His
words were brief and heard without exultation. For now the legions in battle
array were advancing, and the rabble of townsfolk who knew nothing of war
had their faculties of sight and hearing quite paralysed. Silius, on the one
hand, though confident hope took away any need for encouragement, exclaimed
again and again that it was a shame to the conquerors of
Germany to have to be led against Gauls, as against an
enemy. "Only the other day
AEDUAN INSURRECTION
CRUSHED |
the rebel Turoni had been discomfited by a single cohort, the
Treveri by one cavalry squadron, the Sequani by a few companies of this very
army. Prove to these Ædui once for all that the more they abound in
wealth and luxury, the more unwarlike are they, but spare them when they
flee."
Then there was a deafening cheer; the cavalry threw itself on the
flanks, and the infantry charged the van. On the wings there was but a brief
resistance. The men in mail were somewhat of an obstacle, as the iron plates
did not yield to javelins or swords; but our men, snatching up hatchets and
pickaxes, hacked at their bodies and their armour as if they were battering
a wall. Some beat down the unwieldy mass with pikes and forked poles, and
they were left lying on the ground, without an effort to rise, like dead
men. Sacrovir with his most trustworthy followers hurried first to
Augustodunum and then, from fear of being surrendered,
to an adjacent country house. There by his own hand he fell, and his
comrades by mutually inflicted wounds. The house was fired over their heads,
and with it they were all consumed.