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At last, having no hope left, and being in want of every thing, wood, water, forage, corn, they demanded an interview, and that it might be, if possible, in some place out of the sight of the soldiers. Caesar denied the last part of their request, but offered to grant them a public interview; whereupon Afranius, having given his son for a hostage, went to the place appointed by Caesar, where, in the presence of both armies, he addressed him to this effect: "That it was no just matter of blame, either in him or his soldiers, to have preserved their fidelity to their general, Pompey; but that they had now sufficiently acquitted themselves of their duty, and suffered enough in his cause, by the want of all kind of necessaries; that like wild beasts caught in a toil, they were deprived of the most common enjoyments, having their bodies oppressed by want, and their minds overwhelmed with ignominy, that they therefore acknowledged themselves vanquished, and besought and conjured him, not to make a rigorous use of his victory, but to spare the lives of his unhappy countrymen." This speech was delivered with all possible marks of humility and submission.
C. Julius Caesar. The Commentaries of Caesar. William Duncan. St. Louis. Edwards and Bushnell. 1856.
The chapter breaks in this translation have been changed to align with those in the 1901 Latin edition of the De Bello Civili, ed. Renatus du Pontet.
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