Then Caesar built a bridge and crossed into Germany; he freed the Sugambri and the Ubii from siege, and by his coming he terrified the Suebi — a very great and most ferocious nation, made up, as many have recorded, of a hundred cantons and peoples — and the whole of Germany; soon, having broken down the bridge, he withdrew into Gaul.1
1 Tunc Caesar in Germaniam facto ponte transgreditur, Sugambros et Ubios obsidione liberat; Suebos maximam et ferocissimam gentem, quorum esse centum pagos et populos multi prodidere, totamque Germaniam aduentu suo terret; mox in Galliam rescisso ponte concedit.
1Caesar relieved only the Ubii; the Sugambri, who had sheltered the defeated Usipetes and Tencteri, were the people whose lands he ravaged.
From there he came to the Morini, from whose land lies the nearest and shortest crossing to Britain. Having prepared about eighty transports and swift vessels, he crossed over into Britain. There, worn down first by a bitter battle and then caught by a contrary storm, he lost the greater part of his fleet and no small number of soldiers, and almost all his cavalry.
2 inde ad Morinos uenit, unde in Britanniam proximus et breuissimus transitus est. nauibus circiter onerariis atque actuariis octoginta praeparatis in Britanniam transuehitur. ubi acerba primum pugna fatigatus, deinde aduersa tempestate correptus plurimam classis partem et non paruum numerum militum, equitum uero paene omnem disperdidit.
Returning to Gaul, he dismissed the legions to winter quarters and ordered six hundred ships to be built, serviceable for both purposes.
3 regressus in Galliam legiones in hiberna dimisit ac sescentas naues utriusque commodi fieri imperauit.
When he had crossed into Britain again with these at the beginning of spring, while he himself was advancing against the enemy with the army, the ships riding at anchor were caught by a storm and were either dashed against one another or driven onto the sands and broken up: of these forty were lost, and the rest were repaired with great difficulty.
4 quibus iterum in Britanniam primo uere transuectus dum ipse in hostem cum exercitu pergit, naues in anchoris stantes tempestate correptae uel conlisae inter se uel harenis inlisae ac dissolutae sunt: ex quibus quadraginta perierunt, ceterae cum magna difficultate reparatae sunt.
Caesar’s cavalry was defeated by the Britons in the first encounter, and there the tribune Labienus was killed. In a second battle, at great risk to his own men, he defeated the Britons and put them to flight.2
5 Caesaris equitatus primo congressu a Britannis uictus ibique Labienus tribunus occisus est. secundo proelio cum magno suorum discrimine uictos Britannos in fugam uertit.
2The tribune killed was Quintus Laberius Durus; Orosius confuses him with Caesar’s legate Titus Labienus, who survived to fight in the civil war (6.16.8).
From there he set out for the river Thames, which they say can be forded at only one place. On its farther bank an immense multitude of the enemy had taken up position under the leadership of Cassivellaunus, and had fenced the bank of the river and almost the whole ford beneath the water with very sharp stakes.
6 inde ad flumen Tamesim profectus, quem uno tantum loco uadis transmeabilem ferunt. in huius ulteriore ripa Cassouellauno duce immensa hostium multitudo consederat ripamque fluminis ac paene totum sub aqua uadum acutissimis sudibus praestruxerat.
When this was detected and avoided by the Romans, the barbarians, unable to withstand the onset of the legions, hid themselves in the woods, from which, with frequent sallies, they harassed the Romans severely and often.
7 quod ubi a Romanis deprehensum ac uitatum est, barbari legionum impetum non ferentes siluis sese abdidere, unde crebris eruptionibus Romanos grauiter ac saepe lacerabant.
Meanwhile the very strong state of the Trinovantes, with its leader Mandubracius, gave forty hostages and surrendered to Caesar.
8 interea Trinobantum firmissima ciuitas cum Mandubragio duce datis quadraginta obsidibus Caesari sese dedidit.
Following this example, several other cities entered into treaty with the Romans; and with them pointing the way, Caesar at last, after a severe fight, took the town of Cassivellaunus, which lay between two marshes, was fortified besides by the cover of woods, and was very well stocked with everything.
9 quod exemplum secutae urbes aliae conplures in foedus Romanorum uenerunt isdemque demonstrantibus Caesar oppidum Cassouellauni inter duas paludes situm, obtentu insuper siluarum munitum omnibusque rebus confertissimum tandem graui pugna cepit.