This place has continued to preserve its
primitive
name of
_Ocelum_, _Occelum_, _Oxelum_, _Uxelum_ (_Charta Adeladis_, an.
_Ocelum_, _Occelum_, _Oxelum_, _Uxelum_ (_Charta Adeladis_, an.
Napoleon - History of Julius Caesar - b
53,
Paris, 1836.
[150] The hostility which prevailed between the Sequani and the Ædui was
further augmented, according to Strabo, by the following cause: “These
two tribes, separated by the Arar (the _Saône_), both claimed the right
of tolls. ” (Strabo, p. 160, edit. Didot. )
[151] “Divitiacus, introduced to the Senate, explained the subject of
his mission. He was offered a seat, but refused that honour, and
pronounced his discourse leaning on his buckler. ” (Eumenius, _Panegyric
of Constantine_, cap. 3. )
[152] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 12.
[153] The limits of Illyria, in the time of Cæsar, are hardly known; yet
it appears that this province comprised the modern Istria and part of
Carniola. Aquileia was its capital, situated at the head of the gulf of
the Adriatic Sea, not far from the Isonzo. In fact, Strabo (I. , p. 178)
says that Aquileia was situated without the frontiers of the Veneti, in
whose territory this town was included under Augustus. On another side,
Titus Livius (XXXIX. 55) informs us that the colony of Aquileia had been
founded in Istria; and Herodotus (I. 196), as well as Appian, reckons
the Istrians among the peoples of Illyria.
[154] “Molita cibaria. ” (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 5. )
[155] Inhabitants of the country of Bâle. The Rauraci inhabited the
diocese of Bâle, which was called _Augusta Rauracorum_.
[156] Inhabitants of the south of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The town of
Stulingen, near Schaffhausen, is believed to derive its name from the
Tulingi.
[157] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 3, 4, and 5. --Scholars have taken great
pains to determine the concordance between the ante-Julian calendar and
the Julian calendar; unfortunately, the results at which they have
arrived are very imperfect. We have asked M. Le Verrier to solve this
difficult problem, and we owe to his courtesy the tables placed at the
end of this volume. (_Appendix A. _)
[158] The bed of the Rhone has changed at several points since the time
of Cæsar; at present, according to the report of those who live on its
banks, there are no fords except between Russin, on the right bank, and
the mill of Vert, on the left bank. (_See Plate 3. _)
[159] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 6.
[160] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 18.
[161] This part of the Jura on the left bank of the Rhone is called the
_Mont du Vuache_.
[162] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 8.
[163] M. Queypo, in his learned work on the weights and measures of the
ancients, assigns to the Roman foot, subdivided into twelve inches, a
length of 0·29630m. The Roman pace was five feet, so that the mile was
equivalent to a length of 1481·50m.
[164] Dio Cassius says that “Cæsar fortified with retrenchments and
walls the most important points. ” (XXXVIII. 31. )
[165] The retrenchments which Cæsar calls _murus fossaque_ could not be
a wall, in the usual acceptation of the word: first, because a wall
would have been but a weak obstacle; further, because the materials were
not found on the spot; and lastly, because if so great a quantity of
stones had been collected on the bank of the Rhone, we should still find
traces of them. I have therefore sought another explanation, and thought
that _murus_ might be understood of a natural escarpment rendered
steeper by a slight work. Penetrated with this idea, I sought Baron
Stoffel, the commandant of artillery, to inspect the localities, and the
result of his researches has fully confirmed my suppositions. The
following is a summary of his report:--
Considered in its _ensemble_, from Geneva to the Pas-de-l’Ecluse, the
Rhone presents the appearance of an immense fosse from 100 to 120 mètres
broad, with abrupt and very elevated scarp and counter-scarp. The parts
where it does not present this character are few, and of relatively
small extent. They are the only ones where operations for passing the
river could be attempted--the only ones, consequently, which Cæsar would
have need to fortify on the left bank.
1. From Geneva to the confluence of the Arve and the Rhone, an extent of
1½ kilomètres. Breadth of the river, 90 to 100 mètres. --The left bank is
flat in the whole of this extent. The right bank has escarpments almost
vertical, the height of which varies from 15 to 35 mètres. (_See Plate
3_, mean profile between Geneva and the Arve. ) No attempt at passage
could have taken place, neither at Geneva, nor between the town and the
Arve.
2. From the Arve to the plateau of Aire-la-Ville, extent 12½
kilomètres. --After leaving the confluence of the Arve, the heights of
the right bank of the Rhone increase in elevation; the escarpments
become formidable. --The left bank is bordered with similar escarpments,
and the river runs thus between high and abrupt banks, everywhere
impassable. It preserves this character to a kilomètre above the ravine
of Avril, near Peney. The profiles _a a_ and _b b_ give an idea of the
escarpments of the banks from the Avre to the ravine of Avril. (_See
Plate 3_. )--The heights which, on the right bank of the Rhone, extend
from Vernier to Peney, sink gradually from one of these villages towards
the other, and they form to the east of the ravine of Avril a plateau,
the mean elevation of which above the bed of the river is only 20
mètres. Opposite, on the left bank, extends the plateau of
Aire-la-Ville. Length 1,700 mètres; breadth, 700 mètres; mean elevation
above the bed of the Rhone, 20 to 25 mètres. The heights of the Peney
are well disposed for the establishment of an army, and the plateau of
Aire-la-Ville would permit an army, the Rhone once passed, to deploy
easily. But, in spite of these advantages, it is certain that the
Helvetii attempted no operation on this side, for the Rhone flows at the
foot of a slope of the height of from 14 to 16 mètres and an inclination
of at least 45 degrees.
3. From the plateau of Aire-la-Ville to the point of Epeisses, extent 6
kilomètres. --Down the river from the escarpments of Peney, the heights
of the right bank (heights of Russin) form with those of the left bank
an immense amphitheatre, nearly circular, the arena of which would be
the ground represented green on Plate 3 (diameter, 1½ kilomètres). From
the heights of Russin we can descend into the plain to the water of the
river. The Rhone, in this part, has never been deep or rapid. The left
bank is little elevated, entirely flat opposite the mill of Vert, and
the slope of the heights which command it is far from impracticable.
Thus, it was here possible for the Helvetii to effect the passage of the
river, and climb the heights of the left bank, if they had not been
fortified or guarded. This operation presented least difficulty in the
part _t t o_. And we can hardly doubt that the Romans fortified it to
add to the natural obstacles, which were insufficient in this extent.
(_See the profile c c. _)
An attentive examination of the locality, the discovery of certain
irregularities of ground, which we may be allowed to consider as
vestiges, lead us to explain in the following manner the expression
_murum fossamque perducit_.
Cæsar took advantage of the mean heights at the foot of which the Rhone
flows, to cause to be made, on the slope towards the river, and
beginning with the crest, a longitudinal trench, of such a depth that
the main wall had an elevation of 16 feet. The earth arising from the
excavation was thrown down the side of the slope, and the crest was
furnished with palisades. (_See the profile of the retrenchment. _) It
was, properly speaking, a fosse, the scarp of which was higher than the
counter-scarp.
The hills on the left bank, which rise opposite Russin, are accessible,
especially in an extent of 900 mètres, reckoning from the point where
the ravine which descends to Aire-la-Ville opens upon the river. They
form there, among other peculiarities of the ground, a terrace 8 mètres
in breadth, rising from 13 to 14 mètres above the plain, and descending
to this by a tolerably uniform _talus_ of 45 degrees.
The Romans would be able to prevent the access by means of the trench
just described. They, no doubt, continued it to the point _o_, where the
terrace ceases, and the heights become impracticable. It would then have
been from 800 to 900 mètres long.
If we continue to descend the Rhone, we meet, on the left bank, first
with the perpendicular escarpments of Cartigny, which are 70 or 80
mètres in height, and then abrupt beaches to near Avully. Below
Cartigny, the Rhone surrounds a little plain, very slightly inclined
towards the river, and presenting a projection of land (_v r_) from 5 to
6 mètres high, with a _talus_ of less than 45 degrees. The bank being of
small elevation, the Helvetii might have landed there. To prevent this,
the Romans opened, in the _talus_ which fronted the Rhone, a trench
similar to the preceding; it was 250 mètres long.
The heights of Avully and Epeisses leave between them and the river a
tolerably vast space, composed of two distinct parts. The first is
formed of gentle slopes from Avully to a projection of land, _q p_; the
other part is a plain comprised between this projection of land and the
left bank of the river. On the right bank a torrent-like river, the
London, debouches into flat ground named La Plaine. The Helvetii might
have made their preparations for passing the Rhone there, and directed
their efforts towards the western point of La Plaine, in face of the low
and flat land comprised between the left bank and the escarpment _q p_.
In this part the left bank is only from 1½ to 2 mètres high. Moreover,
the slopes of Avully are not difficult to climb, and therefore the
Romans must have sought to bar the passage in this direction. (_See the
broken profile d e f. _) The escarpment _q p_, from its position and
height, is easy to fortify. Its length is 700 mètres; its mean elevation
above the plain, 18. It presents to the river a _talus_ of less than 45
degrees. The Romans made in this _talus_, along the crest, a trench,
forming wall and fosse. Its length was 700 mètres.
4. From the point of Epeisses to the escarpments of Etournel, extent 6
kilomètres. --From Epeisses to Chancy the Rhone flows in a straight line,
and presents the appearance of a vast fosse, 100 mètres wide, the walls
of which have an inclination of more than 45 degrees. (_See the profile
g g_. )
At 200 mètres above Chancy, at _k_, the character of the banks changes
suddenly. The heights on the right sink towards the river in tolerably
gentle slopes, through an extent of 2,300 mètres, reckoning from _k_ to
the escarpments of Etournel. Opposite, on the left bank, extends the
plateau of Chancy. It presents to the Rhone, from _k_ to _z_, in a
length of 1,400 mètres, an irregular crest, distant from 50 to 60 mètres
from the river, and commanding it by about 20 mètres. The side towards
the Rhone, from _k_ to _z_, presents slopes which are very practicable.
(_See the profile h h. _)
The position of Chancy was certainly the theatre of the most serious
attempts on the part of the Helvetii. Encamped on the heights of the
right bank, they could easily descend to the Rhone, and there make their
preparations for passing, on an extent of 1,500 mètres. The river once
crossed, they had only before them, from _k_ to _z_, slopes which were
practicable to debouch on the plateau of Chancy.
The Romans had then to bar the gap _k z_ by joining the impassable
escarpments which terminate in _k_ with those which commence at _z_, and
which are also inaccessible. To effect this, they opened from one of
these points to the other, in the upper part of the slope at the foot of
which the Rhone flows, a longitudinal trench _k z_, similar to that
already spoken of. It was 1,400 mètres in length.
5. From the escarpments of Etournel to the Pas-de-l’Ecluse, an extent of
6 kilomètres. --At the escarpments of Etournel, the Rhone removes from
the heights on the right, and only returns to them towards the hamlet of
the Isles, 2 kilomètres farther down. These heights form a vast
semi-elliptical amphitheatre, embracing a plain slightly inclined
towards the river. It is marked by a green tint on Plate 3. People can
descend from all sides and approach the Rhone, the bank of which is
flat. Opposite, the left bank presents insurmountable obstacles until
below Cologny, at _s_. But below this point, from _s_ to _y_, the bank
is flat, and the heights situated behind are accessible on an extent of
2 kilomètres.
The Helvetii, established on the heights of Pougny and Colonges, could
descend to the Rhone, and cross it between Etournel and the hamlet of
Les Isles. The Romans had thus to unite the escarpments which terminate
at Cologny with the impracticable slopes of the mountain of Le Vuache.
Here again we shall see that they took advantage of the peculiarities of
the ground.
At the village of Cologny, the heights form a triangular plateau, _s u
x_, of which the point _s_ advances like a promontory towards the Rhone,
which it commands perpendicularly by at least 20 mètres. A projection of
land, _s u_, bounds it in front, and separates it from a plain which
extends to the river. The escarpment produced by this projection of land
presents to the Rhone a slope of about 45 degrees. It rises over the
plain about 14 mètres towards its extremity _s_, but diminishes
gradually in height, until it is only 2 to 3 mètres in height near the
point _u_. (_See the profile n n. _) The Romans hollowed, on the slope of
the escarpment from _s_ to _u_, a length of 800 mètres, a trench forming
wall and fosse. The plateau of Cologny, situated in the rear, offered a
favorable position for the defence of this retrenchment. (_See the
profile p p. _) They prolonged their works towards the west as far as
_y_; beyond that, the heights presented sufficient natural obstacles. We
may thus estimate that, from Cologny to the mountain of Le Vuache, the
Romans executed from 1,600 to 1,700 mètres of retrenchments.
To sum up: the works executed on five principal points, between Geneva
and the Jura, represent a total length of about 5,000 mètres, that is,
less than the sixth part of the development of the course of the Rhone.
Admitting that Cæsar had at his disposal 10,000 men, we may suppose that
he distributed them in the following manner:--3,000 men on the heights
of Avully, his head-quarters; 2,500 at Geneva; 1,000 on the plateau of
Aire-la-Ville; 2,000 at Chancy; and 1,500 on the plateau of Cologny.
These 10,000 men might be concentrated: in two hours, on the heights
between Aire-la-Ville and Cartigny; in three hours, on the heights of
Avully; in three hours and a half, on the plateau of Chancy; in three
hours and a half, these troops, with the exception of those encamped at
Geneva, might be brought together between Cologny and the fort of
L’Ecluse. It would require five hours to carry the detachment from
Geneva thither.
The detachments mentioned above, with the exception of that of Geneva,
were established in what Cæsar calls the _castella_. These were
constructed on the heights, in the proximity of the retrenchments which
had to be defended--namely, at Aire-la-Ville, Avully, Chancy, and
Cologny. They consisted probably of earthen redoubts, capable of
containing a certain number of troops. They are represented by squares
in Plate 3.
Cæsar could reconnoitre every instant the march and designs of the
Helvetii, the heights of the left bank of the Rhone presenting a great
number of positions where it was easy to place advantageously posts of
observation. Commandant Stoffel has pointed out six, which are marked on
Plate 3. As it will be observed, the Helvetii, in crossing the Rhone,
could not be disturbed by darts thrown from the top of the
retrenchments, for these darts would not carry to the left bank of the
river. Now there exists at present, between this bank and the foot of
the heights in which these trenches were cut, flat ground of more or
less extent. Admitting, then, that the Rhone flowed nineteen centuries
ago in the same bed as at the present day, we may ask if the Romans did
not construct, in these low parts near the bank, ordinary retrenchments,
composed of a fosse and rampart. The excavations undertaken by the
Commandant Stoffel have revealed everywhere, in these plains, the
existence of ground formed by alluvium, which would lead us to believe
that the Rhone once covered them. However, even if at that epoch these
little plains had been already uncovered, either wholly or in part, we
can hardly suppose that Cæsar would have raised works there, since the
heights situated in the rear permitted him, with less labour, to create
a more redoubtable defence--that of the trenches opened along the
crests. As we see, the obstacle presented to the assailants began only
with these trenches, at the top of the slopes.
As to the vestiges which still appear to exist, they may be described as
follows. The slopes which the Romans fortified at Chancy, from _k_ to
_z_, and at Cologny, from _s_ to _y_, present, in the upper parts, in
some places, undulations of ground, the form of which denotes the work
of man. On the slope of Chancy, for instance, the ground presents a
projection, _i i_ (_see the profile h h_), very distinctly marked, and
having the remarkable peculiarity that it is about 11 feet high and 8 to
9 feet broad. Now, is it not evident that, if one of the fosses which
have been described should get filled up, either naturally, by the
action of time, or by the processes of agriculture, it would take
absolutely the form _i i_, with the dimensions just indicated? It would
not, therefore, be rash to consider these peculiarities of the ground,
such as _i i_, as traces of the Roman trenches.
We must further mention the projection of land _v r_, situated below
Cartigny. Its form is so regular, and so sharply defined, from the crest
to the foot of the _talus_, that it is difficult not to see in it the
vestiges of a work made by men’s hands.
It is easy to estimate approximately the time which it would have taken
Cæsar’s troops to construct the 5,000 mètres of trenches which extended,
at separate intervals, from Geneva to the Jura.
Let us consider, to fix our ideas, a ground A D V, inclined at 45
degrees, in which is to be made the trench A B C D. The great wall A B C
had 16 Roman feet in elevation: we will suppose that A B was inclined at
5 on 1, and that the small wall D C was 6 feet high.
The amount of rubbish removed would be as follows:--Section A B C D = 64
square feet, or, reducing it into square mètres, A B C D = 5 square
mètres 60 centimètres.
The mètre in length of the earth thrown out would give thus 5·60 cubic
mètres.
If we consider the facility of labour in the trench, since the earth has
only to be thrown down the slope, we shall see that two men can dig
three mètres in length of this trench in two days. Therefore, admitting
that the 10,000 men at Cæsar’s disposal had only been employed a quarter
of the time, from two to three days would have been sufficient for the
execution of the complete work.
[166] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 8.
[167] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 9. --The country of the Sequani comprised
the Jura, and reached to the Pas-de-l’Ecluse. (_See Plate 2_, Map of
Gaul. )
[168] It has been considered to have been an error of Cæsar to place the
Santones in the proximity of the Tolosates: modern researchers have
proved that the two peoples were not more than thirty or forty leagues
from each other.
[169] Several authors have stated wrongly that Cæsar went into Illyria;
he informs us himself (_De Bello Gallico_, III. 7) that he went thither
for the first time in the winter of 698.
[170] We believe, with General de Gœler, from the itinerary marked on
the Peutingerian table, that the troops of Cæsar passed by Altinum
(_Altino_), Mantua, Cremona, Laus Pompei (_Lodi Vecchio_), Pavia, and
Turin; but, after quitting this last place, we consider that they
followed the route of Fenestrella and Ocelum. Thence they directed their
march across the Cottian Alps, by Cesena and Brigantium (_Briançon_);
then, following the road indicated by the Theodosian table, which
appears to have passed along the banks of the Romanche, they proceeded
to Cularo (_Grenoble_), on the frontier of the Vocontii, by Stabatio
(_Chahotte_ or _Le Monestier_, Hautes-Alpes), Durotineum
(_Villards-d’Arenne_), Melloseeum (_Misoen_ or _Bourg-d’Oysans_, Isère),
and Catorissium (_Bourg-d’Oysans_ or _Chaource_, Isère).
[171] “Locis superioribus occupatis. ” (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 10. )
[172] There is difference of opinion as to the site of Ocelum. The
following remark has been communicated to me by M. E. Celesia, who is
preparing a work on ancient Italy: _Ocelum_ only meant, in the ancient
Celtic or Iberian language, _principal passage_. We know that, in the
Pyrenees, these passages were called _ports_. There existed places of
the name of _Ocelum_, in the Alps, in Gaul, and as far as Spain.
(Ptolemy, II. 6. )--The itineraries found in the baths of Vicarello
indicate, between Turin and Susa, an _Ocelum_, which appears to us to
have been that of which Cæsar speaks; there was a place similarly named
in Maurienne, on the left bank of the Arc, at an equal distance from the
source of that river and the town of Saint-Jean; it is now _Usseglio_.
There was another in the valley of the Lanzo, on the left bank of the
Gara, from which appears to be derived the name of Garaceli or
Graioceli; it was called _Ocelum Lanciensium_. The Ocelum of Cæsar,
according to M. Celesia, who adopts the opinion of D’Anville, was called
_Ocelum ad Clusonem fluvium_; it was situated in the valley of the
Pragelatto, on the road leading from Pignerol to the defile of
Fenestrella.
This place has continued to preserve its primitive name of
_Ocelum_, _Occelum_, _Oxelum_, _Uxelum_ (_Charta Adeladis_, an. 1064),
whence by corruption its modern name of _Usseau_. According to this
hypothesis, Cæsar would have passed from the valley of Chiusone into
that of Pragelatto, and thence, by Mount Genèvre, to Briançon, in order
to arrive among the Vocontii. --Polyænus (_Stratag. _, VIII. xxiii. 2)
relates that Cæsar took advantage of a mist to escape the mountaineers.
[173] “Segusiavi sunt trans Rhodanum primi. ” (_De Bello Gallico_, I.
10. ) It is to be supposed that there existed a bridge on the Rhone, near
Lyons.
[174] Cæsar had deferred his reply till the Ides of April (April the
8th). If it were then decided to bring the legions from Aquileia, the
time necessary to bring them would have been as follows:
6 days employed by the couriers to proceed from Geneva to Aquileia.
This time does not appear to us too short, since Cæsar had employed
8 days to go from Rome to Geneva, and that the distance from Geneva
to Aquileia is only 1,000 kilomètres, while it is 1,200 from Geneva
to Rome;
8 days to assemble the legions--in 581, it required only eleven
days to enroll four legions (Titus Livius, XLIII. 45);
28 days from Aquileia to Ocelum (_Usseau_) (681 kilom. )reckoning 24
kilomètres for a day’s march;
6 days’ halts;
7 days from Ocelum to Grenoble (174 kilom. ) (_De Bello Gallico_, I.
10);
5 days from Grenoble to Lyons (126 kilom. )
--
60
According to this reckoning, Cæsar required 60 days, reckoning from the
moment when he decided on this course, to transport his legions from
Aquileia to Lyons; that is to say, if he sent, as is probable, couriers
on the 8th of April, the day he refused the passage to the Helvetii, the
head of his column arrived at Lyons towards the 7th of June.
[175] To estimate the volume and weight represented by the provisions
for three months for _three hundred and sixty-eight thousand_ persons of
both sexes and of all ages, let us allow that the ration of food was
small, and consisted, we may say, only in a reserve of meal, _trium
mensium molita cibaria_, at an average of ¾ of a pound (¾ of a pound of
meal gives about a pound of bread); at this rate, the Helvetii must have
carried with them 24,840,000 pounds, or 12,420,000 kilogrammes of meal.
Let us allow also that they had great four-wheeled carriages, capable
each of carrying 2,000 kilogrammes, and drawn by four horses. The 100
kilogrammes of unrefined meal makes 2 cubic hectolitres; therefore,
2,000 kilogrammes of meal make 4 cubic mètres, so that this would lead
us to suppose no more than 4 cubic mètres as the average load for the
four-wheeled carriages. On our good roads in France, levelled and paved,
three horses are sufficient to draw, at a walking pace, during ten
hours, a four-wheeled carriage carrying 4,000 kilogrammes. It is more
than 1,300 kilogrammes per collar.
We suppose that the horses of the emigrants drew only 500 kilogrammes in
excess of the dead weight, which would give about 6,000 carriages and
24,000 draught animals to transport the three months’ provisions.
But these emigrants were not only provided with food, for they had also
certainly baggage. It appears to us no exaggeration to suppose that each
individual carried, besides his food, fifteen kilogrammes of baggage on
an average. We are thus left to add to the 6,000 provision carriages
about 2,500 other carriages for the baggage, which would make a total of
8,500 carriages drawn by 34,000 draught animals. We use the word animals
instead of horses, as at least a part of the teams would, no doubt, be
composed of oxen, the number of which would diminish daily, for the
emigrants would be led to use the flesh of these animals for their own
food.
Such a column of 8,500 carriages, supposing them to march in file, one
carriage at a time, on a single road, could not occupy less than
_thirty-two_ leagues in length, if we reckon fifteen mètres to each
carriage. This remark explains the enormous difficulties the emigration
would encounter, and the slowness of its movements: we need, then, no
longer be astonished at the twenty days which it took three quarters of
the column to pass the Saône.
We have not comprised the provisions of grain for the animals
themselves: yet it is difficult to believe that the Helvetii, so
provident for their own wants, had neglected to provide for those of
their beasts, and that they had reckoned exclusively for their food on
the forage they might find on the road.
[176] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 11.
[177] It is an error to translate _Arar, quod per fines Æduorum et
Sequanorum in Rhodamam influit_, by the words, “the Saône, which forms
the common boundary line of the Ædui and the Sequani. ” Cæsar always
understands by _fines_, territory, and not boundary line. He expresses
himself very differently when he speaks of a river separating
territories. (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 6, 83; VII. 5. ) The expression _per
fines_ thus confirms the supposition that the territories of these two
peoples extended on both sides of the Saône. (_See Plate 2. _)
[178] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 12. --The excavations, carried on in 1862
between Trévoux and Riottier, on the plateaux of La Bruyère and
Saint-Bernard, leave no doubt of the place of this defeat. They revealed
the existence of numerous sepulchres, as well Gallo-Roman as Celtic. The
tumuli furnished vases of coarse clay, and many fragments of arms in
silex, ornaments in bronze, iron arrow-heads, fragments of sockets.
These sepultures are some by incineration, others by inhumation. In the
first, the cremation had nowhere been complete, which proves that they
had been burnt hastily, and excludes all notion of an ordinary cemetery.
Two common fosses were divided each into two compartments, one of which
contained cinders, the other human skeletons, thrown in pell-mell,
skeletons of men, women, and children. Lastly, numerous country ovens
line, as it were, the road followed by the Helvetii. These ovens, very
common at the foot of the abrupt hills of Trévoux, Saint-Didier, Frans,
Jassans, and Mizérieux, are found again on the left bank of the Ain and
as far as the neighbourhood of Ambronay.
[179] Cæsar declares, on two different occasions, the fixed design of
the Helvetii to establish themselves in the country of the Santones (I.
9 and 11), and Titus Livius confirms this fact in these words: “Cæsar
Helvetios, gentem vagam, domuit, quæ, sedem quærens, in provinciam
Cæsaris Narbonem iter facere volebat. ” (_Epitome_, CIII. ) Had they, for
the execution of this project, the choice between several roads (the
word “road” being taken here in the general sense)? Some authors, not
considering the topography of France, have believed that, to go to the
Santones, the Helvetii should have marched by the shortest line, from
east to west, and passed the Loire towards Roanne. But they would have
had first to pass, in places almost impassable, the mountains which
separate the Saône from the Loire, and, had they arrived there, they
would have found their road barred by another chain of mountains, that
of Le Forez, which separates the Loire from the Allier.
The only means of going from the Lower Saône into Saintonge consists in
travelling at first to the north-west towards the sources of the
Bourbince, where is found the greatest depression of the chain of
mountains which separates the Saône from the Loire, and marching
subsequently to the west, to descend towards the latter river. This is
so true, that at an epoch very near to our own, before the construction
of the railways, the public conveyances, to go from Lyons to La
Rochelle, did not pass by Roanne, but took the direction to the
north-west, to Autun, and thence to Nevers, in the valley of the Loire.
We understand, in exploring this mountainous country, why Cæsar was
obliged to confine himself to pursuing the Helvetii, without being ever
able to attack them. We cannot find a single point where he could have
gained upon them by rapidity of movement, or where he could execute any
manœuvre whatever.
[180] The Romans used little precision in the division of time.
Forcellini (_Lex. _, voce _Hora_) refers to Pliny and Censorinus. He
remarks that the day--that is, the time between the rising and setting
of the sun--was divided into twelve parts, _at all seasons of the year_,
and the night the same, from which it would result that in summer the
hours of the day were longer than in winter, and _vice versa_ for the
nights. --Galenus (_De San. Tuend. _, VI. 7) observed that at Rome the
longest days were equal to fifteen equinoctial hours. Now, these fifteen
hours only reckoning for twelve, it happened that towards the solstice
each hour was more than a quarter longer than towards the equinox. This
remark was not new, for it is found in Plautus. One of his personages
says to a drunkard: “Thou wilt drink four good harvests of Massic wine
in an hour! ” “Add,” replied the drunkard, “in an hour of winter. ”
(Plautus, _Pseudolus_, v. I, 302, edit. Ritschl. )--Vegetius says that
the soldier ought to make twenty miles in five hours, and notes that he
speaks of hours in summer, which at Rome, according to the foregoing
calculation, would be equivalent to six hours and a quarter towards the
equinox. (Vegetius, _Mil. _, I. 9. )
Pliny (_Hist. Nat. _, VII. 60) remarks that, “at the time when the Twelve
Tables were compiled, the only divisions of time known were the rising
and setting of the sun; and that, according to the statement of Varro,
the first public solar dial was erected near the rostra, on a column, by
M. Valerius Messala, who brought it from Catania in 491, thirty years
after the one ascribed to Papirius; and that it was in 595 that Scipio
Nasica, the colleague of M. Popilius Lænas, divided the hours of night
and day, by means of a clepsydra or water-clock, which he consecrated
under a covered building. ”
Censorinus (_De Die Natali_, xxiii. , a book dated in the year 991 of
Rome, or 338 A. D. ) repeats, with some additions, the details given by
Pliny. “There is,” he says, “the _natural_ day and the _civil_ day. The
first is the time which passes between the rising and setting of the
sun; on the contrary, the night begins with the setting and ends with
the rising of the sun. The _civil_ day comprises a revolution of the
heaven--that is, a true day and a true night; so that when one says that
a person has lived thirty days, we must understand that he has lived the
same number of nights.
“We know that the day and the night are each divided into twelve hours.
The Romans were three hundred years before they were acquainted with
hours. The word _hour_ is not found in the Twelve Tables. They said in
those times, ‘before or after mid-day. ’ Others divided the day, as well
as the night, into four parts--a practice which is preserved in the
armies, where they divide the night into four watches. ” Upon these and
other data, M. Le Verrier has had the goodness to draw up a table, which
will be found at the end of the volume, and which indicates the increase
or decrease of the hours with the seasons, and the relationship of the
Roman _watches_ with our modern hours. (_See Appendix B. _)
[181] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 22.
[182] They reckon from Villefranche to Remilly about 170 kilomètres.
[183] Each soldier received twenty-five pounds of wheat every fortnight.
[184] It is generally admitted that Bibracte stood on the site of Autun,
on account of the inscription discovered at Autun in the seventeenth
century, and now preserved in the cabinet of antiquities at the
Bibliothèque Impériale. Another opinion, which identifies Bibracte with
Mont Beuvray (a mountain presenting a great surface, situated thirteen
kilomètres to the west of Autun), had nevertheless already found, long
ago, some supporters. It will be remarked first that the Gauls chose for
the site of their towns, when they could, places difficult of access: in
broken countries, these were steep mountains (as Gergovia, Alesia,
Uxellodunum, &c. ); in flat countries, they were grounds surrounded by
marshes (such as Avaricum). The Ædui, according to this, would not have
built their principal town on the site of Autun, situated at the foot of
the mountains. It was believed that a plateau so elevated as that of
Mont Beuvray (its highest point is 810 mètres above the sea) could not
have been occupied by a great town. Yet the existence of eight or ten
roads, which lead to this plateau, deserted for so many centuries, and
some of which are in a state of preservation truly astonishing, ought to
have led to a contrary opinion. Let us add that recent excavations leave
no further room for doubt. They have brought to light, over an extent of
120 hectares, foundations of Gaulish towers, some round, others square;
of mosaics, of foundations of Gallo-Roman walls, gates, hewn stones,
heaps of roof tiles, a prodigious quantity of broken amphoræ, a
semicircular theatre, &c. . . . Everything, in fact, leads us to place
Bibracte on Mont Beuvray: the striking resemblance of the two names, the
designation of Φροὑριον, which Strabo gives to Bibracte, and even the
vague and persistent tradition which, prevailing among the inhabitants
of the district, points to Mont Beuvray as a centre of superstitious
regard.
[185] The cavalry was divided into _turmæ_, and the _turma_ into three
decuries of ten men each.
[186] The word _sarcinæ_, the original sense of which is baggage or
burthens, was employed sometimes to signify the bundles carried by the
soldiers (_De Bello Gallico_, II. 17), sometimes for the heavy baggage
(_De Bello Civili_, I, 81). Here we must take _sarcinæ_ as comprising
both. This is proved by the circumstance that the six legions of the
Roman army were on the hill. Now, if Cæsar had sent the heavy baggage
forward, towards Bibracte, as General de Gœler believes, he would have
sent with it, as an escort, the two legions of the new levy, as he did,
the year following, in the campaign against the Nervii. (_De Bello
Gallico_, II. 19. )
[187] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 24. --In the phalanx, the men of the first
rank covered themselves with their bucklers, overlapping one another
before them, while those of the other ranks held them horizontally over
their heads, arranged like the tiles of a roof.
[188] According to Plutarch (_Cæsar_, 20), he said, “I will mount on
horseback when the enemy shall have taken flight. ”
[189] The _pilum_ was a sort of javelin thrown by the hand: its total
length was from 1·70 to 2 mètres; its head was a slender flexible blade
from 0·60 to 1 mètre long, weighing from 300 to 600 grammes, terminating
in a part slightly swelling, which sometimes formed a barbed point.
The shaft, sometimes round, sometimes square, had a diameter of from 25
to 32 millimètres. It was fixed to the head by ferules, or by pegs, or
by means of a socket.
Such are the characteristics presented by the fragments of _pila_ found
at Alise. They answer in general to the descriptions we find in Polybius
(VI. 28), in Dionysius (V. 46), and in Plutarch (_Marius_). _Pila_ made
on the model of those found at Alise, and weighing with their shaft from
700 grammes to 1·200 kilog. , have been thrown to a distance of 30 and 40
mètres: we may therefore fix at about 25 mètres the average distance to
which the _pilum_ carried.
[190] _Latere aperto_, the right side, since the buckler was carried on
the left arm. We read, indeed, in Titus Livius: “Et cum in latus
dextrum, quod parebat, Numidæ jacularentur, translatis in dextrum
scutis,” &c. (XXII. 50. )
[191] Dio Cassius (XXXVIII. 33) says on this subject that “the Helvetii
were not all on the field of battle, on account of their great number,
and of the haste with which the first had made the attack. Suddenly
those who had remained in the rear came to attack the Romans, when they
were already occupied in pursuing the enemy. Cæsar ordered his cavalry
to continue the pursuit; with his legions, he turned against the new
assailants. ”
[192] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 20.
[193] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 26. --Till now the field of battle where
Cæsar defeated the Helvetii has not been identified. The site which we
have adopted, between Luzy and Chides, satisfies all the requirements of
the text of the “Commentaries. ” Different authors have proposed several
other localities; but the first cause of error in their reckonings
consists in identifying Bibracte with Autun, which we cannot admit; and
further, not one of these localities fulfils the necessary topographical
conditions. In our opinion, we must not seek the place of engagement to
the east of Bibracte, for the Helvetii, to go from the Lower Saône to
the Santones, must have passed to the west, and not to the east, of that
town. Cussy-la-Colonne, where the field of battle is most generally
placed, does not, therefore, suit at all; and, moreover,
Cussy-la-Colonne is too near to the territory of the Lingones to require
four days for the Helvetii to arrive there after the battle.
[194] “He drove back this people into their country as a shepherd drives
back his flock into the fold. ” (Florus, II. x. 3. )
[195] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 29.
[196] Cæsar pursued the Helvetii, taking for auxiliaries about 20,000
Gaulish mountaineers. (Appian, _De Rebus Gallicis_, IV. 15, edit.
Schweigh. )
[197] Appian, _De Bello Celt. _, IV. i. 3.
[198] Tacitius (_Germania_, iv. 32. ) speaks of this custom of the German
horsemen of fighting on foot. Titus Livius (XLIV. 26) ascribes this
practice to the Bastarni (the Moldavians. )
[199] Appian, _De Bello Celt. _, IV. i. 3.
[200] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 1, 2, 3. --General de Gœler, in our
opinion, extends the territory of the Ubii much too far to the south.
[201] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 25. --This statement agrees well enough
with the length of the Black Forest and the Odenwald, which is sixty
leagues.
[202] It is difficult to fix with precision the localities inhabited at
this period by the German peoples, for they were nearly all nomadic, and
were continually pressing one upon another. Cæsar, in his fourth book
_De Bello Gallico_ (cap. I), asserts that the Suevi never occupied the
same territory more than one year.
[203] Strabo (VII. , p. 244) relates, after Posidonius, that the Boii had
inhabited first the Hercynian forest; elsewhere he says (V. 177) that
the Boii established themselves among the Taurisci, a people dwelling
near Noricum. The same author (VII. 243) places the solitudes inhabited
by the Boii to the east of Vindelicia (_Southern Bavaria and Western
Austria_). Lastly, he says (IV. 471) that the Rhætii and the Vindelicii
are the neighbours of the Helvetii and the Boii. The Nemetes and the
Vangiones subsequently passed over to the left bank of the Rhine,
towards Worms and Spire, and the Ubii towards Cologne.
[204] Which formed the present Upper Alsace.
[205] We look upon it as certain, from the tenth chapter of Book IV. of
the “Commentaries,” that the Triboci occupied also the left bank of the
Rhine. We therefore naturally place among this German people the spot
where the army of Ariovistus was assembled.
Paris, 1836.
[150] The hostility which prevailed between the Sequani and the Ædui was
further augmented, according to Strabo, by the following cause: “These
two tribes, separated by the Arar (the _Saône_), both claimed the right
of tolls. ” (Strabo, p. 160, edit. Didot. )
[151] “Divitiacus, introduced to the Senate, explained the subject of
his mission. He was offered a seat, but refused that honour, and
pronounced his discourse leaning on his buckler. ” (Eumenius, _Panegyric
of Constantine_, cap. 3. )
[152] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 12.
[153] The limits of Illyria, in the time of Cæsar, are hardly known; yet
it appears that this province comprised the modern Istria and part of
Carniola. Aquileia was its capital, situated at the head of the gulf of
the Adriatic Sea, not far from the Isonzo. In fact, Strabo (I. , p. 178)
says that Aquileia was situated without the frontiers of the Veneti, in
whose territory this town was included under Augustus. On another side,
Titus Livius (XXXIX. 55) informs us that the colony of Aquileia had been
founded in Istria; and Herodotus (I. 196), as well as Appian, reckons
the Istrians among the peoples of Illyria.
[154] “Molita cibaria. ” (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 5. )
[155] Inhabitants of the country of Bâle. The Rauraci inhabited the
diocese of Bâle, which was called _Augusta Rauracorum_.
[156] Inhabitants of the south of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The town of
Stulingen, near Schaffhausen, is believed to derive its name from the
Tulingi.
[157] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 3, 4, and 5. --Scholars have taken great
pains to determine the concordance between the ante-Julian calendar and
the Julian calendar; unfortunately, the results at which they have
arrived are very imperfect. We have asked M. Le Verrier to solve this
difficult problem, and we owe to his courtesy the tables placed at the
end of this volume. (_Appendix A. _)
[158] The bed of the Rhone has changed at several points since the time
of Cæsar; at present, according to the report of those who live on its
banks, there are no fords except between Russin, on the right bank, and
the mill of Vert, on the left bank. (_See Plate 3. _)
[159] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 6.
[160] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 18.
[161] This part of the Jura on the left bank of the Rhone is called the
_Mont du Vuache_.
[162] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 8.
[163] M. Queypo, in his learned work on the weights and measures of the
ancients, assigns to the Roman foot, subdivided into twelve inches, a
length of 0·29630m. The Roman pace was five feet, so that the mile was
equivalent to a length of 1481·50m.
[164] Dio Cassius says that “Cæsar fortified with retrenchments and
walls the most important points. ” (XXXVIII. 31. )
[165] The retrenchments which Cæsar calls _murus fossaque_ could not be
a wall, in the usual acceptation of the word: first, because a wall
would have been but a weak obstacle; further, because the materials were
not found on the spot; and lastly, because if so great a quantity of
stones had been collected on the bank of the Rhone, we should still find
traces of them. I have therefore sought another explanation, and thought
that _murus_ might be understood of a natural escarpment rendered
steeper by a slight work. Penetrated with this idea, I sought Baron
Stoffel, the commandant of artillery, to inspect the localities, and the
result of his researches has fully confirmed my suppositions. The
following is a summary of his report:--
Considered in its _ensemble_, from Geneva to the Pas-de-l’Ecluse, the
Rhone presents the appearance of an immense fosse from 100 to 120 mètres
broad, with abrupt and very elevated scarp and counter-scarp. The parts
where it does not present this character are few, and of relatively
small extent. They are the only ones where operations for passing the
river could be attempted--the only ones, consequently, which Cæsar would
have need to fortify on the left bank.
1. From Geneva to the confluence of the Arve and the Rhone, an extent of
1½ kilomètres. Breadth of the river, 90 to 100 mètres. --The left bank is
flat in the whole of this extent. The right bank has escarpments almost
vertical, the height of which varies from 15 to 35 mètres. (_See Plate
3_, mean profile between Geneva and the Arve. ) No attempt at passage
could have taken place, neither at Geneva, nor between the town and the
Arve.
2. From the Arve to the plateau of Aire-la-Ville, extent 12½
kilomètres. --After leaving the confluence of the Arve, the heights of
the right bank of the Rhone increase in elevation; the escarpments
become formidable. --The left bank is bordered with similar escarpments,
and the river runs thus between high and abrupt banks, everywhere
impassable. It preserves this character to a kilomètre above the ravine
of Avril, near Peney. The profiles _a a_ and _b b_ give an idea of the
escarpments of the banks from the Avre to the ravine of Avril. (_See
Plate 3_. )--The heights which, on the right bank of the Rhone, extend
from Vernier to Peney, sink gradually from one of these villages towards
the other, and they form to the east of the ravine of Avril a plateau,
the mean elevation of which above the bed of the river is only 20
mètres. Opposite, on the left bank, extends the plateau of
Aire-la-Ville. Length 1,700 mètres; breadth, 700 mètres; mean elevation
above the bed of the Rhone, 20 to 25 mètres. The heights of the Peney
are well disposed for the establishment of an army, and the plateau of
Aire-la-Ville would permit an army, the Rhone once passed, to deploy
easily. But, in spite of these advantages, it is certain that the
Helvetii attempted no operation on this side, for the Rhone flows at the
foot of a slope of the height of from 14 to 16 mètres and an inclination
of at least 45 degrees.
3. From the plateau of Aire-la-Ville to the point of Epeisses, extent 6
kilomètres. --Down the river from the escarpments of Peney, the heights
of the right bank (heights of Russin) form with those of the left bank
an immense amphitheatre, nearly circular, the arena of which would be
the ground represented green on Plate 3 (diameter, 1½ kilomètres). From
the heights of Russin we can descend into the plain to the water of the
river. The Rhone, in this part, has never been deep or rapid. The left
bank is little elevated, entirely flat opposite the mill of Vert, and
the slope of the heights which command it is far from impracticable.
Thus, it was here possible for the Helvetii to effect the passage of the
river, and climb the heights of the left bank, if they had not been
fortified or guarded. This operation presented least difficulty in the
part _t t o_. And we can hardly doubt that the Romans fortified it to
add to the natural obstacles, which were insufficient in this extent.
(_See the profile c c. _)
An attentive examination of the locality, the discovery of certain
irregularities of ground, which we may be allowed to consider as
vestiges, lead us to explain in the following manner the expression
_murum fossamque perducit_.
Cæsar took advantage of the mean heights at the foot of which the Rhone
flows, to cause to be made, on the slope towards the river, and
beginning with the crest, a longitudinal trench, of such a depth that
the main wall had an elevation of 16 feet. The earth arising from the
excavation was thrown down the side of the slope, and the crest was
furnished with palisades. (_See the profile of the retrenchment. _) It
was, properly speaking, a fosse, the scarp of which was higher than the
counter-scarp.
The hills on the left bank, which rise opposite Russin, are accessible,
especially in an extent of 900 mètres, reckoning from the point where
the ravine which descends to Aire-la-Ville opens upon the river. They
form there, among other peculiarities of the ground, a terrace 8 mètres
in breadth, rising from 13 to 14 mètres above the plain, and descending
to this by a tolerably uniform _talus_ of 45 degrees.
The Romans would be able to prevent the access by means of the trench
just described. They, no doubt, continued it to the point _o_, where the
terrace ceases, and the heights become impracticable. It would then have
been from 800 to 900 mètres long.
If we continue to descend the Rhone, we meet, on the left bank, first
with the perpendicular escarpments of Cartigny, which are 70 or 80
mètres in height, and then abrupt beaches to near Avully. Below
Cartigny, the Rhone surrounds a little plain, very slightly inclined
towards the river, and presenting a projection of land (_v r_) from 5 to
6 mètres high, with a _talus_ of less than 45 degrees. The bank being of
small elevation, the Helvetii might have landed there. To prevent this,
the Romans opened, in the _talus_ which fronted the Rhone, a trench
similar to the preceding; it was 250 mètres long.
The heights of Avully and Epeisses leave between them and the river a
tolerably vast space, composed of two distinct parts. The first is
formed of gentle slopes from Avully to a projection of land, _q p_; the
other part is a plain comprised between this projection of land and the
left bank of the river. On the right bank a torrent-like river, the
London, debouches into flat ground named La Plaine. The Helvetii might
have made their preparations for passing the Rhone there, and directed
their efforts towards the western point of La Plaine, in face of the low
and flat land comprised between the left bank and the escarpment _q p_.
In this part the left bank is only from 1½ to 2 mètres high. Moreover,
the slopes of Avully are not difficult to climb, and therefore the
Romans must have sought to bar the passage in this direction. (_See the
broken profile d e f. _) The escarpment _q p_, from its position and
height, is easy to fortify. Its length is 700 mètres; its mean elevation
above the plain, 18. It presents to the river a _talus_ of less than 45
degrees. The Romans made in this _talus_, along the crest, a trench,
forming wall and fosse. Its length was 700 mètres.
4. From the point of Epeisses to the escarpments of Etournel, extent 6
kilomètres. --From Epeisses to Chancy the Rhone flows in a straight line,
and presents the appearance of a vast fosse, 100 mètres wide, the walls
of which have an inclination of more than 45 degrees. (_See the profile
g g_. )
At 200 mètres above Chancy, at _k_, the character of the banks changes
suddenly. The heights on the right sink towards the river in tolerably
gentle slopes, through an extent of 2,300 mètres, reckoning from _k_ to
the escarpments of Etournel. Opposite, on the left bank, extends the
plateau of Chancy. It presents to the Rhone, from _k_ to _z_, in a
length of 1,400 mètres, an irregular crest, distant from 50 to 60 mètres
from the river, and commanding it by about 20 mètres. The side towards
the Rhone, from _k_ to _z_, presents slopes which are very practicable.
(_See the profile h h. _)
The position of Chancy was certainly the theatre of the most serious
attempts on the part of the Helvetii. Encamped on the heights of the
right bank, they could easily descend to the Rhone, and there make their
preparations for passing, on an extent of 1,500 mètres. The river once
crossed, they had only before them, from _k_ to _z_, slopes which were
practicable to debouch on the plateau of Chancy.
The Romans had then to bar the gap _k z_ by joining the impassable
escarpments which terminate in _k_ with those which commence at _z_, and
which are also inaccessible. To effect this, they opened from one of
these points to the other, in the upper part of the slope at the foot of
which the Rhone flows, a longitudinal trench _k z_, similar to that
already spoken of. It was 1,400 mètres in length.
5. From the escarpments of Etournel to the Pas-de-l’Ecluse, an extent of
6 kilomètres. --At the escarpments of Etournel, the Rhone removes from
the heights on the right, and only returns to them towards the hamlet of
the Isles, 2 kilomètres farther down. These heights form a vast
semi-elliptical amphitheatre, embracing a plain slightly inclined
towards the river. It is marked by a green tint on Plate 3. People can
descend from all sides and approach the Rhone, the bank of which is
flat. Opposite, the left bank presents insurmountable obstacles until
below Cologny, at _s_. But below this point, from _s_ to _y_, the bank
is flat, and the heights situated behind are accessible on an extent of
2 kilomètres.
The Helvetii, established on the heights of Pougny and Colonges, could
descend to the Rhone, and cross it between Etournel and the hamlet of
Les Isles. The Romans had thus to unite the escarpments which terminate
at Cologny with the impracticable slopes of the mountain of Le Vuache.
Here again we shall see that they took advantage of the peculiarities of
the ground.
At the village of Cologny, the heights form a triangular plateau, _s u
x_, of which the point _s_ advances like a promontory towards the Rhone,
which it commands perpendicularly by at least 20 mètres. A projection of
land, _s u_, bounds it in front, and separates it from a plain which
extends to the river. The escarpment produced by this projection of land
presents to the Rhone a slope of about 45 degrees. It rises over the
plain about 14 mètres towards its extremity _s_, but diminishes
gradually in height, until it is only 2 to 3 mètres in height near the
point _u_. (_See the profile n n. _) The Romans hollowed, on the slope of
the escarpment from _s_ to _u_, a length of 800 mètres, a trench forming
wall and fosse. The plateau of Cologny, situated in the rear, offered a
favorable position for the defence of this retrenchment. (_See the
profile p p. _) They prolonged their works towards the west as far as
_y_; beyond that, the heights presented sufficient natural obstacles. We
may thus estimate that, from Cologny to the mountain of Le Vuache, the
Romans executed from 1,600 to 1,700 mètres of retrenchments.
To sum up: the works executed on five principal points, between Geneva
and the Jura, represent a total length of about 5,000 mètres, that is,
less than the sixth part of the development of the course of the Rhone.
Admitting that Cæsar had at his disposal 10,000 men, we may suppose that
he distributed them in the following manner:--3,000 men on the heights
of Avully, his head-quarters; 2,500 at Geneva; 1,000 on the plateau of
Aire-la-Ville; 2,000 at Chancy; and 1,500 on the plateau of Cologny.
These 10,000 men might be concentrated: in two hours, on the heights
between Aire-la-Ville and Cartigny; in three hours, on the heights of
Avully; in three hours and a half, on the plateau of Chancy; in three
hours and a half, these troops, with the exception of those encamped at
Geneva, might be brought together between Cologny and the fort of
L’Ecluse. It would require five hours to carry the detachment from
Geneva thither.
The detachments mentioned above, with the exception of that of Geneva,
were established in what Cæsar calls the _castella_. These were
constructed on the heights, in the proximity of the retrenchments which
had to be defended--namely, at Aire-la-Ville, Avully, Chancy, and
Cologny. They consisted probably of earthen redoubts, capable of
containing a certain number of troops. They are represented by squares
in Plate 3.
Cæsar could reconnoitre every instant the march and designs of the
Helvetii, the heights of the left bank of the Rhone presenting a great
number of positions where it was easy to place advantageously posts of
observation. Commandant Stoffel has pointed out six, which are marked on
Plate 3. As it will be observed, the Helvetii, in crossing the Rhone,
could not be disturbed by darts thrown from the top of the
retrenchments, for these darts would not carry to the left bank of the
river. Now there exists at present, between this bank and the foot of
the heights in which these trenches were cut, flat ground of more or
less extent. Admitting, then, that the Rhone flowed nineteen centuries
ago in the same bed as at the present day, we may ask if the Romans did
not construct, in these low parts near the bank, ordinary retrenchments,
composed of a fosse and rampart. The excavations undertaken by the
Commandant Stoffel have revealed everywhere, in these plains, the
existence of ground formed by alluvium, which would lead us to believe
that the Rhone once covered them. However, even if at that epoch these
little plains had been already uncovered, either wholly or in part, we
can hardly suppose that Cæsar would have raised works there, since the
heights situated in the rear permitted him, with less labour, to create
a more redoubtable defence--that of the trenches opened along the
crests. As we see, the obstacle presented to the assailants began only
with these trenches, at the top of the slopes.
As to the vestiges which still appear to exist, they may be described as
follows. The slopes which the Romans fortified at Chancy, from _k_ to
_z_, and at Cologny, from _s_ to _y_, present, in the upper parts, in
some places, undulations of ground, the form of which denotes the work
of man. On the slope of Chancy, for instance, the ground presents a
projection, _i i_ (_see the profile h h_), very distinctly marked, and
having the remarkable peculiarity that it is about 11 feet high and 8 to
9 feet broad. Now, is it not evident that, if one of the fosses which
have been described should get filled up, either naturally, by the
action of time, or by the processes of agriculture, it would take
absolutely the form _i i_, with the dimensions just indicated? It would
not, therefore, be rash to consider these peculiarities of the ground,
such as _i i_, as traces of the Roman trenches.
We must further mention the projection of land _v r_, situated below
Cartigny. Its form is so regular, and so sharply defined, from the crest
to the foot of the _talus_, that it is difficult not to see in it the
vestiges of a work made by men’s hands.
It is easy to estimate approximately the time which it would have taken
Cæsar’s troops to construct the 5,000 mètres of trenches which extended,
at separate intervals, from Geneva to the Jura.
Let us consider, to fix our ideas, a ground A D V, inclined at 45
degrees, in which is to be made the trench A B C D. The great wall A B C
had 16 Roman feet in elevation: we will suppose that A B was inclined at
5 on 1, and that the small wall D C was 6 feet high.
The amount of rubbish removed would be as follows:--Section A B C D = 64
square feet, or, reducing it into square mètres, A B C D = 5 square
mètres 60 centimètres.
The mètre in length of the earth thrown out would give thus 5·60 cubic
mètres.
If we consider the facility of labour in the trench, since the earth has
only to be thrown down the slope, we shall see that two men can dig
three mètres in length of this trench in two days. Therefore, admitting
that the 10,000 men at Cæsar’s disposal had only been employed a quarter
of the time, from two to three days would have been sufficient for the
execution of the complete work.
[166] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 8.
[167] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 9. --The country of the Sequani comprised
the Jura, and reached to the Pas-de-l’Ecluse. (_See Plate 2_, Map of
Gaul. )
[168] It has been considered to have been an error of Cæsar to place the
Santones in the proximity of the Tolosates: modern researchers have
proved that the two peoples were not more than thirty or forty leagues
from each other.
[169] Several authors have stated wrongly that Cæsar went into Illyria;
he informs us himself (_De Bello Gallico_, III. 7) that he went thither
for the first time in the winter of 698.
[170] We believe, with General de Gœler, from the itinerary marked on
the Peutingerian table, that the troops of Cæsar passed by Altinum
(_Altino_), Mantua, Cremona, Laus Pompei (_Lodi Vecchio_), Pavia, and
Turin; but, after quitting this last place, we consider that they
followed the route of Fenestrella and Ocelum. Thence they directed their
march across the Cottian Alps, by Cesena and Brigantium (_Briançon_);
then, following the road indicated by the Theodosian table, which
appears to have passed along the banks of the Romanche, they proceeded
to Cularo (_Grenoble_), on the frontier of the Vocontii, by Stabatio
(_Chahotte_ or _Le Monestier_, Hautes-Alpes), Durotineum
(_Villards-d’Arenne_), Melloseeum (_Misoen_ or _Bourg-d’Oysans_, Isère),
and Catorissium (_Bourg-d’Oysans_ or _Chaource_, Isère).
[171] “Locis superioribus occupatis. ” (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 10. )
[172] There is difference of opinion as to the site of Ocelum. The
following remark has been communicated to me by M. E. Celesia, who is
preparing a work on ancient Italy: _Ocelum_ only meant, in the ancient
Celtic or Iberian language, _principal passage_. We know that, in the
Pyrenees, these passages were called _ports_. There existed places of
the name of _Ocelum_, in the Alps, in Gaul, and as far as Spain.
(Ptolemy, II. 6. )--The itineraries found in the baths of Vicarello
indicate, between Turin and Susa, an _Ocelum_, which appears to us to
have been that of which Cæsar speaks; there was a place similarly named
in Maurienne, on the left bank of the Arc, at an equal distance from the
source of that river and the town of Saint-Jean; it is now _Usseglio_.
There was another in the valley of the Lanzo, on the left bank of the
Gara, from which appears to be derived the name of Garaceli or
Graioceli; it was called _Ocelum Lanciensium_. The Ocelum of Cæsar,
according to M. Celesia, who adopts the opinion of D’Anville, was called
_Ocelum ad Clusonem fluvium_; it was situated in the valley of the
Pragelatto, on the road leading from Pignerol to the defile of
Fenestrella.
This place has continued to preserve its primitive name of
_Ocelum_, _Occelum_, _Oxelum_, _Uxelum_ (_Charta Adeladis_, an. 1064),
whence by corruption its modern name of _Usseau_. According to this
hypothesis, Cæsar would have passed from the valley of Chiusone into
that of Pragelatto, and thence, by Mount Genèvre, to Briançon, in order
to arrive among the Vocontii. --Polyænus (_Stratag. _, VIII. xxiii. 2)
relates that Cæsar took advantage of a mist to escape the mountaineers.
[173] “Segusiavi sunt trans Rhodanum primi. ” (_De Bello Gallico_, I.
10. ) It is to be supposed that there existed a bridge on the Rhone, near
Lyons.
[174] Cæsar had deferred his reply till the Ides of April (April the
8th). If it were then decided to bring the legions from Aquileia, the
time necessary to bring them would have been as follows:
6 days employed by the couriers to proceed from Geneva to Aquileia.
This time does not appear to us too short, since Cæsar had employed
8 days to go from Rome to Geneva, and that the distance from Geneva
to Aquileia is only 1,000 kilomètres, while it is 1,200 from Geneva
to Rome;
8 days to assemble the legions--in 581, it required only eleven
days to enroll four legions (Titus Livius, XLIII. 45);
28 days from Aquileia to Ocelum (_Usseau_) (681 kilom. )reckoning 24
kilomètres for a day’s march;
6 days’ halts;
7 days from Ocelum to Grenoble (174 kilom. ) (_De Bello Gallico_, I.
10);
5 days from Grenoble to Lyons (126 kilom. )
--
60
According to this reckoning, Cæsar required 60 days, reckoning from the
moment when he decided on this course, to transport his legions from
Aquileia to Lyons; that is to say, if he sent, as is probable, couriers
on the 8th of April, the day he refused the passage to the Helvetii, the
head of his column arrived at Lyons towards the 7th of June.
[175] To estimate the volume and weight represented by the provisions
for three months for _three hundred and sixty-eight thousand_ persons of
both sexes and of all ages, let us allow that the ration of food was
small, and consisted, we may say, only in a reserve of meal, _trium
mensium molita cibaria_, at an average of ¾ of a pound (¾ of a pound of
meal gives about a pound of bread); at this rate, the Helvetii must have
carried with them 24,840,000 pounds, or 12,420,000 kilogrammes of meal.
Let us allow also that they had great four-wheeled carriages, capable
each of carrying 2,000 kilogrammes, and drawn by four horses. The 100
kilogrammes of unrefined meal makes 2 cubic hectolitres; therefore,
2,000 kilogrammes of meal make 4 cubic mètres, so that this would lead
us to suppose no more than 4 cubic mètres as the average load for the
four-wheeled carriages. On our good roads in France, levelled and paved,
three horses are sufficient to draw, at a walking pace, during ten
hours, a four-wheeled carriage carrying 4,000 kilogrammes. It is more
than 1,300 kilogrammes per collar.
We suppose that the horses of the emigrants drew only 500 kilogrammes in
excess of the dead weight, which would give about 6,000 carriages and
24,000 draught animals to transport the three months’ provisions.
But these emigrants were not only provided with food, for they had also
certainly baggage. It appears to us no exaggeration to suppose that each
individual carried, besides his food, fifteen kilogrammes of baggage on
an average. We are thus left to add to the 6,000 provision carriages
about 2,500 other carriages for the baggage, which would make a total of
8,500 carriages drawn by 34,000 draught animals. We use the word animals
instead of horses, as at least a part of the teams would, no doubt, be
composed of oxen, the number of which would diminish daily, for the
emigrants would be led to use the flesh of these animals for their own
food.
Such a column of 8,500 carriages, supposing them to march in file, one
carriage at a time, on a single road, could not occupy less than
_thirty-two_ leagues in length, if we reckon fifteen mètres to each
carriage. This remark explains the enormous difficulties the emigration
would encounter, and the slowness of its movements: we need, then, no
longer be astonished at the twenty days which it took three quarters of
the column to pass the Saône.
We have not comprised the provisions of grain for the animals
themselves: yet it is difficult to believe that the Helvetii, so
provident for their own wants, had neglected to provide for those of
their beasts, and that they had reckoned exclusively for their food on
the forage they might find on the road.
[176] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 11.
[177] It is an error to translate _Arar, quod per fines Æduorum et
Sequanorum in Rhodamam influit_, by the words, “the Saône, which forms
the common boundary line of the Ædui and the Sequani. ” Cæsar always
understands by _fines_, territory, and not boundary line. He expresses
himself very differently when he speaks of a river separating
territories. (_De Bello Gallico_, I. 6, 83; VII. 5. ) The expression _per
fines_ thus confirms the supposition that the territories of these two
peoples extended on both sides of the Saône. (_See Plate 2. _)
[178] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 12. --The excavations, carried on in 1862
between Trévoux and Riottier, on the plateaux of La Bruyère and
Saint-Bernard, leave no doubt of the place of this defeat. They revealed
the existence of numerous sepulchres, as well Gallo-Roman as Celtic. The
tumuli furnished vases of coarse clay, and many fragments of arms in
silex, ornaments in bronze, iron arrow-heads, fragments of sockets.
These sepultures are some by incineration, others by inhumation. In the
first, the cremation had nowhere been complete, which proves that they
had been burnt hastily, and excludes all notion of an ordinary cemetery.
Two common fosses were divided each into two compartments, one of which
contained cinders, the other human skeletons, thrown in pell-mell,
skeletons of men, women, and children. Lastly, numerous country ovens
line, as it were, the road followed by the Helvetii. These ovens, very
common at the foot of the abrupt hills of Trévoux, Saint-Didier, Frans,
Jassans, and Mizérieux, are found again on the left bank of the Ain and
as far as the neighbourhood of Ambronay.
[179] Cæsar declares, on two different occasions, the fixed design of
the Helvetii to establish themselves in the country of the Santones (I.
9 and 11), and Titus Livius confirms this fact in these words: “Cæsar
Helvetios, gentem vagam, domuit, quæ, sedem quærens, in provinciam
Cæsaris Narbonem iter facere volebat. ” (_Epitome_, CIII. ) Had they, for
the execution of this project, the choice between several roads (the
word “road” being taken here in the general sense)? Some authors, not
considering the topography of France, have believed that, to go to the
Santones, the Helvetii should have marched by the shortest line, from
east to west, and passed the Loire towards Roanne. But they would have
had first to pass, in places almost impassable, the mountains which
separate the Saône from the Loire, and, had they arrived there, they
would have found their road barred by another chain of mountains, that
of Le Forez, which separates the Loire from the Allier.
The only means of going from the Lower Saône into Saintonge consists in
travelling at first to the north-west towards the sources of the
Bourbince, where is found the greatest depression of the chain of
mountains which separates the Saône from the Loire, and marching
subsequently to the west, to descend towards the latter river. This is
so true, that at an epoch very near to our own, before the construction
of the railways, the public conveyances, to go from Lyons to La
Rochelle, did not pass by Roanne, but took the direction to the
north-west, to Autun, and thence to Nevers, in the valley of the Loire.
We understand, in exploring this mountainous country, why Cæsar was
obliged to confine himself to pursuing the Helvetii, without being ever
able to attack them. We cannot find a single point where he could have
gained upon them by rapidity of movement, or where he could execute any
manœuvre whatever.
[180] The Romans used little precision in the division of time.
Forcellini (_Lex. _, voce _Hora_) refers to Pliny and Censorinus. He
remarks that the day--that is, the time between the rising and setting
of the sun--was divided into twelve parts, _at all seasons of the year_,
and the night the same, from which it would result that in summer the
hours of the day were longer than in winter, and _vice versa_ for the
nights. --Galenus (_De San. Tuend. _, VI. 7) observed that at Rome the
longest days were equal to fifteen equinoctial hours. Now, these fifteen
hours only reckoning for twelve, it happened that towards the solstice
each hour was more than a quarter longer than towards the equinox. This
remark was not new, for it is found in Plautus. One of his personages
says to a drunkard: “Thou wilt drink four good harvests of Massic wine
in an hour! ” “Add,” replied the drunkard, “in an hour of winter. ”
(Plautus, _Pseudolus_, v. I, 302, edit. Ritschl. )--Vegetius says that
the soldier ought to make twenty miles in five hours, and notes that he
speaks of hours in summer, which at Rome, according to the foregoing
calculation, would be equivalent to six hours and a quarter towards the
equinox. (Vegetius, _Mil. _, I. 9. )
Pliny (_Hist. Nat. _, VII. 60) remarks that, “at the time when the Twelve
Tables were compiled, the only divisions of time known were the rising
and setting of the sun; and that, according to the statement of Varro,
the first public solar dial was erected near the rostra, on a column, by
M. Valerius Messala, who brought it from Catania in 491, thirty years
after the one ascribed to Papirius; and that it was in 595 that Scipio
Nasica, the colleague of M. Popilius Lænas, divided the hours of night
and day, by means of a clepsydra or water-clock, which he consecrated
under a covered building. ”
Censorinus (_De Die Natali_, xxiii. , a book dated in the year 991 of
Rome, or 338 A. D. ) repeats, with some additions, the details given by
Pliny. “There is,” he says, “the _natural_ day and the _civil_ day. The
first is the time which passes between the rising and setting of the
sun; on the contrary, the night begins with the setting and ends with
the rising of the sun. The _civil_ day comprises a revolution of the
heaven--that is, a true day and a true night; so that when one says that
a person has lived thirty days, we must understand that he has lived the
same number of nights.
“We know that the day and the night are each divided into twelve hours.
The Romans were three hundred years before they were acquainted with
hours. The word _hour_ is not found in the Twelve Tables. They said in
those times, ‘before or after mid-day. ’ Others divided the day, as well
as the night, into four parts--a practice which is preserved in the
armies, where they divide the night into four watches. ” Upon these and
other data, M. Le Verrier has had the goodness to draw up a table, which
will be found at the end of the volume, and which indicates the increase
or decrease of the hours with the seasons, and the relationship of the
Roman _watches_ with our modern hours. (_See Appendix B. _)
[181] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 22.
[182] They reckon from Villefranche to Remilly about 170 kilomètres.
[183] Each soldier received twenty-five pounds of wheat every fortnight.
[184] It is generally admitted that Bibracte stood on the site of Autun,
on account of the inscription discovered at Autun in the seventeenth
century, and now preserved in the cabinet of antiquities at the
Bibliothèque Impériale. Another opinion, which identifies Bibracte with
Mont Beuvray (a mountain presenting a great surface, situated thirteen
kilomètres to the west of Autun), had nevertheless already found, long
ago, some supporters. It will be remarked first that the Gauls chose for
the site of their towns, when they could, places difficult of access: in
broken countries, these were steep mountains (as Gergovia, Alesia,
Uxellodunum, &c. ); in flat countries, they were grounds surrounded by
marshes (such as Avaricum). The Ædui, according to this, would not have
built their principal town on the site of Autun, situated at the foot of
the mountains. It was believed that a plateau so elevated as that of
Mont Beuvray (its highest point is 810 mètres above the sea) could not
have been occupied by a great town. Yet the existence of eight or ten
roads, which lead to this plateau, deserted for so many centuries, and
some of which are in a state of preservation truly astonishing, ought to
have led to a contrary opinion. Let us add that recent excavations leave
no further room for doubt. They have brought to light, over an extent of
120 hectares, foundations of Gaulish towers, some round, others square;
of mosaics, of foundations of Gallo-Roman walls, gates, hewn stones,
heaps of roof tiles, a prodigious quantity of broken amphoræ, a
semicircular theatre, &c. . . . Everything, in fact, leads us to place
Bibracte on Mont Beuvray: the striking resemblance of the two names, the
designation of Φροὑριον, which Strabo gives to Bibracte, and even the
vague and persistent tradition which, prevailing among the inhabitants
of the district, points to Mont Beuvray as a centre of superstitious
regard.
[185] The cavalry was divided into _turmæ_, and the _turma_ into three
decuries of ten men each.
[186] The word _sarcinæ_, the original sense of which is baggage or
burthens, was employed sometimes to signify the bundles carried by the
soldiers (_De Bello Gallico_, II. 17), sometimes for the heavy baggage
(_De Bello Civili_, I, 81). Here we must take _sarcinæ_ as comprising
both. This is proved by the circumstance that the six legions of the
Roman army were on the hill. Now, if Cæsar had sent the heavy baggage
forward, towards Bibracte, as General de Gœler believes, he would have
sent with it, as an escort, the two legions of the new levy, as he did,
the year following, in the campaign against the Nervii. (_De Bello
Gallico_, II. 19. )
[187] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 24. --In the phalanx, the men of the first
rank covered themselves with their bucklers, overlapping one another
before them, while those of the other ranks held them horizontally over
their heads, arranged like the tiles of a roof.
[188] According to Plutarch (_Cæsar_, 20), he said, “I will mount on
horseback when the enemy shall have taken flight. ”
[189] The _pilum_ was a sort of javelin thrown by the hand: its total
length was from 1·70 to 2 mètres; its head was a slender flexible blade
from 0·60 to 1 mètre long, weighing from 300 to 600 grammes, terminating
in a part slightly swelling, which sometimes formed a barbed point.
The shaft, sometimes round, sometimes square, had a diameter of from 25
to 32 millimètres. It was fixed to the head by ferules, or by pegs, or
by means of a socket.
Such are the characteristics presented by the fragments of _pila_ found
at Alise. They answer in general to the descriptions we find in Polybius
(VI. 28), in Dionysius (V. 46), and in Plutarch (_Marius_). _Pila_ made
on the model of those found at Alise, and weighing with their shaft from
700 grammes to 1·200 kilog. , have been thrown to a distance of 30 and 40
mètres: we may therefore fix at about 25 mètres the average distance to
which the _pilum_ carried.
[190] _Latere aperto_, the right side, since the buckler was carried on
the left arm. We read, indeed, in Titus Livius: “Et cum in latus
dextrum, quod parebat, Numidæ jacularentur, translatis in dextrum
scutis,” &c. (XXII. 50. )
[191] Dio Cassius (XXXVIII. 33) says on this subject that “the Helvetii
were not all on the field of battle, on account of their great number,
and of the haste with which the first had made the attack. Suddenly
those who had remained in the rear came to attack the Romans, when they
were already occupied in pursuing the enemy. Cæsar ordered his cavalry
to continue the pursuit; with his legions, he turned against the new
assailants. ”
[192] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 20.
[193] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 26. --Till now the field of battle where
Cæsar defeated the Helvetii has not been identified. The site which we
have adopted, between Luzy and Chides, satisfies all the requirements of
the text of the “Commentaries. ” Different authors have proposed several
other localities; but the first cause of error in their reckonings
consists in identifying Bibracte with Autun, which we cannot admit; and
further, not one of these localities fulfils the necessary topographical
conditions. In our opinion, we must not seek the place of engagement to
the east of Bibracte, for the Helvetii, to go from the Lower Saône to
the Santones, must have passed to the west, and not to the east, of that
town. Cussy-la-Colonne, where the field of battle is most generally
placed, does not, therefore, suit at all; and, moreover,
Cussy-la-Colonne is too near to the territory of the Lingones to require
four days for the Helvetii to arrive there after the battle.
[194] “He drove back this people into their country as a shepherd drives
back his flock into the fold. ” (Florus, II. x. 3. )
[195] _De Bello Gallico_, I. 29.
[196] Cæsar pursued the Helvetii, taking for auxiliaries about 20,000
Gaulish mountaineers. (Appian, _De Rebus Gallicis_, IV. 15, edit.
Schweigh. )
[197] Appian, _De Bello Celt. _, IV. i. 3.
[198] Tacitius (_Germania_, iv. 32. ) speaks of this custom of the German
horsemen of fighting on foot. Titus Livius (XLIV. 26) ascribes this
practice to the Bastarni (the Moldavians. )
[199] Appian, _De Bello Celt. _, IV. i. 3.
[200] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 1, 2, 3. --General de Gœler, in our
opinion, extends the territory of the Ubii much too far to the south.
[201] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 25. --This statement agrees well enough
with the length of the Black Forest and the Odenwald, which is sixty
leagues.
[202] It is difficult to fix with precision the localities inhabited at
this period by the German peoples, for they were nearly all nomadic, and
were continually pressing one upon another. Cæsar, in his fourth book
_De Bello Gallico_ (cap. I), asserts that the Suevi never occupied the
same territory more than one year.
[203] Strabo (VII. , p. 244) relates, after Posidonius, that the Boii had
inhabited first the Hercynian forest; elsewhere he says (V. 177) that
the Boii established themselves among the Taurisci, a people dwelling
near Noricum. The same author (VII. 243) places the solitudes inhabited
by the Boii to the east of Vindelicia (_Southern Bavaria and Western
Austria_). Lastly, he says (IV. 471) that the Rhætii and the Vindelicii
are the neighbours of the Helvetii and the Boii. The Nemetes and the
Vangiones subsequently passed over to the left bank of the Rhine,
towards Worms and Spire, and the Ubii towards Cologne.
[204] Which formed the present Upper Alsace.
[205] We look upon it as certain, from the tenth chapter of Book IV. of
the “Commentaries,” that the Triboci occupied also the left bank of the
Rhine. We therefore naturally place among this German people the spot
where the army of Ariovistus was assembled.
