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36For their fort was on a strong hill and was protected by mighty walls; and the barbarians were keeping guard over it, after seizing all the high ground around, so that they could both safely remain in position, and, if they charged down, would usually have the advantage. 2For Caesar, in default of a strong position, was encamped in the plain, and never knew beforehand . . .; but the barbarians, in possession of the heights, could look down upon his camp and kept making opportune charges. 3And if they ever advanced farther than was fitting and were beaten back, they quickly got within their own lines again; for the Romans could not in any way come near enough to the places for their stones and javelins to reach their mark. 4So Caesar’s time was being spent to no purpose; to be sure, after frequent assaults against the very height upon which the fortress was located, he did capture a certain portion of it, so that he could wall it in and advance more easily from there against the rest of it, yet on the whole he was being repulsed. 5He lost a number of his soldiers and saw that the enemy could not be captured; moreover, there was at this time an uprising among the Aedui, and while he was absent attending to them, the men left behind fared badly. All these considerations led Caesar to raise the siege.
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