1And the Britons who, not yet engaged in the fight, had occupied the hilltops and, at leisure, despised our small numbers, had begun to come down gradually and to surround the rear of the victors, had not Agricola, fearing exactly this, set against them as they came four squadrons of cavalry held back for the emergencies of war, and driven them back and scattered them in flight all the more sharply for the fierceness of their charge. 2So the Britons' plan was turned against themselves, and the squadrons, brought round from the front of the battle by the general's order, attacked the enemy line from behind. 2Then indeed in the open ground there was a great and grim spectacle: men pursued, wounded, took prisoners, and slaughtered them when others came in their way.
3Now among the enemy, according to each man's character, columns of armed men fled before smaller numbers, while some, unarmed, rushed forward of their own accord and offered themselves to death. 3Everywhere there were weapons and bodies and mangled limbs and bloody earth; 3and at times even the vanquished showed anger and courage. 4When they drew near the woods, they rallied and, knowing the ground, began to surround the foremost pursuers, who were off their guard. 4And had not Agricola, present everywhere, ordered strong cohorts in light order to form a ring like hunters, and, where the ground was denser, some of the cavalry to dismount, and at the same time the cavalry to scour the thinner woods, some wound would have been suffered through overconfidence.
5But when they saw our men pursuing again in steady and close order, they turned to flight, not in columns as before, nor any looking out for another: scattered and avoiding one another they made for distant and trackless places. 6The pursuit was ended by night and weariness. 6Of the enemy some ten thousand were killed: of ours three hundred and sixty fell, among them Aulus Atticus, prefect of a cohort, who had been carried among the enemy by his youthful ardour and the spirit of his horse.