37.
The same news had also been announced to Curione, but he found it hard to believe it, and for a time he ignored it, trusting in his good fortune. Curione trusted in the fact that for some time now many letters had been told of Caesar's successes in Spain; therefore he believed that King Juba would not dare to take military action against him. But when he learned from reliable sources that King Juba was less than 25 miles (37 kilometres) away, he abandoned the siege works and took refuge in Cornelius' camp. Here he immediately began to gather wheat and timber, fortify the camp and immediately sent orders to Sicily to send him two more legions and the rest of the cavalry. The place was definitely suitable for waging an all-out war, first of all because of the nature of the place and the way it had been fortified, but also because of its proximity to the sea and the abundance of water and salt that had been brought in large quantities from the nearby salt pans. There was also no lack of timber, provided by the great quantity of trees around, and the wheat with which the fields were full; so Curion, with the consent of all his people, was preparing to wait for the troops he had requested and to drag the war along.
38.
After making this decision he respected this plan of action, but then Curione discovered from some deserters from the city that King Juba had stopped in his kingdom to fight a war with a neighbouring people and to settle some quarrels with the inhabitants of Leptis; only one of his prefects, Saburra, was with a few troops near Utica. Curione, believing recklessly in these sources, changed his plans: he decided to resolve the matter by fighting. In taking these intentions certainly influenced his young age, his great courage, the successes of the previous days and finally the hope of completing the task assigned to him.
Moved by these thoughts, as night fell, he sent all his cavalry against the enemy camp that was located near the Bagrada river. The commander of the camp was that Saburra just mentioned above, but Curione did not know that King Juba was following his prefect and had stopped only 6 miles (9 kilometres). The knights of Curione made that journey at night and swooped unexpectedly onto the Numidians who, following one of their barbaric customs, had laid here and there in disorderly fashion. Assaulted in their sleep, a great number were killed while the others fled in terror. After carrying out this action, the cavalry returned to Curione, leading prisoners there as well.
39.
Caio Curione had left the camp before it was daylight with all the militia, leaving five cohorts at the camp. After advancing for about 6 miles (9 km), he met his cavalry on his way back from the enterprise that briefed him about it; then he asked the prisoners to tell him who was in charge of the camp at Bagrada. They answered him "Saburra". In his haste to end the journey, he failed to ask the prisoners for further information and, addressing the nearest soldiers, said: "Soldiers, do you see that the words of the prisoners coincide with those of the deserters? The king is far away; he has sent only a few troops that have not even withstood the attack of a few knights, so hurry to your prey, to glory, so that I may as soon as possible already think of your rewards and show you my gratitude. The feat of the knights was truly remarkable, especially when one compares their small number to the multitude of enemies, but as often happens the protagonists themselves remembered that action with too much emphasis and exaggeration, as men often do when speaking of their own merits. In addition to the tales, the mortal remains were displayed and the prisoners exhibited, so that any further delay seemed to be a delay towards victory; so it was that, to Curione's hopes, the soldiers' ardour was added. Curione ordered the cavalry to follow him and then accelerate the march to catch the enemies still terrified and dismayed; but the cavalry, exhausted by the march that lasted all night, could not keep pace and stopped here and there with the men scattered, but even this did not diminish Curione's hopes.
40.
King Juba, informed by Saburra of what had happened during the night, sent him 2000 Gallic and Hispanic knights he normally kept as his bodyguard and that part of his infantry on which he relied most. He himself, along with the rest of the militia and 60 elephants, followed them, albeit at a slower pace. Saburra, trusting in the fact that the Curione himself was approaching as he had sent the cavalry ahead, deployed infantrymen and knights, ordering them to retreat little by little and to pretend fear in retreating: he would give the signal to fight at the most opportune moment and when necessary.
And in fact Curione made the armies descend from the heights to the plain, because in his mind he was even more convinced that the enemies wanted to retreat, an impression that added to the previous ones.
41.
Curione, after having already descended a long way from the heights, since the army had already covered 16 miles (24 kilometres) and was exhausted, decided to stop. Saburra, seeing the move of the Roman, gave the signal to his army, deployed it in battle order and, wandering among his own, urged them to fight; he also kept the infantry in the second line as if he wanted to intimidate with the number, leaving the task to attack his cavalry.
Curione did not fail in his duties as commander and exhorted his men to value every hope of salvation; even the soldiers did not fail in their duty: though tired, the knights, though few remained, did not fail in zeal. And there were a total of 200 of them left, because the others had marched on because they were tired... These very knights went everywhere to attack, forcing their enemies to retreat, but they did not have the strength to chase them, nor could they ask their horses for any more enthusiasm. But the cavalry already managed to surround our ranks on both sides and attack us from behind. Whenever the cohorts attempted a counterattack and disengaged from the ranks, they were isolated, because the Numidians, fresher, immediately avoided contact; when ours tried to return, they were prevented from doing so by their enemies. For this reason there was no security in maintaining position or deployment, nor in trying their luck with an attack. In addition, the enemy ranks continued to increase thanks to the constant contingents sent by King Juba, while our troops were becoming less and less tired, and the wounded could not even leave the line or take refuge in a safe place, since the whole army was now surrounded and held in a vice by the enemy cavalry. Ours desperate to be saved and everyone (as the dying usually do) recommended themselves to their dead relatives, praying that some of them could escape from that danger; fear and panic were everywhere.
42.
Curione understood that his men no longer listened to his exhortations, not even when he begged them to do so, because they were all gripped by terror; given the disastrous situation, he confided that there was only one way of salvation: he ordered all his men to occupy the nearby hills and bring the insignia, but the way was closed to them by the cavalry sent by Saburra, who had occupied them before ours. At this point our people reached the maximum degree of despair; some of them, seeking escape, were killed by the enemy cavalry, others fell to the ground exhausted even though they were not wounded. Gnaeus Domitius, the commander of Curione's cavalry, taking sides around him with a few men, urged him to seek escape and return to the camp, promising not to abandon him. But Curione declared that he would never return to Caesar after he had lost the army he had confidently entrusted to him, and so he chose to die fighting. Only a very few knights were saved from battle, but the others who had stopped in the rearguard to rest, noticing what was happening and the escape of the whole army, managed to return unharmed to the camp, while the infantrymen, from the first to the last man, were all killed.
43.
Having become aware of these facts, Quaestor Marcio Ruffo - who had been left by Curione at Camp Cornelius - urged the soldiers not to lose heart, but they continued to beg him to take them back to Sicily with their ships. Marcio Ruffo promised to do so and gave orders to the commanders of the ships to keep, at the end of the evening, the spears anchored at the lido. The terror of all was so great that everyone spread unfounded things: there were those