45.
Caesar, on being informed of this circumstance, sends
several troops of horse to the place immediately after midnight; he orders them
to range in every quarter with more tumult than usual. At dawn he orders a large
quantity of baggage to be drawn out of the camp, and the muleteers with helmets,
in the appearance and guise of horsemen, to ride round the hills. To these he
adds a few cavalry, with instructions to range more widely to make a show. He
orders them all to seek the same quarter by a long circuit; these proceedings
were seen at a distance from the town, as Gergovia commanded a view of the camp, nor could the Gauls ascertain at so great a distance, what certainty
there was in the maneuver. He sends one legion to the same hill, and after it
had marched a little, stations it in the lower ground, and congeals it in the
woods. The suspicion of the Gauls are increased, and
all their forces are marched to that place to defend it. Caesar, having perceived the camp of the enemy deserted, covers the
military insignia of his men, conceals the standards, and transfers his soldiers
in small bodies from the greater to the less camp, and points out to the
lieutenants whom he had placed in command over the respective legions, what he
should wish to be done; he particularly advises them to restrain their men from
advancing too far, through their desire of fighting, or their hope of plunder,
he sets before them what disadvantages the unfavorable nature of the ground
carries with it; that they could be assisted by dispatch alone: that success
depended on a surprise, and not on a battle. After stating these particulars, he
gives the signal for action, and detaches the Aedui at the same
time by another ascent on the right.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.