When the junction of the troops had been effected, Cæsar sought above all to approach the Roman province, in order to carry succour to it with more ease; he could not think of taking the most direct road, which would have led him into the country of the Ædui, one of the centres of the insurrection; he was, therefore, obliged to pass through the territory of the Lingones, who had remained faithful to him, and to proceed into Sequania, where Besançon offered an important place of arms. (See Plate 19.) He started from Joigny, following the road which he had taken when he marched to meet Ariovistus (696),[513] and the winter before, when he moved from Vienne to Sens. After reaching the Aube at Dancevoir, he proceeded towards the little river Vingeanne, crossing, as the “Commentaries” say, the extreme part of the territory of the Lingones (per extremos Lingonum fines).[514] His intention was, no doubt, to cross the Saône, either at Gray, or at Pontailler.
Whilst the Romans abandoned that part of Gaul which had revolted, in order to approach nearer to the province, Vercingetorix had assembled his army, amounting to more than 80,000 men, at Bibracte; it had come in great part from the country of the Arverni, and counted in its ranks the cavalry furnished by all the states. Having been informed of Cæsar’s march, he started at the head of his troops, to bar the road through Sequania. Passing, as we believe, by Arnay-le-Duc, Sombernon, Dijon, and Thil-Châtel, he arrived at the heights of Occey, Sacquenay, and Montormentier, where he formed three camps, at a distance of 10,000 paces (fifteen kilomètres) from the Roman army. (See Plate 24.) In this position Vercingetorix intercepted the three roads which Cæsar could have taken towards the Saône, either at Gray, or at Pontailler, or at Chalon.[515] Resolved on risking a battle, he convoked the chiefs of the cavalry. “The moment of victory,” he told them, “has arrived; the Romans fly into their province, and abandon Gaul. If this retreat delivers us for the present, it ensures neither peace nor rest for the future; they will return with greater forces, and the war will be endless. We must attack them, therefore, in the disorder of their march; for if the legions stop to defend their long convoy, they will not be able to continue their road; or if, which is more probable, they abandon their baggage in order to secure their own safety, they will lose what is indispensable to them, and, at the same time, their prestige. As to their cavalry, they will surely not dare to move away from the column; that of the Gauls must show so much the more ardour, as the infantry, ranged before the camp, will be there to intimidate the enemy.” Then, the cavalry exclaimed, “Let every one swear, by a solemn oath, never to return to the home of his forefathers, his wife, or his children, if he has not ridden twice through the ranks of the enemy!” This proposition was received with enthusiasm, and all took the oath.
The day on which Vercingetorix arrived on the heights of Sacquenay,[516] Cæsar, as we have seen, encamped on the Vingeanne, near Longeau. Ignorant of the presence of the Gauls, he started next day, in marching column, the legions at a great distance from each other, separated by their baggage. When his vanguard arrived near Dommarien, it could perceive the hostile army. Vercingetorix was watching the moment they (the Romans) debouched, to attack. He had divided his cavalry in three bodies, and his infantry had descended from the heights of Sacquenay in order to take a position along the Vingeanne and the Badin. (See Plate 24.) As soon as the vanguard of the enemy appears, Vercingetorix bars its way with one of the bodies of cavalry, while the two others show themselves in order of battle on the two wings of the Romans. Taken unexpectedly, Cæsar divides his cavalry also into three bodies, and opposes them to the enemy. The combat engages on all sides; the column of the Roman army halts; the legions are brought into line, and the baggage placed in the intervals. This order, in which the legions were, no doubt, in column of three deep, was easy to execute, and presented the advantages of a square. Wherever the cavalry gives way or is too hotly pressed, Cæsar sends to its support the cohorts, which he draws from the main body to range them in order of battle.[517] By this manœuvre he renders the attacks less vigorous, and increases the confidence of the Romans, who are assured of support. Finally, the German auxiliaries, having gained, to the right of the Roman army, the summit of a height (the hill of Montsaugeon), drive the enemies from it, and pursue the fugitives as far as the river, where Vercingetorix stood with his infantry. At the sight of this rout, the rest of the Gaulish cavalry fear to be surrounded, and take to flight. From this time the battle became a mere carnage. Three Ædui of distinction are taken and brought to Cæsar: Cotus, chief of the cavalry, who, at the last election, had contended with Convictolitavis for the sovereign magistracy; Cavarillus, who, since the defection of Litavicus, commanded the infantry; and Eporedorix, whom the Ædui had for chief in their war against the Sequani, before the arrival of Cæsar in Gaul.[518]
Blockade of Alesia.
XII. Vercingetorix, after the defeat of his cavalry, decided on a retreat; taking his infantry with him, without returning to his camp, he marched immediately towards Alesia, the oppidum of the Mandubii. The baggage, withdrawn from the camp, followed him without delay.[519] Cæsar ordered his baggage to be carried to a neighbouring hill, under the guard of two legions, pursued the enemies as long as daylight permitted, killed about 3,000 men of their rear-guard, and established his camp, two days afterwards, before Alesia.[520] After having reconnoitred the position of the town, and taking advantage of the disorder of the enemy, who had placed his principal confidence in his cavalry, which was thrown into consternation by its defeat, he resolved to invest Alesia, and exhorted his soldiers to support the labours and fatigues of a siege with constancy.
Alise-Sainte-Reine, in the department of the Côte-d’Or, is, undoubtedly, the Alesia of the “Commentaries.” The examination of the strategic reasons which determined the march of Cæsar, the correct interpretation of the text, and, lastly, the excavations lately made, all combine to prove it.[521]
Ancient Alesia occupied the summit of the mountain now called Mont Auxois; on the western slope is built the village of Alise-Sainte-Reine. (See Plates 25 and 26.) It is an entirely isolated mountain, which rises 150 to 160 mètres above the surrounding valleys (erat oppidum Alesia in colle summo, admodum edito loco ...). Two rivers bathe the foot of the mountain on two opposite sides: they are the Ose and the Oserain (cujus collis radices duo duabus ex partibus flumina subluebant). To the west of Mont Auxois the plain of Laumes extends, the greatest dimension of which, between the village of Laumes and that of Pouillenay, is 3,000 paces or 4,400 mètres (ante oppidum planities circiter millia passuum III in longitudinem patebat). On all other sides, at a distance varying from 1,100 to 1,600 mètres, rises a belt of hills, the plateaux of which are at the same height (reliquis ex omnibus partibus colles, mediocri interjecto spatio, pari altitudinis fastigio oppidum cingebant).
The summit of Mont Auxois has the form of an ellipse, 2,100 mètres in length, and 800 mètres broad in its greatest diameter. Including the first spurs which surround the principal mass, it is found to contain a superficies of 1,400,000 square mètres, 973,100 mètres of which for the upper plateau and 400,000 mètres for the terraces and spurs. (See Plate 25.) The town appears to have crowned the whole of the plateau, which was protected by scarped rocks against all attack.[522]
This oppidum could, apparently, only be reduced by a complete investment. The Gaulish troops covered, at the foot of the wall, all the slopes of the eastern part of the mountain; they were there protected by a fosse and by a wall of unhewn stones six feet high. Cæsar established his camps in favourable positions, the infantry on the heights, the cavalry near the watercourses. These camps, and twenty-three redoubts or blockhouses,[523] formed a line of investment of 11,000 paces (sixteen kilomètres).[524] The redoubts were occupied in the day by small posts, to prevent any surprise; by night, strong detachments bivouacked in them.
The works were hardly begun, when a cavalry engagement took place in the plain of Laumes. The combat was very hot on both sides. The Romans were giving way, when Cæsar sent the Germans to their assistance, and ranged the legions in order of battle in front of the camps, so that the enemy’s infantry, kept in awe, should not come to the assistance of the cavalry. That of the Romans recovered confidence on seeing that they were supported by the legions. The Gauls, obliged to fly, became embarrassed by their own numbers, and rushed to the openings left in the wall of unhewn stones, which were too narrow for the occasion. Pursued with fury by the Germans up to the fortifications, some were slain, and others, abandoning their horses, attempted to cross the fosse and climb over the wall. Cæsar then ordered the legions, who were drawn up before his retrenchments, to advance a little. This movement carried disorder into the Gaulish camp. The troops within feared a serious attack, and the cry to arms rose on all sides. Some, struck with terror, threw themselves into the oppidum; Vercingetorix was obliged to order the gates to be closed, for fear the camp should be abandoned. The Germans retired, after having killed a great number of the cavalry, and taken a great number of horses.