Vercingetorix, a young Arvernan who possessed great influence in his country,[461] and whose father, Celtillus, for a time chief of all Gaul, had been put to death by his countrymen for having aspired to the royalty, calls his clients together, and excites their zeal. Expelled from Gergovia by those who were unwilling to tempt fortune with him, he raises the country, and, with the help of a numerous band, retakes the town, and causes himself to be proclaimed king. Soon he seduces the Senones, the Parisii, the Pictones, the Cadurci, the Turones, the Aulerci, the Lemovices of Armorica, the Andes, and the other peoples who dwell on the shores of the ocean. The commandment is given to him by unanimous consent. He exacts hostages from those peoples, orders a prompt levy of soldiers, fixes the number of men and arms which each country is to furnish in a given time, and occupies himself especially with the raising of the cavalry. Active, daring, severe, and inflexible even to cruelty, he subjects to the most atrocious tortures those who hesitate, and by these means of terror soon forms an army.
He sent a part of it to the Ruteni, under the command of Cadurcus Lucterius, a man full of daring; and to draw the Bituriges into the insurrection, he invaded their territory. By acting thus, he threatened the Province, and protected his rear whilst he moved towards the north, where the Roman occupation was concentrated. On his approach, the Bituriges solicited the help of the Ædui, their allies. The last, by the advice of Cæsar’s lieutenants, who had remained with the army, sent them a body of cavalry and infantry to support them against Vercingetorix; but, when they reached the Loire, which separated the territory of the two peoples, these auxiliary troops halted for some days, and then returned, without having dared to cross the river, pretending that they had been betrayed by the Bituriges. Immediately after their departure, the latter joined the Arverni.[462]
Cæsar begins the Campaign.
II. Cæsar heard of these events in Italy, and, reassured on the troubles in Rome, which had been appeased by the firmness of Pompey, he took his departure from Transalpine Gaul. When he arrived on the other side of the Alps (perhaps on the banks of the Rhone), he was struck with the difficulties which lay in the way of his joining the army. If he sent for the legions into the Roman province, they would be compelled, on their way, to fight without him; if, on the other hand, he would go to them, he was obliged to pass through populations to whom, notwithstanding their apparent tranquillity, it would have been imprudent to trust his person.
While Cæsar found so great difficulties before him, Lucterius,[463] who had been sent by Vercingetorix to the Ruteni, brings them over to the alliance with the Arverni, advances towards the Nitiobriges and the Gabali, from whom he receives hostages, and, at the head of a numerous army, threatens the Province in the direction of Narbonne. These events made Cæsar resolve to proceed to that town. His arrival put an end to people’s fears. He placed garrisons among the peoples who bordered on the territory of the enemy, the Ruteni of the left bank of the Tarn (Ruteni provinciales), the Volcæ Arecomici, the Tolosates, and near Narbonne. At the same time, he ordered a part of the troops of the province, and the re-enforcements which he had brought from Italy, to unite on the territory of the Helvi, which bordered upon that of the Arverni.[464] Intimidated by these dispositions, Lucterius did not venture to engage himself in the midst of these garrisons, and retired.
This first danger averted, it was important for Cæsar to prevent Vercingetorix from raising other peoples, who might perhaps be inclined to follow the example of the Bituriges. By invading the country of the Arverni, Cæsar might hope to draw the Gaulish chief into his own country, and thus remove him from those where the legions were wintering. He proceeded, therefore, to the country of the Helvi, where he joined the troops who had just concentrated there. The mountains of the Cévennes, which separated this people from the Arverni, were covered with six feet of snow; the soldiers opened a passage by dint of labour. Advancing by Aps and Saint-Cirgues, between the sources of the Loire and the Allier (see Plate 19), Cæsar debouched on Le Puy and Brioude. The Arverni, at this season, the most rigorous of the year, believed themselves defended by the Cévennes, as by an insurmountable wall: he fell upon them unexpectedly, and, in order to spread still greater terror, he caused the cavalry to scour the country far around.
Quickly informed of this march, Vercingetorix, at the prayer of the Arverni, who implored his succour, abandoned the country of the Bituriges. Cæsar had foreseen this; so he only remains two days amongst the Arverni, and, quitting them under the pretext of increasing his forces, he leaves the command to young Brutus, whom he enjoins to throw out his reconnoitring parties to as great a distance as possible, and promises to return at the end of three days. Having by this diversion drawn Vercingetorix southward, he proceeds in great haste to Vienne, arrives there unexpectedly, takes the newly-raised cavalry which he had sent thither, marches night and day, crosses the country of the Ædui, and directs his march towards the Lingones, where two legions were in winter quarters. By this extreme rapidity he seeks to prevent any evil design on the part of the Ædui. Scarcely has he arrived amongst the Lingones, when he sends orders to the other legions, two of which were on the frontiers of the Treviri, and the six others in the country of the Senones, to concentrate the whole army at Agedincum (Sens) before his march is known to the Arverni. As soon as Vercingetorix was informed of this movement, he returned with his army to the country of the Bituriges, and thence started to lay siege to Gorgobina (Saint-Parize-le-Châtel), an oppidum of the Boii, who had settled, after the defeat of the Helvetii, near the confluence of the Allier and the Loire.[465]
Taking of Vellaunodunum, Genabum, and Noviodunum.
III. Although Cæsar had succeeded in uniting his troops, and in placing himself at their head, he found it still difficult to fix upon a determined plan. If he opened the campaign too early, the army might run short of provisions through the difficulty of transport. If, on the other hand, during the rest of the winter,[466] his army, remaining inactive, allowed Vercingetorix to take Gorgobina, a place tributary to the Ædui, the example might discourage his allies and lead to the defection of the whole of Gaul. Rather than undergo such an affront, he resolved to brave all obstacles. He engaged the Ædui, therefore, to furnish provisions, announced his speedy arrival to the Boii, recommended them to remain faithful, and to offer an energetic resistance; and then, leaving at Agedincum two legions and the baggage of the whole army, he marched with the eight others towards the territory of the Boii. On the second day[467] he arrived at Vellaunodunum (Triguères), a town of the Senones, and prepared to lay siege to it, in order to protect his rear and secure his supply of provisions. (See Plate 19.) The countervallation was finished in two days. On the third, the town offered to surrender: the capitulation was only accepted on condition of delivering up the arms, the beasts of burden, and 600 hostages. Cæsar left C. Trebonius, his lieutenant, to see the convention executed, and marched in haste towards Genabum (Gien), a town of the Carnutes.[468] He arrived there in two days, and sufficiently early to surprise the inhabitants, who, thinking that the siege of Vellaunodunum would last longer, had not yet assembled sufficient troops for the defence of the place. The Roman army took its position before the oppidum; but the approach of night made it necessary to postpone the attack until the following morning. However, as Genabum had a bridge on the Loire adjoining to the town, Cæsar kept two legions under arms to watch it, in the fear that the besieged might escape during the night. And, in fact, towards midnight they silently issued from Genabum and began to pass the river. Cæsar, informed by his scouts, set fire to the gates, introduced the legions he had kept in reserve, and took possession of the place. The fugitives, who were closely crowded together at the issues of the town, and at the entrance of the bridge, which were too narrow to allow them to pass, fell nearly all into the hands of the Romans. Genabum was plundered and burnt, and the spoil abandoned to the soldiers. Then the army passed the Loire, arrived on the territory of the Bituriges, and continued its march.
The town of Noviodunum (Sancerre), belonging to this latter people, lay in Cæsar’s route; he undertook to lay siege to it. The inhabitants were already hastening to make their submission, and a part of the hostages had been delivered, when they saw in the distance the cavalry of Vercingetorix, who, warned of the approach of the Romans, had raised the siege of Gorgobina, and marched to meet them. At this sight, the besieged, mustering courage again, seize their arms, shut their gates, and man the wall. The Roman cavalry was immediately sent to meet the enemy; staggered at the first shock, it was on the point of giving way; but soon, supported by about 400 German cavalry, in Cæsar’s pay since the commencement of the campaign, they entirely routed the Gauls. This defeat having again spread terror in the town, the inhabitants delivered up the instigators of the revolt, and surrendered. Cæsar marched thence, through the fertile territory of the Biturges, towards Avaricum (Bourges), the largest and strongest oppidum of that people. The taking of this town, he considered, would render him master of the whole country.[469]