Hoc proelio facto et prope ad internecionem gente ac nomine Nerviorum redacto maiores natu, quos una cum pueris mulieribusque in aestuaria ac paludes coniectos dixeramus, hac pugna nuntiata, cum victoribus nihil impeditum, victis nihil tutum arbitrarentur, omnium qui supererant consensu legatos ad Caesarem miserunt seque ei dediderunt, et in commemoranda civitatis calamitate ex sescentis ad tres senatores, ex hominum milibux LX vix ad quingentos, qui arma ferre possent, sese redactos esse dixerunt. Quos Caesar, ut in miseros ac supplices usus misericordia videretur, dilligentissime conservavit suisque finibus atque oppidis uti iussit et finitimis imperavit ut ab iniuria et maleficio se suosque prohiberent.


This engagement brought the name and nation of the Nervii almost to utter destruction. Upon report of the battle, the older men, who, as above mentioned, had been gathered with the women and children in the creeks and marshes, supposed that there was nothing to hinder the victors, nothing to save the vanquished; and so, with the consent of all the survivors, they sent deputies to Caesar and surrendered to him. In relating the disaster which had come upon their state, they declared that from six hundred senators they had been reduced to three, and from sixty thousand to barely five hundred that could bear arms. To show himself merciful towards their pitiful suppliance, Caesar was most careful for their preservation; he bade them keep their own territory and towns, and commanded their neighbours to restrain themselves and their dependents from outrage or injury.

Translation and notes by H.J. Edwards


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