Liber VIII Cap 29 cedentibus circumfusi

[cinefactus]

At nostrī equitēs, quī paulō ante cum resistentibus fortissimē cōnflīxerant, laetitiā victōriae ēlātī magnō undique clāmōre sublātō cēdentibus circumfūsī, quantum equōrum vīrēs ad persequendum dextraeque ad caedendum valent, tantum eō proeliō interficiunt.

the enemy is breaking and the cavalry is surrounding them and slaughtering them.

but why is it cēdentibus circumfūsī? Wouldn't this mean that they were surrounded by those who were retreating?

 

[Pacifica]

Wouldn't this mean that they were surrounded by those who were retreating?

That's how I took it at first without thinking, but in fact it's more likely to be the opposite here: Caesar's cavalry have spread around (surrounded) the retreating enemy, cedentibus, which is dative here and not ablative.

 

[AoM]

Yup, dative with a compound verb.

(It's been permanently etched on my brain.)

 

[cinefactus]

Yup, dative with a compound verb.

(It's been permanently etched on my brain.)

So it is the cavalry, having been poured around the enemy. I was struggling to figure out how it could be passive...

 

[Pacifica]

It's passive in middle sense, i.e. more like "having poured (themselves) around..." rather than "having been poured (by someone else)".

 

[cinefactus]

Ah, that would make sense