Arminio sinerent egredi egressosque rursum per umida et inpedita circumvenirent suadente, atrociora Inguiomero et laeta barbaris, ut vallum armis ambirent: promptam expugnationem, plures captivos, incorruptam praedam fore. igitur orta die proruunt fossas, iniciunt cratis, summa valli prensant, raro super milite et quasi ob metum defixo.
Translation :
Arminius advised that they should allow the Romans to quit their position, and, when they had quitted it, again surprise them in swampy and intricate ground. Inguiomerus, with fiercer counsels, heartily welcome to barbarians, was for beleaguering the entrenchment in armed array, as to storm them would, he said, be easy, and there would be more prisoners and the booty unspoilt. So at day-break they trampled in the fosses, flung hurdles into them, seized the upper part of the breastwork, where the troops were thinly distributed and seemingly paralysed by fear.
Edition :
Annales ab excessu divi Augusti. Cornelius Tacitus. Charles Dennis Fisher. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1906.
Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. reprinted 1942.
Remark :
long-term consequence: The Romans afterwards ambush the overconfident attackers, defeating and routing them: "The army of Caecina surprises the army of Arminius attacking their camp, killing many."
