De Bello Gallico 2.17

2.17.1Hīs rēbus cognitīs, explōrātōrēs centuriōnēsque praemittit quī locum castrīs idōneum dēligant.

When he learned this, he sent scouts and centurions ahead to choose a suitable place for a camp.

2.17.2Cum ex dēditīciīs Belgīs reliquīsque Gallīs complūrēs Caesarem secūtī ūnā iter facerent, quīdam ex hīs, ut posteā ex captīvīs cognitum est, eōrum diērum cōnsuētūdine itineris nostrī exercitūs perspectā, nocte ad Nerviōs pervēnērunt atque hīs dēmōnstrārunt inter singulās legiōnēs impedīmentōrum magnum numerum intercēdere, neque esse quicquam negōtiī, cum prīma legiō in castra vēnisset reliquaeque legiōnēs magnum spatium abessent, hanc sub sarcinīs adorīrī;

A good number of the Belgae who had surrendered and of the other Gauls were following Caesar and marching with him, and some of them, as was later learned from prisoners, after watching our army's way of marching during those days, went to the Nervii by night and showed them that a great quantity of baggage came between each legion, and that it would be no trouble, when the first legion had come into camp and the others were a long way off, to attack it while it was still loaded with packs;

2.17.3quā pulsā impedīmentīsque dīreptīs, futūrum ut reliquae contrā cōnsistere nōn audērent.

once it was beaten and the baggage plundered, the rest would not dare to make a stand against them.

2.17.4Adiuvābat etiam eōrum cōnsilium quī rem dēferēbant quod Nerviī antīquitus, cum equitātū nihil possent (neque enim ad hoc tempus eī reī student, sed quicquid possunt, pedestribus valent cōpiīs), quō facilius fīnitimōrum equitātum, sī praedandī causā ad eōs vēnissent, impedīrent, tenerīs arboribus incīsīs atque īnflexīs crēbrīsque in lātitūdinem rāmīs ēnātīs et rubīs sentibusque interiectīs effēcerant ut īnstar mūrī hae saepēs mūnīmentum praebērent, quō nōn modo nōn intrārī sed nē perspicī quidem posset.

The plan of those who brought this information was helped by the fact that the Nervii had long ago, since they had no strength in cavalry (for even to this day they pay no attention to it, but whatever strength they have is in their infantry), in order to hinder their neighbours' cavalry more easily if they came to raid them, cut into young trees and bent them over, and as dense branches grew out sideways and brambles and thorn bushes were woven in between, they had made these hedges into a barrier like a wall, which could not only not be got through but could not even be seen through.

Note. Adiuvābat … quod: 'it helped … that'. The quod clause explains how the Nervii had made their hedges. īnstar mūrī: 'like a wall'.

2.17.5Hīs rēbus cum iter agminis nostrī impedīrētur, nōn omittendum sibi cōnsilium Nerviī exīstimāvērunt.

Since our column's march was hindered by these things, the Nervii thought they should not let the plan go.

Note. nōn omittendum sibi cōnsilium: 'that they must not let the plan go', a gerundive with a dative of agent.