7.8
Then the
struggle was kept up by the foremost men of each nation. Whatever losses
the common chances of battle inflicted on each side were many times greater
than could have been expected from their numbers. The rest of the soldiers
stood like a crowd of spectators, leaving the fighting to their chiefs as if it
were their special privilege, and placing all their hopes of victory on the
courage of others. Many fell on both sides, still more were wounded. At
length the cavalry began to ask each other somewhat bitterly, "What was left
for them to do if after failing to repulse the enemy when mounted they could
make no impression on them whilst fighting on foot. What third mode of
fighting were they looking for? Why had they dashed forward so eagerly in
front of the standards to fight in a position which was not their proper one?
"Urged on by these mutual reproaches, they raised their battle shout again
and pressed forward. Slowly they compelled the enemy to give ground, then
they drove them back more rapidly, and at last fairly routed them. It is not
easy to say what gave the advantage where the two sides were so evenly
matched, unless it be that the Fortune which ever watches over each nation
had the power to raise and to depress their courage. The Romans followed
up the fleeing Hernici as far as their camp; but they abstained from attacking
it, as it was late in the day. They offered sacrifices the next morning for a
long time without obtaining any favourable omen, and this prevented the
Dictator from giving the signal for attack before noon; the fight consequently
went on into the night. The next day they found the camp abandoned; the
Hernici had fled and left some of their wounded behind. The people of
Signium saw the main body of the fugitives streaming past their walls with
their standards few and far between, and sallying out to attack them they
scattered them in headlong flight over the fields. The victory was anything
but a bloodless one for the Romans; they lost a quarter of their whole force,
and by no means the smallest loss fell on the cavalry, a considerable number
of whom perished.