This siege, so memorable in a military point of view, is still more so in the historic point of view. Beside the hill, so barren at the present day, of Mont Auxois, were decided the destinies of the world. In these fertile plains, on these hills, now silent, nearly 400,000 men encountered each other; one side led by the spirit of conquest, the other by the spirit of independence; but none of them were conscious of the work which destiny was employing them to accomplish. The cause of all civilisation was at stake.
The defeat of Cæsar would have stopped for a long period the advance of Roman domination, of that domination which, across rivers of blood, it is true, conducted the peoples to a better future. The Gauls, intoxicated with their success, would have called to their aid all those nomadic peoples who followed the course of the sun to create themselves a country, and all together would have thrown themselves upon Italy; that focus of intelligence, destined to enlighten the peoples, would then have been destroyed, before it had been able to develop its expansive force. Rome, on her side, would have lost the only chief capable of arresting her decline, of re-constituting the Republic, and of bequeathing to her at his death three centuries of existence.
Thus, while we honour duly the memory of Vercingetorix, we are not allowed to deplore his defeat. Let us admire the ardent and sincere love of this Gaulish chieftain for the independence of his country; but let us not forget that it is to the triumph of the Roman armies that we owe our civilisation; institutions, manners, language, all come to us from the conquest. Thus are we much more the children of the conquerors than of the conquered; for, during long years, the former have been our masters for everything which raises the soul and embellishes life; and, when at last the invasion of the barbarians came to overthrow the old Roman edifice, it could not destroy its foundations. Those wild hordes only ravaged the territory, without having the power to annihilate the principles of law, justice, and liberty, which, deeply rooted, survived by their own vitality, like those crops which, bent down for a moment beneath the tread of the soldiers, soon rise again spontaneously, and recover a new life. On the ground thus prepared by Roman civilisation, the Christian idea was able easily to plant itself, and to regenerate the world.
The victory gained at Alesia was, then, one of those decisive events which decide the destinies of peoples.
It is towards the end of the third consulship of Pompey that the lictors must have arrived in Rome, carrying, according to the custom, with their fasces crowned with laurels, the letters announcing the surrender of Alesia. The degenerate aristocracy, who placed their rancours above the interests of their country, would, no doubt, have preferred receiving the news of the loss of the Roman armies, to seeing Cæsar become greater than ever by new successes; but public opinion compelled the Senate to celebrate the victory gained at Mont Auxois: it ordered sacrifices during twenty days; still more, the people, to testify their joy, trebled the number.[772]
CHAPTER VIII.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 703.
New Troubles in Gaul, and the Campaign on the Aisne.
I. THE capture of Alesia and the defeat of the army of succour, composed of all the contingents of Gaul, must have encouraged the hope that the war was ended; but the popular waves, like those of the ocean, once agitated, require time to calm them. In 703, disturbances broke out on several points at the same time. Cæsar, who was wintering at Bibracte, was obliged to proceed with two legions into Berry, and, some time afterwards, into the country of Orleans, to restore order there; next he marched against the people of Beauvais, whose resistance threatened to be the more formidable, as they had taken but a slight part at the siege of Alesia. After having assembled four legions, he established his camp on Mont Saint-Pierre, in the forest of Compiègne, opposite the Gauls, who were posted on Mont Saint-Marc. At the end of a few weeks, unable to draw them to quit their post, and not considering his forces sufficient to surround on all sides the mountain which they occupied, he sent for three other legions, and then threatened to invest their camp, as had happened at Alesia. The Gauls left their position, and retired upon Mont Ganelon, from whence they sent troops to lay in ambush in the forest, in order to fall upon the Romans when they went to forage. The result was a combat in the plain of Choisy-au-Bac, in which the Gauls were defeated, and which led to the submission of the whole country. After this expedition, Cæsar turned his attention to the country situated between the Rhine and the Meuse, the populations of which, in spite of the hard lesson of 701, were again raising the standard of revolt under Ambiorix. The whole country was committed to fire and sword; but the invaders could not lay hold of the person of that implacable enemy of the Roman name.
The remains of the old Gaulish bands had united on the left bank of the Loire, the constant refuge of the last defenders of their country, and were still displaying an energy sufficient to give uneasiness to the conquerors. They joined Dumnacus, the chief of the Angevins, who was besieging, in Poitiers, Duratius, a Gaulish chief faithful to the Romans. Cæsar’s lieutenants, Caninius Rebilus and C. Fabius, obliged Dumnacus to raise the siege, and defeated his army.
During this time, Drappes of Sens and Lucterius of Cahors, who had escaped from the last battle, attempted to invade the Roman province; but, pursued by Rebilus, they threw themselves into the fortress of Uxellodunum (le Puy d’Issolu), where the last focus of the insurrection was destined to be extinguished. After a battle outside the fortress, in which the Romans were victorious, Drappes fell into their power; Rebilus and Fabius continued the siege. But the courage of the besieged rendered useless the efforts of the besiegers. At this conjuncture Cæsar arrived there. Seeing that the place, being obstinately defended and abundantly provisioned, could not be reduced either by force or by famine, he conceived the idea of depriving the besieged of water. For this purpose, a subterranean gallery was carried to the veins of the spring which, alone, supplied their wants. It became instantly dry. The Gauls, taking this circumstance for a prodigy, believed they saw in it a manifestation of the will of the gods, and surrendered. Cæsar inflicted on the heroic defenders of Uxellodunum an atrocious punishment: he caused their hands to be cut off; an unpardonable act of cruelty, even although it might have appeared necessary.