1On the same day two tribunes of the praetorian cohorts came to Caecina, who was intent on the work of the bridge, asking for an interview with him: he was preparing to hear their terms and give his own, when scouts rushed up headlong to report that the enemy was at hand. 1The tribunes' talk was broken off, and so it remained uncertain whether they had been attempting a trap or treachery or some honourable plan. 1Caecina, dismissing the tribunes, rode back to camp and found the signal for battle given by order of Fabius Valens and the soldiers under arms. 1While the legions were drawing lots for their order of march, the cavalry burst out; 1and, remarkable to say, they were kept from being driven against their own rampart by a smaller number of Othonians only through the courage of the Italian legion: with drawn swords it forced the beaten men to turn back and renew the fight.
1The line of the Vitellian legions was drawn up without alarm: for although the enemy was near, the sight of their arms was screened by dense plantations of trees. 1On the Othonian side the generals were fearful, the soldiers hostile to their generals, wagons and camp-followers mingled with the troops, and the road, with steep ditches on either side, narrow even for a column at rest. 1Some were gathering round their own standards, others looking for them; 1on every side there was a confused shouting of men running up and calling out: according to each man's boldness or fear, they rushed forward into the front line or slipped back into the rear.