Caesar

by Colleen McCullough

  His luck held. No blizzards descended to slow them down, there were no chance encounters with stray Gauls, and always a thin mist hovered to conceal them from distant sight. At first Caesar had worried about the Arverni, whose lands were on the western side of the watershed, but as time went on and no Arverni appeared, even a lost one, he began to believe that he would get to Vienne without a single warning flying to Vercingetorix.

  A very thankful Fifteenth came down out of the Cebenna and moved into camp at Vienne. Three men had died, several more had sustained broken limbs, four mules had panicked and plunged over a precipice, but not one soldier had suffered frostbite and all were capable of marching onward to Agedincum.

  The four hundred Ubii Germans were in residence, had been for close to four months. So delighted with their Remi horses that, said their leader in broken Latin, they would do anything Caesar asked of them.

  "Decimus, take the Fifteenth to Agedincum without me," said Caesar, dressed for riding, Gaius Marius's smelly old sagum over his head. "I'm taking the Germans with me to the Icauna. I'll pick up Fabius and his two legions, and meet you in Agedincum."

  Ninety thousand Gauls had set out from Carnutum to enter the lands of the Bituriges, Vercingetorix at their head. Progress was slow, for Vercingetorix knew that he didn't have the skill at siegecraft to attempt an investment of Avaricum, the main stronghold of the Bituriges; he had therefore sought to terrify the people by plundering and burning their farms and villages. It had the desired effect, but not until some time after the Aeduan army had returned home without crossing the Liger. The bitter truth took days to sink in, that there would be no relief and no help from the Romans sitting safe and sound behind their formidable fortifications. At the middle of April the Bituriges sent to Vercingetorix and submitted.

  "We are your men to the death," said Biturgo, the King. "We will do whatever you want. When we tried to honor our treaties with the Romans, they failed to keep their end of the bargain. They did not protect us. Therefore we are your men."

  Very satisfactory! Vercingetorix led his army past Avaricum and advanced on Gorgobina, the old Arvernian oppidum which now belonged to the Helvetian interlopers, the Boii.

  Litaviccus found him before he reached Gorgobina, and paused atop a hill to marvel. So many men! How could the Romans win? One never really had much idea of the size of a Roman army because it marched in column, winding into the farthest distance at about a mile to the legion with the baggage train and the artillery in the middle. Somehow less frightening and certainly less awesome than the sight which spread itself out before Litaviccus's dazzled eyes: one hundred thousand mail-shirted, heavily armed Gallic warriors advancing on a front five miles long and a hundred men deep, with the rudimentary baggage train wandering behind. Perhaps twenty thousand of them were horsed, ten thousand bracketing either end of the front. And out in the open ahead of it rode the leaders, Vercingetorix on his own, the others in a group behind him: Drappes and Cavarinus of the Senones, Gutruatus of the Carnutes, Daderax of the Mandubii. And Cathbad, easy to recognize in his snow-white robe atop his snow-white horse. This was a religious war, then. The Druids were proclaiming their commitment to a united Gaul.

  Vercingetorix rode a pretty fawn horse blanketed in Arvernian checks, his light trousers bound around with dark green thongs, his shawl draped across his mail shirt. Though he had insisted that his men be helmeted, he wore none himself, and his person glittered with sapphire-studded gold. Every inch a king.

  Biturgo was not among the privileged just behind Vercingetorix, but he was in front of his people, and not far away. When Litaviccus approached, he drew his sword and charged.

  "Traitor!" he howled. "Roman cur!"

  Vercingetorix and Drappes rode between him and Litaviccus.

  "Sheath your sword, Biturgo," said Vercingetorix.

  "He's Aedui! Traitors! The Aedui betrayed us!"

  "The Aedui did not betray you, Biturgo. The Romans did. Why do you think the Aedui went home? Not because they wanted to. It was an order from Trebonius."

  Drappes persuaded Biturgo to draw off and accompanied him, still muttering, back to the ranks of his people. Litaviccus reined his horse in beside Vercingetorix. Cathbad joined them.

  "News," said Litaviccus.

  "Well?"

  "Caesar appeared out of nowhere in Vienne with the Fifteenth Legion and left again immediately, heading north."

  The fawn horse faltered; Vercingetorix turned startled eyes on Litaviccus. "In Vienne? And gone already? Why was I not told that he was coming? You said you had spies from Arausio to the gates of Matisco!"

  "We did," said Litaviccus helplessly. "He didn't come that way, Vercingetorix, I swear it!"

  "There is no other way."

  "In Vienne they're saying that he and the Fifteenth marched through the Cebenna, that Caesar entered up the Oltis, crossed the watershed somewhere, and didn't come out until he was almost level with Vienne."

  "In winter," said Cathbad slowly.

  "He means to join Trebonius and his legions," said Litaviccus.

  "Where is he now?"

  "I have no idea, Vercingetorix, and that is the truth. The Fifteenth is marching straight for Agedincum under the command of Decimus Brutus, but Caesar isn't with him. That's why I've come. Do you want the Aedui to attack the Fifteenth? We can just manage to do it before they leave our territory."

  Vercingetorix seemed subtly to have diminished a little; the first of his strategies was going to fail, and he knew it. Then he drew his shoulders back, took a deep breath. "No, Litaviccus. You must convince Caesar that you're on his side." He looked up at the surly winter sky. "Where will he go? Where is he now?"

  "We should march for Agedincum," said Cathbad.

  "When we're within a stone's throw of Gorgobina? Agedincum is over a hundred miles north of here, Cathbad, and I have too many men to cover that distance in less than eight or ten days. Caesar can move much faster because his army is used to working together. His men wear a drill field out long before they see an enemy face. Our advantage is in our numbers, not in our speed. No, we will go to Gorgobina as intended. We'll make Caesar come to us." He drew a deep breath. "By Dagda I swear that I will beat him! But not on a field of his choosing. We will not let him find an Aquae Sextiae."

  "So you want me to tell Convictolavus and Cotus to go on pretending to help Caesar," said Litaviccus.

  "Definitely. Just make sure the help never comes."

  Litaviccus turned and rode off. Vercingetorix kicked his pretty fawn horse in the ribs and put distance between himself and Cathbad, who fell back to inform the others of the news Litaviccus had brought, his fair smooth face grim, for he misliked this news sorely. But Vercingetorix didn't notice; he was too busy thinking.

  Where was Caesar? What did he intend? Litaviccus had lost him in Aeduan lands! An image of Caesar hung before his fixed gaze, but he couldn't plumb the enigma behind those cool, unsettling eyes. Such a handsome man in an almost Gallic way; only the nose and the mouth were alien. Polished. Sleek. Very fit. A man who had the blood of kings more ancient than the history of the Gauls, and who thought like a king, for all his denials. When he gave an order, he didn't expect it to be obeyed; he knew it would be obeyed. He would never turn away for politic reasons. He would dare all. None but another king could stop him. Oh, Esus, grant me the full strength and the instinct to defeat him! The knowledge I do not have. I am too young, too untried. But I lead a great people, and if the last six years have taught us anything, it is to hate.

  * * *

  Caesar arrived in Agedincum with Fabius and his two legions before Decimus Brutus and the Fifteenth got there.

  "Thank all the Gods!" cried Trebonius, wringing his hand. "I didn't think to see you this side of spring."

  "Where's Vercingetorix?"

  "On his way to besiege Gorgobina."

  "Good! We'll let him do that for the time being."

  "While we... ?"

  Caesar grinned. "We have two choice
s. If we stay inside Agedincum we can eat well and not lose a man. If we march out of Agedincum into winter, we won't eat well and we'll lose men. However, Vercingetorix has had things all his own way, so it's time to teach him that war against Rome isn't nearly as simple as war against his own peoples. I've expended a great deal of energy and thought in getting here, and by now Vercingetorix will know I'm here. That he hasn't moved in the direction of Agedincum is evidence of military talent. He wants us to venture out and meet him on a field of his choosing."

  "And you intend to oblige him," said Trebonius, who knew very well that Caesar wouldn't stay inside Agedincum.

  "Not immediately, no. The Fifteenth and the Fourteenth can garrison Agedincum. The rest will march with me for Vellaunodunum. We'll cut Vercingetorix's legs out from under him by going west and destroying his main bases among the Senones, Carnutes and Bituriges. Vellaunodunum first. Then Cenabum. Then into the lands of the Bituriges, to their Noviodunum. After which, Avaricum."

  "All the while moving closer to Vercingetorix."

  "But driving east, which separates him from reinforcements on the west. Nor can he call a general muster at Carnutum."

  "How big a baggage train?" asked Quintus Cicero.

  "Small," said Caesar. "I'll use the Aedui. They can keep us supplied with grain. We'll take beans, chickpea, oil and bacon with us from Agedincum." He looked at Trebonius. "Unless you think the Aedui are about to declare for Vercingetorix."

  Fabius answered. "No, Caesar. I've been watching their movements closely, and there's no indication that they're giving Vercingetorix any kind of aid at all."

  "Then we'll take our chances," said Caesar.

  From Agedincum to Vellaunodunum was less than one day's march; it fell three days after that. The Senones, to whom it belonged, were compelled to furnish pack animals to carry all the food within it, and furnish hostages as well. Caesar moved immediately to Cenabum, which fell during the night after he had arrived. Because this was where Cita and the civilian traders had been murdered, Cenabum suffered an inevitable fate; it was plundered and burned, the booty given to the troops. After which came Noviodunum, an oppidum belonging to the Bituriges.

  [Caesar 238.jpg]

  * * *

  "Ideal ground for cavalry," said Vercingetorix exultantly. "Gutruarus, stay here at Gorgobina with the infantry. It's too cold and capricious for a general engagement, but I can hurt Caesar with my horse; he's leading an infantry army."

  Noviodunum of the Bituriges was in the process of yielding when Vercingetorix appeared, and changed its mind just as the hostages were being handed over. Some centurions and troops within the oppidum were trapped, but fought their way out, the Bituriges howling for their blood. In the midst of this Caesar sent the thousand Remi horse troopers he had with him out of his camp, with the four hundred Ubii in their lead. The speed of the attack took Vercingetorix by surprise; his horsemen were still coming out of their ride formation into battle lines when the Germans, shrieking a ululating cry which hadn't been heard in this part of Gaul in generations, cannoned into them broadside. The savage, almost suicidal assault caught the Gauls unprepared, and the Remi, taking heart from the Germans, followed them in. Vercingetorix broke off the engagement and retired, leaving several hundred cavalrymen dead on the field.

  "He had Germans with him," said Vercingetorix. "Germans! But they were riding Remi horses. I thought he was busy with the town; I couldn't see how he'd get anyone into the field quickly. But he did. Germans!"

  He had called a war council, smarting.

  "We've gone down three times in eight days," growled Drappes of the Senones. "Vellaunodunum, Cenabum, and now Noviodunum."

  "At the beginning of April he was in Narbo. At the end of April he's marching for Avaricum," said Daderax of the Mandubii. "Six hundred miles in a single month! How can we hope to keep up with him? Will he go on doing this? What are we to do?"

  "We change our tactics," said Vercingetorix, who felt lighter after this confession of failure. "We have to learn from him, and we have to make him respect us. He walks all over us, but he won't keep on walking all over us. From now on, we make it impossible for him to campaign. We make him retreat to Agedincum and we lock him up in Agedincum."

  "How?" asked Drappes, looking skeptical.

  "It will require many sacrifices, Drappes. We make it quite impossible for him to eat. At this time of year and for the next six months there's nothing to be had in the fields. It's all in silos and barns. So we burn our silos and barns. We burn our own oppida. Anything in Caesar's path must go. And we never, never offer battle. We starve him out instead."

  "If he starves, so will we," said Gutruatus.

  "We'll go hungry, but we will eat something. We bring food up from those places far from Caesar's path. We send to Lucterius to give us food from the south. We send to the Armorici to bring us food from the west.

  We also send to the Aedui to make sure they give the Romans nothing. Nothing!"

  "What of Avaricum?" Biturgo asked. "It's the biggest town in Gaul and so full of food that it's threatening to sink into the marshes. Caesar's marching for it even as we speak."

  "We follow him and we sit ourselves down just too far away to be compelled to give battle. As for Avaricum"—he frowned—"do we defend it or burn it?" The thin face tightened. "We burn it," said Vercingetorix with decision. "That's the right course."

  Biturgo gasped. "No! No! I refuse to consent to that! You made it impossible for us Bituriges to remain aloof, and I tell you now that I will obey your orders—burn villages, burn barns, even burn our mine workings—but I will not let you burn Avaricum!"

  "Caesar will take it and eat," said Vercingetorix stubbornly. "We burn it, Biturgo. We have to burn it."

  "And the Bituriges will starve," said Biturgo bitterly. "He can't take it, Vercingetorix! No one can take Avaricum! Why else has it become the most powerful town in all our wide lands? It sits there so superbly fortified by Nature as well as by its people that it will last forever. No one can take it, I tell you! But if you burn it, Caesar will move on to some other place: Gergovia, maybe, or"—he glared at Daderax of the Mandubii—" Alesia. I ask you, Daderax—could Caesar take Alesia?"

  "Never," said Daderax emphatically.

  "Well, I can say the same of Avaricum." Biturgo transferred his gaze to Vercingetorix. "Please, I beg of you! Any stronghold or village or mine working that you like, but not Avaricum! Never Avaricum! Vercingetorix, I beg you! Don't make it impossible for us to follow you with our souls! Lure Caesar to Avaricum! Let him try to take it! He'll still be there trying in the summer! But he won't! He can't! No one can!"

  "Cathbad?" asked Vercingetorix.

  The Chief Druid thought, then nodded. "Biturgo is right. Avaricum cannot fall. Let Caesar think he can succeed, and keep him sitting before it until summer. If he's there, he can't be elsewhere. And in the spring you'll call a general muster, summon every people in the whole of Gaul. It's a good plan to keep the Romans occupied in one place. If he finds Avaricum burning, Caesar will march again and we'll lose track of him. He's like trying to eat quicksilver with a knife. Use Avaricum as an anchor."

  "Very well then, we use Avaricum as an anchor. But for the rest of it, burn everything within fifty miles of him!"

  Every Roman deemed Avaricum the only beautiful oppidum in Longhaired Gaul. Like Cenabum only much larger, it functioned as a proper town rather than a place to store foodstuffs and hold tribal meetings. It stood on a slight hill of solid ground in the midst of miles of marshy yet fertile grazing ground; the bulblike end of a spur of forested bedrock a mere three hundred and thirty feet wide outside the gates, Avaricum owed its impregnability to its very high walls and the surrounding marsh. The road into it came across this narrow bedrock causeway, but just before the gates the solid ground took a sudden downward dip which meant that the walls virtually towered right in the only spot where they might have been assailable. Elsewhere they rose out of marsh too soggy and treacherous to take the w
eight of siege fortifications and engines of war.

  Caesar sat his seven legions down in a camp on the edge of the bedrock spur just before it narrowed into that last quarter-mile of road with the steep dip rising again to Avaricum's main gates. The city wall was made of murus Gallicus, a cunning interleafing of stones and wooden reinforcing beams forty feet long; the stones rendered it impervious to fire, while the gigantic wooden beams lent it the tensile strength necessary to resist battery. Even if, thought Caesar, gazing at it while the controlled frenzy of camp making went on behind him, even if I could work a ram tilted at such an angle. Or protect the men using the ram.'

  "This one," said Titus Sextius, "is going to be difficult."

  "You'll have to build a ramp across the dip to level it out and batter the gates,” said Fabius, frowning.

  "No, not exactly a ramp. Too exposed. The available width is just three hundred and thirty feet. Which means the Bituriges inside have a mere three hundred and thirty feet of wall to man in order to fend us off. No, we'll have to build something more like a terrace," said Caesar, his voice betraying to his legates that he had known exactly what to do almost at first glance. "We start it right where I'm standing, which is the same height as the Avaricum battlements, and advance it fully built. It won't need to be a three-hundred-and-thirty-foot-wide platform, yet it will be three hundred and thirty feet wide. We'll flank each side of the causeway with a wall going from here to Avaricum's walls, level with its battlements. Between our two walls we'll simply ignore the dip until we can almost touch Avaricum. Then we'll build another wall between our two flank walls and connect them to each other. By advancing forward evenly we keep complete control. We'll be three quarters of the way there before we have to worry too much about the defenders' doing us serious damage."