34.
But judgment was not wanting to the barbarians; for their leaders ordered [the
officers] to proclaim through the ranks "that no man should quit his place; that
the booty was theirs, and for them was reserved whatever the Romans should leave; therefore let them consider that all things
depended on their victory. Our men were equal to them in fighting, both in
courage and in number, and though they were deserted by their leader and by
fortune, yet they still placed all hope of safety in their valor, and as often
as any cohort sallied forth on that side, a great number of the enemy usually
fell. Ambiorix, when he observed this, orders the command to be
issued that they throw their weapons from a distance and do not approach too
near, and in whatever direction the Romans should
make an attack, there give way (from the lightness of their appointments and
from their daily practice no damage could be done them); [but] pursue them when
betaking themselves to their standards again.
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