[12,7] Ἔσπευδε τὸν πόλεμον συντελέσαι ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ὁ Ῥωμαίων χιλίαρχος ὡς δὴ ῥᾴδιόν τι πρᾶγμα καὶ κατὰ χειρὸς αὐτῷ γενησόμενον ὑποχειρίους ποιήσασθαι μίᾳ μάχῃ τοὺς πολεμίους. τῷ δὲ ἡγεμόνι τῶν πολεμίων ἐνθυμουμένῳ τό τε ἐμπειροπόλεμον τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ τὸ ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις καρτερικὸν μάχην μὲν ἐκ παρατάξεως ἴσην καὶ φανερὰν ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἐδόκει, διαστρατηγεῖν δὲ τὸν πόλεμον ἀπάταις τισὶ καὶ δόλοις καὶ παρατηρεῖν, εἴ τι πλεονέκτημα καθ´ ἑαυτῶν ἐκεῖνοι παρέξουσιν. Τραυματίας καὶ παρασχεδὸν ἐλθὼν ἀποθανεῖν.

[12,7] The Roman tribune was anxious to terminate the war in a few days, as if it would be a simple matter and quite within his power to reduce the enemy to subjection by a single battle. 2 But the leader of the enemy, mindful of the Romans' experience in warfare and of their perseverance amid the hazards of battle, determined not to fight a pitched battle against them on equal terms and in the open, but to carry on the war by means of some ruses and stratagems and to be on the watch for any advantage they might offer him against themselves. Having been wounded and having come within a little of dying.