by the bait; and besides, all the circumstances of the enemy were as well known to him as his own:  that dissimilar and discordant men were in command; that nearly two-thirds of the army consisted of raw recruits.  Accordingly, concluding that he now had both a time and place adapted for an ambuscade, on the following night he led his troops away with nothing but their arms, leaving the camp filled with all their effects, both public and private.  His infantry drawn up he conceals on the left, on the opposite side of the adjoining hills; his cavalry on the right; his baggage in an intermediate line he leads over the mountains through a valley, in order that he might surprise the enemy when busy in plundering the camp, deserted, as they would imagine, by its owners, and when encumbered with booty.  Numerous fires were left in the camp, to produce a belief that his intention was to keep the consuls in their places by the appearance of a camp, until he could himself escape to a greater distance, in the same manner as he had deceived Fabius the year before.

42.  When it was day, the outpost withdrawn first occasioned surprise, then, on a nearer approach, the unusual stillness.  At length, the desertion being manifest, there is a general rush to the pavilions of the consuls, of those who announced the flight of the enemy so precipitate, that they left their camp, with their tents standing; and, that their flight might be the more secret, that numerous fires were left.  Then a clamour arose that they should order the standards to be advanced, and lead them in pursuit of the enemy, and to the immediate plunder of the camp.  The other consul too was as one of the common soldiers.  Paulus again and again urged, that they should see their way before them, and use every precaution.  Lastly, when he could no longer withstand the sedition and the leader of the sedition, he sends Marius Statilius, a prefect, with a Lucanian troop, to reconnoitre, who, when he had ridden up to the gates, ordered the rest to stay without the works, and entered the camp himself, attended by two horsemen.  Having carefully examined every thing, he brings back word that it was manifestly a snare:  that fires were left in that part of the camp which faced the enemy:  that the tents were open, and that all their valuables were left exposed:  that in some places he had seen silver carelessly thrown about the passages, as if laid there for plunder.  This intelligence, which it was hoped would deter their minds from greediness, inflamed them; and the soldiers clamorously declaring, that unless the signal was given they would advance without their leaders, they by no means wanted one, for Varro instantly gave the signal for marching.  Paulus, whom, unwilling from his own suggestions to move, the chickens had not encouraged by their auspices, ordered the unlucky omen to be reported to his colleague, when he was now leading the troops out of the gate.  And though Varro bore it impatiently, yet the recent fate of