Aemilius ordered his cohorts to attack any gaps, however narrow, and slip through like a wedge to break up the ranks of the phalanx and divide the battle into many separate fights. The wedged-in troops attacked the flank of the phalanx where it was not protected by the spears and the sides of the soldiers was not shielded by their breastplates. They also cut off the lines they attacked by falling on their rear. The efficiency of the phalanx was lost. Forced to engage in man-to-man fights or fights between small detachments, the Macedonians had to turn their spears, which were unwieldy because of their length and weight. They became tangled with each other and useless. Their small daggers could not hack the enemy shields or oppose their swords. They were not a firm body anymore and could quite easily be thrown into disarray  41 6-7   The legion of Aemilius wedged in between the phalanxes and targeteers and had the targeteers behind and the Chalcaspides in front. Lucius Albinus, a former consul, was sent against the Leucaspides of the centre of the enemy lines. The elephants and the allied cavalry were sent to the right wing, by the river, where the battle began. This was also the area where the Macedonians started to retreat. This attack was followed by an attack on the left wing by the Latin allies, who pushed it back. The second legion charged the centre, broke the lines of the enemy and dispersed it. Plutarch wrote that Marcus, the son of Cato the Elder and the son-in‑law of Aemilius, lost his sword. He rallied his companions to his aid, who put themselves under his leadership, and attacked. They filled gaps which were hidden by hips of fallen bodies. They fought 3,000 select elite Macedonians who remained in close ranks and slaughtered them. The battle ended at four o’ clock and was won in one hour. The rest of the day was spent pursuing fugitives over a stretch of three miles. Plutarch wrote that the Macedonians lost 25,000 men and noted that according to Poseidonius (see below) the Romans lost 100 men while according to Nasica they lost eighty. Livy wrote the Macedonians suffered the greatest losses in any battle with the Romans and that if the battle had started earlier, the Romans would have had more daylight time to pursue the Macedonians and all their troops would have been destroyed.