Kitap 44
34
With these instructions he dismissed the troops, and even the veterans generally confessed that on that day they had for the first time, as though they were raw recruits, learnt what military service meant. And it was not only by remarks of this kind that they showed how greatly they appreciated the consul's words-they began at once to act on them. In a short time you would see no one in the camp idle; some were sharpening their swords; others rubbing up their helmets and cheek-pieces and their cuirasses; others fastening on their armour and testing their agility under its weight; others poising their spears; others again making their swords flash with rapid thrusts and keeping their eyes on the point. So that anyone could easily see that on the very first opportunity of coming to close quarters with the enemy they would finish the war by a splendid victory or, in their own case, by a glorious death. Perseus, too, when he saw that after the consul's arrival-it was the beginning of spring as well-all was bustle and movement with the enemy as though for a fresh campaign, and that the camp was shifted from Phila to the bank of the river, and the consul was going on his rounds, at one time to inspect the works and evidently looking out for a place where he could cross the river; at another . . .
