Hist. 1.81.1Conversīs ad cīvīle bellum animīs externa sine cūrā habēbantur.With minds turned to civil war, foreign affairs were neglected. Hist. 1.81.1Eō audentius Rhoxolanī, Sarmatica gēns, priōre hieme caesīs duābus cohortibus, magnā spē Moesiam inrūperant, ad novem mīlia equitum, ex ferōciā et successū praedae magis quam pugnae intenta.All the more boldly the Rhoxolani, a Sarmatian people, having cut down two cohorts the previous winter, had burst into Moesia with high hopes, about nine thousand horsemen, intent, from their ferocity and success, on plunder rather than fighting. Hist. 1.81.1Igitur vagōs et incūriōsōs tertia legiō adiūnctīs auxiliīs repente invāsit.So, while they were roaming about and off their guard, the Third legion, with auxiliaries attached, suddenly attacked them. Hist. 1.81.1Apud Rōmānōs omnia proeliō apta: Sarmatae dispersī aut cupīdine praedae gravēs onere sarcinārum et lūbricō itinerum ademptā equōrum pernīcitāte velut vinctī caedēbantur.On the Roman side everything was suited for battle: the Sarmatians, scattered or, in their greed for plunder, weighed down by the burden of their packs, and robbed of their horses' speed by the slipperiness of the roads, were cut down as if in chains.
Hist. 1.81.1Namque mīrum dictū ut sit omnis Sarmatārum virtūs velut extrā ipsōs.For it is wonderful to tell how all the courage of the Sarmatians lies, as it were, outside themselves. Hist. 1.81.1Nihil ad pedestrem pugnam tam ignāvum: ubi per turmās advēnēre vix ūlla aciēs obstiterit.Nothing is so cowardly in fighting on foot: when they come on in squadrons, scarcely any battle line could withstand them. Hist. 1.81.1Sed tum ūmidō diē et solūtō gelū neque contī neque gladiī, quōs praelongōs utrāque manū regunt, ūsuī, lāpsantibus equīs et catafractārum pondere.But at that time, on a wet day and with the frost thawed, neither their lances nor their swords, which are very long and which they wield with both hands, were of any use, as their horses kept slipping and under the weight of their mail. Hist. 1.81.1Id prīncipibus et nōbilissimō cuique tegimen, ferreīs lamminīs aut praedūrō coriō cōnsertum, ut adversus ictūs impenetrābile ita impetū hostium prōvolūtīs inhabile ad resurgendum;This is the covering of their chiefs and all the noblest, made of iron plates or very hard leather fitted together, as impenetrable against blows as it is unwieldy for rising again when men are overthrown by the enemy's charge; Hist. 1.81.1simul altitūdine et mollitiā nivis hauriēbantur.at the same time they were swallowed up by the depth and softness of the snow.
Hist. 1.81.1Rōmānus mīles facilis lōrīcā et missilī pīlō aut lanceīs adsultāns, ubi rēs posceret, levī gladiō inermem Sarmatam (neque enim scūtō dēfendī mōs est) comminus fodiēbat, dōnec paucī quī proeliō superfuerant palūdibus abderentur.The Roman soldier, nimble in his breastplate, darting in with javelins thrown or with lances, and when the situation demanded, with his light sword, stabbed the defenceless Sarmatian at close quarters (for it is not their custom to protect themselves with a shield), until the few who had survived the battle hid themselves in the marshes. Hist. 1.81.1Ibi saevitiā hiemis aut vulnerum absūmptī.There they were destroyed by the severity of the winter or by their wounds. Hist. 1.81.1Postquam id Rōmae compertum, M. Aponius Moesiam obtinēns triumphālī statuā, Fulvus Aurēlius et Iūliānus Tettius ac Numisius Lupus, lēgātī legiōnum, cōnsulāribus ōrnāmentīs dōnantur, laetō Othōne et glōriam in sē trahente, tamquam et ipse fēlīx bellō et suīs ducibus suīsque exercitibus rem pūblicam auxisset.When this was known at Rome, Marcus Aponius, governor of Moesia, was granted a triumphal statue, and Fulvus Aurelius, Julianus Tettius and Numisius Lupus, legates of the legions, consular insignia, while Otho rejoiced and drew the glory to himself, as if he too had been lucky in war and had enlarged the state through his own generals and his own armies.