Liv. 22.41.1Cēterum temeritātī cōnsulis ac praeproperō ingeniō māteriam etiam fortūna dedit, quod in prohibendīs praedātōribus tumultuāriō proeliō ac prōcursū magis mīlitum quam ex praeparātō aut iussū imperātōrum ortō haudquāquam pār Poenīs dīmicātiō fuit.But fortune too gave material to the consul's rashness and over-hasty temperament, because in driving off plunderers, in a disorderly battle that arose from a rush of the soldiers rather than by design or the generals' orders, the fight was by no means equal for the Carthaginians. Liv. 22.41.2Ad mīlle et septingentī caesī nōn plūs centum Rōmānōrum sociōrumque occīsīs.About one thousand seven hundred were cut down, while no more than a hundred of the Romans and allies were killed. Liv. 22.41.2Cēterum victōribus effūsē sequentibus metū īnsidiārum obstitit Paulus cōnsul, cuius eō diē — nam alternīs imperitābant — imperium erat, Varrōne indignante ac vōciferante ēmissum hostem ē manibus dēbellārīque, nī cessātum foret, potuisse.But as the victors pursued in disorder, the consul Paulus, whose command it was that day — for they held command on alternate days — stopped them for fear of an ambush, while Varro raged and shouted that the enemy had been let slip from their hands and that the war could have been finished had they not held back.
Liv. 22.41.3Hannibal id damnum haud aegerrimē patī;Hannibal did not take that loss very hard; Liv. 22.41.4quīn potius crēdere velut inēscātam temeritātem ferōciōris cōnsulis ac novōrum maximē mīlitum esse.rather he believed that the rashness of the more headstrong consul, and of the new soldiers above all, had been, as it were, baited. Liv. 22.41.5Et omnia eī hostium haud secus quam sua nota erant: dissimilēs discordēsque imperitāre, duās prope partēs tīrōnum mīlitum in exercitū esse.And everything about the enemy was as well known to him as his own affairs: that men unlike each other and at odds were in command, and that nearly two thirds of the army were raw recruits. Liv. 22.41.6Itaque locum et tempus īnsidiīs aptum sē habēre ratus, nocte proximā nihil praeter arma ferente sēcum mīlite castra plēna omnis fortūnae pūblicae prīvātaeque relinquit trānsque proximōs montīs laevā peditēs īnstrūctōs condit, dextrā equitēs, impedīmenta per convallem mediam trādūcit, ut dīripiendīs velut dēsertīs fugā dominōrum castrīs occupātum impedītumque hostem opprimeret.So, thinking that he had a place and time suited to an ambush, the next night, with his soldiers carrying nothing but their arms, he leaves a camp full of every kind of property, public and private, and beyond the nearest mountains he hides the infantry drawn up on the left, the cavalry on the right, and leads the baggage across through the middle of the valley, so that he might overwhelm the enemy while they were busy and encumbered with plundering a camp seemingly abandoned by the flight of its owners.
Liv. 22.41.9Crēbrī relictī in castrīs ignēs, ut fidēs fieret, dum ipse longius spatium fugā praeciperet, falsā imāgine castrōrum, sīcut Fabium priōre annō frūstrātus esset, tenēre in locīs cōnsulēs voluisse.Numerous fires were left in the camp, to create the belief that he had wanted to hold the consuls in their positions by a false semblance of a camp, as he had tricked Fabius the year before, while he himself gained a longer start in his flight.