Cæsar attempted also to conciliate Cicero by offering him a staff appointment; on this being refused, as it was desirable to deprive the senatorial party of the oratorical talents which gave Cicero a hold on the people, Clodius was allowed to bring charges against him in connection with the execution of the Catilinarian conspirators. The terms of the new law were perfectly general; it simply outlawed any person who had or should hereafter put to death a Roman citizen uncondemned, that is, without due trial and sentence. Cicero took the hint and fled from Rome. At the same time the uncompromising senatorial obstructionist Cato was “kicked upstairs” by being given an appointment as commissioner to supervise the annexation of the island of Cyprus. Ample time was allowed him, and it was arranged that when he had finished with Cyprus, he should go to Byzantium and settle some unimportant disputes in that free city. With Cato kept busy at a long distance from Rome, and with Cicero out of the way, there was little to fear with Clodius acting in the rôle of “boss” of Rome.
III
THE CONQUEST OF GAUL
Very soon after the flight of the great orator, Cæsar, who had been watching with his army the proceedings within the city, started for his province of Gaul. The country which was to be the scene of his labors as governor, and in which through successive campaigns his reputation in generalship was to be made, was larger than modern France, for it extended to the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. Only a part of it was familiar to the Romans, and for this reason one of the most striking proofs of Cæsar’s skill as a commander is the ability and certainty with which he penetrated into regions unvisited before and therefore unfamiliar to him except by the hearsay stories of the casual traveler. The province had originally been occupied by the Romans in the struggle with Hannibal, because it secured their land communication with Spain. In its southern part it was well developed and civilized, but the limit of Roman rule northward was marked by the valley of the Rhone, and the famous city of Lyons had not yet been founded, which was later on the headquarters of Roman power in Gaul.
Much trouble was being experienced from Germanic invaders farther north, who were crossing the Rhine and were in great numbers occupying the fertile lands to the east of them. The Gauls themselves had no cohesive power of resistance; they were constantly quarreling among themselves, and it seemed only a question of time when the Germans, uniting with the Gauls, who were certain to become subject to their rule, would overwhelm the peaceful and civilized inhabitants of the Roman province. The situation required immediate attention, for the Ædui who lived between the Loire and the Saône were calling on the Romans as allies for help and protection against their neighbors, other Gaulish tribes, who with the aid of the German king, Ariovistus, were threatening to take their land. Besides, it was reported that the Helvetic and the German peoples were contemplating a migration on a large scale, induced to leave south Germany by the prospect of finding better lands farther west.
The country as a whole was in a state of unrest; the unconquered mass of the free tribes, extending from the fringe of Roman occupation in the south to the North Sea, might easily become dangerous to the countries under Roman occupation on the other side of the Pyrenees and the Alps. Up to the time of Cæsar’s advent, the government at Rome had shown singular apathy; a few resolutions had been passed, directing that the allied tribes should be aided, but no additions were made to the army in the province. The emotional temperament of the Gauls made them subject to quick changes in their point of view; unless something were done quickly, even the allies of Rome would have to be counted on the other side. It was easy for them to drop their present allegiance, for they were as a mass a servile population, guided by an aristocracy of nobles or knights, and by a widely extended and mysterious guild, the Druids, who each year held a solemn assembly in a sacred place in the center of the land.
The general difficulties of coping with the situation were great when Cæsar took command, but the special details of the position as it confronted him increased the obstacles in the way of prompt action. There was but one legion beyond the Alps; the other three were far away in Aquileia at the top of the Adriatic. It was fortunate for him that he could draw on the reserves of Cisalpine Gaul, the richest part of Italy, the province which extended over the plains of Lombardy to Tuscany. This province was filled with a hardy race of yeomen cultivators, a mixed population, having its origin in the conquered Celtic tribes and in genuine Roman colonists.
Nowhere else could there be found a better recruiting ground for the legions, and nowhere also, on account of the general intelligence of the inhabitants, would the personal qualities of a general find a more immediate response. The tactfulness of Cæsar had already been put to the test in the arena of political life; he had learned how to make friends and to hold them. Apart from the technical gifts of military art, the personal charm of Cæsar’s character was a great factor in securing for him an army made up of devoted troops and officers. They trusted him, and they were held to him as a leader, because he seems from the first to have been able to establish close relations of a spontaneous and genuine type with those who were under him. His army was not a mere fighting machine, but an organism reflecting the individual driving power and coolness of the man who led it.
The series of campaigns in Gaul begins with Cæsar’s successful blocking of the migration of the Helvetii. All that is known of the details of the strategy employed by the Romans is derived from Cæsar’s own report, which has been frequently criticised as intentionally obscure and misleading. It must be remembered that the famous commentaries on the Gallic wars were hurriedly dictated, and were meant to tell the public what the commander-in-chief wished them to know and nothing more. For example, many modern authorities are agreed that the numbers of the migrating Helvetii are very much overestimated by Cæsar and that the real purpose of their migration was artfully concealed. Napoleon, who was a past master in falsifying military records, declared that the campaign against the Helvetii as narrated by Cæsar was incomprehensible.
The real situation in Gaul prior to the migration seems to have been as follows. As we have said, Ariovistus, the German king, was in control of the central part of the country. This overlordship was burdensome to the Gauls, who paid him a yearly tribute. A prince of the Ædui, Divitiacus, had turned to the Romans for help, but his request was rejected, for Ariovistus, during Cæsar’s own consulship, had been acknowledged as king and formally declared an ally and friend of the Roman people. There was another party among the Ædui, led by Dumnorix, the brother of Divitiacus, who favored throwing off the German yoke, and urged a general uprising of the Gauls, unassisted by the Romans.
Not far away from Æduan territory were the Helvetii, who were independent of the rule of Ariovistus, and with them the autonomous party among the Ædui entered into friendly relations in order to secure them as allies against the Germans. The Helvetii were to be persuaded by their leaders to migrate to western Gaul, and it was arranged that, when the whole tribe was slowly passing through the land of the Ædui, there should be a rising against Ariovistus. The Ædui could count on the assistance of the Helvetii, because as future occupants of Gallic territory the immigrants would have no desire to be dependents of the German king.