and Marius told his men that they might get it there if they
wanted it, for he wished to accustom them to the barbarians' mode of
fighting. Some of the barbarians were bathing; and on their giving the
alarm, others came up, and a battle began. The first shock was between
the Ambrones and Ligurians. The Romans supported the latter, and the
Ambrones fled across the Arc to the wagons, where the women, assailing
both pursuers and pursued with yells and blows, were slain with the
men. So ended the first day's fight.
All night and next day the barbarians prepared for a final struggle.
Marius planted an ambuscade of mounted camp-followers, headed by a
few foot and horse in some ravines on the enemy's rear. [Sidenote:
Circumstances of the battle.] He drew the legions up in front of the
camp, and the cavalry went ahead to the plain. The barbarians charged
up the hill, but were met by a shower of 'pila,' which the legionaries
followed up by coming to close quarters with their swords. The enemy
were rolled back down the hill, and at the same time with loud cries
the ambuscade attacked them from behind. Then the battle became a
butchery, in which, it was said, 200,000 men were slain, and among
them Teutoboduus, their king. Others, however, say that he was taken
prisoner, and became the chief ornament of Marius's triumph. Much of
the spoil was gathered together to be burnt, and Marius, as the army
stood round, was just lighting the heap, when men came riding at full
speed and told him he was elected consul for the fifth time. The
soldiers set up a joyful cheer, and his officers crowned him with
a chaplet of bay. The name of the village of Pourrieres (Campus de
Putridis) and the hill of Sainte Victoire commemorate this great fight
to our day, and till the French Revolution a procession used to be
made by the neighbouring villagers every year to the hill, where a
bonfire was lit, round which they paraded, crowned with flowers, and
shouting 'Victoire, Victoire!'
[Sidenote: The Cimbri.] Meanwhile Catulus was waiting for the Cimbri
on the east. A son of M. Aemilius Scaurus fled before them in the pass
of Tridentum, and in 102 B.C., about the time of the battle of Aquae
Sextiae, they poured down the valley on the east of the Athesis
(Adige). [Sidenote: Catulus on the Adige.] Catulus was posted just
below Verona on the west bank, with a bridge connecting him with a
smaller force on the other side. When the foe appeared his men took to
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