Liv. 22.18.1Hunc tumultum sēnsit Fabius;Fabius was aware of this commotion; Liv. 22.18.1cēterum et īnsidiās esse ratus et ab nocturnō utique abhorrēns certāmine suōs mūnīmentīs tenuit.but thinking it was an ambush, and in any case shrinking from a battle by night, he kept his men within the fortifications. Liv. 22.18.2Lūce prīmā sub iugō montis proelium fuit, quō interclūsam ab suīs levem armātūram facile — etenim numerō aliquantum praestābant — Rōmānī superāssent, nisi Hispānōrum cohors ad id ipsum remissa ab Hannibale supervēnisset.At first light there was a battle under the ridge of the mountain, in which the Romans would easily have overcome the light troops cut off from their comrades (for they were considerably superior in numbers), had not a cohort of Spaniards, sent back by Hannibal for that very purpose, come up. Liv. 22.18.2Ea adsuētior montibus et ad concursandum inter saxa rūpēsque aptior ac levior cum vēlōcitāte corporum tum armōrum habitū campestrem hostem gravem armīs statāriumque pugnae genere facile ēlūsit.This cohort, more used to mountains and better suited to running about among rocks and crags, and nimbler both through the speed of their bodies and the style of their arms, easily baffled an enemy used to the plains, heavy with arms and fighting in a stationary manner.
Liv. 22.18.4Ita haudquāquam parī certāmine dīgressī, Hispānī ferē omnēs incolumēs, Rōmānī aliquot suīs āmissīs in castra contendērunt.So, parting from a contest far from equal, they hurried back to camp, the Spaniards almost all unharmed, the Romans having lost a number of their men. Liv. 22.18.5Fabius quoque mōvit castra trānsgressusque saltum super Allīfās locō altō ac mūnītō cōnsēdit.Fabius too moved camp and, crossing the pass, settled above Allifae on high, fortified ground. Liv. 22.18.6Tum per Samnium Rōmam sē petere simulāns Hannibal ūsque in Paelignōs populābundus rediit;Then Hannibal, pretending to make for Rome through Samnium, went back plundering as far as the Paeligni; Liv. 22.18.6Fabius medius inter, hostium agmen urbemque Rōmam iugīs dūcēbat nec absistēns nec congrediēns.Fabius led his army along the ridges midway between the enemy column and the city of Rome, neither keeping away nor engaging. Liv. 22.18.7Ex Paelignīs Poenus flexit iter retrōque Āpūliam repetēns Gereonium pervēnit, urbem metū, quia conlapsa ruīnīs pars moenium erat, ab suīs dēsertam;From the Paeligni the Carthaginian changed his route and, heading back again towards Apulia, reached Gereonium, a city deserted by its people through fear, because part of the walls had collapsed in ruins; Liv. 22.18.8dictātor in Lārīnāte agrō castra commūniit.the dictator fortified a camp in the territory of Larinum.
Liv. 22.18.8Inde sacrōrum causā Rōmam revocātus, nōn imperiō modo sed cōnsiliō etiam ac prope precibus agēns cum magistrō equitum, ut plūs cōnsiliō quam fortūnae cōnfīdat et sē potius ducem quam Semprōnium Flāminiumque imitētur;Then, recalled to Rome on account of religious rites, he dealt with the master of the horse not only by command but by advice and almost by entreaty, urging him to trust more to good counsel than to fortune and to imitate him as a commander rather than Sempronius and Flaminius; Liv. 22.18.9nē nihil āctum cēnsēret extrāctā prope aestāte per lūdificātiōnem hostis: medicōs quoque plūs interdum quiēte quam movendō atque agendō prōficere;he should not think that nothing had been achieved by dragging out almost the whole summer in baffling the enemy: doctors too sometimes did more good by rest than by movement and action; Liv. 22.18.10haud parvam rem esse ab totiēns victōre hoste vincī dēsīsse ac respīrāsse ab continuīs clādibus — haec nēquīquam praemonitō magistrō equitum Rōmam est profectus.it was no small thing to have stopped being beaten by an enemy so often victorious and to have drawn breath after continual disasters; having warned the master of the horse of these things in vain, he set out for Rome.