The country was wasted by fire
and sword fifty miles round; nor sex nor age found mercy; places sacred
and profane had the equal lot of destruction, all razed to the ground, and
with them the temple of Tanfana, of all others the most celebrated amongst
these nations: nor did all this execution cost the soldiers a wound, while
they only slew men half asleep, disarmed, or dispersed. This slaughter
roused the Bructerans, the Tubantes, and the Usipetes; and they beset the
passes of the forest, through which the army was to return: an event known
to Germanicus, and he marched in order of battle. The auxiliary cohorts
and part of the horse led the van, followed close by the first legion; the
baggage was in the middle; the twenty-first legion closed the left wing,
and the fifth the right; the twentieth defended the rear; and after them
marched the rest of the allies. But the enemy stirred not, till the body
of the army entered the wood: they then began lightly to insult the front
and wings; and at last, with their whole force, fell upon the rear. The
light cohorts were already disordered by the close German bands, when
Germanicus riding up to the twentieth legion, and exalting his voice,
"This was the season," he cried, "to obliterate the scandal of sedition:
hence they should fall resolutely on, and into sudden praise convert their
late shame and offence.
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