Part 10

This year’s campaign had been marked by daring adventures; it was to have a spectacular close in the expedition to Britain, an island known in a general way to traders from Gaul, but never yet visited by a Roman official or by a Roman army. Cæsar affected to believe that resistance to Roman rule in Gaul was being supported from Britain. In any case a protectorate of the island seemed to offer great material advantages, for exaggerated reports were in circulation as to its wealth and fertility. The expedition was only a partial success. A few tribes made their submission, but the troops had to be hastily withdrawn, because Cæsar desired to be back on the mainland before the equinoctials set in, as the fleet had already severely suffered in a storm.

In the winter preparations were made on a large scale for a second crossing, a large body of transports being prepared and collected at Portus Itius (perhaps Wissant, near Cape Grinez). The troops in the meantime were carefully trained in handling newly constructed vessels specially planned for the waters of the narrow seas. During the winter the periodic signs of disaffection among the Gauls were again plainly visible, this time the Treviri were intriguing with the Germans. An advance in force from Cæsar was needed to put a check to the rising hopes of the anti-Roman party, whose chief, Indutiomar, was forced to give hostages for his good behavior. Much discontent was caused by the necessity of sending contingents to the army; besides, the legions were a burden on the food supplies of the land. The feeling against foreign control grew so strong that Cæsar determined to take some of the Gallic chiefs with him to Britain, to keep them under personal observation. Dumnorix, the Æduan, tried to secure common action among all and to induce the other chiefs not to embark. Only Dumnorix, however, withdrew when the fleet was about to sail. A party was sent back to pursue him. When he resisted, he was slain.

The second expedition to Britain was on an unprecedented scale. There were five legions, two cavalry troops, and an armada of 800 vessels to carry them. The British tribes withdrew from the coast, and there was some fighting, as the Romans made their way inland to attack various British strongholds. Some of the tribes submitted, but the Roman victories were more apparent than real; the camp around the fleet was attacked, and as the army returned, it was continually harassed by an active enemy, who dogged each stage of the march, but refused to come out and fight in the open. The chief result of the invasion was the collection of reliable information about the people and their customs. The island was not occupied or formally conquered for nearly a century. The captives that were taken were brought over to the continent and sold as slaves. (54 B.C.)

When the expedition returned, the troops were distributed through Gaul in winter quarters as camps of observation, not more than a hundred miles from one another; Cæsar’s own headquarters being at Amiens. The scene of the first disturbance was in the northeast; a Roman garrison on the march from one camp to another was cut off, and only a few stragglers were left to tell the tale. Cicero’s brother Quintus, the commander of another garrison, was attacked, and no message could be got through the hostile tribes of the Nervii to tell Cæsar of his desperate straits. Finally news was carried by means of a Gallic slave whose master, a Nervian refugee, promised him his liberty if he were successful.

Cæsar, with one legion and with a division of horsemen, arrived just in time to save the beleaguered garrison. The Gauls were severely handled when the Romans pushed through their lines to reach Cicero’s camp. The news of the relief caused dejection among the other Gallic tribes, who were about to attack isolated Roman garrisons. Labienus alone had trouble with the Treviri, but managed to ward off the blow, inflicting upon them in turn a crushing defeat, and slaying their leader, Indutiomar. The rest of the winter and summer campaign was spent in various expeditions directed against the Gallic tribes whose loyalty was suspected. It was designed to make a special example of the Eburones, who had cut off the Roman legion the preceding year. They were doomed to destruction, and the neighboring tribes were invited to come and enjoy the plunder. Some of those who came preferred to attack the Romans first, and Cicero’s camp again fared badly by a sudden raid, made by the Sigambri, a German tribe, who had crossed the Rhine, invited by the prospect of plundering the Gauls. This mistake confused the whole original scheme, and it resulted in the escape of the leader of the Eburones, Ambiorix, an implacable foe of Rome.

When the winter of 53-52 came on, Cæsar’s sojourn in the Cisalpine province was passed during a season of much anxiety. Rome had been disturbed by factional fights between Clodius and his opponent, Milo, in which the popular demagogue met his death. There had been a drawing together of the senatorial party, and Pompeius, who was now looked upon as the chief bulwark against anarchy, had been intrusted by the Senate with extraordinary powers, enabling him to call for a general levy of men of military age throughout Italy. Julia, the wife of Pompeius, was dead, and with her vanished the one strong personal link between the two triumvirs, for Crassus had perished in the East fighting against the Parthians. The news of the troubles in Italy spread rapidly in Gaul, causing the restless tribes there to believe that Cæsar would be kept on the southern side of the Alps, and that, with the commander-in-chief away, there would be no trouble in bringing about a successful revolt, provided there were common action throughout the whole country. The essential condition was to unite all the Gauls against Roman control, and this had already in a large measure been accomplished by the king of the great tribe of the Arverni, Vercingetorix, now at the head of a confederation extending over the whole of the central part of the country. It was difficult to overcome the particularistic tendencies of the Gauls, but this new chieftain at least understood the difficulties and made a brave effort to counteract them. He showed also a sense of the strategical needs of the situation by advising the Gauls to make use of their superiority in cavalry and to cut off the Roman communications; another feature of his scheme was to lay waste the country and force the Roman garrisons to withdraw as they were gradually starved out.

A necessary part of the program was the fighting of a decisive battle on a large scale. Vercingetorix had the men at his command, for he had won over the Ædui, who from the first had aided the Romans in their conquests. Cæsar’s plan was to take the various tribal strongholds one by one; he succeeded in the case of Avaricum, the capital of the Bituriges. He then sent Labienus against Lutetia with four legions, while he advanced with six to lay siege to the chief city of the Arverni, Gergovia. Cæsar’s army was not strong enough for the task; the plan of attack failed, and the Roman legions were saved only by a quick junction with Labienus.

The whole army was soon withdrawn from central Gaul in order to protect the Roman province from attack and also to secure for Cæsar a position where he could establish a fortified camp, from which it would be difficult to be dislodged, and where he could depend upon a regular source of supplies. He selected a place on the Saône, where he could threaten the Æduan territory and be so protected that it would be dangerous for Vercingetorix to follow him. On the march the Romans were vigorously attacked by the Gallic cavalry, but, as they had with them a detachment of German horse, they were beaten off, and the Romans quickly turned the tables, pursuing the Gallic army and finally enclosing it in a hill town, Alesia (Alise Ste. Reine).

Preparations were now made for a long siege. It was a complicated affair, because Cæsar had to provide against attacks both from the beleaguered army and from the Gauls, who were hastening to aid their natural champion. The lines of contravallation were sixteen kilometers long, those of circumvallation twenty; the space between the Roman army and the town was filled with artificial obstacles, meant to prevent the successful use of infantry. The force under Cæsar numbered about 70,000 men and included eleven legions. Cæsar reports that there were 80,000 men imprisoned in Alesia, while to the Gallic relief army is assigned 250,000 infantry and 8000 cavalry. Probably there were not more than 20,000 men altogether in Alesia, for provisions were scarce. This is the number that Napoleon I would give to the inclosed army, and he further remarks that the relief army in its manœuvering and in its camping operations behaved as if it were equal, not superior in strength, to its adversaries.

Cæsar had five or six weeks of leisure before the relieving army appeared. The first part of the decisive engagement was marked by a cavalry battle, in which Cæsar’s German horse proved superior to the Gauls. Then a night attack on the inclosing lines was tried and failed. A daylight struggle afterwards took place along the weakest part of the Roman fortifications, Vercingetorix and the relief force making coincident attacks. The Gauls from the outside were driven off by a skilfully delivered movement on their flank, executed by Labienus, which forced them to withdraw, and at the same time Vercingetorix moved back into the city, and soon recognizing his hopeless position, surrendered. The fall of Alesia marks the completion of the Gallic wars. The spirit of the Gauls was broken; there were afterwards various punitive expeditions, but with the collapse of the great rebellion the country became pacified and accepted its position as a Roman dependency.

IV THE BREAK WITH POMPEIUS AND THE SENATE

Cæsar’s government of Gaul was now drawing to its close. He had added to the Roman dominions a territory larger than the two original provinces assigned to him. The question now was, what next? The precedents on this point were clear enough; they were written large in the lives of other recent conquerors, Marius and Sulla. But the senatorial party had no intention of allowing Cæsar to return to Rome with a free hand; it was to be a struggle between the self-interests of a narrow oligarchy and a clear-headed effort to attain personal control of the machinery of the government. On neither side was regard for legality given much weight. Both Cæsar and the senatorial party used without scruple illegal means; both at the same time claimed hypocritically to represent the side of law and order.

As a matter of fact, the old governmental methods of the Republic were adapted only to the conditions of a city community with a homogeneous population. There had been a breakdown years before Cæsar’s time, and the question now was who should benefit from this chaotic situation. The senators meant to get Cæsar out of Gaul, reduce him to the ranks of a private individual, and then ruin him by some legal prosecution in connection with his eight years of provincial rule. The chief asset of the Senate was Pompeius’ jealousy of Cæsar as a rival of his military glory; he was soured because he could not get the position and the influence for which his early record had marked him out. Pompeius was proconsul of Spain, according to the arrangement made at the last meeting of the triumvirs. It was only carried out nominally; he had no intention of losing his control of Rome, a control which depended on his presence at the center of affairs. Contrary to all precedent, he governed his province by means of deputies. He was also in special charge of the corn supply, a position valuable as a means of propitiating the people with votes. He arranged to have a five-year extension of his proconsular power in Spain, and his influence on the Senate is shown by their willingness to allot him 100 talents a year for the maintenance of his troops. He used his patronage exclusively to advance his own personal interests, oblivious of the compact with Cæsar, showing altogether that, while he meant to stand outside the law, the chicanery of legislation could well be used to block the path of his rival.

Cæsar, who had not forgotten to retain the favor of the Roman populace by entertainments and benefactions, and who had all the skill of a party boss in retaining the allegiance of friends and followers, had three very strong allies back of him, leaving aside his natural superiority in capacity and in shrewdness to Pompeius. His conquest of Gaul, followed as it was by a very judicious treatment of the conquered tribes, gave him the support of a warlike population ready to act on his behalf. Moreover, the reduction of the country had unlocked a store of wealth, which was naturally in his hands; the slaves alone, collected from the captives, represented as capital a very large sum of money. Then there were the seasoned legions on whose loyalty he could depend.

The rival claims of the two leaders reached an acute stage when Pompeius, now Consul, passed legislation by which an interval of five years was required between service as a provincial governor and as a magistrate in Rome. Cæsar’s term of office expired in B.C. 49; he had received leave to stand for the consulship and had requested to be left in possession of his provinces till the end of 49. Now in Pompeius’ legislation there was required, unless special permission were given, personal candidature, and also the Senate was given authority to relieve provincial governors at any time during the last year of their service. Cæsar might find himself relieved of his proconsulship before he had been elected Consul. It would be a dangerous position for him to confront a rival armed with extraordinary powers, while he was only an individual citizen. There were further grounds of irritation because the senatorial party refused to recognize certain administrative acts of Cæsar, by which he had extended the franchise to various provincial towns. In arranging the question of provincial succession there was much delay. Pompeius hesitated to accept the Senate’s drastic measure, by which Cæsar would be relieved long before he could be elected Consul. He made a show of conciliation by shortening the interval and also by promising to resign his own command before the expiration of his term if the Senate so desired. Cæsar’s agent in Rome, the Tribune Curio, displayed much ingenuity in obstructing all measures aimed at his chief, and it was plain from the way the political game was being played that Cæsar’s minimum, service as Proconsul till the end of 49, and entrance into the consulship on January 1, 48, would be the watchword of his partisans. In all other respects he showed himself ready for conciliation and compromise. When two legions were asked for the Parthian war, they were promptly sent, and no protest was made at their being kept at Capua, when they were no longer wanted in the East. Curio, too, was ordered to cease blocking the vote of money to pay Pompeius’ troops.

But the senatorial party were not ready to make terms; it seemed to them that with the co-operation of Pompeius they could place Cæsar in an _impasse_. They miscalculated his personal popularity and his military strength, and now were all the more confident, because they were successfully intriguing with Labienus to detach him from his chief.

The weakness of the senatorial clique was its obvious insincerity in claiming to be the representative of the party of law and order. It was absurd to object to Cæsar stepping directly from the proconsulship to the consulship as an irregularity, when Pompeius had held both offices together; indeed he had been twice Consul within four years, entirely in contravention of the required legal interval of ten years between the holding by one individual of the highest magistracy.

Marcellus, one of the Consuls in B.C. 51, a determined opponent of Cæsar, brought matters to a climax by denouncing Cæsar in the Senate as a brigand and asking that he should be called a public enemy unless he gave up his province by a fixed date. These motions were made as a result of the debate whether a successor to Cæsar should be appointed; they were carried by an imposing majority. An equal majority rejected the motion that Pompeius should be required to resign.

Curio, who had as Tribune interposed his veto on the first motion, then offered a resolution by which both commanders should be required to resign. This was carried by 322 to 320, but no effect was given to it; probably it was vetoed by a Pompeian Tribune. Through private channels, efforts were being made to prevent a break between the two rivals; on account of Pompeius’ well-known indecision of temper, the senatorial clique resolved by a bold stroke to prevent further negotiations. Marcellus, on the 9th of December, using as a pretext the rumor that Cæsar was on his way to Rome with his army, tried in vain to get the Senate to declare Cæsar a public enemy and to authorize Pompeius to take command of the troops in Italy and protect the state. Indignant at the timidity of the senators, he took matters in his own hands, virtually declaring war on his own responsibility, for he handed over the two Italian legions to Pompeius, with the command to march against Cæsar. Pompeius, though this action of the Consul was unconstitutional, accepted the commission; at the end of the month he was still confident that Cæsar would drop his claim to the consulship and that so peace would be restored.

Cæsar acted cautiously; he sent for additional troops from Gaul and also despatched a message to the Senate offering to resign all his provinces and his army, provided Pompeius would do the same. In case of refusal, he said he would be compelled to take measures for asserting his own rights and the freedom of the Roman people. Curio was sent with this ultimatum to Rome; it was only with difficulty that the letter was read. A motion was passed that at a fixed date Cæsar should give up his army and that his non-compliance would be treated as an act of war. There was, of course, the usual obstruction from Marcus Antonius, a Cæsarian Tribune; the final decree by which martial law was introduced and the magistrates called upon to see “that the commonwealth took no harm,” was not passed till the seventh of January. (49 B.C.) Lentulus, the Consul, in the meantime had advised the obstructing tribunes to leave the city if they valued their personal safety. It was this verbal threat which put in Cæsar’s hands the very useful plea that he was acting as the defender of the freedom of the Roman people.

The military strength of the two parties was, from the senatorial point of view, altogether on their side; they had, they reasoned, the whole empire to draw upon for recruits, while Cæsar had only his own province. The difficulty of the senatorial position was, that their forces were not together when the war broke out. Of Cæsar’s original thirteen legions, two were now under Pompeius’ command; besides this, the latter had in Spain seven legions of well-seasoned troops; in Italy he had the two legions already mentioned, which originally belonged to the army of Gaul; and another in a state of creation.

Cæsar’s chance lay in prompt action, in administering a decisive defeat before Pompeius could get his scattered men together. While the negotiations were in progress, he had only one legion in northern Italy; but two had been sent for, and when they were at hand Cæsar had, with his allies, about 20,000 men, a force considerably superior to that of Pompeius, who was especially careful not to lead Cæsar’s old legions against their former commander. With one legion of newly recruited men he could do nothing; the consequence was that in Italy there was practically no resistance to Cæsar’s advance. When some of the newly created cohorts joined him, the senators with their commander fled to Greece.

The moral effect of the abandonment of Italy and the capital was a great asset for the Cæsarian party. The critics have condemned Pompeius because he failed to relieve the senatorial troops inclosed by Cæsar in the town of Corfinium in the Abruzzi. It was a discouraging blow at the very commencement of the struggle for the senatorial party to see their soldiers and one of their chief partisans, Domitius Ahenobarbus, left to their fate. But Pompeius was in no position to give help; if he had attempted to give aid, he would have been defeated and captured.

Instead of pursuing Pompeius across the Adriatic to Greece, Cæsar turned away to the conquest of Spain. Even if transports were lacking, he might have doubled round the Adriatic coast through Illyria, his own province. He might soon have got the control of the entire East before a sufficient force was collected to oppose him. But if he had done so, in the meantime Italy would have been exposed to an invasion from Pompeius’ Spanish veterans, for the senatorial commander would undoubtedly have betaken himself there and acted on the offensive. By the time Cæsar could reach Antioch, in Syria, Pompeius could have occupied Rome. Cæsar therefore consistently followed the principle of striking at the enemy’s force where it was concentrated and prepared for effective work.

Several of the legions newly formed from Italian recruits were sent to Sardinia, Sicily, and Africa as crucial points, from which a descent might be made on Italy; others were left in Italy itself. Of the veteran legions from Gaul, three were despatched to Marseilles, which had taken the senatorial side, and six were taken to Spain. There were seven Pompeian legions in the peninsula under three different commanders, Afranius and Petreius in the north, Varro in the south. Varro, the celebrated antiquarian and scholar, was not an enthusiastic partisan of Pompeius; there seems to be no reason, except his desire to be neutral, why he should have weakened the Pompeian forces in the north by keeping his legions in the south. In any case, the five legions near the Pyrenees, as if conscious of their weakness, remained on the defensive, although for a time they were opposed only by two legions of Cæsar’s.

Cæsar’s force was undoubtedly numerically superior, for there was a considerable contingent of allies, German and Gallic, both horse and foot. The plan of strategy adopted by the Pompeians was to keep Cæsar in check until Pompeius’ preparations in the East were completed, that is, to wait until he could come to Spain to direct the operations there in person, or could make a diversion by attacking Italy with the troops raised in the East. No attempt was made by Pompeius’ lieutenants to stop Cæsar’s passage through the mountain passes of the Pyrenees. This, in any case, would have been a questionable operation and apt to cause a division of strength in the opposing army.