Caesar: COMMENTARIORUM LIBRI VII DE BELLO GALLICO CUM A. HIRTI SUPPLEMENTO

[1] Quieta Gallia Caesar, ut constituerat, in Italiam ad conventus agendos proficiscitur. Ibi cognoscit de Clodii caede [de] senatusque consulto certior factus, ut omnes iuniores Italiae coniurarent, delectum tota provincia habere instituit. Eae res in Galliam Transalpinam celeriter perferuntur.

[1] With Gaul quiet, Caesar, as he had determined, sets out into Italy to hold assemblies. There he learns of the slaughter of Clodius and, being made certain by the senate’s decree that all the younger men of Italy should be sworn in, he resolves to hold a levy throughout the whole province. These matters are quickly carried into Transalpine Gaul.

Addunt ipsi et adfingunt rumoribus Galli, quod res poscere videbatur, retineri urbano motu Caesarem neque in tantis dissensionibus ad exercitum venire posse. Hac impulsi occasione, qui iam ante se populi Romani imperio subiectos dolerent liberius atque audacius de bello consilia inire incipiunt. Indictis inter se principes Galliae conciliis silvestribus ac remotis locis queruntur de Acconis morte; posse hunc casum ad ipsos recidere demonstrant: miserantur communem Galliae fortunam: omnibus pollicitationibus ac praemiis deposcunt qui belli initium faciant et sui capitis periculo Galliam in libertatem vindicent.

The Gauls themselves add to and fabricate for the rumors, as the situation seemed to require, that Caesar is being held back by an urban disturbance and cannot, amid such great dissensions, come to the army. Driven by this occasion, those who already before were pained that they themselves were subjected to the imperium of the Roman people begin more freely and more boldly to enter upon counsels concerning war. With councils proclaimed among themselves, the leaders of Gaul in sylvan and remote places complain of the death of Acco; they demonstrate that this mischance can recoil upon themselves; they commiserate the common fortune of Gaul; with every promise and reward they demand men to make a beginning of war and, at the peril of their own head, vindicate Gaul into liberty.

In primis rationem esse habendam dicunt, priusquam eorum clandestina consilia efferantur, ut Caesar ab exercitu intercludatur. Id esse facile, quod neque legiones audeant absente imperatore ex hibernis egredi, neque imperator sine praesidio ad legiones pervenire possit. Postremo in acie praestare interfici quam non veterem belli gloriam libertatemque quam a maioribus acceperint recuperare.

They say that, first and foremost, a plan must be had, before their clandestine counsels are disclosed, to have Caesar cut off from the army. That this is easy, because the legions would not dare, with the commander absent, to go out from their winter quarters, nor could the commander reach the legions without a protective guard. Finally, on the battle line it is better to be slain than not to recover the ancient glory of war and the freedom which they received from their ancestors.

[2] His rebus agitatis profitentur Carnutes se nullum periculum communis salutis causa recusare principesque ex omnibus bellum facturos pollicentur et, quoniam in praesentia obsidibus cavere inter se non possint ne res efferatur, ut iureiurando ac fide sanciatur, petunt, collatis militaribus signis, quo more eorum gravissima caerimonia continetur, ne facto initio belli ab reliquis deserantur. Tum collaudatis Carnutibus, dato iureiurando ab omnibus qui aderant, tempore eius rei constituto ab concilio disceditur.

[2] With these matters having been agitated, the Carnutes profess that they will refuse no peril for the sake of the common safety, and the chieftains from all promise that they will make war; and, since for the present they cannot secure themselves by hostages among one another lest the matter be brought to light, they ask that it be sanctioned by oath and by faith, the military standards having been brought together, by which custom among them the most weighty ceremony is contained, so that, once the beginning of war has been made, they may not be deserted by the rest. Then, the Carnutes having been highly commended, an oath having been given by all who were present, a time for that matter having been appointed, the council is dispersed.

[3] Vbi ea dies venit, Carnutes Cotuato et Conconnetodumno ducibus, desperatis hominibus, Cenabum signo dato concurrunt civesque Romanos, qui negotiandi causa ibi constiterant, in his Gaium Fufium Citam, honestum equitem Romanum, qui rei frumentariae iussu Caesaris praeerat, interficiunt bonaque eorum diripiunt. Celeriter ad omnes Galliae civitates fama perfertur. Nam ubicumque maior atque illustrior incidit res, clamore per agros regionesque significant; hunc alii deinceps excipiunt et proximis tradunt, ut tum accidit.

[3] When that day came, the Carnutes, with Cotuatus and Conconnetodumnus as leaders, their men in desperation, rush to Cenabum, the signal having been given, and they kill the Roman citizens who had halted there for the sake of trading—among them Gaius Fufius Cita, an honorable Roman equestrian, who was in charge of the grain-supply by Caesar’s order—and they plunder their goods. Quickly the report is borne to all the states of Gaul. For wherever a greater and more illustrious event occurs, they signify it by a shout through the fields and regions; others in turn catch this up and hand it on to their nearest neighbors, as then happened.

Nam quae Cenabi oriente sole gesta essent, ante primam confectam vigiliam in finibus Arvernorum audita sunt, quod spatium est milium passuum circiter centum LX.

For the things that had been done at Cenabum at sunrise were heard of within the borders of the Arverni before the first watch was completed, which span is a distance of about 160 miles.

[4] Simili ratione ibi Vercingetorix, Celtilli filius, Arvernus, summae potentiae adulescens, cuius pater principatum Galliae totius obtinuerat et ob eam causam, quod regnum appetebat, ab civitate erat interfectus, convocatis suis clientibus facile incendit. Cognito eius consilio ad arma concurritur. Prohibetur ab Gobannitione, patruo suo, reliquisque principibus, qui hanc temptandam fortunam non existimabant; expellitur ex oppido Gergovia; non destitit tamen atque in agris habet dilectum egentium ac perditorum.

[4] In a similar manner there Vercingetorix, son of Celtillus, an Arvernian, an adolescent of the highest potency, whose father had held the primacy of all Gaul and for that cause, because he was aspiring to kingship, had been put to death by his state, having called together his clients, easily inflamed them. His design being known, there is a rush to arms. He is prohibited by Gobannitio, his paternal uncle, and by the other chiefs, who did not judge that this fortune was to be attempted; he is expelled from the town Gergovia; he did not desist, however, and in the fields he holds a levy of the destitute and the ruined.

Hac coacta manu, quoscumque adit ex civitate ad suam sententiam perducit; hortatur ut communis libertatis causa arma capiant, magnisque coactis copiis adversarios suos a quibus paulo ante erat eiectus expellit ex civitate. Rex ab suis appellatur. Dimittit quoque versus legationes; obtestatur ut in fide maneant.

With this band gathered, whomever he approaches from the state he leads over to his opinion; he exhorts that, for the cause of common liberty, they take up arms, and, great forces having been assembled, he expels from the state his adversaries by whom a little before he had been cast out. He is called king by his own. He also sends legations in various directions; he adjures them to remain in fidelity.

Celeriter sibi Senones, Parisios, Pictones, Cadurcos, Turonos, Aulercos, Lemovices, Andos reliquosque omnes qui Oceanum attingunt adiungit: omnium consensu ad eum defertur imperium. Qua oblata potestate omnibus his civitatibus obsides imperat, certum numerum militum ad se celeriter adduci iubet, armorum quantum quaeque civitas domi quodque ante tempus efficiat constituit; in primis equitatui studet. Summae diligentiae summam imperi severitatem addit; magnitudine supplici dubitantes cogit.

He quickly joins to himself the Senones, the Parisii, the Pictones, the Cadurci, the Turones, the Aulerci, the Lemovices, the Andi, and all the rest who touch the Ocean: by the consensus of all, the supreme command is conferred upon him. This power having been offered, he demands hostages from all these states, orders a fixed number of soldiers to be led to him with speed, determines how much in the way of arms each state is to produce at home and by what deadline; he is especially zealous for the cavalry. To the highest diligence he adds the highest severity of command; by the magnitude of punishment he compels the hesitant.

Nam maiore commisso delicto igni atque omnibus tormentis necat, leviore de causa auribus desectis aut singulis effossis oculis domum remittit, ut sint reliquis documento et magnitudine poenae perterreant alios.

For when a greater delict has been committed, he kills by fire and with all torments; for a slighter cause he sends them home, with the ears cut off or with a single eye gouged out, so that they may be a lesson to the rest and by the magnitude of the penalty may thoroughly terrify others.

[5] His suppliciis celeriter coacto exercitu Lucterium Cadurcum, summae hominem audaciae, cum parte copiarum in Rutenos mittit; ipse in Bituriges proficiscitur. Eius adventu Bituriges ad Aeduos, quorum erant in fide, legatos mittunt subsidium rogatum, quo facilius hostium copias sustinere possint. Aedui de consilio legatorum, quos Caesar ad exercitum reliquerat, copias equitatus peditatusque subsidio Biturigibus mittunt.

[5] By these punishments, with the army quickly assembled, he sends Lucterius the Cadurcan, a man of the highest audacity, with part of the forces into the Ruteni; he himself sets out into the Bituriges. At his advent the Bituriges send legates to the Aedui, in whose faith they were, to ask for aid, so that they might more easily sustain the enemy’s forces. The Aedui, on the counsel of the legates whom Caesar had left with the army, send forces of cavalry and infantry as succor to the Bituriges.

Qui cum ad flumen Ligerim venissent, quod Bituriges ab Aeduis dividit, paucos dies ibi morati neque flumen transire ausi domum revertuntur legatisque nostris renuntiant se Biturigum perfidiam veritos revertisse, quibus id consili fuisse cognoverint, ut, si flumen transissent, una ex parte ipsi, altera Arverni se circumsisterent. Id eane de causa, quam legatis pronuntiarunt, an perfidia adducti fecerint, quod nihil nobis constat, non videtur pro certo esse proponendum. Bituriges eorum discessu statim cum Arvernis iunguntur.

When they had come to the river Liger (the Loire), which separates the Bituriges from the Aedui, and, after tarrying there a few days, had not dared to cross the river, they returned home and reported to our legates that they had turned back fearing the perfidy of the Bituriges, having learned that they had had this counsel: that, if they crossed the river, on one side the Bituriges themselves, on the other the Arverni, would surround them. Whether they did this for the reason which they announced to the legates, or, induced by treachery, they did it—which is not established for us—does not seem to be put forward as certain. At their departure the Bituriges immediately join with the Arverni.

[6] His rebus in Italiam Caesari nuntiatis, cum iam ille urbanas res virtute Cn. Pompei commodiorem in statum pervenisse intellegeret, in Transalpinam Galliam profectus est. Eo cum venisset, magna difficultate adficiebatur, qua ratione ad exercitum pervenire posset. Nam si legiones in provinciam arcesseret, se absente in itinere proelio dimicaturas intellegebat; si ipse ad exercitum contenderet, ne eis quidem eo tempore qui quieti viderentur suam salutem recte committi videbat.

[6] With these matters announced to Caesar in Italy, since by now he understood that the urban affairs had come into a more commodious condition through the virtue of Gnaeus Pompey, he set out for Transalpine Gaul. When he had come there, he was affected with great difficulty as to by what rationale he might be able to reach the army. For if he should summon the legions into the province, he understood that, with himself absent, they would be about to contend in battle on the march; if he himself should hasten to the army, he saw that not even to those who seemed quiet at that time could his safety be rightly entrusted.

[7] Interim Lucterius Cadurcus in Rutenos missus eam civitatem Arvernis conciliat. Progressus in Nitiobriges et Gabalos ab utrisque obsides accipit et magna coacta manu in provinciam Narbonem versus eruptionem facere contendit. Qua re nuntiata Caesar omnibus consiliis antevertendum existimavit, ut Narbonem proficisceretur.

[7] Meanwhile Lucterius, a Cadurcan, sent among the Ruteni, conciliates that commonwealth to the Arverni. Having advanced among the Nitiobriges and Gabali, he receives hostages from both, and, a large force having been assembled, he strives to make an irruption toward Narbo in the Province. With this matter reported, Caesar judged that all counsels must be forestalled, so that he should set out for Narbo.

Eo cum venisset, timentes confirmat, praesidia in Rutenis provincialibus, Volcis Arecomicis, Tolosatibus circumque Narbonem, quae loca hostibus erant finitima, constituit; partem copiarum ex provincia supplementumque, quod ex Italia adduxerat, in Helvios, qui fines Arvernorum contingunt, convenire iubet.

When he had come there, he reassures the fearful; he establishes garrisons among the provincial Ruteni, the Volcae Arecomici, the Tolosates, and around Narbo—places that were contiguous to the enemy; he orders part of the forces from the province and the supplement which he had brought from Italy to assemble among the Helvii, who border the territories of the Arverni.

[8] His rebus comparatis, represso iam Lucterio et remoto, quod intrare intra praesidia periculosum putabat, in Helvios proficiscitur. Etsi mons Cevenna, qui Arvernos ab Helviis discludit, durissimo tempore anni altissima nive iter impediebat, tamen discussa nive sex in altitudinem pedum atque ita viis patefactis summo militum sudore ad fines Arvernorum pervenit. Quibus oppressis inopinantibus, quod se Cevenna ut muro munitos existimabant, ac ne singulari quidem umquam homini eo tempore anni semitae patuerant, equitibus imperat, ut quam latissime possint vagentur et quam maximum hostibus terrorem inferant.

[8] With these things arranged, Lucterius having now been repressed and driven off—since he thought it dangerous to enter within the garrisons—he sets out into the Helvii. Although the Cevenna mountain, which separates the Arverni from the Helvii, at the hardest time of the year, with the deepest snow, was impeding the march, nevertheless, the snow having been broken up and cleared to a height of six feet, and thus the roads laid open with the utmost sweat of the soldiers, he reached the borders of the Arverni. These being taken unawares—because they considered themselves fortified by the Cevenna as by a wall, and at that time of year footpaths had not ever been open even to a single man—he orders the cavalry to roam as widely as they can and to inflict the greatest possible terror upon the enemy.

Celeriter haec fama ac nuntiis ad Vercingetorigem perferuntur; quem perterriti omnes Arverni circumsistunt atque obsecrant, ut suis fortunis consulat, neve ab hostibus diripiautur, praesertim cum videat omne ad se bellum translatum. Quorum ille precibus per motus castra ex Biturigibus movet in Arveruos versus.

These things are quickly conveyed by rumor and by messengers to Vercingetorix; all the Arverni, thoroughly terrified, surround him and beseech that he take counsel for their own fortunes, and that they not be plundered by the enemy, especially since he sees the whole war transferred onto himself. Moved by their prayers, he moves camp from the Bituriges and advances toward the Arverni.

[9] At Caesar biduum in his locis moratus, quod haec de Vercingetorige usu ventura opinione praeceperat, per causam supplementi equitatusque cogendi ab exercitu discedit; Brutum adulescentem his copiis praeficit; hunc monet, ut in omnes partes equites quam latissime pervagentur: daturum se operam, ne longius triduo ab castris absit. His constitutis rebus suis inopinantibus quam maximis potest itineribus Viennam pervenit. Ibi nactus recentem equitatum, quem multis ante diebus eo praemiserat, neque diurno neque nocturno itinere intermisso per fines Aeduorum in Lingones contendit, ubi duae legiones hiemabant, ut, si quid etiam de sua salute ab Aeduis iniretur consili, celeritate praecurreret.

[9] But Caesar, having stayed for two days in these places, because by conjecture he had anticipated that these things would come to pass concerning Vercingetorix, under the pretext of a supplement and of mustering the cavalry, departs from the army; he puts the young Brutus in command of these forces; he advises him that the horsemen range as widely as possible in all directions: he would take pains not to be farther than three days from the camp. These arrangements having been made, while his own men were unsuspecting, by the greatest marches he can he reaches Vienna. There, having obtained fresh cavalry, which many days before he had sent ahead thither, with neither daytime nor nighttime march interrupted he hastens through the territories of the Aedui into the Lingones, where two legions were wintering, in order that, if any plan even concerning his own safety were being undertaken by the Aedui, he might anticipate it by speed.

Eo cum pervenisset, ad reliquas legiones mittit priusque omnes in unum locum cogit quam de eius adventu Arvernis nuntiari posset. Hac re cognita Vercingetorix rursus in Bituriges exercitum reducit atque inde profectus Gorgobinam, Boiorum oppidum, quos ibi Helvetico proelio victos Caesar collocaverat Aeduisque attribuerat, oppugnare instituit.

When he had arrived there, he sends to the remaining legions, and he compels them all into one place before news of his arrival could be reported to the Arverni. This matter having been learned, Vercingetorix again leads the army back into the Bituriges and, setting out from there, sets about to besiege Gorgobina, a town of the Boii, whom, conquered in the Helvetian battle, Caesar had settled there and had assigned to the Aedui.

[10] Magnam haec res Caesari difficultatem ad consilium capiendum adferebat, si reliquam partem hiemis uno loco legiones contineret, ne stipendiariis Aeduorum expugnatis cuncta Gallia deficeret, quod nullum amicis in eo praesidium videretur positum esse; si maturius ex hibernis educeret, ne ab re frumentaria duris subvectionibus laboraret. Praestare visum est tamen omnis difficultates perpeti, quam tanta contumelia accepta omnium suorum voluntates alienare. Itaque cohortatus Aeduos de supportando commeatu praemittit ad Boios qui de suo adventu doceant hortenturque ut in fide maneant atque hostium impetum magno animo sustineant.

[10] This matter was bringing to Caesar great difficulty for taking counsel: if he were to keep the legions in one place for the remaining part of the winter, lest, the Aedui’s stipendiaries having been taken by storm, all Gaul should defect, because no safeguard for friends seemed to have been placed therein; if he were to lead them out of the winter-quarters earlier, lest he suffer in the frumentary affair with harsh conveyances. It seemed better, however, to endure all difficulties than, with so great a contumely received, to alienate the good-wills of all his own. And so, having encouraged the Aedui about supporting the supply of provisions, he sends ahead to the Boii those who should inform them of his arrival and exhort them to remain in loyalty and to sustain the assault of the enemies with great spirit.

Duabus Agedinci legionibus atque impedimentis totius exercitus relictis ad Boios proficiscitur.

With two legions left at Agedincum and the baggage-train of the whole army, he sets out to the Boii.

[11] Altero die cum ad oppidum Senonum Vellaunodunum venisset, ne quem post se hostem relinqueret, quo expeditiore re frumentaria uteretur, oppugnare instituit idque biduo circumvallavit; tertio die missis ex oppido legatis de deditione arma conferri, iumenta produci, sescentos obsides dari iubet. Ea qui conficeret, a. Trebonium legatum relinquit. Ipse, ut quam primum iter faceret, Cenabum Carnutum proficiscitur; qui tum primum allato nuntio de oppugnatione Vellaunoduni, cum longius eam rem ductum iri existimarent, praesidium Cenabi tuendi causa, quod eo mitterent, comparabant.

[11] On the next day, when he had come to Vellaunodunum, a town of the Senones, lest he leave any enemy behind him, whereby he might use the grain-supply matter more unencumbered, he began to assault it and in two days enclosed it with a circumvallation; on the third day, envoys having been sent from the town about surrender, he orders that the arms be gathered together, the draft-animals be brought out, and six hundred hostages be given. To accomplish these things he leaves A. Trebonius, legate. He himself, in order to make a march as soon as possible, sets out for Cenabum of the Carnutes; who then for the first time, with a message having been brought about the assault on Vellaunodunum, since they thought that matter would be drawn out longer, were preparing a garrison to be sent there for the defense of Cenabum.

Huc biduo pervenit. Castris ante oppidum positis diei tempore exclusus in posterum oppugnationem differt quaeque ad eam rem usui sint militibus imperat et, quod oppidum Cenabum pons fluminis Ligeris contingebat, veritus ne noctu ex oppido profugerent, duas legiones in armis excubare iubet. Cenabenses paulo ante mediam noctem silentio ex oppido egressi flumen transire coeperunt.

He arrived here in two days. With the camp pitched before the town, being shut out by the time of day, he defers the assault to the next day, and orders whatever things may be of use to the soldiers for that purpose; and because at the town of Cenabum a bridge of the river Liger (Loire) adjoined it, fearing that they might flee from the town by night, he orders two legions to keep watch under arms. The Cenabenses, a little before midnight, having gone out of the town in silence, began to cross the river.

Qua re per exploratores nuntiata Caesar legiones quas expeditas esse iusserat portis incensis intromittit atque oppido potitur, perpaucis ex hostium numero desideratis quin cuncti caperentur, quod pontis atque itinerum angustiae multitudinis fugam intercluserant. Oppidum diripit atque incendit, praedam militibus donat, exercitum Ligerem traducit atque in Biturigum fines pervenit.

With this matter reported by the scouts, Caesar, the gates having been set on fire, sends in the legions which he had ordered to be unencumbered and gains possession of the town, with very few from the enemy’s number lost, so that all were captured, because the narrowness of the bridge and of the roads had cut off the flight of the multitude. He sacks and burns the town, bestows the booty upon the soldiers, leads the army across the Loire, and comes into the territory of the Bituriges.

[12] Vercingetorix, ubi de Caesaris adventu cognovit, oppugnatione destitit atque obviam Caesari proficiscitur. Ille oppidum Biturigum positum in via Noviodunum oppugnare instituerat. Quo ex oppido cum legati ad eum venissent oratum ut sibi ignosceret suaeque vitae consuleret, ut celeritate reliquas res conficeret, qua pleraque erat consecutus, arma conferri, equos produci, obsides dari iubet.

[12] Vercingetorix, when he learned of Caesar’s arrival, desisted from the assault and sets out to meet Caesar. He had begun to besiege the town of the Bituriges set on the road, Noviodunum. From this town, when legates had come to him to beg that he pardon them and have regard for their own lives, that, by celerity, he finish the remaining matters, by which he had achieved most things, he orders the arms to be collected, the horses to be brought out, and hostages to be given.

Parte iam obsidum tradita, cum reliqua administrarentur, centurionibus et paucis militibus intromissis, qui arma iumentaque conquirerent, equitatus hostium procul visus est, qui agmen Vercingetorigis antecesserat. Quem simul atque oppidani conspexerunt atque in spem auxili venerunt, clamore sublato arma capere, portas claudere, murum complere coeperunt. Centuriones in oppido, cum ex significatione Gallorum novi aliquid ab eis iniri consili intellexissent, gladiis destrictis portas occupaverunt suosque omnes incolumes receperunt.

With a part of the hostages already handed over, while the rest were being administered, after centurions and a few soldiers had been let inside to seek out arms and beasts of burden, the enemy cavalry was seen from afar, which had preceded Vercingetorix’s column. As soon as the townspeople caught sight of it and came into the hope of aid, a shout having been raised they began to take up arms, to shut the gates, to man the wall. The centurions in the town, since from the signals of the Gauls they had understood that some new plan was being undertaken by them, with swords drawn seized the gates and brought all their own back unharmed.

[13] Caesar ex castris equitatum educi iubet, proelium equestre committit: laborantibus iam suis Germanos equites circiter CCCC summittit, quos ab initio habere secum instituerat. Eorum impetum Galli sustinere non potuerunt atque in fugam coniecti multis amissis se ad agmen receperunt. Quibus profligatis rursus oppidani perterriti comprehensos eos, quorum opera plebem concitatam existimabant, ad Caesarem perduxerunt seseque ei dediderunt.

[13] Caesar orders the cavalry to be led out from the camp, and he engages a cavalry battle: with his men now hard-pressed he sends in about 400 German horsemen, whom he had from the beginning arranged to have with him. The Gauls could not sustain their charge and, cast into flight with many lost, withdrew to the column. With these routed, again the townsfolk, terrified, led to Caesar those whom they had arrested, whom they thought had, by their agency, stirred up the plebs, and they surrendered themselves to him.

Quibus rebus confectis, Caesar ad oppidum Avaricum, quod erat maximum munitissimumque in finibus Biturigum atque agri fertilissima regione, profectus est, quod eo oppido recepto civitatem Biturigum se in potestatem redacturum confidebat.

With these matters completed, Caesar set out to the town Avaricum, which was the greatest and most fortified in the borders of the Bituriges and in the most fertile region of the land, because he was confident that, with that town taken, he would reduce the state of the Bituriges into his power.

[14] Vercingetorix tot continuis incommodis Vellaunoduni, Cenabi, Novioduni acceptis suos ad concilium convocat. Docet longe alia ratione esse bellum gerendum atque antea gestum sit. Omnibus modis huic rei studendum, ut pabulatione et commeatu Romani prohibeantur.

[14] Vercingetorix, with so many continuous setbacks suffered at Vellaunodunum, Cenabum, and Noviodunum, summons his men to a council. He shows that the war must be waged by a far different method than it has been waged before. In every way effort must be devoted to this matter: that the Romans be prohibited from foraging and from supply.

Id esse facile, quod equitatu ipsi abundent et quod anni tempore subleventur. Pabulum secari non posse; necessario dispersos hostes ex aedificiis petere: hos omnes cotidie ab equitibus deligi posse. Praeterea salutis causa rei familiaris commoda neglegenda: vicos atque aedificia incendi oportere hoc spatio ab via quoque versus, quo pabulandi causa adire posse videantur.

That this is easy, because they themselves abound in cavalry and are helped by the season of the year. Fodder cannot be cut; of necessity the enemy, scattered, fetch it from buildings: all these can be picked off every day by the horsemen. Moreover, for the sake of safety the commodities of private estate must be neglected: villages and buildings ought to be set on fire for this distance, also on each side from the road, as far as they seem able to approach for the sake of foraging.

Harum ipsis rerum copiam suppetere, quod, quorum in finibus bellum geratur, eorum opibus subleventur: Romanos aut inopiam non laturos aut magno periculo longius ab castris processuros; neque interesse, ipsosne interficiant, impedimentisne exuant, quibus amissis bellum geri non possit. Praeterea oppida incendi oportere, quae non munitione et loci natura ab omni sint periculo tuta, neu suis sint ad detractandam militiam receptacula neu Romanis proposita ad copiam commeatus praedamque tollendam. Haec si gravia aut acerba videantur, multo illa gravius aestimare, liberos, coniuges in servitutem abstrahi, ipsos interfici; quae sit necesse accidere victis.

That an abundance of these very resources is at their own disposal, because they are supported by the resources of those within whose borders the war is waged: that the Romans will either not endure scarcity, or will, with great danger, advance farther from their camp; and that it makes no difference whether they themselves kill them, or strip them of their baggage-train, the loss of which makes it impossible to carry on war. Moreover, that towns ought to be burned which are not safe from every danger by fortification and by the nature of the place, lest they be refuges for their own men for shirking military service, nor be set before the Romans as a supply of provisions and for taking plunder. If these things seem heavy or bitter, they should reckon those far heavier: that children and spouses are dragged off into servitude, that they themselves are slain—things which must befall the conquered.

[15] Omnium consensu hac sententia probata uno die amplius XX urbes Biturigum incenduntur. Hoc idem fit in reliquis civitatibus: in omnibus partibus incendia conspiciuntur; quae etsi magno cum dolore omnes ferebant, tamen hoc sibi solati proponebant, quod se prope explorata victoria celeriter amissa reciperaturos confidebant. Deliberatur de Avarico in communi concilio, incendi placeret an defendi.

[15] With this opinion approved by the consent of all, in one day more than 20 cities of the Bituriges are set ablaze. The same is done in the remaining states: in all quarters fires are seen; and although all bore these things with great dolor, yet they set this before themselves as solace, that, with victory almost made-explored, they were confident they would quickly recover what had been lost. It is deliberated concerning Avaricum in the common council, whether it should please to be burned or to be defended.

Procumbunt omnibus Gallis ad pedes Bituriges, ne pulcherrimam prope totius Galliae urbem, quae praesidio et ornamento sit civitati, suis manibus succendere cogerentur: facile se loci natura defensuros dicunt, quod prope ex omnibus partibus flumine et palude circumdata unum habeat et perangustum aditum. Datur petentibus venia dissuadente primo Vercingetorige, post concedente et precibus ipsorum et misericordia vulgi. Defensores oppido idonei deliguntur.

The Bituriges prostrate themselves at the feet of all the Gauls, lest they be forced to set with their own hands on fire the most beautiful city of almost the whole of Gaul, which is a defense and an ornament to the civitas: they say that by the nature of the place they will easily defend it, because, surrounded on nearly all sides by river and marsh, it has a single and very narrow access. Indulgence is granted to the petitioners, Vercingetorix at first dissuading, afterward conceding both to their prayers and to the mercy of the common crowd. Fit defenders for the town are chosen.

[16] Vercingetorix minoribus Caesarem itineribus subsequitur et locum castris deligit paludibus silvisque munitum ab Avarico longe milia passuum XVI. Ibi per certos exploratores in singula diei tempora quae ad Avaricum agerentur cognoscebat et quid fieri vellet imperabat. Omnes nostras pabulationes frumentationesque observabat dispersosque, cum longius necessario procederent, adoriebatur magnoque incommodo adficiebat, etsi, quantum ratione provideri poterat, ab nostris occurrebatur, ut incertis temporibus diversisque itineribus iretur.

[16] Vercingetorix follows Caesar by shorter marches and chooses a place for a camp, fortified by marshes and woods, at a distance of 16 miles from Avaricum. There, through reliable scouts, he learned at each time of the day what was being done with regard to Avaricum, and he gave orders as to what he wished to be done. He kept watch on all our pabulations and frumentations, and attacked our men when scattered, whenever they necessarily advanced farther, and he inflicted great inconvenience; although, so far as could be provided for by rational planning, he was met by our men, with the result that marches were made at uncertain times and along diverse routes.

[17] Castris ad eam partem oppidi positis Caesar, quae intermissa [a] flumine et a paludibus aditum, ut supra diximus, angustum habebat, aggerem apparare, vineas agere, turres duas constituere coepit: nam circumvallare loci natura prohibebat. De re frumentaria Boios atque Aeduos adhortari non destitit; quorum alteri, quod nullo studio agebant, non multum adiuvabant, alteri non magnis facultatibus, quod civitas erat exigua et infirma, celeriter quod habuerunt consumpserunt. Summa difficultate rei frumentariae adfecto exercitu tenuitate Boiorum, indiligentia Aeduorum, incendiis aedificiorum, usque eo ut complures dies frumento milites caruerint et pecore ex longinquioribus vicis adacto extremam famem sustentarent, nulla tamen vox est ab eis audita populi Romani maiestate et superioribus victoriis indigna.

[17] With the camp placed toward that part of the town which, cut off by the river [a] and by the marshes, had, as we said above, a narrow approach, Caesar began to prepare a ramp, to drive forward the mantlets, and to set up two towers: for the nature of the place prevented a circumvallation. He did not cease to exhort the Boii and the Aedui concerning the grain-supply; of whom the one, because they were acting with no zeal, did not help much, the others, with no great resources—since the state was small and weak—quickly consumed what they had. The army, afflicted with the greatest difficulty in the grain-supply by the meagerness of the Boii, the negligence of the Aedui, and the burnings of the buildings, to such a degree that for several days the soldiers were without grain and, with cattle driven in from the more remote villages, sustained extreme hunger—yet no utterance was heard from them unworthy of the majesty of the Roman people and of their former victories.

Quin etiam Caesar cum in opere singulas legiones appellaret et, si acerbius inopiam ferrent, se dimissurum oppugnationem diceret, universi ab eo, ne id faceret, petebant: sic se complures annos illo imperante meruisse, ut nullam ignominiam acciperent, nusquam infecta re discederent: hoc se ignominiae laturos loco, si inceptam oppugnationem reliquissent: praestare omnes perferre acerbitates, quam non civibus Romanis, qui Cenabi perfidia Gallorum interissent, parentarent. Haec eadem centurionibus tribunisque militum mandabant, ut per eos ad Caesarem deferrentur.

Nay more, when Caesar, while at the works, addressed the legions one by one and said that, if they should bear the scarcity too bitterly, he would dismiss the assault, all together begged of him not to do this: that thus they had served for many years under his command, so as to receive no ignominy and to depart nowhere with the matter unfinished; that they would bear ignominy in this very place if they should abandon the begun assault; that it was better for all to endure hardships than to fail to perform the funeral rites for Roman citizens who had perished at Cenabum through the perfidy of the Gauls. These same things they entrusted to the centurions and to the military tribunes, that through them they should be conveyed to Caesar.

[18] Cum iam muro turres appropinquassent, ex captivis Caesar cognovit Vercingetorigem consumpto pabulo castra movisse propius Avaricum atque ipsum cum equitatu expeditisque, qui inter equites proeliari consuessent, insidiarum causa eo profectum, quo nostros postero die pabulatum venturos arbitraretur. Quibus rebus cognitis media nocte silentio profectus ad hostium castra mane pervenit. Illi celeriter per exploratores adventu Caesaris cognito carros impedimentaque sua in artiores silvas abdiderunt, copias omnes in loco edito atque aperto instruxerunt.

[18] When the towers had now approached the wall, from captives Caesar learned that Vercingetorix, the fodder having been consumed, had moved his camp nearer to Avaricum, and that he himself, with the cavalry and the light-armed, who were accustomed to fight among the horsemen, had set out to that place for the sake of an ambush, whither he judged that our men would come on the next day to forage. These things learned, having set out in silence at midnight, he reached the enemy’s camp in the morning. They, quickly, their knowledge of Caesar’s arrival gained through scouts, hid their wagons and baggage-train in denser woods, and arrayed all their forces on a raised and open place.

Qua re nuntiata Caesar celeriter sarcinas conferri, arma expediri iussit.

With this matter reported, Caesar quickly ordered the baggage to be packed and the arms to be made ready.

[19] Collis erat leniter ab infimo acclivis. Hunc ex omnibus fere partibus palus difficilis atque impedita cingebat non latior pedibus quinquaginta. Hoc se colle interruptis pontibus Galli fiducia loci continebant generatimque distributi in civitates omnia vada ac saltus eius paludis obtinebant sic animo parati, ut, si eam paludem Romani perrumpere conarentur, haesitantes premerent ex loco superiore; ut qui propinquitatem loci videret paratos prope aequo Marte ad dimicandum existimaret, qui iniquitatem condicionis perspiceret inani simulatione sese ostentare cognosceret.

[19] There was a hill gently ascending from its lowest part. This a difficult and impeded marsh encircled on almost all sides, not wider than 50 feet. Upon this hill, with the bridges broken, the Gauls, in confidence of the ground, kept themselves and, distributed by tribes into their states, held all the fords and passes of that marsh—thus prepared in spirit that, if the Romans should try to break through that marsh, they would press them, as they stuck fast, from the higher ground; so that one who saw the proximity of the position would judge them prepared to contend on nearly equal terms in war, while one who perceived the inequality of the condition would recognize that they were making a vain show.

Indignantes milites Caesar, quod conspectum suum hostes perferre possent tantulo spatio interiecto, et signum proeli exposcentes edocet, quanto detrimento et quot virorum fortium morte necesse sit constare victoriam; quos cum sic animo paratos videat, ut nullum pro sua laude periculum recusent, summae se iniquitatis condemnari debere, nisi eorum vitam sua salute habeat cariorem. Sic milites consolatus eodem die reducit in castra reliquaque quae ad oppugnationem pertinebant oppidi administrare instituit.

Caesar, the soldiers being indignant that the enemies could endure his sight with so tiny a space interposed, and demanding the signal of battle, teaches them how great a detriment and by the death of how many brave men it is necessary that victory be purchased; and when he sees them thus prepared in spirit, to refuse no danger for their renown, he says that he ought to be condemned of the highest iniquity, unless he holds their life dearer than his own safety. Thus having consoled the soldiers, on the same day he leads them back into camp and set about administering the remaining things which pertained to the assault of the town.

[20] Vercingetorix, cum ad suos redisset, proditionis insimulatus, quod castra propius Romanos movisset, quod cum omni equitatu discessisset, quod sine imperio tantas copias reliquisset, quod eius discessu Romani tanta opportunitate et celeritate venissent: non haec omnia fortuito aut sine consilio accidere potuisse; regnum illum Galliae malle Caesaris concessu quam ipsorum habere beneficio--tali modo accusatus ad haec respondit: Quod castra movisset, factum inopia pabuli etiam ipsis hortantibus; quod propius Romanos accessisset, persuasum loci opportunitate, qui se ipsum munitione defenderet: equitum vero operam neque in loco palustri desiderari debuisse et illic fuisse utilem, quo sint profecti. Summam imperi se consulto nulli discedentem tradidisse, ne is multitudinis studio ad dimicandum impelleretur; cui rei propter animi mollitiem studere omnes videret, quod diutius laborem ferre non possent. Romani si casu intervenerint, fortunae, si alicuius indicio vocati, huic habendam gratiam, quod et paucitatem eorum ex loco superiore cognoscere et virtutem despicere potuerint, qui dimicare non ausi turpiter se in castra receperint.

[20] Vercingetorix, when he had returned to his own, was accused of treason—because he had moved the camp nearer to the Romans, because he had departed with all the cavalry, because he had left so great forces without command, because upon his departure the Romans had come with such opportunity and celerity: that not all these things could have happened fortuitously or without counsel; that he preferred to hold the kingship of Gaul by Caesar’s concession rather than by their own benefice—so accused in such a manner, to these he replied as follows: That he had moved the camp was done because of lack of fodder, even at their own urging; that he had approached nearer to the Romans, persuaded by the opportunity of the place, which would defend itself by fortification; and that the service of the horsemen ought not to have been required in a marshy place, and had been useful where they had set out. That he had deliberately entrusted the supreme command to no one while he was away, lest that person be driven to contend by the zeal of the multitude; a thing which he saw all were eager for because of softness of mind, since they could not bear labor for a longer time. If the Romans had intervened by chance, thanks were to be given to Fortune; if called by someone’s indication, to this man thanks were owed, because both they had been able to recognize their paucity from higher ground and to despise their virtue, since, not daring to fight, they had disgracefully withdrawn into their camp.

Imperium se ab Caesare per proditionem nullum desiderare, quod habere victoria posset, quae iam esset sibi atque omnibus Gallis explorata: quin etiam ipsis remittere, si sibi magis honorem tribuere, quam ab se salutem accipere videantur. "Haec ut intellegatis," inquit, "a me sincere pronuntiari, audite Romanos milites." Producit servos, quos in pabulatione paucis ante diebus exceperat et fame vinculisque excruciaverat. Hi iam ante edocti quae interrogati pronuntiarent, milites se esse legionarios dicunt; fame et inopia adductos clam ex castris exisse, si quid frumenti aut pecoris in agris reperire possent: simili omnem exercitum inopia premi, nec iam vires sufficere cuiusquam nec ferre operis laborem posse: itaque statuisse imperatorem, si nihil in oppugnatione oppidi profecissent, triduo exercitum deducere.

He desires no authority from Caesar through treachery, which he could have by victory, which already has been ascertained for himself and for all the Gauls; nay even he remits it to them, if they seem to bestow honor upon him rather than to receive safety from him. "That you may understand these things to be pronounced by me sincerely," he says, "listen to the Roman soldiers." He brings forward slaves, whom a few days before he had captured during foraging and had tortured with hunger and chains. These, already instructed beforehand what they should declare when questioned, say that they are legionary soldiers; driven by hunger and want they had secretly gone out from the camp to see if they could find any grain or cattle in the fields; that the whole army is pressed by similar want, and now the strength of no one suffices nor can they bear the toil of the work; and so the commander has decided, if they make no progress in the assault of the town, to withdraw the army within three days.

"Haec," inquit, "a me," Vercingetorix, "beneficia habetis, quem proditionis insimulatis; cuius opera sine vestro sanguine tantum exercitum victorem fame consumptum videtis; quem turpiter se ex fuga recipientem ne qua civitas suis finibus recipiat a me provisum est."

"These," he said, "from me," Vercingetorix, "benefits you have, whom you accuse of treason; by whose agency, without your blood, you see so great a victorious army consumed by famine; whom, as he shamefully withdraws in flight, I have provided that no city receive within its own borders."

[21] Conclamat omnis multitudo et suo more armis concrepat, quod facere in eo consuerunt cuius orationem approbant: summum esse Vercingetorigem ducem, nec de eius fide dubitandum, nec maiore ratione bellum administrari posse. Statuunt, ut X milia hominum delecta ex omnibus copiis in oppidum mittantur, nec solis Biturigibus communem salutem committendam censent, quod paene in eo, si id oppidum retinuissent, summam victoriae constare intellegebant.

[21] The whole multitude shouts together and, in their customary manner, clatters with arms, which they are accustomed to do in the case of him whose speech they approve: that Vercingetorix is the supreme leader, and that there should be no doubting of his good faith, nor could the war be administered with greater reason. They resolve that 10 thousand men, chosen from all the forces, be sent into the town, and they judge that the common safety is not to be entrusted to the Bituriges alone, because they understood that almost the sum of victory depended on this, if they should have retained that town.

[22] Singulari militum nostrorum virtuti consilia cuiusque modi Gallorum occurrebant, ut est summae genus sollertiae atque ad omnia imitanda et efficienda, quae ab quoque traduntur, aptissimum. Nam et laqueis falces avertebant, quas, cum destinaverant, tormentis introrsus reducebant, et aggerem cuniculis subtrahebant, eo scientius quod apud eos magnae sunt ferrariae atque omne genus cuniculorum notum atque usitatum est. Totum autem murum ex omni parte turribus contabulaverant atque has coriis intexerant.

[22] To the singular valor of our soldiers, contrivances of every kind on the part of the Gauls presented themselves, since their race is of the highest cleverness and most apt to imitate and to effect everything that is handed on by anyone. For with nooses they would turn aside the hooks, and when they had fastened them, they would draw them inward with engines; and they were undermining the ramp with mines—the more skillfully because among them there are great ironworks and every kind of tunneling is known and in habitual use. Moreover, they had boarded over the whole wall on every side with towers and had interlaced these with hides.

Tum crebris diurnis nocturnisque eruptionibus aut aggeri ignem inferebant aut milites occupatos in opere adoriebantur, et nostrarum turrium altitudinem, quantum has cotidianus agger expresserat, commissis suarum turrium malis adaequabant, et apertos cuniculos praeusta et praeacuta materia et pice fervefacta et maximi ponderis saxis morabantur moenibusque appropinquare prohibebant.

Then by frequent day-and-night sallies they either were bringing fire against the rampart or were attacking the soldiers occupied in the work; and they matched the height of our towers—so far as the daily embankment had raised them—by joining the masts of their own towers; and they delayed the open tunnels with timber pre-burned and pre-sharpened, with pitch heated to a boil, and with stones of the greatest weight, and they prevented an approach to the walls.

[23] Muri autem omnes Gallici hac fere forma sunt. Trabes derectae perpetuae in longitudinem paribus intervallis, distantes inter se binos pedes, in solo collocantur. Hae revinciuntur introrsus et multo aggere vestiuntur: ea autem, quae diximus, inter valla grandibus in fronte saxis effarciuntur.

[23] But all Gallic walls are for the most part of this form. Straight beams, laid continuously lengthwise at equal intervals, two feet distant from one another, are set on the ground. These are bound back inward and are clothed with a great embankment; and those spaces, which we have mentioned, between the intervals are packed with large stones at the front.

His collocatis et coagmentatis alius insuper ordo additur, ut idem illud intervallum servetur neque inter se contingant trabes, sed paribus intermissae spatiis singulae singulis saxis interiectis arte contineantur. Sic deinceps omne opus contexitur, dum iusta muri altitudo expleatur. Hoc cum in speciem varietatemque opus deforme non est alternis trabibus ac saxis, quae rectis lineis suos ordines servant, tum ad utilitatem et defensionem urbium summam habet opportunitatem, quod et ab incendio lapis et ab ariete materia defendit, quae perpetuis trabibus pedes quadragenos plerumque introrsus revincta neque perrumpi neque distrahi potest.

These having been set in place and coagmented, another course is added on top, so that the same interval is preserved and the beams do not touch one another, but, left off at equal spaces, each is held fast to each by single stones inserted with skill. Thus in succession the whole work is woven together, until the due height of the wall is filled out. This work is not misshapen in appearance and variety, with alternate beams and stones, which in straight lines keep their own courses; and moreover it has the highest aptness for the utility and defense of cities, because stone defends against fire and timber defends against the battering ram—since, with continuous beams bound inward for the most part to a depth of forty feet, it can neither be broken through nor torn apart.

[24] His tot rebus impedita oppugnatione milites, cum toto tempore frigore et assiduis imbribus tardarentur, tamen continenti labore omnia haec superaverunt et diebus XXV aggerem latum pedes CCCXXX, altum pedes LXXX exstruxerunt. Cum is murum hostium paene contingeret, et Caesar ad opus consuetudine excubaret milites que hortaretur, ne quod omnino tempus ab opere intermitteretur, paulo ante tertiam vigiliam est animadversum fumare aggerem, quem cuniculo hostes succenderant, eodemque tempore toto muro clamore sublato duabus portis ab utroque latere turrium eruptio fiebat, alii faces atque aridam materiem de muro in aggerem eminus iaciebant, picem reliquasque res, quibus ignis excitari potest, fundebant, ut quo primum curreretur aut cui rei ferretur auxilium vix ratio iniri posset. Tamen, quod instituto Caesaris semper duae legiones pro castris excubabant pluresque partitis temporibus erant in opere, celeriter factum est, ut alii eruptionibus resisterent, alii turres reducerent aggeremque inter scinderent, omnis vero ex castris multitudo ad restinguendum concurreret.

[24] With the assault impeded by so many things, the soldiers, although during the whole time they were slowed by cold and continual rains, nevertheless by continuous labor overcame all these and in 25 days constructed a rampart 330 feet broad, 80 feet high. When it was almost touching the enemy’s wall, and Caesar, as was his custom, kept watch at the work and encouraged the soldiers that no time at all be intermitted from the work, a little before the third watch it was noticed that the rampart was smoking, which the enemy had set on fire by a tunnel; and at the same time, with a shout raised along the whole wall, an eruption was being made from two gates on either side of the towers, others were throwing torches and dry material from the wall onto the rampart from a distance, they were pouring pitch and the remaining substances by which fire can be excited, so that scarcely could a plan be devised as to where first to run or to what matter help should be brought. Nevertheless, because by Caesar’s institution two legions always kept watch in front of the camp and more, with their times divided, were at the work, it was quickly brought about that some resisted the eruptions, others drew back the towers and cut the rampart through in between, while indeed the whole multitude from the camp ran together to extinguish it.

[25] Cum in omnibus locis consumpta iam reliqua parte noctis pugnaretur, semperque hostibus spes victoriae redintegraretur, eo magis, quod deustos pluteos turrium videbant nec facile adire apertos ad auxiliandum animadvertebant, semperque ipsi recentes defessis succederent omnemque Galliae salutem in illo vestigio temporis positam arbitrarentur, accidit inspectantibus nobis quod dignum memoria visum praetereundum non existimavimus. Quidam ante portam oppidi Gallus per manus sebi ac picis traditas glebas in ignem e regione turris proiciebat: scorpione ab latere dextro traiectus exanimatusque concidit. Hunc ex proximis unus iacentem transgressus eodem illo munere fungebatur; eadem ratione ictu scorpionis exanimato alteri successit tertius et tertio quartus, nec prius ille est a propugnatoribus vacuus relictus locus quam restincto aggere atque omni ex parte summotis hostibus finis est pugnandi factus.

[25] When, in all places, with the remaining part of the night now spent, fighting was going on, and the hope of victory was always being re-integrated for the enemies, all the more because they saw the plutei of the towers scorched and noticed that it was not easy to approach, uncovered, to bring aid, and they themselves, ever fresh, were succeeding the weary, and they judged that the whole salvation of Gaul was set in that instant of time, there befell, as we were looking on, a thing which, seen as worthy of memory, we did not think should be passed over. A certain Gaul before the gate of the town, by a hand-to-hand relay, was casting masses of tallow and pitch into the fire opposite the tower: pierced by a scorpion from the right flank and made exanimate, he collapsed. One of those nearest, stepping over him as he lay, was discharging that same duty; in the same way, when he was made exanimate by a stroke of the scorpion, a third succeeded the second, and a fourth the third; nor was that place left empty by the defenders before, the ramp being extinguished and the enemies from every side driven back, an end of fighting was made.

[26] Omnia experti Galli, quod res nulla successerat, postero die consilium ceperunt ex oppido profugere hortante et iubente Vercingetorige. Id silentio noctis conati non magna iactura suorum sese effecturos sperabant, propterea quod neque longe ab oppido castra Vercingetorigis aberant, et palus, quae perpetua intercedebat, Romanos ad insequendum tardabat. Iamque hoc facere noctu apparabant, cum matres familiae repente in publicum procurrerunt flentesque proiectae ad pedes suorum omnibus precibus petierunt, ne se et communes liberos hostibus ad supplicium dederent, quos ad capiendam fugam naturae et virium infirmitas impediret.

[26] Having tried everything, the Gauls, because no measure had succeeded, on the next day adopted the plan to flee from the town, with Vercingetorix exhorting and commanding it. Attempting this in the silence of night, they hoped that they would effect their escape with no great loss of their own, because the camp of Vercingetorix was not far from the town, and a marsh, which intervened continuously between, was delaying the Romans in pursuing. And now they were preparing to do this by night, when the mothers of families suddenly ran out into the open and, weeping, flung themselves at the feet of their men, begging with every entreaty that they not deliver themselves and their common children to the enemy for punishment, those whom the infirmity of nature and of strength would hinder from taking flight.

Vbi eos in sententia perstare viderunt, quod plerumque in summo periculo timor misericordiam non recipit, conclamare et significare de fuga Romanis coeperunt. Quo timore perterriti Galli, ne ab equitatu Romanorum viae praeoccuparentur, consilio destiterunt.

When they saw them persist in their resolve, since very often in the utmost peril fear does not receive mercy, they began to cry out and to signify to the Romans about the flight. The Gauls, terrified by this fear, lest the roads be preoccupied by the Roman cavalry, desisted from the plan.

[27] Postero die Caesar promota turri perfectisque operibus quae facere instituerat, magno coorto imbre non inutilem hanc ad capiendum consilium tempestatem arbitratus est, quod paulo incautius custodias in muro dispositas videbat, suosque languidius in opere versari iussit et quid fieri vellet ostendit. Legionibusque intra vineas in occulto expeditis, cohortatus ut aliquando pro tantis laboribus fructum victoriae perciperent, eis qui primi murum ascendissent praemia proposuit militibusque signum dedit. Illi subito ex omnibus partibus evolaverunt murumque celeriter compleverunt.

[27] On the next day, Caesar, the tower having been brought forward and the works which he had set himself to make having been completed, when a great rain-storm had arisen judged this tempest not unhelpful for taking this counsel, because he saw the guards posted on the wall a little more incautiously, and he ordered his men to busy themselves more languidly at the work and showed what he wished to be done. And with the legions made ready in concealment within the vineae (mantlets), after exhorting them that at last, in return for such great labors, they should reap the fruit of victory, he set forth rewards for those who should first scale the wall and gave the signal to the soldiers. They suddenly flew forth from all parts and quickly filled the wall.

[28] Hostes re nova perterriti muro turribusque deiecti in foro ac locis patentioribus cuneatim constiterunt, hoc animo ut si qua ex parte obviam contra veniretur acie instructa depugnarent. Vbi neminem in aequum locum sese demittere, sed toto undique muro circumfundi viderunt, veriti ne omnino spes fugae tolleretur, abiectis armis ultimas oppidi partes continenti impetu petiverunt, parsque ibi, cum angusto exitu portarum se ipsi premerent, a militibus, pars iam egressa portis ab equitibus est interfecta; nec fuit quisquam, qui praedae studeret. Sic et Cenabi caede et labore operis incitati non aetate confectis, non mulieribus, non infantibus pepercerunt.

[28] The enemies, terrified by the new development, thrown down from the wall and the towers, took their stand wedge-fashion in the forum and in the more open places, with this intention: that, if from any quarter anyone should come to meet them, they would fight it out with a battle line drawn up. When they saw no one lowering himself into level ground, but that they were being surrounded on every side along the whole wall, fearing lest the hope of flight be entirely taken away, they cast down their arms and sought the farthest parts of the town with a continuous charge; and some there, since in the narrow exit of the gates they were pressing themselves, were slain by the soldiers, and others, already having gone out the gates, were slain by the cavalry; nor was there anyone who was eager for plunder. Thus, both incited by the slaughter at Cenabum and by the labor of the works, they spared neither those worn out by age, nor women, nor infants.

Denique ex omni numero, qui fuit circiter milium XL, vix DCCC, qui primo clamore audito se ex oppido eiecerunt, incolumes ad Vercingetorigem pervenerunt. Quos ille multa iam nocte silentio ex fuga excepit, veritus ne qua in castris ex eorum concursu et misericordia vulgi seditio oreretur, ut procul in via dispositis familiaribus suis principibusque civitatum disparandos deducendosque ad suos curaret, quae cuique civitati pars castrorum ab initio obvenerat.

At last, out of the whole number, which was about 40,000, scarcely 800—those who, when the first shout was heard, had hurled themselves out of the town—came through safe to Vercingetorix. He received them, late in the night already, in silence, as they fled, fearing lest in the camp some sedition should arise from their concourse and from the pity of the common crowd; and he took care that, with his familiars and the chiefs of the communities posted at a distance along the road, they should be separated and conducted back to their own, to that part of the camp which from the beginning had fallen by lot to each community.

[29] Postero die concilio convocato consolatus cohortatusque est ne se admodum animo demitterent, ne perturbarentur incommodo. Non virtute neque in acie vicisse Romanos, sed artificio quodam et scientia oppugnationis, cuius rei fuerint ipsi imperiti. Errare, si qui in bello omnes secundos rerum proventus exspectent.

[29] On the next day, the council having been convened, he consoled and encouraged them not to let their spirit sink too much, not to be perturbed by the setback. That the Romans had won not by valor nor in a drawn-up battle line, but by a certain artifice and the science of siege-attack, in which matter they themselves had been unskilled. They err, if any in war expect all outcomes of affairs to be favorable.

Sibi numquam placuisse Avaricum defendi, cuius rei testes ipsos haberet; sed factum imprudentia Biturigum et nimia obsequentia reliquorum uti hoc incommodum acciperetur. Id tamen se celeriter maioribus commodis sanaturum. Nam quae ab reliquis Gallis civitates dissentirent, has sua diligentia adiuncturum atque unum consilium totius Galliae effecturum, cuius consensui ne orbis quidem terrarum possit obsistere; idque se prope iam effectum habere.

He declared that it had never pleased him that Avaricum be defended, in which matter he had them themselves as witnesses; but that it had come to pass through the imprudence of the Bituriges and the excessive obsequiousness of the rest that this inconvenience was incurred. This, however, he would quickly heal with greater advantages. For those states which were dissenting from the rest of the Gauls, he would by his diligence attach, and he would bring about one counsel of all Gaul, to whose consensus not even the world could withstand; and that he had this almost already accomplished.

Interea aequum esse ab eis communis salutis causa impetrari ut castra munire instituerent, quo facilius repentinos hostium impetus sustinerent.

Meanwhile, it was equitable that, for the sake of the common safety, it be obtained from them that they should begin to fortify the camp, in order that they might more easily withstand the sudden assaults of the enemy.

[30] Fuit haec oratio non ingrata Gallis, et maxime, quod ipse animo non defecerat tanto accepto incommodo neque se in occultum abdiderat et conspectum multitudinis fugerat; plusque animo providere et praesentire existimabatur, quod re integra primo incendendum Avaricum, post deserendum censuerat. Itaque ut reliquorum imperatorum res adversae auctoritatem minuunt, sic huius ex contrario dignitas incommodo accepto in dies augebatur. Simul in spem veniebant eius adfirmatione de reliquis adiungendis civitatibus; primumque eo tempore Galli castra munire instituerunt et sic sunt animo confirmati, homines insueti laboris, ut omnia quae imperarentur sibi patienda existimarent.

[30] This oration was not unpleasing to the Gauls, and especially because he himself had not failed in spirit upon so great a misfortune received, nor had he withdrawn himself into concealment and fled the sight of the multitude; and he was thought to have more foresight and presentiment in mind, because, with the matter still intact, he had judged that Avaricum should first be burned, afterward abandoned. And so, just as adverse affairs diminish the authority of the other commanders, thus in his case, on the contrary, his dignity, with the misfortune received, was increasing day by day. At the same time they were coming into hope by his affirmation about the remaining states to be joined; and for the first time at that period the Gauls began to fortify the camp, and thus were confirmed in spirit—men unaccustomed to labor—so that they deemed that all things which were ordered must be endured by themselves.

[31] Nec minus quam est pollicitus Vercingetorix animo laborabat ut reliquas civitates adiungeret, atque eas donis pollicitationibusque alliciebat. Huic rei idoneos homines deligebat, quorum quisque aut oratione subdola aut amicitia facillime capere posset. Qui Avarico expugnato refugerant, armandos vestiendosque curat; simul, ut deminutae copiae redintegrarentur, imperat certum numerum militum civitatibus, quem et quam ante diem in castra adduci velit, sagittariosque omnes, quorum erat permagnus numerus in Gallia, conquiri et ad se mitti iubet.

[31] Nor less than he had promised did Vercingetorix labor in spirit to adjoin the remaining states, and he enticed them with gifts and promissory offers. For this matter he was selecting fit men, each of whom could most easily captivate by crafty oration or by friendship. Those who, after Avaricum was taken by storm, had fled back, he sees to arming and clothing; at the same time, that the diminished forces might be reintegrated, he commands a fixed number of soldiers from the states, both whom and by what day he wishes to be led into the camp, and he orders that all the archers, of whom there was a very great number in Gaul, be sought out and sent to himself.

His rebus celeriter id quod Avarici deperierat expletur. Interim Teutomatus, Olloviconis filius, rex Nitiobrigum, cuius pater ab senatu nostro amicus erat appellatus, cum magno equitum suorum numero et quos ex Aquitania conduxerat ad eum pervenit.

By these measures, that which had been lost at Avaricum is swiftly made up. Meanwhile Teutomatus, son of Ollovico, king of the Nitiobriges—whose father had been styled a friend by our Senate—came to him with a great number of his own horsemen and those whom he had hired from Aquitania.

[32] Caesar Avarici complures dies commoratus summamque ibi copiam frumenti et reliqui commeatus nactus exercitum ex labore atque inopia refecit. Iam prope hieme confecta cum ipso anni tempore ad gerendum bellum vocaretur et ad hostem proficisci constituisset, sive eum ex paludibus silvisque elicere sive obsidione premere posset, legati ad eum principes Aeduorum veniunt oratum ut maxime necessario tempore civitati subveniat: summo esse in periculo rem, quod, cum singuli magistratus antiquitus creari atque regiam potestatem annum obtinere consuessent, duo magistratum gerant et se uterque eorum legibus creatum esse dicat. Horum esse alterum Convictolitavem, florentem et illustrem adulescentem, alterum Cotum, antiquissima familia natum atque ipsum hominem summae potentiae et magnae cognationis, cuius frater Valetiacus proximo anno eundem magistratum gesserit.

[32] Caesar, having tarried at Avaricum for several days and having there obtained a very great supply of grain and the remaining commissariat, restored the army from toil and want. Now with winter nearly completed, since by the very season of the year he was being called to wage war and had decided to set out against the enemy—whether he could draw him out from the marshes and forests or press him by siege—envoys, the leading men of the Aedui, come to him to beg that he come to the aid of the state at a most pressing time: that the situation is in the greatest danger, because, whereas single magistrates from ancient times were accustomed to be created and to hold the regal power for a year, two are bearing the magistracy, and each of them says that he has been created by the laws. Of these, the one is Convictolitavis, a flourishing and illustrious young man; the other, Cotus, born of a most ancient family and himself a man of the highest power and of great kinship, whose brother Valetiacus in the previous year had held the same magistracy.

Civitatem esse omnem in armis; divisum senatum, divisum populum, suas cuiusque eorum clientelas. Quod si diutius alatur controversia, fore uti pars cum parte civitatis confligat. Id ne accidat, positum in eius diligentia atque auctoritate.

that the whole state is in arms; the senate divided, the people divided, each of them with their own clienteles. And that, if the controversy is fostered any longer, it will come about that one part will clash with another part of the state. That this not occur depends on his diligence and authority.

[33] Caesar, etsi a bello atque hoste discedere detrimentosum esse existimabat, tamen non ignorans quanta ex dissensionibus incommoda oriri consuessent, ne tanta et tam coniuncta populo Romano civitas, quam ipse semper aluisset omnibusque rebus ornasset, ad vim atque arma descenderet, atque ea pars quae minus sibi confideret auxilia a Vercingetorige arcesseret, huic rei praevertendum existimavit et, quod legibus Aeduorum eis, qui summum magistra tum obtinerent, excedere ex finibus non liceret, ne quid de iure aut de legibus eorum deminuisse videretur, ipse in Aeduos proficisci statuit senatumque omnem et quos inter controversia esset ad se Decetiam evocavit. Cum prope omnis civitas eo convenisset, docereturque paucis clam convocatis alio loco, alio tempore atque oportuerit fratrem a fratre renuntiatum, cum leges duo ex una familia vivo utroque non solum magistratus creari vetarent, sed etiam in senatu esse prohiberent, Cotum imperium deponere coegit, Convictolitavem, qui per sacerdotes more civitatis intermissis magistratibus esset creatus, potestatem obtinere iussit.

[33] Caesar, although he judged it detrimental to withdraw from the war and from the enemy, nevertheless, not unaware how great inconveniences were wont to arise from dissensions, lest so great a commonwealth and so closely joined to the Roman people, which he himself had always nourished and adorned with all things, should descend to force and arms, and lest the party which trusted itself less should summon auxiliaries from Vercingetorix, thought that this matter must be preempted; and, because by the laws of the Aedui it was not permitted for those who held the supreme magistracy to go out beyond the borders, lest he seem to have diminished anything of their right or of their laws, he decided to set out to the Aedui and summoned to himself at Decetia the whole senate and those between whom there was a controversy. When almost the whole state had assembled there, and it was shown that, a few having been secretly convoked in another place, at another time than was proper, a brother had been proclaimed by a brother, although the laws forbade that two from one family, both being alive, not only be created magistrates but even be in the senate, he compelled Cottus to lay down his imperium, and ordered Convictolitavis, who through the priests, by the custom of the state, the magistracies having been intermitted, had been created, to hold the authority.

[34] Hoc decreto interposito cohortatus Aeduos, ut controversiarum ac dissensionis obliviscerentur atque omnibus omissis his rebus huic bello servirent eaque quae meruissent praemia ab se devicta Gallia exspectarent equitatumque omnem et peditum milia decem sibi celeriter mitterent, quae in praesidiis rei frumentariae causa disponeret, exercitum in duas partes divisit: quattuor legiones in Senones Parisiosque Labieno ducendas dedit, sex ipse in Arvernos ad oppidum Gergoviam secundum flumen Elaver duxit; equitatus partem illi attribuit, partem sibi reliquit. Qua re cognita Vercingetorix omnibus interruptis eius fluminis pontibus ab altera fluminis parte iter facere coepit.

[34] With this decree interposed, he exhorted the Aedui to forget controversies and dissension and, all these matters omitted, to serve in this war, and to expect from himself, Gaul having been conquered, the rewards which they had merited, and to send quickly to him all their cavalry and ten thousand of foot-soldiers, which he might dispose in garrisons for the sake of the grain-supply; he divided the army into two parts: he gave four legions to Labienus to be led into the Senones and the Parisii, and he himself led six into the Arverni to the town Gergovia along the river Elaver; part of the cavalry he assigned to him, part he kept for himself. When this matter was learned, Vercingetorix, with all the bridges of that river broken, began to make his march from the other side of the river.

[35] Cum uterque utrimque exisset exercitus, in conspectu fereque e regione castris castra ponebant dispositis exploratoribus, necubi effecto ponte Romani copias traducerent. Erat in magnis Caesaris difficultatibus res, ne maiorem aestatis partem flumine impediretur, quod non fere ante autumnum Elaver vado transiri solet. Itaque, ne id accideret, silvestri loco castris positis e regione unius eorum pontium, quos Vercingetorix rescindendos curaverat, postero die cum duabus legionibus in occulto restitit; reliquas copias cum omnibus impedimentis, ut consueverat, misit, apertis quibusdam cohortibus, uti numerus legionum constare videretur.

[35] When each army had gone out on either side, they were pitching camp in sight and almost directly over-against one another, with scouts disposed, lest anywhere, if a bridge were effected, the Romans should lead their forces across. The matter was among Caesar’s great difficulties, lest he be hindered by the river for the greater part of the summer, because the Elaver is hardly wont to be crossed by a ford before autumn. And so, lest that should happen, with the camp pitched in a wooded place over-against one of those bridges which Vercingetorix had taken care to have cut down, on the next day with two legions he remained in concealment; he sent the remaining forces with all the impediments, as he was accustomed, with certain cohorts laid open, in order that the number of the legions might seem to stand firm.

His quam longissime possent egredi iussis, cum iam ex diei tempore coniecturam ceperat in castra perventum, isdem sublicis, quarum pars inferior integra remanebat, pontem reficere coepit. Celeriter effecto opere legionibusque traductis et loco castris idoneo delecto reliquas copias revocavit. Vercingetorix re cognita, ne contra suam voluntatem dimicare cogeretur, magnis itineribus antecessit.

With these men ordered to go out as far as they could, since from the time of day he had already taken a conjecture that they had reached the camp, he began to refashion the bridge with the same piles, of which the lower part remained intact. The work having been swiftly completed and the legions led across, and a place suitable for a camp chosen, he recalled the remaining forces. Vercingetorix, the matter learned, so that he might not be compelled to do battle against his will, went on ahead by great marches.

[36] Caesar ex eo loco quintis castris Gergoviam pervenit equestrique eo die proelio levi facto perspecto urbis situ, quae posita in altissimo monte omnes aditus difficiles habebat, de expugnatione desperavit, de obsessione non prius agendum constituit, quam rem frumentariam expedisset. At Vercingetorix castris, prope oppidum positis, mediocribus circum se intervallis separatim singularum civitatium copias collocaverat atque omnibus eius iugi collibus occupatis, qua despici poterat, horribilem speciem praebebat; principesque earum civitatium, quos sibi ad consilium capiendum delegerat, prima luce cotidie ad se convenire iubebat, seu quid communicandum, seu quid administrandum videretur; neque ullum fere diem intermittebat quin equestri proelio interiectis sagittariis, quid in quoque esset animi ac virtutis suorum perspiceret. Erat e regione oppidi collis sub ipsis radicibus montis, egregie munitus atque ex omni parte circumcisus; quem si tenerent nostri, et aquae magna parte et pabulatione libera prohibituri hostes videbantur.

[36] From that place Caesar reached Gergovia at the fifth encampment, and, after a light cavalry skirmish having been fought that day and the site of the city having been surveyed—for it was set upon a very high mountain and had difficult approaches on all sides—he despaired of storming it, and determined that he should not proceed with a siege before he had disentangled the grain-supply. But Vercingetorix, with his camp pitched near the town, had stationed separately, at moderate intervals around him, the forces of the several civitates; and, with all the hills of that ridge occupied, wherever one could look down, he presented a terrible spectacle; and the chiefs of those civitates, whom he had chosen to take counsel with him, he ordered to assemble to him at first light every day, whether anything seemed to require conference or administration; nor did he intermit almost any day without, in a cavalry engagement, with archers interspersed, ascertaining what spirit and courage there was in each of his men. There was, opposite the town, a hill at the very foot of the mountain, excellently fortified and cut off on every side; if our men were to hold it, they seemed likely to shut the enemy off both from a great portion of water and from free foraging.

Sed is locus praesidio ab his non nimis firmo tenebatur. Tamen silentio noctis Caesar ex castris egressus, priusquam subsidio ex oppido veniri posset, deiecto praesidio potitus loco duas ibi legiones collocavit fossamque duplicem duodenum pedum a maioribus castris ad minora perduxit, ut tuto ab repentino hostium incursu etiam singuli commeare possent.

But that place was held by them with a garrison not overly firm. Nevertheless, in the silence of night Caesar, having gone out from the camp, before relief could come from the town, after the garrison had been driven down, gained possession of the place and stationed two legions there, and he carried a double ditch of twelve feet from the larger camp to the smaller, so that even single soldiers might be able to go back and forth safely against a sudden incursion of the enemy.

[37] Dum haec ad Gergoviam geruntur, Convictolitavis Aeduus, cui magistratum adiudicatum a Caesare demonstravimus, sollicitatus ab Arvernis pecunia cum quibusdam adulescentibus colloquitur; quorum erat princeps Litaviccus atque eius fratres, amplissima familia nati adulescentes. Cum his praemium communicat hortaturque, ut se liberos et imperio natos meminerint. Vnam esse Aeduorum civitatem, quae certissimam Galliae victoriam detineat; eius auctoritate reliquas contineri; qua traducta locum consistendi Romanis in Gallia non fore.

[37] While these things are being carried on at Gergovia, Convictolitavis the Aeduan, to whom we have shown that the magistracy had been adjudicated by Caesar, having been solicited by the Arverni with money, confers with certain adolescents; whose chief was Litaviccus and his brothers, adolescents born of a most ample family. With these he shares the reward and exhorts them to remember that they are free and born for imperium. That there is one commonwealth of the Aedui which detains the most certain victory of Gaul; by its authority the rest are contained; if it were brought over, there would not be a place of standing for the Romans in Gaul.

Esse nonnullo se Caesaris beneficio adfectum, sic tamen, ut iustissimam apud eum causam obtinuerit; sed plus communi libertati tribuere. Cur enim potius Aedui de suo iure et de legibus ad Caesarem disceptatorem, quam Romani ad Aeduos veniant? Celeriter adulescentibus et oratione magistratus et praemio deductis, cum se vel principes eius consili fore profiterentur, ratio perficiendi quaerebatur, quod civitatem temere ad suscipiendum bellum adduci posse non confidebant.

That he had been affected by some benefit of Caesar, yet in such a way that he had maintained with him a most just cause; but that he assigns more to the common liberty. For why should the Aedui rather come to Caesar as adjudicator concerning their own right and their laws, than the Romans come to the Aedui? Quickly, with the young men drawn both by the speech of the magistrate and by the reward, since they even professed that they would be the chiefs of this plan, a method of accomplishing it was sought, because they did not trust that the state could be led rashly to undertake war.

Placuit ut Litaviccus decem illis milibus, quae Caesari ad bellum mitterentur, praeficeretur atque ea ducenda curaret, fratresque eius ad Caesarem praecurrerent. Reliqua qua ratione agi placeat constituunt.

It was resolved that Litaviccus be placed in command of those ten thousand, which were being sent to Caesar for the war, and that he should take care of leading them, and that his brothers should go on ahead to Caesar. They determine by what method the remaining matters should be carried on.

[38] Litaviccus accepto exercitu, cum milia passuum circiter XXX ab Gergovia abesset, convocatis subito militibus lacrimans, "Quo proficiscimur," inquit, "milites? Omnis noster equitatus, omnis nobilitas interiit; principes civitatis, Eporedorix et Viridomarus, insimulati proditionis ab Romanis indicta causa interfecti sunt. Haec ab ipsis cognoscite, qui ex ipsa caede fugerunt: nam ego fratribus atque omnibus meis propinquis interfectis dolore prohibeor, quae gesta sunt, pronuntiare." Producuntur hi quos ille edocuerat quae dici vellet, atque eadem, quae Litaviccus pronuntiaverat, multitudini exponunt: multos equites Aeduorum interfectos, quod collocuti cum Arvernis dicerentur; ipsos se inter multitudinem militum occultasse atque ex media caede fugisse.

[38] Litaviccus, having received the army, when he was about 30 miles from Gergovia, the soldiers suddenly convened, weeping, said, "Whither are we marching, soldiers? All our cavalry, all our nobility has perished; the chiefs of the state, Eporedorix and Viridomarus, accused of treason, have been killed by the Romans with no case pleaded. Learn this from the very men themselves who fled from the slaughter itself: for I, with my brothers and all my kinsmen slain, am prevented by grief from proclaiming what has been done." Those whom he had instructed as to what he wished to be said are brought forward, and they set forth to the multitude the same things which Litaviccus had proclaimed: that many horsemen of the Aedui had been slain, because they were said to have conferred with the Arverni; that they themselves had hidden among the mass of soldiers and had fled from the midst of the slaughter.

Conclamant Aedui et Litaviccum obsecrant ut sibi consulat. "Quasi vero," inquit ille, "consili sit res, ac non necesse sit nobis Gergoviam contendere et cum Arvernis nosmet coniungere. An dubitamus quin nefario facinore admisso Romani iam ad nos interficiendos concurrant?

The Aedui cry out together and beseech Litaviccus to take thought for them. “As if indeed,” says he, “the matter were one for counsel, and it were not necessary for us to press on to Gergovia and join ourselves with the Arverni. Or do we doubt that, after a nefarious deed has been committed, the Romans will now run together to put us to death?”

Proinde, si quid in nobis animi est, persequamur eorum mortem qui indignissime interierunt, atque hos latrones interficiamus." Ostendit cives Romanos, qui eius praesidi fiducia una erant: magnum numerum frumenti commeatusque diripit, ipsos crudeliter excruciatos interficit. Nuntios tota civitate Aeduorum dimittit, eodem mendacio de caede equitum et principum permovet; hortatur ut simili ratione atque ipse fecerit suas iniurias persequantur.

"Accordingly, if there is any spirit in us, let us pursue the death of those who most disgracefully have perished, and let us slay these brigands." He points out the Roman citizens, who, by confidence in his protection, were together there: he plunders a great quantity of grain and supplies, and, after cruel tortures, kills the men themselves. He sends messengers through the whole commonwealth of the Aedui, and with the same lie about the slaughter of the cavalry and the chiefs he stirs them; he urges that, by a similar method as he himself has done, they should pursue their injuries.

[39] Eporedorix Aeduus, summo loco natus adulescens et summae domi potentiae, et una Viridomarus, pari aetate et gratia, sed genere dispari, quem Caesar ab Diviciaco sibi traditum ex humili loco ad summam dignitatem perduxerat, in equitum numero convenerant nominatim ab eo evocati. His erat inter se de principatu contentio, et in illa magistratuum controversia alter pro Convictolitavi, alter pro Coto summis opibus pugnaverant. Ex eis Eporedorix cognito Litavicci consilio media fere nocte rem ad Caesarem defert; orat ne patiatur civitatem pravis adulescentium consiliis ab amicitia populi Romani deficere; quod futurum provideat, si se tot hominum milia cum hostibus coniunxerint, quorum salutem neque propinqui neglegere, neque civitas levi momento aestimare posset.

[39] Eporedorix the Aeduan, a youth born of the highest rank and of the greatest power at home, and along with him Viridomarus, equal in age and favor, but unequal in birth—whom Caesar, handed over to him by Diviciacus, had led from a humble place to the highest dignity—had assembled in the number of the cavalry, summoned by name by him. Between these there was a contention about the principate, and in that controversy of the magistracies the one had fought with the utmost resources for Convictolitavis, the other for Cotus. Of these, Eporedorix, the plan of Litaviccus having been learned, reports the matter to Caesar about the middle of the night; he begs that he not allow the state, by the depraved counsels of adolescents, to defect from the friendship of the Roman people; he foresees that this will come to pass, if so many thousands of men join themselves with the enemies, whose safety neither their kinsmen could neglect, nor could the state assess at slight weight.

[40] Magna adfectus sollicitudine hoc nuntio Caesar, quod semper Aeduorum civitati praecipue indulserat, nulla interposita dubitatione legiones expeditas quattuor equitatumque omnem ex castris educit; nec fuit spatium tali tempore ad contrahenda castra, quod res posita in celeritate videbatur; Gaium Fabium legatum eum legionibus duabus castris praesidio relinquit. Fratres Litavicci eum comprehendi iussisset, paulo ante reperit ad hostes fugisse. Adhortatus milites, ne necessario tempore itineris labore permoveantur, cupidissimis omnibus progressus milia passuum XXV agmen Aeduorum conspicatus immisso equitatu iter eorum moratur atque impedit interdicitque omnibus ne quemquam interficiant.

[40] Affected with great solicitude by this report, because he had always especially indulged the Aeduan state, with no hesitation interposed he leads out from the camp the four unencumbered legions and all the cavalry; nor was there time at such a moment to contract the camp, since the matter seemed to be placed in celerity; he leaves the legate Gaius Fabius with two legions as a garrison for the camp. He discovers that the brothers of Litaviccus, whom he had ordered to be apprehended, had a little before fled to the enemy. Having exhorted the soldiers not to be disturbed by the labor of the march at a necessary time, with all being most eager, after advancing 25 miles he caught sight of the column of the Aedui; sending in the cavalry he delays and hampers their march and interdicts all from killing anyone.

Eporedorigem et Viridomarum, quos illi interfectos existimabant, inter equites versari suosque appellare iubet. His cognitis et Litavicci fraude perspecta Aedui manus tendere, deditionem significare et proiectis armis mortem deprecari incipiunt. Litaviccus cum suis clientibus, quibus more Gallorum nefas est etiam in extrema fortuna deserere patronos, Gergoviam profugit.

He orders that Eporedorix and Viridomarus, whom they supposed had been slain, move among the horsemen and call upon their own men. With these things learned and Litaviccus’s fraud perceived, the Aedui begin to stretch out their hands, to signify surrender, and, having thrown down their arms, to deprecate death. Litaviccus, with his clients—for whom by the custom of the Gauls it is impious even in extreme fortune to desert their patrons—fled to Gergovia.

[41] Caesar nuntiis ad civitatem Aeduorum missis, qui suo beneficio conservatos docerent quos iure belli interficere potuisset, tribusque horis noctis exercitui ad quietem datis castra ad Gergoviam movit. Medio fere itinere equites a Fabio missi, quanto res in periculo fuerit, exponunt. Summis copiis castra oppugnata demonstrant, cum crebro integri defessis succederent nostrosque assiduo labore defatigarent, quibus propter magnitudinem castrorum perpetuo esset isdem in vallo permanendum.

[41] Caesar, having sent messengers to the state of the Aedui to inform them that, by his beneficence, those were preserved whom he could have slain by the right of war, and having given three hours of the night to the army for rest, moved the camp toward Gergovia. About midway on the march, the cavalry sent by Fabius set forth how perilous the situation had been: they show that the camp had been assaulted with the utmost forces, as fresh troops frequently relieved the wearied and exhausted our men with continual toil, since, on account of the magnitude of the camp, it was necessary for the same men to remain continually on the rampart.

Multitudine sagittarum atque omnis generis telorum multos vulneratos; ad haec sustinenda magno usui fuisse tormenta. Fabium discessu eorum duabus relictis portis obstruere ceteras pluteosque vallo addere et se in posterum diem similemque casum apparare. His rebus cognitis Caesar summo studio militum ante ortum solis in castra pervenit.

By the multitude of arrows and missiles of every kind many were wounded; to withstand these, the engines (artillery) had been of great use. On their withdrawal, Fabius, leaving two gates, blocked the rest and added mantelets to the rampart, and prepared himself for the next day and a similar occurrence. When these matters were learned, Caesar, by the utmost exertion of the soldiers, reached the camp before sunrise.

[42] Dum haec ad Gergoviam geruntur, Aedui primis nuntiis ab Litavicco acceptis nullum sibi ad cognoscendum spatium relinquunt. Impellit alios avaritia, alios iracundia et temeritas, quae maxime illi hominum generi est innata, ut levem auditionem habeant pro re comperta. Bona civium Romanorum diripiunt, caedes faciunt, in servitutem abstrahunt.

[42] While these things are being conducted at Gergovia, the Aedui, upon the first reports received from Litaviccus, leave themselves no time for inquiry. Avarice impels some, iracundity and temerity others—temerity being especially inborn in that race of men—so that they take slight hearsay for an established fact. They plunder the goods of Roman citizens, commit slaughters, drag off into servitude.

Adiuvat rem proclinatam Convictolitavis plebemque ad furorem impellit, ut facinore admisso ad sanitatem reverti pudeat. Marcum Aristium, tribunum militum, iter ad legionem facientem fide data ex oppido Cabillono educunt: idem facere cogunt eos, qui negotiandi causa ibi constiterant. Hos continuo (in) itinere adorti omnibus impedimentis exuunt; repugnantes diem noctemque obsident; multis utrimque interfectis maiorem multitudinem armatorum concitant.

Convictolitavis aids the already-inclined affair and drives the plebs into fury, so that, with a crime admitted, it may shame them to return to sanity. Marcus Aristius, a military tribune, as he was making his way to the legion, under a pledge given, they lead out from the town of Cabillonum; they compel those who had halted there for the sake of trading to do the same. These men, immediately attacked on the (in) journey, they strip of all impediments; when they resist, they besiege them day and night; with many slain on both sides, they incite a greater multitude of armed men.

[43] Interim nuntio allato omnes eorum milites in potestate Caesaris teneri, concurrunt ad Aristium, nihil publico factum consilio demonstrant; quaestionem de bonis direptis decernunt, Litavicci fatrumque bona publicant, legatos ad Caesarem sui purgandi gratia mittunt. Haec faciunt reciperandorum suorum causa; sed contaminati facinore et capti compendio ex direptis bonis, quod ea res ad multos pertinebat, timore poenae exterriti consilia clam de bello inire incipiunt civitatesque reliquas legationibus sollicitant. Quae tametsi Caesar intellegebat, tamen quam mitissime potest legatos appellat: nihil se propter inscientiam levitatemque vulgi gravius de civitate iudicare neque de sua in Aeduos benevolentia deminuere.

[43] Meanwhile, with a message brought that all their soldiers were held in the power of Caesar, they run together to Aristius, declare that nothing had been done by public counsel, decree an inquest concerning the goods plundered, publicate (confiscate to the state) the goods of Litaviccus and his brothers, and send envoys to Caesar for the sake of purging themselves. They do these things for the cause of recovering their own; but, stained by the crime and seized by the compendium (profit) from the plundered goods—because that matter pertained to many—terrified by fear of punishment, they begin secretly to enter into counsels of war and solicit the remaining communities by embassies. Although Caesar understood these things, nevertheless he addresses the envoys as mildly as he can: that he will judge nothing more gravely concerning the state on account of the ignorance and levity of the common crowd, nor diminish his benevolence toward the Aedui.

Ipse maiorem Galliae motum exspectans, ne ab omnibus civitatibus circumsisteretur, consilia inibat quemadmodum ab Gergovia discederet ac rursus omnem exercitum contraheret, ne profectio nata ab timore defectionis similis fugae videretur.

He himself, expecting a greater commotion of Gaul, lest he be surrounded by all the states, was taking counsel how he might withdraw from Gergovia and again contract the whole army, lest a departure born from fear of defection should seem like a flight.

[44] Haec cogitanti accidere visa est facultas bene rei gerendae. Nam cum in minora castra operis perspiciendi causa venisset, animadvertit collem, qui ab hostibus tenebatur, nudatum hominibus, qui superioribus diebus vix prae multitudine cerni poterat. Admiratus quaerit ex perfugis causam, quorum magnus ad eum cotidie numerus confluebat.

[44] While he was considering these things, a faculty—an opportunity—seemed to occur for the affair to be well conducted. For when he had come into the lesser camp for the sake of inspecting the works, he noticed that the hill, which was held by the enemies, was stripped of men—one which in previous days could scarcely be seen on account of the multitude. Astonished, he inquires from the defectors the reason, of whom a great number was flocking to him daily.

Constabat inter omnes, quod iam ipse Caesar per exploratores cognoverat, dorsum esse eius iugi prope aequum, sed hunc silvestrem et angustum, qua esset aditus ad alteram partem oppidi; huic loco vehementer illos timere nec iam aliter sentire, uno colle ab Romanis occupato, si alterum amisissent, quin paene circumvallati atque omni exitu et pabulatione interclusi viderentur: ad hunc muniendum omnes a Vercingetorige evocatos.

It was agreed among all—a fact which Caesar himself had already learned through scouts—that the ridge-back of that ridge was nearly level, but that this place was wooded and narrow where there was an approach to the other part of the town; that they greatly feared this place and now thought no otherwise than that, with one hill occupied by the Romans, if they should lose the other, they would seem almost circumvallated and cut off from every exit and foraging; for the fortifying of this, all had been summoned by Vercingetorix.

[45] Hac re cognita Caesar mittit complures equitum turmas; eis de media nocte imperat, ut paulo tumultuosius omnibus locis vagarentur. Prima luce magnum numerum impedimentorum ex castris mulorumque produci deque his stramenta detrahi mulionesque cum cassidibus equitum specie ac simulatione collibus circumvehi iubet. His paucos addit equites qui latius ostentationis causa vagarentur.

[45] With this matter recognized, Caesar sends several squadrons of cavalry; he orders them, from the middle of the night, to roam a little more tumultuously in all places. At first light he orders a great number of baggage from the camp and mules to be brought out, and from these the straw to be taken off, and the muleteers, with helmets, in the appearance and simulation of horsemen, to be carried around the hills. To these he adds a few horsemen who might roam more widely for the sake of ostentation.

Longo circuitu easdem omnes iubet petere regiones. Haec procul ex oppido videbantur, ut erat a Gergovia despectus in castra, neque tanto spatio certi quid esset explorari poterat. Legionem unam eodem iugo mittit et paulum progressam inferiore constituit loco silvisque occultat.

By a long circuit he orders them all to make for the same regions. These things were seen from afar from the town, since from Gergovia there was a view down into the camp, and at so great a distance what the definite situation was could not be reconnoitered. He sends one legion onto the same ridge and, after it had advanced a little, he stations it in a lower place and conceals it with the woods.

Augetur Gallis suspicio, atque omnes illo ad munitionem copiae traducuntur. Vacua castra hostium Caesar conspicatus tectis insignibus suorum occultatisque signis militaribus raros milites, ne ex oppido animadverterentur, ex maioribus castris in minora traducit legatisque, quos singulis legionibus praefecerat, quid fieri velit ostendit: in primis monet ut contineant milites, ne studio pugnandi aut spe praedae longius progrediantur; quid iniquitas loci habeat incommodi proponit: hoc una celeritate posse mutari; occasionis esse rem, non proeli. His rebus eitis signum dat et ab dextra parte alio ascensu eodem tempore Aeduos mittit.

Suspicion is augmented among the Gauls, and all the troops are led over there to the fortification. Caesar, having caught sight that the enemy’s camp was empty, with the distinctive insignia of his own covered and the military standards concealed, transfers thinly scattered soldiers from the larger camp into the smaller, lest they be noticed from the town; and to the legates, whom he had put in charge of each legion, he shows what he wishes to be done: first and foremost he warns them to hold the soldiers in check, lest from zeal for fighting or hope of booty they advance farther; he sets forth what inconvenience the inequity of the ground carries; that this can be altered by one thing—celerity; that the matter is one of occasion, not of battle. With these things set forth he gives the signal, and on the right side by another ascent at the same time he sends the Aedui.

[46] Oppidi murus ab planitie atque initio ascensus recta regione, si nullus anfractus intercederet, MCC passus aberat: quidquid huc circuitus ad molliendum clivum accesserat, id spatium itineris augebat. A medio fere colle in longitudinem, ut natura montis ferebat, ex grandibus saxis sex pedum murum qui nostrorum impetum tardaret praeduxerant Galli, atque inferiore omni spatio vacuo relicto superiorem partem collis usque ad murum oppidi densissimis castris compleverant. Milites dato signo celeriter ad munitionem perveniunt eamque transgressi trinis castris potiuntur; ac tanta fuit in castris capiendis celeritas, ut Teutomatus, rex Nitiobrigum, subito in tabernaculo oppressus, ut meridie conquieverat, superiore corporis parte nudata vulnerato equo vix se ex manibus praedantium militum eriperet.

[46] The town wall from the plain and the beginning of the ascent in a straight direction, if no winding intervened, was 1200 paces away: whatever circuit had been added here to soften the slope increased that span of the journey. From about the middle of the hill lengthwise, as the nature of the mountain allowed, the Gauls had run out in front, from large stones, a wall of six feet to slow the assault of our men, and, the whole lower space left empty, they had filled the upper part of the hill up to the wall of the town with the densest camps. The soldiers, the signal having been given, swiftly reach the fortification and, having crossed it, take possession of three camps; and so great was the speed in capturing the camps that Teutomatus, king of the Nitiobriges, suddenly caught in his tent, just as he had rested at midday, with the upper part of his body laid bare, his horse wounded, scarcely tore himself from the hands of the plundering soldiers.

[47] Consecutus id quod animo proposuerat, Caesar receptui cani iussit legionique decimae, quacum erat, continuo signa constituit. Ac reliquarum legionum milites non exaudito sono tubae, quod satis magna valles intercedebat, tamen ab tribunis militum legatisque, ut erat a Caesare praeceptum, retinebantur. Sed elati spe celeris victoriae et hostium fuga et superiorum temporum secundis proeliis nihil adeo arduum sibi esse existimaverunt quod non virtute consequi possent, neque finem prius sequendi fecerunt quam muro oppidi portisque appropinquarunt.

[47] Having achieved that which he had proposed in mind, Caesar ordered the recall to be sounded and immediately set the standards of the Tenth Legion, with which he was, in place. And the soldiers of the remaining legions, not having heard distinctly the sound of the trumpet, because a rather large valley intervened, nevertheless were being held back by the military tribunes and the legates, as had been prescribed by Caesar. But, uplifted by the hope of a swift victory and by the enemy’s flight and by the favorable battles of earlier times, they judged that nothing was so arduous for them that they could not attain it by valor, nor did they make an end of pursuing before they approached the wall of the town and the gates.

Tum vero ex omnibus urbis partibus orto clamore, qui longius aberant repentino tumultu perterriti, cum hostem intra portas esse existimarent, sese ex oppido eiecerunt. Matres familiae de muro vestem argentumque iactabant et pectore nudo prominentes passis manibus obtestabantur Romanos, ut sibi parcerent neu, sicut Avarici fecissent, ne a mulieribus quidem atque infantibus abstinerent: nonnullae de muris per manus demissae sese militibus tradebant. Lucius Fabius, centurio legionis VIII, quem inter suos eo die dixisse constabat excitari se Avaricensibus praemiis neque commissurum, ut prius quisquam murum ascenderet, tres suos nactus manipulares atque ab eis sublevatus murum ascendit: hos ipse rursus singulos exceptans in murum extulit.

Then indeed, with a shout arisen from all parts of the city, those who were farther away, terrified by the sudden tumult, since they supposed the enemy to be within the gates, threw themselves out of the town. Matrons were throwing clothing and silver from the wall and, leaning forward with bared breast, with hands outspread, were adjuring the Romans to spare them, and not, as they had done at Avaricum, to fail to spare even women and infants; some, lowered from the walls by hand, were surrendering themselves to the soldiers. Lucius Fabius, a centurion of the legion 8, who among his own was agreed on that day to have said that he was stirred by the Avarican rewards and would not allow that anyone should climb the wall before him, having found three comrades of his maniple and being lifted up by them, mounted the wall; these men, in turn, catching them one by one, he himself hoisted onto the wall.

[48] Interim ei qui ad alteram partem oppidi, ut supra demonstravimus, munitionis causa convenerant, primo exaudito clamore, inde etiam crebris nuntiis incitati, oppidum a Romanis teneri, praemissis equitibus magno concursu eo contenderunt. Eorum ut quisque primus venerat, sub muro consistebat suorumque pugnantium numerum augebat. Quorum cum magna multitudo convenisset, matres familiae, quae paulo ante Romanis de muro manus tendebant, suos obtestari et more Gallico passum capillum ostentare liberosque in conspectum proferre coeperunt.

[48] Meanwhile those who, to the other part of the town, as we have shown above, had come together for the cause of munition/fortification, when first the shout had been heard, then also incited by frequent messengers that the town was held by the Romans, with horsemen sent ahead, with great concourse they hastened thither. Of them, as each one arrived first, he took his stand under the wall and was augmenting the number of his own fighting men. When a great multitude of them had assembled, the mothers of families (matrons), who a little before were stretching their hands from the wall to the Romans, began to adjure their own men and, in the Gallic manner, to display their hair let down, and to bring their children forward into sight.

Erat Romanis nec loco nec numero aequa contentio; simul et cursu et spatio pugnae defatigati non facile recentes atque integros sustinebant.

The contention was not equal for the Romans either in position or in number; at the same time, wearied by the running and by the span of the fight, they did not easily sustain the fresh and unbroken troops.

[49] Caesar, cum iniquo loco pugnari hostiumque augeri copias videret, praemetuens suis ad Titum Sextium legatum, quem minoribus castris praesidio reliquerat, misit, ut cohortes ex castris celeriter educeret et sub infimo colle ab dextro latere hostium constitueret, ut, si nostros loco depulsos vidisset, quo minus libere hostes insequerentur terreret. Ipse paulum ex eo loco cum legione progressus, ubi constiterat, eventum pugnae exspectabat.

[49] Caesar, since he saw that the fight was being waged in an unfavorable place and that the forces of the enemy were being augmented, fearing beforehand for his own, sent to Titus Sextius, legate, whom he had left as a garrison at the smaller camp, that he should quickly lead cohorts out of the camp and station them at the foot of the hill, on the enemy’s right flank, so that, if he should see our men driven from their position, he might overawe them, to the end that the enemy might pursue less freely. He himself, having advanced a little from that place with a legion, where he had halted, awaited the outcome of the battle.

[50] Cum acerrime comminus pugnaretur, hostes loco et numero, nostri virtute confiderent, subito sunt Aedui visi ab latere nostris aperto, quos Caesar ab dextra parte alio ascensu manus distinendae causa miserat. Hi similitudine armorum vehementer nostros perterruerunt, ac tametsi dextris humeris exsertis animadvertebantur, quod insigne +pacatum+ esse consuerat, tamen id ipsum sui fallendi causa milites ab hostibus factum existimabant. Eodem tempore Lucius Fabius centurio quique una murum ascenderant circumventi atque interfecti muro praecipitabantur.

[50] When it was being fought most fiercely at close quarters, the enemies relied on position and on number, our men on valor; suddenly the Aedui were seen on the flank, with our line laid open—whom Caesar had sent on the right side by another ascent for the purpose of distracting forces. These, by the similarity of their arms, greatly terrified our men, and although they were observed with their right shoulders stripped bare, which badge had been accustomed to be a sign of peace, nevertheless the soldiers thought that this very thing had been done by the enemies for the purpose of deceiving them. At the same time Lucius Fabius, a centurion, and those who had mounted the wall together with him, surrounded and slain, were being hurled headlong from the wall.

Marcus Petronius, eiusdem legionis centurio, cum portam excidere conatus esset, a multitudine oppressus ac sibi desperans multis iam vulneribus acceptis manipularibus suis, qui illum secuti erant, "Quoniam," inquit, "me una vobiscum servare non possum, vestrae quidem certe vitae prospiciam, quos cupiditate gloriae adductus in periculum deduxi. Vos data facultate vobis consulite." Simul in medios hostes irrupit duobusque interfectis reliquos a porta paulum summovit. Conantibus auxiliari suis "Frustra," inquit, "meae vitae subvenire conamini, quem iam sanguis viresque deficiunt.

Marcus Petronius, a centurion of the same legion, when he had tried to cut down the gate, was overwhelmed by the multitude and, despairing of himself, with many wounds now received, said to his rank-and-file manipular soldiers who had followed him: "Since," he says, "I cannot save myself together with you, I will at least surely look out for your life, whom, led by a desire for glory, I have led down into peril. You, with the opportunity given, take counsel for yourselves." At once he burst into the midst of the enemies and, with two slain, drove the rest a little away from the gate. To his men who were trying to bring help he said, "In vain do you strive to come to the aid of my life, whom now blood and strength fail.

Proinde abite, dum est facultas, vosque ad legionem recipite." Ita puguans post paulum concidit ac suis saluti fuit.

"Accordingly, depart, while there is opportunity, and take yourselves back to the legion." Thus fighting, after a little he fell, and was a salvation to his own.

[51] Nostri, cum undique premerentur, XLVI centurionibus amissis deiecti sunt loco. Sed intolerantius Gallos insequentes legio decima tardavit, quae pro subsidio paulo aequiore loco constiterat. Hanc rursus XIII legionis cohortes exceperunt, quae ex castris minoribus eductae cum Tito Sextio legato ceperant locum superiorem.

[51] Our men, when they were pressed from all sides, having lost 46 centurions, were driven from their position. But the 10th legion slowed the Gauls who were pursuing too intolerantly, which had taken its stand as a reserve in a somewhat more level place. This in turn the cohorts of the 13th legion relieved, which, led out from the smaller camps, had taken the higher ground together with the legate Titus Sextius.

Legiones, ubi primum planitiem attigerunt, infestis contra hostes signis constiterunt. Vercingetorix ab radicibus collis suos intra munitiones reduxit. Eo die milites sunt paulo minus septingenti desiderati.

The legions, as soon as they reached the plain, took their stand with standards hostilely set against the enemy. Vercingetorix, from the roots of the hill, led his men back within the fortifications. On that day a little less than 700 soldiers were missing.

[52] Postero die Caesar contione advocata temeritatem cupiditatemque militum reprehendit, quod sibi ipsi iudicavissent quo procedendum aut quid agendum videretur, neque signo recipiendi dato constitissent neque ab tribunis militum legatisque retineri potuissent. Euit quid iniquitas loci posset, quid ipse ad Avaricum sensisset, cum sine duce et sine equitatu deprehensis hostibus exploratam victoriam dimisisset, ne parvum modo detrimentum in contentione propter iniquitatem loci accideret. Quanto opere eorum animi magnitudinem admiraretur, quos non castrorum munitiones, non altitudo montis, non murus oppidi tardare potuisset, tanto opere licentiam arrogantiamque reprehendere, quod plus se quam imperatorem de victoria atque exitu rerum sentire existimarent; nec minus se ab milite modestiam et continentiam quam virtutem atque animi magnitudinem desiderare.

[52] On the next day, Caesar, with an assembly convened, reprehended the temerity and cupidity of the soldiers, because they had judged for themselves whither it seemed they should advance or what should be done, and, when the signal for recalling was given, they had neither stood fast nor could they be held back by the military tribunes and legates. He showed what the unfairness of the ground could effect, what he himself had felt at Avaricum, when, the enemy having been caught without a leader and without cavalry, he had dismissed an assured victory, lest even a small loss should occur in an engagement on account of the unfairness of the ground. In proportion as he admired the greatness of spirit of those whom neither the fortifications of the camp, nor the height of the mountain, nor the wall of the town could have delayed, by so much he reprehended their license and arrogance, because they thought that they felt more about victory and the outcome of affairs than the commander; and that he desired from the soldier no less modesty and continence than valor and greatness of spirit.

[53] Hac habita contione et ad extremam orationem confirmatis militibus, ne ob hanc causam animo permoverentur neu quod iniquitas loci attulisset id virtuti hostium tribuerent, eadem de profectione cogitans quae ante senserat legiones ex castris eduxit aciemque idoneo loco constituit. Cum Vercingetorix nihil magis in aequum locum descenderet, levi facto equestri proelio atque secundo in castra exercitum reduxit. Cum hoc idem postero die fecisset, satis ad Gallicam ostentationem minuendam militumque animos confirmandos factum existimans in Aeduos movit castra.

[53] With this assembly held, and at the close of the speech the soldiers being encouraged, that they should not be emotionally disturbed on account of this cause nor attribute to the virtue of the enemies what the iniquity/disadvantage of the ground had brought, thinking the same about departure as he had previously determined, he led the legions out of the camp and posted his line in a suitable place. Since Vercingetorix did not at all come down into level ground, after a slight and successful cavalry engagement he led the army back into camp. When he had done this same thing on the next day, judging that enough had been done for diminishing Gallic ostentation and for strengthening the spirits of the soldiers, he moved camp into Aeduan territory.

Ne tum quidem insecutis hostibus tertio die ad flumen Elaver venit; pontem refecit exercitumque traduxit.

Even then, with the enemy in pursuit, on the third day he came to the river Elaver; he rebuilt the bridge and led the army across.

[54] Ibi a Viridomaro atque Eporedorige Aeduis appellatus discit cum omni equitatu Litaviccum ad sollicitandos Aeduos profectum: opus esse ipsos antecedere ad confirmandam civitatem. Etsi multis iam rebus perfidiam Aeduorum perspectam habebat atque horum discessu admaturari defectionem civitatis existimabat, tamen eos retinendos non constituit, ne aut inferre iniuriam videretur aut dare timoris aliquam suspicionem. Discedentibus his breviter sua in Aeduos merita euit, quos et quam humiles accepisset, compulsos in oppida, multatos agris omnibus ereptis copiis, imposito stipendio, obsidibus summa cum contumelia extortis, et quam in fortunam quamque in amplitudinem deduxisset, ut non solum in pristinum statum redissent, sed omnium temporum dignitatem et gratiam antecessisse viderentur.

[54] There, being appealed to by Viridomarus and Eporedorix, Aedui, he learns that Litaviccus has set out with all the cavalry to solicit/incite the Aedui: that there is need for they themselves to go on ahead to confirm the commonwealth. Although by many matters he already had the perfidy of the Aedui clearly perceived and thought that by their departure the defection of the state would be hastened, nevertheless he did not decide to detain them, lest he seem either to inflict an injury or to give any suspicion of fear. As they were departing he briefly enumerated his services toward the Aedui: in what state and how humble he had received them—driven into their towns, fined of all their fields, their resources snatched away, tribute imposed, hostages extorted with the utmost contumely—and into what fortune and what amplitude he had brought them, so that they had not only returned to their former status, but seemed to have surpassed the dignity and favor of all times.

His datis mandatis eos ab se dimisit.

With these mandates given, he dismissed them from him.

[55] Noviodunum erat oppidum Aeduorum ad ripas Ligeris opportuno loco positum. Huc Caesar omnes obsides Galliae, frumentum, pecuniam publicam, suorum atque exercitus impedimentorum magnam partem contulerat; huc magnum numerum equorum huius belli causa in Italia atque Hispania coemptum miserat. Eo cum Eporedorix Viridomarusque venissent et de statu civitatis cognovissent, Litaviccum Bibracti ab Aeduis receptum, quod est oppidum apud eos maximae auctoritatis, Convictolitavim magistratum magnamque partem senatus ad eum convenisse, legatos ad Vercingetorigem de pace et amicitia concilianda publice missos, non praetermittendum tantum commodum existimaverunt.

[55] Noviodunum was a town of the Aedui set in a strategic position on the banks of the Loire. Hither Caesar had gathered all the hostages of Gaul, grain, the public money, and a great part of the baggage of his own and of the army; hither he had sent a great number of horses, bought in Italy and Spain for the sake of this war. When Eporedorix and Viridomarus had come there and learned the state of the commonwealth—that Litaviccus had been received at Bibracte by the Aedui, which is a town among them of the greatest authority; that Convictolitavis, the magistrate, and a great part of the senate had assembled to him; that envoys had been sent publicly to Vercingetorix for the establishing of peace and friendship—they judged that so great an advantage ought not to be passed over.

Itaque interfectis Novioduni custodibus quique eo negotiandi causa convenerant pecuniam atque equos inter se partiti sunt; obsides civitatum Bibracte ad magistratum deducendos curaverunt; oppidum, quod a se teneri non posse iudicabant, ne cui esset usui Romanis, incenderunt; frumenti quod subito potuerunt navibus avexerunt, reliquum flumine atque incendio corruperunt. Ipsi ex finitimis regionibus copias cogere, praesidia custodiasque ad ripas Ligeris disponere equitatumque omnibus locis iniciendi timoris causa ostentare coeperunt, si ab re frumentaria Romanos excludere aut adductos inopia in provinciam expellere possent. Quam ad spem multum eos adiuvabat, quod Liger ex nivibus creverat, ut omnino vado non posse transiri videretur.

Therefore, after killing the guards of Noviodunum and those who had gathered there for the purpose of business, they divided the money and the horses among themselves; they took care that the hostages of the states be led down to the magistrate at Bibracte; the town, which they judged could not be held by themselves, they set on fire, lest it be of any use to the Romans; of grain, what they could on a sudden they carried off by ships, the rest they destroyed by river and by fire. They themselves began to gather forces from the neighboring regions, to deploy garrisons and guards along the banks of the Loire, and to display cavalry in all places for the purpose of injecting fear, if they could shut out the Romans from the grain-supply or, brought by want, drive them into the province. Much aided them toward this hope, because the Loire had swollen from the snows, so that it seemed altogether not able to be crossed by ford.

[56] Quibus rebus cognitis Caesar maturandum sibi censuit, si esset in perficiendis pontibus periclitandum, ut prius quam essent maiores eo coactae copiae dimicaret. Nam ut commutato consilio iter in provinciam converteret, id ne metu quidem necessario faciendum existimabat; cum infamia atque indignitas rei et oppositus mons Cevenna viarumque difficultas impediebat, tum maxime quod abiuncto Labieno atque eis legionibus quas una miserat vehementer timebat. Itaque admodum magnis diurnis nocturnisque itineribus confectis contra omnium opinionem ad Ligerem venit vadoque per equites invento pro rei necessitate opportuno, ut brachia modo atque humeri ad sustinenda arma liberi ab aqua esse possent, disposito equitatu qui vim fluminis refringeret, atque hostibus primo aspectu perturbatis, incolumem exercitum traduxit frumentumque in agris et pecoris copiam nactus repleto his rebus exercitu iter in Senones facere instituit.

[56] With these things learned, Caesar judged that he must make haste, and, if there was to be hazarding in finishing the bridges, that he should engage before greater forces had been assembled there. For that he should, with his plan changed, turn his march into the Province, he thought ought not to be done, not even by necessary fear; since the infamy and indignity of the matter, the opposing Mount Cevenna, and the difficulty of the roads hindered, and most of all because, with Labienus detached and those legions which he had sent along separated, he was greatly afraid. Therefore, very great marches by day and night having been accomplished, contrary to everyone’s expectation he came to the Loire, and a ford having been found by the cavalry, suitable to the necessity of the affair—such that only the arms and shoulders could be free from the water to bear their weapons—after stationing the cavalry to break the force of the river, and the enemy thrown into confusion at the first sight, he led his army across unharmed; and having obtained grain in the fields and a supply of cattle, his army being filled with these things, he began to make a march into the land of the Senones.

[57] Dum haec apud Caesarem geruntur, Labienus eo supplemento, quod nuper ex Italia venerat, relicto Agedinci, ut esset impedimentis praesidio, cum quattuor legionibus Lutetiam proficiscitur. Id est oppidum Parisiorum, quod positum est in insula fluminis Sequanae. Cuius adventu ab hostibus cognito magnae ex finitimis civitatibus copiae convenerunt.

[57] While these things are being done with Caesar, Labienus, leaving at Agedincum that supplement which had lately come from Italy, to be a guard for the baggage, sets out with four legions to Lutetia. That is the town of the Parisii, which is placed on an island of the river Sequana. When his arrival was learned by the enemies, great forces assembled from the neighboring communities.

Summa imperi traditur Camulogeno Aulerco, qui prope confectus aetate tamen propter singularem scientiam rei militaris ad eum est honorem evocatus. Is cum animadvertisset perpetuam esse paludem, quae influeret in Sequanam atque illum omnem locum magnopere impediret, hic consedit nostrosque transitu prohibere instituit.

The supreme command is handed over to Camulogenus of the Aulerci, who, almost worn out with age, nevertheless, on account of his singular knowledge of the military art, was called to that honor. When he had observed that there was a continuous marsh which flowed into the Seine and greatly impeded all that area, here he took position and set about preventing our men from crossing.

[58] Labienus primo vineas agere, cratibus atque aggere paludem explere atque iter munire conabatur. Postquam id difficilius confieri animadvertit, silentio e castris tertia vigilia egressus eodem quo venerat itinere Metiosedum pervenit. Id est oppidum Senonum in insula Sequanae positum, ut paulo ante de Lutetia diximus.

[58] Labienus at first was attempting to drive up the vineae, to fill the marsh with hurdles and an earthwork (agger), and to fortify the way. After he noticed that this was more difficult to accomplish, in silence he left camp at the third watch and, by the same route by which he had come, arrived at Metiosedum. That is a town of the Senones situated on an island of the Seine, as we said a little before about Lutetia.

Deprensis navibus circiter quinquaginta celeriterque coniunctis atque eo militibus iniectis et rei novitate perterritis oppidanis, quorum magna pars erat ad bellum evocata, sine contentione oppido potitur. Refecto ponte, quem superioribus diebus hostes resciderant, exercitum traducit et secundo flumine ad Lutetiam iter facere coepit. Hostes re cognita ab eis, qui Metiosedo fugerant, Lutetiam incendi pontesque eius oppidi rescindi iubent; ipsi profecti a palude ad ripas Sequanae e regione Lutetiae contra Labieni castra considunt.

Having seized about fifty ships, quickly joined them together, and, with soldiers put aboard there, the townspeople being terrified by the novelty of the affair—of whom a great part had been called out to war—he takes possession of the town without a struggle. The bridge having been repaired, which the enemy had cut in previous days, he leads the army across and began to make the march downstream to Lutetia. The enemy, the matter learned from those who had fled from Metiosedum, order Lutetia to be burned and the bridges of that town to be cut down; they themselves, having set out from the marsh to the banks of the Sequana opposite Lutetia, take up position over against Labienus’s camp.

[59] Iam Caesar a Gergovia discessisse audiebatur, iam de Aeduorum defectione et secundo Galliae motu rumores adferebantur, Gallique in colloquiis interclusum itinere et Ligeri Caesarem inopia frumenti coactum in provinciam contendisse confirmabant. Bellovaci autem defectione Aeduorum cognita, qui ante erant per se infideles, manus cogere atque aperte bellum parare coeperunt. Tum Labienus tanta rerum commutatione longe aliud sibi capiendum consilium atque antea senserat intellegebat, neque iam, ut aliquid adquireret proelioque hostes lacesseret, sed ut incolumem exercitum Agedincum reduceret, cogitabat.

[59] By now Caesar was heard to have departed from Gergovia, already rumors were being brought about the defection of the Aedui and a second movement of Gaul; and the Gauls, in conversations, were affirming that Caesar, his route cut off and by the Loire, compelled by scarcity of grain, had made for the Province. But the Bellovaci, once the defection of the Aedui was known—who before were in themselves unfaithful—began to gather bands and openly to prepare for war. Then Labienus, with so great a change of affairs, understood that a far different plan had to be adopted by himself than he had previously conceived, and he was now thinking not to acquire something and to challenge the enemy to battle, but to lead the army back safe to Agedincum.

Namque altera ex parte Bellovaci, quae civitas in Gallia maximam habet opinionem virtutis, instabant, alteram Camulogenus parato atque instructo exercitu tenebat; tum legiones a praesidio atque impedimentis interclusas maximum flumen distinebat. Tantis subito difficultatibus obiectis ab animi virtute auxilium petendum videbat.

For indeed, on the one side the Bellovaci, a civitas which in Gaul has the greatest reputation for virtue, were pressing on; the other side Camulogenus was holding with a prepared and arrayed army; then a very great river was keeping apart the legions, shut off from their guard and baggage. With such great difficulties suddenly thrown in the way, he saw that aid must be sought from courage of spirit.

[60] Sub vesperum consilio convocato cohortatus ut ea quae imperasset diligenter industrieque administrarent, naves, quas Metiosedo deduxerat, singulas equitibus Romanis attribuit, et prima confecta vigilia quattuor milia passuum secundo flumine silentio progredi ibique se exspectari iubet. Quinque cohortes, quas minime firmas ad dimicandum esse existimabat, castris praesidio relinquit; quinque eiusdem legionis reliquas de media nocte cum omnibus impedimentis adverso flumine magno tumultu proficisci imperat. Conquirit etiam lintres: has magno sonitu remorum incitatus in eandem partem mittit.

[60] Toward evening, with a council convened, having exhorted them to manage diligently and industriously the things he had commanded, he assigned the ships which he had led down from Metiosedo, one apiece to Roman horsemen, and, the first watch completed, he orders them to proceed four miles downriver in silence and to await him there. He leaves five cohorts, which he judged least firm for fighting, as a garrison for the camp; the remaining five of the same legion he orders to set out at midnight with all the baggage upriver, with great tumult. He also gathers skiffs; these, urged on with a great sound of oars, he sends into the same direction.

Ipse post paulo silentio egressus cum tribus legionibus eum locum petit quo naves appelli iusserat.

He himself, after a little while, having gone out in silence with three legions, makes for the place where he had ordered the ships to be brought to shore.

[61] Eo cum esset ventum, exploratores hostium, ut omni fluminis parte erant dispositi, inopinantes, quod magna subito erat coorta tempestas, ab nostris opprimuntur; exercitus equitatusque equitibus Romanis administrantibus, quos ei negotio praefecerat, celeriter transmittitur. Vno fere tempore sub lucem hostibus nuntiatur in castris Romanorum praeter consuetudinem tumultuari et magnum ire agmen adverso flumine sonitumque remorum in eadem parte exaudiri et paulo infra milites navibus transportari. Quibus rebus auditis, quod existimabant tribus locis transire legiones atque omnes perturbatos defectione Aeduorum fugam parare, suas quoque copias in tres partes distribuerunt.

[61] When they had come there, the scouts of the enemy, as they had been disposed along every part of the river, unawares—because a great tempest had suddenly arisen—are overpowered by our men; the army and the cavalry, under the management of the Roman horsemen to whom he had put this business in charge, are quickly conveyed across. At almost one and the same time toward daybreak it is reported to the enemy that, in the camp of the Romans, contrary to custom, there was a commotion, and that a great column was going up against the current, and that the sound of oars was being distinctly heard in the same quarter, and that a little below soldiers were being carried over by ships. On hearing these things, because they supposed that the legions were crossing in three places, and that all, disturbed by the defection of the Aedui, were preparing flight, they also distributed their own forces into three parts.

Nam praesidio e regione castrorum relicto et parva manu Metiosedum versus missa, quae tantum progrediatur, quantum naves processissent, reliquas copias contra Labienum duxerunt.

For, with a garrison left over against the camp, and a small force sent toward Metiosedum, which should advance just so far as the ships had advanced, they led the remaining troops against Labienus.

[62] Prima luce et nostri omnes erant transportati, et hostium acies cernebatur. Labienus milites cohortatus ut suae pristinae virtutis et secundissimorum proeliorum retinerent memoriam atque ipsum Caesarem, cuius ductu saepe numero hostes superassent, praesentem adesse existimarent, dat signum proeli. Primo concursu ab dextro cornu, ubi septima legio constiterat, hostes pelluntur atque in fugam coniciuntur; ab sinistro, quem locum duodecima legio tenebat, cum primi ordines hostium transfixi telis concidissent, tamen acerrime reliqui resistebant, nec dabat suspicionem fugae quisquam.

[62] At first light both all our men had been transported, and the battle-line of the enemy was being discerned. Labienus, having exhorted the soldiers that they should retain the memory of their pristine valor and of the most fortunate battles, and that they should reckon that Caesar himself, under whose duct they had many times overcome the enemy, was present, gives the signal for battle. At the first clash from the right wing, where the Seventh Legion had taken its stand, the enemies are driven and cast into flight; from the left, which place the Twelfth Legion held, when the foremost ranks of the enemy, transfixed with missiles, had fallen, nevertheless the rest were resisting most fiercely, nor did anyone give a suspicion of flight.

Ipse dux hostium Camulogenus suis aderat atque eos cohortabatur. Incerto nunc etiam exitu victoriae, cum septimae legionis tribunis esset nuntiatum quae in sinistro cornu gererentur, post tergum hostium legionem ostenderunt signaque intulerunt. Ne eo quidem tempore quisquam loco cessit, sed circumventi omnes interfectique sunt.

The enemy leader Camulogenus himself was present with his own men and was exhorting them. With the issue of victory even now uncertain, when it had been reported to the tribunes of the seventh legion what was going on in the left wing, they showed the legion behind the enemy’s back and advanced the standards. Not even then did anyone give up his place, but, surrounded, all were slain.

Eandem fortunam tulit Camulogenus. At ei qui praesidio contra castra Labieni erant relicti, cum proelium commissum audissent, subsidio suis ierunt collemque ceperunt, neque nostrorum militum victorum impetum sustinere potuerunt. Sic cum suis fugientibus permixti, quos non silvae montesque texerunt, ab equitatu sunt interfecti.

Camulogenus bore the same fortune. But those who had been left as a garrison opposite Labienus’s camp, when they had heard that battle was joined, went to the aid of their own and seized a hill, nor were they able to sustain the impetus of our victorious soldiers. Thus, commingled with their fleeing comrades, those whom the forests and mountains did not cover were slain by the cavalry.

Hoc negotio confecto Labienus revertitur Agedincum, ubi impedimenta totius exercitus relicta erant: inde cum omnibus copiis ad Caesarem pervenit.

With this business completed, Labienus returns to Agedincum, where the baggage of the whole army had been left; from there he reached Caesar with all his forces.

[63] Defectione Aeduorum cognita bellum augetur. Legationes in omnes partes circummittuntur: quantum gratia, auctoritate, pecunia valent, ad sollicitandas civitates nituntur; nacti obsides, quos Caesar apud eos deposuerat, horum supplicio dubitantes territant. Petunt a Vercingetorige Aedui ut ad se veniat rationesque belli gerendi communicet.

[63] With the defection of the Aedui known, the war is augmented. Legations are sent around into all parts: to the extent that they are strong in favor, authority, and money, they strive to solicit the states; having gotten the hostages which Caesar had deposited among them, by the punishment of these they terrify the wavering. The Aedui ask of Vercingetorix that he come to them and communicate the plans of waging the war.

Re impetrata contendunt ut ipsis summa imperi tradatur, et re in controversiam deducta totius Galliae concilium Bibracte indicitur. Eodem conveniunt undique frequentes. Multitudinis suffragiis res permittitur: ad unum omnes Vercingetorigem probant imperatorem.

With their request obtained, they press that the supreme command be handed over to themselves; and the matter having been brought into controversy, a council of all Gaul is proclaimed at Bibracte. To the same place they gather from everywhere in great numbers. By the votes of the multitude the matter is entrusted: to a man, all approve Vercingetorix as commander.

Ab hoc concilio Remi, Lingones, Treveri afuerunt: illi, quod amicitiam Romanorum sequebantur; Treveri, quod aberant longius et ab Germanis premebantur, quae fuit causa quare toto abessent bello et neutris auxilia mitterent. Magno dolore Aedui ferunt se deiectos principatu, queruntur fortunae commutationem et Caesaris indulgentiam in se requirunt, neque tamen suscepto bello suum consilium ab reliquis separare audent. Inviti summae spei adulescentes Eporedorix et Viridomarus Vercingetorigi parent.

From this council the Remi, the Lingones, and the Treveri were absent: the former, because they were following the friendship of the Romans; the Treveri, because they were farther away and were being pressed by the Germans, which was the cause why they were absent from the whole war and sent auxiliaries to neither side. With great sorrow the Aedui declare themselves cast down from the leadership, they complain of the change of fortune and seek Caesar’s indulgence for themselves; and yet, with the war undertaken, they do not dare to separate their counsel from the rest. Unwilling, the young men of the highest promise, Eporedorix and Viridomarus, obey Vercingetorix.

[64] Ipse imperat reliquis civitatibus obsides diemque ei rei constituit. Omnes equites, quindecim milia numero, celeriter convenire iubet; peditatu quem antea habuerit se fore contentum dicit, neque fortunam temptaturum aut in acie dimicaturum, sed, quoniam abundet equitatu, perfacile esse factu frumentationibus pabulationibusque Romanos prohibere, aequo modo animo sua ipsi frumenta corrumpant aedificiaque incendant, qua rei familiaris iactura perpetuum imperium libertatemque se consequi videant. His constitutis rebus Aeduis Segusiavisque, qui sunt finitimi provinciae, decem milia peditum imperat; huc addit equites octingentos.

[64] He himself orders the remaining states to give hostages and sets a day for that matter. He orders all the cavalry, fifteen thousand in number, to assemble quickly; he says he will be content with the infantry which he had previously, and that he will neither tempt fortune nor fight in pitched battle, but, since he abounds in cavalry, that it is very easy to do to prohibit the Romans from grain-foraging and fodder-foraging, and that, with like equanimity, they should themselves spoil their own grain and set their buildings on fire, seeing that by this loss of estate they achieve for themselves perpetual dominion and liberty. With these things established, he levies from the Aedui and the Segusiavi, who border the Province, ten thousand infantry; to this he adds eight hundred cavalry.

His praeficit fratrem Eporedorigis bellumque inferri Allobrogibus iubet. Altera ex parte Gabalos proximosque pagos Arvernorum in Helvios, item Rutenos Cadurcosque ad fines Volcarum Arecomicorum depopulandos mittit. Nihilo minus clandestinis nuntiis legationibusque Allobrogas sollicitat, quorum mentes nondum ab superiore bello resedisse sperabat.

Over these he puts in command the brother of Eporedorix and orders war to be brought upon the Allobroges. On the other side he sends the Gabali and the nearest districts of the Arverni against the Helvii, likewise the Ruteni and the Cadurci to lay waste up to the borders of the Volcae Arecomici. Nonetheless, by clandestine messengers and legations he solicits the Allobroges, hoping that their minds had not yet settled down from the previous war.

Horum principibus pecunias, civitati autem imperium totius provinciae pollicetur.

To the leaders of these he promises monies, to the state, however, the imperium of the whole province.

[65] Ad hos omnes casus provisa erant praesidia cohortium duarum et viginti, quae ex ipsa provincia ab Lucio Caesare legato ad omnes partes opponebantur. Helvii sua sponte cum finitimis proelio congressi pelluntur et Gaio Valerio Donnotauro, Caburi filio, principe civitatis, compluribusque aliis interfectis intra oppida ac muros compelluntur. Allobroges crebris ad Rhodanum dispositis praesidiis magna cum cura et diligentia suos fines tuentur.

[65] To meet all these contingencies, garrisons of twenty-two cohorts had been provided, which from the province itself, by the legate Lucius Caesar, were opposed on all sides. The Helvii, of their own accord, having joined battle with their neighbors, are driven back, and, with Gaius Valerius Donnotaurus, son of Caburus, a chief of the state, and several others slain, are forced within the towns and walls. The Allobroges, with frequent presidia posted along the Rhone, with great care and diligence protect their own borders.

Caesar, quod hostes equitatu superiores esse intellegebat et interclusis omnibus itineribus nulla re ex provincia atque Italia sublevari poterat, trans Rhenum in Germaniam mittit ad eas civitates quas superioribus annis pacaverat, equitesque ab his arcessit et levis armaturae pedites, qui inter eos proeliari consuerant. Eorum adventu, quod minus idoneis equis utebantur, a tribunis militum reliquisque equitibus Romanis atque evocatis equos sumit Germanisque distribuit.

Caesar, because he understood that the enemy were superior in cavalry and, with all routes cut off, he could be relieved in no respect from the province or from Italy, sends across the Rhine into Germany to those communities which in earlier years he had pacified, and from them he summons horsemen and light-armed infantry, who were accustomed to do battle among them. Upon their arrival, because they were using less suitable horses, he takes horses from the tribunes of the soldiers and from the remaining Roman cavalrymen and the evocati, and distributes them to the Germans.

[66] Interea, dum haec geruntur, hostium copiae ex Arvernis equitesque qui toti Galliae erant imperati conveniunt. Magno horum coacto numero, cum Caesar in Sequanos per extremos Lingonum fines iter faceret, quo facilius subsidium provinciae ferri posset, circiter milia passuum decem ab Romanis trinis castris Vercingetorix consedit convocatisque ad concilium praefectis equitum venisse tempus victoriae demonstrat. Fugere in provinciam Romanos Galliaque excedere.

[66] Meanwhile, while these things are being done, the enemy’s forces from the Arverni and the horsemen who had been commanded from all Gaul assemble. With a great number of these gathered, while Caesar was making a march into the country of the Sequani through the farthest borders of the Lingones, in order that aid might more easily be borne to the province, Vercingetorix encamped in three camps about ten miles from the Romans, and, the prefects of horse having been called to a council, he demonstrates that the time of victory has come. That the Romans are fleeing into the Province and are departing from Gaul.

Id sibi ad praesentem obtinendam libertatem satis esse; ad reliqui temporis pacem atque otium parum profici: maioribus enim coactis copiis reversuros neque finem bellandi facturos. Proinde agmine impeditos adorirantur. Si pedites suis auxilium ferant atque in eo morentur, iter facere non posse; si, id quod magis futurum confidat, relictis impedimentis suae saluti consulant, et usu rerum necessariarum et dignitate spoliatum iri.

That this is enough for them to obtain present liberty; toward the peace and leisure of the remaining time it makes little headway: for they will return with larger forces gathered and will make no end of warring. Therefore let them assault them encumbered in their marching column. If the foot-soldiers bring aid to their own and delay over it, they will not be able to make the march; if, that which he trusts is more likely to happen, the impediments (baggage) being left behind they look to their own safety, they will be despoiled both of the use of necessary things and of their dignity.

Nam de equitibus hostium, quin nemo eorum progredi modo extra agmen audeat, et ipsos quidem non debere dubitare, et quo maiore faciant animo, copias se omnes pro castris habiturum et terrori hostibus futurum. Conclamant equites sanctissimo iureiurando confirmari oportere, ne tecto recipiatur, ne ad liberos, ne ad parentes, ad uxorem aditum habeat, qui non bis per agmen hostium perequitasset.

For, as to the enemy’s horsemen, that none of them would dare to advance even merely outside the column, and that they themselves indeed ought not to doubt; and, that they may do it with the greater spirit, that he would have all his forces before the camp and would be a terror to the enemies. The horsemen cry out together that it ought to be confirmed by a most sacred oath: that he who had not twice ridden through the enemy’s column be not received beneath a roof, nor have access to his children, nor to his parents, nor to his wife.

[67] Probata re atque omnibus iureiurando adactis postero die in tres partes distributo equitatu duae se acies ab duobus lateribus ostendunt, una primo agmine iter impedire coepit. Qua re nuntiata Caesar suum quoque equitatum tripertito divisum contra hostem ire iubet. Pugnatur una omnibus in partibus.

[67] The plan having been approved and all having been bound by oath, on the next day, the cavalry having been distributed into three parts, two battle-lines showed themselves on the two flanks, and one began to impede the march at the vanguard. When this was reported, Caesar orders his own cavalry also, divided tripartite, to go against the enemy. Fighting is engaged at once in all quarters.

Consistit agmen; impedimenta intra legiones recipiuntur. Si qua in parte nostri laborare aut gravius premi videbantur, eo signa inferri Caesar aciemque constitui iubebat; quae res et hostes ad insequendum tardabat et nostros spe auxili confirmabat. Tandem Germani ab dextro latere summum iugum nacti hostes loco depellunt; fugientes usque ad flumen, ubi Vercingetorix cum pedestribus copiis consederat, persequuntur compluresque interficiunt.

The column halts; the baggage-train is received within the legions. If in any part our men seemed to be laboring or to be pressed more heavily, to that place Caesar ordered the standards to be borne and the battle-line to be formed; a measure which both slowed the enemies from pursuing and strengthened our men with the hope of aid. At length the Germans, having seized the highest ridge from the right flank, drive the enemies from their position; they pursue the fleeing as far as the river, where Vercingetorix had taken position with his infantry forces, and they kill many.

Qua re animadversa reliqui ne circumirentur veriti se fugae mandant. Omnibus locis fit caedes. Tres nobilissimi Aedui capti ad Caesarem perducuntur: Cotus, praefectus equitum, qui controversiam cum Convictolitavi proximis comitiis habuerat, et Cavarillus, qui post defectionem Litavicci pedestribus copiis praefuerat, et Eporedorix, quo duce ante adventum Caesaris Aedui cum Sequanis bello contenderant.

With this matter perceived, the rest, fearing lest they be encircled, commit themselves to flight. Slaughter is done in all places. Three most noble Aedui are captured and conducted to Caesar: Cotus, prefect of cavalry, who had held a controversy with Convictolitavis at the most recent comitia (elections), and Cavarillus, who after the defection of Litaviccus had been in command of the infantry forces, and Eporedorix, under whose leadership before Caesar’s advent the Aedui had contended in war with the Sequani.

[68] Fugato omni equitatu Vercingetorix copias, ut pro castris collocaverat, reduxit protinusque Alesiam, quod est oppidum Mandubiorum, iter facere coepit celeriterque impedimenta ex castris educi et se subsequi iussit. Caesar impedimentis in proximum collem deductis, duabus legionibus praesidio relictis, secutus quantum diei tempus est passum, circiter tribus milibus hostium ex novissimo agmine interfectis altero die ad Alesiam castra fecit. Perspecto urbis situ perterritisque hostibus, quod equitatu, qua maxime parte exercitus confidebant, erant pulsi, adhortatus ad laborem milites circumvallare instituit.

[68] With all the cavalry routed, Vercingetorix drew back the forces, as he had stationed them before the camp, and straightway began to make a march to Alesia, which is a town of the Mandubii, and he ordered the baggage-train to be led out quickly from the camp and to follow him. Caesar, when the baggage had been led down to the nearest hill and two legions had been left as a guard, followed as far as the time of day allowed; with about three thousand of the enemy from the rearmost column slain, on the second day he made camp at Alesia. When the site of the city had been inspected and the enemy were terrified, because in cavalry—the part of the army in which they most trusted—they had been driven back, he exhorted the soldiers to labor and began to circumvallate.

[69] Ipsum erat oppidum Alesia in colle summo admodum edito loco, ut nisi obsidione expugnari non posse videretur; cuius collis radices duo duabus ex partibus flumina subluebant. Ante id oppidum planities circiter milia passuum tria in longitudinem patebat: reliquis ex omnibus partibus colles mediocri interiecto spatio pari altitudinis fastigio oppidum cingebant. Sub muro, quae pars collis ad orientem solem spectabat, hunc omnem locum copiae Gallorum compleverant fossamque et maceriam sex in altitudinem pedum praeduxerant.

[69] The town Alesia itself was on the very summit of a hill in a highly elevated position, so that it seemed not able to be taken except by siege; the roots of which hill were washed on two sides by two rivers. In front of that town a plain extended for about three miles in length; on all the remaining sides hills, with a moderate space intervening, with a crest of equal height, encircled the town. Beneath the wall, the part of the hill which looked toward the rising sun, the forces of the Gauls had filled this whole place, and had constructed in front a ditch and a dry-stone wall six feet in height.

Eius munitionis quae ab Romanis instituebatur circuitus XI milia passuum tenebat. Castra opportunis locis erant posita ibique castella viginti tria facta, quibus in castellis interdiu stationes ponebantur, ne qua subito eruptio fieret: haec eadem noctu excubitoribus ac firmis praesidiis tenebantur.

The circuit of that fortification, which was being established by the Romans, held 11 miles. The camp was placed in advantageous places, and there twenty-three forts were made, in which forts pickets were posted by day, lest any sudden sally be made: these same by night were held by sentries and strong garrisons.

[70] Opere instituto fit equestre proelium in ea planitie, quam intermissam collibus tria milia passuum in longitudinem patere supra demonstravimus. Summa vi ab utrisque contenditur. Laborantibus nostris Caesar Germanos summittit legionesque pro castris constituit, ne qua subito irruptio ab hostium peditatu fiat.

[70] With the work having been set up, a cavalry battle takes place on that plain, which, broken by hills, we have shown above to extend three miles in length. With utmost force it is contended by both sides. As our men are laboring, Caesar sends in the Germans and stations the legions in front of the camp, lest any sudden irruption be made by the enemy’s infantry.

Praesidio legionum addito nostris animus augetur: hostes in fugam coniecti se ipsi multitudine impediunt atque angustioribus portis relictis coacervantur. Germani acrius usque ad munitiones sequuntur. Fit magna caedes: nonnulli relictis equis fossam transire et maceriam transcendere conantur.

With the support of the legions added, our spirit is increased: the enemies, cast into flight, hamper themselves by their own multitude and, with only the narrower gates left, are heaped together. The Germans pursue more keenly right up to the fortifications. A great slaughter ensues: some, leaving their horses behind, attempt to cross the ditch and transcend the wall.

Paulum legiones Caesar quas pro vallo constituerat promoveri iubet. Non minus qui intra munitiones erant perturbantur Galli: veniri ad se confestim existimantes ad arma conclamant; nonnulli perterriti in oppidum irrumpunt. Vercingetorix iubet portas claudi, ne castra nudentur.

Caesar orders the legions which he had stationed before the rampart to be advanced a little. The Gauls who were within the fortifications are disturbed no less: thinking that an attack was coming upon them immediately, they cry to arms; some, thoroughly terrified, burst into the town. Vercingetorix orders the gates to be closed, lest the camp be stripped.

Multis interfectis, compluribus equis captis Germani sese recipiunt.

With many slain, and a great many horses captured, the Germans withdraw.

[71] Vercingetorix, priusquam munitiones ab Romanis perficiantur, consilium capit omnem ab se equitatum noctu dimittere. Discedentibus mandat ut suam quisque eorum civitatem adeat omnesque qui per aetatem arma ferre possint ad bellum cogant. Sua in illos merita proponit obtestaturque ut suae salutis rationem habeant neu se optime de communi libertate meritum in cruciatum hostibus dedant.

[71] Vercingetorix, before the fortifications are completed by the Romans, adopts the plan to send away from himself all the cavalry by night. As they depart, he instructs that each of them should go to his own civitas and compel to war all who by age are able to bear arms. He sets forth his services toward them and adjures them to have regard for his safety, and not to surrender him to the enemy for torture, he who has deserved most excellently with respect to the common liberty.

Quod si indiligentiores fuerint, milia hominum delecta octoginta una secum interitura demonstrat. Ratione inita se exigue dierum triginta habere frumentum, sed paulo etiam longius tolerari posse parcendo. His datis mandatis, qua opus erat intermissum, secunda vigilia silentio equitatum mittit.

But if they should be more negligent, he demonstrates that eighty thousand chosen men will perish together with him. A reckoning having been entered upon, he states that he has grain scarcely for thirty days, but that by sparing it can be endured somewhat longer. With these mandates given, in the quarter where the work had been intermitted, at the second watch he sends the cavalry in silence.

Frumentum omne ad se referri iubet; capitis poenam eis qui non paruerint constituit: pecus, cuius magna erat copia ab Mandubiis compulsa, viritim distribuit; frumentum parce et paulatim metiri instituit; copias omnes quas pro oppido collocaverat in oppidum recepit. His rationibus auxilia Galliae exspectare et bellum parat administrare.

He orders all the grain to be brought to himself; he establishes capital punishment for those who do not obey: the livestock, of which there was a great abundance driven in by the Mandubii, he distributes man by man; he institutes that the grain be measured out sparingly and little by little; he withdrew into the town all the forces which he had posted in front of the town. By these measures he prepares to await the auxiliaries of Gaul and to administer the war.

[72] Quibus rebus cognitis ex perfugis et captivis, Caesar haec genera munitionis instituit. Fossam pedum viginti directis lateribus duxit, ut eius fossae solum tantundem pateret quantum summae fossae labra distarent. Reliquas omnes munitiones ab ea fossa pedes quadringentos reduxit, [id] hoc consilio, quoniam tantum esset necessario spatium complexus, nec facile totum corpus corona militum cingeretur, ne de improviso aut noctu ad munitiones hostium multitudo advolaret aut interdiu tela in nostros operi destinatos conicere possent.

[72] With these matters learned from runaways and captives, Caesar instituted these kinds of fortification. He drew a fosse of twenty feet with straight sides, so that the bottom of that ditch might lie open just as much as the lips of the top of the ditch are apart. He set back all the remaining fortifications four hundred feet from that ditch, [this] with this plan: since he had of necessity encompassed so great a space, and the whole body could not easily be encircled by a corona of soldiers, lest unexpectedly or by night a multitude of the enemy should swoop to the fortifications, or by day be able to hurl missiles at our men designated for the work.

Hoc intermisso spatio duas fossas quindecim pedes latas, eadem altitudine perduxit, quarum interiorem campestribus ac demissis locis aqua ex flumine derivata complevit. Post eas aggerem ac vallum duodecim pedum exstruxit. Huic loricam pinnasque adiecit grandibus cervis eminentibus ad commissuras pluteorum atque aggeris, qui ascensum hostium tardarent, et turres toto opere circumdedit, quae pedes LXXX inter se distarent.

With this space left between, he carried through two ditches fifteen feet broad, of the same depth, and in level and low-lying places he filled the inner one with water diverted from the river. Beyond these he built an agger and vallum twelve feet high. To this he added a lorica (breastwork) and pinnacles, with great “stags” projecting at the junctions of the plutei (shieldings) and the rampart, to retard the enemy’s ascent; and he surrounded the whole work with towers, which were 80 feet distant from one another.

[73] Erat eodem tempore et materiari et frumentari et tantas munitiones fieri necesse deminutis nostris copiis quae longius ab castris progrediebantur: ac non numquam opera nostra Galli temptare atque eruptionem ex oppido pluribus portis summa vi facere conabantur. Quare ad haec rursus opera addendum Caesar putavit, quo minore numero militum munitiones defendi possent. Itaque truncis arborum aut admodum firmis ramis abscisis atque horum delibratis ac praeacutis cacuminibus perpetuae fossae quinos pedes altae ducebantur.

[73] At the same time it was necessary both to procure timber and to procure grain and for such great fortifications to be made, with our forces diminished, since they were advancing farther from the camp; and sometimes the Gauls would test our works and were trying to make an eruption from the town through several gates with the utmost force. Wherefore Caesar thought that work must be added again to these measures, so that the fortifications might be defended by a smaller number of soldiers. And so, with tree trunks or very sturdy branches cut off, and with the tops of these peeled and sharpened, continuous ditches five feet deep were dug.

Huc illi stipites demissi et ab infimo revincti, ne revelli possent, ab ramis eminebant. Quini erant ordines coniuncti inter se atque implicati; quo qui intraverant, se ipsi acutissimis vallis induebant. Hos cippos appellabant.

Into these they let down the stakes and bound them fast at the bottom, lest they could be torn out, and they projected from the branches. There were five ranks, joined among themselves and entwined; whoever had entered into that place would themselves be impaling themselves on the very sharp stakes. These they called cippi.

Ante quos obliquis ordinibus in quincuncem dispositis scrobes tres in altitudinem pedes fodiebantur paulatim angustiore ad infimum fastigio. Huc teretes stipites feminis crassitudine ab summo praeacuti et praeusti demittebantur, ita ut non amplius digitis quattuor ex terra eminerent; simul confirmandi et stabiliendi causa singuli ab infimo solo pedes terra exculcabantur, reliqua pars scrobis ad occultandas insidias viminibus ac virgultis integebatur. Huius generis octoni ordines ducti ternos inter se pedes distabant.

Before these, with oblique ranks arranged in a quincunx, pits three feet in depth were dug, with the pitch narrowing gradually toward the bottom. Into these, smooth stakes of the thickness of a thigh, sharpened at the top and fire-burned, were let down, so that they protruded from the ground no more than four finger-breadths; at the same time, for the sake of confirming and stabilizing, each was trodden firm with earth at its lowest base by the feet, and the remaining part of the pit, to conceal the ambush, was covered with withes and brushwood. Eight ranks of this kind, drawn out, were three feet distant from one another.

Id ex similitudine floris lilium appellabant. Ante haec taleae pedem longae ferreis hamis infixis totae in terram infodiebantur mediocribusque intermissis spatiis omnibus locis disserebantur; quos stimulos nominabant.

They called this a lily from the likeness to the flower. In front of these, stakes a foot long, with iron hooks fixed in, were wholly buried in the ground, and, with moderate intervals left between, were spread in all places; these they called goads.

[74] His rebus perfectis regiones secutus quam potuit aequissimas pro loci natura quattuordecim milia passuum complexus pares eiusdem generis munitiones, diversas ab his, contra exteriorem hostem perfecit, ut ne magna quidem multitudine, si ita accidat, munitionum praesidia circumfundi possent; ac ne cum periculo ex castris egredi cogatur, dierum triginta pabulum frumentumque habere omnes convectum iubet.

[74] With these things completed, having followed regions as level as he could according to the nature of the place, and encompassing fourteen miles, he finished matching fortifications of the same kind, distinct from these, against the exterior enemy, so that not even by a great multitude, if it should so happen, could the garrisons of the fortifications be surrounded; and, lest he be compelled to go out from the camp with danger, he orders that all have fodder and grain conveyed in for thirty days.

[75] Dum haec apud Alesiam geruntur, Galli concilio principum indicto non omnes eos qui arma ferre possent, ut censuit Vercingetorix, convocandos statuunt, sed certum numerum cuique ex civitate imperandum, ne tanta multitudine confusa nec moderari nec discernere suos nec frumentandi rationem habere possent. Imperant Aeduis atque eorum clientibus, Segusiavis, Ambivaretis, Aulercis Brannovicibus, Blannoviis, milia XXXV; parem numerum Arvernis adiunctis Eleutetis, Cadurcis, Gabalis, Vellaviis, qui sub imperio Arvernorum esse consuerunt; Sequanis, Senonibus, Biturigibus, Santonis, Rutenis, Carnutibus duodena milia; Bellovacis X; totidem Lemovicibus; octona Pictonibus et Turonis et Parisiis et Helvetiis; [Suessionibus,] Ambianis, Mediomatricis, Petrocoriis, Nerviis, Morinis, Nitiobrigibus quina milia; Aulercis Cenomanis totidem; Atrebatibus [IIII milibus]; Veliocassis, Lexoviis et Aulercis Eburovicibus terna; Rauracis et Boiis bina; [XXX milia] universis civitatibus, quae Oceanum attingunt quaeque eorum consuetudine Armoricae appellantur, quo sunt in numero Curiosolites, Redones, Ambibarii, Caletes, Osismi, Veneti, Lemovices, Venelli. Ex his Bellovaci suum numerum non compleverunt, quod se suo nomine atque arbitrio cum Romanis bellum gesturos dicebant neque cuiusquam imperio obtemperaturos; rogati tamen ab Commio pro eius hospitio duo milia una miserunt.

[75] While these things are being transacted at Alesia, the Gauls, a council of chiefs having been proclaimed, decide that not all who could bear arms, as Vercingetorix had judged, should be called together, but that a fixed number should be imposed upon each state, lest, with so great a multitude thrown together in confusion, they should be able neither to control nor to distinguish their own men nor to have a plan for procuring grain. They lay upon the Aedui and their clients—the Segusiavi, Ambivareti, Aulerci Brannovices, Blannovii—35,000; an equal number upon the Arverni, with the Eleuteti, Cadurci, Gabali, Vellavii added, who are accustomed to be under the dominion of the Arverni; to the Sequani, Senones, Bituriges, Santoni, Ruteni, Carnutes, 12,000 apiece; to the Bellovaci, 10,000; the same number to the Lemovices; 8,000 each to the Pictones and the Turones and the Parisii and the Helvetii; [to the Suessiones,] to the Ambiani, Mediomatrici, Petrocorii, Nervii, Morini, Nitiobriges, 5,000 each; to the Aulerci Cenomani, the same; to the Atrebates, [4,000]; to the Veliocasses, Lexovii, and Aulerci Eburovices, 3,000 each; to the Rauraci and the Boii, 2,000 each; [30,000] to all the states which touch the Ocean and which by their custom are called Armorican, in which number are the Curiosolites, Redones, Ambibarii, Caletes, Osismi, Veneti, Lemovices, Venelli. Of these the Bellovaci did not make up their own number, because they said that in their own name and at their own discretion they would wage war with the Romans and would obey the command of no one; yet, when asked by Commius for the sake of his guest-friendship, they sent 2,000 together.

[76] Huius opera Commi, ut antea demonstravimus, fideli atque utili superioribus annis erat usus in Britannia Caesar; quibus ille pro meritis civitatem eius immunem esse iusserat, iura legesque reddiderat atque ipsi Morinos attribuerat. Tamen tanta universae Galliae consensio fuit libertatis vindicandae et pristinae belli laudis recuperandae, ut neque beneficiis neque amicitiae memoria moverentur, omnesque et animo et opibus in id bellum incumberent. Coactis equitum VIII milibus et peditum circiter CCL haec in Aeduorum finibus recensebantur, numerusque inibatur, praefecti constituebantur.

[76] By the services of this Commius, as we have shown before, Caesar had made use in Britain, faithful and useful in earlier years; in return for which merits he had ordered his community to be immune, had restored rights and laws, and had assigned to him the Morini. Nevertheless so great was the consensus of all Gaul for vindicating liberty and recovering their pristine glory of war, that they were moved neither by benefits nor by the memory of friendship, and all, both in spirit and in resources, applied themselves to that war. With 8 thousand cavalry gathered and about 250 thousand infantry, these matters were being reviewed within the borders of the Aedui, and the number was being entered, prefects were being appointed.

Commio Atrebati, Viridomaro et Eporedorigi Aeduis, Vercassivellauno Arverno, consobrino Vercingetorigis, summa imperi traditur. His delecti ex civitatibus attribuuntur, quorum consilio bellum administraretur. Omnes alacres et fiduciae pleni ad Alesiam proficiscuntur, neque erat omnium quisquam qui aspectum modo tantae multitudinis sustineri posse arbitraretur, praesertim ancipiti proelio, cum ex oppido eruptione pugnaretur, foris tantae copiae equitatus peditatusque cernerentur.

To Commius the Atrebatian, to Viridomarus and Eporedorix the Aedui, to Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, cousin of Vercingetorix, the highest command is entrusted. To these, men chosen from the communities are assigned, by whose counsel the war might be administered. All, eager and full of confidence, set out to Alesia, nor was there anyone of them all who judged that the mere aspect of so great a multitude could be sustained—especially in a two-fronted battle, since from the town the fighting would be by a sally, while outside such great forces of cavalry and infantry were being seen.

[77] At ei, qui Alesiae obsidebantur praeterita die, qua auxilia suorum exspectaverant, consumpto omni frumento, inscii quid in Aeduis gereretur, concilio coacto de exitu suarum fortunarum consultabant. Ac variis dictis sententiis, quarum pars deditionem, pars, dum vires suppeterent, eruptionem censebat, non praetereunda oratio Critognati videtur propter eius singularem et nefariam crudelitatem. Hic summo in Arvernis ortus loco et magnae habitus auctoritatis, "Nihil," inquit, "de eorum sententia dicturus sum, qui turpissimam servitutem deditionis nomine appellant, neque hos habendos civium loco neque ad concilium adhibendos censeo.

[77] But those who were being besieged at Alesia, on the previous day, on which they had expected reinforcements from their own people, with all grain consumed, unaware of what was being done among the Aedui, with a council convened were deliberating about the outcome of their fortunes. And with various opinions having been voiced, of which part judged for surrender, part, so long as their forces might suffice, for a sally, the speech of Critognatus seems not to be passed over on account of its singular and nefarious cruelty. He, sprung from the highest rank among the Arverni and held in great authority, says: "I will say nothing about the opinion of those who call by the name of surrender the most disgraceful servitude, nor do I think these men ought to be held in the place of citizens nor to be admitted to the council.

Cum his mihi res sit, qui eruptionem probant; quorum in consilio omnium vestrum consensu pristinae residere virtutis memoria videtur. Animi est ista mollitia, non virtus, paulisper inopiam ferre non posse. Qui se ultro morti offerant facilius reperiuntur quam qui dolorem patienter ferant.

My concern is with those who approve the sally; in whose council, by the consensus of all of you, the memory of former virtue seems to reside. That is softness of spirit, not virtue, to be unable to bear want for a little while. Men who of their own accord offer themselves to death are found more easily than those who endure pain patiently.

Atque ego hanc sententiam probarem (tantum apud me dignitas potest), si nullam praeterquam vitae nostrae iacturam fieri viderem: sed in consilio capiendo omnem Galliam respiciamus, quam ad nostrum auxilium concitavimus. Quid hominum milibus LXXX uno loco interfectis propinquis consanguineisque nostris animi fore existimatis, si paene in ipsis cadaveribus proelio decertare cogentur? Nolite hos vestro auxilio exspoliare, qui vestrae salutis causa suum periculum neglexerunt, nec stultitia ac temeritate vestra aut animi imbecillitate omnem Galliam prosternere et perpetuae servituti subicere.

And I would approve this opinion (so much does dignity prevail with me), if I saw no loss being made other than of our life; but in taking counsel let us have regard to all Gaul, which we have incited to our assistance. What do you suppose the spirit of our kinsfolk and blood-relations will be, if, with 80 thousand men slain in one place, they are forced to contend in battle almost upon the corpses themselves? Do not despoil these of your aid, who for the sake of your safety have neglected their own peril, nor by your folly and temerity, or by imbecility of spirit, prostrate all Gaul and subject it to perpetual servitude.

An, quod ad diem non venerunt, de eorum fide constantiaque dubitatis? Quid ergo? Romanos in illis ulterioribus munitionibus animine causa cotidie exerceri putatis?

Or is it that, because they did not come by the appointed day, you doubt their faith and constancy? What then? Do you think the Romans are exercised daily, for the sake of morale, in those farther fortifications?

Si illorum nuntiis confirmari non potestis omni aditu praesaepto, his utimini testibus appropinquare eorum adventum; cuius rei timore exterriti diem noctemque in opere versantur. Quid ergo mei consili est? Facere, quod nostri maiores nequaquam pari bello Cimbrorum Teutonumque fecerunt; qui in oppida compulsi ac simili inopia subacti eorum corporibus qui aetate ad bellum inutiles videbantur vitam toleraverunt neque se hostibus tradiderunt.

If you cannot be confirmed by their messengers, with every avenue blocked, use these witnesses—that their arrival is drawing near; terrified by fear of this, they are busied day and night at the work. What then is my counsel? To do what our ancestors by no means did in the comparable war of the Cimbri and the Teutones; who, driven into the towns and pressed by similar want, sustained life by the bodies of those who by age seemed unfit for war, and did not surrender themselves to the enemies.

Cuius rei si exemplum non haberemus, tamen libertatis causa institui et posteris prodi pulcherrimum iudicarem. Nam quid illi simile bello fuit? Depopulata Gallia Cimbri magnaque illata calamitate finibus quidem nostris aliquando excesserunt atque alias terras petierunt; iura, leges, agros, libertatem nobis reliquerunt.

If of this matter we had no exemplar, nevertheless for the sake of liberty I would judge it most beautiful to be instituted and to be handed down to posterity. For what was similar to that war? Gaul having been depopulated, and a great calamity having been inflicted upon our borders, the Cimbri indeed at length withdrew from our frontiers and sought other lands; they left to us rights, laws, fields, freedom.

Romani vero quid petunt aliud aut quid volunt, nisi invidia adducti, quos fama nobiles potentesque bello cognoverunt, horum in agris civitatibusque considere atque his aeternam iniungere servitutem? Neque enim ulla alia condicione bella gesserunt. Quod si ea quae in longinquis nationibus geruntur ignoratis, respicite finitimam Galliam, quae in provinciam redacta iure et legibus commutatis securibus subiecta perpetua premitur servitute."

The Romans, indeed, what else do they seek or what do they want, except, led by envy, to sit down in the fields and cities of those whom fame has known as noble and powerful in war, and to yoke upon them an eternal servitude? For they have waged wars on no other condition. But if you are ignorant of the things which are done among far-distant nations, look back to neighboring Gaul, which, reduced into a province, with rights and laws changed, set under the axes, is oppressed by perpetual servitude."

[78] Sententiis dictis constituunt ut ei qui valetudine aut aetate inutiles sunt bello oppido excedant, atque omnia prius experiantur, quam ad Critognati sententiam descendant: illo tamen potius utendum consilio, si res cogat atque auxilia morentur, quam aut deditionis aut pacis subeundam condicionem. Mandubii, qui eos oppido receperant, cum liberis atque uxoribus exire coguntur. Hi, cum ad munitiones Romanorum accessissent, flentes omnibus precibus orabant, ut se in servitutem receptos cibo iuvarent.

[78] With the opinions having been stated, they resolve that those who by health or by age are unfit for war should depart from the town, and that they should try all things first before they descend to the opinion of Critognatus: nevertheless that counsel should rather be used, if the situation compels and the auxiliaries delay, than that the condition either of surrender or of peace be undergone. The Mandubii, who had received them into the town, are compelled to go out with their children and wives. These, when they had approached the Roman fortifications, weeping, with every entreaty begged that they would receive them into servitude and aid them with food.

At Caesar dispositis in vallo custodibus recipi prohibebat.

But Caesar, with guards posted on the rampart, forbade their being received.

[79] Interea Commius reliquique duces quibus summa imperi permissa erat cum omnibus copiis ad Alesiam perveniunt et colle exteriore occupato non longius mille passibus ab nostris munitionibus considunt. Postero die equitatu ex castris educto omnem eam planitiem, quam in longitudinem tria milia passuum patere demonstravimus, complent pedestresque copias paulum ab eo loco abditas in locis superioribus constituunt. Erat ex oppido Alesia despectus in campum.

[79] Meanwhile Commius and the remaining leaders to whom the highest command had been entrusted arrive at Alesia with all their forces, and, having occupied the outer hill, take up position no farther than a thousand paces from our fortifications. On the next day, with the cavalry led out from the camp, they fill all that plain which we have shown extends in length for three miles, and they station the infantry forces, a little concealed from that place, on the higher ground. From the town of Alesia there was a view down into the plain.

Concurrunt his auxiliis visis; fit gratulatio inter eos, atque omnium animi ad laetitiam excitantur. Itaque productis copiis ante oppidum considunt et proximam fossam cratibus integunt atque aggere explent seque ad eruptionem atque omnes casus comparant.

They flock together at the sight of these auxiliaries; a gratulation arises among them, and the spirits of all are excited to joy. And so, with the forces brought forth, they take position before the town, and they cover the nearest ditch with hurdles and fill it with an agger, and they prepare themselves for a sortie and for all eventualities.

[80] Caesar omni exercitu ad utramque partem munitionum disposito, ut, si usus veniat, suum quisque locum teneat et noverit, equitatum ex castris educi et proelium committi iubet. Erat ex omnibus castris, quae summum undique iugum tenebant, despectus, atque omnes milites intenti pugnae proventum exspectabant. Galli inter equites raros sagittarios expeditosque levis armaturae interiecerant, qui suis cedentibus auxilio succurrerent et nostrorum equitum impetus sustinerent.

[80] Caesar, with the whole army posted along both sides of the fortifications, so that, if need should arise, each man might hold and know his own place, orders the cavalry to be led out of the camp and battle to be joined. There was from all the camps, which held the highest ridge on every side, a view down, and all the soldiers, intent upon the fight, awaited the outcome. The Gauls had interposed among the cavalry, at intervals, archers and unencumbered troops of light armature, to run in aid when their own gave ground and to withstand the charges of our horsemen.

Ab his complures de improviso vulnerati proelio excedebant. Cum suos pugna superiores esse Galli confiderent et nostros multitudine premi viderent, ex omnibus partibus et ei qui munitionibus continebantur et hi qui ad auxilium convenerant clamore et ululatu suorum animos confirmabant. Quod in conspectu omnium res gerebatur neque recte ac turpiter factum celari poterat, utrosque et laudis cupiditas et timor ignominiae ad virtutem excitabant.

By them many, wounded by surprise, were withdrawing from the battle. Since the Gauls were confident that their own were superior in the fight and saw that our men were pressed by multitude, from every side both those who were kept within the fortifications and those who had assembled for succor were confirming the spirits of their men with shouting and ululation. Because the affair was being conducted in the sight of all and neither what was done rightly nor what was done disgracefully could be concealed, desire of praise and fear of ignominy were arousing both parties to virtue.

Cum a meridie prope ad solis occasum dubia victoria pugnaretur, Germani una in parte confertis turmis in hostes impetum fecerunt eosque propulerunt; quibus in fugam coniectis sagittarii circumventi interfectique sunt. Item ex reliquis partibus nostri cedentes usque ad castra insecuti sui colligendi facultatem non dederunt. At ei qui ab Alesia processerant maesti prope victoria desperata se in oppidum receperunt.

When from midday almost to the sun’s setting the fighting went on with victory doubtful, the Germans in one quarter, with massed squadrons, made a charge against the enemies and drove them back; these being cast into flight, the archers were surrounded and killed. Likewise from the remaining parts our men, pursuing the retreating up to their camp, gave them no opportunity to collect themselves. But those who had proceeded out of Alesia, downcast, with victory almost despaired of, withdrew themselves into the town.

[81] Vno die intermisso Galli atque hoc spatio magno cratium, scalarum, harpagonum numero effecto media nocte silentio ex castris egressi ad campestres munitiones accedunt. Subito clamore sublato, qua significatione qui in oppido obsidebantur de suo adventu cognoscere possent, crates proicere, fundis, sagittis, lapidibus nostros de vallo proturbare reliquaque quae ad oppugnationem pertinent parant administrare. Eodem tempore clamore exaudito dat tuba signum suis Vercingetorix atque ex oppido educit.

[81] With one day interposed, the Gauls—during which interval a great number of hurdles, ladders, and grappling-hooks were made—at midnight, in silence, having gone out from their camp, approach the level field-works. A sudden shout having been raised, by which signal those who were being besieged in the town might learn of their arrival, they begin to cast down hurdles, to drive our men from the rampart with slings, arrows, and stones, and to prepare to administer the remaining things that pertain to an assault. At the same time, the shout being heard, Vercingetorix gives the signal to his men by trumpet and leads them out of the town.

Nostri, ut superioribus diebus, ut cuique erat locus attributus, ad munitiones accedunt; fundis librilibus sudibusque quas in opere disposuerant ac glandibus Gallos proterrent. Prospectu tenebris adempto multa utrimque vulnera accipiuntur. Complura tormentis tela coniciuntur.

Our men, as on the previous days, each to the place that had been assigned to him, approach the fortifications; with libral slings and with stakes which they had set in the work, and with leaden bullets, they drive back the Gauls. With the view taken away by the darkness, many wounds are received on both sides. A great many missiles are hurled by the engines.

At Marcus Antonius et Gaius Trebonius legati, quibus hae partes ad defendendum obvenerant, qua ex parte nostros premi intellexerant, his auxilio ex ulterioribus castellis deductos summittebant.

But Marcus Antonius and Gaius Trebonius, legates to whom these sectors for the defense had fallen, from whatever quarter they had understood our men to be pressed, were sending in, to their aid, men drawn down from the more distant forts.

[82] Dum longius ab munitione aberant Galli, plus multitudine telorum proficiebant; posteaquam propius successerunt, aut se stimulis inopinantes induebant aut in scrobes delati transfodiebantur aut ex vallo ac turribus traiecti pilis muralibus interibant. Multis undique vulneribus acceptis nulla munitione perrupta, cum lux appeteret, veriti ne ab latere aperto ex superioribus castris eruptione circumvenirentur, se ad suos receperunt. At interiores, dum ea quae a Vercingetorige ad eruptionem praeparata erant proferunt, priores fossas explent, diutius in his rebus administrandis morati prius suos discessisse cognoverunt, quam munitionibus appropinquarent.

[82] While the Gauls were farther from the fortification, they were gaining more by the multitude of their missiles; after they drew up closer, either, not expecting it, they got themselves entangled in the goads, or, dropped into the pits, they were run through, or from the rampart and the towers, pierced by mural javelins, they perished. With many wounds taken on all sides and no fortification broken through, when daylight was drawing near, fearing lest on their open flank they be surrounded by a sally from the higher camps, they withdrew to their own. But those inside, while they were bringing forward the things which had been prepared by Vercingetorix for the sally, filled the foremost ditches; having tarried longer in managing these matters, they learned that their men had departed before they could approach the fortifications.

Ita re infecta in oppidum reverterunt.

Thus, with the matter left undone, they returned into the town.

[83] Bis magno cum detrimento repulsi Galli quid agant consulunt; locorum peritos adhibent: ex his superiorum castrorum situs munitionesque cognoscunt. Erat a septentrionibus collis, quem propter magnitudinem circuitus opere circumplecti non potuerant nostri: necessario paene iniquo loco et leniter declivi castra fecerunt. Haec Gaius Antistius Reginus et Gaius Caninius Rebilus legati cum duabus legionibus obtinebant.

[83] Twice repulsed with great detriment, the Gauls consult what they should do; they bring in men experienced in the locales: from these they learn the site and the fortifications of the upper camps. There was on the north a hill which, on account of the greatness of its circuit, our men had not been able to encompass with a work: of necessity they made a camp in a place almost disadvantageous and gently sloping. This Gaius Antistius Reginus and Gaius Caninius Rebilus, legates, were holding with two legions.

Cognitis per exploratores regionibus duces hostium LX milia ex omni numero deligunt earum civitatum quae maximam virtutis opinionem habebant; quid quoque pacto agi placeat occulte inter se constituunt; adeundi tempus definiunt, cum meridies esse videatur. His copiis Vercassivellaunum Arvernum, unum ex quattuor ducibus, propinquum Vercingetorigis, praeficiunt. Ille ex castris prima vigilia egressus prope confecto sub lucem itinere post montem se occultavit militesque ex nocturno labore sese reficere iussit.

With the regions learned through scouts, the leaders of the enemy select 60 thousand out of the whole number, from those states which had the greatest reputation for virtue (valor); they secretly determine among themselves what should be done and by what manner; they define the time for approaching, when it should seem to be midday. Over these forces they set Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, one of the four leaders, a kinsman of Vercingetorix. He, having gone out from the camp at the first watch, with the march nearly completed toward daybreak, hid himself behind the mountain and ordered the soldiers to refresh themselves from the nocturnal labor.

Cum iam meridies appropinquare videretur, ad ea castra quae supra demonstravimus contendit; eodemque tempore equitatus ad campestres munitiones accedere et reliquae copiae pro castris sese ostendere coeperunt.

Since now midday seemed to be approaching, he hastened toward those camps which we have shown above; and at the same time the cavalry began to approach the field fortifications, and the remaining forces began to display themselves before the camps.

[84] Vercingetorix ex arce Alesiae suos conspicatus ex oppido egreditur; crates, longurios, musculos, falces reliquaque quae eruptionis causa paraverat profert. Pugnatur uno tempore omnibus locis, atque omnia temptantur: quae minime visa pars firma est, huc concurritur. Romanorum manus tantis munitionibus distinetur nec facile pluribus locis occurrit.

[84] Vercingetorix, having caught sight of his men from the citadel of Alesia, goes out from the town; he brings forth crates (wattled hurdles), long-poles, musculi (mobile sheds), falces (scythes/hooks), and the rest which he had prepared for the purpose of an eruption (sally). Fighting is carried on at one time in all places, and everything is tried: to that part which seemed least firm they run together. The Roman force is distracted by such great munitions (fortifications) and does not easily meet them in several places.

Multum ad terrendos nostros valet clamor, qui post tergum pugnantibus exstitit, quod suum periculum in aliena vident salute constare: omnia enim plerumque quae absunt vehementius hominum mentes perturbant.

The clamor, which arose behind the backs of those fighting, avails much for terrifying our men, because they see that their own peril consists in another’s safety; for generally all things which are absent more vehemently perturb the minds of men.

[85] Caesar idoneum locum nactus quid quaque ex parte geratur cognoscit; laborantibus summittit. Vtrisque ad animum occurrit unum esse illud tempus, quo maxime contendi conveniat: Galli, nisi perfregerint munitiones, de omni salute desperant; Romani, si rem obtinuerint, finem laborum omnium exspectant. Maxime ad superiores munitiones laboratur, quo Vercassivellaunum missum demonstravimus.

[85] Caesar, having found an idoneous place, recognizes what is being done on each side; to those hard-pressed he sends support. To both it occurs in mind that this is the one time when it is most fitting to contend at the utmost: the Gauls, unless they shall have broken through the fortifications, despair of all safety; the Romans, if they shall have obtained the matter, look for an end of all their labors. The greatest effort is made against the upper fortifications, whither we have shown that Vercassivellaunus was sent.

Iniquum loci ad declivitatem fastigium magnum habet momentum. Alii tela coniciunt, alii testudine facta subeunt; defatigatis in vicem integri succedunt. Agger ab universis in munitionem coniectus et ascensum dat Gallis et ea quae in terra occultaverant Romani contegit; nec iam arma nostris nec vires suppetunt.

The disadvantageous pitch of the ground toward the declivity has great moment. Some hurl missiles, others, a tortoise having been formed, advance; as the exhausted grow weary, fresh men succeed in turn. An embankment, cast by all against the fortification, both gives the Gauls an ascent and covers the things which the Romans had hidden in the earth; and now neither arms nor strength suffice for our men.

[86] His rebus cognitis Caesar Labienum cum cohortibus sex subsidio laborantibus mittit: imperat, si sustinere non posset, deductis cohortibus eruptione pugnaret; id nisi necessario ne faciat. Ipse adit reliquos, cohortatur ne labori succumbant; omnium superiorum dimicationum fructum in eo die atque hora docet consistere. Interiores desperatis campestribus locis propter magnitudinem munitionum loca praerupta ex ascensu temptant: huc ea quae paraverant conferunt.

[86] With these matters learned, Caesar sends Labienus with six cohorts as relief to those laboring under pressure: he orders that, if he could not hold, with the cohorts drawn down he should fight by a sortie; that he should not do this unless by necessity. He himself goes to the rest, exhorts them not to succumb to the labor; he shows that the fruit of all the prior combats stands in that day and hour. Those on the inside, having despaired of the level places on account of the greatness of the fortifications, attempt precipitous places by ascent: to this place they bring together the things which they had prepared.

Multitudine telorum ex turribus propugnantes deturbant, aggere et cratibus fossas explent, falcibus vallum ac loricam rescindunt.

With a multitude of missiles they dislodge the defenders from the towers, with an agger and with hurdles they fill in the ditches, with sickles they cut through the rampart and the parapet.

[87] Mittit primo Brutum adulescentem cum cohortibus Caesar, post cum aliis Gaium Fabium legatum; postremo ipse, cum vehementius pugnaretur, integros subsidio adducit. Restituto proelio ac repulsis hostibus eo quo Labienum miserat contendit; cohortes quattuor ex proximo castello deducit, equitum partem sequi, partem circumire exteriores munitiones et ab tergo hostes adoriri iubet. Labienus, postquam neque aggeres neque fossae vim hostium sustinere poterant, coactis una XL cohortibus, quas ex proximis praesidus deductas fors obtulit, Caesarem per nuntios facit certiorem quid faciendum existimet.

[87] Caesar sends first the young Brutus with cohorts, afterward Gaius Fabius the legate with others; finally he himself, when the fighting grew more vehement, brings up fresh troops as relief. With the battle restored and the enemy driven back, he hastens to the place where he had sent Labienus; he leads down four cohorts from the nearest fortlet, and orders part of the cavalry to follow, part to go around the outer fortifications and assail the enemy from the rear. Labienus, after neither the embankments nor the ditches were able to withstand the enemy’s force, with 40 cohorts gathered together in one, which chance had offered, drawn off from the nearest garrisons, informs Caesar by messengers what he judges should be done.

Accelerat Caesar, ut proelio intersit.

Caesar hastens, to be present at the battle.

[88] Eius adventu ex colore vestitus cognito, quo insigni in proeliis uti consuerat, turmisque equitum et cohortibus visis quas se sequi iusserat, ut de locis superioribus haec declivia et devexa cernebantur, hostes proelium committunt. Vtrimque clamore sublato excipit rursus ex vallo atque omnibus munitionibus clamor. Nostri omissis pilis gladiis rem gerunt.

[88] At his arrival, the color of his dress recognized—an insignia which he was accustomed to use in battles—and with the cavalry squadrons and cohorts seen which he had ordered to follow him, since from the higher positions these declivities and down‑slopes were visible, the enemy engage battle. On both sides, a shout raised, a shout is taken up again from the rampart and from all the fortifications. Our men, their pila laid aside, conduct the fight with swords.

Repente post tergum equitatus cernitur; cohortes aliae appropinquant. Hostes terga vertunt; fugientibus equites occurrunt. Fit magna caedes.

Suddenly cavalry is perceived behind their rear; other cohorts approach. The enemies turn their backs; the horsemen meet the fleeing. A great slaughter ensues.

Sedulius, dux et princeps Lemovicum, occiditur; Vercassivellaunus Arvernus vivus in fuga comprehenditur; signa militaria septuaginta quattuor ad Caesarem referuntur: pauci ex tanto numero se incolumes in castra recipiunt. Conspicati ex oppido caedem et fugam suorum desperata salute copias a munitionibus reducunt. Fit protinus hac re audita ex castris Gallorum fuga.

Sedulius, leader and prince of the Lemovices, is slain; Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian is apprehended alive in flight; 74 military standards are brought back to Caesar: few out of so great a number withdraw themselves safe into the camp. Having caught sight from the town of the slaughter and flight of their own, with safety despaired of, they draw back their forces from the fortifications. Forthwith, this matter being heard, there is a flight from the camp of the Gauls.

Quod nisi crebris subsidiis ac totius diei labore milites essent defessi, omnes hostium copiae deleri potuissent. De media nocte missus equitatus novissimum agmen consequitur: magnus numerus capitur atque interficitur; reliqui ex fuga in civitates discedunt.

But if the soldiers had not been wearied by frequent reliefs and by the labor of the whole day, all the forces of the enemy could have been destroyed. About midnight the cavalry, having been sent out, overtakes the rearmost column: a great number are captured and killed; the rest, from the rout, withdraw into their own states.

[89] Postero die Vercingetorix concilio convocato id bellum se suscepisse non suarum necessitatium, sed communis libertatis causa demonstrat, et quoniam sit fortunae cedendum, ad utramque rem se illis offerre, seu morte sua Romanis satisfacere seu vivum tradere velint. Mittuntur de his rebus ad Caesarem legati. Iubet arma tradi, principes produci.

[89] On the next day, Vercingetorix, a council having been convened, shows that he had undertaken that war not for his own necessities, but for the cause of common liberty; and since one must yield to Fortune, he offers himself to them for either course—whether they wish to satisfy the Romans by his death, or to hand him over alive. Envoys are sent to Caesar on these matters. He orders the arms to be handed over, the princes to be brought forth.

Ipse in munitione pro castris consedit: eo duces producuntur; Vercingetorix deditur, arma proiciuntur. Reservatis Aeduis atque Arvernis, si per eos civitates reciperare posset, ex reliquis captivis toto exercitui capita singula praedae nomine distribuit.

He himself takes his seat on the fortification before the camp: to that place the leaders are brought forth; Vercingetorix is surrendered, the arms are thrown down. The Aedui and the Arverni being reserved, in case through them he might be able to recover the civitates, from the remaining captives he distributes to the whole army one head apiece under the name of booty.

[90] His rebus confectis in Aeduos proficiscitur; civitatem recipit. Eo legati ab Arvernis missi quae imperaret se facturos pollicentur. Imperat magnum numerum obsidum.

[90] With these matters completed, he proceeds to the Aedui; he recovers the commonwealth. Thither envoys sent by the Arverni promise that they will do what he commands. He commands a great number of hostages.

Legiones in hiberna mittit. Captivorum circiter viginti milia Aeduis Arvernisque reddit. Titum Labienum duabus cum legionibus et equitatu in Sequanos proficisci iubet: huic Marcum Sempronium Rutilum attribuit.

He sends the legions into winter quarters. He returns to the Aedui and the Arverni about twenty thousand captives. He orders Titus Labienus with two legions and the cavalry to set out into the Sequani; to him he assigns Marcus Sempronius Rutilus.

Gaium Fabium legatum et Lucium Minucium Basilum cum legionibus duabus in Remis collocat, ne quam ab finitimis Bellovacis calamitatem accipiant. Gaium Antistium Reginum in Ambivaretos, Titum Sextium in Bituriges, Gaium Caninium Rebilum in Rutenos cum singulis legionibus mittit. Quintum Tullium Ciceronem et Publium Sulpicium Cabilloni et Matiscone in Aeduis ad Ararim rei frumentariae causa collocat.

He stations Gaius Fabius, legate, and Lucius Minucius Basilus with two legions among the Remi, lest they receive any calamity from the neighboring Bellovaci. He sends Gaius Antistius Reginus into the Ambivareti, Titus Sextius into the Bituriges, Gaius Caninius Rebilus into the Ruteni, each with a single legion. He stations Quintus Tullius Cicero and Publius Sulpicius at Cabilloni and Matiscone among the Aedui at the Arar for the sake of the grain-supply.

Ipse Bibracte hiemare constituit. His litteris cognitis Romae dierum viginti supplicatio redditur.

He himself decided to winter at Bibracte. At Rome, upon these letters being learned, a supplication of twenty days is decreed.