Caesar, having sent his cavalry on before, followed closely after them
with all his forces; but the plan and order of the march were
different from that which the Belgae had reported to the Nervii.[45]
For as he was approaching the enemy, Caesar, according to his custom,
led on [as the van] six legions unencumbered by baggage; behind them
he had placed the baggage-trains of the whole army; then the two
legions which had been last raised closed the rear, and were a guard
for the baggage-train. Our horse, with the slingers and archers,
having passed the river, commenced action with the cavalry of the
enemy. While they from time to time betook themselves into the woods
to their companions, and again made an assault out of the wood upon
our men, who did not dare to follow them in their retreat further than
the limit to which the plain and open parts extended; in the mean time
the six legions which had arrived first, having measured out the work,
began to fortify the camp. When the first part of the baggage-train of
our army was seen by those who lay hidden in the woods, which had been
agreed on among them as the time for commencing action, as soon as
they had arranged their line of battle and formed their ranks within
the woods, and had encouraged one another, they rushed out suddenly
with all their forces and made an attack upon our horse. The latter
being easily routed and thrown into confusion, the Nervii ran down to
the river with such incredible speed that they seemed to be in the
woods, the river, and close upon us almost at the same time. And with
the same speed they hastened up the hill to our camp and to those who
were employed in the works.
Caesar had everything to do at one time: the standard to be displayed,
which was the sign when it was necessary to rim to arms; the signal to
be given by the trumpet; the soldiers to be called off from the works;
those who had proceeded some distance for the purpose of seeking
materials for the rampart, to be summoned; the order of battle to be
formed; the soldiers to be encouraged; the watchword to be given. A
great part of these arrangements was prevented by the shortness of
time and the sudden approach and charge of the enemy. Under these
difficulties two things proved of advantage: [first] the skill and
experience of the soldiers, because, having been trained by former
engagements, they could suggest to themselves what ought to be done as
conveniently as receive information from others; and [secondly] that
Caesar had forbidden his several lieutenants to depart from the works
and their respective legions before the camp was fortified. These, on
account of the near approach and the speed of the enemy, did not then
wait for any command from Caesar, but of themselves executed whatever
appeared proper.
Caesar, having given the necessary orders, hastened to and fro into
whatever quarter fortune carried him, to animate the troops, and came
to the tenth legion. Having encouraged the soldiers with no further
speech than that "they should keep up the remembrance of their wonted
valor, and not be confused in mind, but valiantly sustain the assault
of the enemy"; as the latter were not farther from them than the
distance to which a dart could be cast, he gave the signal for
commencing battle. And having gone to another quarter for the purpose
of encouraging [the soldiers], he finds them fighting. Such was the
shortness of the time, and so determined was the mind of the enemy on
fighting, that time was wanting not only for affixing the military
insignia, but even for putting on the helmets and drawing off the
covers from the shields. To whatever part any one by chance came from
the works (in which he had been employed), and whatever standards he
saw first, at these he stood, lest in seeking his own company he
should lose the time for fighting.
The army having been marshaled, rather as the nature of the ground and
the declivity of the hill and the exigency of the time than as the
method and order of military matters required, while the legions in
the different places were withstanding the enemy, some in one quarter,
some in another, and the view was obstructed by the very thick hedges
intervening, as we have before remarked, neither could proper reserves
be posted, nor could the necessary measures be taken in each part, nor
could all the commands be issued by one person. Therefore, in such an
unfavorable state of affairs, various events of fortune followed....
At the same time, our horsemen, and light-armed infantry, who had been
with those who, as I have related, were routed by the first assault of
the enemy, as they were betaking themselves into the camp, met the
enemy face to face, and again sought flight into another quarter; and
the camp-followers, who from the Decuman Gate, and from the highest
ridge of the hill had seen our men pass the river as victors, when,
after going out for the purposes of plundering, they looked back and
saw the enemy parading in our camp, committed themselves precipitately
to flight; at the same time there arose the cry and shout of those who
came with the baggage-train; and they (affrighted) were carried some
one way, some another. By all these circumstances the cavalry of the
Treviri were much alarmed (whose reputation for courage is
extraordinary among the Gauls, and who had come to Caesar, being sent
by their state as auxiliaries), and, when they saw our camp filled
with a large number of the enemy, the legions hard prest and almost
held surrounded, the camp-retainers, horsemen, slingers, and Numidians
fleeing on all sides divided and scattered, they, despairing of our
affairs, hastened home, and related to their state that the Romans
were routed and conquered, [and] that the enemy were in possession of
their camp and baggage-train.
Caesar proceeded, after encouraging the tenth legion, to the right
wing, where he perceived that his men were hard prest, and that in
consequence of the standards of the twelfth legion being collected
together in one place, the crowded soldiers were a hindrance to
themselves in the fight; that all the centurions of the fourth cohort
were slain, and the standard-bearer killed, the standard itself lost,
almost all the centurions of the other cohorts either wounded or
slain, and among them the chief centurion of the legion, P. Sextius
Baculus, a very valiant man, who was so exhausted by many and severe
wounds that he was already unable to support himself; he likewise
perceived that the rest were slackening their efforts, and that some,
deserted by those in the rear, were retiring from the battle and
avoiding the weapons; that the enemy [on the other hand], tho
advancing from the lower ground, were not relaxing in front, and were
[at the same time] pressing hard on both flanks; he perceived also
that the affair was at a crisis; and that there was not any reserve
which could be brought up; having therefore snatched a shield from one
of the soldiers in the rear (for he himself had come without a
shield), he advanced to the front of the line, and addressing the
centurions by name, and encouraging the rest of the soldiers, he
ordered them to carry forward the standards, and extend the companies,
that they might the more easily use their swords. On his arrival, as
hope was brought to the soldiers and their courage restored, while
every one for his own part, in the sight of his general, desired to
exert his utmost energy, the impetuosity of the enemy was a little
checked.
Caesar, when he perceived that the seventh legion, which stood close by
him, was also hard prest by the enemy, directed the tribunes of the
soldiers to effect a junction of the legions gradually, and make their
charge upon the enemy with a double front, which having been done
since they brought assistance the one to the other, nor feared lest
their rear should be surrounded by the enemy, they began to stand
their ground more boldly, and to fight more courageously. In the mean
time, the soldiers of the two legions which had been in the rear of
the army, as a guard for the baggage-train, upon the battle being
reported to them, quickened their pace, and were seen by the enemy on
the top of the hill; and Titus Labienus, having gained possession of
the camp of the enemy, and observed from the higher ground what was
going on in our camp, sent the tenth legion as a relief to our men
who, when they had learned from the flight of the horse and the
sutlers in what position the affair was, and in how great danger the
camp and the legion and the commander were involved, left undone
nothing [which tended] to despatch.
By their arrival, so great a change of matters was made that our men,
even those who had fallen down exhausted with wounds, leaned on their
shields, and renewed the fight; then the camp-retainers, tho unarmed,
seeing the enemy completely dismayed, attacked [them tho] armed; the
horsemen too, that they might by their valor blot out the disgrace of
their flight, thrust themselves before the legionary soldiers in all
parts of the battle. But the enemy, even in the last hope of safety,
displayed such great courage that when the foremost of them had
fallen, the next stood upon them prostrate, and fought from their
bodies; when these were overthrown, and their corpses heaped up
together, those who survived cast their weapons against our men
[thence] as from a mound, and returned our darts which had fallen
short between [the armies]; so that it ought not to be concluded that
men of such great courage had injudiciously dared to pass a very broad
river, ascend very high banks, and come up to a very disadvantageous
place; since their greatness of spirit had rendered these actions
easy, altho in themselves very difficult.
This battle being ended, and the nation and name of the Nervii being
almost reduced to annihilation, their old men, who together with the
boys and women we have stated to have been collected together in the
fenny places and marshes, on this battle having been reported to
them, since they were convinced that nothing was an obstacle to the
conquerors, and nothing safe to the conquered, sent ambassadors to
Caesar by the consent of all who remained, and surrendered themselves
to him; and in recounting the calamity of their state said that their
senators were reduced from 600 to three; that from 60,000 men they
[were reduced] to scarcely 500 who could bear arms, whom Caesar, that
he might appear to use compassion toward the wretched and the
suppliant, most carefully spared, and ordered them to enjoy their own
territories and towns, and commanded their neighbors that they should
restrain themselves and their dependents from offering injury or
outrage [to them]....