5.38
The consular tribunes had
secured no position for their camp, had constructed
no entrenchments behind which to retire, and had
shown as much disregard of the gods as of the enemy,
for they formed their order of battle without having
obtained favourable auspices. They extended their
line on either wing to prevent their being
outflanked, but even so they could not make their
front equal to the enemy's, whilst by thus thinning
their line they weakened the centre so that it could
hardly keep in touch. On their right was a small
eminence which they decided to hold with reserves,
and this disposition, though it was the beginning of
the panic and flight, proved to be the only means of
safety to the fugitives. For Bennus, the Gaulish
chieftain, fearing some ruse in the scanty numbers
of the enemy, and thinking that the rising ground
was occupied in order that the reserves might attack
the flank and rear of the Gauls while their front
was engaged with the legions, directed his attack
upon the reserves, feeling quite certain that if he
drove them from their position, his overwhelming
numbers would give him an easy victory on the level
ground. So not only Fortune but tactics also were on
the side of the barbarians. In the other army there
was nothing to remind one of Romans either amongst
the generals or the private soldiers. They were
terrified, and all they thought about was flight,
and so utterly had they lost their heads that a far
greater number fled to Veii, a hostile city, though
the Tiber lay in their way, than by the direct road
to Rome, to their wives and children. For a short
time the reserves were protected by their position.
In the rest of the army, no sooner was the
battle-shout heard on their flank by those nearest
to the reserves, and then by those at the other end
of the line heard in their rear, than they fled,
whole and unhurt, almost before they had seen their
untried foe, without any attempt to fight or even to
give back the battle-shout. None were slain while
actually fighting; they were cut down from behind
whilst hindering one another's flight in a confused,
struggling mass. Along the bank of the Tiber,
whither the whole of the left wing had fled, after
throwing away their arms, there was great slaughter.
Many who were unable to swim or were hampered by the
weight of their cuirasses and other armour were
sucked down by the current. The greater number,
however, reached Veii in safety, yet not only were
no troops sent from there to defend the City, but
not even was a messenger despatched to report the
defeat to Rome. All the men on the right wing, which
had been stationed some distance from the river, and
nearer to the foot of the hill, made for Rome and
took refuge in the Citadel without even closing the
City gates.