History of Julius Cæsar, Vol. 2 of 2

by Emperor of the French Napoleon III

Siege of Avaricum.

IV. Vercingetorix, after having experienced so many reverses successively at Vellaunodunum, at Genabum, and at Noviodunum, convokes a council, in which he explains the necessity of adopting a new system of warfare. Above all, according to him, they must take advantage of the season, and of the numerous Gaulish cavalry, to cut off the Romans from provisions and forage, sacrifice private interest to the common welfare, set fire to the habitations, burgs, and oppida which they could not defend, so as to spread desolation from the territory of the Boii as far as the enemy could extend his incursions. If that be an extreme sacrifice, it is nothing in comparison with death and slavery.

This advice having been unanimously approved, the Bituriges, in one single day, set fire to more than twenty towns; the neighbouring countries follow their example. The hope of a speedy victory made them support this painful sight with resignation. They deliberated whether Avaricum should not undergo the same fate; the Bituriges implored them to spare one of the most beautiful towns in Gaul, the ornament and bulwark of their country; “the defence of it will be easy,” they added, “on account of its almost inaccessible position.” Vercingetorix, at first of a contrary opinion, ended by giving way to this general feeling of compassion, entrusted the place to men capable of defending it, and, following Cæsar by short marches, pitched his camp in a spot defended by woods and marshes, sixteen miles from Avaricum[470] (two kilomètres to the north of Dun-le-Roy, at the confluence of the Auron and the Taisseau).

Avaricum was situated, as Bourges is at present, at the extremity of a piece of ground surrounded, to the north and west, by several marshy streams: the Yèvre, the Yévrette, and the Auron. (See Plate 20.) The Gaulish town, adorned with public places, and enclosing 40,000 souls, exceeded, no doubt, in extent the Gallo-Roman circuit. The aspect of the locality is certainly no longer the same: the marshes have been dried, and the courses of water reduced within regular limits; the ruins accumulated so many centuries ago have raised the level of the ground on many points. To the south of Bourges, at a distance of 700 mètres, the ground forms a neck, which, in the time of Cæsar’s wars, was narrower than at present; it inclined more towards the place, and presented, at 80 mètres from the walls, a sudden depression, resembling a vast fosse. (See the section along C D.) The slopes, then, abrupt towards the Yévrette and the Auron, defined more clearly the only and very narrow avenue (unum et perangustum aditum) which gave access to the town.[471]

Cæsar established his camp behind this tongue of land, to the south, and at 700 mètres from Avaricum, between the Auron and the Yévrette. As the nature of the locality prevented all countervallation, he took his dispositions for a regular siege. The place was only open to attack towards that part of the enclosure which faced the avenue, on a width of from 300 to 400 Roman feet (about 100 mètres). In this place the summit of the walls commanded by about 80 feet (twenty-four mètres) the ground situated in advance.[472] Cæsar commanded a terrace to be commenced, covered galleries to be pushed towards the oppidum, and two towers to be constructed.

During the execution of these works, trusty messengers informed Vercingetorix every moment of what was going on in Avaricum, and carried back his orders. The besiegers were watched when they went to forage, and, notwithstanding their precaution to choose every day different hours and roads, they could not move any distance from the camp without being attacked.

The Romans incessantly demanded provisions from the Ædui and the Boii; but the first showed little haste to send them, and the latter, poor and weak, had exhausted their resources; moreover, their country had just been laid waste by fire. Although, during several days, the troops, deprived of corn, lived only on cattle which had been brought from afar, yet they uttered no complaint unworthy of the Roman name and of their preceding victories. When, visiting the works, Cæsar addressed by turn each of the legions, and offered to the soldiers to raise the siege if they felt their privations too rigorous, they unanimously called upon him to persevere: “they had learned,” they said, “after so many years that they served under his command, never to suffer anything that was humiliating, and to leave nothing unfinished.” They renewed this protest to the centurions and to the tribunes.

The towers already approached the walls, when prisoners informed Cæsar that Vercingetorix, from want of forage, had quitted his camp, leaving in it the mass of his army, and had advanced nearer to Avaricum with his cavalry and light infantry, with the intention of laying an ambush on the spot where he expected that the Romans would go to forage the following day.[473] Upon this information, Cæsar, seeking to take advantage of the absence of Vercingetorix, started silently in the middle of the night, and came in the morning near the camp of the enemies. As soon as they were acquainted with his march, they hid their baggage and wagons in the forests, and drew up their troops on an open height. Cæsar immediately ordered his soldiers to lay down their bundles in one spot, and to keep their arms ready for combat.

The hill occupied by the Gauls rose with an easy slope above a marsh which, surrounding it on nearly all sides, rendered it difficult of access, although it was only fifty feet broad. They had broken the bridges, and, full of confidence in their position, drawn up according to tribes, and guarding all the fords and passages, they were ready to fall upon the Romans, if the latter attempted to overcome this obstacle. With the two armies thus in presence and so near to each other, one would have believed them, by their attitude, animated with the same courage, and offering the combat under equal conditions; but, when we consider the defensive strength of the position of the Gauls, we are soon convinced that the firmness of the latter was only one of ostentation. The Romans, indignant at being thus braved, demanded the order to fight; but Cæsar represented to them that the victory would cost the lives of too many brave men, and that the more they were bent upon daring everything for his glory, the more blamable would it be in him to sacrifice them. These words calmed their impatience, and the same day he led them back to the siege operations.

Vercingetorix, on his return to his army, was accused of treason, for having placed his camp nearer to that of the Romans, taken away with him all the cavalry, left his infantry without a head, and facilitated, by his departure, the sudden and so well-calculated arrival of the enemy. “All these incidents,” they said, “could not be the effect of chance; evidently Vercingetorix preferred owing the empire of Gaul to Cæsar than to his fellow-citizens.” As the improvised chief of a popular movement, Vercingetorix had to expect one of those fickle demonstrations of the multitude, who are rendered fanatical by successes, and unjust by reverses. But, strong in his patriotism and in his conduct, he justified easily to his followers the dispositions he had taken. “The scarcity of forage only has decided him, at their entreaties, to change the position of his camp; he has chosen a new position, which is impregnable; he has employed the cavalry, which is useless in a marshy place, to advantage. He has transferred the command to nobody, for fear that a new chief, to please bands without discipline, incapable of supporting the fatigues of war, might let himself be persuaded to give battle. Whether it were chance or treason which had brought the Romans before them, they ought to thank Fortune for it, since they had retired with disgrace. He has no desire to obtain the supreme authority from Cæsar at the price of a guilty defection: victory will soon give it him. It is now no longer doubtful. As to himself, he is ready to lay down an authority which would be only a vain honour, and not a means of delivery;” and, to prove the sincerity of his hopes, he brought forward slaves who had been made prisoners, whom he represents as legionaries, and who, at his instigation, declare that in three days the Romans will be obliged by want of provisions to raise the siege. His discourse is received by the acclamations of the army, and all signify their applause by the clang of their arms, according to the Gaulish manner. It is agreed to send 10,000 men to Avaricum, taken among the different contingents, so that the Bituriges alone should not have the glory of saving a town upon which depended in a great measure the fate of the war.