It took Horatius's army of 5,000 (He picked up a few troops along the way) 3 months to march up to Gaul army of 10,000. Scouts were sent ahead of the Legion to learn of the barbarians's position. They were several days away from the Roman encampment and oblivious to their presence. Horatius mulled over a map in his tent, making markings on it, considering strategies to use, when a scout burst into his tent and dropped to one knee. "General, the barbarians are moving." he said breathlessly. "Where?" Horatius demanded, the scout looked at him "Towards us." Horatius thought for a moment and told the scout to go find Centurion Quintus Pious. A few minutes later, his most experienced Centurion entered the tent. "Quintus, I want you to take a thousand men and head east about 20 miles, then loop around and prepare to attack the Gaul force from behind. On their march they will be heading through a narrow valley, there is a lot of tree coverage so use that to your advantage." The Centurion hesitated. "What?" Horatius demanded, "What about you? With only 4,000 men to take the head on, it would be a bloodbath!" Horatius stared at him and said quietly "Do as your told." Quintus glared at him, but nodded and left. It felt cruel to leave Quintus in the dark about his actual plans, but he needed the warrior to think that the fate of this Legion relied on a successful flanking maneuver.

Several days later, Horatius had set up 4 divisions of 1,000 men on either side of the valley. When Quintus hit the back and forced the Gauls to push forward a bit, then 4,000 men would come down on them from either side, ranged soldiers would stay on the slopes to rain fire on the enemy. Horatius waited and waited and waited. The finally, 1,000 troops came from nowhere and smashed into the rear of the barbarian forces. The Barbarians were confused and panicked and moved forward to get away from the slaughter, that's when Horatius gave the signal and 4,000 Romans emerged from the trees, a volley of javelins soaring over their heads. The sight of this force terrified the Gauls and they surged forward, attempting to get to the entrance of the valley. They were cut off, Roman soldiers started cutting down barbarians left and right and the Gauls were forced to fight. They were too late. They had already lost thousands of men from the initial ambush and though the fought fiercely, they were only delaying the inevitable. 12 hours of fighting led to almost 9,300 barbarian deaths and 1,600 Roman deaths. The remaining barbarians were captured and early the next morning, Horatius wrote a letter.

 [i]Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus,
The Gaul barbarians have been defeated and the remaining 600 have been captured. It was a bloody fight and I lost over 1500 men. I ask that you send more if you keep expecting me to fight these large armies. I have to also accommodate my Centurion, Quintus Pious, his valor and bravery when attacking the rear of the massive Gaul force inspired the entire Legion to crush the savages.

Legate Aelius Horatius Severius[/i]