The Illyrian Wars

​The Dalmatians, ever since they had destroyed the five cohorts under Gabinius and had taken their standards, elated by this, had not laid down their arms for ten years now, but even as Caesar was marching against them they agreed to ally with one another. And the most warlike of them were more than twelve thousand, of whom they chose Versus as general. He, having occupied Promona again, the city of the Liburnians, fortified it, which was even otherwise remarkably strong; for the place is mountainous, and sharp hills like saws surround it on all sides. In the city indeed was the greater part, but on the hills Versus stationed garrisons; and they all looked down upon the movements of the Romans from on high. But Caesar openly began to construct a wall around them all, but secretly sent the most daring men to seek an ascent to the highest of the hills. And they, the woods concealing them, fell upon the guards asleep at night, and killed them, and waved a signal to Caesar at early dawn; and he went to attempt the city with the greater part of the army, and sent others after others to the captured peak, who descended upon the other hills. Fear and confusion fell upon all the barbarians at once, being attacked from all sides; and especially those on the hills feared on account of the lack of water, lest they should be cut off from their passages. And they fled together into Promona.

​But Caesar surrounded both the city itself and two hills, which were still held by the enemy, with a wall at the same time, forty stades in circumference. And in the meantime, Testimus the Dalmatian, bringing another army as an ally to those in Promona, Caesar met and pursued into the mountains, and while Testimus was still looking on, he took Promona, before the circumvallation was completed. For as those inside sallied out and were sharply driven back, the Romans rushed into the city together with them as they fled, and killed a third of them inside; and the rest fled up to the citadel. And a Roman cohort was guarding them at the gates. Upon whom the barbarians fell on the fourth night, and the cohort abandoned the gates out of fear. But Caesar checked the enemy’s rush, and on the following day took them as they surrendered themselves; and having decimated the cohort which abandoned the guardpost, he punished every tenth man with death, and two centurions in addition to the tenth. And he ordered the rest to be fed with barley instead of wheat during that summer.

​Thus indeed Promona was taken, and Testimus seeing this dispersed his army, some fleeing in one direction and some in another; wherefore the Romans were not able to pursue them far, fearing both their own division into many parts, and their ignorance of the roads, and the confused tracks of the flight. And they took Synodium, a city at the beginning of the wood, in which the Dalmatians had ambushed the army of Gabinius around a deep and long ravine between two mountains, where they were also ambushing Caesar. But he burned Synodium, and having sent a force around onto the mountains on either side to keep pace with him above, he himself went through the ravine, cutting down the wood and taking the cities, and burning everything that he took along the way. While the city of Setuia was being besieged, a certain allied force of barbarians came against them, which Caesar met and prevented from running into Setuia. And in this labor he was struck on the knee with a stone, and was under treatment for many days. But when he recovered, he returned to Rome to enter the consulship with Volcatius Tullus, leaving Statilius Taurus for the rest of the war.