§6.36.1Cicero, qui omnes superiores dies praeceptis Caesaris cum summa diligentia milites in castris continuisset ac ne calonem quidem quemquam extra munitionem egredi passus esset, septimo die diffidens de numero dierum Caesarem fidem servaturum, quod longius progressum audiebat, neque ulla de reditu eius fama adferebatur, simul eorum permotus vocibus, §6.36.2qui illius patientiam paene obsessionem appellabant, siquidem ex castris egredi non liceret, nullum eiusmodi casum exspectans, quo novem oppositis legionibus maximoque equitatu dispersis ac paene deletis hostibus in milibus passuum tribus offendi posset, quinque cohortes frumentatum in proximas segetes mittit, quas inter et castra unus omnino collis intererat.
Cicero, who during all the preceding days had kept the soldiers in camp with the greatest diligence in accordance with the instructions of Caesar, and had not allowed even any camp-follower to go out outside the fortification, on the seventh day, distrusting whether Caesar would keep his promise regarding the number of days, because he heard that he had proceeded further, and no rumor was brought concerning his return, and at the same time being moved by the voices of those who called his patience almost a blockade, since indeed they were not allowed to go out of the camp, expecting no such misfortune by which any harm could be received within three miles, while nine legions and a very large force of cavalry were opposed, and the enemy were scattered and almost destroyed, sends five cohorts to forage into the nearest corn-fields, between which and the camp only one hill intervened.
Complures erant ex legionibus aegri relicti; §6.36.3ex quibus qui hoc spatio dierum convaluerant, circiter CCC, sub vexillo una mittuntur; magna praeterea multitudo calonum, magna vis iumentorum, quae in castris subsederant, facta potestate sequitur.
Many sick men had been left behind from the legions; of whom those who had recovered within this space of days, about three hundred, are sent together under a single banner; besides, a great multitude of camp-followers, and a great number of beasts of burden, which had remained in the camp, follow, permission having been granted.