6.
There was a town of the Remi, by name
Bibrax, eight miles distant from this camp. This the
Belgae on their march began to attack with great vigor. [The
assault] was with difficulty sustained for that day. The Gauls'
mode of besieging is the same as that of the Belgae: when after
having drawn a large number of men around the whole of the fortifications,
stones have begun to be cast against the wall on all sides, and the wall has
been stripped of its defenders, [then], forming a testudo, they advance to the
gates and undermine the wall: which was easily effected on this occasion; for
while so large a number were casting stones and darts, no one was able to
maintain his position upon the wall. When night had put an end to the assault,
Iccius, who was then in command of the town, one of the Remi, a man of the highest rank and influence among his
people, and one of those who had come to Caesar as
embassador [to sue] for peace, sends messengers to him, [to report] "That,
unless assistance were sent to him he could not hold out any longer."
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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