XXIII.  But that power which permits no great good fortune to give a pleasure untempered and pure, and diversifies human life with a mixture of evil and of good—­be it Fortune[91] or Nemesis, or the necessary nature of things—­in a few days brought to Marius intelligence about his companion in command, Catulus, involving Rome again in alarm and tempest, like a cloud which overcasts a clear and serene sky.  For Catulus, whose commission was to oppose the Cimbri, determined to give up the defence of the passes of the Alps, for fear that he might weaken his force if he were obliged to divide it too much.  Accordingly he forthwith descended into the plains of Italy, and placing the river Atiso[92] (Adige) in his front, strongly fortified a position on each side of the river, to hinder the enemy from crossing it; and he also threw a bridge over the river, in order that he might be enabled to support those on the farther side, if the barbarians should make their way through the passes and attack the forts.  The enemy had so much contempt for the Romans and such confidence, that, with the view rather of displaying their strength and courage than because it was necessary, they endured the snow-storms without any covering, and made their way through the snow and ice to the summits of the mountains, when, placing their broad shields under them, they slid down the slippery precipices over the huge rocks.  When they had encamped near the river, and examined the ford, they began to dam up the stream, and tearing up the neighbouring hills, like the giants of old, they carried whole trees with their roots, fragments of rock, and mounds of earth into the river, and stopped its course; they also let heavy weights float down the stream, which drove against the piles that supported the bridge and shook it by the violence of the blows; all which so terrified the Romans, that most of them deserted the large encampment and took to flight.  Then Catulus, like a good and perfect general, showed that he valued the reputation of his countrymen more than his own.  Not being able to induce his soldiers to stand, and seeing that they were making off in alarm, he ordered the eagle[93] to be moved, and running to those who were first in the retreat, he put himself at their head, wishing the disgrace to fall on himself and not on his country, and that the army should not appear to be flying, but to be following their general in his retreat.  The barbarians attacked and took the fort on the farther side of the Atiso, though the Roman soldiers defended it with the utmost bravery and in a manner worthy of their country.  Admiring their courage, the barbarians let them go on conditions which were sworn to upon the brazen bull, which was taken after the battle, and, it is said, was conveyed to the house of Catulus as the first spoils of the victory.  The country being now undefended, the barbarians scoured it in every direction and laid it waste.