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.
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.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (2)
Naval Battle with the Veneti, 56 B.C.
Una erat magno usui res praeparata a nostris,—falces praeacutae insertae affixaeque longuriis non absimili forma muralium falcium. His cum funes qui antemnas ad malos destinabant comprehensi adductique essent, navigio remis incitato praerumpebantur. 5 Quibus abscisis antemnae necessario concidebant; ut, cum omnis Gallicis spes in velis armamentisque consisteret, his ereptis omnis usus navium uno tempore eriperetur. Reliquum erat certamen positum in virtute, qua nostri milites facile 10 superabant atque eo magis, quod in conspectu Caesaris atque omnis exercitus res gerebatur, ut nullum paulo fortius factum latere posset; omnes enim colles ac loca superiora, unde erat propinquus despectus in mare, ab exercitu tenebantur. Disiectis, ut diximus, 15 antemnis, cum singulas binae ac ternae naves circumsteterant, milites summa vi transcendere in hostium naves contendebant. Quod postquam barbari fieri animadverterunt, expugnatis compluribus navibus, cum ei rei nullum reperiretur auxilium, fuga 20 salutem petere contenderunt. Ac iam conversis in eam partem navibus quo ventus ferebat, tanta subito malacia ac tranquillitas exstitit ut se ex loco movere non possent. Quae quidem res ad negotium conficiendum maxime fuit opportuna; nam singulas 25 nostri consectati expugnaverunt, ut perpaucae ex omni numero noctis interventu ad terram pervenerint, cum ab hora fere quarta usque ad solis occasum pugnaretur.