History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

An uninterrupted chain of heights divided Gaul, as it divides modern France, from north to south, into two parts. This line commences at the Monts Corbières, at the foot of the Eastern Pyrenees, is continued by the Southern Cévennes and by the mountains of the Vivarais, Lyonnais, and Beaujolais (called the Northern Cévennes), and declines continually with the mountains of the Charolais and the Côte-d’Or, until it reaches the plateau of Langres; after quitting this plateau, it leaves to the east the Monts Faucilles, which unite it to the Vosges, and, inclining towards the north-west, it follows, across the mountains of the Meuse, the western crests of the Argonne and the Ardennes, and terminates, in decreasing undulations, towards Cape Griz-Nez, in the Pas-de-Calais.

This long and tortuous ridge, more or less interrupted, which may be called the backbone of the country, is the great line of the watershed. It separates two slopes. On the eastern slope flow the Rhine and the Rhone, in opposite directions, the first towards the Northern Sea, the second towards the Mediterranean; on the western slope rise the Seine, the Loire, and the Garonne, which go to throw themselves into the ocean. These rivers flow at the bottom of vast basins, the bounds of which, as is well known, are indicated by the lines of elevations connecting the sources of all the tributaries of the principal stream.

The basin of the Rhine is separated from that of the Rhone by the Monts Faucilles, the southern extremity of the Vosges, called Le trouée de Belfort, the Jura, the Jorat (the heights which surround the Lake of Geneva on the north), and the lofty chain of the Helvetic Alps. In its upper part, it embraces nearly all Switzerland, of which the Rhine forms the northern boundary, in its course, from east to west, from the Lake of Constance to Bâle. Near this town the river turns abruptly towards the north. The basin widens, limited to the east by the mountains which separate it from the Danube and the Weser; to the west, by the northern part of the great line of watershed (the mountains of the Meuse, the Argonne, and the western Ardennes). It is intersected, from Mayence to Bonn, by chains nearly parallel to the course of the river, which separate its tributaries. From Bonn to the point where the Rhine divides into two arms, the basin opens still more; it is flat, and has no longer a definite boundary. The southern arm bore already, in the time of Cæsar, the name of Waal (Vahalis), and united with the Meuse[41 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 10.] below Nimeguen. To the west of the basin of the Rhine, the Scheldt forms a secondary basin.

The basin of the Rhone, in which is comprised that of the Saône, is sharply bounded on the north by the southern extremity of the Vosges and the Monts Faucilles; on the west, by the plateau of Langres, the Côte-d’Or, and the Cévennes; on the east, by the Jura, the Jorat, and the Alps. The Rhone crosses the Valais and the Lake of Geneva, follows an irregular course as far as Lyons, and runs thence from north to south to the Mediterranean. Among the most important of its secondary basins, we may reckon those of the Aude, the Hérault, and the Var.

The three great basins of the western slope are comprised between the line of watershed of Gaul and the ocean. They are separated from each other by two chains branching from this line, and running from the south-east to the north-west. The basin of the Seine, which includes that of the Somme, is separated from the basin of the Loire by a line of heights which branches from the Côte-d’Or under the name of the mountains of the Morvan, and is continued by the very low hills of Le Perche to the extremity of Normandy. A series of heights, extending from north to south, from the hills of Le Perche to Nantes, enclose the basin of the Loire to the west, and leave outside the secondary basins of Brittany.

The basin of the Loire is separated from that of the Garonne by a long chain starting from Mont Lozère, comprising the mountains of Auvergne, those of the Limousin, the hills of Poitou, and the plateau of Gatine, and ending in flat country towards the coasts of La Vendée.

The basin of the Garonne, situated to the south of that of the Loire, extends to the Pyrenees. It comprises the secondary basins of the Adour and the Charente.

The vast country we have thus described is protected on the north, west, and south by two seas, and by the Pyrenees. On the east, where it is exposed to invasions, Nature, not satisfied with the defences she had given it in the Rhine and the Alps, has further retrenched it behind three groups of interior mountains – first, the Vosges; second, the Jura; third, the mountains of Forez, the mountains of Auvergne, and the Cévennes.

The Vosges run parallel to the Rhine, and are like a rampart in the rear of that river.

The Jura, separated from the Vosges by the Gap (trouée) of Belfort, rises like a barrier in the interval left between the Rhine and the Rhone, preventing, as far as Lyons, the waters of this latter river from uniting with those of the Saône.

The Cévennes and the mountains of Auvergne and Forez form, in the southern centre of Gaul, a sort of citadel, of which the Rhone might be considered as the advanced fosse. The ridges of this group of mountains start from a common centre, take opposite directions, and form the valleys whence flow, to the north, the Allier and the Loire; to the west, the Dordogne, the Lot, the Aveyron, and the Tarn; to the south, the Ardèche, the Gard, and the Hérault.

The valleys, watered by navigable rivers, presented – thanks to the fruitfulness of their soil and to their easy access – natural ways of communication, favourable both to commerce and to war. To the north, the valley of the Meuse; to the east, the valley of the Rhine, conducting to that of the Saône, and thence to that of the Rhone, were the grand routes which armies followed to invade the south. Strabo, therefore, remarks justly that Sequania (Franche-Comté) has always been the road of the Germanic invasions from Gaul into Italy.[42 - Strabo, IV. 3, p. 160] From east to west the principal chain of the watershed might easily be crossed in its less elevated parts, such as the plateau of Langres and the mountains of Charolais, which have since furnished a passage to the Central Canal. Lastly, to penetrate from Italy into Gaul, the great lines of invasion were the valley of the Rhone and the valley of the Garonne, by which the mountainous mass of the Cévennes, Auvergne, and Forez is turned.

Gaul presented the same contrast of climates which we observe between the north and south of France. While the Roman province enjoyed a mild temperature and an extreme fertility,[43 - The Narbonnese reminded the Romans of the climate and productions of Italy. (Strabo, IV. 1, p. 147.)] the central and northern part was covered with vast forests, which rendered the climate colder than it is at present;[44 - Pomponius Mela, who compiled in the first century, from old authors an abridgement of Geography, says that Gaul was rich in wheat and pastures, and covered with immense forests: “Terra est frumenti præcipue ac pabuli forax, et amœna lucis immanibus.” (De Situ Orbis, III. 2.) – (De Bello Gallico, I, 16.) – The winter was very early in the north of Gaul. (De Bello Gallico, IV. 20.) Hence the proverbial expression at Rome of heims Gallica. (Petronius, Satir. 19. – Strabo, IV., 147-161.) – See the “Memoire on the Forests of Gaul” read before the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, by M. Alfred Maury.] yet the centre produced in abundance wheat, rye, millet, and barley.[45 - Strabo, IV., p. 147. – Diodorus Siculus, V. 26.] The greatest of all these forests was that of the Ardennes. It extended, beginning from the Rhine, over a space of two hundred miles, on one side to the frontier of the Remi, crossing the country of the Treviri; and, on another side, to the Scheldt, across the country of the Nervii.[46 - Cæsar, after having said (V. 3) that the forests of the Ardennes extended from the Rhine to the frontier of the Remi, ad initium Remorum, adds (VI. 29) that it extended also towards the Nervii, ad Nervios. Nevertheless, according to chapter 33 of book VI., we believe that this forest extended, across the country of the Nervii, to the Scheldt. How otherwise could Cæsar have assigned to the forests of the Ardennes a length of 500 miles, if it ended at the eastern frontier of the Nervii? This number is, in any case, exaggerated, for from the Rhine (at Coblentz) to the Scheldt, towards Ghent and Antwerp, it is but 300 kilomètres, or 200 miles.] The “Commentaries” speak also of forests existing among the Carnutes,[47 - De Bello Gallico, VIII. 5.] in the neighbourhood of the Saône,[48 - “Citra flumen Ararim … reliqui sese fugæ mandarunt atque in proximas silvas abdiderunt.” (De Bello Gallico, I. 12.)] among the Menapii[49 - “Menapii propinqui Eburonum finibus, perpetuis paludibus silvisque muniti.” (De Bello Gallico, VI. 5.)] and the Morini,[50 - “(Morini et Menapii) … silvas ac paludes habebant, eo se suaque contulerunt.” (De Bello Gallico, III. 28.)] and among the Eburones.[51 - “(Sugambri) primos Eburonum fines adeunt … non silvæ morantur.” (De Bello Gallico, VI. 35.)] In the north the breeding of cattle was the principal occupation,[52 - Strabo, p. 163, edit. Didot.] and the pastures of Belgic Gaul produced a race of excellent horses.[53 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 2.] In the centre and in the south the richness of the soil was augmented by productive mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead.[54 - Strabo, pp. 121, 155, 170, edit. Didot.]

The country was, without any doubt, intersected by carriage roads, since the Gauls possessed a great number of all sorts of wagons,[55 - “Carpenta Gallorum.” (Florus, I. 13) – “Plurima Gallica (verba) valuerunt, ut reda ac petorritum.” (Quintilian, De Institutione Oratoria, lib. I., cap. v. 57.) – “Petorritum enim est non ex Græcia dimidiatum, sed totum transalpibus, nam est vox Gallica. Id scriptum est in libro M. Varronis quarto decimo Rerum Divinarum; quo in loco Varro, quum de petorrito dixisset, esse id verbum Gallicum dixit.” (Aulus Gellius, XV. 30.) – “Petoritum et Gallicum vehiculum est, et nomen ejus dictum esse existimant a numero quatuor rotarum. Alii Osce, quod hi quoque petora quatuor vocent. Alii Græce, sed αἱλικὡς dictum.” (Festus, voc. Petoritum, p. 206, edit. Müller.) – “Belgica esseda, Gallicana vehicula. Nam Belga civitas est Galliæ in qua hujusmodi vehiculi repertus est usus.” (Servius, Commentaries on the Georgics of Virgil, lib. III. v. 204. – Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, IV. 33, and passim.] since there still remain traces of Celtic roads, and since Cæsar makes known the existence of bridges on the Aisne,[56 - De Bello Gallico, II. 5.] the Rhone,[57 - De Bello Gallico, I. 7.] the Loire,[58 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 11.] the Allier,[59 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 34, 53.] and the Seine.[60 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 58.]

It is difficult to ascertain exactly the number of the population; yet we may presume, from the contingents furnished by the different states, that it amounted to more than seven millions of souls.[61 - The reckoning of these contingents is the most positive element for estimating the state of the population. We find in the “Commentaries” three valuable statements: 1st, the numerical state of the Helvetian immigration in 696 (De Bello Gallico, I. 29.); 2nd, that of the Belgic troops, in the campaign of 697 (De Bello Gallico, II. 4.); 3rd, the census of the Gaulish army which, in 702, attempted to raise the siege of Alesia (De Bello Gallico, VII. 75.) Of 368,000 men, composing the agglomeration of the Helvetii and their allies, 92,000 were able to bear arms; that is, about a quarter of the population. In the campaign of 697, the Belgic coalition counted 296,000 combatants, and, in 702, at the time of the blockade of Alesia, the effective force of a great part of Gaul amounted to 281,000 men. But, in order not to count twice the different contingents of the same states, we suppress from the enumeration of the year 702 the contingents of the countries already mentioned in the census of 697, which reduces the effective force to 201,000 men. Yet this number cannot represent the total of men fit for war; it comprises only the troops which could easily be sent out of the territory, and which were more numerous accordingly as the people to which they belonged were nearer to the theatre of military operations. Thus Cæsar informs us that the Bellovaci, who could bring into the field 100,000 men, only furnished 60,000 picked men in 697, and 10,000 in 702. The contingent of the Atrebates, which had been 15,000 men in 697, was reduced to 4,000 in 702; that of the Nervii, of 50,000 in the former year, sank to 5,000; and that of the Morini similarly from 25,000 to 5,000. From these circumstances we may be allowed to infer that the Gauls armed three-fifths of their male population when the enemy was near their territory, and only one-fifth, or even one-sixth, when he was more distant.If, then, we would form an idea of the total number of men able to carry arms in Gaul, we must augment the contingents really furnished, sometimes by two-fifths, sometimes in a higher proportion, according to the distances which separated them from the seat of war. By this calculation, the levies of 697 represent 513,600 men capable of carrying arms, and those of 702, at least 573,600; we add together these two numbers, because, as stated above, each army comprises different populations, which gives 1,087,200 men, to whom we must add 92,000 Helvetii; moreover, it is indispensable to take into account the contributive capability of the populations which are not mentioned in the “Commentaries” among the belligerents at the two epochs indicated above, such as the Pictones, the Carnutes, the Andes, the Remi, the Treviri, the Lingones, the Leuci, the Unelli, the Redones, the Ambivareti, and the peoples of Armorica and Aquitaine. By an approximate estimate of their population according to the extent of their territory, we shall obtain the number of 625,000 men. Adding together these four numbers, to obtain the total number of men capable of bearing arms, we shall get 513,600 + 573,600 + 92,000 + 625,000 = 1,804,200 men. Quadrupling this number to get, according to the proportion applied to the Helvetii, the total of the population, we shall have 7,216,800 inhabitants for Gaul, the Roman province not included. In fact, Diodorus Siculus, who wrote in the first century of our era, says (lib. V., c. 25) that the population of the different nations of Gaul varies from 200,000 to 50,000 men, which would make a mean of 125,000 men. If we take the word ἁνδρες in the sense of inhabitants, and if we admit with Tacitus that there were in Gaul sixty-four different nations, we should have the number of 8,000,000 inhabitants, very near the preceding.]

Political Divisions.

II. Gaul, according to Cæsar, was divided into three great regions, distinct by language, manners, and laws: to the north, Belgic Gaul, between the Seine, the Marne, and the Rhine; in the centre, Celtic Gaul, between the Garonne and the Seine, extending from the ocean to the Alps, and comprising Helvetia; to the south, Aquitaine, between the Garonne and the Pyrenees.[62 - Pliny expresses himself thus: “The country comprised under the name of Gallia Comata is divided into three peoples, generally separated by rivers. From the Scheldt to the Seine is Belgic Gaul; from the Seine to the Garonne, Celtic, called also Lyonnese; from thence to the Pyrenees is Aquitaine.” (Hist. Nat., IV. xxxi. 105.)] (See Plate 2.) We must, nevertheless, comprise in Gaul the Roman province, or the Narbonnese, which began at Geneva, on the left bank of the Rhone, and extended in the south as far as Toulouse. It answered, as nearly as possible, to the limits of the countries known in modern times as Savoy, Dauphiné, Provence, Lower Languedoc, and Roussillon. The populations who inhabited it were of different origins: there were found there Aquitanians, Belgæ, Ligures, Celts, who had all long undergone the influence of Greek civilisation, and especially establishments founded by the Phocæans on the coasts of the Mediterranean.[63 - Peoples composing the Roman Province:The Albici (the south of the department of the Lower Alps, and the north of the Var). (De Bello Civil., I. 34; II. 2.)The Allobroges, probably of Celtic origin, inhabited the north-west of Savoy, and the greater part of the department of the Isère.The Helvii, inhabitants of the ancient Vivarais (the southern part of the department of the Ardèche), separated from the Arverni by the Cévennes. (De Bello Gallico, VII. 8.)The Ruteni of the province (Ruteni Provinciales), a fraction of the Celtic nation of the Ruteni, incorporated into the Roman province, and whose territory extended over a part of the department of the Tarn.The Sallyes, or Salluvii (the Bouches-du-Rhône, and western part of the Var). (De Bello Civil., I. 35, edit. Nipperdey.)The Vocontii (department of the Drôme and Upper Alps, southern part of the Isère, and the northern part of the Ardèche).The Volcæ occupied all Lower Languedoc, from the Garonne to the Rhone. They had emigrated from the north of Gaul. They were subdivided into the Volcæ Tectosages, who had Tolosa (Toulouse) for their principal town; and the Volcæ Arecomici.]

These three great regions were subdivided into many states, called civitates– an expression which, in the “Commentaries,” is synonymous with nations[64 - De Bello Gallico, III. 10.]– that is, each of these states had its organisation and its own government. Among the peoples mentioned by Cæsar, we may reckon twenty-seven in Belgic Gaul, forty-three in Celtic, and twelve in Aquitaine: in all, eighty-two in Gaul proper, and seven in the Narbonnese. Other authors, admitting, no doubt, smaller subdivisions, carry this number to three or four hundred;[65 - Four hundred, according to Appian (Civil War, II. 150); three hundred and five, according to Flavius Josephus (Wars of the Jews, II. xxviii. 5); three hundred, according to Plutarch (Cæsar, 15); about a hundred and forty, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat., III. 5; IV. 31-33).] but it appears that under Tiberius there were only sixty-four states in Gaul.[66 - “Nevertheless, it was said at Rome that it was not only the Treviri and the Ædui who revolted, but the sixty-four states of Gaul.” (Tacitus, Annal., III. 44.) – The revolt in question was that of Sacrovir, under Tiberius.] Perhaps, in this number, they reckoned only the sovereign, and not the dependent, states.

1. Belgic Gaul. The Belgæ were considered more warlike than the other Gauls,[67 - Strabo, IV., p. 163, edit. Didot.] because, strangers to the civilisation of the Roman province and hostile to commerce, they had not experienced the effeminating influence of luxury. Proud of having escaped the Gaulish enervation, they claimed with arrogance an origin which united them with the Germans their neighbours, with whom, nevertheless, they were continually at war.[68 - Although of Germanic origin, like the Nervii, and glorying in it (Tacitus, Germania, 28), the Treviri were often at war with the Germans. (Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, VII. 68.)] They boasted of having defended their territory against the Cimbri and the Teutones, at the time of the invasion of Gaul. The memory of the lofty deeds of their ancestors inspired them with a great confidence in themselves, and excited their warlike spirit.[69 - Peoples of Belgic Gaul:The Aduatuci, who occupied a part of the province of Namur.The Ambiani, a people of the department of the Somme. Their chief town was Samarobriva (Amiens).The Ambivareti, established on the left bank of the Meuse, to the south of the marsh of Peel.The Atrebates, the people of the ancient Artois, and a part of French Flanders. Their principal oppidum was Nemetocenna (Arras).The Bellovaci, occupying the greater part of the department of the Oise (the ancient Beauvaisis), and who extended, probably, to the sea. (Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. 17.)The Caletes, whose territory answered to the ancient Pays de Caux (the western and central part of the department of the Seine-Inférieure).The Leuci, who occupied the southern part of the department of the Meuse, the greater part of that of the Meurthe, and the department of the Vosges.The Mediomatrices. They extended from the upper course of the Meuse to the Rhine (department of the Moselle, and part of the departments of the Meuse, the Meurthe, the Upper Rhine, and the Lower Rhine).The Menapii, who occupied the territory comprised between the Rhine and the mouths of the Scheldt.The Morini, who inhabited the western part of the department of the Pas-de-Calais, and extended to near the mouths of the Scheldt.The Nervii, established between the Sambre and the Scheldt (French and Belgic Hainaut, provinces of Southern Brabant, of Antwerp, and part of Eastern Flanders). The writers posterior to Cæsar mention Bagacum (Bavay) as their principal town.The Remi, whose territory embraced the greater part of the departments of the Marne and the Ardennes, a fraction of the departments of the Aisne and the Meuse, and of the province of Luxemburg. Their principal town was Durocortorum (Rheims).The Suessiones, the people of the ancient Soissonais, whose territory comprised the greater part of the department of the Aisne. Principal oppidum, Noviodunum (Soissons).The Treviri, separated from Germany by the Rhine, and occupying the whole lower basin of the Moselle (Rhenish Luxemburg, Prussia, and Bavaria). The Treviri had for clients —The Condrusi, established to the south of the Meuse, in the ancient Condroz, and who reached almost to Aix-la-Chapelle.The Eburones, occupying part of the provinces of Liége and Limburg, and reaching to the Rhine through the ancient duchy of Juliers.The Triboces, established on both banks of the Rhine, occupied the central part of the Grand Duchy of Baden and the north of the department of the Lower Rhine, perhaps already invaded, on the left bank. Their presence on the left bank of the Rhine appears from Cæsar’s account. (De Bello Gallico, IV. 10.)The Veliocasses, whose territory embraced the ancient Vexin, and who occupied part of the departments of the Seine-Inférieure and the Eure.The Veromandui, occupying the ancient Vermandois, the northern part of the Aisne, and the eastern part of the Somme.]

The most powerful nations among the Belgæ were the Bellovaci,[70 - “Qui belli gloria Gallos omnes Belgasque præstabant.” (De Bello Gallico, II. 4, and VIII. 6.)] who could arm a hundred thousand men, and whose territory extended to the sea,[71 - Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. xxxi, 17.] the Nervii, the Remi, and the Treviri.

2. Celtic Gaul.[72 - Peoples of Celtic Gaul:The Arverni extended over a vast region, comprising the present departments of the Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal, and part of those of the Allier and the Upper Loire. Gergovia was their principal town. The Arverni had for clients —The Cadurei Eleutheri, whose territory answered to the ancient Quercy (department of the Lot). [This epithet of Eleutheri, which is found in Cæsar (De Bello Gallico, VIII. 75) leads us to believe that in southern Quercy there existed Cadurci placed under the dominion of Rome.]The Gabali, who occupied the ancient Gévaudan (the department of the Lozère).The Vellavi, whose territory answered to the ancient Velay (department of the Upper Loire).The Aulerci formed an extensive nation, which was subdivided into three great tribes, established over the country from the lower course of the Seine to the Mayenné.1. The Aulerci Cenomanni, a fraction of whom was, as early as the sixth century of Rome, established in Cisalpine Gaul, between the Oglio and the Adige, and who occupied in Gaul the greater part of the territory now forming the department of the Sarthe;2. The Aulerci Diablintes, the northern and central parts of the department of the Mayenne.3. The Aulerci Eburovices, the central and southern part of the department of the Eure.The Bituriges, a nation which had more than twenty towns. Avaricum (Bourges) was the principal. Their territory embraced the ancient Berry (departments of the Cher, the Indre, and part of the Allier).The Carnutes occupied the greatest part of the present departments of Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher, and Loiret. Genabum (Gien) was one of their most important towns.The Ædui occupied the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire and the Nièvre, and a part of the Côte-d’Or and the Allier. Their principal oppidum was Bibracte (Mont-Beuvray), the place of which was subsequently taken by Augustodunum (Autun). Cabillonum (Chalon-sur-Saône), Matisco (Mâcon), and Noviodunum, afterwards called Nivernum (Nevers), were also reckoned among their most important places. The Ædui had for clients —The Ambarri, a small tribe situated between the Saône, the Rhone, and the Ain (department of the Ain).The Ambluaretes, a people occupying a district around Ambierle (arrondissement of Roanne, department of the Loire). (?)The Aulerci Brannovices, a tribe which dwelt between the Saône and the Loire, occupied the ancient country of Brionnais.The Blannovii, who occupied a territory round Blanot (Saône-et-Loire). (?)The Boii, a fraction of a great nomadic nation of this name, of Celtic origin, authorised by Cæsar to establish themselves on the territory of the Ædui, between the Loire and the Allier.The Segusiavi, who occupied the ancient Forez (departments of the Rhône and the Loire), and extended to the left bank of the Saône.The Essuvii, established in the department of the Orne.The Helvetii, who were subdivided into four tribes or pagi; their territory occupied the part of Switzerland which extends from the north shore of the Léman to the Lake of Constance.The Lemovices, whose territory answered to the Limousin (departments of the Upper Vienne and the greater part of the Corrèze and the Creuse).The Lingones, whose territory embraced the greatest part of the department of the Haute-Marne and a fraction of the departments of the Aube, the Yonne, and the Côte-d’Or.The Mandubii, established between the Ædui and the Lingones (department of the Côte-d’Or), occupied the ancient country of Auxois. Alesia (Alise) was their principal oppidum.The Meldœ occupied the north of the department of the Seine-et-Marne and a small part of the department of the Oise.The Nitiobriges occupied the greatest part of the department of the Lot-et-Garonne and a fraction of the Tarn-et-Garonne.The Parisii, whose territory embraced the department of the Seine and a great part of the department of the Seine-et-Oise. Their principal town was Lutetia (Paris).The Petrocorii, established in the ancient Périgord (department of the Dordogne).The Rauraci, whose origin is perhaps German, established on both banks of the Rhine, towards the elbow which the river forms at Bâle.The Ruteni occupied the ancient province of Rouergne (department of the Aveyron).The Senones, established between the Loire and the Marne. Their principal town was Agedincum (Sens). Their territory comprised a part of the departments of the Yonne, the Marne, the Loiret, Seine-et-Marne, and the Aube.The Sequani, whose territory embraced the ancient Franche-Comté (Jura, Doubs, Haute-Saône, and part of the Haut-Rhin). Principal town, Vesontio (Besançon).The Turones, who occupied Touraine (department of Indre-et-Loire).The peoples whom Cæsar calls maritime, or Armorican, were —The Ambibari, established at the point where the departments of La Manche and Ille-et-Vilaine join.The Ambiliates, whose territory comprised the part of the department of Maine-et-Loire situated to the south of the Loire.The Andes, occupying Anjon (department of Maine-et-Loire and a fraction of the department of the Sarthe).The Curiosolitæ, occupying the greatest part of the department of the Côtes-du-Nord.The Lemovices Armorici, fixed to the south of the Loire, in the southern part of the department of the Loire-Inférieure and the west of that of Maine-et-Loire.The Lexovii, occupying the department of Calvados, and a fraction of that of the Eure.The Namnetes, who occupied, in the department of the Loire-Inférieure, the right bank of the Loire.The Osismii, whose territory answered to the department of Finistère.The Pictones, occupying Poitou (departments of La Vendée, the Deux-Sèvres, and the Vienne).The Redones, whose territory embraced the greatest part of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine.The Santones, occupying Saintonge, Aunis, and Angoumois (department of the Charente and the Charente-Inférieure, and a part of the department of the Gironde).The Unelli, the people of the ancient Contentin (department of La Manche).The Veneti, whose territory included the department of Morbihan.] The central part of Gaul, designated by the Greek writers under the name of Celtica, and the inhabitants of which constituted in the eyes of the Romans the Gauls properly so named (Galli), was the most extensive and most populous. Among the most important nations of Celtic Gaul were reckoned the Arverni, the Ædui, the Sequani, and the Helvetii. Tacitus informs us that the Helvetii had once occupied a part of Germany.[73 - Tacitus. Germania, 28.]

These three first peoples often disputed the supremacy of Gaul. As to the Helvetii, proud of their independence, they acknowledged no authority superior to their own. In the centre and south of Celtic Gaul dwelt peoples who had also a certain importance. On the west and north-west were various maritime populations designated under the generic name of Armoricans, an epithet which had, in the Celtic tongue, the meaning of maritime. Small Alpine tribes inhabited the valleys of the upper course of the Rhone, at the eastern extremity of Lake Lémon, a country which now forms the Valais.

3. Aquitaine.[74 - Peoples of Aquitaine:The Ausci, who occupied the central part of the department of the Gers, the most powerful of the nations of Aquitaine, according to Pomponius Mela (III. 2).The Bigerriones occupied Bigorre (department of the Hautes-Pyrénées).The Cocosates, established on the coasts of the Gulf of Gascony, in the Landes (the southern part of the department of the Gironde and the northern of the department of the Landes).The Elusates occupied the north-west part of the department of the Gers and part of that of the Lot-et-Garonne.The Gates, at the confluence of the Gers and the Garonne.The Garumni, in the south of the department of the Haute-Garonne.The Ptianes, probably towards Pau and Orthez.The Sibuzates appear to have occupied the ancient country of Soule (Basses-Pyrénées).The Sotiates occupied the south-west part of the department of Lot-et-Garonne and a part of the departments of the Landes and the Gers.The Tarbelli occupied all the territory bordering upon the head of the Gulf of Gascony (departments of the Landes and the Basses-Pyrénées).The Tarusates, established on the Adour, in the ancient Tursan (the south-east part of the department of the Landes). Peoples of Aquitaine (continued).The Vasates or Vocates, established in the country of Bazas (the south-east part of the department of the Gironde).] Aquitaine commenced on the left bank of the Garonne: it was inhabited by several small tribes, and contained none of those agglomerations which were found among the Celts and the Belgæ. The Aquitanians, who had originally occupied a vast territory to the north of the Pyrenees, having been pushed backward by the Celts, had but a rather limited portion of it in the time of Cæsar.

The three regions which composed Gaul were not only, as already stated, divided into a great number of states, but each state (civitas) was farther subdivided into pagi,[75 - “Pagus, pars civitatis.” (De Bello Gallico, I. 12.)] representing, perhaps, the same thing as the tribe among the Arabs. The proof of the distinct character of these agglomerations is found in the fact that in the army each of them had its separate place, under the command of its own chieftains. The smallest subdivision was called vicus.[76 - Cæsar mentions in different pasages the existence of vici among the Helvetii (I. 5), the Allobroges trans Rhodanum (I. 11), the Remi (II. 7), the Morini (III. 29), the Menapii (IV. 4), the Eburones (VI. 43), the Boii (VII. 14), the Carnutes (VIII. 5), and the Veragri (III. 1).] Such, at least, are the denominations employed in the “Commentaries,” but which were certainly not those of the Celtic language. In each state there existed principal towns, called indifferently by Cæsar urbs or oppidum;[77 - De Bello Gallico VII. 15, 25, 68.] yet this last name was given by preference to considerable towns, difficult of access and carefully fortified, placed on heights or surrounded by marshes.[78 - The “Commentaries” name twenty-one oppida: Alesia, Avaricum, Bibracte, Bibrax, Bratuspantium, Cabillonum, Genabum, Genava, Gergovia, Gorgobina, Lutetia, Lemonum, Melodunum, Noviodunum Æduorum, Noviodunum Biturigum, Noviodunum Suessionum, Uxellodunum, Vellaunodunum, Vesontio, the oppidum Aduatucorum, and the oppidum Sotiatum.] It was to these oppida that, in case of attack, the Gauls transported their grain, their provisions, and their riches.[79 - “Oppidum dictum quod ibi homines opes suas conferunt.” (Paulus Diaconus, p. 184, edit. Müller.)] Their habitations, established often in the forests or on the bank of a river, were constructed of wood, and tolerably spacious.[80 - The Gauls lived in houses, or rather in huts, constructed of wood and with hurdles, tolerably spacious and of a circular form, covered with a high roof. (Strabo, IV. 163, edit. Didot.) – The Gauls, to avoid the heat, almost always built their habitations in the neighbourhood of woods and rivers. (Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, VI. 30.)]

Manners.

III. The Gauls were tall in stature, their skin was white, their eyes blue, their hair fair or chestnut, which they dyed, in order to make the colour more brilliant.[81 - See a very curious passage in Solinus, chap. 25, on the practice of tattooing among the Gauls.] They let their beard grow; the nobles alone shaved, and preserved long moustaches.[82 - Diodorus Siculus (V. 28) says that the Gauls were of tall stature, had white flesh, and were lymphatic in constitution. Some shaved; the majority had beards of moderate size. – According to Titus Livius, the Gauls possessed a tall stature (procera corpora), flowing hair of an auburn colour (promissæ et rutilatæ comæ), a white complexion (candida corpora). (Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 17, 21, and Ammianus Marcellinus, XV. 22.) The latter adds that the Gauls had generally a threatening and terrible tone of voice, which is also stated by Diodorus Siculus (V. 31). – The skeletons found in the excavations at Saint-Etienne-au-Temple are 1·80m. to 1·90m. in length.] Trousers or breeches, very wide among the Belgæ, but narrower among the southern Gauls, and a shirt with sleeves, descending to the middle of the thighs, composed their principal dress.[83 - Strabo, p. 163, edit. Didot.] They were clothed with a mantle or saie,[84 - Isidorus Hispalensis, Origines, I. 19, 24.] magnificently embroidered with gold or silver among the rich,[85 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 30.] and held about the neck by means of a metal brooch. The lowest classes of the people used instead an animal’s skin. The Aquitanians covered themselves, probably according to the Iberic custom, with cloth of coarse wool unshorn.[86 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 33.]

The Gauls wore collars, earrings, bracelets, and rings for the arms, of gold or copper, according to their rank; necklaces of amber, and rings, which they placed on the third finger.[87 - Pliny, XXXIII. 24. – Gold was very abundant in Gaul; silver was much less common. The rich wore bracelets, rings on the leg, and collars, of the purest gold and tolerably massive; they had even breastplates of gold. (Diodorus Siculus, V. 27.) – A great number of these rings and circles of gold, of very good workmanship, have been found in the Gaulish burying-places. The Museum of Saint-Germain contains bracelets and earrings of chased gold, found, in 1863, in a tumulus situated near Châtillon-sur-Seine.]

They were naturally agriculturists, and we may suppose that the institution of private property existed among them, because, on the one hand, all the citizens paid the tax, except the Druids,[88 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 14.] and, on the other, the latter were judges of questions of boundaries.[89 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 13.] They were not unacquainted with certain manufactures. In some countries they fabricated serges, which were in great repute, and cloths or felts;[90 - Pliny, Hist. Nat., VIII. xlviii. lxxiii., p. 127, edit. Sillig.] in others they worked the mines with skill, and employed themselves in the fabrication of metals. The Bituriges worked in iron, and were acquainted with the art of tinning.[91 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 22. – Pliny, XXXIV. xvii., p. 162, edit. Sillig.] The artificers of Alesia plated copper with leaf-silver, to ornament horses’ bits and trappings.[92 - “Deinde et argentum incoquere simili modo cœpere, equorum maxime ornamentis, jumentorumque ac jugorum, in Alesia oppido.” (Pliny, XXXIV. xvii., p. 162. – Florus, III. 2.)]

The Gauls fed especially on the flesh of swine, and their ordinary drinks were milk, ale, and mead.[93 - Milk and the flesh of wild or domestic animals, especially swine’s flesh fresh or salted, formed the principal food of the Gauls. (Strabo, IV., p. 163.) – Beer and mead were the principal drink of the Gauls. (Posidonius quoted by Athenæus, IV., p. 151, Fragmenta Historicum Græc., III. 260.) – This statement is made also by Diodorus Siculus (V. 26), who informs us that this beer was made with barley.] They were reproached with being inclined to drunkenness.[94 - Cicero already remarked the propensity of the Gauls to drunkenness (Orat. pro Fonteio), and Ammianus Marcellinus (XV. 12) also addresses the same reproach to them, which is again stated in Diodorus Siculus (V. 26).]

They were frank and open in temper, and hospitable toward strangers,[95 - “The Gauls, in their great hospitality, invited the stranger to their meal as soon as he presented himself, and it was only after drinking and eating with them that they inquired his name and country.” (Diodorus Siculus, V. 28.)] but vain and quarrelsome;[96 - Strabo (IV., p. 162) says that the Gauls were of a frank character and good-hearted (literally, without malice). – Ammianus Marcellinus (XV. 12), who wrote at the end of the fifth century, represents the Gauls as excessively vain. – Strabo (IV., p. 165) assures us that they were much inclined to disputes and quarrels.] fickle in their sentiments, and fond of novelties, they took sudden resolutions, regretting one day what they had rejected with disdain the day before;[97 - Cæsar often speaks of the fickleness of temper of this people, which, during a long period, gave great trouble to the Roman people. “Omnes fere Gallos novis rebus studere, et ad bellum mobiliter celeriterque excitari.” (De Bello Gallico, III 10.) – Lampridius, in his Life of Alexander Severus, 59, expresses himself thus: “But the Gauls, those tempers hard to deal with, and who regret all they have ceased to possess, often furnished grave cares to the emperors.” – “Gallorum subita et repentina consilia.” (De Bello Gallico, III. 8.)] inclined to war and eager for adventures, they showed themselves hot in the attack, but quickly discouraged in defeat.[98 - De Bello Gallico, III. 19.] Their language was very concise and figurative;[99 - Diodorus Siculus (V. 31) says that the language of the Gauls was very concise and figurative, and that the Gauls made use of hyperbole in blaming and praising.] in writing, they employed Greek letters.

The men were not exempt from a shameful vice, which we might have believed less common in this county than among the peoples of the East.[100 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 32. – Strabo, IV., p. 165. – Athenæus, XIII., p. 603.] The women united an extraordinary beauty with remarkable courage and great physical force.[101 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 47 and 48. – Among the Gauls, the women were equal to the men, not only in size, but also in courage. (Diodorus Siculus, V. 32.) – The Gaulish women were tall and strong. – Ammianus Marcellinus (XV. 12) writes: “Several foreigners together could not wrestle against a single Gaul, if they quarrelled with him, especially if he called for help to his wife, who even exceeds her husband in her strength and in her haggard eyes. She would become especially formidable if, swelling her throat and gnashing her teeth, she agitated her arms, robust and white as snow, ready to act with feet or fists; to give blows as vigorous as if they came from a catapult.”]

The Gauls, according to the tradition preserved by the Druids, boasted of being descended from the god of the earth, or from Pluto (Dis), according to the expression of Cæsar.[102 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 18: “Ab Dite patre prognatos.”] It was for this reason that they took night for their starting-point in all their divisions of time. Among their other customs, they had one which was singular: they considered it as a thing unbecoming to appear in public with their children, until the latter had reached the age for carrying arms.[103 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 18.]

When he married, the man took from his fortune a part equal to the dowry of the wife. This sum, placed as a common fund, was allowed to accumulate with interest, and the whole reverted to the survivor. The husband had the right of life and death over his wife and children.[104 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 19.] When the decease of a man of wealth excited any suspicion, his wives, as well as his slaves, were put to the torture, and burnt if they were found guilty.

The extravagance of their funerals presented a contrast to the simplicity of their life. All that the defunct had cherished during his life, was thrown into the flames after his death; and even, before the Roman conquest, they joined with it his favourite slaves and clients.[105 - The Gauls, like most of the barbarian peoples, looked upon the other life as resembling the present. And with this sentiment, at the funeral, they threw into the funereal pile, letters addressed to the dead, which they imagined he read. (Diodorus Siculus, V. 28.)]

In the time of Cæsar, the greater part of the peoples of Gaul were armed with long iron swords, two-edged (σπἁθη), sheathed in scabbards similarly of iron, suspended to the side by chains. These swords were generally made to strike with the edge rather than to stab.[106 - Titus Livius tells us (XXXVIII. 17) that the Gauls had long swords (prælongi gladii) and great bucklers (vasta scuta). In another passage (XXII. 46) he remarks that the swords of the Gauls were long and without point (prælongi ac sine mucronibus). – Their bucklers were long, narrow, and flat (scuta longa, cœterum ad amplitudinem corporum parum lata et ea ipsa plana). (Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 21.) – “Et Biturix longisque leves Suessones in armis.” (Lucan, Pharsalia, I. 422.) – Didorus Siculus (V. 30) says that the Gauls had iron coats of mail. He adds: “Instead of glaive (ξἱφος), they have long swords (σπἁθη), which they carry suspended to their right side by chains of iron or bronze. Some bind their tunics with gilt or silvered girdles. They have spears (λὁγχη or λογχἱς) having an iron blade a cubit long, and sometimes more. The breadth is almost two palms, for the blade of these saunions (the Gaulish dart) is not less than that of our glaive, and it is a little longer. Of these blades, some are forged straight, others present undulated curves, so that they not only cut in striking, but in addition they tear the wound when they are drawn out.”] The Gauls had also spears, the iron of which, very long and very broad, presented sometimes an undulated form (materis, σαὑνιον).[107 - Strabo, IV., p. 163, edit. Didot. – Pseudo-Cicero (Ad Herennium, IV. 32) writes materis.] They also made use of light javelins without amentum,[108 - The amentum was a small strap of leather which served to throw the javelin and doubled its distance of carriage, as recent trials have proved. In the De Bello Gallico, V. 48, there is mention of a Gaul throwing the javelin with the amentum; but this Gaul was in the Roman service, which explains his having more perfect arms. Strabo says that the Gauls used javelins like the Roman velites, but that they threw them with the hand, and not by means of a strap. (Strabo, edit. Didot, II. 65.)] of the bow, and of the sling. Their helmets were of metal, more or less precious, ornamented with the horns of animals, and with a crest representing some figures of birds or savage beasts, the whole surmounted by a high and bushy tuft of feathers.[109 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 30.] They carried a great buckler, a breastplate of iron or bronze, or a coat of mail – the latter a Gaulish invention.[110 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 30. – Varro, De Lingua Latina, V. 116. – The Museum of Zurich possesses a Gaulish breastplate formed of long plates of iron. The Louvre and the Museum of Saint-Germain possess Gaulish breastplates in bronze.] The Leuci and the Remi were celebrated for throwing the javelin.[111 - “Optimus excusso Lucus Remusque lacerto.” (Lucan, Pharsalia, I. 424.)] The Lingones had party-coloured breastplates.[112 - “Pugnaces pictis cohibebant Lingonas armis.” (Lucan, Pharsalia, I. 398.)] The Gaulish cavalry was superior to the infantry;[113 - Strabo, IV., p. 163, edit. Didot.] it was composed of the nobles, followed by their clients;[114 - Pausanias (Phocid., XIX. 10, 11), speaking of the ancient Gauls, who had penetrated to Delphi, says that “each horseman had with him two esquires, who were also mounted on horses; when the cavalry was engaged in combat, these esquires were poised behind the main body of the army, either to replace the horsemen who were killed, or to give their horse to their companion if he lost his own, or to take his place in case he were wounded, while the other esquire carried him out of the battle.”] yet the Aquitanians, celebrated for their agility, enjoyed a certain reputation as good infantry.[115 - De Bello Civili, I. 39.] In general, the Gauls were very ready at imitating the tactics of their enemies.[116 - De Bello Gallico, III. 20 and VII. 22.] The habit of working mines gave them a remarkable dexterity in all underground operations, applicable to the attack and defence of fortified posts.[117 - De Bello Gallico, III. 21 and VII. 22.] Their armies dragged after them a multitude of wagons and baggage, even in the less important expeditions.[118 - De Bello Gallico, VIII. 14.]

Although they had reached, especially in the south of Gaul, a tolerably advanced degree of civilisation, they preserved very barbarous customs: they killed their prisoners. “When their army is ranged in battle,” says Diodorus, “some of them are often seen advancing from the ranks to challenge the bravest of their enemies to single combat. If their challenge is accepted, they chaunt a war-song, in which they boast of the great deeds of their forefathers, exalting their own valour and insulting their adversary. After the victory, they cut off their enemy’s head, hang it to their horse’s neck, and carry it off with songs of triumph. They keep these hideous trophies in their house, and the highest nobles preserve them with great care, bathed with oil of cedar, in coffers, which they show with pride to their guests.”[119 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 29. – See the bas-reliefs from Entremonts in the Museum of Aix, representing Gaulish horsemen, whose horses have human heads suspended to the poitrel.]

When a great danger threatened the country, the chiefs convoked an armed council, to which the men were bound to repair, at the place and day indicated, to deliberate. The law required that the man who arrived last should be massacred without pity before the eyes of the assembly. As a means of intercommunication, men were placed at certain intervals through the country, and these, repeating the cry from one to another, transmitted rapidly news of importance to great distances. They often, also, stopped travellers on the roads, and compelled them to answer their questions.[120 - Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, IV. 5; VII. 3.]

The Gauls were very superstitious.[121 - Titus Livius (V. 46) represents the Gauls as very religious.] Persuaded that in the eyes of the gods the life of a man can only be redeemed by that of his fellow, they made a vow, in diseases and dangers, to immolate human beings by the ministry of the Druids. These sacrifices had even a public character.[122 - The existence of human sacrifices among the Gauls is attested by a great number of authors. (Cicero, Orat. pro Fonteio, xiv. 31. – Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I. 38. – Lucan, Pharsalia, I. 444; III. 399, et seq.– Solinus, 21. – Plutarch, De Superstitione, p. 171. – Strabo, IV., p. 164, edit. Didot.)] They sometimes constructed human figures of osier of colossal magnitude, which they filled with living men; to these they set fire, and the victims perished in the flames. These victims were generally taken from among the criminals, as being more agreeable to the gods; but if there were no criminals to be had, the innocent themselves were sacrificed.

Cæsar, who, according to the custom of his countrymen, gave to the divinities of foreign peoples the names of those of Rome, tells us that the Gauls honoured Mercury above all others. They raised statues to him, regarded him as the inventor of the arts, the guide of travellers, and the protector of commerce.[123 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 17.] They also offered worship to divinities which the “Commentaries” assimilate to Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva, without informing us of their Celtic names. From Lucan,[124 - Pharsalia, I., lines 445, 446.] we learn the names of three Gaulish divinities, Teutates (in whom, no doubt, we must recognise the Mercury of the “Commentaries”), Hesus or Esus, and Taranis. Cæsar makes the remark that the Gauls had pretty much the same ideas with regard to their gods as other nations. Apollo cured the sick, Minerva taught the elements of the arts, Jupiter was the master of heaven, Mars the arbiter of war. Often, before fighting, they made a vow to consecrate to this god the spoils of the enemy, and, after the victory, they put to death all their prisoners. The rest of the booty was piled up in the consecrated places, and nobody would be so impious as to take anything away from it. The Gauls rendered also, as we learn from inscriptions and passages in different authors, worship to rivers, fountains, trees, and forests: they adored the Rhine as a god, and made a goddess of the Ardenne.[125 - “So, in spite of their love of money, the Gauls never touched the piles of gold deposited in the temples and sacred woods, so great was their horror of sacrilege.” (Diodorus Siculus, V. 27.)]

Institutions

IV. There were in Gaul, says Cæsar, only two classes who enjoyed public consideration and honours,[126 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 13, et seq.] the Druids and the knights. As to the people, deprived of all rights, oppressed with debts, crushed with taxes, exposed to the violences of the great, their condition was little better than that of slaves. The Druids, ministers of religion, presided over the sacrifices, and preserved the deposit of religious doctrines. The youth, greedy of instruction, pressed around them. The dispensers of rewards and punishments, they were the judges of almost all disputes, public or private. To private individuals, or even to magistrates, who rebelled against their decisions, they interdicted the sacrifices, a sort of excommunication which sequestrated from society those who were struck by it, placed them in the rank of criminals, removed them from all honours, and deprived them even of the protection of the law. The Druids had a single head, and the power of this head was absolute. At his death, the next in dignity succeeded him; if there were several with equal titles, these priests had recourse to election, and sometimes even to a decision by force of arms. They assembled every year in the country of the Carnutes, in a consecrated place, there to judge disputes. Their doctrine, it was said, came from the isle of Britain, where, in the time of Cæsar, they still went to draw it as at its source.[127 - “The Gauls have poets who celebrate in rhythmic words, on a sort of lyre, the high deeds of heroes, or who turn to derision disgraceful actions.” (Diodorus Siculus, V. 31.) And he adds: “They have philosophers and theologians, who are held in great honour, and are named Druids (according to certain texts, Saronides). They have diviners, whose predictions are held in great respect. These consult the future by the aid of auguries and the entrails of the victims; and, in solemn circumstances, they have recourse to strange and incredible rites. They immolate a man by striking him with a sword above the diaphragm, and they draw presages from the manner in which he falls, in which he struggles, or in which the blood flows. They authority of the Druids and bards is not less powerful in peace than in war. Friends and enemies consult them, and submit to their decision; it has often been sufficient to arrest two armies on the point of engaging.” – Strabo (VI., p. 164, edit. Didot) relates nearly the same facts. He makes a distinction also between the bards, the priests, and the Druids.]

The Druids were exempt from military service and from taxes.[128 - Ammianus Marcellinus (XV. 9) speaks as follows of the ancient Druids: “The men of that country (Gaul), having become gradually polished, caused the useful studies to flourish which the bards, the euhages (prophets), and the Druids had begun to cultivate. The bards sang, in heroic verse, to the sound of their lyres, the lofty deeds of men; the euhages tried, by meditation, to explain the order and marvels of nature. In the midst of these were distinguished the Druids, who united in a society, occupied themselves with profound and sublime questions, raised themselves above human affairs, and sustained the immortality of the soul.” These details, which Ammianus Marcellinus borrows from the Greek historian Timagenes, a contemporary of Cæsar, and from other authors, show that the sacerdotal caste comprised three classes – 1, the bards; 2, the prophets; 3, the Druids, properly so called.] These privileges drew many disciples, whose novitiate, which lasted sometimes twenty years, consisted in learning by heart a great number of verses containing their religious precepts. It was forbidden to transcribe them. This custom had the double object of preventing the divulgation of their doctrine and of exercising the memory. Their principal dogma was the immortality of the soul and its transmigration into other bodies. A belief which banished the fear of death appeared to them fitted to excite courage. They explained also the movement of the planets, the greatness of the universe, the laws of nature, and the omnipotence of the immortal gods. “We may conceive,” says the eminent author of the Histoire des Gaulois, “what despotism must have been exercised over a superstitious nation by this caste of men, depositaries of all knowledge, authors and interpreters of all law, divine or human, remunerators, judges, and executioners.”[129 - Amédée Thierry, II. 1.]

The knights, when required by the necessities of war, and that happened almost yearly, were all bound to take up arms. Each, according to his birth and fortune, was accompanied by a greater or less number of attendants or clients. Those who were called ambacti[130 - See Paulus Diaconus, p. 4, edit. Müller.] performed in war the part of esquires.[131 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 29.] In Aquitaine, these followers were named soldures; they shared the good as well as the evil fortune of the chief to whom they were attached, and, when he died, not one of them would survive him. Their number was considerable: we shall see a king of the Sotiates possess no less than six hundred of them.[132 - De Bello Gallico; III. 22.]

The states were governed either by an assembly, which the Romans called a senate, or by a supreme magistrate, annual or for life, bearing the title of king,[133 - Cæsar mentions the names of ten kings: 1. Catamantalœdes, among the Sequani (I. 3); 2. Divitiacus and Galba, among the Suessiones (II. 4, 13): 3. Commius, among the Atrebates (IV. 21, 27, 35; V. 22; VI. 6; VII. 75, 76, 79; VIII. 6, 7, 10, 21, 23, 47, 48); 4. Catuvolcus, among the Eburones (V. 24, 26; VI. 31); 5. Tasgetius, among the Carnutes (V. 25, 29); 6. Cavarinus, among the Treviri (V. 54; VI. 5); 7. Ambiorix, among the Eburones (V. 24, 26, 27, 29, 38, 41; VI. 5, 6, 19, 29, 30, 31, 32, 42, 47; VIII. 24, 25); 8. Moritasgus, among the Senones (V. 54); 9. Teutomatus, among the Nitiobriges (VII. 31, 46).] prince,[134 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 88; VIII. 12.] or vergobret.[135 - De Bello Gallico, I. 16.]

The different tribes formed alliances among themselves, either permanent or occasional; the permanent alliances were founded, some on a community of territorial interests,[136 - Thus the Civitates Armoricæ (V. 53; VII. 75; VIII. 81); Belgium (V. 12, 24, 25; VIII. 46, 49, 54; the Aulerci Cenomanni and the Aulerci Eburovices (II. 34; III. 17; VII. 4, 75; VIII. 7). See the interesting memoir by Mr. Valentino Smith.] others on affinities of races,[137 - Ambarri, necessarii et consanguinei Æduorum (I. 11); Suessiones fratres consanguineosque Remorum, qui eodem jure et iisdem legibus utuntur (II. 3); Suessiones qui Remis erant adtributi (VIII. 6).] or on treaties,[138 - In fide; thus the Ædui with the Bellovaci (II. 14); with the Senones (VI. 4); with the Bituriges (VII. 5).] or, lastly, on the right of patronage.[139 - Eburonum et Condrusorum, qui sunt Trevirorum clientes (IV. 6); Carnutes … usi deprecatoribus Remis, quorum erant in clientela (VI. 4); imperant Æduis atque eorum clientibus Segusiavis, Ambluaretis, Aulercis Brannovicibus, Brannoviis (VII. 75)] The occasional alliances were the results of the necessity of union against a common danger.[140 - The known federations of this kind are – 1, that of the Belgæ against the Romans, in the year 57 before Jesus Christ (De Bello Gallico, II. 4); 2, that of the Veneti with the neighbouring tribes, in the year 56 (De Bello Gallico, III. 9); 3, that of the Treviri, the Nervii, The Aduatuci, and the Menapii, in the year 53 (De Bello Gallico, VI. 2); 4, that of the peoples who invested Camulogenus with the supreme power, in 52 (De Bello Gallico, VII. 57); 5, the great federation which placed all the forces of Gaul under the command of Vercingetorix (De Bello Gallico, VII. 63).]

In Gaul, not only each state and each tribe (pagus), but even each family, was divided into two parties (factiones); at the head of these parties were chiefs, taken from among the most considerable and influential of the knights. Cæsar calls them principes.[141 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 11.] All those who accepted their supremacy became their clients; and, although the principes did not exercise a regular magistracy, their authority was very extensive. This organisation had existed from a remote antiquity; its object was to offer to each man of the people a protection against the great, since each was thus placed under the patronage of a chief, whose duty it was to take his cause in hand, and who would have lost all credit if he had allowed one of his clients to be oppressed.[142 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 11.] We see in the “Commentaries” that this class of the principes enjoyed very great influence. On their decisions depended all important resolutions;[143 - De Bello Gallico, V. 3, 54; VI. 11; VII. 75; VIII. 22.] and their meeting formed the assembly of the whole of Gaul (concilium totius Galliæ).[144 - De Bello Gallico, I. 30.] In it everything was decided by majority of votes.[145 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 63.]

Affairs of the state were allowed to be treated only in these assemblies. It appertained to the magistrates alone to publish or conceal events, according as they judged expedient; and it was a sacred duty for any one who learnt, either from without or from public rumour, any news which concerned the civitas, to give information of it to the magistrate, without revealing it to any other person. This measure had for its object to prevent rash or ignorant men from being led into error by false reports, and from rushing, under this first impression, into extravagant resolutions.

In the same manner as each state was divided into two rival factions, so was the whole of Gaul (with the exception of Belgic Gaul and Helvetia) divided into two great parties,[146 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 11.] which exercised over the others a sort of sovereignty (principatus);[147 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 12.] and when, in extraordinary circumstances, the whole of Gaul acknowledged the pre-eminence of one particular state, the chief of the privileged state took the name of princeps totius Galliæ, as had been the case with the Arvernan Celtillus, the father of Vercingetorix.[148 - De Bello Gallico, VII. 4.]

This supremacy, nevertheless, was not permanent; it passed from one nation to another, and was the object of continual ambitions and sanguinary conflicts. The Druids, it is true, had succeeded in establishing a religious centre, but there existed no political centre. In spite of certain federative ties, each state had been more engaged in the consideration of its own individuality than in that of the country in general. This egoistic carelessness of their collective interests, this jealous rivality among the different tribes, paralysed the efforts of a few eminent men who were desirous of founding a nationality, and the Gauls soon furnished the enemy with an easy means of dividing and combating them. The Emperor Napoleon I. was thus right in saying: “The principal cause of the weakness of Gaul was the spirit of isolation and locality which characterised the population; at this epoch the Gauls had no national spirit or even provincial spirit; they were governed by a spirit of town. It is the same spirit which has since forged chains for Italy. Nothing is more opposed to national spirit, to general ideas of liberty, than the particular spirit of family or of town. From this parcelling it resulted that the Gauls had no army of the line kept up and exercised; and therefore no art and no military science. Every nation which should lose sight of the importance of an army of the line perpetually on foot, and which should trust to levies or national armies, would experience the fate of the Gauls, without even having the glory of opposing the same resistance, which was the effect of the barbarism of the time and of the ground, covered with forests, marshes, and bogs, and without roads, which rendered it difficult to conquer and easy to defend.”[149 - Précis des Guerres de César, by the Emperor Napoleon I., p. 53, Paris, 1836.] Before Cæsar came into Gaul, the Ædui and the Arverni were at the head of the two contending parties, each labouring to carry the day against his rival. Soon these latter united with the Sequani, who, jealous of the superiority of the Ædui, the allies of the Roman people, invoked the support of Ariovistus and the Germans. By dint of sacrifices and promises, they had succeeded in bringing them into their territory. With this aid the Sequani had gained the victory in several combats.[150 - The hostility which prevailed between the Sequani and the Ædui was further augmented, according to Strabo, by the following cause: “These two tribes, separated by the Arar (the Saône), both claimed the right of tolls.” (Strabo, p. 160, edit. Didot.)] The Ædui had lost their nobility, a part of their territory, nearly all their clients, and, after giving up as hostages their children and their chiefs, they had bound themselves by oath never to attack the Sequani, who had at length obtained the supremacy of all Gaul. It was under these circumstances that Divitiacus had gone to Rome to implore the succour of the Republic, but he had failed;[151 - “Divitiacus, introduced to the Senate, explained the subject of his mission. He was offered a seat, but refused that honour, and pronounced his discourse leaning on his buckler.” (Eumenius, Panegyric of Constantine, cap. 3.)] the Senate was too much engaged with intestine quarrels to assume an energetic attitude towards the Germans. The arrival of Cæsar was destined to change the face of things, and restore to the allies of Rome their old preponderance.[152 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 12.]

CHAPTER III.