[B.C. 56 (a.u. 698)]
[-40-] Now he, whether by chance or as a result of the curses, before long met with defeat. As for Caesar, he, in the consulship of Marcellinus and Philippus, had made an expedition against the Veneti, who live near the ocean. They had seized some Roman soldiers sent out for grain and afterward detained the envoys who came to see about them, to the end that in exchange they might get back their own hostages. Caesar, instead of giving these back, sent out different bodies of troops in various directions, some to waste the possessions of those who had joined the revolt and thus to prevent the two bands from aiding each other, and others to guard the possessions of those that were under treaty for fear they too might cause some disturbance: he himself meanwhile went straight against the Veneti. He constructed in the interior boats, which he heard were of advantage for the reflux tide of the ocean, and conveyed them down the river Liger, but in so doing used up almost the entire season to no purpose. Their cities, established in strong positions, were inaccessible, and the ocean surging around practically all of them rendered an infantry attack out of the question, and a naval attack equally so in the midst of the ebb and flow of the tide. Consequently Caesar was in despair until Decimus Brutus came to him with swift ships from the Mediterranean. And he was inclined to think he would be unable to accomplish anything with those either, but the barbarians through contempt for the smallness and weakness of the cutters incurred defeat. [-41-] For these boats, with a view to rapid progress, had been built rather light in the prevailing style of naval architecture among us, whereas those of the barbarians, because in the constant reflux of the ocean they often needed to rest on dry ground and to hold out against the succession of ebb and flow, surpassed them very much in both size and stoutness. For these reasons the barbarians, never having had any experience with such a fleet, in view of the appearance of the ships believed their effectiveness of no importance; and as soon as they were lying at anchor they set sail against them, thinking to sink them in a very short time by means of their boathooks. They were carried by an extremely powerful wind, for their sails were of leather and so received greedily the full force of the wind. [-42-] Now Brutus for a time paid good heed to that fact and did not dare to sail out against them because of the number and size of the ships and the sweep of the wind and their impetus, but prepared to repel their attack near the land and to abandon the boats altogether. When, however, the wind suddenly fell, the waves were stilled, and the boats could no longer be propelled even with oars but because of their great heaviness stopped almost motionless, then he took courage and sailed to meet them. Falling upon them he wrought them many serious injuries with impunity, using both flank and smashing tactics,[55] now ramming one of them, now backing water, in whatever way and as much as he liked, sometimes with many vessels against one and again with equal numbers opposed, occasionally even approaching safely with few against many. At whatever point he was superior to them, there he stuck to them closely, and some he sank by ripping them open, and others he boarded from all sides with his mariners for a hand to hand conflict, thus slaughtering many. If he found himself inferior at any place, he very easily retired, so that the advantage rested with him in any case. [-43-] The barbarians did not use archery and had not provided themselves beforehand with stones, not expecting to have any need of them. Hence, if any one came into close quarters with them, they fought him off after a fashion, but with those that stood a little distance from them they knew not how to cope. So they were wounded and killed, some being unable to repel any one, and some of the boats were rammed and torn open, while others were set on fire and burned; still others were drawn off in tow, as if empty of men. The rest of the crews seeing this waited no longer: some killed themselves to avoid being captured alive and others leaped into the sea with the idea that from there they might board the hostile ships, or in any event not perish at the hands of the Romans. In earnestness and daring they were no whit inferior, but grieved terribly at being betrayed by the stationary qualities of their vessels. The Romans, to make sure that the wind when it sprang up again should not move the ships, applied from a distance long poles fitted with knives, by means of which they cut the ropes and split the sails. Through the circumstance that the enemy were compelled to fight a kind of land battle in their boats against a foe conducting a naval battle, great numbers perished there and all the survivors were captured. Of these Caesar slew the most prominent and sold the rest.
[-44-] Next he made a campaign against the Morini and Menapii, their neighbors, expecting to terrify them by what he had already accomplished and capture them easily. He failed, however, to subdue any of them. They had no cities, living only in huts, and they conveyed their most valued treasures to the ruggedest parts of the mountains, so that they did the attacking parties of the Romans much more harm than they themselves suffered. Caesar attempted by cutting down the forests to make his way into the very mountains, but renounced his plan on account of their size and the nearness of winter, and retired.
[-45-] While he was still in Venetia, Quintus Titurius Sabinus, his lieutenant, was despatched against the Unelli, whose leader was Viridovix. At first he was greatly terrified at their numbers and would have been satisfied if only the camp should be saved, but later he perceived that though this advantage made them bolder, they were not in reality dangerous, and he took courage. Most of the barbarians, in fact, in their threats make all sorts of terrible boasts that are without foundation.
Even so he did not dare to venture a passage of arms openly with them, for they kept him in position by mere numbers, but induced them recklessly to assault his rampart, though the site was on high ground. He did this by sending about evening, as a deserter, one of his allies who spoke their language, and persuaded them that Caesar had met with reverses. Trusting this report they straightway started out heedlessly against the Romans (for they were gorged with food and drink), in the fear that they might flee before their arrival. Moreover, since their plans contemplated not allowing even the fire-priest[56] to be saved they brought along chips and logs, carrying some and dragging others, with the evident intention of burning them alive. Thus they made their attack up-hill and came climbing up eagerly, meeting with no resistance. Sabinus did not move until the most of them were within his power. Then he charged down upon them from all sides at once, and terrifying those in front he dashed them all headlong down the hill, and while they were upset, tumbling over one another and the logs, he cut them down to such an extent that no one of them or of the others rose against him again. For the Gauls, who are unreasonably insatiate in all respects alike, know no limits in either their courage or their fear, but fall from the one into unthinkable cowardice and from the other into headstrong audacity.
[-46-] About the same period, Publius Crassus, too, son of Marcus Crassus, subjugated nearly all of Aquitania. The people are themselves Gauls, and dwell next to Celtica, and their territory extends straight along the Pyrenees to the ocean. Against these Crassus made his campaign, conquering the Sotiates in battle and capturing them by siege. He lost a few men, to be sure, by treachery in the course of a parley, but defended them vigorously in this very action. On seeing some others in a gathering with soldiers of Sertorius from Spain who carried on the war with more strategy than recklessness, believing that the Romans through lack of supplies would soon abandon the country, he pretended to be afraid of them. Though incurring their contempt he did not even so draw them into a conflict with him, but while they were calmly awaiting developments he attacked them suddenly and unexpectedly. At the point where he met them he accomplished nothing, because the barbarians advanced and repelled him vigorously; but while their main force was there, he sent some men around to the other side of their camp, got possession of this, which was destitute of men, and passing through it took the fighters in the rear. In this way they were all annihilated, and the rest, all but a few, made terms without a murmur.
[B.C. 55 (a.u. 699)]
[-47-] This was the work of the summer. While the Romans were in winter quarters on friendly ground the Tencteri and Usipetes, Celtic tribes, partly because forced out by the Suebi and partly because called upon by the Gauls, crossed the Rhine and invaded the country of the Treveri. Finding Caesar there they became afraid and sent to him to make a truce, asking for land or at least the permission to take some. When they could obtain none, at first they promised voluntarily to return to their homes and requested an armistice. Later their young men, seeing a few horsemen of his approaching, despised them and altered their determination: thereupon they stopped their journey, harassed the small detachment, which would not await their attack, and elated over this success continued the war.
[-48-] Their elders, condemning their action, came to Caesar even contrary to their advice and asked him to pardon them, laying the responsibility upon a few. He detained these emissaries with the assurance that he would give them an answer before long, set out against the other members of the tribe, who were in their tents, and came upon them as they were passing the noon hour and expecting no hostile demonstration, inasmuch as the delegation was with him.
Rushing into the tents[57] he found great numbers of infantrymen who did not have time even to pick up their weapons, and he cut them down near the wagons where they were disturbed by the presence of the women and the children scattered promiscuously about. The cavalry was absent at the time, and immediately, when the men learned of the occurrence, they set out to their native abodes and retired among the Sugambri. He sent after them and demanded their surrender, not because he expected that they would give themselves up to him (the men beyond the Rhine were not so afraid of the Romans as to listen to anything of that sort), but in order that on this excuse he might cross the stream itself. He himself was exceedingly anxious to do something that no one had previously equaled, and he expected to keep the Celts at a distance from the Gauls by invading the former's territory. When, therefore, the cavalry refused to give themselves up, and the Ubii, whose land was coterminal with the Sugambri and who were at variance with them, invoked his aid, he crossed the river by bridging it. But on finding that the Sugambri had betaken themselves into their strongholds and that the Suebi were gathering apparently to come to their aid, he retired within twenty days.