[499] See the Life of Crassus, c. 16, and the Life of Pompeius, c. 53.
[500] L. Aurunculeius Cotta and Q. Titurius Sabinus were sent into the country of the Eburones, the chief part of which was between the Maas and the Rhine, in the parallels of Namur and Liege. This king, who is called Abriorix, is named Ambiorix by Cæsar (Gallic War, 24, &c.) The Gauls, after an unsuccessful attempt on the camp, persuaded the Romans to leave it under a promise that they should have a safe passage through the country of the Eburones. Ambiorix made them believe that there was going to be a general rising of the Gauls, and that their best plan was to make their way to the camp of Q. Cicero or Labienus. When they had left their camp, the Gauls fell upon them in a convenient spot and massacred most of them.
[501] Quintus Cicero was encamped in the country of the Nervii in Hainault. The attack on his camp is described by Cæsar (Gallic War, v. 39, &c.) Cæsar says, when he is speaking of his own camp (v. 50), 'Jubet ... ex omnibus partibus castra altiore vallo muniri portasque obstrui, &c.... cum simulatione terroris;' of which Plutarch has given the meaning.
[502] Kaltwasser remarks that Plutarch passes over the events in Cæsar's Sixth Book of the Gallic War, as containing matters of less importance for his purpose.
[503] Cæsar (vii. 4) calls him Vercingetorix. He was of the nation of the Arverni, whom Plutarch (as his text stands) calls Arvenni in c. 25, and Aruveni in c. 26. The Arverni were on the Upper Loire in Auvergne. The Carnunteni, whom Cæsar calls Carnutes, were partly in the middle basin of the same river. Orleans (Genapum) and Chartres (Autricum) were their headquarters.
[504] ταῖς αὐταῖς ὁδοῖς in the MSS., which gives no sense. I have adopted Reiske's alteration αὐταῖς ταῖς ὁδοῖς. Cæsar (vii. 8) describes his march over the Cevenna, the Cevennes, in winter. He had to cut his road through snow six feet deep. The enemy, who considered the Cevennes as good a protection as a wall, were surprised by his sudden appearance.
[505] So Plutarch writes it. It is Ædui in Cæsar's text, or Hædui. The Ædui, one of the most powerful of the Gallic tribes, were situated between the Upper Loire and the Saone, and possessed the chief part of Burgundy. The Saone separated them from the Sequani on the east.
[506] The Lingones were on the Vosges, which contain the sources of the Marne and the Moselle. The Saone separated them from the Sequani on the south-east. The account of this campaign is unintelligible in Plutarch. It is contained in Cæsar's Seventh Book.
[507] A small matter in itself; but if true, a trait in Cæsar's character. Schaefer has the following note: "Aliter facturus erat Cyrneus, omnino inferior ille Romano." The Corsican is Napoleon. Cæsar was the magnanimous man, whom Aristotle describes (Eth. Nicom. iv. 7); Napoleon was not.
[508] Alise, or rather the summit of Mont Auxois, west of Dijon in Burgundy, represents the Alesia of Cæsar. A stream flowed along each of two sides of the city. Alesia belonged to the Mandubii, who were dependants of the Ædui. The siege and capture of Alesia, B.C. 52, are told by Cæsar (Gallic War, vii. 68, &c.)