We find the names '_das Winnefeld_' (the
field of victory), '_die Knochenbahn_' (the bone-lane), '_die
Knochenleke_' (the bone-brook), '_der Mordkessel_' (the kettle of
slaughter), and others."
Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline, Varus had
suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded by an immense train of
baggage wagons and by a rabble of camp followers, as if his troops had
been merely changing their quarters in a friendly country. When the long
array quitted the firm, level ground and began to wind its way among the
woods, the marshes, and the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even
without the intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In
many places the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry
and even for infantry, until trees had been felled and a rude causeway
formed through the morass.
The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served in the Roman
armies. But the crowd and confusion of the columns embarrassed the
working parties of the soldiery, and in the midst of their toil and
disorder the word was suddenly passed through their ranks that the
rear-guard was attacked by the barbarians.
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