28.
Arpineius and Junius relate to
the lieutenants what they had heard. They, greatly alarmed by the unexpected
affair, though those things were spoken by an enemy, still thought they were not
to be disregarded; and they were especially influenced by this consideration,
that it was scarcely credible that the obscure and humble state of the
Eburones had dared to make war upon the Roman people of their own accord. Accordingly, they refer the matter
to a council, and a great controversy arises among them. L.
Aurunculeius, and several tribunes of the soldiers and the centurions
of the first rank, were of opinion "that nothing should be done hastily, and
that they should not depart from the camp without Caesar's orders;" they declared, "that any forces of the Germans, however great, might be encountered by
fortified winter-quarters; that this fact was a proof [of it]; that they had
sustained the first assault of the Germans most
valiantly, inflicting many wounds upon them; that they were not distressed for
corn; that in the mean time relief would come both from the nearest
winter-quarters and from Caesar; lastly, they put the
query, "what could be more undetermined, more undignified, than to adopt
measures respecting the most important affairs on the authority of an enemy?"
C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library.
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