VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, History of Rome
[II.CXIX] Ordinem atrocissimae calamitatis, qua nulla post Crassi in Parthis damnum in externis gentibus grauior Romanis fuit, iustis uoluminibus ut alii, ita nos conabimur exponere: nunc summa deflenda est. Exercitus omnium fortissimus, disciplina, manu experientiaque bellorum inter Romanos milites princeps, marcore ducis, perfidia hostis, iniquitate fortunae circumuentus, cum ne pugnandi quidem aut egrediendi occasio iis, in quantum uoluerant, data esset immunis, castigatis etiam quibusdam graui poena, quia Romanis et armis et animis usi fuissent, inclusus siluis, paludibus, insidiis ab eo hoste ad internecionem trucidatus est quem ita semper more pecudum trucidauerat, ut uitam aut mortem eius nunc ira nunc uenia temperaret. Duci plus ad moriendum quam ad pugnandum animi fuit: quippe paterni auitique exempli successor se ipse transfixit. At e praefectis castrorum duobus quam clarum exemplum L. Eggius, tam turpe Ceionius prodidit, qui, cum longe maximam partem absumpsisset acies, auctor deditionis supplicio quam proelio mori maluit. At Vala Numonius, legatus Vari, cetera quietus ac probus, diri auctor exempli, spoliatum equitem peditem relinquens, fuga cum aliis Rhenum petere ingressus est. Quod factum eius fortuna ulta est; non enim desertis superfuit, sed desertor occidit. Vari corpus semiustum hostilis lacerauerat feritas; caput eius abscisum latumque ad Maroboduum et ab eo missum ad Caesarem gentilicii tamen tumuli sepultura honoratum est.
[2.119] The details of this terrible calamity, the heaviest that had befallen the Romans on foreign soil since the disaster of Crassus in Parthia, I shall endeavor to set forth, as others have done, in my larger work. Here I can merely lament the disaster as a whole. An army unexcelled in bravery, the first of Roman armies in discipline, in energy, and in experience in the field, through the negligence of its general, the perfidy of the enemy, and the unkindness of fortune was surrounded, nor was as much opportunity as they had wished given to the soldiers either of fighting or of extricating themselves, except against heavy odds; nay, some were even heavily chastised for using the arms and showing the spirit of Romans. Hemmed in by forests and marshes and ambuscades, it was exterminated almost to a man by the very enemy whom it had always slaughtered like cattle, whose life or death had depended solely upon the wrath or the pity of the Romans. The general had more courage to die than to fight, for, following the example of his father and grandfather, he ran himself through with his sword. Of the two prefects of the camp, Lucius Eggius furnished a precedent as noble as that of Ceionius was base, who, after the greater part of the army had perished, proposed it surrender, preferring to die by torture at the hands of the enemy than in battle. Vala Numonius, lieutenant of Varus, who, in the rest of his life, had been an inoffensive and an honorable man, also set a fearful example in that he left the infantry unprotected by the cavalry and in flight tried to reach the Rhine with his squadrons of horse. But fortune avenged his act, for he did not survive those he abandoned, but died in the act of deserting them. The body of Varus partially burned was mangled by the enemy in their barbarity; his head was cut off and taken to Maroboduus and was sent by him to Caesar; but in spite of the disaster it was honored by burial in the tomb of his family.