§24.15.1postero die ubi signa coeperunt canere, primi omnium parati instructique ad praetorium conveniunt.
On the following day, when the trumpets began to sound, they, prepared and drawn up, assembled at the general's tent before all others.
sole orto Gracchus in aciem copias educit; nec hostes moram dimicandi fecerunt.
At sunrise Gracchus led his forces out into line of battle; nor did the enemy make any delay in fighting.
§24.15.2decem septem milia peditum erant, maxima ex parte Bruttii ac Lucani, equites mille ducenti, inter quos pauci admodum Italici, ceteri Numidae fere omnes Maurique.
There were seventeen thousand infantry, for the most part Bruttians and Lucanians, and twelve hundred cavalry, among whom there were very few Italians, the rest being almost all Numidians and Moors.
§24.15.3pugnatum est et acriter et diu; quattuor horis neutro inclinata est pugna.
The battle was fought both fiercely and long; for four hours the fight inclined to neither side.
nec alia magis Romanum impediebat res quam capita hostium pretia libertatis facta; §24.15.4nam ut quisque hostem inpigre occiderat, primum capite aegre inter turbam tumultumque abscidendo terebat tempus; deinde occupata dextra tenendo caput fortissimus quisque pugnator esse desierat, segnibus ac timidis tradita pugna erat.
Nor did any other thing hinder the Roman more than the heads of the enemies having been made the price of freedom; for as each had quickly slain an enemy, first he wasted time in difficulty cutting off the head amidst the crowd and confusion; then, since his right hand was occupied in holding the head, every bravest fighter had ceased to be a combatant, and the battle was left to the lazy and the cowardly.
§24.15.5quod ubi tribuni militum Graccho nuntiaverunt, neminem stantem iam vulnerari hostem, carnificari iacentes, et in dextris militum pro gladiis humana capita esse, signum dari propere iussit, proicerent capita invaderentque hostem: §24.15.6claram satis et insignem virtutem esse nec dubiam libertatem futuram strenuis viris.
When the military tribunes reported this to Gracchus, that no standing enemy was being wounded now, but those lying down were being butchered, and that in the right hands of the soldiers there were human heads instead of swords, he ordered a signal to be given quickly that they should throw away the heads and attack the enemy: that their courage was sufficiently clear and conspicuous, and that freedom would not be in doubt for brave men.
tum redintegrata pugna est, et eques etiam in hostes emissus.
Then the battle was renewed, and the cavalry was also sent in against the enemy.
§24.15.7quibus cum inpigre Numidae occurrissent, nec segnior equitum quam peditum pugna esset, iterum in dubium adducta res.
When the Numidians had vigorously met them, and the fight of the cavalry was no less active than that of the infantry, the situation was again brought into doubt.
cum utrimque duces, Romanus Bruttium Lucanumque totiens a maioribus suis victos subactosque, Poenus mancipia Romana et ex ergastulo militem verbis obtereret, §24.15.8postremo pronuntiat Gracchus esse nihil, quod de libertate sperarent, nisi eo die fusi fugatique hostes essent.
While the generals on both sides were crushing them with words, the Roman scorning the Bruttians and Lucanians as having been so often conquered and subdued by his ancestors, the Carthaginian mocking them as Roman slaves and soldiers from the workhouse, at last Gracchus declared that there was nothing for them to hope for regarding freedom unless the enemy were routed and put to flight on that day.