§25.14.1vincit tamen omnia pertinax virtus, et aliquot simul partibus ad vallum ac fossas perventum est, sed cum multis vulneribus ac militum pernicie.
However, persistent courage overcame all obstacles, and at several points simultaneously they reached the rampart and the trenches, though with many wounds and great loss of soldiers.
§25.14.2itaque convocatis legatis tribunisque militum consul absistendum temerario incepto ait: tutius sibi videri reduci eo die exercitum Beneventum, dein postero castra castris hostium iungi, ne exire inde Campani neve Hanno regredi posset; §25.14.3id quo facilius obtineatur, collegam quoque et exercitum eius se acciturum totumque eo versuros bellum.
Therefore, having called together the lieutenants and military tribunes, the consul said that they must desist from the rash enterprise: it seemed safer to him that the army be led back to Beneventum on that day, and then on the following day to pitch camp close to the enemy’s camp, so that neither the Campanians could escape from there, nor Hanno return; in order that this might be more easily accomplished, he said that he would also summon his colleague and his army, and they would turn the whole war thither.
haec consilia ducis, cum iam receptui caneret, clamor militum aspernantium tam segne imperium disiecit.
These designs of the commander, when he was already sounding the retreat, were shattered by the shouts of the soldiers, who scorned so sluggish a command.
§25.14.4proxima ea parte hostibus erat cohors Paeligna, cuius praefectus Vibius Accaus arreptum vexillum trans vallum hostium traiecit.
The Paelignian cohort was closest to the enemy in that quarter, whose commander, Vibius Accaus, seized the standard and threw it over the enemy's rampart.
§25.14.5exsecratus inde seque et cohortem, si eius vexilli hostes potiti essent, princeps ipse per fossam vallumque in castra inrupit.
Then, having cursed himself and the cohort if the enemy should gain possession of that standard, he himself was the first to burst through the trench and the rampart into the camp.
§25.14.6iamque intra vallum Paeligni pugnabant, cum altera parte Valerio Flacco tribuno militum tertiae legionis exprobrante Romanis ignaviam,
And while the Paelignians were already fighting inside the rampart, in another quarter Valerius Flaccus, a military tribune of the third legion, was reproaching the Romans for their cowardice in yielding to allies the glory of capturing the camp.
§25.14.7qui sociis captorum castrorum concederent decus, T. Pedanius princeps primus centurio, cum signifero signum ademisset, “iam hoc signum et hic centurio” inquit “intra vallum hostium erit: sequantur qui capi signum ab hoste prohibituri sunt. ” §25.14.8manipulares sui primum transcendentem fossam, dein legio tota secuta est.
Then T. Pedanius, the first centurion of the first line, having snatched the standard from the standard-bearer, said, "Presently this standard and this centurion will be within the enemy's rampart; let those follow who are to prevent the standard from being captured by the enemy." First his own company-men, as he crossed the trench, and then the whole legion followed.
iam et consul, ad conspectum transgredientium vallum mutato consilio, ab resistendo revocandoque ad incitandos hortandosque versus milites, ostendere, in quanto discrimine ac periculo fortissima cohors sociorum et civium legio esset.
Now even the consul, having changed his plan at the sight of those crossing the rampart, turned from restraining and recalling the soldiers to inciting and encouraging them, pointing out in what great crisis and danger the bravest cohort of the allies and the legion of citizens were.
§25.14.9itaque pro se quisque omnes per aequa atque iniqua loca, cum undique tela conicerentur, armaque et corpora hostes obicerent, pervadunt inrumpuntque.
Therefore, everyone for his own part, through favorable and unfavorable places, while missiles were being thrown from all sides and the enemy opposed them with arms and bodies, made their way and burst in.
multi volnerati, etiam quos vires et sanguis desereret, ut intra vallum hostium caderent, nitebantur.
Many wounded men, even those whose strength and blood were failing, strove that they might fall within the enemy's rampart.
§25.14.10capta itaque momento temporis velut in plano sita nec permunita castra.
Thus, in a moment of time, the camp was captured, as if situated on a plain and not strongly fortified.
caedes inde, non iam pugna erat omnibus intra vallum permixtis.
Thenceforward it was a slaughter, no longer a battle, as all were mixed together inside the rampart.
§25.14.11supra decem milia hostium occisa, supra septem milia capitum cum frumentatoribus Campanis omnique plaustrorum et iumentorum apparatu capta.
Over ten thousand of the enemy were slain, and over seven thousand persons were captured, together with the Campanian foragers and all the train of wagons and beasts of burden.
et alia ingens praeda fuit, quam Hanno, populabundus passim cum isset, ex sociorum populi Romani agris traxerat.
There was also other immense booty, which Hanno, as he had gone about plundering everywhere, had dragged from the lands of the allies of the Roman people.
§25.14.12inde deletis hostium castris Beneventum reditum, praedamque ibi ambo consules — nam et Ap.
Then, the enemy's camp having been destroyed, they returned to Beneventum, and there both consuls — for Ap.
Claudius eo post paucos dies venit — vendiderunt diviseruntque.
Claudius also arrived there after a few days — sold and distributed the booty.
§25.14.13et donati quorum opera castra hostium capta erant, ante alios Accaus Paelignus et T. Pedanius, princeps tertiae legionis.
And rewards were bestowed on those by whose effort the enemy's camp had been taken, before all others on Accaus the Paelignian and T. Pedanius, the first centurion of the third legion.
§25.14.14Hanno ab Cominio Cerito quo nuntiata castrorum clades est, cum paucis frumentatoribus, quos forte secum habuerat, fugae magis quam itineris modo in Bruttios rediit.
Hanno, from Cominium Ceritum, where the news of the camp's disaster was reported to him, returned to the Bruttian territory with a few foragers whom he happened to have with him, more in the manner of a flight than a journey.