g the rest,
vainly hoping that either the outcasts would be saved as booty by the
Romans or else those left in the town might perhaps survive by enjoying
for a longer time the supplies that would have belonged to their
companions. But Caesar to begin with had not sufficient himself to feed
others. Thinking, therefore, that by their return he could make the
deficiency of food seem more severe to the enemy (for he expected that
the expelled would without doubt be received), he forced them all back.
So these perished most miserably between the city and the camp, because
neither party would receive them. The relief looked for from the
horsemen and such others as they were conducting reached the barbarians
before long, but it was then defeated[65] by the onset of the Romans in
a cavalry battle. Thereupon the relief party tried by night to enter the
city through the enclosing wall but was bitterly disappointed: for the
Romans had made hidden pits in those roads which were used by horses and
had fixed stakes in them, afterward making the whole surface resemble
the surrounding country; thus horse and man, falling into them
absolutely without warning, were mangled. These reinforcements did not,
however, give up until, marshaled once more in battle array beside the
very walls, they themselves and at the same time the men in the city who
came out to fight had met with failure.

[-41-] Now Vercingetorix might have escaped, for he had not been
captured and was unwounded, but he hoped because he had once been on
friendly terms with Caesar, that he would obtain pardon from him. So he
came to him without any announcement by herald, but appeared before him
suddenly, as Caesar was seated on a platform, and threw some that were
present into alarm; he was first of all very tall, and in a suit of
armor he made an extremely imposing figure. When quiet had been
restored, he uttered not a word, but fell upon his knees and remained
so, with clasped hands. This inspired many with pity at remembrance of
his former fortune and at the distressing state in which he now
appeared. But Caesar reproached him in this very matter on which he most
relied for ultimate safety, and by setting before him how he had repaid
friendliness with the opposite treatment proved his offence to have been
the more abominable. Therefore he did not pity him even for one moment,
but immediately confined him in bonds, and later, after sending him to
his triumph, put him to de