p the pursuit, he opened
the Flaminian Gate and sent his army out against the barbarians, who
were thus taken unawares. Now it so happened that one of the Gothic
camps was on the road near this gate, and in front of it there was a
narrow passage between steep banks which was exceedingly difficult of
access. And one of the barbarians, a man of splendid physique and clad
in a corselet, when he saw the enemy advancing, reached this place
before them and took his stand there, at the same time calling his
comrades and urging them to help in guarding the narrow passage. But
before any move could be made Mundilas slew him and thereafter allowed
none of the barbarians to go into this passage. The Romans therefore
passed through it without encountering opposition, and some of them,
arriving at the Gothic camp near by, for a short time tried to take it,
but were unable to do so because of the strength of the stockade,
although not many barbarians had been left behind in it. For the trench
had been dug to an extraordinary depth, and since the earth taken from
it had invariably been placed along its inner side, this reached a great
height and so served as a wall[155]; and it was abundantly supplied with
stakes, which were very sharp and close together, thus making a
palisade. These defences so emboldened the barbarians that they began to
repel the enemy vigorously. But one of the guards of Belisarius,
Aquilinus by name, an exceedingly active man, seized a horse by the
bridle and, bestriding it, leaped from the trench into the middle of the
camp, where he slew some of the enemy. And when his opponents gathered
about him and hurled great numbers of missiles, the horse was wounded
and fell, but he himself unexpectedly made his escape through the midst
of the enemy. So he went on foot with his companions toward the Pincian
Gate. And overtaking the barbarians, who were still engaged in pursuing
Roman horsemen,[156] they began to shoot at them from behind and killed
some of them.

Now when Trajan and his men perceived this, since they had meanwhile
been reinforced by the horsemen who had been standing near by in
readiness, they charged at full speed against their pursuers. Then at
length the Goths, being now outgeneraled and unexpectedly caught between
the forces of their enemy, began to be killed indiscriminately. And
there was great slaughter of them, and very few escaped to their camps,
and that with difficulty; meanwhile the others,