VII.  At this moment the king of the Gauls, seeing him, and conjecturing from his dress that he was the Roman leader, rode out far beyond the rest, and made directly for him, defiantly shouting a challenge, and brandishing his spear.  He was a man distinguished from the rest of the Gauls by his tall stature and his complete armour, which glittered like the lightning with gold and silver and all kinds of gay devices with which it was incrusted.  Marcellus, as he looked along the enemy’s line, thought that these were the finest arms, and were those about which he had made his vow to Jupiter Feretrius.  He rushed upon the Gaul, pierced his breastplate with his spear, and by the impetus of his horse bore him to the ground alive, and with a second and third thrust killed him at once.  Leaping from his horse and seizing the armour of the dead man, he said, looking up to heaven, “Jupiter Feretrius, thou that seest the great deeds of generals and captains in war, I call thee to witness that I am the third Roman general that has slain the enemy’s general and king, by killing this man here with my own hand:  and having killed him I consecrate to thee the first and fairest of the spoils.  But do thou grant us like good fortune in the rest of this war.”

Hereupon the Roman cavalry charged, not against cavalry by itself, but they fought against infantry and cavalry mixed together, and won a victory of an unparalleled and wonderful kind; for never before or since that day did such a body of horsemen rout such numbers of horse and foot.

Having slain the greater part of them, and collected their arms and stores, he returned to his colleague, who was with difficulty holding his own against the Celts before the walls of the largest and most populous of Gaulish cities.  It is called Mediolanum, and is regarded by the Cisalpine Gauls as their metropolis:  consequently they fought vigorously in its defence, and more besieged Cornelius than were besieged by him.  But when Marcellus arrived, the Gaesatae, as soon as they heard of the defeat and death of their king, went home.  Mediolanum fell, and the Celts of their own accord surrendered the other cities, and threw themselves upon the mercy of the Romans.  They received moderate terms of peace.

VIII.  By a decree of the Senate Marcellus alone triumphed.  His procession was glorious, as few others have been, with the splendour and value of the booty exhibited, and the great stature of the captives; but the strangest and most interesting sight of all was the general himself, as he appeared carrying the suit of armour of the Gaul to offer it to the god.  He had cut and trimmed the trunk of a tall young oak tree, and had tied and hung the spoils upon it, each put in its proper place.  When the procession began, he himself mounted his chariot and four, and carried in state through the city, this the most glorious of all his trophies of victory.  The army marched after him with their finest armour, singing as they