1Hannibal's joy at this was twofold — for nothing of what was being done among the enemy escaped him, since deserters reported much and he made enquiries through his own men — : for he thought that he would catch Minucius' unchecked rashness in his own way, and that Fabius' skill had lost half its strength. 3There was a hillock between the camps of Minucius and the Carthaginians, and whoever seized it was without doubt going to make the position more unfavourable for the enemy. 4Hannibal did not so much want to take it without a fight, although that was worth the effort, as to bring about a cause for a fight with Minucius, who, he knew well enough, would rush out to oppose him.
5All the ground in between seemed at first sight useless to one laying an ambush, because it had not only nothing wooded but nothing covered even with brambles; in reality it was made for hiding an ambush, all the more because in a bare valley no such trick could be feared; 6and there were hollow rocks in its windings, so large that some of them could hold two hundred armed men each. 7Into these hiding places, as many as could conveniently occupy each spot, five thousand infantry and cavalry are concealed. 8But so that nowhere either the movement of someone who had rashly stepped out or the gleam of arms might reveal the trick in so open a valley, he sent a few men at first light to; 8seize the hillock we mentioned before, and so drew off the enemy's eyes.
9At the very first sight their small number was despised, and each man demanded for himself the task of driving the enemy from there and taking the position; 9the commander himself, among the most foolish and most headstrong, calls them to arms and assails the enemy with empty threats. 10First he sends out the light-armed troops, then sends the cavalry in close column; 10finally, when he saw that reinforcements were being sent to the enemy too, he advances with the legions drawn up. 11Hannibal too, sending one reinforcement of infantry and cavalry after another to his hard-pressed men as the struggle grew, had by now filled out a regular battle line, and the fight is waged with full strength on both sides.
11First the Roman light-armed troops, coming up from lower ground towards the hillock that had already been seized, were driven back and thrust down, carried panic into the cavalry coming up behind, and fled back to the standards of the legions. 13The line of infantry alone was unafraid among those who were shaken, and it seemed that, if it were a regular and straightforward battle, it would be by no means unequal: so much spirit had the success of a few days before created; 14but the men in ambush, rising up suddenly and charging against both flanks and from the rear, caused such confusion and terror that no one had any courage left for fighting or any hope of flight.