Next day, the German army stood embattled beyond the Visurgis. Germanicus, who thought it became not a General to endanger the legions, till for their passage and security he had placed bridges and guards, made the horse ford over. They were led by Stertinius, and Aemilius, Lieutenant-Colonel of a legion; and these two officers crossed the river in distant places, to divide the foe. Cariovalda, Captain of the Batavians, passed it where most rapid, and was by the Cheruscans, who feigned flight, drawn into a plain surrounded with woods, whence they rushed out upon him and assaulted him on every side; overthrew those who resisted, and pressed vehemently upon those who gave way. The distressed Batavians formed themselves into a ring, but were again broken, partly by a close assault, partly by distant showers of darts. Cariovalda, having long sustained the fury of the enemy, exhorted his men to draw up into platoons, and break through the prevailing host; he himself forced his way into their centre, and fell with his horse under a shower of darts, and many of the principal Batavians round him; the rest were saved by their own bravery, or rescued by the cavalry under Stertinius and Aemilius.
Germanicus, having passed the Visurgis, learned from a deserter, that Arminius had marked out the place of battle; that more nations had also joined him; that they rendezvoused in a wood sacred to Hercules, and would attempt to storm our camp by night. The deserter was believed; the enemy's fires were discerned; and the scouts having advanced towards them, reported that they had heard the neighing of horses, and the hollow murmur of a mighty and tumultuous host. In this important conjuncture, upon the approach of a decisive battle, Germanicus thought it behoved him to learn the inclinations and spirit of the soldiers and deliberated with himself how to be informed without fraud: "for the reports of the Tribunes and Centurions used to be oftener pleasing than true; his Freedmen had still slavish souls, incapable of free speech; friends were apt to flatter; there was the same uncertainty in an assemble, where the counsel proposed by a few was wont to be echoed by all; in truth, the minds of the soldiery were then best known, when they were least watched; when free and over their meals, they frankly disclosed their hopes and fears."