To determine the day on which Cæsar landed, it is necessary, in the first place, to know to what part the Roman fleet was carried during the night. It is evident, first, that it was borne towards the north-east by the current of the rising tide or flux, for otherwise we could not understand how Cæsar, at sunrise, could have perceived Britain on his left. We may add that it wandered from its way till it came to the latitude of the Northern Sea, which is situated to the east of Deal, and at about ten maritime miles from the coast. (See Plate 14.) In fact, according to the text, the fleet took advantage of the current contrary to that which had carried it away, and consequently of the reflux or current of the ebbing tide, to reach the coast. Now, we are obliged by this fact to conclude that it had been carried northward at least to the latitude of Deal; for, if it had only arrived to the south of that latitude, the reflux would necessarily have thrown it back into the Straits. Lastly, to cause the fleet by force of rowing and aided by the reflux to require eight hours to effect the last part of its passage to Deal, it must, according to the best information obtained from sailors, have been, at sunrise, ten miles from the coast.
This being granted, it is evidently sufficient, for determining the day of landing, to resolve this question: on what day of the month of July in the year 700 the current of the descending tide began to be perceived at sunrise, that is, towards four o’clock in the morning, in the part of the sea at ten miles to the east of Deal? or otherwise, if we consider that the reflux begins there about four hours and a half after the hour of high tide at Dover,416 what day of the month of July in the year 700 it was high tide at Dover towards half-past eleven o’clock at night?
By following a train of reasoning similar to that which we applied to determine the day of Cæsar’s first landing in Britain, and remarking that the tides of the days preceding the full moon of the month of July, 700, which fell on the 21st, correspond to those of the days which preceded the full moon of the 26th of July, 1858, we find that it was either fifteen days or one day before the 21st of July of the year 700, that is, the 6th or the 20th of July, that it was high tide at Dover towards half-past eleven at night. Cæsar, therefore, landed on the 7th or on the 21st of July. We adopt the second date, because, according to Cicero’s letter cited above, he received, before the 26th of July, at Rome news of his brother, which must have been of the 6th of the same month, as the couriers were twenty days on the road. In this letter Quintus announced his approaching departure for Britain.
This date, according to which the Roman army would have landed on the eve of the day of the full moon, is the more probable, as Cæsar, immediately on his arrival in Britain, made a night march, which would have been impossible in complete darkness. The passage of the sea had taken fifteen hours. In the return, it only took nine hours, since Cæsar started at nine o’clock in the evening (secunda inita cum solvisset vigilia), and arrived at Boulogne at daybreak (prima luce), which, in the middle of September, is at six o’clock in the morning.417
The date of his return is nearly fixed by a letter of Cicero, who expresses himself thus: “On the 11th of the Calends of November (17th of October), I received letters from my brother Quintus, and from Cæsar; the expedition was finished, and the hostages delivered. They had made no booty. They had only imposed contributions. The letters, written from the shores of Britain, are dated on the 6th of the Calends of October (21st of September), at the moment of embarking the army, which they are bringing back.”418 This information accords with the date of the equinox, which fell on the 26th of September, and which, according to the “Commentaries,” was close at hand (quod equinoctium suberat). Cæsar had, then, remained in Britain about sixty days.
Presumed Dates of the Second Campaign in Britain.
Примечание 1419
Distribution of the Legions in their Winter Quarters.
XI. Cæsar had no sooner arrived on the continent than he caused his ships to be brought on ground, and then held at Samarobriva, (Amiens) the assembly of Gaul. The defective harvest, caused by the dryness of the season, obliged him to distribute his winter quarters differently from the preceding years, by spreading them over a greater extent.420 The number of his legions was eight and a half, because, independent of the eight legions brought together at Boulogne before the departure for Britain, he had no doubt formed five cohorts of soldiers and sailors employed on his fleet. The troops were distributed in the following manner: he sent one legion into the country of the Morini (to Saint Pol), under the orders of C. Fabius; another to the Nervii (at Charleroy), with Quintus Cicero;421 a third to the Essuvii (at Sées, in Normandy), under the command of L. Roscius; a fourth, under T. Labienus, to the country of the Remi, near the frontier of the Treviri (at Lavacherie, on the Ourthe).422 He placed three in Belgium,423 one at Samarobriva itself (Amiens), under the orders of Trebonius; the second in the country of the Bellovaci, under M. Crassus, his questor, at twenty-five miles from Amiens (Montdidier); the third under L. Munatius Plancus, near the confluence of the Oise and the Aisne (at Champlieu). The legion last raised424 among the Transpadans repaired with five cohorts, under the orders of Titurius Sabinus and Aurunculeius Cotta, to the Eburones, whose country, situated in great part between the Meuse and the Rhine, was governed by Ambiorix and Catuvolcus. It occupied a fortress named Aduatuca (Tongres).425 This distribution of the army appeared to Cæsar a more easy manner to supply it with provisions. Moreover, these different winter quarters, with the exception of that of M. Roscius, who occupied the most peaceable part of Gaul, were all included within a circle of a hundred miles radius (148 kil.). It was Cæsar’s intention not to leave them until he knew that the legions were firmly established and their quarters fortified. (See Plate 14, the sites of the winter quarters.)
There was among the Carnutes (country of Chartres) a man of high birth, named Tasgetius, whose ancestors had reigned over that nation. In consideration of his valour and of his important military services, Cæsar had replaced him, during three years, in the rank held by his forefather, when his enemies publicly massacred him. The men who had participated in this crime were so numerous, that there was reason for fearing that the revolt would spread over the whole country. To prevent it, Cæsar despatched in the greatest haste L. Plancus at the head of his legion, with orders to establish his quarters in the country of the Carnutes, and to send him the accomplices in the murder of Tasgetius.426
Defeat of Sabinus at Aduatuca.
XII. He received at the same period (the end of October), from the lieutenants and the questor, the news that the legions had arrived and retrenched in their quarters. They had indeed been established in them about a fortnight, when suddenly a revolt took place at the instigation of Ambiorix and Catuvolcus. These chiefs had at first repaired to the limits of their territory to meet Sabinus and Cotta, and had even furnished them with provisions; but soon after, urged on by the Treviran Indutiomaras, they raise the country, fall unexpectedly on the soldiers occupied in seeking wood, and attack the camp of Sabinus with considerable forces. Immediately the Romans run to arms and mount on the vallum. The Spanish cavalry makes a successful sortie, and the enemies retire, deceived in their hope of carrying the retrenchments by storm. Having then recourse to stratagem, they utter, according to their custom, loud cries, and demand to enter into negotiations and deliberate on their common interests, C. Arpineius, a Roman knight and the friend of Sabinus, and the Spaniard Q. Junius, who had been employed on several missions to Ambiorix, were sent to them. Ambiorix declared that he had not forgotten the numerous benefits he had received from Cæsar, but that he was forced to follow the movement of Gaul, which had conspired in a common effort to recover its liberty. That very day, according to his statement, the various quarters were to be attacked at the same time, so as to hinder them from lending each other mutual succour; the Germans had passed the Rhine, and would arrive in two days; Sabinus had no other chance of safety but by abandoning his camp and rejoining Cicero or Labienus, who were at a distance of fifty miles. In the end, Ambiorix promised under an oath to give him a free passage. The envoys reported to Sabinus and Cotta what they had heard. Troubled at this news, and the more disposed to put faith in it because it was hardly credible that so small a people as the Eburones would have dared alone to brave the Roman power, the two lieutenants submitted the affair to a council of war: it became the subject of warm disputes. Cotta, and with him several of the tribunes and centurions of the first class, were of opinion that they should not act hastily, but wait for orders from Cæsar. Their camp was strong enough to resist all the forces of the Germans; they were not pressed by want of food; they might receive succours, and, under circumstances of so much gravity, it would be disgraceful to take their counsel from the enemy.
Sabinus replied with force that it would be too late to decide when the number of the assailants would be increased by the arrival of the Germans, and when the neighbouring quarters would have experienced some disaster. “The movement requires a prompt decision. Cæsar has, no doubt, started for Italy: otherwise, would the Carnutes have dared to slay Tasgetius, and the Eburones to attack the camp with so much boldness? We must consider the counsel itself, and not him who gives it: the Rhine is at a short distance; the Germans are irritated by the death of Ariovistus, and by their preceding defeats; Gaul is in flames; she supports with impatience the Roman yoke, and the loss of her ancient military glory. Would Ambiorix have engaged without powerful motives in such an enterprise? It is safest, therefore, to follow his counsel, and to gain as quickly as possible the nearest quarters.”
Cotta and the centurions of the first class earnestly maintained the contrary opinion. “Let it then be as you will!” said Sabinus; and then, raising his voice to be heard by the soldiers, he shouted: “Death does not terrify me; but behold, Cotta, those who will require of thee a reckoning for the misfortunes which thou art preparing for them. After to-morrow, if you would agree to it, they could have rejoined the nearest legion, and, united with it, incur together the chances of war; they will know that thou hast preferred leaving them, far from their companions, exposed to perish by the sword or by famine.”
When the council was ended, the lieutenants are surrounded and implored not to compromise the safety of the army by their misunderstanding; let them go or remain, provided they are agreed, everything will be easy. The debate is prolonged into the middle of the night; at last, Cotta, moved, yields to the opinion of Sabinus, and agrees to repair to Cicero, encamped in the country of the Nervii; the departure is fixed for daybreak. The rest of the night is passed in the midst of preparations; the soldier chooses what articles of his winter equipment he will carry with him. And, as if the danger were not sufficiently great, he seems as if he wished to increase it by fatigue and watching. At daybreak, the troops, in full security, begin their march in a long column, encumbered with a numerous baggage.
At the distance of three kilomètres (a millibus passuum circiter duobus) from the town of Tongres is the vale of Lowaige, closed in between two hills, and forming a great defile of about 2,500 mètres in length (magnam convallem). It is traversed by a stream, the Geer. The hills, now denuded, were, only a century ago, covered with wood;427 it was there that the Eburones lay in wait for the Roman army.
Informed of the intended retreat by the noise and tumult, they had divided themselves into two bodies, on the right and left of the vale, and placed themselves in ambush in the middle of the woods. When they saw the greater part of the Roman troops engaged in the defile, they attacked them in rear and in front, profiting by all the advantages of the locality.
Then Sabinus, like a man who had shown no foresight, becomes troubled, hurries hither and thither, hesitates in all his measures – as happens to him who, taken by surprise, is obliged to act decisively in the middle of danger. Cotta, on the contrary, who had calculated the fatal chances of the departure which he had opposed, neglects nothing for the general safety. He encourages the troops, combats in the ranks – a general and a soldier at the same time. As the length of the column prevented the lieutenants from seeing all and ordering all themselves, they caused the soldiers to pass on from mouth to mouth the order to abandon the baggage and form the circle. This resolution, though justified by the circumstances, had, nevertheless, a disastrous effect; it diminished the confidence of the Romans, and increased the ardour of the Eburones, who ascribed so desperate a resolution to fear and discouragement. There resulted from it, too, an inevitable inconvenience: the soldiers quitted their ensigns in crowds to run to the baggage, and take their more valuable effects; and on all parts there was nothing but shouts and confusion.
The barbarians acted with intelligence. Their chiefs, fearing that they would disperse to pillage the baggage of the Romans, sent orders on all points that every one must keep his rank, declaring that the thing important was first to assure themselves of the victory, and that afterwards the booty would fall into their hands.
The Eburones were rough adversaries; but by their number and their courage, the Romans might have maintained the struggle. Although abandoned by their chief and by fortune, they relied upon themselves for everything, and every time that a cohort fell upon the enemies, it made a great carnage of them. Ambiorix perceived this: he shouted loudly his commands that his men should throw their missiles from a distance, and not approach near; that they should retire whenever the Romans rushed forward, and only attack them in their retreat, when they returned to their ensigns – a manœuvre easy to the Eburones, practised in such exercises, and nimble on account of the lightness of their equipment.
The order was faithfully executed. When a cohort quitted the circle to charge the enemies, they fled with speed; but the cohort, in its advance, left its right flank (not protected, like the left flank, by the bucklers) exposed to the missiles; when it resumed its former position, it was surrounded on all sides both by those who had retreated, and by those who had remained on its flanks.
If, instead of sending forward their cohorts in succession, the Romans stood firm in their circle, they lost the advantage of attacking, and their close ranks made them more exposed to the multitude of missiles. Meanwhile, the number of the wounded increased every moment. It was two o’clock; the combat had lasted from sunrise, and yet the Roman soldiers had not ceased to show themselves worthy of themselves. At this moment the struggle becomes more desperate. T. Balventius, a brave and respected man, who, in the previous year, had commanded as primipilus, has his two thighs transpierced by a javelin; Q. Lucanius, an officer of the same grade, is killed fighting valiantly to rescue his son, who is surrounded by enemies. Cotta himself, while he runs from rank to rank to encourage the soldiers, is wounded in the face by a missile from a sling.
At this sight, Sabinus, discouraged, sees no other help but to treat with Ambiorix. Perceiving him at a distance in the act of urging on his troops, he sends to him his interpreter Cn. Pompeius, to pray him to spare him and his men. Ambiorix replies that he is quite willing to enter into negotiations with Sabinus, whose person he undertakes under the obligation of his oath to cause to be respected; that further, he hopes to obtain from the Eburones safety of life for the Roman soldiers. Sabinus communicates this reply to Cotta, who is already wounded, and proposes that they should go together to confer with Ambiorix; this step may secure the safety of themselves and the army. Cotta refuses obstinately, and declares that he will never treat with an enemy in arms.
Sabinus enjoins to the tribunes of the soldiers who stand round him, and to the centurions of the first class, to follow him. Arriving near Ambiorix, he is summoned to lay down his sword: he obeys, and orders his men to imitate his example. While they discuss the conditions in an interview which the chief of the Eburones prolongs intentionally, Sabinus is gradually surrounded and massacred. Then the barbarians, raising, according to their custom, wild cries, rush upon the Romans and break their ranks. Cotta and the greatest part of his soldiers perish with their arms in their hands; the others seek refuge in the camp of Aduatuca, from whence they had started. The ensign-bearer, L. Petrosidius, pressed by a crowd of enemies, throws the eagle into the retrenchments, and dies defending himself bravely at the foot of the rampart. The unfortunate soldiers strive to sustain the combat till night, and that very night they kill one another in despair. A few, however, escaping from the field of battle, cross the forests, and gain by chance the quarters of T. Labienus, to whom they give information of this disaster.428
Attack on Cicero’s Camp.
XIII. Elated by this victory, Ambiorix immediately repairs with his cavalry into the country of the Aduatuci, a people adjoining to his states, and marches without interruption all the night and the following day: the infantry has orders to follow him. He announces his successes to the Aduatuci, and urges them to take up arms. Next day he proceeds to the Nervii, presses them to seize this occasion to avenge their injuries and deliver themselves for ever from the yoke of the Romans; he informs them of the death of two lieutenants, and of the destruction of a great part of the Roman army; he adds that the legion in winter quarters among them, under the command of Cicero, will be easily surprised and annihilated; he offers his alliance to the Nervii, and easily persuades them.
These immediately give information to the Ceutrones, the Grudii, the Levaci, the Pleumoxii, and the Geiduni, tribes under their dependence: they collect all the troops they can, and proceed unexpectedly to the winter quarters of Cicero, before he had learnt the disaster and death of Sabinus. There, as it had happened recently at Aduatuca, some soldiers, occupied in cutting wood in the forest, are surprised by the cavalry. Soon a considerable number of Eburones, Aduatuci, and Nervii, with their allies and clients, proceed to attack the camp. The Romans rush to arms, and mount the vallum; but that day they make head with difficulty against an enemy who has placed all his hope in the promptness of an unforeseen attack, and was convinced that after this victory nothing further could resist him.429
Cæsar marches to the succour of Cicero.
XIV. Cæsar was still at Amiens, ignorant of the events which had just taken place. Cicero immediately wrote to him, and promised great recompenses to those who should succeed in delivering his letters to him; but all the roads were watched, and nobody could reach him. During the night twenty towers were raised, with an incredible celerity, by means of the wood which had been already brought for fortifying the camp,430 and the works were completed. Next day, the enemies, whose forces had increased, returned to the attack and began to fill the fosse. The resistance was as energetic as the day before, and continued during the following days; among these heroic soldiers constancy and energy seemed to increase with the peril. Each night they prepare everything necessary for the defence on the morrow. They make a great number of stakes hardened by fire, and pila employed in sieges; they establish with planks the floors of the towers, and by means of hurdles make parapets and battlements. They work without intermission: neither wounded nor sick take repose. Cicero himself, though a man of feeble health, is day and night at work, in spite of the entreaties of his soldiers, who implore him to spare himself.
Meanwhile, the chiefs and principes of the Nervii proposed an interview to Cicero. They repeated to him what Ambiorix had said to Sabinus: “All Gaul is in arms; the Germans have passed the Rhine; the quarters of Cæsar and his lieutenants are attacked.” They added: “Sabinus and his cohorts have perished; the presence of Ambiorix is a proof of their veracity; Cicero would deceive himself if he reckoned on the succour of the other legions. As to them, they have no hostile intention, provided the Romans will discontinue occupying their country. The legion has full liberty to retire without fear whither it likes.” Cicero replied “that it was not the custom of the Roman people to accept conditions from an enemy in arms; but that, if they consented to lay them down, he would serve them as a mediator with Cæsar, who would decide.”
Deceived in their expectation of intimidating Cicero, the Nervii surrounded the camp with a rampart nine feet high, and a fosse fifteen wide. They had observed the Roman works in the preceding campaigns, and learnt from some prisoners to imitate them. But, as they did not possess the necessary instruments of iron, they were obliged to cut the turf with their swords, to take the earth with their hands, and to carry it in their cloaks. We may judge of their great number by the fact that in less than three hours they completed a retrenchment of 15,000 feet in circuit.431 On the following days, they raised towers to the height of the vallum, prepared hooks (falces), and covered galleries (testudines), which they had similarly been taught by the prisoners.432
On the seventh day of the siege, a great wind having arisen, the enemies threw into the camp fiery darts, and launched from their slings balls of burning clay (ferventes fusili ex argilla glandes).433 The barracks, roofed with straw, in the Gaulish manner, soon took fire, and the wind spread the flames in an instant through the whole camp. Then, raising great shouts, as though they had already gained the victory, they pushed forward their towers and covered galleries, and attempted, by means of ladders, to scale the vallum; but such were the courage and steadiness of the Roman soldiers, that, though surrounded with flames, overwhelmed with a shower of darts, and knowing well that the fire was devouring their baggage and their property, not one of them quitted his post, or even dreamt of turning his head, so much did that desperate struggle absorb their minds. This was their most trying day. Meanwhile, many of the enemies were killed and wounded, because, crowding to the foot of the rampart, the last ranks stopped the retreat of the first. The fire having been appeased, the barbarians pushed up a tower against the vallum.434 The centurions of the third cohort, who happened to be there, drew their men back, and, in bravado, invited, by their gesture and voice, the enemies to enter. Nobody ventured. Then they drove them away by a shower of stones, and the tower was burnt. There were in that legion two centurions, T. Pulio and L. Vorenus, who emulated each other in bravery by rushing into the midst of the assailants. Thrown down in turn, and surrounded by enemies, they mutually rescued each other several times, and returned into the camp without wounds. Defensive arms then permitted individual courage to perform actual prodigies.
Still the siege continued, and the number of the defenders diminished daily; provisions began to fall short, as well as the necessaries for tending the wounded.435 The frequent messengers sent by Cicero to Cæsar were intercepted, and some of them cruelly put to death within view of the camp. At last, Vertico, a Nervian chieftain who had embraced the cause of the Romans, prevailed upon one of his slaves to take charge of a letter to Cæsar. His quality of a Gaul enabled him to pass unperceived, and to give intelligence to the general of Cicero’s danger.
Cæsar received this information at Amiens towards the eleventh hour of the day (four o’clock in the afternoon). He had only at hand three legions – that of Trebonius, at Amiens; that of M. Crassus, whose quarters were at Montdidier, in the country of the Bellovaci, at a distance of twenty-five miles; and lastly, that which, under C. Fabius, was wintering in the country of the Morini, at Saint-Pol.436 (See Plate 14.) He despatched a courier to Crassus, charged with delivering to him his order to start with his legion in the middle of the night, and join him in all haste at Amiens, to relieve there the legion of Trebonius. Another courier was sent to the lieutenant C. Fabius, to direct him to take his legion into the territory of the Atrebates, which Cæsar would cross, and where their junction was to be effected. He wrote similarly to Labienus, to march with his legion towards the country of the Nervii, if he could without peril. As to the legion of Roscius and that of Plancus, which were too far distant, they remained in their quarters.
Crassus had no sooner received his orders than he began his march; and next day, towards the third hour (ten o’clock), his couriers announced his approach. Cæsar left him at Amiens, with one legion, to guard the baggage of the army, the hostages, the archives, and the winter provisions. He immediately started in person, without waiting for the rest of the army, with the legion of Trebonius, and four hundred cavalry from the neighbouring quarters. He followed, no doubt, the direction from Amiens to Cambrai, and made that day twenty miles (thirty kilomètres). He was subsequently joined on his road, probably towards Bourcies, between Bapaume and Cambrai, by Fabius, who had not lost a moment in executing his orders. Meanwhile arrived the reply of Labienus. He informed Cæsar of the events which had taken place among the Eburones, and of their effect among the Treviri. These latter had just risen. All their troops had advanced towards him, and surrounded him at a distance of three miles. In this position, fearing that he should not be able to resist enemies proud of a recent victory, who would take his departure for a flight, he thought that there would be danger in quitting his winter quarters.
Cæsar approved of the resolution taken by Labienus, although it reduced to two the three legions on which he counted; and, although their effective force did not amount to more than 7,000 men, as the safety of the army depended on the celerity of his movements, he proceeded by forced marches to the country of the Nervii; there he learnt from prisoners the perilous situation of Cicero. He immediately engaged, by the promise of great recompenses, a Gaulish horseman to carry a letter to him: it was written in Greek,437 in order that the enemy, if he intercepted it, might not know its meaning. Further, in case the Gaul could not penetrate to Cicero, he had directed him to attach the letter to the amentum (see page 37, note 2) of his javelin, and throw it over the retrenchments. Cæsar wrote that he was approaching in great haste with his legions, and he exhorted Cicero to persevere in his energetic defence. According to Polyænus, the despatch contained these words: θαῥῥεἱν βοἡθειαν προσδἑχου (“Courage! expect succour”).438 As soon as he arrived near the camp, the Gaul, not daring to penetrate to it, did as Cæsar had directed him. By chance his javelin remained two days stuck in a tower. It was only on the third that it was seen and carried to Cicero. The letter, read in the presence of the assembled soldiers, excited transports of joy. Soon afterwards they perceived in the distance the smoke of burning habitations, which announced the approach of the army of succour. At that moment, after a five days’ march, it had arrived within twenty kilomètres of Charleroi, near Binche, where it encamped. The Gauls, when they were informed of it by their scouts, raised the siege, and then, to the number of about 60,000, marched to meet the legions.
Cicero, thus liberated, sent another Gaul to announce to Cæsar that the enemy were turning all their forces against him. At this news, received towards the middle of the night, Cæsar informed his soldiers, and strengthened them in their desire of vengeance. At daybreak next day he raised his camp. After advancing four miles, he perceived a crowd of enemies on the other side of a great valley traversed by the stream of the Haine.439 Cæsar did not consider it prudent to descend into the valley to engage in combat against so great a number of troops. Moreover, Cicero once rescued, there was no need for hurrying his march; he therefore halted, and chose a good position for retrenching – mount Sainte-Aldegonde. Although his camp, containing hardly 7,000 men, without baggage, was necessarily of limited extent, he diminished it as much as possible by giving less width to the streets, in order to deceive the enemy as to his real strength. At the same time he sent out scouts to ascertain the best place for crossing the valley.
That day passed in skirmishes of cavalry on the banks of the stream, but each kept his positions: the Gauls, because they were waiting for re-enforcements; Cæsar, because he counted on his simulated fear to draw the enemies out of their position, and compel them to fight on his side of the Haine, before his camp. If he could not succeed, he obtained time to reconnoitre the roads sufficiently to pass the river and valley with less danger. On the morrow, at daybreak, the enemy’s cavalry came up to the retrenchments, and attacked that of the Romans. Cæsar ordered his men to give way, and return into the camp; at the same time he caused the height of the ramparts to be increased, the gates to be stopped up with mere lumps of turf, and directed his soldiers to execute his directions with tumultuous haste and all the signs of fear.