way: and so great was their impetuosity in the pursuit of victory, that
they left many of their foes half dead or unhurt behind them. In the
meantime the troops of cavalry took to flight, and the armed chariots
mingled in the engagement of the infantry; but although their first shock
occasioned some consternation, they were soon entangled among the close
ranks of the cohorts, and the inequalities of the ground. Not the least
appearance was left of an engagement of cavalry; since the men, long
keeping their ground with difficulty, were forced along with the bodies of
the horses; and frequently, straggling chariots, and affrighted horses
without their riders, flying variously as terror impelled them, rushed
obliquely athwart or directly through the lines. [122]

37. Those of the Britons who, yet disengaged from the fight, sat on the
summits of the hills, and looked with careless contempt on the smallness
of our numbers, now began gradually to descend; and would have fallen on
the rear of the conquering troops, had not Agricola, apprehending this
very event, opposed four reserved squadron of horse to their attack,
which, the more furiously they had advanced, drove them back with the
greater celerity. Their project was thus turned against themselves; and
the squadrons were ordered to wheel from the front of the battle and fall
upon the enemy's rear. A striking and hideous spectacle now appeared on
the plain: some pursuing; some striking: some making prisoners, whom they
slaughtered as others came in their way. Now, as their several
dispositions prompted, crowds of armed Britons fled before inferior
numbers, or a few, even unarmed, rushed upon their foes, and offered
themselves to a voluntary death. Arms, and carcasses, and mangled limbs,
were promiscuously strewed, and the field was dyed in blood. Even among
the vanquished were seen instances of rage and valor. When the fugitives
approached the woods, they collected, and surrounded the foremost of the
pursuers, advancing incautiously, and unacquainted with the country; and