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Lesson 110
Heroic Defense of their Camp
1912
 109. The Beseiged attempt to Communicate with Caesar 111. A Messenger eludes the Enemy 
LESSON 110
Heroic Defense of their Camp

At Cicerō, quī iniussū Caesaris castra movēre nōlēbat, Gallīs respondit nōn esse cōnsuētūdinem populī Rōmānī ūllam accipere ab hoste armātō condiciōnem; sī ab armīs discēdere atque lēgātōs ad Caesarem mittere vellent, spērāre sē eōs, quae petīssent, impetrātūrōs. Hāc spē dēiectī Nerviī vāllō pedum decem et fossā pedum quīndecim hīberna circumdant. Eīs autem nūlla erat ferramentōrum cōpia, quae ad eam rem ūsuī sunt; gladiīs igitur caespitēs circumcīdere et manibus sagīsque terram exhaurīre cōgēbantur. Quā ex rē hominum multitūdō cōgnōscī potest; nam hōrīs ferē tribus decem mīlium passuum in circuitū mūnītiōnem pedum quīndecim perfēcērunt.

Septimō oppugnātiōnis diē, maximō coortō ventō, hostēs tēla fervefacta in casās iēcērunt; quae celeriter comprehendērunt ignem, et ventī magnitūdine in omnem locum castrōrum distulērunt. Tum Gallī, victōriam ratī iam dēmum esse partam, maximō clāmōre vāllum scālīs ascendere coepērunt. At tanta erat virtūs nostrōrum, ut, cum maximā tēlōrum multitūdine premerentur, suaque impedimenta omnia igni cōnsūmī intellegerent, dē vāllō dēcēderet nēmō. Hīc diēs nostrīs longē gravissimus fuit; sed tamen hunc habuit ēventum, ut eō diē maximus numerus hostium interīret aut vulnerārētur.

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