De Bello Gallico 1.25

1.25.1Caesar prīmum suō, deinde omnium ex cōnspectū remōtīs equīs, ut aequātō omnium perīculō spem fugae tolleret, cohortātus suōs proelium commīsit.

Caesar had first his own horse, then everyone's, taken out of sight, so that by making the danger equal for all he would take away the hope of flight; then he encouraged his men and joined battle.

Note. Caesar removes the horses so that no officer could ride away: the danger is the same for all.

1.25.2Mīlitēs locō superiōre pīlīs missīs facile hostium phalangem perfrēgērunt.

The soldiers, throwing their javelins from higher ground, easily broke through the enemy's phalanx.

1.25.2Eā disiectā gladiīs dēstrictīs in eōs impetum fēcērunt.

When it was broken up, they drew their swords and charged them.

1.25.3Gallīs magnō ad pugnam erat impedīmentō quod plūribus eōrum scūtīs ūnō ictū pīlōrum trānsfīxīs et conligātīs, cum ferrum sē īnflexisset, neque ēvellere neque sinistrā impedītā satis commodē pugnāre poterant, multī ut diū iactātō bracchiō praeoptārent scūtum manū ēmittere et nūdō corpore pugnāre.

It was a great hindrance to the Gauls in the fight that, since several of their shields had been pierced and pinned together by a single javelin, and the iron point had bent, they could neither pull it out nor fight properly with their left hand hampered; so many of them, after long shaking their arm, preferred to let the shield drop from their hand and fight with their body unprotected.

Note. Gallīs … erat impedīmentō: double dative, 'it was a hindrance to the Gauls'. The soft iron shank of the pīlum bent on impact, so it could not be pulled out of the shield.

1.25.5Tandem vulneribus dēfessī et pedem referre et, quod mōns suberat circiter mīlle passuum spatiō, eō sē recipere coepērunt.

At last, worn out by wounds, they began to fall back and to retreat to a hill about a mile away.

1.25.6Captō monte et succēdentibus nostrīs, Boī et Tulingī, quī hominum mīlibus circiter XV agmen hostium claudēbant et novissimīs praesidiō erant, ex itinere nostrōs ab latere apertō adgressī circumvenīre, et id cōnspicātī Helvētiī, quī in montem sēsē recēperant, rūrsus īnstāre et proelium redintegrāre coepērunt.

When the hill had been taken and our men were coming up, the Boii and Tulingi, who with about fifteen thousand men closed the enemy's column and guarded its rear, attacked our men straight from the march on their exposed flank and began to surround them; and seeing this, the Helvetii who had retreated to the hill began to press on again and renew the battle.

1.25.7Rōmānī conversa signa bipertītō intulērunt: prīma et secunda aciēs, ut victīs ac submōtīs resisteret, tertia, ut venientēs sustinēret.

The Romans turned and advanced in two directions: the first and second lines to resist those who had been beaten and driven back, the third to hold off those who were coming.