Gradually the Danes were driven from their post of vantage, and after some hours' fighting turned to fly; but, as at Merton and Kesteven, the impetuosity of the Saxons proved their ruin.

Breaking their compact ranks they scattered in pursuit of the Danes, and these, seeing how small was the number of their pursuers, rallied and turned upon them, and the Saxons were driven from the field which they had so bravely won.
"Unless my brave Saxons learn order and discipline," the king said to Edmund and some of his nobles who gathered round him on the evening after the defeat, "our cause is assuredly lost.

We have proved now in each battle that we are superior man to man to the Danes, but we throw away the fruits of victory by our impetuosity.

The great Caesar, who wrote an account of his battles which I have read in Latin, described the order and discipline with which the Roman troops fought.

They were always in heavy masses, and even after a battle the heavy-armed soldiers kept their ranks and did not scatter in pursuit of the enemy, leaving this task to the more lightly armed troops.
"Would that we had three or four years before us to teach our men discipline and order, but alas! there is no time for this.