History of Rome

​Hannibal had not yet gone out of the camp, when he heard the shout of those who were fighting. And so, aroused by the tumult, he rapidly led his forces against the enemy.

​Already the terror of the cavalry had seized the foremost; of the infantry also, the first legion and the right wing were entering the battle; the enemy in disorder, as chance threw each in the way of either an infantryman or a cavalryman, so they joined battle.

​The battle grew by reinforcements and was increased by the number of those rushing forward to the contest; and Hannibal would have drawn up those who were fighting—a thing which is by no means easy except with an experienced army and an experienced leader— ​in the midst of the tumult and terror, had not the shout of the cohorts and maniples running down the hills been heard from behind, inspiring a fear lest they should be cut off from their camp.

​From this, panic was struck into them, and a flight began everywhere. And the slaughter was less, because the proximity of the camp made the flight shorter for those who were stricken. For the cavalry were clinging to their rear;

​and the cohorts, running down the sloping hills by an open and easy path, had fallen upon their flanks.

​Yet above eight thousand men were killed, and above seven hundred captured; nine military standards were taken; of the elephants also, of which no use had been made in the sudden and tumultuous battle, four were killed and two captured.

​About five hundred of the victorious Romans and allies fell. On the following day the Carthaginian remained quiet; the Roman, having led out his forces into battle array, after he saw that no one brought out standards against him, ordered the spoils of the slain enemy to be gathered, and the bodies of his own men, being collected into one place, to be buried.

​Then, for several successive days, he so pressed upon the gates, ​that he seemed almost about to carry his standards inside, until Hannibal, having set out in the third watch, leaving numerous fires and the tents which were in that part of the camp which faced the enemy, and a few Numidians to show themselves on the rampart and at the gates, intended to proceed to Apulia.

​When it was light, the Roman line approached the rampart, and the Numidians, according to agreement, showed themselves for a short time at the gates and on the rampart, and having frustrated the enemy for some time, overtook the main body of their men at full gallop.

​When the consul perceived the silence in the camp, and saw not even those few who had been walking about at dawn in any part, he sent forward two horsemen to reconnoiter into the camp; and when it was discovered that everything was sufficiently safe, he ordered the standards to be carried in;

​and having delayed there only so long as the soldiers dispersed for plunder, he then sounded a retreat, and led back his forces long before night.

​Setting out at dawn on the following day, by forced marches following the report and the tracks of the army, they overtook the enemy not far from Venusia.

​There also was a tumultuous battle; above two thousand Carthaginians were slain. From there, by night and mountain marches, that he might not give an opportunity for fighting, the Carthaginian sought Metapontum.

​From there, Hanno—for he had been in command of the garrison of that place—was sent with a few men into the country of the Bruttii to raise a new army; Hannibal, having added Hanno’s forces to his own, returned to Venusia by the same routes by which he had come, and from there proceeded to Canusium. Nero had never departed from the enemy’s tracks, and, when he himself was setting out for Metapontum, ​had summoned Quintus Fulvius into the country of the Lucanians, so that that region might not be left without a garrison.