§2.27.1Horum adventu tanta rerum commutatio est facta ut nostri, etiam qui vulneribus confecti procubuissent, scutis innixi proelium redintegrarent, calones perterritos hostes conspicati etiam inermes armatis occurrerent, §2.27.2equites vero, ut turpitudinem fugae virtute delerent, omnibus in locis pugnae se legionariis militibus praeferrent.
By their arrival, so great a change in affairs was made that our soldiers, even those who had fallen down exhausted by wounds, leaning on their shields, renewed the battle, and the camp-followers, seeing that the enemy were terrified, even unarmed ran to meet the armed foe, and the horsemen indeed, in order to wipe out the disgrace of their flight by courage, in all parts of the battle strove to surpass the legionary soldiers.
§2.27.3At hostes, etiam in extrema spe salutis, tantam virtutem praestiterunt ut, cum primi eorum cecidissent, proximi iacentibus insisterent atque ex eorum corporibus pugnarent, §2.27.4his deiectis et coacervatis cadaveribus qui superessent ut ex tumulo tela in nostros coicerent et pila intercepta remitterent: §2.27.5ut non nequiquam tantae virtutis homines iudicari deberet ausos esse transire latissimum flumen, ascendere altissimas ripas, subire iniquissimum locum; quae facilia ex difficillimis animi magnitudo redegerat.
But the enemy, even in the last hope of safety, displayed such great courage that, when their foremost had fallen, those next to them stood upon the fallen and fought from their bodies, and when these were overthrown and the corpses piled up, those who survived flung their weapons at our men as if from a mound, and threw back the intercepted javelins; so that it ought to be judged that men of such great courage had not in vain dared to cross a very wide river, to ascend very high banks, and to enter a most disadvantageous place; things which their greatness of mind had rendered easy from being most difficult.