Histories 2.38

1There was also an island in midstream, towards which the gladiators were struggling across in boats, while the Germans were slipping down to it by swimming. 1And when it happened that a good many had crossed over, Macer filled some Liburnian galleys and attacked them with the boldest of the gladiators: but the gladiators had not the steadiness in battle that soldiers have, and, swaying in the boats, they could not aim their blows as well as men aiming from the bank with a firm footing. 1And when, as the panic-stricken men lurched this way and that, rowers and fighting men were thrown into confusion together, the Germans actually leapt down into the shallows, held back the sterns, climbed onto the gangways or sank the boats at close quarters: all of this happened before the eyes of both armies, and the more it delighted the Vitellians, the more bitterly the Othonians cursed the cause and author of the disaster.