University of Virginia Library

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.