front sounded the "at rest" and the "ready" signal on their trumpets in a kind of circular spot, and then the rest came in who were to rouse the spirit of the soldier and incite them to the onset. Then there was suddenly a great silence, and after waiting a little the leaders issued a clear command and the lines on both sides joined in a shout. After that with a yell the heavy-armed dashed their spears against their shields and hurled the former at each other, while the slingers and the archers sent their stones and missiles. Then the two bodies of cavalry trotted forward and the contingents shielded with breastplates following behind joined in hand to hand combat. [-44-] They did a great deal of pushing and a great deal of stabbing, looking carefully at first to see how they should wound others and not be wounded themselves; they desired both to kill their antagonists and to save themselves. Later, when their charge grew fiercer and their spirit flamed up, they rushed together without stopping to consider, and paid no more attention to their own safety, but would even sacrifice themselves in their eagerness to destroy their adversaries. Some threw away their shields and seizing hold of those arrayed opposite them either strangled[36] them in their helmets and struck them from the rear, or snatched away their defence in front and delivered a stroke on their breasts. Others took hold of their swords and then ran their own into the bodies of the men opposite, who had been made as good as unarmed. And some by exposing some part of their bodies to be wounded could use the rest more readily. Some clutched each other in an embrace that prevented the possibility of striking, but they perished in the intertwining of swords and bodies. Some died of one blow, others of many, and neither had any perception of their wounds, dying too soon to feel pain, nor lamented their taking off, because they did not reach the point of expressing grief. One who killed another thought in the excessive joy of the moment that he could never die. Whoever fell lost consciousness and had no knowledge of his state. [-45-] Both sides remained stubbornly in their places and neither side retired or pursued, but there, just as they were, they wounded and were wounded, slew and were slain, until late in the day. And if all had contested with all, as may happen under such circumstances, or if Brutus had been arrayed against Antony and Cassius against Caesar, they would have proved equally matched. As it was, Brutus forced the invalid Caesar from his path, while Antony overruled Cassius, who was by no means his equal in warfare. At this juncture, because not all were conquering the other side at once, but both parties were in turn defeated and victorious, the results[37] were practically the same. Both had conquered and had been defeated, each had routed their adversaries and had been routed, pursuits and flights had fallen to the lot of both