CÆSAR WINS A GREAT VICTORY OVER THE NERVII
Ariovistus was a great warrior and he was not afraid of the Roman army,
but he was startled by the speed with which it reached his camp. He had
thought that the marshlands through which it must go, and the forests
through which it must penetrate, would have delayed it long on its way.
But if Ariovistus was unafraid, it was easy to see that his soldiers
were not over glad to see the Roman army. If they might have attacked
the enemy at once, they would have felt less gloomy. But there were
soothsayers in the camp, and these went from tent to tent, bidding the
soldiers wait until the new moon appeared before they fought.
Cæsar may have known what the soothsayers had said, but in any case,
he saw that the Germans were not ready to fight, so he determined to
attack their camp.
When the Romans began to advance, the Germans were roused to fury. They
forgot the words of the soothsayers, or, if they remembered, they paid
no heed to them, for they dashed furiously upon the enemy and tried to
break its ranks.
Again and again they hurled themselves upon the foe, but Cæsar’s
legions stood firm, and at length they, in their turn, attacked the
Germans with irresistible force. The Germans could not stand the
onslaught; they broke their ranks and fled.
If they could but reach the river Rhine and cross it they would be
safe, but the river was about thirty-five miles away.
Still that was the direction in which they fled, followed and cut down
not only by the Romans but by the Gauls, whose enemies they had always
been.
Ariovistus himself was almost captured, but he at length succeeded in
crossing the river with a few troops, and was then soon beyond the
reach of the Roman legions. This was Cæsar’s second great victory in
Gaul.
The Nervii, with whom he fought his next battle, were perhaps the most
terrible foes he encountered during the many years he spent among the
barbarians.
So determined were the Nervii to fight, that they did not even wait to
see if the Romans meant to attack them, but assembled in great numbers
on the left bank of the river Sambre, a tributary of the Meuse.
The home of this fierce tribe was in the thick forests of their
country, and here they had hidden their wives, their children, and
their property, when they set out to seek for the Romans.
Cæsar soon reached the right bank of the Sambre, opposite the enemy,
and ordered his men to encamp on a hill which sloped toward the river.
The Romans had put up their tents and were preparing to fortify the
camp, when suddenly a party of the Nervii, that had been in ambush,
dashed upon them. Almost at once they were followed by overwhelming
numbers, who had crossed the river and now swarmed up the hill and
passed into the camp.
Amid the wild confusion Cæsar was calm and undismayed. He ordered the
bugle to be sounded to recall those who had gone in search of wood,
then speedily gathering his men together he gave the signal to advance.
Bravely the Tenth Legion fought that day. Once, when it was posted on
the hill, it saw that its beloved general was in danger, and swift as
an arrow it sped to his side.
When it seemed as though the battle must indeed be lost, Cæsar snatched
a buckler from one of his men and himself led them on to victory. For
seeing their general before them the soldiers fought with new and grim
determination.
They could not indeed force the Nervii to flee, for the barbarians
scorned to turn their back to an enemy, but they could cut them down as
they stood at bay. Out of 60,000, only 500, it is said, were left alive
after the terrible slaughter on the banks of the Sambre.
Belgium and the whole of the north-west of France was now in the hands
of the Romans, for one of Cæsar’s officers had conquered Normandy and
Brittany.
Rome was jubilant with delight when she heard of Cæsar’s great victory
over the Nervii. The Senate resolved to celebrate it with unusual
festivities. For fifteen days the city was ordered to give itself up to
rejoicing, and the people, who adored Cæsar, were able to show their
pleasure in his success. Feasts and games followed each other day after
day, while bounteous sacrifices were offered to the gods.
Winter had now come and Cæsar resolved to go to Lucca, a town near to
the river Po. Here he was near enough to Rome to find out all that had
been going on in the city during his absence.
Many Romans too went to Lucca to visit the victorious general, and at
one time he entertained 200 senators.
Among his visitors in 56 B.C. came Pompey and Crassus, to renew the
Triumvirate.
It was agreed that Pompey and Crassus should be Consuls the following
year, while Cæsar should hold Gaul as his province for five years
longer, from 53 B.C. to 48 B.C.
Toward the end of that time he was to stand for the consulship and be
permitted to do so, without, in the usual way, first entering the city.