de bello gallico, 5.31

It is gotten up from the meeting; they seize each of them and they beg (them) not to lead the mater into the greatest danger by their argument and stubbornness: the matter is easy, whether they remain or depart, if only they all think and approve one thing; on the other hand they foresee no safety in dissension. This matter is lead to the middle of the night by the argument. Finally Cotta, very upset, gives hands: the opinion of Sabinus wins. It is announced that at first light they will go. The remaining part of the night is consumed in wakefulness, because each soldier is looking around his stuff, what he would be able to carry with him, and what from the gear of his winter quarters he was forced to leave. Everything is thought through, why it is not to remain without danger and how danger is increased by the weariness of the soldiers and the period of wakefulness. At first light thus they depart from camp as to whom it had been persuaded that the plan had been given not by the enemy but by the most amicable man, Ambiorix, with the longest train and the greatest baggage.

de bello gallico, 5.30

With this discussion having been had into each part, when by Cotta and the first orders it was fiercely resisted, Sabinus said, “Win if you want it so” and he said this with a clearer voice, so that a great part of the soldiers would clearly hear, “I am not this man, who out of you is most greatly terrified by the danger of death: these men will know; if anything more serious happens, they will demand an account from you who, if it should be permitted through you, would endure the common chance of war with the rest, having been joined with the nearest winter quarters the day after tomorrow, not, repulsed and relegated far form the rest, would die either by the sword or by famine.

de bello gallico, 5.29

Against these things Titurius kept on shouting over and over again that they would act too late, when larger bands of the enemy had gathered, with the Germans having been added, or when something of a calamity in the neighboring camps had been received. Brief is the opportunity of planning. Caesar was thought to have gone into Italy; and not otherwise would the Carnutes have formed the plan of killing Tasgetus nor would the Eburones, if that man had been present, have come to the camp with such great contempt for us. He did not see the enemy as his authority but the circumstance: the Rhine was near; the death of Ariovistus and our previous victories were a great grief for the Germans; Gaul was aflame with so many insults having been accepted, having been brought under the power of the Roman populous, with their previous glory of military affairs having been obliterated. Finally, who would persuade himself of this, that without certain cause Ambiorix had stooped to a plan of this sort. His opinion was safe in each direction: if nothing was more difficult they would arrive with no danger at the nearest legion. If all Gaul agreed with the Germans, their one safety was set in speed. What end indeed would the plan of Cotta and those who disagree have, in which if there was not a present danger, but certainly famine was to be feared in a long siege.

de bello gallico, 5.28

Arpineius and Iunius bring back to the legates that which they heard. Those men, disturbed by the sudden matter, although these things were said by an enemy, nevertheless were thinking that they were not to be neglected; they were most thoroughly moved by this matter because it was scarcely to be believed that the lowly and humble state of the Eburones had dared to make war on the Roman people on their own accord. And so they deliver the matter to council and a big controversy arises among them. Lucius Aurunculeius and very many tribunes of the soldiers and centurions of the first orders were thinking that nothing was to be done rashly and it was not to be left from the winter quarters without the order of Caesar; they were pointing out also how great a number of troops of the Germans could be withstood with the winter quarters having been fortified: and this fact was for proof, that most bravely they sustained the first attack of the enemy, with many wounds having been inflicted besides; they were not hard pressed concerning the grain supply; meanwhile aid would come both from the nearest winter camps and from Caesar; finally what was more capricious or shameful than to form a plan about the highest matters with an enemy as an authority?

de bello gallico, 5.27

Gaius Arpineius, a Roman knight, an intimate of Quintus Titurus, is sent to them for the sake of conversing, and Quintus Iunius, a certain man from Spain, who before now had been accustomed to come and go to Ambiorix, at Caesar’s dispatch; in the presence of whom Ambiorix spoke according to this way: he confessed that he owed very much to him on behalf of the benefits of Caesar towards himself, because by his agency he had been freed from a tribute which he had accustomed to pay to the Aduatuci, his neighbors, and because to him both his son and his brother’s son had been turned by Caesar, whom, sent in the number of hostages, the Aduactuci had held among them in servitude and chains; And he had not done this which he had done concerning the attack of the camp either by his own judgment or by his own will, but by the force of the state, and his rule was of this type that the multitude did not have less of a jurisdiction on him, than he himself had on the multitude. This then had been the cause of the war for the state, the fact that he was not able to resist the sudden conspiracy of the Gauls. He was able to prove this easily from his own humility, because he is not so ignorant of things that he is confidant that the Roman populous is able to be conquered by his troops. But it was the common plan of Gaul: that this day had been set for the attacking of all the winter camps of Caesar, lest any legion be able to come as an aid for another legion. Not easily can Gauls deny Gauls, especially when the plan seems begun concerning restoring common liberty. Because he had satisfied them (lit. whom) on behalf of piety, now he had the account of his duty on behalf of the kindnesses of Caesar: he warned, he begged Titurius on behalf of hospitality to make plans for his own safety and the safety of his soldiers. A great, assembled band of Germans had crossed the Rhine: this (band) would be present in two days. It is the plan of themselves, do they want before the neighbors sense it to lead the soldiers, having been led out from winter quarters, either to Cicero or to Labienus of whom one is about fifty miles away from them the other, a little farther. He promised that and confirmed by sworn oath, he would give a safe journey through his territory. Which when he does, and he himself both advises for his state, because it would be relieved from the winter quarters, and he would return thanks to Caesar for his services. With this speech having been made, Ambiorix left.

de bello gallico, 5.26

Around the fifteenth day in which it was come into winter quarters, the start of a sudden tumult and defection was begun by Ambiorix and Catuvolcus; who, although they had met Sabinus and Cotta at the borders of their own kingdom and they had carried grain into the winter quarter, influenced by messages of the Treverus Indutiomarus they roused their own men and, with those who collect firewood having been attacked suddenly by a large band, they came to attack to the camp. When our men quickly had seized arms and had ascended the rampart and with the Spanish cavalry having been sent out from one side they had been superior in a cavalry battle, with the matter having been given up, the enemy lead their own men back from the attack. Then by their custom they shouted that some of our men go should forth to a meeting: they had things which they wanted to say about a joint matter, by which things they hoped to be able to abate the dispute.

de bello gallico, 5.25

There was among Carnutes, born in the highest position, Tasgetius, whose ancestors had obtained the kingship in their state. To this man on account of his virtue and benevolence toward him, because in all wars he had used the agency of this one man, Caesar restored the position of his ancestors. They killed him ruling in this now his third year, with now many from the state and those authorities openly hostile. This matter is related to Caesar. That man, having feared because it was pertaining to many, lest the state defect by the influence of those men, orders Lucius Plancus to set out among the Carnutes with his legion from Belgium and there to winter, by the agency of whom he had learned that Tasgetius had been killed, to send those apprehended men to him. Meanwhile by all the legates and quaestors to whom he had handed over the legions he was made certain that it had been come into winter quarters and the spot had been fortified for winter quarters.

de bello gallico, 5.24

With the ships having been beached and with the assembly of the Gauls of Samarobriva having been completed, because in this year the grain had arrived in Gaul more scantily on account of droughts, (Caesar) was forced to post the army in winter quarters otherwise than in previous years, and to distribute the legions into many states. From which he gave one to Gaius Fabius, the lieutenant, to be lead among the Morini, another to Quintus Cicero (to be lead) among the Nervi, a third to Lucius Roscius to be lead among the Esubii; he ordered the forth to winter among the Remi with Titus Labienius in the territory of the Trevi. Three he placed among the Belgi: and he put Marcus Crassus, the quaestor, and Lucius Munatius Placus and Gaius Trebonius, the lieutenants, in charge of them. He sent one legion, which he had conscripted most closely across the (Po) Padum, and he sent one legion and five cohorts among the Eburones, of whom the greatest part is between the Mosa and the Rhine, who were under the authority of Ambiorix and Catuvolcus. He ordered Quintus Tituruis Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius, the lieutenants, to be in charge of these soldiers. Having distributed the legions according to this method, he thought that he would be able to deal with the lack of grain most easily. And yet the winter quarters of all these legions were enclosed within a hundred miles, except this which he had given to Lucius Roscius to be lead into the most peaceful and most quiet region. He himself meanwhile, until he had learned that the legions had been placed and the winter quarters had been fortified, decided to stay behind in Gaul.