§6.40.1Calones in proximum tumulum procurrunt.
The camp-followers run forward to the nearest hill.
Hinc celeriter deiecti se in signa manipulosque coniciunt: eo magis timidos perterrent milites.
Quickly driven down from here, they fling themselves into the standards and maniples; by this they terrify the already frightened soldiers all the more.
§6.40.2Alii cuneo facto ut celeriter perrumpant censent, quoniam tam propinqua sint castra, et si pars aliqua circumventa ceciderit, at reliquos servari posse confidunt; §6.40.3alii, ut in iugo consistant atque eundem omnes ferant casum.
Some propose that, since the camp is so near, they should form a wedge and quickly break through, and they trust that, even if some part should be surrounded and fall, yet the rest can be saved; others, that they should stand on the ridge and all undergo the same fate.
§6.40.4Hoc veteres non probant milites, quos sub vexillo una profectos docuimus.
The veteran soldiers, who, as we have shown, had set out together under a standard, do not approve of this.
Itaque inter se cohortati duce Gaio Trebonio, equite Romano, qui eis erat praepositus, per medios hostes perrumpunt incolumesque ad unum omnes in castra perveniunt.
Therefore, encouraging one another, under the leadership of Gaius Trebonius, a Roman knight, who had been placed over them, they break through the midst of the enemy and arrive in the camp all to a man safe and sound.
§6.40.5Hos subsecuti calones equitesque eodem impetu militum virtute servantur.
The camp-followers and cavalry, following close behind them, are saved by the same charge through the valor of the soldiers.
§6.40.6At ei qui in iugo constiterant, nullo etiam nunc usu rei militaris percepto neque in eo quod probaverant consilio permanere, ut se loco superiore defenderent, neque eam quam prodesse aliis vim celeritatemque viderant imitari potuerunt, sed se in castra recipere conati iniquum in locum demiserunt.
But those who had stood on the ridge, having even now acquired no experience in military matters, were neither able to persist in that plan which they had approved, namely, to defend themselves on the higher ground, nor to imitate that vigor and speed which they had seen to be of service to others; but, attempting to retreat into the camp, they descended into disadvantageous ground.
§6.40.7Centuriones, quorum nonnulli ex inferioribus ordinibus reliquarum legionum virtutis causa in superiores erant ordines huius legionis traducti, ne ante partam rei militaris laudem amitterent, fortissime pugnantes conciderunt.
The centurions, some of whom, on account of their valor, had been promoted from the lower ranks of the other legions to the higher ranks of this legion, fell fighting most courageously, lest they should lose the military glory they had previously acquired.
§6.40.8Militum pars horum virtute summotis hostibus praeter spem incolumis in castra pervenit, pars a barbaris circumventa periit.
A part of the soldiers, the enemy having been driven back by the valor of these men, reached the camp safe beyond expectation; a part, surrounded by the barbarians, perished.