They thus
pierced our thinner line. The Belgae giving way, the legion was driven
back and ran in terror to reach the trench and the gates of the camp.
It was there that we suffered the heaviest losses. The trenches were
filled with dead, who were not all killed by the blows of the enemy,
for many were stifled in the press or perished on each other's swords.
The victorious cohorts avoided Cologne and marched on without
attempting any further hostilities. For the battle at Bonn they
continued to excuse themselves. They had asked for peace, they said,
and when peace was persistently refused, had merely acted in
self-defence.
FOOTNOTES:
[288] V Alaudae and XV Primigenia, both depleted.
[289] At Vetera.
[290] Waal.
[291] They lived round their chief town, known since A.D. 50
as Colonia Agrippinensis, now Cologne (cp. i. 56, note 106).
[292] See chap. 16.
[293] This was a German custom. We read in the _Germania_ that
in battle 'they keep their dearest close at hand, where the
women's cries and the wailing of their babies can be heard'.
[294] This means, of course, simply The Old Camp, but, as
Tacitus treats Vetera as a proper name, it has been kept in
the translation. It was probably on the Rhine near Xanten and
Fuerstenberg, some sixty-six miles north of Cologne.
[295] Cp. i. 59; ii. 97; iv. 15.
[296] Who got better pay for lighter service.
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