote that he came across some infantrymen who called the horsemen cowards and traitors and tried to push them off their horses. He turned away from the road, drew his purple cloak and held it in front of him to be inconspicuous. He also carried the royal diadem in his hand. He dismounted to converse with his companions and walked with them. These found excuses to fall behind and ran away because they were afraid of his cruelty. Perseus reached Pella and in Livy he was met at the palace by the governor of Pella and the royal pages. In Plutarch he was met by his treasurers whom he killed because of bold remarks about the defeat. Perseus’ friends, who also had escaped to Pella independently, shunned him. Only Euander the Cretan, Archedamus the Aetolian, and Neon the Boeotian remained. Fearing a plot, Perseus continued his escape with an escort of about five hundred Cretans. They did so only because they were given money. He rushed to cross the river Axius before daylight, because he thought that the Romans would not pursue him beyond this river, which was difficult to cross. He reached Amphipolis three days after the battle. He sent ambassadors to the Romans. In the meantime, Hippias Milo, and Pantauchus, three of his main friends, had fled to Berœa and surrendered that city and several others. Perseus addressed the people of Amphipolis, but he was met with hostility because of fears that his presence would lead to a Roman attack. He left the city and arrived at Galespus the next day.