Idle Javelins at Alesia

[kranger3]

I think that we first need somebody who has a thorough understanding of Latin to revisit the translation of the original text. Sometimes a word can mean different things depending on the context, and I'm sure that most translators are not military experts, haha! I recently fell upon a forum discussion about Greek warfare and people discussed how the Ancient Greek words for "pike" and "spear" were sometimes mixed up in translation, which in turn could mislead modern readers (there is indeed a huge difference between the two).

Therefore, maybe the term "laying aside" could in fact be something totally different... Just a guess...