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The Elbe was now nearer than the Rhine; and if they would make him
a conqueror in those countries where his father and his uncle had
conquered, the war was concluded. " The ardour of the soldiers followed
the speech of the general, and the signal for the onset was given.

Neither did Arminius or the other chiefs neglect to declare to their
several bands that "these Romans were the cowardly fugitives of the
Varian army, who, because they could not endure to fight, had afterwards
chosen to rebel. That some with backs deformed by wounds, some with
limbs maimed by tempests, forsaken of hope, and the Gods against them,
were once more presenting their lives to their vengeful foes. Hitherto a
fleet, and unfrequented seas, had been the resources of their cowardice
against an assaulting or a pursuing enemy; but now that they were to
engage hand to hand, vain would be their relief from wind and oars after
a defeat. The Germans needed only remember their rapine, cruelty, and
pride; and that to themselves nothing remained but either to maintain
their native liberty, or by death to prevent bondage. "

The enemy, thus inflamed and calling for battle, were led into a
plain called Idistavisus: [Footnote: Near Minden. ] it lies between the
Visurgis and the hills, and winds unequally along, as it is straitened
by the swellings of the mountains or enlarged by the circuits of the
river. Behind rose a forest of high trees, thick of branches above but
clear of bushes below. The army of Barbarians kept the plain, and
the entrances of the forest. The Cheruscans alone sat down upon the
mountain, in order to pour down from thence upon the Romans as soon as
they became engaged in the fight. Our army marched thus: the auxiliary
Gauls and Germans in front, after them the foot archers, next four
legions, and then Germanicus with two Praetorian cohorts and the choice
of the cavalry; then four legions more, and the light foot with archers
on horseback and the other troops of the allies; the men all intent to
march in order of battle and ready to engage as they marched.

As the impatient bands of Cheruscans were now perceived descending
fiercely from the hills, Germanicus commanded a body of the best horse
to charge them in the flank, and Stertinius with the rest to wheel round
to attack them in the rear, and promised to be ready to assist them in
person. During this a joyful omen appeared: eight eagles were seen
to fly toward the wood, and to enter it; a presage of victory to the
General. "_Advance_," he cried, "_follow the Roman birds; follow the
tutelar Deities of the legions!
_" Instantly the foot charged the enemy's
front, and instantly the detached cavalry attacked their flank and rear:
this double assault had a strange event; the two divisions of their
army fled opposite ways; that in the woods ran to the plain; that in the
plain rushed into the woods. The Cheruscans, between both, were driven
from the hills; amongst them Arminius, remarkably brave, who with his
hand, his voice, and distinguished wounds was still sustaining the
fight. He had assaulted the archers, and would have broken through them,
but the cohorts of the Retians, the Vindelicians, and the Gauls marched
to their relief; however, by his own vigour and the force of his horse,
he escaped, his face besmeared with his own blood to avoid being
known. Some have related that the Chaucians, who were amongst the
Roman auxiliaries, knew him, and let him go; the same bravery or deceit
procured Inguiomerus his escape; the rest were everywhere slain; and
great numbers attempting to swim the Visurgis were destroyed in it,
either pursued with darts, or swallowed by the current, or overwhelmed
with the weight of the crowd, or buried under the falling banks; some
seeking a base refuge on the tops of trees, and concealment amongst the
branches, were shot in sport by the archers, or squashed as the trees
were felled: a mighty victory this, and to us far from bloody!

This slaughter of the foe, from the fifth hour of the day till night,
filled the country for ten miles with carcasses and arms: amongst the
spoils, chains were found, which, sure of conquering, they had brought
to bind the Roman captives. The soldiers proclaimed Tiberius _Imperator_
upon the field of battle, and raising a mount, placed upon it as
trophies the German arms, with the names of all the vanquished nations
inscribed below.

This sight filled the Germans with more anguish and rage than all their
wounds, past afflictions, and slaughters. They, who were just prepared
to abandon their dwellings, and flit beyond the Elbe, meditate war and
grasp their arms: people, nobles, youth, aged, all rush suddenly upon
the Roman army in its march and disorder it. They next chose their
camp, a strait and moist plain shut in between a river and a forest, the
forest too surrounded with a deep marsh, except on one side, which was
closed with a barrier raised by the Angrivarians between them and the
Cheruscans. Here stood their foot; their horse were distributed and
concealed amongst the neighbouring groves, thence, by surprise, to beset
the legions in the rear as soon as they had entered the wood.

Nothing of all this was a secret to Germanicus: he knew their counsels,
their stations, what steps they pursued, what measures they concealed;
and, to the destruction of the enemy, turned their own subtilty and
devices. To Seius Tubero, his Lieutenant, he committed the horse and
the field; the infantry so disposed, that part might pass the level
approaches into the wood, and the rest force the ramparts; this was the
most arduous task, and to himself he reserved it; the rest he left to
his Lieutenants. Those who had the even ground to traverse, broke easily
in; but they who were to assail the rampart, were as grievously battered
from above, as if they had been storming a wall. The General perceived
the inequality of this close attack, and drawing off the legions a small
distance, ordered the slingers to throw, and the engineers to play, to
beat off the enemy: immediately showers of darts were poured from the
engines, and the defenders of the barrier, the more bold and exposed
they were, with the more wounds they were beaten down. Germanicus,
having taken the rampart, first forced his way, at the head of the
Praetorian cohorts, into the woods, and there it was fought foot to
foot; behind, the enemy were begirt with the morass, the Romans with the
mountains or the rivers; no room for either to retreat, no hope but in
valour, no safety but in victory.

The Germans had no inferior courage, but they were exceeded in the
fashion of arms and art of fighting.