Now Ariovistus was the ruler of those Celts: his dominion had been ratified by action of the Romans and he had been registered among their friends and allies by Caesar himself, in his consulship. In comparison, however, with the glory to be derived from the war and the power which that glory would bring, the Roman general heeded none of these considerations, except in so far as he wished to get some excuse for the quarrel from the barbarian so that it should not be thought that there was any grievance against him at the start. Therefore he sent for him, pretending that he wanted to hold some conversation with him. Ariovistus, instead of obeying, replied: "If Caesar wishes to tell me anything, let him come himself to me. I am not in any way inferior to him, and a man who has need of any one must always go to that person." At this the other showed anger on the ground that he had insulted all the Romans, and he immediately demanded of him the hostages of the allies and forbade him either to set foot on their land or to bring against them any auxiliary force from home. This he did not with the idea of scaring him but because he hoped to make him furious and by that means to gain a great and fitting pretext for the war. What was expected took place. The barbarian, enraged at the injunctions, made a long and outrageous reply, so that Caesar no longer bandied words with him but straightway, before any one was aware of his intentions, seized on Vesontio, the city of the Sequani, in advance.
[-35-] Meanwhile reports reached the soldiers. "Ariovistus is making vigorous preparations," was "There are many other Celts, some of whom have already crossed the Rhine undoubtedly to assist him, while others have collected on the very bank of the river to attack us suddenly," was another. Hence they fell into deep dejection. Alarmed by the stature of their enemies, by their numbers, their boldness, and consequent ready threats, they were in such a mood as to feel that they were going to contend not against men, but against uncanny and ferocious beasts. And the talk was that they were undertaking a war which was none of their business and had not been decreed, merely on account of Caesar's personal ambition; and they threatened, also, to leave him in the lurch if he should not change his course. He, when he heard of it, did not make any address to the body of soldiers. It was not a good plan, he thought, to discuss such matters before the multitude, especially when his words would reach the enemy; and he was afraid that they might by refusing obedience somehow raise a tumult and do some harm. Therefore he assembled his lieutenants and the subalterns, before whom he spoke as follows.
[-36-] "My friends, we must not, I think, deliberate about public interests in the same way as about private. In fact, I do not see that the same mark is set up for each man privately as for all together publicly. For ourselves it is proper both to plan and to perform what looks best and what is safest, but for the public what is most advantageous. In private matters we must be energetic: so only can a good appearance be preserved. Again, a man who is freest from outside entanglements is thought to be also safest. Yet a state, especially if holding sovereignty, would be very rapidly overthrown by such a course. These laws, not drawn up by man but enacted by nature herself, always did exist, do exist, and will exist so long as the race of mortals endures.
"This being so, no one of you at this juncture should have an eye to what is privately pleasant and safe rather than to what is suitable and beneficial for the whole body of Romans. For besides many other considerations that might naturally arise, reflect that we who are so many and of such rank (members of the senate and knights) have come here accompanied by a great mass of soldiers and with money in abundance not to be idle or careless, but for the purpose of managing rightly the affairs of our subjects, preserving in safety the property of those bound by treaty, repelling any who undertake to do them wrong, and increasing our own possessions. If we have not come with this in mind, why in the world did we take the field at all instead of staying at home with some occupation or other and on our private domains? Surely it were better not to have undertaken the campaign than when assigned to it to throw it over. If, however, some of us are here because compelled by the laws to do what our country ordains, and the greater number voluntarily on account of the honors and rewards that come from wars, how could we either decently or without sin be false at once to the hopes of the men that sent us forth and to our own? Not one person could grow so prosperous as a private citizen as not to be ruined with the commonwealth, if it fell. But if the republic succeeds, it lifts all fortunes and each one individually.
[-37-] "I am not saying this with reference to you, my comrades and friends who are here: you are not in general ignorant of the facts, that you should need to learn them, nor do you assume an attitude of contempt toward them, that you should require exhortation. I am saying it because I have ascertained that there are some of the soldiers who themselves are talking to the effect that the war we have taken up is none of our business, and are stirring up the rest to sedition. My purpose is that you yourselves may as a result of my words show a more ardent zeal for your country and teach them all they should know. They would be apt to receive greater benefit in hearing it from you privately and often than in learning it but once from my lips. Tell them, then, that it was not by staying at home or shirking campaigns or avoiding wars or pursuing idleness that our ancestors made the State so great, but it was by bringing their minds to venture readily everything that they ought and by working eagerly to the bitter end with bodily labor for everything that pleased them, by regarding their own things as belonging to others but acquiring readily the possessions of their neighbors as their own, while they saw happiness in nothing else than in doing what was required of them and held nothing else to be ill fortune than resting inactive. Accordingly, as a result of this policy those men, who had been at the start very few and possessed at first a city than which none was more diminutive, conquered the Latins, conquered the Sabines, mastered the Etruscans, Volsci, Opici, Leucanians and Samnites, in one word subjugated the whole land bounded by the Alps and repulsed all the alien tribes that came against them.
[-38-] "The later Romans, likewise, and our own fathers imitated them, not being satisfied with their temporary fortune nor content with what they had inherited, and they regarded sloth as their sure destruction but exertion as their certain safety. They feared that if their treasures remained unaugmented they would be consumed and worn away by age, and were ashamed after receiving so rich a heritage to make no further additions: thus they performed greater and more numerous exploits.
"Why should one name individually Sardinia, Sicily, Macedonia, Illyricum, Greece, Ionic Asia, the Bithynians, Spaniards, Africans? I tell you the Carthaginians would have given them plenty of money to stop sailing against that city, and so would Philip and Perseus to stop making campaigns against them; Antiochus would have given much, his children and descendants would have given much to let them remain on European soil. But those men in view of the glory and the greatness of the empire did not choose to be ignobly idle or to enjoy their wealth in confidence, nor did the elders of our own generation who even now are still alive.
"They knew well that the same practices as acquire good things serve also to preserve them: hence they made sure many of their original belongings and acquired many new ones. What need is there here to catalogue in detail Crete, Pontus, Cyprus, Asiatic Iberia, Farther Albania, both Syrian nations, each of the two Armenias, the Arabians, the Palestinians? We did not even know their names accurately in the old days: yet now we lord it over some ourselves and others we have bestowed upon various persons, insomuch that we have gained from them income and powers and honors and alliances.
[-39-] "With such examples before you, then, do not bring shame upon our fathers' deeds nor let slip that empire which is now the greatest. We cannot deliberate in like manner with the rest of mankind who possess no similar advantages. For them it suffices to live in ease and, with safety guaranteed, to be subservient to others, but for us it is inevitable to toil and march and amid dangers to preserve our existing prosperity. Against this prosperity many are plotting. Every object which surpasses others attracts both emulation and jealousy; and consequently an eternal war is waged by all inferiors against those who excel them in any respect. Hence we either ought not from the first to have increased, thus differing from other men, or else, since we have grown so great and have gained so many possessions, it has been fated that we should either rule these firmly or ourselves perish utterly. For it is impossible for men who have advanced to so great reputation and such vast power to live apart and without danger. Let us therefore obey Fortune and not repel her, seeing that she voluntarily and self-invited belonged to our fathers and now abides with us. This result will not be reached if we cast away our arms and desert the ranks and sit idly at home or wander among our allies. It will be reached if we keep our arms constantly in hand—this is the only way to preserve peace—and practice warlike deeds in the midst of dangers—this is the only way we shall avoid fighting forever—and aid promptly those allies that ask us—in this way we shall get more—and do not indulge those enemies who are always turbulent—in this way no one will any longer care to wrong us.
[-40-] "For if some god had actually become our sponsor that, even if we should fail to do this, no one would plot against us and we should forever enjoy in safety all that we have won, it would still be disgraceful to say that we ought to keep quiet; yet those who are willing to do nothing that is requisite would have some show of excuse. But, as a fact, it is inevitable that men who possess anything should be plotted against by many, and it behooves us to anticipate their attacks. One class that holds quietly to its own possessions incurs danger even for these, while another without any compulsion employs war to acquire the possessions of others and keeps them. No one who is in terror regarding his own goods longs for those of his neighbors; for the fear concerning what he already has effectually deters him, from meddling in what does not belong to him. Why then does any man say such a thing as this,—that we must not all the time be gaining something more!