1Then Fabius, hearing first the shouts of the terrified men, and then seeing the line in disorder in the distance, said: 'So it is: fortune has caught up with rashness sooner than I feared. 2Made equal to Fabius in command, he sees Hannibal his superior in both courage and fortune. 2But there will be another time for reproaches and anger; 2now carry the standards outside the rampart: let us wrest victory from the enemy, and an admission of error from our fellow citizens.' 3Some had already been cut down in great numbers, others were looking round for escape, when the Fabian line suddenly showed itself, as if sent down from heaven to their aid.
4So, before it came within javelin range or joined battle, it checked both its own side from headlong flight and the enemy from fighting too fiercely. 4Those who had broken ranks and scattered in all directions fled from every side to the fresh line; 4those who had turned their backs in larger groups faced about towards the enemy and, forming a circle, now gave ground slowly, now massed together and stood firm. 5And by now the beaten army and the fresh one had almost become one line and were advancing on the enemy, when the Carthaginian sounded the retreat, Hannibal openly declaring that he had beaten Minucius but had been beaten by Fabius.
7So when, the greater part of the day having been spent amid changing fortune, they had returned to camp, Minucius called his soldiers together and said: 'I have often heard, soldiers, that the first man is he who himself advises what is useful, the second he who obeys one who advises well; 8and that he who knows neither how to advise himself nor how to obey another is of the lowest intelligence. 9Since the first rank of spirit and intelligence has been denied to us, let us hold the second, the middle one, and, while we learn to command, let us bring ourselves to obey a wise man. 10Let us join our camp to Fabius': when we have carried our standards to his headquarters, when I have called him father, as befits his kindness towards us and his dignity, you, soldiers, will greet as patrons those whose arms and right hands have just now protected you; and, if nothing else, this day will at least have given us the glory of grateful hearts.'