Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/507

 OTIIO. 499 in which were so many, that they were forced to break their ranks to avoid and go round them, and so to fight without order and in small parties. There were but two legions, one of ViteUius's, called The Eavenous,* and another of Otho's, called The Assistant, that got out into the open outspread level and engaged in proper form, fighting, one main body against the other, for some length of time. Otho's men were strong and bold, but had never been in battle before ; ViteUius's had seen many wars, but were old and past their strength. So Otho's legion charged boldly, drove back their oppo- nents, and took the eagle, killing pretty nearly every man in the first rank, till the others, full of rage and shame, returned the chai'ge, slew Orfidius, the commander of the legion, and took several standards. Varus Alfenus, with his Batavians, who are the natives of an island of the Rhine, and are esteemed the best of the German horse, fell upon the gladiators, who had a reputation both for valor and skill in fighting. Some few of these did their duty, but the greatest part of them made towards the river, and, falhng in with some cohorts stationed there, were cut off. But none behaved so ill as the prastorians, who, without ever so much as meeting the enemy, ran away, broke through their own body that stood, and put them into disorder. Notwithstanding this, many of Otho's men routed those that were opposed to them, broke right into them, and forced their way to the camp through the very middle of tlieir conquerors. As for their commanders, neither Proculus nor Pauli- nus ventured to reenter with the troops; they turned had these high-sounding additions et ticesi.ma Rapax and Pri- to the numbers that denoted them, ma Adjctrix, were the style of There are a great many on record, the two here mentioned. The Twenty-first the Ravenous,
 * All the legions seem to have and The First the Assistant, Una