2.6.1Ab hīs castrīs oppidum Rēmōrum nōmine Bibrax aberat mīlia passuum VIII. Id ex itinere magnō impetū Belgae oppugnāre coepērunt.Eight miles from this camp was a town of the Remi named Bibrax. The Belgae began to attack it fiercely straight from the march. 2.6.1Aegrē eō diē sustentātum est.That day it was held only with difficulty.Note. sustentātum est: an impersonal passive, 'there was a holding out', that is, the town just held out. 2.6.2Gallōrum eadem atque Belgārum oppugnātiō est haec: ubi circumiectā multitūdine hominum tōtīs moenibus undique in mūrum lapidēs iacī coeptī sunt mūrusque dēfēnsōribus nūdātus est, testūdine factā portās succēdunt mūrumque subruunt.The Gauls and the Belgae besiege a town in the same way, as follows: when a great number of men has been placed around the whole circuit of the walls and stones have begun to be thrown at the wall from every side, and the wall has been stripped of defenders, they form a tortoise, come up to the gates and undermine the wall.Note. testūdine factā: the attackers held their shields over their heads and locked them together like a tortoise's shell. 2.6.2Quod tum facile fīēbat.That was easily done then. 2.6.3Nam cum tanta multitūdō lapidēs ac tēla coicerent, in mūrō cōnsistendī potestās erat nūllī.For when so great a number were throwing stones and weapons, no one could stand on the wall.Note. in mūrō cōnsistendī potestās erat nūllī: 'no one had the chance to stand on the wall'; nūllī is a dative of possession.
2.6.4Cum fīnem oppugnandī nox fēcisset, Iccius Rēmus, summā nōbilitāte et grātiā inter suōs, quī tum oppidō praeerat, ūnus ex iīs quī lēgātī dē pāce ad Caesarem vēnerant, nūntium ad eum mittit, nisi subsidium sibi submittātur, sēsē diūtius sustinēre nōn posse.When night put an end to the attack, Iccius, a Reman of the highest rank and influence among his people, who was then in command of the town and was one of those who had come to Caesar as envoys about peace, sends him a message: unless help is sent to him, he cannot hold out any longer.