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The army of the Moors, said to contain three hundred thousand regular troops and seventy-five thousand irregulars, was drawn up in crescent shape in front of the imperial tent,—in the centre the vast host of the Almohades, the tribes of the desert on the wings, in advance the light-armed troops.
Varus resolved on pressing forward; but a heavy discharge of missiles from the woods on either flank taught him how serious was the peril, and he saw his best men falling round him without the opportunity of retaliation; for his light-armed auxiliaries, who were principally of Germanic race, now rapidly deserted, and it was impossible to deploy the legionaries on such broken ground for a charge against the enemy.
The cavalry and light-armed, attacking sometimes their rear, and sometimes their flank, harassed and delayed them; and as they were obliged to halt, in consequence of these frequent annoyances, and engaged sometimes the cavalry, at other times the skirmishers and the auxiliary infantry, the legions came up.
In consequence of this information he sent forward the cavalry, which was always employed to protect the foragers, and joined with them some light-armed auxiliaries, while he himself, with a greater number of legions, followed them as closely as possible.
All readers of the Iliad must remember how often Ajax or Hector, took up chermadia, 'such as twice five men in our degenerate days could barely lift, launching them at light-armed foes, who positively would not come nearer to take their just share of the sword or spear.
And as the Roman line faced the south, as I said before, and the Carthaginian the north, the rays of the rising sun did not inconvenience either of them. The battle was begun by an engagement between the advanced guard of the two armies; and at first the affair between these light-armed troops was indecisive.
Besides the levy of citizens, there was established a recruiting system, which drew into the ranks the idle and lazy, and a system of re-inforcements, by which cavalry and light-armed troops were taken from subject and vassal states.
He himself led the light troops, which the day before had driven in the advanced guard of the enemy, against the light-armed troops which were stationed on the lower ridge.
Aeneas, as the report of the scouts I sent assures, hath sent on his light-armed horse to annoy us and scour the plains; himself he marches on the city across the lonely ridge of the mountain steep. Do thou receive and join battle with the Tyrrhene cavalry; with thee shall be gallant Messapus, the Latin squadrons, and Tiburtus' division: do thou likewise assume a captain's charge.
So he departed, together with the other generals, having with them near 140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1,300 archers, slingers, and light-armed men, and all the other provisions corresponding. Arriving on the coast of Italy, he landed at Rhegium, and there stated his views of the manner in which they ought to conduct the war.
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