History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

De Bello Gallico, VI. 29.

453

We must suppose from this that, during his march, Cæsar crossed the territory of the Segni and Condrusi, or that at least he passed not far from it. This consideration has induced us to extend this territory farther towards the north than is generally done. (See Plates 1 bis and 13.)

454

Cæsar might very well say that the Scheldt mingles his waters with those of the Meuse. Several ancient authors share in this opinion. This took place by the eastern arm of the Scheldt, formerly more developed than in modern times, which spread itself in the space which, according to Tacitus, formed the immense mouth of the Meuse (immensum Mosæ os).

455

De Bello Gallico, VI. 34.

456

Forty-five kilomètres reckoned down from Bonn bring us to the confluence of the Wipper and the Rhine.

457

Cæsar complained of the conduct of Quintus, when he wrote to Cicero the orator: “He did not keep within the camp, as would have been the duty of a prudent and scrupulous general.” (Charisius, p. 101.)

458

De Bello Gallico, VI. 42.

459

An ancient manuscript belonging to Upper Auvergne, the manuscript of Drugeac, informs us that this custom continued long in use, and that it still existed in the Middle Ages. Rough towers were built for this purpose on the heights, 400 or 500 mètres apart; watchmen were placed in them, who transmitted the news from one to another by sonorous monosyllables. A certain number of these towers still exist in the Cantal. If the wind prevented this mode of transmission, they had recourse to fire.

It is evident that criers had been posted beforehand from Genabum to Gergovia, since it was agreed that the Carnutes should give the signal of war. It is exactly 160 miles (about 240 kilomètres), through the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, from Gien to Gergovia, the principal oppidum of the Arverni.

460

“Hic corpore, armis, spirituque terribilis, nomine etiam quasi ad terrorem composito.” (Florus, II. x. 21.) – Vercingetorix was born at Gergovia. (Strabo, IV., p. 158.)

461

De Bello Gallico, VII. 5.

462

Coins of Lucterius have been found, as well as of many of the Gaulish chiefs mentioned in the “Commentaries.” The first has been described by MM.[“Messieurs” methinks] Mionet and Chaudruc de Crazannes. (Revue Numismatique, t. V., pl. 16, p. 333.)

463

Their capital was Alba, now Aps (Ardèche). During recent researches, remains of an ancient road have been discovered, which passed by the places here indicated, and led from the land of the Helvi to the Vellavi and Arverni.

464

De Bello Gallico, VII. 9.

465

Since Cæsar did not start until after the murder of Clodius, which took place on the 13th of the Calends of February (December 30th, 701), and had raised troops in Italy, passed through the Roman province, penetrated over the Cévennes into Auvergne, and had thence returned to Vienne, it is probable that he did not arrive at Sens before the commencement of March.

466

The Latin term has Altero die, quum ad oppidum Senonum Vellaunodunum venisset, &c. All authors, without exception, considering wrongly the expression of altero die as identical with those of postro die, proximo die, insequenti die, pridie ejus diei, have translated it by the following day. We consider that altero die, when used with regard to an event, signifies the second day which follows that of the said event.

Thus Cicero gives it this sense in his Philippica Prima, § 13, where he reminds us of the conduct of Antony after the death of Cæsar. Antony had begun by treating with the conspirators who had taken refuge in the Capitol, and, at a sitting of the Senate, which he called together ad hoc, on the day of the Liberalia, that is to say, the 16th of the Calends of April, an amnesty was pronounced in favour of the murderers of Cæsar. Cicero, speaking of this session of the Senate, says, Proximo, altero, tertio, denique reliquis consecutis diebus, &c. Is it not evident that here altero die signifies the second day which followed the session of the Senate, or two days after that session?

Here are other examples which show that the word alter must be taken in the sense of secundus. Virgil says (Eclogue VIII., line 39), Alter ab undecimo tum jam me ceperat annus, which must be translated, I was thirteen years old. Servius, who composed a commentary on Virgil at a time when the traditions were still preserved, makes the following comment on this verse: Id est tertius decimus. Alter enim de duobus dicimus ut unus ab undecimo sit duodecimus, alter tertius decimus, et vult significare jam se vicinum fuisse pubertati, quod de duodecimo anno procedere non potest. (Virgil, edit. Burmann, tom. I., p. 130.)

Forcellini peremptorily establishes that vicesimo altero signifies the twenty-second; legio altera vicesima means the twenty-second legion.

The “Commentaries” inform us (De Bello Civili, III. 9) that Octavius, when besieging Salona, had established five camps round the town, and that the besieged took those five camps one after the other. The text is thus expressed: Ipsi in proxima Octavii castra irruperunt. Mis expugnatis, eodem impetu, altera sunt adorti; inde tertia et quarta, et deinceps reliqua. (See also De Bello Civili, III. 83.)

In the “Commentaries” we find sixty-three times the expression postero die, thirty-six times proximo die, ten times insequenti die, eleven times postridie ejus diei, or pridie ejus diei. The expression altero die is used only twice in the eight books De Bello Gallico, viz., lib. VII. cc. 11 and 68, and three times in De Bello Civili, lib. III. cc. 19, 26, and 30. Is that coincidence alone not sufficient to make us suppose that altero die ought not to be confounded with the preceding expressions; and does it not appear certain that, if Cæsar had arrived at Vellaunodunum the morning after his departure from Agedincum, he would have written, Postero die (or proximo die) quum ad oppidum Senonum Vellaunodunum venisset, &c.?

We believe, therefore, that we are authorized in concluding that Cæsar arrived at Vellaunodunum the second day after the army moved.

Farther on, on page 339, will be found a new confirmation of the sense which we give to altero die. It results from the appreciation of the distance which separates Alesia from the battle-field where Cæsar defeated the cavalry of Vercingetorix. (See the opinions of the commentators on altero die in the sixth volume of Cicero, edit. Lemaire, Classiques Latins, Excursus ad Philippicam primam.)

467

De Bello Gallico, VII. 11. – Contrary to the generally received opinion, we adopt Gien and not Orleans for the ancient Genabum, Triguères for Vellaunodonum, Sancerre for Noviodunum, and, lastly, Saint-Parize-le-Châtel for the Gorgobina of the Boii.

As Cæsar’s object, on quitting Sens, was to march as quickly as possible to the oppidum of the Boii, in order to raise the siege, since he starts without baggage, so as to be less impeded in his march, we will first examine the probable position of this latter town, before discussing the question relating to the intermediate points.

Gorgobina Boiorum. After the defeat of the Helvetii, Cæsar allowed the Ædui to receive the Boii upon their territory, and it is probable that they were established on the western frontier, as in an advanced post against the Arverni and the Bituriges. Several data confirm this opinion. Tacitus (Histor., II. 61) relates that: Mariccus quidam, e plebe Boiorum… concitis octo millibus hominum, proximos Æduorum pagos trahebat. The possessions of the Boii were, therefore, contiguous to the Æduan territory. Pliny the Elder (Hist. Nat., IV. 18) places the Boii in the number of the nations who inhabited the centre of the Lyonnaise. Intus autem Ædui fœderati, Carnuti fœderati, Boii, Senones… The place here occupied by the word Boii shows us again that this people was not far from the Ædui, the Senones, and the Carnutes. Lastly, the text of the “Commentaries” represents Vercingetorix as obliged to traverse the country of the Bituriges to repair to Gorgobina. The most plausible opinion is that which places the Boii between the Loire and the Allier, towards the confluence of these two rivers. This was already an old tradition, adopted in the fifteenth century by Raimondus Marlianus, one of the first editors of Cæsar. This space of ground, covered in its eastern part with woods and marshes, was admirably suited by its extent to the limited population of the Boii, who did not number more than 20,000 souls. Neither Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, marked on the map of Gaul as Gorgobina, nor La Guerche, proposed by General de Gœler, answer completely, by their topographical position, to the site of a Gaulish oppidum. In fact, Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier is far from being advantageously situated; this village stands at the foot of the hills which border the right bank of the Allier. La-Guerche-sur-Aubois fulfils no better the conditions of defence which must be required in the principal town of the Boii: it is situated almost in a plain, on the edge of a marshy valley of the Aubois. It presents a few remains of fortifications of the Middle Ages, but not a trace of more remote antiquity has been discovered in it. To seek Gorgobina farther down, and on the left bank of the Loire, is impossible, since, according to Cæsar, the Boii had been established on the territory of the Ædui, and the Loire formed the boundary between the Ædui and the Bituriges. If we are reduced to conjectures, we must at least admit as incontestable what is advanced by Cæsar.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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