41.4
He
thereupon ordered his standard-bearer, A. Baeculonius, a man noted for his
courage, to go forward with his standard. Baeculonius replied that if they
would follow him and his standard they would help him to do so all the more
quickly. He then flung the standard with all his might over the rampart and
was the first to pass through the camp gate. On another side of the camp the
two Aelii, Titus and Caius, came up with the cavalry of the third legion.
They were almost immediately followed by the men mounted on the baggage
animals, and then the consul with the whole of the army. A few of the Histri
who had taken only a moderate amount of wine were careful to escape; for
the rest, sleep was prolonged into death, and the Romans recovered all their
property intact. save the wine and food which had been consumed. Even the
sick who had been left in the camp, finding their comrades inside the
rampart, seized their arms and inflicted great slaughter. A cavalryman, C.
Popilius Sabellus, distinguished himself especially in this way. He had been
left behind with a wounded foot and he slew by far the greatest number of
the enemy. As many as 8000 of the Histri were killed, not one prisoner was
taken, rage and shame made the Romans indifferent to booty. The King of
the Histri, however, drunk as he was, was carried off hurriedly from the table
and lifted by his men on to a horse and so escaped. Two hundred and
thirty-seven of the victors perished; more fell in the morning rout than in the
recapture of the camp.