he camp, heard the cries of terror from
the Celts, and noticed their General himself rush into the midst of the
fugitives. They believed that the camp had been taken from the opposite
direction, and feared every moment that they would be attacked from the
rear. So they leaped from the top of the wall in large numbers or came
rushing down the stairs. The besiegers outside, hitherto held in check
by a heavy shower of missies, suddenly saw whole ranks of the defenders
vanish, whole stretches of the wall left empty and, with wild shouts,
they climbed boldly and confidently up the ladders. When the Tribune
looked up, the assailants were already springing from the wall in dense
masses, hewing down the few Romans who had gathered around him, while
the fierce giant's terrible spear struck down one after another.

Saturninus cast one more glance at the top of the wall: countless bands
of Barbarians were appearing on it. Then, in a voice whose tones rang
above the din of battle, he shouted the order: "Leave the camp! Follow
this standard! To the Porta Decumana! Close ranks! If you open them,
you will be lost!"

These words had their effect. Often had these soldiers proved that this
solid closing of their ranks was the best, nay, the only means of
repelling the assault of the Germans. The hope of reaching their
comrades on the ships revived their courage; retreating toward the
south, fighting as they marched, they followed their trusted leader.

The pursuers from the north and east pressed hotly upon them; but the
Romans moving southward received considerable reenforcements from the
east and the west, where the cross streets from both sides ran into the
one extending from north to south--the Via Media. Meanwhile the troops
defending the eastern and western gates had heard the war-cry of the
Alemanni within the camp and the shouts of their own fugitives, and
giving up the hopeless resistance, they thronged, according to a
standing rule in the camp, into the long central street which led to
the Porta Decumana, the gate assigned for the Roman line of retreat.

True, the troops from the western gate, where the assailants had
already made considerable progress, poured down in great confusion; but
Dedus and Ausonius led the legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort from
the eastern gate in good order. Saturninus saw the two leaders from the
distance, but separated by the whole flood of marching men, they could
not meet. So the columns,