32.
Caesar, after delaying several days at Avaricum , and, finding there the greatest plenty of corn and other
provisions, refreshed his army after their fatigue and privation. The winter
being almost ended, when he was invited by the favorable season of the year to
prosecute the war and march against the enemy, [and try] whether he could draw
them from the marshes and woods, or else press them by a blockade; some noblemen
of the Aedui came to him as embassadors to entreat "that in an
extreme emergency he should succor their state; that their affairs were in the
utmost danger, because, whereas single magistrates had been usually appointed in
ancient times and held the power of king for a single year, two persons now
exercised this office, and each asserted that he was appointed according to
their laws. That one of them was Convictolitanis, a powerful and
illustrious youth; the other Cotus, sprung from a most ancient
family, and personally a man of very great influence and extensive connections.
His brother Valetiacus had borne the same office during the last
year: that the whole state was up in arms; the senate divided, the people
divided; that each of them had his own adherents; and that, if the animosity
would be fomented any longer, the result would be that one part of the state
would come to a collision with the other; that it rested with his activity and
influence to prevent it."
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.