Book 6

CHAPTER 6.1

SECTION 6.1.1For many reasons Caesar expected a more extensive uprising in Gaul, and therefore instructed his legates Marcus Silanus, Gaius Antistius Reginus, and Titus Sextius to conduct a levy.

SECTION 6.1.2At the same time he requested Gnaeus Pompeius, the proconsul, since he himself remained near Rome vested with military command on public business, to order the men whom, during his consulship, he had bound by the military oath in Cisalpine Gaul

SECTION 6.1.3to assemble under the standards and march to Caesar. For Caesar judged it of great importance, even for the future, to the opinion held of Rome in Gaul, that the resources of Italy should appear so great that, if any loss were suffered in war, it could not only be repaired in a short time but could even be replaced by larger forces.

SECTION 6.1.4When Pompeius granted the request for the sake both of the republic and of their friendship, Caesar’s officers quickly completed the levy; and before the winter had ended, three legions had been formed and brought to him, doubling the number of the cohorts he had lost with Quintus Titurius. By the speed and scale of this reinforcement, he showed what the discipline and resources of the Roman people could accomplish.

CHAPTER 6.2

SECTION 6.2.1After the death of Indutiomarus, as we have related, the Treveri transferred command to his kinsmen. They did not cease soliciting the neighboring Germans and promising them money. When they could not prevail upon the nearest tribes,

SECTION 6.2.2they approached those farther away. Having found several states willing, they bound them by a mutual oath and guaranteed the promised money by giving hostages; they also joined Ambiorix to themselves in alliance and covenant.

SECTION 6.2.3When Caesar learned of these events and saw that war was being prepared on every side—that the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii, together with all the Germans on this side of the Rhine, were under arms; that the Senones had not obeyed his summons and were sharing their plans with the Carnutes and neighboring states; and that the Germans were being solicited by frequent embassies from the Treveri—he judged that he must take thought for war earlier than usual.

CHAPTER 6.3

SECTION 6.3.1Accordingly, before the winter was yet over, he assembled the four nearest legions and marched unexpectedly into the territory of the Nervii;

SECTION 6.3.2and before they could either assemble or flee, he captured a great number of cattle and men, gave that booty to the soldiers, laid waste their lands, and compelled them to surrender and give him hostages.

SECTION 6.3.3Having swiftly completed this operation, he led the legions back again to their winter quarters.

SECTION 6.3.4At the beginning of spring he summoned the council of Gaul, as he had determined. When all the other states came except the Senones, Carnutes, and Treveri, he regarded their absence as the beginning of war and revolt; and to make it clear that he was setting all other business aside, he transferred the council to Lutetia, a town of the Parisii.

SECTION 6.3.5The Parisii bordered upon the Senones and within the memory of their fathers had united with them as one state, but they were believed to have taken no part in this design.

SECTION 6.3.6After announcing this decision from the tribunal, Caesar departed that same day with the legions for the territory of the Senones and reached it by forced marches.

CHAPTER 6.4

SECTION 6.4.1When his approach became known, Acco, who had been the chief author of their design, ordered the population to assemble in the fortified towns. Before this could be accomplished, however, word came to those attempting it that the Romans were already upon them.

SECTION 6.4.2They were therefore compelled to abandon their purpose and sent envoys to Caesar to plead for mercy. They approached him through the Aedui, under whose protection their state had been from ancient times.

SECTION 6.4.3At the request of the Aedui, Caesar readily pardoned them and accepted their excuses, because he judged that the summer season was a time for the war now impending, not for an investigation.

SECTION 6.4.4He required one hundred hostages and handed them over to the Aedui for safekeeping.

SECTION 6.4.5The Carnutes likewise sent envoys and hostages to the same place, employing as their intercessors the Remi, whose dependents they were; they received the same answer.

SECTION 6.4.6Caesar concluded the council and ordered the states to furnish cavalry.

CHAPTER 6.5

SECTION 6.5.1With this part of Gaul pacified, he devoted his whole mind and purpose to the war against the Treveri and Ambiorix.

SECTION 6.5.2He ordered Cavarinus to accompany him with the cavalry of the Senones, lest some disturbance should arise either from Cavarinus’s violent temper or from the hatred he had deservedly incurred among his people.

SECTION 6.5.3Having settled these matters, and taking it as certain that Ambiorix would not contend in open battle, Caesar considered carefully what other plans he might adopt.

SECTION 6.5.4The Menapii lived near the territory of the Eburones and were protected by an unbroken expanse of marshes and forests; they alone among the Gauls had never sent envoys to Caesar to discuss peace. Caesar knew that Ambiorix had ties of hospitality with them; he had also learned that through the Treveri Ambiorix had entered into friendship with the Germans.

SECTION 6.5.5He judged that these sources of support must be taken from Ambiorix before he attacked the man himself, lest, despairing of safety, Ambiorix should either hide among the Menapii or be driven to join the peoples across the Rhine.

SECTION 6.5.6Having formed this plan, he sent the baggage of the entire army to Labienus in the territory of the Treveri and ordered two legions to march there; he himself set out against the Menapii with five legions unencumbered by baggage.

SECTION 6.5.7The Menapii assembled no force, but, relying on the protection afforded by the terrain, fled into the forests and marshes and carried their possessions there as well.

CHAPTER 6.6

SECTION 6.6.1Caesar divided his forces with his legate Gaius Fabius and his quaestor Marcus Crassus, and, after bridges had swiftly been constructed, advanced by three routes. He burned buildings and villages and captured a great number of cattle and people.

SECTION 6.6.2Compelled by these losses, the Menapii sent envoys to him to seek peace.

SECTION 6.6.3After receiving hostages, Caesar declared that he would treat them as enemies if they admitted either Ambiorix or his envoys into their territory. When these arrangements had been confirmed, he left Commius the Atrebatian among the Menapii with cavalry to keep watch over them, while he himself departed for the territory of the Treveri.

CHAPTER 6.7

SECTION 6.7.1While Caesar was conducting these operations, the Treveri assembled large forces of infantry and cavalry and prepared to attack Labienus, who had wintered in their territory with a single legion.

SECTION 6.7.2They were already no more than two days’ march from him when they learned that two legions sent by Caesar had arrived.

SECTION 6.7.3They pitched camp fifteen miles away and resolved to await reinforcements from the Germans.

SECTION 6.7.4When Labienus learned the enemy’s plan, he hoped that their rashness would afford him some opportunity for battle. Leaving five cohorts to guard the baggage, he advanced against the enemy with twenty-five cohorts and a large body of cavalry, and fortified a camp with an interval of one mile between the armies.

SECTION 6.7.5Between Labienus and the enemy lay a river difficult to cross, with steep banks. He had no intention of crossing it himself and did not suppose that the enemy would cross it.

SECTION 6.7.6Their hope of receiving reinforcements increased daily. Labienus spoke openly in a council of war, declaring that, since the Germans were said to be approaching, he would not place his own fortunes and those of the army in jeopardy, and that at first light on the following day he would break camp. These words were swiftly reported to the enemy,

SECTION 6.7.7since among so great a number of Gallic cavalrymen, natural sympathies compelled some to favor the cause of the Gauls.

SECTION 6.7.8During the night Labienus summoned the military tribunes and senior centurions, explained his plan, and, to make the enemy more readily suspect that he was afraid, ordered the camp to be struck with more noise and confusion than Roman custom permits. In this way he made the departure resemble a flight.

SECTION 6.7.9Because the camps were so close together, these developments too were reported to the enemy by scouts before dawn.

CHAPTER 6.8

SECTION 6.8.1The rear of the column had scarcely passed beyond the fortifications when the Gauls exhorted one another not to let the booty they had hoped for slip from their grasp. They said that, with the Romans terrified, it would take too long to await the German reinforcements, and that their honor did not permit them, with so great a force, to shrink from attacking so small a body, especially when it was fleeing and encumbered by baggage. They did not hesitate, therefore, to cross the river and engage on unfavorable ground.

SECTION 6.8.2Labienus had suspected that this would happen, and, in order to lure them all to his side of the river, continued to advance slowly, maintaining the same pretense of marching away.

SECTION 6.8.3Then, after sending the baggage a little way ahead and placing it on a hill, he said: “Soldiers, you have the opportunity you sought. You hold the enemy at a disadvantage, on unfavorable ground.

SECTION 6.8.4“Display under us, your commanders, the same valor that you have so often displayed under your commander-in-chief, and imagine that he is here and sees these deeds with his own eyes.”

SECTION 6.8.5At once he ordered the standards turned against the enemy and the battle line formed, and, after detaching a few squadrons to guard the baggage, stationed the rest of the cavalry on the flanks.

SECTION 6.8.6Our men quickly raised a battle cry and hurled their javelins at the enemy. When the Gauls saw, contrary to all expectation, that the men they believed to be fleeing were advancing against them with standards leveled for attack, they could not withstand even the charge, but were put to flight at the first collision and made for the nearest forests.

SECTION 6.8.7Labienus pursued them with the cavalry, killed a great number, captured many, and within a few days recovered the state. For the Germans who were coming to their aid, upon learning of the Treveri’s flight, returned home.

SECTION 6.8.8The kinsmen of Indutiomarus, who had been the instigators of the revolt, accompanied them and withdrew from the state.

SECTION 6.8.9The chief authority and command were entrusted to Cingetorix, who, as we have shown, had remained loyal from the beginning.

CHAPTER 6.9

SECTION 6.9.1After Caesar came from the territory of the Menapii into that of the Treveri, he resolved to cross the Rhine for two reasons: one was that the Germans had sent auxiliaries against him to the Treveri;

SECTION 6.9.2the other, that Ambiorix might not find refuge among them.

SECTION 6.9.3Having formed this resolution, he began to build a bridge a little above the place where he had previously led his army across.

SECTION 6.9.4By the familiar and established method, and through the soldiers’ great zeal, the work was completed within a few days.

SECTION 6.9.5Leaving a strong garrison among the Treveri at the bridge, lest any sudden uprising arise among them, he led the rest of his forces and the cavalry across.

SECTION 6.9.6The Ubii, who had previously given hostages and submitted, sent envoys to him to clear themselves, declaring that no auxiliaries had been sent from their state to the Treveri and that they had not violated their pledged faith.

SECTION 6.9.7They begged and implored him to spare them, lest, through the general hatred of the Germans, the innocent should suffer punishment for the guilty; if he desired more hostages, they promised to give them.

SECTION 6.9.8After investigating the matter, Caesar discovered that the auxiliaries had been sent by the Suebi. He accepted the satisfaction offered by the Ubii and made inquiries about the approaches and routes into the territory of the Suebi.

CHAPTER 6.10

SECTION 6.10.1Meanwhile, a few days later, he was informed by the Ubii that all the Suebi were concentrating their forces in one place and ordering the nations under their dominion to send auxiliaries of infantry and cavalry.

SECTION 6.10.2On learning this, he made provision for the grain supply and selected a suitable place for a camp. He ordered the Ubii to drive in their livestock and bring all their possessions from the countryside into the towns, hoping that the barbarians, being inexperienced, might through scarcity of provisions be induced to fight under unfavorable conditions.

SECTION 6.10.3He instructed them to send frequent scouts among the Suebi and learn what was taking place there.

SECTION 6.10.4They carried out his orders and, after an interval of a few days, reported that all the Suebi, once more definite news of the Roman army had reached them, had withdrawn with all their own forces and those of their allies, which they had assembled, far into the remotest parts of their territory.

SECTION 6.10.5There was in that region, they said, a forest of boundless extent called Bacenis. It stretched far into the interior and, interposed like a natural wall, protected the Cherusci from the outrages and incursions of the Suebi, and the Suebi from those of the Cherusci. At the edge of that forest the Suebi had resolved to await the arrival of the Romans.

CHAPTER 6.11

SECTION 6.11.1Since the narrative has reached this point, it does not seem out of place to set forth the customs of Gaul and Germany and the respects in which these nations differ from one another.

SECTION 6.11.2In Gaul there are factions not only in every state and in every district and subdivision, but almost in every individual household; and the leaders of these factions are

SECTION 6.11.3those who, in the judgment of their followers, are believed to possess the greatest influence, and to whose will and decision the final determination of all affairs and counsels is referred.

SECTION 6.11.4This institution appears to have been established in ancient times so that no commoner should lack protection against a more powerful man; for each leader prevents his followers from being oppressed or circumvented, and if he acts otherwise, he has no influence among them.

SECTION 6.11.5The same principle prevails throughout Gaul as a whole, for all the states are divided into two parties.

CHAPTER 6.12

SECTION 6.12.1When Caesar came into Gaul, the Aedui were the leaders of one faction, the Sequani of the other.

SECTION 6.12.2Since the Sequani were less powerful by themselves—because from ancient times the Aedui had possessed the highest authority and had numerous dependents—they had allied themselves with the Germans and Ariovistus and had brought them over to their side at the cost of great sacrifices and promises.

SECTION 6.12.3But after fighting several successful battles and destroying the entire nobility of the Aedui, they had gained such a great ascendancy

SECTION 6.12.4that they transferred a large part of the Aedui’s dependents to themselves, took the sons of their leading men as hostages, compelled the Aedui as a state to swear that they would form no design against the Sequani, forcibly occupied part of the neighboring territory they had seized, and obtained supremacy over all Gaul.

SECTION 6.12.5Driven by this necessity, Diviciacus had gone to Rome to seek aid from the Senate, but had returned without accomplishing his purpose.

SECTION 6.12.6With Caesar’s arrival, the situation changed: the hostages were restored to the Aedui, their former dependent alliances were reestablished, and new ones were secured through Caesar, because those who had joined themselves to the friendship of the Aedui

SECTION 6.12.7saw that they enjoyed a better condition and a more equitable rule. As the Aedui’s influence and dignity were increased in all other respects, the Sequani lost their supremacy. The Remi succeeded to their place; and since it was understood that they enjoyed equal favor with Caesar, those who, because of ancient enmities, could in no way unite with the Aedui placed themselves under the protection of the Remi.

SECTION 6.12.8The Remi carefully protected them, and thus maintained an authority that was both new and rapidly acquired.

SECTION 6.12.9At that time the state of affairs was such that the Aedui were regarded as by far the foremost people, while the Remi held the second place in rank.

CHAPTER 6.13

SECTION 6.13.1Throughout Gaul there are two classes of men who possess any standing and distinction. The common people are regarded as being almost in the condition of slaves; they venture nothing on their own and are admitted to no council.

SECTION 6.13.2Most of them, when oppressed by debt, by the weight of taxation, or by the injustice of the powerful, surrender themselves into servitude to the nobles, who possess over them all the same rights that masters possess over slaves.

SECTION 6.13.3Of these two privileged classes, one is that of the Druids, the other that of the knights.

SECTION 6.13.4The Druids attend to religious matters, conduct public and private sacrifices, and interpret questions of religion. Great numbers of young men gather around them for instruction, and they are held in great honor among the Gauls.

SECTION 6.13.5For they decide almost all disputes, public and private; and if any crime has been committed, if a murder has taken place, or if there is a dispute concerning an inheritance or boundaries, they likewise give judgment and determine rewards and punishments.

SECTION 6.13.6If any individual or people refuses to abide by their decree, they forbid them to take part in sacrifices. Among the Gauls this is the most severe punishment.

SECTION 6.13.7Those who have thus been interdicted are counted among the impious and criminal. Everyone gives way before them and avoids their approach and conversation, lest some harm befall him through contamination; justice is not granted to them when they seek it, nor is any office or distinction bestowed upon them.

SECTION 6.13.8Over all these Druids one man presides, who possesses the highest authority among them.

SECTION 6.13.9When he dies, either the man who excels the rest in rank succeeds him, or, if several are equal, the choice is made by a vote of the Druids; sometimes they even contend for the supremacy by force of arms.

SECTION 6.13.10At a fixed season of the year they assemble in a consecrated place within the territory of the Carnutes, a region considered the center of all Gaul. All who have disputes gather there from every quarter and submit to their decrees and judgments.

SECTION 6.13.11Their system of instruction is believed to have originated in Britain and to have been brought from there into Gaul;

SECTION 6.13.12and even now those who wish to gain a more thorough knowledge of it generally travel there for the purpose of study.

CHAPTER 6.14

SECTION 6.14.1The Druids customarily take no part in war, nor do they pay tribute together with the rest. They are exempt from military service and enjoy immunity from all other obligations.

SECTION 6.14.2Attracted by such great privileges, many come to their instruction of their own accord, while others are sent by their parents and relatives.

SECTION 6.14.3They are said to learn by heart a great number of verses there. Some therefore remain under instruction for twenty years.

SECTION 6.14.4They consider it unlawful to commit these teachings to writing, although in almost all other matters, in their public and private accounts, they use Greek letters. They seem to me to have established this practice for two reasons: because they do not wish their teaching to be made known among the common people, and because they do not wish those who are learning to rely upon writing and so devote less effort to memory. For it generally happens to most men that, through dependence upon written texts, they relax their diligence in thorough learning and weaken their memory.

SECTION 6.14.5Above all, they seek to persuade men that souls do not perish, but after death pass from one person to another; and they believe that this doctrine especially encourages courage, because the fear of death is thereby cast aside.

SECTION 6.14.6They also discuss and impart to the young many teachings concerning the stars and their motions, the size of the universe and the earth, the nature of things, and the power and authority of the immortal gods.

CHAPTER 6.15

SECTION 6.15.1The other class is that of the knights. Whenever the need arises and some war breaks out—as happened almost every year before Caesar’s arrival, whether they were themselves inflicting injuries or repelling those inflicted upon them—they all take part in war;

SECTION 6.15.2and the more distinguished each man is by birth and wealth, the greater the number of retainers and dependents he has around him. This they recognize as the sole measure of influence and power.

CHAPTER 6.16

SECTION 6.16.1The whole Gallic nation is exceedingly devoted to religious observances,

SECTION 6.16.2and for that reason those afflicted by particularly severe illnesses and those engaged in battles and dangers either sacrifice human beings as victims or vow that they will sacrifice them, employing the Druids as ministers for these rites, because they believe that unless a human life is given in return for a human life,

SECTION 6.16.3the majesty of the immortal gods cannot be appeased. They also have sacrifices of the same kind established for the public good. Some possess figures of enormous size,

SECTION 6.16.4whose limbs, woven from wickerwork, they fill with living human beings. These figures are set on fire, and the people, surrounded by the flames, perish.

SECTION 6.16.5They believe that the execution of those caught in theft, robbery, or some other crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such persons fails, they resort even to the execution of the innocent.

CHAPTER 6.17

SECTION 6.17.1Of the gods they worship Mercury most of all. His images are the most numerous. They hold that he is the inventor of all the arts, the guide of roads and journeys, and the god possessing the greatest power over the acquisition of wealth and over commerce. After him they worship Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva.

SECTION 6.17.2Concerning these gods they hold much the same opinions as other nations: that Apollo drives away diseases, that Minerva imparts the first principles of crafts and handiwork, that Jupiter holds sovereignty over the gods of heaven, and that Mars governs wars.

SECTION 6.17.3When they have resolved to fight a battle, they generally consecrate to Mars whatever they may capture in war. When they are victorious, they sacrifice the captured animals and gather the remaining spoils together in one place.

SECTION 6.17.4In many states it is possible to see mounds of these objects piled high in consecrated places;

SECTION 6.17.5and it seldom happens that anyone, in disregard of religious scruple, dares either to conceal captured property in his own possession or to remove anything that has been deposited. For such an offense the most severe punishment, accompanied by torture, has been established.

CHAPTER 6.18

SECTION 6.18.1All the Gauls proclaim that they are descended from Father Dis, and they say that this tradition has been handed down by the Druids.

SECTION 6.18.2For that reason they measure every span of time not by the number of days but by nights. They observe birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such a manner that the night precedes the day.

SECTION 6.18.3In the other customs of life they differ from other peoples chiefly in this: they do not allow their sons to approach them openly until they have grown old enough to bear the burden of military service, and they consider it shameful for a son still of boyish age to stand in public in his father’s presence.

CHAPTER 6.19

SECTION 6.19.1Whatever amount of money husbands have received from their wives as dowry, they add an equal amount from their own property, after its value has been assessed, and combine it with the dowry.

SECTION 6.19.2A joint account is kept of all this money, and the profits are preserved. Whichever spouse survives the other receives both portions together with the profits accumulated in previous years.

SECTION 6.19.3Husbands possess the power of life and death over their wives, as over their children; and when the head of a family of distinguished birth dies, his relatives assemble and, if the circumstances of his death arouse suspicion, examine his wives under torture in the manner used upon slaves. If guilt is established, they put them to death after tormenting them with fire and every kind of torture.

SECTION 6.19.4Their funerals, considering the general manner of life among the Gauls, are magnificent and costly. They cast into the fire everything they believe was dear to the dead while living, even animals; and until a little before the present time, slaves and dependents who were known to have been beloved by them were burned with them after the customary funeral rites had been completed.

CHAPTER 6.20

SECTION 6.20.1Those states thought to administer their public affairs more judiciously have a law ordaining that, if anyone receives from neighboring peoples by rumor or report any information concerning the state, he must report it to a magistrate and must not communicate it to anyone else,

SECTION 6.20.2because it has been learned that rash and inexperienced men are often frightened by false rumors, driven to crime, and induced to make decisions on matters of the highest importance.

SECTION 6.20.3The magistrates conceal whatever they think proper and disclose to the people whatever they judge advantageous. No one is permitted to speak about public affairs except in council.

CHAPTER 6.21

SECTION 6.21.1The Germans differ greatly from these customs. For they have no Druids to preside over religious matters, nor are they devoted to sacrifices.

SECTION 6.21.2They count as gods only those whom they can see and by whose manifest powers they are aided—the Sun, Fire, and the Moon. Of the other gods they have not even heard by report.

SECTION 6.21.3Their whole life is spent in hunting and in the pursuit of military training. From childhood they devote themselves to toil and hardship. Those who remain chaste for the longest time

SECTION 6.21.4win the highest praise among their people. Some believe that this increases stature; others, that it strengthens bodily powers and sinews.

SECTION 6.21.5They consider it among the most shameful things for a man to have had knowledge of a woman before his twentieth year. Yet there is no concealment of such matters, since men and women bathe together indiscriminately in the rivers and wear skins or small coverings of hide, leaving a large part of the body bare.

CHAPTER 6.22

SECTION 6.22.1They do not devote themselves to agriculture, and the greater part of their food consists of milk, cheese, and meat.

SECTION 6.22.2No one possesses a fixed extent of land or boundaries of his own. Instead, each year the magistrates and leading men assign to tribes and groups of kinsmen who have joined together as much land, and in whatever locality, they think proper; and the following year they compel them to move elsewhere.

SECTION 6.22.3They offer many reasons for this practice: lest, captivated by long-established habit, they exchange their zeal for warfare for agriculture; lest they strive to acquire broad estates and the more powerful drive the humbler from their holdings; lest they build their houses with too much care as protection against cold and heat; lest any desire for money arise, from which factions and dissensions are born;

SECTION 6.22.4and so that they may keep the common people content when each man sees that his own wealth is equal to that of the most powerful.

CHAPTER 6.23

SECTION 6.23.1Among the tribes, the highest distinction is to have the widest possible belt of devastated country and wilderness around their frontiers.

SECTION 6.23.2They regard it as the special mark of valor that neighboring peoples, driven from their lands, should withdraw, and that no one should dare settle near them.

SECTION 6.23.3At the same time, they believe that this will make them safer by removing the fear of sudden invasion.

SECTION 6.23.4Whenever a tribe either defends itself against an attack or makes war upon another, magistrates are chosen to direct that war and are given the power of life and death.

SECTION 6.23.5In time of peace there is no magistrate common to the whole people, but the chiefs of the districts and cantons administer justice among their own people and settle disputes.

SECTION 6.23.6Raids committed beyond the borders of a man’s own tribe carry no disgrace, and they declare that these are undertaken to train the young men and diminish idleness.

SECTION 6.23.7And whenever one of the chiefs announces in council that he will be the leader and calls upon those who wish to follow him to declare themselves, those who approve both the cause and the man rise, promise their assistance, and are loudly applauded by the assembly.

SECTION 6.23.8Those among them who then fail to follow are counted as deserters and traitors, and afterward no trust whatever is placed in them.

SECTION 6.23.9They consider it a sacrilege to violate the rights of a guest. Those who come among them for any reason whatsoever they protect from injury and regard as sacred; every house is open to them, and food is shared with them.

CHAPTER 6.24

SECTION 6.24.1There was formerly a time when the Gauls surpassed the Germans in valor, carried war into their country unprovoked, and, because of their great population and scarcity of land, sent colonies across the Rhine.

SECTION 6.24.2Thus the Volcae Tectosages occupied and settled in the most fertile regions of Germany around the Hercynian Forest, which I find was known by report to Eratosthenes and certain other Greeks, though they call it the Orcynian Forest.

SECTION 6.24.3That people remains in those settlements to the present day and enjoys the highest reputation for justice and military prowess.

SECTION 6.24.4They now continue in the same poverty, privation, and hardihood as the Germans, and follow the same manner of life and bodily regimen; but to the Gauls the nearness of the provinces and their acquaintance with goods from overseas afford many means of abundance and refinement.

SECTION 6.24.6Gradually accustomed to defeat and vanquished in many battles, they no longer even compare themselves with the Germans in valor.

CHAPTER 6.25

SECTION 6.25.1The breadth of this Hercynian Forest, mentioned above, extends to a journey of nine days for an unencumbered traveler; for it cannot be measured in any other way, and they know no measurements of distance.

SECTION 6.25.2It begins at the borders of the Helvetii, Nemetes, and Rauraci, and runs in a straight line along the course of the Danube River to the territories of the Dacians and Anartes.

SECTION 6.25.3From there it bends to the left, away from the river, and because of its vast extent touches the borders of many peoples.

SECTION 6.25.4Nor is there anyone in this part of Germany who can say that he has reached the beginning of that forest, even after traveling for sixty days, or who has learned where it begins.

SECTION 6.25.5It is established that many species of wild animals are born there which are not seen elsewhere. Those that differ most from other animals and seem worthy of being recorded are the following.

CHAPTER 6.26

SECTION 6.26.1There is an ox shaped like a stag, from the middle of whose forehead, between the ears, rises a single horn, taller and straighter than the horns known to us. From its summit broad projections spread out like palms and branches. The female and the male are of the same nature, and the shape and size of their horns are the same.

CHAPTER 6.27

SECTION 6.27.1There are also animals called elks. Their shape and the mottling of their hides resemble those of goats, but they are somewhat larger, have no horns, and have legs without joints or articulations.

SECTION 6.27.2They do not lie down to rest, and if by any accident they are thrown down, they cannot raise or lift themselves up.

SECTION 6.27.3Trees serve them as resting places: they lean against them and, reclining only slightly, take their rest in that position.

SECTION 6.27.4When hunters discover from their tracks where they are accustomed to retire, they either undermine all the trees in that place at the roots or cut into them just far enough to leave their outward appearance unchanged, as though they were still standing. When the animals lean against them there, as is their habit,

SECTION 6.27.5they bring the weakened trees down with their weight and fall together with them.

CHAPTER 6.28

SECTION 6.28.1A third species consists of the animals called aurochs. These are somewhat smaller than elephants and have the appearance, color, and shape of bulls.

SECTION 6.28.2They possess great strength and great speed, and spare neither man nor beast once they have caught sight of them. The Germans eagerly trap them in pits and kill them.

SECTION 6.28.3By this toil the young men harden themselves and train through this kind of hunting; and those who have killed the greatest number receive high praise after displaying the horns in public as evidence of their exploits.

SECTION 6.28.4But even when captured very young, they cannot become accustomed to men or be tamed.

SECTION 6.28.5The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ greatly from the horns of our cattle.

SECTION 6.28.6These horns are eagerly sought out, bound around the rims with silver, and used as drinking vessels at their most sumptuous feasts.

CHAPTER 6.29

SECTION 6.29.1After Caesar learned through scouts of the Ubii that the Suebi had withdrawn into the forests, he feared a shortage of grain, since, as we have shown above, the Germans as a whole devote very little attention to agriculture, and decided not to advance any farther. But,

SECTION 6.29.2so as not to relieve the barbarians entirely of their fear that he might return, and in order to delay their reinforcements, after withdrawing his army he demolished the far end of the bridge,

SECTION 6.29.3which touched the bank of the Ubii, for a length of two hundred feet; at the end of the remaining bridge he erected a tower four stories high, stationed a garrison of twelve cohorts to defend it, and fortified the place with extensive works. He placed the young Gaius Volcatius Tullus in command of the position and its garrison.

SECTION 6.29.4When the grain was beginning to ripen, Caesar himself set out to make war upon Ambiorix through the Ardennes Forest, the largest in all Gaul, which extends from the banks of the Rhine and the territory of the Treveri to the Nervii and stretches more than five hundred miles in length. He sent Lucius Minucius Basilus ahead with all the cavalry, in the hope that he might accomplish something by the speed of his march and the favorable moment.

SECTION 6.29.5He warned him to forbid fires from being kindled in camp, lest any indication of his approach be visible from afar, and said that he himself would follow immediately.

CHAPTER 6.30

SECTION 6.30.1Basilus did as he had been ordered. Completing the march swiftly and contrary to everyone’s expectation, he surprised many people scattered in the fields. Guided by information from them, he hastened toward Ambiorix himself, who was said to be at a certain place with a few horsemen.

SECTION 6.30.2Fortune has great power in all affairs, but especially in war. For just as it happened by extraordinary chance that Basilus came upon Ambiorix himself while he was off his guard and unprepared, and that his arrival was seen with men’s own eyes before report or messenger brought word of it, so it was an extraordinary stroke of fortune for Ambiorix that, though all the military equipment he had around him was seized and his wagons and horses captured, he himself escaped death. But this also came about because

SECTION 6.30.3the house was surrounded by woods, as the dwellings of the Gauls generally are, for they usually seek the vicinity of woods and rivers to escape the heat, and his companions and retainers held off the attack of our cavalry for a short time in a confined place.

SECTION 6.30.4While they fought, one of his men mounted him on a horse, and the woods sheltered him in flight. Thus fortune had great power both in bringing him into danger and in enabling him to escape it.

CHAPTER 6.31

SECTION 6.31.1It is uncertain whether Ambiorix deliberately failed to assemble his forces because he did not believe he should risk a battle, or whether he was prevented by lack of time and by the sudden arrival of the cavalry, since he believed that the rest of the army was following.

SECTION 6.31.2At any rate, he sent messengers throughout the countryside and ordered every man to look to his own safety. Some fled into the Ardennes Forest, others into the unbroken marshes.

SECTION 6.31.3Those who lived nearest the Ocean concealed themselves on islands that the tides regularly form.

SECTION 6.31.4Many left their own territory and entrusted themselves and all their possessions to complete strangers.

SECTION 6.31.5Catuvolcus, king of half the Eburones, who had joined with Ambiorix in forming the plan, was now worn out with age and unable to endure the hardship either of war or of flight. After cursing Ambiorix with every imprecation for having instigated the scheme, he killed himself with yew, which grows abundantly in Gaul and Germany.

CHAPTER 6.32

SECTION 6.32.1The Segni and Condrusi, peoples of German origin and reckoned among the Germans, who live between the Eburones and Treveri, sent envoys to Caesar to beg him not to count them among his enemies or suppose that all the Germans on this side of the Rhine had made common cause. They declared that they had entertained no thought of war and had sent no assistance to Ambiorix.

SECTION 6.32.2After investigating the matter by questioning prisoners, Caesar ordered them to bring back to him any Eburones who might have fled into their territory. If they did so, he declared, he would not violate their borders.

SECTION 6.32.3He then divided his forces into three parts and brought the baggage of all the legions together at Aduatuca.

SECTION 6.32.4That is the name of a fort. It stands nearly in the center of the territory of the Eburones, where Titurius and Aurunculeius had established their winter quarters.

SECTION 6.32.5Among other advantages, Caesar approved of this place because the fortifications from the previous year remained intact and would spare the soldiers labor. He left the Fourteenth Legion to guard the baggage, one of the three legions he had recently raised and brought over from Italy.

SECTION 6.32.6He placed Quintus Tullius Cicero in command of that legion and the camp and assigned him two hundred cavalry.

CHAPTER 6.33

SECTION 6.33.1Having divided the army, he ordered Titus Labienus to set out with three legions toward the Ocean, into the regions bordering on the Menapii.

SECTION 6.33.2He sent Gaius Trebonius with an equal number of legions to lay waste the region adjoining the Aduatuci.

SECTION 6.33.3He himself resolved to march with the remaining three legions toward the Scheldt River, which flows into the Meuse, and the farthest reaches of the Ardennes, where he heard Ambiorix had gone with a few horsemen.

SECTION 6.33.4As he departed, he gave assurance that he would return after seven days, knowing that on that date the grain ration was due to the legion left on guard.

SECTION 6.33.5He urged Labienus and Trebonius to return by that day if they could do so without detriment to the public interest, so that, after once more sharing their counsels and examining the enemy’s plans, they might begin a new phase of the campaign.

CHAPTER 6.34

SECTION 6.34.1There was, as we have shown above, no organized body of troops, no town, and no garrison to defend itself by force of arms, but a population scattered in every direction.

SECTION 6.34.2Each man had settled wherever a hidden valley, a wooded place, or an impassable marsh offered some hope of protection or safety.

SECTION 6.34.3These places were known to those who lived nearby, and the situation demanded great vigilance—not for the protection of the army as a whole, since no danger could come upon the entire force from a terrified and scattered enemy, but for the preservation of individual soldiers, a matter which nevertheless concerned the safety of the army to some degree.

SECTION 6.34.4For greed for plunder drew many men too far away, while the dense forests, with their uncertain and hidden paths, prevented troops from entering in formation.

SECTION 6.34.5If Caesar wished to finish the business and exterminate the race of these criminals, he had to send out numerous detachments and disperse his soldiers.

SECTION 6.34.6If he wished to keep the companies close to the standards, as the established discipline and practice of the Roman army demanded, the terrain itself served as a protection for the barbarians; nor did they lack the daring to lay secret ambushes and surround isolated men.

SECTION 6.34.7Amid difficulties of this kind, every precaution that vigilance could devise was taken: it was judged better to leave some opportunity of harming the enemy unused, although every heart burned for vengeance, than to inflict harm at the cost of any loss among the soldiers.

SECTION 6.34.8Caesar sent messengers to the neighboring tribes and, by the hope of plunder, summoned everyone to join him in despoiling the Eburones. His purpose was that Gallic lives rather than legionary soldiers should be endangered in the forests, and at the same time that, through the great host poured around them, the race and name of the tribe should be extinguished for so great a crime.

SECTION 6.34.9A great multitude quickly assembled from every direction.

CHAPTER 6.35

SECTION 6.35.1These operations were being conducted throughout every part of the territory of the Eburones, and the seventh day was approaching, the day on which Caesar had resolved to return to the baggage and the legion.

SECTION 6.35.2Here it could be seen how great is the power of fortune in war and how extraordinary the turns of chance it brings.

SECTION 6.35.3Since the enemy had been scattered and terror-stricken, as we have shown, there was no organized force capable of causing even the slightest alarm.

SECTION 6.35.4Across the Rhine word reached the Germans that the Eburones were being despoiled and that everyone was actually being invited to share in the plunder.

SECTION 6.35.5The Sugambri, who live nearest the Rhine and by whom, as we related above, the Tencteri and Usipetes had been received in their flight, assembled two thousand cavalry.

SECTION 6.35.6They crossed the Rhine in boats and rafts thirty miles below the place where the bridge had been built and the garrison left by Caesar. They entered the nearest territory of the Eburones, intercepted many who were scattered in flight, and seized a great number of cattle, for which barbarians are exceedingly eager.

SECTION 6.35.7Enticed by the plunder, they advanced farther. Neither marshes nor forests delayed these men, born to warfare and brigandage. They asked their captives where Caesar was, discovered that he had gone farther away, and learned that the whole army had departed.

SECTION 6.35.8Then one of the captives said, “Why do you pursue this wretched and paltry booty, when you may now become the most fortunate of men?

SECTION 6.35.9In three hours you can reach Aduatuca. There the Roman army has gathered all its possessions. The garrison is so small that it cannot even man the whole circuit of the wall, and no one dares venture outside the fortifications.”

SECTION 6.35.10Presented with this opportunity, the Germans left the booty they had already taken in a concealed place and hastened to Aduatuca, using as their guide the same man from whose information they had learned these facts.

CHAPTER 6.36

SECTION 6.36.1Throughout all the preceding days Cicero had obeyed Caesar’s instructions and kept the soldiers within the camp with the utmost vigilance, not permitting even a single camp servant to go outside the fortifications. But on the seventh day he lost confidence that Caesar would keep to the appointed number of days, because he heard that Caesar had advanced farther and no report of his return was being brought. At the same time, he was influenced by the complaints of those

SECTION 6.36.2who called his forbearance almost a state of siege, since they were not allowed to leave the camp. Expecting no such accident as could befall him within three miles, with nine legions and a very large cavalry force standing between him and danger and with the enemy scattered and almost destroyed, he sent five cohorts to gather grain in the nearest fields, between which and the camp there was only a single hill. A number of sick men from the legions had been left behind;

SECTION 6.36.3Of these, those who had recovered during this interval, about three hundred men, were sent out together under a standard; besides them, a great crowd of camp servants and a large number of pack animals that had remained in camp followed, permission having been granted.

CHAPTER 6.37

SECTION 6.37.1At this very time, and by chance, the German cavalry arrived and immediately, at the same pace at which they had come, attempted to burst into the camp through the rear gate.

SECTION 6.37.2Because woods screened that side, they were not seen until they were close to the camp—so close that the merchants who had pitched their tents beneath the rampart had no opportunity to withdraw within it.

SECTION 6.37.3Our men, taken unawares, were thrown into confusion by this unexpected turn, and the cohort on guard barely withstood the first assault.

SECTION 6.37.4The enemy poured around the other sides, seeking some entrance they might find.

SECTION 6.37.5Our men defended the gates with difficulty; the nature of the ground and the fortifications themselves protected the other approaches.

SECTION 6.37.6Panic reigned throughout the camp, and each man asked another the cause of the uproar; no one foresaw where the standards should be carried or to what point each man should rally.

SECTION 6.37.7One man declared that the camp was already taken; another insisted that the army and its commander had been destroyed and that the victorious barbarians had come upon them.

SECTION 6.37.8Most devised fresh superstitious fears from the place itself and summoned before their eyes the disaster of Cotta and Titurius, who had perished in this same fort.

SECTION 6.37.9With everyone terrified by such fear, the barbarians were confirmed in the belief, as they had heard from their prisoner, that there was no garrison within.

SECTION 6.37.10They strove to break through and exhorted one another not to let so great a stroke of fortune slip from their hands.

CHAPTER 6.38

SECTION 6.38.1Publius Sextius Baculus, who had served as chief centurion under Caesar and whom we have mentioned in earlier battles, had been left behind sick with the garrison and had now gone without food for five days.

SECTION 6.38.2Despairing of his own safety and that of all the rest, he came unarmed from his tent. He saw the enemy pressing close and the situation at the utmost crisis; he seized weapons from the nearest men and took his stand in the gateway.

SECTION 6.38.3The centurions of the cohort on guard followed him, and together they sustained the fight for a short time.

SECTION 6.38.4After receiving severe wounds, Sextius lost consciousness; he was passed back from hand to hand and barely saved.

SECTION 6.38.5The time thus gained allowed the others to recover their courage enough to dare to take their stand upon the fortifications and present the appearance of defenders.

CHAPTER 6.39

SECTION 6.39.1Meanwhile our soldiers, having completed their foraging, heard the shouting. The cavalry galloped ahead and learned how grave the danger was.

SECTION 6.39.2Here, however, there was no fortification to shelter them in their terror. Only recently enlisted and inexperienced in warfare, they turned their faces toward the military tribune and the centurions and waited for orders from them. No man was so brave as not to be shaken by the unexpectedness of the crisis.

SECTION 6.39.3The barbarians, sighting the standards in the distance, abandoned their assault on the camp.

SECTION 6.39.4At first they believed that the legions had returned, having learned from their prisoners that these had gone farther away; but afterward, scorning the smallness of the force, they attacked from every side.

CHAPTER 6.40

SECTION 6.40.1The camp servants ran forward to the nearest hill. Quickly driven down from it, they threw themselves among the standards and maniples, and so terrified the already fearful soldiers still more.

SECTION 6.40.2Some thought they should form a wedge and break through quickly, since the camp was so near; even if some part of their force were surrounded and fell, they trusted that the rest could still be saved.

SECTION 6.40.3Others urged that they should take their stand on the ridge and all share the same fate.

SECTION 6.40.4The veteran soldiers, whom we have stated had set out together under a standard, did not approve this plan. Accordingly, after encouraging one another, with Gaius Trebonius, the Roman knight placed in command of them, as their leader, they broke through the midst of the enemy and reached the camp safe, every man of them.

SECTION 6.40.5The camp servants and cavalry who followed them were saved by the soldiers’ courage in the same charge.

SECTION 6.40.6But those who had taken their stand on the ridge, having as yet gained no experience in warfare, could neither persist in the plan they had approved and defend themselves from the higher ground, nor imitate the force and speed they had seen profit the others. Instead, in attempting to withdraw into the camp, they descended into unfavorable ground.

SECTION 6.40.7The centurions—some of whom, because of their valor, had been transferred from the lower ranks of the other legions to higher ranks in this legion—fought with the utmost courage and fell, lest they lose the military renown they had already won.

SECTION 6.40.8Through the courage of these men, which drove the enemy back, part of the soldiers reached the camp unharmed beyond all hope; the rest were surrounded by the barbarians and perished.

CHAPTER 6.41

SECTION 6.41.1The Germans, despairing of taking the camp because they saw that our men had now established themselves upon the fortifications, withdrew across the Rhine with the plunder they had deposited in the woods.

SECTION 6.41.2Even after the enemy’s departure the terror remained so great that, when Gaius Volusenus, who had been sent out with the cavalry, reached the camp that night, he could not persuade the men that Caesar was close at hand with his army unharmed.

SECTION 6.41.3Fear had so completely possessed their minds that, almost beside themselves, they said all the forces had been destroyed and the cavalry alone had escaped from the rout; they insisted that the Germans would never have attacked the camp if the army were unharmed.

SECTION 6.41.4Caesar’s arrival dispelled this fear.

CHAPTER 6.42

SECTION 6.42.1On his return, Caesar, well aware of the uncertainties of war, complained of only one thing: that the cohorts had been sent away from their guard posts and the garrison. He declared that the position ought not to have been abandoned even against the slightest contingency, and judged that fortune had played a great part in the enemy’s sudden arrival—

SECTION 6.42.2and a far greater part still in turning the barbarians away almost from the very rampart and gates of the camp. Of all these circumstances, the most astonishing seemed to be this:

SECTION 6.42.3the Germans, who had crossed the Rhine with the purpose of laying waste Ambiorix’s territory, had been carried to the Roman camp and thereby rendered Ambiorix the service he most could have desired.

CHAPTER 6.43

SECTION 6.43.1Caesar set out once more to harry the enemy and, after assembling a large force from the neighboring states, dispatched it in every direction.

SECTION 6.43.2Every village and every building that anyone saw was set on fire; plunder was driven in from every quarter.

SECTION 6.43.3The grain was not only consumed by so vast a multitude of men and pack animals, but had also been beaten down by the season and the rains, so that even if any men had concealed themselves for the present, it seemed that after the army’s withdrawal they must nevertheless perish from utter want.

SECTION 6.43.4And with the cavalry divided among so many directions, matters often came to such a point that prisoners declared they had only just seen Ambiorix looking about him in flight and insisted that he had not yet entirely vanished from sight. Thus the hope of overtaking him was aroused and boundless exertions were undertaken;

SECTION 6.43.5those who believed that they would earn Caesar’s highest favor almost overcame nature itself by their zeal, and it always seemed that only a little was lacking for complete success.

SECTION 6.43.6But Ambiorix escaped through hiding places or forest fastnesses and, concealed by night, made for other districts and regions with an escort of no more than four horsemen, the only men to whom he dared entrust his life.

CHAPTER 6.44

SECTION 6.44.1After laying waste the country in this fashion, Caesar led his army back, with the loss of two cohorts, to Durocortorum among the Remi. He summoned a council of Gaul to that place and began an inquiry into the conspiracy of the Senones and Carnutes and into the conduct of Acco, who had been the chief author of that design.

SECTION 6.44.2After a sentence of exceptional severity had been pronounced, Caesar inflicted punishment upon him according to the custom of their ancestors.

SECTION 6.44.3Some, fearing trial, fled. After forbidding them fire and water, Caesar stationed two legions in winter quarters on the borders of the Treveri, two among the Lingones, and the remaining six at Agedincum in the territory of the Senones. Having provided grain for the army, he set out, as he had determined, for Italy to hold the judicial assizes.

CHAPTER 6.1

SECTION 6.1.1For many reasons Caesar expected a greater uprising in Gaul, and he instructed his legates Marcus Silanus, Gaius Antistius Reginus, and Titus Sextius to conduct a levy.

SECTION 6.1.2At the same time he asked the proconsul Gnaeus Pompey, who, for reasons of state, was remaining near Rome while retaining military command, to order the men from Cisalpine Gaul whom he had sworn into service as consul

SECTION 6.1.3to assemble under the standards and march to Caesar. Caesar believed that, with a view to what the Gauls would think in the future as well, it was very important that Italy’s resources appear so great that, if any loss were suffered in war, it could not only be repaired quickly but could even be made good with a larger force.

SECTION 6.1.4Pompey granted this request both for the sake of the state and out of friendship. The levy was quickly completed by his officers, and before winter had ended three legions were formed and brought to Caesar. By doubling the number of cohorts he had lost with Quintus Titurius, Caesar demonstrated, through both the speed and the size of the mobilization, what the discipline and resources of the Roman people could accomplish.

CHAPTER 6.2

SECTION 6.2.1After Indutiomarus was killed, as we have related, the Treveri transferred command to his relatives. They did not stop trying to stir up the neighboring Germans and promising them money. When they could not persuade those nearest to them,

SECTION 6.2.2they approached more distant peoples. After finding several states willing to join them, they bound one another by oath and gave hostages as security for payment. They also joined Ambiorix to themselves by an alliance and treaty.

SECTION 6.2.3When Caesar learned of these developments, he saw that war was being prepared everywhere: the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii, together with all the Germans on this side of the Rhine, were under arms; the Senones were not appearing as ordered and were coordinating their plans with the Carnutes and neighboring states; and the Treveri were trying to stir up the Germans by sending repeated delegations. He therefore thought that he had to make preparations for war earlier than usual.

CHAPTER 6.3

SECTION 6.3.1Accordingly, before winter was over, he assembled the four nearest legions and unexpectedly hurried into the territory of the Nervii.

SECTION 6.3.2Before they could either assemble or flee, he captured a large number of livestock and people, gave that plunder to the soldiers, devastated the fields, and forced the Nervii to surrender and give him hostages.

SECTION 6.3.3After quickly completing this operation, he led the legions back to winter quarters.

SECTION 6.3.4At the beginning of spring he summoned a council of Gaul, as he had determined. When all the others came except the Senones, Carnutes, and Treveri, he considered their absence the beginning of war and rebellion. To show that he was putting everything else aside, he transferred the council to Lutetia, a town of the Parisii.

SECTION 6.3.5The Parisii bordered the Senones and within living memory had formed a single state with them, but they were believed to have had no part in this plan.

SECTION 6.3.6After announcing this decision from the tribunal, Caesar set out that same day with the legions against the Senones and reached their territory by forced marches.

CHAPTER 6.4

SECTION 6.4.1When Acco, who had been the chief author of this plan, learned of Caesar’s arrival, he ordered the population to assemble in the fortified towns. While they were attempting to do so, before it could be accomplished, word came that the Romans were already there.

SECTION 6.4.2They were forced to abandon their plan and sent envoys to Caesar to beg for mercy. They approached him through the Aedui, under whose protection their state had been since ancient times.

SECTION 6.4.3At the Aedui’s request Caesar willingly pardoned them and accepted their excuses, because he believed that the summer season was a time for the impending war, not for conducting an investigation.

SECTION 6.4.4He demanded one hundred hostages and handed them over to the Aedui for safekeeping.

SECTION 6.4.5The Carnutes also sent envoys and hostages to the same place, employing the Remi, whose clients they were, as intercessors. They received the same answer.

SECTION 6.4.6Caesar concluded the council and ordered the states to provide cavalry.

CHAPTER 6.5

SECTION 6.5.1With this part of Gaul pacified, Caesar directed his whole mind and attention to the war against the Treveri and Ambiorix.

SECTION 6.5.2He ordered Cavarinus to accompany him with the cavalry of the Senones, to prevent any uprising from occurring because of Cavarinus’s irascibility or because of the hatred his conduct had earned him among his people.

SECTION 6.5.3After making these arrangements, Caesar took it as certain that Ambiorix would not fight a pitched battle, and he considered what other plans Ambiorix might adopt.

SECTION 6.5.4The Menapii lived near the territory of the Eburones and were protected by endless marshes and forests. They alone among the Gauls had never sent envoys to Caesar to negotiate peace. Caesar knew that Ambiorix had ties of hospitality with them, and he had also learned that Ambiorix had entered into friendship with the Germans through the Treveri.

SECTION 6.5.5He believed that these sources of assistance had to be taken away from Ambiorix before he attacked the man himself, so that, despairing of his safety, Ambiorix would not either hide among the Menapii or be driven to join the peoples across the Rhine.

SECTION 6.5.6Having adopted this plan, Caesar sent the baggage of the entire army to Labienus in the territory of the Treveri and ordered two legions to march to him. Caesar himself set out against the Menapii with five legions unencumbered by baggage.

SECTION 6.5.7The Menapii assembled no army but, relying on the protection afforded by the terrain, fled into the forests and marshes and carried their possessions there as well.

CHAPTER 6.6

SECTION 6.6.1Caesar divided his forces with the legate Gaius Fabius and the quaestor Marcus Crassus and, after bridges had quickly been constructed, advanced in three divisions. He burned houses and villages and captured a large number of livestock and people.

SECTION 6.6.2Compelled by these actions, the Menapii sent envoys to him to ask for peace.

SECTION 6.6.3After receiving hostages, Caesar declared that he would treat them as enemies if they admitted either Ambiorix or his envoys into their territory. Once these arrangements were confirmed, he left Commius the Atrebatian among the Menapii with cavalry to serve as a guard, while he himself set out for the territory of the Treveri.

CHAPTER 6.7

SECTION 6.7.1While Caesar was carrying out these operations, the Treveri assembled large forces of infantry and cavalry and prepared to attack Labienus, who had wintered in their territory with a single legion.

SECTION 6.7.2They were already no more than a two-day march from him when they learned that two legions sent by Caesar had arrived.

SECTION 6.7.3They established a camp fifteen miles away and decided to wait for German reinforcements.

SECTION 6.7.4When Labienus learned of the enemy’s plan, he hoped their recklessness would provide an opportunity to fight. Leaving five cohorts to guard the baggage, he advanced against the enemy with twenty-five cohorts and a large force of cavalry, and fortified a camp with a distance of one mile between the two armies.

SECTION 6.7.5Between Labienus and the enemy was a river that was difficult to cross and had steep banks. He had no intention of crossing it himself and did not think that the enemy would cross it either.

SECTION 6.7.6Their hope of receiving reinforcements grew daily. Labienus openly declared at a council that, since the Germans were said to be approaching, he would not place his own fortunes and those of the army at risk, and that he would break camp at first light the next day. This information was quickly carried to the enemy,

SECTION 6.7.7since, given the large number of Gallic cavalrymen, it was natural that some of them would favor the Gallic cause.

SECTION 6.7.8During the night Labienus summoned the military tribunes and senior centurions, explained his plan, and, to make the enemy more readily suspect that the Romans were afraid, ordered the camp to be broken with more noise and confusion than was customary in the Roman army. By these measures he made their departure look like a rout.

SECTION 6.7.9Because the camps were so close together, this information too was carried by scouts to the enemy before dawn.

CHAPTER 6.8

SECTION 6.8.1The rear of the column had scarcely passed beyond the fortifications when the Gauls urged one another not to let the plunder they had hoped for slip from their hands. They said that it would take too long to wait for German reinforcements when the Romans were terrified, and that their honor did not permit them, with such large forces, to hesitate to attack so small a body of men, especially when they were fleeing and encumbered. They therefore did not hesitate to cross the river and begin battle on unfavorable ground.

SECTION 6.8.2Labienus had anticipated this. To lure them all across to his side of the river, he continued the same pretense of marching away and advanced slowly.

SECTION 6.8.3Then, after sending the baggage a short distance ahead and positioning it on a hill, he said, “Soldiers, you have the opportunity you wanted. You have the enemy trapped on difficult and unfavorable ground.

SECTION 6.8.4Show us, your commanders, the same courage you have so often shown your commander-in-chief, and imagine that he is here and is witnessing these events in person.”

SECTION 6.8.5At the same time he ordered the standards to be turned toward the enemy and the battle line to be formed. He detached a few squadrons to guard the baggage and stationed the rest of the cavalry on the flanks.

SECTION 6.8.6Our men quickly raised a shout and hurled their javelins at the enemy. When the Gauls unexpectedly saw the men they had believed were fleeing advancing against them with hostile standards, they could not withstand even the charge. They were put to flight at the first clash and made for the nearest woods.

SECTION 6.8.7Labienus pursued them with the cavalry, killed a great number, captured several, and within a few days regained control of the state. For when the Germans who were coming to their aid learned of the Treveri’s flight, they returned home.

SECTION 6.8.8The relatives of Indutiomarus, who had been the instigators of the revolt, accompanied them and left the state.

SECTION 6.8.9The chief position and governing authority were handed over to Cingetorix, who, as we have shown, had remained loyal from the beginning.

CHAPTER 6.9

SECTION 6.9.1After Caesar came from the territory of the Menapii into that of the Treveri, he decided to cross the Rhine for two reasons. One was that the Germans had sent reinforcements to the Treveri against him;

SECTION 6.9.2the other was to prevent Ambiorix from finding refuge among them.

SECTION 6.9.3Having made these decisions, he began building a bridge a little above the place where he had previously taken his army across.

SECTION 6.9.4Because the method was known and established, and the soldiers worked with great enthusiasm, the project was completed within a few days.

SECTION 6.9.5He left a strong garrison among the Treveri at the bridge, to prevent any sudden uprising by them, and took the rest of his forces and the cavalry across.

SECTION 6.9.6The Ubii, who had previously given hostages and surrendered, sent envoys to him to clear themselves of blame. They explained that no reinforcements had been sent from their state to the Treveri and that they had not broken faith.

SECTION 6.9.7They begged and implored him to spare them, so that in the general hatred of the Germans the innocent would not suffer punishment for the guilty. If he wanted more hostages, they promised to provide them.

SECTION 6.9.8After investigating the matter, Caesar discovered that the reinforcements had been sent by the Suebi. He accepted the Ubii’s explanation and began making inquiries about the approaches and routes into the territory of the Suebi.

CHAPTER 6.10

SECTION 6.10.1Meanwhile, a few days later, the Ubii informed him that all the Suebi were concentrating their forces in one place and ordering the peoples under their rule to send reinforcements of infantry and cavalry.

SECTION 6.10.2On learning this, he made provisions for the grain supply and selected a suitable place for a camp. He ordered the Ubii to drive in their livestock and bring all their possessions from the countryside into their towns, hoping that these barbarous and inexperienced men, driven by a shortage of food, could be induced to fight under unfavorable conditions.

SECTION 6.10.3He instructed them to send frequent scouts among the Suebi and learn what was happening there.

SECTION 6.10.4They carried out his orders and, after a few days had passed, reported that when more definite news of the Roman army arrived, all the Suebi, with all their own forces and those of their allies that they had assembled, had withdrawn far into the remotest parts of their territory.

SECTION 6.10.5There was, they said, a forest of immense size there called Bacenis. It extended far into the interior and, standing like a natural wall, protected the Cherusci from the Suebi and the Suebi from the Cherusci, preventing injuries and raids by either side. The Suebi had decided to await the Romans’ arrival at the edge of this forest.

CHAPTER 6.11

SECTION 6.11.1Since the narrative has reached this point, it does not seem inappropriate to describe the customs of Gaul and Germany and how these peoples differ from one another.

SECTION 6.11.2In Gaul there are factions not only in every state and in every district and subdivision, but almost even in individual households. The leaders of these factions are

SECTION 6.11.3those who are considered, in the judgment of their people, to possess the greatest authority, and it is to their decision and judgment that the final determination of all affairs and policies is referred.

SECTION 6.11.4This arrangement appears to have been established in ancient times so that no one among the common people would lack assistance against someone more powerful. For no leader allows his own followers to be oppressed or defrauded, and if he acts otherwise, he has no authority at all among them.

SECTION 6.11.5The same system exists at the highest level throughout all Gaul, for all the states are divided into two parties.

CHAPTER 6.12

SECTION 6.12.1When Caesar came into Gaul, the leaders of one faction were the Aedui, and those of the other were the Sequani.

SECTION 6.12.2Because the Sequani were weaker by themselves, since supreme authority had traditionally belonged to the Aedui and their network of dependents was extensive, they had allied themselves with the Germans and Ariovistus and had brought them over by making great sacrifices and promises.

SECTION 6.12.3But after fighting several successful battles and killing all the Aeduan nobility, they had so far surpassed the Aedui in power

SECTION 6.12.4that they transferred a large proportion of the Aedui’s dependents to themselves, took the sons of their leading men as hostages, forced the Aedui as a state to swear that they would undertake no action against the Sequani, seized by force and retained part of the neighboring territory, and gained supremacy over all Gaul.

SECTION 6.12.5Driven by this desperate situation, Diviciacus had gone to Rome to seek assistance from the Senate, but had returned without accomplishing his purpose.

SECTION 6.12.6Caesar’s arrival brought about a reversal of circumstances: the hostages were returned to the Aedui, their old dependent relationships were restored, and new ones were acquired through Caesar, because those who had joined themselves in friendship to the Aedui

SECTION 6.12.7saw that they enjoyed better conditions and more just government. Since in other respects as well the Aedui’s influence and standing had increased, the Sequani had lost their supremacy. The Remi had taken their place. Because it was understood that they possessed influence with Caesar equal to that of the Aedui, those who could not possibly unite with the Aedui because of long-standing hostilities placed themselves under the patronage of the Remi.

SECTION 6.12.8The Remi carefully protected them, and in this way maintained their new and suddenly acquired authority.

SECTION 6.12.9The situation at that time was that the Aedui were considered by far the foremost people, while the Remi held the second-highest position in standing.

CHAPTER 6.13

SECTION 6.13.1Throughout Gaul there are two classes of people who possess any standing and honor. The common people are regarded as little better than slaves: they dare do nothing on their own and are consulted on no matter.

SECTION 6.13.2Most of them, when burdened by debt, heavy taxation, or oppression by the powerful, bind themselves in servitude to nobles, who then have all the same rights over them that masters have over slaves.

SECTION 6.13.3Of these two privileged classes, one is that of the Druids and the other that of the knights.

SECTION 6.13.4The Druids take part in religious matters, supervise public and private sacrifices, and interpret religious doctrine. Large numbers of young men come to them for instruction, and they are held in great honor among the Gauls.

SECTION 6.13.5For they decide almost all public and private disputes. If a crime has been committed, if a killing has occurred, or if there is a dispute about an inheritance or boundaries, they too make the decision and determine rewards and penalties.

SECTION 6.13.6If any individual or community refuses to abide by their ruling, they ban them from participating in sacrifices. Among the Gauls this is the most severe punishment.

SECTION 6.13.7Those who have been placed under such a ban are regarded as godless criminals. Everyone avoids them and shuns contact and conversation with them, for fear of suffering some harm from the contagion. They receive no justice when they seek it, nor are they allowed to share in any public honor.

SECTION 6.13.8One man presides over all these Druids and possesses supreme authority among them.

SECTION 6.13.9When he dies, he is succeeded either by whoever among the others is preeminent in standing or, if several are equal, by the vote of the Druids. Sometimes they even fight with weapons for the supreme position.

SECTION 6.13.10At a fixed time of year, they assemble at a consecrated place in the territory of the Carnutes, a region regarded as the center of all Gaul. Everyone who has a dispute gathers there from every direction and submits to their decisions and judgments.

SECTION 6.13.11Their system of instruction is thought to have originated in Britain and to have been brought from there into Gaul,

SECTION 6.13.12and even now those who wish to acquire a more thorough knowledge of it generally travel there to study.

CHAPTER 6.14

SECTION 6.14.1The Druids customarily take no part in war and do not pay taxes along with the rest. They are exempt from military service and from all other obligations.

SECTION 6.14.2Attracted by such great privileges, many come to receive their instruction of their own accord, while others are sent by their parents and relatives.

SECTION 6.14.3They are said to memorize a great number of verses there. As a result, some remain under instruction for twenty years.

SECTION 6.14.4They do not consider it religiously permissible to commit these teachings to writing, although in nearly all other matters, both public and private accounts, they use Greek letters. They seem to me to have established this practice for two reasons: because they do not want their teachings to be made public, and because they do not want students who rely on writing to devote less effort to memory. That generally happens to most people: with the support of written texts, they relax their diligence in learning thoroughly and weaken their memory.

SECTION 6.14.5Above all, they seek to persuade people that souls do not die but pass after death from one person to another, and they believe that this doctrine especially inspires courage because it causes people to disregard the fear of death.

SECTION 6.14.6They also discuss and teach the young many things concerning the stars and their movements, the size of the universe and the earth, the nature of things, and the strength and power of the immortal gods.

CHAPTER 6.15

SECTION 6.15.1The other class is that of the knights. Whenever the need arises and a war occurs—which before Caesar’s arrival used to happen almost every year, either because the Gauls themselves were inflicting injuries or because they were repelling injuries inflicted on them—they all take part in the war.

SECTION 6.15.2The more distinguished any one of them is by birth and wealth, the more retainers and dependents he has around him. This is the only form of influence and power they recognize.

CHAPTER 6.16

SECTION 6.16.1The entire Gallic people is extremely devoted to religious observances,

SECTION 6.16.2and for that reason those afflicted with severe illnesses, as well as those engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice human beings as victims or vow that they will sacrifice them, and they employ the Druids to conduct these sacrifices, because they believe that unless a human life is given in return for a human life,

SECTION 6.16.3the divine power of the immortal gods cannot be appeased. They also have state-sponsored sacrifices of the same kind. Some have figures of enormous size

SECTION 6.16.4whose limbs, woven from branches, they fill with living people. These are set on fire, and the people enclosed within them die surrounded by the flames.

SECTION 6.16.5They believe that the execution of people caught committing theft, robbery, or some other crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when they have no supply of such people, they resort even to executing the innocent.

CHAPTER 6.17

SECTION 6.17.1The god they worship most is Mercury. They have very many images of him. They declare that he invented all the arts, regard him as the guide of roads and journeys, and believe that he has the greatest power over making money and conducting trade. After him they worship Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva.

SECTION 6.17.2Their beliefs about these gods are much the same as those of other peoples: Apollo drives away diseases, Minerva teaches the foundations of crafts and trades, Jupiter rules the heavens, and Mars governs wars.

SECTION 6.17.3When they have decided to fight a battle, they generally dedicate to Mars whatever they capture in war. When they are victorious, they sacrifice the captured animals and collect the remaining spoils in one place.

SECTION 6.17.4In many states, piles of these objects can be seen heaped up in consecrated places.

SECTION 6.17.5It rarely happens that anyone dares, in defiance of religious obligation, either to conceal captured property in his home or to remove anything from the piles. The severest punishment, accompanied by torture, has been established for such an offense.

CHAPTER 6.18

SECTION 6.18.1All the Gauls proclaim that they are descended from Dis Pater, and they say this tradition has been handed down by the Druids.

SECTION 6.18.2For this reason they measure every period of time not by the number of days but by the number of nights. They observe birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such a way that night is followed by day.

SECTION 6.18.3In their other customs of life they differ from most other peoples chiefly in this: they do not allow their sons to approach them openly until the boys have grown old enough to bear the obligations of military service, and they consider it shameful for a son still of boyish age to stand in public in his father’s sight.

CHAPTER 6.19

SECTION 6.19.1Whatever amount of money husbands receive from their wives as dowries, they assess an equal amount from their own property and add it to the dowry.

SECTION 6.19.2A joint account is kept of all this money, and the profits are saved. Whichever spouse outlives the other receives both shares together with the profits accumulated in previous years.

SECTION 6.19.3Husbands have the power of life and death over their wives, just as they do over their children. When the head of a distinguished family dies, his relatives gather and, if the circumstances of his death arouse suspicion, interrogate his wives under torture as they would slaves. If guilt is established, they kill the wives after subjecting them to excruciating torture by fire and every other means.

SECTION 6.19.4Gallic funerals are magnificent and costly by Gallic standards. They throw into the fire everything they believe was dear to the dead while they were alive, even animals; and until shortly before our own time, slaves and dependents known to have been loved by the dead were cremated with them after the regular funeral rites had been completed.

CHAPTER 6.20

SECTION 6.20.1The states considered to conduct their public affairs more effectively have a law requiring that if anyone hears anything concerning the state from neighbors, whether by rumor or report, he must convey it to a magistrate and not communicate it to anyone else,

SECTION 6.20.2because experience has shown that rash and ignorant people are often frightened by false rumors, driven to criminal action, and induced to make decisions about matters of the greatest importance.

SECTION 6.20.3The magistrates conceal whatever information they think should be concealed and disclose to the people whatever they judge useful. No one is permitted to speak about public affairs except in an assembly.

CHAPTER 6.21

SECTION 6.21.1The Germans differ greatly from this way of life. They have no Druids to preside over religious matters and show no particular interest in sacrifices.

SECTION 6.21.2They count among the gods only those they can see and by whose powers they are plainly helped: the Sun, Vulcan, and the Moon. Of the other gods they have not even heard by report.

SECTION 6.21.3Their whole life consists of hunting and the pursuit of military training. From childhood they apply themselves to labor and hardship. Those who remain sexually abstinent the longest

SECTION 6.21.4receive the greatest praise among their people. Some believe that this increases height, while others believe it strengthens physical power and sinews.

SECTION 6.21.5They regard it as utterly shameful for a man to have had sexual relations with a woman before the age of twenty. There is no concealment of such matters, because men and women bathe together indiscriminately in rivers and use animal skins or small coverings of fur, leaving a large part of the body naked.

CHAPTER 6.22

SECTION 6.22.1They do not devote themselves to agriculture, and the greater part of their food consists of milk, cheese, and meat.

SECTION 6.22.2No one possesses a fixed amount of land or private boundaries. Instead, each year the magistrates and leading men assign as much land as they think appropriate, and in whatever location they choose, to tribes and kinship groups that have assembled together, and the following year they compel them to move elsewhere.

SECTION 6.22.3They offer many reasons for this practice: to prevent people from becoming attached through long habit and exchanging their enthusiasm for warfare for agriculture; to prevent them from seeking to acquire extensive territories and the more powerful from driving the weaker from their holdings; to prevent them from building houses too carefully designed to avoid cold and heat; to prevent any desire for money from arising, since that gives birth to factions and dissensions;

SECTION 6.22.4and to keep the common people contented, since each man sees that his wealth is equal to that of the most powerful.

CHAPTER 6.23

SECTION 6.23.1For a tribe, the greatest distinction is to have as broad an uninhabited region as possible around its borders after laying waste the neighboring lands.

SECTION 6.23.2They regard it as a special mark of courage when their neighbors, driven from their lands, withdraw and no one dares settle nearby.

SECTION 6.23.3At the same time, they believe that they will be safer because the fear of a sudden incursion has been removed.

SECTION 6.23.4When a tribe either defends itself against an attack or wages an offensive war, officials are chosen to command that war and are given power of life and death.

SECTION 6.23.5In peacetime there is no common magistrate, but the leading men of the regions and districts administer justice among their own people and settle disputes.

SECTION 6.23.6Raids carried out beyond the borders of one’s own tribe bring no disgrace, and they declare that these are conducted to train the young men and reduce idleness.

SECTION 6.23.7And whenever one of the leading men announces in an assembly that he will be the leader and calls on those willing to follow him to declare themselves, those who approve both the cause and the man rise, promise their assistance, and are loudly praised by the crowd.

SECTION 6.23.8Those among them who then fail to follow are regarded as deserters and traitors, and afterward no one trusts them in any matter.

SECTION 6.23.9They consider it a sacrilege to harm a guest. Those who come to them for any reason are protected from injury and regarded as sacred; every home is open to them, and food is shared with them.

CHAPTER 6.24

SECTION 6.24.1There was once a time when the Gauls surpassed the Germans in courage, launched wars against them unprovoked, and, because of their large population and shortage of land, sent colonies across the Rhine.

SECTION 6.24.2Accordingly, the Volcae Tectosages occupied and settled the most fertile regions of Germany around the Hercynian Forest, which I find was known by report to Eratosthenes and certain other Greeks, who call it the Orcynian Forest.

SECTION 6.24.3That people has remained in these settlements down to the present time and has the highest reputation for justice and military prowess.

SECTION 6.24.4Now, because the Germans remain in the same poverty, privation, and endurance, and use the same food and care of the body, while proximity to the provinces and knowledge of goods from overseas provide the Gauls with many luxuries and conveniences,

SECTION 6.24.6the Gauls have gradually become accustomed to defeat, and after being beaten in many battles, they do not even compare themselves with the Germans in courage.

CHAPTER 6.25

SECTION 6.25.1The breadth of this Hercynian Forest, which was mentioned above, extends across a nine-day journey for a traveler without baggage; it cannot be measured in any other way, since they do not know measurements of distance.

SECTION 6.25.2It begins at the borders of the Helvetii, Nemetes, and Rauraci and extends in a straight line along the course of the Danube to the borders of the Dacians and Anartes.

SECTION 6.25.3From there it turns left, away from the river into different regions, and because of its great size it reaches the borders of many peoples.

SECTION 6.25.4There is no one in this part of Germany who can say that he has reached the beginning of that forest even after traveling for sixty days, or who has learned where it begins.

SECTION 6.25.5It is well established that many kinds of wild animals are found there that have not been seen elsewhere. The following are those that differ most from other animals and seem worthy of being recorded.

CHAPTER 6.26

SECTION 6.26.1There is an ox shaped like a deer, from the middle of whose forehead, between the ears, rises a single horn, taller and straighter than the horns known to us. From its top, projections spread widely like the leaves and branches of a palm tree. The female and male have the same characteristics, and their horns are identical in shape and size.

CHAPTER 6.27

SECTION 6.27.1There are also animals called elks. In shape and the mottling of their hides they resemble goats, but they are somewhat larger, have no horns, and have legs without joints or articulations.

SECTION 6.27.2They do not lie down to rest, and if they are knocked down by some accident, they cannot rise or lift themselves up.

SECTION 6.27.3Trees serve as their beds: they lean against them and, reclining only slightly in this way, take their rest.

SECTION 6.27.4When hunters discover from their tracks where they are accustomed to retreat, they either undermine all the trees in that place at the roots or cut into them just enough to leave them looking as though they were still standing. When the elks lean against them out of habit,

SECTION 6.27.5they knock down the weakened trees with their weight and fall along with them.

CHAPTER 6.28

SECTION 6.28.1A third kind of animal is the one called the aurochs. These are slightly smaller than elephants and have the appearance, color, and shape of a bull.

SECTION 6.28.2They possess great strength and great speed, and they spare neither any person nor any wild animal they see. The Germans diligently trap them in pits and kill them.

SECTION 6.28.3The young men toughen themselves through this exertion and train themselves by this kind of hunting. Those who have killed the greatest number of them bring the horns forward in public as evidence and receive great praise.

SECTION 6.28.4But even when captured as calves, they cannot become accustomed to human beings or be tamed.

SECTION 6.28.5The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ greatly from the horns of our cattle.

SECTION 6.28.6They carefully seek out these horns, bind their rims with silver, and use them as drinking cups at their most lavish banquets.

CHAPTER 6.29

SECTION 6.29.1After Caesar learned through Ubii scouts that the Suebi had withdrawn into the forests, he feared a shortage of grain because, as we explained above, the Germans as a whole have very little interest in agriculture, and decided not to advance any farther. But

SECTION 6.29.2to avoid entirely relieving the barbarians of their fear that he might return, and to delay their reinforcements, he withdrew his army and demolished the last section of the bridge,

SECTION 6.29.3which touched the bank of the Ubii, for a length of two hundred feet. At the end of the bridge he built a four-story tower, stationed a guard of twelve cohorts to defend the bridge, and fortified the position with extensive defenses. He placed the young Gaius Volcatius Tullus in command of the position and its garrison.

SECTION 6.29.4When the grain began to ripen, Caesar himself set out for the war against Ambiorix through the Ardennes Forest, which is the largest in all Gaul, extends from the banks of the Rhine and the borders of the Treveri to the Nervii, and stretches for more than five hundred miles. He sent Lucius Minucius Basilus ahead with all the cavalry to see whether he could accomplish anything through the speed of his march and the favorable timing.

SECTION 6.29.5He warned him to forbid fires from being lit in camp, so that no indication of his approach could be seen from a distance, and said that he himself would follow immediately.

CHAPTER 6.30

SECTION 6.30.1Basilus did as ordered. After completing the march quickly and contrary to everyone’s expectations, he caught many people in the fields by surprise. On information from them, he hurried toward Ambiorix himself, who was said to be at a certain place with a few cavalrymen.

SECTION 6.30.2Fortune has great power in every sphere, but especially in war. Just as it was by a remarkable accident that Basilus came upon Ambiorix himself when he was off his guard and unprepared, and that his arrival was seen by everyone before rumor or a messenger reported it, so it was a stroke of great good fortune that Ambiorix escaped death after all the military equipment he had around him was seized and his wagons and horses were captured. But this escape also occurred because

SECTION 6.30.3the building was surrounded by woods, as Gallic homes generally are, since the Gauls usually seek the vicinity of forests and rivers to avoid the heat, and his companions and close associates held off the force of our cavalry for a short time in a narrow place.

SECTION 6.30.4While they were fighting, one of his men put him on a horse, and the woods concealed him as he fled. Thus fortune played a great part both in bringing him into danger and in allowing him to escape it.

CHAPTER 6.31

SECTION 6.31.1It is uncertain whether Ambiorix deliberately did not assemble his forces because he did not think he should fight a pitched battle, or whether he lacked the time and was prevented by the cavalry’s sudden arrival, since he believed that the rest of the army was following.

SECTION 6.31.2But in any case, he sent messengers throughout the countryside and ordered every man to look after himself. Some of them fled into the Ardennes Forest and others into the vast marshes.

SECTION 6.31.3Those nearest the Ocean concealed themselves on the islands that the tides regularly form.

SECTION 6.31.4Many left their own territory and entrusted themselves and all their possessions to complete strangers.

SECTION 6.31.5Catuvolcus, king of half the Eburones, who had joined Ambiorix in forming the plan, was now worn out by age and could not endure the hardships either of war or of flight. After cursing Ambiorix with every imprecation for having devised the plan, he killed himself with yew, which is abundant in Gaul and Germany.

CHAPTER 6.32

SECTION 6.32.1The Segni and Condrusi, peoples of German origin and number who live between the Eburones and Treveri, sent envoys to Caesar to beg him not to regard them as enemies or judge that all the Germans on this side of the Rhine had a common cause. They said that they had entertained no thought of war and had sent no reinforcements to Ambiorix.

SECTION 6.32.2Caesar investigated the matter by questioning prisoners and ordered them to bring back to him any Eburones who might have come to them in flight. He declared that if they did so, he would not violate their territory.

SECTION 6.32.3Then he divided his forces into three parts and brought the baggage of all the legions to Aduatuca.

SECTION 6.32.4That is the name of a fort. It lies approximately in the center of the Eburones’ territory, where Titurius and Aurunculeius had established their winter quarters.

SECTION 6.32.5Among other advantages, Caesar approved of this location because the previous year’s fortifications remained intact, which would spare the soldiers labor. He left the Fourteenth Legion to guard the baggage, one of the three legions that he had recently raised and brought over from Italy.

SECTION 6.32.6He placed Quintus Tullius Cicero in command of that legion and the camp and assigned him two hundred cavalrymen.

CHAPTER 6.33

SECTION 6.33.1After dividing the army, Caesar ordered Titus Labienus to march with three legions toward the Ocean into the regions bordering the Menapii.

SECTION 6.33.2He sent Gaius Trebonius with an equal number of legions to lay waste the region adjoining the Aduatuci.

SECTION 6.33.3He himself decided to go with the remaining three legions to the Scheldt River, which flows into the Meuse, and to the farthest parts of the Ardennes, where he heard Ambiorix had gone with a few cavalrymen.

SECTION 6.33.4As he departed, he gave his assurance that he would return seven days later, knowing that grain was due to be issued on that date to the legion being left on guard duty.

SECTION 6.33.5He urged Labienus and Trebonius to return by that date if they could do so without harming the public interest, so that, after again consulting together and investigating the enemy’s plans, they could begin a new phase of the war.

CHAPTER 6.34

SECTION 6.34.1As we explained above, there was no organized body of troops, no fortified town, and no garrison to defend itself by force of arms, but only a population scattered in every direction.

SECTION 6.34.2Each person had settled wherever a hidden valley, a wooded place, or an impassable marsh offered him some hope of protection or safety.

SECTION 6.34.3These places were known to the people living nearby, and the situation required great care, not in protecting the army as a whole—for no danger could come to the combined army from a terrified and scattered enemy—but in preserving the lives of individual soldiers, a matter that nevertheless concerned the army’s safety to some extent.

SECTION 6.34.4The desire for plunder drew many men too far away, while the dense forests, with their uncertain and hidden paths, prevented troops from entering in formation.

SECTION 6.34.5If Caesar wished to complete the operation and exterminate this race of criminals, he had to send out numerous detachments and separate the soldiers.

SECTION 6.34.6If he wished to keep the companies gathered around their standards, as the established system and practice of the Roman army required, the terrain itself protected the barbarians, and individual men did not lack the audacity to ambush troops from concealment and surround them while they were scattered.

SECTION 6.34.7Under difficulties of this kind, every precaution was taken that vigilance could devise, so that Caesar would rather miss some opportunity to harm the enemy, although everyone’s heart burned for revenge, than inflict harm at the cost of any loss among the soldiers.

SECTION 6.34.8Caesar sent messengers to the neighboring tribes and summoned everyone to plunder the Eburones with the prospect of booty, so that the lives of Gauls rather than legionary soldiers would be endangered in the forests, and at the same time so that, with a great multitude surrounding them, the race and name of the tribe might be destroyed for such a crime.

SECTION 6.34.9A great number quickly assembled from every direction.

CHAPTER 6.35

SECTION 6.35.1These operations were being conducted in every part of the Eburones’ territory, and the seventh day was approaching, the day by which Caesar had decided to return to the baggage and the legion.

SECTION 6.35.2At this point it was possible to see how great fortune’s power is in war and what great accidents it can produce.

SECTION 6.35.3Since the enemy had been scattered and terrified, as we have explained, there was no body of troops that could cause even the slightest fear.

SECTION 6.35.4Across the Rhine, word reached the Germans that the Eburones were being plundered and that everyone was actually being invited to share in the booty.

SECTION 6.35.5The Sugambri, who live nearest the Rhine and by whom, as we explained above, the Tencteri and Usipetes had been received after their flight, assembled two thousand cavalrymen.

SECTION 6.35.6They crossed the Rhine in boats and rafts thirty miles below the place where the bridge had been completed and Caesar had left a garrison. They entered the nearest part of the Eburones’ territory, caught many of the fugitives while they were scattered, and took possession of a large number of livestock, for which barbarians have an intense desire.

SECTION 6.35.7Enticed by the booty, they advanced farther. Neither marshes nor forests delayed men born to warfare and raiding. They asked their prisoners where Caesar was, learned that he had gone farther away, and discovered that the entire army had departed.

SECTION 6.35.8Then one of the prisoners said, “Why are you chasing this wretched and meager booty when you now have the chance to become extremely rich?

SECTION 6.35.9You can reach Aduatuca in three hours. The Roman army has brought all its possessions there. The garrison is so small that it cannot even man the entire wall, and no one dares go outside the fortifications.”

SECTION 6.35.10Presented with this opportunity, the Germans left the booty they had acquired in a concealed place and hurried toward Aduatuca, using as their guide the same man from whose information they had learned these facts.

CHAPTER 6.36

SECTION 6.36.1Throughout all the preceding days Cicero had obeyed Caesar’s instructions and kept the soldiers in camp with the utmost diligence, not even allowing a single camp servant to go outside the fortifications. But on the seventh day, he began to doubt that Caesar would keep his promise concerning the number of days, because he heard that Caesar had advanced farther and no report of his return was arriving. At the same time, he was influenced by the complaints of those

SECTION 6.36.2who called his restraint almost a state of siege, since no one was permitted to leave the camp. Expecting no such accident as could cause harm within three miles when nine legions and a very large cavalry force stood between him and the enemy, who had been scattered and almost destroyed, he sent five cohorts to gather grain in the nearest fields, between which and the camp there was only one hill. A number of sick men from the legions had been left behind;

SECTION 6.36.3Of these, those who had recovered during this interval of days, about three hundred men, were sent out together under a single standard. In addition, a great crowd of camp followers and a large number of pack animals that had remained in camp followed after permission was granted.

CHAPTER 6.37

SECTION 6.37.1At precisely this time and by chance, the German cavalry arrived and immediately, at the same gallop by which they had come, tried to break into the camp through the rear gate.

SECTION 6.37.2Because woods blocked the view on that side, they were not seen until they had approached the camp, so that the merchants who had pitched their tents beneath the rampart had no opportunity to get inside.

SECTION 6.37.3Our men, taken completely by surprise, were thrown into confusion by this unexpected development, and the cohort on guard barely withstood the first assault.

SECTION 6.37.4The enemy poured around the camp on the other sides to see whether they could find any entrance.

SECTION 6.37.5Our men defended the gates with difficulty; the terrain itself and the fortifications protected the other approaches.

SECTION 6.37.6Panic spread throughout the camp, and each man asked another the cause of the commotion. No one could determine where the standards should be carried or where each man should assemble.

SECTION 6.37.7One man declared that the camp had already been taken; another insisted that the army and its commander had been destroyed and that the victorious barbarians had come from the battle.

SECTION 6.37.8Most imagined new religious omens for themselves because of the place and pictured before their eyes the disaster of Cotta and Titurius, who had been killed in this same fort.

SECTION 6.37.9With everyone terrified by such fear, the barbarians were confirmed in the belief, based on what they had heard from their prisoner, that there was no garrison inside.

SECTION 6.37.10They tried to break through and urged one another not to let such great good fortune slip from their hands.

CHAPTER 6.38

SECTION 6.38.1Publius Sextius Baculus, who had served as chief centurion under Caesar and whom we mentioned in connection with earlier battles, had been left sick with the garrison and had now gone without food for five days.

SECTION 6.38.2Despairing of his own safety and everyone else’s, he came out of his tent unarmed. He saw that the enemy was closing in and that the situation had reached the greatest possible crisis. He took weapons from the men nearest him and took his stand at the gate.

SECTION 6.38.3The centurions of the cohort that was on guard joined him, and together they sustained the battle for a short time.

SECTION 6.38.4After receiving severe wounds, Sextius lost consciousness. He was passed from hand to hand and was rescued with difficulty.

SECTION 6.38.5The time this gained allowed the others to recover their courage enough to take their stand on the fortifications and present the appearance of defenders.

CHAPTER 6.39

SECTION 6.39.1Meanwhile, after completing the foraging expedition, our soldiers heard the shouting. The cavalry rode ahead and learned how great the danger was.

SECTION 6.39.2Out there, however, there was no fortification to shelter the terrified men. They had only recently been recruited and were inexperienced in warfare, so they turned their faces toward the military tribune and the centurions and waited for orders from them. No one was so brave that he was not disturbed by the unexpected situation.

SECTION 6.39.3When the barbarians sighted the standards in the distance, they abandoned their attack on the camp.

SECTION 6.39.4At first they believed that the legions had returned, though they had learned from their prisoners that these had gone farther away. Afterward, when they saw how few men there were, they attacked from every side.

CHAPTER 6.40

SECTION 6.40.1The camp followers ran forward to the nearest hill. Quickly driven down from it, they threw themselves among the standards and the companies and made the already frightened soldiers even more terrified.

SECTION 6.40.2Some thought that they should form a wedge and break through quickly, since the camp was so near. They were confident that even if some part of their force was surrounded and killed, the rest could still be saved.

SECTION 6.40.3Others thought that they should take their stand on the ridge and all share the same fate.

SECTION 6.40.4The veteran soldiers whom, as we have explained, had set out together under a single standard did not approve of this. Encouraging one another, therefore, and led by Gaius Trebonius, the Roman knight placed in command of them, they broke through the middle of the enemy and reached the camp safely, every last one of them.

SECTION 6.40.5The camp followers and cavalry who followed them were saved by the soldiers’ courage in the same charge.

SECTION 6.40.6But those who had taken their stand on the ridge had not yet acquired any experience of warfare. They could neither persist in the plan they had approved and defend themselves from the higher ground, nor imitate the force and speed that they had seen benefit the others. Instead, in trying to withdraw into camp, they descended into unfavorable terrain.

SECTION 6.40.7The centurions, some of whom had been transferred for their courage from lower ranks in the other legions to higher ranks in this legion, fought with the greatest bravery and fell rather than lose the military reputation they had previously earned.

SECTION 6.40.8Through the courage of these men, part of the soldiers reached the camp safely, contrary to all expectation, after the enemy had been driven back; the rest were surrounded and killed by the barbarians.

CHAPTER 6.41

SECTION 6.41.1The Germans, despairing of taking the camp because they saw that our men had now taken their positions on the fortifications, withdrew across the Rhine with the plunder they had left in the woods.

SECTION 6.41.2Even after the enemy’s departure the terror was so great that, when Gaius Volusenus, who had been sent out with the cavalry, arrived at the camp that night, he could not convince them that Caesar was close at hand with his army unharmed.

SECTION 6.41.3Fear had so completely taken possession of their minds that, almost out of their senses, they said that all the forces had been destroyed and that the cavalry had escaped from the rout. They insisted that the Germans would not have attacked the camp if the army had remained unharmed.

SECTION 6.41.4Caesar’s arrival dispelled this fear.

CHAPTER 6.42

SECTION 6.42.1When Caesar returned, he showed that he understood the uncertainties of war. He complained of only one thing: that the cohorts had been sent away from their guard posts and the garrison, since their position should not have been abandoned even in the least possible emergency. He judged that chance had played a great role in the enemy’s sudden arrival,

SECTION 6.42.2and a far greater role in turning the barbarians away when they were almost on the very rampart and at the gates of the camp. Of all these circumstances, the most astonishing seemed to be

SECTION 6.42.3that the Germans, who had crossed the Rhine with the intention of ravaging Ambiorix’s territory, had been carried to the Roman camp and thereby rendered Ambiorix the service he desired most.

CHAPTER 6.43

SECTION 6.43.1Caesar set out again to harass the enemy, assembled a large number of men from the neighboring states, and sent them out in every direction.

SECTION 6.43.2Every village and every building that anyone saw was burned, and plunder was carried off from every place.

SECTION 6.43.3The crops were not only consumed by so great a multitude of pack animals and people, but had also been flattened by the season and the rains. Consequently, even if some people had managed to hide for the present, it seemed that after the army withdrew they would nevertheless have to die from lack of every necessity.

SECTION 6.43.4With the cavalry divided and sent in so many directions, it often came so close that prisoners declared they had just seen Ambiorix looking around as he fled and insisted that he had not yet completely disappeared from sight. This gave the men hope of catching him and led them to undertake unending exertions.

SECTION 6.43.5Those who believed that they would win Caesar’s highest favor almost surpassed the limits of human endurance in their eagerness, and it always seemed that they had fallen only a little short of complete success.

SECTION 6.43.6But Ambiorix escaped through hiding places or forests and, concealed by night, made for other regions and districts with a guard of no more than four horsemen, the only men to whom he dared entrust his life.

CHAPTER 6.44

SECTION 6.44.1After ravaging the regions in this manner, Caesar led his army back to Durocortorum in the territory of the Remi, having lost two cohorts. He summoned a council of Gaul to meet there and began an inquiry into the conspiracy of the Senones and Carnutes and into the conduct of Acco, who had been the chief instigator of that plan.

SECTION 6.44.2After pronouncing the more severe sentence against Acco, Caesar executed him according to the custom of their ancestors.

SECTION 6.44.3Some fled because they feared trial. After forbidding them fire and water, Caesar stationed two legions in winter quarters on the borders of the Treveri, two among the Lingones, and the remaining six at Agedincum in the territory of the Senones. He then secured the army’s grain supply and, as he had intended, left for Italy to hold the provincial assizes.