§7.38.1Litaviccus accepto exercitu, cum milia passuum circiter XXX ab Gergovia abesset, convocatis subito militibus lacrimans, "Quo proficiscimur," inquit, "milites?
Litaviccus, having taken command of the army, when he was about thirty miles distant from Gergovia, suddenly called the soldiers together, and weeping, said: "Whither are we marching, soldiers?
§7.38.2Omnis noster equitatus, omnis nobilitas interiit; principes civitatis, Eporedorix et Viridomarus, insimulati proditionis ab Romanis indicta causa interfecti sunt.
All our cavalry, all our nobility has perished; the leading men of the state, Eporedorix and Viridomarus, accused of treason, have been put to death by the Romans without a trial.
§7.38.3Haec ab ipsis cognoscite, qui ex ipsa caede fugerunt: nam ego fratribus atque omnibus meis propinquis interfectis dolore prohibeor, §7.38.4quae gesta sunt, pronuntiare. "Producuntur hi quos ille edocuerat quae dici vellet, atque eadem, quae Litaviccus pronuntiaverat, multitudini exponunt: multos equites Aeduorum interfectos, §7.38.5quod collocuti cum Arvernis dicerentur; ipsos se inter multitudinem militum occultasse atque ex media caede fugisse.
Learn these things from those very men who escaped from the slaughter itself; for I, since my brothers and all my kinsmen have been slain, am prevented by grief from declaring what has been done." Those men whom he had instructed as to what he wished to be said are brought forward, and they relate to the multitude the same things which Litaviccus had declared: namely, that many cavalrymen of the Aedui had been killed, because they were said to have conferred with the Arverni; and that they themselves had hidden among the crowd of soldiers and escaped from the midst of the slaughter.
§7.38.6Conclamant Aedui et Litaviccum obsecrant ut sibi consulat.
The Aedui shout aloud and implore Litaviccus to provide for their safety.
"Quasi vero," inquit ille, "consili sit res, ac non necesse sit nobis Gergoviam contendere et cum Arvernis nosmet coniungere.
"As if indeed," said he, "it were a matter for deliberation, and it were not necessary for us to hasten to Gergovia and unite ourselves with the Arverni.
§7.38.7An dubitamus quin nefario facinore admisso Romani iam ad nos interficiendos concurrant? Proinde, si quid in nobis animi est,
Or do we doubt that, after committing so heinous a crime, the Romans are already rushing to slaughter us?
§7.38.8persequamur eorum mortem qui indignissime interierunt, atque hos latrones interficiamus. "Ostendit cives Romanos, qui eius praesidi fiducia una erant: §7.38.9magnum numerum frumenti commeatusque diripit, ipsos crudeliter excruciatos interficit.
Therefore, if there is any spirit in us, let us avenge the death of those who have perished most undeservedly, and let us slay these robbers." He points to the Roman citizens who were with them, relying on his protection: he plunders a vast quantity of corn and provisions, and kills them after cruelly torturing them.
§7.38.10nuntios tota civitate Aeduorum dimittit, eodem mendacio de caede equitum et principum permovet; hortatur ut simili ratione atque ipse fecerit suas iniurias persequantur.
He sends messengers throughout the entire state of the Aedui, and excites them by the same falsehood concerning the slaughter of the cavalry and the leading men; he exhorts them to avenge their wrongs in the same manner as he himself had done.