29.
When the Aduatuci, of whom we have written above, were coming up
with all their forces to the assistance of the Nervii, upon this
battle being reported to them, they returned home after they were on the march;
deserting all their towns and forts, they conveyed together all their
possessions into one town, eminently fortified by nature. While this town had on
all sides around it very high rocks and precipices, there was left on one side a
gently ascending approach, of not more than 200 feet in width; which place they
had fortified with a very lofty double wall: besides, they had placed stones of
great weight and sharpened stakes upon the walls. They were descended from the
Cimbri and Teutones, who, when they were marching
into our province and Italy, having deposited
on this side the river
Rhine
such of their baggage-trains as they could not drive or convey with
them, left 6,000 of their men as a guard and defense for them. These having,
after the destruction of their countrymen, been harassed for many years by their
neighbors, while one time they waged war offensively, and at another resisted it
when waged against them, concluded a peace with the consent of all, and chose
this place as their settlement.
C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library.
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