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Marcellinus hearing of this disorder, detached some cohorts to sustain the flying troops: but as the rout was become general, they could neither persuade them to rally, nor were able themselves to withstand the enemy's charge. The like happened to a second detachment; insomuch that the several supplies sent, by catching the general terror, served only to add to the confusion and danger; for the multitude of runaways rendered the retreat the more difficult. In this action, the eaglebearer of the ninth legion finding himself dangerously wounded, and that his strength began to fail, called to some troopers who passed by, and said: "I have preserved to the last moment of my life, with the greatest care, this eagle, with which I have been intrusted; and, now I am dying, I return it to Caesar, with the same fidelity. Carry it to him, I beseech you; nor suffer Caesar's arms to experience, in losing it, an ignominy, with which they have been hitherto unacquainted." Thus the eagle was preserved ; but all the centurions of the first cohort were slain, except the first of the Principes.
C. Julius Caesar. The Commentaries of Caesar. William Duncan. St. Louis. Edwards and Bushnell. 1856.
The chapter breaks in this translation have been changed to align with those in the 1901 Latin edition of the De Bello Civili, ed. Renatus du Pontet.
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