A Gaul
carried the letter, and fastened it by a line to his javelin, which he
flung over Cicero's rampart. The javelin stuck in the side of one of the
towers and was unobserved for several days. The besiegers were better
informed. They learnt that Caesar was at hand, that he had but a handful
of men with him. By that time their own numbers had risen to 60,000, and,
leaving Cicero to be dealt with at leisure, they moved off to envelop and
destroy their great enemy. Caesar was well served by spies. He knew that
Cicero was no longer in immediate danger, and there was thus no occasion
for him to risk a battle at a disadvantage to relieve him. When he found
the Gauls near him, he encamped, drawing his lines as narrowly as he
could, that from the small show which he made they might imagine his
troops to be even fewer than they were. He invited attack by an
ostentation of timidity, and having tempted the Gauls to become the
assailants, he flung open his gates, rushed out upon them with his whole
force, and all but annihilated them. The patriot army was broken to
pieces, and the unfortunate Nervii and Aduatuci never rallied from this
second blow. Caesar could then go at his leisure to Cicero and his
comrades, who had fought so nobly against such desperate odds. In every
ten men he found that there was but one unwounded.
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