History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

When Labienus arrived on the opposite bank, he ordered covered galleries to be pushed forward, and sought, by means of hurdles and earth, to establish a road across the marsh; but, meeting with too many difficulties, he formed the project of surprising the passage of the Seine at Melodunum (Melun), and, when once on the right bank, of advancing towards Lutetia by stealing a march upon the enemy. He therefore left his camp in silence, at the third watch (midnight), and, retracing his steps, arrived at Melun, an oppidum of the Senones, situated, like Lutetia, on an island in the Seine. He seized about fifty boats, joined them together, filled them with soldiers, and entered into the place without striking a blow. Terrified at this sudden attack, the inhabitants, a great part of whom had answered to the appeal of Camulogenus, offered no resistance. A few days before, they had cut the bridge which united the island with the right bank; Labienus restored it, led his troops over it, and proceeded towards Lutetia, where he arrived before Camulogenus. He took a position near the place where Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois now stands. Camulogenus, informed by those who had fled from Melun, quits his position on the Essonne, returns to Lutetia, gives orders to burn it and to cut the bridges, and establishes his camp on the left bank of the Seine, in front of the oppidum, that is, on the present site of the Hotel de Cluny.

It was already rumoured that Cæsar had raised the siege of Gergovia; the news of the defection of the Ædui, and of the progress of the insurrection, had begun already to spread. The Gauls repeated incessantly that Cæsar, arrested in his march by the Loire, had been compelled, by want of provisions, to retire towards the Roman province. The Bellovaci, whose fidelity was doubtful, had no sooner heard of the revolt of the Ædui, than they collected troops and prepared openly for war.

At the news of so many unfavourable events, Labienus felt all the difficulties of his situation. Placed on the right bank of the Seine, he was threatened on one side by the Bellovaci, who had only to cross the Oise to fall upon him; on the other by Camulogenus, at the head of a well-trained army, ready to give battle; lastly, a large river, which he had crossed at Melun, separated him from Sens, where he had his dépôts and baggage. To escape from this perilous position, he thought it advisable to change his plans: he renounced all offensive movements, and resolved to return to his point of departure by an act of daring. Fearing that, if he went by the road on which he had advanced, he should not be able to cross the Seine at Melun, because his boats would not have re-mounted the river without difficulty, he decided on surprising the passage of the Seine below Paris, and returning to Sens by the left bank, marching over the body of the Gaulish army. Towards evening he convoked a council, and urged on his officers the punctual execution of his orders. He entrusted the boats he had brought from Melun to the Roman knights, with orders to descend the river at the end of the first watch (ten o’clock), to advance in silence for the space of four miles (six kilomètres), which would bring them as far down as the village of Point-du-Joir, and to wait for him. The five cohorts which had least experience were left in charge of the camp, and the five others of the same legion received orders to re-ascend on the right bank of the river in the middle of the night, with all their baggage, and attract by their tumult the attention of the enemy. Boats were sent in the same direction, which were rowed with great noise. He himself, a little after, left in silence with the three remaining legions, and, proceeding down the river, repaired to the spot where the first boats waited for him.

When he arrived there, a violent storm enabled him to carry by surprise the Gaulish posts placed along the whole bank. The legions and cavalry had soon passed the Seine with the assistance of the knights. Day began to appear, when the enemy learnt, almost at the same instant, first, that an unusual agitation prevailed in the Roman camp, that a considerable column of troops was ascending the river, and that in the same direction a great noise of oars was heard; lastly, that lower down the stream the troops were crossing the Seine in boats. This news made the Gauls believe that the legions intended to cross it on three points, and that, perplexed by the defection of the Ædui, they had decided on forcing the road by the left bank.[503 - We have not translated these words, fugam parare, because this passage has always appeared unintelligible to us. How, indeed, could the Gauls, seeing that the Romans were ready to pass the Seine by force, believe that this was a flight?] Camulogenus divided also his forces into three corps: he left one opposite the Roman camp; sent the second, less numerous, in the direction of Melodunum,[504 - Some manuscripts have Metiosedum, a version which, in our opinion, is utterly incorrect.] with instructions to regulate its march according to the progress of the enemy’s boats which re-ascended the Seine; and, at the head of the third, went to meet Labienus.

At sunrise the Roman troops had crossed the river, and the enemy’s army appeared drawn up in order of battle. Labienus exhorts his soldiers to recall to mind their ancient valour, and so many glorious exploits, and, as they marched to the combat, to consider themselves under the eye of Cæsar, who had led them so often to victory: he then gives the signal. At the first shock the 7th legion, placed on the right wing, routs the enemy; but on the left wing, although the 12th legion had transpierced the first ranks with their pila, the Gauls defend themselves obstinately, and not one dreams of flight. Camulogenus, in the midst of them, excites their ardour. The victory was still doubtful, when the tribunes of the 7th legion, informed of the critical position of the left wing, lead their soldiers to the back of the enemies, and take them in the rear. The barbarians are surrounded, yet not one yields a step; all die fighting, and Camulogenus perishes with the rest. The Gaulish troops left opposite the camp of Labienus had hurried forward at the first news of the combat, and had taken possession of a hill (probably that of Vaugirard); but they did not sustain the attack of the victorious Romans, and were hurried along in the general rout; all who would not find refuge in the woods and on the heights were cut to pieces by the cavalry.

After this battle Labienus returned to Agedincum; thence he marched with all his troops, and went to join Cæsar.[505 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 62.]

The Gauls assume the offensive.

X. The desertion of the Ædui gave the war a greater development. Deputies are sent in all directions: credit, authority, money, everything is put in activity to excite the other states to revolt. Masters of the hostages whom Cæsar had entrusted to them, the Ædui threaten to put to death those who belong to the nations which hesitate. In a general assembly of Gaul, convoked at Bibracte, at which the Remi, the Lingones, and the Treviri only were absent, the supreme command is conferred on Vercingetorix, in spite of the opposition of the Ædui, who claim it, and who, seeing themselves rejected, begin to regret the favours they had received from Cæsar. But they had pronounced for the war, and no longer dare to separate themselves from the common cause. Eporedorix and Viridomarus, young men of great promise, obey Vercingetorix unwillingly. The latter begins by exacting from the other states hostages to be delivered on a fixed day; orders that the cavalry, amounting to 15,000 men, shall be gathered round his person; declares he has infantry enough at Bibracte, for his intention is not to offer a pitched battle to the Romans, but, with a numerous cavalry, to intercept their convoys of grain and forage. He exhorts the Gauls to set fire with a common accord to their habitations and crops, which are only small sacrifices in comparison to their liberty. These measures having been decided, he demands from the Ædui and the Segusiavi, who bordered upon the Roman province, 10,000 foot soldiers, sends them 800 horse, and gives the command of these troops to the brother of Eporedorix, with orders to carry the war into the country of the Allobroges. On another side, he orders the Gabali and the neighbouring cantons of the Arverni to march against the Helvii, and sends the Ruteni and the Cadurci to lay waste the country of the Volcæ Arecomici. At the same time, he labours secretly to gain the Allobroges, in the hope that the remembrance of their ancient struggles against the Romans is not yet effaced. He promises money to their chiefs, and to their country the sovereignty over the whole Narbonnese.

To meet these dangers, twenty-two cohorts, raised in the province, and commanded by the lieutenant Lucius Cæsar,[506 - See Appendix D.] had to face the enemy on every side. The Helvii, faithful to the Romans, by their own impulse, attacked their neighbours in the open field; but repulsed with loss, and having to deplore the death of their chiefs, among others that of C. Valerius Donnotaurus, they ventured no more outside their walls. As to the Allobroges, they defended their territory with energy, by placing a great number of posts along the Rhone. The superiority of the enemy in cavalry, the interruption of the communications, the impossibility of drawing succour from Italy or the province, decided Cæsar on demanding from the German peoples on the other side of the Rhine, subdued the year before, cavalry and light infantry accustomed to fight intermingled. On their arrival, finding that the cavalry were not sufficiently well mounted, he distributed amongst them the horses of the tribunes, and even those of the Roman knights and the volunteers (evocati).[507 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 65. —Evocati was the name given to the old soldiers who, after having served, returned voluntarily to the ranks of the army.]

Junction of Cæsar and Labienus. Battle of the Vingeanne.

XI. The line of march followed by Cæsar after he had crossed the Loire has been the subject of numerous controversies. Yet the “Commentaries” appear to us to furnish sufficient data to determine it with precision. On leaving Gergovia, Cæsar’s object was, as he tells us himself, to effect a junction with Labienus; with this view, he marched towards the land of the Senones, after having crossed the Loire at Bourbon-Lancy. On his part, Labienus, after returning to Sens, having advanced to meet Cæsar, their junction must necessarily have taken place on a point of the line from Bourbon-Lancy to Sens; this point, in our opinion, is Joigny. (See Plate 19.) Encamped not far from the confluence of the Armançon and the Yonne, Cæsar could easily receive the contingent which he expected from Germany.

The Roman army was composed of eleven legions: the 1st, lent by Pompey, and the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th.[508 - Let us here recapitulate the numbers of the legions employed during the war in Gaul. Cæsar’s army, as we have seen, was composed in 696 of six legions, the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. In 697, two new legions were raised in Italy, the 13th and 14th. Probably, in the winter between 699 and 700, Cæsar brought several cohorts composed of soldiers and sailors who were to serve in the fleet; for, on his return from the second expedition into England, notwithstanding the losses he had sustained, he was at the head of eight legions and five cohorts (V. 24). He lost at Aduatuca one legion and a half, that is, the 14th legion, besides five cohorts; but in 701 three new legions replaced the cohorts lost, and even doubled their number. These legions were the 1st, lent by Pompey (De Bello Gallico, VIII. 54, and Lucan, Pharsalia, VII., 1. 218); the 14th, which took the number of the legion destroyed at Aduatuca (De Bello Gallico, VI. 32; VIII. 4); and the 15th; this last legion was afterwards, with the 1st, given to Pompey for the war of the Parthians; it figured in the Civil War, and took, in Pompey’s army, the number 3. (Cæsar, De Bello Civili, III. 88.)The 6th legion, judging from its number, must have been one of the oldest, for Dio Cassius (XXXVIII. 47) informs us that the legions were designated according to their order of inscription on the rolls of the army; but, as it only appears for the first time in 702, it is probable that it had remained in garrison among the Allobroges or in Italy. A proof that this legion assisted in the siege of Alesia is found in the fact that, after the surrender of the place, it was sent to winter quarters on the Saône, where Cæsar found it a few months afterwards (De Bello Gallico, VIII. 4). The distribution of the troops in their winter quarters after the taking of Alesia confirms the number of legions given above. The re-distribution after the siege of Uxellodunum gives also the same result, for in book VII. c. 46 the “Commentaries” give the positions of ten legions, without reckoning the 15th, which, according to book VIII. c. 24, had been sent to Cisalpine Gaul. These facts are repeated again, book VIII. c. 54.] The effective force of each of them varied from 4,000 to 5,000 men; for, if we see (lib. V. 49) that on the return from Britain two legions reckoned together only 7,000 men, their effective force was soon increased by considerable re-enforcements which came to the army of Gaul in 702;[509 - It is evident that an army could not remain in the wars for eight years without receiving frequent re-enforcements in order to keep it up to its effective number. Thus, when, after the murder of Clodius, all the youth of Italy had been called to arms, Cæsar made new levies, which were used probably to swell the ranks of his legions, for no new numbers appear (De Bello Gallico, VII. 1). – In the same manner, when he arrived, in 702, in the south of Gaul, and crossed the Cévennes, he placed himself at the head of the troops which had been recruited in the Roman province and of the re-enforcements which he had brought from Italy (partem copiarum ex provincia supplementumque quod ex Italia adduxerat in Helvois, qui fines Arvernorum contingunt, convenire jubet). (De Bello Gallico, VII. 7.) – Labienus, on the other hand, during his expedition to Paris, left his recruits in dépôt at Sens (Labienus eo supplemento quod nuper ex Italia venerat relicto). (De Bello Gallico, VII. 57.)] the legion lent by Pompey was of 6,000 men;[510 - Plutarch, Cato, 53.] and the 13th, at the breaking out of the civil war, had in its ranks 5,000 soldiers.[511 - Plutarch, Cæsar, 36.] Cæsar had then at his disposal, during the campaigns which ended with the taking of Alesia, 50,000 legionaries, and perhaps 20,000 Numidian or Cretan archers, and 5,000 or 6,000 cavalry, a thousand of whom were Germans, making a total of about 75,000 men, without counting the valets, who were always very numerous.

When the junction of the troops had been effected, Cæsar sought above all to approach the Roman province, in order to carry succour to it with more ease; he could not think of taking the most direct road, which would have led him into the country of the Ædui, one of the centres of the insurrection; he was, therefore, obliged to pass through the territory of the Lingones, who had remained faithful to him, and to proceed into Sequania, where Besançon offered an important place of arms. (See Plate 19.) He started from Joigny, following the road which he had taken when he marched to meet Ariovistus (696),[512 - See above, page 87.] and the winter before, when he moved from Vienne to Sens. After reaching the Aube at Dancevoir, he proceeded towards the little river Vingeanne, crossing, as the “Commentaries” say, the extreme part of the territory of the Lingones (per extremos Lingonum fines).[513 - See above, page 108, note (2).] His intention was, no doubt, to cross the Saône, either at Gray, or at Pontailler.

Whilst the Romans abandoned that part of Gaul which had revolted, in order to approach nearer to the province, Vercingetorix had assembled his army, amounting to more than 80,000 men, at Bibracte; it had come in great part from the country of the Arverni, and counted in its ranks the cavalry furnished by all the states. Having been informed of Cæsar’s march, he started at the head of his troops, to bar the road through Sequania. Passing, as we believe, by Arnay-le-Duc, Sombernon, Dijon, and Thil-Châtel, he arrived at the heights of Occey, Sacquenay, and Montormentier, where he formed three camps, at a distance of 10,000 paces (fifteen kilomètres) from the Roman army. (See Plate 24.) In this position Vercingetorix intercepted the three roads which Cæsar could have taken towards the Saône, either at Gray, or at Pontailler, or at Chalon.[514 - We learn from the text that he formed three camps. This disposition was necessitated by circumstances and the character of the locality. The heights of Sacquenay form, in fact, three promontories, V, V, V (see Plate 24), advancing towards the north; the road to Dijon passes over the one to the left, the road to Pontallier over the one in the middle. By establishing three camps on these three promontories, Vercingetorix occupied each of these roads with one-third of his army, whilst he backed his right wing against the Vingeanne.The Gaulish army had there a position of great natural strength, for, to attack it, the enemy would have to climb high hills which were easy to defend; it was, moreover, protected by two watercourses: one, the Vingeanne, which covered its right; the other, the Badin, a small tributary of the Vingeanne, which protected its front. In the space comprised between these two watercourses and the road from Dijon to Langres, a ground extends, measuring five kilomètres in every direction, slightly broken in some parts, but almost flat everywhere else, particularly between the Vingeanne and the hillock of Montsaugeon. Near the road, and to the west, arise hills which command it, as well as the whole country as far as Badin and the Vingeanne.] Resolved on risking a battle, he convoked the chiefs of the cavalry. “The moment of victory,” he told them, “has arrived; the Romans fly into their province, and abandon Gaul. If this retreat delivers us for the present, it ensures neither peace nor rest for the future; they will return with greater forces, and the war will be endless. We must attack them, therefore, in the disorder of their march; for if the legions stop to defend their long convoy, they will not be able to continue their road; or if, which is more probable, they abandon their baggage in order to secure their own safety, they will lose what is indispensable to them, and, at the same time, their prestige. As to their cavalry, they will surely not dare to move away from the column; that of the Gauls must show so much the more ardour, as the infantry, ranged before the camp, will be there to intimidate the enemy.” Then, the cavalry exclaimed, “Let every one swear, by a solemn oath, never to return to the home of his forefathers, his wife, or his children, if he has not ridden twice through the ranks of the enemy!” This proposition was received with enthusiasm, and all took the oath.

The day on which Vercingetorix arrived on the heights of Sacquenay,[515 - The field of battle of the Vingeanne, which H.M. Defay, of Langres, first pointed out, answers perfectly to all the requirements of the Latin narrative, and, moreover, material proofs exist which are undeniable evidences of the struggle. We allude to the tumuli which are found, some at Prauthoy, others on the banks of the Vingeanne, at Dardenay, and Cusey, and those which, at Pressant, Rivières-les-Fosses, Chamberceau, and Vesvres, mark, as it were, the line of retreat of the Gaulish army, to a distance of twelve kilomètres.Two of these tumuli are situated near each other, between Prauthoy and Montsaugeon (see Plate 24, where the tumuli are marked). There is one near Dardenay, three to the west of Cusey, one at Rivières-les-Fosses, another at Chamberceau. We will not mention those which have been destroyed by agriculture, but which are still remembered by the inhabitants.Researches lately made in these tumuli have brought to light skeletons, many of which had bronze bracelets round the arms and legs, calcined bones of men and horses, thirty-six bracelets, several iron circles which were worn around the neck, iron rings, fibulæ, fragments of metal plates, pieces of Celtic pottery, an iron sword, &c.It is a fact worthy of remark, that the objects found in the tumuli at Rivières-les-Fosses and Chamberceau bear so close a resemblance to those of the tumuli on the banks of the Vingeanne, that we might think they had come from the hand of the same workman. Hence there can be no doubt that all these tumuli refer to one and the same incident of war. (Several of these objects are deposited in the Museum of Saint-Germain.)We must add that the agricultural labourers of Montsaugeon, Isomes, and Cusey have found during many years, when they make trenches for drainage, horse-shoes buried a foot or two deep under the soil. In 1860, at the dredging of the Vingeanne, hundreds of horse-shoes, the inhabitants say, of excellent metal, were extracted from the gravel of the river, at a depth of two or three feet. They are generally small, and bear a groove all round, in which the heads of the nails were lodged. A great number of these horse-shoes have preserved their nails, which are flat, have a head in the form of a T, and still have their rivet – that is, the point which is folded back over the hoof – which proves that they are not shoes that have been lost, but shoes of dead horses, the foot of which has rotted away in the soil or in the gravel. Thirty-two of these horse-shoes have been collected. One of them is stamped in the middle of the curve with a mark, sometimes found on Celtic objects, and which has a certain analogy with the stamp on a plate of copper found in one of the tumuli of Montsaugeon.When we consider that the action between the Roman and Gaulish armies was merely a cavalry battle, in which were engaged from 20,000 to 25,000 horses, the facts just stated cannot but appear interesting, although they may possibly belong to a battle of a later date.] Cæsar, as we have seen, encamped on the Vingeanne, near Longeau. Ignorant of the presence of the Gauls, he started next day, in marching column, the legions at a great distance from each other, separated by their baggage. When his vanguard arrived near Dommarien, it could perceive the hostile army. Vercingetorix was watching the moment they (the Romans) debouched, to attack. He had divided his cavalry in three bodies, and his infantry had descended from the heights of Sacquenay in order to take a position along the Vingeanne and the Badin. (See Plate 24.) As soon as the vanguard of the enemy appears, Vercingetorix bars its way with one of the bodies of cavalry, while the two others show themselves in order of battle on the two wings of the Romans. Taken unexpectedly, Cæsar divides his cavalry also into three bodies, and opposes them to the enemy. The combat engages on all sides; the column of the Roman army halts; the legions are brought into line, and the baggage placed in the intervals. This order, in which the legions were, no doubt, in column of three deep, was easy to execute, and presented the advantages of a square. Wherever the cavalry gives way or is too hotly pressed, Cæsar sends to its support the cohorts, which he draws from the main body to range them in order of battle.[516 - We have adopted the reading, aciemque constitui jubebat, which alone gives a reasonable interpretation.] By this manœuvre he renders the attacks less vigorous, and increases the confidence of the Romans, who are assured of support. Finally, the German auxiliaries, having gained, to the right of the Roman army, the summit of a height (the hill of Montsaugeon), drive the enemies from it, and pursue the fugitives as far as the river, where Vercingetorix stood with his infantry. At the sight of this rout, the rest of the Gaulish cavalry fear to be surrounded, and take to flight. From this time the battle became a mere carnage. Three Ædui of distinction are taken and brought to Cæsar: Cotus, chief of the cavalry, who, at the last election, had contended with Convictolitavis for the sovereign magistracy; Cavarillus, who, since the defection of Litavicus, commanded the infantry; and Eporedorix, whom the Ædui had for chief in their war against the Sequani, before the arrival of Cæsar in Gaul.[517 - He was not the same as the one mentioned in pp. 307, 321, 320. (De Bello Gallico, VII. 67.)]

Blockade of Alesia.

XII. Vercingetorix, after the defeat of his cavalry, decided on a retreat; taking his infantry with him, without returning to his camp, he marched immediately towards Alesia, the oppidum of the Mandubii. The baggage, withdrawn from the camp, followed him without delay.[518 - The three Gaulish camps having been established on the heights of Sacquenay, four or five kilomètres behind the position occupied by the infantry during the battle, and the line of retreat towards Alesia lying to the left, in the direction of Pressant and Vesvres, if Vercingetorix had returned to ascend the hills with his 80,000 men, to remove the baggage, that operation would have taken two or three hours, during which Cæsar might have cut off his retreat, or have inflicted a still more serious defeat upon him. But, by immediately hastening his march on Pressant, in order to follow from thence the road which, by Rivières-les-Fosses and Vesvres, joined the great road from Langres to Alise, near Aujeur, he got in advance of the Roman army, which, in the disorder in which it was at that moment, was not able to pursue him at once. And this is what he did.The text says, also, that Vercingetorix gave orders that the baggage should be taken out of the camps in all haste, to follow him. If the baggage of an army of 100,000 men had accompanied Vercingetorix, on the road followed by the infantry, we cannot understand how the Roman army, which pursued the Gauls as long as daylight lasted, should not have captured it all. But investigations made in the country situated between the field of battle and the Alise, behind the heights of Sacquenay, have brought to light vestiges of a Roman road which, starting from Thil-Châtel, thirteen kilomètres behind Sacquenay, proceeded, by Avelanges, towards the hamlet of Palus, where it branched from the road from Langres to Alise. We may suppose, therefore, that Vercingetorix caused his baggage to follow in his rear as far as Thil-Châtel, where it took the road to Palus.The Roman road from Langres to Alise, which, without any doubt, marks the direction followed by the two armies, has been traced almost in its whole extent by Commandant Stoffel. Even at the present day, on the territories of Fraignot, Salives, Echalot, and Poiseul-la-Grange, the inhabitants call it the Road of the Romans, or Cæsar’s way.] Cæsar ordered his baggage to be carried to a neighbouring hill, under the guard of two legions, pursued the enemies as long as daylight permitted, killed about 3,000 men of their rear-guard, and established his camp, two days afterwards, before Alesia.[519 - We read (De Bello Gallico, VII. 68) the words, Altero die ad Alesiam castra fecit. We have before sought to prove that the words altero die must be translated by the second day after, and not by the next day. [See page 279, note (1).] It took Cæsar, therefore, two days’ march to move from the field of battle to Alesia.A study of the country fully confirms the interpretation we give to the expression altero die. In fact, to the north and east of Alise-Sainte-Reine (Alesia), to less than two days’ march, the ground is so cut up and broken that no cavalry battle would be possible upon it. It retains this character as far as fifty-five or sixty kilomètres from Alise, to the east of the road from Pranthoy to Dijon, where it becomes more easy and open. The battle-field of the Vingeanne, which we consider as the true one, is at a distance of sixty-five kilomètres from Alise. Supposing that, on the day of the victory, the Roman army had pursued the Gauls over a space of fifteen kilomètres, it would have had to traverse in the two following days, before arriving at Alesia, a distance of fifty kilomètres, that is to say, twenty-five kilomètres a day.] After having reconnoitred the position of the town, and taking advantage of the disorder of the enemy, who had placed his principal confidence in his cavalry, which was thrown into consternation by its defeat, he resolved to invest Alesia, and exhorted his soldiers to support the labours and fatigues of a siege with constancy.

Alise-Sainte-Reine, in the department of the Côte-d’Or, is, undoubtedly, the Alesia of the “Commentaries.” The examination of the strategic reasons which determined the march of Cæsar, the correct interpretation of the text, and, lastly, the excavations lately made, all combine to prove it.[520 - We call the reader’s attention particularly to the numerous Roman and Gaulish coins found in one of the fosses of the camp D, the list of which will be found in Appendix C, at the end of this volume.]

Ancient Alesia occupied the summit of the mountain now called Mont Auxois; on the western slope is built the village of Alise-Sainte-Reine. (See Plates 25 and 26.) It is an entirely isolated mountain, which rises 150 to 160 mètres above the surrounding valleys (erat oppidum Alesia in colle summo, admodum edito loco …). Two rivers bathe the foot of the mountain on two opposite sides: they are the Ose and the Oserain (cujus collis radices duo duabus ex partibus flumina subluebant). To the west of Mont Auxois the plain of Laumes extends, the greatest dimension of which, between the village of Laumes and that of Pouillenay, is 3,000 paces or 4,400 mètres (ante oppidum planities circiter millia passuum III in longitudinem patebat). On all other sides, at a distance varying from 1,100 to 1,600 mètres, rises a belt of hills, the plateaux of which are at the same height (reliquis ex omnibus partibus colles, mediocri interjecto spatio, pari altitudinis fastigio oppidum cingebant).

The summit of Mont Auxois has the form of an ellipse, 2,100 mètres in length, and 800 mètres broad in its greatest diameter. Including the first spurs which surround the principal mass, it is found to contain a superficies of 1,400,000 square mètres, 973,100 mètres of which for the upper plateau and 400,000 mètres for the terraces and spurs. (See Plate 25.) The town appears to have crowned the whole of the plateau, which was protected by scarped rocks against all attack.[521 - Near the western summit of the mountain two abundant springs arise; there is another on the eastern side. With these springs, as at Gergovia, it was easy to form large watering-places for cattle. Besides, manifest traces of a great number of wells are visible on the table-land, so that it is evident the besieged can never have wanted water, besides which, they could always descend to the two rivers.]

This oppidum could, apparently, only be reduced by a complete investment. The Gaulish troops covered, at the foot of the wall, all the slopes of the eastern part of the mountain; they were there protected by a fosse and by a wall of unhewn stones six feet high. Cæsar established his camps in favourable positions, the infantry on the heights, the cavalry near the watercourses. These camps, and twenty-three redoubts or blockhouses,[522 - We believe that these castella were palisaded redoubts having a recess attached, similar to the wooden blockhouses represented on the Trajan Column; often even these recesses alone composed the castellum.] formed a line of investment of 11,000 paces (sixteen kilomètres).[523 - It was not, as will be remarked, the countervallation which was 11,000 feet in extent, but the line of investment.] The redoubts were occupied in the day by small posts, to prevent any surprise; by night, strong detachments bivouacked in them.

The works were hardly begun, when a cavalry engagement took place in the plain of Laumes. The combat was very hot on both sides. The Romans were giving way, when Cæsar sent the Germans to their assistance, and ranged the legions in order of battle in front of the camps, so that the enemy’s infantry, kept in awe, should not come to the assistance of the cavalry. That of the Romans recovered confidence on seeing that they were supported by the legions. The Gauls, obliged to fly, became embarrassed by their own numbers, and rushed to the openings left in the wall of unhewn stones, which were too narrow for the occasion. Pursued with fury by the Germans up to the fortifications, some were slain, and others, abandoning their horses, attempted to cross the fosse and climb over the wall. Cæsar then ordered the legions, who were drawn up before his retrenchments, to advance a little. This movement carried disorder into the Gaulish camp. The troops within feared a serious attack, and the cry to arms rose on all sides. Some, struck with terror, threw themselves into the oppidum; Vercingetorix was obliged to order the gates to be closed, for fear the camp should be abandoned. The Germans retired, after having killed a great number of the cavalry, and taken a great number of horses.

Vercingetorix resolved to send away all his cavalry by night, before the Romans had completed the investment. He urges the cavalry, on their departure, to return each to his country, and recruit the men able to carry arms; he reminds them of his services, and implores them to think of his safety, and not to deliver him as a prey to the enemies, him who has done so much for the general liberty: their indifference would entail with his loss that of 80,000 picked men. On an exact calculation, he has only provisions for one month; by husbanding them carefully, he may hold out some time longer. After these recommendations, he causes his cavalry to leave in silence, at the second watch (nine o’clock). It is probable that they escaped by ascending the valleys of the Ose and the Oserain. Then he orders, on pain of death, all the corn to be brought to him. He divides among the soldiers individually the numerous cattle which had been collected by the Mandubii; but as to the grain, he reserves the power of distributing it gradually and in small quantities. All the troops encamped outside withdraw into the oppidum. By these dispositions he prepares to wait for the succour of Gaul, and to sustain the war.

As soon as Cæsar was informed of these measures by the prisoners and deserters, he resolved to form lines of countervallation and circumvallation, and adopted the following system of fortifications: he ordered first of all to be dug, in the plain of Laumes, a fosse twenty feet wide, with vertical walls, that is, as wide at the bottom as at the level of the ground (see Plates 25 and 28), so as to prevent lines so extensive, and so difficult to guard with soldiers along their whole extent, from being attacked suddenly by night, and also to protect the workmen from the darts of the enemy during the day. Four hundred feet behind this fosse, he formed the countervallation. He then made two fosses of fifteen feet wide, of equal depth,[524 - Eadem altitudine. See paragraph XIII., Details on the Excavations of Alesia, page 364.] and filled the interior fosse – that is, the one nearest to the town – with water derived from the river Oserain. Behind these fosses he raised a rampart and a palisade (aggerem ac vallum), having together a height of twelve feet. Against this was placed a fence of hurdles with battlements (loricam pinnasque); strong forked branches were placed horizontally at the junction of the hurdle-fence and the rampart, so as to render them more difficult to scale. (See Plate 27.) Lastly, he established towers on all this part of the countervallation, with a distance of eighty feet between them.

It was necessary at the same time to work at widely extended fortifications, and to fetch in wood and provisions, so that these distant and toilsome expeditions diminished incessantly the effective force of the combatants; and the Gauls, too, often attempted to harass the workmen, and even made vigorous sallies, through several gates at a time. Cæsar judged it necessary to increase the strength of the works, so that they might be defended with a smaller number of men. He ordered trees or large branches to be taken, the extremities of which were sharpened and cut to a point;[525 - Dolabratis, diminished to a point, and not delibratis, peeled.] they were placed in a fosse five feet deep; and, that they might not be torn up, they were tied together at the lower part; the other part, furnished with branches, rose above ground. There were five rows of these, contiguous and interlaced; whoever ventured amongst them would be wounded by their sharp points; they were called cippi. In front of these sorts of abatis were dug wolves’ pits (scrobes), trunconic fosses, of three feet deep, disposed in the form of a quincunx. In the centre of each hole was planted a round stake, of the thickness of a man’s thigh, hardened in the fire, and pointed at the top; it only rose about four inches above ground. In order to render these stakes firmer, they were surrounded at the base with earth well stamped down; the rest of the excavation was covered with thorns and brushwood, so as to conceal the trap. There were eight rows of holes, three feet distant from each other: they were called lilies (lilia), on account of their resemblance to the flower of that name. Lastly, in front of these defences were fixed, level with the ground, stakes of a foot long, to which were fixed irons in the shape of hooks. These kind of caltrops, to which they gave the name of stimuli,[526 - In the excavations at Alesia, five stimuli have been found, the form of which is represented in Plate 27. The new names which Cæsar’s soldiers gave to these accessory defenses prove that they were used for the first time.] were placed everywhere, and very near each other.

When this work was finished, Cæsar ordered retrenchments to be dug, almost similar, but on the opposite side, in order to resist attacks from the exterior. This line of circumvallation, of fourteen miles in circuit (twenty-one kilomètres), had been formed on the most favourable ground, in conforming to the nature of the locality. If the Gaulish cavalry brought back an army of succour, he sought by these means to prevent it, however numerous it might be, from surrounding the posts established along the circumvallation. In order to avoid the danger which the soldiers would have run in quitting the camps, he ordered that every man should provide himself with provisions and forage for thirty days. Notwithstanding this precaution, the Roman army suffered from want.[527 - This appears from a passage in De Bello Civili, III. 47.]

Whilst Cæsar adopted these measures, the Gauls, having convoked an assembly of their principal chiefs, probably at Bibracte, decided not to collect all their men able to bear arms, as Vercingetorix wished, but to demand from each people a certain contingent, for they dreaded the difficulty of providing for so large and so confused a multitude, and of maintaining order and discipline. The different states were required to send contingents, the total of which was to amount to 283,000 men; but, in reality, it did not exceed 240,000. The cavalry amounted to 8,000.[528 - ]

The Bellovaci refused their contingent, declaring that they intended to make war on their own account, at their own will, without submitting to anybody’s orders. Nevertheless, at the instance of Commius, their host, they sent 2,000 men.

This same Commius, we have seen, had in previous years rendered signal service to Cæsar in Britain. In return for which, his land, that of the Atrebates, freed from all tribute, had recovered its privileges, and obtained the supremacy over the Morini. But such was then the eagerness of the Gauls to re-conquer their liberty and their ancient glory, that all feelings of gratitude and friendship had vanished from their memory, and all devoted themselves body and soul to the war.

The numbering and the review of the troops took place on the territory of the Ædui. The chiefs were named; the general command was given to the Atrebatan Commius; to the Æduans Viridomarus and Eporedorix, and to the Arvernan Vercasivellaunus, cousin of Vercingetorix. With them were joined delegates from each country, who formed a council of direction for the war. They began their march towards Alesia, full of ardour and confidence: each was convinced that the Romans would retreat at the mere sight of such imposing forces, especially when they found themselves threatened at the same time by the sallies of the besieged, and by an exterior army powerful in infantry and in cavalry.

Meanwhile, the day on which the besieged expected succour was past, and their provisions were exhausted; ignorant, moreover, of what was taking place among the Ædui, they assembled to deliberate on a final resolution. The opinions were divided: some proposed to surrender, others to make a sally, without waiting till their vigour would be exhausted. But Critognatus, an Arvernan distinguished by his birth and credit, in a discourse of singular and frightful atrocity, proposed to follow the example of their ancestors, who, in the time of the war of the Cimbri, being shut up in their fortresses, and a prey to want, ate the men who were unable to bear arms, rather than surrender. When the opinions were gathered, it was decided that that of Critognatus should only be adopted at the last extremity, and that for the present they would confine themselves to sending out of the place all useless mouths. The Mandubii, who had received the Gaulish army within their walls, were compelled to leave with their wives and children. They approached the Roman lines, begged to be taken for slaves and supplied with bread. Cæsar placed guards along the vallum, with orders not to admit them.

At length Commius and the other chiefs, followed by their troops, appear before Alesia; they halt upon a neighbouring hill, scarcely 1,000 paces from the circumvallation (the hill of Mussy-la-Fosse). The following day they draw their cavalry out of their camp; it covered the whole plain of Laumes. Their infantry establishes itself at a short distance on the heights. The plateau of Alesia commanded the plain. At the sight of the army of succour, the besieged meet together, congratulate each other, yield to excess of joy, and then they rush out of the town, fill the first fosse with fascines and earth, and all prepare for a general and decisive sally.

Cæsar, obliged to face the enemy on two sides at once, disposed his army on the two opposite lines of the retrenchments, and assigned to each his post; he then ordered the cavalry to leave its camps, and to give battle. From all the camps placed on the top of the surrounding hills, the view extended over the plain, and the soldiers, in suspense, waited for the issue of the event. The Gauls had mixed with their cavalry a small number of archers and light-armed soldiers, to support them if they gave way, and arrest the attack of the cavalry of the enemy. A good number of the latter, wounded by these foot-soldiers, whom they had not perceived until then, were obliged to retire from the battle. Then the Gauls, confident in their numerical superiority, and in the valour of their cavalry, believed themselves sure of victory; and from all sides, from the besieged, as well as from the army of succour, there arose an immense cry to encourage the combatants. The engagement was in view of them all; no trait of courage or of cowardice remained unknown; on both sides, all were excited by the desire of glory and the fear of dishonour. From noon till sunset the victory remained uncertain, when the Germans in Cæsar’s pay, formed in close squadrons, charged the enemy, and put them to the rout; in their flight they abandoned the archers, who were surrounded; then, from all parts of the plain, the cavalry pursued the Gauls up to their camp without giving them time to rally. The besieged, who had sallied out of Alesia, returned in consternation, and almost despairing of safety.

After a day employed in making a great number of hurdles, ladders, and hooks, the Gauls of the army of succour left their camp in silence towards the middle of the night, and approached the works in the plain. Then, suddenly uttering loud cries, in order to warn the besieged, they throw their fascines, to fill up the fosse, attack the defenders of the vallum with a shower of sling-balls, arrows, and stones, and prepare everything for an assault. At the same time, Vercingetorix, hearing the cries from without, gives the signal with the trumpet, and leads his troops out of the place. The Romans take in the retrenchments the places assigned to them beforehand, and they spread disorder among the Gauls by throwing leaden balls, stones of a pound weight, and employing the stakes placed in the works beforehand; the machines rain down upon the enemy a shower of darts. As they fought in the dark (the shields being useless), there were in both armies many wounded. The lieutenants M. Antony and C. Trebonius, to whom was entrusted the defence of the threatened points, supported the troops that were too hardly pressed by means of reserves drawn from the neighbouring redoubts. So long as the Gauls kept far from the circumvallation, the multitude of their missiles gave them the advantage; but when they approached, some became suddenly entangled in the stimuli; others fell bruised into the scrobes; others again were transpierced by the heavy pila used in sieges, which were thrown from the tops of the vallum and the towers. They had many disabled, and nowhere succeeded in forcing the Roman lines. When day began to break, the army of succour retired, fearing to be taken in their uncovered flank (the right side) by a sally from the camps established on the mountain of Flavigny. On their side, the besieged, after losing much valuable time in transporting the material for the attack, and in making efforts to fill up the first fosse (the one which was twenty feet wide), learnt the retreat of the army of succour before they had reached the real retrenchment. This attempt having failed, like the other, they returned into the town.

Thus twice repulsed with great loss, the Gauls of the army of succour deliberated on what was to be done. They interrogate the inhabitants of the country, who inform them of the position and the sort of defences of the Roman camps placed on the heights.

To the north of Alesia there was a hill (Mont Réa) which had not been enclosed in the lines, because it would have given them too great an extent; the camp necessary on that side had, for this reason, to be established on a slope, and in a disadvantageous position (see Plate 25, camp D); the lieutenants C. Antistius Reginus and C. Caninius Rebilus occupied it with two legions. The enemy’s chiefs resolved to attack this camp with one part of their troops, whilst the other should assail the circumvallation in the plain of Laumes. Having decided on this plan, they send their scouts to reconnoitre the localities, secretly arrange among themselves the plan and the means of execution, and decide that the attack shall take place at noon. They choose 60,000 men amongst the nations most renowned for their valour. Vercasivellaunus, one of the four chiefs, is placed at their head. They sally at the first watch, towards nightfall, proceed by the heights of Grignon and by Fain towards Mont Réa, arrive there at break of day, conceal themselves in the depressions of the ground to the north of that hill, and repose from the fatigues of the night. At the hour appointed, Vercasivellaunus descends the slopes and rushes upon the camp of Reginus and Rebilus; at the same moment, the cavalry of the army of succour approaches the retrenchments in the plain, and the other troops, sallying from their camps, move forwards.

When, from the top of the citadel of Alesia, Vercingetorix saw these movements, he left the town, carrying with him the poles, the small covered galleries (musculos), the iron hooks (falces),[529 - See note on page 143 (#x_7_i47).] and everything which had been prepared for a sally, and proceeded towards the plain. An obstinate struggle follows;, everywhere the greatest efforts are made, and wherever the defence appears weakest, the Gauls rush to the attack. Scattered over extensive lines, the Romans defend only with difficulty several points at the same time, and are obliged to face two attacks from opposite sides. Fighting, as it were, back to back, everybody is agitated by the cries he hears, and by the thought that his safety depends upon those that are behind him; “it lies in human nature,” says Cæsar, “to be struck more deeply with the danger one cannot see.”[530 - This passage proves clearly that the army of succour attacked also the circumvallation of the plain. In fact, how can we admit that, of 240,000 men, only 60,000 should have been employed? It follows, from the accounts given in the “Commentaries,” that among this multitude of different peoples, the chiefs chose the most courageous men to form the corps of 60,000 which operated the movement of turning the hills; and that the others, unaccustomed to war, and less formidable, employed in the assault of the retrenchments in the plain, were easily repulsed.]

On the northern slopes of the mountain of Flavigny (at the point marked J C, Plate 25), Cæsar had chosen the most convenient spot for observing each incident of the action, and for sending assistance to the places which were most threatened. Both sides were convinced that the moment of the decisive struggle had arrived. If the Gauls do not force the lines, they have no further hope of safety; if the Romans obtain the advantage, they have reached the end of their labours. It is especially at the retrenchments on the slopes of Mont Réa that the Romans run the greatest danger, for the commanding position of the enemy gives them an immense disadvantage (iniquum loci ad declivitatem fastigium, magnum habet momentum). One part of the assailants throw darts; another advances, forming the tortoise; fresh troops incessantly relieve the soldiers who are weary. All strive desperately to fill the fosses, to render useless the accessory defences by covering them with earth, and to scale the rampart. Already the Romans begin to feel the want of arms and strength. Cæsar, informed of this state of things, sends Labienus to their succour with six cohorts, and orders him, if the troops cannot maintain themselves behind the retrenchments, to withdraw them and make a sally, but only at the last extremity. Labienus, encamped on the mountain of Bussy, descends from the heights to proceed to the place of combat. Cæsar, passing between the two lines, repairs to the plain, where he encourages the soldiers to persevere, for this day, this hour will decide whether they are to gather the fruit of their former victories.

Meanwhile the besieged, having abandoned the hope of forcing the formidable retrenchments of the plain, direct their attack against the works situated at the foot of the precipitous heights of the mountain of Flavigny, and transport thither all their materials of attack; with a shower of arrows they drive away the Roman soldiers who fight from the top of the towers; they fill the fosses with earth and fascines, clear a passage for themselves, and, by means of iron hooks, tear down the wattling of the parapet and the palisade. Young Brutus is first sent thither with several cohorts, and after him the lieutenant C. Fabius with seven more; at last, as the action becomes still hotter, Cæsar himself hurries to them with new reserves.

After the fortune of the fight has been restored, and the enemies driven back, he proceeds towards the place where he had sent Labienus, draws four cohorts from the nearest redoubt, orders a part of the cavalry to follow him, and the other part to go round by the exterior lines, to take the enemy in the rear by issuing from the camp of Grésigny. On his side, Labienus, seeing that neither the fosses nor the ramparts can arrest the efforts of the Gauls, rallies thirty-nine cohorts which have arrived from the neighbouring redoubts, and which chance offers to him, and informs Cæsar that, according to what had been agreed, he is going to make a sally.[531 - According to Polyænus (VIII. xxiii. 11), Cæsar, during the night, detached 3,000 legionaries and all his cavalry to take the enemy in the rear.] Cæsar hastens his march in order to share in the combat. As soon as, from the heights on which they stood, the legionaries recognise their general by the colour of the garment which he was in the habit of wearing in battle (the purple-coloured paludamentum),[532 - “Cæsar (at Alexandria) was greatly perplexed, being burdened with his purple vestments, which prevented him from swimming.” (Xiphilinus, Julius Cæsar, p. 26.) – “Crassus, instead of appearing before his troops in a purple-coloured paludamentum, as is the custom of the Roman generals…” (Plutarch, Crassus, 28.)] and see him followed by cohorts and detachments of cavalry, they sally from the retrenchments and begin the attack. Shouts arise on both sides, and are repeated from the vallum to the other works. When Cæsar arrives, he sees the lines abandoned, and the battle raging in the plain of Grésigny, on the banks of the Ose. The Roman soldiers throw away the pilum, and draw their swords. At the same time, the cavalry of the camp of Grésigny appears in the rear of the enemy; other cohorts approach. The Gauls are put to the rout, and in their flight encounter the cavalry, who make great slaughter among them. Sedulius, chief and prince of the Lemovices, is slain; the Arvernan Vercasivellaunus is taken prisoner. Seventy-four ensigns are brought to Cæsar. Of all this army, so numerous as it was, few combatants return to their camp safe and sound.

Witnesses, from the top of their walls, of this sanguinary defeat, the besieged despaired of their safety, and called in the troops who were attacking the countervallation.[533 - “The inhabitants of Alesia despaired of their safety when they saw the Roman soldiers bringing from all sides into their camp an immense quantity of shields ornamented with gold and silver, cuirasses stained with blood, plate, and Gaulish flags.” (Plutarch, Cæsar, 30.)] As the result of these reverses, the Gauls of the army of succour fly from their camp; and if the Romans, compelled to defend so many points at one time, and to assist each other mutually, had not been worn out by the labours of a whole day, the entire mass of the enemies might have been annihilated. Towards the middle of the night the cavalry sent in pursuit came up with their rear-guard; a great part of them were taken prisoners or killed; the others dispersed, to return to their countries.

Next day, Vercingetorix convokes a council. He declares that he has not undertaken this war out of personal interest, but for the cause of the liberty of all. “Since they must yield to fate, he places himself at the discretion of his fellow-citizens, and offers them, in order to appease the Romans, to be delivered up, dead or alive.” A deputation is at once sent to Cæsar, who requires that the arms and the chiefs be delivered to him. He places himself in front of his camp, inside the retrenchments; the chiefs are brought, the arms are laid down, and Vercingetorix surrenders to the conqueror. This valiant defender of Gaul arrives on horseback, clad in his finest arms, makes the circuit of Cæsar’s tribunal, dismounts, and laying down his sword and his military ensigns, exclaims: “Thou hast vanquished a brave man, thou, the bravest of all!”[534 - Florus, III. x. 26. – According to Plutarch (Cæsar, 30), Vercingetorix, after having laid down his arms, seated himself in silence at the foot of Cæsar’s tribunal.] The prisoners were distributed by head to each soldier, by way of booty, except the 20,000 who belonged to the Ædui and Arverni, and whom Cæsar restored in the hope of bringing back those people to his cause.

Dio Cassius relates the surrender of the Gaulish chief as follows: “After this defeat, Vercingetorix, who had neither been taken nor wounded, might have fled; but, hoping that the friendship which had formerly bound him to Cæsar would procure his pardon, he repaired to the proconsul, without having sent a herald to ask for peace, and appeared suddenly in his presence, at the moment he was sitting on his tribunal. His appearance inspired some fear, for he was of tall stature, and had a very imposing aspect under arms. There was a deep silence: the Gaulish chief fell at Cæsar’s knees, and implored him by pressing his hands, without uttering a word. This scene excited the pity of the by-standers, by the remembrance of Vercingetorix’s former fortune compared to his present misfortune. Cæsar, on the contrary, upbraided him with the recollections on which he had hoped for his safety. He compared his recent struggle with the friendship of which he reminded him, and by that means pointed out more vividly the odiousness of his conduct. And thus, far from being touched with his misfortune at that moment, he threw him at once in fetters, and afterwards ordered him to be put to death, after having exhibited him in his triumph.” By acting thus, Cæsar believed that he was obeying state policy and the cruel customs of the time. It is to be regretted for his glory that he did not use, towards Vercingetorix, the illustrious Gaulish chief, the same clemency which, during the Civil War, he showed towards the vanquished who were his fellow-citizens.

When these events were accomplished, Cæsar proceeded towards the Ædui, and received their submission. There he met the envoys of the Arverni, who promised to pay deference to his orders: he required from them a great number of hostages. Afterwards, he placed his legions in winter quarters. T. Labienus, with two legions and some cavalry, among the Sequani (Sempronius Rutilius was given him as a colleague); C. Fabius and L. Minucius Basilius, with two legions, among the Remi, in order to protect them against the Bellovaci, their neighbours; C. Antistius Reginus amongst the Ambluareti; T. Sextius among the Bituriges; C. Caninius Rebilus among the Ruteni, each with one legion. Q. Tullius Cicero and P. Sulpicius were established at Cabillonum (Chalon) and Matisco (Mâcon), in the land of the Ædui, on the Saône, to ensure the supply of provisions. Cæsar resolved to pass the winter at Bibracte.[535 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 90. – By comparing the data of the VIIth book with those of the VIIIth, we obtain the following results:] He announced those events at Rome, where twenty days of public thanksgivings were decreed.

Details of the Excavations at Mont Auxois.

XIII. The excavations earned on round Mont Auxois, from 1862 to 1863, have brought to light, in nearly all points, the fosses of the Roman retrenchments. The following is the result: —

Camps. – Cæsar debouched upon Alesia by the mountain of Bussy (see Plate 25), and distributed his army round Mont Auxois: the legions encamped on the heights, and the cavalry was established on the lower grounds, near the streams.

There were four camps of infantry, two of them, A and B, on the mountain of Flavigny. Their form depends on that of the ground: they were shaped in such a manner that the retrenchments should, as far as possible, command the ground situated before them. On the side where it could have been attacked, that is, to the south, the camp A presented formidable defences, to judge from the triple line of fosses which surround this part. (See Plates 25 and 28.) We must, perhaps, suppose that it was occupied by Cæsar in person. The camp B is more extensive. The vestiges of its remblai are still visible at the present day, in the greatest part of its circuit, in consequence of this land having never been touched by the plough. It is the only known example of visible traces of a camp made by Cæsar. None of the camps of the mountain of Flavigny having been attacked, the excavations have only brought to light in the fosses a small number of objects. The entrances to the camps are at the places marked by arrows on Plate 25. A third camp of infantry was situated on the mountain of Bussy, at C.

The fourth infantry camp was established on the lower slopes of Mont Réa, at D. It is the one occupied by the two legions of Reginus and Rebilus, and which Vercasivellaunus attacked with 60,000 men. Indeed, it will be observed that the spur situated to the north of Mont Auxois, between the Rabutin and the Brenne, is much farther from Alesia than the other mountains which surround it, and Mont Réa, which is the nearest part of it, is still more than 2,000 mètres distant from it. Hence it follows that Cæsar could not have included Mont Réa in his lines without giving them an excessive development. Consequently, he was obliged to establish one of his camps on the southern slope of that hill. This camp was on the point of being forced, and an obstinate battle was fought there. The excavations have led to the discovery in the fosses of a multitude of interesting objects, and, among them, more than 600 Roman and Gaulish coins. (See the list in Appendix C.)[536 - There have been found, on a length of 200 mètres, in the bottom of the upper fosse, ten Gaulish coins, twenty arrow-heads, fragments of shields, four balls of stone of different diameters, two millstones of granite, skulls and bones, earthenware, and fragments of amphoras in such quantity, that it would lead us to suppose that the Romans threw upon the assailants everything that came to hand. In the lower fosse, near which the struggle was hotter after the sally of Labienus, the result has surpassed all hopes. This fosse has been opened for a space of 500 mètres in length from X to X (see Plate 25): it contained, besides 600 coins (see Appendix C), fragments of pottery, and numerous bones, the following objects: ten Gaulish swords and nine scabbards of iron, thirty-nine pieces which belonged to arms of the description of the Roman pilum, thirty heads of javelins, which, on account of their lightness, are supposed to have been the points of the hasta amentata; seventeen more heavy heads may also have served for javelins thrown by the amentum, or simply by the hand, or even for lances; sixty-two blades, of various form, which present such finished workmanship that they may be ranged among the spears.Among objects of defensive armour there have been found one iron helmet and seven cheek-pieces, the forms of which are analogous to those which we see represented on Roman sculptures; umbos of Roman and Gaulish shields; an iron belt of a legionary; and numerous collars, rings and fibulæ.] The extremity of the upper fosse, represented by dots on Plates 25 and 28, has not been discovered, because earthfalls have taken place on that part of Mont Réa, which would have obliged the excavators to dig too deep to arrive at the bottom of the fosse. The strength of the retrenchments of the infantry camps was very variable, as may be seen by inspecting the various profiles of the fosses. (See Plate 28.) For each camp, they have larger dimensions on the side which is not defended by the escarpments, as may easily be conceived.

There were four cavalry camps, G H I K, placed near the different streams: three in the plain of Laumes, and one in the valley of the Rabutin. The fosses of these camps took greatly varied shapes. (See Plate 28.) In general, their dimensions were decidedly less than those of the fosses of the infantry camps. Camp G, however, had rather deep fosses; no doubt because it was farthest from the lines. The fosse which enclosed camp I towards the side of the Brenne has disappeared by the inundations of the river.