Quintus Cicero cooled in his zeal, and afterward
amused the leisure of his winter quarters with composing worthless dramas.
Ambiorix had again escaped, and was never taken. The punishment fell on
his tribe. The Eburones were completely rooted out. The turn of the
Carnutes and Senones came next. The people themselves were spared; but
their leader, a chief named Acco, who was found to have instigated the
revolt, was arrested and executed. Again the whole of Gaul settled into
seeming quiet; and Caesar went to Italy, where the political frenzy was
now boiling over.
[1] Caesar says their trenches were fifteen miles long. This is, perhaps,
a mistake of the transcriber. A Roman camp did not usually cover more
than a few acres.
[2] People about Sens, Melun, and Chartres.
CHAPTER XVIII.
[Sidenote: B.C. 55.]
The conference at Lucca and the Senate's indifference had determined
Cicero to throw in his lot with the trimmers. He had remonstrated with
Pompey on the imprudence of prolonging Caesar's command. Pompey, he
thought, would find out in time that he had made Caesar too strong for
him; but Pompey had refused to listen, and Cicero had concluded that he
must consider his own interests. His brother Quintus joined the army in
Gaul to take part in the invasion of Britain, and to share the dangers and
the honors of the winter which followed it.
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