University of Virginia Library

35.11

For a considerable time nothing worth recording had happened in Liguria, but at the close of the year affairs assumed a very serious aspect. The consul's camp was attacked and the attack was repulsed with great difficulty, and when, not long after, the Roman army was marching through a pass a Ligurian army seized the mouth of the pass. As the exit was blocked the consul decided to go back and countermarched his men. But the entrance behind them had been also occupied by a portion of the enemy forces, and the disaster of Candium not only occurred to the minds of the soldiers but almost presented itself before their eyes. Amongst his auxiliary troops the consul had about 800 Numidian horse. Their commander assured the consul that he would break through on whichever side he chose if only he could tell him in which direction lay the most numerous villages, as he would attack them and instantly fire the houses so that the alarm thus created might compel the Ligurians to leave their position in the pass and help their countrymen. The consul highly approved of his plan and promised to reward him richly. The Numidians mounted their horses and began to ride towards the enemy's outposts without showing any aggressiveness. Nothing could at first sight look more contemptible than the appearance they presented; horses and men were alike thin and diminutive; the riders were without body armour and, except for the javelins they carried, unarmed; the horses had no bridles and their pacing was most ungainly, trotting as they did with head and neck stuck straight out. The contempt which they aroused they did their best to increase; they fell from their horses and presented a ridiculous spectacle. Consequently the men at the outposts who had at first been on the alert, prepared to meet an attack, now laid their arms aside and sat down to watch the show. The Numidians rode forward and then galloped back, but always got a little nearer to the mouth of the pass, as though they were carried forward by their horses which they were incapable of managing. At last, digging in their spurs, they made a dash through the enemy's outposts, and emerging into open country set fire to all the dwellings near the road and then to the first village they came to, laying it all waste with fire and sword. The sight of the smoke, the cries of the terrified villagers and the hasty flight of the old men and the children produced great excitement in the Ligurian camp, and without waiting for orders or concerted action every man ran off to protect his property and in a moment the camp was deserted. The consul, extricated from the blockade, reached his destination.