§6.39.1Interim confecta frumentatione milites nostri clamorem exaudiunt: praecurrunt equites; quanto res sit in periculo cognoscunt. §6.39.2Hic vero nulla munitio est quae perterritos recipiat: modo conscripti atque usus militaris imperiti ad tribunum militum centurionesque ora convertunt; quid ab his praecipiatur exspectant.
Meanwhile, their foraging being completed, our soldiers hear the shout; the cavalry hasten forward and learn in how great danger the affair is. But here indeed there is no fortification to receive them in their terror; those newly levied and unskilled in military practice turn their faces to the military tribune and the centurions, waiting to see what orders may be given by them.
Nemo est tam fortis quin rei novitate perturbetur. §6.39.3Barbari signa procul conspicati oppugnatione desistunt: §6.39.4redisse primo legiones credunt, quas longius discessisse ex captivis cognoverant; postea despecta paucitate ex omnibus partibus impetum faciunt.
There is no one so brave as not to be discomposed by the novelty of the situation. The barbarians, catching sight of the standards from a distance, desist from the siege; at first they believe that the legions have returned, which they had learned from the prisoners had departed further off; afterwards, despising the smallness of their number, they make an onset from all sides.