Res Gestae

And so, when the signal had been given by the trumpet and they began to engage at close quarters, the Germans stood amazed, terrified by the fearful sight of the gleaming standards. For a while their ardour was blunted, but they quickly recovered and prolonged the fighting to the end of the day; and our vigorously attacking soldiers would have gained the fruit of victory without loss, had not Balchobaudes, tribune of the heavy-armed guard, a man by nature both boastful and cowardly, withdrawn in disorder at the approach of evening. And if the rest of the cohorts had followed his example and left the field, the affair would have come to such a sad ending that not one of our number could have survived to tell what had happened.

But the soldiers resisted with bold energy and courage, and were so superior in strength that they wounded 4000 of the enemy and

When therefore the battle was now broken off by the coming of night, and the wearied soldiers had recovered their strength, their distinguished general towards daybreak led forward his army in square formation[*](I.e., ready for battle; see note, p. 270.) ; and finding that the savages had slipped away under cover of darkness, free from worry about ambuscades he followed them over the open and easy plains, trampling underfoot the dying, and the contracted bodies of those whom, since the severity of the cold had drawn their wounds together, the extreme pain had taken off.

Then, after advancing farther but returning on finding none of the enemy, he learned that the Ascarii[*](Named, with the Eruli and the Batavi, among the court troops: (erant) inter auxilia Palatina sexaginta quinque (Not. Imper. Occid. v. 157, Seeck).) (whom he himself had sent by another route to plunder the tents of the Alamanni) had captured a king of the hostile army with a few of his followers, and had gibbeted him. Angered at this, he decided to punish the tribune who had ventured to take this action without consulting higher authority; and he would have condemned him to death, if it had not been clear from convincing evidence that the cruel deed had been committed through passion to which soldiers are prone.[*](That is, without the tribune’s knowledge and giving him no chance to intervene.)

When Jovinus returned to Paris after these brilliant victories, Valentinian went out joyfully to meet him, and shortly afterwards made him consul;[*](In 367.) and, you may be sure it added to his great happiness that he had received at that same time the head of Procopius, sent to him by Valens.

Besides these battles, many others less worthy of mention were fought in various parts of Gaul, which it would be superfluous to describe, both because their results led to nothing worth while, and because it is not fitting to spin out a history with insignificant details.