the joint by which the
neck is connected with the head, used to drive it in, striking it with
all the force he could. This was found to be the most expeditious mode
of putting these bulky animals to death, when they had destroyed all
hope of governing them. This method was first practised by Hasdrubal,
a general whose conduct both frequently on other occasions, and
especially in this battle, deserved to be recorded. By encouraging the
men when fighting, and sharing equally in every danger, he kept up
the battle. Sometimes by entreating, at other times by rebuking,
the troops, when tired and indisposed to fight from weariness and
over-exertion, he rekindled their spirits. He called back the flying,
and restored the battle in many places when it had been given up. At
length, when fortune decidedly declared for the Romans, lest he should
survive so great an army which had been collected under the influence
of his name, he put spurs to his horse and rushed upon a Roman cohort,
where he fell fighting, as was worthy of the son of Hamilcar and the
brother of Hannibal. At no time during that war were so many of the
enemy slain in one battle; so that a defeat equal to that sustained at
Cannae, whether in respect of the loss of the general or the troops,
was considered to have been retorted upon him. Fifty-six thousand of
the enemy were slain, five thousand four hundred captured. The other
booty was great, both of every other kind, and also of gold and
silver. In addition to the rest, there were recovered above four
thousand Roman citizens, who had been taken by the enemy, which formed
some consolation for the soldiers lost in that battle. For the victory
was by no means bloodless. Much about eight thousand of the Romans
and the allies were slain; and so completely were even the victors
satiated with blood and slaughter, that the next day, when Livius the
consul received intelligence that the Cisalpine Gauls and Ligurians,
who had either not been present at the battle or had made their escape
from the carnage, were marching off in one body without a certain
leader, without standards, without any discipline or subordination;
that if one squadron of horse were sent against them they might be
all destroyed, he replied, "Let some survive to bear the news of the
enemy's losses and of our valour."

50. Nero set out on the night following the battle, and marching at
a more rapid rate than when he came, arrived at his camp before the
e