Caesar: COMMENTARIORUM LIBRI III DE BELLO CIVILI

[1] Dum haec in Hispania geruntur, C. Trebonius legatus, qui ad oppugnationem Massiliae relictus erat, duabus ex partibus aggerem, vineas turresque ad oppidum agere instituit. Una erat proxima portui navalibusque, altera ad portam, qua est aditus ex Gallia atque Hispania, ad id mare, quod adiacet ad ostium Rhodani. Massilia enim fere tribus ex oppidi partibus mari alluitur; reliqua quarta est, quae aditum habeat ab terra.

[1] While these things are being carried on in Spain, Gaius Trebonius, the legate, who had been left for the assault on Massilia, began to drive from two quarters a rampart, vineae, and towers up to the town. One was nearest to the harbor and the shipyards, the other at the gate which is the approach from Gaul and Spain, toward that sea which lies adjacent to the mouth of the Rhone. For Massilia is washed by the sea on nearly three sides of the town; the remaining fourth is that which has an approach from the land.

Huius quoque spatii pars ea, quae ad arcem pertinet, loci natura et valle altissima munita longam et difficilem habet oppugnationem. Ad ea perficienda opera C. Trebonius magnam iumentorum atque hominum multitudinem ex omni provincia vocat; vimina materiamque comportari iubet. Quibus comparatis rebus aggerem in altitudinem pedum LXXX exstruit.

Also of this space, the part which pertains to the citadel, fortified by the nature of the place and by a very deep valley, presents a long and difficult assault. For the completing of these works, C. Trebonius summons a great multitude of beasts of burden and of men from the whole province; he orders wickerwork and timber to be brought in. With these things prepared, he constructs a siege-mound to a height of 80 feet.

[2] Sed tanti erant antiquitus in oppido omnium rerum ad bellum apparatus tantaque multitudo tormentorum, ut eorum vim nullae contextae viminibus vineae sustinere possent. Asseres enim pedum XII cuspidibus praefixi atque hi maximis ballistis missi per IIII ordines cratium in terra defigebantur. Itaque pedalibus lignis coniunctis inter se porticus integebantur, atque hac agger inter manus proferebatur.

[2] But so great formerly in the town were the apparatus of all things for war and so great the multitude of engines, that no vineae woven with withes could withstand their force. For beams of 12 feet, their tips fitted with points, and these hurled by very great ballistae, were fastened in the ground through 4 ranks of hurdles. And so galleries were covered with one‑foot timbers joined together among themselves, and under this the siege‑mound was brought forward between their hands.

Antecedebat testudo pedum LX aequandi loci causa facta item ex fortissimis lignis, convoluta omnibus rebus, quibus ignis iactus et lapides defendi possent. Sed magnitudo operum, altitudo muri atque turrium, multitudo tormentorum omnem administrationem tardabat. Crebrae etiam per Albicos eruptiones fiebant ex oppido ignesque aggeri et turribus inferebantur; quae facile nostri milites repellebant magnisque ultro illatis detrimentis eos, qui eruptionem fecerant, in oppidum reiciebant.

A tortoise of 60 feet went in advance, made for the purpose of leveling the ground, likewise out of the strongest timbers, covered with all things by which hurled fire and stones could be defended against. But the magnitude of the works, the altitude of the wall and of the towers, and the multitude of the artillery delayed all administration. Frequent eruptions (sallies) were also made by the Albici; and fires were brought against the ramp and the towers; these our soldiers easily repelled, and, great losses moreover having been inflicted, they drove those who had made the sally back into the town.

[3] Interim L Nasidius, a Cn. Pompeio cum classe navium XVI, in quibus paucae erant aeratae, L. Domitio Massiliensibusque subsidio missus, freto Siciliae imprudente atque inopinante Curione pervehitur appulsisque Messanam navibus atque inde propter repentinum terrorem principum ac senatus fuga facta navem ex navalibus eorum deducit. Hac adiuncta ad reliquas naves cursum Massiliam versus perficit praemissaque clam navicula Domitium Massiliensesque de suo adventu certiores facit eosque magnopere hortatur, ut rursus cum Bruti classe additis suis auxiliis confligant.

[3] Meanwhile Lucius Nasidius, sent by Gnaeus Pompeius with a fleet of 16 ships, in which a few were bronze-clad, as succor to Lucius Domitius and the Massilians, is conveyed through the Strait of Sicily, Curio being unaware and not expecting it; and when the ships have been brought to Messana he puts in, and then, because of the sudden alarm, after the leading men and the senate had taken flight, he launches a ship from their dockyards. With this joined to the remaining ships he completes his course toward Massilia, and, having secretly sent ahead a small boat, he makes Domitius and the Massilians more certain of his arrival and strongly exhorts them to engage again with Brutus’s fleet, with their own auxiliaries added.

[4] Massilienses post superius incommodum veteres ad eundem numerum ex navalibus productas naves refecerant summaque industria armaverant (remigum, gubernatorum magna copia suppetebat) piscatoriasque adiecerant atque contexerant, ut essent ab ictu telorum remiges tuti; has sagittariis tormentisque compleverunt. Tali modo instructa classe omnium seniorum, matrum familiae, virginum precibus et fletu excitati, extremo tempore civitati subvenirent, non minore animo ac fiducia, quam ante dimicaverant, naves conscendunt. Communi enim fit vitio naturae, ut inusitatis atque incognitis rebus magis confidamus vehementiusque exterreamur; ut tum accidit.

[4] The Massiliotes, after the earlier setback, had repaired the old ships which had been brought out from the dockyards to the same number, and had with the utmost industry armed them (there was a great supply of rowers and helmsmen at hand); and they had added fishing craft and latticed them over, so that the rowers might be safe from the impact of missiles; these they filled with archers and engines. With the fleet equipped in such a way, stirred by the prayers and weeping of all the elders, matrons, and maidens, that they might come to the aid of the commonwealth in its last hour, they board the ships with no less spirit and confidence than they had fought with before. For it comes to pass by the common fault of nature that in unusual and unknown things we both trust more and are more violently terrified; as then happened.

Adventus enim L. Nasidii summa spe et voluntate civitatem compleverat. Nacti idoneum ventum ex portu exeunt et Tauroenta, quod est castellum Massilensium, ad Nasidium perveniunt ibique naves expediunt rursusque se ad confligendum animo confirmant et consilia communicant. Dextra pars attribuitur Massiliensibus, sinistra Nasidio.

For the advent of L. Nasidius had filled the city with the highest hope and eagerness. Having caught a suitable wind, they go out from the port and reach Tauroenta, which is a castle of the Massilienses, to Nasidius, and there they ready the ships, and again steel themselves in spirit for engaging, and share their counsels. The right wing is assigned to the Massilienses, the left to Nasidius.

[5] Eodem Brutus contendit aucto navium numero. Nam ad eas, quae factae erant Arelate per Caesarem, captivae Massiliensium accesserant sex. Has superioribus diebus refecerat atque omnibus rebus instruxerat.

[5] To the same place Brutus hastened, the number of ships augmented. For to those which had been made at Arelate by Caesar, six captured Massiliot ships had been added. These in the previous days he had refitted and equipped with everything.

Itaque suos cohortatus, quos integros superarissent ut victos contemnerent, plenus spei bonae atque animi adversus eos proficiscitur. Facile erat ex castris C. Trebonii atque omnibus superioribus locis prospicere in urbem, ut omnis iuventus, quae in oppido remanserat, omnesque superioris aetatis cum liberis atque uxoribus ex publicis locis custodiisque aut e muro ad caelum manus tenderent, aut templa deorum immortalium adirent et ante simulacra proiecti victoriam ab diis exposcerent. Neque erat quisquam omnium, quin in eius diei casu suarum omnium fortunarum eventum consistere existimaret.

Therefore, having encouraged his own men to contemn as vanquished those whom they had overcome when still intact, full of good hope and of spirit he sets out against them. It was easy from the camp of Gaius Trebonius and from all the higher places to look out into the city, how all the youth that had remained in the town, and all of the elder age with their children and wives, from public places and guard-posts or from the wall were stretching their hands to the sky, or were approaching the temples of the immortal gods and, cast down before the images, were demanding victory from the gods. Nor was there anyone at all who did not think that on the outcome of that day depended the event of all their fortunes.

Nam et honesti ex iuventute et cuiusque aetatis amplissimi nominatim evocati atque obsecrati naves conscenderant ut, si quid adversi accidisset, ne ad conandum quidem sibi quicquam reliqui fore viderent; si superavissent, vel domesticis opibus vel externis auxiliis de salute urbis confiderent.

For both honorable men from the youth and the most distinguished of every age, summoned by name and implored, had boarded the ships, so that, if anything adverse should have befallen, they might see that nothing at all would remain to them even for attempting; if they should prevail, they would trust, for the safety of the city, either in domestic resources or in external auxiliaries.

[6] Commisso proelio Massiliensibus res nulla ad virtutem defuit; sed memores eorum praeceptorum, quae paulo ante ab suis aeceperant, hoc animo decertabant, ut nullum aliud tempus ad conandum habituri viderentur, et quibus in pugna vitae periculum accideret, non ita multo se reliquorum civium fatum antecedere existimarent, quibus urbe capta eadem esset belli fortuna patienda. Diductisque nostris paulatim navibus et artificio gubernatorum et mobilitati navium locus dabatur, et si quando nostri facultatem nacti ferreis manibus iniectis navem religaverant, undique suis laborantibus succurrebant. Neque vero coniuncti Albici comminus pugnando deficiebant neque multum cedebant virtute nostris.

[6] With the battle joined, nothing was lacking to the Massiliotes as regards valor; but mindful of those precepts which a little before they had received from their own leaders, they fought it out in this spirit: that they seemed likely to have no other time for attempting, and those to whom in the fight danger to life befell considered that they were not by very much anticipating the fate of the rest of the citizens, upon whom, with the city taken, the same fortune of war would have to be endured. And with our ships gradually drawn apart, room was given both to the artifice of the helmsmen and to the mobility of the ships; and whenever our men, having found the opportunity, had bound a ship fast by casting on iron “hands” (grappling-hooks), they ran to the aid on all sides of their comrades when they were hard-pressed. Nor indeed, when joined, did the Albici fail in fighting hand-to-hand, nor did they yield much to our men in valor.

Simul ex minoribus navibus magna vis eminus missa telorum multa nostris de improviso imprudentibus atque impeditis vulnera inferebant. Conspicataeque naves triremes duae navem D. Bruti, quae ex insigni facile agnosci poterat, duabus ex partibus sese in eam incitaverant Sed tantum re provisa Brutus celeritate navis enisus est, ut parvo momento antecederet. Illae adeo graviter inter se incitatae conflixerunt, ut vehementissime utraque ex concursu laborarent, altera vero praefracto rostro tota collabefieret.

At the same time from the smaller ships a great force of missiles sent from afar was inflicting many wounds upon our men, unexpectedly, taken unawares and impeded. And two triremes, having caught sight of the ship of D. Brutus, which could be recognized easily from its insignia, had driven themselves at it from two sides. But, the situation having been foreseen, Brutus by the speed of his ship exerted himself so that he gained the lead by a small moment. They, thus so heavily impelled against each other, clashed, with the result that both labored most vehemently from the collision, but the one, with its ram broken off, was shaken to pieces throughout.

Qua re animadversa, quae proximae ei loco ex Bruti classe naves erant, in eas impeditas impetum faciunt celeriterque ambas deprimunt.

With this observed, the ships from Brutus’s fleet that were nearest to that place made an attack upon them while they were entangled, and quickly sank both.

[7] Sed Nasidianae naves nullo usui fuerunt celeriterque pugna excesserunt; non enim has aut conspectus patriae aut propinquorum praecepta ad extremum vitae periculum adire cogebant. Itaque ex eo numero navium nulla desiderata est: ex Massiliensium classe V sunt depressae, IV captae, una cum Nasidianis profugit; quae omnes citeriorem Hispaniam petiverunt. At ex reliquis una praemissa Massiliam huius nuntii perferendi gratia cum iam appropinquaret urbi, omnis sese multitudo ad cognoscendum effudit, et re cognita tantus luctus excepit, ut urbs ab hostibus capta eodem vestigio videretur.

[7] But Nasidius’s ships were of no use and very quickly withdrew from the fight; for neither the sight of their fatherland nor the precepts of their kinsmen compelled them to approach the extreme peril of life. And so of that number of ships none was missed: of the Massilian fleet 5 were sunk, 4 captured, one fled together with Nasidius’s ships; and all these made for Hither Spain. But of the rest, one, sent ahead to Massilia for the sake of conveying this news, when it was now approaching the city, the whole multitude poured out to learn, and, the matter known, so great a mourning seized them that the city seemed on the spot to have been captured by enemies.

Massilienses tamen nihilo secius ad defensionem urbis reliqua apparare coeperunt.

The Massilians nevertheless began to prepare the remaining things for the defense of the city.

[8] Est animadversum ab legionibus, qui dextram partem operis administrabant, ex crebris hostium eruptionibus magno sibi esse praesidio posse, si ibi pro castello ac receptaculo turrim ex latere sub muro fecissent. Quam primo ad repentinos incursus humilem parvamque fecerunt. Huc se referebant; hinc, si qua maior oppresserat vis, propugnabant; hinc ad repellendum et prosequendum hostem procurrebant.

[8] It was observed by the legions who were administering the right part of the works, from the frequent eruptions (sallies) of the enemy, that there could be great protection for themselves if there they made, beneath the wall, a tower of brick, as a kind of little castellum and receptacle (refuge). This at first, for sudden incursions, they made low and small. Hither they would betake themselves; from here, if any greater force had borne down, they fought in defense; from here they ran forward to repel and to pursue the enemy.

Patebat haec quoquo versus pedes XXX, sed parietum crassitudo pedes V. Postea vero, ut est rerum omnium magister usus, hominum adhibita sollertia inventum est magno esse usui posse, si haec esset in altitudinem turris elata. Id hac ratione perfectum est.

This extended 30 feet on every side, but the thickness of the walls was 5 feet. Afterwards indeed, as use is the master of all things, with the ingenuity of men applied it was discovered that it could be of great use, if this were raised to the height of a tower. This was accomplished by this method.

[9] Ubi turris altitudo perducta est ad contabulationem, eam in parietes instruxerunt, ita ut capita tignorum extrema parietum structura tegerentur, ne quid emineret, ubi ignis hostium adhaeresceret. Hanc super contignationem, quantum tectum plutei ac vinearum passum est, laterculo adstruxerunt supraque eum locum duo tigna transversa iniecerunt non longe ab extremis parietibus, quibus suspenderent eam contignationem, quae turri tegimento esset futura, supraque ea tigna directo transversas trabes iniecerunt easque axibus religaverunt (has trabes paulo longiores atque eminentiores, quam extremi parietes erant, effecerant, ut esset ubi tegimenta praependere possent ad defendendos ictus ac repellendos, cum infra eam contignationem parietes exstruerentur) eamque contabulationem summam lateribus lutoque constraverunt, ne quid ignis hostium nocere posset, centonesque insuper iniecerunt, ne aut tela tormentis immissa tabulationem perfringerent, aut saxa ex catapultis latericium discuterent. Storias autem ex funibus ancorariis tres in longitudinem parietum turris latas IIII pedes fecerunt easque ex tribus partibus, quae ad hostes vergebant, eminentibus trabibus circum turrim praependentes religaverunt; quod unum genus tegimenti aliis locis erant experti nullo telo neque tormento traici posse.

[9] When the height of the tower had been brought up to a flooring, they fitted it into the walls, in such a way that the heads of the beams were covered by the structure of the outermost walls, lest anything should project where the enemy’s fire might catch. Upon this flooring, as far as the roof of the mantelets and the vineae allowed, they built up with small brick, and above that spot they threw in two cross-beams not far from the end walls, by which they might suspend the flooring that was going to be the tower’s covering; and above those beams they laid transverse girders straight across and bound them with axles (pins). (They had made these girders a little longer and more projecting than the end walls were, so that there would be a place where they could hang down coverings to defend and repel blows, while beneath that flooring the walls were being built up.) And they overlaid that topmost flooring with bricks and clay, so that the enemy’s fire could do no harm, and they threw patchwork blankets on top besides, lest either missiles shot by engines should shatter the flooring, or stones from catapults should batter the brickwork. Moreover, they made three mats from anchor-ropes, to the length of the tower’s walls, 4 feet broad, and they fastened them, hanging around the tower from the projecting girders, on the three sides that faced the enemy; this one kind of covering they had found elsewhere could be pierced by no missile nor by any engine.

Ubi vero ea pars turris, quae erat perfecta, tecta atque munita est ab omni ictu hostium, pluteos ad alia opera abduxerunt; turris tectum per se ipsum pressionibus ex contignatione prima supendere ac tollere coeperunt. Ubi, quantum storiarum demissio patiebatur, tantum elevarant, intra haec tegimenta abditi atque muniti parietes lateribus exstruebant rursusque alia pressione ad aedificandum sibi locum expediebant. Ubi tempus alterius contabulationis videbatur, tigna item ut primo tecta extremis lateribus instruebant exque ea contignatione rursus summam contabulationem storiasque elevabant.

When indeed that part of the tower which had been completed was roofed and fortified against every stroke of the enemy, they led the plutei away to other works; they began to suspend and lift the tower’s roof by itself with presses from the first flooring. When they had raised it as far as the letting down of the mats allowed, concealed and protected within these coverings they built up the walls with brickwork, and again with another press they cleared for themselves a place to build. When the time for a second flooring seemed right, they in like manner, as at first, set the beams, the outer edges covered with brickwork, and from that flooring they again raised the topmost flooring and the mats.

Ita tuto ac sine ullo vulnere ac periculo sex tabulata exstruxerunt fenestrasque, quibus in locis visum est, ad tormenta mittenda in struendo reliquerunt.

Thus, safely and without any wound or danger, they constructed six stories and, in whatever places seemed best, left windows for the discharge of artillery, in the course of construction.

[10] Ubi ex ea turri, quae circum essent opera, tueri se posse confisi sunt, musculum pedes LX longum ex materia bipedali, quem a turri latericia ad hostium turrim murumque perducerent, facere instituerunt; cuius musculi haec erat forma. Duae primum trabes in solo aeque longae distantes inter se pedes IIII collocantur, inque eis columellae pedum in altitudinem V defiguntur. Has inter se capreolis molli fastigio coniungunt, ubi tigna, quae musculi tegendi causa ponant, collocentur.

[10] When from that tower they were confident that they could protect themselves against the works that were around, they set about making a musculus 60 feet long from two‑foot timber, which they would run from the brick tower to the enemy’s tower and wall; the form of this musculus was as follows. First, two beams of equal length are placed on the ground, 4 feet apart from one another, and into these little columns are fixed to a height of 5 feet. These they join to one another with capreoli at a gentle pitch, upon which the beams that they set for the purpose of covering the musculus are laid.

Eo super tigna bipedalia iniciunt eaque laminis clavisque religant. Ad extremum musculi tectum trabesque extremas quadratas regulas IIII patentes digitos defigunt, quae lateres, qui super musculo struantur, contineant. Ita fastigato atque ordinatim structo, ut trabes erant in capreolis collocatae, lateribus lutoque musculus, ut ab igni, qui ex muro iaceretur, tutus esset, contegitur.

Upon that they throw two‑foot timbers and bind them with plates and nails. At the edge of the musculus’s roof and to the outermost beams they fix square laths 4 finger‑breadths broad, to hold the bricks which are to be piled upon the musculus. Thus, the ridge formed and the structure set in order, as the beams had been placed on the capreoli, the musculus is covered with bricks and with clay, so that it might be safe from fire which would be hurled from the wall.

Super lateres coria inducuntur, ne canalibus aqua immissa lateres diluere posset Coria autem, ne rursus igni ac lapidibus corrumpantur, centonibus conteguntur. Hoc opus omne tectum vineis ad ipsam turrim perficiunt subitoque inopinantibus hostibus machinatione navali, phalangis subiectis, ad turrim hostium admovent, ut aedificio iungatur.

Over the bricks hides are laid, lest, with water sent in through channels, the bricks could be washed away. The hides, moreover, lest they in turn be damaged by fire and stones, are covered with centones (patchwork quilts). All this work, roofed with vineae, they complete right up to the tower itself, and suddenly, with the enemy unexpectant, by a naval machination, phalanges (rollers) placed beneath, they move it up to the enemy’s tower, so that it may be joined to the structure.

[11] Quo malo perterriti subito oppidani saxa quam maxima possunt vectibus promovent praecipitataque muro in musculum devolvunt. Ictum firmitas materiae sustinet, et quicquid incidit fastigio musculi elabitur. Id ubi vident, mutant consilium: cupas taeda ac pice refertas incendunt easque de muro in musculum devolvunt.

[11] Terrified by this mischief, the townspeople suddenly with levers push forward stones as massive as they can, and, hurled headlong from the wall, roll them down onto the musculus. The firmness of the material withstands the blow, and whatever falls onto the slope of the musculus slips off. When they see this, they change their plan: they set alight casks filled with torch-wood and pitch and roll them from the wall down onto the musculus.

Involutae labuntur, delapsae ab lateribus longuriis furcisque ab opere removentur. Interim sub musculo milites vectibus infima saxa turris hostium, quibus fundamenta continebantur, convellunt. Musculus ex turri latericia a nostris telis tormentisque defenditur; hostes ex muro ac turibus submoventur: non datur libera muri defendendi facultas.

Wrapped up they slide, and, having slipped down from the sides, they are removed from the work by long-poles and forks. Meanwhile under the musculus the soldiers with levers wrench up the lowest stones of the enemy’s tower, by which the foundations were being held together. From the brick tower the musculus is defended by our missiles and engines; the enemies are driven off from the wall and the towers: no free faculty of defending the wall is granted.

Compluribus iam lapidibus ex ea, quae suberat, turri subductis repentina ruina pars eius turris concidit, pars reliqua consequens procumbebat: cum hostes urbis direptione perterriti inermes cum infulis se porta foras universi proripiunt ad legatos atque exercitum supplices manus tendunt.

With several stones already withdrawn from the tower that was beneath it, a sudden collapse brought down part of that tower, and the remaining part, following, was pitching forward: then the enemies, terrified at the direption of the city, unarmed, with infulae, all in a body rush out through the gate and stretch forth suppliant hands to the legates and the army.

[12] Qua nova re oblata omnis administratio belli consistit, militesque aversi a proelio ad studium audiendi et cognoscendi feruntur. Ubi hostes ad legatos exercitumque pervenerunt, universi se ad pedes proiciunt; orant, ut adventus Caesaris exspectetur: captam suam urbem videre: opera perfecta, turrim subrutam; itaque ab defensione desistere. Nullam exoriri moram posse, quominus, cum venisset, si imperata non facerent ad nutum, e vestigio diriperentur.

[12] With this new development presented, all the administration of the war comes to a halt, and the soldiers, turned away from battle, are borne toward an eagerness for hearing and for coming to know. When the enemy reached the legates and the army, they all throw themselves at their feet; they beg that the arrival of Caesar be awaited: that they see their city captured: the works completed, the tower undermined; and thus that they desist from defense. That no delay could arise to prevent that, when he had come, if they did not do what was commanded at a nod, they would on the spot be sacked.

Docent, si omnino turris concidisset, non posse milites contineri, quin spe praedae in urbem irrumperent urbemque delerent. Haec atque eiusdem generis complura ut ab hominibus doctis magna cum misericordia fletuque pronuntiantur.

They demonstrate that, if the tower had entirely collapsed, the soldiers could not be restrained, but would, in the hope of booty, irrupt into the city and destroy the city. These things, and many others of the same kind, are pronounced by learned men with great mercy and with weeping.

[13] Quibus rebus commoti legati milites ex opere deducunt, oppugnatione desistunt; operibus custodias relinquunt. Indutiarum quodam genere misericordia facto adventus Caesaris exspectatur. Nullum ex muro, nullum a nostris mittitur telum; ut re confecta omnes curam et diligentiam remittunt.

[13] Moved by these things, the legates lead the soldiers off from the work and desist from the assault; they leave guards upon the works. By a certain kind of truce, an act of mercy having been done, the arrival of Caesar is awaited. No missile is sent from the wall, none from our men; as though the matter were concluded, all relax care and diligence.

Caesar enim per litteras Trebonio magnopere mandaverat, ne per vim oppidum expugnari pateretur, ne gravius permoti milites et defectionis odio et contemptione sui et diutino labore omnes puberes interficerent; quod se facturos minabantur, aegreque tunc sunt retenti, quin oppidum irrumperent, graviterque eam rem tulerunt, quod stetisse per Trebonium, quominus oppido potirentur, videbatur.

For Caesar, by letters, had greatly mandated to Trebonius not to allow the town to be taken by force, lest the soldiers, more gravely moved, by hatred of the defection and contempt of himself and by prolonged labor, should kill all of military age; which they were threatening they would do, and at that time were with difficulty restrained from bursting into the town, and they took the matter gravely, because it seemed to be owing to Trebonius that they did not gain possession of the town.

[14] At hostes sine fide tempus atque occasionem fraudis ac doli quaerunt interiectisque aliquot diebus nostris languentibus atque animo remissis subito meridiano tempore, cum alius discessisset, alius ex diutino labore in ipsis operibus quieti se dedisset, arma vero omnia reposita contectaque essent, portis se foras erumpunt, secundo magnoque vento ignem operibus inferunt. Hunc sic distulit ventus, uti uno tempore agger, plutei, testudo, turris, tormenta flammam conciperent et prius haec omnia consumerentur, quam, quemadmodum accidisset, animadverti posset. Nostri repentina fortuna permoti arma, quae possunt, arripiunt; alii ex castris sese incitant.

[14] But the enemies, faithless, seek the time and occasion for fraud and deceit, and, several days having been interposed, as our men were drooping and with spirit relaxed, suddenly at midday—since one had gone off, another from long toil had given himself to rest in the works themselves, and indeed all the arms had been put away and covered—they burst out through the gates to the outside, and with a favorable and strong wind they bring fire against the works. The wind spread this in such a way that at one and the same time the ramp, the mantelets, the tortoise, the tower, and the engines caught flame, and all these things were consumed before it could be noticed how it had happened. Our men, moved by the sudden turn of fortune, snatch up such arms as they can; others hasten out from the camp.

Fit in hostes impetus; sed de muro sagittis tormentisque fugientes persequi prohibentur. Illi sub murum se recipiunt ibique musculum turrimque latericiam libere incendunt. Ita multorum mensium labor hostium perfidia et vi tempestatis puncto temporis interiit.

An assault is made upon the enemies; but from the wall they are prevented, by arrows and artillery, from pursuing the fleeing. They withdraw beneath the wall and there, unhindered, set fire to the musculus and the brick-built tower. Thus the labor of many months perished in a point of time through the perfidy of the enemies and the force of the tempest.

Temptaverunt hoc idem Massilienses postero die. Eandem nacti tempestatem maiore cum fiducia ad alteram turrim aggeremque eruptione pugnaverunt multumque ignem intulerunt. Sed ut superioris temporis contentionem nostri omnem remiserant, ita proximi diei casu admoniti omnia ad defensionem paraverant.

The Massilians attempted this same thing on the following day. Having found the same tempest, with greater confidence they fought by a sally against another tower and the ramp, and brought in much fire. But just as our men had relaxed all exertion at the earlier time, so, warned by the mishap of the day just before, they had prepared everything for defense.

Itaque multis interfectis reliquos infecta re in oppidum reppulerunt.

Therefore, with many killed, they repelled the rest into the town, the affair unfinished.

[15] Trebonius ea, quae sunt amissa, multo majore militum studio administrare et reficere instituit. Nam ubi tantos suos labores et apparatus male cecidisse viderunt indutiisque per scelus violatis suam virtutem irrisui fore perdoluerunt, quod, unde agger omnino comportari posset, nihil erat reliquum, omnibus arboribus longe lateque in finibus Massiliensium excisis et convectis, aggerem novi generis atque inauditum ex latericiis duobus muris senum pedum crassitudine atque eorum murorum contignatione facere instituerunt aequa fere altitudine, atque ille congesticius ex materia fuerat agger. Ubi aut spatium inter muros aut imbecillitas materiae postulare videretur, pilae interponuntur, traversaria tigna iniciuntur, quae firmamento esse possint, et quicquid est contignatum cratibus consternitur, crates luto integuntur.

[15] Trebonius set about to administer and refit, with much greater zeal of the soldiers, those things which had been lost. For when they saw that so great their labors and preparations had turned out ill, and, the armistices having been violated by crime, that their valor would be for derision, they were deeply pained; and because there was nothing left from which an embankment could at all be brought together, all the trees far and wide in the borders of the Massiliotes having been cut down and carried off, they began to make a rampart of a new and unheard-of kind, from two brick walls of six feet in thickness and the joist-work (contignation) of those walls, of almost equal height to that embankment which had been heaped up from timber. Where either the space between the walls or the weakness of the material seemed to require it, piles are interposed, transverse beams are thrown in, which can be for a bracing; and whatever is joisted is covered with hurdles, the hurdles are coated with mud.

Sub tecto miles dextra ac sinistra muro tectus, adversus plutei obiectu, operi quaecumque sunt usui sine periculo supportat. Celeriter res administratur; diuturni laboris detrimentum sollertia et virtute militum brevi reconciliatur. Portae, quibus locis videtur, eruptionis causa in muro relinquuntur.

Under a roof, the soldier, covered on the right and left by a wall, and to the front by the interposition of a mantelet, supplies without danger whatever things are of use for the work. The affair is administered swiftly; the detriment of long-continued labor is in a short time made good by the soldiers’ shrewdness and virtue. Gates, in such places as seems best, are left in the wall for the purpose of a sally.

[16] Quod ubi hostes viderunt, ea, quae vix longinquo spatio refici non posse sperassent, paucorum dierum opera et labore ita refecta, ut nullus perfidiae neque eruptioni locus esset nec quicquam omnino relinqueretur, qua aut telis militibus aut igni operibus noceri posset, eodemque exemplo sentiunt totam urbem, qua sit aditus ab terra, muro turribusque circumiri posse, sic ut ipsis consistendi in suis munitionibus locus non esset, cum paene inaedificata muris ab exercitu nostro moenia viderentur ac telum manu coniceretur, suorumque tormentorum usum, quibus ipsi magna speravissent, spatio propinquitatis interire parique condicione ex muro ac turribus bellandi data se virtute nostris adaequare non posse intellegunt, ad easdem deditionis condiciones recurrunt.

[16] When the enemy saw this, those things which they had scarcely hoped could not be repaired even in a long span were, by the work and toil of a few days, so restored that there was no room for perfidy nor for an eruption, and nothing at all was left whereby either the soldiers could be harmed by missiles or the works by fire; and by the same example they perceive that the whole city, wherever there is access from the land, can be encircled with a wall and towers, in such a way that for themselves there would be no place for standing fast in their own fortifications, since their ramparts seemed almost to be overbuilt with walls by our army and a missile could be hurled by hand, and that the use of their engines, on which they themselves had placed great hopes, was being done away by the closeness of the distance, and, with an equal condition of fighting from the wall and towers having been afforded, they understand that by virtue they cannot equal our men; they revert to the same terms of surrender.

[17]M. Varro in ulteriore Hispania initio cognitis eis rebus, quae sunt in Italia gestae, diffidens Pompeianis rebus amicissime de Caesare loquebatur: praecoccupatum sese legatione ab Cn. Pompeio teneri obstrictum fide; necessitudinem quidem sibi nihilo minorem cum Caesare intercedere, neque se ignorare, quod esset officium legati, qui fiduciariam operam obtineret, quae vires suae, quae voluntas erga Caesarem totius provinciae. Haec omnibus ferebat sermonibus neque se in ullam partem movebat. Postea vero, cum Caesarem ad Massiliam detineri cognovit, copias Petreii cum exercitu Afranii esse coniunctas, magna auxilia convenisse, magna esse in spe atque exspectari et consentire omnem citeriorem provinciam, quaeque postea acciderant, de angustiis ad Ilerdam rei fumentariae, accepit, atque haec ad eum latius atque inflatius Afranius perscribebat, se quoque ad motus fortunae movere coepit.

[17]M. Varro in Further Spain, when at the outset he had learned the things that had been done in Italy, distrusting the Pompeian cause, spoke most amicably about Caesar: that he himself had been pre-empted with a legateship by Cn. Pompeius and was held bound by good faith; that indeed a tie of obligation for him with Caesar was by no means less, nor was he unaware what was the duty of a legate who held a fiduciary service, what his own forces were, what the goodwill toward Caesar of the whole province was. He carried these statements in all conversations and did not move to any side. Afterwards, however, when he learned that Caesar was being detained at Massilia, that the troops of Petreius had been joined with the army of Afranius, that great auxiliaries had come together, that there were high hopes and expectations, and that the whole Hither Province was in agreement, and when he received also what later had occurred about the straits of the grain-supply at Ilerda—and Afranius was writing these things out to him more broadly and more inflatedly—he too began to move with the shifts of fortune.

[18] Delectum habuit tota provincia, legionibus completis duabus cohortes circiter XXX alarias addidit. Frumenti magnum numerum coegit, quod Massiliensibus, item quod Afranio Petreioque mitteret. Naves longas X Gaditanis ut facerent imperavit, complures praeterea Hispali faciendas curavit.

[18] He held a levy throughout the whole province; with two legions completed, he added about 30 alary (auxiliary) cohorts. He gathered a great quantity of grain, to send to the Massiliots and likewise to Afranius and Petreius. He ordered the Gaditans to build 10 long-ships, and besides took care that several be made at Hispalis.

Pecuniam omnem omniaque ornamenta ex fano Herculis in oppidum Gades contulit; eo sex cohortes praesidii causa ex provincia misit Gaiumque Gallonium, equitem Romanum, familiarem Domitii, qui eo procurandae hereditatis causa venerat missus a Domitio, oppido Gadibus praefecit; arma omnia privata ac publica in domum Gallonii contulit. Ipse habuit graves in Caesarem contiones. Saepe ex tribunali praedicavit adversa Caesarem proelia fecisse, magnum numerum ab eo militum ad Afranium perfugisse: haec se certis nuntiis, certis auctoribus comperisse.

He transferred all the money and all the ornaments from the shrine of Hercules into the town of Gades; to that place he sent six cohorts from the province for the sake of a garrison, and he set over the town at Gades Gaius Gallonius, a Roman knight, a familiar of Domitius, who had come there for the sake of procuring an inheritance, sent by Domitius; he conveyed all arms, private and public, into the house of Gallonius. He himself held weighty harangues against Caesar. Often from the tribunal he proclaimed that Caesar had fought battles to his adverse, that a great number of soldiers had fled over from him to Afranius: that he had discovered these things from sure messengers, sure authorities.

Quibus rebus perterritos cives Romanos eius provinciae sibi ad rem publicam administrandam HS | CLXXX | [18,000,000] et argenti pondo XX milia, tritici modium CXX milia polliceri coegit. Quas Caesari esse amicas civitates arbitrabatur, his graviora onera iniungebat praesidiaque eo deducebat et iudicia in privatos reddebat qui verba atque orationem adversus rem publicam habuissent: eorum bona in publicum addicebat, Provinciam omnem in sua et Pompei verba iusiurandum adigebat. Cognitis eis rebus, quae sunt gestae in citeriore Hispania, bellum parabat.

By these measures he forced the Roman citizens of that province, terrified, to promise to him for the administering of the commonwealth HS | 180 | [18,000,000] and twenty thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred twenty thousand modii of wheat. Those cities which he judged to be friendly to Caesar he was imposing heavier burdens upon, and he was leading garrisons thither, and he was rendering judgments against private persons who had had words and an oration against the commonwealth: he was adjudging their goods into the public. He was driving the whole Province to an oath in his and Pompey’s terms. Upon these things being learned, which were done in Hither Spain, he prepared for war.

Ratio autem haec erat belli, ut se cum II legionibus Gades conferret, naves frumentumque omne ibi contineret; provinciam enim omnem Caesaris rebus favere cognoverat. In insula frumento navibusque comparatis bellum duci non difficile existimabat. Caesar, etsi multis necessariisque rebus in Italiam revocabatur, tamen constituerat nullam partem belli in Hispaniis relinquere, quod magna esse Pompei beneficia et magnas clientelas in citeriore provincia sciebat.

The rationale of the war, moreover, was this: that he should betake himself with 2 legions to Gades, and there keep all the ships and grain; for he had learned that the whole province favored Caesar’s affairs. On the island, with grain and ships procured, he judged it not difficult that the war be protracted. Caesar, although he was being called back to Italy by many and necessary affairs, nevertheless had resolved to leave no part of the war in the Spains, because he knew that Pompey’s benefactions were great and his clienteles great in the Hither Province.

[19] Itaque duabus legionibus missis in ulteriorem Hispaniam cum Q. Cassio, tribuno plebis, ipse DC cum equitibus magnis itineribus progreditur edictumque praemittit, ad quam diem magistratus principesque omnium civitatum sibi esse praesto Cordubae vellet. Quo edicto tota provincia pervulgato nulla fuit civitas, quin ad id tempus partem senatus Cordubam mitteret, non civis Romanus paulo notior, quin ad diem conveniret. Simul ipse Cordubae conventus per se portas Varroni clausit, custodias vigiliasque in turribus muroque disposuit, cohortes duas, quae colonicae appellabantur, cum eo casu venissent, tuendi oppidi causa apud se retinuit.

[19] And so, with two legions sent into Further Spain with Q. Cassius, tribune of the plebs, he himself advances by forced marches with 600 cavalry and sends ahead an edict, specifying on what day he wished the magistrates and leading men of all the cities to be at hand for him at Corduba. When this edict had been made public throughout the whole province, there was no city that did not send a part of its senate to Corduba by that time, nor any Roman citizen even a little notable who did not assemble on the day. At the same time the Corduba assize by its own initiative shut the gates against Varro, posted guards and watches on the towers and the wall, and retained with itself, for the purpose of defending the town, two cohorts which were called the Colonicae, since they had come at that juncture.

Eisdem diebus Carmo nenses, quae est longe firmissima totius provinciae civitas, deductis tribus in arcem oppidi cobortibus a Varrone praesidio, per se cohortes eiecit portasque praeclusit.

In those same days the people of Carmona—the city that is by far the strongest in the whole province—after three cohorts had been led by Varro as a garrison into the citadel of the town, on their own expelled the cohorts and barred the gates.

[20] Hoc vero magis properare Varro, ut cum legionibus quam primum Gades contenderet, ne itinere aut traiectu intercluderetur: tanta ac tam secunda in Caesarem voluntas provinciae reperiebatur. Progresso ei paulo longius litterae Gadibus redduntur: simulatque sit cognitum de edicto Caesaris, consensisse Gaditanos principes eum tribunis cohortium, quae essent ibi in praesidio, ut Gallonium ex oppido expellerent, urbem insulamque Caesari servarent. Hoc inito consilio denuntiavisse Gallonio, ut sua sponte, dum sine periculo liceret, excederet Gadibus; si id non fecisset, sibi consilium capturos.

[20] This, in fact, made Varro hasten the more, to press on with the legions to Gades as soon as possible, lest he be cut off on the march or in the crossing: so great and so favorable a goodwill toward Caesar was found in the province. After he had advanced a little farther, letters are delivered to him from Gades: that, as soon as Caesar’s edict was known, the chief men of the Gaditanians had agreed with the tribunes of the cohorts which were there on garrison-duty to expel Gallonius from the town, and to keep the city and the island for Caesar. This plan having been adopted, they had given notice to Gallonius that he should withdraw from Gades of his own accord, while it was permitted without danger; if he did not do this, they would take measures for themselves.

Hoc timore adductum Gallonium Gadibus excessisse. His cognitis rebus altera ex duabus legionibus, quae vernacula appellabatur, ex castris Varronis adstante et inspectante ipso signa sustulit seseque Hispalim recepit atque in foro et porticibus sine maleficio consedit. Quod factum adeo eius conventus cives Romani comprobaverunt, ut domum ad se quisque hospitio cupidissime reciperet.

Gallonius, led on by this fear, departed from Gades. When these matters were learned, the other of the two legions, which was called the Vernacular, lifted its standards from Varro’s camp, with Varro himself standing by and looking on, and withdrew to Hispalis, and in the forum and porticoes it settled without wrongdoing. This action the Roman citizens of that assize so thoroughly approved that each most eagerly received them into his house with hospitality.

Quibus rebus perterritus Varro, cum itinere converso sese Italicam venturum praemisisset, certior ab suis factus est praeclusas esse portas. Tum vero omni interclusus itinere ad Caesarem mittit, paratum se esse legionem, cui iusserit, tradere. Ille ad eum Sextum Caesarem mittit atque huic tradi iubet.

Varro, thoroughly terrified by these things, when, his route reversed, he had sent word ahead that he would come to Italica, was made certain by his own men that the gates had been shut. Then indeed, with every way cut off, he sends to Caesar, saying that he is prepared to hand over the legion to whomsoever he shall order. He sends Sextus Caesar to him and orders it to be handed over to this man.

Tradita legione Varro Cordubam ad Caesarem venit; relatis ad eum publicis cum fide rationibus quod penes eum est pecuniae tradit et, quid ubique habeat frumenti et navium, ostendit.

With the legion handed over, Varro came to Caesar at Corduba; after the public accounts had been reported to him in good faith, he hands over the money which is in his possession, and shows what grain and ships he has everywhere.

[21] Caesar contione habita Cordubae omnibus generatim gratias agit: civibus Romanis, quod oppidum in sua potestate studuissent habere; Hispanis, quod praesidia expulissent; Gaditanis, quod conatus adversariorum infregissent seseque in libertatem vindicassent; tribunis militum centurionibusque, qui eo praesidii causa venerant, quod eorum consilia sua virtute confirmassent. Pecunias, quas erant in publicum Varroni cives Romani polliciti, remittit; bona restituit eis, quos liberius locutos hanc poenam tulisse cognoverat. Tributis quibusdam populis publicis privatisque praemiis reliquos in posterum bona spe complet biduumque Cordubae commoratus Gades proficiscitur; pecunias monumentaque, quae ex fano Herculis collata erant in privatam domum, referri in templum iubet.

[21] After an assembly had been held at Corduba, Caesar gives thanks severally to all: to the Roman citizens, because they had been eager to keep the town in their own power; to the Spaniards, because they had driven out the garrisons; to the Gaditanians, because they had broken the endeavors of the adversaries and had vindicated themselves into liberty; to the tribunes of soldiers and the centurions, who had come there for the sake of a garrison, because they had confirmed their plans by their own valor. He remits the monies which the Roman citizens had promised to Varro for the public; he restores the goods to those whom he had learned had borne this penalty for having spoken more freely. By public and private rewards bestowed upon certain peoples he fills the rest with good hope for the future, and having tarried for two days at Corduba he sets out for Gades; he orders the monies and the monuments which had been conveyed from the shrine of Hercules into a private house to be carried back into the temple.

Provinciae Q. Cassium praeficit; huic III legiones attribuit. Ipse eis navibus, quas M. Varro quasque Gaditani iussu Varronis fecerant, Tarraconem paucis diebus pervenit. Ibi totius fere citerioris provinciae legationes Caesaris adventum exspectabant.

He puts Q. Cassius in command of the province; to him he assigns 3 legions. He himself, with those ships which M. Varro and which the Gaditans had built by Varro’s order, reached Tarraco in a few days. There the legations of almost the whole Hither province were awaiting Caesar’s arrival.

Eadem ratione privatim ac publice quibusdam civitatibus habitis honoribus Tarracone discedit pedibusque Narbonem atque inde Massiliam pervenit. Ibi legem de dictatore latam seseque dictatorem dictum a M. Lepido praetore cognoscit.

By the same method, with honors having been paid both privately and publicly to certain commonwealths, he departs from Tarraco and on foot arrives at Narbo and thence at Massilia. There he learns that a law concerning the dictator had been carried, and that he himself had been declared dictator by the praetor M. Lepidus.

[22] Massilienses omnibus defessi malis, rei frumentariae ad summam inopiam adducti, bis navali proelio superati, crebris eruptionibus fusi, gravi etiam pestilentia conflictati ex diutina conclusione et mutatione victus (panico enim vetere atque hordeo corrupto omnes alebantur, quod ad huiusmodi casus antiquitus paratum in publicum contulerant) deiecta turri, labefacta magna parte muri, auxiliis provinciarum et exercituum desperatis, quos in Caesaris potestatem venisse cognoverant, sese dedere sine fraude constituunt. Sed paucis ante diebus L. Domitius cognita Massiliensium voluntate navibus III comparatis, ex quibus duas familiaribus suis attribuerat, unam ipse conscenderat nactus turbidam tempestatem profectus est. Hunc conspicatae naves, quae iussu Bruti consuetudine cotidiana ad portum excubabant, sublatis ancoris sequi coeperunt.

[22] The Massilienses, worn out by all evils, brought in the matter of grain-supply to the utmost lack, twice defeated in a naval battle, routed in frequent eruptions (sorties), and vexed also by a grave pestilence from long-continued confinement and a change of victual (for all were nourished on old panic-grain and spoiled barley, which, prepared from ancient times for emergencies of this sort, they had brought into the public store), with a tower cast down, a great part of the wall shaken, and despairing of the aids of the provinces and of the armies, whom they had learned had come into Caesar’s power, resolve to surrender themselves without fraud. But a few days earlier, L. Domitius, the will of the Massilienses having been learned, with 3 ships made ready—of which he had assigned two to his familiars—had embarked upon one himself and, having encountered a turbid tempest, set out. Him the ships, which by the order of Brutus, in daily custom, were keeping watch at the harbor, having caught sight, with anchors weighed, began to follow.

Ex his unum ipsius navigium contendit et fugere perseveravit auxilioque tempestatis ex conspectu abiit, duo perterrita concursu nostrarum navium sese in portum receperunt. Massilienses arma tormentaque ex oppido, ut est imperatum, proferunt, naves ex portu navalibusque educunt, pecuniam ex publico tradunt. Quibus rebus confectis Caesar magis eos pro nomine et vetustate, quam pro meritis in se civitatis conservans duas ibi legiones praesidio relinquit, ceteras in Italiam mittit; ipse ad urbem proficiscitur.

Of these, one ship of the man himself made haste and persisted in fleeing and, with the aid of the tempest, went out of sight; the two, terrified by the concourse of our ships, withdrew into the harbor. The Massilienses bring forth arms and artillery from the town, as it is commanded; they lead out the ships from the harbor and the dockyards, they hand over money from the public treasury. With these things completed, Caesar, preserving them more for their name and antiquity than for the merits of the commonwealth toward himself, leaves two legions there as a garrison, sends the rest into Italy; he himself sets out to the City.

[23] Eisdem temporibus C. Curio in Africam profectus ex Sicilia et iam ab initio copias P. Attii Vari despiciens duas legiones ex IIII, quas a Caesare acceperat, D equites transportabat biduoque et noctibus tribus navigatione consumptis appellit ad eum locum, qui appellatur Anquillaria. Hic locus abest a Clupeis passuum XXII milia habetque non incommodam aestate stationem et duobus eminentibus promuntoriis continetur. Huius adventum L. Caesar filius cum X longis navibus ad Clupea praestolans, quas naves Uticae ex praedonum bello subductas P. Attius reficiendas huius belli causa curaverat, veritus navium multitudinem ex alto refugerat appulsaque ad proximum litus trireme constrata et in litore relicta pedibus Adrumetum perfugerat.

[23] In the same times Gaius Curio, having set out into Africa from Sicily, and already from the beginning despising the forces of Publius Attius Varus, was transporting two legions out of 4, which he had received from Caesar, and 500 horsemen, and after a voyage consumed in two days and three nights he puts in at that place which is called Anquillaria. This place is distant from Clupea by 22 thousand paces and has a not-inconvenient anchorage in summer, and is contained by two eminent promontories. The arrival of this man Lucius Caesar the son, waiting with 10 long ships at Clupea (which ships, hauled ashore at Utica from the pirate war, Publius Attius had taken care to have refitted for the sake of this war), fearing the multitude of ships, had fled from the open sea, and when a decked trireme had been driven to the nearest shore and left on the beach, he had fled on foot to Hadrumetum.

Id oppidum C. Considius Longus unius legionis praesidio tuebatur. Reliquae Caesaris naves eius fuga se Adrumetum receperunt. Hunc secutus Marcius Rufas quaestor navibus XII, quas praesidio onerariis navibus Curio ex Sicilia eduxerat, postquam in litore relictam navem conspexit, hanc remulco abstraxit; ipse ad C. Curionem cum classe redit.

That town C. Considius Longus was guarding with the garrison of one legion. The remaining ships of Caesar, at his flight, withdrew to Adrumetum. Following him, Marcius Rufus the quaestor, with 12 ships—which Curio had led out from Sicily as an escort for the cargo-ships—after he caught sight of the ship left on the shore, drew it off in tow; he himself returns to C. Curio with the fleet.

[24] Curio Marcium Uticam navibus praemittit; ipse eodem cum exercitu proficiscitur biduique iter progressus ad flumen Bagradam pervenit. Ibi C. Caninium Rebilum legatum cum legionibus reliquit; ipse cum equitatu antecedit ad castra exploranda Cornelia, quod is locus peridoneus castris habebatur. Id autem est iugum directum eminens in mare, utraque ex parte praeruptum atque asperum, sed tamen paulo leniore fastigio ab ea parte, quae ad Uticam vergit.

[24] Curio sends Marcius ahead to Utica with the ships; he himself sets out to the same place with the army, and, having advanced a two-day march, arrives at the river Bagrada. There he leaves Gaius Caninius Rebilus, legate, with the legions; he himself with the cavalry goes on ahead to reconnoiter the Cornelian camp, because that place was considered very suitable for a camp. Now this is a straight ridge projecting into the sea, precipitous and rough on either side, yet with a somewhat gentler slope on the side that inclines toward Utica.

Abest directo itinere ab Utica paulo amplius passuum milibus III. Sed hoc itinere est fons, quo mare succedit longius, lateque is locus restagnat; quem si qui vitare voluerit, sex milium circuitu in oppidum pervenit.

It is distant by a direct route from Utica a little more than 3 miles. But on this route there is a spring, into which the sea advances farther, and that place lies widely in backwater; which, if anyone should wish to avoid, by a circuit of 6 miles he reaches the town.

[25] Hoc explorato loco Curio castra Vari conspicit muro oppidoque coniuncta ad portam, quae appellatur Belica, admodum munita natura loci, una ex parte ipso oppido Utica, altero a theatro, quod est ante oppidum, substructionibus eius operis maximis, aditu ad castra difficili et angusto. Simul animadvertit multa undique portari atque agi plenissimis viis, quae repentini tumultus timore ex agris in urbem conferantur. Huc equitatum mittit, ut diriperet atque haberet loco praedae; eodemque tempore his rebus subsidio DC Numidae ex oppido peditesque CCCC mittuntur a Varo, quos auxilii causa rex Iuba paucis diebus ante Uticam miserat.

[25] With the place reconnoitered, Curio beholds Varus’s camp joined to the wall and the town at the gate which is called Belica, very much fortified by the nature of the place: on one side by the town Utica itself, on the other by the theater, which is before the town, by the very great substructions of that work, the approach to the camp being difficult and narrow. At the same time he notices many things being carried and driven from every side, with the roads most full, which, for fear of a sudden tumult, were being brought together from the fields into the city. Hither he sends the cavalry, to plunder and to treat as booty; and at the same time, as a relief to these matters, 600 Numidians from the town and 400 foot-soldiers are sent by Varus, whom King Juba had a few days before sent to Utica for the sake of auxiliary help.

Huic et paternum hospitium cum Pompeio et simultas cum Curione intercedebat, quod tribunus plebis legem promulgaverat, qua lege regnum Iubae publicaverat. Concurrunt equites inter se; neque vero primum impetum nostrorum Numidae ferre potuerunt, sed interfectis circiter CXX reliqui se in castra ad oppidum receperunt. Interim adventu longarum navium Curio pronuntiare onerariis navibus iubet, quae stabant ad Uticam numero circiter CC, se in hostium habiturum loco, qui non e vestigio ad castra Cornelia naves traduxisset.

With him both a paternal guest-friendship with Pompey and a feud with Curio stood between them, because, as tribune of the plebs, he had promulgated a law, by which law he had declared Juba’s kingdom public property (i.e., confiscated it). The cavalry run together and clash; and indeed the Numidians could not withstand the first charge of our men, but with about 120 slain the rest withdrew into the camp by the town. Meanwhile, upon the arrival of the long ships, Curio orders it to be proclaimed to the transport ships, which were riding at Utica, about 200 in number, that he would treat as enemies whoever did not immediately convey their vessels over to the Cornelian camp.

Qua pronuntiatione facta temporis puncto sublatis ancoris omnes Uticam relinquunt et quo imperatum est transeunt. Quae res omnium rerum copia complevit exercitum.

With this pronouncement made, in a moment, the anchors having been raised, all leave Utica and pass over to where it was ordered. This affair filled the army with a supply of all things.

[26] His rebus gestis Curio se in castra ad Bagradam recipit atque universi exercitus conclamatione imperator appellatur posteroque die exercitum Uticam ducit et prope oppidum castra ponit. Nondum opere castrorum perfecto equites ex statione nuntiant magna auxilia equitum peditumque ab rege missa Uticam venire; eodemque tempore vis magna pulveris cernebatur, et vestigio temporis primum agmen erat in conspectu. Novitate rei Curio permotus praemittit equites, qui primum impetum sustineant ac morentur; ipse celeriter ab opere deductis legionibus aciem instruit.

[26] With these things done, Curio withdraws to the camp at the Bagradas and, by the outcry of the entire army, is hailed imperator; and on the next day he leads the army to Utica and pitches camp near the town. The camp-works not yet completed, the horsemen from the picket-line report that great auxiliaries of cavalry and infantry, sent by the king, are coming to Utica; and at the same time a great mass of dust was discerned, and in the instant the foremost column was in sight. Moved by the novelty of the matter, Curio sends forward cavalry to sustain and delay the first onset; he himself quickly, with the legions drawn off from the work, arrays the battle-line.

Equitesque committunt proelium et, priusquam plane legiones explicari et consistere possent, tota auxilia regis impedita ac perturbata, quod nullo ordine et sine timore iter fecerant, in fugam coniciunt equitatuque omni fere incolumi, quod se per litora celeriter in oppidum recepit, magnum peditum numerum interficiunt.

And the cavalry engage battle, and, before the legions could clearly be deployed and take their stand, they cast all the king’s auxiliaries—hampered and perturbed, because they had made the march with no order and without fear—into flight; and, with almost all the cavalry unscathed, since it quickly withdrew along the shore into the town, they kill a great number of infantry.

[27] Proxima nocte centuriones Marsi duo ex castris Curionis cum manipularibus suis XXII ad Attium Varum perfugiunt. Hi, sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviunt (nam, quae volumus, et credimus libenter et, quae sentimus ipsi, reliquos sentire speramus), confirmant quidem certe totius exercitus animos alienos esse a Curione maximeque opus esse in conspectum exercitus venire et colloquendi dare facultatem. Qua opinione adductus Varus postero die mane legiones ex castris educit.

[27] On the next night two Marsian centurions from Curio’s camp, with their 22 rankers, fled for refuge to Attius Varus. These men—whether they truly convey to him the opinion which they had held, or even serve the ears of Varus (for what we wish, we both gladly believe, and we hope that the rest feel what we ourselves feel)—do certainly affirm that the minds of the whole army are estranged from Curio, and that there is the greatest need to come into the army’s sight and to grant the opportunity of conferring. Brought over by this opinion, Varus, on the next day in the morning, leads the legions out of the camp.

Facit idem Curio, atque una valle non magna interiecta suas uterque copias instruit.

Curio does the same, and, with a single not large valley interposed, each arrays his own forces.

[28] Erat in exercitu Vari Sextus Quintilius Varus, quem fuisse Corfinii supra demonstratum est. Hic dimissus a Caesare in Africam venerat, legionesque eas traduxerat Curio, quas superioribus temporibus Corfinio receperat Caesar, adeo ut paucis mutatis centurionibus eidem ordines manipulique constarent. Hanc nactus appellationis causam Quintilius circuire aciem Curionis atque obsecrare milites coepit, ne primam sacramenti, quod apud Domitium atque apud se quaestorem dixissent, memoriam deponerent, neu contra eos arma ferrent, qui eadem essent usi fortuna eademque in obsidione perpessi, neu pro his pugnarent, a quibus cum contumelia perfugae appellarentur.

[28] There was in Varus’s army Sextus Quintilius Varus, who, as has been shown above, had been at Corfinium. He, having been dismissed by Caesar, had come into Africa, and had brought over to Curio those legions which in earlier times at Corfinium Caesar had received, to such a degree that, with a few centurions changed, the same ranks and maniples stood. Having obtained this occasion for an appeal, Quintilius began to go around Curio’s battle-line and to beseech the soldiers not to lay aside the first memory of the oath which they had sworn under Domitius and under himself, quaestor, nor to bear arms against those who had used the same fortune and endured the same in the siege, nor to fight for those by whom, with contumely, they were called “deserters.”

Huc pauca ad spem largitionis addidit, quae ab sua liberalitate, si se atque Attium secuti essent, exspectare deberent. Hac habita oratione nullam in partem ab exercitu Curionis fit significatio, atque ita suas uterque copias reducit.

To this he added a few points toward the hope of largess, which they ought to expect from his own liberality, if they had followed him and Attius. This oration having been delivered, no indication is made by the army of Curio toward any side, and thus each leads back his own forces.

[29] At in castris Curionis magnus omnium incessit timor animis. Is variis hominum sermonibus celeriter augetur. Unusquisque enim opiniones fingebat et ad id, quod ab alio audierat, sui aliquid timoris addebat.

[29] But in Curio’s camp a great fear entered the minds of all. This is quickly augmented by the various discourses of men. For each person was fashioning opinions and, to that which he had heard from another, was adding something of his own fear.

Hoc ubi uno auctore ad plures permanaverat, atque alius alii tradiderat, plures auctores eius rei videbantur. Civile bellum; genus hominum, cui liceret libere facere et sequi, quod vellet; legiones eae, quae paulo ante apud adversarios fuerant, nam etiam Caesaris beneficium mutaverat consuetudo, qua offerrentur; municipia etiam diversis partibus coniuncta, namque ex Marsis Pelignisque veniebant ei qui superiore nocte: haec in contuberniis commilitesque nonnulli graviora; sermones militum dubii durius accipiebantur, nonnulli etiam ab eis, qui diligentiores videri volebant, fingebantur.

When this had, from a single author, spread to more, and one had passed it on to another, there seemed to be many authors of the matter. Civil war; a kind of men to whom it would be permitted freely to do and to pursue what they wished; those legions which a little before had been with the adversaries, for even Caesar’s beneficium had been altered by the custom according to which they were offered; the municipalities too joined to different parties, for from the Marsi and Peligni there had come those who on the previous night: these things were in the tent-companies, and some comrades-in-arms reported graver things; the doubtful talks of the soldiers were taken more harshly, and some were even fabricated by those who wished to seem more diligent.

[30] Quibus de causis consilio convocato de summa rerum deliberare incipit. Erant sententiae, quae conandum omnibus modis castraque Vari oppugnanda censerent, quod in huiusmodi militum consiliis otium maxime contrarium esse arbitrarentur; postremo praestare dicebant per virtutem in pugna belli fortunam experiri, quam desertos et circumventos ab suis gravissimum supplicium perpeti. Erant, qui censerent de tertia vigilia in castra Cornelia recedendum, ut maiore spatio temporis interiecto militum mentes sanarentur, simul, si quid gravius accidisset, magna multitudine navium et tutius et facilius in Siciliam receptus daretur.

[30] For which causes, a council having been convoked, he begins to deliberate concerning the sum of affairs. There were opinions which judged that it must be attempted in all modes and that Varus’s camp must be assaulted, because in soldiers’ councils of this kind leisure is thought to be most contrary; finally they said it is preferable to test the fortune of war by virtue in battle than, deserted and surrounded by their own, to endure the most grievous punishment. There were those who judged that at the third watch a withdrawal must be made to the Cornelian camp, so that, a greater span of time having been interposed, the minds of the soldiers might be healed, and at the same time, if anything more serious had happened, with a great multitude of ships a reception into Sicily might be afforded both more safely and more easily.

[31] Curio utrumque improbans consilium, quantum alteri sententiae deesset animi, tantum alteri superesse dicebat: hos turpissimae fugae rationem habere, illos etiam iniquo loco dimicandum putare. "Qua enim," inquit, "fiducia et opere et natura loci munitissima castra expugnari posse confidimus? Aut vero quid proficimus, si accepto magno detrimento ab oppugnatione castrorum discedimus?

[31] Disapproving both counsels, Curio said that, in proportion as one opinion lacked spirit, so much the other had it to excess: these have in view the plan of a most disgraceful flight; those think that one must fight even in an unfavorable position. “For with what confidence do we trust that a camp most fortified both by works and by the nature of the place can be stormed? Or indeed what do we accomplish if, having sustained great detriment, we withdraw from the assault upon the camp?”

Quasi non et felicitas rerum gestarum exercitus benevolentiam imperatoribus et res adversae odia colligant! Castrorum autem mutatio quid habet nisi turpem fugam et desperationem omnium et alienationem exercitus? Nam neque pudentes suspicari oportet sibi parum credi, neque improbos scire sese timeri, quod his licentiam timor augeat noster, illis studia deminuat." "Quod si iam," inquit, "haec explorata habeamus, quae de exercitus alienatione dicuntur, quae quidem ego aut omnino falsa aut certe minora opinione esse confido, quanto haec dissimulari et occultari, quam per nos confirmari praestet?

As if both the felicity of deeds done did not gather the army’s benevolence for commanders, and adverse affairs gather hatreds! Moreover, what does a mutation of the camp have except disgraceful flight and the desperation of all and the alienation of the army? For neither ought the honorable to suspect that too little is trusted to them, nor the wicked to know themselves to be feared, because our fear augments license in these, diminishes zeal in those." "But if now," he says, "we have these things ascertained which are said about the alienation of the army—which indeed I am confident are either altogether false or certainly lesser than opinion—how much more is it preferable that these be dissembled and occulted, rather than confirmed by us?

An non, uti corporis vulnera, ita exercitus incommoda sunt tegenda, ne spem adversariis augeamus? At etiam, ut media nocte proficiscamur, addunt, quo maiorem, credo, licentiam habeant, qui peccare conentur. Namque huiusmodi res aut pudore aut metu tenentur; quibus rebus nox maxime adversaria est.

Are not, as the wounds of the body, so the disadvantages of the army to be covered, lest we increase hope for our adversaries? But they even add that we should set out at midnight, in order that those who attempt to sin may, I suppose, have a greater license. For matters of this kind are restrained either by shame or by fear; and to these restraints night is most adversarial.

Quare neque tanti sum animi, ut sine spe castra oppugnanda censeam, neque tanti timoris, uti spe deficiam, atque omnia prius experienda arbitror magnaque ex parte iam me una vobiscum de re iudicium facturum confido."

Wherefore I am neither of such great spirit as to deem that the camp should be assaulted without hope, nor of such great fear as to defect from hope; and I judge that everything must first be tried, and I am confident that, in great part, I will now render a judgment on the matter together with you."

[32] Dimisso consilio contionem advocat militum. Commemorat, quo sit eorum usus studio ad Corfinium Caesar, ut magnam partem Italiae beneficio atque auctoritate eorum suam fecerit. "Vos enim vestrumque factum omnia," inquit, "deinceps municipia sunt secuta, neque sine causa et Caesar amicissime de vobis et illi gravissime iudicaverunt.

[32] With the council dismissed, he summons an assembly of the soldiers. He reminds them how Caesar made use of their zeal at Corfinium, so that by their beneficence and authority he made a great part of Italy his own. “For all the municipalities thereafter followed you and your deed,” he says, “and not without cause both Caesar has judged most amicably concerning you, and they have judged most weightily.”

Pompeius enim nullo proelio pulsus vestri facti praeiudicio demotus Italia excessit; Caesar me, quem sibi carissimum habuit, provinciam Siciliam atque Africam, sine quibus urbem atque Italiam tueri non potest, vestrae fidei commisit. At sunt, qui vos hortentur, ut a nobis desciscatis. Quid enim est illis optatius, quam uno tempore et nos circumvenire et vos nefario scelere obstringere?

For Pompey, beaten in no battle, dislodged by the prejudgment of your deed, withdrew from Italy; Caesar has committed me—whom he has held dearest to himself—and the province of Sicily and Africa, without which he cannot guard the city and Italy, to your fidelity. But there are those who urge you to secede from us. For what is more desirable for them than at one and the same time both to circumvent us and to bind you in a nefarious crime?

aut quid irati gravius de vobis sentire possunt, quam ut eos prodatis, qui se vobis omnia debere iudicant, in eorum potestatem veniatis, qui se per vos perisse existimant? An vero in Hispania res gestas Caesaris non audistis? duos pulsos exercitus, duos superatos duces, duas receptas provincias?

or what more gravely can the angry think about you, than that you betray those who judge themselves to owe all things to you, and that you come into the power of those who suppose themselves to have perished through you? Or truly have you not heard of Caesar’s achievements in Spain? two armies routed, two commanders overcome, two provinces recovered?

haec acta diebus XL, quibus in conspectum adversariorum venerit Caesar? An, qui incolumes resistere non potuerunt, perditi resistant? vos autem incerta victoria Caesarem secuti diiudicata iam belli fortuna victum sequamini, cum vestri officii praemia percipere debeatis?

Have these things been accomplished in 40 days, in which time Caesar has come into the sight of the adversaries? Or shall those who could not resist while intact resist when ruined? But you—having followed Caesar with the victory uncertain—will you, with the fortune of the war now adjudicated, follow the defeated, when you ought to receive the rewards of your duty?

Desertos enim se ac proditos a vobis dicunt et prioris sacramenti mentionem faciunt. Vosne vero L. Domitium, an vos Domitius deseruit? Nonne extremam pati fortunam paratos proiecit ille?

For they say that they have been deserted and betrayed by you, and they make mention of the prior sacrament (oath). Was it you, in truth, who deserted L. Domitius, or did Domitius desert you? Did he not cast off those who were prepared to endure the last extremity?

nonne sibi clam salutem fuga petivit? nonne proditi per illum Caesaris beneficio estis conservati? Sacramento quidem vos tenere qui potuit, cum proiectis fascibus et deposito imperio privatus et captus ipse in alienam venisset potestatem?

Did he not secretly seek safety for himself by flight? Were you not, betrayed by him, preserved by Caesar’s beneficence? Indeed, who could hold you by the oath (sacrament), when, with the fasces cast aside and the imperium laid down, a private man and captured, he himself had come into another’s power?

Relinquitur nova religio, ut eo neglecto sacramento, quo tenemini, respiciatis illud, quod deditione ducis et capitis deminutione sublatum est. At, credo, si Caesarem probatis, in me offenditis. Qui de meis in vos meritis praedicaturus non sum, quae sunt adhuc et mea voluntate et vestra exspectatione leviora; sed tamen sui laboris milites semper eventu belli praemia petiverunt, qui qualis sit futurus, ne vos quidem dubitatis: diligentiam quidem nostram aut, quem ad finem adhuc res processit, fortunam cur praeteream?

There remains a new scruple of religion: namely, with that sacrament (military oath) by which you are held neglected, you look back to that other which was removed by the surrender of the leader and by a diminution of legal status (capitis deminutio). But, I suppose, if you approve Caesar, you take offense at me. I am not going to proclaim my merits toward you, which thus far, both by my own will and by your expectation, are lighter; yet soldiers have always sought the prizes of their labor from the event of war, and as to what that event will be, not even you are in doubt. Why should I pass over either our diligence, or the fortune to what point the matter has thus far proceeded?

An poenitet vos, quod salvum atque incolumem exercitum nulla omnino nave desiderata traduxerim? quod classem hostium primo impetu adveniens profligaverim? quod his per biduum equestri proelio superaverim?

Or do you repent that I have led across the army safe and unharmed, with not a single ship at all missing? that, arriving, at the first impetus I routed the enemy fleet? that I overmatched them for two days in an equestrian battle?

quod ex portu sinuque adversariorum CC naves oneratas abduxerim eoque illos compulerim, ut neque pedestri itinere neque navibus commeatu iuvari possint? Hac vos fortuna atque his ducibus repudiatis Corfiniensem ignominiam, Italiae fugam, Hispaniarum deditionem, Africi belli praeiudicia, sequimini! Equidem me Caesaris militem dici volui, vos me imperatoris nomine appellavistis.

that from the port and bay of the adversaries I have led away 200 laden ships and have driven them to this point, that neither by a march on foot nor by ships can they be aided with supply? Repudiating this fortune and these leaders, follow the ignominy of Corfinium, the flight from Italy, the surrender of the Spains, the prejudgments of the African war! For my part, I wished to be called a soldier of Caesar; you addressed me with the title of imperator.

Cuius si vos poenitet, vestrum vobis beneficium remitto, mihi meum nomen restituite, ne ad contumeliam honorem dedisse videamini."

If you repent of this, I remit to you your beneficence; restore to me my own name, lest you seem to have given an honor to contumely."

[33] Qua oratione permoti milites crebro etiam dicentem interpellabant, ut magno cum dolore infidelitatis suspicionem sustinere viderentur, discedentem vero ex contione universi cohortantur, magno sit animo, necubi dubitet proelium committere et suam fidem virtutemque experiri. Quo facto commutata omnium et voluntate et opinione consensu summo constituit Curio, cum primum sit data potestas, proelio rem committere posteroque die productos eodem loco, quo superioribus diebus constiterat, in acie collocat. Ne Varus quidem dubitat copias producere, sive sollicitandi milites sive aequo loco dimicandi detur occasio, ne facultatem praetermittat.

[33] By this oration moved, the soldiers kept even interrupting him as he spoke repeatedly, so that they seemed to be bearing with great pain the suspicion of infidelity (disloyalty); and as he departed from the assembly, they all with one voice exhort him to be of great courage, and nowhere to hesitate to join battle and to put their own fidelity and valor to the test. This done, with both the will and the opinion of all changed, Curio, with the highest consensus, determines, as soon as power is given, to commit the matter to battle; and on the next day, having brought them out to the same place where on previous days he had taken position, he arranges them in battle line. Nor indeed does Varus hesitate to bring out his forces, whether an occasion be given of soliciting the soldiers or of fighting on level ground, lest he let the opportunity pass.

[34] Erat vallis inter duas acies, ut supra demonstratum est, non ita magna, at difficili et arduo ascensu. Hanc uterque, si adversariorum copiae transire conarentur, exspectabat, quo aequiore loco proelium committeret. Simul ab sinistro cornu P. Attii equitatus omnis et una levis armaturae interiecti complures, cum se in vallem demitterent, cernebantur.

[34] There was a valley between the two battle-lines, as has been shown above, not so large, but with a difficult and steep ascent. Each side was waiting for this, if the adversaries’ forces should try to cross, so that it might commit the battle on more equal ground. At the same time from the left wing all the cavalry of P. Attius, and together with them several interposed men of the light-armed, were being seen as they were descending into the valley.

Ad eos Curio equitatum et duas Marrucinorum cohortes mittit; quorum primum impetum equites hostium non tulerunt, sed admissis equis ad suos refugerunt; relicti ab his, qui una procurrerant levis armaturae, circumveniebantur atque interficiebantur ab nostris. Huc tota Vari conversa acies suos fugere et concidi videbat. Tunc Rebilus, legatus Caesaris, quem Curio secum ex Sicilia duxerat, quod magnum habere usum in re militari sciebat, "perterritum," inquit, "hostem vides, Curio: quid dubitas uti temporis opportunitate?" Ille unum elocutus, ut memoria tenerent milites ea, quae pridie sibi confirmassent, sequi sese iubet et praecurrit ante omnes.

To meet them Curio sends the cavalry and two cohorts of Marrucini; the cavalry of the enemy did not withstand their first onrush, but, their horses put to the gallop, fled back to their own; abandoned by these with whom the light-armed troops had rushed forward together, they were being surrounded and slain by our men. Hither Varus’s entire battle-line, turned toward the spot, saw their own fleeing and being cut down. Then Rebilus, Caesar’s legate, whom Curio had brought with him from Sicily, since he knew him to have great experience in military affairs, says: “You see the enemy panic-stricken, Curio: why do you hesitate to use the opportunity of the moment?” He, having uttered one thing—namely, that the soldiers should keep in memory the things which they had affirmed to him the day before—orders them to follow him and runs on ahead of all.

Adeo erat impedita vallis, ut in ascensu nisi sublevati a suis primi non facile eniterentur. Sed praeoccupatus animus Attianorum militum timore et fuga et caede suorum nihil de resistendo cogitabat, omnesque se iam ab equitatu circumveniri arbitrabantur. Itaque priusquam telum abici posset, aut nostri propius accederent, omnis Vari acies terga vertit seque in castra recepit.

So impeded was the valley that on the ascent the foremost would not easily struggle up unless supported by their own. But the mind of Attius’s soldiers, preoccupied with fear, flight, and the slaughter of their own, thought nothing of resisting, and all supposed themselves already surrounded by the cavalry. Therefore, before a missile could be cast or our men could approach nearer, the whole line of Varus turned their backs and withdrew into the camp.

[35] Qua in fuga Fabius Pelignus quidam ex infimis ordinibus de exercitu Curionis primus agmen fugientium consecutus magna voce Varum nomine appellans requirebat, uti unus esse ex eius militibus et monere aliquid velle ac dicere videretur. Ubi ille saepius appellatus aspexit ac restitit et, quis esset aut quid vellet, quaesivit, umerum apertum gladio appetit paulumque afuit, quin Varum interficeret; quod ille periculum sublato ad eius conatum scuto vitavit. Fabius a proximis militibus circumventus interficitur.

[35] In this flight a certain Fabius Pelignus, from the lowest ranks of Curio’s army, being the first to overtake the column of the fleeing, loudly calling Varus by name kept requesting (an audience), so that he might seem to be one of his soldiers and to wish to admonish and say something. When he, having been addressed repeatedly, looked and halted and asked who he was or what he wanted, he aimed with his sword at the exposed shoulder and it was little short of his killing Varus; which danger he avoided by lifting his shield against the attempt. Fabius, surrounded by the nearest soldiers, is slain.

Hac fugientium multitudine ac turba portae castrorum occupantur atque iter impeditur, pluresque in eo loco sine vulnere quam in proelio aut fuga intereunt, neque multum afuit, quin etiam castris expellerentur, ac nonnulli protinus eodem cursu in oppidum contenderunt. Sed cum loci natura et munitio castrorum aditum prohibebant, tum quod ad proelium egressi Curionis milites eis rebus indigebant, quae ad oppugnationem castrorum erant usui. Itaque Curio exercitum in castra reducit suis omnibus praeter Fabium incolumibus, ex numero adversariorum circiter DC interfectis ac mille vulneratis; qui omnes discessu Curionis multique praeterea per simulationem vulnerum ex castris in oppidum propter timorem sese recipiunt.

By this multitude and crowd of the fugitives the gates of the camp are occupied and the way is impeded, and more in that place perish without a wound than in battle or in flight; nor was much lacking but that they were even expelled from the camp, and some straightway in the same course hastened into the town. But since the nature of the place and the fortification of the camp were forbidding access, then too because Curio’s soldiers, having gone out for battle, were in need of those things which were of use for the assault of a camp. And so Curio leads the army back into the camp, with all his own safe except Fabius, about 600 of the adversaries having been killed and 1,000 wounded; all of whom, upon Curio’s departure, and many besides under the pretense of wounds, withdraw from the camp into the town on account of fear.

Qua re animadversa Varus et terrore exercitus cognito bucinatore in castris et paucis ad speciem tabernaculis relictis de tertia vigilia silentio exercitum in oppidum reducit.

With this matter noticed, and the terror of the army recognized, Varus, a trumpeter in the camp and a few tents left for show, from the third watch, in silence led the army back into the town.

[36] Postero die Curio obsidere Uticam et vallo circummunire instituit. Erat in oppido multitudo insolens belli diuturnitate otii, Uticenses pro quibusdam Caesaris in se beneficiis illi amicissimi, conventus is, qui ex variis generibus constaret, terror ex superioribus proeliis magnus. Itaque de deditione omnes palam loquebantur et cum P. Attio agebant, ne sua pertinacia omnium fortunas perturbari vellet.

[36] On the next day Curio began to besiege Utica and to surround it with a rampart. In the town there was a multitude unaccustomed to war through the long duration of leisure; the Uticans, on account of certain benefactions of Caesar toward them, were most friendly to him; that assembly, which consisted of various orders, had great terror from the earlier battles. Therefore all were speaking openly about surrender and were dealing with P. Attius, that he should not wish by his own pertinacity to have the fortunes of all perturbed.

Haec cum agerentur, nuntii praemissi ab rege Iuba venerunt, qui ilium adesse cum magnis copiis dicerent et de custodia ac defensione urbis hortarentur. Quae res eorum perterritos animos confirmavit.

While these things were being transacted, messengers sent ahead by King Juba arrived, who said that he was present with great forces and exhorted them concerning the custody and defense of the city. This matter confirmed their terror-stricken spirits.

[37] Nuntiabantur haec eadem Curioni, sed aliquamdiu fides fieri non poterat: tantam habebat suarum rerum fiduciam. Iamque Caesaris in Hispania res secundae in Africam nuntiis ac litteris perferebantur. Quibus omnibus rebus sublatus nihil contra se regem nisurum existimabat.

[37] These same things were being announced to Curio, but for some time no credence could be given: he had such confidence in his own affairs. And already Caesar’s favorable fortunes in Spain were being conveyed into Africa by messengers and by letters. Uplifted by all these things, he supposed that the king would attempt nothing against him.

Sed ubi certis auctoribus comperit minus V et XX milibus longe ab Utica eius copias abesse, relictis munitionibus sese in castra Cornelia recepit. Huc frumentum comportare, castra munire, materiam conferre coepit statimque in Siciliam misit, uti duae legiones reliquusque equitatus ad se mitteretur. Castra erant ad bellum ducendum aptissima natura loci et munitione et maris propinquitate et aquae et salis copia, cuius magna vis iam ex proximis erat salinis eo congesta.

But when he learned from reliable authorities that his forces were less than 25 miles distant from Utica, leaving the fortifications he withdrew into the Cornelian camp. Here he began to bring in grain, to fortify the camp, to collect timber, and at once he sent into Sicily, that two legions and the remaining cavalry might be sent to him. The camp was most well-suited for prosecuting war by the nature of the place and by its fortification and the nearness of the sea and the abundance of water and of salt, a great quantity of which had already been heaped up there from the nearest salt-works.

Non materia multitudine arborum, non frumentum, cuius erant plenissimi agri, deficere poterat. Itaque omnium suorum consensu Curio reliquas copias exspectare et bellum ducere parabat.

Neither timber, given the multitude of trees, nor grain, of which the fields were most full, could fail. And so, with the consensus of all his own men, Curio was preparing to await the remaining forces and to protract the war.

[38] His constitutis rebus probatisque consiliis ex perfugis quibusdam oppidanis audit Iubam revocatum finitimo bello et controversiis Leptitanorum restitisse in regno, Saburram, eius praefectum, cum mediocribus copiis missum Uticae appropinquare. His auctoribus temere credens consilium commutat et proelio rem committere constituit. Multum ad hanc rem probandam adiuvat adulescentia, magnitudo animi, superioris temporis proventus, fiducia rei bene gerendae.

[38] With these matters established and the counsels approved, he hears from certain town-dwelling fugitives that Juba, recalled by a neighboring war and by the controversies of the Leptitani, had stood fast in his kingdom, and that Saburra, his prefect, sent with moderate forces, was approaching Utica. Trusting these informants rashly as authorities, he changes his plan and resolved to commit the affair to battle. Much to commend this course was aided by youth, greatness of spirit, the success of the former time, and confidence in managing the matter well.

His rebus impulsus equitatum omnem prima nocte ad castra hostium mittit ad flumen Bagradam, quibus praeerat Saburra, de quo ante erat auditum; sed rex omnibus copiis insequebatur et sex milium passuum intervallo a Saburra consederat. Equites missi nocte iter conficiunt, imprudentes atque inopinantes hostes aggrediuntur. Numidae enim quadam barbara consuetudine nullis ordinibus passim consederant.

Driven by these circumstances, he sends all the cavalry in the first part of the night to the enemy’s camp at the river Bagrada, which was commanded by Saburra, of whom there had been report before; but the king was following with all his forces and had encamped at an interval of six miles from Saburra. The horse sent complete their march by night and attack the enemy unwary and unexpecting. For the Numidians, by a certain barbarian custom, had settled at random with no orders, in no ranks.

Hos oppressos somno et dispersos adorti magnum eorum numerum interficiunt; multi perterriti profugiunt. Quo facto ad Curionem equites revertuntur captivosque ad eum reducunt.

Having assailed them, oppressed by sleep and dispersed, they kill a great number of them; many, terrified, flee. With this done, the horsemen return to Curio and lead the captives back to him.

[39] Curio cum omnibus copiis quarta vigilia exierat cohortibus V castris praesidio relictis. Progressus milia passuum VI equites convenit, rem gestam cognovit; e captivis quaerit, quis castris ad Bagradam praesit: respondent Saburram. Reliqua studio itineris conficiendi quaerere praetermittit proximaque respiciens signa, "videtisne," inquit, "milites, captivorum orationem cum perfugis convenire?

[39] Curio had gone out with all his forces at the fourth watch, with 5 cohorts left as a garrison in the camp. Having advanced 6 miles, he meets the cavalry and learns what had been done; from the captives he asks who is in command of the camp at the Bagradas: they answer, Saburra. He omits to inquire into the rest in his zeal for completing the march, and, looking back at the nearest standards, he says, "Do you see, soldiers, that the account of the captives concurs with that of the deserters?"

abesse regem, exiguas esse copias missas, quae paucis equitibus pares esse non potuerint? Proinde ad praedam, ad gloriam properate, ut iam de praemiis vestris et de referenda gratia cogitare incipiamus." Erant per se magna, quae gesserant equites, praesertim cum eorum exiguus numerus cum tanta multitudine Numidarum confertur. Haec tamen ab ipsis inflatius commemorabantur, ut de suis homines laudibus libenter praedicant.

"that the king is absent, that exiguous forces have been sent, which could not have been a match for a few horsemen? Therefore hasten to plunder, to glory, so that we may now begin to think about your rewards and about returning thanks." The things which the cavalry had accomplished were great in themselves, especially when their exiguous number is compared with so great a multitude of Numidians. Yet these matters were recounted by the men themselves with more inflation, as men gladly proclaim their own praises.

Multa praeterea spolia praeferebantur, capti homines equique producebantur, ut, quicquid intercederet temporis, hoc omne victoriam morari videretur. Ita spei Curionis militum studia non deerant. Equites sequi iubet sese iterque accelerat, ut quam maxime ex fuga perterritos adoriri posset.

Many spoils besides were borne before them, captured men and horses were led forth, so that whatever interval of time intervened, all this seemed to delay victory. Thus the zeal of the soldiers did not fail Curio’s hope. He orders the horsemen to follow himself and accelerates the march, so that he might assail them when they were, from their flight, in the utmost terror.

At illi itinere totius noctis confecti subsequi non poterant, atque alii alio loco resistebant. Ne haec quidem Curionem ad spem morabantur.

But they, exhausted by a march of the whole night, were not able to follow on, and some halted in one place, others in another. Not even these things delayed Curio’s hope.

[40] Iuba certior factus a Saburra de nocturno proelio II milia Hispanorum et Gallorum equitum, quos suae custodiae causa circum se habere consuerat, et peditum eam partem, cui maxime confidebat, Saburrae submisit; ipse cum reliquis copiis elephantisque LX lentius subsequitur. Suspicatus praemissis equitibus ipsum affore Curionem Saburra copias equitum peditumque instruit atque his imperat, ut simulatione timoris paulatim cedant ac pedem referant: sese, cum opus esset, signum proelii daturum et, quod rem postulare cognovisset, imperaturum. Curio ad superiorem spem addita praesentis temporis opinione hostes fugere arbitratus copias ex locis superioribus in campum deducit.

[40] Informed by Saburra about the nocturnal battle, Juba sent to Saburra 2 thousand Spanish and Gallic horsemen, whom he had been accustomed to have around him for the sake of his own custody, and that part of the foot-soldiers in which he most confided; he himself follows more slowly with the remaining forces and 60 elephants. Suspecting that, with cavalry sent ahead, Curio himself would be present, Saburra arrays the forces of horse and foot and orders them to yield little by little in a simulation of fear and to withdraw their step: that he, when there was need, would give the signal of battle and order what he had recognized the situation to require. Curio, his earlier hope reinforced by the impression of the present moment and judging the enemy to be fleeing, leads his troops down from the higher places into the plain.

[41] Quibus ex locis cum longius esset progressus, confecto iam labore exercitu XII milium spatio constitit. Dat suis signum Saburra, aciem constituit et circumire ordines atque hortari incipit; sed peditatu dumtaxat procul ad speciem utitur, equites in aciem immittit. Non deest negotio Curio suosque hortatur, ut spem omnem in virtute reponant.

[41] When he had advanced farther from those positions, with the army’s toil now spent, he halted after a distance of 12 miles. Saburra gives the signal to his men, draws up the battle line, and begins to go around the ranks and exhort them; but he employs the infantry only at a distance for show, and he sends the cavalry into the line of battle. Curio is not lacking to the task and urges his men to place all hope in valor.

Ne militibus quidem ut defessis neque equitibus ut paucis et labore confectis studium ad pugnandum virtusque deerat; sed hi erant numero CC, reliqui in itinere substiterant. Hi, quamcumque in partem impetum fecerant, hostes loco cedere cogebant, sed neque longius fugientes prosequi neque vehementius equos incitare poterant. At equitatus hostium ab utroque cornu circuire aciem nostram et aversos proterere incipit.

Not even to the soldiers, as though exhausted, nor to the horsemen, as though few and worn out by labor, were zeal for fighting and virtue lacking; but these were in number 200, the rest had halted on the march. These, in whatever direction they had made an attack, compelled the enemy to give ground from their position, but they could neither pursue the fugitives farther nor incite their horses more vehemently. But the enemy’s cavalry from both wings begins to encircle our battle-line and to trample down those turned away.

Cum cohortes ex acie procucurrissent, Numidae integri celeritate impetum nostrorum effugiebant rursusque ad ordines suos se recipientes circuibant et ab acie excludebant. Sic neque in loco manere ordinesque servare neque procurrere et casum subire tutum videbatur. Hostium copiae submissis ab rege auxiliis crebro augebantur; nostros vires lassitudine deficiebant, simul ei, qui vulnera acceperant, neque acie excedere neque in locum tutum referri poterant, quod tota acies equitatu hostium circumdata tenebatur.

When the cohorts had run forward out of the battle line, the Numidians, intact, were evading the onset of our men by celerity and, taking themselves back again to their own ranks, would wheel around and shut them out from the line. Thus it seemed safe neither to remain in place and preserve the ranks, nor to run forward and undergo the hazard. The enemy’s forces were being frequently augmented by reinforcements sent in by the king; our men’s strengths were failing through lassitude, and at the same time those who had received wounds could neither withdraw from the battle line nor be borne back into a safe place, because the whole battle line was surrounded and held by the enemy’s cavalry.

Hi de sua salute desperantes, ut extremo vitae tempore homines facere consuerunt, aut suam mortem miserabantur aut parentes suos commendabant, si quos ex eo periculo fortuna servare potuisset. Plena erant omnia timoris et luctus.

These, despairing of their own safety, as men are accustomed to do at the last time of life, either lamented their own death or commended their parents, if fortune could have saved any from that peril. All things were full of fear and grief.

[42] Curio, ubi perterritis omnibus neque cohortationes suas neque preces audiri intellegit, unam ut in miseris rebus spem reliquam salutis esse arbitratus, proximos colles capere universos atque eo signa inferri iubet. Hos quoque praeoccupat missus a Saburra equitatus. Tum vero ad summam desperationem nostri perveniunt et partim fugientes ab equitatu interficiuntur, partim integri procumbunt.

[42] Curio, when he understands that, with all terrified, neither his exhortations nor his prayers are being heard, judging that in these miserable circumstances the one remaining hope of safety was that all should seize the nearest hills and that the standards be borne thither, orders it. These too are preoccupied by the cavalry sent by Saburra. Then indeed our men come to the utmost desperation, and some, fleeing, are slain by the cavalry, others, still intact, throw themselves down.

Hortatur Curionem Cn. Domitius, praefectus equitum, cum paucis equitibus circumsistens, ut fuga salutem petat atque in castra contendat, et se ab eo non discessurum pollicetur. At Curio numquam se amisso exercitu, quem a Caesare fidei commissum acceperit, in eius conspectum reversurum confirmat atque ita proelians interficitur. Equites ex proelio perpauci se recipiunt; sed ei, quos ad novissimum agmen equorum reficiendorum causa substitisse demonstratum est, fuga totius exercitus procul animadversa sese incolumes in castra conferunt.

Gnaeus Domitius, prefect of cavalry, surrounding Curio with a few cavalrymen, urges him to seek safety by flight and to hasten to the camp, and promises that he will not depart from him. But Curio declares that, with his army lost—which he had received from Caesar committed to his trust—he will never return into his presence; and thus, fighting, he is slain. Very few horsemen withdraw themselves from the engagement; but those who, as has been shown, had halted at the rearmost line for the sake of refreshing their horses, having noticed from afar the flight of the whole army, betake themselves safe into the camp.

Milites ad unum omnes interficiuntur.

The soldiers, to a man, are slain.

[43] His rebus cognitis Marcius Rufus quaestor in castris relictus a Curione cohortatur suos, ne animo deficiant. Illi orant atque obsecrant, ut in Siciliam navibus reportentur. Pollicetur magistrisque imperat navium, ut primo vespere omnes scaphas ad litus appulsas habeant.

[43] With these things learned, Marcius Rufus, the quaestor, left in the camp by Curio, exhorts his men not to fail in spirit. They beg and beseech that they be carried back to Sicily by ships. He promises and orders the masters of the ships to have all the skiffs brought to the shore at early evening.

Sed tantus fuit omnium terror, ut alii adesse copias Iubae dicerent, alii cum legionibus instare Varum iamque se pulverem venientium cernere, quarum rerum nihil omnino acciderat, alii classem hostium celeriter advolaturam suspicarentur. Itaque perterritis omnibus sibi quisque consulebat. Qui in classe erant, proficisci properabant.

But so great was the terror of all, that some said the forces of Juba were at hand, others that Varus was pressing on with legions and that they already perceived the dust of the coming troops—of which things nothing at all had in fact occurred—others suspected that the enemy’s fleet would swiftly swoop in. And so, with all thoroughly terrified, each was looking out for himself. Those who were in the fleet were hurrying to set out.

Horum fuga navium onerariarum magistros incitabat; pauci lenunculi ad officium imperiumque conveniebant. Sed tanta erat completis litoribus contentio, qui potissimum ex magno numero conscenderent, ut multitudine atque onere nonnulli deprimerentur, reliqui hoc timore propius adire tardarentur.

The flight of these was spurring on the masters of the cargo-ships; few skiffs were assembling to their duty and to the command. But with the shores packed full, there was such a contention as to who above all from the great number should embark, that some were pressed down—sunk—by the multitude and the load, and the rest were delayed to come nearer by this fear.

[44] Quibus rebus accidit, ut pauci milites patresque familiae, qui aut gratia aut misericordia valerent aut naves adnare possent, recepti in Siciliam incolumes pervenirent. Reliquae copiae missis ad Varum noctu legatorum numero centurionibus sese ei dediderunt. Quarum cohortium milites postero die ante oppidum Iuba conspicatus suam esse praedicans praedam magnam partem eorum interfici iussit, paucos electos in regnum remisit, cum Varus suam fidem ab eo laedi quereretur neque resistere auderet.

[44] By which circumstances it happened that a few soldiers and patresfamilias, who either prevailed by favor or by mercy or could swim to the ships, having been taken aboard, arrived safe in Sicily. The remaining forces, centurions sent by night to Varus in the capacity of envoys, surrendered themselves to him. Iuba, having caught sight the next day before the town of the soldiers of those cohorts, proclaiming that it was his own prey, ordered a great part of them to be slain, and sent back a few chosen into his kingdom, while Varus complained that his pledged good faith was being injured by him and did not dare to resist.

Ipse equo in oppidum vectus prosequentibus compluribus senatoribus, quo in numero erat Ser. Sulpicius et Licinius Damasippus paucis, quae fieri vellet, Uticae constituit atque imperavit diebusque post paucis se in regnum cum omnibus copiis recepit.

He himself, borne into the town on horseback, with several senators following—among whose number were Ser. Sulpicius and Licinius Damasippus—at Utica constituted and commanded a few things which he wished to be done, and a few days later withdrew into his kingdom with all his forces.