§22.48.1iam et sinistro cornu Romano, ubi sociorum equites adversus Numidas steterant, consertum proelium erat, segne primo et a Punica coeptum fraude.
Now on the Roman left wing too, where the allied cavalry had stationed themselves against the Numidians, the battle had been joined, sluggish at first and started by a Carthaginian fraud.
§22.48.2quingenti ferme Numidae praeter solita arma telaque gladios occultos sub loricis habentes, specie transfugarum cum ab suis parmas post terga habentes adequitassent, §22.48.3repente ex equis desiliunt, parmisque et iaculis ante pedes hostium proiectis in mediam aciem accepti ductique ad ultimos considere ab tergo iubentur.
About five hundred Numidians, who besides their customary arms and weapons had swords concealed under their cuirasses, having ridden up from their own side in the guise of deserters with their bucklers behind their backs, suddenly leaped down from their horses, and having thrown down their bucklers and javelins before the feet of the enemy, they were received into the midst of the line, conducted to the rear, and ordered to sit down behind.
ac dum proelium ab omni parte conseritur, quieti manserunt; §22.48.4postquam omnium animos oculosque occupaverat certamen, tum arreptis scutis, quae passim inter acervos caesorum corporum strata erant, aversam adoriuntur Romanam aciem, tergaque ferientes ac poplites caedentes stragem ingentem ac maiorem aliquanto pavorem ac tumultum fecerunt.
And while the battle was being joined on every side, they remained quiet; but after the contest had engrossed the minds and eyes of all, then, snatching up the shields which lay scattered here and there among the heaps of the slain bodies, they attacked the Roman line from behind, and striking their backs and hamstringing them, they caused immense slaughter and a far greater panic and confusion.
§22.48.5cum alibi terror ac fuga, alibi pertinax in mala iam spe proelium esset, Hasdrubal, qui ea parte praeerat, subductos ex media acie Numidas, quia segnis eorum cum adversis pugna erat, §22.48.6ad persequendos passim fugientis mittit, Hispanos et Gallos equites Afris prope iam fessis caede magis quam pugna adiungit.
When in one place there was terror and flight, and in another a obstinate battle even in what was now bad hope, Hasdrubal, who commanded in that sector, withdrew the Numidians from the center of the line because their fight against the enemy was sluggish, and sent them to pursue the fugitives who were scattered in all directions, while he joined the Spanish and Gallic cavalry to the Africans, who were already nearly exhausted by slaughter rather than by fighting.