38.23
As the
gates were now open, the Gauls fled in every direction from the camp before
the victors burst in. Blindly they dashed along the paths and over places
where there was no path; no precipices, no cliffs stopped them; they feared
nothing but the enemy. Most of them fell headlong from the heights; they
died, maimed and crushed. The consul kept his men from plundering the
captured camp and ordered them to do their best to pursue and harass the
enemy and increase his panic. When the second division under L. Manlius
came up, he forbade them also to enter the camp, and sent them off at once
in pursuit. After placing the prisoners in charge of the military tribunes he
joined in the pursuit, for he believed that the war would be at an end if as
many as possible were killed or made prisoners whilst they were in such a
state of panic. After the consul had gone, C. Helvius came up with his
division, and was unable to restrain his men from plundering the camp, and
so by a most unfair chance the booty went to those who had no share of the
fighting. The cavalry stood for a long time knowing nothing of the battle or
the victory which their comrades had won. Then they rode, wherever their
horses could travel, after the Gauls dispersed round the mountain, and either
killed or took them prisoners.
It was not easy to get at the number of those killed, for the flight
and the carnage extended over all the spurs and ravines of the mountain, and
a great many losing their way had fallen into the deep recesses below; many,
too, were killed in the woods and thickets. Claudius, who states that there
were two battles on Olympus, puts the number of killed at 40,000; Valerius
Antias, who is usually more given to exaggeration, says that there were not
more than 10,000. The prisoners, no doubt, amounted to 40,000, because
they had carried with them a multitude of both sexes and all ages, more like
emigrants than men going to war. The enemy's weapons were gathered into
a heap and burnt, and the consul ordered the troops to collect the rest of the
booty. That portion which was to go to the State he sold; the rest he
distributed with most scrupulous fairness amongst the soldiers. He then
paraded them, and after warmly commending the services which the whole
army had rendered, he conferred rewards on each according to their merit,
especially on Attalus, who was unanimously applauded, for the exemplary
courage and untiring energy which the young prince had shown in facing
toils and dangers was only equalled by his modesty.
