the rapidity of their
movements hemmed in the barbarians between his own lines. And then,
standing on a mound, with a few of his officers and a small body-guard,
he gently admonished them not to give way to ferocity.

7. But they, wavering and in doubt, were agitated by various feelings,
and mingling craft with their fury, they had recourse to arms and to
prayers at the same time. And meditating to make a sudden attack on
those of our men who were nearest, they threw their shields some
distance before them, with the intent that while they made some steps
forward to recover them, they might thus steal a little ground without
giving any indication of their purpose.

8. And as it was now nearly evening, and the departing light warned us
to avoid further delay, our soldiers raised their standards and fell
upon them with a fiery onset. And they, in close order, directed all
their force against the mound on which (as has been already said) the
emperor himself was standing, fixing their eyes on him, and uttering
fierce outcries against him.

9. Our army was indignant at such insane audacity, and forming into a
triangle, to which military simplicity has given the name of "the boar's
head," with a violent charge they scattered the barbarians now pressing
vigorously upon the emperor; on the right our infantry slew their
infantry, and on the left our cavalry dashed among their squadrons of
light horsemen.

10. The praetorian cohort, carefully guarding the emperor, spared neither
the breasts of those who attacked nor the backs of those who fled, and
the barbarians, yielding in their stubbornness to death alone, showed by
their horrid cries that they grieved not so much at their own death as
at the triumph of our army. And, beside the dead, many lay with their
legs cut off, and so deprived of the resource of flight, others had lost
their hands; some who had received no wound were crushed by the weight
of those who fell upon them, and bore their torments in profound
silence.

11. Nor, amid all their sufferings, did any one of them ask for mercy,
or throw away his sword, or implore a speedy death, but clinging
resolutely to their arms, wounded as they were, they thought it a lesser
evil to be subdued by the strength of another than by their own
consciences, and at times they were heard to grumble that what had
happened was the work of fortune, not of their deserts. And so this
whole battle was brought to an end in half an hour,