Vercingetorix in Alesia. Caesar follows him
Seeing all his cavalry in flight, Vercingetorix called in the troops he had lined up in front of the camp, and immediately took the road to Alesia, which is a town of the Mandubians, after hastily getting the luggage, which followed him. Caesar left his equipages on a neighboring hill, made them guard of two legions, pursued the enemy as long as the day lasted, killed him about three thousand men of the rear guard, and encamped the next day before Alesia. Having reconnoitred the situation of the city, and seeing the enemies in consternation at the defeat of their cavalry, which they regarded as the main force of their army, he exhorted his people to work, and began the lines of circumvallation.
The Alésia site. Positions of the two armies
This place was located on the top of a mountain, in a position so high that it seemed that it could only be taken by a proper siege. At the foot of this mountain flowed two rivers from two different sides. Before the city stretched a plain about three thousand paces in length; (4) at all other points, hills surrounded it, not far apart and of equal height. Beneath the walls, the side facing the rising sun was lined throughout with Gallic troops, having in front of them a ditch and a dry wall six feet high. The line of circumvallation formed by the Romans occupied a circuit of eleven thousand paces. Our camp was seated in an advantageous position, and twenty-three forts were erected there, in which posts were placed during the day to prevent any sudden attack; sentries and strong garrisons were also kept there throughout the night.
Defeat of the Gallic cavalry
During the works, there was a cavalry fight in this plain intersected with hills and which extended in a space of three thousand paces, as we have said above. The relentlessness was equal on both sides. Ours beginning to suffer, Caesar sent the Germans to support them, and placed the legions in front of the camp, in case the enemy infantry suddenly made some attempt.
This support of the legions raised the courage of our horsemen; the Gauls put to flight are embarrassed by their number and pile up at the too narrow doors which remain to them. Then the Germans pursued them briskly to their intrenchments; a great carnage is made of it. Several, abandoning their horses, try to cross the ditch and climb the wall. Caesar moves forward the legions he had placed at the head of the camp. This movement strikes terror among the very Gauls who were behind the entrenchments; believing that we are coming upon them, they shout to arms; some rush terrified into the city. Vercingetorix has the gates closed, lest the camp be completely abandoned. It was only after killing many people and taking a large number of horses that the Germans withdrew.
Vercingetorix dismisses his horsemen and asks for help
Vercingetorix, before the Romans had completed their circumvallation, resolved to send back all his cavalry by night. Before the departure of these riders, he recommends them "to go each to their country, and to enroll all those who are old enough to bear arms; he reminds them of what he has done for them, conjures them to watch to his safety and not to abandon him, he who has well deserved common freedom, at the mercy of cruel enemies; their negligence would entail, with his loss, that of eighty thousand elite men; he He's only got provisions for thirty days at the most; but he can, by sparing them, hold out a little longer." After these recommendations, he sends off his cavalry in silence; on the second watch, by the interval which our lines still left. He had all the grain of the city brought to him, and imposed the death penalty on those who did not obey; as for the cattle of which the Mandubians had collected a large provision, he distributes it by head; grain is measured sparingly and given in small quantities; he brings back into the city all the troops who camped under its walls. It is by these means that he prepares himself to wait for help from Gaul and to support the war.
Caesar's work around Alesia
Informed of these provisions by the defectors and the prisoners, Caesar decided on his plan of fortification as follows. He had a ditch dug twenty feet wide, the sides of which were sheer and the depth equal to the width. All the rest of the intrenchments were established four hundred feet behind this ditch; he wanted by this (for we had been obliged to embrace such a large space that our soldiers could not easily have filled all the points) to prevent sudden attacks or nocturnal irruptions, and to protect our workers during the day from of the enemy. Into this space Caesar dug two ditches fifteen feet wide and as deep; that which was interior and dug in a low and uncultivated ground, was filled with water drawn from the river. Behind these ditches he erected a terrace and a rampart twelve feet high; he added a parapet and battlements, and raised large forked pieces of wood at the junction of the parapet and the rampart, to make it more difficult for the enemy to approach them. The whole work was flanked by towers, placed eighty feet apart.
At the same time, it was necessary to fetch wood and provisions, and to employ the troops on the great works of the intrenchments, less those employed in the distance. The Gauls often tried to disturb our workers, and made the most vigorous exits by several doors. Caesar therefore deemed it necessary to add something to these intrenchments, so that a smaller number of soldiers could defend them. For this purpose they cut down the trunks of trees and strong branches, stripped them of their bark and sharpened them at the top; then they opened a trench five feet deep, where they drove in these stakes which, tied at the foot so as not to be able to be pulled out, showed only their upper part. There were five rows of them, joined together and intertwined; whoever engaged in them got tangled up in their sharp points - our soldiers called them vines -. In front were obliquely staggered shafts three feet deep, which gradually narrowed to the bottom. They drove in round stakes the size of a thigh, hardened in the fire and sharpened at the extremity, which protruded from the ground only four fingers; and to strengthen and consolidate the work, they heavily trod the ground with their feet:the rest was covered with brambles and brushwood, in order to hide the trap. Eight rows of this species had been formed, three feet apart:they were called lilies because of their resemblance to this flower. In front of the whole were pitfalls a foot long, armed with iron spikes, which had been driven into the ground; they had been placed everywhere, at short distances from each other; they were called goads.
This work finished, Caesar fired in the smoothest terrain that the nature of the place could offer, and in a circuit of fourteen thousand paces, a countervallation of the same kind, but on the opposite side, against the enemy outside. He wanted that in case of attack, during his absence, the intrenchments could not be invested by a numerous multitude. Finally, to prevent the dangers to which the troops might be exposed on leaving the camp, he ordered that everyone provide themselves with fodder and food for thirty days.
The Gallic Relief Army
While these things were happening before Alesia, the principals of Gaul, meeting in assembly, had resolved, not to call to arms all those who were able to bear them, as Vercingetorix wanted, but to demand of each people a number of men; they feared, in the confusion of such a great multitude, that they would be unable to discipline it, recognize each other, or feed themselves. It was settled that the various estates should furnish, namely the Aedui, with their clients the Segusiaves, the Ambivaretes, the Aulerci Brannovices, the Blannovii, thirty-five thousand men; the Arverni with the peoples of their province, such as the Eleutetes, the Cadurci, the Gabales, and the Vellavii, a similar number; the Sénones, the Séquanes, the Bituriges, the Santons, the Rutenes, the Carnutes, each twelve thousand; the Bellovaci, ten thousand; the Lemovics, as much; the Pictons, the Turons, the Parisii, the Helvetians, eight thousand each; the Ambiens, the Médiomatrices, the Petrocorii, the Nerviens, the Morins, the Nitiobroges, each five thousand; the Aulerci Cenomans, as many; the Atrebates, four thousand; the Veliocasses, the Lexovii, the Aulerci Eburovices, each three thousand, the Rauraci with the Boii, one thousand; twenty thousand to all the peoples located along the ocean, and that the Gauls usually call Armoricans, among whom are the Curiosolites, the Redons, the Ambibarii, the Calètes, the Osismes, the Lémovices , the Vnelles. The Bellovaci alone refused their contingent, alleging that they wanted to make war on the Romans in their name and on their own terms, without taking orders from anyone. However, at the insistence of Commios, their ally, they sent two thousand men.
It was this same Commios which Caesar, as we have said above, had made use of as a faithful and useful agent in the war in Britain some years before; and in recognition of his services, Caesar had freed his nation from all tribute, had restored to it its rights and its laws, and subjugated the Morins. But such was the universal eagerness of the Gauls to recover their freedom and reconquer their former military glory, that neither the benefits nor the memories of friendship could touch them, and no sacrifice cost their zeal, since they gathered eight thousand cavalry and about two hundred and forty thousand infantry. These troops were passed in review and the enumeration was made of them on the territory of the Aedui; leaders were chosen for them, and the general command was entrusted to the Atrebate Commios, to the Aedui Viridomaros and Eporedorix, and to the Arverne Vercassivellaunos, cousin of Vercingetorix. They were given a council, made up of members taken from each city, to direct the war. All leave for Alesia, full of ardor and confidence; no one believed that it was possible to support only the aspect of such a great multitude, especially in a double combat where the Romans would be at the same time pressed by the exits of the besieged, and enveloped outside by so much cavalry and soldiers. infantry.
Speech of Critognatos
However, the Gauls besieged in Alesia, seeing that the day when they expected help had expired, and that all their wheat had been consumed, ignorant moreover of what was happening cite the Aedui, had assembled in council and deliberated on the party they had to take. Among the various opinions, some of which wanted us to surrender and others to attempt a vigorous exit while they still had enough strength left, we cannot, it seems to me, pass over in silence the speech of Critognatos, because of his singular and horrible cruelty. He was an Arverne of high birth and who enjoyed high consideration. “I will not speak, he said, of the opinion of those who call slavery the most shameful capitulation; and I think that they should neither be counted among the number of citizens, nor admitted to this assembly I speak only to those who propose an exit, and whose opinion, as you all acknowledge, testifies that they still remember our ancient valor. But there is rather weakness than courage. not being able to bear a few days of scarcity. Men who offer themselves to death without hesitation are easier to find than those who know how to endure pain. And I too would agree with this opinion (so much honor has on me d'empire), if I saw no danger in it except for our lives; but, in the part we have to take, consider all Gaul which we have called to our aid. When eighty thousand men will have perished in this attempt, what courage do you think our parents and loved ones retain, if they cannot, po ur so to speak, fight only over our corpses? Take care, then, to deprive of your support those who have not feared to expose themselves for your salvation, and, by haste, by imprudence, by pusillanimity, do not deliver all of Gaul to the debasement of a perpetual slavery. Because your auxiliaries did not arrive on the appointed day, would you doubt their faith and constancy? Oh what! when the Romans work every day at new intrenchments, do you think it's only to keep you going?
If every road is closed to you by which you could have news of them, do not the Romans themselves assure you of their imminent arrival by these day and night labors which sufficiently show the fear they have of them? So what is my opinion? To do what our ancestors did in their far less fatal wars against the Cimbri and the Teutons. Forced, like us, to shut themselves up in their cities, a prey to scarcity, they supported their life by feeding on the flesh of those whom their age rendered useless in war; and they did not surrender. If we had not received this example, I would say that, for the cause of freedom, it would be glorious to give it to our descendants. What war indeed can be compared to this one? The Cimbri, after having ravaged Gaul, and having caused it great harm, finally left our territory and gained other countries; they left us our rights, our laws, our fields, our freedom! But what do the Romans want? What do they want? Envy brings them against all whose fame has given them glory and power in war; they want to establish themselves on their territory, in their cities, and impose on them the yoke of eternal servitude. For they have never made war in other views. If you don't know how they behave in distant nations, see this part of Gaul that touches you; reduced to the provinces, deprived of its rights and its laws, subjected to the Roman axes, it groans under the weight of a slavery which must not end.
Expulsion of non-combatants
The opinions having been collected, it was decided that those who, because of their health or their age, could not render service in the war, should leave the place , and that we would try everything before coming to the decision proposed by Critognatos. It was decided, however, that if we were forced to do so and if help was too long in coming, we would follow him rather than surrender or submit to Roman law. The Mandubians, who had received them in their town, were forced to leave with their children and wives. They approach the intrenchments of the Romans, and, bursting into tears, they ask, they implore slavery and bread. But Caesar placed guards on the rampart, and forbade them to be received.
Arrival of the relief army
Meanwhile Commios and the other chiefs, invested with the supreme command, arrive with all their troops before Alesia, and take up position on one of the hills which surround the plain, at a distance of a thousand paces at most from our intrenchments. Having brought the cavalry out of their camp the next day, they covered the whole plain, which we have said was three thousand paces in extent, and kept their foot troops hidden on the heights not far from there. You could see from Alesia everything that was going on in the countryside. At the sight of this help, we hasten, we mutually congratulate each other, and all spirits are rejoiced. All the troops are brought out, and line up in front of the place; the first ditch is filled; we cover it with hurdles and earth, and we prepare for the outing and for all the events.
Roman cavalry victory
Caesar, having ranged the whole army on one or the other of his lines, so that if necessary each one knew the post which he was to occupy, brought out of his camp the cavalry, which he ordered to initiate the case. From the top of the heights occupied by the camps, one could see the battlefield, and all the soldiers, attentive to the fight, awaited the issue. The Gauls had mingled with their cavalry a small number of lightly armed archers and infantry, both to support it if it gave way, and to halt the shock of ours. Several of our cavalry, surprised by these infantry, were wounded and forced to leave the fray.
The Gauls, believing that theirs had the upper hand, and that ours were overwhelmed by numbers, began, besieged and auxiliaries, to utter shouts and howls on all sides to encourage those of their nation. As the action was taking place under the eyes of both parties, no trait of courage or cowardice could escape notice, and both sides were excited to behave well, by the desire for glory the fear of shame. The battle had been fought from noon until sunset, and victory was still uncertain, when the Germans, united at a single point, in close squadrons, rushed upon the enemy and repulsed him. The archers, abandoned in this rout, were enveloped and cut to pieces, and the fugitives pursued on all sides to their camp, without being given time to rally. Then those who had come out of Alesia, dismayed and almost despairing of victory, returned to the place.
Unsuccessful attack on the Roman lines
After a day spent by the Gauls in making a large quantity of hurdles, ladders and harpoons, they silently leave their camp in the middle of the night and approach those of our intrenchments who were looking out over the plain. Suddenly uttering cries, a signal which was to warn of their approach those whom we had besieged, they threw down their hurdles, attacked the guards of our ramparts with slingshots, arrows and stones, and made all the preparations for an assault. . At the same time, Vercingetorix, hearing the cries from outside, gives the signal with the trumpet and brings his people out of the square. Our soldiers took the posts on the rampart which had been assigned to each of them on the preceding days, and terrified the enemies by the quantity of slings, darts, balls of lead, stones, which they had amassed in entrenchments, and with which they overwhelm them. As the night made it impossible to see each other, there were many wounded on both sides; the machines rained down the lines. However, Lieutenants M. Antonius and C. Trébonius, who had been responsible for the defense of the quarters attacked, drew some troops from more distant forts to succor the legionnaires at the points where they knew they were pressed by the enemy.
As long as the Gauls fought away from the intrenchments, they greatly inconvenienced us by the large number of their darts; but when they had advanced further, it happened either that they threw themselves on the goads which they did not see, or that they pierced themselves by falling into the ditches lined with stakes, or finally that they perished under the launched darts of the rampart and the towers. After losing a lot of people, without having managed to break into the intrenchments, seeing the day approaching, and fearing to be taken in flank and surrounded by the exits which were made from the camps located on the heights, they fell back on theirs. The besieged, who put to use the means prepared by Vercingetorix to fill the first ditch, after a long time devoted to this work, noticed the retreat of their compatriots before they could approach our intrenchments. Abandoning their business, they returned to the city.
The defensive struggle
Repulsed twice with great losses, the Gauls took counsel on what remained for them to do. They have recourse to people who know the country and are informed by them of the site of our superior forts and the manner in which they are fortified. To the north there was a hill which we had not been able to understand within the enclosure of our intrenchments, because of its too wide circuit; which had obliged us to establish our camp on a ground halfway up the hill and in a position necessarily unfavorable. There commanded the lieutenants C. Antistius Réginus and C. Caninius Rébilus with two legions. Having had the places reconnoitred by their scouts, the enemy chiefs form a body of sixty thousand men, chosen from the whole Gallic army and especially from among the nations which had the highest reputation for courage. They decide secretly among themselves when and how they should act; they fixed the attack at noon, and put at the head of these troops the Arverne Vercasivellaunos, relative of Vercingetorix, and one of the four Gallic generals. He leaves his camp on the first watch; and having completed his journey a little before daybreak, he hides behind the mountain, and rests his soldiers from the fatigues of the night. Around noon, he walks towards that part of the Roman camp which we have spoken of above. At the same time the enemy cavalry approaches the entrenchments of the plain, and the rest of the Gallic troops begin to deploy in battle at the head of the camp.
From the top of the citadel of Alésia, Vercingétorix sees them, and leaves the place, carrying from the camp his long poles, his covered galleries, his scythes and what he had prepared, for the exit. The combat begins at the same time on all sides with relentlessness; Everywhere the greatest efforts are being made. A place seems weak, we hasten to run there. The excessive extent of their fortifications prevented the Romans from keeping all the points and defending them everywhere. The cries which rose behind our soldiers impressed them all the more with terror, as they reflected that their safety depended on the courage of others; because often the furthest danger is the one that makes the most impression on people's minds.
Caesar, who had chosen a post from which he could observe all the action, sent for help wherever it was needed. On both sides we feel that today is the day on which we must make the last efforts. The Gauls completely despair of their safety, if they do not force our intrenchments; the Romans see the end of their fatigues only in victory. The liveliest action takes place especially at the upper forts where we have seen that Vercasivellaunos had been sent. The narrow peak that dominated the slope was of great importance. Some throw darts at us, others, having formed the tortoise, arrive at the foot of the rampart:fresh troops take the place of those who are tired. The earth that the Gauls throw into the intrenchments helps them to cross them, and fills the traps that the Romans had hidden; we are already running out of arms and forces.
As soon as he learns of it, Caesar sends Labienus to this point with six cohorts; he orders him, if he cannot hold out, to withdraw the cohorts and make a sortie, but only at the last extremity. He will himself exhort the others not to yield to fatigue; he explains to them that the fruit of all the preceding combats depends on this day, on this hour. The besieged, despairing of forcing the intrenchments of the plain, because of their extent, attempt to scale the heights, and there direct all their means of attack; they drive away with a hail of darts those who were fighting from the top of the towers; they fill the ditches with earth and fascines, and make their way; they cut with scythes the rampart and the parapet.
Caesar first sends the young Brutus there with six cohorts, then Lieutenant C. Fabius with seven others; finally, the action becoming livelier, he went there himself with a reinforcement of fresh troops. The fight re-established and the enemies repulsed, he marched towards the point where he had sent Labienus, drew four cohorts from the nearest fort, ordered part of the cavalry to follow him, and the other to go around the outside lines and take enemies from behind. Labienus, seeing that neither the ramparts nor the ditches can stop their impetuosity, gathers together thirty-nine cohorts from neighboring forts which chance presents to him, and dispatches couriers to Caesar informing him of his design.
Victory of Caesar
Caesar hastens his march to witness the action. On his arrival, he is recognized by the color of the clothing he used to wear in battle; the enemies, who from the height see him on the slope with the squadrons and the cohorts which he had been followed, engage in combat. A cry rises on both sides, and is repeated on the rampart and in all the entrenchments. Our soldiers, leaving aside the javelin, draw the sword. Suddenly, behind the enemy, our cavalry appears; other cohorts are approaching; the Gauls flee; our cavalry bars the passage to the fugitives, and causes great carnage. Sédullus, leader and prince of the Lémovices, is killed, and the Arverne Vercasivellaunos taken alive in the rout. Seventy-four military ensigns are reported to Caesar; of so many men, very few return to camp uninjured. The besieged, seeing from the top of their walls the flight of their people and the carnage that is being made of them, despair of their safety, and withdraw their troops from the attack on our intrenchments. The news reached the camp of the Gauls, who immediately evacuated him. If the soldiers had not been harassed by so many engagements and by the labors of the whole day, the enemy army might have been entirely destroyed. In the middle of the night, the cavalry, sent in pursuit, reached the rear guard; a large part is taken or killed; the rest, escaped by flight, took refuge in the cities.
Surrender of Vercingetorix
The next day Vercingetorix convenes the assembly, and says:"That he did not undertake this war for his personal interests, but for the defense of common freedom; that, since it was necessary to yield to fortune, he offered to his compatriots, leaving them the choice of appeasing the Romans by his death or delivering him alive." Deputies are sent to Caesar on this subject. He orders the arms to be brought to him, the leaders to be brought to him. Seated on his tribunal, at the head of his camp, he brings the enemy generals before him. Vercingetorix is put in his power; the weapons are thrown at his feet. With the exception of the Aedui and the Arverni, whom he wanted to use to try to regain these peoples, the rest of the prisoners were distributed per head to each soldier, as booty.
Submission of the Aedui and Arverni. Winter Quarters
These affairs finished, he leaves for the country of the Aedui, and receives their submission. There, deputies sent by the Arverni come to promise him to do what he orders. Caesar demands a large number of hostages. He put his legions into winter quarters, and returned about twenty thousand captives to the Aedui and the Arverni. He sends off T. Labienus with two legions and the cavalry for the country of the Sequani; he adds Mr. Sempronius Rutilius to him. He places C. Fabius and L. Minucius Basilus with two legions among the Remi, to guarantee them against any attack from the Bellovaci, their neighbors. He sends T. Antistius Réginus to the Ambivaretes, T. Sextius to the Bituriges, C. Caninius Rébilus to the Rutenes, each with a legion. He established Q. Tullius Cicero and P. Sulpicius in the posts of Cabillon (Châlons) and Matiscon (Mâcon), in the land of the Aedui, on the Saône, to ensure food supplies. He himself resolved to spend the winter at Bibracte. (8) These events having been announced in Rome by Caesar's letters, twenty days of public prayer were ordained.