Fearing a catastrophe in Mutina, the enraged Praetor Lucius Manlius led an army of two legions and allies, for a total of 1,600 cavalry and 20,000 infantry to Mutina. The army traversed a dark wood through uncultivated country and was ambushed by the Gauls twice. At first 1,200 men were lost before the army could regroup in an open plain. And after pressing ahead the army was attacked again from the rear, 800 souls were lost and six standards taken. After escaping from the pathless and entangled thicket, the Romans made it to the village of Tanetum on the banks of the Po where they defended themselves against the daily increasing
multitude of their enemies.