De Bello Gallico 2.27

2.27.1Hōrum adventū tanta rērum commūtātiō est facta ut nostrī, etiam quī vulneribus cōnfectī prōcubuissent, scūtīs innīxī proelium redintegrārent, cālōnēs perterritōs hostēs cōnspicātī etiam inermēs armātīs occurrerent, equitēs vērō, ut turpitūdinem fugae virtūte dēlērent, omnibus in locīs pugnae sē legiōnāriīs mīlitibus praeferrent.

Their arrival brought about so great a change that even those of our men who had fallen worn out with wounds leaned on their shields and renewed the fight; the servants, seeing the enemy panic-stricken, even ran at armed men while unarmed themselves; and the cavalry, to wipe out the disgrace of their flight by courage, tried to outdo the legionary soldiers everywhere in the battle.

Note. inermēs armātīs occurrerent: 'unarmed, they ran at armed men'. sē … praeferrent: 'tried to show themselves better than'.

2.27.3At hostēs, etiam in extrēmā spē salūtis, tantam virtūtem praestitērunt ut, cum prīmī eōrum cecidissent, proximī iacentibus īnsisterent atque ex eōrum corporibus pugnārent, hīs dēiectīs et coacervātīs cadāveribus quī superessent ut ex tumulō tēla in nostrōs coicerent et pīla intercepta remitterent: ut nōn nēquīquam tantae virtūtis hominēs iūdicārī dēbēret ausōs esse trānsīre lātissimum flūmen, ascendere altissimās rīpās, subīre inīquissimum locum;

But the enemy, even with almost no hope of survival, showed such courage that when their front ranks fell, the next stood on the fallen and fought from their bodies; when these were cut down and the corpses piled up, those who were left threw weapons at our men as if from a mound and hurled back the javelins they caught: so that it had to be judged that men of such courage had not dared in vain to cross a very wide river, climb very high banks and come up onto very unfavourable ground;

Note. ut ex tumulō: 'as if from a mound'. nōn nēquīquam … ausōs esse: litotes, 'it was not for nothing that they had dared'.

2.27.5quae facilia ex difficillimīs animī magnitūdō redēgerat.

which their greatness of spirit had turned from very difficult into easy.