They form an extensive con the command of Vercingetorix. 2 turn alone, or with a slender escort. But the levies which Pompeius was making in Italy by the authority of the senate, furnished him with an excuse for strengthening his own armaments, and he employed the period of his absence from Gaul in collecting troops for the fresh campaign he anticipated.' The execution of Acco furnished a lively subject of complaint at the secret meetings which the Gaulish chieftains convened in their distant fastnesses to plan federacy under measures of revolt. Such, they remarked to one another, might be the fate of any one among them. Who, then, would venture to strike the first blow in a matter which equally concerned all? To the state which should be the first to rise in arms promises were held out of national gratitude and reward. The Carnutes accepted the post of honour; they only required that the rest should pledge themselves by an oath of more than usual solemnity to join in the enterprize; for their meetings were too hurried and private to admit of the usual precaution of exchanging hostages for each other's good faith." The leaders of the Carnutes, Cotuatus and Conetodunus, are described by Cæsar as men of violent and desperate character; assuredly they plunged their people into the war with more vehemence than reflection. But the first shock of the barbarians was sudden and irresistible. They threw themselves upon the Roman settlers in Genabum, who were driving their usual trade of money-lending, and made an indiscriminate massacre of them. Still more important was the defection of the Arverni, who were excited to arms against the will of their government by Vercingetorix, a son of the ambitious Celtillus, whose life had been forfeited a few years before for the crime of aspiring to the sovereignty. Expelled from 1 Cæs. B. G. 1. c. 2 Cæs. l. c.: "Indictis inter se principes Galliæ conciliis sylvestribus ac remotis locis." 3 Cæs. B. G. vii. 2.: "Quoniam in præsentia de obsidibus inter se cavere non possint, ne res efferatur." Cæs. B. G. vii. 4. Cingetorix, Vercingetorix, and other Gaulish names, may possibly be analyzed into several Celtic words, and the compound, in each Gergovia, their capital, the young warrior roamed the mountain tracts of the Cantal and the Puy de Dôme, to this day the rudest fastnesses of Gallic independence, inflaming young and old by his generous eloquence, until they were roused to expel in its turn the government which resisted the movement, and greeted their champion with the title of king. Presently the Senones, the Parisii, the Pictones, the Cadurci, the Turones, Aulerci, Lemovices and Andi, all the tribes of the Mid Seine and the Lower Loire, with many others, joined in one loud cry of defiance to the oppressor. They unanimously saluted Vercingetorix as their leader, and submitted to the levies of men, money and arms which he imposed upon them severally. He knew the people he had to deal with, how fitfully the military spirit kindled and subsided among them, how strangely gallantry and meanness were blended in their composition. His rule was one of terror and severity. Any appearance of supineness in the cause was avenged with flames and tortures. The loss of an eye or an ear was his lightest punishment for trifling offences.' open Cæsar's energy and decision. It was to be apprehended that the treachery of the Arverni, who had hitherto kept their faith inviolate, would be followed by that of the Ædui, in whose power it lay to close the only route which remained for Cæsar to communicate with his army. This was the point to which the views of the Gaulish leader were in the first instance directed, and it required the utmost decision and rapidity on the proconsul's part to frustrate them. It was now the depth of winter. The Cevennes, which rise to their case, may be an official designation, such as captain, general, generalissimo (Thierry, Gaulois, iii. 86.). In the same manner the name Arminius may be the German Heermann or general. But Heermann (Hermann) is a wellknown surname, and the same may have been the case with these Celtic appellatives also. 1 So under Napoleon's regime in France, the most searching severity was necessary to raise and keep together an army, which in the field was full of enthusiasm and self-devotion. 2 Owing to the confusion of the Roman calendar at this period, which will be explained in a subsequent chapter, the Kalends of January for the year 2 highest elevation at the point where they form the common frontier of the Province and the Arvernian territory, were thickly covered with snow, and at such a season were regarded as an impassable barrier.1 But Cæsar, who had just crossed the Alps, was not to be deterred by a less formidable rampart. He forced his way across them with such troops as he had with him, including his new levies. By this movement he distracted the attention of Vercingetorix, who was at that moment soliciting the alliance of some neighbouring states, and called him back to the defence of his astonished countrymen. Cæsar left Decimus Brutus in a secure position to harass and occupy the enemy, while he hastened himself back again across the mountains to Vienna, the capital of the Province, collected there some more troops, and took the road through the country of the Ædui to the quarters of his legions among the Lingones.* A. u. 702 fell on the 23d Nov. of the year preceding, according to the true reckoning. (Ideler, Chronol. ii. 116.) Pompeius assumed the consulship v. Kal. Mart. or Feb. 25. (Ascon. in Milon.), corresponding with the middle of January. This was the time of Cæsar's return to Gaul: "Cum jam ille urbanas res virtute Cn. Pompeii commodiorem in statum pervenisse intelligeret " (B. G. vii. 6.). 1 Comp. Plut. Cas. 25.: τότε δὲ χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ, πάγοι ποτάμων καὶ νιφετοῖς ἀποκεκρυμμένοι δρυμοὶ, καὶ πέδια χειμάῤῥοις ἐπιλελιμνασμένα, καὶ πῆ μὲν ἀτέκμαρτοι χιόνος ἀτραποὶ, πῆ δὲ δι ̓ ἑλῶν καὶ ῥευμάτων παρατρεπομένων ἀσάφεια πολλὴ τῆς πορείας, παντάπασιν ἐδόκουν ἀνεπιχείρητα Καίσαρι τὰ τῶν ἀφισταμένων ποιεῖν. Lucan evidently refers to this exploit, where he describes the Cevennes as snowy mountains, i. 434.: "Qua montibus ardua summis Gens habitat cana pendentes rupe Gebennas." 2 Silius (iv. 745.) says of Hannibal crossing the Apennines: "Prior extingui labique videtur Gloria, post Alpes si stetur montibus ullis." Cæs. vii. 8.: "Discussa nive sex in altitudinem pedum atque ita viis patefactis summo labore ad fines Arvernorum pervenit." * Cæs. B. G. vii. 9.: "In Lingones contendit ubi duæ legiones hiemabant." We may conjecture the spot to be that of the Roman station of Andematunum, afterwards Lingones, now Langres. This town stands on a hill rising from a central plateau, and its elevation is said to be the highest of any quarters of his army, leads it into the coun try of the Car nutes, and was bum. takes Gena These people, a Thus, by extraordinary exertions and rapid movements, which are often calculated to terrify an enemy more than the most brilliant deeds of arms, Cæsar placed himself He reaches the again at the head of his forces, assembled in a formidable mass from their scattered cantonments. The leader of the Gaulish confederacy, reeking from the massacres of Genabum, menacing Gergovia, the capital of the Boii. remnant, as has been before mentioned, of the Helvetic migration, had been settled in this district by Cæsar, and placed under the patronage of the Ædui. To attack them was in fact to assail the fidelity of the more powerful nation, which, it was hoped, might be induced by the danger of its clients to join in the general defection from Rome. Anxious to avert this risk, Cæsar rushed to the defence of the Boii, although the season of the year and the scarcity of provisions presented serious obstacles to the movements of an army. His first object was to march upon Genabum, the possession of which place would intercept the communication of the northern and southern states of the confederacy; while he justly expected that the first rumour of his attack would draw off Vercingetorix from the siege of Gergovia. With his usual celerity he advanced to the walls before the defenders were apprised of his movements. The meditated assault was only postponed for the moment by the late hour of his arrival. But the Gauls within, astounded at the unexpected apparition of their restless enemy, were preparing to evacuate the town 1 in France: perhaps it may be identified with the station alluded to by Lucan (i. 397.): "Castraque quæ Vogesi curvam super ardua rupem The hills from which the Marne, Meuse and Saone take their rise were comprehended under the general name of Vogesus. 1 Genabum, or Genabus, is the modern Orleans. Gergovia of the Boii is to be distinguished from Gergovia of the Arverni: there are no means of determining its site; but the Boii were settled in a part of the Æduan territory between the Loire and Allier, a district of the modern Bourbonnais, and their capital may have been at Moulins. by the bridge which crosses the Loire. As soon as the news reached him that they were about to elude pursuit, he led his troops, already on the watch for the signal, to attack the walls. Fire was applied to the gates, and an entrance easily effected, since no resistance was offered. The flying multitude, impeded by the darkness of the night and the narrowness of the bridge, were captured almost without a blow. The exertions of the soldiery demanded a soldier's reward, while the treachery of the inhabitants gave it a sufficient, or at least a plausible, pretext. Cæsar abandoned the place to fire and sword; the whole of the plunder was distributed among the captors. Vercingetorix their plan of warfare. 1 The proconsul immediately crossed the Loire and entered the country of the Bituriges. He took a fortress named Noviodunum, defeated a detachment of Arverexhorts the nian cavalry, chiefly through the prowess of some Gauls to change German horse, and proceeded to lay siege to Avaricum, the capital of the tribe, a fortification of great size and strength, known in modern times by the name of Bourges. Vercingetorix, though not dispirited by these successive disasters, now saw the necessity of changing the plan of operations, in which his countrymen had so long blindly confided. He assured them that the fatal termination of every encounter between the Gauls and the Romans was no reproach upon their valour; that no walls could withstand the skill of the Romans in engineering, no array maintain itself in the field against such weapons and such discipline. But he reminded them that through the winter and early spring the soil on which the enemy trod could furnish him with no provisions. He must disperse his troops among the villages and fortresses, and seize for his subsistence the stores there collected. Let there be no more attempts then, he As with many other Gaulish towns, the original name became exchanged for that of the people, i. e. Bituriges, and thence the modern Bourges and the name of the province Berri. The history of this change of name, which is found so repeatedly in Gaulish geography, is a curious subject in itself, which I may have a future opportunity of explaining more fully. |