SIXTH BOOK OF THE WAR IN GAUL.--CÆSAR PURSUES AMBIORIX.--THE
MANNERS OF THE GAULS AND OF THE GERMANS ARE CONTRASTED.--B.C. 53.
Cæsar begins the next campaign before the winter is over, having, as we
have seen, been forced to continue the last long after the winter had
commenced. The Gauls were learning to unite themselves, and things were
becoming very serious with him. One Roman army, with probably ten
thousand men, had been absolutely destroyed, with its generals Titurius
Sabinus and Aurunculeius Cotta. Another under Quintus Cicero would have
suffered the same fate, but for Cæsar’s happy intervention. A third
under Labienus had been attacked. All Gaul had been under arms, or
thinking of arms, in the autumn; and though Cæsar had been able to
report at the end of the campaign that Gaul,--his Gaul, as he intended
that it should be,--was a little quieter, nevertheless he understood
well that he still had his work to do before he could enter upon
possession. He had already been the master of eight legions in Gaul,
containing 48,000 foot-soldiers, levied on the Italian side of the Alps.
He had added to this a large body of Gaulish cavalry and light
infantry, over and above his eight legions. He had now lost an entire
legion and a half, besides the gaps which must have been made in
Britain, and by the loss of those who had fallen when attacked under
Cicero by the Nervii. But he would show the Gauls that when so treated
he could begin again, not only with renewed but with increased force. He
would astound them by his display of Roman power, “thinking that, for
the future, it would greatly affect the opinion of Gaul that the power
of Italy should be seen to be so great that, if any reverse in war were
suffered, not only could the injury be cured in a short time, but that
the loss could be repaired even by increased forces.” He not only levies
fresh troops, but borrows a legion which Pompey commands outside the
walls of Rome. He tells us that Pompey yields his legion to the
“Republic and to Friendship.” The Triumvirate was still existing, and
Cæsar’s great colleague probably felt that he had no alternative. In
this way Cæsar not only re-established the legion which had been
annihilated, but completes the others, and takes the field with two new
legions added to his army. He probably now had as many as eighty
thousand men under his command.
He first makes a raid against our old friends the Nervii, who had nearly
conquered Cicero before Christmas, and who were already conspiring again
with certain German and neighbouring Belgian tribes. The reader will
perhaps remember that in the second book this tribe was said to have
been so utterly destroyed that hardly their name remained. That, no
doubt, was Cæsar’s belief after the great slaughter. There had been,
however, enough of them left nearly to destroy Q. Cicero and his legion.
Then Cæsar goes to Paris,--Lutetia Parisiorum, of which we now hear for
the first time,--and, with the help of his friends the Ædui and the
Remi, makes a peace with the centre tribes of Gaul, the Senones and
Carnutes. Then he resolves upon attacking Ambiorix with all his heart
and soul. Ambiorix had destroyed his legion and killed his two generals,
and against Ambiorix he must put forth all his force. It is said that
when Cæsar first heard of that misfortune he swore that he would not cut
his hair or shave himself till he was avenged. But he feels that he must
first dispose of those who would naturally be the allies of this
much-to-be-persecuted enemy. The Menapii, with whom we may remember that
he had never quite settled matters in his former war, and who live on
the southern banks of the Meuse not far from the sea, have not even yet
sent to him messengers to ask for peace. He burns their villages, takes
their cattle, makes slaves of the men, and then binds them by hostages
to have no friendship with Ambiorix. In the mean time Labienus utterly
defeats the great north-eastern tribe, the Treviri, whom he cunningly
allures into fighting just before they are joined by certain Germans who
are coming to aid them. “Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat.” These
unfortunate Gauls and Germans fall into every trap that is laid for
them. The speech which Cæsar quotes as having been made by Labienus to
his troops on this occasion is memorable. “Now,” says Labienus, “you
have your opportunity. You have got your enemy thoroughly at advantage.
That valour which you have so often displayed before the ‘Imperator,’
Cæsar, display now under my command. Think that Cæsar is present, and
that he beholds you.” To have written thus of himself Cæsar must have
thought of himself as of a god. He tells the story as though it were
quite natural that Labienus and the soldiers should so regard him.
After this battle, in which the Treviri are of course slaughtered, Cæsar
makes a second bridge over the Rhine, somewhat above the spot at which
he had crossed before. He does this, he says, for two reasons,--first,
because the Germans had sent assistance to the Nervii; and secondly,
lest his great enemy Ambiorix should find shelter among the Suevi. Then
he suggests that the opportunity is a good one for saying something to
his readers of the different manners of Gaul and of Germany. Among the
Gauls, in their tribes, their villages, and even in their families,
there are ever two factions, so that one should always balance the
other, and neither become superior. Cæsar so tells us at this particular
point of his narrative, because he is anxious to go back and explain how
it was that he had taken the part of the Ædui, and had first come into
conflict with the Germans, driving Ariovistus back across the Rhine for
their sake. In eastern Gaul two tribes had long balanced each other,
each, of course, striving for mastery,--the Ædui and the Sequani. The
Sequani had called in the aid of the Germans, and the Ædui had been very
hardly treated. In their sufferings they had appealed to Rome, having
had former relations of close amity with the Republic. Divitiacus, their
chief magistrate,--the brother of Dumnorix who was afterwards killed by
Cæsar’s order for running away with the Æduan cavalry before the second
invasion of Britain,--had lived for a while in Rome, and had enjoyed
Roman friendships, that of Cicero among others. There was a good deal of
doubt in Rome as to what should be done with these Ædui; but at last, as
we know, Cæsar decided on taking their part; and we know also how he
drove Ariovistus back into Germany, with the loss of his wives and
daughters. Thus it came to pass, Cæsar tells us, that the Ædui were
accounted first of all the Gauls in regard to friendship with Rome;
while the Remi, who came to his assistance so readily when the Belgians
were in arms against him, were allowed the second place.
Among the Gauls there are, he says, two classes of men held in
honour,--the Druids and the knights; by which we understand that two
professions or modes of life, and two only, were open to the
nobility,--the priesthood and the army. All the common people, Cæsar
says, are serfs, or little better. They do not hesitate, when oppressed
by debt or taxation, or the fear of some powerful enemy, to give
themselves into slavery, loving the protection so obtained. The Druids
have the chief political authority, and can maintain it by the dreadful
power of excommunication. The excommunicated wretch is an outlaw,
beyond the pale of civil rights. Over the Druids is one great Druid, at
whose death the place is filled by election among all the Druids, unless
there be one so conspicuously first that no ceremony of election is
needed. Their most sacred spot for worship is among the Carnutes, in the
middle of the country. Their discipline and mysteries came to them from
Britain, and when any very knotty point arises they go to Britain to
make inquiry. The Druids don’t fight, and pay no taxes. The ambition to
be a Druid is very great; but then so is the difficulty. Twenty years of
tuition is not uncommonly needed; for everything has to be learned by
heart. Of their religious secrets nothing may be written. Their great
doctrine is the transmigration of souls; so that men should believe that
the soul never dies, and that death, therefore, or that partial death
which we see, need not be feared. They are great also in astronomy,
geography, natural history,--and general theology, of course.
The knights, or nobles, have no resource but to fight. Cæsar suggests
that before the blessing of his advent they were driven to the
disagreeable necessity of fighting yearly with each other. Of all people
the Gauls, he says, are the most given to superstition; in so much so,
that in all dangers and difficulties they have recourse to human
sacrifices, in which the Druids are their ministers. They burn their
victims to appease their deities, and, by preference, will burn thieves
and murderers,--the gods loving best such polluted victims,--but, in
default of such, will have recourse to an immolation of innocents. Then
Cæsar tells us that among the gods they chiefly worship Mercury, whom
they seem to have regarded as the cleverest of the gods; but they also
worship Apollo, Mars, Jove, and Minerva, ascribing to them the
attributes which are allowed them by other nations. How the worship of
the Greek and Roman gods became mingled with the religion of the Druids
we are not told, nor does Cæsar express surprise that it should have
been so. Cæsar gives the Roman names of these gods, but he does not
intend us to understand that they were so called by the Gauls, who had
their own names for their deities. The trophies of war they devote to
Mars, and in many states keep large stores of such consecrated spoils.
It is not often that a Gaul will commit the sacrilege of appropriating
to his own use anything thus made sacred; but the punishment of such
offence, when it is committed, is death by torture. There is the
greatest veneration from sons to their fathers. Until the son can bear
arms he does not approach his father, or even stand in public in his
presence. The husband’s fortune is made to equal the wife’s dowry, and
then the property is common between them. This seems well enough, and
the law would suit the views of British wives of the present day. But
the next Gaulish custom is not so well worthy of example. Husbands have
the power of life and death over their wives and children; and when any
man of mark dies, if there be cause for suspicion, his wives are
examined under torture, and if any evil practice be confessed, they are
then tortured to death. We learn from this passage that polygamy was
allowed among the Gauls. The Gauls have grand funerals. Things which
have been dear to the departed are burned at these ceremonies. Animals
were thus burned in Cæsar’s time, but in former days slaves also, and
dependants who had been specially loved. The best-governed states are
very particular in not allowing rumours as to state affairs to be made
matter of public discussion. Anything heard is to be told to the
magistrate; but there is to be no discussion on public affairs except in
the public council. So much we hear of the customs of the Gauls.
The Germans differ from the Gauls in many things. They know nothing of
Druids, nor do they care for sacrifices. They worship only what they see
and enjoy,--the sun, and fire, and the moon. They spend their time in
hunting and war, and care little for agriculture. They live on milk,
cheese, and flesh. They are communists as to the soil, and stay no
longer than a year on the same land. These customs they follow lest they
should learn to prefer agriculture to war; lest they should grow fond of
broad possessions, so that the rich should oppress the poor; lest they
should by too much comfort become afraid of cold and heat; lest the love
of money should grow among them, and one man should seek to be higher
than another. From all which it seems that the Germans were not without
advanced ideas in political economy.
It is a great point with the Germans to have no near neighbours. For the
sake of safety and independence, each tribe loves to have a wide
margin. In war the chieftains have power of life and death. In time of
peace there are no appointed magistrates, but the chiefs in the cantons
declare justice and quell litigation as well as they can. Thieving in a
neighbouring state,--not in his own,--is honourable to a German.
Expeditions for thieving are formed, which men may join or not as they
please; but woe betide him who, having promised, fails. They are good to
travelling strangers. There was a time when the Gauls were better men
than the Germans, and could come into Germany and take German land. Even
now, says Cæsar, there are Gaulish tribes living in Germany after German
fashion. But the nearness of the Province to Gaul has taught the Gauls
luxury, and so it has come to pass that the Gauls are not as good in
battle as they used to be. It is interesting to gather from all these
notices the progress of civilisation through the peoples of Europe, and
some hint as to what has been thought to be good and bad for humanity by
various races before the time of Christ.
Cæsar then tells us of a great Hercynian forest, beginning from the
north of Switzerland and stretching away to the Danube. A man in nine
days would traverse its breadth; but even in sixty days a man could not
get to the end of it lengthwise. We may presume that the Black Forest
was a portion of it. It contains many singular beasts,--bisons with one
horn; elks, which are like great stags, but which have no joints in
their legs, and cannot lie down,--nor, if knocked down, can they get
up,--which sleep leaning against trees; but the trees sometimes break,
and then the elk falls and has a bad time of it. Then there is the urus,
almost as big as an elephant, which spares neither man nor beast. It is
a great thing to kill a urus, but no one can tame them, even when young.
The Germans are fond of mounting the horns of this animal with silver,
and using them for drinking-cups.
Cæsar does very little over among the Germans. He comes back, partly
destroys his bridge, and starts again in search of Ambiorix. His
lieutenant Basilus nearly takes the poor hunted chieftain, but Ambiorix
escapes, and Cæsar moralises about fortune. Ambiorix, the reader will
remember, was joint-king over the Eburones with one Cativolcus.
Cativolcus, who is old, finding how his people are harassed, curses his
brother king who has brought these sorrows on the nation, and poisons
himself with the juice of yew-tree.
All the tribes in the Belgic country, Gauls as well as Germans, were now
very much harassed. They all had helped, or might have helped, or, if
left to themselves, might at some future time give help to Ambiorix and
the Eburones. Cæsar divides his army, but still goes himself in quest of
his victim into the damp, uncomfortable countries near the mouths of the
Scheldt and Meuse. Here he is much distracted between his burning desire
to extirpate that race of wicked men over whom Ambiorix had been king,
and his anxiety lest he should lose more of his own men in the work
than the wicked race is worth. He invites the neighbouring Gauls to help
him in the work, so that Gauls should perish in those inhospitable
regions rather than his own legionaries. This, however, is fixed in his
mind, that a tribe which has been guilty of so terrible an
offence,--which has destroyed in war an army of his, just as he would
have delighted to destroy a Gaulish army,--must be extirpated, so that
its very name may cease to exist! “Pro tali facinore, stirps ac nomen
civitatis tollatur.”
Cæsar, in dividing his army, had stationed Q. Cicero with one legion and
the heavy baggage and spoils of the army, in a fortress exactly at that
spot from which Titurius Sabinus had been lured by the craft of
Ambiorix. Certain Germans, the Sigambri, having learned that all the
property of the Eburones had been given up by Cæsar as a prey to any who
would take it, had crossed the Rhine that they might thus fill their
hands. But it is suggested to them that they may fill their hands much
fuller by attacking Q. Cicero in his camp; and they do attack him, when
the best part of his army is away looking for provisions. That special
spot in the territory of the Eburones is again nearly fatal to a Roman
legion. But the Germans, not knowing how to press the advantage they
gain, return with their spoil across the Rhine, and Cæsar again comes up
like a god. But he has not as yet destroyed Ambiorix,--who indeed is not
taken at last,--and expresses his great disgust and amazement that the
coming of these Germans, which was planned with the view of injuring
Ambiorix, should have done instead so great a service to that
monstrously wicked chieftain.
He does his very best to catch Ambiorix in person, offering great
rewards and inducing his men to undergo all manner of hardships in the
pursuit. Ambiorix, however, with three or four chosen followers, escapes
him. But Cæsar is not without revenge. He burns all the villages of the
Eburones, and all their houses. He so lays waste the country that even
when his army is gone not a soul should be able to live there. After
that he probably allowed himself to be shaved. Ambiorix is seen here and
is seen there, but with hairbreadth chances eludes his pursuer. Cæsar,
having thus failed, returns south, as winter approaches, to
Rheims,--Durocortorum; and just telling us in four words how he had one
Acco tortured to death because Acco had headed a conspiracy in the
middle of Gaul among the Carnutes and Senones, and how he outlawed and
banished others whom he could not catch, he puts his legions into winter
quarters, and again goes back to Italy to hold assizes and look after
his interests amid the great affairs of the Republic.