16.
In the whole of this method of fighting since the engagement took place under the
eyes of all and before the camp, it was perceived that our men, on account of
the weight of their arms, inasmuch as they could neither pursue [the enemy when]
retreating, nor dare quit their standards, were little suited to this kind of
enemy; that the horse also fought with great danger, because they [the
Britons] generally retreated even designedly, and, when they
had drawn off our men a short distance from the legions, leaped from their
chariots and fought on foot in unequal [and to them advantageous] battle. But
the system of cavalry engagement is wont to produce equal danger, and indeed the
same, both to those who retreat and to those who pursue. To this was added, that
they never fought in close order, but in small parties and at great distances,
and had detachments placed [in different parts], and then the one relieved the
other, and the vigorous and fresh succeeded the wearied.
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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