Caesar fights through enemy tribes and orders a purge in his manhunt for Ambiorix, in part 6 of our series on Caesar’s masterwork of psychology, strategy, and propaganda: On the Gallic War (De Bello Gallico).
This is a world-history making story (the conquest of what’s now modern France), told by a world-history making storyteller.
Caesar entered Gaul as a mere politician. He returned 9 years later as a conqueror - and an enemy of the state. He tells how it all happened with his own pen.
In this episode:
The hunt for the crafty Ambiorix and his renegade tribe
The exploits of Titus Labienus and of Publius Sextius Baculus
Hints of Civil War…
(and Druids and ancient cows)
P.S.—If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode, feel free to get in touch, any support is highly appreciated as it helps me create more high quality work.
You can listen to the episode here:
Stay Ancient,
Alex
Transcript
How many resources would you expend to capture, or kill, one single man? Think about Osama bid Laden, or the Unabomber, eventually identified as Ted Kaszcynski... or go back further to Pancho Villa or Blackbeard...or to the days of Caesar's youth when Crassus hunted down Spartacus, and Pompey hunted down Sertorius.
Well in this episode we get a little window on how Caesar himself deals with this issue...in the hunt for Ambiorix.
I'm Alex Petkas, and you are listening to the Cost of Glory where it is our mission to retell the lives of the greatest Ancient leaders, the noble Greeks and Romans. This is part 6 of 8 of our miniseries of highlights from Caesar's Gallic War campaigns.
Cost of Glory is an Infinite Media production - and big thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson of the great city of New York for sponsoring this episode and this whole series!
Now then, some of my favorite passages of the whole work are in this book...we're going to get deeper into who these Gauls are and how they think.
But first, we need to deal with the basic narrative arc of the book. The hunt for Ambiorix.
Alex, Remind me who Ambiorix is? Well, Ambiorix is the man responsible for engineering the incredible disaster that befell the Romans in the last episode, under the leadership of the ill-fated Quintus Titurius Sabinus. Ambiorix tricked the Roman commander into leaving his camp in haste, out of fear of a great uprising, and Caesar lost an entire legion in the ambush that followed.
Ambiorix was a leader of the tribe of the Eburones, a people who fall under the wider category of Belgae, so, a Belgian Gallic tribe, and as one kind listener has pointed out, Ambiorix was actually resurrected as a kind of folk hero beginning in the 19th century by Belgian nationalists, he's a great symbol of resistance to the Romans. There are numerous statues and paraphernalia, he was in Belgian school textbooks... it's worth looking up.
I think all that hype right there gives you a hint about Caesar's motivation in this sequence of events we're going to get to in a sec.
But before we get there, there's a foretaste of the great looming political drama that's soon going to unfold at Rome...
A Bit of Politics
Caesar opens the chapter by saying,
"For many reasons, Caesar expected a larger uprising in Gaul: so he decided to charge his legates... [so and so and so and so] with the task of levying troops."
Considering the disturbances of the previous season that's pretty understandable. But then he goes on and gives us this little fact:
"At the same time he made a request of Gnaeus Pompey [Pompey the Great], that, seeing as how Pompey, though a proconsul, was currently remaining near Rome in the interests of The Republic, Pompey send the recruits from Cisalpine Gaul whom he had sworn in when he was consul, now to Caesar, to assemble and report to his headquarters in Gaul."
And Caesar explains his reasoning here, which you can be sure he shared with Pompey as well:
"Caesar judged it to be of great importance, for the future as well as for the present, to create an impression in Gaul that the resources of Italy were extensive enough not only to replenish in a short time any damage incurred during the war, but even to increase the total."
You could say Caesar here wants to do a classic Roman Shock and Awe recruitment, or maybe call it the hydra method, where, if your enemy cuts off one head, you grow several more to replace it. This is how the Romans defeated Hannibal and the Carthaginians for example.
Now, a bit about the political situation helps you appreciate the stakes here for Caesar.
So it's the year 53 now, and Pompey, the conqueror, is the most important man in Rome. This is especially [important] with the great Crassus off on a campaign against Partha in the East. And on top of that the city of Rome itself is going through a period of acute lawlessess, mobs led by Clodius and Milo are running the streets. The year begins without Consuls, there's a massive bribery scandal around the consular elections…
It's a total mess.
Pompey however has been given a sweeping extraordinary command as Rome's Grain Commissioner (which sounds conveniently benign and bureaucratic, but it's actually an incredibly powerful bundle of authorities, involving the ability to raise troops and spend unlimited funds, and do whatever's necessary to keep the wheat ships rolling into the port of Rome at Ostia). But this also allows him to flood Rome with his troops and crack down and reestablish peace.
So Caesar, of course knowing every detail of this from his intel team... he's scrambling to find a way to renew his alliance with Rome's Greatest Citizen... recall that Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia has tragically passed away in childbirth the previous year, so that tie no longer binds them. Well, Caesar (he doesn't tell us this in his war commentaries for obvious professional reasons) but we know this from other sources, well, meanwhile Caesar offers to marry Pompey's daughter—Pompey declines. Then he offers Pompey the hand of his niece Octavia, but Pompey declines again...
So Caesar tries the old Ben Franklin technique, of just asking a favor of Pompey, to soften him up, a token of friendship, (in the interest of the Republic of course), he's hoping to bind Pompey to himself somehow...
And that token—again—is a legion that Pompey has just enlisted as Grain Commissioner, men in Italy, but not yet mobilized or trained.
Well, to all appearances, this works - at least, Pompey concedes, and he sends Caesar the troops…
"Both as a duty to the state and as a favor to their friendship,"
…as Caesar glowingly remarks.
This gesture was going to have some major ramifications later on, but we'll discuss that some other time.
Meanwhile, with this legion, combined with two other legions that his guys have raised, he now has 3, which, he notes, is twice the number of troops who were massacred under the aforementioned disaster with Sabinus.
Now here's the problem Caesar needs these fresh new troops to help him face.
Ambiorix: Leader of the Gallic discontent
We began and ended the last episode with a disgruntled noble leader of the Belgic Treveri named Indutiomarus, who was finally killed by Caesar's legate Labienus at the end of the last book.
Here's Caesar now:
"After Indutiomarus was slain (as we have narrated previously), the Treveri conferred the chief command on his relatives, who were continuing to tempt the neighbouring Germans and to promise money. As they could not prevail on their immediate neighbours they tried to persuade those more distant; and, having found some states to be willing, they took an oath to confirm their engagement, and hostages to secure the money; and they associated Ambiorix with themselves by a league and covenant."
Aha... so the Treveri haven't given up on the rebellious spirit Indutiomarus ignited in them... the Treveri again are a powerful Belgic tribe near the Rhine, who have been on and off allies of Caesar... they are currently off ally mode, and now they are bringing in this other Belgian leader we met last episode, the dashing and successful Ambiorix, slayer of Sabinus and the legion and a half.
So Ambiorix become a sort of lightning rod for Gallic discontent.
And the situation seems to be escalating, as Caesar illustrates, continuing:
"Caesar had report of this, and saw preparations for war on every hand: the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii, and all the Germans on this side of the Rhine with them, were in arms; the Senones refused to come at his command, as they were conspiring with the Carnutes and adjacent states; the Germans were being suborned by frequent deputations of the Treveri. He felt, therefore, that he must plan an earlier campaign than usual."
So some of the usual suspects, and some new faces, are all fixing to give it a go once again this year (he's reporting this all happening in the Winter, by the way, so he's saying, he's going to start campaigning earlier in the spring than usual).
The First Skirmish
We can be pretty brief here. Caesar blitzes into the territory of the Nervii, taking them completely off guard, he captures a bunch of herd animals and captives, and forces the Nervii to surrender and come to terms. Then he turns around and does the same for the Carnutes and the Senones, who are further south and west, in north central France. In fact, Caesar uses as his base for these operations a town called Lutetia, in the territory of the Parisii - and this is what eventually became the city of Paris.
So that's all wrapped up in a few paragraphs, the Senones and Carnutes surrender and come to terms too, and leaves him mentally free to focus on his real objective, Ambiorix and the Treveri.
He's heard though that Ambiorix has been having serious talks with the Menapii, who live in the densely forested, swampy region of what's now modern Belgium near the sea, around where Bruges and Ghent are today. Caesar takes preemptive action, troop surges into the lowlands, burns and captures etc., and pretty quickly the Menapii surrender and Caesar makes them promise, swear, that they will receive neither Ambiorix nor his emissaries in their territory, and if they should dare to do so, they affirm Caesar is completely justified in considering treating them as an enemy.
So... Caesar's gradually depriving Ambiorix and his rebels of any safe ground to lay their head, tightening the net.
The Exploits of Titus Labienus
Meanwhile while Caesar's busy with this stuff... the scene pans to trusty old Titus Labienus, Caesar's most talented legate.
You know, reading the Gallic war commentaries, one of the things I find striking is how good Caesar is at telling other people's stories, to make them appear in exactly the way he wants them to appear, you just get such a strong sense of personality from so many of these people.
Labienus on the other hand, is, besides himself, the Roman Caesar gives by far the most air time to in these war commentaries. And yet, he still seems somehow... inscrutable.
This is a very efficient, very deadly... and very crafty man we're dealing with. You wonder if Caesar felt like he had to keep making Labienus look good, to make sure he stuck around and didn't get distracted, say, with a political career. They're going to have a long history together, Caesar's going to support his bid for the consulship (which fails)... and I've already mentioned, Labienus ends up turning against Caesar in the civil war... and it must have been painful because you can tell, Caesar invested so much in this man.
And I really think he enjoyed telling these stories of Labienus' exploits, Labienus was by far the commander most likely to do what Caesar would have done in any given situation.
So, lets give you the highlights of this engagement here. Labienus is camped near the territory of the Treveri, and the Treveri decide to make a move. They march an army within 15 miles of Labienus' camp.
Labienus responds by taking 25 cohorts, so 2 1/2 legions, and marching up and camping a mile and a half from the Treveri, but there's a river between them, and he camps on a hilltop (where else would a Roman camp, right?)
He's pretty sure the Treveri are not going to try to cross the river and storm his camp, but he also is getting reports that hostile Germans across the Rhine nearby are getting closer and closer to crossing over with a big force (The Treveri are also getting excited, because they're the ones who invited these German allies).
So he wants to try to provoke the Treveri to attack him on unfavorable ground (crossing a river then climbing up a hill), before the Germans get there. And here's what he does.
"Labienus declared openly in a council of war that, as the Germans were said to be approaching, he would not risk his own and his army's fortunes, and that he would strike camp at dawn next day. This information was speedily carried to the enemy, for of a large number of Gallic horsemen natural feeling would compel some, as Gauls, to favour the Gallic cause.
So let that be a lesson, having spies and informants embedded in your enemy's organization, that can play both ways if they know about it. Going on here:
"At nightfall Labienus summoned the military tribunes and the senior centurions, and propounded his plan [so he's sharing his secret instructions, his real plan]; and, the more easily to give the enemy a suspicion that he was afraid, he ordered the camp to be struck with greater noise and disorder than was customary among Romans. By this means he made his departure like a rout. The camps were so close that this, too, was reported to the enemy by scouts before daybreak."
So, sure enough, the Gauls take the bait and the next morning, scarcely has the last soldier of Labienus army left the camp, when the Treveri cross the river in haste, and attack the Romans, thinking they're going to be attacking demoralized, fleeing men.
And here's the moment when they realize... they thought it was one way, but it's the other way:
"Labienus sent the baggage animals ahead a little, had his soldiers halt on a rise of ground, and said to them, 'Soldiers, here is the chance you were looking for. You have the enemy on ground that hampers and handicaps them. Now demonstrate the same valor under our command that you have often displayed before the commander in chief [He means Caesar of course], and imagine that he is present and beholds this battle right before his very eyes.' Then Labienus immediately ordered the standards to be turned around to face the enemy and the lines to deploy into battle formation."
I just want to note... how Caesar really profoundly believes in the power of the Gaze of the General... it's almost like a talismanic force—Such that simply imagining that it's there can have an effect on morale. I really think Caesar does believe this.
Well, the Romans let out a big shout, hurl their javelins, and charge, the Teveri are completely surprised and overwhelmed, and a great Roman victory ensues.
The Germans across the Rhine, meanwhile, upon hearing of the great defeat, retire to their homes and villages.
Another Job Well Done, let's hear it for Titus Labienus.
But... if you're Caesar, well, what are you thinking now? You can bet Labienus knows what he's thinking.
Yep. You guessed it.
Caesar’s ethnographic review of Gaul
Obviously the Germans' shock and awe from Caesar's last bridging of the Rhine a few years ago has now worn off, and these guys have gotten cocky, they're talking about helping the Treveri against the Romans? How quickly these flighty natives forget... So he's got to cross the Rhine again.
But Caesar's also got another plausible reason motivating him, he says, he doesn't want to give Ambiorix any possibility of taking refuge among the Germans.
So, once again, Caesar builds a bridge. And crosses.
He's camped out there right around modern Koblenz, and mainly he's just getting embassies from the local tribes, in particular the Ubii, who are saying "we don't want any trouble Mr. Caesar, no Ambiorixes among us, not now, not ever," Very good very good. And the Ubii report that those troops that were mustering to help the Treveri weren't their guys, but rather detachments from the much more formidable German tribe, the Suebi.
And here are the reports the Ubii bring back about the Suebi:
"The Suebi, they said, after more definite accounts of the Roman army came to them, had all withdrawn, with all the forces of their own folk and of their allies which they had collected, to the uttermost parts of their territory. There was, they added, a forest there of immense size, called Bacenis: it extended a long way into the country and interposed as a natural wall to keep the Cherusci from raids and outrages on the part of the Suebi, and the Suebi likewise from the Cherusci. At the edge of the forest the Suebi had determined to await the coming of the Romans."
It's not really agreed upon by scholars where exactly the Bacenis forest is, but that area on the east bank of the Rhine has soem pretty well forested hills even to this day.
So I'll spoil it here to make a point, Caesar has spent all this time stoking our curiosity about the Germans... but he's not actually going to end up doing much campaigning on this side of the Rhine after all. Instead, what he's going to do is treat us to this really fascinating ethnographic digression comparing and contrasting the Gauls and the Germans.
It's a nice technique, masking a kind of abortive campaign with some great entertainment that is not just fluff but I think sheds light on the grander narrative of the war. Quality storytelling once again.
Let's take a look:
He begins with an interesting fact he's observed about the Gallic political sociology:
"At this point in the narrative, it seems appropriate to set forth the customs of Gaul and of Germany, and the difference between these nations. [He's going to start with a long section on the Gauls.]. In Gaul, not only in every state and every canton and district, but almost in every single household, there are parties; and the leaders of the parties are men who in the judgment of their fellows are deemed to have the highest authority, men to whose decision and judgment all disputes and plans may be referred. And this seems to have been in effect from very ancient times, with the idea being that no common citizen should lack assistance against a more powerful neighbour; each man refuses to allow his own folk to be oppressed and defrauded, since otherwise he has no authority among them. The same principle holds in regard to Gaul as a whole taken together; for all the nations are divided among two factions.
So, Gallic society is polarized into opposing factions at every level, in a kind fractal way. Note he's not suggesting here that the division is ideological, but rather practical - everyone needs a patron if they get bullied. He gives an example of how we've seen this polarization play out:
"When Caesar arrived in Gaul the leaders of one party were the Aedui, of the other the Sequani. The Sequani, had been weaker, as far as their own resources were concerned, - since the highest authority from ancient times rested with the Aedui, and they had a large number of dependents [when he says dependents here he's talking about other Gallic tribes]. And so the Sequani had made Ariovistus and the Germans their friends, and with great sacrifices and promises had brought them to their side [this was the story we covered in Book 1]. Then, by several successful engagements and the slaughter of all the Aeduan nobility, they had so far established their predominance as to transfer a great part of the dependents [these subordinate tribes] from the Aedui to themselves - receiving the children of their chief men as hostages, compelling them as a state to swear that they would initiate no plans against the Sequani.
Caesar goes on and explains that by his own coming, he'd reversed the situation, now it was the Aedui who were in back in first place among the Gallic tribes.
I think this lets you go back and reread the whole arc of Book 1 with new eyes... the war against Ariovistus and the Germans, what that one poet Varro of Atax tellingly called the "War with the Sequani" the "Bellum Sequanicum", the real purpose of all that manoeuvering was for Caesar to pick one faction, (that happened to be the weaker one at the time, but had a history of being a strong one, so they were a good bet) and then strengthen them, and make them loyal to Rome by their dependency on Caesar and his good Graces.
This is NOT necessarily obvious from reading book 1, but Caesar more or less admits here that that's what he did. Fascinating.
The Druids
Alright, skipping ahead now to a famous passage, where he's going to talk about The Druids (in a second here:)
"Throughout Gaul there are only two classes of men who enjoy any kind of distinction and honor. As for the common folk, they are treated almost as slaves, they dare not take any independent action of themselves, and are never taken into counsel. [So now you know why Caesar is very suspicious whenever he hears a Gallic leader saying "oh the common folk forced me to do such and such". They don't actually consult the commons at all - unlike the Romans, notably - or at least, unlike Roman populists like Caesar...]. The majority of them [the poor that is], oppressed as they are either by debt, or by the heavy weight of tribute, or by the wrongdoing of the more powerful men, commit themselves in slavery to the nobles [!], who have, in fact, the same rights over them as masters over slaves.
Of the two noble classes mentioned above one consists of Druids, the other of knights [equites in latin - these are the auxiliary Gallic cavalry that Caesar's always using in these campaigns]. The Druids are concerned with divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, public and private, and the interpretation of ritual questions: [they are the priests, as I think you'd expect] a great number of young men gather about them for the sake of instruction and hold them in great honour. [What? the young men of Gaul follow the priestly types around? But he explains why] In fact, it is the Druids who decide in almost all disputes, public and private; and if any crime has been committed, or murder done, or there is any dispute about succession or boundaries, they also decide it, determining rewards and penalties: if any person or people does not abide by their decision, they ban such such a man from sacrifice, which is their heaviest penalty. [it's their excommunication: here's what that looks like if it happens to you:] Those that are so banned are reckoned as impious and criminal; all men move out of their path and shun their approach and conversation, for fear they may get some harm from contact with them, and they have no recourse to justice even if they seek it, nor do they have any share in public office or honors.
So, these Druids practice ritual cancellation, it's like social death. Now here's the Druid hierarchy, this is fascinating:
Of all these Druids one is chief, who has the highest authority among them. At his death, the druid who has the highest standing among those remaining succeeds him, or, if there be several of equal standing, they strive for the primacy by the vote of the Druids, or sometimes even with armed force. These Druids, at a certain time of the year, meet within the borders of the Carnutes, whose territory is reckoned as the centre of all Gaul, and sit in conclave in a consecrated spot.
The city of Chartres, by the way, is in the territory of the Carnutes, and that's where the word Chartres comes from, Carnutes. Continued to be an important religious center through the middle ages, there's the famous Gothic Cathedral of Chartres there...
To there [to the territory of the Carnutes] all assemble from every part who have disputes, and they obey the decisions and judgments of the Druids. It is believed that their rule of life was discovered in Britain and transferred thence to Gaul; and to‑day those who would study the subject more accurately journey, as a rule, to Britain to learn it.
So that's an ongoing cultural connection between Gaul and Britain.
The Druids usually do not participate in war, and do not pay war‑taxes with the rest; they are excused from military service and exempt from all liabilities. [Divicacus of the Aedui who we met in book 1, Chief Druid, was apparently an exception, he did participate in War]. Tempted by these great rewards, many young men assemble of their own motion to receive their training [as druids]; many are sent by parents and relatives. Report says that in the schools of the Druids they learn by heart a great number of verses, and therefore some persons remain twenty years under training. And they do not think it proper to commit these utterances to writing, although in almost all other matters, and in their public and private accounts, they make use of Greek letters.
And many Gallic language writings have been found using the Greek alphabet. So this intense memorization culture reminds you of the Vedic priests of India, maybe the epic bards of archaic Greece like Homer, though those latter guys are not very closely linked with religion... why do they do this Caesar wonders? Well he says:
I believe that they have adopted the practice for two reasons — that they do not wish their system of learning to be divulged to the common masses, nor those who learn the rule to rely on writing and so neglect the cultivation of the memory; and, in fact, it does usually happen that the assistance of writing tends to relax the diligence of the student and the action of the memory. [Caesar surely has read Plato's great dialogue the Phaedrus, where Plato discusses this problem]
The cardinal doctrine which they seek to teach is that souls do not die, but after death pass from one person to another…
So they taught the transmigration of the souls, kind of like Pythagoras. Other ancient authors attest that this was an important doctrine of the Druids;
…and this belief they hold to be the greatest incentive to valour, since it causes men to put aside the fear of death.
So, contrary to what some people might expect, the Gauls at any rate are not dreaming of Valhalla as they are charging into battle.
Besides this, they have many discussions as touching the stars and their movement, the size of the universe and of the earth, the order of nature, the strength and the powers of the immortal gods, and hand down their lore to the young men.
The other class are the knights [this is the military aristocracy]. These, whenever there is need for them, especially when a war breaks out, they all devote themselves to war - and before Caesar's coming this would happen just about every year, when they would either be making wanton attacks themselves or repelling them; and according to the importance of each of them in birth and resources, so is the number of servants and dependents that he has about him. This is the single form of influence and power known to them.
Now for one of the most fascinating and influential passages of all in this section:
The whole nation of the Gauls is greatly devoted to ritual observances, and for that reason those who are smitten with the more grievous maladies and who are engaged in the perils of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow to do so, employing the Druids as ministers for such sacrifices. For they believe that the spirits of the immortal gods cannot be placated unless one human life is given for another. They arrange this kind of sacrifice for the community as well. Some of them use figures of immense size, whose limbs, woven out of twigs, they fill with living men and then set them on fire, and the men perish in a sheet of flame. [This is the famous Wicker man... or... the burning man?] They believe that the execution of those who have been caught in the act of theft or robbery or some crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such fails they resort to the execution even of the innocent.
Ok, [next] Caesar is going to talk about their gods, who are personal and the Romans can find rough equivalents for Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Minerva... I'm going to skip it.
Here's an interesting bit on family on fathers and sons:
"In the other ordinances of life the main difference between them and the rest of mankind is that the men do not allow their own sons to approach them openly until they have grown to an age when they can bear the burden of military service, and they count it a disgrace for a son who is still in his boyhood to take his place publicly in the presence of his father."
Wow. What an interesting strategy for instilling in people the stark difference between a man and a boy... and for motivating youths to want to live up to certain standard...
Going on a bit here more on the family:
"Men have the power of life and death over their wives, as over their children [Romans had that too mind you. But this is pretty un-Roman:]; and when the father of a house, who is of distinguished birth, has died, his relatives assemble, and if there be anything suspicious about his death they make inquisition of his wives as they would of slaves, and if discovery is made they put them to death with fire and all manner of excruciating tortures. Their funerals are magnificent and expensive (speaking proportionally, considering the level of civilization of Gaul). They cast into the fire everything, even living creatures, which they believe to have been dear to the departed during life, and but a short time before the present age, only a generation since, slaves and dependents known to have been beloved by their lords used to be burnt with them at the conclusion of the funeral formalities.
The German approach
So now you have a better sense of the Gauls. But remember we're in Germany in the story now, and here's Caesar now on them:
"The Germans differ much from this manner of living. They have no Druids to regulate divine worship, no zeal for sacrifices. They reckon among the gods those only whom they see and by whose offices they are openly assisted — to wit, the Sun, the Fire‑god, and the Moon; they have not even heard of any others. Their whole life is composed of hunting expeditions and military pursuits; from early boyhood they are zealous for toil and hardship.
This bit now, I think you wouldn't expect:
Those who remain longest in chastity win greatest praise among their kindred [he's talking about the men here especially]; some think that abstinence enables men to grow taller, others that it enhances their strength and muscles. Further, they deem it a most disgraceful thing to have had knowledge of a woman before the twentieth year; and yet there is no secrecy about sexual matters, for both sexes bathe in the rivers and wear skins or small cloaks of reindeer hide, leaving great part of the body bare.
Wouldn't that make the whole chastity thing all the more difficult... and impressive if you could pull it off? No need to remind you here this is not how the Romans handled such things, especially for young men...
They have little interest in farming, and the greater part of their food consists of milk, cheese, and meat. [This part is very striking and unusual to the classical eye] No man has a definite and marked off portion of land as his own property: instead, the magistrates and chiefs every year assign to tribes and clans that have assembled together as much land and in such place as seems good to them, and compel the tenants after a year to pass on elsewhere.
So in other words, at least according to Caesar here, they have no private property. He explains their rationale:
They adduce many reasons for that practice — they fear that they may be tempted, by getting attached to the land, to substitute agriculture for their warrior zeal. They also want to avoid their citizens becoming zealous for the acquisition of broad territories, with the result that the more powerful drive the less powerful from their holdings. Furthermore they want to discourage people building their homes with excessive care such that they are able to avoid the extremes of cold and heat [which of course, they considered important to forming character]; moreover they fear lest the passion for money come to engender factionalism and quarrels. Finally they believe that thereby they may keep the common people content, when each man sees that his own wealth is equal to that of the most powerful.
Many of Caesar's Roman readers would have been thinking of the Spartans here, as I'm sure Caesar knew...
He mentions here a fact of German life he brougth up in an earlier book, that they like to have the borderlands around their territories completely unoccupied... they take it as a sign of their own military prestige. Skipping ahead a little bit to the German war band culture:
"No shame is attached to acts of brigandage committed outside the borders of one's state; in fact, the Germans affirm that this practice exists in order to train the young men and to diminish sloth."
Now there was a time in the past when the Gauls were superior in valour to the Germans and made aggressive war upon them, and because of the number of their people and the lack of land they sent colonies across the Rhine... [but now, he says,] Upon the Gauls, however, the closeness of our provinces and acquaintance with oversea commodities provides for many items that make their lives more agreeable and luxurious; little by little they have grown accustomed to defeat, and after being conquered in many battles they do not even compare themselves in point of valour with the Germans.
So, If you were to come to Caesar and say, Hey, Caesar, why have most of our Roman senators grown soft and corrupt? Why don't they make men like Scipio Africanus or Fabius Maximus or Cincinnatus anymore? Well, I think Caesar's just given you his answer - it's Sallust's answer too. Luxury tends to soften you.
Now there's a section on the great German forest and local fauna, many scholars think it's a later insertion, which seems plausible. He mentions the Reindeer and the Elk, which they don't have in the southern Mediterranean, and then I'll just share with you the last fantastical animal, the late great Aurochs - which was a huge wild cow that apparently went extinct as late as the 1600s in Europe.
"A third species consists of the so called ure-oxen (urus is the Latin) . In size these are somewhat smaller than elephants; in appearance, colour, and shape they are as bulls. Great is their strength and great their speed, and they spare neither man nor beast once sighted. These the Germans slay zealously, by capturing them in pits; by such work the young men harden themselves and by this kind of hunting train themselves, and those who have slain the most of them display the horns publicly as proof and thereby win great renown. But even if they are caught very young, the animals cannot be tamed or accustomed to human beings. In bulk, shape, and appearance their horns are very different from the horns of our own oxen. The natives collect them zealously and encase the edges with silver, and then at their grandest banquets use them as drinking-cups."
The Auroch was supposed to be about 6 feet tall at the shoulder, so maybe a foot and a half or so taller than your typical domestic cow.
So much for the Germans and their territory. Now, after all this, Caesar decides, the Suebi aren't going to come fight him any time soon, they've retreated to their forest hideouts... and since the Germans, as he's noted, don't do farming, he's concerned about supplying his army on a long campaign there. Plus, he's got a man to catch.
So Caesar decides to retreat back across the bridge, tear down about 200 feet of it, on the german side of the Rhine, and then build a big watch tower on this sort of leftover pier he's built, to "keep an eye on them", and he mans a fort there with a little more than a legion's worth of men.
And so began the great long history of Roman forts on the Rhine border, which ended up being the natural boundary of the Roman empire for some 5 more centuries.
The Hunt Continues
Now then Caesar turns his energy back to Ambiorix, the rogue Belgian. He sends his legate Lucius Minucius Basilus into the Ardennes forest (there in the territory of the Belgae, in northeast Gaul).
Basilus gets some intel that Ambiorix is near, and here's what happens:
"In everything, and especially in warfare, great is the power of Fortune. For just as it was by great good luck that Basilus fell upon the chief himself [Ambiorix] actually off his guard and unprepared — in fact, Basilus' arrival was seen by everybody before any rumour or message thereof was brought — so likewise it was a great piece of Fortune that, when all the military equipment he had about him had been captured, the carriages and horses seized, the chief himself should escape death. But this, too, came to pass because, the building being surrounded by forest, as the dwellings of the Gauls usually are — for to avoid the heat they generally seek the neighbourhood of woods and rivers — his companions and friends in so confined a place held off the attack of our cavalry for a short time. While they fought, one of his followers set him on a horse, and the woods covered his flight. Thus both in Ambiorix's exposure to danger and in his escape therefrom the influence of fortune was great."
Now then for reasons Caesar admits he doesn't quite understand, Ambiorix doesn't rally all his forces for a battle, but just sends out to the countryside, and instructs all his allies to go into hiding in the forest and wait for his next orders.
Many of them flee into the Ardennes forest. However,
"Catuvolcus, king of half the Eburones, who had initially participated in the scheme of of Ambiorix, was old and worn, and, finding that he could not endure the effort of war or flight, cursed Ambiorix by all his gods for originating all these plans, and killed himself by means of a yew‑tree, of which there is great plenty in Gaul and Germany."
The Loeb translator says he hanged himself from the yew tree, but the Landmark translator is probably right when he says Catuvolcus killed himself with poison from a yew tree. Yew trees are in fact quite poisonous if you ingest the needles or the berries (which are a pretty red color, and look kind of appetizing). Careful out there.
Well, Caesar gets about hunting Ambiorix, sends more commanders out to various regions, Quintus Cicero, Labienus, Gaius Trebonius...
And the problem he runs into is, Ambiorix and all his supporters, mainly the warriors of the Eburones, they've faded into the mist and they are lurking in wait in little bands, making a it very risky for the Romans to spread out smaller parties in a manhunt, because they can get ambushed and killed by these Gauls who know the territory better.
They're not having any luck. So what he decides to do is this:
"Caesar sent messengers round to the neighbouring states and invited them all to join him in pillaging the Eburones, in the hope of booty, so that he might hazard the lives of the Gauls among the woods rather than the soldiers of the legions, and at the same time, by surrounding it with a large host, destroy the stock and name of the tribe in requital for its horrid crime. A great number assembled speedily from every side."
So he kind of declares a Purge on them, if you've heard of that movie. He's built enough clout in the region that, in an extreme circumstance like this, where the Eburones' crimes are manifest (they're the guys who slaughtered a legion and a half under Sabinus), Caesar can declare a ‘Free for all’ on the Eburones, nobody pillaging their lands need fear any reprisal, or they'll have Caesar to contend with.
And this seems to work at first, the Eburones are getting completely ravaged and ruined.
But then:
"Herein it has been possible to note how great is power of Fortune in war, and how great the chances she brings in her train. [That's Caesar saying, ahh, well, who could have foreseen what would happen next] The enemy were scared and scattered, as we have mentioned, and there was no body of [Gallic] troops that could suggest the slightest occasion for alarm [for the Romans]. Across the Rhine the report reached the Germans that the Eburones were being pillaged; nay, more — that all were invited to come and plunder. Two thousand horsemen then were collected by the Sugambri, who live nearest the Rhine, and, as we set forth above, had received the Tencteri and the Usipetes after their flight. On boats and rafts they crossed the Rhine thirty miles below the spot where the bridge had been built and a garrison left by Caesar; and, coming first to the borders of the Eburones, they caught many persons scattered in flight, and captured a great quantity of cattle, of which barbarians are very covetous.
But of course... once you wind these guys up... it's hard to stop them...
"Lured by the prospect of more spoils, they advanced further. As they were born warriors and bandits, no swamps or forests could slow them down. From prisoners they inquire in what district Caesar is; they find that he has gone on some distance, they learn that all his army is departed. And then one of their prisoners said: "Why do you pursue this miserable and slender booty, when you now have the chance of the utmost fortune? In three hours you may come to Aduatuca [this is Caesar's main base in Gaul at the moment]; in that spot the Roman army has concentrated all its stores; the garrison is so small that it cannot even man the wall, and no one dares to step outside the entrenchments." With this hope offered them, the Germans left in a secret place the plunder they had gotten already and made for Aduatuca, using as a guide the very man by whose information they had learnt the news."
The Scene at Aduatuca
Trusty Quintus Cicero is the guy Caesar has put in charge of the baggage at Aduatuca.
Now, Caesar has promised Cicero that he'll return within 7 days, and not to leave the camp or do anything rash until he returns. But on the very 7th day, Cicero has heard reports that Caesar has gone off further than expected, and he starts to think, well, maybe Caesar had to change plans and he's not coming back today.
And so that day he decides to send out some foragers to the nearby territory, just within 3 miles of the camp, really close, no big deal you'd think.
But that happens to be exactly the time when... well, let's let Caesar describe it:
"Just at this moment, as it chanced, the German horsemen came on the scene, and immediately, at the same speed as had brought them there, they tried to burst into camp at the main gate. There was a screen of woods on that side, so that they were not seen until just when they arrived at the camp, so much so that the traders encamped close under the rampart had no chance of escaping. Our troops, not expecting them, were thrown into confusion by the surprise, and the cohort on guard barely withstood the first attack. The enemy poured round the other sides of the camp to see if they could find an entry point. Our troops with difficulty defended the gates; all other chances of entrance were prevented by the nature of the place itself and by the entrenchment. There was confusion throughout the camp, and one sought from another the cause of the uproar... One man declared that the camp was already taken, another insisted that the barbarians had come victorious from the destruction of the army and the commander-in‑chief (Caesar must be dead! one guys' saying), and the majority pictured to themselves new superstitions because of the place and set before their eyes the disaster of Cotta and Titurius, who (as they remembered) fell in the same fort. [Oh yes, they are ironically camped in the same fort that Sabinus had been camped in].
Owing to the universal panic caused by such fears, the barbarians were confirmed in the belief that, as they had heard from the prisoner, there was no garrison inside. They strove to break through, exhorting one another not to let so good a chance slip from their hands."
So they think it'll be easy picking.
But…
They hadn't bet on... who else, but our man, the brave centurion, Publius Sextius Baculus (we've met him before in book 2 and book 3).
"With the garrison there had been left behind, sick, a certain Publius Sextius Baculus, who has been mentioned by us in previous battles. He had now been five days without food, and, doubtful of his own and the general safety, he came forth from his tent unarmed. He saw that the enemy were threateningly close and that the issue was in the greatest danger; he took arms from the nearest men and stationed himself in the gate. He was followed by all the centurions of the cohort on guard, and together for a short space they bore the brunt of the battle. Sextius fainted after receiving severe wounds; with difficulty he was dragged from hand to hand into safety. In the respite thus given the rest took courage so far as to venture to their stations in the entrenchments and to afford a semblance of defence."
And eventually with great difficulty the Romans manage to fight off the Germans. These guys aren't in the mood for a siege or anything, they're not morally committed to destroying the Romans like a lot of these Gallic rebels are, they just wanted some quick booty, and when they realized it wasn't going to be easy, they just leave and go back across the Rhine. Later in the night a messenger from Caesar arrives, saying Caesar's nearby, calm down everyone (nobody calms down understandably, until Cesar actually does arrive, I guess the next day...)
"Upon his return, knowing well the ways things turn out in war, Caesar had but one complaint to make — that some cohorts had been sent out from the camp from outpost and garrison duty: he maintained that no room should have been left for even the slightest mischance, and that Fortune had proved her power in the sudden arrival of the enemy — indeed, and far more so, in that she had turned away the natives almost from the very rampart and gates of the camp. Of all these events the most remarkable seemed to be that the Germans, who had crossed the Rhine with the definite intention of devastating the territory of Ambiorix, by their descent on the Roman camp ended up doing Ambiorix the greatest favor."
Meanwhile, Caesar sends out cavalry in all directions and returns to the area to survey the results of his "unleash the Purge" campaign upon the Eburones, and as reports come in he remarks, with grim satisfaction, that it has indeed been very successful:
"All villages and every building that anyone spotted were burned down. Spoils from everywhere were driven off on the hoof"
…etc. etc.
But what about the success of his manhunt, his grand prize, Ambiorix, the instigator himself?
“And with so large a force of cavalry scattered in every direction, it often came to pass that prisoners when taken were gazing about for Ambiorix, whom they had just seen in flight, and even insisting that he had not quite gone out of sight. The hope of catching the fugitive inspired in them immense exertion, and the thought that they would win the highest favour with Caesar made their zeal almost more than human. Yet always it seemed that they had failed by a little to win supreme success, while Ambiorix stole away from forest and glade and, hidden by night, made for other districts or territories, with no more escort of horsemen than four troopers, to whom alone he dared entrust his life."
And so, with winter approaching and the campaign season coming to a close, Caesar calls it in. He sends his troops to winter quarters, and heads back to Italy to hold the provincial Assizes.
The great manhunt... has failed.
But I think this whole episode as well reflected a great truth.
Caesar believed in the incredible power of a single man, whether as a figurehead, a symbol, or as a leader, as an agent... (because those two things are related...) the power of such a man, to make all the difference in a war.
And don't we see that happening so often in a war... or in a company, Founder mode vs Manager mode?
In a state, in an entire country?
And if one man can make all the difference... be worth expending enormous resources to hunt down... in a huge war, how much more impact can one man have proportionally on a small group of people, in a family, a local community?
Well keep that one in mind.
Coda, Politics Strikes Again
And speaking of the importance of One Man... another blockbuster political event that Caesar didn't mention in this book, is that Marcus Linius Crassus... together with his dashing and talented young son Publius Crassus... has died, this year, in a huge military disaster in Mesopotamia, fighting the Parthians.
That whittles the former triumvirate down to two men. And on top of that, Pompey has decided, firmly, finally, NOT to renew his marriage alliance with Caesar, but instead to marry the widow of young Publius Crassus, the daughter of Metellus Scipio (a corrupt aristocrat who is DEFINITELY not in Caesar's camp).
All of Caesar's successes apparently weren't enough to woo Pompey as an ally again ... or maybe, it was precisely BECAUSE of Caesar's success that Pompey was starting to feel threatened...
And suddenly, the stars are aligning to make Pompey and Caesar the figureheads and symbols of two perpetually opposing parties at Rome... the Optimates with Pompey, and the Populares with Caesar.
More on that in other lives we've already done and will be covering soon, Pompey, Cato, Caesar...
And anyway, long before the great catastrophe to the Republic, Caesar would get to see his belief in the power of the individuals confirmed all too painfully in the following year, in the great revolt, against an enemy unlike any Gaul he had faced so far.
Vercingetorix, of the Arverni.
That's a story for next time.
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Or just, take the time to remember the people in your life, and the context for which you are that symbol, that agent... or perhaps for which you should be.
Stay strong, stay ancient, this is Alex Petkas, until next time.
Ambiorix's mustache is majestic af!