[575] We thus judge how much the assembly took to heart the
success of this measure, and how much, in supporting it, Pompey
flattered the sentiments of the majority.
success of this measure, and how much, in supporting it, Pompey
flattered the sentiments of the majority.
Napoleon - History of Julius Caesar - b
The besieged, terrified at this mortality, filled
barrels with pitch, grease, and shavings, and rolled them in flames upon
the Roman works, making at the same time a sally, so as to prevent them
from extinguishing the fire; soon it spread to the covered galleries and
the terrace, which stopped the progress of the inflammable materials.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of the ground and the increasing danger,
the Romans still persevered in their struggle. The battle took place on
a height, within sight of the army; loud cries were raised on both
sides; each individual sought to rival his fellows in zeal, and the more
he was exposed to view, the more courageously he faced the missiles and
the fire.
Cæsar, as he was sustaining great loss, determined to feign an assault,
in order to create a diversion: he ordered some cohorts to climb the
hill on all sides, uttering loud cries. This movement terrified the
besieged, who, fearing to be attacked on other points, called back to
the defence of the wall those who were setting fire to the works. Then
the Romans were able to extinguish the fire. Nevertheless, the siege
span out in length; the Gauls, although exhausted by thirst and reduced
to a small number, did not cease to defend themselves vigorously. At
length, the subterranean gallery having reached the veins of the spring,
they were taken and turned aside. The besieged, seeing the fountain all
at once dried up, believed, in their despair, that it was an
intervention of the gods, submitted to necessity, and surrendered.
Cæsar considered that the pacification of Gaul would never be completed
if the same resistance was encountered in many other towns. He thought
it indispensable to spread terror by a severe example, so much the more
as “the well-known mildness of his temper,” says Hirtius, “would not
allow this necessary rigour to be ascribed to cruelty. ” He ordered all
those who had carried arms to have their hands cut off, and sent them
away, as living witnesses of the chastisement reserved for rebels.
Drappes, who had been taken prisoner, starved himself to death;
Lucterius, who had been arrested by the Arvernan Epasnactus, a friend of
the Romans, was delivered up to Cæsar. [553]
[Sidenote: Excavations made at Puy-d’Issolu. ]
VII. The excavations made at Puy-d’Issolu in 1865 leave no further doubt
as to the site of Uxellodunum. (_See Plates 31 and 32. _)
The Puy d’Issolu is a lofty mountain, situated not far from the right
bank of the Dordogne, between Vayrac and Martel; it is isolated on all
sides except towards the north, where it is joined by a defile of 400
mètres wide (the Col de Roujon) to heights named the Pech-Demont. Its
plateau, crowned by a circle of perpendicular rocks, commands, almost in
every direction, the low ground which surrounds it. This is what the
author of the VIIIth book _De Bello Gallico_ expresses by these words:
_Infima vallis totum pæne montem cingebat in quo positum erat præruptum
undique oppidum Uxellodunum_. This plateau, with a surface of eighty
hectares in extent, presents strongly-marked undulations: its general
incline lies from the north to the south, in the direction of the length
of the mountain mass; its highest point is 317 mètres above the level of
the sea, and it rises 200 mètres above the valleys which surround it.
The whole eastern slope of the mountain, that which looks towards Vayrac
and the Dordogne, is surmounted with rocks, which have a height of as
much as forty mètres; consequently, no operation took place on this side
during the time of the siege. The western slope alone was the theatre of
the different combats. Its declivities are not inaccessible, especially
between the village of Loulié and the hamlet of Leguillat, but they are
sufficiently abrupt to make the Latin author say: _Quo, defendente
nullo, tamen armatis ascendere esset difficile_. At the very foot of
this declivity, and at 200 mètres beneath the culminating point of the
plateau, the Tourmente flows, a little river ten mètres broad, embanked
between this declivity and that of the opposite heights: _Flumen infimam
vallem dividebat_, &c. Such a disposition of the localities, as well as
the slight descent of the Tourmente (one mètre in 1,000), rendered it
impossible to turn off that river. (_Hoc flumem averti loci natura
prohibebat_, &c. )
There is no spring on the plateau of Puy-d’Issolu; but several issue
from the sides of the mountain, one of which, that of Loulié, is
sufficiently abundant to provide for the necessities of a numerous
population. This was the spring which the Romans succeeded in turning
off. At the time of the siege, it issued from the side of the mountain
at _S_ (_see Plate 31_), at twenty-five mètres from the wall of the
_oppidum_, and at a distance of about 300 mètres from the Tourmente.
These 300 mètres make about 200 Roman paces. We see, therefore, that in
the Latin text the word _pedum_ must be replaced by _passuum_. We also
see that the word _circuitus_ (VIII. 4) must be taken in the sense of
the _course_ of the river.
The “Commentaries” say (VIII. 33) that Rebilus established three camps
in very elevated positions. Their sites are indicated by the nature of
the localities: the first, _A_, was on the heights of Montbuisson; the
second, _B_, on those of the Château de Termes; the third, _C_, opposite
the defile of Roujon, on the Pech-Demont. It appears from the
excavations that the Romans had not retrenched the two first, which is
easily explained, for the heights to the west of the Puy-d’Issolu are
impregnable. Moreover, the Romans at Uxellodunum were not in the same
situation as at Alesia. There they had before them 80,000 men, and in
their rear a very numerous army of succour; here, on the contrary, it
was only a question of reducing a few thousand men. The camp _C_
required to be protected, because it was possible for troops to descend
from the tableau of the Puy-d’Issolu towards the defile of Roujon,
which, being situated fifty mètres lower down, gives an easy access to
the heights of Pech-Demont. The excavations have, in fact, brought to
light a double line of parallel fosses, which barred the defile behind,
and formed at the same time a countervallation.
The Gauls could only quit the town by this defile, and by the western
slope of the mountain. It became, consequently, interesting to ascertain
if the Romans made a countervallation along the Tourmente, on the slopes
of the heights of the castle of Termes and of Montbuisson.
Unfortunately, the railway from Perigueux to Capdenac, which passes over
the very site where the countervallation might have been made, has
destroyed all traces of the Roman works: the excavations made above this
line have produced no result.
The most interesting discovery was that of the subterranean
gallery. [554] Until the moment when the excavations were commenced, a
part of the rain-water absorbed by the plateau of the Puy-d’Issolu
issued near the village of Loulié by two springs, _A_ and _A’_. (_See
Plate 32. _) The spring _A’_ flows from a ravine, and corresponds to the
_thalweg_ of the slope; as to the source _A_, it is easily seen by the
appearance of the ground that it has been turned from its natural
course. The excavations, in fact, have proved that it is produced by the
waters which run in the Roman gallery. This gallery has been opened over
an extent of forty mètres. It was dug in a solid mass of tufa nearly ten
mètres thick, which had been formed in the centuries anterior to Cæsar.
Its form is that of a semicircular vault, supported by two perpendicular
sides; its average dimensions are 1·80m. in height, by a width of 1·50
mètres. The mud carried along by the waters, and accumulated since the
time of the siege of Uxellodunum, had almost filled the gallery, leaving
only at the top of the _intrados_ an empty space in the form of a
segment of a circle, with 0·50m. chord by 0·15m. for the absciss of its
curve. Through this empty space the water ran at the time of the
excavations.
Before reaching the tufa, the first subterranean works of the Romans had
been made in the pure soil, which had to be propped: fragments of
blindage have been found, some of them fixed in silicious mud, corroded
or reduced to the state of ligneous paste, others petrified by their
long contact with the waters charged with calcareous sediments. A
considerable number of these petrified blocks, and remains of wood,
collected in the interior of the gallery, are deposited in the museum of
Saint-Germain.
The gallery does not lead directly to the spring which existed in the
time of the Gauls. The Roman miners, after having made their way
straightforward for a length of six mètres, came upon a thick bed of
blue marl of the lias: they turned to their left to avoid digging
through it, and advanced four mètres farther, following the marl, which
they left to the right. When they reached the end of the marls, a
horizontal layer of hard rock, one mètre thick, obliged them to bring
the gallery back to its former direction, and to raise it, in order to
avoid this new obstacle without going out of the tufas, which, formed by
the waters, would necessarily lead towards the spring. (_See Plate 32. _)
From this second turning, the gallery continued close to the line of
separation of the marls and the tufas. It rose rapidly, until it reached
the limit of the deposits of tufa. At this point blindage had again been
necessary. It was there chiefly that the blocks of petrification
presented a peculiar character: some lay thrown down in the gallery,
pierced by sockets with a rectangular section, which show the dimensions
and the way in which it had been worked; others, with a rounded base,
are veritable uprights, still standing on the rock.
Independently of the excavations made to find the Roman fosses and the
subterranean gallery, others have been made on the slope of Loulié, in
the soil which is near the spring. They have brought to light numerous
fragments of Gaulish pottery and of amphoræ, and, which is a further
confirmation of the identity of the Puy d’Issolu with Uxellodunum,
remains of arms similar in all respects to those found in the fosses of
Alesia. [555] Under the earthfalls which during nineteen centuries have
taken place on the slope of Loulié, all the traces of the fire described
in the “Commentaries” have been also found. The site of the terrace and
the covered galleries which were fired were also traced on the ground.
_Plate 32_ represents the slope which was the scene of the struggle: the
terrace, the tower, and the covered galleries are represented on it, as
well as the subterranean gallery, according to a very exact survey made
on the spot.
[Sidenote: Complete Submission of Gaul. ]
VIII. Whilst these events were taking place on the banks of the
Dordogne, Labienus, in a cavalry engagement, had gained a decisive
advantage over a part of the Treviri and Germans, had taken prisoner
their chief, and thus subjected that people, who were always ready to
support any insurrection against the Romans. The Æduan Surus fell also
into his hands: he was a chief distinguished for his courage and his
birth, and the only one of that nation who had not yet laid down his
arms.
From that moment Cæsar considered Gaul to be completely pacified; he
resolved, however, to go himself to Aquitaine, which he had not yet
visited, and which Publius Crassus had partly conquered. Arriving there
at the head of two legions, he obtained the complete submission of that
country without difficulty: all the tribes sent him hostages. He
proceeded next to Narbonne with a detachment of cavalry, and charged
his lieutenants to put the army into winter quarters. Four legions,
under the orders of Mark Antony, Caius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius, and
Q. Tullius, were quartered in Belgium; two among the Ædui, and two among
the Turones, on the frontier of the Carnutes, to hold in check all the
countries bordering on the ocean. These two last legions took up their
winter quarters on the territory of the Lemovices, not far from the
Arverni, so that no part of Gaul should be without troops. Cæsar
remained but a short time in the province, presiding hastily over the
assemblies, determining cases of public contestation, and rewarding
those who had served him well. He had had occasion, more than any one,
to know their sentiments individually, because, during the general
revolt of Gaul, the fidelity and succour of the province had aided him
in triumphing over it. When these affairs were settled, he returned to
his legions in Belgium, and took up his winter quarters at Nemetocenna
(_Arras_).
There he was informed of the last attempts of Commius, who, continuing a
partisan war at the head of a small number of cavalry, intercepted the
Roman convoys. Mark Antony had charged C. Volusenus Quadratus, prefect
of the cavalry, to pursue him; he had accepted the task eagerly, in the
hope of succeeding this time better than the first; but Commius, taking
advantage of the rash ardour with which his enemy had rushed upon him,
had wounded him seriously, and escaped; he was discouraged, however, and
had promised Mark Antony to retire to any spot which should be
appointed him, on condition that he should never be compelled to appear
before a Roman. [556] This condition having been accepted, he had given
hostages. [557]
Gaul was henceforth subjugated; death or slavery had carried off its
principal citizens. Of all the chiefs who had fought for its
independence, only two survived, Commius and Ambiorix. Banished far from
their country, they died unknown.
BOOK IV.
RECAPITULATION OF THE WAR IN GAUL, AND RELATION OF EVENTS AT ROME FROM
696 TO 705.
CHAPTER I.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 696.
[Sidenote: Difficulties of Cæsar’s Task. ]
I. In the preceding book we have given, from the “Commentaries,” the
relation of the war in Gaul, and endeavoured to elucidate doubtful
questions, and to discover the localities which were the scenes of so
many combats. It will now be not uninteresting to recapitulate the
principal events of the eight campaigns of the Roman proconsul,
separated from all their technical details. We will at the same time
examine what was passing, during this period, on the banks of the Tiber,
and the events which led to the Civil War.
Writers who dislike glory take pleasure in undervaluing it. They seem to
wish thus to invalidate the judgment of past ages: we seek in preference
to confirm it, by explaining why the renown of certain men has filled
the world. To bring to light the heroic examples of the past, to show
that glory is the legitimate reward of great actions, is to pay homage
to the public opinion of all times. Man struggling with difficulties
which seem insurmountable, and conquering them by his genius, offers a
spectacle always worthy of our admiration; and this admiration will be
the more justified, according to the greater disproportion between the
end and the means.
Cæsar is going to quit Rome, to go far from the debates of the Forum,
the agitation of the comitia, and the intrigues of a corrupt town, in
order to take the command of his troops. Let us, then, for a moment lay
aside the statesman, and consider only the warrior, the great captain.
The Roman proconsul is not one of those barbarian chieftains who, at the
head of innumerable hordes, throw themselves upon a foreign country to
ravage it with fire and sword. His mission is not to destroy, but to
extend to a distance the influence of the Republic, by protecting the
peoples of Gaul, either against their own dissensions, or against the
encroachments of their dangerous neighbours. The dangers from which
Italy had been saved by the victories of Marius are not forgotten. Men’s
memory still recalls the savage bravery, and, still more, the multitude
of those barbarians who, before the battle of Aix, had employed six
entire days in defiling in front of the camp of Marius;[558] they still
fear a renewal of these inundations of peoples, and Cæsar’s first duty
is to avert similar perils. Already the Helvetii and their allies, to
the number of 368,000, are on the road towards the Rhine; 120,000
Germans have established themselves in Gaul; 24,000 Harudes, their
countrymen, have just followed the same example; others are marching
after them, and more than 100,000 Suevi are preparing to cross the
Rhine.
The Narbonnese forms the proconsul’s basis of operation, but it is
partly composed of populations recently subjugated, whose fidelity is as
yet doubtful. Rome has in Gaul allied peoples, but they have lost their
preponderance. The different states, divided among themselves by
intestine rivalries, offer an easy prey to the enemy; but let the Roman
army come to occupy their territory in a permanent manner, and thus
wound their feelings of independence, and all the warlike youth will
unite, eager to begin a struggle full of perils for the invaders. Cæsar
is obliged, therefore, to act with extreme prudence, to favour the
ambition of some, repress the encroachments of others, and spare the
susceptibility of all, taking care not to wound their religion, their
laws, or their manners; he is obliged at the same time to draw a part of
his forces from the country he occupies, and obtain thence men,
subsidies, and provisions. The greatest difficulty experienced by the
commander of an army operating in a country the good-will of which he
seeks to conciliate, is to enable his troops to live without exhausting
it, and to assure the welfare of his soldiers without exciting the
discontent of the inhabitants. “To seek to call,” says the Emperor
Napoleon I. in his _Mémoires_, “a nation to liberty and independence; to
desire that a public spirit should form in the midst of it, and that it
should furnish troops; and at the same time to take from it its
principal resources, are two contradictory ideas, and to conciliate them
is the province of talent. ”[559]
Thus, to fight between two and three hundred thousand Helvetii and
Germans, to hold in dominion eight millions of Gauls, and to maintain
the Roman province--such is the task which Cæsar has undertaken, and, to
carry it out, he has as yet only at hand a single legion. What means
will he have to overcome all these obstacles? His genius and the
ascendency of civilisation over barbarism.
[Sidenote: Campaign against the Helvetii. ]
II. Cæsar starts from Rome towards the middle of March, 696, and arrives
in eight days at Geneva. Immediately the Helvetii, who had appointed
their rendezvous on the banks of the Rhine towards the 24th of March,
the day of the equinox, ask his permission to cross Savoy, with the
intention of going to establish themselves in Saintonge. He adjourns his
answer to the 8th of April, and employs the fifteen days thus gained in
fortifying the left bank of the Rhone, from Geneva to the
Pas-de-l’Ecluse, in raising troops in the Roman province, and in
renewing the old bonds of friendship with the Burgundians,[560] who will
soon furnish him with men, horses, and provisions.
By rendering the passage of the Rhone impossible, and by binding to his
cause the peoples who occupied the whole course of the Saône, from
Pontailler to near Trévoux, he had cut off from the Helvetii the road to
the south, and thrown difficulties in their way towards the west. Still,
these persisted none the less in their design; they made an arrangement
with the people of Franche-Comté, to whom the passage of the
Pas-de-l’Ecluse belonged, to debouch by that defile into the plains of
Ambérieux and on the plateau of the Dombes. They could thus arrive at
the Saône, pass it peaceably or by force, proceed into the valley of the
Loire by crossing the mountains of Charolais, and penetrate thence into
Saintonge.
As soon as Cæsar was aware of this project, he immediately decided on
his course of action: he foresaw that a long time would elapse before
the Helvetii effected a passage across the unquiet countries of so many
hosts; he reckons that an agglomeration of 368,000 individuals, men,
women, and children, carrying three months’ provisions in wagons, would
be slow to move; he repairs to the Cisalpine, raises two legions there,
sends to Aquileia for the three who were in winter quarters there, and,
crossing the Alps again, arrives, two months afterwards, at the
confluence of the Rhone and the Saône, on the heights of Sathonay. He
learns that the Helvetii have been employed during twenty days in
crossing the Saône between Trévoux and Villefranche, but that a part of
them still remain on the left bank; seizes the opportunity, attacks the
latter, defeats them, and thus diminishes the number of his adversaries
by one-fourth; then, crossing the Saône, he follows during fifteen days
the mass of the Helvetian emigration, which was advancing towards the
sources of the Bourbince. As he finds himself in want of provisions, he
turns off from his road, and marches towards Bibracte (_Mont Beuvray_),
the citadel and principal town of the Burgundians. This march to the
right leads the Helvetii to believe that he is afraid of encountering
them; they then march back, and attack him unexpectedly; a great battle
is fought, and, with his four old legions only, Cæsar gains the victory.
The immigration, already considerably diminished by the battle of the
Saône, no longer counts more than 130,000 individuals, who make their
retreat towards the country of Langres. The Roman general does not
pursue them; he remains three days burying the dead and attending to the
wounded. But his influence is already so great, that, to deprive the
wreck of the vanquished army of provisions, he has only to give orders
to the peoples whose territory they cross. Deprived of all resources,
the fugitives discontinue their march, and make their submission. He
hastens to overtake them towards Tonnerre. When he arrives in the midst
of them, he adopts a generous policy, and gains, by his generous
behaviour, those whom he had subjugated by his arms.
There was in the Helvetic conglomeration a people renowned for their
valor, the Boii; Cæsar permits the Burgundians to receive them into the
number of their fellow-citizens, and give them lands at the confluence
of the Allier and the Loire. As to the other barbarians, with the
exception of 6,000 who had attempted to withdraw from the capitulation
by flight, he obliges them to return to their country, dismisses them
without ransom, instead of selling them as slaves, and thus drawing from
them a considerable profit, according to the general usage of that
period. [561] By preventing the Germans from establishing themselves in
the countries abandoned by the immigration, he made a calculation of
interest secondary to a high political sentiment, and foresaw that
Helvetia, by its geographical position, was destined to be a bulwark
against invasion from the north, and that, then as now, it was important
for the power seated on the Rhone and the Alps to have on its eastern
frontiers a friendly and independent people. [562]
[Sidenote: Campaign against Ariovistus. ]
III. The victory gained near Bibracte has, at one blow, restored the
prestige of the Roman arms. Cæsar has become the arbitrator of the
destinies of a part of Gaul: all the peoples comprised between the
Marne, the Rhone, and the mountains of Auvergne, obey him. [563] The
Helvetii have returned into their country; the Burgundians have
re-conquered their ancient preponderance. The assembly of Celtic Gaul,
held with his permission at Bibracte, invokes his protection against
Ariovistus, and, to the far north, the people of Trèves hasten to
denounce to him a threatened invasion of Germans. It had always been a
part of the policy of the Republic to extend its influence by going to
the succour of oppressed peoples. Cæsar could not fail to regulate his
conduct upon this principle. Not only did it concern him to deliver the
Gauls from a foreign yoke, but he sought to deprive the Germans of the
possibility of settling on the banks of the Saône, and thus threatening
the Roman province, and perhaps Italy itself.
Before having recourse to arms, Cæsar, who, during his consulship, had
caused Ariovistus to be declared the ally and friend of the Roman
republic, undertook to try upon him the means of persuasion. He sent to
demand an interview, and received only a haughty reply. Soon, informed
that, three days before, the German king has crossed his frontiers at
the head of a numerous army, and that, on another side, the hundred
cantons of the Suevi are threatening to cross the Rhine towards Mayence,
he starts from Tonnerre in haste to go forward to meet him. When he
arrives near Arc-en-Barrois, he learns that Ariovistus is marching with
all his troops upon Besançon. He then turns to the right, anticipates
him, and takes possession of that important place. No doubt, at the news
of the march of the Roman army, Ariovistus slackened his own, and halted
in the neighbourhood of Colmar.
After remaining a few days at Besançon, Cæsar takes the way to the
Rhine, avoids the mountainous spurs of the Jura, proceeds by
Pennesières, Arcey, and Belfort, and debouches towards Cernay in the
fertile plains of Alsace. The two armies are only twenty-four miles
apart. Cæsar and Ariovistus have an interview; its only result is to
increase their mutual resentment. The latter conceives the project of
cutting the line of operation of the Romans, and, passing near the site
of the modern Mulhouse, he proceeds, by a circuitous movement, to
establish himself on the stream of the little Doller, to the south of
the Roman army, which, encamped on the Thur, supports its rear on the
last spurs of the Vosges, near Cernay. In this position, Ariovistus
intercepts Cæsar’s communications with Franche-Comté and Burgundy. The
latter, to restore them, distributes his troops into two camps, and
causes a second camp to be made, less considerable than the first, on
his right, near the little Doller. During several days, he seeks in vain
to draw Ariovistus to a battle; then, learning that the matrons have
advised the Germans not to tempt fortune before the new moon, he unites
his legions, places all the auxiliaries on his right, marches resolutely
to assault the camp of the Germans, forces them to accept battle, and
defeats them after an obstinate resistance. In their flight, they take
the same road by which they had advanced, and, pursued for a distance of
fifty miles, they re-pass the Rhine towards Rhinau. As to the Suevi, who
had assembled near Mayence, when they are informed of the disaster of
their allies, they hasten to regain their country.
Thus, in his first campaign, Cæsar, by two great battles, had delivered
Gaul from the invasion of the Helvetii and the Germans; all the Gauls
looked upon him as a liberator. But services rendered are very soon
forgotten when people owe their liberty and independence to a foreign
army.
Cæsar places his troops in winter quarters in Franche-Comté, leaves the
command to Labienus, and starts for Cisalpine Gaul, where he is obliged,
as proconsul, to preside over the provincial assemblies. Nearer Rome
during the winter, he could follow more easily the political events of
the metropolis.
[Sidenote: Sequel of the Consulship of L. Calpurnius Piso and Aulus
Galbinus. ]
IV. While the armies were augmenting the power of the Republic without,
at Rome the intestine struggles continued with new fury. It could hardly
be otherwise among the elements of discord and anarchy which were at
work, and which, since the departure of Cæsar, were no longer held under
control by a lofty intelligence and a firm will. Moral force, so
necessary to every government, no longer existed anywhere, or rather, it
did not exist where the institutions willed it to be, in the Senate;
and, according to the remark of a celebrated German historian, this
assembly which ruled the world, was incapable of ruling the town. [564]
For a long time the prestige of one man in visible power was master over
that of the Senate; Pompey, by his military renown, and by his alliance
with Cæsar and Crassus, continued dominant, although he had not then any
legal power. Cæsar had reckoned upon him to continue his work, and curb
the bad passions which were in agitation in the highest regions as well
as in the lowest depths of society: but Pompey had neither the mind nor
energy necessary to master at the same time the arrogance of the nobles
and the turbulence of certain partisans of the demagogy; he was soon
exposed to the censure of both parties. [565] Moreover entirely under the
influence of the charms of his young wife, he appeared indifferent to
what was passing around him. [566]
The relation of the events at Rome during the eight years of Cæsar’s
abode in Gaul will only offer us an uninterrupted series of vengeances,
murders, and acts of violence of every description. How, indeed, could
order be maintained in so vast a city without a permanent military
force; when each man of importance took with him, for his escort, his
clients or slaves in arms, and thus, within it, everybody had an army
except the Republic? From this moment, as we shall see, the quarrels
which are about to spring up among the parties will result always in
riots; the slaves and gladiators will be enrolled as the ordinary
actors.
[Sidenote: Intrigues of Clodius. ]
V. Clodius, whose imprudent support of those who were subsequently
called the triumvirs had increased his influence, continued, after
Cæsar’s departure, to court a vain popularity, and to excite the
passions which had been imperfectly allayed. Not satisfied with having,
at the beginning of his tribuneship, re-established those religious,
commercial, and political associations, which, composed chiefly of the
dregs of the people, were a permanent danger to society; with having
made distributions of wheat, restrained the censors in their right of
exclusion, forbidden the auspices to be taken or the sky observed on the
day fixed for the meeting of the comitia,[567] and with having provoked
the exile of Cicero, he turned his restless activity against
Pompey,[568] whom he soon deeply offended, by causing to be taken away
and set at liberty a son of Tigranes, King of Armenia, made prisoner in
the war against Mithridates, and retained as a pledge for the
tranquillity of Asia. [569] At the same time he began judicial
proceedings against some of Pompey’s friends, and replied to the
expostulations which were addressed to him, “That he was glad to learn
how far the great man’s credit went. ”[570] The latter then conceived the
idea of recalling Cicero, to oppose him to Clodius, just as, a few
months before, he had raised Clodius against Cicero. We see the game of
political see-saw is not new.
[Sidenote: Pompey consults Cæsar on the Return of Cicero. ]
VI. Under these circumstances, the opinion of Cæsar was of great weight.
Pompey wrote to consult him,[571] and P. Sextius, one of those nominated
as the new tribunes, repaired to Gaul to ascertain his mind. [572] It
appears certain that it was favourable,[573] for, so early as the
Calends of June, 696, hardly two months after the decree against
Cicero, a tribune of the people, L. Ninnius, demanded his recall in the
Senate. This proposal was on the point of being carried, when another
tribune of the people, Ælius Ligus, _interceded_. [574] The Senate, in
its irritation, declared that it would take into consideration no
political or administrative affair until it had voted on Cicero’s
return.
[575] We thus judge how much the assembly took to heart the
success of this measure, and how much, in supporting it, Pompey
flattered the sentiments of the majority.
[Sidenote: Pompey believes himself threatened by a Slave of Clodius. ]
VII. A singular occurrence determined his reconciliation with the
Senate: on the 3rd of the Ides of Sextilis (the 5th of August), a slave
of Clodius let a dagger fall in Pompey’s way, as he was entering the
curia; arrested by the lictors, and questioned by the consul A.
Gabinius, the slave declared that his master had ordered him to
assassinate the great citizen. [576] This attempt, whether serious or
not, produced a sufficient impression on Pompey to prevent him, for a
long time, from going to the Forum, or showing himself in public. [577]
The demands in favour of Cicero were renewed; and on the 4th of the
Calends of November (the 20th of October) eight tribunes of the people,
most of them men devoted to Pompey, proposed formally in the Senate the
recall of the exile. One of these was T. Annius Milo, a violent, bold
man, without scruples, and resembling Clodius in all things, but his
open adversary. Clodius and his brother, the prætor Appius, again
succeeded in defeating this motion. [578] At last, with the extreme of
audacity, the turbulent tribune, when near the close of his functions,
dared to attack Cæsar himself, and tried to obtain the revocation of the
Julian laws; but this attempt was powerless in face of the splendour of
the victories gained over the Helvetii and the Germans.
CHAPTER II.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 697.
[Sidenote: War against the Belgæ. ]
I. Cæsar’s victories had awakened among the Gauls feelings of
admiration, but also of distrust; they could not see without fear that
it had required only six legions to scatter two invasions, each counting
100,000 combatants. There are successes which, by their very brilliancy,
alarm even those who profit by them. Nearly all Gaul looks on with
jealousy at events which prove the superiority of permanent armies over
populations without military organization. A small number of experienced
and disciplined soldiers, under the guidance of a great captain, make
all the peoples tremble from the Rhine to the ocean, and even the
islanders of Great Britain feel themselves unsafe against the attacks of
the Roman power; the Belgæ especially, proud of having formerly alone
repulsed the invasion of the Cimbri and the Teutones, feel their warlike
instincts revive. Provocations which have come from the other side of
the Straits increase their distrust; these picture to them the abode of
the Roman army in Franche-Comté as a threat against the independence of
the whole of Gaul. The greatest part of the peoples comprised between
the Rhine, the Scheldt, the Ocean, and the Seine, agitate, combine, and
assemble an army of 300,000 men.
Informed in Italy of these preparations, Cæsar raises two new legions,
rejoins his army in Franche-Comté, and decides immediately on invading
the country of the Belgæ. The first who present themselves on his road
are the people of Champagne. Surprised by his sudden arrival, they
submit, and even offer him subsidies and auxiliaries. Cæsar is able to
add to his eight legions and his light troops the contingents from
Rheims, and join them with those of Burgundy and Trèves. In spite of
this augmentation of his forces, the enemy he has to combat is four
times more numerous. To defeat them, he sends the Burgundians to make a
diversion and ravage the territory of Beauvais, then he crosses the
Aisne at Berry-au-Bac, and selects, behind the Miette, a marshy stream,
a defensive position which he renders inexpugnable.
The Belgæ, whose army occupies, on the right bank of the Miette, an
extent of twelve kilomètres, are powerless to force the position of the
Romans, and fail in all their attempts to cross the Aisne at Pontavert.
Soon, discouraged by the want of provisions, disputes among themselves,
and the news that the Burgundians have just invaded the territory of
Beauvais, they separate, because each, believing his own country
threatened, thinks only of going to its defence. The Belgian league is
thus dissolved almost without combat. Cæsar then hastens to chastise
each people one after the other; he seizes in their turn Soissons and
Breteuil, the principal citadels of the Soissonais and Beauvaisis, and
arrives at Amiens.
But the coalitions of the peoples of the north succeed each other like
the waves of the sea; after the Helvetii, the Germans; after the
Germans, the people of the Beauvaisis; after them, the inhabitants of
Hainault. These have assembled on the Sambre, and wait to be re-enforced
by the peoples of German origin established in the neighbourhood of
Namur. Cæsar then marches towards the Sambre by its left bank. When he
arrives near the enemy concealed in the woods of the right bank, on the
heights of Haumont, he unites six legions, places the two others in
reserve with the baggage of the army, and, reaching the heights of
Neuf-Mesnil, begins to fortify his camp; but hardly have the soldiers
commenced their work, when the Belgæ debouch from all the issues of the
forest, cross the shallow waters of the Sambre, scale the abrupt slopes,
and fall upon the Romans, who, taken by surprise and unable to form
their line of battle, range themselves without order under the first
ensigns which offer themselves. The confusion is extreme; Cæsar is
obliged, sword in hand, to throw himself into the thick of the fight.
Nevertheless, the fortune of the battle is gradually restored; the
centre and left wing have repulsed their assailants; the latter arrives
to succour the right wing in its peril; the two legions of the
rear-guard hasten to the field of battle; then victory decides for the
Romans, and the peoples of Hainault are nearly annihilated. In this
engagement the experience and valour of the old veteran soldiers save
the Roman army from the impetuosity of the Belgæ. After this exploit,
Cæsar marches towards Namur, in which the inhabitants of the whole
country have shut themselves up on the news of the defeat of their
allies, and he makes himself master of that place.
While he was completing the conquest of Belgic Gaul, one of his
lieutenants, the young Publius Crassus, detached, after the battle of
the Sambre, into Normandy and Brittany, reduced to submission the
peoples of those provinces, so that at that time the greatest part of
Gaul acknowledged the authority of the Republic: the effect of Cæsar’s
victories was such that the Ubii, a German people from beyond the Rhine,
established between the Maine and the Sieg, sent their congratulations
to the conqueror with the offer of their services.
Before leaving for the Cisalpine, Cæsar sent a legion into the Valais,
to chastise the inhabitants of those Alpine valleys, who, at the
beginning of the year, had attacked in their march the two new legions
on their way from Italy; it was his aim also to open easy communications
with the Cisalpine by the Simplon and Saint-Bernard. But his lieutenant
Galba, after a sanguinary battle, was obliged to retreat and take up his
winter quarters in Savoy. Thus Cæsar’s designs could not be realised. It
was reserved for another great man, nineteen centuries afterwards, to
level that formidable barrier of the Alps.
[Sidenote: Return of Cicero. ]
II. Let us now resume the account of events in Rome subsequent to the
Calends of January, 697 (20th of December, 696). The consuls who entered
upon their office were P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Q. Cecilius
Metellus Nepos; the first, a friend of Cicero; the second, favourable
to Clodius from hatred to the celebrated orator who had offended
him. [579]
Lentulus brought forward the question of the recall of the exile. [580]
L. Aurelius Cotta, a man of esteem and of consular dignity, declared
that the banishment of Cicero, pronounced in the sequel of extreme acts
of violence, carried in itself the cause of its nullity; and that,
therefore, there was no need of a law to revoke an act that was contrary
to the laws. [581] Pompey combated the opinion of Cotta, and sustained
that it was necessary that Cicero should owe his recall, not only to the
authority of the Senate, but also to a vote of the people. Nothing
further was proposed but to present a _plebiscitum_ to the comitia.
Nobody opposed it, when Sextus Atilius, tribune of the people, demanded
the adjournment,[582] and, by those dilatory manœuvres so familiar to
the Romans, obliged the Senate to defer the presentation of the law to
the 22nd of the same month. When the day arrived, the two parties
prepared to support their opinion by force. Q. Fabricius, tribune of the
people, favourable to Cicero, sought in the morning to gain possession
of the rostra. Clodius was no longer tribune, but he continued to guide
the populace. To the professional agitators in his pay he had joined a
troop of gladiators, brought to Rome, by his brother Appius, for the
funeral of one of his kinsmen. [583] The troop of Fabricius was easily
put to the rout; a tribune, M. Cistius, had hardly presented himself,
when he was driven away. Pompey had his toga covered with blood, and
Quintus Cicero, whom he had brought with him to the Forum to speak to
the people in favour of his brother, was obliged to hide himself; the
gladiators rushed upon another tribune, P. Sextius, and left him for
dead. “The struggle was so violent,” Cicero says, “that the corpses
obstructed the Tiber and filled the sewers, and the Forum was inundated
with blood to such a degree that it was found necessary to wash it with
sponges. A tribune was killed, and the house of another was threatened
with fire. ”[584] The amazement was so great, that the question of the
recall of the exile was again adjourned. It was thus by the sword that
everything was decided in Rome in its disorder and abasement.
In fact, to obtain the recall of Cicero, the Senate saw itself obliged
to oppose riot to riot, and to make use of P. Sextius, who had recovered
from his wounds, as well as of Milo, who had organised, with military
discipline, an armed band in condition to make head against the
rioters. [585] At the same time, it hoped to intimidate the urban mob by
bringing into Rome, from all parts of Italy,[586] the citizens upon whom
it relied. In fine, the very men who had, two years before, engaged
Bibulus to embarrass all Cæsar’s measures by observing the sky,[587] now
prohibited, under pain of being considered as an enemy of the
Republic,[588] those religious artifices which suspended all
deliberations. The result was that the law of recall was passed.
Cicero re-entered Rome on the eve of the Nones of September (the 15th of
August, 697), in the midst of the warmest demonstrations of joy. The
Senate had thus at last triumphed over the factious opposition of
Clodius; but it was not without great efforts, nor without frequently
having had recourse on its own side to violence and arbitrary acts.
[Sidenote: Pompey is charged with the Supplying of Food. ]
III. From the first moment of his return, Cicero gave all his care to
augmenting the influence of Pompey and reconciling him with the Senate.
The famine under which Italy suffered that year furnished him with the
occasion. The populace rose suddenly, hurried first to a theatre, where
games were celebrating, and afterwards to the Capitol, uttering threats
of death and fire against the Senate, to which they attributed the
public distress. [589] Before this, in July, at the time of the
Apollinarian games,[590] a riot had occurred from the same motive.
Cicero, by his persuasive eloquence, calmed the irritated mob, and
proposed to entrust to Pompey the care of provisioning, and to confer
upon him for five years proconsular powers in Italy and out of
Italy. [591] The senators, in their terror, adopted this measure
immediately. It was, as at the time of the war of the pirates, to give
to one man an excessive power _over all the earth_, according to the
words of the decree. Fifteen lieutenants were associated with him, of
whom Cicero was one. [592] But the creation of this new office did not
put an end to the discontent of the multitude. Clodius tried to persuade
the people that the famine was fictitious, and that the Senate had
created it, in order to have a pretext for making Pompey master over
everything. [593] He overlooked no occasion for stirring up troubles.
Although the Senate had given Cicero an indemnity of more than two
millions of sestertii,[594] and decided that his house should be rebuilt
in the same place, Clodius, who sought to prevent the rebuilding of it,
came several times to blows with Milo, in struggles which resembled
regular battles, their adherents carrying bucklers and swords. Every day
witnessed a riot in the streets. Milo swore he would kill Clodius, and
Cicero confessed at a later period that the victim and the arm which was
to strike were pointed out beforehand. [595]
[Sidenote: Festivals to commemorate Cæsar’s Victories. ]
IV. It was towards the end of the year 697 that the news of Cæsar’s
prodigious successes against the Belgæ reached Rome; they excited there
the warmest enthusiasm. As soon as the Senate was informed of them, it
voted fifteen days of thanksgiving to celebrate them. [596] This number
of days had never before been accorded to anybody. Marius had obtained
five, and Pompey, when he had vanquished Mithridates, only ten. The
decree of the Senate was expressed in more flattering terms than had
ever been used for any general. Cicero himself took part in obtaining
this high testimony of public gratitude. [597]
[Sidenote: Riots at Rome. ]
V. In spite of these demonstrations, there continued to exist among a
certain class a secret hatred against the conqueror of Gaul: in the
month of December, 697, Rutilius Lupus, named tribune for the following
year, proposed to revoke Cæsar’s laws, and to suspend the distribution
of the lands in Campania;[598] he expatiated in accusations against that
general and Pompey. The senators were silent; Cn. Marcellinus, the
consul nominate, declared that in the absence of Pompey nothing could be
decided. On another hand, Racilius, tribune of the people, rose to renew
the old accusations against Clodius. [599] In order to baffle the designs
of the latter, who aspired to the office of ædile, and who, once named,
would have been inviolable, the consuls nominate proposed that the
election of the judges should take place before that of the ædiles. Cato
and Cassius opposed this. Cicero eagerly seized the opportunity of
fulminating against Clodius; but the latter, who was prepared, defended
himself at length, and during this time his adherents excited, by
attacking Milo’s men, such an uproar on the steps of the Temple of
Castor, where the Senate held its sitting, that the Forum became a new
field of battle. The senators fled, and all projects of laws were
abandoned. [600]
In the presence of these sanguinary collisions, the elections of ædiles
and quæstors could not take place; moreover, Milo and Sextius, from
feelings of personal vengeance, prevented the Consul Q. Metellus from
convoking the comitia. As soon as the consul named a day of assembly,
the two tribunes declared immediately that _they were observing the
sky_; and, for fear that this cause of adjournment might not be
sufficient, Milo established himself in the Campus Martius with his
followers in arms. Metellus tried to hold the comitia by surprise,[601]
and proceeded by night to the Campus Martius through bye streets; but he
was well watched. Before he arrived at the place, he was met and
recognised by Milo, who signified to him, in virtue of his tribunitial
power, the _obnunciation_, that is, the declaration of a religious
obstacle to the holding of the popular assemblies. [602] Thus ended the
year 697.
During these inglorious struggles, in which both parties dishonoured
themselves by acts of violence, Cæsar had, in two campaigns, saved Italy
from the invasion of the barbarians, and vanquished the most warlike
peoples of Gaul. Thus, at Rome, venality and anarchy prevailed; with the
army, devotedness and glory. Then, as at certain epochs of our own
revolution, we may say that the national honour had taken refuge under
the flag.
CHAPTER III.
EVENTS IN ROME DURING THE YEAR 698.
[Sidenote: Presence in Rome of Ptolemy Auletes. ]
I. The Consuls of the year preceding had just been succeeded by Cn.
Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and L. Marcius Philippus; the latter
allied by family to Cæsar, whose niece, Atia, he had married. [603] It
was in vain that the chief magistrates succeeded each other annually,
the change of persons led to no change in the state of the Republic.
There happened about this time a circumstance which showed to what a low
degree of contempt law and morality had fallen. Ptolemy Auletes, King of
Egypt, father of the famous Cleopatra, hated by his subjects, had fled
from Alexandria, and arrived in Rome, towards the end of 697, in spite
of the advice of M. Cato, whom he had met at Rhodes. He came to solicit
the protection of the Republic against the Egyptians, who, in his
absence, had given the crown to his daughter Berenice. He had obtained
the title, then the object of so much emulation, of friend and ally of
the Roman people, by purchasing the suffrages of a great number of
considerable personages, which had obliged him to exact heavy taxes from
his subjects. He was at first well received, for it was known that he
had brought with him his treasure, ready for distribution among his new
protectors. Pompey gave him a lodging in his house,[604] and declared
publicly in his favour. But the Egyptians, when they were informed of
his departure, sent an embassy, composed of more than a hundred persons,
to defend their cause; most of them were assassinated on their way by
Ptolemy’s agents; and the rest, terrified or corrupted by force of
bribery, never carried out their mission. [605] This affair made so much
noise, that Favonius, called the _ape_ of Cato, because he imitated his
austerity, denounced the conduct of Ptolemy in the Senate, and added
that he knew one of the Egyptian deputies, named Dio, who was ready to
confirm his assertions. Dio did not dare to appear, and, a short time
after, was assassinated. In spite of this crime, Pompey persisted in his
friendship for Ptolemy, and no one dared to prosecute the guest of so
powerful a man. [606]
Several plans were proposed for replacing the King of Egypt on the
throne, and this enterprise, which promised glory and profit, excited
everybody’s ambition. Those who, probably, were opposed to it, proposed
to consult the Sibylline books, which gave the answer: “If the King of
Egypt come to ask you for succour, do not refuse him your friendship,
but grant him no army. ” Caius Cato, tribune of the people, kinsman of M.
Porcius Cato, and yet his adversary, lost no time in divulging this
reply, although it was not permitted, without a decree of the Senate, to
publish the Sibylline oracles. [607] The Senate decreed that the King of
Egypt should be restored to his throne by the Roman magistrates, but
without an armed intervention. [608] But this mission was a cause of
great dispute: some proposed to charge Lentulus Spinther with it, others
preferred Pompey, with the obligation to employ only two lictors; the
jealousy of the candidates caused it soon to be renounced. Ptolemy,
abandoning all hope, quitted Rome and retired to Ephesus. [609] He was
restored subsequently by Gabinius.
[Sidenote: Clodius named Ædile. Trial of Milo. ]
II. The election for the ædileship had taken place on the 11th of the
Calends of February of the year 698 (28th of December, 697), and, thanks
to the money he had distributed, Clodius had been named ædile. [610] He
had hardly been invested with this office, which protected him from the
prosecutions of Milo, when he turned round and attacked his accuser,
charging him with an armed conspiracy, precisely the same crime with
which Milo reproached him. It was not Milo he had in view, but his
powerful protectors. Moreover, alleging unfavourable auspicia, or
employing for that purpose some tribunes of the people, he absolutely
opposed the presentation by the consuls of all public affairs of any
importance, not excepting the curiate law, which decreed their commands
to the proconsuls and proprætors. [611]
The trial with which he was threatened by Clodius gave little uneasiness
to Milo, who had lost none of his habitual audacity. In fact, at a time
when a political personage could not be in safety unless escorted by a
band of armed men, it was difficult to condemn Milo for having
gladiators in his pay, especially when his enemies had set the example
of having recourse to similar auxiliaries.
The judicial struggle was at hand, and preparations were made as for a
combat. The accused had for his defenders Cicero and Pompey; the greater
part of the Senate was favourable to him, and, as a precaution against
riots, his friends brought their clients from all parts of Italy, and
even from Cisalpine Gaul. [612] Clodius and Caius Cato, on their side,
had assembled all their forces. They calculated, moreover, that the
populace, rendered still more turbulent by the dearth, would give a very
ill reception to Pompey, who found no remedy for the public misery; and
to Cicero, who, as superstitious people said, had drawn upon the town
the anger of the gods, by choosing to rebuild his house on a piece of
ground consecrated to the goddess _Libertas_. [613] It appears that many
enemies of Pompey secretly encouraged and aided Clodius. Crassus himself
was suspected of giving money to him, as well as to Caius Cato.
On the 8th of the Ides of February, (the 12th January, 698), Milo
appeared before his judges. [614] When Pompey presented himself to speak
in his defence, the mob, excited by Clodius, received him with hooting
and insults. The town mob knew all Pompey’s vanities, and wounded them
with subtle cruelty. He, meanwhile, though every moment interrupted,
kept his temper, and strove to speak. Clodius replied to him; but his
adversaries also had a mob organised and paid to abuse him, and to sing
infamous verses on the subject of his amours with his own sister. [615]
In this strange and ignoble dispute Milo was forgotten; it had become
nothing more than a sort of duel between Clodius and Pompey. Clodius, in
the midst of his satellites, cried out at the utmost extent of his
voice, “Who is the man who makes us die of hunger? ” And all the
populace, with the unity of a tragic chorus, cried “Pompey! ”--“Who wants
to go into Egypt? ” cried Clodius again. A thousand voices replied,
“Pompey! ”--“Who ought to be sent there? ” “Crassus! ”[616] Clodius added,
“Who is the autocrat whom nothing satisfies? Who is the man who seeks a
man? Who scratches his head with a single finger? ” “Pompey! Pompey! ” the
crowd continued repeating. After all these mutual provocations, the two
parties, tired of shouting, came to blows. Cicero prudently made his
escape,[617] and the victory once again remained with the nobles, who
were probably supported by a greater number of gladiators. [618] The
judgment of Milo, adjourned to another day, gave rise again to similar
scenes; but he was acquitted.
[Sidenote: Return of Cato. ]
III. In the midst of these intestine quarrels, M. Cato returned from
Cyprus to Rome. He brought with him the treasure of Ptolemy, the brother
of Ptolemy Auletes, amounting to 7,000 talents (about 40,000,000
francs), a considerable quantity of personal goods, and a great number
of slaves. Ptolemy had poisoned himself on the report of Cato’s arrival,
leaving him no other trouble than that of collecting his treasures, for
the Cypriots, then slaves, in the hope of becoming the allies and
friends of Rome, received him with open arms. Proud of his expedition,
which he had carried out with the most perfect integrity, he was very
anxious that it should be approved. [619]
The return of Cato could bring no remedy to the deeply troubled state of
the Republic. [620] His virtue was not one of those which attract, but of
those which repulse. Blaming everybody, because, perhaps, everybody was
to blame, he remained the only one of his party.
From the moment of his arrival, he found himself at the same time in
opposition with Cicero, who attacked the legality of his mission; and
with Clodius, who, having entrusted it to him in his quality of tribune,
counted on appropriating all the glory of it to himself. In these new
intrigues of Clodius, Cæsar, it is said, supported him, and furnished
him with subjects of accusation against Cato. [621]
[Sidenote: State of Anarchy in Rome. ]
IV. A concise view of the events at Rome at this time shows to what a
degree the moral level had been abased. It was no longer those memorable
struggles between the patricians and the plebeians, where the greatness
of the object aimed at ennobled the means. It was no longer a question
of defending secular rights, or of acquiring new rights, but of vulgar
ambitions and personal interests to be satisfied.
Nothing indicates more the decay of society than when law becomes an
engine of war for the use of the different parties, instead of remaining
the sincere expression of the general needs.
barrels with pitch, grease, and shavings, and rolled them in flames upon
the Roman works, making at the same time a sally, so as to prevent them
from extinguishing the fire; soon it spread to the covered galleries and
the terrace, which stopped the progress of the inflammable materials.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of the ground and the increasing danger,
the Romans still persevered in their struggle. The battle took place on
a height, within sight of the army; loud cries were raised on both
sides; each individual sought to rival his fellows in zeal, and the more
he was exposed to view, the more courageously he faced the missiles and
the fire.
Cæsar, as he was sustaining great loss, determined to feign an assault,
in order to create a diversion: he ordered some cohorts to climb the
hill on all sides, uttering loud cries. This movement terrified the
besieged, who, fearing to be attacked on other points, called back to
the defence of the wall those who were setting fire to the works. Then
the Romans were able to extinguish the fire. Nevertheless, the siege
span out in length; the Gauls, although exhausted by thirst and reduced
to a small number, did not cease to defend themselves vigorously. At
length, the subterranean gallery having reached the veins of the spring,
they were taken and turned aside. The besieged, seeing the fountain all
at once dried up, believed, in their despair, that it was an
intervention of the gods, submitted to necessity, and surrendered.
Cæsar considered that the pacification of Gaul would never be completed
if the same resistance was encountered in many other towns. He thought
it indispensable to spread terror by a severe example, so much the more
as “the well-known mildness of his temper,” says Hirtius, “would not
allow this necessary rigour to be ascribed to cruelty. ” He ordered all
those who had carried arms to have their hands cut off, and sent them
away, as living witnesses of the chastisement reserved for rebels.
Drappes, who had been taken prisoner, starved himself to death;
Lucterius, who had been arrested by the Arvernan Epasnactus, a friend of
the Romans, was delivered up to Cæsar. [553]
[Sidenote: Excavations made at Puy-d’Issolu. ]
VII. The excavations made at Puy-d’Issolu in 1865 leave no further doubt
as to the site of Uxellodunum. (_See Plates 31 and 32. _)
The Puy d’Issolu is a lofty mountain, situated not far from the right
bank of the Dordogne, between Vayrac and Martel; it is isolated on all
sides except towards the north, where it is joined by a defile of 400
mètres wide (the Col de Roujon) to heights named the Pech-Demont. Its
plateau, crowned by a circle of perpendicular rocks, commands, almost in
every direction, the low ground which surrounds it. This is what the
author of the VIIIth book _De Bello Gallico_ expresses by these words:
_Infima vallis totum pæne montem cingebat in quo positum erat præruptum
undique oppidum Uxellodunum_. This plateau, with a surface of eighty
hectares in extent, presents strongly-marked undulations: its general
incline lies from the north to the south, in the direction of the length
of the mountain mass; its highest point is 317 mètres above the level of
the sea, and it rises 200 mètres above the valleys which surround it.
The whole eastern slope of the mountain, that which looks towards Vayrac
and the Dordogne, is surmounted with rocks, which have a height of as
much as forty mètres; consequently, no operation took place on this side
during the time of the siege. The western slope alone was the theatre of
the different combats. Its declivities are not inaccessible, especially
between the village of Loulié and the hamlet of Leguillat, but they are
sufficiently abrupt to make the Latin author say: _Quo, defendente
nullo, tamen armatis ascendere esset difficile_. At the very foot of
this declivity, and at 200 mètres beneath the culminating point of the
plateau, the Tourmente flows, a little river ten mètres broad, embanked
between this declivity and that of the opposite heights: _Flumen infimam
vallem dividebat_, &c. Such a disposition of the localities, as well as
the slight descent of the Tourmente (one mètre in 1,000), rendered it
impossible to turn off that river. (_Hoc flumem averti loci natura
prohibebat_, &c. )
There is no spring on the plateau of Puy-d’Issolu; but several issue
from the sides of the mountain, one of which, that of Loulié, is
sufficiently abundant to provide for the necessities of a numerous
population. This was the spring which the Romans succeeded in turning
off. At the time of the siege, it issued from the side of the mountain
at _S_ (_see Plate 31_), at twenty-five mètres from the wall of the
_oppidum_, and at a distance of about 300 mètres from the Tourmente.
These 300 mètres make about 200 Roman paces. We see, therefore, that in
the Latin text the word _pedum_ must be replaced by _passuum_. We also
see that the word _circuitus_ (VIII. 4) must be taken in the sense of
the _course_ of the river.
The “Commentaries” say (VIII. 33) that Rebilus established three camps
in very elevated positions. Their sites are indicated by the nature of
the localities: the first, _A_, was on the heights of Montbuisson; the
second, _B_, on those of the Château de Termes; the third, _C_, opposite
the defile of Roujon, on the Pech-Demont. It appears from the
excavations that the Romans had not retrenched the two first, which is
easily explained, for the heights to the west of the Puy-d’Issolu are
impregnable. Moreover, the Romans at Uxellodunum were not in the same
situation as at Alesia. There they had before them 80,000 men, and in
their rear a very numerous army of succour; here, on the contrary, it
was only a question of reducing a few thousand men. The camp _C_
required to be protected, because it was possible for troops to descend
from the tableau of the Puy-d’Issolu towards the defile of Roujon,
which, being situated fifty mètres lower down, gives an easy access to
the heights of Pech-Demont. The excavations have, in fact, brought to
light a double line of parallel fosses, which barred the defile behind,
and formed at the same time a countervallation.
The Gauls could only quit the town by this defile, and by the western
slope of the mountain. It became, consequently, interesting to ascertain
if the Romans made a countervallation along the Tourmente, on the slopes
of the heights of the castle of Termes and of Montbuisson.
Unfortunately, the railway from Perigueux to Capdenac, which passes over
the very site where the countervallation might have been made, has
destroyed all traces of the Roman works: the excavations made above this
line have produced no result.
The most interesting discovery was that of the subterranean
gallery. [554] Until the moment when the excavations were commenced, a
part of the rain-water absorbed by the plateau of the Puy-d’Issolu
issued near the village of Loulié by two springs, _A_ and _A’_. (_See
Plate 32. _) The spring _A’_ flows from a ravine, and corresponds to the
_thalweg_ of the slope; as to the source _A_, it is easily seen by the
appearance of the ground that it has been turned from its natural
course. The excavations, in fact, have proved that it is produced by the
waters which run in the Roman gallery. This gallery has been opened over
an extent of forty mètres. It was dug in a solid mass of tufa nearly ten
mètres thick, which had been formed in the centuries anterior to Cæsar.
Its form is that of a semicircular vault, supported by two perpendicular
sides; its average dimensions are 1·80m. in height, by a width of 1·50
mètres. The mud carried along by the waters, and accumulated since the
time of the siege of Uxellodunum, had almost filled the gallery, leaving
only at the top of the _intrados_ an empty space in the form of a
segment of a circle, with 0·50m. chord by 0·15m. for the absciss of its
curve. Through this empty space the water ran at the time of the
excavations.
Before reaching the tufa, the first subterranean works of the Romans had
been made in the pure soil, which had to be propped: fragments of
blindage have been found, some of them fixed in silicious mud, corroded
or reduced to the state of ligneous paste, others petrified by their
long contact with the waters charged with calcareous sediments. A
considerable number of these petrified blocks, and remains of wood,
collected in the interior of the gallery, are deposited in the museum of
Saint-Germain.
The gallery does not lead directly to the spring which existed in the
time of the Gauls. The Roman miners, after having made their way
straightforward for a length of six mètres, came upon a thick bed of
blue marl of the lias: they turned to their left to avoid digging
through it, and advanced four mètres farther, following the marl, which
they left to the right. When they reached the end of the marls, a
horizontal layer of hard rock, one mètre thick, obliged them to bring
the gallery back to its former direction, and to raise it, in order to
avoid this new obstacle without going out of the tufas, which, formed by
the waters, would necessarily lead towards the spring. (_See Plate 32. _)
From this second turning, the gallery continued close to the line of
separation of the marls and the tufas. It rose rapidly, until it reached
the limit of the deposits of tufa. At this point blindage had again been
necessary. It was there chiefly that the blocks of petrification
presented a peculiar character: some lay thrown down in the gallery,
pierced by sockets with a rectangular section, which show the dimensions
and the way in which it had been worked; others, with a rounded base,
are veritable uprights, still standing on the rock.
Independently of the excavations made to find the Roman fosses and the
subterranean gallery, others have been made on the slope of Loulié, in
the soil which is near the spring. They have brought to light numerous
fragments of Gaulish pottery and of amphoræ, and, which is a further
confirmation of the identity of the Puy d’Issolu with Uxellodunum,
remains of arms similar in all respects to those found in the fosses of
Alesia. [555] Under the earthfalls which during nineteen centuries have
taken place on the slope of Loulié, all the traces of the fire described
in the “Commentaries” have been also found. The site of the terrace and
the covered galleries which were fired were also traced on the ground.
_Plate 32_ represents the slope which was the scene of the struggle: the
terrace, the tower, and the covered galleries are represented on it, as
well as the subterranean gallery, according to a very exact survey made
on the spot.
[Sidenote: Complete Submission of Gaul. ]
VIII. Whilst these events were taking place on the banks of the
Dordogne, Labienus, in a cavalry engagement, had gained a decisive
advantage over a part of the Treviri and Germans, had taken prisoner
their chief, and thus subjected that people, who were always ready to
support any insurrection against the Romans. The Æduan Surus fell also
into his hands: he was a chief distinguished for his courage and his
birth, and the only one of that nation who had not yet laid down his
arms.
From that moment Cæsar considered Gaul to be completely pacified; he
resolved, however, to go himself to Aquitaine, which he had not yet
visited, and which Publius Crassus had partly conquered. Arriving there
at the head of two legions, he obtained the complete submission of that
country without difficulty: all the tribes sent him hostages. He
proceeded next to Narbonne with a detachment of cavalry, and charged
his lieutenants to put the army into winter quarters. Four legions,
under the orders of Mark Antony, Caius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius, and
Q. Tullius, were quartered in Belgium; two among the Ædui, and two among
the Turones, on the frontier of the Carnutes, to hold in check all the
countries bordering on the ocean. These two last legions took up their
winter quarters on the territory of the Lemovices, not far from the
Arverni, so that no part of Gaul should be without troops. Cæsar
remained but a short time in the province, presiding hastily over the
assemblies, determining cases of public contestation, and rewarding
those who had served him well. He had had occasion, more than any one,
to know their sentiments individually, because, during the general
revolt of Gaul, the fidelity and succour of the province had aided him
in triumphing over it. When these affairs were settled, he returned to
his legions in Belgium, and took up his winter quarters at Nemetocenna
(_Arras_).
There he was informed of the last attempts of Commius, who, continuing a
partisan war at the head of a small number of cavalry, intercepted the
Roman convoys. Mark Antony had charged C. Volusenus Quadratus, prefect
of the cavalry, to pursue him; he had accepted the task eagerly, in the
hope of succeeding this time better than the first; but Commius, taking
advantage of the rash ardour with which his enemy had rushed upon him,
had wounded him seriously, and escaped; he was discouraged, however, and
had promised Mark Antony to retire to any spot which should be
appointed him, on condition that he should never be compelled to appear
before a Roman. [556] This condition having been accepted, he had given
hostages. [557]
Gaul was henceforth subjugated; death or slavery had carried off its
principal citizens. Of all the chiefs who had fought for its
independence, only two survived, Commius and Ambiorix. Banished far from
their country, they died unknown.
BOOK IV.
RECAPITULATION OF THE WAR IN GAUL, AND RELATION OF EVENTS AT ROME FROM
696 TO 705.
CHAPTER I.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 696.
[Sidenote: Difficulties of Cæsar’s Task. ]
I. In the preceding book we have given, from the “Commentaries,” the
relation of the war in Gaul, and endeavoured to elucidate doubtful
questions, and to discover the localities which were the scenes of so
many combats. It will now be not uninteresting to recapitulate the
principal events of the eight campaigns of the Roman proconsul,
separated from all their technical details. We will at the same time
examine what was passing, during this period, on the banks of the Tiber,
and the events which led to the Civil War.
Writers who dislike glory take pleasure in undervaluing it. They seem to
wish thus to invalidate the judgment of past ages: we seek in preference
to confirm it, by explaining why the renown of certain men has filled
the world. To bring to light the heroic examples of the past, to show
that glory is the legitimate reward of great actions, is to pay homage
to the public opinion of all times. Man struggling with difficulties
which seem insurmountable, and conquering them by his genius, offers a
spectacle always worthy of our admiration; and this admiration will be
the more justified, according to the greater disproportion between the
end and the means.
Cæsar is going to quit Rome, to go far from the debates of the Forum,
the agitation of the comitia, and the intrigues of a corrupt town, in
order to take the command of his troops. Let us, then, for a moment lay
aside the statesman, and consider only the warrior, the great captain.
The Roman proconsul is not one of those barbarian chieftains who, at the
head of innumerable hordes, throw themselves upon a foreign country to
ravage it with fire and sword. His mission is not to destroy, but to
extend to a distance the influence of the Republic, by protecting the
peoples of Gaul, either against their own dissensions, or against the
encroachments of their dangerous neighbours. The dangers from which
Italy had been saved by the victories of Marius are not forgotten. Men’s
memory still recalls the savage bravery, and, still more, the multitude
of those barbarians who, before the battle of Aix, had employed six
entire days in defiling in front of the camp of Marius;[558] they still
fear a renewal of these inundations of peoples, and Cæsar’s first duty
is to avert similar perils. Already the Helvetii and their allies, to
the number of 368,000, are on the road towards the Rhine; 120,000
Germans have established themselves in Gaul; 24,000 Harudes, their
countrymen, have just followed the same example; others are marching
after them, and more than 100,000 Suevi are preparing to cross the
Rhine.
The Narbonnese forms the proconsul’s basis of operation, but it is
partly composed of populations recently subjugated, whose fidelity is as
yet doubtful. Rome has in Gaul allied peoples, but they have lost their
preponderance. The different states, divided among themselves by
intestine rivalries, offer an easy prey to the enemy; but let the Roman
army come to occupy their territory in a permanent manner, and thus
wound their feelings of independence, and all the warlike youth will
unite, eager to begin a struggle full of perils for the invaders. Cæsar
is obliged, therefore, to act with extreme prudence, to favour the
ambition of some, repress the encroachments of others, and spare the
susceptibility of all, taking care not to wound their religion, their
laws, or their manners; he is obliged at the same time to draw a part of
his forces from the country he occupies, and obtain thence men,
subsidies, and provisions. The greatest difficulty experienced by the
commander of an army operating in a country the good-will of which he
seeks to conciliate, is to enable his troops to live without exhausting
it, and to assure the welfare of his soldiers without exciting the
discontent of the inhabitants. “To seek to call,” says the Emperor
Napoleon I. in his _Mémoires_, “a nation to liberty and independence; to
desire that a public spirit should form in the midst of it, and that it
should furnish troops; and at the same time to take from it its
principal resources, are two contradictory ideas, and to conciliate them
is the province of talent. ”[559]
Thus, to fight between two and three hundred thousand Helvetii and
Germans, to hold in dominion eight millions of Gauls, and to maintain
the Roman province--such is the task which Cæsar has undertaken, and, to
carry it out, he has as yet only at hand a single legion. What means
will he have to overcome all these obstacles? His genius and the
ascendency of civilisation over barbarism.
[Sidenote: Campaign against the Helvetii. ]
II. Cæsar starts from Rome towards the middle of March, 696, and arrives
in eight days at Geneva. Immediately the Helvetii, who had appointed
their rendezvous on the banks of the Rhine towards the 24th of March,
the day of the equinox, ask his permission to cross Savoy, with the
intention of going to establish themselves in Saintonge. He adjourns his
answer to the 8th of April, and employs the fifteen days thus gained in
fortifying the left bank of the Rhone, from Geneva to the
Pas-de-l’Ecluse, in raising troops in the Roman province, and in
renewing the old bonds of friendship with the Burgundians,[560] who will
soon furnish him with men, horses, and provisions.
By rendering the passage of the Rhone impossible, and by binding to his
cause the peoples who occupied the whole course of the Saône, from
Pontailler to near Trévoux, he had cut off from the Helvetii the road to
the south, and thrown difficulties in their way towards the west. Still,
these persisted none the less in their design; they made an arrangement
with the people of Franche-Comté, to whom the passage of the
Pas-de-l’Ecluse belonged, to debouch by that defile into the plains of
Ambérieux and on the plateau of the Dombes. They could thus arrive at
the Saône, pass it peaceably or by force, proceed into the valley of the
Loire by crossing the mountains of Charolais, and penetrate thence into
Saintonge.
As soon as Cæsar was aware of this project, he immediately decided on
his course of action: he foresaw that a long time would elapse before
the Helvetii effected a passage across the unquiet countries of so many
hosts; he reckons that an agglomeration of 368,000 individuals, men,
women, and children, carrying three months’ provisions in wagons, would
be slow to move; he repairs to the Cisalpine, raises two legions there,
sends to Aquileia for the three who were in winter quarters there, and,
crossing the Alps again, arrives, two months afterwards, at the
confluence of the Rhone and the Saône, on the heights of Sathonay. He
learns that the Helvetii have been employed during twenty days in
crossing the Saône between Trévoux and Villefranche, but that a part of
them still remain on the left bank; seizes the opportunity, attacks the
latter, defeats them, and thus diminishes the number of his adversaries
by one-fourth; then, crossing the Saône, he follows during fifteen days
the mass of the Helvetian emigration, which was advancing towards the
sources of the Bourbince. As he finds himself in want of provisions, he
turns off from his road, and marches towards Bibracte (_Mont Beuvray_),
the citadel and principal town of the Burgundians. This march to the
right leads the Helvetii to believe that he is afraid of encountering
them; they then march back, and attack him unexpectedly; a great battle
is fought, and, with his four old legions only, Cæsar gains the victory.
The immigration, already considerably diminished by the battle of the
Saône, no longer counts more than 130,000 individuals, who make their
retreat towards the country of Langres. The Roman general does not
pursue them; he remains three days burying the dead and attending to the
wounded. But his influence is already so great, that, to deprive the
wreck of the vanquished army of provisions, he has only to give orders
to the peoples whose territory they cross. Deprived of all resources,
the fugitives discontinue their march, and make their submission. He
hastens to overtake them towards Tonnerre. When he arrives in the midst
of them, he adopts a generous policy, and gains, by his generous
behaviour, those whom he had subjugated by his arms.
There was in the Helvetic conglomeration a people renowned for their
valor, the Boii; Cæsar permits the Burgundians to receive them into the
number of their fellow-citizens, and give them lands at the confluence
of the Allier and the Loire. As to the other barbarians, with the
exception of 6,000 who had attempted to withdraw from the capitulation
by flight, he obliges them to return to their country, dismisses them
without ransom, instead of selling them as slaves, and thus drawing from
them a considerable profit, according to the general usage of that
period. [561] By preventing the Germans from establishing themselves in
the countries abandoned by the immigration, he made a calculation of
interest secondary to a high political sentiment, and foresaw that
Helvetia, by its geographical position, was destined to be a bulwark
against invasion from the north, and that, then as now, it was important
for the power seated on the Rhone and the Alps to have on its eastern
frontiers a friendly and independent people. [562]
[Sidenote: Campaign against Ariovistus. ]
III. The victory gained near Bibracte has, at one blow, restored the
prestige of the Roman arms. Cæsar has become the arbitrator of the
destinies of a part of Gaul: all the peoples comprised between the
Marne, the Rhone, and the mountains of Auvergne, obey him. [563] The
Helvetii have returned into their country; the Burgundians have
re-conquered their ancient preponderance. The assembly of Celtic Gaul,
held with his permission at Bibracte, invokes his protection against
Ariovistus, and, to the far north, the people of Trèves hasten to
denounce to him a threatened invasion of Germans. It had always been a
part of the policy of the Republic to extend its influence by going to
the succour of oppressed peoples. Cæsar could not fail to regulate his
conduct upon this principle. Not only did it concern him to deliver the
Gauls from a foreign yoke, but he sought to deprive the Germans of the
possibility of settling on the banks of the Saône, and thus threatening
the Roman province, and perhaps Italy itself.
Before having recourse to arms, Cæsar, who, during his consulship, had
caused Ariovistus to be declared the ally and friend of the Roman
republic, undertook to try upon him the means of persuasion. He sent to
demand an interview, and received only a haughty reply. Soon, informed
that, three days before, the German king has crossed his frontiers at
the head of a numerous army, and that, on another side, the hundred
cantons of the Suevi are threatening to cross the Rhine towards Mayence,
he starts from Tonnerre in haste to go forward to meet him. When he
arrives near Arc-en-Barrois, he learns that Ariovistus is marching with
all his troops upon Besançon. He then turns to the right, anticipates
him, and takes possession of that important place. No doubt, at the news
of the march of the Roman army, Ariovistus slackened his own, and halted
in the neighbourhood of Colmar.
After remaining a few days at Besançon, Cæsar takes the way to the
Rhine, avoids the mountainous spurs of the Jura, proceeds by
Pennesières, Arcey, and Belfort, and debouches towards Cernay in the
fertile plains of Alsace. The two armies are only twenty-four miles
apart. Cæsar and Ariovistus have an interview; its only result is to
increase their mutual resentment. The latter conceives the project of
cutting the line of operation of the Romans, and, passing near the site
of the modern Mulhouse, he proceeds, by a circuitous movement, to
establish himself on the stream of the little Doller, to the south of
the Roman army, which, encamped on the Thur, supports its rear on the
last spurs of the Vosges, near Cernay. In this position, Ariovistus
intercepts Cæsar’s communications with Franche-Comté and Burgundy. The
latter, to restore them, distributes his troops into two camps, and
causes a second camp to be made, less considerable than the first, on
his right, near the little Doller. During several days, he seeks in vain
to draw Ariovistus to a battle; then, learning that the matrons have
advised the Germans not to tempt fortune before the new moon, he unites
his legions, places all the auxiliaries on his right, marches resolutely
to assault the camp of the Germans, forces them to accept battle, and
defeats them after an obstinate resistance. In their flight, they take
the same road by which they had advanced, and, pursued for a distance of
fifty miles, they re-pass the Rhine towards Rhinau. As to the Suevi, who
had assembled near Mayence, when they are informed of the disaster of
their allies, they hasten to regain their country.
Thus, in his first campaign, Cæsar, by two great battles, had delivered
Gaul from the invasion of the Helvetii and the Germans; all the Gauls
looked upon him as a liberator. But services rendered are very soon
forgotten when people owe their liberty and independence to a foreign
army.
Cæsar places his troops in winter quarters in Franche-Comté, leaves the
command to Labienus, and starts for Cisalpine Gaul, where he is obliged,
as proconsul, to preside over the provincial assemblies. Nearer Rome
during the winter, he could follow more easily the political events of
the metropolis.
[Sidenote: Sequel of the Consulship of L. Calpurnius Piso and Aulus
Galbinus. ]
IV. While the armies were augmenting the power of the Republic without,
at Rome the intestine struggles continued with new fury. It could hardly
be otherwise among the elements of discord and anarchy which were at
work, and which, since the departure of Cæsar, were no longer held under
control by a lofty intelligence and a firm will. Moral force, so
necessary to every government, no longer existed anywhere, or rather, it
did not exist where the institutions willed it to be, in the Senate;
and, according to the remark of a celebrated German historian, this
assembly which ruled the world, was incapable of ruling the town. [564]
For a long time the prestige of one man in visible power was master over
that of the Senate; Pompey, by his military renown, and by his alliance
with Cæsar and Crassus, continued dominant, although he had not then any
legal power. Cæsar had reckoned upon him to continue his work, and curb
the bad passions which were in agitation in the highest regions as well
as in the lowest depths of society: but Pompey had neither the mind nor
energy necessary to master at the same time the arrogance of the nobles
and the turbulence of certain partisans of the demagogy; he was soon
exposed to the censure of both parties. [565] Moreover entirely under the
influence of the charms of his young wife, he appeared indifferent to
what was passing around him. [566]
The relation of the events at Rome during the eight years of Cæsar’s
abode in Gaul will only offer us an uninterrupted series of vengeances,
murders, and acts of violence of every description. How, indeed, could
order be maintained in so vast a city without a permanent military
force; when each man of importance took with him, for his escort, his
clients or slaves in arms, and thus, within it, everybody had an army
except the Republic? From this moment, as we shall see, the quarrels
which are about to spring up among the parties will result always in
riots; the slaves and gladiators will be enrolled as the ordinary
actors.
[Sidenote: Intrigues of Clodius. ]
V. Clodius, whose imprudent support of those who were subsequently
called the triumvirs had increased his influence, continued, after
Cæsar’s departure, to court a vain popularity, and to excite the
passions which had been imperfectly allayed. Not satisfied with having,
at the beginning of his tribuneship, re-established those religious,
commercial, and political associations, which, composed chiefly of the
dregs of the people, were a permanent danger to society; with having
made distributions of wheat, restrained the censors in their right of
exclusion, forbidden the auspices to be taken or the sky observed on the
day fixed for the meeting of the comitia,[567] and with having provoked
the exile of Cicero, he turned his restless activity against
Pompey,[568] whom he soon deeply offended, by causing to be taken away
and set at liberty a son of Tigranes, King of Armenia, made prisoner in
the war against Mithridates, and retained as a pledge for the
tranquillity of Asia. [569] At the same time he began judicial
proceedings against some of Pompey’s friends, and replied to the
expostulations which were addressed to him, “That he was glad to learn
how far the great man’s credit went. ”[570] The latter then conceived the
idea of recalling Cicero, to oppose him to Clodius, just as, a few
months before, he had raised Clodius against Cicero. We see the game of
political see-saw is not new.
[Sidenote: Pompey consults Cæsar on the Return of Cicero. ]
VI. Under these circumstances, the opinion of Cæsar was of great weight.
Pompey wrote to consult him,[571] and P. Sextius, one of those nominated
as the new tribunes, repaired to Gaul to ascertain his mind. [572] It
appears certain that it was favourable,[573] for, so early as the
Calends of June, 696, hardly two months after the decree against
Cicero, a tribune of the people, L. Ninnius, demanded his recall in the
Senate. This proposal was on the point of being carried, when another
tribune of the people, Ælius Ligus, _interceded_. [574] The Senate, in
its irritation, declared that it would take into consideration no
political or administrative affair until it had voted on Cicero’s
return.
[575] We thus judge how much the assembly took to heart the
success of this measure, and how much, in supporting it, Pompey
flattered the sentiments of the majority.
[Sidenote: Pompey believes himself threatened by a Slave of Clodius. ]
VII. A singular occurrence determined his reconciliation with the
Senate: on the 3rd of the Ides of Sextilis (the 5th of August), a slave
of Clodius let a dagger fall in Pompey’s way, as he was entering the
curia; arrested by the lictors, and questioned by the consul A.
Gabinius, the slave declared that his master had ordered him to
assassinate the great citizen. [576] This attempt, whether serious or
not, produced a sufficient impression on Pompey to prevent him, for a
long time, from going to the Forum, or showing himself in public. [577]
The demands in favour of Cicero were renewed; and on the 4th of the
Calends of November (the 20th of October) eight tribunes of the people,
most of them men devoted to Pompey, proposed formally in the Senate the
recall of the exile. One of these was T. Annius Milo, a violent, bold
man, without scruples, and resembling Clodius in all things, but his
open adversary. Clodius and his brother, the prætor Appius, again
succeeded in defeating this motion. [578] At last, with the extreme of
audacity, the turbulent tribune, when near the close of his functions,
dared to attack Cæsar himself, and tried to obtain the revocation of the
Julian laws; but this attempt was powerless in face of the splendour of
the victories gained over the Helvetii and the Germans.
CHAPTER II.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 697.
[Sidenote: War against the Belgæ. ]
I. Cæsar’s victories had awakened among the Gauls feelings of
admiration, but also of distrust; they could not see without fear that
it had required only six legions to scatter two invasions, each counting
100,000 combatants. There are successes which, by their very brilliancy,
alarm even those who profit by them. Nearly all Gaul looks on with
jealousy at events which prove the superiority of permanent armies over
populations without military organization. A small number of experienced
and disciplined soldiers, under the guidance of a great captain, make
all the peoples tremble from the Rhine to the ocean, and even the
islanders of Great Britain feel themselves unsafe against the attacks of
the Roman power; the Belgæ especially, proud of having formerly alone
repulsed the invasion of the Cimbri and the Teutones, feel their warlike
instincts revive. Provocations which have come from the other side of
the Straits increase their distrust; these picture to them the abode of
the Roman army in Franche-Comté as a threat against the independence of
the whole of Gaul. The greatest part of the peoples comprised between
the Rhine, the Scheldt, the Ocean, and the Seine, agitate, combine, and
assemble an army of 300,000 men.
Informed in Italy of these preparations, Cæsar raises two new legions,
rejoins his army in Franche-Comté, and decides immediately on invading
the country of the Belgæ. The first who present themselves on his road
are the people of Champagne. Surprised by his sudden arrival, they
submit, and even offer him subsidies and auxiliaries. Cæsar is able to
add to his eight legions and his light troops the contingents from
Rheims, and join them with those of Burgundy and Trèves. In spite of
this augmentation of his forces, the enemy he has to combat is four
times more numerous. To defeat them, he sends the Burgundians to make a
diversion and ravage the territory of Beauvais, then he crosses the
Aisne at Berry-au-Bac, and selects, behind the Miette, a marshy stream,
a defensive position which he renders inexpugnable.
The Belgæ, whose army occupies, on the right bank of the Miette, an
extent of twelve kilomètres, are powerless to force the position of the
Romans, and fail in all their attempts to cross the Aisne at Pontavert.
Soon, discouraged by the want of provisions, disputes among themselves,
and the news that the Burgundians have just invaded the territory of
Beauvais, they separate, because each, believing his own country
threatened, thinks only of going to its defence. The Belgian league is
thus dissolved almost without combat. Cæsar then hastens to chastise
each people one after the other; he seizes in their turn Soissons and
Breteuil, the principal citadels of the Soissonais and Beauvaisis, and
arrives at Amiens.
But the coalitions of the peoples of the north succeed each other like
the waves of the sea; after the Helvetii, the Germans; after the
Germans, the people of the Beauvaisis; after them, the inhabitants of
Hainault. These have assembled on the Sambre, and wait to be re-enforced
by the peoples of German origin established in the neighbourhood of
Namur. Cæsar then marches towards the Sambre by its left bank. When he
arrives near the enemy concealed in the woods of the right bank, on the
heights of Haumont, he unites six legions, places the two others in
reserve with the baggage of the army, and, reaching the heights of
Neuf-Mesnil, begins to fortify his camp; but hardly have the soldiers
commenced their work, when the Belgæ debouch from all the issues of the
forest, cross the shallow waters of the Sambre, scale the abrupt slopes,
and fall upon the Romans, who, taken by surprise and unable to form
their line of battle, range themselves without order under the first
ensigns which offer themselves. The confusion is extreme; Cæsar is
obliged, sword in hand, to throw himself into the thick of the fight.
Nevertheless, the fortune of the battle is gradually restored; the
centre and left wing have repulsed their assailants; the latter arrives
to succour the right wing in its peril; the two legions of the
rear-guard hasten to the field of battle; then victory decides for the
Romans, and the peoples of Hainault are nearly annihilated. In this
engagement the experience and valour of the old veteran soldiers save
the Roman army from the impetuosity of the Belgæ. After this exploit,
Cæsar marches towards Namur, in which the inhabitants of the whole
country have shut themselves up on the news of the defeat of their
allies, and he makes himself master of that place.
While he was completing the conquest of Belgic Gaul, one of his
lieutenants, the young Publius Crassus, detached, after the battle of
the Sambre, into Normandy and Brittany, reduced to submission the
peoples of those provinces, so that at that time the greatest part of
Gaul acknowledged the authority of the Republic: the effect of Cæsar’s
victories was such that the Ubii, a German people from beyond the Rhine,
established between the Maine and the Sieg, sent their congratulations
to the conqueror with the offer of their services.
Before leaving for the Cisalpine, Cæsar sent a legion into the Valais,
to chastise the inhabitants of those Alpine valleys, who, at the
beginning of the year, had attacked in their march the two new legions
on their way from Italy; it was his aim also to open easy communications
with the Cisalpine by the Simplon and Saint-Bernard. But his lieutenant
Galba, after a sanguinary battle, was obliged to retreat and take up his
winter quarters in Savoy. Thus Cæsar’s designs could not be realised. It
was reserved for another great man, nineteen centuries afterwards, to
level that formidable barrier of the Alps.
[Sidenote: Return of Cicero. ]
II. Let us now resume the account of events in Rome subsequent to the
Calends of January, 697 (20th of December, 696). The consuls who entered
upon their office were P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Q. Cecilius
Metellus Nepos; the first, a friend of Cicero; the second, favourable
to Clodius from hatred to the celebrated orator who had offended
him. [579]
Lentulus brought forward the question of the recall of the exile. [580]
L. Aurelius Cotta, a man of esteem and of consular dignity, declared
that the banishment of Cicero, pronounced in the sequel of extreme acts
of violence, carried in itself the cause of its nullity; and that,
therefore, there was no need of a law to revoke an act that was contrary
to the laws. [581] Pompey combated the opinion of Cotta, and sustained
that it was necessary that Cicero should owe his recall, not only to the
authority of the Senate, but also to a vote of the people. Nothing
further was proposed but to present a _plebiscitum_ to the comitia.
Nobody opposed it, when Sextus Atilius, tribune of the people, demanded
the adjournment,[582] and, by those dilatory manœuvres so familiar to
the Romans, obliged the Senate to defer the presentation of the law to
the 22nd of the same month. When the day arrived, the two parties
prepared to support their opinion by force. Q. Fabricius, tribune of the
people, favourable to Cicero, sought in the morning to gain possession
of the rostra. Clodius was no longer tribune, but he continued to guide
the populace. To the professional agitators in his pay he had joined a
troop of gladiators, brought to Rome, by his brother Appius, for the
funeral of one of his kinsmen. [583] The troop of Fabricius was easily
put to the rout; a tribune, M. Cistius, had hardly presented himself,
when he was driven away. Pompey had his toga covered with blood, and
Quintus Cicero, whom he had brought with him to the Forum to speak to
the people in favour of his brother, was obliged to hide himself; the
gladiators rushed upon another tribune, P. Sextius, and left him for
dead. “The struggle was so violent,” Cicero says, “that the corpses
obstructed the Tiber and filled the sewers, and the Forum was inundated
with blood to such a degree that it was found necessary to wash it with
sponges. A tribune was killed, and the house of another was threatened
with fire. ”[584] The amazement was so great, that the question of the
recall of the exile was again adjourned. It was thus by the sword that
everything was decided in Rome in its disorder and abasement.
In fact, to obtain the recall of Cicero, the Senate saw itself obliged
to oppose riot to riot, and to make use of P. Sextius, who had recovered
from his wounds, as well as of Milo, who had organised, with military
discipline, an armed band in condition to make head against the
rioters. [585] At the same time, it hoped to intimidate the urban mob by
bringing into Rome, from all parts of Italy,[586] the citizens upon whom
it relied. In fine, the very men who had, two years before, engaged
Bibulus to embarrass all Cæsar’s measures by observing the sky,[587] now
prohibited, under pain of being considered as an enemy of the
Republic,[588] those religious artifices which suspended all
deliberations. The result was that the law of recall was passed.
Cicero re-entered Rome on the eve of the Nones of September (the 15th of
August, 697), in the midst of the warmest demonstrations of joy. The
Senate had thus at last triumphed over the factious opposition of
Clodius; but it was not without great efforts, nor without frequently
having had recourse on its own side to violence and arbitrary acts.
[Sidenote: Pompey is charged with the Supplying of Food. ]
III. From the first moment of his return, Cicero gave all his care to
augmenting the influence of Pompey and reconciling him with the Senate.
The famine under which Italy suffered that year furnished him with the
occasion. The populace rose suddenly, hurried first to a theatre, where
games were celebrating, and afterwards to the Capitol, uttering threats
of death and fire against the Senate, to which they attributed the
public distress. [589] Before this, in July, at the time of the
Apollinarian games,[590] a riot had occurred from the same motive.
Cicero, by his persuasive eloquence, calmed the irritated mob, and
proposed to entrust to Pompey the care of provisioning, and to confer
upon him for five years proconsular powers in Italy and out of
Italy. [591] The senators, in their terror, adopted this measure
immediately. It was, as at the time of the war of the pirates, to give
to one man an excessive power _over all the earth_, according to the
words of the decree. Fifteen lieutenants were associated with him, of
whom Cicero was one. [592] But the creation of this new office did not
put an end to the discontent of the multitude. Clodius tried to persuade
the people that the famine was fictitious, and that the Senate had
created it, in order to have a pretext for making Pompey master over
everything. [593] He overlooked no occasion for stirring up troubles.
Although the Senate had given Cicero an indemnity of more than two
millions of sestertii,[594] and decided that his house should be rebuilt
in the same place, Clodius, who sought to prevent the rebuilding of it,
came several times to blows with Milo, in struggles which resembled
regular battles, their adherents carrying bucklers and swords. Every day
witnessed a riot in the streets. Milo swore he would kill Clodius, and
Cicero confessed at a later period that the victim and the arm which was
to strike were pointed out beforehand. [595]
[Sidenote: Festivals to commemorate Cæsar’s Victories. ]
IV. It was towards the end of the year 697 that the news of Cæsar’s
prodigious successes against the Belgæ reached Rome; they excited there
the warmest enthusiasm. As soon as the Senate was informed of them, it
voted fifteen days of thanksgiving to celebrate them. [596] This number
of days had never before been accorded to anybody. Marius had obtained
five, and Pompey, when he had vanquished Mithridates, only ten. The
decree of the Senate was expressed in more flattering terms than had
ever been used for any general. Cicero himself took part in obtaining
this high testimony of public gratitude. [597]
[Sidenote: Riots at Rome. ]
V. In spite of these demonstrations, there continued to exist among a
certain class a secret hatred against the conqueror of Gaul: in the
month of December, 697, Rutilius Lupus, named tribune for the following
year, proposed to revoke Cæsar’s laws, and to suspend the distribution
of the lands in Campania;[598] he expatiated in accusations against that
general and Pompey. The senators were silent; Cn. Marcellinus, the
consul nominate, declared that in the absence of Pompey nothing could be
decided. On another hand, Racilius, tribune of the people, rose to renew
the old accusations against Clodius. [599] In order to baffle the designs
of the latter, who aspired to the office of ædile, and who, once named,
would have been inviolable, the consuls nominate proposed that the
election of the judges should take place before that of the ædiles. Cato
and Cassius opposed this. Cicero eagerly seized the opportunity of
fulminating against Clodius; but the latter, who was prepared, defended
himself at length, and during this time his adherents excited, by
attacking Milo’s men, such an uproar on the steps of the Temple of
Castor, where the Senate held its sitting, that the Forum became a new
field of battle. The senators fled, and all projects of laws were
abandoned. [600]
In the presence of these sanguinary collisions, the elections of ædiles
and quæstors could not take place; moreover, Milo and Sextius, from
feelings of personal vengeance, prevented the Consul Q. Metellus from
convoking the comitia. As soon as the consul named a day of assembly,
the two tribunes declared immediately that _they were observing the
sky_; and, for fear that this cause of adjournment might not be
sufficient, Milo established himself in the Campus Martius with his
followers in arms. Metellus tried to hold the comitia by surprise,[601]
and proceeded by night to the Campus Martius through bye streets; but he
was well watched. Before he arrived at the place, he was met and
recognised by Milo, who signified to him, in virtue of his tribunitial
power, the _obnunciation_, that is, the declaration of a religious
obstacle to the holding of the popular assemblies. [602] Thus ended the
year 697.
During these inglorious struggles, in which both parties dishonoured
themselves by acts of violence, Cæsar had, in two campaigns, saved Italy
from the invasion of the barbarians, and vanquished the most warlike
peoples of Gaul. Thus, at Rome, venality and anarchy prevailed; with the
army, devotedness and glory. Then, as at certain epochs of our own
revolution, we may say that the national honour had taken refuge under
the flag.
CHAPTER III.
EVENTS IN ROME DURING THE YEAR 698.
[Sidenote: Presence in Rome of Ptolemy Auletes. ]
I. The Consuls of the year preceding had just been succeeded by Cn.
Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and L. Marcius Philippus; the latter
allied by family to Cæsar, whose niece, Atia, he had married. [603] It
was in vain that the chief magistrates succeeded each other annually,
the change of persons led to no change in the state of the Republic.
There happened about this time a circumstance which showed to what a low
degree of contempt law and morality had fallen. Ptolemy Auletes, King of
Egypt, father of the famous Cleopatra, hated by his subjects, had fled
from Alexandria, and arrived in Rome, towards the end of 697, in spite
of the advice of M. Cato, whom he had met at Rhodes. He came to solicit
the protection of the Republic against the Egyptians, who, in his
absence, had given the crown to his daughter Berenice. He had obtained
the title, then the object of so much emulation, of friend and ally of
the Roman people, by purchasing the suffrages of a great number of
considerable personages, which had obliged him to exact heavy taxes from
his subjects. He was at first well received, for it was known that he
had brought with him his treasure, ready for distribution among his new
protectors. Pompey gave him a lodging in his house,[604] and declared
publicly in his favour. But the Egyptians, when they were informed of
his departure, sent an embassy, composed of more than a hundred persons,
to defend their cause; most of them were assassinated on their way by
Ptolemy’s agents; and the rest, terrified or corrupted by force of
bribery, never carried out their mission. [605] This affair made so much
noise, that Favonius, called the _ape_ of Cato, because he imitated his
austerity, denounced the conduct of Ptolemy in the Senate, and added
that he knew one of the Egyptian deputies, named Dio, who was ready to
confirm his assertions. Dio did not dare to appear, and, a short time
after, was assassinated. In spite of this crime, Pompey persisted in his
friendship for Ptolemy, and no one dared to prosecute the guest of so
powerful a man. [606]
Several plans were proposed for replacing the King of Egypt on the
throne, and this enterprise, which promised glory and profit, excited
everybody’s ambition. Those who, probably, were opposed to it, proposed
to consult the Sibylline books, which gave the answer: “If the King of
Egypt come to ask you for succour, do not refuse him your friendship,
but grant him no army. ” Caius Cato, tribune of the people, kinsman of M.
Porcius Cato, and yet his adversary, lost no time in divulging this
reply, although it was not permitted, without a decree of the Senate, to
publish the Sibylline oracles. [607] The Senate decreed that the King of
Egypt should be restored to his throne by the Roman magistrates, but
without an armed intervention. [608] But this mission was a cause of
great dispute: some proposed to charge Lentulus Spinther with it, others
preferred Pompey, with the obligation to employ only two lictors; the
jealousy of the candidates caused it soon to be renounced. Ptolemy,
abandoning all hope, quitted Rome and retired to Ephesus. [609] He was
restored subsequently by Gabinius.
[Sidenote: Clodius named Ædile. Trial of Milo. ]
II. The election for the ædileship had taken place on the 11th of the
Calends of February of the year 698 (28th of December, 697), and, thanks
to the money he had distributed, Clodius had been named ædile. [610] He
had hardly been invested with this office, which protected him from the
prosecutions of Milo, when he turned round and attacked his accuser,
charging him with an armed conspiracy, precisely the same crime with
which Milo reproached him. It was not Milo he had in view, but his
powerful protectors. Moreover, alleging unfavourable auspicia, or
employing for that purpose some tribunes of the people, he absolutely
opposed the presentation by the consuls of all public affairs of any
importance, not excepting the curiate law, which decreed their commands
to the proconsuls and proprætors. [611]
The trial with which he was threatened by Clodius gave little uneasiness
to Milo, who had lost none of his habitual audacity. In fact, at a time
when a political personage could not be in safety unless escorted by a
band of armed men, it was difficult to condemn Milo for having
gladiators in his pay, especially when his enemies had set the example
of having recourse to similar auxiliaries.
The judicial struggle was at hand, and preparations were made as for a
combat. The accused had for his defenders Cicero and Pompey; the greater
part of the Senate was favourable to him, and, as a precaution against
riots, his friends brought their clients from all parts of Italy, and
even from Cisalpine Gaul. [612] Clodius and Caius Cato, on their side,
had assembled all their forces. They calculated, moreover, that the
populace, rendered still more turbulent by the dearth, would give a very
ill reception to Pompey, who found no remedy for the public misery; and
to Cicero, who, as superstitious people said, had drawn upon the town
the anger of the gods, by choosing to rebuild his house on a piece of
ground consecrated to the goddess _Libertas_. [613] It appears that many
enemies of Pompey secretly encouraged and aided Clodius. Crassus himself
was suspected of giving money to him, as well as to Caius Cato.
On the 8th of the Ides of February, (the 12th January, 698), Milo
appeared before his judges. [614] When Pompey presented himself to speak
in his defence, the mob, excited by Clodius, received him with hooting
and insults. The town mob knew all Pompey’s vanities, and wounded them
with subtle cruelty. He, meanwhile, though every moment interrupted,
kept his temper, and strove to speak. Clodius replied to him; but his
adversaries also had a mob organised and paid to abuse him, and to sing
infamous verses on the subject of his amours with his own sister. [615]
In this strange and ignoble dispute Milo was forgotten; it had become
nothing more than a sort of duel between Clodius and Pompey. Clodius, in
the midst of his satellites, cried out at the utmost extent of his
voice, “Who is the man who makes us die of hunger? ” And all the
populace, with the unity of a tragic chorus, cried “Pompey! ”--“Who wants
to go into Egypt? ” cried Clodius again. A thousand voices replied,
“Pompey! ”--“Who ought to be sent there? ” “Crassus! ”[616] Clodius added,
“Who is the autocrat whom nothing satisfies? Who is the man who seeks a
man? Who scratches his head with a single finger? ” “Pompey! Pompey! ” the
crowd continued repeating. After all these mutual provocations, the two
parties, tired of shouting, came to blows. Cicero prudently made his
escape,[617] and the victory once again remained with the nobles, who
were probably supported by a greater number of gladiators. [618] The
judgment of Milo, adjourned to another day, gave rise again to similar
scenes; but he was acquitted.
[Sidenote: Return of Cato. ]
III. In the midst of these intestine quarrels, M. Cato returned from
Cyprus to Rome. He brought with him the treasure of Ptolemy, the brother
of Ptolemy Auletes, amounting to 7,000 talents (about 40,000,000
francs), a considerable quantity of personal goods, and a great number
of slaves. Ptolemy had poisoned himself on the report of Cato’s arrival,
leaving him no other trouble than that of collecting his treasures, for
the Cypriots, then slaves, in the hope of becoming the allies and
friends of Rome, received him with open arms. Proud of his expedition,
which he had carried out with the most perfect integrity, he was very
anxious that it should be approved. [619]
The return of Cato could bring no remedy to the deeply troubled state of
the Republic. [620] His virtue was not one of those which attract, but of
those which repulse. Blaming everybody, because, perhaps, everybody was
to blame, he remained the only one of his party.
From the moment of his arrival, he found himself at the same time in
opposition with Cicero, who attacked the legality of his mission; and
with Clodius, who, having entrusted it to him in his quality of tribune,
counted on appropriating all the glory of it to himself. In these new
intrigues of Clodius, Cæsar, it is said, supported him, and furnished
him with subjects of accusation against Cato. [621]
[Sidenote: State of Anarchy in Rome. ]
IV. A concise view of the events at Rome at this time shows to what a
degree the moral level had been abased. It was no longer those memorable
struggles between the patricians and the plebeians, where the greatness
of the object aimed at ennobled the means. It was no longer a question
of defending secular rights, or of acquiring new rights, but of vulgar
ambitions and personal interests to be satisfied.
Nothing indicates more the decay of society than when law becomes an
engine of war for the use of the different parties, instead of remaining
the sincere expression of the general needs.
