+Caesar In Britain.+ ‘What he tells us of the geography and inhabitants of the Island comprises almost all we know, except from coins, down to the time of its final conquest by Clodius 51 A.D.’ --W. F.
_The Gallic uprising. Fabian tactics of Vercingetorix, 52 B.C._
Vercingetorix tot continuis incommodis acceptis suos ad concilium convocat. Docet ‘longe alia ratione esse bellum gerendum atque antea gestum sit; omnibus modis huic rei studendum ut pabulatione et commeatu Romani prohibeantur: id esse { 5} facile, quod equitatu ipsi abundent et quod anni tempore subleventur; pabulum secari non posse; necessario dispersos hostes ex aedificiis petere; hos omnes cotidie ab equitibus deleri posse. Praeterea, salutis causa rei familiaris commoda neglegenda; { 10} vicos atque aedificia incendi oportere hoc spatio quoqueversus, quo pabulandi causa adire posse videantur. Harum ipsis rerum copiam suppetere, quod quorum in finibus bellum geratur eorum opibus subleventur: Romanos aut inopiam non laturos aut { 15} magno cum periculo longius a castris processuros; neque interesse ipsosne interficiant an impedimentis exuant, quibus amissis bellum geri non possit. Praeterea, oppida incendi oportere quae non munitione et loci natura ab omni sint periculo tuta; ne { 20} suis sint ad detrectandam militiam receptacula, neu Romanis proposita ad copiam commeatus praedamque tollendam. Haec si gravia aut acerba videantur, multo illa gravius aestimari debere, liberos, coniuges in servitutem abstrahi, ipsos interfici; { 25} quae sit necesse accidere victis.’
+Context.+ On his return from Britain, Caesar found the N. Gauls in open revolt. The division of Sabinus (at Aduatuca, near Liège) was annihilated by Ambiorix, and Caesar was only just in time to relieve Q. Cicero at Charleroi. To prevent all further support to the Gauls from the Germans across the Rhine, Caesar again made a military demonstration across the river, and put an end to all the hopes of the Germans of breaking through this boundary. In the winter of 53-2 B.C., during his absence in Cisalpine Gaul, +a general uprising of the S. and Central Gauls took place under the Arvernian Vercingetorix, the hero of the whole Gallic race+.
[Linenotes: 6-7. +anni tempore+, i.e. scarcely yet spring, when no crops could be got off the land. 11-12. +hoc spatio quoqueversus, quo+ = _so far in every direction as_. 19. +oppida incendi:+ only Avaricum (Bourges) was to be spared. 22. +proposita+ = _offered_ to be captured by the Romans.]