"De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries
valour, a part of the soldiers arrived safe in camp contrary to their
expectations; a part perished, surrounded by the barbarians.
XLI.--The Germans, despairing of taking the camp by storm, because they
saw that our men had taken up their position on the fortifications,
retreated beyond the Rhine with that plunder which they had deposited in
the woods. And so great was the alarm, even after the departure of the
enemy, that when C. Volusenus, who had been sent with the cavalry,
arrived that night, he could not gain credence that Caesar was close at
hand with his army safe. Fear had so pre-occupied the minds of all,
that, their reason being almost estranged, they said that all the other
forces having been cut off, the cavalry alone had arrived there by
flight, and asserted that, if the army were safe, the Germans would not
have attacked the camp: which fear the arrival of Caesar removed.
XLII.--He, on his return, being well aware of the casualties of war,
complained of one thing [only], namely, that the cohorts had been sent
away from the outposts and garrison [duty], and pointed out that room
ought not to have been left for even the most trivial casualty; that
fortune had exercised great influence in the sudden arrival of their
enemy; much greater, in that she had turned the barbarians away from the
very rampart and gates of the camp. Of all which events, it seemed the
most surprising that the Germans, who had crossed the Rhine with this
object, that they might plunder the territories of Ambiorix, being led
to the camp of the Romans, rendered Ambiorix a most acceptable service.
XLIII.--Caesar, having again marched to harass the enemy, after
collecting a large number [of auxiliaries] from the neighbouring states,
despatches them in all directions. All the villages and all the
buildings, which each beheld, were on fire: spoil was being driven off
from all parts; the corn not only was being consumed by so great numbers
of cattle and men, but also had fallen to the earth, owing to the time
of the year and the storms; so that if any had concealed themselves for
the present, still, it appeared likely that they must perish through
want of all things, when the army should be drawn off. And frequently it
came to that point, as so large a body of cavalry had been sent abroad
in all directions, that the prisoners declared Ambiorix had just then
been seen by them in flight, and had not even passed out of sight, so
that the hope of overtaking him being raised, and unbounded exertions
having been resorted to, those who thought they should acquire the
highest favour with Caesar, nearly overcame nature by their ardour, and
continually a little only seemed wanting to complete success; but he
rescued himself by [means of] lurking-places and forests, and, concealed
by the night, made for other districts and quarters, with no greater
guard than that of four horsemen, to whom alone he ventured to confide
his life.
XLIV.--Having devastated the country in such a manner, Caesar leads back
his army with the loss of two cohorts to Durocortorum of the Remi, and,
having summoned a council of Gaul to assemble at that place, he resolved
to hold an investigation respecting the conspiracy of the Senones and
Carnutes, and having pronounced a most severe sentence upon Acco, who
had been the contriver of that plot, he punished him after the custom of
our ancestors. Some fearing a trial, fled; when he had forbidden these
fire and water, he stationed in winter quarters two legions at the
frontiers of the Treviri, two among the Lingones, the remaining six at
Agendicum, in the territories of the Senones; and, having provided corn
for the army, he set out for Italy, as he had determined, to hold the
assizes.
BOOK VII
I.--Gaul being tranquil, Caesar, as he had determined, sets out for
Italy to hold the provincial assizes. There he receives intelligence of
the death of Clodius; and, being informed of the decree of the senate
[to the effect] that all the youth of Italy should take the military
oath, he determined to hold a levy throughout the entire province.
Report of these events is rapidly borne into Transalpine Gaul. The Gauls
themselves add to the report, and invent what the case seemed to
require, [namely] that Caesar was detained by commotions in the city,
and could not, amidst so violent dissensions, come to his army. Animated
by this opportunity, they who already, previously to this occurrence,
were indignant that they were reduced beneath the dominion of Rome,
begin to organize their plans for war more openly and daringly. The
leading men of Gaul, having convened councils among themselves in the
woods, and retired places, complain of the death of Acco: they point out
that this fate may fall in turn on themselves: they bewail the unhappy
fate of Gaul; and by every sort of promises and rewards, they earnestly
solicit some to begin the war, and assert the freedom of Gaul at the
hazard of their lives. They say that special care should be paid to
this, that Caesar should be cut off from his army, before their secret
plans should be divulged. That this was easy, because neither would the
legions, in the absence of their general, dare to leave their winter
quarters, nor could the general reach his army without a guard: finally,
that it was better to be slain in battle than not to recover their
ancient glory in war, and that freedom which they had received from
their forefathers.
II.--Whilst these things are in agitation, the Carnutes declare "that
they would decline no danger for the sake of the general safety," and
promise that they would be the first of all to begin the war; and since
they cannot at present take precautions, by giving and receiving
hostages, that the affair shall not be divulged they require that a
solemn assurance be given them by oath and plighted honour, their
military standards being brought together (in which manner their most
sacred obligations are made binding), that they should not be deserted
by the rest of the Gauls on commencing the war.
III.--When the appointed day came, the Carnutes, under the command of
Cotuatus and Conetodunus, desperate men, meet together at Genabum, and
slay the Roman citizens who had settled there for the purpose of trading
(among the rest, Caius Fusius Cita, a distinguished Roman knight, who by
Caesar's orders had presided over the provision department), and plunder
their property. The report is quickly spread among all the states of
Gaul; for, whenever a more important and remarkable event takes place,
they transmit the intelligence through their lands and districts by a
shout; the others take it up in succession, and pass it to their
neighbours, as happened on this occasion; for the things which were done
at Genabum at sunrise were heard in the territories of the Arverni
before the end of the first watch, which is an extent of more than a
hundred and sixty miles.
IV.--There in like manner, Vercingetorix the son of Celtillus the
Arvernian, a young man of the highest power (whose father had held the
supremacy of entire Gaul, and had been put to death by his fellow
citizens, for this reason, because he aimed at sovereign power),
summoned together his dependents, and easily excited them. On his design
being made known, they rush to arms: he is expelled from the town of
Gergovia by his uncle Gobanitio and the rest of the nobles, who were of
opinion, that such an enterprise ought not to be hazarded: he did not
however desist, but held in the country a levy of the needy and
desperate. Having collected such a body of troops, he brings over to his
30 sentiments such of his fellow citizens as he has access to: he
exhorts them to take up arms in behalf of the general freedom, and
having assembled great forces he drives from the state his opponents, by
whom he had been expelled a short time previously. He is saluted king by
his partisans; he sends ambassadors in every direction, he conjures them
to adhere firmly to their promise. He quickly attaches to his interests
the Senones, Parisii, Pictones, Cadurci, Turones, Aulerci, Lemovice, and
all the others who border on the ocean; the supreme command is conferred
on him by unanimous consent. On obtaining this authority, he demands
hostages from all these states, he orders a fixed number of soldiers to
be sent to him immediately; he determines what quantity of arms each
state shall prepare at home, and before what time; he pays particular
attention to the cavalry. To the utmost vigilance he adds the utmost
rigour of authority; and by the severity of his punishments brings over
the wavering: for on the commission of a greater crime he puts the
perpetrators to death by fire and every sort of tortures; for a slighter
cause, he sends home the offenders with their ears cut off, or one of
their eyes put out, that they may be an example to the rest, and
frighten others by the severity of their punishment.
V.--Having quickly collected an army by their punishments, he sends
Lucterius, one of the Cadurci, a man of the utmost daring, with part of
his forces, into the territory of the Ruteni; and marches in person into
the country of the Bituriges. On his arrival, the Bituriges send
ambassadors to the Aedui, under whose protection they were, to solicit
aid in order that they might more easily resist the forces of the enemy.
The Aedui, by the advice of the lieutenants whom Caesar had left with
the army, send supplies of horse and foot to succour the Bituriges. When
they came to the river Loire, which separates the Bituriges from the
Aedui, they delayed a few days there, and, not daring to pass the river,
return home, and send back word to the lieutenants that they had
returned through fear of the treachery of the Bituriges, who, they
ascertained, had formed this design, that if the Aedui should cross the
river, the Bituriges on the one side, and the Arverni on the other,
should surround them. Whether they did this for the reason which they
alleged to the lieutenants, or influenced by treachery, we think that we
ought not to state as certain, because we have no proof. On their
departure, the Bituriges immediately unite themselves to the Arverni.
VI.--These affairs being announced to Caesar in Italy at the time when
he understood that matters in the city had been reduced to a more
tranquil state by the energy of Cneius Pompey, he set out for
Transalpine Gaul. After he had arrived there, he was greatly at a loss
to know by what means he could reach his army. For if he should summon
the legions into the province, he was aware that on their march they
would have to fight in his absence; he foresaw too, that if he himself
should endeavour to reach the army, he would act injudiciously, in
trusting his safety even to those who seemed to be tranquillized.
VII.--In the meantime Lucterius the Cadurcan, having been sent into the
country of the Ruteni, gains over that state to the Arverni. Having
advanced into the country of the Nitiobriges, and Gabali, he receives
hostages from both nations, and, assembling a numerous force, marches to
make a descent on the province in the direction of Narbo. Caesar, when
this circumstance was announced to him, thought that the march to Narbo
ought to take the precedence of all his other plans. When he arrived
there, he encourages the timid, and stations garrisons among the Ruteni,
in the province of the Volcae Arecomici, and the country around Narbo
which was in the vicinity of the enemy; he orders a portion of the
forces from the province, and the recruits which he had brought from
Italy, to rendezvous among the Helvii who border on the territories of
the Arverni.
VIII.--These matters being arranged, and Lucterius now checked and
forced to retreat, because he thought it dangerous to enter the line of