Ambiorix's first action was to lure out of their encampment the tribunes Sabinus and Cotta along with several Roman cohorts, all of whom were killed. Ambiorix later proceeded to attack the legion encampment of legate Quintus Cicero, brother to the great orator. Legate Cicero, despite being vastly outnumbered by the barbarians, managed to get a message through the enemy lines to alert Caesar of the impending defeat.

Caesar with several legions routed the combined enemy forces and relieved the remains of Cicero's embattled legion. Caesar's revenge on the Belgica tribes for the destruction of a legion and several cohorts was grim. While Ambiorix and his staff escaped to Germania, Caesar over the next three years eliminated the Belgica tribes, burning their villages and fields and decimating their numbers.