oppositions vntill it came to that height which true valour and vnexampled resolution affected And yet the height of this courage could not so alaie the heate of the Heluetians furie but it brake foorth into dangerous flames when they came to the place where their cariages were laide and cost much bloud and many mens liues before they quitted the place for they fought with that spirit and industry as though they meant to make triall whether their fortune would proue no better in the night then it had done in the daie The ouerthrow of the Tigurine Canton at the riuer Arar proceeded rather from want of good directions which is the lesse to be maruelled at considering they had no chiefe commander as we read of then from any defect of valour for the rules of militarie gouernment require especiall care in passing ouer a water for then especially an Armie is in greatest danger when it is disordered and diuided And therfore the Romans atchieued this victorie by the horrible vigilancie as Tully calleth it of their commander who alwaies watched oportunitates rei bene gerendae as necessarie and speedie meanes to ouercome in all his warres CHAP. XI Caesar after three daies respite followeth after the Heluetians he taketh them to mercie and sendeth them backe againe to the country CAESAR abode three daies in the place where the battell was fought as well to burie the dead as to refresh the wearied spirits of his ouerlaboured souldiers that their woundes might the better be cured and in the meane time he sent letters to the Lingones not to furnish the Heluetians either with corne or any other prouisions for if they did he would esteeme of them as of enemies and take them in the number of the vanquished Heluetians and at the three daies end he made after them with all his forces The Heluetians constrained through penurie and want of necessarie supplements sent embassadors to Caesar to intreat an acceptation of rendrie who meeting him on the waie threwe themselues at his feete and with manie teares and supplications they craued such fauourable conditions of peace as might best comfort a distressed people and beseeme the glory of so famous a Conquest Caesar first sent them word to attend his cōming in the place where they were and at his comming he commanded them to deliuer vnto him a sufficient number of hostages and pledges 2. to giue vp all the Armes and weapons they had 3. and to deliuer vp the fugitiues that were fled vnto them in the time of the war Whiles these thinges were a doing part of the Heluetians to the number of 6000 stole out of the campe in the night and tooke their iourney towardes the Rhene and the Confines of the Germans which when Caesar vnderstood hee sent presently to those cities through whose territories the Heluetians had passed and commaunded them to bring them backe againe which being diligently performed he welcommed them with the entertainment of an enemy and put them all to the sword The rest he commanded to returne into their country from whence they came and because they had neither corne nor any other sustenance he caused the Allobroges to supply their necessities and willed the Heluetians to reedifie their townes and citties which they had before destroied and to inhabit in those friendly places which had giuen to their ancestors and themselues greater fortunes then could elsewhere be afforded them Wherein he was the more carefull least if their country lying waste the fertilitie of the soile might inuite the Germans from beyond the Rhene to tast the sweetnes which the Galles enioyed and so the prouince should be sure of an vnquiet neighbour In the campe of the Heluetians was found a register containing the particular summes of all that were in that iourney amounting to the number of 368000 whereof 92000 were fighting men they that returned and saw the fortune of both their states were 110000. And thus ended that warre THE OBSERVATION THe directions concerning their rendrie and returne were very sound and of good consequence For first in that he commanded them to attend his comming in the place where they were he tooke away al motions of new trouble which often remoues might haue caused by the oportunitie of some accident which might haue happened assuring himselfe that their abode in that place would increase their miseries and consequently ripen that desire of peace which they made shew of considering that the Lingones in whose territories they were durst not for feare of Caesars displeasure furnish thē with any necessaries in that extremity Touching the security which the Romans required of the loialty of such people as they conquered their manner was to take as hostages a sufficient number of the men children of the chiefest men of that nation whose liues depended vpon their parentes fidelitie and ended with the first suspicion of their rebellion which custome besides the present good promised the like or better security to the next age when as those children by conuersation and acquaintance should be so affected to the Roman Empire that returning to their owne country their actions might rather tend to the aduancement thereof then any way be preiudiciall to the same And least the loue of liberty and freedome should preuaile more with them then that affection which nature had inioyned them to beare to their children he did what he could to take away the meanes and instruments of their rebellion by causing them to deliuer vp such Armes and weapons as were there present and so to become sutable to that petition of peace which they had made The sum of all is this He corrected the insolencie of a furious people reduced them to a feeling of their owne madnes He kept thē from sacking the possessions of manie thousandes in the continent of Gallia and sent them backe againe to continue their name and nation in the place where they first inhabited which continueth vnto this day And thus we see that there is no humour so headstrong nor so backt with strength of circumstances but it may meete with a remedie to qualifie the insolencie thereof and make it subiect to correction and controlment CHAP. XII The states of Gallia congratulate Caesars victorie they call a councell and discouer their inward griefe concerning Ariouistus and his forces THE Heluetian warre being so happely ended the Princes and chiefe men of all the states of Gallia came to Caesar to congratulate the happinesse of his victorie and with all they besought him that with his good liking they might call a Generall councell wherein they had matters of great importance to be handled which they desired with a common consent to prefer to his consideration Which being granted and the day of meeting appointed they bound themselues by oath not to reueale the causes of their assembly but to such as they should make choice of to be their Oratours The councell being ended the same Princes
their direction be assigned to any other power for then their nature had been altered from chance to certainty the euent could not haue been called Sors but must haue been reputed in the order of necessary effects whereof discourse of reason acknowledgeth a certaine foregoing cause Whereby we see vpon how weake an axletree the greatest motions of the godlesse world were turned hauing irregularitie and vncertaintie for the intelligentiae that gouerned their reuolutions All herein all sortes of men although in diuers respectes rested as well contented as if an Oracle had spoken vnto them and reuealed the mysteries of fatall destinie Rome directed the maine course of her gouernment by the fortune of this mocke destiny For although their Consuls and Tribunes were elected by the people who pleased their own fancie with the free choice of their commanders and suted their obedience with a well liking authority yet the publike affaires which each Consull was seuerally to manage was shared out by lots For if an enemie were entered into their confines to depopulate and wast their territories the lots assigned this Consull for the gouernment of the cittie and the other to command the legions and to manage the war If forces were to be sent into diuers prouinces and against seuerall enemies neither the Senate nor the people could giue to either Consull his taske but their peculiar charges were authorised by lots If any extraordinarie action were to be done in the citie as the dedication of a temple the sanctifying of the Capitoll after a pollution Sors omnia versat did all in all And yet notwithstanding the weake foundation of this practise in their Theologie deepest diuinitie we may not thinke but these skilfull Architectors of that absolute gouernment wherein vertue ioyned with true wisdome to make an vnexampled patterne we may not thinke I say but they foresaw the manifold danger which in the course of common actions could no otherway be preuented but by the vse of lots For when things are equally leueled betweene diuers obiects and run with indifferencie to equall stations there must be some controlling power to draw the current towardes one coast and to appropriate it vnto one chanell that the order of nature be not inuersed nor a well established gouernmēt disturbed So the state of Rome casting many things with equall charge vpon her two soueraigne magistrates which could not be performed but by one of them what better meanes could there be inuented to interesse the one in that office and to discharge the other then to appoint an arbiter whose decree exceeded humane reason Of which it could not be saide why it was so but that it was so for if the wisdome of the Senat had been called to counsell or the voices of the people calculated to determine of the matter it might easily haue burst out into ciuill discord considering the often contentions between the Senat and the people the factions of Clients the constant mutabilitie of euery mans priuate affections necessarily inclining vnto one althogh their worth were equal by true reason indiscernable which might haue made the one proud of that which peraduenture he had not and cast the other lower then would haue well beseemed his vertues And therfore to cut off these with many other inconueniences they inuented lots which without either reason or will might decide such controuersies By this it appeareth how little the ancient law-makers respected the ground reason of an ordinance so the commoditie were great and the vse important to the good of the state for as they saw the thing it selfe to be casuall so they saw that casuall thinges are sometimes more necessarie then demonstratiue conclusions neither ought the nature and speculatiue consideration of lawes and statutes belong to the common people but the execution and obedience thereof maketh the common weale flourish And thus endeth the first Commentarie of Caesar his warre in Gallia THE SECOND COMMENTARIE OF THE WARS IN GALLIA THE ARGVMENT LIke as when a heauy bodie lyeth vpon the skirt of a larger continued quantity although it couer but a small parcell of the whole surface yet the other quarters are burthened kept vnder with a proportionable measure of that waight and through the vnion and continuation which bindeth all the parts into one totality feele the same suppression which hath really seased but vpon their fellow part In like maner the Belgae inhabiting the furthest skirt of that triple continent seemed to repine at that heauy burthen which the Romaine Empire had laide vpon the Prouince the Hedui and other states of that kingdome And least it might in time be further remoued and laide directly vpon their shoulders they thought it expedient whilest they felte it but by participation to gather their seuerall forces into one head and trie whether they coulde free their neighbour nations from so greeuous a yoak or at the least keepe it frō comming any neerer vnto themselues And this is the Argument of this second booke which deuideth it selfe into two partes the first containing the warres betweene Caesar and all the states of Belgia vnited togither the secōd recording the battailes which he made with some of the states thereof in particular as time and occasion gaue him meanes to effect it CHAP. I. Caesar hasteth to his army marcheth towardes the confines of the Belgae taketh in the men of Rheims THE report of this confederacie being brought vnto Caesar whilest he wintred beyond the Alpes as wel by letters from Labienus as by the common hearesay of the worlde hee leuied two new legions in Lumbardie and sent them by Q. Pedius into Gallia and assoone as there was any forrage in the fieldes he himselfe came to the armie At his arriual vnderstanding by the Senones the rest of the Galles that bordered vpon the Belgae to whom he gaue in charge to learne what was done amongst them that there was nothing in Belgia but mustering of soldiours and gathering their forces into one heade he thought it not safe to make anie further delaie but hauing made prouision of corne he drewe out his army from their wintering campes and within fifteene daies he came to the borders of the Belgae Assoone as he was come thither which was much sooner then was looked for the men of Rheimes being the vttermost of the Belgae next adioining to the Celtae thought it best to entertaine a peaceable resolution and sent Iccius and Antebrogius two of the cheefe men of their state vnto Caesar to submit themselues and all that they had to the mercy of the Romaine Empire affirming that they were innocent both of the counsel of the Belgae and of their conspiracie against the Romaines For proofe wherof they were ready to giue hostages to receiue them into their towns and to furnish them with corne or what other thing they stood in neede of That the rest of the Belgae were al in armes and the Germains on the other
the battell retire to a hill the Romans follow after and the battell is continued THE Heluetians were sore troubled with the Roman piles which stucke so fast in their shields that they were neither able to pull them out nor to vse their targets to any purpose and therfore after a wearisome toile they chose rather to cast them away and to hazard their nakednesse vpon agilitie and readinesse then to betray their life with an vnmanageable weapon but at length fainting with woundes they began to giue place and made their retrait to a hill not farre off the better to saue themselues from the furie of the Romans The hill being taken and the legions following on to driue them from thence the reregard of the Heluetians which were the Boy and Tulingi consisting of 15000 men stood readie at the foote of the hill to charge the Romans in flanke and to inuiron them round about which the Heluetians no sooner perceiued but they returned and began a fresh from the hill to renew the battell and so the legions were set vpon both in front and flanke at one instant To remedie this difficultie conuersa signa bipartito intulerunt saith the history the first and second battell fought against the Heluetians that returned from the hill and the third battell turned themselues to beare the assault of the rereward which stood readie to inclose them about and to charge them on the backe And here the fight was doubtfull and vehement for a long time vntill at length they were no longer able to indure the violence of the legionarie souldiers part of them fled to the toppe of the hill and the rest betooke themselues to the place where their baggage and impediments were lodged And hitherto here was not one man seene to haue turned his backe in all the conflict although the fight continued from the seuenth houre vntill the euening THE FIRST OBSERVATION COncerning the ensignes of the Romans we are to vnderstand that the chiefest ensigne of euerie legion was an Eagle which alwaies attended vpon the Primipile or chiefe Centurion of the said legion The ensigne of a maniple was either a Hand or a Dragon a woolfe or a Sphinx as it appeareth besides the testimonie of history by the Columne of Traiane in Rome wherein the ensignes are figured with such purtraitures so that these ensignes resembling the proportions of liuing creatures had their fore partes alwaies caried that way which the legions were to march or where they were to fight and therefore in this historie by the aspect and carying of the ensignes the front of the Armie was commonly noted as in this THE BATTEL WHICH CAESAR HAD WITH THE HELVETIANS place it is said that the ensignes of the first and second battell were carried towardes the hill whither the Heluetians had made their retrait and the ensignes of the third battell looked an other waie towardes the Boij and Tulingi which stood of the foot of the hill By which is signified how the legions were diuided to resist the brunt of the double incounter THE SECOND OBSERVATION COncerning the time of the daie we are to vnderstand that the Romans vsed not the same diuision of the daie as we commonly do for they diuided their artificiall which is the space betweene sunne rising and setting into 12 equall partes which the Astronomers called vnequall or planetarie houres The first houre of the daie began alwaies at sunne rising the sixt houre was alwaies high noone and the twelfth houre was sunne setting And as the day waxed longer or shorter so these houres were either greater or lesse neither did they agree with equall or equinoctiall houres such as are now vsed but only at the Acquinoctium so that by this maner of reckoning ab hora septima ad vesperum is meant the battell began about one of the clocke according to our Computation and continued vntill the euening The like we must vnderstand throughout this whole historie as often as there is mention made of the circumstance of time CHAP. X. The Heluetians continue their fight at the cariages but at length they left the field and marched towardes Langiers THE like courage was also shewed on either side at their baggage the place being fortified with cartes and wagons in steed of a rampier which so troubled the Romans that they could not winne it vntill it was late in the night for the Heluetians being fenced with their cariages so galled the legions with dartes and tauelins vnder the chariots and from betweene the wheeles that the victory was not easily atchieued At last being able no longer to resist they left the place and marched all that night without any intermission and the fourth day they came into the Confines of the Lingones being about 230000 that escaped in the battell THE OBSERVATION IF we consider the nature of the action and looke into the true causes of their ouerthrow as farre as the right sense of the historie shall direct our iudgment we shall finde valour not to be wanting in the Heluetians but rather superlatiuely abounding in the Romans For that vehement opinion of their valiancie and manhood which carried them out of the streights of the country to seeke larger fortunes in other kingdomes was not so abated with the losle of the fourth part of their Host at the riuer Arar nor with the terrible furie of those veteran legions but it yeelded this effect which Caesar in his estimate of valour thought memorable that for fiue houres space or more there was not one man seene to haue turned his backe Their manner of imbattailing had not the Romans beene the enemy was vnresistable for being cast into a phalanx which in the plaines of Asia had made Alexander the great and the Macedonians famous they did as farre surpasse any other forme of imbattailing supposing that the conueniencie of the place did fit that disposition wherein the strength of the whol is deuided into many particulars as the violēce of a great bodie exceedeth the force and motion of his partes when it is diuided into smaller cantons For as in a phalanx many particular souldiers are by a close and compact order incorporated into one entire bodie so their seueral vertues are gathered into one head and are as partes vnited into one generall force which easily swalloweth vp the ability of many other lesser quantities into which a greater strength is equally diuided The aduantage of the place which they got by retrait and the double charge wherewith they ingaged the Romans both in front and flanke was able in an indifferent conflict to haue made fortune fugitiue and beare armes on their side or at the least so to haue steemed the swelling tide of victorie which carried the Romans so violently in the chase that they might haue beene equall sharers in the honour of the daie had it not flowed from an Ocean of valour whose course could not be hindered with any stops and
returned to Caesar and in lamentable manner cast themselues at his feete contending with as great earnestnesse that those things which they deliuered might not be reuealed as they did to haue their petition granted forasmuch as they saw that the discouerie of such declarations as they propounded would necessarily pull on most grieuous afflictions Diuitiacus the Heduan was made speaker for the rest and in effect deliuered these wordes That Gallia was vnhappely diuided into two factions the Hedui were the head of the one and the Auerni of the other These two states contending manie yeares for the principalitie the Auerni with the Sequani their Clients finding themselues the weaker partie hired the Germans to take their part who at the first sent them 15000 men to strengthen their faction but afterward tasting the sweetenesse and pleasure of the Galles the barbarous people so liked the country that now there were no lesse then one hundred and twentie thousand that were come out of Germanie and seated in their Territories With these the Hedui and their Clients had once or twise fought hoping by their prowesse both to chastice the malice of the Sequani and to cleare their country of a barbarous enemie but their labour effected nothing but their owne calamitie and the vtter ouerthrowe of their nobilitie and Senate for they were driuen to deliuer the chiefest of their citie as pledges to the Sequani and to binde themselues by oath neuer to seeke their release or freedome nor to implore the aide of the people of Rome but euer to remaine their perpetuall bondmen Only Diuitiacus amongst all the Hedui could neuer be brought to that thraldome but vsing that libertie which his resolution afforded him he went to Rome and boldly opened his distressed case vnto the Senate But in the ende the victorie became as grieuous to the Sequani as to the Hedui For Ariouistus king of the Germans was alreadie possest of the third part of their Territories and at that instant he commanded them to let go another third part for there were 24000 Germans come newely vnto him that were allotted to that inheritance If this violent course were not staied by the opposition of some greater motion the Galles would soone be driuen out of their country and beforced to imitate the Heluetians in seeking new habitations and seates of rest farre remote from the crueltie of the Germans Caesar might by his owne authoritie or by the presence of his Armie or by the renowne of his late victorie or by the name of the people of Rome keepe the Germans from transporting any more Colonies into Gallia THE OBSERVATION IN this relation there are diuers points worthily recommended to the discretion of such as are willing to be directed by other mens misaduentures As first into what extremities ambition doth driue her thirstie fauourites by suppressing the better faculties of the soule setting such vnbrideled motions on foot as carrie men headlong into most desperate attempts for as it had deserued commendation in either faction so to haue carried their emulation that by their owne meanes and strength applied to the rule of good gouernment their authority might wholy haue swaied the inclinations of the weaker states so was it most odious in the Sequani to call in forraine forces to satisfie the appetite of their vntempered humor and in the ende were accordingly rewarded Secondly it appeareth how dangerous a thing it is to make a stranger a stickler in a quarrell which ciuill dissention hath broched when the partie that called him in shall not be as able to refuse his assistance vpon occasion as he was willing to entertaine it for aduantage Lastlie the often discontents of these states shew the force of a present euill which possesseth so vehemently the powers of the soule that any other calamity either already past or yet to come how great soeuer seemeth tollerable and easie in regard of that smart which the present griefe inflicteth So the Sequani chose rather to captiuate their libertie to the Barbarisme of a sauage nation then to indure the Hedui to take the hand of them and againe to make themselues vassals to the Romans rather then indure the vsurping cruelty of the Germans and finally as the sequell of the historie will discouer to hazard the losse of life and country then to suffer the taxes and impositions of the Romans So predominant is the present euill in mens affections and so it preuaileth at the seate of our iudgment CHAP. XIII The reasons that moued Caesar to vndertake this warre TO these petitions of the Galles Caesar made an answere comporting the mildnesse of his naturall disposition promising them his best furtherance in the cause and doubted not but that Ariouistus would be intreated in any reasonable matter and so he dismissed the assembly Amongst many inducements there were two of especiall importance which vrged him to vndertake this warre the first was the dishonour and blot of infamie wherewith the present age might haue noted the Roman Empire if vpon complaint and imploration of aide they should haue suffered a barbarous nation to haue held the Hedui in thraldome who in the maiesty of their Senate had oftentimes been called their brethren and kinsmen and graced with such titles of respect as by the tenure of loyalty and sincerity of affection might command greater dueties then these which were required The second reason was the feare he had least the Germans accustoming more and more to transport the superfluitie of their increasing families ouer the Rhene and to plant them in the fertile seates of the Galles the Roman Prouince might at length he indangered and Italie it selfe attempted And therefore it seemed best vnto him to send embassadours to Ariouistus to will him to thinke of some conuenient place of parley where they might meete to intreat of matters concerning the publike good THE OBSERVATION I Maie here take an occasion to speake somewhat concerning the authoritie of the Roman Generals which we see to be verie large considering that Caesar of himselfe without any further leaue of the Senate and people of Rome for what may be gathered by this historie did vndertake a warre of that consequence and put in ieopardie the Legions the Prouince or what other interest the Romans had in Gallia Wherein we are to vnderstand that when the state of Rome did allot the gouernment of any Prouince to a Proconsull they did likewise recommend vnto him the careful managing of such accidents as might any way concerne the good of that regiment For considering that such causes as may trouble a well ordered gouernment are as well external and forraine as internall and bred within the bounds of that Empire it had beene to small purpose to haue giuen him onely authoritie to maintaine a course of wholesome gouernment at home and no meanes to take awaie such oppositions which forraine accidentes might set vp against him And so we see that Caesar vndertooke
made triall by light skirmishes with his horsemen what the enemy could do and what his owne men durst doe And when he found that his men were nothing inferiour to the Belgae he chose a conuenient place before his campe and put his Armie in battell the banke where he was incamped rising somewhat from a plaine leuell was no larger then would suffice the front of the battell the two sides were steepe and the front rose a slope by little little vntill it came againe to a plaine where the legions were imbattailed And least the enemie abounding in multitude should circumuent his men and charge them in flanke as they were fighting he drew an ouerthwart ditch behind his Armie from one side of the hill to the other 600 paces in length the ends wherof he fortified with bulwarkes and placed therein store of engines and leauing in his campe the two legions which he had last inrolled in Lombardie that they might bee readie to be drawne forth when there should neede any succour he imbattailed his other sixe legions in the front of the hill before his campe The Belgae also bringing forth their power confronted the Romans in order of battell There laie between both the Armies a small Marish ouer which the enemie expected that Caesar should haue passed and Caesar on the other side attended to see if the Belgae would come ouer that his men might haue charged them in that troublesome passage In the meane time the Caualrie on both sides incountered betweene the two battels and after long expectation on either side neither partie aduenturing to passe ouer Caesar hauing got the better in the skirmish betweene the horsemen thought it sufficient for that time both for the incouraging of his owne men and the contesting of so great an Army and therefore he conuaied all his men againe into their campe From that place the enemy immediately tooke his way to the riuer Axona which laie behinde the Romans campe and there finding foordes they attempted to passe ouer part of their forces to the ende they might either take the fortresse which Q. Titurius kept or to breake downe the bridge or to spoile the territories of the state of Rheimes and cut off the Romans from prouision of corne Caesar hauing aduertisement thereof from Titurius transported ouer the riuer by the bridge all his horsemen and light armed Numidians with his slingers and archers and marched with them himselfe the conflict was hoat in that place the Romans charging their enemies as they were troubled in the water slewe a great number of them the rest like desperate persons aduenturing to passe ouer vpon the dead carkases of their fellowes were beaten backe by force of weapons and the horsemen incompassed such as had first got ouer the water and slewe euerie man of them When the Belgae perceiued themselues frustrated of their hopes of winning Bibrax of passing the riuer and of drawing the Romans into places of disaduantage and that their owne prouisions began to faile them they called a councell of war wherein they resolued that it was best for the state in generall and for euerie man in particular to breake vp their campe and to returne home vnto their own houses and into whose confines or territories soeuer the Romans should first enter to depopulate and waste them in hostile maner that thither they should hasten from al parts and there to giue them battell to the end they might rather trie the matter in their own countrie then abroad in a strange and vnknowne place and haue their owne houshold prouision alwaies at hand to maintaine them And this the rather was concluded for as much as they had intelligence that Diuitiacus with a great power of the Hedui approched neare to the borders of the Bellouaci who in that regard made haste homeward to defend their country THE FIRST OBSERVATION FIrst we may obserue the Arte which he vsed to counteruaile the strength of so great a multitude by choosing out so conuenient a place which was no broader in front then would suffice the front of his battell and hauing both the sides of the hill so steepe that the enemy could not ascende nor clime vp but to their own ouerthrow hee made the backe part of the hil strong by Art so placed his soldiors as it were in the gate of a fortresse where they might either issue out or retire at their pleasure Whereby it appeareth how much he preferred securitie and safetie before the vaine opinion of foole-hardie resolution which sauoreth of Barbarisme rather then of true wisedome for he euer thought it great gaine to loose nothing and the day brought alwaies good fortune that deliuered vp the army safe vnto the euening attending vntil aduantage had laid sure principles of victory and yet Caesar was neuer thought a coward And now it appeareth what vse hee made by passing his army ouer the riuer and attending the enemie on the further side rather then on the side of the state of Rheimes for by that meanes he brought to passe that whatsoeuer the enemie should attempt in any part or quarter of the lande his forces were readie to trouble their proceedings as it happened in their attempt of Bibrax yet notwithstanding he lost not the opportunitie of making slaughter of thē as they passed ouer the riuer For by the benefitte of the bridge which hee had fortified he transported what forces he woulde to make heade against them as they passed ouer and so hee tooke what aduantage either side of the riuer coulde affoord him THE SECOND OBSERVATION ANd heere the reader may not maruel if when the hils are in labour they bring forth but a mouse for how soone is the courage of this huge army abated or what did it attempt worthy such a multitude or answerable to the report which was bruted of their valour But beeing hastely caried together by the violence of passion were as quickly dispersed vpon the sight of an enemy which is no strange effect of a suddaine humour For as in nature all violent motions are of short continuance and the durabilitie or lasting qualitie of all actions proceedeth from a slowe and temperate progression so the resolutions of the minde that are caried with an vntemperate violence and sauour so much of heat and passion do vanish awaie euen with the smoake thereof and bring forth nothing but leasurable repentaunce and therefore it were no ill counsell for men of such natures to qualifie their hastie resolutions with a mistrustfull lingering that when their iudgement is well informed of the cause they may proceed to a speedie execution But that which most bewraieth their indiscreet intemperāce in the hote pursuit of this enterprise is that before they had scarce seene the enemy or had oportunity to contest him in open field their victual began to faile them for their mindes were so caried away with the conceite of warre that they had no leisure to prouide such necessaries
left side but with great trouble and annoiance And if any man say that if it hang on the right side it must bee verie short otherwise it will neuer bee readilie drawne out I saie that the sworde of the Targetiers in regard of the vse of that weapon ought to be of a very short scantling when as the Targetier is to command the point of his sword within the compasse of his Target as such as looke into the true vse of this weapon wil easily discouer But let this suffice concerning the vse of the pike and the Target CHAP. XI The battell continueth and in the ende Caesar ouercommeth AT the presence of their Generall the soldiours conceiued some better hopes and gathering strength and courage againe when as euery man bestirred himselfe in the sight of the Emperour the brunt of the enemie was a litle staied Caesar perceiuing likewise the seuenth legion which stood next vnto him to bee sore ouerlaide by the enemy commaunded the Tribunes by little and little to ioine the two legions together and so by ioining backe to backe to make two contrarie fronts and beeing thus secured one by another from feare of being circumuented they began to make resistance with greater courage In the meane time the two legions that were in the rerewarde to guarde the cariages hearing of the battell doubled their pace and were discried by the enemy vpon the top of the hill And Titus Labienus hauing won the campe of the Neruij and beholding from the higher ground what was done on the other side of the reuer sent the tenth legion to helpe their fellowes who vnderstanding by the horsemen and Lackies that fled in what case the matter stood and in what daunger the campe the legions and the Generall was made all the haste they possibly could At whose comming there happened such an alteration and change of things that euen such as were sunke downe through extreame griefe of their woundes or leaned vpon their Targets began againe to fight a fresh and the Pages and the boies perceiuing the enemie amazed ran vpon them vnarmed not fearing their weapons the horsemen also striuing with extraordinarie valour to wipe away the dishonour of their former flight thrust themselues in all places before the legionarie souldiers Howbeit the enemie in the vtmost perill of their liues shewed such manhood that as fast as the formost of them were ouerthrowen the next in place bestrid their carkases and fought vpon their bodies and these being likewise ouerthrowen and their bodies heaped one vpon another they that remained possest themselues of that mount of dead carkases as a place of aduantage and from thence threwe their weapons and intercepting the piles returned them againe to the Romans By which it may be gathered that there was great reason to deeme them men of hautie courage that durst passe ouer so broade a riuer climbe vp such high rockes and aduenture to fight in a place of such inequalitie The battell being thus ended and the nation and name of the Neruij being well neare swallowed vp with destruction the elder sort with the women and children that before the battell were conuaied into Ilands and Bogs when they heard thereof sent ambassadours to Caesar and yeelded themselues to his mercie and in laying open the miserie of their state affirmed that of 600 Senatours they had now left but three and of 60000 fighting men there was scarce fiue hundred that were able to beare Armes Caesar that his clemencie might appeare to a distressed people preserued them with great care granting vnto them the free possession of their townes and country and streightly commanding their borderers not to offer them any wrong or iniurie at all OBSERVATIONS ANd thus endeth the relation of that great and dangerous battell which Ramus complaineth of as a confused narration much differing from the direct and methodicall file of his other Commentaries But if that rule holde good which learned Rhetoritians haue obserued in their Oratorie that an vnperfect thing ought not to be told in a perfect maner then by Ramus leaue if any such confusion do appeare it both sauoureth of eloquence and wel suteth the turbulent cariage of the action wherein order and skill gaue place to fortune and prouidence was swallowed vp with peraduenture For that which Hirtius saith of the ouerthrow he gaue to Pharnaces may as well be said of this that he got the victorie plurimum adiuuante deorum benignitate qui cum omnibus belli casibus intersunt tum praecipue ijs quibus nihil ratione potuit administrari For so it fell out in this battell and the danger proceeded from the same cause that brought him to that push in the battell with Pharnaces for he well vnderstood that the Neruij attended his comming on the other side the riuer Sabis Neither was he ignorant how to fortifie his camp in the face of an enemy without feare or danger as we haue seene in his war with Ariouistus when he marched to the place where he purposed to incamp himselfe with 3 battels and caused two of them to stand ready in armes to receiue any charge which the enemy should offer to giue that the third battell in the meane time might fortifie the camp Which course would easily haue frustrated this stratagem of the Neruij and made the hazard lesse dangerous but he little expected any such resolution so contrarie to the rules of militarie discipline that an enemie should not sticke to passe ouer so broad a riuer to clime vp such steepe and high rocks to aduenture battell in a place so disaduantagious and to hazard their fortune vppon such inequalities And therefore hee little mistrusted any such vnlikelie attempt wherein the enemy had plotted his owne ouerthrow if the legions had beene ready to receiue them Which may teach a generall that which Caesar had not yet learned that a leader cannot be too secure in his most assured courses nor too carefull in his best aduised directions considering that the greatest means may easily bee preuented and the safest course weakened with an vnrespected circumstance so powerful are weake occurrences in the maine course of the waightiest actions and so infinite are the waies wherby either wisdom or fortune may worke Neither did this warne him to prouide for that which an enemy might do how vnlikelie soeuer it might seeme vnto him as appeareth by that accident in the battel with Pharnaces which practise of attempting a thing against reason and the arte of warre hath found good successe in our moderne wars as appeareth by the French histories notwithstanding it is to be handeled sparingly as no way sauoring of circumspect and good direction forasmuch as temeritas non semper felix as Fabius the great answered Scipio The chiefest helpes which the Romaines founde were first the aduantage of the place whereof I spake in the Heluetian warre Secondlie the experience which the soldiours had got in the former battailes
foresee the issue in that variety of chances Besides that euery particular subiect is much interessed in the fortune of the euent and may iustly chalenge an alteration of the intended course rather then suffer shipwracke through the errour of their Pilot And so the safety of the state doth balance out the losse of credit in the Gouernor On the other side such as zealously affect true honour affirme vertue to be the same both in prince and people neither doth condition of state or calling or the qualitie of publike or priuate businesses alter the nature and essence of goodnes for to depriue the toung of truth and fidelitie were to breake the bond of ciuill societie which is the basis and ground plot of all states and common-weales They doe not denie but that a wise Prince maie so carrie a treatie that he maie seeme to affect that most which he least intendeth or answere doubtfully concerning the propositions and that he maie vse with great honour the practises and stratagems of warre when the fortune of both parties consisteth vpon their owne industrie but to breake any couenants agreed vpon may well get a kingdome but neuer honourable reputation And thus they contend concerning the meanes whereby a state is continued in happie gouernment whereof this much I dare say by the warrant of this historie that he who falsifieth his words vpon aduantage howsoeuer he regardeth his honour had neede to paie them home in regard of his owne safetie for if they once recouer the losse and get any aduantage against those truth-breakers they will finde as little fauour as the Germans did with Caesar CHAP. V. Caesar marched directly to the campe of the Germans and cut them all in pieces and so ended that warre VPON these considerations Caesar manifesting his resolution to the Legates and Questor there happened a very fortunate accident For the next daie very early in the morning most of the Princes and chiefest of the Germans came vnto Caesar into his campe to excuse their fraudulent practise and withall to continue their petition of truce Whereof Caesar was exceeding glad and caused them to be kept in hold and at the same instant brought his Armie out of the campe commanding his horsemen to follow the legions because they had beene daunted with so late an ouerthrow And making a triple battell marched speedely eight miles and so came vpon the Germans before they had notice what had happened and being terrified with our sudden arriuall and the departure of their owne leaders knew not whether it were their best course to bring forth their forces or to defend their campe or otherwise to seeke their safety by flight Which tumult and feare was no sooner perceiued by the Roman souldier but calling to mind their perfidious trecherie they brake into the campe and were at first a little resisted in the meane time the women and children fled euery one awaie which Caesar perceiuing sent his horsemen to pursue them The Germans hearing the clamour and schrichings behinde their backes and seeing their friends pursued and slaine did cast awaie their weapons and fled out of the campe and comming to the confluence of the Mase and the Rhene such as had escaped cast themselues into the riuer where what through feare and wearinesse and the force of the water were all drowned In this conflict the Romans lost not a man the number of the enemie was 430000 with women and children To them whom he had retained in his campe he gaue leaue to depart but they fearing the crueltie of the Galles desired that they might continue with the Romans which Caesar agreed vnto OBSERVATIONS THis relation affoordeth little matter of warre but onely a seuere reuenge of hatefull trecherie notwithstanding I will hence take occasion to discouer the offices of the Questor and the Legates and shew what place they had in the Armie And first concerning the Questor we are to vnderstand that he was elected by the common voice of the people in the same court which was called to creat the Generall His office was to take charge of the publike treasure whether it came out of their Aerarium for the paie of the Armie or otherwise was taken from the enemie Of him the souldiers receiued their stipend both in corne and money and what other bootie was taken from the enemie he either kept them or solde them for the vse of the common-weale The Legates were not chosen by the people but appointed by the Senat as assistants Coadiutors to the Emperor for the publike seruice and were altogether directed by the Generall in whose absence they had the absolute command and their number was for the most part vncertaine but proportioned according to the number of legions in the Armie CHAP. VI. Caesar maketh a bridge vpon the Rhene and carrieth his Armie ouer into Germanie THE German warre being thus ended Caesar thought it necessarie to transport his Armie ouer the Rhene into the continent of Germanie for manie causes whereof this was not the least that seeing the Germans were so easily perswaded to bring their colonies and their vagrant multitudes into Gallia he thought it good to make knowen vnto them that the Roman people could at their pleasure carrie their forces ouer the Rhene into Germanie Moreouer those troupes of horse which were absent at the late ouerthrow of the Germans were fled into the confines of the Sicambri to whom when Caesar sent messengers to demand them to be sent vnto him they answered that the Roman Empire was limited by the Rhene and if the Germans were interdicted Gallia why should Caesar challenge any authority in their quarters Lastly the Vbij who amongst all the rest of the Germans had only accepted of Caesars friendship and giuen pledges of their fidelitie had made earnest suit vnto him to send them aid against the Sueui or at the least to transport his Armie ouer the Rhene for the name and opinion of the Roman Armie was so great and of such fame what with Ariouistus ouerthrow and this last seruice that it sounded honourable amongst the furthest nations of Germany For these reasons Caesar resolued to passe the Rhene but to carrie his Armie ouer by boate was neither safe nor for the maiestie of the people of Rome And albeit it seemed a matter of great difficultie by reason of the breadth swiftnes and depth of the riuer to make a bridge yet he resolued to trie what he could doe otherwise he determined not to passe ouer at all and so he built a bridge after this maner At two foote distance he placed two trees of a foot and halfe square sharpened at the lower end and cut answerable to the depth of the riuer these he let downe into the water with engines and droue them in with commanders not perpendicularly after the fashion of a pile but gable wise and bending with the course of the water opposite vnto these he placed two other trees
with losse and dishonour when as they measured the humour of their poore needie and vndisciplined souldier by the garbe of their ambitious thoughtes and so laide such proiects of difficultie as were verie vnsutable in the particularitie of occurrences to that which their souldiers were fit to execute CHAP. XIX The aemulation betweene two Centurions Pulfio and Varenus with their fortunes in the incounter THERE were in that legion two valiant men Titus Pulfio and L. Varenus Centurions comming on a pace to the dignitie of the first orders these two were at continuall debate which of them should be preferred one before another euery yeare contended for place of preferment with much strife and emulation Pulfio at a time that the fortification was very sharply assaulted called to Varenus and asked him why he now stood doubtfull or what other place he did looke for to make triall of his manhood this is the daie saith hee that shall decide our controuersies and when he had spoken these wordes he went out of the fortification and where he saw the enemie thickest he fiercely set vpon thē then could not Varenus hold himselfe within the rampier but followed after in a reasonable distance Pulfio cast his pile at the enemie and strooke one of the multitude through that came running out against him he being slaine all cast their weapons at him giuing no respite or time of retrait Pulfio had his target strooke through and the dart stucke fast in his girdle this chance turned aside his scabberd and hindered his right hand from pulling out his sword in which disaduantage the enemy pressed hard vpon him Varenus came and rescued him immediatly the whole multitude thinking Pulfio to be slaine with the darte turned to Varenus who speedely betooke him to his sword and came to handy-strokes and hauing slaine one he put the rest somewhat backe But as he followed ouerhastely vpon them he fell downe him did Pulfio rescue CICERO BESIEGED being circumuented and in danger and so both of them hauing slaine manie of the enemie retired to their campe in safety to their great honour Thus fortune caried as well the contention as the incounter of them both that being enemies they neuerthelesse gaue helpe to saue each others life in such sort that it was not to bee iudged which of them deserued greatest honor OBSERVATIONS CAEsar inserteth this accident of the two Centurions as worthie to be related amongst the deeds of armes contained in these commētaries wherein we are first to obserue the grounds of this quarrel which was their continual strife for place of preferment which they sought after by shewing their valour in time of danger and approouing their worth by the greatnesse of their desert a contention worthy the Roman discipline and may serue for a paterne of true honour full of courage accomplished with vertue For these Simultates which desire of honor had cast between them brought forth emulation which is the spur of vertue far from enmitie or hatefull contention for the difference betweene these two qualities is that enmitie hunteth after destruction and onely reioiceth in that which bringeth to our aduersary vtter ruine dishonour or ill atchieuement but emulation contendeth only by well deseruing to gaine the aduantage of an other mans fame that vseth the same meanes to attaine to the like end and is alwaies mixed with loue in regard of the affinity of their affections and the sympathie of their desires not seeking the ouerthrow of their Competitor but succouring him in time of danger and defending him from foule and vnfortunate calamitie that he may still continue to shew the greatnes of his worth by the opposition of inferior actions which are as a lesser scantling of desert to measure the estimation of the others honour A vertue rare and vnknowne in these daies and would hardly find subiects to be resident in if she should offer her helpe in the course of our affaires or sue to be entertained by the crooked dispositiōs of our times for we can no sooner conceiue the thoughts that breed emulation but it turneth presently to hatred which is followed to the vttermost of our malice and resteth better satisfied with the miserable end of our opposed partner then with thousand of Trophes deseruedly erected to our honor Which maketh me wonder when I looke into the difference of these and those ages whether it were the discipline of that time which brought forth such honest effectes of vertue to their glory and our ignominy hauing learned better rules then were known vnto them or whether the world weakened with age want strength in these times to bring foorth her creatures in that perfection as it did in those daies or what other cause hath made our worst affections so violent and our better faculties so remisse and negligent that vertue hath no part in vs but wordes of praise our whole practise being consecrated to actions of reproch The iniuries murthers scandalous cariages of one towards an other which in these daies are so readily offered and so impatientlie digested will admit no satisfaction but priuate combate which in the first monarchies was granted only against strangers and forraine enemies as the only obiects of armes and wrath and capable of that iustice which the priuate sworde shoulde execute for they well perceiued that these single battels were as sparkles of ciuill discorde and intestine warres although not so apparant in the generall viewe of their state yet as odious in particular and as dishonourable to good gouernment And if there were a true recorde of such as haue beene either slaine or wounded within these fortie yeeres either in this kingdome or in France or in Germanie by this licentious and brutish custome I make no question but they woulde amount to a number capable of that fearefull stile which is attributed to ciuill warres Neither is there any lawe howe rigorous or harde soeuer that can giue reliefe to this disorder but the restraint will drawe on as great enormities and as vntolerable in a good gouernment Rotaris king of the Lumbardes forbade his subiectes this manner of combate but shortlie after hee was constrained to recall the edict for the auoiding of greater euils although hee protested the thing to bee both inhumane and barbarous The like edict was published in France by Philip the Faire but was within two yeeres reuoked againe at the instante request of his subiectes in regarde of the murthers and assasinats committed in that kingdome The onelie remedie that I finde to take effect in this case was that of late time which the Prince of Melphe in Piemont inuented to preuent this euill for perceiuing howe ordinarie quarrels and bloudshed were in his campe hee assigned a place betweene two bridges for the performance of the Duellum with this charge that hee that had the worst shoulde alwaies bee slaine and cast from the bridge into the water the daunger ioyned with dishonour which by this decree attended such as