§8.21.1Hoc omnibus probato consilio Commius Atrebas ad eos confugit Germanos, a quibus ad id bellum auxilia mutuatus erat.
This plan being approved by all, Commius the Atrebatian fled to those Germans from whom he had borrowed auxiliaries for that war.
§8.21.2Ceteri e vestigio mittunt ad Caesarem legatos petuntque, ut ea poena sit contentus hostium, quam si sine dimicatione inferre integris posset, pro sua clementia atque humanitate numquam profecto esset illaturus.
The rest immediately send ambassadors to Caesar and beg that he would be satisfied with that punishment of his enemies, which, even if he could have inflicted it without a battle upon them while they were still unharmed, he would certainly never have inflicted in accordance with his clemency and humanity.
§8.21.3Adflictas opes equestri proelio Bellovacorum esse; delectorum peditum multa milia interisse, vix refugisse nuntios caedis.
They pleaded that the power of the Bellovaci had been shattered by the cavalry battle; that many thousands of their select infantry had perished, and that scarcely any messengers of the slaughter had escaped.
§8.21.4Tamen magnum ut in tanta calamitate Bellovacos eo proelio commodum esse consecutos, quod Correus, auctor belli, concitator multitudinis, esset interfectus. Numquam enim senatum tantum in civitate illo vivo quantum imperitam plebem potuisse.
Nevertheless, they said that the Bellovaci had obtained a great advantage in that battle, as far as was possible in so great a calamity, in that Correus, the author of the war and exciter of the multitude, had been slain; for during his lifetime, the senate had never been able to possess as much power in the state as the ignorant populace.