§2.8.1Caesar primo et propter multitudinem hostium et propter eximiam opinionem virtutis proelio supersedere statuit;
At first, Caesar decided to decline battle, both on account of the multitude of the enemy and on account of their extraordinary reputation for valor.
§2.8.2cotidie tamen equestribus proeliis quid hostis virtute posset et quid nostri auderent periclitabatur.
Daily, however, in cavalry skirmishes, he tested what the enemy could do in point of valor and what our men dared to attempt.
§2.8.3Ubi nostros non esse inferiores intellexit, loco pro castris ad aciem instruendam natura oportuno atque idoneo, quod is collis ubi castra posita erant paululum ex planitie editus tantum adversus in latitudinem patebat quantum loci acies instructa occupare poterat, atque ex utraque parte lateris deiectus habebat et in fronte leniter fastigatus paulatim ad planitiem redibat, ab utroque latere eius collis transversam fossam obduxit circiter passuum CCCC §2.8.4et ad extremas fossas castella constituit ibique tormenta conlocavit, ne, cum aciem instruxisset, hostes, quod tantum multitudine poterant, ab lateribus pugnantes suos circumvenire possent.
When he understood that our men were not inferior, since the ground in front of the camp was by nature advantageous and suitable for drawing up a battle line—for that hill where the camp had been pitched, rising slightly from the plain, extended in width in front just as much as a drawn-up battle line could occupy, and had steep descents on both sides, while in front it sloped gently and gradually returned to the plain—he drew a transverse ditch of about four hundred paces from each side of that hill, and at the ends of the ditches he constructed redoubts and there placed artillery, lest, when he had drawn up his battle line, the enemy, since they were so powerful in numbers, might be able to surround his men while fighting from the flanks.
§2.8.5Hoc facto, duabus legionibus quas proxime conscripserat in castris relictis ut, si quo opus esset, subsidio duci possent, reliquas VI legiones pro castris in acie constituit.
Having done this, leaving in the camp the two legions which he had most recently levied, so that, if there should be need anywhere, they could be led as a reinforcement, he drew up the remaining six legions in battle array in front of the camp.
Hostes item suas copias ex castris eductas instruxerunt.
The enemy likewise drew up their forces, which had been led out of their camp.