History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

See the notice by M. M. F. Driesen on the position of Aduatuca, in the Bulletins de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, 2nd series, tom. XV. No. 3.

428

De Bello Gallico, V. 37.

429

De Bello Gallico, V. 39.

430

The towers of the Romans were constructed of timber of small size, bound together by cross pieces. (See Plate 27, fig. 8.) They still raise scaffolding at Rome in the same manner at the present day.

431

Although the text has passuum, we have not hesitated in substituting pedum, for it is very improbable that Gauls could have made, in three hours’ time, a countervallation of more than 22 kilomètres.

432

The siege machine called testudo, “a tortoise,” was ordinarily a gallery mounted upon wheels, made of wood strongly squared, and covered with a solid blindage. It was pushed against the wall of the place besieged. It protected the workmen employed either in filling the fosse, or in mining the wall, or in working the ram. The siege operations of the Gauls lead us to presume that the camp of Cicero was in a fort surrounded by a wall. (See, on the word falces, note (1) on p. 143.)

433

In the coal-basin, in the centre of which Charleroy is situated, the coal layers crop out of the surface of the soil on different points. Still, at the present day, they knead the clay with small coal. But, what is most curious, people have found at Breteuil (Oise), as in the ruins of Carthage, a quantity of ovoid balls made of pottery.

434

It will be seen that we use indifferently the terms vallum and rampart.

435

Dio Cassius, XL. 8.

436

It has appeared to us that the movement of concentration of Cæsar and Fabius did not allow the winter quarters of the latter to be placed at Therouanne or at Montreuil-sur-Mer, as most authors have supposed. These localities are too far distant from the route from Amiens to Charleroy to have enabled Fabius to join Cæsar on the territory of the Atrebates, as the text of the Commentaries requires. For this reason, we place Fabius at Saint-Pol.

437

The “Commentaries” say, Græcis conscriptam litteris; but Polyænus and Dio Cassius affirm that the letter was written in Greek.

438

Polyænus, Strateg., VIII. xxiii. 6.

439

We admit that Cicero encamped at Charleroi: all circumstances concur in justifying this opinion. Charleroi is situated on the Sambre, near the Roman road from Amiens to Tongres (Aduatuca), and, as the Latin text requires, at fifty miles from this latter town. On the high part of Charleroi, where the camp was, no doubt, established, we command the valley of the Sambre, and we can see, in the distance towards the west, the country through which Cæsar arrived. Moreover, the valley of the Haine and mount Sainte-Aldegonde, above the village of Carnières, agree perfectly with the details of the combat in which the Gauls were defeated.

440

From Amiens to Charleroi it is 170 kilomètres. Cæsar must have arrived on the territory of the Nervii, towards Cambrai, the morning of the third day, counting from his departure from Amiens, after marching ninety kilomètres. He immediately sends the Gaulish horseman to Cicero. This horseman has to perform eighty kilomètres. He can only take eight to nine hours, and arrive at the camp in the afternoon of the third day. He throws his javelin, which remains where it was fixed the third and the fourth day. The fifth day it was discovered, and the smoke of the fires is then seen. Cæsar, then, arrived on the fifth day (reckoning thirty kilomètres for a day’s march) at Binche, twenty kilomètres from Charleroi. That town is on a sufficiently elevated knoll to allow the smoke to be seen. The siege lasted about fifteen days.

441

De Bello Gallico, V. 53.

442

“I have read with a lively joy what you tell me of the courage and strength of mind of Cæsar in this cruel trial.” (Cicero, Epist. ad Quintum, III. viii. 166.)

443

Suetonius, Cæsar, 67. – Polyænus, Strateg., VIII. xxiii.

444

One is on the site of the citadel of Amiens; the second is near Tirancourt; the third is the camp of l’Etoile. (See the Dissertation sur les Camps Romains de la Somme, by the Comte L. d’Allonville.)

445

De Bello Gallico, V. 58.

446

Précis des Guerres de César, by Napoleon, Chapter V. 5.

447

De Bello Gallico, VI. 4.

448

The “Commentaries,” after having informed us (V. 24) that Labienus established himself in the country of the Remi, on the confines of that of the Treviri, give us afterwards to understand that he encamped among the Treviri, where he had passed the winter, “Labienum cum una legione, quæ in eorum finibus hiemaverat.” (VI. 7.) We believe, with certain authors, that the country in which he encamped was either on the boundary of the two countries, or ground of which the Remi and the Treviri disputed the possession. Is it not evident, moreover, that after the catastrophe of Aduatuca and the insurrection of the people seduced by Ambiorix, everything dictated to Labienus the necessity of engaging himself no further in a hostile country, by separating himself from the other legions?

449

De Bello Gallico, VI. 6.

450

De Bello Gallico, VI. 8.

451

See page 82.

452