Quae ubi satis evenere prosperrime, validius instante victore, acumina densis ictibus hebescebant, splendentesque galeae sub pedibus volvebantur et scuta, ultimo denique trudente discrimine, barbari, cum elati cadaverum aggeres exitus impedirent, ad subsidia fluminis petivere, quae sola restabant, eorum terga iam perstringentis. Et quia cursu sub armis concito, fugientes miles indefessus urgebat, quidam nandi peritia eximi se posse discriminibus arbitrati, animas fluctibus commiserunt. Qua causa celeri corde futura praevidens Caesar, cum tribunis et ducibus clamore obiugatorio prohibebat, ne hostem avidius sequens, nostrorum quisquam se gurgitibus committeret verticosis.
Translation :
When all this had turned out so very successfully, our victorious troops pressed on with greater vigour, blunting the edges of their swords with stroke after stroke, while gleaming helms and shields rolled about under foot. At last the savages, driven on by the utmost extremity, since the heaps of corpses were so high as to block their passage, made for the only recourse left, that of the river, which now almost grazed their backs. And since our indefatigable soldiers, running fast even under their armour, pressed upon them as they fled, some of them, thinking that by their skill in swimming they could save themselves from the dangers, committed their lives to the waves. Whereupon Caesar, with swift intelligence foreseeing what might happen, joined with the tribunes and higher officers in restraining shouts, forbidding any of our men in their over-eager pursuit of the enemy to entrust themselves to the eddying flood.
Edition :
Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.
