History of Julius Cæsar, Vol. 2 of 2

by Emperor of the French Napoleon III

When we consider that the action between the Roman and Gaulish armies was merely a cavalry battle, in which were engaged from 20,000 to 25,000 horses, the facts just stated cannot but appear interesting, although they may possibly belong to a battle of a later date.

[517] We have adopted the reading, aciemque constitui jubebat, which alone gives a reasonable interpretation.

[518] He was not the same as the one mentioned in pp. 307, 321, 320. (De Bello Gallico, VII. 67.)

[519] The three Gaulish camps having been established on the heights of Sacquenay, four or five kilomètres behind the position occupied by the infantry during the battle, and the line of retreat towards Alesia lying to the left, in the direction of Pressant and Vesvres, if Vercingetorix had returned to ascend the hills with his 80,000 men, to remove the baggage, that operation would have taken two or three hours, during which Cæsar might have cut off his retreat, or have inflicted a still more serious defeat upon him. But, by immediately hastening his march on Pressant, in order to follow from thence the road which, by Rivières-les-Fosses and Vesvres, joined the great road from Langres to Alise, near Aujeur, he got in advance of the Roman army, which, in the disorder in which it was at that moment, was not able to pursue him at once. And this is what he did.

The text says, also, that Vercingetorix gave orders that the baggage should be taken out of the camps in all haste, to follow him. If the baggage of an army of 100,000 men had accompanied Vercingetorix, on the road followed by the infantry, we cannot understand how the Roman army, which pursued the Gauls as long as daylight lasted, should not have captured it all. But investigations made in the country situated between the field of battle and the Alise, behind the heights of Sacquenay, have brought to light vestiges of a Roman road which, starting from Thil-Châtel, thirteen kilomètres behind Sacquenay, proceeded, by Avelanges, towards the hamlet of Palus, where it branched from the road from Langres to Alise. We may suppose, therefore, that Vercingetorix caused his baggage to follow in his rear as far as Thil-Châtel, where it took the road to Palus.

The Roman road from Langres to Alise, which, without any doubt, marks the direction followed by the two armies, has been traced almost in its whole extent by Commandant Stoffel. Even at the present day, on the territories of Fraignot, Salives, Echalot, and Poiseul-la-Grange, the inhabitants call it the Road of the Romans, or Cæsar’s way.

[520] We read (De Bello Gallico, VII. 68) the words, Altero die ad Alesiam castra fecit. We have before sought to prove that the words altero die must be translated by the second day after, and not by the next day. [See page 279, note (1).] It took Cæsar, therefore, two days’ march to move from the field of battle to Alesia.

A study of the country fully confirms the interpretation we give to the expression altero die. In fact, to the north and east of Alise-Sainte-Reine (Alesia), to less than two days’ march, the ground is so cut up and broken that no cavalry battle would be possible upon it. It retains this character as far as fifty-five or sixty kilomètres from Alise, to the east of the road from Pranthoy to Dijon, where it becomes more easy and open. The battle-field of the Vingeanne, which we consider as the true one, is at a distance of sixty-five kilomètres from Alise. Supposing that, on the day of the victory, the Roman army had pursued the Gauls over a space of fifteen kilomètres, it would have had to traverse in the two following days, before arriving at Alesia, a distance of fifty kilomètres, that is to say, twenty-five kilomètres a day.

[521] We call the reader’s attention particularly to the numerous Roman and Gaulish coins found in one of the fosses of the camp D, the list of which will be found in Appendix C, at the end of this volume.

[522] Near the western summit of the mountain two abundant springs arise; there is another on the eastern side. With these springs, as at Gergovia, it was easy to form large watering-places for cattle. Besides, manifest traces of a great number of wells are visible on the table-land, so that it is evident the besieged can never have wanted water, besides which, they could always descend to the two rivers.