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53.
Thereupon the engagement was renewed, and all the enemy turned their backs, nor
did they cease to flee until they arrived at the river
Rhine
, about fifty miles from that place. There some few, either relying on
their strength, endeavored to swim over, or, finding boats, procured their
safety. Among the latter was Ariovistus, who meeting with a small
vessel tied to the bank, escaped in it; our horse pursued and slew all the rest
of them. Ariovistus had two wives, one a Suevan by
nation, whom he brought with him from home; the other a Norican,
the sister of king Vocion, whom he had married in Gaul, she having been sent [thither for that purpose] by her
brother. Both perished in that flight. Of their two daughters, one was slain,
the other captured. C. Valerius Procillus, as he was
being dragged by his guards in the fight, bound with a triple chain, fell into
the hands of Caesar himself, as he was pursuing the
enemy with his cavalry. This circumstance indeed afforded Caesar no less pleasure than the victory itself; because he saw a
man of the first rank in the province of Gaul, his intimate acquaintance
and friend, rescued from the hand of the enemy, and restored to him, and that
fortune had not diminished aught of the joy and exultation [of that day] by his
destruction. He [Procillus] said that, in his own presence, the
lots had been thrice consulted respecting him, whether he should immediately be
put to death by fire, or be reserved for another time: that by the favor of the
lots he was uninjured. M. Mettius, also, was found and
brought back to him [Caesar.]
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