slings, others with
arrows barbed with iron. Some again had their heads cloven in half with
blows of swords, so that one side of their heads hung down on each
shoulder in a most horrible manner.

15. Meanwhile, stubborn as the conflict was, neither party was wearied,
but they still fought on with equal valour and equal fortune, nor did
any one relax in his sternness as long as his courage could give him
strength for exertion. But at last the day yielded to the evening, and
put an end to the deadly contest: the barbarians all withdrew, in no
order, each taking his own path, and our men returned sorrowfully to
their tents.

16. Then having paid the honours of burial to some among the dead, as
well as the time and place permitted, the rest of the corpses were left
as a banquet to the ill-omened birds, which at that time were accustomed
to feed on carcases--as is even now shown by the places which are still
white with bones. It is quite certain that the Romans, who were
comparatively few, and contending with vastly superior numbers, suffered
serious losses, while at the same time the barbarians did not escape
without much lamentable slaughter.

VIII.

Sec. 1. Upon the melancholy termination of this battle, our men sought a
retreat in the neighbouring city of Marcianopolis. The Goths, of their
own accord, fell back behind the ramparts formed by their waggons, and
for seven days they never once ventured to come forth or show
themselves. So our soldiers, seizing the opportunity, raised a barrier,
and shut in some other vast multitudes of the barbarians among the
defiles of the Balkan, in hope, forsooth, that this destructive host
being thus hemmed in between the Danube and the desert, and having no
road by which to escape, must perish by famine, since everything which
could serve to sustain life had been conveyed into the fortified cities,
and these cities were safe from any attempt of the barbarians to besiege
them, since they were wholly ignorant of the use of warlike engines.

2. After this Richomeres returned to Gaul, to convey reinforcements to
that country, where a fresh war of greater importance than ever, was
anticipated. These events took place in the fourth consulship of
Gratian, and the first of Merobaudes, towards the autumn of the year.

3. In the mean time Valens, having heard of the miserable result of
these wars and devastations, gave Saturninus the command of the
cavalry, and sent him to carry aid to