Meanwhile the Gauls, who, as we have seen, had proceeded to the west of Gergovia to raise retrenchments, hear the cries from the town; repeated messages announce the capture of the _oppidum_. They immediately hurry towards it, sending their cavalry before them. As they arrive, each man takes his stand under the wall and joins the combatants, and their number increases every moment; while the same women who just before implored the pity of the besiegers, now excite against them the defenders of Gergovia, displaying their dishevelled hair and showing their children. The place as well as the numbers rendered the struggle unequal; the Romans, fatigued with their run and the length of the combat, resisted with difficulty troops which were still fresh. This critical state of things inspired Cæsar with alarm; he ordered T. Sextius, who had been left to guard the little camp, to bring out the cohorts quickly, and take a position at the foot of the mountain of Gergovia, on the right of the Gauls, so as to support the Romans if they were repulsed, and check the enemy’s pursuit. He himself, drawing the 10th legion a little back[495] from the place where he had posted it, awaited the issue of the engagement. (_See Plate 21_, second position of the 10th legion.) When the struggle was most obstinate, suddenly the Ædui, who had been sent to divert the attention of the enemy by an attack from another side, appeared on the right flank of the Romans. The resemblance of their arms to those of the Gauls caused a great alarm; and although they had their right shoulders bare (_dextris humeris exsertis_), the ordinary mark of the allied troops, it was taken for a stratagem of the enemy. At the same moment, the centurion L. Fabius, and those who had followed him, are surrounded and thrown down from the top of the wall. M. Petronius, centurion of the same legion, overwhelmed by numbers in his attempt to burst the gates, sacrifices himself for the safety of his soldiers, and meets his death in order to give them time to join their ensigns. Pressed on all sides, the Romans are driven back from the heights, after having lost forty-six centurions; nevertheless, the 10th legion, placed in reserve on more level ground (_see Plate 21_, third position), arrests the enemies, who are too eager in their pursuit. It is supported by the cohorts of the 13th, who had just taken position on a commanding post (_Le Puy-de-Marmant_), under the command of the lieutenant T. Sextius. As soon as the Romans had reached the plain, they rallied, and formed front against the enemy. But Vercingetorix, once arrived at the foot of the mountain, ventured no further, but led back his troops within the retrenchments. This day cost Cæsar nearly 700 men.[496]