Book 7

CHAPTER 7.1

SECTION 7.1.1With Gaul at peace, Caesar set out, as he had determined, for Italy to hold the judicial assizes. There he learned of the murder of Clodius and, being informed of the Senate’s decree that all the younger men of Italy should take the military oath, he began to conduct a levy throughout the province.

SECTION 7.1.2News of these events was quickly carried into Transalpine Gaul. The Gauls themselves added to the reports and invented what the situation seemed to require: that Caesar was being detained by the disorders at Rome and, amid such violent dissensions, could not come to his army.

SECTION 7.1.3Prompted by this opportunity, those who had long resented their subjection to the rule of the Roman people began to form plans for war more freely and boldly.

SECTION 7.1.4The leading men of Gaul appointed councils among themselves in wooded and remote places and complained of Acco’s death.

SECTION 7.1.5They pointed out that the same fate might befall them; they lamented the common fortune of Gaul; and by every promise and reward they called for men who would begin the war and, at the risk of their own lives, reclaim Gaul’s liberty.

SECTION 7.1.6Above all, they said, care must be taken to cut Caesar off from his army before their secret plans were divulged. This would be easy,

SECTION 7.1.7because the legions would not dare to leave their winter quarters in the commander’s absence, nor could the commander reach the legions without an escort.

SECTION 7.1.8Finally, it was better to be killed in battle than to fail to recover the ancient glory of war and the liberty they had received from their ancestors.

CHAPTER 7.2

SECTION 7.2.1After these matters had been debated, the Carnutes declared that they would refuse no danger for the sake of the common safety and promised to be foremost among all in making war.

SECTION 7.2.2Since for the present they could not give one another hostages as a guarantee that the affair would not be divulged, they asked that the compact be consecrated by oath and solemn pledge, with the military standards brought together—a rite that by their custom possesses the greatest sanctity—so that, once they had begun the war, they would not be abandoned by the rest.

SECTION 7.2.3The Carnutes were then highly praised; the oath was taken by all who were present; a date was fixed for the undertaking; and the council dispersed.

CHAPTER 7.3

SECTION 7.3.1When that day came, the Carnutes, led by Cotuatus and Conconnetodumnus, desperate men, rushed together at Cenabum upon a given signal and killed the Roman citizens who had settled there for purposes of trade, among them Gaius Fufius Cita, a respected Roman knight who, by Caesar’s order, was in charge of the grain supply; they then plundered their property.

SECTION 7.3.2The report was quickly carried to all the states of Gaul. Whenever some event of greater importance and notoriety occurs, they announce it by shouts across the fields and districts; others in turn take up the cry and pass it on to their nearest neighbors, as happened then.

SECTION 7.3.3For what had been done at Cenabum at sunrise was heard in the territory of the Arverni before the end of the first watch, a distance of about one hundred and sixty miles.

CHAPTER 7.4

SECTION 7.4.1In the same manner, Vercingetorix, an Arvernian, the son of Celtillus, a young man of the highest power, whose father had held supremacy over all Gaul and had been put to death by his state because he sought kingship, summoned his dependents and easily inflamed them.

SECTION 7.4.2When his design became known, there was a rush to arms. He was opposed by Gobannitio, his uncle, and by the other leading men, who did not think that such a venture should be attempted, and he was expelled from the town of Gergovia.

SECTION 7.4.3He did not desist, however, but held a levy in the countryside among the destitute and desperate. After assembling this band, he brought over to his opinion everyone from the state whom he approached.

SECTION 7.4.4He urged them to take up arms for the sake of their common liberty; and after gathering a large force, he expelled from the state the opponents who shortly before had expelled him.

SECTION 7.4.5His followers proclaimed him king. He sent embassies in every direction and entreated the states to remain faithful.

SECTION 7.4.6He quickly joined to himself the Senones, Parisii, Pictones, Cadurci, Turoni, Aulerci, Lemovices, Andes, and all the other peoples bordering the Ocean. By unanimous consent the supreme command was conferred upon him.

SECTION 7.4.7Once this power had been offered him, he demanded hostages from all these states and ordered a fixed number of soldiers to be brought to him quickly.

SECTION 7.4.8He determined how many weapons each state must manufacture at home and by what date; above all, he devoted his attention to the cavalry.

SECTION 7.4.9To the utmost diligence he added the utmost severity of command, compelling the hesitant by the magnitude of his punishments.

SECTION 7.4.10For a graver offense he put a man to death by fire and every kind of torture; for a lesser cause he sent the offender home with his ears cut off or one eye gouged out, so that he might serve as a warning to the rest and terrify others by the magnitude of the punishment.

CHAPTER 7.5

SECTION 7.5.1Having quickly raised an army by these punishments, he sent Lucterius the Cadurcan, a man of the greatest daring, with part of his forces among the Ruteni; he himself set out for the Bituriges. At his approach the Bituriges sent ambassadors to the Aedui,

SECTION 7.5.2under whose protection they were, to ask for assistance, so that they might more readily withstand the enemy’s forces.

SECTION 7.5.3On the advice of the officers whom Caesar had left with the army, the Aedui sent forces of cavalry and infantry to assist the Bituriges.

SECTION 7.5.4When these forces reached the river Loire, which separates the Bituriges from the Aedui, they remained there for a few days but did not cross the river.

SECTION 7.5.5Not daring to cross, they returned home and reported to our officers that they had turned back because they feared the treachery of the Bituriges, whose plan, they had learned, was to surround them—on one side the Bituriges themselves and on the other the Arverni—if they crossed the river.

SECTION 7.5.6Whether they acted for the reason they reported to the officers or were moved by treachery, since we have no certain knowledge, should not, it seems, be asserted as fact.

SECTION 7.5.7Immediately after their departure, the Bituriges joined the Arverni.

CHAPTER 7.6

SECTION 7.6.1When news of these events reached Caesar in Italy, and he understood that affairs at Rome had now been brought into a more favorable condition by the energy of Gnaeus Pompey, he set out for Transalpine Gaul.

SECTION 7.6.2On arriving there, he faced great difficulty in determining how he could reach the army.

SECTION 7.6.3For if he summoned the legions into the Province, he realized that in his absence they would have to fight a battle on the march.

SECTION 7.6.4If he himself hastened to the army, he saw that at such a time he could not safely entrust his life even to those who appeared peaceful.

CHAPTER 7.7

SECTION 7.7.1Meanwhile Lucterius the Cadurcan, who had been sent among the Ruteni, won that state over to the Arverni.

SECTION 7.7.2Advancing among the Nitiobriges and Gabali, he received hostages from both peoples and, after gathering a large force, strove to break into the Province in the direction of Narbo.

SECTION 7.7.3When this was reported, Caesar judged that every other plan must give way to setting out for Narbo.

SECTION 7.7.4On arriving there, he reassured the fearful and stationed garrisons among the Ruteni of the Province, the Volcae Arecomici, the Tolosates, and around Narbo, all regions bordering upon the enemy.

SECTION 7.7.5He ordered part of the forces from the Province, together with the reinforcements he had brought from Italy, to assemble among the Helvii, whose territory borders that of the Arverni.

CHAPTER 7.8

SECTION 7.8.1After making these arrangements, with Lucterius now checked and driven back because he considered it dangerous to advance within the line of garrisons, Caesar set out for the territory of the Helvii.

SECTION 7.8.2Although Mount Cevenna, which separates the Arverni from the Helvii, blocked the way at that harshest season of the year with very deep snow, Caesar nevertheless had the snow cleared to a depth of six feet, and, after the roads had thus been opened with the utmost exertion on the part of the soldiers, reached the borders of the Arverni.

SECTION 7.8.3Taking them by surprise, since they believed themselves protected by the Cevenna as by a wall, and since at that season of the year not even the paths had ever been open to a solitary traveler, he ordered the cavalry to range as widely as possible and strike the greatest possible terror into the enemy.

SECTION 7.8.4News of these events was swiftly carried by report and messengers to Vercingetorix. All the Arverni, terrified, crowded around him and implored him to protect their fortunes and not allow them to be plundered by the enemy, especially since he could see that the entire war had been transferred to their country.

SECTION 7.8.5Moved by their entreaties, he marched his camp out of the territory of the Bituriges toward that of the Arverni.

CHAPTER 7.9

SECTION 7.9.1But Caesar, after remaining in those parts for two days, because he had foreseen that this would happen with Vercingetorix, left the army on the pretext of gathering reinforcements and cavalry, and placed the young Brutus in command of these forces.

SECTION 7.9.2He instructed him to have the cavalry range as widely as possible in every direction, saying that he would take care not to be absent from camp for more than three days.

SECTION 7.9.3Having made these arrangements, Caesar, to the great surprise of his men, reached Vienna by the longest marches he could make.

SECTION 7.9.4There he found fresh cavalry, which he had sent ahead to that place many days before, and, without interrupting his journey by day or night, hurried through the territory of the Aedui into that of the Lingones, where two legions were wintering, so that, if the Aedui should form any design even against his life, he might forestall it by his speed.

SECTION 7.9.5On arriving there, he sent orders to the remaining legions and assembled them all in one place before word of his arrival could be carried to the Arverni.

SECTION 7.9.6When Vercingetorix learned of this, he led his army back again into the territory of the Bituriges and, setting out from there, began to besiege Gorgobina, a town of the Boii, whom Caesar had settled there after their defeat in the Helvetian campaign and had placed under the protection of the Aedui.

CHAPTER 7.10

SECTION 7.10.1This situation presented Caesar with great difficulty in deciding upon a course of action. If he kept the legions in one place for the remainder of the winter, he feared that, if the dependents of the Aedui were conquered, all Gaul would revolt, because it would appear that he afforded his allies no protection; but if he led the legions out of winter quarters too early, he feared that the difficult transport of supplies would cause him to suffer from a shortage of grain.

SECTION 7.10.2Nevertheless, it seemed better to endure every hardship than, by submitting to so great an affront, to estrange the loyalty of all his allies.

SECTION 7.10.3Accordingly, after urging the Aedui to bring up provisions, he sent messengers ahead to the Boii to inform them of his approach and exhort them to remain loyal and withstand the enemy’s assault with courage.

SECTION 7.10.4Leaving two legions and the baggage of the entire army at Agedincum, he set out for the country of the Boii.

CHAPTER 7.11

SECTION 7.11.1On the following day, when he reached Vellaunodunum, a town of the Senones, he resolved to besiege it, so that he might leave no enemy behind him and might obtain supplies more readily; and in two days he surrounded it with siegeworks.

SECTION 7.11.2On the third day, when envoys came from the town to negotiate its surrender, he ordered them to collect their arms, bring out their draft animals, and give six hundred hostages.

SECTION 7.11.3He left his lieutenant Gaius Trebonius to complete these arrangements. He himself, wishing to make the journey as quickly as possible, set out for Cenabum, a town of the Carnutes.

SECTION 7.11.4The Carnutes had only then received news of the siege of Vellaunodunum and, believing that the operation would be prolonged, were preparing a garrison to send to Cenabum for its defense. Caesar reached the place in two days.

SECTION 7.11.5After pitching camp before the town, he was prevented by the lateness of the day from beginning the attack and postponed it until the next day, while ordering the soldiers to prepare whatever was needed for the operation.

SECTION 7.11.6And because a bridge over the River Liger joined the town of Cenabum, he feared that the inhabitants might escape from the town by night and ordered two legions to remain under arms on watch.

SECTION 7.11.7A little before midnight, the people of Cenabum silently left the town and began to cross the river. When Caesar was informed of this by his scouts, he brought forward the legions

SECTION 7.11.8which he had ordered to stand ready without baggage, set fire to the gates, led them into the town, and took possession of it. Very few of the enemy escaped capture, because the narrowness of the bridge and roads had blocked the multitude’s flight.

SECTION 7.11.9He plundered and burned the town, gave the booty to the soldiers, led his army across the Liger, and entered the territory of the Bituriges.

CHAPTER 7.12

SECTION 7.12.1When Vercingetorix learned of Caesar’s approach, he abandoned the siege and marched out to meet him.

SECTION 7.12.2Caesar had begun to besiege Noviodunum, a town of the Bituriges situated on his route.

SECTION 7.12.3When envoys came to him from the town to beg that he pardon them and spare their lives, Caesar, wishing to complete the remaining operations with the speed by which he had accomplished most of his successes, ordered their arms to be collected, their horses to be brought out, and hostages to be given.

SECTION 7.12.4A portion of the hostages had already been delivered, and the remaining terms were being carried out; centurions and a few soldiers had been admitted to search for arms and draft animals, when the enemy cavalry, which had preceded Vercingetorix’s column, was sighted in the distance.

SECTION 7.12.5As soon as the townspeople saw them and conceived the hope of rescue, they raised a shout and began to seize their weapons, shut the gates, and man the wall. The centurions within the town,

SECTION 7.12.6understanding from the Gauls’ behavior that they were forming some new design, drew their swords, seized the gates, and brought all their men out unharmed.

CHAPTER 7.13

SECTION 7.13.1Caesar ordered the cavalry to be led out of camp and engaged in a cavalry battle. When his men were already hard-pressed, he sent about four hundred German horsemen to support them, whom from the beginning he had made a practice of keeping with him.

SECTION 7.13.2The Gauls could not withstand their charge and, being put to flight, lost many men before withdrawing to the main column. After their defeat, the townspeople, terrified once more, seized those whom they believed responsible for inciting the populace, brought them to Caesar, and surrendered to him.

SECTION 7.13.3When these matters had been settled, Caesar set out for Avaricum, the largest and strongest town in the territory of the Bituriges, situated in the most fertile region of their country, because he was confident that by taking that town he would bring the nation of the Bituriges under his control.

CHAPTER 7.14

SECTION 7.14.1After suffering so many successive reverses at Vellaunodunum, Cenabum, and Noviodunum, Vercingetorix summoned his men to a council.

SECTION 7.14.2He explained that the war must be waged by a method far different from the one employed before. Every effort must be directed toward depriving the Romans of forage and provisions.

SECTION 7.14.3This would be easy, because the Gauls possessed abundant cavalry and were aided by the season of the year.

SECTION 7.14.4Grass could not be cut; the enemy would necessarily have to scatter in search of supplies from farm buildings, and every day the cavalry could destroy all such parties.

SECTION 7.14.5Moreover, for the sake of their common safety, the advantages of private property must be disregarded. Villages and farm buildings should be burned in every direction within the distance from the road to which the Romans might seem capable of going in search of forage. The Gauls themselves would have an ample supply of such necessities,

SECTION 7.14.6because they would be supported by the resources of those in whose territory the war was being waged.

SECTION 7.14.7The Romans would either be unable to endure the scarcity or would advance too far from camp at great risk.

SECTION 7.14.8Nor did it matter whether they killed the Romans themselves or stripped them of their baggage, since without it the war could not be carried on.

SECTION 7.14.9Furthermore, those towns that were not made secure from every danger by fortifications and natural position ought to be burned, lest they serve as refuges for their own men who wished to evade military service or stand ready for the Romans to seize as stores of provisions and plunder.

SECTION 7.14.10If these measures seemed harsh or cruel, they should regard it as far harsher for their children and wives to be dragged into slavery and for themselves to be killed—the fate that must befall the conquered.

CHAPTER 7.15

SECTION 7.15.1This proposal was approved by unanimous consent, and in a single day more than twenty towns of the Bituriges were burned.

SECTION 7.15.2The same was done in the other states. Fires were visible in every direction; and although all endured the sight with great anguish, they nevertheless set before themselves this consolation: that, with victory almost assured, they were confident they would quickly recover what they had lost.

SECTION 7.15.3The general council debated whether Avaricum should be burned or defended.

SECTION 7.15.4The Bituriges threw themselves at the feet of all the Gauls and begged not to be compelled to set fire with their own hands to almost the most beautiful city in all Gaul, which was both the safeguard and the ornament of their state.

SECTION 7.15.5They said they could easily defend it because of its natural position: surrounded on almost every side by a river and marsh, it had only one approach, and that exceedingly narrow.

SECTION 7.15.6Their request was granted. Vercingetorix at first opposed it, but afterward yielded both to their entreaties and to the compassion of the common people. Suitable defenders were selected for the town.

CHAPTER 7.16

SECTION 7.16.1Vercingetorix followed Caesar by shorter marches and chose for his camp a place protected by marshes and woods, sixteen miles from Avaricum.

SECTION 7.16.2There, through reliable scouts, he learned at every hour of the day what was being done at Avaricum and issued orders for what he wished carried out.

SECTION 7.16.3He kept watch on all our foraging and grain-gathering parties, and when necessity compelled them to scatter and advance too far, he attacked them and inflicted serious losses, although our men took every precaution that reason could devise, going out at irregular times and by different routes.

CHAPTER 7.17

SECTION 7.17.1Caesar pitched camp on that side of the town where the interval between the river and the marshes left the narrow approach already mentioned, and began to construct a siege terrace, advance covered galleries, and erect two towers; for the nature of the ground prevented a complete circumvallation.

SECTION 7.17.2He never ceased urging the Boii and Aedui to supply grain. The Aedui, because they acted without zeal, gave little assistance; the Boii, whose resources were not great because their state was small and weak, quickly exhausted what they possessed.

SECTION 7.17.3The army suffered extreme difficulty in obtaining grain because of the poverty of the Boii, the negligence of the Aedui, and the burning of the farm buildings—so much so that for several days the soldiers had no grain and warded off utter starvation with cattle driven in from more distant villages. Yet no word was heard from them unworthy of the majesty of the Roman people or of their former victories.

SECTION 7.17.4Indeed, when Caesar addressed each legion at its work and said that he would abandon the siege if they found the scarcity too bitter to bear, they all begged him not to do so.

SECTION 7.17.5They said that they had served under his command for many years in such a manner that they had suffered no disgrace and had nowhere withdrawn with a task unfinished.

SECTION 7.17.6They would consider it a disgrace if they abandoned a siege they had begun.

SECTION 7.17.7It was better to endure every hardship than fail to avenge the Roman citizens who had perished at Cenabum through the treachery of the Gauls.

SECTION 7.17.8They gave the same message to the centurions and military tribunes, so that it might be conveyed through them to Caesar.

CHAPTER 7.18

SECTION 7.18.1When the towers had already drawn near the wall, Caesar learned from prisoners that Vercingetorix, having exhausted his forage, had moved his camp nearer to Avaricum, and that he himself had set out with the cavalry and the lightly armed troops accustomed to fight among the horsemen, intending to lay an ambush at the place where he supposed our men would come to forage on the following day.

SECTION 7.18.2On learning this, Caesar set out silently at midnight and reached the enemy’s camp in the morning.

SECTION 7.18.3The Gauls quickly learned of Caesar’s approach through their scouts, concealed their wagons and baggage in the denser woods, and drew up all their forces on high, open ground.

SECTION 7.18.4When this was reported, Caesar swiftly ordered the packs to be collected and the troops to make ready for battle.

CHAPTER 7.19

SECTION 7.19.1There was a hill rising with a gentle slope from its base. On almost every side it was encircled by a difficult and obstructive marsh no more than fifty feet wide.

SECTION 7.19.2The Gauls, confident in the strength of their position, held themselves on this hill after destroying the bridges; divided by tribes, they occupied every ford and passage through the marsh,

SECTION 7.19.3prepared, if the Romans attempted to force their way across it, to assail them from higher ground while they were entangled. Thus anyone who saw only how close the two armies were would have believed the Gauls prepared to fight on nearly equal terms; but anyone who perceived the disadvantage of their position would have understood that they were merely making an empty show of confidence.

SECTION 7.19.4The soldiers were indignant that the enemy could endure the sight of them with so small a space between and clamored for the signal to engage. Caesar explained how great a loss and the death of how many brave men such a victory must necessarily cost. Since he saw them so resolute in spirit

SECTION 7.19.5that they refused no danger for the sake of his glory, he said he deserved to be condemned for the utmost injustice if he did not hold their lives dearer than his own safety.

SECTION 7.19.6After thus reassuring the soldiers, he led them back to camp that same day and proceeded to arrange the remaining measures pertaining to the siege of the town.

CHAPTER 7.20

SECTION 7.20.1When Vercingetorix returned to his men, he was accused of treachery: because he had moved his camp nearer the Romans; because he had departed with all the cavalry; because he had left so large a force behind without a commander; and because, after his departure, the Romans had arrived with such opportunity and speed.

SECTION 7.20.2All this, they said, could not have happened by chance or without design; he preferred to hold the kingship of Gaul by Caesar’s grant rather than by their favor.

SECTION 7.20.3Accused in this manner, he answered the charges as follows: He had moved camp because of the scarcity of forage, and at their own urging; he had approached nearer to the Romans because he had been persuaded by the advantage of a position that defended itself by its natural strength.

SECTION 7.20.4As for the cavalry, their services ought not to have been needed in marshy ground and had been useful at the place to which they had gone.

SECTION 7.20.5When departing, he had deliberately entrusted the supreme command to no one, lest such a man be driven by the multitude’s eagerness into giving battle. He saw that all desired battle because of their weakness of spirit, since they could not endure hardship any longer.

SECTION 7.20.6If the Romans had appeared by chance, they should thank fortune; if they had been summoned by information from anyone, they should thank that informer, since from their higher ground they had been able both to learn how few the Romans were and to despise the courage of men who had not dared to fight but had shamefully withdrawn into camp.

SECTION 7.20.7He desired no command from Caesar obtained through treachery, since he could gain it by victory—a victory already assured to him and to all the Gauls. Indeed, he would return the command to them if they believed that they were conferring honor upon him rather than receiving deliverance from him.

SECTION 7.20.8“That you may understand,” he said, “that I speak these words in good faith, listen to Roman soldiers.” He brought forward slaves

SECTION 7.20.9whom he had captured while they were foraging a few days before and had tortured with hunger and chains. They had already been instructed what answers to give when questioned.

SECTION 7.20.10They declared that they were legionary soldiers; driven by hunger and want, they had secretly left camp in the hope of finding some grain or livestock in the fields:

SECTION 7.20.11that the whole army was suffering from a like scarcity, that no man’s strength was now sufficient, and that none could endure the toil of the work; and therefore the commander had resolved to withdraw the army within three days if they made no progress in the assault upon the town. “These,” said Vercingetorix, “are the benefits you have received from me,

SECTION 7.20.12whom you accuse of treason: through my efforts you see so great and victorious an army wasting away from hunger without the shedding of your blood; and I have taken measures that, when it retreats in disgrace, no state shall receive it within its borders.”

CHAPTER 7.21

SECTION 7.21.1The entire multitude shouted its approval and, after its custom, clashed its weapons, as they are accustomed to do when they approve a speaker’s words. They declared that Vercingetorix was a commander of consummate ability, that his loyalty must not be doubted, and that the war could not be conducted with greater judgment.

SECTION 7.21.2They resolved that ten thousand men, chosen from all their forces, should be sent into the town,

SECTION 7.21.3and they judged that the common safety ought not to be entrusted to the Bituriges alone, because they understood that, if they held that town, the ultimate victory would rest almost entirely upon it.

CHAPTER 7.22

SECTION 7.22.1Against the extraordinary valor of our soldiers the Gauls opposed devices of every kind, for theirs is a race of the greatest ingenuity, exceptionally adept at imitating and carrying out anything taught them by others.

SECTION 7.22.2They caught our grappling hooks with nooses and pulled them aside, and once they had secured them, drew them inward with engines; they also undermined the siege mound with tunnels, a craft in which they were all the more skilled because there are extensive iron mines among them and every kind of tunneling is familiar and commonly practiced.

SECTION 7.22.3Moreover, they had built wooden stories and towers along the whole circuit of the wall and had covered them with hides.

SECTION 7.22.4Then, by frequent sallies both day and night, they either set fire to the siege mound or attacked our soldiers while they were occupied with the work; and as the daily rise of the mound brought our towers higher,

SECTION 7.22.5they raised their own towers to the same level by joining additional timbers to their uprights; and they blocked our exposed tunnels with timbers charred and sharpened at the ends, boiling pitch, and stones of enormous weight, thus preventing them from approaching the walls.

CHAPTER 7.23

SECTION 7.23.1All Gallic walls are generally built in the following manner. Long, straight beams are laid upon the ground at equal intervals throughout the length of the wall, two feet apart from one another.

SECTION 7.23.2These are fastened together on the inner side and covered with a large mass of earth, while the intervals just mentioned are filled on the outer face with great stones.

SECTION 7.23.3When these have been laid and firmly joined, another course is added above, with the same interval preserved. The beams do not touch one another, but, being separated by equal spaces, each is held firmly in place by a single stone set between them.

SECTION 7.23.4In this way the whole structure is woven together course after course, until the wall has reached its proper height.

SECTION 7.23.5This construction, with its alternating beams and stones preserving their courses in straight lines, is not unsightly in appearance or variety; at the same time it is admirably suited to the practical defense of towns, because the stone protects it from fire and the timber from the battering ram. The timber, generally braced together on the inner side by continuous beams forty feet long, can neither be broken through nor torn apart.

CHAPTER 7.24

SECTION 7.24.1Though the siege was obstructed by all these devices, and though our soldiers were continually hampered by cold and unceasing rain, they nevertheless overcame every difficulty by uninterrupted labor and in twenty-five days constructed a siege mound three hundred and thirty feet wide and eighty feet high.

SECTION 7.24.2When it had almost reached the enemy’s wall, and Caesar, according to his custom, was keeping watch over the work and urging the soldiers not to suspend their labor for even a moment, shortly before the third watch it was noticed that the mound was smoking, for the enemy had set it on fire through a tunnel;

SECTION 7.24.3and at the same time, a shout rising from the whole circuit of the wall, they made a sally from two gates, one on either side of our towers.

SECTION 7.24.4Others hurled torches and dry timber from the wall onto the mound at a distance and poured down pitch and everything else by which a fire could be kindled, so that it was scarcely possible to decide where to run first or to what point assistance should be carried.

SECTION 7.24.5Nevertheless, because under Caesar’s established practice two legions always kept watch before the camp and many soldiers served on the works in shifts, it was quickly arranged that some should resist the sallies, others draw back the towers and cut a gap through the mound, while the entire mass of men from the camp rushed forward to extinguish the flames.

CHAPTER 7.25

SECTION 7.25.1The fighting continued everywhere throughout the remainder of the night, and the enemy’s hope of victory was constantly renewed, especially because they saw that the protective screens of our towers had been burned away and perceived that our men could not easily approach the exposed works to bring assistance. Their fresh troops continually relieved the exhausted, and they believed that the whole salvation of Gaul rested upon that single moment. Then, as we looked on, an incident occurred that seemed so worthy of remembrance that we thought it ought not to be passed over.

SECTION 7.25.2Before the gate of the town, a certain Gaul was taking lumps of tallow and pitch passed to him from hand to hand and hurling them into the fire opposite one of our towers. Pierced through his right side by a bolt from a scorpion, he fell dead.

SECTION 7.25.3One of the men nearest him stepped across his fallen body and performed the same duty in his place;

SECTION 7.25.4when he too was killed in the same manner by a shot from the scorpion, a third succeeded him, and a fourth succeeded the third. That position was not abandoned by its defenders until the mound had been extinguished, the enemy had been driven back at every point, and an end had been made to the fighting.

CHAPTER 7.26

SECTION 7.26.1After trying every expedient without success, the Gauls on the following day adopted a plan to escape from the town, as Vercingetorix urged and commanded them to do.

SECTION 7.26.2They hoped that by making the attempt in the silence of night they could accomplish it without great loss to their people, because Vercingetorix’s camp was not far from the town and the continuous marsh lying between would delay the Romans in pursuit.

SECTION 7.26.3They were already preparing to do this by night when the matrons suddenly ran out into the public places and, weeping and throwing themselves at the feet of their men, begged with every entreaty that they should not surrender them and their common children to the enemy for execution, since the weakness of their nature and strength prevented them from undertaking flight.

SECTION 7.26.4When they saw that the men persisted in their resolve—for in extreme danger fear generally leaves no room for pity—they began to cry out and signal the Romans that an escape was being attempted.

SECTION 7.26.5Terrified by this, and fearing that the Roman cavalry would seize the roads in advance, the Gauls abandoned their plan.

CHAPTER 7.27

SECTION 7.27.1On the following day Caesar moved his tower forward and completed the works he had planned. When a heavy rainstorm arose, he judged that the weather was not unfavorable for an attempt to take the town, because he saw that the guards on the wall had been posted with somewhat less care. He ordered his own men to work more languidly and explained what he wished done.

SECTION 7.27.2He drew up the legions under cover within the siege sheds, exhorted them at last to reap the reward of victory for all their labors, offered prizes to those who first mounted the wall, and gave the signal to the soldiers.

SECTION 7.27.3They suddenly rushed out from every quarter and quickly filled the wall.

CHAPTER 7.28

SECTION 7.28.1The enemy, terrified by this unexpected development and driven from the wall and towers, formed in wedges in the forum and the more open places, intending, if an attack came against them from any direction, to fight it out in regular formation.

SECTION 7.28.2When they saw that no one was descending to meet them on level ground, but that our troops were spreading all around them along the entire wall, they feared that every hope of escape would be taken away; and, throwing down their arms, they made in one continuous rush for the farthest parts of the town.

SECTION 7.28.3There some were killed by our soldiers as they crushed one another in the narrow exits of the gates, while others, who had already passed through the gates, were killed by the cavalry;

SECTION 7.28.4nor was there anyone who gave thought to plunder. Thus, enraged by the massacre at Cenabum and by the toil of the siege works, they spared neither the aged, nor women, nor infants.

SECTION 7.28.5In the end, out of the whole number, which amounted to about forty thousand, scarcely eight hundred—those who had rushed out of the town upon hearing the first shout—reached Vercingetorix unharmed.

SECTION 7.28.6It was already late at night when he quietly received them in their flight. Fearing that their arrival in a body and the compassion of the common people might cause a disturbance in the camp, he stationed his own retainers and the leading men of the states far out upon the road and arranged for the fugitives to be separated and escorted to their respective countrymen in that part of the camp which had been assigned to each state from the beginning.

CHAPTER 7.29

SECTION 7.29.1On the following day he summoned a council, consoled and encouraged them, and urged them not to lose heart entirely or be shaken by their reverse.

SECTION 7.29.2The Romans, he said, had conquered neither by courage nor in pitched battle, but by a certain skill and knowledge in conducting sieges, a field in which they themselves had been inexperienced.

SECTION 7.29.3Anyone who expected every turn of fortune in war to be favorable was mistaken.

SECTION 7.29.4It had never been his judgment that Avaricum should be defended, as they themselves could bear witness; but through the folly of the Bituriges and the excessive compliance of the others, this reverse had been suffered.

SECTION 7.29.5Nevertheless, he would quickly repair it with greater advantages.

SECTION 7.29.6For by his exertions he would win over those states that still stood apart from the rest of the Gauls and would bring all Gaul into a single purpose, against whose united will not even the whole world could stand; and he had already nearly accomplished this.

SECTION 7.29.7Meanwhile, it was only fair that, for the sake of their common safety, they should grant his request and begin fortifying their camp, so that they might more easily withstand sudden attacks by the enemy.

CHAPTER 7.30

SECTION 7.30.1This speech was not displeasing to the Gauls, especially because he himself had not lost heart after suffering so great a reverse, nor hidden himself away and avoided the sight of the multitude.

SECTION 7.30.2Indeed, he was thought to have greater foresight and discernment because, while the situation was still intact, he had first advised that Avaricum be burned and later that it be abandoned.

SECTION 7.30.3Thus, while adversity diminishes the authority of other commanders, his prestige, on the contrary, increased from day to day after this reverse.

SECTION 7.30.4At the same time, his assurance that the remaining states would be won over filled them with hope. Then for the first time the Gauls began to fortify their camp, and though they were men unaccustomed to labor, they were so strengthened in spirit that they believed they must endure everything commanded of them.

CHAPTER 7.31

SECTION 7.31.1Vercingetorix exerted himself no less earnestly than he had promised to win over the remaining states, enticing them with gifts and promises. For this purpose he selected suitable men,

SECTION 7.31.2each of whom could most easily win them over either by subtle persuasion or through personal friendship. He took measures for those who had escaped after the capture of Avaricum

SECTION 7.31.3to be armed and clothed;

SECTION 7.31.4and at the same time, to restore his diminished forces, he imposed upon the states a fixed levy of soldiers, specifying how many he wished brought to the camp and by what date. He also ordered that all the archers, of whom there was a very great number in Gaul, be sought out and sent to him. By these measures the losses suffered at Avaricum were quickly replaced.

SECTION 7.31.5Meanwhile Teutomatus, son of Ollovico and king of the Nitiobriges, whose father had been named a friend by our Senate, came to him with a large force of his own cavalry and of horsemen he had hired in Aquitania.

CHAPTER 7.32

SECTION 7.32.1Caesar remained at Avaricum for several days and, finding there a very great supply of grain and other provisions, restored his army after its exertions and privations.

SECTION 7.32.2Winter was now nearly over, and the season itself was calling him to resume the war. He had resolved to march against the enemy, in the hope that he might either draw him out of the marshes and forests or press him by siege, when envoys, leading men of the Aedui, came to beg him to assist their state at a moment of the utmost necessity.

SECTION 7.32.3Their affairs, they said, were in the gravest danger because, although from ancient times it had been customary for a single magistrate to be elected and hold royal power for one year, two men were now exercising the magistracy, and each claimed to have been lawfully elected.

SECTION 7.32.4One of these was Convictolitavis, a prosperous and distinguished young man; the other was Cotus, born of a most ancient family and himself a man of supreme influence and extensive kinship, whose brother Valetiacus had held the same magistracy the preceding year.

SECTION 7.32.5The whole state was under arms; the senate was divided, the people divided, and each man had his own body of dependents. If the dispute were allowed to continue, one faction of the state would fight the other. It rested with Caesar’s vigilance and authority to prevent this from happening.

CHAPTER 7.33

SECTION 7.33.1Although Caesar judged it harmful to withdraw from the war and the enemy, he was well aware of the disasters that commonly arose from dissensions. He therefore wished to prevent so great a state, so closely allied with the Roman people—a state he himself had always fostered and honored in every way—from resorting to violence and arms, and to prevent the faction that had less confidence in its own strength from summoning aid from Vercingetorix.

SECTION 7.33.2He judged that this matter must take precedence. Since the laws of the Aedui forbade those who held the highest magistracy to leave their territory, Caesar, lest he appear to have infringed in any respect upon their rights or laws, decided to go in person into the country of the Aedui and summoned the entire senate, together with the two disputants, to meet him at Decetia.

SECTION 7.33.3When nearly the whole state had assembled there, Caesar was informed that only a few men had been secretly summoned, at a different place and time from those prescribed, and that one brother had proclaimed the other elected, although the laws not only forbade two members of the same family, while both were alive, to be elected magistrates, but even prohibited them from sitting together in the senate. He therefore compelled Cotus to lay down his authority and ordered Convictolitavis,

SECTION 7.33.4who had been elected by the priests according to the custom of the state during an intermission of the regular magistracies, to retain his office.

CHAPTER 7.34

SECTION 7.34.1After delivering this decision, Caesar urged the Aedui to forget their disputes and dissensions, to lay all such matters aside and devote themselves to this war, and to expect from him, once Gaul had been conquered, the rewards they had earned. He ordered them to send him all their cavalry and ten thousand infantry without delay, whom he intended to distribute among garrisons to safeguard the grain supply. He then divided his army into two parts:

SECTION 7.34.2he gave Labienus four legions to lead into the territories of the Senones and Parisii, while he himself led six legions against the Arverni toward the town of Gergovia, marching up the river Elaver. He assigned part of the cavalry to Labienus and retained part for himself.

SECTION 7.34.3When Vercingetorix learned of this, he had all the bridges over that river destroyed and began to march along the opposite bank.

CHAPTER 7.35

SECTION 7.35.1As the two armies advanced on opposite sides of the river, they generally pitched their camps within sight of one another and almost directly opposite. Vercingetorix posted scouts to prevent the Romans from constructing a bridge anywhere and carrying their forces across. Caesar’s position was one of great difficulty, for he risked being kept back by the river during the greater part of the summer, since the Elaver cannot ordinarily be crossed by a ford before autumn.

SECTION 7.35.2Therefore, to prevent this, he pitched camp in a wooded place opposite one of the bridges Vercingetorix had caused to be destroyed, and on the following day remained there concealed with two legions.

SECTION 7.35.3He sent the rest of his forces onward with all the baggage, as was his custom, dividing certain cohorts so that the number of legions might appear unchanged.

SECTION 7.35.4After ordering these men to range as far afield as they could, Caesar, when from the time of day he judged that they had reached the camp, began rebuilding the bridge on the same piles, whose lower portions remained intact.

SECTION 7.35.5The work was quickly completed; then, after leading the legions across and selecting a suitable site for a camp, he recalled the rest of his forces.

SECTION 7.35.6When Vercingetorix learned what had happened, he hurried ahead by forced marches, so that he might not be compelled to fight against his will.

CHAPTER 7.36

SECTION 7.36.1From that place Caesar reached Gergovia on the fifth day’s march. After a slight cavalry engagement that day, he examined the situation of the town, which stood upon a very lofty mountain and had difficult approaches on every side. He despaired of taking it by storm and decided that he must not undertake a blockade until he had secured his grain supply.

SECTION 7.36.2Vercingetorix, however, had pitched his camp near the town and had stationed the forces of each state separately around him at moderate intervals. By occupying all the hilltops along that ridge from which the country below could be surveyed,

SECTION 7.36.3he presented a formidable spectacle. He ordered the leading men of those states, whom he had chosen to take part in his councils, to assemble before him every day at dawn, whether some matter seemed to require deliberation or action;

SECTION 7.36.4and scarcely a day passed on which he did not test the spirit and courage of each of his men in a cavalry engagement, with archers interspersed among the horsemen.

SECTION 7.36.5Directly opposite the town, at the very foot of the mountain, stood a hill exceptionally well fortified and cut off on every side. If our men held it, they seemed likely to deprive the enemy both of a large part of their water supply and of free access to forage;

SECTION 7.36.6but the enemy held this position with a garrison that was not very strong.

SECTION 7.36.7Nevertheless, Caesar left camp in the silence of the night and, before reinforcements could come from the town, drove out the garrison and seized the position. He stationed two legions there and carried a double trench, each ditch twelve feet wide, from the larger camp to the smaller, so that even single men could pass safely between them without fear of a sudden enemy attack.

CHAPTER 7.37

SECTION 7.37.1While these events were taking place at Gergovia, the Aeduan Convictolitavis, to whom, as we have related, Caesar had awarded the chief magistracy, was bribed by the Arverni and entered into conference with certain young men. Their leader was Litaviccus, and among them were his brothers, young men born into a most distinguished family.

SECTION 7.37.2He shared the reward with them and urged them to remember that they were free men, born to command.

SECTION 7.37.3The Aedui, he said, were the one state that stood in the way of Gaul’s assured victory; by their authority the other states were held in check, but once they had been brought over, the Romans would have no foothold in Gaul.

SECTION 7.37.4He himself had, it was true, received some favor from Caesar, though only after winning from him a perfectly just decision; but he set greater value upon their common liberty.

SECTION 7.37.5For why should the Aedui go before Caesar to have him arbitrate concerning their rights and laws, rather than the Romans go before the Aedui?

SECTION 7.37.6The young men were quickly won over both by the magistrate’s speech and by the reward, and declared that they would even take the lead in carrying out the plan. They then sought some means of accomplishing it, since they did not trust that the state could be rashly induced to undertake war.

SECTION 7.37.7It was decided that Litaviccus should be placed in command of the ten thousand men who were to be sent to Caesar for the war and should undertake to lead them, while his brothers should hasten ahead to Caesar. They settled the method by which the rest of the plan was to be carried out.

CHAPTER 7.38

SECTION 7.38.1After taking command of the army, Litaviccus, when he was about thirty miles from Gergovia, suddenly called the soldiers together and, weeping, said: “Where are we going, soldiers?

SECTION 7.38.2All our cavalry, all our nobility, have perished. Eporedorix and Viridomarus, the foremost men of our state, have been accused of treason by the Romans and put to death without a hearing.

SECTION 7.38.3Learn the facts from the very men who escaped from the massacre; for I, after the murder of my brothers and all my kinsmen, am prevented by grief

SECTION 7.38.4from recounting what has happened.” The men whom he had instructed in what he wanted said were then brought forward, and they told the assembled multitude the same story Litaviccus had proclaimed: that many Aeduan horsemen had been killed

SECTION 7.38.5because they were said to have held conferences with the Arverni, and that they themselves had hidden among the mass of soldiers and escaped from the midst of the slaughter.

SECTION 7.38.6The Aedui cried out together and implored Litaviccus to advise them. “As though,” he replied, “the matter called for deliberation, and it were not necessary for us to hasten to Gergovia and unite ourselves with the Arverni.

SECTION 7.38.7Can we doubt that, after committing so abominable a crime, the Romans are already rushing upon us to kill us? Therefore, if there is any courage in us,

SECTION 7.38.8let us avenge the death of those who have perished so undeservedly, and let us kill these brigands.” He pointed out the Roman citizens who were traveling with them under the protection of his escort.

SECTION 7.38.9He plundered a great quantity of grain and provisions, and after cruelly torturing the men, put them to death.

SECTION 7.38.10He sent messengers throughout the territory of the Aedui and stirred the people with the same falsehood about the slaughter of their horsemen and leading men. He urged them to avenge their wrongs in the same manner as he had done.

CHAPTER 7.39

SECTION 7.39.1Eporedorix, an Aeduan youth of the highest birth and the greatest influence in his own country, and Viridomarus, his equal in age and standing but of different birth, whom Caesar, after Diviciacus had entrusted him to his care, had raised from humble station to the highest rank, had joined the cavalry after being expressly summoned by Caesar.

SECTION 7.39.2There was a rivalry between them for supremacy, and in the recent dispute over the magistracies one had exerted all his influence on behalf of Convictolitavis, the other on behalf of Cotus.

SECTION 7.39.3Of the two, Eporedorix learned of Litaviccus’s plan and reported the matter to Caesar at about midnight. He begged Caesar not to allow the state to abandon its friendship with the Roman people through the corrupt designs of reckless young men. He foresaw that this would happen if so many thousands of men joined the enemy, since neither their relatives could disregard their safety nor the state treat it as a matter of slight importance.

CHAPTER 7.40

SECTION 7.40.1Caesar was deeply troubled by this report, because he had always shown particular favor to the Aeduan state. Without a moment’s hesitation, he led four legions in light marching order and all the cavalry out of camp.

SECTION 7.40.2At such a crisis there was no time to contract the camp, for success seemed to depend upon speed. He left his lieutenant Gaius Fabius with two legions to guard it.

SECTION 7.40.3When he ordered Litaviccus’s brothers arrested, he discovered that they had fled to the enemy a short time before.

SECTION 7.40.4He urged the soldiers not to be discouraged by the exertion of a march required at so critical a time; and with every man most eager to advance, he proceeded twenty-five miles. When he sighted the Aeduan column, he sent in the cavalry to delay and obstruct its march, and strictly forbade anyone to kill a man. He ordered Eporedorix and Viridomarus,

SECTION 7.40.5whom the Aedui believed to have been killed, to move among the horsemen and call out to their countrymen.

SECTION 7.40.6When the Aedui recognized them and perceived Litaviccus’s deception, they began to stretch out their hands in token of surrender, throw down their arms, and plead for their lives.

SECTION 7.40.7Litaviccus fled to Gergovia with his retainers, who, by Gallic custom, hold it impious to desert their patrons even in the direst extremity.

CHAPTER 7.41

SECTION 7.41.1Caesar sent messengers to the Aeduan state to inform them that through his clemency he had spared men whom by the law of war he could have put to death. Then, after allowing the army three hours of the night for rest, he marched back toward Gergovia.

SECTION 7.41.2About halfway there, horsemen sent by Fabius met him and explained how great the danger had been. They reported that the camp had been attacked by the enemy’s full strength, fresh troops repeatedly relieving those who were exhausted and wearing down our men by incessant exertion; because of the camp’s great extent, the same men had been obliged to remain continually upon the rampart.

SECTION 7.41.3Many had been wounded by the multitude of arrows and missiles of every kind; the artillery had been of great service in withstanding the attack.

SECTION 7.41.4After Caesar’s departure, Fabius had blocked all the gates except two, added breastworks to the rampart, and prepared himself for the following day and a similar emergency.

SECTION 7.41.5On learning these facts, Caesar, through the utmost exertions of the soldiers, reached the camp before sunrise.

CHAPTER 7.42

SECTION 7.42.1While these events were taking place at Gergovia, the Aedui, upon receiving the first reports from Litaviccus, allowed themselves no time to investigate.

SECTION 7.42.2Some were driven by greed, others by anger and recklessness—a quality especially innate in that race of men—so that they accepted a vague report as an established fact.

SECTION 7.42.3They plundered the property of Roman citizens, carried out massacres, and dragged men away into slavery.

SECTION 7.42.4Convictolitavis promoted the movement once it had begun and drove the common people to such a frenzy that, after committing the crime, they would be ashamed to return to their senses.

SECTION 7.42.5Marcus Aristius, a military tribune traveling to his legion, was escorted out of the town of Cabillonum under a pledge of safe conduct. They compelled those who had settled there for purposes of trade to do the same.

SECTION 7.42.6They immediately attacked these men on the road and stripped them of all their baggage. When the Romans resisted, they besieged them for a day and a night; and after many had been killed on both sides, they summoned a larger body of armed men.

CHAPTER 7.43

SECTION 7.43.1Meanwhile, when word arrived that all their soldiers were in Caesar’s power, they hurried to Aristius and declared that nothing had been done by public resolution. They decreed an inquiry into the plundering of the property,

SECTION 7.43.2confiscated the property of Litaviccus and his brothers, and sent envoys to Caesar to clear themselves of blame.

SECTION 7.43.3They did this to recover their men; but stained by their crime and captivated by the profit from the plundered property—a matter in which many were implicated—and terrified by the fear of punishment, they began secretly to form plans for war and to solicit the other states through embassies.

SECTION 7.43.4Although Caesar understood what they were doing, he nevertheless addressed their envoys with all possible mildness. He said that because of the ignorance and fickleness of the common people, he formed no harsher judgment of their state and in no degree diminished his goodwill toward the Aedui.

SECTION 7.43.5As for Caesar himself, expecting a wider uprising in Gaul and anxious not to be surrounded by all the states, he began considering how he might withdraw from Gergovia and reunite his entire army,

SECTION 7.43.6without making a departure prompted by fear of revolt appear like a flight.

CHAPTER 7.44

SECTION 7.44.1While he was considering these matters, an opportunity for successful action seemed to present itself. For when he came to the smaller camp to inspect the works, he noticed that a hill held by the enemy had been stripped of men, though on previous days it could scarcely be seen because of their multitude.

SECTION 7.44.2Surprised, he asked the reason of the deserters, great numbers of whom flocked to him every day.

SECTION 7.44.3They all agreed—as Caesar himself had already learned from his scouts—that the crest of the ridge was almost level, but was wooded and narrow where it gave access to the opposite side of the town. The Gauls were deeply concerned about this position and now believed that, since the Romans had occupied one hill, if they lost the other they would be almost completely surrounded and cut off from every means of escape and from all access to forage. Vercingetorix had summoned all of them to fortify this point.

CHAPTER 7.45

SECTION 7.45.1On learning this, Caesar sent out several squadrons of cavalry. He ordered them, about midnight, to range about in every direction with rather more commotion than usual.

SECTION 7.45.2At dawn he ordered a large number of pack animals and mules to be led out of camp, their packs to be removed, and the mule drivers, wearing helmets to resemble cavalrymen, to be taken around the hills.

SECTION 7.45.3He added a few horsemen, who were to range more widely for the sake of display. He ordered them all to make for the same region by a long circuit.

SECTION 7.45.4These movements could be seen from the town at a distance, since Gergovia commanded a view down into the camp, but at so great a distance it was impossible to determine exactly what they were.

SECTION 7.45.5He sent one legion toward the same ridge and, after it had advanced a short distance, stationed it on lower ground and concealed it in the woods.

SECTION 7.45.6The suspicions of the Gauls increased, and all their forces were transferred to that point to work on the fortifications.

SECTION 7.45.7When Caesar saw that the enemy’s camps were empty, he concealed his men’s insignia and hid the military standards, then transferred soldiers in small groups from the larger camp to the smaller so that they would not be noticed from the town. He explained his intentions to the lieutenants whom he had placed in command of the several legions.

SECTION 7.45.8Above all, he warned them to keep the soldiers under control and not allow them to advance too far in their eagerness to fight or their hope of plunder.

SECTION 7.45.9He explained the disadvantages imposed by the unfavorable ground: these could be overcome by speed alone. The enterprise depended upon opportunity, not upon a pitched battle.

SECTION 7.45.10After giving these instructions, he gave the signal and at the same time sent the Aedui by another ascent on the right.

CHAPTER 7.46

SECTION 7.46.1The town wall was twelve hundred paces in a straight line from the plain and the foot of the ascent, if no winding of the route intervened;

SECTION 7.46.2every circuit made to ease the slope increased the distance to be traveled.

SECTION 7.46.3About halfway up the hill, following the natural line of the mountain, the Gauls had constructed lengthwise a six-foot wall of large stones to check the charge of our men. They had left all the lower ground unoccupied but had filled the upper part of the hill, as far as the town wall, with camps packed closely together.

SECTION 7.46.4At the signal, the soldiers quickly reached the fortification, crossed it, and captured three camps.

SECTION 7.46.5So swift was the capture of the camps that Teutomatus, king of the Nitiobriges, who was suddenly surprised in his tent while resting at midday, barely escaped from the hands of the plundering soldiers, stripped to the waist and mounted on a wounded horse.

CHAPTER 7.47

SECTION 7.47.1Having accomplished what he had intended, Caesar ordered the signal for retreat to be sounded and immediately halted the standards of the Tenth Legion, with which he was stationed.

SECTION 7.47.2The soldiers of the other legions did not hear the trumpet, because a broad valley lay between them and Caesar; nevertheless, the military tribunes and lieutenants tried to hold them back, as Caesar had instructed.

SECTION 7.47.3But, carried away by the hope of a swift victory, by the enemy’s flight, and by their own success in earlier battles, they believed that nothing was so difficult that their courage could not accomplish it. They did not cease their pursuit until they had approached the town wall and gates. Then indeed a shout arose from every quarter of the city,

SECTION 7.47.4and those who were farther away, terrified by the sudden uproar and believing the enemy to be within the gates, hurled themselves out of the town.

SECTION 7.47.5The matrons threw clothing and silver down from the wall and, leaning over bare-breasted with outstretched hands, implored the Romans to spare them and not, as they had done at Avaricum, refuse to spare even women and infants.

SECTION 7.47.6Some were lowered hand to hand from the walls and surrendered themselves to the soldiers.

SECTION 7.47.7Lucius Fabius, a centurion of the Eighth Legion, who was known to have declared among his comrades that day that he was inspired by the rewards won at Avaricum and would not allow anyone to scale the wall before him, found three men of his maniple and, lifted by them, mounted the wall; then, catching them one by one in turn, he pulled them up onto it.

CHAPTER 7.48

SECTION 7.48.1Meanwhile those who, as explained above, had assembled on the other side of the town to defend the fortifications, first roused by hearing the shouting and then by repeated reports that the Romans had taken the town, sent their cavalry ahead and hurried there in a great rush.

SECTION 7.48.2As each man arrived, he halted beneath the wall and increased the number of his countrymen engaged in the fighting.

SECTION 7.48.3When a great multitude of them had gathered, the matrons, who shortly before had been stretching out their hands from the wall toward the Romans, began to implore their own men and, in the Gallic fashion, to display their loosened hair and bring their children into sight.

SECTION 7.48.4The Romans were fighting on unequal terms both in position and in numbers; exhausted at once by their run and by the duration of the battle, they could not readily withstand troops who were fresh and unwearied.

CHAPTER 7.49

SECTION 7.49.1When Caesar saw that the fighting was taking place on unfavorable ground and that the enemy’s forces were increasing, he grew anxious for his men and sent word to Titus Sextius, his lieutenant, whom he had left to guard the smaller camp, to lead the cohorts quickly out of camp and station them at the foot of the hill on the enemy’s right flank,

SECTION 7.49.2so that, if he saw our men driven from their position, he might intimidate the enemy and prevent them from pursuing too freely.

SECTION 7.49.3Caesar himself advanced a little way with his legion from the place where he had taken his stand and awaited the outcome of the battle.

CHAPTER 7.50

SECTION 7.50.1While the fighting at close quarters was at its fiercest, the enemy relying on their position and numbers and our men on their courage, the Aedui suddenly appeared on our exposed flank. Caesar had sent them up by another ascent on the right to divide the enemy’s attention.

SECTION 7.50.2Their similarity in arms greatly alarmed our men; and although they could be recognized by their bare right shoulders, the agreed sign of distinction, the soldiers nevertheless supposed that this very thing had been done by the enemy to deceive them.

SECTION 7.50.3At the same time Lucius Fabius the centurion and the men who had mounted the wall with him were surrounded and killed, then hurled down from the wall.

SECTION 7.50.4Marcus Petronius, a centurion of the same legion, after attempting to break down a gate, was overwhelmed by the multitude. Despairing of his own life, for he had already received many wounds, he said to the men of his maniple who had followed him: “Since I cannot save myself together with you, I shall at least provide for your lives—you whom, driven by my desire for glory, I have led into danger.

SECTION 7.50.5Now that the opportunity is given you, look to your own safety.” At once he charged into the midst of the enemy, killed two, and drove the rest a short distance back from the gate.

SECTION 7.50.6When his men tried to assist him, he said: “You try in vain to save my life; my blood and strength are already failing me. Go, then, while you still have the chance, and make your way back to the legion.” Thus he fought on, and a little later fell, but by his death saved his men.

CHAPTER 7.51

SECTION 7.51.1Our men, pressed from every side, were driven from their position after losing forty-six centurions. But the Tenth Legion, which had taken its stand as a reserve on somewhat more favorable ground, checked the Gauls in their relentless pursuit.

SECTION 7.51.2The Tenth in turn was relieved by the cohorts of the Thirteenth Legion, which had been led out of the smaller camp and had occupied higher ground with the lieutenant Titus Sextius.

SECTION 7.51.3As soon as the legions reached the plain, they halted with their standards turned threateningly against the enemy.

SECTION 7.51.4Vercingetorix withdrew his men from the foot of the hill within their defenses. On that day the soldiers lost numbered a little fewer than seven hundred.

CHAPTER 7.52

SECTION 7.52.1The next day Caesar called an assembly and rebuked the soldiers for their recklessness and impetuosity, because they had decided for themselves how far they thought they should advance and what they should do, had not halted when the signal for recall was given, and could not be restrained by the military tribunes and lieutenants.

SECTION 7.52.2He explained what the disadvantage of ground could accomplish and what his own judgment had been at Avaricum, when he had caught the enemy without commander or cavalry but had let an assured victory pass rather than suffer even a slight loss in the contest because of unfavorable ground.

SECTION 7.52.3In proportion as he admired the greatness of spirit of men whom neither the camp’s defenses, nor the height of the mountain, nor the town’s wall had been able to delay, so strongly did he condemn their indiscipline and arrogance in supposing that they understood victory and the outcome of events better than their commander;

SECTION 7.52.4nor did he require moderation and self-control from a soldier any less than courage and greatness of spirit.

CHAPTER 7.53

SECTION 7.53.1After delivering this address, and at its conclusion reassuring the soldiers that they should not be disheartened by this reverse or attribute to the enemy’s courage what had been caused by unfavorable ground, Caesar, still contemplating the same departure he had previously intended, led the legions out of camp and drew up his battle line in a suitable position.

SECTION 7.53.2When Vercingetorix proved no more willing to descend to level ground, Caesar fought a slight and successful cavalry action and led the army back into camp.

SECTION 7.53.3After doing the same thing the following day, he judged that enough had been done to lessen the Gauls’ boasting and restore the soldiers’ confidence, and moved camp toward the territory of the Aedui.

SECTION 7.53.4Even then the enemy did not pursue, and on the third day he reached the river Elaver, repaired the bridge, and led the army across.

CHAPTER 7.54

SECTION 7.54.1There he was approached by the Aedui Viridomarus and Eporedorix and learned that Litaviccus had set out with all the cavalry to stir the Aedui to revolt; they said that they themselves must go on ahead to keep their state loyal.

SECTION 7.54.2Although Caesar had already discerned the treachery of the Aedui in many matters and believed that the departure of these men would hasten the state’s revolt, he nevertheless decided not to detain them, lest he appear either to inflict an injustice or to betray any suspicion of fear. As they departed, he briefly recounted his services to the Aedui,

SECTION 7.54.3reminding them of the condition in which he had found them and how humbled they had been—driven into their towns, deprived of their lands and all their resources, subjected to tribute, and forced with the deepest humiliation to surrender hostages—

SECTION 7.54.4and to what fortune and eminence he had raised them, so that they had not only returned to their former condition but seemed to have surpassed the dignity and influence they had enjoyed in every previous age. With these instructions he dismissed them.

CHAPTER 7.55

SECTION 7.55.1Noviodunum was a town of the Aedui, favorably situated on the banks of the Liger.

SECTION 7.55.2Caesar had brought there all the hostages of Gaul, the grain, the public funds, and a large portion of his own baggage and that of the army;

SECTION 7.55.3there too he had sent a great number of horses purchased in Italy and Spain for use in this war.

SECTION 7.55.4When Eporedorix and Viridomarus arrived there and learned the state of affairs among their people—that Litaviccus had been received by the Aedui at Bibracte, the town that possessed the greatest authority among them; that Convictolitavis, their chief magistrate, and a large part of the senate had joined him; and that envoys had been officially sent to Vercingetorix to negotiate peace and friendship—they judged that so great an opportunity must not be allowed to pass.

SECTION 7.55.5Accordingly, after killing the guards at Noviodunum and the merchants who had gathered there to conduct business, they divided the money and horses between themselves;

SECTION 7.55.6they arranged for the hostages of the several states to be taken to the magistrate at Bibracte; and the town,

SECTION 7.55.7which they judged they could not hold, they burned, lest it be of any use to the Romans;

SECTION 7.55.8as much grain as they could carry away at once they transported by ship, and the rest they destroyed in the river or by fire.

SECTION 7.55.9They themselves began to raise forces from the neighboring districts, to station garrisons and guards along the banks of the Liger, and to display their cavalry everywhere for the purpose of spreading fear, in the hope that they might cut the Romans off from their grain supply or, by reducing them to want, drive them back into the Province.

SECTION 7.55.10They were greatly encouraged in this hope by the fact that the Liger had swollen with the melting snows, so that it appeared altogether impossible to cross by a ford.

CHAPTER 7.56

SECTION 7.56.1When Caesar learned of these events, he decided that he must act swiftly: if he had to risk the attempt to construct bridges, he must fight before greater forces could be gathered there.

SECTION 7.56.2For as to changing his plan and turning his march toward the Province, he did not think that this should be done even under the compulsion of fear. Not only did the disgrace and indignity of such a course deter him, as did Mount Cevenna, which barred the way, and the difficulty of the roads, but above all he felt grave anxiety for the isolated Labienus and the legions he had sent with him.

SECTION 7.56.3Accordingly, after completing extremely long marches by day and night, he reached the Liger contrary to everyone’s expectation

SECTION 7.56.4and, when the cavalry discovered a ford suitable enough for the emergency, though only the soldiers’ arms and shoulders could be kept above water to support their weapons, he stationed the cavalry so as to break the force of the current; and when the enemy were thrown into confusion at the first sight of them,

SECTION 7.56.5he led his army across unharmed. Finding grain in the fields and an abundance of livestock, he replenished the army with these supplies and resolved to march into the territory of the Senones.

CHAPTER 7.57

SECTION 7.57.1While these events were taking place around Caesar, Labienus left at Agedincum the reinforcements that had lately arrived from Italy, to guard the baggage, and set out with four legions for Lutetia. This was a town of the Parisii, situated on an island in the river Sequana.

SECTION 7.57.2When the enemy learned of his approach, large forces assembled from the neighboring states.

SECTION 7.57.3Supreme command was entrusted to Camulogenus the Aulercan, who, though nearly worn out with age, was called to that distinction because of his exceptional knowledge of military affairs.

SECTION 7.57.4When he observed that there was a continuous marsh emptying into the Sequana and greatly obstructing the whole region, he took his position there and resolved to prevent our men from crossing.

CHAPTER 7.58

SECTION 7.58.1At first Labienus attempted to advance covered galleries, fill the marsh with fascines and earthworks, and construct a roadway.

SECTION 7.58.2When he saw that this was too difficult to accomplish, he left camp in silence during the third watch and, following the same route by which he had come, reached Metiosedum.

SECTION 7.58.3This was a town of the Senones situated on an island in the Sequana, as we stated a little earlier of Lutetia. Seizing about fifty boats, quickly lashing them together, and putting soldiers aboard, he terrified the townspeople by the unexpectedness of the maneuver—for a large part of them had been called away to the war—and took possession of the town without a struggle.

SECTION 7.58.5After repairing the bridge, which the enemy had demolished in the preceding days, he led the army across and began to march downstream toward Lutetia.

SECTION 7.58.6The enemy, learning what had happened from those who had fled from Metiosedum, ordered Lutetia to be burned and the bridges belonging to that town to be demolished. They themselves left the marsh, marched to the banks of the Sequana opposite Lutetia, and encamped facing Labienus’ camp.

CHAPTER 7.59

SECTION 7.59.1By now it was being reported that Caesar had departed from Gergovia; rumors were already arriving of the Aedui’s revolt and of the successful rising of Gaul, and the Gauls declared in their conversations that Caesar, cut off from his route and from the Liger, had been compelled by lack of grain to make for the Province.

SECTION 7.59.2The Bellovaci, meanwhile, upon learning of the Aedui’s revolt, began to gather forces and openly prepare for war; they had been disloyal even before this, on their own account.

SECTION 7.59.3Then Labienus understood that, amid so great a change in circumstances, he must adopt a plan far different from the one he had previously intended,

SECTION 7.59.4and he was no longer thinking of making any conquest or provoking the enemy to battle, but of bringing the army safely back to Agedincum.

SECTION 7.59.5For on one side the Bellovaci were pressing upon him, a state possessing the highest reputation for valor in Gaul; on the other, Camulogenus held the ground with an army prepared and fully equipped. Moreover, the legions were separated from their garrison and baggage by a great river.

SECTION 7.59.6Confronted without warning by such formidable difficulties, he saw that he must seek help from courage and resolution.

CHAPTER 7.60

SECTION 7.60.1Toward evening he called a council and urged his officers to carry out his commands carefully and energetically. He assigned the boats he had brought down from Metiosedum one apiece to Roman knights and ordered them, when the first watch was over, to proceed silently four miles downstream and wait for him there.

SECTION 7.60.2He left five cohorts, which he considered the least reliable for fighting, to guard the camp;

SECTION 7.60.3the remaining five cohorts of the same legion he ordered to set out at midnight with all the baggage and proceed upstream with a great commotion.

SECTION 7.60.4He also collected small boats and sent them in the same direction, driven forward with a great clatter of oars. A little later he himself left in silence with three legions and made for the place where he had ordered the boats to put in.

CHAPTER 7.61

SECTION 7.61.1When they arrived there, the enemy’s scouts, who had been posted all along the river, were taken by surprise and overpowered by our men, since a violent storm had suddenly arisen and they expected no attack;

SECTION 7.61.2the army and cavalry were quickly ferried across under the direction of the Roman knights whom Labienus had placed in charge of the operation.

SECTION 7.61.3At almost the same moment, near dawn, the enemy were informed that there was unusual commotion in the Roman camp, that a large column was marching upstream, that the sound of oars could be heard in the same direction, and that soldiers were being transported by boat a little way downstream.

SECTION 7.61.4On hearing these reports, they believed that the legions were crossing at three places and that the Romans, all thrown into confusion by the Aedui’s revolt, were preparing to flee. They therefore divided their own forces into three parts.

SECTION 7.61.5They left a garrison opposite the Roman camp and sent a small force toward Metiosedum, with orders to advance only as far as the boats proceeded; the rest of their forces they led against Labienus.

CHAPTER 7.62

SECTION 7.62.1At daybreak all our men had crossed, and the enemy’s battle line could be seen.

SECTION 7.62.2Labienus exhorted the soldiers to remember their former valor and their most successful battles, and to imagine that Caesar himself, under whose leadership they had so often defeated the enemy, was present among them. He then gave the signal for battle.

SECTION 7.62.3At the first clash on the right wing, where the Seventh Legion had taken its position, the enemy were driven back and put to flight;

SECTION 7.62.4on the left, held by the Twelfth Legion, although the enemy’s front ranks fell transfixed by javelins, the rest nevertheless resisted with the utmost ferocity, and not one man showed any sign of flight.

SECTION 7.62.5Camulogenus, the enemy commander himself, stood among his men and urged them on.

SECTION 7.62.6Even now the outcome of the victory remained uncertain; but when the tribunes of the Seventh Legion were informed of what was happening on the left wing, they brought their legion into view behind the enemy and advanced the standards.

SECTION 7.62.7Not even then did anyone abandon his position; instead, they were all surrounded and killed.

SECTION 7.62.8Camulogenus met the same fate. But the men who had been left as a garrison opposite Labienus’ camp, upon hearing that battle had been joined, went to reinforce their countrymen and seized a hill; yet they could not withstand the charge of our victorious soldiers.

SECTION 7.62.9Thus, mingled with their own fleeing men, all whom the forests and mountains did not shelter were cut down by the cavalry.

SECTION 7.62.10When this action was concluded, Labienus returned to Agedincum, where the baggage of the entire army had been left; from there he reached Caesar with all his forces.

CHAPTER 7.63

SECTION 7.63.1When the defection of the Aedui became known, the war widened. Embassies were sent out in every direction.

SECTION 7.63.2They exerted all the influence, authority, and wealth at their command to stir the states to revolt;

SECTION 7.63.3and having gained possession of the hostages whom Caesar had entrusted to them, they terrified the wavering by putting these hostages to death.

SECTION 7.63.4The Aedui asked Vercingetorix to come to them and confer on their plans for conducting the war.

SECTION 7.63.5When this request was granted, they contended that supreme command should be entrusted to them; and when the matter became a subject of dispute, a council of all Gaul was summoned at Bibracte. Great numbers assembled there from every quarter.

SECTION 7.63.6The question was submitted to the vote of the multitude: to a man they approved Vercingetorix as commander-in-chief.

SECTION 7.63.7The Remi, Lingones, and Treveri were absent from this council: the first two because they remained faithful to the friendship of Rome; the Treveri because they were farther away and were hard pressed by the Germans, which was why they took no part in the entire war and sent assistance to neither side.

SECTION 7.63.8The Aedui were deeply aggrieved at being cast down from their supremacy; they lamented the reversal of their fortune and longed for Caesar’s indulgence toward them. Yet, having undertaken the war, they did not dare separate their policy from that of the rest.

SECTION 7.63.9Eporedorix and Viridomarus, young men of the highest promise, reluctantly obeyed Vercingetorix.

CHAPTER 7.64

SECTION 7.64.1Vercingetorix commanded the remaining states to furnish hostages and fixed a date for their delivery. He ordered all the cavalry, fifteen thousand in number, to assemble quickly.

SECTION 7.64.2He declared that he would be content with the infantry he had possessed before and would neither tempt fortune nor fight a pitched battle; but since he had cavalry in abundance, it would be very easy to prevent the Romans from gathering grain and forage,

SECTION 7.64.3provided only that the Gauls themselves resolutely destroyed their own grain and burned their buildings, since by this sacrifice of private property they could see that they would gain everlasting dominion and freedom.

SECTION 7.64.4Having settled these matters, he required ten thousand infantry from the Aedui and the Segusiavi, whose territory borders the Province, and added eight hundred cavalry to them.

SECTION 7.64.5He placed the brother of Eporedorix in command of these troops and ordered him to make war upon the Allobroges.

SECTION 7.64.6On the other side, he sent the Gabali and the neighboring districts of the Arverni against the Helvii, and likewise sent the Ruteni and Cadurci to ravage the territory of the Volcae Arecomici.

SECTION 7.64.7At the same time, he sought to stir up the Allobroges by secret messages and embassies, hoping that their resentment from the former war had not yet subsided.

SECTION 7.64.8He promised money to their leading men, and to the state itself dominion over the entire Province.

CHAPTER 7.65

SECTION 7.65.1Against all these contingencies provision had been made in the form of garrisons totaling twenty-two cohorts, which the lieutenant Lucius Caesar drew from the Province itself and deployed in every quarter to meet the danger.

SECTION 7.65.2The Helvii, of their own accord, engaged their neighbors in battle and were driven back; and after Gaius Valerius Donnotaurus, son of Caburus and chief man of the state, and several others had been killed, they were forced to take refuge within their towns and walls.

SECTION 7.65.3The Allobroges posted garrisons at frequent intervals along the Rhône and defended their territory with the greatest care and diligence.

SECTION 7.65.4Caesar, perceiving that the enemy was superior in cavalry and that, with every route cut off, he could receive no assistance of any kind from the Province or Italy, sent across the Rhine into Germany to those tribes he had pacified in previous years and summoned from them cavalry and light-armed infantry, who were accustomed to fight among the horsemen.

SECTION 7.65.5When they arrived, since the horses they used were not sufficiently suitable, he took horses from the military tribunes, the other Roman cavalrymen, and the veterans recalled to service, and distributed them among the Germans.

CHAPTER 7.66

SECTION 7.66.1Meanwhile, while these events were taking place, the enemy’s forces from the territory of the Arverni assembled, together with the cavalry that had been levied from all Gaul.

SECTION 7.66.2When a great number of these had been gathered, and Caesar was marching toward the territory of the Sequani through the outermost borders of the Lingones so that assistance could more readily be brought to the Province, Vercingetorix established three camps about ten miles from the Romans.

SECTION 7.66.3He summoned the cavalry commanders to a council and declared that the hour of victory had come. The Romans, he said, were fleeing to the Province and withdrawing from Gaul.

SECTION 7.66.4That was enough to secure their freedom for the present, but did little to ensure peace and repose in the future; for the Romans would return with larger forces and never make an end of the war. They should therefore attack them while encumbered on the march.

SECTION 7.66.5If the infantry came to the aid of their cavalry and were delayed in doing so, the Romans would be unable to continue their march; but if, as he more confidently expected, they abandoned their baggage and looked to their own safety, they would be stripped both of essential supplies and of their honor.

SECTION 7.66.6As for the enemy’s cavalry, they surely could not doubt that none of them would dare even to advance beyond the marching column; and to give them greater courage for the attack, he would hold all his forces drawn up before the camp and strike terror into the enemy.

SECTION 7.66.7The cavalrymen cried out that they should bind themselves by the most sacred oath: whoever failed to ride twice through the enemy’s column should be denied shelter beneath a roof and access to his children, his parents, and his wife.

CHAPTER 7.67

SECTION 7.67.1The proposal was approved, and after all had been compelled to take the oath, the cavalry was divided into three bodies on the following day. Two battle lines appeared on the two flanks, while one began to obstruct the head of the column.

SECTION 7.67.2When this was reported, Caesar likewise ordered his cavalry, divided into three bodies, to advance against the enemy. Fighting began simultaneously in every quarter.

SECTION 7.67.3The column halted, and the baggage was taken in among the legions.

SECTION 7.67.4Wherever our men seemed to be in difficulty or more heavily pressed, Caesar ordered the standards to advance to that point and a battle line to be formed. This both slowed the enemy’s pursuit and strengthened our men with the hope of support.

SECTION 7.67.5At last the Germans on the right flank gained the summit of the ridge and drove the enemy from their position; they pursued the fugitives as far as the river, where Vercingetorix had taken up his position with the infantry, and killed many of them.

SECTION 7.67.6When the rest saw this, they feared they would be surrounded and took to flight. Slaughter followed everywhere.

SECTION 7.67.7Three Aedui of the highest rank were captured and brought before Caesar: Cotus, the cavalry commander who had disputed the election with Convictolitavis at the latest assembly; Cavarillus, who had commanded the infantry after the defection of Litaviccus; and Eporedorix, under whose leadership the Aedui had fought the Sequani before Caesar’s arrival.

CHAPTER 7.68

SECTION 7.68.1When all his cavalry had been routed, Vercingetorix withdrew the forces he had drawn up before the camp and immediately began marching toward Alesia, a town of the Mandubii. He ordered the baggage to be brought out of the camp quickly and to follow him.

SECTION 7.68.2Caesar had his baggage taken to the nearest hill and left two legions to guard it; then he pursued for as much of the day as time allowed, killed about three thousand of the enemy’s rearguard, and on the following day encamped at Alesia.

SECTION 7.68.3After examining the position of the town and seeing that the enemy was terrified because its cavalry—the arm of its army in which it placed greatest confidence—had been defeated, he exhorted his soldiers to undertake the labor and began the investment of Alesia.

CHAPTER 7.69

SECTION 7.69.1The town of Alesia itself stood on the summit of a hill in a very lofty position, so that it seemed impossible to take except by siege.

SECTION 7.69.2Two rivers washed the base of this hill on two sides.

SECTION 7.69.3Before the town stretched a plain about three miles in length.

SECTION 7.69.4On all the remaining sides, hills of equal height surrounded the town, with a moderate interval between them and it.

SECTION 7.69.5Beneath the wall, on the part of the hill facing east, the forces of the Gauls had filled this entire space and had drawn a ditch and a wall of rough stone six feet high across the front of it.

SECTION 7.69.6The line of fortifications begun by the Romans extended for eleven miles.

SECTION 7.69.7Camps were placed at suitable points, and twenty-three redoubts were built along the line. Guard detachments were stationed in these redoubts by day to prevent any sudden sortie, and at night the same positions were held by sentries and strong garrisons.

CHAPTER 7.70

SECTION 7.70.1After work on the fortifications had begun, a cavalry battle took place on the plain which, as stated above, lay between the hills and extended for three miles. Both sides fought with the utmost force.

SECTION 7.70.2When our men began to suffer, Caesar sent the Germans to their support and drew up the legions before the camp to prevent any sudden assault by the enemy’s infantry.

SECTION 7.70.3The added support of the legions raised our men’s courage. The enemy was put to flight, hampered itself by its own numbers, and, since the gates had been made too narrow, became packed together.

SECTION 7.70.4The Germans pursued more fiercely, all the way to the fortifications.

SECTION 7.70.5A great slaughter followed. Some abandoned their horses and tried to cross the ditch and climb over the wall of rough stone. Caesar ordered the legions he had stationed before the rampart to advance a short distance.

SECTION 7.70.6The Gauls within the fortifications were no less alarmed. Believing that an attack upon them was imminent, they shouted the call to arms; some, panic-stricken, rushed into the town.

SECTION 7.70.7Vercingetorix ordered the gates closed, lest the camp be stripped of defenders. After killing many men and capturing a great many horses, the Germans withdrew.

CHAPTER 7.71

SECTION 7.71.1Before the Romans could complete their fortifications, Vercingetorix resolved to send all his cavalry away by night.

SECTION 7.71.2As they departed, he charged each of them to go to his own state and muster for war all who by reason of their age were able to bear arms.

SECTION 7.71.3He set before them the services he had rendered and implored them to have regard for his safety and not surrender him, after he had served the cause of their common freedom so well, to be tortured by the enemy. If they proved negligent, he declared, eighty thousand chosen men would perish together with him.

SECTION 7.71.4By his calculation, he had barely enough grain for thirty days, though by strict economy it could be made to last a little longer. After giving these instructions,

SECTION 7.71.5he silently sent out the cavalry during the second watch, through the place where there was a gap in the works.

SECTION 7.71.6He ordered all the grain to be brought to him and decreed death as the penalty for those who disobeyed.

SECTION 7.71.7The livestock, of which the Mandubii had driven in a great quantity, he distributed man by man; he began to ration the grain sparingly and little by little.

SECTION 7.71.8He withdrew into the town all the forces he had stationed before it.

SECTION 7.71.9By these measures he prepared to await the relief forces of Gaul and conduct the war.

CHAPTER 7.72

SECTION 7.72.1When Caesar learned of these measures from deserters and prisoners, he constructed the following kinds of fortifications. He dug a trench twenty feet wide, with vertical sides, so that the bottom of the trench was as wide as the distance between its upper edges.

SECTION 7.72.2He set all the other fortifications four hundred feet back from this trench. His purpose was that, since he had necessarily embraced so large an area and the entire circuit could not easily be enclosed by a ring of soldiers, a mass of the enemy might not unexpectedly rush upon the fortifications by night, nor by day be able to hurl missiles at our men assigned to the work.

SECTION 7.72.3Behind this interval he dug two trenches fifteen feet wide and of equal depth; the inner one, where the ground was level and low, he filled with water diverted from the river.

SECTION 7.72.4Behind these he constructed an embankment and a rampart twelve feet high. To this he added a breastwork and battlements, with great forked branches projecting at the joints between the screens and the embankment to delay the enemy’s ascent; and all around the works he set towers eighty feet apart.

CHAPTER 7.73

SECTION 7.73.1At the same time it was necessary to procure timber, gather grain, and construct fortifications of such extent, while our forces were reduced by the men who advanced some distance from the camp. Moreover, the Gauls sometimes attempted to attack our works and made sorties from the town through several gates with the utmost force.

SECTION 7.73.2Caesar therefore decided that still more devices must be added to the works so that the fortifications could be defended by a smaller number of soldiers. Accordingly, tree trunks or very stout branches were cut, their tops stripped of bark and sharpened, and continuous trenches five feet deep were dug.

SECTION 7.73.3These stakes were lowered into the trenches and fastened together at the bottom so that they could not be torn out, while their branches projected above.

SECTION 7.73.4There were five rows, joined and intertwined with one another; whoever entered among them impaled himself upon extremely sharp stakes.

SECTION 7.73.5The soldiers called these “boundary posts.” In front of them, pits three feet deep were dug in diagonal rows arranged in a quincunx, tapering gradually toward the bottom.

SECTION 7.73.6Into these pits smooth stakes as thick as a man’s thigh, sharpened and fire-hardened at the top, were lowered so that they projected no more than four inches above the ground.

SECTION 7.73.7At the same time, to secure and steady them, earth was trodden hard for one foot from the bottom around each stake; the remaining part of the pit was covered with osiers and brushwood to conceal the trap.

SECTION 7.73.8Eight rows of this kind were laid out, three feet apart.

SECTION 7.73.9Because of its resemblance to the flower, this device was called a “lily.” In front of these, foot-long blocks fitted with iron hooks were buried completely in the ground and scattered everywhere at moderate intervals; these were called “spurs.”

CHAPTER 7.74

SECTION 7.74.1When these works were completed, Caesar followed the ground that was as level as the nature of the terrain allowed and, enclosing a circuit of fourteen miles, completed fortifications of the same kind, equal to the inner works but facing the opposite direction against an enemy from outside, so that even a great multitude, should such a thing occur, could not surround the garrisons of the fortifications.

SECTION 7.74.2And to avoid being compelled to leave the camps at great risk, he ordered everyone to bring in a thirty-day supply of forage and grain.

CHAPTER 7.75

SECTION 7.75.1While these events were taking place at Alesia, the Gauls summoned a council of their leading men and resolved not to call out every man able to bear arms, as Vercingetorix had proposed, but to require a fixed number from each state, lest, amid the confusion of so vast a multitude, they should be unable to maintain discipline, distinguish their own men, or make provision for grain.

SECTION 7.75.2They required thirty-five thousand men from the Aedui and their dependents—the Segusiavi, Ambivareti, Aulerci Brannovices, and Blannovii; an equal number from the Arverni, together with the Eleuteti, Cadurci, Gabali, and Vellavii, who had long been under the dominion of the Arverni; from the Sequani,

SECTION 7.75.3the Senones, Bituriges, Santones, Ruteni, and Carnutes, twelve thousand each; the Bellovaci, ten thousand; the Lemovices, the same number; the Pictones, Turoni, Parisii, and Helvetii, eight thousand each; the Suessiones, Ambiani, Mediomatrici, Petrocorii, Nervii, Morini, and Nitiobriges, five thousand each; the Aulerci Cenomani, the same number; the Atrebates, four thousand; the Veliocasses, Lexovii, and Aulerci Eburovices, three thousand each; the Rauraci and Boii, two thousand each;

SECTION 7.75.4thirty thousand from all the states bordering on the Ocean that, according to their custom, are called the Armorican states, among which are numbered the Curiosolites, Redones, Ambibari, Caletes, Osismi, Veneti, Lemovices, and Venelli.

SECTION 7.75.5Of these, the Bellovaci did not furnish their full contingent, because they said that they would wage war against the Romans in their own name and at their own discretion and would obey no man’s command; nevertheless, at the request of Commius and in consideration of his ties of hospitality, they sent two thousand men along with him.

CHAPTER 7.76

SECTION 7.76.1Caesar, as we have shown before, had made faithful and useful employment of this Commius’s services in Britain during the preceding years; in return for those merits he had ordered Commius’s state to be exempt from tribute, had restored its rights and laws, and had placed the Morini under his authority.

SECTION 7.76.2Yet so complete was the accord throughout all Gaul for recovering liberty and regaining their former renown in war that they were moved neither by favors nor by the memory of friendship, and all devoted their whole hearts and resources to that war.

SECTION 7.76.3When eight thousand cavalry and about two hundred and fifty thousand infantry had been assembled, these forces were reviewed in the territory of the Aedui, their number was reckoned, and commanders were appointed.

SECTION 7.76.4The supreme command was entrusted to Commius the Atrebatian, Viridomarus and Eporedorix of the Aedui, and Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, a cousin of Vercingetorix. Men chosen from the several states were assigned to them, so that the war might be conducted by their counsel.

SECTION 7.76.5All set out for Alesia eagerly and full of confidence,

SECTION 7.76.6and there was not one among them who believed that the mere sight of so vast a multitude could be withstood, especially in a battle fought on two fronts, when a sally would be made from the town while outside so great a force of cavalry and infantry could be seen.

CHAPTER 7.77

SECTION 7.77.1But those who were under siege in Alesia, after the day had passed on which they had expected the arrival of reinforcements from their countrymen, and after all the grain had been consumed, being ignorant of what was taking place among the Aedui, called a council

SECTION 7.77.2and deliberated about the final issue of their fortunes. Various opinions were expressed: some favored surrender, others a sally while their strength still sufficed. Yet the speech of Critognatus ought not to be passed over, because of its extraordinary and abominable cruelty.

SECTION 7.77.3This man, born to the highest rank among the Arverni and held in great authority, said: “I intend to say nothing about the proposal of those who call the most shameful slavery by the name of surrender; nor do I think that these men should be regarded as citizens or admitted to the council.

SECTION 7.77.4My concern is with those who approve a sally; in their counsel, by the agreement of you all, there seems to remain some memory of our ancient courage. But to be unable to endure want for a little while is weakness of spirit,

SECTION 7.77.5not valor. Men who willingly offer themselves to death are more readily found than men who patiently endure pain.

SECTION 7.77.6And I would approve this proposal—so powerful is honor with me—if I saw that no loss would be incurred beyond that of our own lives.

SECTION 7.77.7But in forming our decision, let us have regard for all Gaul, which we have roused to come to our aid.

SECTION 7.77.8What spirit do you suppose our kinsmen and blood relations will have if, after eighty thousand men have been slain in one place, they are compelled to fight out the battle almost upon our very corpses?

SECTION 7.77.9Do not strip of your aid those who, for the sake of your safety, have disregarded their own danger; and do not, by your folly and rashness or your feebleness of spirit, cast down all Gaul and subject it to perpetual slavery.

SECTION 7.77.10Or do you doubt their faith and steadfastness because they have not arrived on the appointed day? What, then? Do you imagine that the Romans are laboring day after day upon those outer fortifications merely for amusement?

SECTION 7.77.11If, with every approach barred, you cannot be reassured by messengers from them, then take the Romans themselves as witnesses that their arrival is drawing near; for the Romans, terrified by fear of that very event, labor night and day at their works.

SECTION 7.77.12What, then, is my counsel? To do what our ancestors did in the war against the Cimbri and Teutones, a war by no means equal to this one: driven into their towns and reduced to similar want, they sustained life on the bodies of those who, because of their age, appeared unfit for war, and did not surrender themselves to the enemy.

SECTION 7.77.13Even if we had no precedent for such a deed, I should still judge it a glorious thing to establish one for the sake of liberty and hand it down to posterity.

SECTION 7.77.14For what resemblance was there between that war and this? After laying waste Gaul and inflicting great calamity, the Cimbri at least eventually departed from our territories and sought other lands; they left us our rights, our laws, our fields, and our liberty.

SECTION 7.77.15But what else do the Romans seek or desire except, driven by envy, to settle in the lands and states of those whom they have learned by report to be renowned and powerful in war, and to fasten eternal slavery upon them? For they have never waged wars on any other terms.

SECTION 7.77.16But if you are ignorant of what is being done among distant nations, look upon neighboring Gaul: reduced to a province, its rights and laws altered, subjected to the axes of Roman magistrates, it is crushed beneath perpetual slavery.”

CHAPTER 7.78

SECTION 7.78.1After the opinions had been stated, they resolved that those who were unfit for war because of ill health or age should leave the town, and that they should try every expedient before resorting to the proposal of Critognatus;

SECTION 7.78.2nevertheless, if circumstances compelled them and the reinforcements were delayed, they should adopt that plan rather than submit to terms of surrender or peace.

SECTION 7.78.3The Mandubii, who had admitted them into the town, were compelled to leave with their children and wives. When they approached the Roman fortifications,

SECTION 7.78.4they wept and begged with every entreaty that the Romans would take them into slavery and relieve their hunger with food.

SECTION 7.78.5But Caesar posted guards along the rampart and forbade their admission.

CHAPTER 7.79

SECTION 7.79.1Meanwhile Commius and the other commanders to whom the supreme command had been entrusted arrived at Alesia with all their forces and, occupying an outer hill, encamped no more than a mile from our fortifications.

SECTION 7.79.2The next day they led the cavalry out of camp and filled the whole plain, which, as we have shown, extended three miles in length; they stationed their infantry a little distance from that place, concealed on the higher ground.

SECTION 7.79.3From the town of Alesia there was a view down over the plain. At the sight of these reinforcements the townsmen rushed together; they congratulated one another, and the spirits of all were roused to joy.

SECTION 7.79.4Accordingly, they led their forces out and took position before the town, covered the nearest trench with wickerwork, filled it with earth, and prepared themselves for a sally and for every contingency.

CHAPTER 7.80

SECTION 7.80.1Caesar stationed his entire army along both lines of fortifications, so that, if the need arose, every man would know and hold his assigned place; then he ordered the cavalry to be led out of camp and battle to be joined.

SECTION 7.80.2From all the camps, which occupied the crest of the ridge on every side, there was a view down upon the field, and all the soldiers waited intently for the outcome of the fighting.

SECTION 7.80.3The Gauls had interspersed among their horsemen scattered archers and lightly armed infantry, who were to come to the aid of their men when they gave ground and withstand the charges of our cavalry. Many of our horsemen, unexpectedly wounded by these men, withdrew from the battle.

SECTION 7.80.4Since the Gauls were confident that their men had the upper hand in the battle and saw that ours were being overborne by numbers, both those who were enclosed within the fortifications and those who had come to their relief encouraged their countrymen from every side with shouts and war cries.

SECTION 7.80.5Because the action was taking place before the eyes of all, and neither an honorable nor a disgraceful deed could be concealed, both sides were spurred to valor by desire for glory and fear of dishonor.

SECTION 7.80.6After the battle had continued with the victory in doubt from noon almost until sunset, the Germans massed their squadrons at one point, charged the enemy, and drove them back;

SECTION 7.80.7when the cavalry had been put to flight, the archers were surrounded and killed.

SECTION 7.80.8In the same way, from the other parts of the field our men pursued the retreating enemy all the way to their camp and gave them no opportunity to rally.

SECTION 7.80.9But those who had advanced from Alesia withdrew sadly into the town, almost despairing of victory.

CHAPTER 7.81

SECTION 7.81.1After allowing one day to pass, during which the Gauls made a great quantity of wickerwork, ladders, and grappling hooks, they silently left their camp at midnight and approached the fortifications on the plain.

SECTION 7.81.2Suddenly raising a shout, as a signal by which those besieged in the town might learn of their arrival, they prepared to cast down their wickerwork, drive our men from the rampart with slings, arrows, and stones, and carry out all the other measures required for an assault.

SECTION 7.81.3At the same time, when the shout was heard, Vercingetorix gave his men the signal by trumpet and led them out of the town.

SECTION 7.81.4Our men went to the fortifications, each to the place assigned to him on the preceding days, and beat back the Gauls with slings casting one-pound stones, with the stakes they had set out along the works, and with leaden bullets.

SECTION 7.81.5Since darkness took away their view, many wounds were received on both sides. Numerous missiles were discharged from the artillery.

SECTION 7.81.6But the legates Marcus Antonius and Gaius Trebonius, to whom the defense of these sectors had fallen, drew men from the more distant redoubts and sent them as reinforcements wherever they perceived that our troops were hard-pressed.

CHAPTER 7.82

SECTION 7.82.1So long as the Gauls remained at a greater distance from the fortifications, they gained more by the great number of their missiles; but after they came nearer, they either unwittingly impaled themselves upon the spikes, or fell into the pits and were pierced through, or were struck by the heavy rampart-javelins hurled from the wall and towers and killed.

SECTION 7.82.2After suffering many wounds on every side without breaking through any part of the fortifications, and with daylight approaching, they feared that a sally from the upper camp might outflank and surround them on their exposed side; they therefore withdrew to their own lines.

SECTION 7.82.3Meanwhile those within, while bringing forward the equipment Vercingetorix had prepared for the sally and filling the first trenches, spent so long in carrying out these operations that they learned their countrymen had withdrawn before they themselves could approach the fortifications. Thus, without accomplishing their purpose, they returned to the town.

CHAPTER 7.83

SECTION 7.83.1Twice repulsed with heavy loss, the Gauls deliberated about what they should do. They called in men familiar with the terrain and learned from them the position and fortifications of the upper camp.

SECTION 7.83.2On the northern side there was a hill which, because of the great extent of its circumference, our men had been unable to enclose within their works. They had therefore been compelled to establish their camp on ground that was almost unfavorable and sloped gently downward.

SECTION 7.83.3The legates Gaius Antistius Reginus and Gaius Caninius Rebilus held this camp with two legions.

SECTION 7.83.4After learning the terrain through their scouts, the enemy commanders selected sixty thousand men from their whole force, choosing them from the states that enjoyed the highest reputation for valor;

SECTION 7.83.5they secretly agreed among themselves what should be done and how it should be carried out, and fixed the time for the approach when it should appear to be noon.

SECTION 7.83.6They placed over these forces Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, one of the four commanders and a kinsman of Vercingetorix.

SECTION 7.83.7Leaving camp during the first watch, he had almost completed his march by daybreak; then he concealed himself behind the mountain and ordered his soldiers to recover from their exertions during the night.

SECTION 7.83.8When noon now seemed to be drawing near, he hastened toward the camp mentioned above; at the same time the cavalry began to approach the fortifications on the plain, and the rest of the forces began to display themselves before their camp.

CHAPTER 7.84

SECTION 7.84.1When Vercingetorix saw his countrymen from the citadel of Alesia, he came out of the town and brought forward the wickerwork, long poles, covered sheds, hooks, and the other equipment he had prepared for the sally.

SECTION 7.84.2Battle was joined simultaneously at every point, and every means was tried; wherever a part of the defenses appeared least secure, there the enemy rushed.

SECTION 7.84.3The Roman force was stretched thin along fortifications of such extent and could not easily meet the attacks at many points.

SECTION 7.84.4The shouting that arose behind our men as they fought did much to terrify them, because they saw that their own danger depended upon the safety of others;

SECTION 7.84.5for generally it is what lies beyond their sight that most violently disturbs men’s minds.

CHAPTER 7.85

SECTION 7.85.1Caesar found a suitable position from which he could observe what was taking place in every quarter, and sent reinforcements to those who were hard-pressed.

SECTION 7.85.2Both sides realized that this was the one moment when they must exert themselves to the utmost:

SECTION 7.85.3the Gauls, unless they broke through the fortifications, despaired of all hope of safety; the Romans, if they prevailed, looked for an end to all their labors.

SECTION 7.85.4The severest pressure fell upon the upper fortifications, to which, as we have shown, Vercassivellaunus had been sent. The unfavorable downward slope of the ground carried great weight in the struggle.

SECTION 7.85.5Some hurled missiles, while others advanced under a formed tortoise; fresh men relieved the exhausted in turn.

SECTION 7.85.6The earth cast by the whole host against the fortification both gave the Gauls a way up and covered the devices the Romans had concealed in the ground; and by now our men had neither weapons nor strength enough to hold out.

CHAPTER 7.86

SECTION 7.86.1When Caesar learned of this situation, he sent Labienus with six cohorts to reinforce the hard-pressed troops;

SECTION 7.86.2he ordered him, if he could not hold out, to withdraw the cohorts and fight by making a sally, but not to do so unless compelled by necessity.

SECTION 7.86.3Caesar himself went among the rest and urged them not to yield to their exertions; he told them that the fruit of all their previous battles depended upon that day and hour.

SECTION 7.86.4Those on the inside, despairing of success on the level ground because of the vast scale of the fortifications, attempted an ascent over the precipitous slopes; to this point they brought the equipment they had prepared.

SECTION 7.86.5By the great number of their missiles they drove the defenders from the towers, filled the trenches with earth and wickerwork, and with hooks tore down the rampart and breastwork.

CHAPTER 7.87

SECTION 7.87.1Caesar first sent the young Brutus with several cohorts, then the legate Gaius Fabius with others; finally, when the fighting grew fiercer, he himself brought fresh troops to their aid.

SECTION 7.87.2After restoring the battle and repulsing the enemy, he hastened to the point to which he had sent Labienus. He drew four cohorts from the nearest redoubt and ordered part of the cavalry to follow him, while the rest were to ride around the outer fortifications and attack the enemy from the rear.

SECTION 7.87.3When neither the embankments nor the trenches could withstand the enemy’s assault, Labienus gathered together in one place thirty-nine cohorts, which chance enabled him to draw from the nearest posts, and informed Caesar by messengers what he thought must be done. Caesar hastened forward to take part in the battle.

CHAPTER 7.88

SECTION 7.88.1His arrival was recognized by the color of the cloak he was accustomed to wear as his distinguishing mark in battle; and when the squadrons of cavalry and the cohorts he had ordered to follow him came into view—for from the higher ground these slopes and descents could be seen—the enemy joined battle.

SECTION 7.88.2A shout rises on both sides, and again a shout answers from the rampart and all the fortifications. Our men cast aside their javelins and fight with swords.

SECTION 7.88.3Suddenly cavalry is seen in the enemy’s rear; other cohorts draw near. The enemy turn and flee; the cavalry meet them in their flight. A great slaughter follows. Sedulius, commander and chief of the Lemovices, is killed;

SECTION 7.88.4Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian is captured alive as he flees; seventy-four military standards are brought back to Caesar. Of so vast a host, few reach their camp unharmed.

SECTION 7.88.5When those in the town behold the slaughter and flight of their countrymen, they despair of deliverance and withdraw their forces from the fortifications.

SECTION 7.88.6As soon as this news is heard, the Gauls flee from their camp. Had the soldiers not been exhausted by repeatedly going to the relief of their comrades and by the exertions of the entire day, all the enemy’s forces might have been destroyed.

SECTION 7.88.7Around midnight the cavalry is sent out and overtakes the rear of the column. A great number are captured and killed; the rest escape to their several states.

CHAPTER 7.89

SECTION 7.89.1The next day Vercingetorix calls a council and declares that he undertook this war not for his own private interests,

SECTION 7.89.2but for the sake of their common liberty; and since they must yield to fortune, he offers himself to them for either course, whether they wish to satisfy the Romans by his death or surrender him alive. Envoys are sent to Caesar concerning these matters.

SECTION 7.89.3He orders the arms to be surrendered and the chiefs brought before him.

SECTION 7.89.4Caesar himself takes his seat in the fortifications before the camp. The leaders are brought there; Vercingetorix is surrendered, and the arms are cast down.

SECTION 7.89.5He sets apart the Aedui and Arverni, in the hope that through them he may recover the allegiance of their states; from the remaining prisoners he distributes one captive to every soldier in the whole army as spoil.

CHAPTER 7.90

SECTION 7.90.1When these matters are concluded, he sets out for the country of the Aedui and receives the state back into allegiance.

SECTION 7.90.2Envoys sent there by the Arverni promise that they will do whatever he commands. He demands a large number of hostages.

SECTION 7.90.3He sends the legions into winter quarters. He restores about twenty thousand captives to the Aedui and Arverni.

SECTION 7.90.4He orders Titus Labienus to set out for the country of the Sequani with two legions and the cavalry, and assigns Marcus Sempronius Rutilus to him.

SECTION 7.90.5He stations his lieutenant Gaius Fabius and Lucius Minucius Basilus with two legions among the Remi, lest they suffer any injury from the neighboring Bellovaci.

SECTION 7.90.6He sends Gaius Antistius Reginus among the Ambivareti, Titus Sextius among the Bituriges, and Gaius Caninius Rebilus among the Ruteni, each with one legion.

SECTION 7.90.7He stations Quintus Tullius Cicero and Publius Sulpicius at Cabillonum and Matisco, in the territory of the Aedui along the Arar, to oversee the grain supply. He himself determines to winter at Bibracte. When this dispatch is received at Rome, a public thanksgiving of twenty days is decreed.

CHAPTER 7.1

SECTION 7.1.1With Gaul quiet, Caesar set out for Italy, as he had decided, to hold the provincial assizes. There he learned of the murder of Clodius, and, after being informed of the Senate’s decree that all the younger men of Italy were to take the military oath, he decided to hold a levy throughout the province.

SECTION 7.1.2News of these events quickly reached Transalpine Gaul. The Gauls themselves added to the reports and invented what the situation seemed to require: that the civil disorder was keeping Caesar in Rome and that, amid such great political divisions, he could not come to his army.

SECTION 7.1.3Spurred on by this opportunity, those who had long resented being subjected to the rule of the Roman people began to make plans for war more openly and boldly.

SECTION 7.1.4The leading men of Gaul arranged councils among themselves in wooded and remote places and complained about Acco’s death.

SECTION 7.1.5They pointed out that the same fate could befall them. They lamented the common misfortune of Gaul and, with every kind of promise and reward, called for men who would begin the war and, at the risk of their own lives, reclaim freedom for Gaul.

SECTION 7.1.6They said that above all, before their secret plans became known, they had to consider how Caesar could be cut off from his army. This would be easy,

SECTION 7.1.7because the legions would not dare leave their winter quarters in the commander’s absence, while the commander could not reach the legions without an escort.

SECTION 7.1.8Finally, it was better to be killed in battle than to fail to recover their former military glory and the freedom they had inherited from their ancestors.

CHAPTER 7.2

SECTION 7.2.1After these matters had been discussed, the Carnutes declared that they would refuse no danger for the sake of the common safety and promised to be the first of all to make war.

SECTION 7.2.2Because they could not at present guarantee one another’s secrecy by exchanging hostages, they asked that the commitment be ratified by oath and solemn pledge, so that once the war had begun they would not be abandoned by the others. The military standards were brought together, an act that in their custom constitutes their most solemn religious ceremony.

SECTION 7.2.3The Carnutes were then warmly praised, everyone present took the oath, a date was fixed for the undertaking, and the council adjourned.

CHAPTER 7.3

SECTION 7.3.1When that day came, the Carnutes, led by Cotuatus and Conconnetodumnus, two desperate men, rushed together at Cenabum at the given signal. They killed the Roman citizens who had settled there to conduct business, including Gaius Fufius Cita, a respected Roman knight who, on Caesar’s orders, was in charge of the grain supply, and plundered their property.

SECTION 7.3.2News was quickly carried to every state in Gaul. Whenever a particularly important and notable event occurs, they announce it by shouting across the fields and regions. Others take up the shout in succession and pass it on to their neighbors, as happened then.

SECTION 7.3.3What had been done at Cenabum at sunrise was heard in the territory of the Arverni before the end of the first watch that night, a distance of about 160 miles.

CHAPTER 7.4

SECTION 7.4.1In the same way, Vercingetorix, an Arvernian and the son of Celtillus, a young man of the greatest influence, whose father had held supremacy over all Gaul but had been killed by his own state because he was seeking kingship, summoned his dependents and easily inflamed them.

SECTION 7.4.2When his plan became known, people rushed to arms against him. He was opposed by his uncle Gobannitio and the other leading men, who did not think such a hazardous undertaking should be attempted, and he was expelled from the town of Gergovia.

SECTION 7.4.3Nevertheless, he did not give up. In the countryside he held a levy of the poor and the desperate. After gathering this band, he persuaded every member of the state whom he approached to adopt his position.

SECTION 7.4.4He urged them to take up arms for the sake of their common freedom. After assembling large forces, he expelled from the state the opponents who had driven him out shortly before.

SECTION 7.4.5His followers proclaimed him king. He sent embassies in every direction and implored the states to remain loyal.

SECTION 7.4.6He quickly brought the Senones, Parisii, Pictones, Cadurci, Turoni, Aulerci, Lemovices, Andes, and all the other peoples bordering the Ocean into alliance with him. By unanimous consent, supreme command was conferred upon him.

SECTION 7.4.7Once this authority had been given to him, he demanded hostages from all these states and ordered a fixed number of soldiers to be brought to him quickly.

SECTION 7.4.8He determined how many weapons each state was to manufacture at home and by what date. Above all, he devoted his attention to the cavalry.

SECTION 7.4.9He combined the greatest strictness in command with the greatest diligence and compelled the hesitant by the severity of his punishments.

SECTION 7.4.10For a more serious offense, he killed the offender by fire and every kind of torture. For a less serious charge, he sent a man home after cutting off his ears or gouging out one of his eyes, so that these men would serve as examples to the rest and terrify others by the severity of their punishment.

CHAPTER 7.5

SECTION 7.5.1After quickly assembling an army by these punishments, he sent Lucterius the Cadurcan, a man of the greatest boldness, with part of his forces into the territory of the Ruteni. He himself set out for the Bituriges. On his arrival, the Bituriges sent ambassadors to the Aedui,

SECTION 7.5.2under whose protection they were, to ask for reinforcements that would enable them to resist the enemy forces more easily.

SECTION 7.5.3On the advice of the officers Caesar had left with the army, the Aedui sent forces of cavalry and infantry to reinforce the Bituriges.

SECTION 7.5.4When these forces reached the Loire River, which separates the Bituriges from the Aedui, they remained there for a few days and, not daring to cross the river,

SECTION 7.5.5returned home. They reported to our officers that they had turned back because they feared treachery by the Bituriges. They had learned that the Bituriges’ plan was, if they crossed the river, to surround them on one side while the Arverni did so on the other.

SECTION 7.5.6Whether they acted for the reason they gave our officers or were themselves motivated by treachery cannot, since we have no definite information, be stated as certain.

SECTION 7.5.7Immediately after their departure, the Bituriges joined the Arverni.

CHAPTER 7.6

SECTION 7.6.1When news of these events reached Caesar in Italy, he had already learned that conditions at Rome had been brought into a more favorable state by the energetic action of Gnaeus Pompey, and he set out for Transalpine Gaul.

SECTION 7.6.2When he arrived there, he faced great difficulty in determining how he could reach his army.

SECTION 7.6.3For if he summoned the legions into the province, he understood that in his absence they would have to fight a battle on the march.

SECTION 7.6.4But if he himself hurried to the army, he saw that at that time he could not safely entrust his life even to those who appeared to be peaceful.

CHAPTER 7.7

SECTION 7.7.1Meanwhile, Lucterius the Cadurcan, who had been sent into the territory of the Ruteni, won that state over to the Arverni.

SECTION 7.7.2Advancing into the territories of the Nitiobriges and Gabali, he received hostages from both and, after assembling a large force, attempted to break into the province in the direction of Narbo.

SECTION 7.7.3When this was reported, Caesar concluded that every other plan had to be set aside so that he could go to Narbo.

SECTION 7.7.4When he arrived there, he reassured those who were afraid and stationed garrisons among the Ruteni of the province, the Volcae Arecomici, the Tolosates, and around Narbo, all places bordering on the enemy.

SECTION 7.7.5He ordered part of the forces from the province, along with the reinforcements he had brought from Italy, to assemble in the territory of the Helvii, whose borders adjoin those of the Arverni.

CHAPTER 7.8

SECTION 7.8.1After making these arrangements, with Lucterius now driven back and forced away because he considered it dangerous to enter the area inside the garrisons, Caesar set out for the territory of the Helvii.

SECTION 7.8.2Although the Cevennes Mountains, which separate the Arverni from the Helvii, blocked the route at that harshest season of the year with very deep snow, Caesar nevertheless had the snow cleared to a depth of six feet, and after the roads had thus been opened, reached the territory of the Arverni through the soldiers’ tremendous exertions.

SECTION 7.8.3He caught them completely by surprise, because they believed that the Cevennes protected them like a wall, and at that season of the year the paths had never been open even to a solitary traveler. He ordered the cavalry to range as widely as possible and strike the greatest possible terror into the enemy.

SECTION 7.8.4News of these events was quickly carried to Vercingetorix by report and by messengers. All the Arverni, terrified, crowded around him and begged him to protect their property and not allow the enemy to plunder them, especially since he could see that the entire war had been transferred to their country.

SECTION 7.8.5Moved by their pleas, he moved his camp out of the territory of the Bituriges and headed toward that of the Arverni.

CHAPTER 7.9

SECTION 7.9.1Caesar, however, remained in that region for two days because he had anticipated that this would happen with Vercingetorix. Then, on the pretext of gathering reinforcements and cavalry, he left the army and placed the young Brutus in command of these forces.

SECTION 7.9.2He instructed him to have the cavalry range as widely as possible in every direction, and said that he would make every effort not to be away from camp for more than three days.

SECTION 7.9.3After making these arrangements, Caesar reached Vienne by the longest forced marches he could manage, taking his own men completely by surprise.

SECTION 7.9.4There he obtained fresh cavalry, which he had sent there many days before, and without interrupting his march by day or night, hurried through the territory of the Aedui to that of the Lingones, where two legions were wintering, so that if the Aedui were forming any plan against his personal safety, he could forestall it by his speed.

SECTION 7.9.5When he arrived there, he sent orders to the other legions and assembled them all in one place before news of his arrival could reach the Arverni.

SECTION 7.9.6When Vercingetorix learned of this, he led his army back into the territory of the Bituriges. Setting out from there, he began an attack on Gorgobina, a town of the Boii, whom Caesar had settled there after defeating them in the Helvetian campaign and had placed under the authority of the Aedui.

CHAPTER 7.10

SECTION 7.10.1This situation presented Caesar with a serious difficulty in deciding what to do. If he kept his legions in one place for the remainder of the winter, he feared that all Gaul would revolt if the dependents of the Aedui were conquered, since it would appear that he offered his friends no protection at all. But if he led the legions out of winter quarters too early, he feared that difficult transport conditions would create problems with the grain supply.

SECTION 7.10.2Nevertheless, it seemed better to endure every hardship than, by accepting so great an insult, to alienate the goodwill of all his allies.

SECTION 7.10.3He therefore urged the Aedui to bring in provisions and sent men ahead to the Boii to inform them of his approach and encourage them to remain loyal and withstand the enemy’s attack with courage.

SECTION 7.10.4Leaving two legions and the baggage of the entire army at Agedincum, he set out for the territory of the Boii.

CHAPTER 7.11

SECTION 7.11.1On the following day he reached Vellaunodunum, a town of the Senones. To avoid leaving an enemy behind him and to ensure a more secure supply of grain, he began to attack it and completed a circumvallation around it in two days.

SECTION 7.11.2On the third day, when envoys came from the town to discuss surrender, he ordered them to collect their weapons, bring out their draft animals, and provide six hundred hostages.

SECTION 7.11.3He left his lieutenant Gaius Trebonius behind to carry out these arrangements. Caesar himself, wishing to advance as quickly as possible, set out for Cenabum, a town of the Carnutes.

SECTION 7.11.4The Carnutes had only then received news of the attack on Vellaunodunum. Believing that the operation would take a considerable time, they were preparing a garrison to send to Cenabum for its defense. Caesar reached the town in two days.

SECTION 7.11.5He established camp before the town, but because little daylight remained, postponed the attack until the next day and ordered the soldiers to prepare everything needed for it.

SECTION 7.11.6Because a bridge over the Loire connected directly with the town of Cenabum, he feared that the inhabitants might escape from the town during the night and ordered two legions to remain awake under arms.

SECTION 7.11.7Shortly before midnight the people of Cenabum silently left the town and began to cross the river. When scouts reported this, Caesar brought forward the legions

SECTION 7.11.8that he had ordered to stand ready without their baggage, burned the gates, sent the troops in, and took possession of the town. Very few of the enemy escaped capture, because the narrowness of the bridge and roads had blocked the multitude’s flight.

SECTION 7.11.9He plundered and burned the town, gave the spoils to the soldiers, led the army across the Loire, and entered the territory of the Bituriges.

CHAPTER 7.12

SECTION 7.12.1When Vercingetorix learned of Caesar’s arrival, he abandoned the siege and set out to meet Caesar.

SECTION 7.12.2Caesar had begun an attack on Noviodunum, a town of the Bituriges situated along his route.

SECTION 7.12.3When envoys came from the town to beg him to pardon them and spare their lives, Caesar, in order to complete the rest of his operations with the speed by which he had accomplished most of his successes, ordered them to collect their weapons, bring out their horses, and provide hostages.

SECTION 7.12.4Some of the hostages had already been handed over, and the remaining terms were being carried out. Centurions and a few soldiers had been admitted into the town to collect the weapons and draft animals when enemy cavalry was seen in the distance, advancing ahead of Vercingetorix’s column.

SECTION 7.12.5As soon as the townspeople saw them and conceived the hope of rescue, they raised a shout and began to take up arms, close the gates, and man the wall. The centurions inside the town,

SECTION 7.12.6realizing from the Gauls’ behavior that they were forming some new plan, drew their swords, seized the gates, and brought all their men safely back.

CHAPTER 7.13

SECTION 7.13.1Caesar ordered the cavalry to be led out of camp and engaged in a cavalry battle. When his men were already under pressure, he sent about four hundred German horsemen to support them, whom from the beginning he had made a practice of keeping with him.

SECTION 7.13.2The Gauls could not withstand their charge. They were put to flight and, after losing many men, withdrew to the main column. After their defeat, the townspeople were terrified again. They seized the men whom they believed responsible for inciting the common people, brought them to Caesar, and surrendered to him.

SECTION 7.13.3After completing these operations, Caesar set out for Avaricum, the largest and best-fortified town in the territory of the Bituriges, situated in an extremely fertile region. He was confident that by taking this town he would bring the state of the Bituriges under his control.

CHAPTER 7.14

SECTION 7.14.1After suffering so many successive reverses at Vellaunodunum, Cenabum, and Noviodunum, Vercingetorix summoned his men to a council.

SECTION 7.14.2He explained that the war must be conducted according to a very different plan from the one previously followed. Every effort must be directed toward preventing the Romans from obtaining fodder and provisions.

SECTION 7.14.3This would be easy, because the Gauls had plenty of cavalry and were aided by the season of the year.

SECTION 7.14.4Grass could not be cut, so the enemy would necessarily have to scatter and seek fodder from farm buildings. The cavalry could pick off all such men every day.

SECTION 7.14.5Moreover, for the sake of their common safety, they must disregard the advantages of private property. Villages and farm buildings must be burned in every direction from the road, as far as the Romans appeared capable of reaching in search of fodder. The Gauls themselves would have an ample supply of these necessities,

SECTION 7.14.6because they would be supported by the resources of whatever people’s territory the war was being fought in.

SECTION 7.14.7The Romans would either be unable to endure the shortage or would venture farther from camp at great risk.

SECTION 7.14.8It made no difference whether they killed the Romans themselves or stripped them of their baggage, since without it they could not carry on the war.

SECTION 7.14.9In addition, they must burn every town that was not protected from all danger by fortifications and natural position, so that these towns would neither provide their own men with refuges for evading military service nor offer the Romans a ready opportunity to obtain abundant provisions and plunder.

SECTION 7.14.10If these measures seemed harsh or cruel, they should consider it much harsher for their children and wives to be dragged away into slavery and for themselves to be killed, which must necessarily happen to the defeated.

CHAPTER 7.15

SECTION 7.15.1This proposal was unanimously approved, and in a single day more than twenty towns of the Bituriges were burned.

SECTION 7.15.2The same was done in the territories of the other states. Fires could be seen in every direction. Although everyone endured this with great pain, they nevertheless consoled themselves with the thought that victory was almost certain and that they would quickly recover what they had lost.

SECTION 7.15.3At a general council they debated whether Avaricum should be burned or defended.

SECTION 7.15.4The Bituriges threw themselves at the feet of all the Gauls, begging not to be forced to set fire with their own hands to nearly the most beautiful city in all Gaul, which was both a protection and an ornament to their state.

SECTION 7.15.5They said that they could easily defend it because of its natural position: surrounded on nearly every side by a river and a marsh, it had only one approach, and that a very narrow one.

SECTION 7.15.6Their request was granted. Vercingetorix at first opposed it but later yielded both to their entreaties and to the compassion of the common people. Suitable defenders were selected for the town.

CHAPTER 7.16

SECTION 7.16.1Vercingetorix followed Caesar by shorter marches and selected a site for his camp protected by marshes and woods, sixteen miles from Avaricum.

SECTION 7.16.2There, through reliable scouts, he learned at every period of the day what was happening at Avaricum and issued orders for what he wanted done.

SECTION 7.16.3He watched all our foraging and grain-gathering expeditions and attacked our men when they were scattered and had necessarily advanced too far, inflicting heavy losses on them. Nevertheless, our men countered this tactic as far as foresight could provide by going out at irregular times and by different routes.

CHAPTER 7.17

SECTION 7.17.1Caesar established camp on the side of the town that, being unprotected by the river and marshes, had the narrow approach mentioned above. He began to prepare a siege ramp, move covered galleries forward, and erect two towers, since the nature of the terrain prevented him from surrounding the town with a circumvallation.

SECTION 7.17.2He constantly urged the Boii and Aedui to supply grain. The Aedui, because they acted without any enthusiasm, provided little assistance. The Boii, because their state was small and weak and they did not possess great resources, quickly used up what they had.

SECTION 7.17.3The army suffered extreme difficulty in obtaining grain because of the poverty of the Boii, the negligence of the Aedui, and the burning of the farm buildings. For several days the soldiers had no grain and held off the worst of their hunger with livestock driven in from more distant villages. Nevertheless, not a word was heard from them unworthy of the majesty of the Roman people or of their previous victories.

SECTION 7.17.4Indeed, when Caesar addressed the legions one by one while they were at work and said that he would abandon the siege if they found the shortage too painful to endure, they unanimously begged him not to do so.

SECTION 7.17.5They said that they had served under his command for many years without suffering any disgrace or ever withdrawing from any place with their task unfinished.

SECTION 7.17.6They would regard it as a disgrace if they abandoned a siege they had begun.

SECTION 7.17.7It was better to endure every hardship than to fail to avenge the Roman citizens who had perished at Cenabum through the treachery of the Gauls.

SECTION 7.17.8They gave the same message to the centurions and military tribunes to deliver to Caesar.

CHAPTER 7.18

SECTION 7.18.1When the towers had already approached the wall, Caesar learned from prisoners that Vercingetorix, having exhausted the supply of fodder, had moved his camp closer to Avaricum. He himself had set out with the cavalry and the light-armed troops who were accustomed to fight among the horsemen, intending to lay an ambush at the place where he believed our men would come to forage the next day.

SECTION 7.18.2After learning this, Caesar set out silently at midnight and reached the enemy camp in the morning.

SECTION 7.18.3The Gauls quickly learned of Caesar’s approach through their scouts, concealed their wagons and baggage in the thicker woods, and drew up all their forces on high, open ground.

SECTION 7.18.4When this was reported, Caesar quickly ordered the packs to be piled together and the troops to ready their weapons.

CHAPTER 7.19

SECTION 7.19.1A hill rose with a gentle slope from its base. On nearly every side it was surrounded by a difficult and obstructive marsh no more than fifty feet wide.

SECTION 7.19.2Relying on the strength of this position, the Gauls held the hill after destroying the crossings. Divided by tribes, they occupied every ford and passage through the marsh,

SECTION 7.19.3prepared so that if the Romans tried to force their way through the marsh, they could press them from higher ground while they were struggling in it. Anyone who saw only how close the two sides were would have thought the Gauls prepared to fight on almost equal terms, but anyone who understood the disadvantage of the conditions would have recognized that they were merely putting on an empty display.

SECTION 7.19.4The soldiers were indignant that the enemy could endure the sight of them with so little space between the two armies, and demanded the signal for battle. Caesar explained how great a price in losses and in the deaths of brave men would necessarily have to be paid for victory. Since he saw them so determined

SECTION 7.19.5that they would refuse no danger for the sake of his glory, he said that he ought to be condemned for the greatest injustice unless he valued their lives more highly than his own safety.

SECTION 7.19.6After reassuring the soldiers in this way, he led them back to camp that same day and proceeded to arrange the other matters connected with the siege of the town.

CHAPTER 7.20

SECTION 7.20.1When Vercingetorix returned to his men, he was accused of treason: he had moved his camp closer to the Romans, had departed with all the cavalry, had left such a large force behind without a commander, and, after his departure, the Romans had arrived with such remarkable timeliness and speed.

SECTION 7.20.2They claimed that all these things could not have happened by chance or without a plan, and that he preferred to possess the kingship of Gaul by Caesar’s permission rather than through their favor.

SECTION 7.20.3Accused in this manner, he replied to these charges as follows: He had moved the camp because of the shortage of fodder, and they themselves had urged him to do so. He had approached closer to the Romans because he had been persuaded by the advantage of a position that protected itself by its natural defenses.

SECTION 7.20.4The cavalry’s services had not been needed in marshy terrain, but had been useful in the place to which they had gone.

SECTION 7.20.5When he departed, he had deliberately entrusted supreme command to no one, to prevent any commander from being driven by the crowd’s eagerness into giving battle. He saw that everyone wanted battle because of their weakness of spirit, since they could not endure hardship any longer.

SECTION 7.20.6If the Romans had appeared by chance, they should thank fortune; if they had been summoned by information from someone, they should thank that man, since from their higher position they had been able to recognize the Romans’ small numbers and hold in contempt the courage of men who had not dared to fight and had shamefully withdrawn into camp.

SECTION 7.20.7He desired no command from Caesar gained through treachery, since he could obtain it by victory, which was already assured for him and for all the Gauls. Indeed, he would return his command to them if they thought they were granting him an honor rather than receiving their safety from him.

SECTION 7.20.8“To understand,” he said, “that I am speaking these words sincerely, listen to Roman soldiers.” He brought forward slaves

SECTION 7.20.9whom he had captured while they were foraging a few days before and had tortured with hunger and chains. They had already been instructed what to say when questioned.

SECTION 7.20.10They said that they were legionary soldiers and that hunger and deprivation had driven them to leave camp secretly in the hope of finding some grain or livestock in the countryside:

SECTION 7.20.11that the entire army was suffering from the same scarcity, that no one’s strength was now sufficient and no one could endure the strain of the work; the commander had therefore resolved to withdraw the army within three days if they made no progress in attacking the town. “These,” said Vercingetorix, “are the benefits you have received from me,

SECTION 7.20.12the man you accuse of treason. Through my efforts you see this great victorious army wasting away from hunger without the shedding of your blood; and I have taken care that, when it retreats in disgrace, no state will receive it within its territory.”

CHAPTER 7.21

SECTION 7.21.1The whole assembly shouted its approval and, in its customary manner, clashed its weapons, as they are accustomed to do when they approve a speaker’s words. They declared that Vercingetorix was a supreme commander, that his loyalty must not be questioned, and that the war could not be conducted with greater judgment.

SECTION 7.21.2They resolved that ten thousand men selected from all their forces should be sent into the town,

SECTION 7.21.3and they did not think the common safety should be entrusted to the Bituriges alone, because they understood that if they held that town, almost the whole outcome of victory depended on it.

CHAPTER 7.22

SECTION 7.22.1The Gauls countered the exceptional courage of our soldiers with every kind of device, for they are an extremely ingenious people, highly skilled at copying and carrying out anything shown to them by others.

SECTION 7.22.2They deflected our wall hooks with nooses, and once they had caught them, they pulled them inside with machines. They also undermined the ramp with tunnels, a technique they knew particularly well because they have large iron mines and are familiar and experienced with every kind of tunneling.

SECTION 7.22.3Moreover, they had built wooden stories and towers along the entire wall on every side and covered them with hides.

SECTION 7.22.4Then, by frequent sorties both day and night, they either set fire to the ramp or attacked the soldiers while they were occupied with the work. As our ramp rose each day and increased the height of our towers,

SECTION 7.22.5they matched that height by joining additional timbers to their own towers. They blocked our open tunnels with timbers charred and sharpened at the ends, boiling pitch, and stones of enormous weight, and so prevented them from approaching the walls.

CHAPTER 7.23

SECTION 7.23.1Gallic walls are generally constructed in the following way. Continuous horizontal beams are laid on the ground lengthwise in straight lines, at equal intervals of two feet from one another.

SECTION 7.23.2These are fastened together on the inner side and covered with a large quantity of earth, while the spaces between them that I have mentioned are packed at the front with large stones.

SECTION 7.23.3After these have been placed and fitted together, another course is added on top, with the same interval maintained. The beams do not touch one another but are separated by equal spaces, and each is firmly held in place by a single stone set between them.

SECTION 7.23.4The whole structure is woven together in this way, course after course, until the wall reaches its proper height.

SECTION 7.23.5This type of construction is not unattractive in appearance and variety, with alternating beams and stones maintaining their courses in straight lines. At the same time, it is extremely well suited to the practical defense of towns, because the stone protects against fire and the timber against the battering ram. The timber is usually fastened together by continuous beams extending forty feet inward and can neither be broken through nor pulled apart.

CHAPTER 7.24

SECTION 7.24.1Although the assault was hindered by all these obstacles, and although the soldiers were delayed throughout the entire period by cold and constant rain, they nevertheless overcame them all by continuous labor and in twenty-five days constructed a ramp 330 feet wide and 80 feet high.

SECTION 7.24.2When it had almost reached the enemy’s wall, Caesar, as was his custom, was keeping watch over the work and urging the soldiers not to interrupt it for even a moment. Shortly before the third watch, it was noticed that the ramp was smoking, for the enemy had set it on fire from a tunnel,

SECTION 7.24.3and at the same time a shout went up all along the wall, while sorties were made from two gates, one on either side of the towers.

SECTION 7.24.4Others threw torches and dry material from the wall onto the ramp at a distance and poured down pitch and everything else that could feed the fire, so that it was hardly possible to determine where to run first or what emergency to deal with.

SECTION 7.24.5Nevertheless, because Caesar’s standing practice was always to have two legions on guard in front of the camp, while several others worked in shifts, some men quickly resisted the sorties, others pulled back the towers and cut gaps through the ramp, while the entire mass of troops rushed out of the camp to extinguish the fire.

CHAPTER 7.25

SECTION 7.25.1The fighting continued everywhere through what remained of the night, and the enemy’s hope of victory was continually renewed. This was all the more so because they saw that the protective screens of our towers had been burned away and realized that our men could not easily approach over exposed ground to bring assistance; they themselves constantly replaced their exhausted men with fresh ones, and believed that the safety of all Gaul depended on this critical moment. While we were watching, something happened that seemed so memorable that I did not think it should be passed over.

SECTION 7.25.2In front of the town gate, a certain Gaul was taking lumps of tallow and pitch passed to him from hand to hand and throwing them into the fire opposite one of our towers. A bolt from a scorpion pierced him through the right side, and he fell dead.

SECTION 7.25.3One of the men nearest him stepped over his body and took up the same task.

SECTION 7.25.4When he too was killed in the same way by a bolt from a scorpion, a third man took the second man’s place, and a fourth took the third’s. The defenders did not leave that position unoccupied until the fire on the ramp had been extinguished, the enemy had been driven back on every side, and the fighting had ended.

CHAPTER 7.26

SECTION 7.26.1After trying everything without success, the Gauls decided the next day to flee from the town, as Vercingetorix urged and ordered them to do.

SECTION 7.26.2They hoped to accomplish this in the silence of the night without suffering heavy losses, because Vercingetorix’s camp was not far from the town and the unbroken marsh lying between them would slow the Romans’ pursuit.

SECTION 7.26.3They were already preparing to do this at night when the married women suddenly ran out into the public places, weeping and throwing themselves at the feet of their men. With every plea, they begged them not to surrender them and their children, shared by them both, to the enemy for execution, since the weakness of their nature and strength prevented them from escaping.

SECTION 7.26.4When they saw that the men remained fixed in their decision—for fear usually leaves no room for pity in the face of extreme danger—they began to shout and signal to the Romans that an escape was being attempted.

SECTION 7.26.5Terrified by this, and afraid that the Roman cavalry would seize the roads ahead of them, the Gauls abandoned their plan.

CHAPTER 7.27

SECTION 7.27.1The next day, after the tower had been moved forward and the works he had planned were completed, a heavy rainstorm arose. Caesar judged that this weather was not unfavorable for an attempt to capture the town, because he saw that the guards had been posted somewhat less carefully on the wall. He ordered his own men to go about their work more slowly and explained what he wanted done.

SECTION 7.27.2He kept the legions ready for action and concealed within the covered approaches, urged them at last to reap the reward of victory for all their great labors, offered prizes to those who first climbed the wall, and gave the signal to the soldiers.

SECTION 7.27.3They suddenly rushed out from every direction and quickly filled the wall.

CHAPTER 7.28

SECTION 7.28.1The enemy, terrified by this unexpected development and driven from the wall and towers, formed into wedge-shaped groups in the forum and the more open spaces, intending to fight in battle formation if attacked from any direction on level ground.

SECTION 7.28.2When they saw that no one was coming down to meet them on level ground, but that the Romans were spreading around the entire wall on every side, they feared that every hope of escape would be cut off. Throwing away their weapons, they rushed without stopping toward the farthest parts of the town.

SECTION 7.28.3Some were killed there by the soldiers as they crushed one another in the narrow exits of the gates, while others who had already passed through the gates were killed by the cavalry.

SECTION 7.28.4No one showed any interest in plunder. So enraged were they by the massacre at Cenabum and by the strain of the siege works that they spared neither the elderly, nor women, nor infants.

SECTION 7.28.5In the end, out of a total population of about forty thousand, scarcely eight hundred—those who had rushed out of the town when they first heard the shouting—reached Vercingetorix safely.

SECTION 7.28.6He received the fugitives in silence late at night. Fearing that their arrival together and the common people’s pity for them might provoke a disturbance in the camp, he had his own followers and the leading men of the states stationed far down the road to separate them and escort each group to the section of camp that had originally been assigned to its respective state.

CHAPTER 7.29

SECTION 7.29.1The next day he called an assembly, consoled and encouraged them, and urged them not to lose heart or become dismayed by this setback.

SECTION 7.29.2The Romans, he said, had won neither through courage nor in open battle, but by a certain technical skill and knowledge of siege warfare, in which the Gauls themselves had been inexperienced.

SECTION 7.29.3Anyone who expected every outcome in war to be favorable was mistaken.

SECTION 7.29.4It had never been his own wish to defend Avaricum, as they themselves could testify. But because of the Bituriges’ lack of judgment and the excessive compliance of the others, they had suffered this setback.

SECTION 7.29.5Nevertheless, he would quickly make good the loss with greater advantages.

SECTION 7.29.6Through his own efforts, he would bring over those states that still disagreed with the rest of the Gauls, and he would create a single common policy for all Gaul, whose united will not even the whole world could resist. He had already nearly accomplished this.

SECTION 7.29.7Meanwhile, it was reasonable to ask them, for the sake of their common safety, to begin fortifying their camp so that they could more easily withstand sudden attacks by the enemy.

CHAPTER 7.30

SECTION 7.30.1This speech was not unwelcome to the Gauls, especially because Vercingetorix himself had not lost heart after suffering so great a setback, nor had he hidden himself away and avoided appearing before the assembly.

SECTION 7.30.2They believed he possessed greater foresight and anticipation than others because, while the situation was still intact, he had first advised burning Avaricum and later abandoning it.

SECTION 7.30.3Thus, while adversity diminishes the authority of other commanders, his prestige, on the contrary, increased day by day after the setback.

SECTION 7.30.4At the same time, his assurance that the remaining states would join them gave them hope. Then, for the first time, the Gauls began fortifying their camp, and these men, unaccustomed to labor, were so encouraged that they believed they must endure everything ordered of them.

CHAPTER 7.31

SECTION 7.31.1Vercingetorix worked no less earnestly than he had promised to bring the remaining states into the alliance, and he tried to win them over with gifts and promises. For this task he selected suitable men,

SECTION 7.31.2each of whom could most easily win them over either by deceptive argument or through personal friendship. As for those who had escaped after the capture of Avaricum,

SECTION 7.31.3he saw that they were armed and clothed.

SECTION 7.31.4At the same time, to restore his reduced forces, he ordered each state to furnish a fixed number of soldiers, specifying how many he wanted and the deadline by which they were to be brought to camp. He also ordered that all the archers, of whom there were a very large number in Gaul, be sought out and sent to him. By these measures, the forces lost at Avaricum were quickly replaced.

SECTION 7.31.5Meanwhile Teutomatus, son of Ollovico and king of the Nitiobriges, whose father had been formally recognized as a friend by our Senate, reached Vercingetorix with a large force of his own cavalry and troops he had hired in Aquitania.

CHAPTER 7.32

SECTION 7.32.1Caesar remained at Avaricum for several days and, having found an abundant supply of grain and other provisions there, allowed the army to recover from its exertions and deprivation.

SECTION 7.32.2Winter was now nearly over, and the season itself was calling him to resume the war. He had decided to march against the enemy, whether he could draw him out of the marshes and forests or press him by siege, when a delegation of leading Aedui came to beg him to assist their state at a most critical moment.

SECTION 7.32.3They said that their government was in extreme danger because, although from ancient times it had been customary to elect a single magistrate who held royal power for one year, two men were now exercising the office, and each claimed to have been elected in accordance with the laws.

SECTION 7.32.4One was Convictolitavis, a prosperous and distinguished young man; the other was Cotus, born into a very ancient family and himself a man of supreme influence and extensive family connections. His brother Valetiacus had held the same office the previous year.

SECTION 7.32.5The entire state was in arms. The senate was divided, the people were divided, and each man had his own dependents. If the dispute were allowed to continue, one part of the state would fight the other. Preventing that outcome depended on Caesar’s diligence and authority.

CHAPTER 7.33

SECTION 7.33.1Although Caesar believed it would be harmful to leave the war and the enemy, he also knew how serious the consequences that commonly arose from internal dissension could be. He was determined to prevent so great a state, so closely allied with the Roman people—a state he himself had always supported and honored in every way—from resorting to violence and arms, and to prevent the faction with less confidence in its own strength from calling on Vercingetorix for assistance.

SECTION 7.33.2He therefore decided that this matter must take priority. Because Aeduan law did not permit those who held the highest office to leave Aeduan territory, Caesar did not want to appear to diminish any of their rights or laws. He therefore decided to go into Aeduan territory himself and summoned the entire senate, together with the two disputants, to meet him at Decetia.

SECTION 7.33.3When nearly the entire state had assembled there, he was informed that Cotus had been proclaimed elected by his own brother after only a few men had been summoned secretly, at a different place and time from those prescribed. Since the laws not only prohibited two members of the same family, while both were alive, from being elected magistrates, but even forbade both from sitting in the senate, Caesar compelled Cotus to relinquish his authority and ordered Convictolitavis,

SECTION 7.33.4who had been elected by the priests in accordance with the custom of the state during an interval in the magistracy, to retain the office.

CHAPTER 7.34

SECTION 7.34.1After issuing this decision, Caesar urged the Aedui to forget their disputes and dissension, set all such matters aside, and devote themselves to this war. Once Gaul was conquered, they could expect from him the rewards they had earned. He told them to send him all their cavalry and ten thousand infantry as quickly as possible, so that he could distribute them among garrisons to safeguard the grain supply. He then divided the army into two parts.

SECTION 7.34.2He gave Labienus four legions to lead into the territories of the Senones and Parisii, while he himself led six into the territory of the Arverni toward the town of Gergovia, following the Elaver River. He assigned part of the cavalry to Labienus and kept the rest with himself.

SECTION 7.34.3When Vercingetorix learned of this, he destroyed all the bridges over the river and began marching along the opposite bank.

CHAPTER 7.35

SECTION 7.35.1As the two armies advanced on opposite sides, they generally pitched their camps within sight of and almost directly across from each other. Vercingetorix stationed scouts to make sure the Romans did not build a bridge somewhere and take their forces across. Caesar faced a very serious difficulty: he might be kept from crossing the river for the greater part of the summer, since the Elaver can generally not be forded before autumn.

SECTION 7.35.2To prevent this, he pitched camp in a wooded location opposite one of the bridges Vercingetorix had ordered destroyed. The next day he secretly remained behind with two legions.

SECTION 7.35.3As usual, he sent the rest of the forces ahead with all the baggage, but split up some of the cohorts so that the number of legions would appear unchanged.

SECTION 7.35.4After ordering them to advance as far as they could, Caesar calculated from the time of day that they had reached the camp and began rebuilding the bridge on the same piles, whose lower portions remained intact.

SECTION 7.35.5The work was quickly completed, and after leading the legions across and selecting a suitable place for a camp, he recalled the rest of his forces.

SECTION 7.35.6When Vercingetorix learned of this, he hurried ahead by forced marches so that he would not be compelled to fight against his will.

CHAPTER 7.36

SECTION 7.36.1Caesar reached Gergovia from that place after five days’ marches. A minor cavalry engagement took place that day, and after examining the position of the town, which stood on a very high mountain and had difficult approaches on every side, he gave up hope of taking it by assault and decided that he should not undertake a siege until he had secured his grain supply.

SECTION 7.36.2Vercingetorix, however, had pitched his camp near the town and had stationed the forces of each state separately around himself at moderate intervals. By occupying all the hills along that ridge from which the surrounding country could be viewed,

SECTION 7.36.3he presented a terrifying sight. He ordered the leaders of those states whom he had chosen to join him in making decisions to meet with him every day at dawn, whether some information needed to be shared or some action taken;

SECTION 7.36.4and he let hardly a day pass without testing, in a cavalry engagement with archers interspersed among the horsemen, the spirit and courage of each of his men.

SECTION 7.36.5Directly opposite the town, at the very foot of the mountain, was a hill exceptionally well fortified by nature and cut off on every side. If our men held it, they seemed likely to deprive the enemy both of a large part of their water supply and of unrestricted foraging;

SECTION 7.36.6but the enemy held this position with a garrison that was not very strong.

SECTION 7.36.7Nevertheless, Caesar left camp in the silence of the night and, before reinforcements could come from the town, drove out the garrison and seized the position. He stationed two legions there and ran a double trench, each trench twelve feet wide, from the larger camp to the smaller one, so that even individual soldiers could pass safely between them without danger from a sudden enemy attack.

CHAPTER 7.37

SECTION 7.37.1While these events were taking place at Gergovia, Convictolitavis the Aeduan, to whom, as stated above, Caesar had awarded the chief magistracy, was bribed by the Arverni and entered into discussions with certain young men. The foremost among them were Litaviccus and his brothers, young men born into a very distinguished family.

SECTION 7.37.2He shared the payment with them and urged them to remember that they were free men, born to rule.

SECTION 7.37.3The Aedui, he said, were the one state holding back Gaul’s certain victory; their authority was keeping the other states in line, but once the Aedui changed sides, the Romans would have no place to stand in Gaul.

SECTION 7.37.4He had, to some extent, benefited from Caesar, though only because he had won a completely just case before him; but he placed greater value on the freedom of them all.

SECTION 7.37.5For why should the Aedui come before Caesar to have him decide questions concerning their rights and laws, rather than the Romans coming before the Aedui?

SECTION 7.37.6The young men were quickly won over both by the magistrate’s speech and by the payment, and declared that they would even take the lead in carrying out the plan. They then sought a means of accomplishing it, because they were not confident that the state could be induced to undertake war rashly.

SECTION 7.37.7They decided that Litaviccus should be placed in command of the ten thousand men who were to be sent to Caesar for the war and should take charge of leading them, while his brothers should hurry ahead to Caesar. They also settled how the rest of the plan was to be carried out.

CHAPTER 7.38

SECTION 7.38.1After taking command of the army, Litaviccus had reached a point about thirty miles from Gergovia when he suddenly called the soldiers together and said with tears in his eyes, “Where are we going, soldiers?

SECTION 7.38.2All our cavalry and all our nobility have been killed. Eporedorix and Viridomarus, leaders of our state, have been accused of treason by the Romans and put to death without a hearing.

SECTION 7.38.3Learn the facts from the men who escaped from the massacre itself, for grief prevents me from describing what happened, since my brothers and all my relatives have been killed.”

SECTION 7.38.4The men whom he had coached in what he wanted them to say were brought forward, and they told the crowd the same story Litaviccus had announced: that many Aeduan cavalrymen had been killed

SECTION 7.38.5because they were said to have held talks with the Arverni; and that they themselves had hidden among the mass of soldiers and escaped from the midst of the slaughter.

SECTION 7.38.6The Aedui cried out together and begged Litaviccus to decide what they should do. “As though,” he said, “this were a matter for deliberation, and it were not necessary for us to march to Gergovia and join the Arverni ourselves.

SECTION 7.38.7Can we doubt that, after committing this unspeakable crime, the Romans are already rushing here to kill us? Therefore, if we have any courage in us,

SECTION 7.38.8let us avenge the deaths of those who have been so shamefully killed, and let us kill these robbers.” He pointed out the Roman citizens who were traveling with them under the protection of his escort.

SECTION 7.38.9He seized a large quantity of grain and other provisions and, after subjecting the men themselves to cruel torture, killed them.

SECTION 7.38.10He sent messengers throughout the entire Aeduan state and stirred the people up with the same lie about the massacre of the cavalrymen and leaders. He urged them to avenge their wrongs in the same way he had done.

CHAPTER 7.39

SECTION 7.39.1Eporedorix, an Aeduan young man of the highest birth and very great influence in his own country, and Viridomarus, his equal in age and prestige but of different social origin, whom Caesar had raised from humble rank to the highest distinction after Diviciacus entrusted him to Caesar, had joined the cavalry after being personally summoned by him.

SECTION 7.39.2They were rivals for supremacy, and in the recent dispute over the magistracy one had fought with all his resources for Convictolitavis and the other for Cotus.

SECTION 7.39.3When Eporedorix learned of Litaviccus’s plan, he reported the matter to Caesar at about midnight. He begged Caesar not to allow the state to abandon its friendship with the Roman people because of the corrupt schemes of young men. He foresaw that this would happen if so many thousands of men joined the enemy, since neither their relatives could disregard their safety nor the state treat it as a matter of little importance.

CHAPTER 7.40

SECTION 7.40.1Caesar was greatly alarmed by this report because he had always shown special favor to the Aeduan state. Without any hesitation, he led four legions in light marching order and all the cavalry out of camp.

SECTION 7.40.2In such circumstances there was no time to draw the camp’s defenses into a smaller perimeter, since success seemed to depend on speed. He left his lieutenant Gaius Fabius with two legions to guard the camp.

SECTION 7.40.3When he ordered Litaviccus’s brothers arrested, he discovered that they had fled to the enemy shortly before.

SECTION 7.40.4He encouraged the soldiers not to be discouraged by the strain of a march at such a critical time. All were extremely eager, and after advancing twenty-five miles, he sighted the Aeduan column. He sent in the cavalry to delay and obstruct its march and strictly ordered everyone not to kill anyone. He commanded Eporedorix and Viridomarus,

SECTION 7.40.5whom the Aeduans believed had been killed, to move about among the cavalry and call out to their own people.

SECTION 7.40.6When they recognized the two men and understood Litaviccus’s deception, the Aeduans began stretching out their hands, signaling their surrender, throwing down their weapons, and begging to be spared from death.

SECTION 7.40.7Litaviccus fled to Gergovia with his retainers, for according to Gallic custom it is a sacrilege for retainers to abandon their patrons even in the most desperate circumstances.

CHAPTER 7.41

SECTION 7.41.1Caesar sent messengers to the Aeduan state to explain that, as an act of favor, he had spared men whom he could lawfully have killed under the laws of war. He then allowed the army three hours of the night for rest and set out for the camp at Gergovia.

SECTION 7.41.2About halfway there, cavalrymen sent by Fabius explained how dangerous the situation had been. They reported that the camp had been attacked by very powerful forces, with fresh troops repeatedly replacing tired ones and wearing down our men through continuous exertion, since the size of the camp required the same men to remain constantly on the rampart.

SECTION 7.41.3Many had been wounded by the large number of arrows and every kind of missile; the artillery had been extremely useful in holding off these attacks.

SECTION 7.41.4After Caesar’s departure, Fabius had blocked all but two gates, added protective screens to the rampart, and prepared himself for the next day and another similar emergency.

SECTION 7.41.5When Caesar learned this, the soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost, and he reached the camp before sunrise.

CHAPTER 7.42

SECTION 7.42.1While these events were taking place at Gergovia, the Aedui received the first messages from Litaviccus and allowed themselves no time to investigate.

SECTION 7.42.2Some were driven by greed, others by anger and recklessness—a trait especially innate in that race of people—to treat a groundless report as an established fact.

SECTION 7.42.3They plundered the property of Roman citizens, carried out massacres, and dragged people away into slavery.

SECTION 7.42.4Convictolitavis encouraged the course events had taken and drove the common people to such madness that, once they had committed the crime, they would be ashamed to return to their senses.

SECTION 7.42.5They gave Marcus Aristius, a military tribune traveling to his legion, a guarantee of safety and escorted him out of the town of Cabillonum. They forced those who had settled there for business purposes to do the same.

SECTION 7.42.6They immediately attacked these men on the road and stripped them of all their baggage. When the men resisted, they besieged them throughout the day and night; after many had been killed on both sides, they summoned a larger body of armed men.

CHAPTER 7.43

SECTION 7.43.1Meanwhile, when word arrived that all their soldiers were being held in Caesar’s power, they hurried to Aristius and asserted that nothing had been done by public authority. They ordered an inquiry into the property that had been plundered,

SECTION 7.43.2confiscated the property of Litaviccus and his brothers, and sent envoys to Caesar to clear themselves of blame.

SECTION 7.43.3They did this to recover their men. But because they had been tainted by the crime and profited from the plundered property—a matter implicating many people—and were terrified of punishment, they began secretly forming plans for war and used embassies to stir up the other states.

SECTION 7.43.4Although Caesar understood this, he nevertheless addressed the envoys as mildly as he could. He said that because of the ignorance and fickleness of the common people, he was not judging their state too harshly or diminishing his goodwill toward the Aedui.

SECTION 7.43.5Expecting a greater uprising in Gaul and wishing to avoid being surrounded by all the states, he began considering how he might withdraw from Gergovia and reunite his entire army,

SECTION 7.43.6without making a departure prompted by fear of revolt look like a retreat.

CHAPTER 7.44

SECTION 7.44.1While Caesar was considering this, an opportunity for a successful operation seemed to present itself. When he came to the smaller camp to inspect the defensive works, he noticed that a hill held by the enemy had been stripped of men, although on previous days the multitude there had made the ground itself almost impossible to see.

SECTION 7.44.2Surprised, he asked the reason from deserters, a great number of whom came to him every day.

SECTION 7.44.3They all agreed on what Caesar himself had already learned through scouts: the crest of the ridge was nearly level, but the point giving access to the other side of the town was wooded and narrow. The Gauls were extremely concerned about this position and now believed that, after the Romans had occupied one hill, if they lost the other they would be almost completely surrounded and cut off from every route of escape and from foraging. Vercingetorix had summoned all the troops away to fortify this position.

CHAPTER 7.45

SECTION 7.45.1After learning this, Caesar sent out several squadrons of cavalry and ordered them, beginning around midnight, to range about in all directions with somewhat more commotion than usual.

SECTION 7.45.2At dawn he ordered a large number of pack animals and mules to be led out of camp, their packs removed, and the mule drivers, wearing helmets so that they looked like cavalrymen, to be taken around the hills.

SECTION 7.45.3He added a few cavalrymen to them, who were to range more widely for the sake of display. He ordered them all to make for the same area by a long, circuitous route.

SECTION 7.45.4These movements could be seen from the town at a distance, since Gergovia overlooked the camp, but from so far away it was impossible to determine exactly what they were.

SECTION 7.45.5He sent one legion toward the same ridge, and after it had advanced a short distance, he stationed it on lower ground and concealed it in the woods.

SECTION 7.45.6The Gauls’ suspicions increased, and all their forces were transferred there to the fortifications.

SECTION 7.45.7When Caesar saw that the enemy camps were empty, he concealed his men’s distinctive equipment and hid the military standards, then transferred soldiers in small groups from the larger camp to the smaller one so that they would not be noticed from the town. He explained what he wanted done to the lieutenants whom he had placed in command of the individual legions.

SECTION 7.45.8Above all, he warned them to keep the soldiers under control and not let them advance too far in their eagerness to fight or hope of plunder.

SECTION 7.45.9He explained the disadvantages created by the difficult terrain: these could be overcome only by speed. This was a matter of seizing an opportunity, not of fighting a battle.

SECTION 7.45.10After giving these instructions, he gave the signal and at the same time sent the Aeduans up by a different route on the right.

CHAPTER 7.46

SECTION 7.46.1The town wall was twelve hundred paces in a straight line from the plain and the beginning of the ascent, if no bends in the route intervened.

SECTION 7.46.2Every detour made to reduce the steepness of the slope increased the distance that had to be traveled.

SECTION 7.46.3About halfway up the hill, the Gauls had built a wall six feet high out of large stones, extending lengthwise along the contour of the mountain, to slow our men’s attack. They had left the entire lower area empty but had filled the upper part of the hill, all the way to the town wall, with very closely packed camps.

SECTION 7.46.4When the signal was given, the soldiers quickly reached the fortification, crossed it, and captured three camps.

SECTION 7.46.5So swift was the capture of the camps that Teutomatus, king of the Nitiobriges, who was suddenly surprised in his tent while resting at midday, barely escaped from the hands of the plundering soldiers with the upper part of his body uncovered and his horse wounded.

CHAPTER 7.47

SECTION 7.47.1Having accomplished what he had intended, Caesar ordered the signal for retreat to be sounded and immediately halted the standards of the Tenth Legion, with which he was serving.

SECTION 7.47.2The soldiers of the other legions did not hear the trumpet because a fairly large valley lay between them and Caesar. Nevertheless, the military tribunes and lieutenants tried to hold them back, as Caesar had ordered.

SECTION 7.47.3But carried away by the hope of a swift victory, by the enemy’s flight, and by their successful battles in earlier years, they believed that nothing was so difficult that they could not accomplish it through courage. They did not stop their pursuit until they had approached the town wall and gates. Then a shout arose from every part of the town,

SECTION 7.47.4and those who were farther away, terrified by the sudden commotion and believing that the enemy was already inside the gates, rushed out of the town.

SECTION 7.47.5The married women threw clothing and silver down from the wall, and leaning over it with bare breasts and outstretched hands, they begged the Romans to spare them and not, as they had done at Avaricum, refuse to spare even women and infants.

SECTION 7.47.6Some women were lowered hand to hand from the walls and surrendered themselves to the soldiers.

SECTION 7.47.7Lucius Fabius, a centurion of the Eighth Legion, who was known to have told his comrades that day that he was inspired by the rewards won at Avaricum and would not allow anyone to scale the wall before him, found three soldiers from his maniple and, lifted up by them, climbed onto the wall. Then, in turn, he took hold of each of them and pulled them up onto the wall.

CHAPTER 7.48

SECTION 7.48.1Meanwhile, those who, as explained above, had assembled on the other side of the town to work on the fortifications were spurred into action first by hearing the shouting and then by repeated reports that the Romans had taken the town. Sending the cavalry ahead, they hurried there in a great rush.

SECTION 7.48.2As each man arrived, he took his position beneath the wall and increased the number of his countrymen engaged in the fighting.

SECTION 7.48.3When a great crowd of them had assembled, the married women, who shortly before had been stretching out their hands from the wall toward the Romans, began imploring their own men, displaying their unbound hair in the Gallic manner, and bringing their children out where they could be seen.

SECTION 7.48.4The struggle was unequal for the Romans both in position and in numbers. At the same time, exhausted by their run and by the duration of the fighting, they could not easily withstand fresh and uninjured troops.

CHAPTER 7.49

SECTION 7.49.1When Caesar saw that the fighting was taking place on unfavorable ground and that the enemy’s forces were increasing, he grew anxious for his men and sent word to his lieutenant Titus Sextius, whom he had left to guard the smaller camp, to lead the cohorts quickly out of the camp and station them at the foot of the hill on the enemy’s right flank,

SECTION 7.49.2so that, if he saw our men driven from their position, he could intimidate the enemy and prevent them from pursuing too freely.

SECTION 7.49.3Caesar himself advanced a short distance with a legion from the place where he had been stationed and waited for the outcome of the battle.

CHAPTER 7.50

SECTION 7.50.1While the fighting at close quarters was at its fiercest, with the enemy relying on their position and numbers and our men on their courage, the Aedui suddenly appeared on our exposed flank. Caesar had sent them by another ascent on the right to divide the enemy’s forces.

SECTION 7.50.2Because their weapons were similar, they badly frightened our men. Although they could be identified by their exposed right shoulders, which had been agreed upon as their distinguishing sign, the soldiers nevertheless thought that the enemy had done this very thing to deceive them.

SECTION 7.50.3At the same time, the centurion Lucius Fabius and those who had climbed the wall with him were surrounded, killed, and thrown down from the wall.

SECTION 7.50.4Marcus Petronius, a centurion of the same legion, after attempting to break down a gate, was overwhelmed by the crowd. Despairing of his own survival after already receiving many wounds, he said to the soldiers of his maniple who had followed him, “Since I cannot save myself together with you, I will at least make sure that your lives are protected, for it was my desire for glory that led you into danger.

SECTION 7.50.5Now that you have the opportunity, look to your own safety.” At once he charged into the midst of the enemy, killed two of them, and drove the rest a short distance back from the gate.

SECTION 7.50.6When his men tried to help him, he said, “You are trying in vain to save my life, for my blood and strength are already failing. Go, therefore, while you have the chance, and make your way back to the legion.” He continued fighting, fell a short time later, and so saved his men.

CHAPTER 7.51

SECTION 7.51.1Our men, under pressure from every direction, lost forty-six centurions and were driven from their position. But the Tenth Legion, which had taken position as a reserve on somewhat more favorable ground, checked the Gauls when they pursued too aggressively.

SECTION 7.51.2The Tenth was in turn supported by cohorts of the Thirteenth Legion, which had been led out of the smaller camp with the lieutenant Titus Sextius and had occupied higher ground.

SECTION 7.51.3As soon as the legions reached level ground, they halted with their standards turned threateningly toward the enemy.

SECTION 7.51.4Vercingetorix withdrew his men from the foot of the hill into their fortifications. On that day, just under seven hundred soldiers were lost.

CHAPTER 7.52

SECTION 7.52.1The next day Caesar called an assembly and reprimanded the soldiers for their recklessness and eagerness. They had decided for themselves how far they should advance and what action should be taken, had not halted when the signal to withdraw was given, and could not be restrained by the military tribunes and lieutenants.

SECTION 7.52.2He explained what unfavorable ground could do and what his own judgment had been at Avaricum, when he had caught the enemy without a commander and without cavalry but had let a certain victory go rather than suffer even a small loss in battle because of unfavorable ground.

SECTION 7.52.3He said that, as greatly as he admired the courage of men whom neither the camp’s fortifications, nor the height of the mountain, nor the town wall had been able to delay, he equally condemned their lack of discipline and arrogance in thinking that they understood victory and the outcome of events better than their commander did;

SECTION 7.52.4and that he required self-control and restraint from a soldier no less than courage and greatness of spirit.

CHAPTER 7.53

SECTION 7.53.1After giving this address and, at its conclusion, reassuring the soldiers that they should not be disheartened by what had happened or attribute to the enemy’s courage what had resulted from unfavorable ground, Caesar, still holding the same view about departure that he had held before, led the legions out of camp and drew up the battle line in a suitable position.

SECTION 7.53.2Since Vercingetorix was no more willing than before to come down onto level ground, Caesar fought a minor and successful cavalry engagement and led the army back into camp.

SECTION 7.53.3When he did the same thing the following day, he considered that enough had been done to diminish Gallic boasting and restore his soldiers’ confidence, and he moved camp toward the territory of the Aedui.

SECTION 7.53.4Even then the enemy did not pursue. On the third day he reached the Elaver River, repaired the bridge, and led the army across.

CHAPTER 7.54

SECTION 7.54.1There he was approached by the Aedui Viridomarus and Eporedorix and learned that Litaviccus had departed with all the cavalry to stir up the Aedui. They said that they themselves needed to go on ahead to keep their state loyal.

SECTION 7.54.2Although Caesar had already seen evidence of Aeduan treachery in many matters and believed that their departure would hasten their state’s revolt, he nevertheless decided not to detain them, for fear that he might appear either to be wronging them or to show some sign of fear. As they were leaving, he briefly recounted his services to the Aedui,

SECTION 7.54.3reminding them of the people he had found them to be and how humiliated they had been: driven into their towns, fined, stripped of all their lands and military forces, subjected to tribute, and compelled with the utmost indignity to surrender hostages;

SECTION 7.54.4and to what fortune and what greatness he had raised them, so that they had not merely returned to their former condition but seemed to have surpassed the prestige and influence they had possessed at any time in the past. After giving them these instructions, he dismissed them.

CHAPTER 7.55

SECTION 7.55.1Noviodunum was a town of the Aedui, favorably situated on the banks of the Liger.

SECTION 7.55.2Caesar had brought there all the hostages from Gaul, grain, public funds, and a large part of his own baggage and that of the army;

SECTION 7.55.3he had also sent there a large number of horses purchased in Italy and Spain for use in this war.

SECTION 7.55.4When Eporedorix and Viridomarus arrived there and learned the condition of their state—that Litaviccus had been received by the Aedui at Bibracte, the town that possessed the greatest authority among them; that the chief magistrate Convictolitavis and a large part of the senate had joined him; and that official envoys had been sent to Vercingetorix to negotiate peace and friendship—they decided that so great an opportunity must not be missed.

SECTION 7.55.5They therefore killed the guards at Noviodunum and those who had gathered there to conduct business, and divided the money and horses among themselves;

SECTION 7.55.6they arranged for the hostages from the various states to be taken to the chief magistrate at Bibracte; the town,

SECTION 7.55.7which they judged they could not hold, they burned so that it could be of no use to the Romans;

SECTION 7.55.8they carried away by boat as much grain as they could on short notice and destroyed the rest by throwing it into the river and burning it.

SECTION 7.55.9They themselves began raising forces from the neighboring regions, stationing garrisons and guards along the banks of the Liger, and displaying their cavalry everywhere to spread fear, in the hope that they could cut the Romans off from grain or, by reducing them to want, drive them into the Province.

SECTION 7.55.10Their hopes were greatly strengthened by the fact that the Liger had risen because of melting snow and seemed wholly impossible to cross by a ford.

CHAPTER 7.56

SECTION 7.56.1When Caesar learned of these events, he decided that he must act quickly. If he had to risk an attempt to construct bridges, he must fight before larger forces were gathered there.

SECTION 7.56.2As for changing his plan and turning his march toward the Province, he thought that not even necessity arising from fear should make him do that. He was hindered both by the disgrace and indignity of such a course and by the Cevenna mountain range standing in the way and the difficulty of the roads, but above all he was extremely concerned because Labienus and the legions he had sent with him were separated from him.

SECTION 7.56.3Accordingly, after covering very long distances by day and night, he reached the Liger contrary to everyone’s expectations

SECTION 7.56.4and found through his cavalry a ford that was as suitable as the circumstances required, so that only the soldiers’ arms and shoulders could remain above water to hold up their weapons. He stationed the cavalry to break the river’s current, and, while the enemy were thrown into confusion at the first sight of them,

SECTION 7.56.5he led the army across unharmed. Finding grain in the fields and an abundance of livestock, he replenished the army with these supplies and decided to march into the territory of the Senones.

CHAPTER 7.57

SECTION 7.57.1While these events were taking place with Caesar, Labienus left at Agedincum the reinforcements that had recently arrived from Italy, so that they could guard the baggage, and set out with four legions for Lutetia. This was a town of the Parisii situated on an island in the Sequana River.

SECTION 7.57.2When the enemy learned of his arrival, large forces assembled from the neighboring states.

SECTION 7.57.3Supreme command was entrusted to Camulogenus the Aulercan, who, though almost worn out by age, was called to this honor because of his exceptional knowledge of military affairs.

SECTION 7.57.4When he observed that an unbroken marsh emptied into the Sequana and made that whole area extremely difficult to cross, he took position there and determined to prevent our men from passing.

CHAPTER 7.58

SECTION 7.58.1At first Labienus tried to advance covered sheds, fill in the marsh with fascines and earthworks, and construct a road across it.

SECTION 7.58.2After realizing that this was too difficult to accomplish, he silently left camp during the third watch and returned by the same route on which he had come to Metiosedum.

SECTION 7.58.3This was a town of the Senones situated on an island in the Sequana, as was said shortly before of Lutetia. He seized about fifty boats, quickly fastened them together, and put soldiers aboard. The townspeople, most of whom had been called away to war, were terrified by the unexpected development, and he took possession of the town without a struggle.

SECTION 7.58.5He repaired the bridge, which the enemy had broken down in the preceding days, led the army across, and began marching downstream toward Lutetia.

SECTION 7.58.6When the enemy learned what had happened from those who had fled from Metiosedum, they ordered Lutetia burned and the bridges belonging to that town destroyed. They themselves left the marsh and took position on the banks of the Sequana opposite Lutetia and facing Labienus’s camp.

CHAPTER 7.59

SECTION 7.59.1By now it was being reported that Caesar had left Gergovia; rumors were already arriving of the Aeduan revolt and the successful Gallic uprising; and the Gauls declared in their conversations that Caesar, cut off from his route and from the Liger, had been forced by lack of grain to hurry toward the Province.

SECTION 7.59.2The Bellovaci, moreover, when they learned of the Aeduan revolt, began assembling bands and openly preparing for war. They had already been disloyal on their own initiative.

SECTION 7.59.3Labienus then understood that, with circumstances so greatly changed, he had to adopt a plan entirely different from the one he had previously intended,

SECTION 7.59.4and he was no longer thinking of making any gains or challenging the enemy to battle, but of bringing the army safely back to Agedincum.

SECTION 7.59.5For on one side the Bellovaci, the state with the highest reputation for courage in Gaul, were closing in; on the other Camulogenus blocked him with a prepared and fully equipped army. Moreover, a very large river separated the legions from their garrison and baggage.

SECTION 7.59.6Confronted suddenly with such great difficulties, he saw that he must look for help to courage and determination.

CHAPTER 7.60

SECTION 7.60.1Toward evening he called a council, urged his officers to carry out his orders carefully and energetically, assigned each of the boats he had brought down from Metiosedum to Roman cavalrymen, and ordered them, after the first watch had ended, to proceed silently four miles downstream and wait for him there.

SECTION 7.60.2He left five cohorts, which he considered the least reliable for battle, to guard the camp;

SECTION 7.60.3he ordered the remaining five cohorts of the same legion to set out upstream at midnight with all the baggage, making a great commotion.

SECTION 7.60.4He also gathered small boats and sent them in the same direction, driven forward with a great noise of oars. A little later he himself silently left with three legions and made for the place where he had ordered the boats to put in.

CHAPTER 7.61

SECTION 7.61.1When they arrived there, the enemy scouts, who had been stationed along every part of the river, were caught off guard because a violent storm had suddenly arisen and were overpowered by our men;

SECTION 7.61.2the army and cavalry were quickly ferried across under the direction of the Roman cavalrymen whom Labienus had placed in charge of the operation.

SECTION 7.61.3At almost the same moment, just before dawn, the enemy were informed that there was unusual commotion in the Roman camp, that a large column was moving upstream, that the sound of oars could be heard in the same direction, and that soldiers were being carried across in boats a little way downstream.

SECTION 7.61.4When they heard these reports, they thought that the legions were crossing at three places and that all the Romans, thrown into confusion by the Aeduan revolt, were preparing to flee. They therefore divided their own forces into three parts as well.

SECTION 7.61.5They left a garrison opposite the Roman camp and sent a small force toward Metiosedum with orders to advance only as far as the boats had gone, while they led the rest of their forces against Labienus.

CHAPTER 7.62

SECTION 7.62.1At first light all our men had been transported across, and the enemy’s battle line could be seen.

SECTION 7.62.2Labienus urged the soldiers to preserve the memory of their former courage and their most successful battles, and to imagine that Caesar himself, under whose command they had so often defeated the enemy, was present among them. He then gave the signal for battle.

SECTION 7.62.3At the first clash, the enemy were driven back and put to flight on the right wing, where the Seventh Legion had taken position;

SECTION 7.62.4on the left, which was held by the Twelfth Legion, the enemy’s front ranks fell pierced by javelins, but the rest nevertheless resisted with extreme determination, and not one of them gave any indication of flight.

SECTION 7.62.5The enemy commander Camulogenus himself stood beside his men and encouraged them.

SECTION 7.62.6Even now the outcome of the victory was uncertain. When the tribunes of the Seventh Legion were informed of what was happening on the left wing, they brought the legion into view behind the enemy and advanced the standards against them.

SECTION 7.62.7Not even then did anyone abandon his position; instead, they were all surrounded and killed.

SECTION 7.62.8Camulogenus met the same fate. But those who had been left as a garrison opposite Labienus’s camp, when they heard that battle had been joined, went to support their men and occupied a hill, but they could not withstand the charge of our victorious soldiers.

SECTION 7.62.9Thus, mingled with their own fleeing men, those who were not sheltered by the woods and mountains were killed by the cavalry.

SECTION 7.62.10After completing this operation, Labienus returned to Agedincum, where the baggage of the entire army had been left. From there he reached Caesar with all his forces.

CHAPTER 7.63

SECTION 7.63.1When the defection of the Aedui became known, the war expanded. Embassies were sent out in every direction.

SECTION 7.63.2They used all the influence, authority, and money at their disposal to induce the states to revolt.

SECTION 7.63.3Having obtained possession of the hostages whom Caesar had entrusted to them, they terrified those who hesitated by executing these hostages.

SECTION 7.63.4The Aedui asked Vercingetorix to come to them and confer about plans for conducting the war.

SECTION 7.63.5When their request was granted, they insisted that supreme command be given to them. Since the matter became disputed, a council of all Gaul was summoned at Bibracte. Large numbers came there from every direction.

SECTION 7.63.6The matter was put to a vote of the assembly, and every man without exception approved Vercingetorix as commander.

SECTION 7.63.7The Remi, Lingones, and Treveri were absent from this council: the first two because they remained loyal to their friendship with Rome, and the Treveri because they were farther away and were under pressure from the Germans. This was why they took no part in the entire war and sent assistance to neither side.

SECTION 7.63.8The Aedui were deeply distressed at having been deprived of their preeminence. They complained of the change in their fortunes and missed Caesar’s indulgent treatment of them. Nevertheless, now that they had undertaken the war, they did not dare separate their policy from that of the others.

SECTION 7.63.9Eporedorix and Viridomarus, young men of the highest promise, submitted reluctantly to Vercingetorix.

CHAPTER 7.64

SECTION 7.64.1Vercingetorix ordered the remaining states to provide hostages and fixed a date for doing so. He ordered all the cavalry, numbering fifteen thousand, to assemble quickly.

SECTION 7.64.2He said that he would be satisfied with the infantry he had previously had and would not test fortune or fight a pitched battle. Instead, since he had abundant cavalry, it would be very easy to prevent the Romans from gathering grain and forage,

SECTION 7.64.3provided only that they themselves had the resolve to destroy their own grain and burn their buildings, since by this sacrifice of private property they could see that they were obtaining lasting sovereignty and freedom.

SECTION 7.64.4After making these arrangements, he ordered the Aedui and the Segusiavi, who border the Province, to provide ten thousand infantry, to whom he added eight hundred cavalry.

SECTION 7.64.5He placed the brother of Eporedorix in command of them and ordered him to make war on the Allobroges.

SECTION 7.64.6On the other side, he sent the Gabali and the districts of the Arverni nearest them against the Helvii, and likewise sent the Ruteni and Cadurci to ravage the territory of the Volcae Arecomici.

SECTION 7.64.7Nevertheless, through secret messages and embassies he also tried to win over the Allobroges, whose resentment, he hoped, had not yet subsided since the previous war.

SECTION 7.64.8He promised money to their leaders and sovereignty over the entire Province to their state.

CHAPTER 7.65

SECTION 7.65.1Provision had been made against all these dangers by garrisons totaling twenty-two cohorts, which the legate Lucius Caesar drew from the Province itself and deployed in every direction to meet them.

SECTION 7.65.2The Helvii voluntarily engaged their neighbors in battle but were defeated. After Gaius Valerius Donnotaurus, son of Caburus and chief man of the state, and several others were killed, they were driven back inside their towns and walls.

SECTION 7.65.3The Allobroges posted garrisons at frequent intervals along the Rhône and defended their territory with great care and diligence.

SECTION 7.65.4Caesar, realizing that the enemy was superior in cavalry and that, with every route blocked, he could obtain no assistance from the Province or Italy, sent men across the Rhine into Germany to the states he had pacified in previous years. From them he summoned cavalry and light-armed infantry, who were accustomed to fight among the horsemen.

SECTION 7.65.5When they arrived, because they were using horses of inferior quality, he took horses from the military tribunes, the other Roman cavalrymen, and the recalled veterans, and distributed them among the Germans.

CHAPTER 7.66

SECTION 7.66.1Meanwhile, while these events were taking place, the enemy forces from the territory of the Arverni assembled, along with the cavalry that had been levied from all Gaul.

SECTION 7.66.2After gathering a large number of them, Vercingetorix established three camps about ten miles from the Romans while Caesar was marching toward the Sequani through the outermost territory of the Lingones, so that he could more easily bring assistance to the Province.

SECTION 7.66.3He summoned the cavalry commanders to a council and explained that the time for victory had come. The Romans, he said, were fleeing to the Province and leaving Gaul.

SECTION 7.66.4That was enough to secure their freedom for the present, but did little to ensure peace and quiet in the future, since the Romans would return after assembling larger forces and would never stop making war. They should therefore attack them while their marching column was encumbered.

SECTION 7.66.5If the infantry came to the aid of their own cavalry and were delayed by doing so, the Romans would be unable to continue their march. But if, as he was more confident would happen, they abandoned their baggage and looked after their own safety, they would be stripped both of essential supplies and of their honor.

SECTION 7.66.6As for the enemy cavalry, they themselves ought not to doubt that none of them would dare even to advance outside the column. To make them attack with greater courage, he would station all his forces in front of the camp and strike terror into the enemy.

SECTION 7.66.7The cavalrymen cried out that they should bind themselves by the most sacred oath: no one who had not ridden twice through the enemy column was to be received under a roof or allowed access to his children, his parents, or his wife.

CHAPTER 7.67

SECTION 7.67.1The proposal was approved, and after all had been compelled to take the oath, the cavalry was divided into three parts on the following day. Two battle lines appeared on the two flanks, while one began to obstruct the head of the column.

SECTION 7.67.2When this was reported, Caesar likewise ordered his own cavalry, divided into three parts, to advance against the enemy. Fighting began simultaneously in every sector.

SECTION 7.67.3The column halted, and the baggage was brought inside the lines of the legions.

SECTION 7.67.4Wherever our men appeared to be in difficulty or under unusually heavy pressure, Caesar ordered the standards to be advanced there and a battle line to be formed. This both slowed the enemy’s pursuit and encouraged our men with the hope of assistance.

SECTION 7.67.5At last, on the right flank, the Germans gained the top of a ridge and drove the enemy from their position. They pursued the fugitives as far as the river where Vercingetorix had taken up his position with the infantry, and killed many of them.

SECTION 7.67.6When the rest saw this, they feared being surrounded and fled. Slaughter took place everywhere.

SECTION 7.67.7Three very distinguished Aedui were captured and brought to Caesar: Cotus, the cavalry commander who had disputed the office with Convictolitavis at the most recent election; Cavarillus, who had commanded the infantry after Litaviccus’s defection; and Eporedorix, under whose leadership the Aedui had fought a war against the Sequani before Caesar’s arrival.

CHAPTER 7.68

SECTION 7.68.1After all his cavalry had been routed, Vercingetorix withdrew the forces he had stationed in front of his camp and immediately began marching toward Alesia, a town of the Mandubii. He ordered the baggage to be brought quickly out of camp and to follow him.

SECTION 7.68.2Caesar moved his baggage to the nearest hill and left two legions to guard it. He then pursued for as much of the day as time allowed, killed about three thousand of the enemy’s rearguard, and on the following day encamped near Alesia.

SECTION 7.68.3After examining the town’s position, and seeing that the enemy was terrified because they had been defeated in the cavalry arm, the part of their army in which they had placed the greatest confidence, Caesar encouraged his soldiers to undertake the labor and began to blockade the town.

CHAPTER 7.69

SECTION 7.69.1The town of Alesia itself stood at the summit of a very high hill, in a position that seemed impossible to capture except by siege.

SECTION 7.69.2Two rivers washed the base of this hill on two sides.

SECTION 7.69.3In front of the town extended a plain about three miles long.

SECTION 7.69.4On all the remaining sides, hills of equal height surrounded the town, with a moderate space between them and it.

SECTION 7.69.5Below the wall, on the side of the hill facing east, the Gallic forces had filled this entire area and had built a ditch and a dry-stone wall six feet high across it.

SECTION 7.69.6The circumference of the fortifications begun by the Romans extended eleven miles.

SECTION 7.69.7Camps were placed at suitable locations, and twenty-three redoubts were built there. Guard detachments occupied these redoubts by day to prevent any sudden sortie, and at night the same positions were held by sentries and strong garrisons.

CHAPTER 7.70

SECTION 7.70.1Once work had begun, a cavalry battle took place on the plain which, as explained above, stretched three miles in length between the hills. Both sides fought with the utmost force.

SECTION 7.70.2When our men came under pressure, Caesar sent the Germans to support them and drew up the legions in front of the camp, to prevent any sudden attack by the enemy infantry.

SECTION 7.70.3The added protection of the legions increased our men’s courage. The enemy were put to flight, but their own numbers hampered them, and because the gates had been made too narrow, they piled up against one another.

SECTION 7.70.4The Germans pursued them more fiercely all the way to their defenses.

SECTION 7.70.5A great slaughter followed. Some abandoned their horses and tried to cross the ditch and climb over the dry-stone wall. Caesar ordered the legions he had stationed in front of the rampart to advance a short distance.

SECTION 7.70.6The Gauls inside the defenses were thrown into no less confusion. Believing that the Romans were coming against them immediately, they shouted for everyone to take up arms. Some, terrified, rushed into the town.

SECTION 7.70.7Vercingetorix ordered the gates closed so that the camp would not be stripped of its defenders. After killing many men and capturing a large number of horses, the Germans withdrew.

CHAPTER 7.71

SECTION 7.71.1Before the Romans completed their fortifications, Vercingetorix decided to send all his cavalry away at night.

SECTION 7.71.2As they departed, he instructed each of them to go to his own state and compel to join the war everyone of military age who could bear arms.

SECTION 7.71.3He reminded them of his services to them and implored them to consider his safety and not surrender him to the enemy for torture after he had rendered the greatest service to their common freedom. He pointed out that, if they were negligent, eighty thousand picked men would perish together with him.

SECTION 7.71.4By his calculation, he had barely enough grain for thirty days, though by rationing it could be made to last somewhat longer. After giving these instructions,

SECTION 7.71.5he silently sent the cavalry out during the second watch, through the gap where the fortifications had not yet been completed.

SECTION 7.71.6He ordered all the grain to be brought to him and established the death penalty for those who did not obey.

SECTION 7.71.7He distributed among the men individually the livestock, a great quantity of which had been driven in by the Mandubii, and began issuing the grain sparingly and in small quantities.

SECTION 7.71.8He withdrew into the town all the forces he had stationed in front of it.

SECTION 7.71.9By these measures he prepared to await relief from Gaul and conduct the war.

CHAPTER 7.72

SECTION 7.72.1After learning of these measures from deserters and prisoners, Caesar established the following kinds of fortifications. He dug a trench twenty feet wide with vertical sides, so that the bottom of the trench was as wide as the distance between its upper edges.

SECTION 7.72.2He set all the remaining fortifications four hundred feet back from that trench. His purpose was this: since he had necessarily enclosed such a vast area, and the entire circuit could not easily be surrounded by a ring of soldiers, he wanted to prevent a large enemy force from suddenly rushing upon the fortifications without warning or at night, or from being able during the day to hurl missiles at our men assigned to the work.

SECTION 7.72.3Leaving this space between them, he dug two trenches fifteen feet wide and equally deep. In the level, low-lying ground he filled the inner trench with water diverted from the river.

SECTION 7.72.4Behind them he constructed an earthwork and rampart twelve feet high. He added a breastwork and battlements, with large forked branches projecting from the joints between the parapets and the earthwork to slow the enemy’s ascent, and placed towers around the entire work at intervals of eighty feet.

CHAPTER 7.73

SECTION 7.73.1At the same time it was necessary to obtain timber and grain and to build such extensive fortifications, although our forces were reduced because detachments were advancing some distance from the camp. The Gauls also sometimes tried to attack our works and attempted to make sorties from the town through several gates with the utmost force.

SECTION 7.73.2Caesar therefore thought that still more defenses should be added to these works so that the fortifications could be defended by a smaller number of soldiers. Accordingly, tree trunks or very stout branches were cut, their tops stripped of bark and sharpened to a point, and continuous trenches five feet deep were dug.

SECTION 7.73.3These stakes were lowered into the trenches and fastened together at the bottom so that they could not be pulled out, while their branches projected above them.

SECTION 7.73.4There were five rows, joined and intertwined with one another. Anyone who entered them impaled himself on the extremely sharp stakes.

SECTION 7.73.5They called these “boundary posts.” In front of them, pits three feet deep were dug in diagonal rows arranged in a quincunx, gradually tapering toward the bottom.

SECTION 7.73.6Smooth stakes as thick as a man’s thigh, sharpened and fire-hardened at the top, were lowered into these pits so that they projected no more than four inches above the ground.

SECTION 7.73.7At the same time, to secure and stabilize them, one foot of earth at the bottom of each pit was stamped down firmly. The remaining part of the pit was covered with willow branches and brushwood to conceal the trap.

SECTION 7.73.8Eight rows of this type were constructed, three feet apart.

SECTION 7.73.9Because of their resemblance to the flower, they were called “lilies.” In front of these, foot-long stakes fitted with iron hooks were buried completely in the ground and scattered everywhere at moderate intervals. They called these “spurs.”

CHAPTER 7.74

SECTION 7.74.1After completing these works, Caesar followed the most level ground he could find, given the nature of the terrain, and enclosed a circuit of fourteen miles. He completed matching fortifications of the same type, but facing in the opposite direction, against an enemy coming from outside, so that the garrisons of the fortifications could not be surrounded even by a large force, if that should happen.

SECTION 7.74.2To avoid being forced to leave camp at his own peril, he ordered everyone to bring in a thirty-day supply of forage and grain.

CHAPTER 7.75

SECTION 7.75.1While these events were taking place at Alesia, the Gauls summoned a council of their leading men. They decided not to call out everyone able to bear arms, as Vercingetorix had proposed, but to levy a fixed number from each state, for fear that, with so vast a multitude thrown into confusion, they would be unable to control them, distinguish their own men, or make adequate provision for grain.

SECTION 7.75.2They levied thirty-five thousand from the Aedui and their client states—the Segusiavi, Ambivareti, Aulerci Brannovices, and Blannovii—and an equal number from the Arverni, together with the Eleuteti, Cadurci, Gabali, and Vellavii, who had traditionally been under the rule of the Arverni; from the Sequani,

SECTION 7.75.3The Senones, Bituriges, Santones, Ruteni, and Carnutes were each to furnish twelve thousand; the Bellovaci, ten thousand; the Lemovices, the same number; the Pictones, Turones, Parisii, and Helvetii, eight thousand each; the Suessiones, Ambiani, Mediomatrici, Petrocorii, Nervii, Morini, and Nitiobriges, five thousand each; the Aulerci Cenomani, the same number; the Atrebates, four thousand; the Veliocasses, Lexovii, and Aulerci Eburovices, three thousand each; and the Rauraci and Boii, two thousand each;

SECTION 7.75.4and thirty thousand from all the states bordering the Ocean that, according to Gallic usage, are called the Armorican states, including the Curiosolites, Redones, Ambibarii, Caletes, Osismi, Veneti, Lemovices, and Venelli.

SECTION 7.75.5Of these, the Bellovaci did not furnish their full quota, because they said that they would wage war against the Romans in their own name and at their own discretion and would obey no one’s orders. Nevertheless, at the request of Commius and in consideration of their ties of hospitality with him, they sent two thousand along with the others.

CHAPTER 7.76

SECTION 7.76.1As we have shown above, Caesar had made faithful and useful use of this Commius’s services in Britain during the preceding years. In return for his merits, Caesar had ordered that his state be exempt from tribute, had restored its rights and laws, and had placed the Morini under his authority.

SECTION 7.76.2Nevertheless, the determination of all Gaul to reclaim its liberty and recover its former military glory was so great that neither favors nor the memory of friendship influenced them, and they all devoted themselves heart and resources to that war.

SECTION 7.76.3After eight thousand cavalry and about two hundred and fifty thousand infantry had been assembled, they were reviewed in the territory of the Aedui, the total was counted, and commanders were appointed.

SECTION 7.76.4Supreme command was entrusted to Commius the Atrebatian, Viridomarus and Eporedorix of the Aedui, and Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, a cousin of Vercingetorix. Men chosen from the states were assigned to them, so that the war might be conducted with their advice.

SECTION 7.76.5All of them set out for Alesia eagerly and full of confidence,

SECTION 7.76.6and there was not one among them who believed that even the sight of so great a force could be withstood, especially in a battle on two fronts, when a sortie was being made from the town while such vast forces of cavalry and infantry could be seen outside.

CHAPTER 7.77

SECTION 7.77.1But those under siege at Alesia, after the day on which they had expected relief from their countrymen had passed, had consumed all their grain. Not knowing what was happening among the Aedui, they called a council

SECTION 7.77.2and deliberated about the outcome of their fortunes. Various opinions were expressed, some advocating surrender and others a sortie while their strength still held out. The speech of Critognatus must not be passed over because of its extraordinary and monstrous cruelty.

SECTION 7.77.3This man, who came from a very high-ranking Arvernian family and was regarded as a man of great authority, said: “I intend to say nothing about the proposal of those who give the name ‘surrender’ to the most shameful slavery. In my judgment, they should not be regarded as citizens or admitted to this council.

SECTION 7.77.4My concern is with those who approve a sortie. In their proposal, as all of you agree, there seems to remain some memory of our former courage. Yet this inability to endure deprivation for a short time is weakness of spirit,

SECTION 7.77.5not courage. It is easier to find men who offer themselves voluntarily to death than men who endure suffering patiently.

SECTION 7.77.6And I would approve this proposal—so much influence does honor have with me—if I saw that no loss would result except that of our own lives.

SECTION 7.77.7But in reaching our decision, let us consider all Gaul, which we have roused to come to our aid.

SECTION 7.77.8What spirit do you think our relatives and kinsmen will have if eighty thousand men are killed in this one place and they are forced to fight out the battle almost on top of our corpses?

SECTION 7.77.9Do not deprive of your aid those who, for the sake of your safety, have disregarded their own danger. Do not, through your own folly and recklessness or weakness of spirit, bring all Gaul to ruin and subject it to perpetual slavery.

SECTION 7.77.10Or do you doubt their loyalty and steadfastness because they did not arrive on the appointed day? What, then? Do you think the Romans are working every day on those outer fortifications merely for amusement?

SECTION 7.77.11If you cannot receive confirmation from their messengers because every approach has been blocked, use these fortifications as evidence that their arrival is drawing near. Terrified by the prospect of it, the Romans work day and night.

SECTION 7.77.12What, then, is my proposal? To do what our ancestors did in their war with the Cimbri and Teutones, though that war was by no means comparable to this one. Driven into their towns and reduced to similar deprivation, they sustained their lives with the bodies of those who, because of their age, seemed unfit for war, and they did not surrender to the enemy.

SECTION 7.77.13Even if we had no precedent for such an act, I would still judge it a glorious thing to establish one for the sake of liberty and hand it down to posterity.

SECTION 7.77.14For how was that war anything like this one? After ravaging Gaul and inflicting a great disaster, the Cimbri eventually left our territory and sought other lands. They left us our rights, laws, fields, and liberty.

SECTION 7.77.15But what else do the Romans seek or want except, driven by envy, to settle in the lands and states of those whom they have learned through report are distinguished and powerful in war, and to impose perpetual slavery upon them? They have never waged wars on any other terms.

SECTION 7.77.16But if you do not know what is happening among distant nations, look at neighboring Gaul. It has been reduced to a province, its rights and laws have been changed, it has been subjected to the axes of Roman officials, and it is oppressed by perpetual slavery.”

CHAPTER 7.78

SECTION 7.78.1After the opinions had been expressed, they decided that those who were unfit for war because of health or age should leave the town, and that they should try everything else before resorting to the proposal of Critognatus.

SECTION 7.78.2Nevertheless, if circumstances forced them and the relief force was delayed, they should adopt that plan rather than accept terms of surrender or peace.

SECTION 7.78.3The Mandubii, who had admitted them into the town, were forced to leave with their children and wives. When they reached the Roman fortifications,

SECTION 7.78.4they wept and begged with every appeal to be taken in as slaves and given food.

SECTION 7.78.5But Caesar posted guards along the rampart and forbade them to be admitted.

CHAPTER 7.79

SECTION 7.79.1Meanwhile Commius and the other commanders to whom supreme command had been entrusted reached Alesia with all their forces. They occupied an outlying hill and established their camp no more than a mile from our fortifications.

SECTION 7.79.2The next day they led the cavalry out of camp and filled the entire plain, which, as we have shown, extended three miles in length. They stationed their infantry a short distance away, concealed on higher ground.

SECTION 7.79.3From the town of Alesia there was a view down onto the plain. At the sight of these relief forces, the besieged came rushing together. They congratulated one another, and everyone’s spirits rose with joy.

SECTION 7.79.4They therefore led their forces out and took up a position before the town. They covered the nearest trench with hurdles, filled it with earth, and prepared themselves for a sortie and for every possible outcome.

CHAPTER 7.80

SECTION 7.80.1Caesar stationed his entire army along both sides of the fortifications so that, if the need arose, every man would know and hold his assigned position. He then ordered the cavalry to be led out of camp and the battle to begin.

SECTION 7.80.2There was a view down onto the field from all the camps, which occupied the crest of the ridge on every side, and all the soldiers watched intently for the battle’s outcome.

SECTION 7.80.3The Gauls had interspersed a few archers and lightly armed infantry among their cavalry. These men were to come to the aid of their comrades when they gave ground and withstand the charges of our cavalry. Many of our men, unexpectedly wounded by them, withdrew from the fighting.

SECTION 7.80.4Because the Gauls were confident that their men were gaining the advantage in the battle and saw that ours were being overwhelmed by superior numbers, both those enclosed within the fortifications and those who had come to their relief encouraged their comrades from every side with shouts and war cries.

SECTION 7.80.5Because the action was taking place in full view of everyone and neither brave nor shameful conduct could be concealed, both sides were inspired to courage by their desire for praise and their fear of disgrace.

SECTION 7.80.6The battle remained undecided from noon almost until sunset. Then, at one point, the Germans formed their squadrons into a compact body, charged the enemy, and drove them back.

SECTION 7.80.7When the cavalry had been put to flight, the archers were surrounded and killed.

SECTION 7.80.8Likewise, in the other sectors, our men pursued the retreating enemy all the way to their camp and gave them no opportunity to regroup.

SECTION 7.80.9But those who had come out from Alesia withdrew sadly into the town, having almost given up hope of victory.

CHAPTER 7.81

SECTION 7.81.1After allowing one day to pass and using that interval to make a great number of hurdles, ladders, and grappling hooks, the Gauls silently left their camp at midnight and approached the fortifications on the plain.

SECTION 7.81.2They suddenly raised a shout so that those under siege in the town could know of their arrival. They prepared to throw down hurdles, drive our men from the rampart with slings, arrows, and stones, and carry out all the other operations required for an assault.

SECTION 7.81.3At the same time, when he heard the shouting, Vercingetorix gave his men the signal with a trumpet and led them out of the town.

SECTION 7.81.4Our men went to the fortifications, each to the position assigned to him on the preceding days, and terrified the Gauls with heavy slings, sharpened stakes they had placed along the works, and sling bullets.

SECTION 7.81.5Because the darkness made it impossible to see, many wounds were suffered on both sides. A great many missiles were fired by artillery.

SECTION 7.81.6The lieutenants Mark Antony and Gaius Trebonius, to whom the defense of these sectors had fallen, brought men down from the more distant redoubts and sent them to reinforce any point where they understood that our men were under pressure.

CHAPTER 7.82

SECTION 7.82.1As long as the Gauls remained some distance from the fortifications, they gained more advantage from the sheer number of their missiles. Once they came nearer, however, they either unknowingly impaled themselves on the spikes, fell into the pits and were run through, or were pierced by heavy rampart javelins from the wall and towers and killed.

SECTION 7.82.2After suffering many wounds on every side without breaking through any fortification, they withdrew to their own men as dawn approached, fearing that a sortie from the upper camp might surround them on their exposed flank.

SECTION 7.82.3Meanwhile, the men on the inside were bringing forward the equipment Vercingetorix had prepared for the sortie and filling the forward trenches. They spent so long carrying out these operations that they learned that their comrades had withdrawn before they themselves could approach the fortifications. Thus, without accomplishing their objective, they returned to the town.

CHAPTER 7.83

SECTION 7.83.1Twice repulsed with heavy losses, the Gauls deliberated about what to do. They consulted men familiar with the terrain and learned from them the position and fortifications of the upper camp.

SECTION 7.83.2On the northern side there was a hill that our men had been unable to enclose within their works because its circumference was so great. They had therefore been forced to establish a camp on ground that was almost unfavorable and sloped gently downward.

SECTION 7.83.3The lieutenants Gaius Antistius Reginus and Gaius Caninius Rebilus held this camp with two legions.

SECTION 7.83.4After scouts had surveyed the terrain, the enemy commanders selected sixty thousand men from their entire force, choosing them from the states with the highest reputation for courage.

SECTION 7.83.5They secretly agreed among themselves on what they wanted done and how it should be carried out. They set the time for the approach at about noon.

SECTION 7.83.6They placed these troops under the command of Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, one of the four commanders and a relative of Vercingetorix.

SECTION 7.83.7He left camp during the first watch, nearly completed his march by dawn, concealed himself behind the mountain, and ordered his soldiers to recover from their exertions during the night.

SECTION 7.83.8When noon seemed to be approaching, he hurried toward the camp mentioned above. At the same time, the cavalry began approaching the fortifications on the plain, while the rest of the forces began showing themselves in front of their camp.

CHAPTER 7.84

SECTION 7.84.1When Vercingetorix saw his men from the citadel of Alesia, he left the town and brought forward the hurdles, poles, covered assault shelters, hooks, and other equipment he had prepared for the sortie.

SECTION 7.84.2Fighting took place simultaneously at every point, and every method was tried. Wherever a section appeared weakest, men rushed to it.

SECTION 7.84.3The Roman force was stretched thin by fortifications of such extent and could not readily respond at several points.

SECTION 7.84.4The shouting that arose behind our men as they fought did much to terrify them, because they saw that their own danger depended on the safety of others.

SECTION 7.84.5For things that are out of sight generally disturb people’s minds more intensely.

CHAPTER 7.85

SECTION 7.85.1Caesar found a suitable position from which he could see what was happening in every sector, and he sent reinforcements to those under pressure.

SECTION 7.85.2Both sides realized that this was the one moment when they must make their greatest effort:

SECTION 7.85.3the Gauls despaired of any chance of survival unless they broke through the fortifications; the Romans, if they held their ground, expected an end to all their hardships.

SECTION 7.85.4The greatest pressure was on the upper fortifications, where, as we have shown, Vercassivellaunus had been sent. The unfavorable downward slope of the ground had a major effect.

SECTION 7.85.5Some hurled missiles, while others formed a shield wall and advanced. Fresh troops took the place of those who became exhausted.

SECTION 7.85.6The earth thrown against the fortification by the entire Gallic force both gave the Gauls a way up and covered the obstacles the Romans had concealed in the ground. By now our men had neither weapons nor strength enough to continue.

CHAPTER 7.86

SECTION 7.86.1When Caesar learned of these developments, he sent Labienus with six cohorts to reinforce the men under pressure.

SECTION 7.86.2He ordered him, if he could not hold out, to withdraw the cohorts from the fortifications and fight by making a sortie, but not to do this unless absolutely necessary.

SECTION 7.86.3Caesar himself went to the other troops and urged them not to give in to exhaustion. He explained that the reward for all their previous battles depended on that day and that hour.

SECTION 7.86.4The men on the inside, despairing of success on the level ground because of the immense fortifications, attempted to climb the steep slopes. They brought there the equipment they had prepared.

SECTION 7.86.5With a mass of missiles they drove the defenders from the towers, filled the trenches with earth and hurdles, and used hooks to tear down the palisade and breastwork.

CHAPTER 7.87

SECTION 7.87.1Caesar first sent the young Brutus with several cohorts, and afterward sent the lieutenant Gaius Fabius with others. Finally, when the fighting became more intense, he himself brought up fresh troops as reinforcements.

SECTION 7.87.2After restoring the battle and driving back the enemy, he hurried to the place where he had sent Labienus. He brought four cohorts down from the nearest redoubt and ordered part of the cavalry to follow him, while the rest rode around the outer fortifications and attacked the enemy from the rear.

SECTION 7.87.3When neither the embankments nor the trenches could withstand the enemy’s assault, Labienus assembled forty cohorts that chance had made available from the nearest guard posts and sent messengers to inform Caesar of what he thought had to be done. Caesar hurried so that he could take part in the battle.

CHAPTER 7.88

SECTION 7.88.1The enemy recognized Caesar’s approach by the color of the cloak he customarily wore as his distinguishing mark in battle. Seeing also the cavalry squadrons and cohorts he had ordered to follow him, since the downward slopes could be seen from the higher ground, they joined battle.

SECTION 7.88.2A shout rises on both sides, and another shout answers it from the rampart and all the fortifications. Our men lay aside their javelins and fight with their swords.

SECTION 7.88.3Suddenly the cavalry is seen behind the enemy; other cohorts are approaching. The enemy turns and flees, only to be met by the cavalry. A great slaughter follows. Sedulius, commander and chief of the Lemovices, is killed;

SECTION 7.88.4Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian is captured alive while fleeing; seventy-four military standards are brought back to Caesar. Out of that vast number, only a few reach their camp unharmed.

SECTION 7.88.5When those in the town see the slaughter and flight of their countrymen, they despair of being saved and withdraw their forces from the fortifications.

SECTION 7.88.6As soon as this news is heard, the Gauls flee from their camp. If our soldiers had not been exhausted by repeated relief duties and the exertions of the entire day, all the enemy’s forces could have been destroyed.

SECTION 7.88.7Around midnight the cavalry is sent out and overtakes the rear of the column. A great number are captured and killed; the rest escape and disperse to their states.

CHAPTER 7.89

SECTION 7.89.1The next day Vercingetorix calls a council and explains that he undertook that war not for his own personal interests,

SECTION 7.89.2but for the sake of their common freedom, and that, since they must yield to fortune, he offers himself to them for either course: whether they wish to satisfy the Romans by his death or surrender him alive. Envoys are sent to Caesar about these matters.

SECTION 7.89.3He orders the weapons to be surrendered and the chiefs brought forward.

SECTION 7.89.4Caesar himself takes his seat in the fortifications before the camp. The leaders are brought before him; Vercingetorix is surrendered, and the weapons are thrown down.

SECTION 7.89.5He keeps the Aedui and Arverni apart, in case he can use them to regain the allegiance of their states, and distributes the remaining prisoners throughout the entire army, one to each soldier as plunder.

CHAPTER 7.90

SECTION 7.90.1After completing these arrangements, he sets out for the territory of the Aedui and restores the state to his allegiance.

SECTION 7.90.2Envoys sent there by the Arverni promise that they will do whatever he commands. He demands a large number of hostages.

SECTION 7.90.3He sends the legions into winter quarters. He returns about twenty thousand prisoners to the Aedui and Arverni.

SECTION 7.90.4He orders Titus Labienus to set out for the territory of the Sequani with two legions and the cavalry, and assigns Marcus Sempronius Rutilus to him.

SECTION 7.90.5He stations the legate Gaius Fabius and Lucius Minucius Basilus with two legions among the Remi, to prevent them from suffering any harm from the neighboring Bellovaci.

SECTION 7.90.6He sends Gaius Antistius Reginus to the Ambivareti, Titus Sextius to the Bituriges, and Gaius Caninius Rebilus to the Ruteni, each with one legion.

SECTION 7.90.7He stations Quintus Tullius Cicero and Publius Sulpicius at Cabillonum and Matisco in the territory of the Aedui along the Arar, to oversee the grain supply. He himself decides to winter at Bibracte. When these dispatches become known at Rome, a public thanksgiving of twenty days is decreed.