§2.16.1Cum per eorum fines triduum iter fecisset, inveniebat ex captivis Sabim flumen a castris suis non amplius milibus passuum X abesse; §2.16.2trans id flumen omnes Nervios consedisse adventumque ibi Romanorum expectare una cum Atrebatibus et Viromanduis, finitimis suis §2.16.3(nam his utrisque persuaserant uti eandem belli fortunam experirentur); §2.16.4expectari etiam ab iis Atuatucorum copias atque esse in itinere; §2.16.5mulieres quique per aetatem ad pugnam inutiles viderentur in eum locum coniecisse quo propter paludes exercitui aditus non esset.
When he had made a three days' march through their territory, he found out from the prisoners that the river Sabis was not more than ten miles distant from his camp; that all the Nervii had posted themselves on the other side of that river and were there awaiting the arrival of the Romans, together with the Atrebates and the Viromandui, their neighbors (for they had persuaded both of these to try the same fortune of war); that the forces of the Atuatuci were also expected by them and were on the march; that they had conveyed their women and those who through age seemed useless for battle into a place where, because of the marshes, there was no access for an army.