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36.
Caesar, in five days' march, went from that place to
Gergovia , and after engaging in a slight cavalry skirmish that day,
on viewing the situation of the city, which, being built on a very high
mountain, was very difficult of access, he despaired of taking it by storm, and
determined to take no measures with regard to besieging it before he should
secure a supply of provisions. But Vercingetorix, having pitched
his camp on the mountain near the town, placed the forces of each state
separately and at small intervals around himself, and having occupied all the
hills of that range as far as they commanded a view [of the Roman encampment], he presented a formidable appearance; he ordered
the rulers of the states, whom he had selected as his council of war, to come to
him daily at the dawn, whether any measure seemed to require deliberation or
execution. Nor did he allow almost any day to pass without testing in a cavalry
action, the archers being intermixed, what spirit and valor there was in each of
his own men. There was a hill opposite the town, at the very foot of that
mountain, strongly fortified and precipitous on every side (which if our men
could gain, they seemed likely to exclude the enemy from a great share of their
supply of water, and from free foraging; but this place was occupied by them
with a weak garrison): however, Caesar set out from the
camp in the silence of night, and dislodging the garrison before succor could
come from the town, he got possession of the place and posted two legions there,
and drew from the greater camp to the less a double trench twelve feet broad, so
that the soldiers could even singly pass secure from any sudden attack of the
enemy.
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