Sabinus asked Cotta to accompany him.
Cotta said he would never surrender to an armed enemy; and, wounded as he
was, he stayed with the legion. Sabinus, followed by the rest of the
surviving officers whom he ordered to attend him, proceeded to the spot
where the chief was standing. They were commanded to lay down their arms.
They obeyed, and were immediately killed; and with one wild yell the
barbarians then rushed in a mass on the deserted cohorts. Cotta fell, and
most of the others with him. The survivors, with the eagle of the legion,
which they had still faithfully guarded, struggled back in the dusk to
their deserted camp. The standard-bearer, surrounded by enemies, reached
the fosse, flung the eagle over the rampart, and fell with the last
effort. Those that were left fought on till night, and then, seeing that
hope was gone, died like Romans on each other's swords--a signal
illustration of the Roman greatness of mind, which had died out among the
degenerate patricians, but was living in all its force in Caesar's
legions. A few stragglers, who had been cut off during the battle from
their comrades, escaped in the night through the woods, and carried the
news to Labienus. Cicero, at Charleroy, was left in ignorance. The roads
were beset, and no messenger could reach him.
Induciomarus understood his countrymen.
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