§10.29.1Vix humanae inde opis videri pugna potuit.
From that point, the battle could scarcely seem to be of human power.
Romani duce amisso, quae res terrori alias esse solet, sistere fugam ac novam de integro velle instaurare pugnam; §10.29.2Galli, et maxime globus circumstans consulis corpus, velut alienata mente vana in cassum iactare tela; torpere quidam et nec pugnae meminisse nec fugae. §10.29.3at ex parte altera pontifex Livius, cui lictores Decius tradiderat iusseratque pro praetore esse, vociferari vicisse Romanos, defunctos consulis fato; §10.29.4Gallos Samnitesque Telluris matris ac deorum Manium esse, rapere ad se ac vocare Decium devotam secum aciem furiarumque ac formidinis plena omnia ad hostes esse. §10.29.5superveniunt deinde his restituentibus pugnam L. Cornelius Scipio et C. Marcius cum subsidiis ex novissima acie iussu Q. Fabi consulis ad praesidium collegae missi.
The Romans, although they had lost their leader—an event which at other times is accustomed to cause terror—halted their flight and wished to renew the battle afresh. The Gauls, and especially the crowd surrounding the body of the consul, as if out of their minds, cast useless weapons in vain; some were numbed and remembered neither battle nor flight. But on the other side, the pontiff Livius, to whom Decius had handed over his lictors and whom he had ordered to act as pro-praetor, cried out that the Romans had conquered, having discharged their obligation through the fate of the consul; that the Gauls and Samnites belonged to Mother Earth and the Manes, that Decius was dragging down and summoning to himself the army devoted with him, and that on the enemy's side everything was full of furies and dread. Then, as they were restoring the battle, Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gaius Marcius arrived with reinforcements from the rear line, sent by order of the consul Quintus Fabius to the support of his colleague.
ibi auditur P. Deci eventus, ingens hortamen ad omnia pro re publica audenda. §10.29.6itaque cum Galli structis ante se scutis conferti starent nec facilis pede conlato videretur pugna, iussu legatorum conlecta humi pila, quae strata inter duas acies iacebant, atque in testudinem hostium coniecta. §10.29.7quibus plerisque in scuta rarisque in corpora ipsa fixis sternitur cuneus, ita ut magna pars integris corporibus attoniti conciderent.
There, the death of Publius Decius was heard of, which was a huge encouragement to dare everything for the state. And so, since the Gauls were standing crowded together with their shields arrayed before them, and a hand-to-hand fight did not seem easy, by order of the lieutenants, the javelins which lay scattered on the ground between the two lines were gathered and hurled against the testudo of the enemy. Most of these being fixed in the shields, and a few in their bodies themselves, the wedge was overthrown, so that a great part fell, stunned, though with unimpaired bodies.
haec in sinistro cornu Romanorum fortuna variaverat.
This variation of fortune had taken place on the left wing of the Romans.
Fabius in dextro primo, §10.29.8ut ante dictum est, cunctando extraxerat diem; dein, postquam nec clamor hostium nec impetus nec tela missa eandem vim habere visa, §10.29.9praefectis equitum iussis ad latus Samnitium circumducere alas, ut signo dato in transversos quanto maximo possent impetu incurrerent, sensim suos signa inferre iussit et commovere hostem. §10.29.10postquam non resisti vidit et haud dubiam lassitudinem esse, tum conlectis omnibus subsidiis, quae ad id tempus reservaverat, et legiones concitavit et signum ad invadendos hostes equitibus dedit. §10.29.11nec sustinuerunt Samnites impetum praeterque aciem ipsam Gallorum relictis in dimicatione sociis ad castra effuso cursu ferebantur; Galli testudine facta conferti stabant. §10.29.12tum Fabius audita morte collegae Campanorum alam, quingentos fere equites, excedere acie iubet et circumvectos ab tergo Gallicam invadere aciem; §10.29.13tertiae deinde legionis subsequi principes et, qua turbatum agmen hostium viderent impetu equitum, instare ac territos caedere. §10.29.14ipse aedem Iovi Victori spoliaque hostium cum vovisset, ad castra Samnitium perrexit, quo multitudo omnis consternata agebatur. §10.29.15sub ipso vallo, quia tantam multitudinem portae non recepere, temptata ab exclusis turba suorum pugna est; §10.29.16ibi Gellius Egnatius, imperator Samnitium, cecidit.
Fabius on the right, at first, as has been said before, had prolonged the day by delaying; then, after neither the shout of the enemy nor their onset nor the weapons thrown seemed to have the same force, having ordered the commanders of the cavalry to lead their squadrons around to the flank of the Samnites, so that, when the signal was given, they might charge them on their flank with as great a force as possible, he ordered his own men to advance their standards gradually and to shake the enemy. When he saw that no resistance was being made and that their weariness was beyond doubt, then, having gathered all the reserves which he had kept back up to that time, he both urged on the legions and gave the signal to the cavalry to attack the enemy. Nor did the Samnites withstand the onset, and passing by the very line of the Gauls, they fled in headlong course to their camp, leaving their allies in the midst of the struggle; the Gauls, having formed a testudo, stood crowded together. Then Fabius, having heard of the death of his colleague, ordered the Campanian squadron—about five hundred horsemen—to leave the battle line and, riding around them, to attack the Gallic line from the rear; then he ordered the principes of the third legion to follow, and to press upon the enemy where they saw their line thrown into confusion by the charge of the cavalry, and to slaughter them in their terror. He himself, having vowed a temple to Jupiter Victor and the spoils of the enemy, proceeded to the camp of the Samnites, whither the whole terrified multitude was being driven. Under the rampart itself, because the gates did not receive so great a multitude, a battle was attempted by the crowd of their own men who were shut out; there Gellius Egnatius, the general of the Samnites, fell.
conpulsi deinde intra vallum Samnites parvoque certamine capta castra, et Galli ab tergo circumventi.
Then the Samnites were forced within the rampart, and with a brief struggle the camp was captured, and the Gauls were surrounded from the rear.
caesa eo die hostium viginti quinque milia, §10.29.17octo capta. §10.29.18nec incruenta victoria fuit; nam ex P. Deci exercitu caesa septem milia, ex Fabi mille septingenti.
Twenty-five thousand of the enemy were slain on that day, eight thousand captured. Nor was the victory bloodless; for from the army of Publius Decius seven thousand were slain, from that of Fabius one thousand seven hundred.
Fabius dimissis ad quaerendum collegae corpus spolia hostium coniecta in acervum Iovi Victori cremavit.
Fabius, having sent out men to search for the body of his colleague, burned the spoils of the enemy, which had been thrown into a heap, for Jupiter Victor.
consulis corpus eo die, §10.29.19quia obrutum superstratis Gallorum cumulis erat, inveniri non potuit; postero die inventum relatumque est cum multis militum lacrumis. §10.29.20intermissa inde omnium aliarum rerum cura Fabius collegae funus omni honore laudibusque meritis celebrat.
The body of the consul on that day, because it was buried under the heaps of the Gauls piled on top, could not be found; on the following day it was found and brought back amid many tears of the soldiers. Then, suspending all other cares, Fabius celebrated the funeral of his colleague with every honor and well-deserved praises.