carriage at a time, on a single road, could not occupy less than
_thirty-two_ leagues in length, if we reckon fifteen mètres to each
carriage. This remark explains the enormous difficulties the emigration
would encounter, and the slowness of its movements: we need, then, no
longer be astonished at the twenty days which it took three quarters of
the column to pass the Saône.
We have not comprised the provisions of grain for the animals
themselves: yet it is difficult to believe that the Helvetii, so
provident for their own wants, had neglected to provide for those of
their beasts, and that they had reckoned exclusively for their food on
the forage they might find on the road.
[176] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 11.
[177] It is an error to translate _Arar, quod per fines Æduorum et
Sequanorum in Rhodamam influit_, by the words, “the Saône, which forms
the common boundary line of the Ædui and the Sequani.” Cæsar always
understands by _fines_, territory, and not boundary line. He expresses
himself very differently when he speaks of a river separating
territories. (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 6, 83; VII. 5.) The expression _per
fines_ thus confirms the supposition that the territories of these two
peoples extended on both sides of the Saône. (_See Plate 2._)
[178] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 12.--The excavations, carried on in 1862
between Trévoux and Riottier, on the plateaux of La Bruyère and
Saint-Bernard, leave no doubt of the place of this defeat. They revealed
the existence of numerous sepulchres, as well Gallo-Roman as Celtic. The
tumuli furnished vases of coarse clay, and many fragments of arms in
silex, ornaments in bronze, iron arrow-heads, fragments of sockets.
These sepultures are some by incineration, others by inhumation. In the
first, the cremation had nowhere been complete, which proves that they
had been burnt hastily, and excludes all notion of an ordinary cemetery.
Two common fosses were divided each into two compartments, one of which
contained cinders, the other human skeletons, thrown in pell-mell,
skeletons of men, women, and children. Lastly, numerous country ovens
line, as it were, the road followed by the Helvetii. These ovens, very
common at the foot of the abrupt hills of Trévoux, Saint-Didier, Frans,
Jassans, and Mizérieux, are found again on the left bank of the Ain and
as far as the neighbourhood of Ambronay.
[179] Cæsar declares, on two different occasions, the fixed design of
the Helvetii to establish themselves in the country of the Santones (I.
9 and 11), and Titus Livius confirms this fact in these words: “Cæsar
Helvetios, gentem vagam, domuit, quæ, sedem quærens, in provinciam
Cæsaris Narbonem iter facere volebat.” (_Epitome_, CIII.) Had they, for
the execution of this project, the choice between several roads (the
word “road” being taken here in the general sense)? Some authors, not
considering the topography of France, have believed that, to go to the
Santones, the Helvetii should have marched by the shortest line, from
east to west, and passed the Loire towards Roanne. But they would have
had first to pass, in places almost impassable, the mountains which
separate the Saône from the Loire, and, had they arrived there, they
would have found their road barred by another chain of mountains, that
of Le Forez, which separates the Loire from the Allier.
The only means of going from the Lower Saône into Saintonge consists in
travelling at first to the north-west towards the sources of the
Bourbince, where is found the greatest depression of the chain of
mountains which separates the Saône from the Loire, and marching
subsequently to the west, to descend towards the latter river. This is
so true, that at an epoch very near to our own, before the construction
of the railways, the public conveyances, to go from Lyons to La
Rochelle, did not pass by Roanne, but took the direction to the
north-west, to Autun, and thence to Nevers, in the valley of the Loire.
We understand, in exploring this mountainous country, why Cæsar was
obliged to confine himself to pursuing the Helvetii, without being ever
able to attack them. We cannot find a single point where he could have
gained upon them by rapidity of movement, or where he could execute any
manœuvre whatever.
[180] The Romans used little precision in the division of time.
Forcellini (_Lex._, voce _Hora_) refers to Pliny and Censorinus. He
remarks that the day--that is, the time between the rising and setting
of the sun--was divided into twelve parts, _at all seasons of the year_,
and the night the same, from which it would result that in summer the
hours of the day were longer than in winter, and _vice versa_ for the
nights.--Galenus (_De San. Tuend._, VI. 7) observed that at Rome the
longest days were equal to fifteen equinoctial hours. Now, these fifteen
hours only reckoning for twelve, it happened that towards the solstice
each hour was more than a quarter longer than towards the equinox. This
remark was not new, for it is found in Plautus. One of his personages
says to a drunkard: “Thou wilt drink four good harvests of Massic wine
in an hour!” “Add,” replied the drunkard, “in an hour of winter.”
(Plautus, _Pseudolus_, v. I, 302, edit. Ritschl.)--Vegetius says that
the soldier ought to make twenty miles in five hours, and notes that he
speaks of hours in summer, which at Rome, according to the foregoing
calculation, would be equivalent to six hours and a quarter towards the
equinox. (Vegetius, _Mil._, I. 9.)
Pliny (_Hist. Nat._, VII. 60) remarks that, “at the time when the Twelve
Tables were compiled, the only divisions of time known were the rising
and setting of the sun; and that, according to the statement of Varro,
the first public solar dial was erected near the rostra, on a column, by
M. Valerius Messala, who brought it from Catania in 491, thirty years
after the one ascribed to Papirius; and that it was in 595 that Scipio
Nasica, the colleague of M. Popilius Lænas, divided the hours of night
and day, by means of a clepsydra or water-clock, which he consecrated
under a covered building.”
Censorinus (_De Die Natali_, xxiii., a book dated in the year 991 of
Rome, or 338 A.D.) repeats, with some additions, the details given by
Pliny. “There is,” he says, “the _natural_ day and the _civil_ day. The
first is the time which passes between the rising and setting of the
sun; on the contrary, the night begins with the setting and ends with
the rising of the sun. The _civil_ day comprises a revolution of the
heaven--that is, a true day and a true night; so that when one says that
a person has lived thirty days, we must understand that he has lived the
same number of nights.
“We know that the day and the night are each divided into twelve hours.
The Romans were three hundred years before they were acquainted with
hours. The word _hour_ is not found in the Twelve Tables. They said in
those times, ‘before or after mid-day.’ Others divided the day, as well
as the night, into four parts--a practice which is preserved in the
armies, where they divide the night into four watches.” Upon these and
other data, M. Le Verrier has had the goodness to draw up a table, which
will be found at the end of the volume, and which indicates the increase
or decrease of the hours with the seasons, and the relationship of the
Roman _watches_ with our modern hours. (_See Appendix B._)
[181] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 22.
[182] They reckon from Villefranche to Remilly about 170 kilomètres.
[183] Each soldier received twenty-five pounds of wheat every fortnight.
[184] It is generally admitted that Bibracte stood on the site of Autun,
on account of the inscription discovered at Autun in the seventeenth
century, and now preserved in the cabinet of antiquities at the
Bibliothèque Impériale. Another opinion, which identifies Bibracte with
Mont Beuvray (a mountain presenting a great surface, situated thirteen
kilomètres to the west of Autun), had nevertheless already found, long
ago, some supporters. It will be remarked first that the Gauls chose for
the site of their towns, when they could, places difficult of access: in
broken countries, these were steep mountains (as Gergovia, Alesia,
Uxellodunum, &c.); in flat countries, they were grounds surrounded by
marshes (such as Avaricum). The Ædui, according to this, would not have
built their principal town on the site of Autun, situated at the foot of
the mountains. It was believed that a plateau so elevated as that of
Mont Beuvray (its highest point is 810 mètres above the sea) could not
have been occupied by a great town. Yet the existence of eight or ten
roads, which lead to this plateau, deserted for so many centuries, and
some of which are in a state of preservation truly astonishing, ought to
have led to a contrary opinion. Let us add that recent excavations leave
no further room for doubt. They have brought to light, over an extent of
120 hectares, foundations of Gaulish towers, some round, others square;
of mosaics, of foundations of Gallo-Roman walls, gates, hewn stones,
heaps of roof tiles, a prodigious quantity of broken amphoræ, a
semicircular theatre, &c.... Everything, in fact, leads us to place
Bibracte on Mont Beuvray: the striking resemblance of the two names, the
designation of Φροὑριον, which Strabo gives to Bibracte, and even the
vague and persistent tradition which, prevailing among the inhabitants
of the district, points to Mont Beuvray as a centre of superstitious
regard.
[185] The cavalry was divided into _turmæ_, and the _turma_ into three
decuries of ten men each.
[186] The word _sarcinæ_, the original sense of which is baggage or
burthens, was employed sometimes to signify the bundles carried by the
soldiers (_De Bello Gallico_, II. 17), sometimes for the heavy baggage
(_De Bello Civili_, I, 81). Here we must take _sarcinæ_ as comprising
both. This is proved by the circumstance that the six legions of the
Roman army were on the hill. Now, if Cæsar had sent the heavy baggage
forward, towards Bibracte, as General de Gœler believes, he would have
sent with it, as an escort, the two legions of the new levy, as he did,
the year following, in the campaign against the Nervii. (_De Bello
Gallico_, II. 19.)
[187] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 24.--In the phalanx, the men of the first
rank covered themselves with their bucklers, overlapping one another
before them, while those of the other ranks held them horizontally over
their heads, arranged like the tiles of a roof.
[188] According to Plutarch (_Cæsar_, 20), he said, “I will mount on
horseback when the enemy shall have taken flight.”
[189] The _pilum_ was a sort of javelin thrown by the hand: its total
length was from 1·70 to 2 mètres; its head was a slender flexible blade
from 0·60 to 1 mètre long, weighing from 300 to 600 grammes, terminating
in a part slightly swelling, which sometimes formed a barbed point.
The shaft, sometimes round, sometimes square, had a diameter of from 25
to 32 millimètres. It was fixed to the head by ferules, or by pegs, or
by means of a socket.
Such are the characteristics presented by the fragments of _pila_ found
at Alise. They answer in general to the descriptions we find in Polybius
(VI. 28), in Dionysius (V. 46), and in Plutarch (_Marius_). _Pila_ made
on the model of those found at Alise, and weighing with their shaft from
700 grammes to 1·200 kilog., have been thrown to a distance of 30 and 40
mètres: we may therefore fix at about 25 mètres the average distance to
which the _pilum_ carried.
[190] _Latere aperto_, the right side, since the buckler was carried on
the left arm. We read, indeed, in Titus Livius: “Et cum in latus
dextrum, quod parebat, Numidæ jacularentur, translatis in dextrum
scutis,” &c. (XXII. 50.)
[191] Dio Cassius (XXXVIII. 33) says on this subject that “the Helvetii
were not all on the field of battle, on account of their great number,
and of the haste with which the first had made the attack. Suddenly
those who had remained in the rear came to attack the Romans, when they
were already occupied in pursuing the enemy. Cæsar ordered his cavalry
to continue the pursuit; with his legions, he turned against the new
assailants.”
[192] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 20.
[193] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 26.--Till now the field of battle where
Cæsar defeated the Helvetii has not been identified. The site which we
have adopted, between Luzy and Chides, satisfies all the requirements of
the text of the “Commentaries.” Different authors have proposed several
other localities; but the first cause of error in their reckonings
consists in identifying Bibracte with Autun, which we cannot admit; and
further, not one of these localities fulfils the necessary topographical
conditions. In our opinion, we must not seek the place of engagement to
the east of Bibracte, for the Helvetii, to go from the Lower Saône to
the Santones, must have passed to the west, and not to the east, of that
town. Cussy-la-Colonne, where the field of battle is most generally
placed, does not, therefore, suit at all; and, moreover,
Cussy-la-Colonne is too near to the territory of the Lingones to require
four days for the Helvetii to arrive there after the battle.
[194] “He drove back this people into their country as a shepherd drives
back his flock into the fold.” (Florus, II. x. 3.)
[195] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 29.
[196] Cæsar pursued the Helvetii, taking for auxiliaries about 20,000
Gaulish mountaineers. (Appian, _De Rebus Gallicis_, IV. 15, edit.
Schweigh.)
[197] Appian, _De Bello Celt._, IV. i. 3.
[198] Tacitius (_Germania_, iv. 32.) speaks of this custom of the German
horsemen of fighting on foot. Titus Livius (XLIV. 26) ascribes this
practice to the Bastarni (the Moldavians.)
[199] Appian, _De Bello Celt._, IV. i. 3.
[200] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 1, 2, 3.--General de Gœler, in our
opinion, extends the territory of the Ubii much too far to the south.
[201] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 25.--This statement agrees well enough
with the length of the Black Forest and the Odenwald, which is sixty
leagues.
[202] It is difficult to fix with precision the localities inhabited at
this period by the German peoples, for they were nearly all nomadic, and
were continually pressing one upon another. Cæsar, in his fourth book
_De Bello Gallico_ (cap. I), asserts that the Suevi never occupied the
same territory more than one year.
[203] Strabo (VII., p. 244) relates, after Posidonius, that the Boii had
inhabited first the Hercynian forest; elsewhere he says (V. 177) that
the Boii established themselves among the Taurisci, a people dwelling
near Noricum. The same author (VII. 243) places the solitudes inhabited
by the Boii to the east of Vindelicia (_Southern Bavaria and Western
Austria_). Lastly, he says (IV. 471) that the Rhætii and the Vindelicii
are the neighbours of the Helvetii and the Boii. The Nemetes and the
Vangiones subsequently passed over to the left bank of the Rhine,
towards Worms and Spire, and the Ubii towards Cologne.
[204] Which formed the present Upper Alsace.
[205] We look upon it as certain, from the tenth chapter of Book IV. of
the “Commentaries,” that the Triboci occupied also the left bank of the
Rhine. We therefore naturally place among this German people the spot
where the army of Ariovistus was assembled. Moreover, to understand the
campaign about to be related, we must not seek this place, in the valley
of the Rhine, higher than Strasburg.
[206] In the speech which Dio Cassius puts in the mouth of Cæsar before
entering on the campaign against Ariovistus, he dilates upon the right
which the governor of the Roman province has to act according to
circumstances, and to take only his own advice. This speech is naturally
amplified and arranged by Dio Cassius, but the principal arguments must
be true. (Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 41.--_De Bello Gallico_, I. 33, 34, 35.)
[207] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 36.
[208] Since this information was given to Cæsar by the Treviri, it is
certain that the Suevi assembled on the Rhine, opposite or not far from
the country of the Treviri, and, in all probability, towards Mayence,
where the valley of the Maine presents a magnificent and easy opening
upon the Rhine.
[209] Between Tanlay and Gland, the Roman way is still called the _Route
de César_. (_See the map of the Etat-Major._)
[210] To explain this rapid movement upon Besançon, we must suppose that
Cæsar, at the moment when he received news of the march of Ariovistus,
believed him to be as near Besançon as he was himself. In fact, Cæsar
might fear that during the time the news had taken to reach him, the
German king, who had already advanced three days’ journey out of his
territory, might have arrived in the neighbourhood of Mulhausen or
Cernay. Now Cæsar was at Arc-en-Barrois, 130 kilomètres from Besançon,
and the distance from this latter town to Cernay is 125 kilomètres.
[211] The “Commentaries” give here the erroneous number DC: the breadth
of the isthmus which the Doubs forms at Besançon cannot have undergone
any sensible variation; it is at present 480 mètres, or 1,620 Roman
feet. The copyists have, no doubt, omitted an M before DC.
[212] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 38.
[213] “ ... qui ex urbe, amicitiæ causa, Cæsarem secuti, non magnum in
re militari usum habebant.” (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 39.)--We see in the
subsequent wars Appius repairing to Cæsar to obtain appointments of
military tribunes, and Cicero recommending for the same grade several
persons, among others, M. Curtius, Orfius, and Trebatius. “I have asked
him for a tribuneship for M. Curtius.” (_Epist. ad Quint._, II. 15;
_Epist. Famil._, VII. 5, a letter to Cæsar.) Trebatius, though a bad
soldier, was treated with kindness, and at once appointed a military
tribune. “I wonder that you despise the advantages of the tribuneship,
especially since they have allowed you to dispense with the fatigues of
the military service.” (Cicero, _Epist. Famil._, VII. 8.)--“Resign
yourself to the military service, and remain.” (Cicero, _Epist. Famil._,
VII. 11.)--Trebatius appeared little satisfied, complained of the
severity of the service, and, when Cæsar passed into Britain, he
prudently remained on the Continent.
[214] Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 36.
[215] This shows that then, in Italy, a great number of slaves were
Germans.
[216] This Latin phrase indicated the putting the troops in march.
[217] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 41.
[218] There has been much discussion on the meaning of the words
_millium amplius quinquaginta circuitu_. Some pretend that the number of
fifty miles means the whole distance, and that thus Cæsar would have
taken seven days to travel fifty miles, which would make about seven
kilomètres a day: this supposition is inadmissible. Others pretend, on
the contrary, that we must add fifty miles to the direct distance. This
last interpretation is refuted by a passage in the “Commentaries” (_De
Bello Civili_, I. 64). We read there, _Ac tantum fuit in militibus
studii, ut, millium vi. ad iter addito circuito_, &c. This shows that
when Cæsar means to speak of a turn of road, to be added to the total
length of the route, he is careful to indicate it. We consider it more
simple, therefore, to admit that the fifty miles are only a part of the
distance performed during the seven days’ march; that is, that after
making a circular _détour_ of fifty miles, which required three or four
days, Cæsar had still to march some time before he met the enemy,
following the direct road from Besançon to the Rhine. The study of the
ground completely justifies this view, for it was sufficient for Cæsar
to make a circuit of fifty miles (or seventy-five kilomètres) to turn
the mass of mountains which extends from Besançon to Montbéliard.
[219] It is probable that, during the negotiations, Ariovistus had
approached nearer to the Roman camp, in order to facilitate
intercommunication; for, if he had remained at a distance of thirty-six
kilomètres from Cæsar, we should be obliged to admit that the German
army, which subsequently advanced towards the Roman camp, in a single
day, to within nine kilomètres, had made a march of twenty-five
kilomètres at least, which is not probable when we consider that it
dragged after it wagons and women and children.
[220] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 42.
[221] _Planities erat magna, et in ea tumulus terrenus satis
grandis_.... (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 43)--This phrase would be
sufficient itself to prove that the encounter of the two armies took
place in the plains of Upper Alsace. We may ask how, in spite of a text
so explicit, different writers should have placed the field of battle in
the mountains of the Jura, where there is nowhere to be found a plain of
any extent. It is only at Mulhausen, to the north of the Doller, that
the vast plain of the valley of the Rhine opens.
Cæsar employs three times the word _tumulus_ to designate the eminence
on which his interview with Ariovistus took place, and he never calls it
_collis_. Is it not evident from this that we must consider this
_tumulus_ as a rounded knoll, insulated in the plain? Now it is to be
considered that the plain which extends to the north of the Doller,
between the Vosges and the Rhine, contains a rather large number of
small rounded eminences, to which the word _collis_ would not apply, and
which the word _knoll_ or _tumulus_ perfectly describes. The most
remarkable of these are situated, one near Feldkirch, the other between
Wittenheim and Ensisheim. We may suppose that the interview took place
on one of these knolls, marked 231 on Plate 6.
General de Gœler has adopted as the place of the interview an eminence
which rises on the left bank of the Little Doller, to the north of the
village of Aspach-le-Bas. Cæsar would have called this eminence
_collis_, for it is rather extensive, and, by its elongated form, but
not rounded, does not at all represent to the eye what is commonly
called a _knoll_ or _tumulus_; moreover, contrary to the text, this
elevation is not, properly speaking, in the plain. It is only separated
from the hills situated to the south by a brook, and the plain begins
only from its northern slope.
[222] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 47.
[223] It is not unworthy of remark that Cæsar’s communications with the
Leuci and the Lingones remained open. We have seen that, in his address
to the troops at Besançon, he reckoned on obtaining from these peoples a
part of his supplies.
[224] Tacitus (_Germania_, VI. 32) and Titus Livius (XLIV. 26) speak of
this method of fighting employed by the Germans.
[225] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 50.--The predictions of these priestesses,
who pretended to know the future by the noise of waters and by the
vortexes made by the streams in rivers, forbade their giving battle
before the new moon. (Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 21.)
[226] “Having skirmished opposite their retrenchments and the hills on
which they were encamped, he exasperated and excited them to such a
degree of rage, that they descended and fought desperately.” (Plutarch,
_Cæsar_, 21.)
[227] General de Gœler adopts this same field of battle, but he differs
from us in placing the Romans with their back to the Rhine. It would be
impossible to understand in this case how, after their defeat, the
Germans would have been able to fly towards that river, Cæsar cutting
off their retreat; or how Ariovistus, reckoning upon the arrival of the
Suevi, should have put Cæsar between him and the re-inforcements he
expected.
[228] As the legions were six in number, the above phrase proves that in
this campaign Cæsar had one quæstor and five lieutenants. (_See Appendix
D._)
[229] Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 49.--We have adopted the version of Dio
Cassius, as we cannot admit with Orosius that an army of more than
100,000 men could have formed only a single phalanx.
[230] Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 49.
[231] Orosius expresses himself thus: “United in one phalanx, and their
heads protected by their bucklers, they attempted, thus covered, to
break the Roman lines; but some Romans, not less agile than bold, rushed
upon this sort of tortoise, grappled with the German soldiers body to
body, tore from them their shields, with which they were covered as with
scales, and stabbed them through the shoulders.” (Orosius, VI. 7.)
[232] Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 49.
[233] Appian, _De Bello Celt._, IV. 1, 3.
[234] The manuscripts followed by the early editors of the
“Commentaries” gave some the number of 50 miles, others that of 5 miles.
We believe that Cæsar wrote 50 miles. This is proved by the very words
he employs, _neque prius fugere destiterunt_ ... which could not be
applied to a flight of merely a few miles. Moreover, the testimony of
old writers confirms the number of 50 miles: Paulus Orosius relates that
the carnage extended over a space of 40 miles; Plutarch, over 300 or 400
stadia, that is, 35 or 50 miles, according to the editions; and J.
Celsus (Petrarch) (_De Vita J. Cæsaris_, I., p. 40, edit. Lemaire) says,
_usque ad ripam Rheni fuga perpetua fuit_, a phrase in which the word
_perpetua_ is significative.
Modern writers, supposing erroneously that Cæsar had indicated the
distance, that is, the shortest line from the field of battle to the
Rhine, have discussed lengthily the number to be adopted. They have
overlooked the fact that the Latin text states, not exactly the distance
from the field of battle to the Rhine, but the length of the line of
retreat from the battle-field to the river. This line may have been
oblique towards the Rhine, for it is probable that the retreat of the
Germans lay down the valley of the Ill, which they had previously
ascended. We must therefore seek towards Rhinau the point where they
attempted to re-pass the river.
[235] According to Dio Cassius (XXXVIII. 50), Ariovistus, followed by
his cavalry, succeeded in escaping. Having reached the right bank, he
collected the fugitives; but he died shortly afterwards (_De Bello
Gallico_, V. 29), perhaps of his wounds.
[236] Appian. _De Bello Celt._, IV. 1, 3.--Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 21.
[237] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 53.--The war against Ariovistus became the
subject of a poem by P. Terentius Varro Atacinus (_De Bello Sequanico_).
(Priscian, X., p. 877, P.)
[238] “Inita æstate.” (_De Bello Gallico_, II. 2.)--_Æstas_ according to
Forcellini, signifies the period comprised between the two equinoxes of
spring and autumn.
[239] See his biography, _Appendix D_.
[240] Strabo, IV. 171, V. 174.
[241] “In the year 642, the consul C. Manlius and the proconsul Q. Cæpio
were defeated by the Cimbri and the Teutones, and there perished 80,000
Romans and allies and 40,000 valets (_colones et lixæ_). Of all the
army, ten men only escaped.” (Orosius, V. 16.) These data are no doubt
exaggerated, for Titus Livius (XXXVI. 38) pretends that Orosius took his
information from Valerius of Antium, who habitually magnified his
numbers.
[242] This route, the most direct from Besançon to the territory of the
Remi, is still marked by the numerous vestiges of the Roman road which
joined Vesontio with Durocortorum (_Besançon_ with _Rheims_).
[243] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 4.
[244] The word _fines_ in Cæsar, always signifies territory. We must
therefore understand by _extremi fines_ the part of the territory
farthest removed from the centre, and not the extreme frontier, as
certain translators have thought. The Aisne crossed the northern part of
the country of the Remi, and did not form its boundary. (_See Plate 2._)
[245] The retrenchments of this tête-du-pont, especially the side
parallel to the Aisne, are still visible at Berry-au-Bac. The gardens of
several of the inhabitants are made upon the rampart itself, and the
fosse appears at the outside of the village in the form of a cistern.
The excavations have displayed distinctly the profile of the fosse.
[246] The excavations undertaken in 1862, by bringing to light the
fosses of the camp, showed that they were 18 feet wide, with a depth of
9 or 10. (_See Plates 8 and 9._) If, then, we admit that the platform of
earth of the parapet was 10 feet wide, it would have measured 8 feet in
height, which, with the palisade of 4 feet, would give the crest of the
parapet a command of 22 feet above the bottom of the fosse.
[247] The following localities have been suggested for Bibrax: _Bièvre_,
_Bruyères_, _Neufchâtel_, _Beaurieux_, and the mountain called
_Vieux-Laon_. Now that the camp of Cæsar has been discovered on the hill
of Mauchamp, there is only room to hesitate between Beaurieux and
Vieux-Laon, as they are the only localities among those just mentioned
which, as the text requires, are eight miles distant from the Roman
camp. But Beaurieux will not suit, for the reason that even if the Aisne
had passed, at the time of the Gallic war, at the foot of the heights on
which the town is situated, we cannot understand how the re-enforcements
sent by Cæsar could have crossed the river and penetrated into the
place, which the Belgian army must certainly have invested on all sides.
This fact is, on the contrary, easily understood when we apply it to the
mountain of Vieux-Laon, which presents towards the south impregnable
escarpments. The Belgæ would have surrounded it on all parts except on
the south, and it was no doubt by that side that, during the night,
Cæsar’s re-enforcements would enter the town.
[248] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 7.--(_Plate 9_ gives the plan of the camp,
which has been found entire, and that of the redoubts with the fosses,
as they have been exposed to view by the excavations; but we have found
it impossible to explain the outline of the redoubts.)
[249] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 12.--Sabinus evidently commanded on both
sides the river.
[250] _De Bello Gallico_ II. 12.--Sabinus evidently commanded on both
sides the river.
[251] See the biographies of Cæsar’s lieutenants, _Appendix D_.
[252] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 11.
[253] The _vineæ_ were small huts constructed of light timber work
covered with hurdles and hides of animals. (Vegetius, Lib. IV. c. 16.)
See the figures on Trajan column.
In a regular siege the _vineæ_ were constructed out of reach of the
missiles, and they were then pushed in file one behind the other up to
the wall of the place attacked, a process which was termed _agere
vineas_; they thus formed long covered galleries which, sometimes placed
at right angles to the wall and sometimes parallel, performed the same
part as the branches and parallels in modern sieges.
[254] The terrace (_agger_) was an embankment, made of any materials,
for the purpose of establishing either platforms to command the ramparts
of a besieged town, or viaducts to conduct the towers and machines
against the walls, when the approaches to the place presented slopes
which were too difficult to climb. These terraces were used also
sometimes to fill up the fosse. The _agger_ was most commonly made of
trunks of trees, crossed and heaped up like the timber in a funeral
pile.--(Thucydides, _Siege of Platæa_.--Lucan, _Pharsalia_.--Vitruvius,
book XI., _Trajan Column_.)
[255] Antiquaries hesitate between Beauvais, Montdidier, or Breteuil. We
adopt Breteuil as the most probable, according to the dissertation on
Bratuspantium, by M. l’Abbé Devic, cure of Mouchy-le-Châtel. In fact,
the distance from Breteuil to Amiens is just twenty-five miles, as
indicated in the “Commentaries.” We must add, however, that M. l’Abbé
Devic does not place Bratuspantium at Breteuil itself, but close to that
town, in the space now comprised between the communes of Vaudeuil,
Caply, Beauvoir, and their dependencies.--Paris, 1843, and Arras, 1865.
[256] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 15.
[257] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 14, 15, 16. Mons is, in fact, seated on a
hill completely surrounded by low meadows, traversed by the sinuous
courses of the Haine and the Trouille.
[258] According to scholars, the frontier between the Nervii and the
Ambiani lay towards Fins and Bapaume. Supposing the three days’ march of
the Roman army to be reckoned from this point, it would have arrived, in
three days, of twenty-five kilomètres each, at Bavay.
[259] If Cæsar had arrived on the right bank of the Sambre, as several
authors have pretended, he would already have found that river at
Landrecies, and would have had no need to learn, on the third day of
this march, that he was only fifteen kilomètres from it.
[260] It is worthy of remark, that still at the present day the fields
in the neighbourhood of the Sambre are surrounded with hedges very
similar to those here described. Strabo (II., p. 161) also mentions
these hedges.
[261] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 17.
[262] “The signal for battle is a purple mantle, which is displayed
before the general’s tent.” (Plutarch, _Fabius Maximus_, 24.)
[263] _Signum dare_, “to give the word of order.” In fact, we read in
Suetonius: “Primo etiam imperii die signum excubanti tribuno dedit:
_Optimam matrem_.” (_Nero_, 9; _Caligula_, 56.--Tacitus, _Histor._, III.
22.)
[264] The soldiers wore either the skins of wild beasts, or plumes or
other ornaments, to mark their grades. “Excussit cristas galeis.”
(Lucan, _Pharsalia_, line 158.)
[265] Except the Treviran cavalry, who had withdrawn.
[266] According to Titus Livius (_Epitome_, CIV.), 1,000 armed men
succeeded in escaping.
[267] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 28.
[268] According to the researches which have been carried on by the
Commandant Locquessye in the country supposed to have been formerly
occupied by the Aduatuci, two localities only, Mount Falhize and the
part of the mountain of Namur on which the citadel is built, appear to
agree with the site of the _oppidum_ of the Aduatuci. But Mount Falhize
is not surrounded with rocks on all sides, as the Latin text requires.
The countervallation would have had a development of more than 15,000
feet, and it would have twice crossed the Meuse, which is difficult to
admit. We therefore adopt, as the site of the _oppidum_ of the Aduatuci,
the citadel of Namur.
Another locality, Sautour, near Philippeville, would answer completely
to Cæsar’s description, but the compass of Sautour, which includes only
three hectares, is too small to have contained 60,000 individuals. The
site of the citadel of Namur is already in our eyes very small.
[269] We translate _quindecim millium_ by 15,000 feet; the word _pedum_,
employed in the preceding sentence, being understood in the text. When
Cæsar intends to speak of _paces_, he almost always uses the word
_passus_.
[270] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 33.
[271] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 35.--Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 20.--Cicero,
_Epist. Famil._, I. 9, 17, 18.
[272] This passage has generally been wrongly interpreted. The text has,
_Quæ civitates propinquæ his locis erant ubi bellum gesserat_. (_De
Bello Gallico_, II. 35.) We must add the name of Crassus, overlooked by
the copyists; for if Anjou and Touraine are near Brittany and Normandy,
where Crassus had been fighting, they are very far from the Sambre and
the Meuse, where Cæsar had carried the war.
[273] _De Bello Gallico_, III. 6
[274] Some manuscripts read _Esuvios_, but we adopt _Unellos_, because
the geographical position of the country of the Unelli agrees better
with the relation of the campaign.
[275] They leagued with the Osismii (_the people of the department of
Finistère_), the Lexovii (_department of Calvados_), the Namnetes
(_Loire-Inférieure_), the Ambiliates (_on the left bank of the Loire, to
the south of Angers_), the Morini (_the Boulonnais and bishopric of
Saint-Omer_), the Diablintes (_Western Maine_), and the Menapii
(_between the Rhine and the mouths of the Scheldt_). (_De Bello
Gallico_, III. 9.)
[276] Orosius (VI. 8) confirms this fact as stated in the Commentaries.
[277] “The Veneti fought at sea against Cæsar; they had made their
dispositions to prevent his passage, into the isle of Britain, because
they were in possession of the commerce of that country.” (Strabo, IV.
iv., p. 162, edit. Didot.)
[278] We must not confound him with M. Junius Brutus, the assassin of
Cæsar. Decimus Junius Brutus was the adopted son of A. Postumius
Albinus. (See Drumann, IV. 9, and _Appendix D_.)
[279] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 40.
[280] We suppose, in this enumeration, that the legion of Galba,
cantoned the preceding winter among the Allobroges, had rejoined the
army.
[281] I borrow this interpretation of the Roman works from the very
instructive book of General de Gœler.
[282] _De Bello Gallico_, III. 13.--Strabo, IV., p. 162.
[283] The fleet of the Veneti, superior to that of the Romans in number,
in the magnitude of their vessels, and in their rigging and sails, must
have issued from the river Auray by the Morbihan entrance to the gulf,
and met Brutus to fight him, instead of waiting for him at the head of
the bay, where retreat would be impossible. This follows from Cæsar’s
account: _ex portu profectæ, nostris adversæ constiterunt_. According to
the memoir by M. le Comte de Grandpré, a post-captain, inserted in the
_Recueil de la Société des Antiquaires de France_, tom. II., 1820, the
wind must have been east or north-east, for it was towards the end of
the summer. It appears that these winds usually prevail at that period,
and that, when they have blown during the morning, there is a dead calm
towards the middle of the day: it is just what happened in this combat;
the calm came, probably, towards midday. It was necessary, indeed, that
the wind should be between the north and the east, to allow, on one hand
the Roman fleet to leave the Loire and sail towards the Point
Saint-Jacques, and, on the other, to permit the fleet of the Veneti to
quit the river Auray. These latter, in this position, could, in case of
defeat, take refuge in the Bay of Quiberon, or fly to the open sea,
where the Romans would not have dared to follow them.
With winds blowing from below, it matters not from what point, the
Romans could not have gone in search of their enemies, or the latter
come to meet them. Supposing that, in one tide, the Roman fleet had
arrived at the mouth of the Loire towards five o’clock in the morning;
it might have been towards ten o’clock, the moment when the battle
commenced, between Haedik and Sarzeau. Supposing similarly that, as
early as five o’clock in the morning, the movement of the Roman fleet
had been announced to the Veneti, they could, in five hours, have issued
from the river Auray, defiled by the entrance of the Morbihan, rallied
and advanced in order of battle to meet the Romans in the part of the
sea above described.
As to the place where Cæsar encamped, it is very probable, as we have
said, that it was on the heights of Saint-Gildas; for from thence he
could see the dispositions of the enemy, and perceive far off the
approach of his fleet. In case of check, the Roman galleys found, under
his protection, a place of refuge in the Vilaine. Thus, he had his rear
secured; rested upon the towns of the coast which he had taken; could
recall to him, if necessary, Titurius Sabinus; and lastly, could cross
the Vilaine, to place that river between him and his enemies. Placed, on
the contrary, on the other side of the Bay of Quiberon, he would have
been too much enclosed in an enemy’s country, and would have had none of
the advantages offered by the position of Saint-Gildas.
[284] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 41.
[285] We see, in fact, in Vegetius, that the word _falces_ was applied
to the head of a battering ram, armed with a point, and with a hook to
detach the stones from the walls. “Quæ (trabes) aut adunco præfigitur
ferro, et falx vocatur ab eo quod incurva est, ut de muro extrahat
lapides.” (Vegetius, IV. 14.)
[286] _De Bello Gallico_, III. 17.
[287] This position is at the distance of seven kilomètres to the east
of Avranches. The vestiges still visible of Chastellier are probably
those of a camp made at a later period than this Gallic war, but we
think that Sabinus had established his camp on the same site.
[288] _De Bello Gallico_, III. 19.
[289] Cæsar, after having said, in the first book of his “Commentaries”,
that Aquitaine was one of the three parts of Gaul, states here that it
formed the third part by its extent and population, which is not
correct.
[290] Nicholas of Damascus (in _Athenæus, Deipn._, VI. 249) writes in
this manner the name of King _Adiatomus_, and adds that the _soldurii_
were clothed in royal vestments.
[291] This combat is remarkable as being the only one in the whole war
in Gaul in which the Romans attack a fortified Gaulish camp.
[292] Of this number were the Tarbelli, The Bigerriones, The Ptiani, the
Vasates, the Tarusates, the Elusates, the Gaites, the Ausci, the
Garumni, the Sibusates, and the Cocosates.
[293] _De Bello Gallico_, III. 27.
[294] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, III. x. 6.
[295] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 44.
[296] Cæsar never entirely subjugated the north-west of Gaul. (See
Sallust, cited by Ammianus Marcellinus, XV., 15.) Still, under the reign
of Augustus, in 724 and 726, there were triumphs over the Morini.
[297] _De Bello Gallico_, III. 29.
[298] “In praetura, in consulatu præfectum fabrum detulit.” (Cicero,
_Orat. pro Balbo_, 28.)
[299] Mamurra, a Roman knight, born at Formiæ. (Pliny, _Hist. Nat._,
XXXVI. 7.)
[300] From Xanten to Nimeguen, for a length of fifty kilomètres, extends
a line of heights which form a barrier along the left bank of the Rhine.
All appearances would lead us to believe that the river flowed, in
Cæsar’s time, close at the foot of these heights; but now it has removed
from them, and at Emmerich, for instance, is at a distance of eight
kilomètres. This chain, the eastern slope of which is scarped, presents
only two passes; one by a large opening at Xanten itself, to the north
of the mountain called the Furstenberg; the other by a gorge of easy
access, opening at Qualburg, near Cleves. These two passes were so well
defined as the entries to Gaul in these regions, that, after the
conquest, the Romans closed them by fortifying the Furstenberg (_Castra
vetera_), and founding, on the two islands formed by the Rhine opposite
these entries, _Colonia Trajana_, now Xanten, and _Quadriburgium_, now
_Qualburg_. The existence of these isles facilitated at that time the
passage of the Rhine, and, in all probability, it was opposite these two
localities just named that the Usipetes and Tencteri crossed the river
to penetrate into Gaul.
[301] The account of this campaign is very obscure in the
“Commentaries.” Florus and Dio Cassius add to the obscurities: the
first, by placing the scene of the defeat of the Usipetes and Tencteri
towards the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine; the second, by
writing that Cæsar came up with the Germans in the country of the
Treviri. Several authors have given to the account of these two
historians more credit than to that of Cæsar himself, and they give of
this campaign an explanation quite different from ours. General de
Gœler, among others, supposes that the whole emigration of the Germans
had advanced as far as the country of the Condrusi, where Cæsar came up
with them, and that he had driven them from west to east, into the angle
formed by the Moselle and the Rhine. From researches which were kindly
undertaken by M. de Cohausen, major in the Prussian army, and which have
given the same result as those of MM. Stoffel and De Locqueyssie, we
consider this explanation of the campaign as inadmissible. It would be
enough, to justify this assertion, to consider that the country situated
between the Meuse and the Rhine, to the south of Aix-la-Chapelle, is too
much broken and too barren to have allowed the German emigration,
composed of 430,000 individuals, men, women, and children, with wagons,
to move and subsist in it. Moreover, it contains no trace of ancient
roads; and if Cæsar had taken this direction, he must necessarily have
crossed the forest of the Ardennes, a circumstance of which he would not
have failed to inform us. Besides, is it not more probable that, on the
news of the approach of Cæsar, instead of directing their march towards
the Ubii, who were not favourable to them, the Germans, at first spread
over a vast territory, would have concentrated themselves towards the
most distant part of the fertile country on which they had seized--that
of the Menapii?
[302] The Ambivariti were established on the left bank of the Meuse, to
the west of Ruremonde, and to the south of the marshes of Peel.
[303] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 13.
[304] “Acie triplici instituta.” Some authors have translated these
words by “the army was formed in three columns;” but Cæsar, operating in
a country which was totally uncovered and flat, and aiming at surprising
a great mass of enemies, must have marched in order of battle, which did
not prevent each cohort from being in column.
[305] Attacked unexpectedly in the afternoon, while they were sleeping.
(Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 48.)
[306] The study of the deserted beds of the Rhine leads us to believe
that the confluence of the Waal and the Meuse, which is at present near
Gorkum, was then much more to the east, towards Fort Saint-André. In
that case, Cæsar made no mistake in reckoning eighty miles from the
junction of the Waal and the Meuse to the mouth of the latter river.
[307] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 14, 15.
[308] The following reasons have led us to adopt Bonn as the point where
Cæsar crossed the Rhine:--
We learn from the “Commentaries” that in 699 he debouched in the country
of the Ubii, and that two years later it was a little above (_paulum
supra_) the first bridge that he established another, which joined the
territory of the Treviri with that of the Ubii. Now everything leads to
the belief that, in the first passage as in the second, the bridge was
thrown across between the frontiers of the same peoples; for we cannot
admit, with some authors, that the words _paulum supra_ apply to a
distance of several leagues. As to those who suppose that the passage
was effected at Andernach, because, changing with Florus the Meuse
(_Mosa_) into Moselle, they placed the scene of the defeat of the
Germans at the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine, we have given
the reasons for rejecting this opinion. We have endeavoured to prove, in
fact, that the battle against the Usipetes and the Tencteri had for its
theatre the confluence of the Meuse and the Rhine; and since, in
crossing this latter river, Cæsar passed from the country of the Treviri
into that of the Ubii, we must perceive that after his victory he must
necessarily have proceeded up the valley of the Rhine to go from the
territory of the Menapii to the Treviri, as far up as the territory of
the Ubii, established on the right bank.
This being admitted, it remains to fix, within the limits assigned to
these two last peoples, the most probable point of passage. Hitherto,
Cologne has been adopted; but, to answer to the data of the
“Commentaries,” Cologne appears to us to be much too far to the north.
In fact, in the campaign of 701, Cæsar, having started from the banks of
the Rhine, traversed the forest of the Ardennes from east to west,
passed near the Segni and the Condrusi, since they implored him to spare
their territory, and directed his march upon Tongres. If he had started
from Cologne, he would not have crossed the countries in question.
Moreover, in this same year, 2,000 Sicambrian cavalry crossed the Rhine
thirty miles below the bridge of the Roman army. Now, if this bridge had
been constructed at Cologne, the point of passage of the Sicambri,
thirty miles below, would have been at a very great distance from
Tongres, where, nevertheless, they seem to have arrived very quickly.
On the contrary, everything is explained if we adopt Bonn as the point
of passage. To go from Bonn to Tongres, Cæsar proceeded, as the text has
it, across the forest of the Ardennes; he passed through the country of
the Segni and Condrusi, or very near them; and the Sicambri, crossing
the Rhine thirty miles below Bonn, took the shortest line from the Rhine
to Tongres. Moreover, we cannot place Cæsar’s point of passage either
lower or higher than Bonn. Lower, that is, towards the north, the
different incidents related in the “Commentaries” are without possible
application to the theatre of the events; higher, towards the south, the
Rhine flows upon a rocky bed, where the piles could not have been driven
in, and presents, between the mountains which border it, no favourable
point of passage. We may add that Cæsar would have been much too far
removed from the country of the Sicambri, the chastisement of whom was
the avowed motive of his expedition.
Another fact deserves to be taken into consideration: that, less than
fifty years after Cæsar’s campaigns, Drusus, in order to proceed against
the Sicambri--that is, against the same people whom Cæsar intended to
combat--crossed the Rhine at Bonn. (Florus, IV. 12.)
[309] The following passage has given room for different
interpretations:--
“Hæc utraque insuper bipedalibus trabibus immissis, quantum eorum
tignorum junctura distabat, binis utrimque fibulis ab extrema parte
distinebantur; quibus disclusis atque in contrariam partem revinctis,
tanta erat operis firmitudo atque ea rerum natura, ut, quo major vis
aquæ se incitavisset, hoc arctius illigata tenerentur.” (_De Bello
Gallico_, IV. 17.)
It has not been hitherto observed that the words _hæc utraque_ relate to
the two couples of one row of piles, and not to the two piles of the
same couple. Moreover, the words _quibus disclusis_, &c., relate to
these same two couples, and not, as has been supposed, to _fibulis_.
[310] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 20.
[311] _De Bello Gallico_, II. 4.
[312] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 13.
[313] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IV. 30, § 16.
[314] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IV. 30, § 16.--Tacitus, _Agricola_, 10.
[315] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 12.
[316] Strabo, IV., p. 199.
[317] _Agricola_, 12.
[318] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 12.
[319] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 13 and 14.
[320] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 20.
[321] _Annales_, XIV. 33.
[322] Although the greater number of manuscripts read _Cenimagni_, some
authors have made two names of it, the _Iceni_ and the _Cangi_.
[323] The _Anderida Silva_, 120 miles in length by 30 in breadth,
extended over the counties of Sussex and Kent, in what is now called the
_Weald_. (See Camden, _Britannia_, edit. Gibson, I., col. 151, 195, 258,
edit. of 1753.)
[324] Diodorus Siculus, V. 21.--Tacitus, _Agricola_, 12.
[325] IV., p. 200.
[326] _Agricola_, 11.
[327] Diodorus Siculus, V. 21.
[328] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 21.
[329] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 14.
[330] Strabo, IV., p. 200.
[331] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 14.
[332] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, XXII. 1.
[333] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 14.
[334] Diodorus Siculus, V. 22.
[335] Diodorus Siculus, V. 22.--Strabo, IV., p. 200.
[336] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 12.
[337] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 13.
[338] _Agricola_, 11.
[339] Strabo, IV., p. 199.
[340] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 12.
[341] Diodorus Siculus, V. 22.
[342] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IV. 30, § 16.
[343] Tacitus, _Agricola_, 36.
[344] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 16.
[345] Tacitus, _Agricola_, 12.
[346] Frontinus, _Stratagm._, II. 3, 18.--Diodorus Siculus, V.
21.--Strabo, IV., p. 200.
[347] The account on page 213 confirms this interpretation, which is
conformable to that of General Gœler.
[348] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 32 and 33.
[349] Strabo, IV., p. 200.
[350] Strabo, IV., p. 201.
[351] From what will be seen further on, each transport ship, on its
return, contained 150 men. Eighty ships could thus transport 12,000 men,
but since, reduced to sixty-eight, they were enough to carry back the
whole army to the continent, they can only have carried 10,200 men,
which was probably the effective force of the two legions. The eighteen
ships appropriated to the cavalry might transport 450 horses, at the
rate of twenty-five horses each ship.
[352] The port of Dover extended formerly from the site of the present
town, between the cliffs which border the valley of the Dour or of
Charlton. (_See Plate 17._) Indeed, from the facts furnished by ancient
authors, and a geological examination of the ground, it appears certain
that once the sea penetrated into the land, and formed a creek which
occupied nearly the whole of the valley of Charlton. The words of Cæsar
are just justified: “Cujus loci hæc erat natura, atque ita montibus
angustis mare continebatur, uti ex locis superioribus in littus telum
adjici posset.” (IV. 23.)
The proofs of the above assertion result from several facts related in
different notices on the town of Dover. It is there said that in 1784
Sir Thomas Hyde Page caused a shaft to be sunk at a hundred yards from
the shore, to ascertain the depth of the basin at a remote period; it
proved that the ancient bed of the sea had been formerly thirty English
feet below the present level of the high tide. In 1826, in sinking a
well at a place called _Dolphin Lane_, they found, at a depth of
twenty-one feet, a bed of mud resembling that of the present port, mixed
with the bones of animals and fragments of leaves and roots. Similar
detritus have been discovered in several parts of the valley. An ancient
chronicler, named Darell, relates that “Wilbred, King of Kent, built in
700 the church of St. Martin, the ruins of which are still visible near
the market-place, on the spot where formerly ships cast anchor.”
The town built under the Emperors Adrian and Septimus Severus occupied a
part of the port, which had already been covered with sand; yet the sea
still entered a considerable distance inland. (_See Plate 17._)
It would appear to have been about the year 950 that the old port was
entirely blocked up with the maritime and fluvial alluvium which have
been increasing till our day, and which at different periods have
rendered it necessary to construct the dykes and quays which have given
the port its present form.
[353] “Constat enim aditus insulæ esse munitos mirificis molibus.”
(Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 16.)
[354] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 51.
[355] The Emperor Julian (p. 70, edit. Lasius) makes Cæsar say that he
had been the first to leap down from the ship.
[356] It is in the text, _in scopulum vicinum insulæ_, which must be
translated by “a rock near the isle of Britain,” and not, as certain
authors have interpreted it, “a rock isolated from the continent.”
(Valerius Maximus, III. ii. 23.)--In fact, these rocks, called _Malms_,
are distinctly seen at low water opposite the arsenal and marine
barracks at Deal.
[357] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 51.
[358] Cæsar himself had only carried three servants with him, as Cotta
relates. (Athenæus, _Deipnosophist._, VI. 105.)
[359] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53.
[360] At the battle of Arcola, in 1796, twenty-five horsemen had a great
influence on the issue of the day. (_Mémoires de Montholon, dictées de
Sainte-Hélène,_ II. 9.)
[361] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 36 and 37.
[362] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 38.
[363] Dio Cassius, XL. 1.--See Strabo, IV., p. 162, edit. Didot.
[364] _De Bello Gallico_, V. I.
[365] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 56. XL. 1.
[366] This opinion has been already supported by learned archæologists.
I will cite especially M. Mariette; Mr. Thomas Lewin, who has written a
very interesting account of Cæsar’s invasions of England; and lastly, M.
l’Abbé Haigneré, archivist of Boulogne, who has collected the best
documents on this question.
[367] Strabo, IV. 6, p. 173.
[368] According to the Itinerary of Antoninus, the road started from
Bagacum (_Bavay_), and passed by Pons-Scaldis (_Escaut-Pont_), Turnacum
(_Tournay_), Viroviacum (_Werwick_), Castellum (_Montcassel, Cassel_),
Tarvenna (_Thérouanne_), and thence to Gesoriacum (_Boulogne_).
According to Mariette, medals found on the road demonstrate that it had
been made in the time of Agrippa; moreover, according to the same
Itinerary of Antoninus, a Roman road started from Bavay, and, by
Tongres, ended at the Rhine at Bonn. (See _Jahrbücher des Vereins von
Alterthums Freunden_, Heft 37, Bonn, 1864. Now, admitting that there had
been already under Augustus a road which united Boulogne with Bonn, we
understand the expression of Florus, who explains that Drusus amended
this road by constructing bridges on the numerous water-courses which it
crossed, _Bonnam et Gesoriacum pontibus junxit_. (Florus, IV. 12.)
[369] Suetonius, _Caligula_, 46.--The remains of the pharos of Caligula
were still visible a century ago.
[370] Suetonius, _Claudius_, 17.
[371] Ammianus Marcellinus, XX. 1.
[372] Ammianus Marcellinus, XX. 7, 8.
[373] Eumenius, _Panegyric of Constantinus Cæsar_, 14.
[374] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, cited by Mr. Lewin.
[375] “Qui tertia vigilia Morino solvisset a portu.” (Florus, III. 10.)
[376] Strabo, IV. 5, p. 166.
[377] “Ultimos Gallicarum gentium Morinos, nec portu quam Gesoriacum
vocant quicquam notius habet.” (Pomponius Mela, III. 2.)--“Μορινὡν
Γησοριακον ἑπἱνειον.” (Ptolemy, II. ix. 3.)
[378] “Hæc [Britannia] abest a Gesoriaco Morinorum gentis litore proximo
trajectu quinquaginta M.” (Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IV. 30.)
[379] The camp of Labienus, during the second expedition, was, no doubt,
established on the site now occupied by the high town. From thence it
commanded the surrounding country, the sea, and the lower course of the
Liane.
[380] _Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire_, tom. IV., I. 17.
[381] What is now called _Romney Marsh_ is the northern part of a vast
plain, bounded on the east and south by the sea, and on the west and
north by the line of heights at the foot of which the military canal has
been cut. It is difficult to determine what was the aspect of Romney
Marsh in the time of Cæsar. Nevertheless, the small elevation of the
plain above the level of the sea, as well as the nature of the soil,
lead us to conclude that the sea covered it formerly up to the foot of
the heights of Lymne, except at least in the part called
_Dymchurch-Wall_. This is a long tongue of land, on which are now raised
three forts and nine batteries, and which, considering its height above
the rest of the plain, has certainly never been covered by the sea.
These facts appear to be confirmed by an ancient chart in the Cottonian
collection in the British Museum.
Mr. Lewin appears to have represented as accurately as possible the
appearance of Romney Marsh in the time of Cæsar, in the plate which
accompanies his work. The part not covered by the sea extended, no
doubt, as he represents it, from the bay of Romney to near Hythe, where
it terminated in a bank of pebbles of considerable extent. But it
appears to us that it would have been difficult for the Roman army to
land on a bank of pebbles at the very foot of the rather steep heights
of Lymne. Mr. Lewin places the Roman army, in the first expedition, at
the foot of the heights, on the bank of pebbles itself, surrounded on
almost all sides by the sea. In the second expedition, he supposes it to
have been on the heights, at the village of Lymne; and, to explain how
Cæsar joined his fleet to the camp by retrenchments common to both, he
admits that this fleet was drawn on land as far as the slope of the
heights, and shut up in a square space of 300 mètres each side, because
we find there the ruins of an ancient castle called _Stutfall Castle_.
All this is hardly admissible.
[382] Word for word, this expression signifies that the ships set sail
four days after the arrival of the Romans in England. The Latin language
often employed the ordinal number instead of the cardinal number. Thus,
the historian Eutropius says, “Carthage was destroyed 700 years after it
was founded, _Carthago septingentesimo anno quam condita erat deleta
est_.” Are we, in the phrase, _post diem quartum_, to reckon the day of
the arrival?--Virgil says, speaking of the seventeenth day, _septima
post decimam_.--Cicero uses the expression _post sexennium_ in the sense
of _six years_. It is evident that Virgil counts seven days after the
tenth. If the tenth was comprised in this number, the expression
_septima post decimam_ would signify simply the _sixteenth day_. On his
part, Cicero understands clearly the six years as a lapse of time which
was to pass, starting from the moment in which he speaks. Thus, the
_post diem quartum_ of Cæsar must be understood in the sense of four
days accomplished, without reckoning the day of landing.
[383] Titus Livius, XLIV. 37.
[384] We must now go back to the fourteenth day before the full moon,
that is, to the 17th of August, 699, to find a day on which high tide
took place at Dover towards midday.
[385] Mr. Lewin has stated that the country between Deal and Sandwich
produces no wheat. This assertion is tolerably true for the tongue of
marshy land which separates those two localities; but what does it
signify, since wheat grows in great quantities in all the part of the
county of Kent situated to the west of the coast which extends from the
South Foreland to Deal and Sandwich?
[386] It is almost impossible to fix with certainty the day when Cæsar
quitted Britain; we know only that it was a short time before the
equinox (_propinqua die æquinoxii_), which, according to the
calculations of M. Le Verrier, fell on the 26th of September, and that
the fleet started a little after midnight. If we admit a passage of nine
hours, with a favorable wind (_ipse idoneam tempestatem nactus_), as on
the return of the second expedition, Cæsar would have arrived at
Boulogne towards nine o’clock in the morning. As the fleet could not
enter the port until the tide was in, it is sufficient, to know
approximatively the date of Cæsar’s return, to seek what day in the
month of September, 699, there was high tide at that hour at Bolougne.
Now, in this port, the tide is always at its height towards nine o’clock
in the morning two or three days before full moon and before new moon;
therefore, since the full moon of the month of September, 699, took
place on the 14th, it must have been about the 11th or 12th of September
that Cæsar returned to Gaul. As to the two ships which were driven
farther down, Mr. Lewin (_Invasion of Britain by J. Cæsar_) explains
this accident in a very judicious manner. He states that we read in the
tide-tables of the English Admiralty the following recommendation: “In
approaching Boulogne when the tide is flowing in, great attention must
be paid, because the current, which, on the English side, drags a ship
towards the east, on the Boulogne side drags them, on the contrary,
towards the Somme.” Nothing, then, is more natural than that the two
Roman transport ships should be driven ashore to the south of Boulogne.
[387] “It was there (the mouth of the Seine) that Cæsar established his
naval arsenal, when he passed over to that island (Britain.)” (Strabo,
II. 160.)
[388] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 3, 4.
[389] The Meldæ dwelt on the Marne, in the country around Meaux; and as
we have seen, according to Strabo, that Cæsar had established his naval
arsenal at the mouth of the Seine, there is nothing extraordinary in the
circumstance that some of the ships were built near Meaux. But it is not
reasonable to suppose, with some writers, that the Meldæ dwelt at the
mouth of the Scheldt, and believe that Cæsar had left important
shipyards in an enemy’s country, and out of reach of protection.
[390] The five legions which Cæsar led into Britain made, at about 5,000
men each, 25,000 men. There were, in addition to these, 2,000 cavalry.
If we suppose, as in the first expedition, twenty-five horses per ship,
it would require eighty to contain the cavalry. In the preceding year,
eighty transport ships had been sufficient for two legions, without
baggage--200 ought to have been enough for five legions; but as the
“Commentaries” give us to understand that those vessels were narrower,
and that the troops had their baggage, it may be believed that they
required double the number of ships, that is, 400, for the transport of
the five legions, which would make about sixty-two men in a ship. There
would remain 160 transport ships for the Gaulish and Roman chiefs, the
valets, and the provisions. The twenty-eight galleys were, no doubt, the
true ships of war, destined to protect the fleet and the landing.
[391] According to a passage in the “Commentaries” (Book V. 26), there
was in the Roman army a body of Spanish cavalry.
[392] Dio Casstas, XL. 1.
[393] De Bella Galtico, V. 8.
[394] This appears to us to be evident, since we shall see subsequently
Cæsar inclosed his fleet within the retrenchments contiguous to his
camp.
[395] As in the first expedition the disaster which happened to his
fleet must have proved to Cæsar the danger to which the vessels were
exposed on the coast, the above reflection indicates that, in his second
expedition, he chose a better anchorage, at a few kilomètres farther to
the north.
[396] Ten cohorts formed a legion; but Cæsar does not employ this last
expression, because, no doubt, he drew from each of his legions two
cohorts, which he left for the guard of the camp. In this manner he
preserved the tactical number of five legions, which was more
advantageous, and caused each legion to participate in the honour of
combating.
[397] If from the sea-shore, near Deal, where we suppose that the Romans
established their camp, we describe, with a radius of twelve miles, an
arc of a circle, we cut towards the west, the villages of Kingston and
Barham, and more to the north, the village of Littlebourne, a stream
called the Little Stour, which rises near Lyminge, flows from south to
north across a rather irregular country, and falls into the Great Stour.
This stream is incontestably the _flumen_ of the “Commentaries.” There
is the less room for error, as we find no other stream in the part of
the county of Kent comprised between the coast of Deal and the Great
Stour, and as this latter runs too far from Deal to answer to the text.
Although the Little Stour is not, between Barham and Kingston, more than
from three to four mètres broad, we need not be astonished at the
denomination of _flumen_ given to it by Cæsar, for he employs the same
expression to designate simple rivulets, such as the Ose and the
Oserain. (_De Bello Gallico_, VII. 69, _Alesia_.)
But did Cæsar reach the Little Stour towards Barham and Kingston or
towards Littlebourne? The doubt is allowable. We believe, nevertheless,
that the country of Barham and Kingston agrees best with the idea we
form from reading the “Commentaries.” The heights on the left bank of
the Little Stour are not so broken as to prevent chariots and cavalry
from manœuvring on them, and the Britons might have occupied, as the
text requires, a commanding position, _locus superior_, on the banks
which end at the river in gentle slopes.
This stream, considering its little depth, does not form any real
obstacle. Now it appears, in fact, to result from the recital of the
“Commentaries,” that the engagement as it was not of a serious
character, and that Cæsar’s cavalry passed it without difficulty. This
last fact forms an objection to the Great Stour, which several authors,
and among others General de Gœler, take for the _flumen_ of the text; it
is sufficiently broad and sufficiently steep-banked towards Sturry,
where they place the scene of the action, to render the passage
difficult for cavalry. Moreover, Sturry is fifteen, and not twelve miles
from the coast of Deal.
[398] It is evident that this place must not be sought at more than a
few kilomètres from the Little Stour; for it must be remembered that the
Romans had landed the day before, that they had made a night march of
twelve miles, and that they have just given battle. Unfortunately, the
country situated to the west of Kingston is so much broken and wooded,
that it is impossible to choose one site rather than another to make a
British _oppidum_. Perhaps it might be placed towards Bursted or Upper
Hardres.
[399] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 9.
[400] It has appeared to us interesting to explain how Cæsar could join
the fleet to his camp.
The Roman camp must have been on flat ground, to allow of the
possibility of drawing up the ships of the fleet. Supposing that the
mean size of each ship was twenty-five mètres long by six mètres broad,
and that the 800 ships composing the fleet had been placed at two mètres
from each other, on five lines separated by a distance of three mètres,
the fleet would have covered a rectangle of 1,280 mètres by 140, joined
with the camp by other trenches. It is, of course, understood that the
lightest boats would form the line farthest from the sea.
[401] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 11.
[402] This is the expression of Cæsar, but it is certain that this
number does not indicate the shortest distance from the Thames to the
Straits. Cæsar, no doubt, meant to tell us the length of the route he
took from the sea to the Thames.
[403] On the chariots of the Britons consult Strabo (IV., p. 166), and
Dio Cassius (LXXVI. 12). Cæsar spoke of many thousand cavalry and
war-chariots, in the third book of a Memoir addressed to Cicero, but
which is lost. (Junius Philargyrus, _Comm. on the Georgics of Virgil_,
III., p. 204.)
[404] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 17.
[405] There remains not the slightest vestige in the county of Kent
which might help us in tracing the march of the Roman army. The camp of
Holwood, near Keston, which the English maps call _Cæsar’s Camp_, does
not belong to the period of which we are treating. On St. George’s Hill,
near Walton-on-the-Thames, no camp ever existed.
Unfortunately, it is no more possible to ascertain the exact place where
Cæsar crossed the Thames by a ford. We are convinced of this by the
researches of all kinds made by the officers Stoffel and Hamelin. The
boatmen of the Thames all assured them that between Shepperton and
London there are now reckoned eight or nine places fordable; the most
favourable is that at Sunbury. At Kingston, where General de Gœler
places the passage, nothing leads us to suppose that a ford ever
existed. The same thing must be said of Coway Stakes. At Halliford, in
spite of the termination of the word, the inhabitants have no tradition
of an ancient ford. The only thing which appears to us evident is, that
the Roman army did not pass below Teddington. We know that this village,
the name of which comes from _Tide-end-town_, marks the last point of
the Thames where the tide is felt. We cannot believe that Cæsar would
expose himself to be surprised during his passage by an increase of the
volume of water.
[406] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 18.--Polyænus expresses himself thus:
“Cæsar, when he was in the isle of Britain, sought to pass a great
river. Cassivellaunus, King of the Britons, opposed the passage with a
numerous cavalry and many chariots. Cæsar had a very great elephant, an
animal which the Britons had never seen; he armed it with iron flakes,
and placed on its back a great tower filled with archers and slingers,
all men of skill, and caused it to advance into the river. The Britons
were struck with astonishment at the view of such an enormous animal,
which was unknown to them. And is it necessary to say that their horses
were frightened at it, since we know that, even among the Greeks, the
presence of an elephant causes the horses to flee? Much more were those
of the barbarians unable to support the view of an elephant armed and
loaded with a tower from which flew stones and arrows. Britons, horses,
and chariots, all equally took flight; and the Romans, by means of the
terror caused by a single animal, passed the river without danger.”
(_Strateg._, VIII. 23, § 5.)
[407] After having crossed the Thames, Cæsar invaded the territory of
Cassivellaunus, and directed his march to the _oppidum_ of that chief.
Certain commentators place this _oppidum_ to the west of Wendover (_see
Plate 15_), others at St. Albans, the ancient _Verulamium_. All we can
possibly say is, that the brief indications of the “Commentaries” seem
to agree best with the latter locality.
[408] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 22.
[409] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 23.
[410] Strabo, p. 167.
[411] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IX., 116.--Solinus, LIII. 28.
[412] “I have received, on the 4th of the nones of June (the 1st of
June, according to the concordance here adopted, _see Appendix A_), your
letter dated from Placentia; that of the following day, dated from Lodi,
arrived on the very day of the nones (4th of June).” It was accompanied
with a letter from Cæsar, expressing his satisfaction at the arrival of
Quintus. (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15.
[413] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 15. This letter was closed on the
5th of the calends of August, answering to the 26th of July.
[414] “I have received, on the day of the ides of September (the 9th of
September), your fourth letter, dated from Britain on the 4th of the
ides of August (8th of August).” (_Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.
[415] “The 11th of the calends of October (16th of September) your
courier arrived; he has taken twenty days on the road; my uneasiness was
mortal.” (_Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.)--“Cæsar has written to me from
Britain a letter, dated on the calends of September (28th of August),
which I received on the 4th of the calends of October. It appears that
affairs are not going on ill with him. Cæsar adds, to prevent me from
being surprised at not hearing from you, that you were not with him when
he came to the coast (23rd of September).”
[416] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 3.
[417] At ten miles to the east of Deal it is high tide half an hour
later than at Dover, and the reflux begins there four hours after the
hour of high tide.
[418] Those who refuse to admit Boulogne and Deal for the points of
Cæsar’s embarking and landing, pretend that so long a time was not
necessary to effect so short a passage. But a fleet requires a longer
time to navigate the more numerous it is; resembling in that an army,
which marches much more slowly than a single man.
[419] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 17.
[420] To find the time required, we must suppose that, by some delay or
by the absence of regular couriers, Cæsar’s letter to Cicero had been
thirteen days on the road between Lodi and Rome.
[421] Much uncertainty exists in regard to the distribution of the
legions; yet the location of two of the winter quarters appears to us
certain, Samarobriva (_Amiens_) and Aduatuca (_Tongres_). If now, from a
point situate near to the Sambre, from Bavay as the centre, we describe
a circle, we shall see that Cæsar’s winter quarters, except those of
Normandy, were all comprised in a radius of 100 miles, or 148
kilomètres. The researches which Major Cohausen kindly made for me, and
those of MM. Stoffel and Locqueyssie, have enabled me to determine
approximately the winter quarters.
[422] The brother of the orator.
[423] The Commandant of Artillery, De Locqueyssie, has found on the
Ourthe, near the village of Lavacherie (_Duchy of Luxemburg_), the
remains of a Roman camp with triangular fosses, and in a position which
appears to agree with the date of the “Commentaries.”
[424] Under the name of _Belgium_, we must only comprise a part of the
peoples of Belgic Gaul, such as the Atrebates, the Ambiani, and the
Bellovaci. (_De Bello Gallico_, V. 24, 25, 46; VIII. 46.)
[425] _Unam legionem, quam proxime trans Padum
conscripserat._--According to the use of the good Latin writers,
_proxime_ does not mean _recently_, but _in the last place_. Through an
incorrect interpretation of this phrase, General de Gœler has supposed
that Cæsar had, at this time, brought from Italy the 15th legion; this
legion, as we shall see, was only raised at a later period.
[426] More than fourteen different localities have been proposed for
identification with Aduatuca. If some writers have advanced good
arguments for placing Aduatuca on the right bank of the Meuse, others
have believed that they have offered equally good ones for seeking it on
the left bank of that river; but the greater part of them have admitted
this or that site for the most futile reasons. Nobody has dreamt of
resolving the question by the simplest of all means--which consists in
seeking if, among the different sites proposed, there is one which, by
the form of the ground, agrees with the requirements of the narrative
given in the “Commentaries.” Now, Tongres is in this position, and it
alone, and so completely satisfies them that we cannot think of placing
Aduatuca elsewhere. In fact, Tongres is situated in the country occupied
formerly by the Eburones, and, as Cæsar expresses it, _in modiis finibus
Eburonum_, which signifies entirely in the country of the Eburones, and
not in the centre of the country. It is moreover enclosed in a circle of
a hundred miles radius, comprising all the winter quarters of the Roman
army except those of Roscius. This locality fulfils all the conditions
required for the establishment of a camp; it is near a river, on a
height which commands the neighborhood, and the country produces wheat
and forage. At two miles towards the west is a long defile, _magna
convallis_, the vale of Lowaige, where the relation of the massacre of
the cohorts of Sabinus is perfectly explained. At three miles from
Tongres we find a plain, separated from the town by a single hill; on
the same side as this hill rises a rounded eminence--that of Berg, to
which the name of tumulus may be fairly applied. Lastly, the Geer, the
banks of which were formerly marshy, defended through a large extent the
height of Tongres. (_See Plate 18._)
[427] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 25.
[428] See the notice by M. M. F. Driesen on the position of Aduatuca, in
the _Bulletins de l’Académie Royale de Belgique_, 2nd series, tom. XV.
No. 3.
[429] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 37.
[430] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 39.
[431] The towers of the Romans were constructed of timber of small size,
bound together by cross pieces. (_See Plate 27, fig. 8._) They still
raise scaffolding at Rome in the same manner at the present day.
[432] Although the text has _passuum_, we have not hesitated in
substituting _pedum_, for it is very improbable that Gauls could have
made, in three hours’ time, a countervallation of more than 22
kilomètres.
[433] The siege machine called _testudo_, “a tortoise,” was ordinarily a
gallery mounted upon wheels, made of wood strongly squared, and covered
with a solid blindage. It was pushed against the wall of the place
besieged. It protected the workmen employed either in filling the fosse,
or in mining the wall, or in working the ram. The siege operations of
the Gauls lead us to presume that the camp of Cicero was in a fort
surrounded by a wall. (_See_, on the word _falces_, note (1) on p. 143.)
[434] In the coal-basin, in the centre of which Charleroy is situated,
the coal layers crop out of the surface of the soil on different points.
Still, at the present day, they knead the clay with small coal. But,
what is most curious, people have found at Breteuil (Oise), as in the
ruins of Carthage, a quantity of ovoid balls made of pottery.
[435] It will be seen that we use indifferently the terms _vallum_ and
_rampart_.
[436] Dio Cassius, XL. 8.
[437] It has appeared to us that the movement of concentration of Cæsar
and Fabius did not allow the winter quarters of the latter to be placed
at Therouanne or at Montreuil-sur-Mer, as most authors have supposed.
These localities are too far distant from the route from Amiens to
Charleroy to have enabled Fabius to join Cæsar on the territory of the
Atrebates, as the text of the Commentaries requires. For this reason, we
place Fabius at Saint-Pol.
[438] The “Commentaries” say, _Græcis conscriptam litteris_; but
Polyænus and Dio Cassius affirm that the letter was written in Greek.
[439] Polyænus, _Strateg._, VIII. xxiii. 6.
[440] We admit that Cicero encamped at Charleroi: all circumstances
concur in justifying this opinion. Charleroi is situated on the Sambre,
near the Roman road from Amiens to Tongres (_Aduatuca_), and, as the
Latin text requires, at fifty miles from this latter town. On the high
part of Charleroi, where the camp was, no doubt, established, we command
the valley of the Sambre, and we can see, in the distance towards the
west, the country through which Cæsar arrived. Moreover, the valley of
the Haine and mount Sainte-Aldegonde, above the village of Carnières,
agree perfectly with the details of the combat in which the Gauls were
defeated.
[441] From Amiens to Charleroi it is 170 kilomètres. Cæsar must have
arrived on the territory of the Nervii, towards Cambrai, _the morning of
the third day_, counting from his departure from Amiens, after marching
ninety kilomètres. He immediately sends the Gaulish horseman to Cicero.
This horseman has to perform eighty kilomètres. He can only take eight
to nine hours, and arrive at the camp in the afternoon of the third day.
He throws his javelin, which remains where it was fixed _the third_ and
_the fourth day_. The _fifth_ day it was discovered, and the smoke of
the fires is then seen. Cæsar, then, arrived on the fifth day (reckoning
thirty kilomètres for a day’s march) at Binche, twenty kilomètres from
Charleroi. That town is on a sufficiently elevated knoll to allow the
smoke to be seen. The siege lasted about fifteen days.
[442] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 53.
[443] “I have read with a lively joy what you tell me of the courage and
strength of mind of Cæsar in this cruel trial.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad
Quintum_, III. viii. 166.)
[444] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 67.--Polyænus, _Strateg._, VIII. xxiii.
[445] One is on the site of the citadel of Amiens; the second is near
Tirancourt; the third is the camp of l’Etoile. (_See the Dissertation
sur les Camps Romains de la Somme_, by the Comte L. d’Allonville.)
[446] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 58.
[447] _Précis des Guerres de César_, by Napoleon, Chapter V. 5.
[448] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 4.
[449] The “Commentaries,” after having informed us (V. 24) that Labienus
established himself in the country of the Remi, on the confines of that
of the Treviri, give us afterwards to understand that he encamped among
the Treviri, where he had passed the winter, “Labienum cum una legione,
quæ in eorum finibus hiemaverat.” (VI. 7.) We believe, with certain
authors, that the country in which he encamped was either on the
boundary of the two countries, or ground of which the Remi and the
Treviri disputed the possession. Is it not evident, moreover, that after
the catastrophe of Aduatuca and the insurrection of the people seduced
by Ambiorix, everything dictated to Labienus the necessity of engaging
himself no further in a hostile country, by separating himself from the
other legions?
[450] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 6.
[451] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 8.
[452] See page 82.
[453] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 29.
[454] We must suppose from this that, during his march, Cæsar crossed
the territory of the Segni and Condrusi, or that at least he passed not
far from it. This consideration has induced us to extend this territory
farther towards the north than is generally done. (_See Plates 1 bis and
13._)
[455] Cæsar might very well say that the Scheldt mingles his waters with
those of the Meuse. Several ancient authors share in this opinion. This
took place by the eastern arm of the Scheldt, formerly more developed
than in modern times, which spread itself in the space which, according
to Tacitus, formed the _immense mouth of the Meuse_ (_immensum Mosæ
os_).
[456] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 34.
[457] Forty-five kilomètres reckoned down from Bonn bring us to the
confluence of the Wipper and the Rhine.
[458] Cæsar complained of the conduct of Quintus, when he wrote to
Cicero the orator: “He did not keep within the camp, as would have been
the duty of a prudent and scrupulous general.” (Charisius, p. 101.)
[459] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 42.
[460] An ancient manuscript belonging to Upper Auvergne, the manuscript
of Drugeac, informs us that this custom continued long in use, and that
it still existed in the Middle Ages. Rough towers were built for this
purpose on the heights, 400 or 500 mètres apart; watchmen were placed in
them, who transmitted the news from one to another by sonorous
monosyllables. A certain number of these towers still exist in the
Cantal. If the wind prevented this mode of transmission, they had
recourse to fire.
It is evident that criers had been posted beforehand from Genabum to
Gergovia, since it was agreed that the Carnutes should give the signal
of war. It is exactly 160 miles (about 240 kilomètres), through the
valleys of the Loire and the Allier, from Gien to Gergovia, the
principal _oppidum_ of the Arverni.
[461] “Hic corpore, armis, spirituque terribilis, nomine etiam quasi ad
terrorem composito.” (Florus, II. x. 21.)--Vercingetorix was born at
Gergovia. (Strabo, IV., p. 158.)
[462] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 5.
[463] Coins of Lucterius have been found, as well as of many of the
Gaulish chiefs mentioned in the “Commentaries.” The first has been
described by MM.[“Messieurs” methinks] Mionet and Chaudruc de Crazannes.
(_Revue Numismatique_, t. V., pl. 16, p. 333.)
[464] Their capital was Alba, now Aps (_Ardèche_). During recent
researches, remains of an ancient road have been discovered, which
passed by the places here indicated, and led from the land of the Helvi
to the Vellavi and Arverni.
[465] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 9.
[466] Since Cæsar did not start until after the murder of Clodius, which
took place on the 13th of the Calends of February (December 30th, 701),
and had raised troops in Italy, passed through the Roman province,
penetrated over the Cévennes into Auvergne, and had thence returned to
Vienne, it is probable that he did not arrive at Sens before the
commencement of March.
[467] The Latin term has _Altero die, quum ad oppidum Senonum
Vellaunodunum venisset_, &c. All authors, without exception, considering
wrongly the expression of _altero die_ as identical with those of
_postro die_, _proximo die_, _insequenti die_, _pridie ejus diei_, have
translated it by _the following day_. We consider that _altero die_,
when used with regard to an event, signifies the second day which
follows that of the said event.
Thus Cicero gives it this sense in his _Philippica Prima_, § 13, where
he reminds us of the conduct of Antony after the death of Cæsar. Antony
had begun by treating with the conspirators who had taken refuge in the
Capitol, and, at a sitting of the Senate, which he called together _ad
hoc_, on the day of the Liberalia, that is to say, the 16th of the
Calends of April, an amnesty was pronounced in favour of the murderers
of Cæsar. Cicero, speaking of this session of the Senate, says,
_Proximo, altero, tertio, denique reliquis consecutis diebus_, &c. Is it
not evident that here _altero die_ signifies the second day which
followed the session of the Senate, or two days after that session?
Here are other examples which show that the word _alter_ must be taken
in the sense of _secundus_. Virgil says (_Eclogue_ VIII., line 39),
_Alter ab undecimo tum jam me ceperat annus_, which must be translated,
_I was thirteen years old_. Servius, who composed a commentary on Virgil
at a time when the traditions were still preserved, makes the following
comment on this verse: _Id est tertius decimus. Alter enim de duobus
dicimus ut unus ab undecimo sit duodecimus, alter tertius decimus, et
vult significare jam se vicinum fuisse pubertati, quod de duodecimo anno
procedere non potest_. (Virgil, edit. Burmann, tom. I., p. 130.)
Forcellini peremptorily establishes that _vicesimo altero_ signifies the
_twenty-second_; _legio altera vicesima_ means the _twenty-second
legion_.
The “Commentaries” inform us (_De Bello Civili_, III. 9) that Octavius,
when besieging Salona, had established five camps round the town, and
that the besieged took those five camps one after the other. The text is
thus expressed: _Ipsi in_ PROXIMA _Octavii castra irruperunt. Mis
expugnatis, eodem impetu_, ALTERA _sunt adorti; inde_ TERTIA _et_
QUARTA, _et deinceps_ RELIQUA. (See also _De Bello Civili_, III. 83.)
In the “Commentaries” we find sixty-three times the expression _postero
die_, thirty-six times _proximo die_, ten times _insequenti die_, eleven
times _postridie ejus diei_, or _pridie ejus diei_. The expression
_altero die_ is used only twice in the eight books _De Bello Gallico_,
viz., lib. VII. cc. 11 and 68, and three times in _De Bello Civili_,
lib. III. cc. 19, 26, and 30. Is that coincidence alone not sufficient
to make us suppose that _altero die_ ought not to be confounded with the
preceding expressions; and does it not appear certain that, if Cæsar had
arrived at Vellaunodunum the morning after his departure from Agedincum,
he would have written, _Postero die_ (or _proximo die_) _quum ad oppidum
Senonum Vellaunodunum venisset_, &c.?
We believe, therefore, that we are authorized in concluding that Cæsar
arrived at Vellaunodunum the second day after the army moved.
Farther on, on page 339, will be found a new confirmation of the sense
which we give to _altero die_. It results from the appreciation of the
distance which separates Alesia from the battle-field where Cæsar
defeated the cavalry of Vercingetorix. (See the opinions of the
commentators on _altero die_ in the sixth volume of Cicero, edit.
Lemaire, Classiques Latins, _Excursus ad Philippicam primam_.)
[468] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 11.--Contrary to the generally received
opinion, we adopt _Gien_ and not _Orleans_ for the ancient Genabum,
_Triguères_ for Vellaunodonum, _Sancerre_ for Noviodunum, and, lastly,
_Saint-Parize-le-Châtel_ for the Gorgobina of the Boii.
As Cæsar’s object, on quitting Sens, was to march as quickly as possible
to the _oppidum_ of the Boii, in order to raise the siege, since he
starts without baggage, so as to be less impeded in his march, we will
first examine the probable position of this latter town, before
discussing the question relating to the intermediate points.
_Gorgobina Boiorum_. After the defeat of the Helvetii, Cæsar allowed the
Ædui to receive the Boii upon their territory, and it is probable that
they were established on the western frontier, as in an advanced post
against the Arverni and the Bituriges. Several data confirm this
opinion. Tacitus (_Histor._, II. 61) relates that: _Mariccus quidam, e
plebe Boiorum,.... concitis octo millibus hominum, proximos Æduorum
pagos trahebat_. The possessions of the Boii were, therefore, contiguous
to the Æduan territory. Pliny the Elder (_Hist. Nat._, IV. 18) places
the Boii in the number of the nations who inhabited the centre of the
Lyonnaise. _Intus autem Ædui fœderati, Carnuti fœderati, Boii,
Senones_.... The place here occupied by the word _Boii_ shows us again
that this people was not far from the Ædui, the Senones, and the
Carnutes. Lastly, the text of the “Commentaries” represents
Vercingetorix as obliged to traverse the country of the Bituriges to
repair to Gorgobina. The most plausible opinion is that which places the
Boii between the Loire and the Allier, towards the confluence of these
two rivers. This was already an old tradition, adopted in the fifteenth
century by Raimondus Marlianus, one of the first editors of Cæsar. This
space of ground, covered in its eastern part with woods and marshes, was
admirably suited by its extent to the limited population of the Boii,
who did not number more than 20,000 souls. Neither
Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, marked on the map of Gaul as Gorgobina, nor La
Guerche, proposed by General de Gœler, answer completely, by their
topographical position, to the site of a Gaulish _oppidum_. In fact,
Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier is far from being advantageously situated; this
village stands at the foot of the hills which border the right bank of
the Allier. La-Guerche-sur-Aubois fulfils no better the conditions of
defence which must be required in the principal town of the Boii: it is
situated almost in a plain, on the edge of a marshy valley of the
Aubois. It presents a few remains of fortifications of the Middle Ages,
but not a trace of more remote antiquity has been discovered in it. To
seek Gorgobina farther down, and on the left bank of the Loire, is
impossible, since, according to Cæsar, the Boii had been established on
the territory of the Ædui, and the Loire formed the boundary between the
Ædui and the Bituriges. If we are reduced to conjectures, we must at
least admit as incontestable what is advanced by Cæsar.
The village of Saint-Parize-le-Châtel suits better. It is about eight
kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, nearly in the middle
of the space comprised between the Loire and the Allier; it occupies the
centre of ancient agglomeration of inhabitants, which Guy Coquille, at
the end of the sixteenth century, designates under the name of the
_bourg de Gentily_, and which the _chronicles_ called, down to the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, _Pagus Gentilicus_, or _bourg des
gentils_. The history of this people has this remarkable peculiarity,
that, whilst all the neighbouring nations on the other side of the
Allier and the Loire had, as early as the fourth century, accepted the
Christian religion, they alone continued in idolatry until the sixth
century. Does this fact apply to a tribe settled in a foreign country,
as the Boii were, who would retain their customs and religion for a
longer time unchanged? An ancient tradition states that, in the environs
of Saint-Parize, there was, at a very remote period, a considerable
town, which was destroyed by a fire. A few scattered foundations,
discovered in the woods of Bord, to the south-west of Saint Parize, seem
to indicate the site of the _oppidum_ of the Boii. The name of the
castle, of the domain, and of the place called _Les Bruyères de Buy_,
remind us of that of the Boii.
There was probably a Roman station at Saincaise-Meauce (thirteen
kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier), on the right bank
of the Allier. In 1861, there were discovered there numerous objects of
the Gallo-Roman period, and two busts in white marble, life-size,
representing Roman emperors. At Chantenay, eight kilomètres south from
Saint-Pierre, a few Roman foundations have been found, and a
considerable number of Gaulish coins, one of which, amongst others,
bears the name of the Æduan Litavicus.
_Genabum_. The position of Gorgobina once established at the confluence
of the Loire and the Allier, we must admit _Gien_ as the ancient
Genabum, and not _Orleans_, for the following reasons:--
1st. We cannot believe that Cæsar, leaving Sens in spite of the rigour
of the season, and in haste to raise the siege of Gorgobina, should,
without any reason, have taken a circuitous road of seventy-five
kilomètres, which would represent three or four days march, in order to
pass by Orleans. In fact, the distance from Sens to the confluence of
the Allier and the Loire, is, by Orleans, 270 kilomètres, whilst it is
only 180 kilomètres by the way of Gien.
2nd. From Sens to Gien the road was short and easy; on the contrary,
from Sens to Orleans it was necessary to pass the great marsh of Sceaux
and the forest of Orleans, probably impracticable. Now, the road
indicated on the Peutingerian Table, as leading from Orleans to Sens,
must have had a decided curve towards the south, and passed close by
Gien, after having passed through Aquæ-Segeste (_Craon_ and
_Chenevière_), for the distance between Sens and Orleans is marked at
fifty-nine Gaulish leagues, or 134 kilomètres. The Roman road, which
leads directly from Sens to Orleans, by way of Sceaux, and which the
itineraries do not mention, has only a length of 110 kilomètres: it is
certainly less ancient than the former, and can never have been a
Gaulish road.
3rd. The “Commentaries” inform us that the news of the insurrection of
Genabum arrived in a short time among the Averni (of whom Gergovia, near
Clermont, was the principal centre), at a distance of 160 miles (237
kilomètres) from Genabum. Now, the distance from Gien to Gergovia, by
the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, is 240 kilomètres, which agrees
with the text, whilst from Orleans to the same spot it is 300
kilomètres.
4th. After having crossed the Loire at Genabum, Cæsar was in the
territory of the Bituriges. This is true if he passed by Gien, and false
if he passed by Orleans, since, opposite Orleans, the left bank belonged
to the territory of the Carnutes. It is true that it has been pretended
that Gien belonged to the ancient diocese of Auxerre, and that,
consequently, it was in the territory of the Senones, and not in that of
the Carnutes. The limits of the ancient dioceses cannot be considered as
indicating in an absolute manner the frontiers of the peoples of Gaul;
and we cannot admit that the territory of the Senones formed an acute
angle upon the territory of the Carnutes, the summit of which would be
occupied by Gien. Moreover, whatever change it may have experienced in
feudal times, in regard to its diocesan attribution, Gien has never
formed a part of the Orléanais, in its civil and political relations. In
561, Gien was included in the kingdom of Orleans and Burgundy.
We believe, therefore, that Genabum was, not old Gien, which,
notwithstanding its epithet, may be posterior to Cæsar, but the present
Gien. This little town, by its position on the banks of the Loire,
besides containing a hill very appropriate for the site of an ancient
_oppidum_, possesses sufficiently interesting ruins, and agrees much
better than Old Gien with the _oppidum_ of the Carnutes. Without
attaching too great faith to traditions and etymologies, we must,
nevertheless, mention a gate at Gien, which, from time immemorial, has
been called Cæsar’s Gate (_la Porte de César_); a street called _à la
Genabye_, which leads, not towards Orleans, but towards the high part of
town; a piece of ground, situated to the north of Gien, at the angle
formed by the road to Montargis and the Roman road, at a distance of
about one kilomètre, which still preserves the name of the Field of the
Camp (_La Pièce du Camp_). Perhaps this is the spot where Cæsar placed
his camp, opposite the most accessible part of the town.
The principal reason why Orleans has been taken for Genabum is that the
Itinerary of Antoninus indicates that town under the name of _Cenabum_
or _Cenabo_, and that this name is also found in some lately discovered
inscriptions. It may be supposed that the inhabitants of Gien, after
having escaped from the destruction of their town, descended the river,
and, on the spot where Orleans now stands, formed a new establishment,
to which they gave the name of the first city; in the same manner the
inhabitants of Bibracte removed to Autun, and those of Gergovia to
Clermont.
Independently of the above considerations, Orleans, by its position on a
declivity uniformly inclined toward the Loire, does not at all answer to
the conditions of a Gaulish _oppidum_. If we admit Orleans to be
Genabum, it becomes very difficult to assign a convenient site for the
_oppida_ of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.
_Vellaunodunum._ The situation of the territory of the Boii being
admitted, as well as that of Genabum, we have to find, on the road which
Cæsar pursued from Sens to Gorgobina, the intermediate points of
Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.
On the direct line from Sens to Gien, at the distance of 40 kilomètres
from Sens, we meet with the little town of Triguères. The hill which
overlooks it from the north agrees with the position of the ancient
_oppidum_; the remains of walls, fosses, and parapets have been found on
it. Farther, there were discovered in 1856, at 500 mètres to the
north-west of Triguères, the ruins of a large semi-elliptical theatre,
capable of containing from 5,000 to 6,000 spectators. In another
direction, the ruins of a Druidical monument have been pointed out; in
fact, everything leads to the belief that there existed at Triguères, in
the Gallo-Roman period, an important centre, which had been preceded by
a Gaulish establishment anterior to the conquest. A road paved with
stones, considered by some as a Gaulish or Celtic way, but accepted by
all archæologists as a Roman road, goes direct from Sens to Triguères,
by Courtenay, and passes along the eastern side of the _oppidum_.
Another ancient way leads similarly from Triguères to Gien. We feel no
hesitation, after what precedes, in placing Vellaunodunum at Triguères.
It will be objected that the distance from Sens to this little town (40
kilomètres) is too small to have taken the Roman army, without baggage,
three days’ march; but Cæsar does not say that he employed three days in
proceeding from _Agedincum_ to _Vellaunodunum_: he informs us merely
that, leaving all his baggage at Agedincum, he journeyed towards the
country of the Boii, and that on the second day he arrived at
Vellaunodunum. Nothing, therefore, obliges us to suppose that, before it
marched, the Roman army was concentrated or encamped at Agedincum
itself. Persons unacquainted with military art are apt to suppose that
an army lives and marches always concentrated on one point.
Cæsar, although he was effecting the concentration of his troops before
entering into campaign, did not keep them massed at the gates of Sens,
but he probably distributed them in _échelon_ in the neighbourhood of
the town, along the Yonne. When afterwards he decided on marching to the
succour of the Boii, we must suppose that the first day was employed in
concentrating the whole army at Sens itself, in leaving the baggage
there, perhaps also in crossing the Yonne, a long operation for more
than 60,000 men. The first day having passed, the army continued its
march next day, and arrived at Triguères the day following, having
performed two days’ march of 20 kilomètres each. We see, then, that the
distance between Sens and Triguères does not prevent us from identifying
this latter locality with Vellaunodunum. Triguères is distant 44
kilomètres from Gien, the distance which separated Vellaunodunum from
Genabum, and which might have been marched in two days.
_Noviodunum._ To find the site of Noviodunum, we must seek a position
which agrees best with the “Commentaries” in the triangle formed by the
three known points, Gien, Le Bec-d’Allier, and Bourges. Since, according
to the text, Vercingetorix did not raise the siege of the town of the
Boii until he had heard of Cæsar’s arrival on the left bank of the
Loire, and since the two hostile armies, marching towards each other,
met at Noviodunum, it follows that this last-named town must be about
half-way between the spot where the Loire was passed and the town of the
Boii; on another hand, since Cæsar took several days to reach Bourges
from Noviodunum, there must have been a rather considerable distance
between those two last-named towns. Moreover, in order that the
inhabitants of Noviodunum should have seen in the distance, from the top
of their walls, the cavalry of Vercingetorix, the town must necessarily
have been situated on an eminence. Lastly, the cavalry combat, fought at
a small distance from the town, proves that the ground was sufficiently
flat to permit that engagement.
It is, therefore, because certain points hitherto indicated do not
answer to the conditions required by the text, that we have not
admitted, as representing Noviodunum, the towns of Nouan-le-Fuselier,
Pierrefitte-sur-Saudre, Nohant-en-Goût, Neuvy-en-Sullias, or
Neuvy-sur-Barangeon. In fact, some of these are too far from
Bec-d’Allier, while others are too near Bourges, and most of them are
situated in a plain.
Sancerre, on the contrary, answers all the conditions of the text. It is
situated on a hill which rises 115 mètres above the valley watered by
the Loire. Encircled on all sides by deep ravines, it can only be
approached from one point, situated to the east, where the ancient Roman
road of Bourges terminated, which is still at the present day called the
Big Road (_le Gros Chemin_). The Abbé Lebœuf, as early as 1727, had
designated this town as the ancient Noviodunum. It is near Saint-Satur,
at the very foot of the mountain of Sancerre, that a Gallo-Roman town
existed, of which, within the last few years, numerous foundations have
been found. It is probable that this Gallo-Roman town had succeeded to a
great centre of Gaulish population, for the Bituriges must necessarily
have occupied in their territory a point so admirably fortified by
nature, and which commanded the course of the Loire, the line of
boundary between them and the Ædui. The present town seems to have kept
within the very limits of the ancient _oppidum_; it has the form of an
ellipse of from 700 to 800 mètres in length on a breadth of about 500
mètres, capable of containing a population of from 4,000 to 5,000
inhabitants. At Sancerre there was also, at the extremity of one of the
streets, towards the north, a gate called the Gate of Cæsar (_Porte de
César_), which was demolished in the beginning of the nineteenth
century. By adopting Sancerre, all the movements of the commencement of
the campaign of 702 are easily explained. This town is forty-six
kilomètres from Gien, forty-eight kilomètres from Le Bec-d’Allier,
distances nearly equal, so that Vercingetorix and Cæsar, starting almost
at the same time from two opposite points, may have met under its walls.
Its elevated position allowed the eye to range far towards the south
along the valley of the Loire, through which the inhabitants would have
seen the approach of the cavalry of Vercingetorix. Cæsar may have
occupied with his army the heights of Verdigny or Saint-Satur, to the
north of Sancerre. A cavalry engagement may have taken place in the
valley of Saint-Satur, or on the plain between Ménétréol and
Saint-Thibaud. The captain of staff Rouby has examined with the greatest
care the places just mentioned.
Cæsar, after the surrender of Noviodunum, marches towards Bourges.
Vercingetorix follows him by short marches (_minoribus itineribus_). The
Roman general, having Bourges before him, and a hostile army on his
left, marches slowly and with precaution. Perhaps he took three or four
days to perform the forty-five kilomètres which separate Sancerre from
Bourges. At last, after having reconnoitred the site of Avaricum, he
must have traversed the marshes of the Yèvre, at a distance of three or
four kilomètres from that town, so as to take up a position to the
south-east of the _oppidum_, in that part which was not surrounded by
the river and the marshes, and which only offered a narrow passage. As
to Vercingetorix, he follows, or rather hovers on, the Roman army,
taking up his position on its left, and still keeping up his
communication with Avaricum, hesitating whether he shall deliver it to
the flames.
[469] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 13.
[470] Archælogists have pretended they find traces still existing of the
camp of Vercingetorix in the neighbourhood of Bourges, not considering
that Cæsar declares that the Gaulish chief did not, for the first time,
think of retrenching his camp in the Roman fashion till after the siege
of this town. We believe that Vercingetorix, although he came from the
east, encamped to the south of Bourges. It was, indeed, natural that he
should place himself between the Roman army and the land of the Arverni,
whence, probably, it drew its provisions. Besides, if he had placed his
camp to the east of Bourges, he would have intercepted the provisions
which Cæsar expected from the land of the Ædui, which the text does not
say.
[471] The ravine which descends to the Auron is still recognised at the
present day, between the Portes Saint-Michel and Saint-Paul, by the
sudden incline of the ground. Old plans of Bourges designate it by the
name of the _Vallée Saint-Paul_. The opposite ravine, which runs towards
the Porte Bourbonnoux, has disappeared under the successive fillings up
composing the soil of the garden of the archbishop’s palace. The ridge
of land forming the avenue cannot have been in Cæsar’s time more than
100 mètres broad. It has lost its primitive physiognomy, especially by
the formation of the Place Sérancourt, in 1700, on a site the level of
which did not then exceed that of the field of the present fair. The
depression of the ground which existed before the wall is more visible;
it has been filled-up during the different sieges of Bourges.
[472] This is evident, since the Romans, in order to be able to give the
assault, were obliged to construct a terrace eighty feet high. General
de Gœler believed this measurement exaggerated. Nevertheless, as this
terrace was constructed in a ravine, it was necessary that it should
compensate a difference of level of eighty mètres, of which thirty,
perhaps, represent the height of the wall.
[473] Vercingetorix, encamped first towards Dun-le-Roi, had approached
nearer Bourges. He had established his new camp to the east of that of
Cæsar, perhaps at La Chenevière, at the confluence of the Yèvre and the
brook of Villabon, fourteen kilomètres from Bourges.
[474] See the quotation from Vegetius, p. 143, note (1).
[475] We read in Vitruvius, on occasion of the siege of Marseilles:
“When the tortoise approached to batter the wall, they let down a cord
furnished with a slip-knot, in which they caught the ram, and raised its
head so high, by means of a wheel, that they prevented its striking the
wall.” (Vitruvius, X. 16.)
[476] Titus Livius expresses himself thus in speaking of the beseiged in
Ambracia, who dug a mine to meet that of the enemies: “Aperiunt viam
rectam in cuniculum.” (XXXVII. 7.)