1When Metellus learned of what had been done at Vaga, he withdrew from sight for a while in grief. 1Then, when anger and distress were mingled together, he made haste with the greatest care to go and avenge the wrongs. 2At sunset he led out in light order the legion with which he was wintering and as many Numidian horsemen as he could, and on the following day at about the third hour he came to a certain plain surrounded by slightly higher ground. 3There he told the soldiers, who were tired by the length of the march and already refusing everything, that the town of Vaga was no more than a mile away, and that it was fitting for them to bear the rest of the toil with patience, so long as they were exacting vengeance for their fellow citizens, the bravest and most wretched of men; 3besides this, he generously held out the prospect of plunder.
4Having thus raised their spirits, he ordered the cavalry to go in front in an extended line, and the infantry in the closest order possible and with their standards concealed.