02. Cæsar in Gaul

CHAPTER II. Cæsar in Gaul (B.C. 58-51)

I said that the first books in which the Gauls are spoken of are Latin books. Latin was the language of the Romans, the most powerful nation that has ever existed. The people of Rome began by conquering the cities near them, till they were masters of all Italy, and they then made war upon the countries round Italy, amongst others, upon Gaul. The Romans were wiser than the Gauls, and had better arms and better generals, and knew how to make roads from one place to another, and bridges across any rivers that might be in their way; and they were soon masters of part of the south of France, where they built cities and settled themselves. Some of the Gauls had fought against the Romans, and tried to prevent them from coining into the country, and these people the Romans treated harshly, making them obey the Roman governors and pay them great sums of money. Other Gauls had yielded to the Romans at once, and they were allowed to remain free, promising to help the Romans whenever they went to war.

Julius Cæsar was a great Roman general, who was sent by the consuls or chief rulers of Rome to govern the part of Gaul which had already been conquered, and to conquer the people of some of the farther part, who seemed inclined to rise up against the Romans. He had a great deal of hard fighting for eight years, for the Gauls resisted him very bravely; and it often happened that in some part of the country which he had just conquered, and where he thought the people would remain faithful to their promises to him, they would rise up against him as soon as his back was turned, and all his work would have to be done over again. Cæsar, in his accounts of these wars, often speaks of the Gauls as faithless and changeable, ready to believe the first person who spoke to them, especially any one who told them they were ill-treated, and advised them to rise up against the Romans.

The Gauls sometimes asked for help from the Germans who lived on the other side of the Rhine, who were far more savage and wild than the Gauls had now become, and who liked fighting better than any other employment; so much so, that after helping the Gauls against the Romans, they would sometimes themselves turn against the Gauls, and take some of their land from them. Thus Cæsar had often Gauls and Germans fighting together against him, but he was so wise and brave a general, and his soldiers obeyed him so well and showed such patience and courage, that all Gaul was at last conquered by the Romans, and was improved by them in many ways.

I will now give an account of the siege of Alesia, that you may have some idea of the way in which the Gauls and Romans fought. I must first say that the people of Gaul were divided into tribes or separate bodies, living each in a special part of the country, and each tribe under chiefs or principal men of its own. Some tribes were much larger than others; some of the larger had more than two hundred thousand members, while others had only a few hundred. The part of the country where each tribe lived was called after the name of the tribe, so that Gaul was broken up into divisions something like the (English) counties, but with the difference that they had no one ruler over them (like our Queen, nor government of any kind like our Houses of Parliament). Each tribe managed its own affairs for itself, and they often made war upon one another. It is clear that a country would not be likely to grow rich or strong while its people were fighting among themselves. (If the men of Middlesex had a war with the men of Kent, no ships from London would be able to go down the Thames, and if there were a chance of such a war, it is not likely that we should have built ships which might so easily be taken from us by enemies. Railroads, too, would never have been made over all England if the different counties were in the habit of going to war with each other.) One of the great improvements that Cæsar made in Gaul, was to force the different tribes to live in peace. This gave them time to attend to working in their fields, improving their towns, and other peaceful and useful occupations. In course of time the different tribes became friendly, and their country was divided into provinces, which were afterwards formed into a kingdom with one king over them.

The siege of Alesia, which I am going to describe, happened towards the end of Cæsar's wars in Gaul. All the Gaulish tribes had joined together to try and drive him out of the country, and at their head they had a brave leader named Vercingetorix, meaning General-in-chief. After having been defeated by Cæsar in several battles, and <having> lost many great cities, Vercingetorix led his arm; to a town called Alesia, and set up his camp there. The town was on the top of a hill, with other hills round it, a plain in front, and a river flowing on each side. Cæsar brought his army to the foot of the hill, and began to dig a deep ditch, called a trench, to protect his men from any sudden attack of the Gauls. When Vercingetorix saw that Cæsar meant to shut him and his army up in Alesia, and to oblige them to yield to him by not allowing any food to come in to them, he sent away a body of his soldiers to try and collect food for him in their own countries, and to make their way back with it through the army of the enemy. He kept with him eighty thousand of his best soldiers to help him to resist Cæsar.

Cæsar built towers and a wall behind the trench; behind these again two other trenches, then another wall with stakes like stags' horns sticking out from it to prevent the enemy from climbing up it, and with turrets all along the top. He made another small trench, at the bottom of which he stuck very sharp stakes hidden by branches of trees, so that whoever got down into it should be run into by the stakes. These works went the whole way round the foot of the hill on which Alesia stood, a distance of eleven miles. The men in Alesia finding that Cæsar had made all these preparations against them, and that their friends did not come back to bring them food, held a council, in which one of their chief men made a speech, proposing that all the old, weak, and useless people in the town should be put to death, and eaten by the others. Many of the Gauls said that this cruel plan was too horrible, and refused to listen to it. It was at last settled that these old and weak people should be sent away from the Gaulish camp, and try to make their way past the Romans and out into the country beyond; but Cæsar would not let them pass him, and they had to go back into the town.

In the meantime, the Gauls who had been sent away to fetch food, came back with a store, and tried to make their way into the town, but the Romans came out to fight them, and drove them away. The Gauls in Alesia came out from the town shouting, to encourage their friends, but when they saw them drawing back before the Romans, they returned, disappointed, into the town, A few days later, the Gauls made a fierce attack on the Roman camp, but in vain; they went from one part to another, throwing earth into the trenches so that they might pass safely even over those with stakes at the bottom, but everywhere they met the Roman soldiers, and Cæsar stood on a high hill to watch his men, and send help to any of them who seemed to be in difficulty. At last, seeing that his soldiers were beginning to yield, he rushed down himself into the battle. The Romans gave a shout, threw away the darts or javelins with which they had been fighting, drew their swords, and followed Cæsar; some of the horse soldiers went round to surprise the Gauls at the back. The Gauls turned and fled. Cæsar went on to the gates of the city, which was the next day given up to him.

Vercingetorix assembled his soldiers in the town, and told them that he was ready to give himself up to Cæsar if they wished it, or that, if they chose, they might kill him, as he thought that if he were dead, or Cæsar's prisoner, Cæsar might be willing to spare the lives of his soldiers. The Gauls settled that he should be given up to Cæsar with the other chiefs.

Cæsar sat at, the head of his soldiers, and all the Gaulish chieftains in turns were brought before him, and laid down their arms. Cæsar took to Rome the general Vercingetorix, who was afterwards put to death in prison; he gave to each Roman soldier one Gaul for a slave, as a reward for their victory.