_THE FORTIFIED CITÉ._
Three centuries of peace had caused the disappearance of the last
vestiges of the ancient ramparts which surrounded the permanent camp of
the Romans, then occupied by the cité of Abonia. But for many years the
incursions of the Germans had disquieted some of the neighbouring
countries. They had made their appearance among the Remi several times,
and although they habitually presented themselves as defenders of the
empire, or were actually called in by one party or the other during the
civil discords by which Gaul was then rent, their conduct was that of
enemies, not of allies. Finding the country attractive, they spread
gradually among the eastern provinces, robbing, pillaging, and burning
among the friends who invited their aid, as well as among the enemies
they were going to attack. At their approach the rural districts were
deserted, and the uninclosed towns hastily fortified.
Reims, Langres, and Autun had repaired their defences. Sens had walled
itself round with the materials of its chief public buildings. The vale
of Abonia, which at that time contained about twenty thousand
inhabitants, followed their example; and pulling down their public
edifices and the deserted temples of the city, the urban population
formed ramparts around the plateau and a fence around the lower towns.
The works, however, undertaken in haste, were of no great account, and
fortunately the Germans did not think of assailing them; but in the year
359, Julian, having assumed the purple, betook himself to Gaul to drive
out the barbarians. The siege of Autun raised, he passed through Abonia,
found its situation excellent, and arranged the plan of a fortress,
which after the battle of Strasburg and the defeat of Chnodomar, was
carried into execution. Abonia thus fortified formed part of the second
line of strong places established by Julian between Reims and Lyons, in
anticipation of fresh invasions by the Germans.
Gaul, although her sons had furnished the Roman army with its best
soldiers for three centuries, had become unaccustomed to war at home.
The Roman legions no longer consisted of troops such as those commanded
by the Vespasians, the Tituses, and the Trajans. Composed principally of
barbarians, they wanted cohesion, were not sustained by patriotism, and
deposed their chiefs on the slightest pretext.
The latter, moreover, too often appointed by a court governed by
intrigue, were for the most part incapable, or eager to enrich
themselves rather than to conquer the enemy. For these troops, composed
of heterogeneous elements, and having no faith in the valour of the
chiefs placed over them--for these populations, accustomed to peace and
the well-being it secures--ramparts were necessary, behind which the
defence of the territory might be organized; for in the open field, such
was the terror inspired by the Germans that a prolonged resistance could
not be reckoned upon. Julian, however, had shown that the troops in the
pay of the empire, if well commanded, were still in a condition to fight
the barbarians; but Julian was a philosopher; he understood his times,
and could not shut his eyes to the unsound state of the imperial
government, or at least believed the evil to lie so deep that he
attempted to stay its progress by a return to paganism, hoping perhaps
in this way to restore youth to the worn-out body.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.
THE GALLO-ROMAN TOWN CITÉ JULIANA.]
Julian had then about him Byzantine engineers who were very skilful in
the art of fortifying places. This branch of knowledge is often
developed among nations in proportion to the decay of military
organization in the field. The conqueror of the Germans had caused the
fortifications of Autun to be repaired and completed.
Those of Abonia, which were less extensive, were carried out with
completeness according to an entirely new plan, since there existed no
traces of the ancient fortifications: the engineer Philostratus sent by
Julian was therefore left to his own discretion.
He began by clearing away the slopes of the ancient Oppidum along the
verge of the plateau, thus removing some of the villæ that had not been
destroyed at the time when the arrival of the Germans was expected (see
Fig. 16). After having carefully studied the conformation of the ground,
he perceived that the front of the city towards the north was weak,
inasmuch as this front was most accessible to attack on account of the
neighbouring plateau, whose level was but little below that of the site.
He determined, therefore, to fall back, so as to get a more extended
front. The front thus adopted was three hundred and fifty paces long.[4]
Outside of this front he had a fosse sunk twenty feet wide in the
bottom,[5] so as entirely to divide the tongue of land which connected
the promontory with the northern plateau. This fosse terminated at the
two declivities east and west. At each end the bottom of the fosse was
furnished with palisades, and there was a descent into the fosse by
means of a flight of steps contrived in one of the towers, as will
presently be shown. Outside the fosse he formed a _vallum_ about four
hundred paces in length, with an outwork containing a guardhouse and a
watch-tower. The Roman road to Langres came to this point. On the
eastern side, the aqueduct which brought water to the city followed the
_vallum_, and was crenelated (_vide_ A). A gate was opened in the north
front, flanked on the outside by two cylindrical towers. At the
north-west angle arose a square tower high enough to afford a distant
view of the valley at the bottom of which runs the river, and of the
plateau; another square tower was built at the north-east angle, and
between these two towers and the gate two other towers; so that between
each tower there remained a space of about eighty feet.
Philostratus remarked that a daring besieger might run in towards the
west, between the river and the city, and attempt an assault towards the
salient of the west front, which commanded a rather gentle escarpment.
From the square tower, B, to the river, and set back a little, so as to
be flanked by the western face of this tower, he formed a _vallum_, with
a square tower at its extreme end, commanding the water-course. Further
back was constructed a wooden bridge, connecting the two banks, and
passing over the island of sand, C. Along the two escarpments the
engineer followed almost exactly the sinuosities of the edge of the
plateau, but placing the gates in the re-entering angles. Two gates were
disposed on the western front, and one on the eastern, very near the
situation of the ancient entrance to the _Oppidum_ on that side. These
three gates were each flanked by two towers, like those on the north.
The inclosure of the city, formed of a rampart rising twenty feet above
the level of the ground, including the battlement, and nine feet thick,
was thus strengthened by thirty-six towers, without reckoning those of
the gates. At the southern extremity, on the site of the ancient retreat
of Catognatus, was erected a _castellum_, or stronghold, separated from
the city by a battlemented wall, and about one hundred and eighty feet
away from the ramparts. At the southern extremity of the rampart, a
square tower had to be built of greater height than the others, to
overlook the vale of Abonia. Beneath this tower an egress was contrived,
abutting on a massive wall, following the declivity of the ground, and
crenelated on both sides; from the summit of which a descent could be
made into the work, E, commanding the junction of the rivulet with the
river, and the stone bridge constructed there. Upon the other bank was
built a vast _tête de pont_. The eastern gate was furnished with an
outwork commanding the road, G; on the northern flank of the north-west
entrance a guardhouse commanded the vicinity of the gate. The approaches
were improved, and a wooden bridge was thrown across at H, with a _tête
de pont_ and work commanding the confluence of roads at that point.
Building was prohibited on the western declivities--once occupied by
houses and gardens--within a distance of one hundred and ten paces from
the ramparts, or the military road, I; that is, habitations were allowed
to remain or to be built outside the military bounds.[6] Inside the
city, through the confusedly-grouped clusters of ancient houses,
Philostratus had new roads cut,[7] with a view to establish a
communication between the gates, and to facilitate the defence. At F was
placed a forum, with a temple to Apollo at I (for Julian had caused a
little Christian church, previously built in the city, to be
demolished). A basilica was built at M, a _curia_ at N; and at T baths
were erected. In the lower town, quay-walls, Q, kept the river within
bounds; a vast market was disposed at R, and an emporium for merchandise
at S. The town, or rather its suburbs, extended on the right bank, east
as far as the middle of the island of sand, C, and south, to the lower
side of the large _tête de pont_. These suburbs were simply inclosed by
a _vallum_, as a safeguard against a sudden attack; for being commanded
by higher ground they did not admit of defences adapted to resist a long
siege.
These works occupied several years, and were executed with resources
drawn partly from the imperial treasury but chiefly from municipal
imposts. Abonia was wealthy; but it suffered long from the burdens
imposed upon it to render it secure against the incursions of the
barbarians. Philostratus, moreover, had authority to make requisitions
and levy dues, and he largely availed himself of it.
The undertaking completed, this cité, thus transformed by the order of
the emperor who had saved Gaul, received the name of Juliana. The valley
alone preserved the name of Abonia.
It may be desirable to give a few details explanatory of the defences.
Fig. 17 gives the section of the rampart between the towers.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.]
Its terrace, raised to an average height of fourteen feet above the
ground-level of the plateau, had a flight of steps between the towers
five feet wide. The merlons were six feet high, and the sill of the
embrasures was three feet above the footway.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.]
The rampart was constructed with two faces, of courses of small square
stones, with courses of brick at intervals. The masonry between the two
faces was of coarse rubble concrete. Outside, along the verge of the
plateau, a fosse ten or twelve feet wide protected the base of the
rampart and followed the projections of the towers. A narrow covered way
was led along the counterscarp to facilitate surveillance and allow the
patrol to go their rounds. Fig. 18 gives the plans of the northern gate
with its two towers, at A on the ground level, at B on the level of the
curtain battlements. In one of these towers was constructed a stair, C,
leading down to a postern, D, and in each of them other flights of
stairs, E, which afforded easy access to the higher stories. The gate,
divided into two archways for entrance and exit, was surmounted by a
gallery, G, at the level of the rampart-walk, forming a crenelation. The
road crossed the fosse, F, over an arch, _a_, and a wooden platform,
_b_, which could be easily removed in time of siege; and then upon the
platform, H, a screen of woodwork was to be erected, completely masking
the two archways. Outside the bridge, the stonework of which was
battlemented, two small uncovered posts, I, defended the approaches, and
a palisade, P, obliged all comers to make a circuit in order to cross
the bridge. Fig. 19 shows this gate in perspective. Below the roofing
was the crenelation, which constituted the effective defence of the
towers. Moreover, at the level of the first story three openings were
made, which in time of war were furnished with screens, and which
afforded front and side views. Munitions of war were hoisted to the
higher stories by means of pulleys suspended in the round-arched
openings, K (_vide_ plan of the first story). The other gates were
constructed on the same model, the outworks alone being different,
according to the disposition of the ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 19]
Fig. 20 gives a general view of the great _tête de pont_ on the south,
the _place d'armes_ and the battlemented wall ascending to the square
tower on the south angle of the cité, and the _castellum_. The square
towers were not covered by roofs but by platforms, so as to allow
catapults or _onagri_ to be placed upon them.[8]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.]
With this design quadrangular towers of the kind described were raised
at the salient angles of the defences, which were weak points, but
which, on the other hand, facilitated the discharge of missiles over a
more extensive field. In case a front was attacked, propulsive machines
were set up behind the curtains on earthworks or wooden platforms.
The city thus strongly fortified was in a position to resist and defy
the attacks of the barbarians, who, at that period of their history,
were unable to undertake the siege of a stronghold well planned and
defended.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: A pace was equivalent to three feet.]
[Footnote 5: The Gallic foot was the _pied du roi_ (thirteen inches).]
[Footnote 6: The dark line indicates the habitations preserved, the red
line the tenements rebuilt on the sites left unoccupied after the
clearing necessary for the fortifications and their approaches.]
[Footnote 7: These new roads are indicated by red lines.]
[Footnote 8: The catapults could discharge bolts six feet long and very
heavy. The _onagri_ hurled stones of sixty pounds weight to a maximum
distance of two hundred and fifty paces.]