§27.42.1nondum Hannibal e castris exierat, cum pugnantium clamorem audivit.
Hannibal had not yet gone out of the camp, when he heard the shout of those who were fighting.
itaque excitus tumultu raptim ad hostem copias agit.
And so, aroused by the tumult, he rapidly led his forces against the enemy.
§27.42.2iam primos occupaverat equester terror; peditum etiam prima legio et dextra ala proelium inibat; incompositi hostes, ut quemque aut pediti aut equiti casus obtulit, ita conserunt manus.
Already the terror of the cavalry had seized the foremost; of the infantry also, the first legion and the right wing were entering the battle; the enemy in disorder, as chance threw each in the way of either an infantryman or a cavalryman, so they joined battle.
§27.42.3crescit pugna subsidiis et procurrentium ad certamen numero augetur; pugnantisque, quod nisi in vetere exercitu et duci veteri haud facile est, §27.42.4inter tumultum ac terrorem instruxisset Hannibal, ni cohortium ac manipulorum decurrentium per colles clamor ab tergo auditus metum, ne intercluderentur a castris, iniecisset.
The battle grew by reinforcements and was increased by the number of those rushing forward to the contest; and Hannibal would have drawn up those who were fighting—a thing which is by no means easy except with an experienced army and an experienced leader— in the midst of the tumult and terror, had not the shout of the cohorts and maniples running down the hills been heard from behind, inspiring a fear lest they should be cut off from their camp.
§27.42.5inde pavor incussus et fuga passim fieri coepta est.
From this, panic was struck into them, and a flight began everywhere.
minorque caedes fuit, quia propinquitas castrorum breviorem fugam perculsis fecit.
And the slaughter was less, because the proximity of the camp made the flight shorter for those who were stricken.
equites enim tergo inhaerebant; §27.42.6in transversa latera invaserant cohortes secundis collibus via nuda ac facili decurrentes.
For the cavalry were clinging to their rear; and the cohorts, running down the sloping hills by an open and easy path, had fallen upon their flanks.
§27.42.7tamen supra octo milia hominum occisa, supra septingentos capti; signa militaria novem adempta; elephanti etiam, quorum nullus usus in repentina ac tumultuaria pugna fuerat, quattuor occisi, duo capti.
Yet above eight thousand men were killed, and above seven hundred captured; nine military standards were taken; of the elephants also, of which no use had been made in the sudden and tumultuous battle, four were killed and two captured.
§27.42.8circa quingentos Romanorum sociorumque victores ceciderunt.
About five hundred of the victorious Romans and allies fell.
postero die Poenus quievit; Romanus in aciem copiis eductis postquam neminem signa contra efferre vidit, spolia legi caesorum hostium et suorum corpora conlata in unum sepeliri iussit.
On the following day the Carthaginian remained quiet; the Roman, having led out his forces into battle array, after he saw that no one brought out standards against him, ordered the spoils of the slain enemy to be gathered, and the bodies of his own men, being collected into one place, to be buried.
§27.42.9inde insequentibus continuis diebus aliquot ita institit portis, §27.42.10ut prope inferre signa videretur, donec Hannibal tertia vigilia crebris ignibus tabernaculisque, quae pars castrorum ad hostes vergebat, et Numidis paucis, qui in vallo portisque se ostenderent, relictis profectus Apuliam petere intendit.
Then, for several successive days, he so pressed upon the gates, that he seemed almost about to carry his standards inside, until Hannibal, having set out in the third watch, leaving numerous fires and the tents which were in that part of the camp which faced the enemy, and a few Numidians to show themselves on the rampart and at the gates, intended to proceed to Apulia.
§27.42.11ubi inluxit, successit vallo Romana acies, et Numidae ex composito paulisper in portis se valloque ostentavere frustratique aliquamdiu hostes citatis equis agmen suorum adsequuntur.
When it was light, the Roman line approached the rampart, and the Numidians, according to agreement, showed themselves for a short time at the gates and on the rampart, and having frustrated the enemy for some time, overtook the main body of their men at full gallop.
§27.42.12consul ubi silentium in castris et ne paucos quidem, qui prima luce obambulaverant, parte ulla cernebat, duobus equitibus speculatum in castra praemissis postquam satis tuta omnia esse exploratum est, inferri signa iussit; §27.42.13tantumque ibi moratus, dum milites ad praedam discurrunt, receptui deinde cecinit multoque ante noctem copias redduxit.
When the consul perceived the silence in the camp, and saw not even those few who had been walking about at dawn in any part, he sent forward two horsemen to reconnoiter into the camp; and when it was discovered that everything was sufficiently safe, he ordered the standards to be carried in; and having delayed there only so long as the soldiers dispersed for plunder, he then sounded a retreat, and led back his forces long before night.
§27.42.14postero die luce prima profectus, magnis itineribus famam et vestigia agminis sequens haud procul Venusia hostem adsequitur.
Setting out at dawn on the following day, by forced marches following the report and the tracks of the army, they overtook the enemy not far from Venusia.
§27.42.15ibi quoque tumultuaria pugna fuit; supra duo milia Poenorum caesa.
There also was a tumultuous battle; above two thousand Carthaginians were slain.
inde nocturnis montanisque itineribus Poenus, ne locum pugnandi daret, Metapontum petiit.
From there, by night and mountain marches, that he might not give an opportunity for fighting, the Carthaginian sought Metapontum.
§27.42.16Hanno inde — is enim praesidio eius loci praefuerat — in Bruttios cum paucis ad exercitum novum comparandum missus; Hannibal copiis eius ad suas additis Venusiam retro quibus venerat itineribus repetit, atque inde Canusium procedit.
From there, Hanno—for he had been in command of the garrison of that place—was sent with a few men into the country of the Bruttii to raise a new army; Hannibal, having added Hanno's forces to his own, returned to Venusia by the same routes by which he had come, and from there proceeded to Canusium.
numquam Nero vestigiis hostis abstiterat et Q. Fulvium, §27.42.17cum Metapontum ipse proficisceretur, in Lucanos, ne regio ea sine praesidio esset, arcessierat.
Nero had never departed from the enemy's tracks, and [had summoned] Quintus Fulvius, when he himself was setting out for Metapontum, had summoned into the country of the Lucanians, so that that region might not be left without a garrison.