§24.17.1dum haec ad Beneventum geruntur, Hannibal depopulatus agrum Neapolitanum ad Nolam castra movet.
While these things were being done at Beneventum, Hannibal, having ravaged the Neapolitan territory, moved his camp to Nola.
§24.17.2quem ubi adventare consul sensit, Pomponio propraetore cum eo exercitu, qui super Suessulam in castris erat, accito ire obviam hosti parat nec moram dimicandi facere.
When the consul perceived that he was approaching, having summoned the propraetor Pomponius with that army which was in the camp above Suessula, he prepared to go to meet the enemy and to make no delay in fighting.
§24.17.3C. Claudium Neronem cum robore equitum silentio noctis per aversam maxime ab hoste portam emittit circumvectumque occulte subsequi sensim agmen hostium iubet et, cum coortum proelium videret, ab tergo se obicere.
He sent out Gaius Claudius Nero with the strength of the cavalry in the silence of the night through the gate furthest from the enemy, and ordered him to ride around and secretly follow the enemy's column by degrees, and, when he saw the battle begin, to throw himself upon them from the rear.
§24.17.4id errore viarum an exiguitate temporis Nero exsequi non potuerit, incertum est.
Whether Nero was unable to execute this because of a mistake in the roads or the shortness of time is uncertain.
§24.17.5absente eo cum proelium commissum esset superior quidem haud dubie Romanus erat; sed quia equites non adfuere in tempore, ratio compositae rei turbata est non ausus insequi cedentes Marcellus vincentibus suis signum receptui dedit.
In his absence, when the battle was joined, the Roman was indeed beyond doubt superior; but because the cavalry did not arrive in time, the plan of the arranged operation was disturbed, and Marcellus, not daring to pursue the retreating enemy, gave the signal for retreat while his own men were winning.
§24.17.6plus tamen duo milia hostium eo die caesa traduntur, Romani minus quadringenti.
Nevertheless, more than two thousand of the enemy are reported to have been slain on that day, and less than four hundred Romans.
§24.17.7solis fere occasu Nero diem noctemque nequiquam fatigatis equis hominibusque ne viso quidem hoste rediens adeo graviter est ab consule increpitus, ut per eum stetisse diceret, quo minus accepta ad Cannas redderetur hosti clades.
Returning about sunset, having in vain fatigued horses and men day and night without even seeing the enemy, Nero was so severely reprimanded by the consul that he said it was due to him that the disaster received at Cannae was not paid back to the enemy.
§24.17.8postero die Romanus in aciem descendit, Poenus, tacita etiam confessione victus, castris se tenuit.
On the following day the Roman went down into battle array; the Carthaginian, vanquished even by a silent confession, kept himself in camp.
tertio die silentio noctis omissa spe Nolae potiundae, rei numquam prospere temptatae, Tarentum ad certiorem spem proditionis proficiscitur.
On the third day, in the silence of the night, abandoning the hope of gaining possession of Nola, an enterprise never successfully attempted, he set out for Tarentum toward a more certain hope of betrayal.