"De Bello Gallico" and Other CommentariesCaesar, Julius
History
"De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries
Caesar, Julius
Gaul -- History -- Gallic Wars, 58-51 B.C.; Rome -- History -- Civil War, 49-48 B.C.
XXII.--At day-break, when the summit of the mountain was in the
possession of Titus Labienus, and he himself was not further off than a
mile and half from the enemy's camp, nor, as he afterwards ascertained
from the captives, had either his arrival or that of Labienus been
discovered; Considius, with his horse at full gallop, comes up to him--
says that the mountain which he [Caesar] wished should be seized by
Labienus, is in possession of the enemy; that he has discovered this by
the Gallic arms and ensigns. Caesar leads off his forces to the next
hill: [and] draws them up in battle-order. Labienus, as he had been
ordered by Caesar not to come to an engagement unless [Caesar's] own
forces were seen near the enemy's camp, that the attack upon the enemy
might be made on every side at the same time, was, after having taken
possession of the mountain, waiting for our men, and refraining from
battle. When, at length, the day was far advanced, Caesar learned
through spies that the mountain was in possession of his own men, and
that the Helvetii had moved their camp, and that Considius, struck with
fear, had reported to him, as seen, that which he had not seen. On that
day he follows the enemy at his usual distance, and pitches his camp
three miles from theirs.
XXIII.--The next day (as there remained in all only two days' space [to
the time] when he must serve out the corn to his army, and as he was not
more than eighteen miles from Bibracte, by far the largest and best-stored
town of the Aedui) he thought that he ought to provide for a
supply of corn; and diverted his march from the Helvetii, and advanced
rapidly to Bibracte. This circumstance is reported to the enemy by some
deserters from Lucius Aemilius, a captain of the Gallic horse. The
Helvetii, either because they thought that the Romans, struck with
terror, were retreating from them, the more so, as the day before,
though they had seized on the higher grounds, they had not joined
battle; or because they flattered themselves that they might be cut off
from the provisions, altering their plan and changing their route, began
to pursue and to annoy our men in the rear.
XXIV.--Caesar, when he observes this, draws off his forces to the next
hill, and sent the cavalry to sustain the attack of the enemy. He
himself, meanwhile, drew up on the middle of the hill a triple line of
his four veteran legions in such a manner that he placed above him on
the very summit the two legions which he had lately levied in Hither
Gaul, and all the auxiliaries; and he ordered that the whole mountain
should be covered with men, and that meanwhile the baggage should be
brought together into one place, and the position be protected by those
who were posted in the upper line. The Helvetii, having followed with
all their waggons, collected their baggage into one place: they
themselves, after having repulsed our cavalry and formed a phalanx,
advanced up to our front line in very close order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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