30.
This speech was not disagreeable to the Gauls,
principally, because he himself was not disheartened by receiving so severe a
loss, and had not concealed himself, nor shunned the eyes of the people: and he
was believed to possess greater foresight and sounder judgment than the rest,
because, when the affair was undecided, he had at first been of opinion that
Avaricum should be burnt, and afterward that it should be
abandoned. Accordingly, as ill success weakens the authority of other generals,
so, on the contrary, his dignity increased daily, although a loss was sustained:
at the same time they began to entertain hopes, on his assertion, of uniting the
rest of the states to themselves, and on this occasion, for the first time, the
Gauls began to fortify their camps, and were so
alarmed that although they were men unaccustomed to toil, yet they were of
opinion that they ought to endure and suffer every thing which should be imposed
upon them.
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