History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

The village of Saint-Parize-le-Châtel suits better. It is about eight kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, nearly in the middle of the space comprised between the Loire and the Allier; it occupies the centre of ancient agglomeration of inhabitants, which Guy Coquille, at the end of the sixteenth century, designates under the name of the bourg de Gentily, and which the chronicles called, down to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Pagus Gentilicus, or bourg des gentils. The history of this people has this remarkable peculiarity, that, whilst all the neighbouring nations on the other side of the Allier and the Loire had, as early as the fourth century, accepted the Christian religion, they alone continued in idolatry until the sixth century. Does this fact apply to a tribe settled in a foreign country, as the Boii were, who would retain their customs and religion for a longer time unchanged? An ancient tradition states that, in the environs of Saint-Parize, there was, at a very remote period, a considerable town, which was destroyed by a fire. A few scattered foundations, discovered in the woods of Bord, to the south-west of Saint Parize, seem to indicate the site of the oppidum of the Boii. The name of the castle, of the domain, and of the place called Les Bruyères de Buy, remind us of that of the Boii.

There was probably a Roman station at Saincaise-Meauce (thirteen kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier), on the right bank of the Allier. In 1861, there were discovered there numerous objects of the Gallo-Roman period, and two busts in white marble, life-size, representing Roman emperors. At Chantenay, eight kilomètres south from Saint-Pierre, a few Roman foundations have been found, and a considerable number of Gaulish coins, one of which, amongst others, bears the name of the Æduan Litavicus.

Genabum. The position of Gorgobina once established at the confluence of the Loire and the Allier, we must admit Gien as the ancient Genabum, and not Orleans, for the following reasons: —

1st. We cannot believe that Cæsar, leaving Sens in spite of the rigour of the season, and in haste to raise the siege of Gorgobina, should, without any reason, have taken a circuitous road of seventy-five kilomètres, which would represent three or four days march, in order to pass by Orleans. In fact, the distance from Sens to the confluence of the Allier and the Loire, is, by Orleans, 270 kilomètres, whilst it is only 180 kilomètres by the way of Gien.

2nd. From Sens to Gien the road was short and easy; on the contrary, from Sens to Orleans it was necessary to pass the great marsh of Sceaux and the forest of Orleans, probably impracticable. Now, the road indicated on the Peutingerian Table, as leading from Orleans to Sens, must have had a decided curve towards the south, and passed close by Gien, after having passed through Aquæ-Segeste (Craon and Chenevière), for the distance between Sens and Orleans is marked at fifty-nine Gaulish leagues, or 134 kilomètres. The Roman road, which leads directly from Sens to Orleans, by way of Sceaux, and which the itineraries do not mention, has only a length of 110 kilomètres: it is certainly less ancient than the former, and can never have been a Gaulish road.

3rd. The “Commentaries” inform us that the news of the insurrection of Genabum arrived in a short time among the Averni (of whom Gergovia, near Clermont, was the principal centre), at a distance of 160 miles (237 kilomètres) from Genabum. Now, the distance from Gien to Gergovia, by the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, is 240 kilomètres, which agrees with the text, whilst from Orleans to the same spot it is 300 kilomètres.

4th. After having crossed the Loire at Genabum, Cæsar was in the territory of the Bituriges. This is true if he passed by Gien, and false if he passed by Orleans, since, opposite Orleans, the left bank belonged to the territory of the Carnutes. It is true that it has been pretended that Gien belonged to the ancient diocese of Auxerre, and that, consequently, it was in the territory of the Senones, and not in that of the Carnutes. The limits of the ancient dioceses cannot be considered as indicating in an absolute manner the frontiers of the peoples of Gaul; and we cannot admit that the territory of the Senones formed an acute angle upon the territory of the Carnutes, the summit of which would be occupied by Gien. Moreover, whatever change it may have experienced in feudal times, in regard to its diocesan attribution, Gien has never formed a part of the Orléanais, in its civil and political relations. In 561, Gien was included in the kingdom of Orleans and Burgundy.

We believe, therefore, that Genabum was, not old Gien, which, notwithstanding its epithet, may be posterior to Cæsar, but the present Gien. This little town, by its position on the banks of the Loire, besides containing a hill very appropriate for the site of an ancient oppidum, possesses sufficiently interesting ruins, and agrees much better than Old Gien with the oppidum of the Carnutes. Without attaching too great faith to traditions and etymologies, we must, nevertheless, mention a gate at Gien, which, from time immemorial, has been called Cæsar’s Gate (la Porte de César); a street called à la Genabye, which leads, not towards Orleans, but towards the high part of town; a piece of ground, situated to the north of Gien, at the angle formed by the road to Montargis and the Roman road, at a distance of about one kilomètre, which still preserves the name of the Field of the Camp (La Pièce du Camp). Perhaps this is the spot where Cæsar placed his camp, opposite the most accessible part of the town.

The principal reason why Orleans has been taken for Genabum is that the Itinerary of Antoninus indicates that town under the name of Cenabum or Cenabo, and that this name is also found in some lately discovered inscriptions. It may be supposed that the inhabitants of Gien, after having escaped from the destruction of their town, descended the river, and, on the spot where Orleans now stands, formed a new establishment, to which they gave the name of the first city; in the same manner the inhabitants of Bibracte removed to Autun, and those of Gergovia to Clermont.

Independently of the above considerations, Orleans, by its position on a declivity uniformly inclined toward the Loire, does not at all answer to the conditions of a Gaulish oppidum. If we admit Orleans to be Genabum, it becomes very difficult to assign a convenient site for the oppida of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.

Vellaunodunum. The situation of the territory of the Boii being admitted, as well as that of Genabum, we have to find, on the road which Cæsar pursued from Sens to Gorgobina, the intermediate points of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.

On the direct line from Sens to Gien, at the distance of 40 kilomètres from Sens, we meet with the little town of Triguères. The hill which overlooks it from the north agrees with the position of the ancient oppidum; the remains of walls, fosses, and parapets have been found on it. Farther, there were discovered in 1856, at 500 mètres to the north-west of Triguères, the ruins of a large semi-elliptical theatre, capable of containing from 5,000 to 6,000 spectators. In another direction, the ruins of a Druidical monument have been pointed out; in fact, everything leads to the belief that there existed at Triguères, in the Gallo-Roman period, an important centre, which had been preceded by a Gaulish establishment anterior to the conquest. A road paved with stones, considered by some as a Gaulish or Celtic way, but accepted by all archæologists as a Roman road, goes direct from Sens to Triguères, by Courtenay, and passes along the eastern side of the oppidum. Another ancient way leads similarly from Triguères to Gien. We feel no hesitation, after what precedes, in placing Vellaunodunum at Triguères.

It will be objected that the distance from Sens to this little town (40 kilomètres) is too small to have taken the Roman army, without baggage, three days’ march; but Cæsar does not say that he employed three days in proceeding from Agedincum to Vellaunodunum: he informs us merely that, leaving all his baggage at Agedincum, he journeyed towards the country of the Boii, and that on the second day he arrived at Vellaunodunum. Nothing, therefore, obliges us to suppose that, before it marched, the Roman army was concentrated or encamped at Agedincum itself. Persons unacquainted with military art are apt to suppose that an army lives and marches always concentrated on one point.

Cæsar, although he was effecting the concentration of his troops before entering into campaign, did not keep them massed at the gates of Sens, but he probably distributed them in échelon in the neighbourhood of the town, along the Yonne. When afterwards he decided on marching to the succour of the Boii, we must suppose that the first day was employed in concentrating the whole army at Sens itself, in leaving the baggage there, perhaps also in crossing the Yonne, a long operation for more than 60,000 men. The first day having passed, the army continued its march next day, and arrived at Triguères the day following, having performed two days’ march of 20 kilomètres each. We see, then, that the distance between Sens and Triguères does not prevent us from identifying this latter locality with Vellaunodunum. Triguères is distant 44 kilomètres from Gien, the distance which separated Vellaunodunum from Genabum, and which might have been marched in two days.

Noviodunum. To find the site of Noviodunum, we must seek a position which agrees best with the “Commentaries” in the triangle formed by the three known points, Gien, Le Bec-d’Allier, and Bourges. Since, according to the text, Vercingetorix did not raise the siege of the town of the Boii until he had heard of Cæsar’s arrival on the left bank of the Loire, and since the two hostile armies, marching towards each other, met at Noviodunum, it follows that this last-named town must be about half-way between the spot where the Loire was passed and the town of the Boii; on another hand, since Cæsar took several days to reach Bourges from Noviodunum, there must have been a rather considerable distance between those two last-named towns. Moreover, in order that the inhabitants of Noviodunum should have seen in the distance, from the top of their walls, the cavalry of Vercingetorix, the town must necessarily have been situated on an eminence. Lastly, the cavalry combat, fought at a small distance from the town, proves that the ground was sufficiently flat to permit that engagement.

It is, therefore, because certain points hitherto indicated do not answer to the conditions required by the text, that we have not admitted, as representing Noviodunum, the towns of Nouan-le-Fuselier, Pierrefitte-sur-Saudre, Nohant-en-Goût, Neuvy-en-Sullias, or Neuvy-sur-Barangeon. In fact, some of these are too far from Bec-d’Allier, while others are too near Bourges, and most of them are situated in a plain.

Sancerre, on the contrary, answers all the conditions of the text. It is situated on a hill which rises 115 mètres above the valley watered by the Loire. Encircled on all sides by deep ravines, it can only be approached from one point, situated to the east, where the ancient Roman road of Bourges terminated, which is still at the present day called the Big Road (le Gros Chemin). The Abbé Lebœuf, as early as 1727, had designated this town as the ancient Noviodunum. It is near Saint-Satur, at the very foot of the mountain of Sancerre, that a Gallo-Roman town existed, of which, within the last few years, numerous foundations have been found. It is probable that this Gallo-Roman town had succeeded to a great centre of Gaulish population, for the Bituriges must necessarily have occupied in their territory a point so admirably fortified by nature, and which commanded the course of the Loire, the line of boundary between them and the Ædui. The present town seems to have kept within the very limits of the ancient oppidum; it has the form of an ellipse of from 700 to 800 mètres in length on a breadth of about 500 mètres, capable of containing a population of from 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. At Sancerre there was also, at the extremity of one of the streets, towards the north, a gate called the Gate of Cæsar (Porte de César), which was demolished in the beginning of the nineteenth century. By adopting Sancerre, all the movements of the commencement of the campaign of 702 are easily explained. This town is forty-six kilomètres from Gien, forty-eight kilomètres from Le Bec-d’Allier, distances nearly equal, so that Vercingetorix and Cæsar, starting almost at the same time from two opposite points, may have met under its walls. Its elevated position allowed the eye to range far towards the south along the valley of the Loire, through which the inhabitants would have seen the approach of the cavalry of Vercingetorix. Cæsar may have occupied with his army the heights of Verdigny or Saint-Satur, to the north of Sancerre. A cavalry engagement may have taken place in the valley of Saint-Satur, or on the plain between Ménétréol and Saint-Thibaud. The captain of staff Rouby has examined with the greatest care the places just mentioned.

Cæsar, after the surrender of Noviodunum, marches towards Bourges. Vercingetorix follows him by short marches (minoribus itineribus). The Roman general, having Bourges before him, and a hostile army on his left, marches slowly and with precaution. Perhaps he took three or four days to perform the forty-five kilomètres which separate Sancerre from Bourges. At last, after having reconnoitred the site of Avaricum, he must have traversed the marshes of the Yèvre, at a distance of three or four kilomètres from that town, so as to take up a position to the south-east of the oppidum, in that part which was not surrounded by the river and the marshes, and which only offered a narrow passage. As to Vercingetorix, he follows, or rather hovers on, the Roman army, taking up his position on its left, and still keeping up his communication with Avaricum, hesitating whether he shall deliver it to the flames.

468

De Bello Gallico, VII. 13.

469

Archælogists have pretended they find traces still existing of the camp of Vercingetorix in the neighbourhood of Bourges, not considering that Cæsar declares that the Gaulish chief did not, for the first time, think of retrenching his camp in the Roman fashion till after the siege of this town. We believe that Vercingetorix, although he came from the east, encamped to the south of Bourges. It was, indeed, natural that he should place himself between the Roman army and the land of the Arverni, whence, probably, it drew its provisions. Besides, if he had placed his camp to the east of Bourges, he would have intercepted the provisions which Cæsar expected from the land of the Ædui, which the text does not say.

470

The ravine which descends to the Auron is still recognised at the present day, between the Portes Saint-Michel and Saint-Paul, by the sudden incline of the ground. Old plans of Bourges designate it by the name of the Vallée Saint-Paul. The opposite ravine, which runs towards the Porte Bourbonnoux, has disappeared under the successive fillings up composing the soil of the garden of the archbishop’s palace. The ridge of land forming the avenue cannot have been in Cæsar’s time more than 100 mètres broad. It has lost its primitive physiognomy, especially by the formation of the Place Sérancourt, in 1700, on a site the level of which did not then exceed that of the field of the present fair. The depression of the ground which existed before the wall is more visible; it has been filled-up during the different sieges of Bourges.

471

This is evident, since the Romans, in order to be able to give the assault, were obliged to construct a terrace eighty feet high. General de Gœler believed this measurement exaggerated. Nevertheless, as this terrace was constructed in a ravine, it was necessary that it should compensate a difference of level of eighty mètres, of which thirty, perhaps, represent the height of the wall.

472

Vercingetorix, encamped first towards Dun-le-Roi, had approached nearer Bourges. He had established his new camp to the east of that of Cæsar, perhaps at La Chenevière, at the confluence of the Yèvre and the brook of Villabon, fourteen kilomètres from Bourges.

473

See the quotation from Vegetius, p. 143, note (1).

474

We read in Vitruvius, on occasion of the siege of Marseilles: “When the tortoise approached to batter the wall, they let down a cord furnished with a slip-knot, in which they caught the ram, and raised its head so high, by means of a wheel, that they prevented its striking the wall.” (Vitruvius, X. 16.)

475

Titus Livius expresses himself thus in speaking of the beseiged in Ambracia, who dug a mine to meet that of the enemies: “Aperiunt viam rectam in cuniculum.” (XXXVII. 7.)

476

Several authors have thought that these beams, instead of being placed perpendicularly to the direction of the wall, were placed parallel to that direction. This interpretation appears to us inadmissable. The beams so placed would have no solidity, and would easily have been torn down. We see on the Trajan Column walls constructed as we describe; moreover, the Latin expression trabes directæ can leave no doubt, for the word directus means always perpendicular to a direction. (See De Bello Gallico, IV. 17, directa materia injecta, and the dissertation in the Philologus, Jahrganges 19, Heft. 3.)

477

The name of pluteus was given generally to all kinds of covering with hurdles or with skins. (Festus, in voce Pluteus. – Vitruvius, X. 20.) – Vegetius (IV. 15) applies the name of pluteus to a kind of penthouse, of wicker-work or skins, mounted on three wheels, and protecting the men placed behind it, so that they might shoot at the defenders.

478

They gave this name to a small engine resembling the balistæ, which threw darts. These scorpions composed, as it were, the field-artillery of the ancients.

479

De Bello Gallico, VII. 32.

480

It is very probably that Cæsar proceeded first to Noviodunum (Nevers), since he informs us that he had established in that town a great magazine and provisions of every kind.

481

At present the Allier is fordable almost everywhere in summer; but in the course of nineteen centuries the bed of the river must have been considerably raised.

482

The commentators are not agreed on this passage. I have adopted the version which seemed to me the best, and which MM. Köchly and Rustow have followed in their German translation, Stuttgart, 1862.

483

Dio Cassius, XL. 35.

484

Cæsar, on leaving Decize, followed, no doubt the Gaulish road which led to the Allier, and the existence of which may be assumed from the later construction of the Roman road which goes from Decize to Bourbon-l’Archambault (Aquæ Borvonis), and which crossed the Allier a little below Moulins. Thence he followed the course of the river for some days, constantly in face of the enemy. In order to pass it by the help of a stratagem, he took advantage of the remains of a bridge; and, as this bridge indicates that there must have been a road, it becomes a question to find among the ancient roads which crossed the Allier that which Cæsar followed. Now we only know two Roman roads leading to the Allier below Moulins, one at Varennes, the other at Vichy. We adopt Varennes. That locality is seventy-seven kilomètres from Gergovia, reckoning them along the Allier, and Cæsar took five days to perform them; but, as the four legions sent forward to deceive the enemy returned during the night, in order to rejoin him, they must have suffered great fatigues; hence it is to be presumed that the next day the first march was very short. The fifth also was not long, for, according to the “Commentaries,” Cæsar had time on the day of his arrival to fortify his camp, to reconnoitre the place, and to engage in a cavalry combat. Besides, the country, interspersed with woods and marshes, was unknown to him; and we believe that we do not depart from the truth if we admit that the first and the last march were of no more than ten kilomètres, and the three others of nineteen, which gives a total of seventy-seven kilomètres, the distance from Varennes to Gergovia. When Cæsar left Gergovia, he crossed the Allier again, but at a point nearer to Gergovia, being in haste to place the river between him and the enemy. Indeed, on the second day after his check, he fought a successful cavalry engagement, broke up his camp, and the following day (tertio die) crossed the Allier again, according to our opinion, at Vichy, which is only fifty-five kilomètres from Gergovia.

485

The Artières receives, on the north of Gergovia, the little brook of Clémensat, marked on Plate 21.

486

It is by seeking the essential conditions required for the placing of troops that Commandant Baron Stoffel succeeded in finding the camps. Cæsar had to place from 30,000 to 40,000 men in the neighbourhood of water, at a convenient distance from Gergovia, and in such a manner as to preserve his line of operation upon Nevers, where his magazines were. These necessities indicated that the principal camp would be near the Auzon, and to the east. Moreover, it must be sufficiently near the oppidum, that from the top of the mountain of Gergovia could be seen what was going on in it; and yet sufficiently distant that the objects could not be clearly distinguished. The camp must be in the plain; Dio Cassius (XL. 36) formally says, “Cæsar remained in the plain, not having been able to take (for placing his camp) a place strong by its elevation;” and then the “Commentaries” inform us that the Romans only occupied one single hill, namely, the one they took by surprise (La Roche-Blanche). Lastly, it was indispensable that there should be in front of the camp a space sufficiently large to admit of cavalry engagements.

487

Vercingetorix, placed in the centre of a kind of semicircle, might easily be considered by Cæsar as surrounded by his numerous troops (collocaverat copias circum se).

488

The combats of cavalry took place in the plain which extends from the small eminence called Le Puy-de-Marmant to the marsh of Sarlièves.

489

The hill is certainly the Roche-Blanche, for it is situated opposite the oppidum (e regione oppidi); it begins at the very foot of the slopes of the mountain of Gergovia (sub ipsis radicibus montis), is singularly fortified by nature, and, as it were, cut out from all sides (egregie munitus atque ex omni parte circumcisus). So long as the Gauls occupied it, they could go to the Auzon by the ravine of Merdogne, to obtain water and forage; but as soon as it was in the power of the Romans, the Gauls were compelled to draw their water from the springs on the mountain of Gergovia, and from the little brook of Artières.

The excavations made in 1862 brought the two camps to light. The fosses of the little camp are clearly defined in the calcareous soil. They form an irregular outline, represented on Plate 22. The Roche-Blanche, which presents in its southern part an escarpment almost as perpendicular as a wall, has lost on the sides its abrupt form by successive landslips, the last of which took place within memory of the inhabitants. The communication between the great and little camps was composed of a parapet, formed by the earth thrown out of two contiguous fosses, each four feet in depth and six in breadth, so that the breadth of the two together is only twelve feet. If we wonder that the Romans should have dug two little ditches, each six feet broad and four feet deep, instead of making one eight feet wide by six feet deep, which would have given the same amount of soil to take out, it may be answered that the two little ditches were much more quickly made than one large ditch.