Res Gestae

After this conclusion of the variety of events which I have now summarised the young warrior, with mind at ease, since the Rhine flowed on peacefully after the battle of Strasburg, took care to keep birds of prey from devouring the bodies of the slain; and he gave orders that they should all be buried without distinction. Then, having dismissed the envoys, who (as we have related) had brought some insolent messages before the battle, he returned to Savernes.

From there he ordered the booty, with all the captives, to be taken to Metz and kept there until his return; he was himself planning to go to Mayence with the purpose of building a bridge, crossing the Rhine, and searching out the

But the savages, thunderstruck at the vastness of the feat, since they little expected that they could be molested, settled as they were amid undisturbed peace, gave anxious thought to what might threaten their own fortunes, in view of the destruction of the others; and so under pretence of a prayer for peace, with the purpose of avoiding the brunt of the first onslaught, they sent envoys with set speeches, to declare the harmonious validity of the treaties with them; but for some unknown design that they suddenly formed they changed their minds, and by other messengers whom they forced to come post haste, they threatened our men with most bitter warfare, unless they should withdraw from their territory.

On learning this from a sure source, Caesar at the first quiet of nightfall embarked eight hundred soldiers on small, swift boats, so that they might go up the Rhine for a distance of twenty stadia, disembark, and with fire and sword lay waste

This arrangement thus made, at the very break of day the savages were seen drawn up along the hill-tops, and the soldiers in high spirits were led up to the higher ground; but they found no one there (since the enemy, suspecting this, had hastily decamped), and then great columns of smoke were seen at a distance, revealing that our men had burst in and were devastating the enemy’s territory.

This action broke the Germans’ spirit, and abandoning the ambuscades which they had laid for our men in narrow and dangerous places, they fled across the river, Menus[*](Main.) by name, to bear aid to their kinsfolk.

For, as is apt to happen in times of doubt and confusion, they were panic-stricken by the raid of our cavalry on the one side, and on the other by the sudden onset of our infantry, who had rowed up the river in their boats; and with their knowledge of the ground they had quick recourse to flight. Upon their departure our soldiers marched on undisturbed and plundered farms rich in cattle and crops, sparing none; and having dragged out the captives, they set fire to and burned down all the houses, which were built quite carefully in Roman fashion.

After having advanced approximately ten miles, they came to a forest formidable with its forbidding shade and their general stood in hesitation for some time, being informed by the report of a deserter that large forces were lurking in some hidden underground passages and wide-branching trenches, ready to burst forth when they saw an opportunity.

Yet they all ventured to draw near with the greatest confidence, but found the

And since the rigorous climate was trying to them and they struggled in vain with extreme difficulties (for the autumnal equinox had passed, and in those regions the fallen snows covered mountains and plains alike) they took in hand a memorable piece of work.