Incipere obpugnationem fesso per diem noctemque exercitu arduum et nullo iuxta subsidio anceps: sin Bedriacum redirent, intolerandus tam longi itineris labor, et victoria ad inritum revolvebatur: munire castra, id quoque propinquis hostibus formidolosum, ne dispersos et opus molientis subita eruptione turbarent.
To begin an attack on the town with troops that were exhausted by fighting an entire day and night was a difficult undertaking and one of doubtful issue, when there were no reserves at hand; but if they returned to Bedriacum, their victory shrank to nothing, not to speak of the intolerable burden of such a long march. To fortify a camp even, with the enemy close at hand, involved the danger that the foe might by a sudden sortie cause them serious difficulty while their troops were scattered and busy with the work.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Histories_Book3.json