10.
In the mean time he is informed by the Ubii, a few days after, that
the Suevi are drawing all their forces into one place, and are
giving orders to those nations which are under their government to send
auxiliaries of infantry and of cavalry. Having learned these things, he provides
a supply of corn, selects a proper place for his camp, and commands the
Ubii to drive off their cattle and carry away all their
possessions from the country parts into the towns, hoping that they, being a
barbarous and ignorant people, when harassed by the want of provisions, might be
brought to an engagement on disadvantageous terms: he orders them to send
numerous scouts among the Suevi, and learn what things are going on
among them. They execute the orders, and, a few days having intervened, report
that all the Suevi, after certain intelligence concerning the army
of the Romans had come, retreated with all their own
forces and those of their allies, which they had assembled, to the utmost
extremities of their territories: that there is a wood there of very great
extent, which is called Bacenis; that this stretches a great way
into the interior, and, being opposed as a natural barrier, defends from
injuries and incursions the Cherusci against the
Suevi, and the Suevi against the
Cherusci: that at the entrance of that forest the
Suevi had determined to await the coming up of the Romans.
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