Chapter X: (Year of Rome 702.) (1)

(BOOK VII. OF THE “COMMENTARIES.”)

REVOLT OF GAUL--CAPTURE OF VELLAUNODUNUM, GENABUM, AND NOVIODUNUM--SIEGES OF AVARICUM AND GERGOVIA--CAMPAIGN OF LABIENUS AGAINST THE PARISII--SIEGE OF ALESIA.

[Sidenote: Revolt of Gaul.]

I. The Roman arms had in six years subjugated, one after another, the principal states of Gaul. Belgium, Aquitaine, and the countries on the sea-coast, had been the theatre of the most desperate struggles. The inhabitants of the isle of Britain, like the Germans, had become prudent by the defeats they had suffered. Cæsar had just taken a signal vengeance upon the revolted Eburones, and thought that he might without danger leave his army and proceed into Italy, to hold the assemblies. During his abode in this part of his command, the murder of P. Clodius took place (the 13th of the Calends of February, 30th of December, 701), which caused a great agitation, and gave rise to the Senatus-consultus, which ordered all the youths of Italy to take the military oath; Cæsar took advantage of it to make levies also in the Province. The rumours of what was taking place at Rome soon passed the Alps, to revive the resentments and hopes of the Gauls; they believed that the domestic troubles would detain Cæsar in Italy, and would give rise to a favourable opportunity for a new insurrection.

The principal chiefs meet in secluded spots; mutually excite each other by the recital of their grievances, and by the remembrance of the death of Acco; promise great rewards to those who, at the peril of their lives, will commence the war; but decide that, before all, the return of Cæsar to his army must be rendered impossible, a project the execution of which was so much the easier, since the legions would not dare to leave their winter quarters in the absence of their general, and since the general himself could not join them without a sufficient escort.

The Carnutes are the first to offer to take arms: as the necessity of acting secretly did not allow them to exchange hostages, they exact as security an oath of alliance. This oath is taken by all the ensigns in a meeting in which the moment for the rising is fixed.

On the day appointed, the Carnutes, led by two resolute men, Cotuatus and Conetodunus, rush to Genabum (_Gien_), plunder and slaughter the Roman merchants, amongst others the knight C. Fusius Cita, charged by Cæsar with the victualling department. These news reached every state in Gaul with an extreme celerity, according to the custom of the Gauls of communicating remarkable events by cries transmitted from neighbour to neighbour across the country.[460] Thus what had happened at Genabum at sunrise, was known by the Arverni before the end of the first watch (towards eight o’clock at night), at a distance of 160 miles.

Vercingetorix, a young Arvernan who possessed great influence in his country,[461] and whose father, Celtillus, for a time chief of all Gaul, had been put to death by his countrymen for having aspired to the royalty, calls his clients together, and excites their zeal. Expelled from Gergovia by those who were unwilling to tempt fortune with him, he raises the country, and, with the help of a numerous band, retakes the town, and causes himself to be proclaimed king. Soon he seduces the Senones, the Parisii, the Pictones, the Cadurci, the Turones, the Aulerci, the Lemovices of Armorica, the Andes, and the other peoples who dwell on the shores of the ocean. The commandment is given to him by unanimous consent. He exacts hostages from those peoples, orders a prompt levy of soldiers, fixes the number of men and arms which each country is to furnish in a given time, and occupies himself especially with the raising of the cavalry. Active, daring, severe, and inflexible even to cruelty, he subjects to the most atrocious tortures those who hesitate, and by these means of terror soon forms an army.

He sent a part of it to the Ruteni, under the command of Cadurcus Lucterius, a man full of daring; and to draw the Bituriges into the insurrection, he invaded their territory. By acting thus, he threatened the Province, and protected his rear whilst he moved towards the north, where the Roman occupation was concentrated. On his approach, the Bituriges solicited the help of the Ædui, their allies. The last, by the advice of Cæsar’s lieutenants, who had remained with the army, sent them a body of cavalry and infantry to support them against Vercingetorix; but, when they reached the Loire, which separated the territory of the two peoples, these auxiliary troops halted for some days, and then returned, without having dared to cross the river, pretending that they had been betrayed by the Bituriges. Immediately after their departure, the latter joined the Arverni.[462]

[Sidenote: Cæsar begins the Campaign.]

II. Cæsar heard of these events in Italy, and, reassured on the troubles in Rome, which had been appeased by the firmness of Pompey, he took his departure from Transalpine Gaul. When he arrived on the other side of the Alps (perhaps on the banks of the Rhone), he was struck with the difficulties which lay in the way of his joining the army. If he sent for the legions into the Roman province, they would be compelled, on their way, to fight without him; if, on the other hand, he would go to them, he was obliged to pass through populations to whom, notwithstanding their apparent tranquillity, it would have been imprudent to trust his person.

While Cæsar found so great difficulties before him, Lucterius,[463] who had been sent by Vercingetorix to the Ruteni, brings them over to the alliance with the Arverni, advances towards the Nitiobriges and the Gabali, from whom he receives hostages, and, at the head of a numerous army, threatens the Province in the direction of Narbonne. These events made Cæsar resolve to proceed to that town. His arrival put an end to people’s fears. He placed garrisons among the peoples who bordered on the territory of the enemy, the Ruteni of the left bank of the Tarn (_Ruteni provinciales_), the Volcæ Arecomici, the Tolosates, and near Narbonne. At the same time, he ordered a part of the troops of the province, and the re-enforcements which he had brought from Italy, to unite on the territory of the Helvi, which bordered upon that of the Arverni.[464] Intimidated by these dispositions, Lucterius did not venture to engage himself in the midst of these garrisons, and retired.

This first danger averted, it was important for Cæsar to prevent Vercingetorix from raising other peoples, who might perhaps be inclined to follow the example of the Bituriges. By invading the country of the Arverni, Cæsar might hope to draw the Gaulish chief into his own country, and thus remove him from those where the legions were wintering. He proceeded, therefore, to the country of the Helvi, where he joined the troops who had just concentrated there. The mountains of the Cévennes, which separated this people from the Arverni, were covered with six feet of snow; the soldiers opened a passage by dint of labour. Advancing by Aps and Saint-Cirgues, between the sources of the Loire and the Allier (_see Plate 19_), Cæsar debouched on Le Puy and Brioude. The Arverni, at this season, the most rigorous of the year, believed themselves defended by the Cévennes, as by an insurmountable wall: he fell upon them unexpectedly, and, in order to spread still greater terror, he caused the cavalry to scour the country far around.

Quickly informed of this march, Vercingetorix, at the prayer of the Arverni, who implored his succour, abandoned the country of the Bituriges. Cæsar had foreseen this; so he only remains two days amongst the Arverni, and, quitting them under the pretext of increasing his forces, he leaves the command to young Brutus, whom he enjoins to throw out his reconnoitring parties to as great a distance as possible, and promises to return at the end of three days. Having by this diversion drawn Vercingetorix southward, he proceeds in great haste to Vienne, arrives there unexpectedly, takes the newly-raised cavalry which he had sent thither, marches night and day, crosses the country of the Ædui, and directs his march towards the Lingones, where two legions were in winter quarters. By this extreme rapidity he seeks to prevent any evil design on the part of the Ædui. Scarcely has he arrived amongst the Lingones, when he sends orders to the other legions, two of which were on the frontiers of the Treviri, and the six others in the country of the Senones, to concentrate the whole army at Agedincum (_Sens_) before his march is known to the Arverni. As soon as Vercingetorix was informed of this movement, he returned with his army to the country of the Bituriges, and thence started to lay siege to Gorgobina (_Saint-Parize-le-Châtel_), an _oppidum_ of the Boii, who had settled, after the defeat of the Helvetii, near the confluence of the Allier and the Loire.[465]

[Sidenote: Taking of Vellaunodunum, Genabum, and Noviodunum.]

III. Although Cæsar had succeeded in uniting his troops, and in placing himself at their head, he found it still difficult to fix upon a determined plan. If he opened the campaign too early, the army might run short of provisions through the difficulty of transport. If, on the other hand, during the rest of the winter,[466] his army, remaining inactive, allowed Vercingetorix to take Gorgobina, a place tributary to the Ædui, the example might discourage his allies and lead to the defection of the whole of Gaul. Rather than undergo such an affront, he resolved to brave all obstacles. He engaged the Ædui, therefore, to furnish provisions, announced his speedy arrival to the Boii, recommended them to remain faithful, and to offer an energetic resistance; and then, leaving at Agedincum two legions and the baggage of the whole army, he marched with the eight others towards the territory of the Boii. On the second day[467] he arrived at Vellaunodunum (_Triguères_), a town of the Senones, and prepared to lay siege to it, in order to protect his rear and secure his supply of provisions. (_See Plate 19._) The countervallation was finished in two days. On the third, the town offered to surrender: the capitulation was only accepted on condition of delivering up the arms, the beasts of burden, and 600 hostages. Cæsar left C. Trebonius, his lieutenant, to see the convention executed, and marched in haste towards Genabum (_Gien_), a town of the Carnutes.[468] He arrived there in two days, and sufficiently early to surprise the inhabitants, who, thinking that the siege of Vellaunodunum would last longer, had not yet assembled sufficient troops for the defence of the place. The Roman army took its position before the _oppidum_; but the approach of night made it necessary to postpone the attack until the following morning. However, as Genabum had a bridge on the Loire adjoining to the town, Cæsar kept two legions under arms to watch it, in the fear that the besieged might escape during the night. And, in fact, towards midnight they silently issued from Genabum and began to pass the river. Cæsar, informed by his scouts, set fire to the gates, introduced the legions he had kept in reserve, and took possession of the place. The fugitives, who were closely crowded together at the issues of the town, and at the entrance of the bridge, which were too narrow to allow them to pass, fell nearly all into the hands of the Romans. Genabum was plundered and burnt, and the spoil abandoned to the soldiers. Then the army passed the Loire, arrived on the territory of the Bituriges, and continued its march.

The town of Noviodunum (_Sancerre_), belonging to this latter people, lay in Cæsar’s route; he undertook to lay siege to it. The inhabitants were already hastening to make their submission, and a part of the hostages had been delivered, when they saw in the distance the cavalry of Vercingetorix, who, warned of the approach of the Romans, had raised the siege of Gorgobina, and marched to meet them. At this sight, the besieged, mustering courage again, seize their arms, shut their gates, and man the wall. The Roman cavalry was immediately sent to meet the enemy; staggered at the first shock, it was on the point of giving way; but soon, supported by about 400 German cavalry, in Cæsar’s pay since the commencement of the campaign, they entirely routed the Gauls. This defeat having again spread terror in the town, the inhabitants delivered up the instigators of the revolt, and surrendered. Cæsar marched thence, through the fertile territory of the Biturges, towards Avaricum (_Bourges_), the largest and strongest _oppidum_ of that people. The taking of this town, he considered, would render him master of the whole country.[469]

[Sidenote: Siege of Avaricum.]

IV. Vercingetorix, after having experienced so many reverses successively at Vellaunodunum, at Genabum, and at Noviodunum, convokes a council, in which he explains the necessity of adopting a new system of warfare. Above all, according to him, they must take advantage of the season, and of the numerous Gaulish cavalry, to cut off the Romans from provisions and forage, sacrifice private interest to the common welfare, set fire to the habitations, burgs, and _oppida_ which they could not defend, so as to spread desolation from the territory of the Boii as far as the enemy could extend his incursions. If that be an extreme sacrifice, it is nothing in comparison with death and slavery.

This advice having been unanimously approved, the Bituriges, in one single day, set fire to more than twenty towns; the neighbouring countries follow their example. The hope of a speedy victory made them support this painful sight with resignation. They deliberated whether Avaricum should not undergo the same fate; the Bituriges implored them to spare one of the most beautiful towns in Gaul, the ornament and bulwark of their country; “the defence of it will be easy,” they added, “on account of its almost inaccessible position.” Vercingetorix, at first of a contrary opinion, ended by giving way to this general feeling of compassion, entrusted the place to men capable of defending it, and, following Cæsar by short marches, pitched his camp in a spot defended by woods and marshes, sixteen miles from Avaricum[470] (two kilomètres to the north of _Dun-le-Roy_, at the confluence of the Auron and the Taisseau).

Avaricum was situated, as Bourges is at present, at the extremity of a piece of ground surrounded, to the north and west, by several marshy streams: the Yèvre, the Yévrette, and the Auron. (_See Plate 20._) The Gaulish town, adorned with public places, and enclosing 40,000 souls, exceeded, no doubt, in extent the Gallo-Roman circuit. The aspect of the locality is certainly no longer the same: the marshes have been dried, and the courses of water reduced within regular limits; the ruins accumulated so many centuries ago have raised the level of the ground on many points. To the south of Bourges, at a distance of 700 mètres, the ground forms a neck, which, in the time of Cæsar’s wars, was narrower than at present; it inclined more towards the place, and presented, at 80 mètres from the walls, a sudden depression, resembling a vast fosse. (_See the section along C D._) The slopes, then, abrupt towards the Yévrette and the Auron, defined more clearly the only and very narrow avenue (_unum et perangustum aditum_) which gave access to the town.[471]

Cæsar established his camp behind this tongue of land, to the south, and at 700 mètres from Avaricum, between the Auron and the Yévrette. As the nature of the locality prevented all countervallation, he took his dispositions for a regular siege. The place was only open to attack towards that part of the enclosure which faced the avenue, on a width of from 300 to 400 Roman feet (about 100 mètres). In this place the summit of the walls commanded by about 80 feet (twenty-four mètres) the ground situated in advance.[472] Cæsar commanded a terrace to be commenced, covered galleries to be pushed towards the _oppidum_, and two towers to be constructed.

During the execution of these works, trusty messengers informed Vercingetorix every moment of what was going on in Avaricum, and carried back his orders. The besiegers were watched when they went to forage, and, notwithstanding their precaution to choose every day different hours and roads, they could not move any distance from the camp without being attacked.

The Romans incessantly demanded provisions from the Ædui and the Boii; but the first showed little haste to send them, and the latter, poor and weak, had exhausted their resources; moreover, their country had just been laid waste by fire. Although, during several days, the troops, deprived of corn, lived only on cattle which had been brought from afar, yet they uttered no complaint unworthy of the Roman name and of their preceding victories. When, visiting the works, Cæsar addressed by turn each of the legions, and offered to the soldiers to raise the siege if they felt their privations too rigorous, they unanimously called upon him to persevere: “they had learned,” they said, “after so many years that they served under his command, never to suffer anything that was humiliating, and to leave nothing unfinished.” They renewed this protest to the centurions and to the tribunes.

The towers already approached the walls, when prisoners informed Cæsar that Vercingetorix, from want of forage, had quitted his camp, leaving in it the mass of his army, and had advanced nearer to Avaricum with his cavalry and light infantry, with the intention of laying an ambush on the spot where he expected that the Romans would go to forage the following day.[473] Upon this information, Cæsar, seeking to take advantage of the absence of Vercingetorix, started silently in the middle of the night, and came in the morning near the camp of the enemies. As soon as they were acquainted with his march, they hid their baggage and wagons in the forests, and drew up their troops on an open height. Cæsar immediately ordered his soldiers to lay down their bundles in one spot, and to keep their arms ready for combat.

The hill occupied by the Gauls rose with an easy slope above a marsh which, surrounding it on nearly all sides, rendered it difficult of access, although it was only fifty feet broad. They had broken the bridges, and, full of confidence in their position, drawn up according to tribes, and guarding all the fords and passages, they were ready to fall upon the Romans, if the latter attempted to overcome this obstacle. With the two armies thus in presence and so near to each other, one would have believed them, by their attitude, animated with the same courage, and offering the combat under equal conditions; but, when we consider the defensive strength of the position of the Gauls, we are soon convinced that the firmness of the latter was only one of ostentation. The Romans, indignant at being thus braved, demanded the order to fight; but Cæsar represented to them that the victory would cost the lives of too many brave men, and that the more they were bent upon daring everything for his glory, the more blamable would it be in him to sacrifice them. These words calmed their impatience, and the same day he led them back to the siege operations.

Vercingetorix, on his return to his army, was accused of treason, for having placed his camp nearer to that of the Romans, taken away with him all the cavalry, left his infantry without a head, and facilitated, by his departure, the sudden and so well-calculated arrival of the enemy. “All these incidents,” they said, “could not be the effect of chance; evidently Vercingetorix preferred owing the empire of Gaul to Cæsar than to his fellow-citizens.” As the improvised chief of a popular movement, Vercingetorix had to expect one of those fickle demonstrations of the multitude, who are rendered fanatical by successes, and unjust by reverses. But, strong in his patriotism and in his conduct, he justified easily to his followers the dispositions he had taken. “The scarcity of forage only has decided him, at their entreaties, to change the position of his camp; he has chosen a new position, which is impregnable; he has employed the cavalry, which is useless in a marshy place, to advantage. He has transferred the command to nobody, for fear that a new chief, to please bands without discipline, incapable of supporting the fatigues of war, might let himself be persuaded to give battle. Whether it were chance or treason which had brought the Romans before them, they ought to thank Fortune for it, since they had retired with disgrace. He has no desire to obtain the supreme authority from Cæsar at the price of a guilty defection: victory will soon give it him. It is now no longer doubtful. As to himself, he is ready to lay down an authority which would be only a vain honour, and not a means of delivery;” and, to prove the sincerity of his hopes, he brought forward slaves who had been made prisoners, whom he represents as legionaries, and who, at his instigation, declare that in three days the Romans will be obliged by want of provisions to raise the siege. His discourse is received by the acclamations of the army, and all signify their applause by the clang of their arms, according to the Gaulish manner. It is agreed to send 10,000 men to Avaricum, taken among the different contingents, so that the Bituriges alone should not have the glory of saving a town upon which depended in a great measure the fate of the war.

The Gauls, endowed with the genius of imitation, struggled by all means possible against the wonderful perseverance of the Roman soldiers. They turned away the rams with pointed heads (_falces_)[474] by means of nooses, and, when they had once caught hold of them, they dragged them up by means of machines.[475] Accustomed to work in the iron mines, and to the construction of subterranean galleries, they skilfully countermined the terrace, and also provided their walls with towers of several stories, covered with leather. Day and night they made sallies, and set fire to the works of the besiegers. As the daily increase of the terrace heightened the level of the towers, the besieged raised theirs to the same height by means of scaffoldings; they stopped the progress of the subterranean galleries, prevented them from being advanced to the walls by trying to break them open with pointed stakes hardened in the fire (_apertos cuniculos prœusta ac prœacuta materia ... morabantur_),[476] and by throwing molten pitch and blocks of stone.

The Gauls constructed their walls in this manner: beams were placed horizontally on the ground, in a direction perpendicular to the line of the enclosure,[477] at intervals of two feet from each other; they were bound together on the side of the town; by cross-beams, usually of forty feet in length, firmly fixed in the ground, and the whole covered with a great quantity of earth, except on the exterior side, where the intervals were furnished with large blocks of rock, and formed a facing. After this first layer had been well fixed and rendered compact, they raised upon it a second, absolutely similar, taking care that the beams were not exactly above each other, but corresponded with the intervals filled in with stones, in which they were, as it were, enchased. The work was thus continued until the wall had attained the required height. These successive layers, in which the beams and stones alternated regularly, offered, by their very variety, an agreeable appearance to the eye. This construction had great advantages for the defence of places: the stone preserved it from fire, and the wood from the ram; held together by the cross-beams, the beams could be neither torn down nor driven in. (_See Plate 20._)

Notwithstanding the obstinacy of the defence, and the cold and continual rains, the Roman soldiers surmounted all obstacles, and raised in twenty-five days a terrace 330 feet wide by 80 feet high. It already nearly touched the town wall, when, towards the third watch (midnight), clouds of smoke were seen issuing from it. It was the moment when Cæsar, according to his custom, was inspecting the works, and encouraging the soldiers at their labour; the Gauls had set the terrace on fire from the gallery of a mine. At the same instant cries arose from the whole extent of the rampart, and the besieged, rushing out by two gates, made a sally on the two sides where the towers were; from the top of the walls some threw dry wood and torches on the terrace, others pitch and various inflammable materials; nobody knew whither to run nor where to give help. As two legions, however, generally passed the night under arms in front of the camp, whilst the others relieved each other alternately for the work, they were soon able to face the enemy; meanwhile some drew back the towers, and others cut the terrace to intercept the fire; the whole army, in fact, hurried to put out the latter.

When day broke, they were still fighting on every point; the besieged had the more hope of conquering, as the penthouses which protected the approaches to the towers were burnt (_deustos pluteos turrium_),[478] and as then the Romans, compelled to march without cover, could with difficulty arrive at the burning works. Persuaded that the salvation of Gaul depended on this critical moment, they replaced incessantly the troops which were weary. Then happened a fact worthy of notice: before the gate of the _oppidum_ there was a Gaul who threw balls of grease and pitch into the fire opposite a Roman tower; a dart shot from a _scorpion_[479] struck him in the right side and killed him. The next man immediately takes his place, and perishes in the same manner; a third succeeds him, then a fourth, and the post is only abandoned after the extinction of the fire and the retreat of the assailants.

After so many fruitless efforts, the Gauls resolved next day to obey the order of Vercingetorix, and evacuate the place. His camp not being far off, they hoped, by favour of the night, to escape without great loss, reckoning on a continuous marsh to protect their flight. But the women, in despair, struggle to retain them, and, seeing that their supplications had no effect, to such an extent does fear extinguish pity, they give warning to the Romans by their cries, and thus compel the Gauls to renounce their intended flight.

The day following Cæsar caused a tower to be advanced, and the works to be prosecuted with vigour; an abundant rain, and the negligence of the enemy in guarding the wall, engaged him to attempt an assault. He thereupon ordered the work to be slackened without entirely stopping it, in order not to awaken suspicions, assembled his legions under arms, sheltered behind the covered galleries (_vineas_), and informed them that they were going to reap the fruit of so many fatigues. He promised rewards to those who should be first to scale the wall of the town, and gave the signal. The Romans at once rushed forward from every side, and reached the top of the ramparts.

The enemies, terrified by this unexpected attack, and thrown down from the tops of the walls and towers, sought refuge in the public places, and formed in wedges, so as to offer a resistance on all sides; but when they saw that the Romans, instead of descending into the town, went round it on the ramparts, they were afraid of being shut in, and threw down their arms and fled towards the other extremity of the _oppidum_ (where are at present the faubourgs Taillegrain and Saint-Privé). (_See Plate 20._) Most of them were killed near the gates, the narrow passage of which they blocked up; the others by the cavalry outside the town. No one among the Roman soldiers thought of plunder. Irritated by the remembrance of the massacre of Genabum, and by the fatigues of the siege, they spared neither old men, women, nor children. Of about 40,000 combatants, scarcely 800 fugitives were able to join Vercingetorix. He, fearing that their presence, if they came in a body, might excite a mutiny, had, in the middle of the night, sent trusty men and the principal chiefs a long way out, to distribute them in fractions among the camps belonging to the different tribes.

The next day Vercingetorix sought, in a general assembly, to revive the courage of his countrymen, by ascribing the success of the Romans to their superiority in the art of sieges, which was unknown to the Gauls. He told them that this reverse ought not to dishearten them; that his advice, they well knew, had never been to defend Avaricum; that a signal revenge would soon console them; that, through his care, the countries separated from the common cause would enter into his alliance, animate Gaul with the one thought, and cement a union capable of resisting the whole world. Then this fearless defender of the national independence shows his genius in taking advantage even of a misfortune to subject his ill-disciplined troops to the rough labours of war, and succeeds in convincing them of the necessity of retrenching their camp in the manner of the Romans, so as to protect it from surprise.

The constancy of Vercingetorix, after so great a reverse, and the foresight which he had shown in recommending, from the beginning of the war, to burn, and afterwards to abandon Avaricum, increased his influence. So the Gauls, for the first time, fortified their camp, and their courage was so much confirmed, that they were ready to undergo all trials.

Vercingetorix, true to his engagements, exerted himself to the utmost to gain over to his cause the other states of Gaul, and to seduce the chiefs by presents and promises; and, for this purpose, he sent to them zealous and intelligent agents. He caused the men who had fled from Avaricum to be clothed and armed anew, and, in order to repair his losses, he required from the divers states a contingent at a stated period, and archers, who were very numerous in Gaul. At the same time Teutomatus, son of Ollovico, King of the Nitiobriges, whose father had received from the Senate the title of friend, came to join him with a numerous corps of cavalry, raised in his own country and in Aquitaine. Cæsar remained some time in Avaricum, where he found great store of provisions, and where the army recovered from its fatigues.[480]

[Sidenote: Arrival of Cæsar at Decetia, and March towards Auvergne.]

V. The winter was drawing to a close, and the season was propitious for the continuation of military operations. As Cæsar prepared to march against the enemy, either in order to draw him from the woods and marshes, or to shut him up in them, the _principes_ of the Ædui came to request him to put an end to dissensions among them which threatened to degenerate into civil war. “The situation was most critical. In fact, according to ancient customs, the supreme authority was only granted to a single magistrate, named for a year. At that moment, however, there were two, each claiming to have been legally elected. The first was Convictolitavis, a young man of illustrious birth; the second, Cotus, sprung from a very ancient family, powerful also by his personal influence, his alliances, and whose brother, Valetiacus, had the year before filled the same office. The country was in arms, the Senate divided like the people, each of the pretenders at the head of his clients. The authority of Cæsar alone could prevent civil war.”

The Roman general considered it essential to prevent troubles from arising in an important state, closely attached to the Republic, and where the weakest party would not fail to call in the aid of Vercingetorix. Consequently, notwithstanding the inconvenience of suspending the military operations and moving from the enemy, he resolved to repair to the Ædui, whose first magistrate, according to the laws, could not leave the territory. Having thus aimed at proving to them the respect which he entertained for their institutions, he arrived at Decetia (_Decize, in the Nivernais_), where he called before him the Senate and the two pretenders.[481] Nearly the whole nation came thither. Cæsar, having acquired the conviction that the nomination of Cotus was the result of an intrigue of the minority, obliged him to resign, and maintained Convictolitavis, who had been chosen by the priests, according to the legal forms and customs of the country.

After this decision, he engaged the Ædui to forget their quarrels, and to devote themselves entirely to the war; Gaul once subjected, he would recompense them for their sacrifices. He exacted from them all their cavalry and 10,000 infantry, intending to distribute them in such a manner as to ensure the regularity of the victualling department. He next divided his army into two bodies. Labienus, detached with two legions and part of the cavalry, had instructions to take at Sens the two other legions which Cæsar had left there, and to repair, at the head of those four legions, to the country of the Parisii, who had been drawn by Vercingetorix into the revolt.

On his part, Cæsar resolved, with the six other legions and the rest of the cavalry, to invade the country of the Arverni themselves, the focus of the insurrection. He started from Decetia, and directed his march upon Gergovia, the principal _oppidum_ of that people.

After the capture of Avaricum, Vercingetorix, suspecting Cæsar’s ulterior designs, had moved towards the Allier, which the Romans were obliged to pass in order to reach Gergovia; and, on the news of their march, he had caused all the bridges to be destroyed.

Cæsar, having arrived on the banks of the Allier, towards Moulins (_see Plate 19_), followed its downward course, on the right bank. Vercingetorix, on his part, marched along the opposite bank. The two armies were within sight of each other, the camps nearly opposite, and the Gaulish scouts, who watched the left bank, prevented the Romans from establishing a bridge. The position of the latter was difficult, for the Allier, which is fordable in the autumn only, might delay their passage a long time.[482] In order to surmount this obstacle, Cæsar had recourse to a stratagem: he fixed his camp in a place covered with wood, opposite the remains of one of the bridges which Vercingetorix had caused to be destroyed (probably at Varennes). There he remained hidden the following day with two legions, and made the rest of the troops, as well as the baggage, proceed in the usual order. But, that they might present to the enemy the appearance of six legions, he had divided into six corps the forty cohorts or four legions which he sent forward.[483] They received the order to march as long as possible, in order to attract Vercingetorix, and, at the time Cæsar presumed that they had arrived at their camp, he caused the bridge to be rebuilt on the old piles, the lower part of which remained untouched. The work being soon completed, the legions which remained with him passed the river, and, after having chosen a favourable position, he recalled the mass of his army, which rejoined him during the night.[484] When Vercingetorix was informed of this manœuvre, fearing lest he should be compelled to fight against his will, he took the start and marched in great haste to occupy the _oppidum_ of the Arverni.

From the place he occupied, which we believe to have been Varennes,[485] Cæsar reached Gergovia in five days; on the very day of his arrival, after a slight skirmish of cavalry, he reconnoitred the position of the town. As it was built on a very high mountain of difficult access, he considered it impossible to take it by assault; he therefore resolved to blockade it, and not to begin investing it until he had assured his provisions. (_See Plate 21._)

[Sidenote: Blockade of Gergovia.]

VI. The _oppidum_ of the Arverni was situated at a distance of six kilomètres to the south of Clermont-Ferrand, on the mountain which has preserved the name of Gergovia. Its summit, elevated about 740 mètres above the level of the sea, and 380 above the plain, forms a plateau of 1,500 mètres in length by more than 500 mètres in breadth. The northern and eastern slopes present such abrupt declivities that they defy the escalade. The southern slope presents a very different character: it may be compared to an immense staircase, the steps of which would be vast terraces with very little inclination, and a breadth which in some places extends to as much as 150 mètres.

On the western side, the mountain of Gergovia is attached by a narrow defile of 120 mètres in width, called the _Goules_ (_see Plate 21, C_), to the heights of Risolles, an irregular mass, the plateau of which is at a mean depth of about 30 mètres beneath that of Gergovia. To the west are the detached mountains of Montrognon and Le Puy-Giroux. This latter is separated from that of Risolles by a rather deep gorge, in which the village of Opme is built. Opposite the southern slope of Gergovia, at the very foot of the mountain, rises a very steep hill, called the Roche Blanche. Its culminating point is at about 108 mètres below the plateau. Two brooks, the Auzon and the Artières,[486] tributaries of the Allier, flow, one to the south, the other to the north of Gergovia. Lastly, a low tract of ground, situated to the east, indicates the site of the ancient marsh of Sarlièves, which has been dry since the seventeenth century.

Cæsar established his camp near the Auzon, on the undulations of the ground which extend to the north-west of the village of Orcet, and as far as the ancient marsh of Sarlièves. These undulations form a natural _glacis_ towards the plain, above which they rise about thirty mètres; on the side of the stream of the Auzon they terminate in almost imperceptible slopes. The camp occupied a part of the table-land and of the northern slope.[487] (_See Plate 21._)

Vercingetorix had arranged the contingents of each country separately, at small intervals, on the southern slopes of the mountain of Gergovia and the mountain mass of Risolles which look towards the Auzun; they covered all the heights attached to the principal mountain, and presented, in the space which the eye could embrace, a formidable aspect.[488] His principal camps were situated between the outer wall of the _oppidum_ and a wall of large stones, six feet high, which ran along the bend of the hill.

Every day, at sunrise, the chiefs who composed the council of Vercingetorix repaired to him in order to make their reports or to receive his orders. Every day, also, he tried in slight engagements[489] the courage of his cavalry mixed with archers. The Gauls occupied, as an advanced post, but by a weak garrison, La Roche-Blanche, which, scarped on three sides, presented an extremely strong position; Cæsar judged that, by taking possession of this hill, he would deprive the Gauls almost entirely of forage and water, for they could no longer descend to the Auzon, the only considerable stream in the neighbourhood. He started from the camp in the silence of the night, drove away this post before it could be succoured from the town, took the position, and placed two legions upon it. The Roche-Blanche became his smaller camp;[490] it was joined to the larger one by a double ditch of twelve feet, which allowed the troops to communicate in safety, even singly, without fear of being surprised by the enemy. (_See Plate 22._)

During this time, the Æduan Convictolitavis, who, as we have seen, owed the supreme magistracy to Cæsar, seduced by the money of the Arverni, resolved to abandon the party of the Romans, and entered into communication with several young men, at whose head was Litavicus and his brothers, descended from an illustrious family. He shares with them the price of his treason; exhorts them to remember that, born free, they are made to command in their country; proves to them that the lukewarmness of the Ædui alone delayed the general insurrection; and that they ought to value above everything the independence of their country. Seduced by such discourses and by the bait of gold, those young men occupy themselves only with the means of executing their project; yet, mistrusting the inclination of the people to be drawn into war, they decide that Litavicus shall take the command of the 10,000 men who were to join the Roman army, and induce them to revolt on the road, whilst his brothers go before them to Cæsar.

Litavicus began his march. At thirty miles from Gergovia (probably at Serbannes), he halts his troops, assembles them, and, spreading the report that Cæsar has caused the Æduan nobility and knights who were in his pay to be massacred, among others Eporedorix and Viridomarus, he easily persuades them to go and join the Arverni at Gergovia, instead of proceeding to the Roman camp. But, before taking this determination, he gives up to plunder the convoy of provisions which marched under his guard, causes the Romans who conducted it to be put to death with tortures, and then sends messengers to raise the whole country of the Ædui, by means of the same imposture. Eporedorix and Viridomarus, whose death he had falsely announced, were with Cæsar, who, by special favour, had raised Viridomarus from a very low to a high dignity. The former, informed of the design of Litavicus, came in the middle of the night to acquaint the proconsul with it, imploring him not to allow the folly of a few young men to detach his country from the Roman alliance. It would be too late when so many thousands of men had embraced the contrary party.

Cæsar, more affected by this news as he had always favoured the Ædui, takes immediately four legions, without baggage, and all the cavalry; he waits not even to contract the compass of the two camps, for everything depends upon celerity. His lieutenant, C. Fabius, is left to guard them, with two legions. He orders the brothers of Litavicus to be placed under arrest, and learns that they have just passed over to the enemy. His soldiers, encouraged to support the fatigues of the march, follow him with ardour, and at about twenty-five miles from Gergovia (near Randan, on the road which Litavicus had to follow to join Vercingetorix) they meet the Ædui. The cavalry, sent in advance, have orders to stop them without using their arms. Eporedorix and Viridomarus, who had been reported as dead, step forth from the ranks, speak to their fellow-citizens, and are recognised. As soon as the deception practised by Litavicus is discovered, the Ædui throw down their arms, ask for pardon, and obtain it. Litavicus flies to Gergovia, with his clients, who, in Gaul, never abandoned their patrons, not even in their worst fortunes.

Cæsar sent to the Ædui to represent to them how generously he had acted towards men whom the laws of war authorised him to put to death; and, after having given his army three hours’ rest during the night, he returned to his quarters before Gergovia. Half-way, horsemen came to inform him of the perilous position of Fabius. The camps had been attacked by troops which were unceasingly renewed. The Romans were exhausted by unceasing labour, for the great extent of the enclosure obliged them to remain continually on the _vallum_. The arrows and missiles of all sorts thrown by the barbarians had wounded a great number; but, on the other hand, the machines had been of great help in supporting the defence. After the retreat of the enemies, Fabius, expecting to be again attacked next day, had hastened to block up the gates of the great camp, with the exception of two, and to add a palisade to the _vallum_. On receiving this information, Cæsar hurried his march, and, seconded by the ardour of his soldiers, arrived at the camp before sunrise (having thus performed fifty miles, or seventy-four kilomètres, in twenty-four hours).[491]

While these events were taking place at Gergovia, the Ædui, also deceived by the news which Litavicus had spread, fall upon the Roman citizens, plunder their goods, kill some, and drag others to prison. It is Convictolitavis, also, who prompts these violences. The military tribune M. Aristius, who was on his way to join his legion, as well as the foreign merchants who resided in the country, are compelled to leave Cabillonum (_Châlon-sur-Sâone_). An escort is promised to protect them; but they have hardly started when they are attacked and stripped. They defend themselves, and their resistance, which lasts during twenty-four hours, calls a greater multitude to arms. However, as soon as the Ædui hear of the new submission of their troops, they exert themselves to the utmost to obtain their pardon; they have recourse to Aristius, throw the blame of the outbreak upon a few, order the plundered goods to be collected, and confiscate those of Litavicus and his brothers. They send deputies to Cæsar to excuse themselves. Their object, in acting thus, was to obtain the free disposal of their troops, for the consciousness of their treason and the fear of punishment made them, at the same time, conspire in secret with the neighbouring states.

Although informed of these secret plots, Cæsar received their deputies with kindness, declaring that he did not hold the nation responsible for the fault of some individuals, and that his feelings towards the Ædui were not changed. Nevertheless, as he foresaw a general insurrection of Gaul, which would surround him on all sides, he entertained serious thoughts of abandoning Gergovia, and again effecting the concentration of his whole army; but it was of importance that his retreat, caused by the sole fear of a general defection, should not appear to be a flight.

In the midst of these cares, the besieged offered him a favourable chance, of which he sought to take advantage. As he was visiting the little camp to inspect the works, he perceived that a hill (no doubt the hill marked _A_, which forms part of the mountain mass of Rissoles, _see Plate 21_), which was almost hidden from sight by the masses of enemies on the previous days, was clear of troops. Astonished at this change, he inquired the cause of the deserters, who came every day in crowds to surrender to him. All agreed in saying, as his scouts had already reported to him, that the mountain ridge to which this hill belonged (the top of the heights of Risolles) was almost flat, was connected with the town, and gave access to it by a narrow and wooded defile. (_See Plates 21 and 22._) This point caused particular anxiety to the enemy; for if the Romans, already masters of La Roche-Blanche, gained possession of the mountain mass of Risolles, the Gauls would be almost entirely invested, and could neither escape nor go to forage. This was the reason why Vercingetorix had decided upon fortifying these heights, and had called thither all his troops.[492]

In accordance with this information, Cæsar sends in this direction, towards the middle of the night, several detachments of cavalry, with orders to scour with great noise the country in every direction at the foot of the heights of Risolles. At break of day, he sends out of the great camp many horses and mules without pack-saddles, and causes the muleteers to mount them, who put on helmets, so as to assume the appearance of mounted troopers. He enjoins them to wind round the hills, and a few cavalry who are joined with them have orders to spread wide over the country, so as to increase the illusion. Finally, they are all, by a long circuit, to move towards the spots which have just been mentioned. These movements were perceived from the town, which overlooked the camp, but at too great a distance to distinguish objects accurately. Cæsar sends towards the same mountain mass one legion, who, after having marched for a short distance, halt in a hollow, and pretend to hide in the woods (towards Chanonat), so as to feign a surprise. The suspicions of the Gauls increase; they take all their forces to the spot threatened. Cæsar, seeing the enemy’s camp deserted, orders the military ensigns (plumes, shields, &c.) to be covered, the standards to be lowered, and the troops to pass in small detachments from the great to the little camp, behind the epaulment of the double fosse of communication, so that they cannot be perceived from the _oppidum_.[493] He communicates his intentions to the lieutenants placed at the heads of the legions, recommends them to take care to prevent the soldiers from allowing themselves to be carried away by the ardour of the combat or the hope of plunder, and draws their attention to the difficulties of the ground. “Celerity alone,” he says, “can enable us to overcome them; in fact, it is to be an attack by surprise, and not a fight.” Having communicated these directions, he gives the signal, and, at the same time, sends the Ædui out of the great camp, with orders to climb the eastern slopes of the mountain of Gergovia, to effect a diversion to the right. (_See Plate 21._)

The distance from the wall of the _oppidum_ to the foot of the mountain, where the ground is almost flat, was 1,200 paces (1,780 mètres) in the most direct line; but the way was longer, on account of the circuits it was necessary to make to break the steepness.[494] Towards the middle of the southern slope, in the direction of its length, the Gauls, taking advantage of the character of the ground, had, as we have said, built a wall of large stones, six feet high, a serious obstacle in case of attack. The lower part of the slopes had remained free; but the upper part, up to the wall of the _oppidum_, was occupied with camps placed very near together. When the signal is given, the Romans reach rapidly the wall, scale it, and take three camps with such promptitude, that Teutomatus, king of the Nitiobriges, surprised in his tent where he was taking his repose in the middle of the day, fled half naked; his horse was wounded, and he escaped with difficulty from the hands of the assailants.

Cæsar, satisfied with this success, ordered the retreat to be sounded, and made the tenth legion, which accompanied him, halt (from an examination of the ground, the spot where Cæsar stood is the knoll which rises to the west of the village of Merdogne). (_See Plate 21_, first position of the tenth legion.) But the soldiers of the other legions, separated from him by a rather wide ravine, did not hear the trumpet. Although the tribunes and the lieutenants did all they could to restrain them, excited by the hope of an easy victory, and by the recollection of their past successes, they thought nothing was insurmountable to their courage, and persisted in the pursuit of the enemy up to the walls and gates of the _oppidum_.

Then an immense cry arises in the town. The inhabitants of the most remote quarters believe that it is invaded, and rush out of the walls. The matrons throw from the top of the walls their precious objects to the Romans, and, with breasts bare and hands extended in supplication, implore them not to massacre the women and children, as at Avaricum. Several even, letting themselves down from the walls, surrender to the soldiers. L. Fabius, centurion of the 8th legion, excited by the rewards given at Avaricum, had sworn to be the first to mount to the assault; he is lifted up by three soldiers of his company, reaches the top of the wall, and, in his turn, helps them to mount one after the other.

Meanwhile the Gauls, who, as we have seen, had proceeded to the west of Gergovia to raise retrenchments, hear the cries from the town; repeated messages announce the capture of the _oppidum_. They immediately hurry towards it, sending their cavalry before them. As they arrive, each man takes his stand under the wall and joins the combatants, and their number increases every moment; while the same women who just before implored the pity of the besiegers, now excite against them the defenders of Gergovia, displaying their dishevelled hair and showing their children. The place as well as the numbers rendered the struggle unequal; the Romans, fatigued with their run and the length of the combat, resisted with difficulty troops which were still fresh.

This critical state of things inspired Cæsar with alarm; he ordered T. Sextius, who had been left to guard the little camp, to bring out the cohorts quickly, and take a position at the foot of the mountain of Gergovia, on the right of the Gauls, so as to support the Romans if they were repulsed, and check the enemy’s pursuit. He himself, drawing the 10th legion a little back[495] from the place where he had posted it, awaited the issue of the engagement. (_See Plate 21_, second position of the 10th legion.)