e
proceeded to plunder the country near the Po.

Marcellus hearing this left his colleague before Acerrae with the
infantry, heavy baggage, and one-third of the cavalry, and himself,
with the rest of the cavalry and about six hundred of the most active
foot soldiers, marched night and day till he fell in with the ten
thousand Gaesatae at Clastidium, a Gaulish village which not long before
had been subject to the Romans. There was no time for rest or
refreshment; for his arrival was at once perceived by the enemy, and
his force despised, as he had so little infantry with him, for the
Celts thought nothing of his cavalry. Admirable horsemen and proud of
their superior skill, they also had greatly the advantage of Marcellus
in numbers, and at once, their king riding foremost, charged the
Romans with great impetuosity and terrible threats, expecting to sweep
them away. Marcellus, fearing that they might surround and outflank
his small body, spread out his cavalry, thinning and widening his
line, until he presented a front nearly equal to that of the enemy. He
was now advancing to the charge, when his horse, scared at the
terrible display of the enemy, turned short round, and forcibly
carried him back. Marcellus, fearing that this might cause
superstitious terror to the Romans, hastily wheeled his horse round on
the bridle hand, and having again directed him against the enemy, paid
his adorations to the sun, as though he had made this circle not by
chance, but of set purpose; for the Romans have this custom, of
turning round to worship the gods, and so he, as he was on the point
of joining battle, vowed that he would consecrate the finest of the
enemies' arms to Jupiter Feretrius.

VII. At this moment the king of the Gauls, seeing him, and
conjecturing from his dress that he was the Roman leader, rode out far
beyond the rest, and made directly for him, defiantly shouting a
challenge, and brandishing his spear. He was a man distinguished from
the rest of the Gauls by his tall stature and his complete armour,
which glittered like the lightning with gold and silver and all kinds
of gay devices with which it was incrusted. Marcellus, as he looked
along the enemy's line, thought that these were the finest arms, and
were those about which he had made his vow to Jupiter Feretrius. He
rushed upon the Gaul, pierced his breastplate with his spear, and by
the impetus of his horse bore him to the ground alive, and with a
second and t