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Cimbri, exhausted and dispirited, were quickly routed. A precaution, which they had taken to prevent their being dispersed, only served to forward their ruin: they had linked the soldiers of the foremost ranks to one another with chains; in these they were entangled, and thereby exposed the more to the blows of the Romans. Such as could fly, met with new dangers in their camp; for their women who fat upon their chariots, clothed in black, received them as enemies, and massacred without distinction their fathers, brothers and husbands: they even carried their rage to such a height, as to dash out the brains of their children; and compleated the tragedy, by throwing themselves under their chariot wheels. After their example, their husbands in despair turned their arms against one another, and seemed to join with the Romans in promoting their own defeat. In the dreadful slaughter of that day, a hundred and twenty thousand are said to have perished; and if we except a few families of the Cimbri, which remained in their own country, and a small number who escaped, one may say, that this fierce and valiant nation was all mowed down at one single stroke. This last victory procured Marius the honours of a triumph, and the services he thereby rendered the commonwealth appeared so great,
