§7.8.1Tune inter primores duorum populorum res geritur; quidquid hinc aut illine communis Mars belli aufert, multiplex quam pro numero damnum est.
Then the conflict was carried on between the foremost men of the two peoples; whatever the common Mars of war took away from this side or that, the loss was many times greater than in proportion to the number.
vulgus aliud armatorum, velut delegata primoribus pugna, eventum suum in virtute aliena ponit.
The rest of the crowd of armed men, as if the battle had been delegated to the foremost, placed their own fortunes on the valor of others.
multi utrimque cadunt, plures vulnera accipiunt; §7.8.2tandem equites alius alium increpantes, quid deinde restaret, quaerendo, si neque ex equis pepulissent hostem neque pedites quicquam momenti facerent? quam tertiam expectarent pugnam? quid ante signa feroces prosiluissent et alieno pugnarent loco?
Many fell on both sides, and still more received wounds; at length the cavalry, reproaching one another, asked what else remained, if they had neither driven back the enemy from horseback nor were making any impression as infantry? What third battle were they waiting for? Why had they, fierce, leapt forward before the standards and were fighting in an unaccustomed place?
§7.8.3— his inter se vocibus concitati clamore renovato inferunt pedem et primum gradu moverunt hostem, deinde pepulerunt, postremo iam haud dubie avertunt; §7.8.4neque, tam vires pares quae superaverit res, facile dictu est, nisi quod perpetua fortuna utriusque populi et extollere animos et minuere potuit.
— aroused among themselves by these voices, they advanced with a renewed shout, and first they moved the enemy from their position, then drove them back, and finally, now beyond doubt, put them to flight; nor is it easy to say what circumstance overcame forces so equal, except that the habitual fortune of each people was able both to raise their spirits and to diminish them.
usque ad castra fugientes Hernicos Romanus sequitur; castrorum oppugnatione, §7.8.5quia serum erat diei, abstinuere.
The Roman pursued the fleeing Hernici all the way to their camp; from the storming of the camp, since it was late in the day, they abstained.
diu non perlitatum tenuerat dictatorem, ne ante meridiem signum dare posset; eo in noctem tractum erat certamen.
For a long time, the failure to obtain favorable omens had detained the dictator, so that he could not give the signal before noon; for this reason the contest had been prolonged into the night.
§7.8.6postero die deserta fuga castra Hernicorum, et saucii relicti quidam inventi, agmenque fugientium ab Signinis, cum praeter moenia eorum infrequentia conspecta signa essent, fusum ac per agros trepida fuga palatum est.
On the following day, the camp of the Hernici was found abandoned in flight, and some wounded who had been left behind were discovered; and the column of those fleeing, when their scattered standards were seen going past their walls, was routed by the inhabitants of Signia and wandered in fearful flight through the fields.
§7.8.7nec Romanis incruenta victoria fuit; quarta pars militum amissa, et, ubi haud minus iacturae fuit, aliquot equites Romani cecidere.
Nor was the victory bloodless for the Romans; a fourth part of the soldiers was lost, and, what was no less of a loss, several Roman knights fell.