De Bello Gallico 6.36

6.36.1Cicerō, quī omnēs superiōrēs diēs praeceptīs Caesaris cum summā dīligentiā mīlitēs in castrīs continuisset ac nē cālōnem quidem quemquam extrā mūnītiōnem ēgredī passus esset, septimō diē diffīdēns dē numerō diērum Caesarem fidem servātūrum, quod longius prōgressum audiēbat, neque ūlla dē reditū eius fāma adferēbātur, simul eōrum permōtus vōcibus, quī illīus patientiam paene obsessiōnem appellābant, sīquidem ex castrīs ēgredī nōn licēret, nūllum eiusmodī cāsum exspectāns, quō novem oppositīs legiōnibus maximōque equitātū dispersīs ac paene dēlētīs hostibus in mīlibus passuum tribus offendī posset, quīnque cohortēs frūmentātum in proximās segetēs mittit, quās inter et castra ūnus omnīnō collis intererat.

Cicero had on all the previous days, following Caesar's orders, kept the soldiers in camp with the greatest care, and had not allowed even a single camp servant to go outside the fortification; but on the seventh day, not trusting that Caesar would keep his word about the number of days, because he heard that he had gone further, and no report of his return was coming in, and at the same time moved by the complaints of those who called his patience almost a siege, if indeed they were not allowed to leave the camp, and expecting no misfortune of a kind by which, with nine legions and a very large cavalry force in the field and the enemy scattered and almost destroyed, he could be harmed within three miles, he sent five cohorts to forage in the nearest grain fields, between which and the camp there was only a single hill.

Note. This long sentence explains Cicero's decision before giving it. Its frame is Cicerō quī … continuisset ac … passus esset, then the participles diffīdēns, permōtus and exspectāns, and finally the main verb mittit near the end.

6.36.2Complūrēs erant ex legiōnibus aegrī relictī;

Several men from the legions had been left behind sick;

6.36.3ex quibus quī hōc spatiō diērum convaluerant, circiter CCC, sub vēxillō ūnā mittuntur;

of these, those who had recovered during this space of days, about three hundred, were sent along under one banner;

6.36.3magna praetereā multitūdō cālōnum, magna vīs iūmentōrum, quae in castrīs subsēderant, factā potestāte sequitur.

in addition, a great crowd of camp servants and a great number of pack animals, which had stayed behind in the camp, followed when permission was given.