7.25.1Cum in omnibus locīs cōnsūmptā iam reliquā parte noctis pugnārētur, semperque hostibus spēs victōriae redintegrārētur, eō magis, quod dēūstōs pluteōs turrium vidēbant nec facile adīre apertōs ad auxiliandum animadvertēbant, semperque ipsī recentēs dēfessīs succēderent omnemque Galliae salūtem in illō vestīgiō temporis positam arbitrārentur, accidit īnspectantibus nōbīs quod dignum memoriā vīsum praetereundum nōn exīstimāvimus.Although the rest of the night was now spent and fighting was going on everywhere, and the enemy's hope of victory kept reviving, all the more because they saw that the screens of our towers had been burned away and noticed that our men, exposed, could not easily come to help; and although they kept sending fresh men to relieve the exhausted, and thought that the whole safety of Gaul rested on that moment of time, something happened before our eyes which, since it seemed worth remembering, we have thought should not be passed over.Note. accidit … quod … praetereundum nōn exīstimāvimus: 'there happened something which we have thought should not be passed over'. Caesar uses the first person plural for himself as author. 7.25.2Quīdam ante portam oppidī Gallus per manūs sēbī ac picis trāditās glēbās in ignem ē regiōne turris prōiciēbat: scorpiōne ab latere dextrō trāiectus exanimātusque concidit.A certain Gaul in front of the gate of the town was throwing lumps of tallow and pitch, passed to him from hand to hand, into the fire opposite one of our towers: pierced in the right side by a bolt from a scorpion, he fell dead.
7.25.3Hunc ex proximīs ūnus iacentem trānsgressus eōdem illō mūnere fungēbātur;One of those next to him stepped over him as he lay and carried on the same task; 7.25.4eādem ratiōne ictū scorpiōnis exanimātō alterī successit tertius et tertiō quārtus, nec prius ille est ā prōpugnātōribus vacuus relictus locus quam restīnctō aggere atque omnī ex parte summōtīs hostibus fīnis est pugnandī factus.when he too had been killed in the same way by a scorpion's shot, a third took his place, and a fourth the third's, and that place was not left empty of defenders until the ramp had been put out, the enemy driven back on every side, and an end made of the fighting.Note. nec prius … quam …: 'and not … until …'. prius and quam are split by the main clause. The three ablatives absolute (restīnctō aggere, summōtīs hostibus) and the main verb finis est factus close the episode.