§44.41.1proelium ducit.
[...] leads the battle.
movebat imperii maiestas, gloria viri, ante omnia aetas, quod maior sexaginta annis iuvenum munia in parte praecipua laboris periculique capessebat.
The majesty of his command, the glory of the man, and above all his age, because being over sixty years old he undertook the duties of young men in the chief part of the labor and danger, moved [the soldiers].
intervallum, quod inter caetratos et phalanges erat, inplevit legio atque aciem hostium interrupit.
The legion filled the interval which was between the targeteers (caetrati) and the phalanx, and broke the enemy's line.
§44.41.2a tergo caetrati erant, frontem adversus clupeatos habebat; chalcaspides appellabantur.
At its rear were the targeteers; it had its front against the shield-bearers (clupeati); they were called Chalcaspides (bronze-shields).
secundam legionem L. Albinus consularis ducere adversus leucaspidem phalangem iussus; ea media acies hostium fuit.
Lucius Albinus, a man of consular rank, was ordered to lead the second legion against the Leucaspides (white-shields) phalanx; this was the center of the enemy's line.
§44.41.3in dextrum cornu, unde circa fluvium commissum proelium erat, elephantos inducit et alas sociorum; et hinc primum fuga Macedonum est orta.
Into the right wing, where the battle had been joined around the river, he led the elephants and the squadrons of the allies; and from here the first flight of the Macedonians began.
§44.41.4nam sicut pleraque nova conmenta mortalium in verbis vim habent, experiendo, cum agi, non, quem ad modum agatur, edisseri oportet, sine ullo effectu evanescunt, ita tum elephantomachae nomen tantum sine usu fuerunt.
For just as most of the new inventions of men have power in words, but in experience, when they must be acted upon, and not how they should be acted upon discussed, they vanish without any effect, so then the name of 'elephantomachae' was only a name without use.
§44.41.5elephantorum impetum subsecuti sunt socii nominis Latini pepuleruntque laevom cornu.
The allies of the Latin name followed closely the onset of the elephants, and routed the left wing.
§44.41.6in medio secunda legio inmissa dissipavit phalangem.
In the center, the second legion, being sent in, dispersed the phalanx.
neque ulla evidentior causa victoriae fuit, quam quod multa passim proelia erant, quae fluctuantem turbarunt primo, deinde disiecerunt phalangem, cuius confertae et intentis horrentis hastis intolerabiles vires sunt; §44.41.7si carptim adgrediendo circumagere inmobilem longitudine et gravitate hastam cogas, confusa strue inplicantur; si vero aut ab latere aut ab tergo aliquid tumultus increpuit, ruinae modo turbantur, sicut tum adversus catervatim incurrentes Romanos et interrupta multifariam acie obviam ire cogebantur; §44.41.8et Romani, quacumque data intervalla essent, insinuabant ordines suos.
Nor was there any more evident cause of victory than that there were many scattered battles everywhere, which first threw into confusion and then broke up the wavering phalanx, whose strength when packed close and bristling with extended spears is irresistible; but if, by attacking in detail, you force them to turn about the spear, which is immovable because of its length and weight, they are entangled in a confused mass; and if indeed any tumult has resounded from the side or from behind, they are thrown into confusion like a falling building, just as then they were forced to go to meet the Romans rushing on in crowds and with their line broken in many places; and the Romans, wherever intervals were given, insinuated their ranks.
§44.41.9qui si universa acie in frontem adversus instructam phalangem concurrissent, quod Paelignis principio pugnae incaute congressis adversus caetratos evenit, induissent se hastis nec confertam aciem sustinuissent.
And if they had rushed with their entire line in front against the arrayed phalanx, which happened to the Paelignians who at the beginning of the battle incautiously clashed with the targeteers, they would have impaled themselves on the spears and would not have sustained the densely packed line.