§28.2.1tria milia ferme aberat, cum hauddum quisquam hostium senserat; confragosa loca et obsiti virgultis tegebant colles.
He was about three miles away when as yet none of the enemy had perceived them; the rugged terrain and hills covered with brushwood concealed them.
§28.2.2ibi in cava valle atque ob id occulta considere militem et cibum capere iubet.
There, in a deep valley, and for that reason hidden, he ordered the soldiers to halt and take food.
interim speculatores transfugarum dicta adfirmantes venerunt.
Meanwhile, the scouts arrived, confirming the statements of the deserters.
§28.2.3tum sarcinis in medium coniectis arma Romani capiunt acieque iusta in pugnam vadunt.
Then, having piled their baggage in the center, the Romans took up their arms and advanced to the fight in regular battle array.
mille passum aberant, cum ab hoste conspecti sunt, trepidarique repente coeptum; et Mago ex castris citato equo ad primum clamorem et tumultum advehitur.
They were a mile away when they were descried by the enemy, and suddenly a panic began; and Mago rode up from the camp on a galloping horse at the first shout and tumult.
§28.2.4erant in Celtiberorum exercitu quattuor milia scutata et ducenti equites; hanc iustam legonem — et id ferme roboris erat — in prima acie locat, ceteros, levem armaturam, in subsidiis posuit.
There were in the army of the Celtiberians four thousand shielded infantry and two hundred cavalry; this regular legion — and this was almost their entire strength — he posted in the front line, and the rest, the light-armed troops, he placed in reserve.
§28.2.5cum ita instructos educeret e castris, vixdum in egressos vallo eos Romani pila coniecerunt.
As he was leading them out of the camp thus drawn up, the Romans threw their javelins at them when they had scarcely cleared the rampart.
§28.2.6subsidunt Hispani adversus emissa tela ab hoste, inde ad mittenda ipsi consurgunt; quae cum Romani conferti, ut solent, densatis excepissent scutis, tum pes cum pede conlatus et gladiis geri res coepta est.
The Spaniards ducked to avoid the weapons discharged by the enemy, and then rose up to throw their own; when the Romans, packed close together as was their custom, had received these upon their locked shields, then foot was joined with foot, and the conflict began to be waged with swords.
§28.2.7ceterum asperitas locorum et Celtiberis, quibus in proelio concursare mos est, velocitatem inutilem faciebat et haud iniqua eadem erat Romanis stabili pugnae adsuetis, nisi quod angustiae §28.2.8et internata virgulta ordines dirimebant et singuli binique velut cum paribus conserere pugnam cogebantur.
However, the roughness of the ground rendered agility useless to the Celtiberians, whose habit it is to run to and fro in battle, and was not at all unfavorable to the Romans, who were accustomed to a stationary fight, except that the narrowness and the undergrowth growing between them broke their ranks, and they were forced to engage one or two at a time, as if with matched adversaries.
§28.2.9quod ad fugam impedimento hostibus erat, id ad caedem eos velut vinctos praebebat.
What was a hindrance to the enemy for flight, exposed them, as if bound, to slaughter.
§28.2.10et iam ferme omnibus scutatis Celtiberorum interfectis levis armatura et Carthaginienses, qui ex alteris castris subsidio venerant, perculsi caedebantur.
And now, when almost all the shielded Celtiberians had been slain, the light-armed troops and the Carthaginians, who had come from the other camp to their assistance, were cut down in dismay.
§28.2.11duo haud amplius milia peditum et equitatus omnis vix inito proelio cum Magone effugerunt; Hanno, alter imperator, cum eis, qui postremi iam profligate proelio advenerant, vivus capitur.
Not more than two thousand infantry and all the cavalry fled with Mago when the battle had scarcely begun; Hanno, the other general, was taken alive, along with those who, arriving last, came when the battle was already lost.
§28.2.12Magonem fugientem equitatus ferme omnis et quod veterum peditum erat secuti decimo die in Gaditanam provinciam ad Hasdrubalem pervenerunt; Celtiberi, novus miles, in proximas dilapsi silvas inde domos diffugerunt.
Almost all the cavalry and what there was of veteran infantry followed the fleeing Mago, and on the tenth day reached Hasdrubal in the province of Gades; the Celtiberians, who were raw recruits, slipping away into the neighboring forests, fled thence to their homes.
§28.2.13peropportuna victoria nequaquam tantum iam conflatum bellum, quanta futuri materia belli, si licuisset iis Celtiberorum gente excita et alios ad arma sollicitare populos, oppressa erat.
By this highly opportune victory, not so much the war already kindled was suppressed, as the material for a future war, which would have been of great magnitude if they had been allowed, after rousing the Celtiberian nation, to incite other peoples to arms.
§28.2.14itaque conlaudato benigne Silano Scipio spem debellandi, si nihil eam ipse cunctando moratus esset, nactus, ad id quod reliquum belli erat in ultimam Hispaniam adversus Hasdrubalem pergit.
Therefore, having warmly commended Silanus, Scipio, conceiving a hope of finishing the war if he himself did not delay it by hesitating, proceeded to the remaining part of the war into Farther Hispania against Hasdrubal.
§28.2.15Poenus cum castra tum forte in Baetica ad sociorum animos continendos in fide haberet, signis repente sublatis fugae magis quam itineris modo penitus ad Oceanum et Gades ducit ceterum, §28.2.16quoad continuisset exercitum, propositum bello se fore ratus, antequam freto Gadis traiceret exercitum omnem passim in civitates divisit, ut et muris se ipsi et armis muros tutarentur.
The Carthaginian, although he happened at that time to have his camp in Baetica to keep the minds of his allies faithful, suddenly raised his standards, and in a manner more like a flight than a march, led his troops far away toward the Ocean and Gades; however, thinking that as long as he kept his army together, he would be the target of the war, before he crossed the strait to Gades, he distributed his entire army among the various cities, so that they might protect themselves by the walls and the walls by their arms.