y and as much as he liked, sometimes with
many vessels against one and again with equal numbers opposed,
occasionally even approaching safely with few against many. At whatever
point he was superior to them, there he stuck to them closely, and some
he sank by ripping them open, and others he boarded from all sides with
his mariners for a hand to hand conflict, thus slaughtering many. If he
found himself inferior at any place, he very easily retired, so that the
advantage rested with him in any case. [-43-] The barbarians did not use
archery and had not provided themselves beforehand with stones, not
expecting to have any need of them. Hence, if any one came into close
quarters with them, they fought him off after a fashion, but with those
that stood a little distance from them they knew not how to cope. So
they were wounded and killed, some being unable to repel any one, and
some of the boats were rammed and torn open, while others were set on
fire and burned; still others were drawn off in tow, as if empty of men.
The rest of the crews seeing this waited no longer: some killed
themselves to avoid being captured alive and others leaped into the sea
with the idea that from there they might board the hostile ships, or in
any event not perish at the hands of the Romans. In earnestness and
daring they were no whit inferior, but grieved terribly at being
betrayed by the stationary qualities of their vessels. The Romans, to
make sure that the wind when it sprang up again should not move the
ships, applied from a distance long poles fitted with knives, by means
of which they cut the ropes and split the sails. Through the
circumstance that the enemy were compelled to fight a kind of land
battle in their boats against a foe conducting a naval battle, great
numbers perished there and all the survivors were captured. Of these
Caesar slew the most prominent and sold the rest.

[-44-] Next he made a campaign against the Morini and Menapii, their
neighbors, expecting to terrify them by what he had already accomplished
and capture them easily. He failed, however, to subdue any of them. They
had no cities, living only in huts, and they conveyed their most valued
treasures to the ruggedest parts of the mountains, so that they did the
attacking parties of the Romans much more harm than they themselves
suffered. Caesar attempted by cutting down the forests to make his way
into the very mountains, but renounced his plan on account of their