Book 16
12.25
But the right wing was led by Serapio, who was still a young man with downy cheeks, but his ability outran his years; he was the son of Mederichus, Chonodomarius’ brother, a man of the utmost treachery all his life; and he was so named because his father, who had for a long time been kept as a hostage in Gaul and had been taught certain Greek mysteries, changed his son’s original native name of Agenarichus to that of Serapio.The name is connected with Serapis, as that of a god similar to Dis; cf. Caesar, BG. vi. 18; Galli se omnes ab Dite patre prognatos praedicant.
12.26
These were followed by the kings next in power, five in number, by ten princes, with a long train of nobles, and 35,000 troops levied from various nations, partly for pay and partly under agreement to return the service.
12.27
And now as the trumpets blared ominously, Severus, the Roman general in command of the left wing, on coming near the trenches filled with soldiers, from which it had been arranged that the men in concealment should rise up suddenly and throw everything into confusion, halted fearlessly, and being somewhat suspicious of ambuscades, made no attempt either to draw back or to go further.
12.28
On seeing this, Caesar, who was courageous in the face of the greatest dangers, surrounded himself with an escort of two hundred horsemen, as the violence of this affair demanded, and with word and action urged the lines of infantry to deploy with swift speed.
