They then retire to their station; and the two being armed, are left in the middle space, more after the manner of a spectacle, than according to the law of combat, by no means well matched, according to those who judged by sight and appearance.

The one had a body enormous in size, glittering in a vest of various colours, and in armour painted and inlaid with gold; the other had a middle stature, as is seen among soldiers, and a mien unostentatious, in arms fit for ready use rather than adapted for show.

He had no song, no capering, nor idle flourishing of arms, but his breast, teeming with courage and silent rage, had reserved all its ferocity for the decision of the contest.

When they took their stand between the two armies, the minds of so many individuals around them suspended between hope and fear, the Gaul, like a huge mass threatening to fall on that which was beneath it, stretching forward his shield with his left hand, discharged an ineffectual cut of his sword with a great noise on the armour of his foe as he advanced towards him.

The Roman, raising the point of his sword, after he had pushed aside the lower part of the enemy's shield with his own, and closing on him so as to be exempt from the danger of a wound, insinuated himself with his entire body between the body and arms of the foe, with one and immediately with another thrust pierced his belly and groin, and stretched his enemy now prostrate over a vast extent of ground.