Caesar ab decimae legionis cohortatione ad dextrum cornu profectus, ubi suos urgeri signisque in unum locum collatis duodecimae legionis confertos milites sibi ipsos ad pugnam esse impedimento vidit--quartae cohortis omnibus centurionibus occisis, {5} signifero interfecto, signo amisso, reliquarum cohortium omnibus fere centurionibus aut vulneratis aut occisis, in his primipilo P. Sextio Baculo, fortissimo viro, multis gravibusque volneribus confecto, ut iam se sustinere non posset; reliquos esse tardiores et nonnullos {10} ab novissimis deserto proelio excedere ac tela vitare, hostes neque a fronte ex inferiore loco subeuntes intermittere et ab utroque latere instare, et rem esse in angusto vidit neque ullum esse subsidium quod submitti posset, scuto ab novissimis {15} militi detracto, quod ipse eo sine scuto venerat, in primam aciem processit; centurionibusque nominatim appellatis reliquos cohortatus milites signa inferre et manipulos laxare iussit, quo facilius gladiis uti possent. Cuius adventu spe illata militibus ac {20} redintegrato animo, cum pro se quisque in conspectu imperatoris etiam in extremis suis rebus operam navare cuperet, paulum hostium impetus tardatus est. CAESAR, _de B. G._ ii. 25. +Context.+ The Nervii, the bravest of the Belgae, surprised Caesar’s men while at work on their camp. There was no time to think: they took station where they could. The 9th and 10th legions on the left broke and pursued the enemy in front of them, and the two legions in the centre stood firm. But on the right there was a gap, and the Nervii were rapidly surrounding the two legions huddled together here, and the fight threatened every moment to become a second Cannae, +when Caesar restored the fight+. Labienus sent back the victorious 10th, who took the enemy in their rear, and the cavalry completed the victory. [Linenotes: 14-15. +neque ullum ... posset+: the rear guard, the 13th and 14th legions, had not yet come up. 18-19. +signa ... laxare+ = _to charge and_ (thus) _open out the ranks_. 22-23. +operam navare+ = _to do their very best_. +navo+ (orig. _gnavo_; cf. γνώσκω) = lit. _to make known_, _to exhibit_.] +The Battle of the Sambre.+ One of the most desperate that Caesar ever fought. The memory of it lived in Caesar’s mind so vividly that he seems to fight the battle over again as he describes it, in language for him unusually strong and intense. --W. F. +Result of the Battle+, the submission of North West Gaul. B38 THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (2) _Naval Battle with the Veneti, 56 B.C._