Chapter 56
+Gergovia+, 4 miles S. of Clermont. This famous stronghold consists of a rectangular plateau nearly a mile in length, and some 1300 feet above the plain through which the Allier flows, and descending steeply on all sides but one to the ground.
+Caesar's failure.+ 'The fact was that chiefly owing to the nature of the ground and their own ardour, Caesar's men were not well in hand.'
--W. F.
B43
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (7)
_Siege of Alesia. The Last Fight of Vercingetorix, 52 B.C._
Vercingetorix ex arce Alesiae suos conspicatus ex oppido egreditur: crates, longurios, musculos, fasces, reliquaque quae eruptionis causa paraverat profert. Pugnatur uno tempore omnibus locis atque omnia temptantur; quae minime visa pars firma est huc {5} concurritur.
Romanorum ma.n.u.s tantis munitionibus distinetur nec facile pluribus locis occurrit.... Labienus, postquam neque aggeres neque fossae vim hostium sustinere poterant, coactis XI cohortibus, quas ex proximis praesidiis deductas fors obtulit, {10} Caesarem per nuntios facit certiorem quid faciendum existimet. Accelerat Caesar ut proelio intersit. Eius adventu ex colore vest.i.tus cognito (quo insigni in proeliis uti consuerat), turmisque equitum et cohortibus visis quas se sequi iusserat, ut de locis {15} superioribus haec declivia et devexa cemebantur, hostes proelium committunt. Utrimque clamore sublato excipit rursus ex vallo atque omnibus munitionibus clamor. Nostri omissis pilis gladiis rem gerunt. Repente post tergum equitatus cernitur: {20} cohortes aliae appropinquant. Hostes terga vertunt; fugientibus equites occurrunt: fit magna caedes: pauci ex tanto numero se incolumes in castra recipiunt.
CAESAR, _de B. G._ vii. 84, 87, 88.
+Context.+ After his successful defence of Gergovia, Vercingetorix allowed his judgment to be overruled, and attacked Caesar's army (now united to the division of Labienus) on the march. Caesar shook off the enemy with the help of his German cavalry, and turned their retreat into a rout. V. then threw himself with all his forces into Alesia. Caesar constructed an inner line of investment and an outer line of defence, and was thus able to wear out the besieged and +beat back the relieving host of the Gauls+.
[Linenotes: 1. +suos+, i.e. the host (some 250,000) of the relieving army of Gauls.
2. +musculos+ (dimin. of _mus_) = _pent-houses_ or _sheds_.
4. +omnibus locis+, i.e. along the whole length of Caesar's outer line of defence, _where it ran along the slope of Mont Rea_, to the N.W. of Alesia. This, as the relieving Gauls were quick to see, was the weakest point of the whole line.
13. +ex colore vest.i.tus+, i.e. the purple or scarlet paludamentum.]
+Vercingetorix.+ The Celtic officers delivered up V. to Caesar, to be led in triumph five years later, and beheaded as a traitor. In 1865 a statue was erected on the summit of Alesia, in honour of the heroic Gaul.
+The fall of Alesia decided the fate of Gaul.+
B44
CICERO IN EXILE, MARCH 58 B.C.-AUGUST 57 B.C. (1)
_His Banishment._
Per idem tempus P. Clodius, h.o.m.o n.o.bilis, disertus, audax, quique dicendi neque faciendi ullum nisi quem vellet nosset modum, malorum propositorum exsecutor acerrimus, c.u.m graves inimicitias c.u.m M. Cicerone exerceret (quid enim inter tam {5} dissimilis amic.u.m esse poterat?) et a patribus ad plebem transisset, legem in tribunatu tulit, qui civem Romanum non d.a.m.natum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur: cuius verbis etsi non nominabatur Cicero, tamen solus petebatur. Ita vir optime {10} meritus de re publica conservatae patriae pretium calamitatem exili tulit. Non caruerunt suspicione oppressi Ciceronis Caesar et Pompeius. Hoc sibi contraxisse videbatur Cicero, quod inter xx viros dividendo agro Campano esse noluisset. Idem intra {15} biennium sera Cn. Pompei cura, verum ut coepit intenta, votisque Italiae ac decretis senatus, virtute atque actione Anni Milonis tribuni pl.
dignitati patriaeque rest.i.tutus est. Neque post Numidici exilium ac reditum quisquam
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 45.
[Linenotes: 6-7. +a patribus... transisset.+ When Cicero refused to throw in his lot with the Triumvirs, Publius Clodius was (by the aid of Caesar as Pontifex Maximus) hurriedly transferred from a patrician to a plebeian gens, and then chosen a tribune of the people for the year 58 B.C. Clodius was thus enabled to satisfy his private hatred of Cicero, and Caesar was enabled to get rid of the man who persisted in opposing him.
7-8. +qui... interemisset:+ aimed at Cicero for his share in the summary execution of the Catilinarians 63 B.C. Mommsen calls it a judicial murder. Undoubtedly the Senate had not the power of sentencing _citizens_ to death. But Cicero argues that the legal effect of the _Senatus consultum ultimum_ was to _disenfranchise_ Lentulus and his a.s.sociates, and to place them in the position of _outlaws_.
12-13. +Non caruerunt... Pompeius:+ Caesar having in vain tried to win him over abandoned him to his fate, and Pompeius basely deserted him.
15. +dividendo agro Campano+, i.e. by Caesar's Agrarian Law of 59 B.C., to provide for Pompey's veterans.
18. +Anni Milonis:+ the bravoes of Milo protected from disturbance the voters engaged in sanctioning the decree for the recall of Cicero.
19. +Numidici+, i.e. Q. Caecilius Metellus, general against Jugurtha, superseded by Marius and forced to retire to Rhodes.]
B45
CICERO IN EXILE, MARCH 58 B.C.-AUGUST 57 B.C. (2)
_His Return._
Pr. Nonas s.e.xtiles Dyrrachio sum profectus, ipso illo die, quo lex est lata de n.o.bis; Brundisium veni Nonis s.e.xtilibus: ibi mihi Tulliola mea fuit praesto natali suo ipso die, qui casu idem natalis erat et Brundisinae coloniae et tuae vicinae Salutis; quae {5} res animadversa a mult.i.tudine summa Brundisinorum gratulatione celebrata est. Ante diem vi Idus s.e.xtiles cognovi, c.u.m Brundisii essem, litteris Quinti, mirifico studio omnium aetatum atque ordinum, incredibili concursu Italiae legem comitiis {10} centuriatis esse perlatam: inde a Brundisinis honestissimis ornatus iter ita feci, ut undique ad me c.u.m gratulatione legati convenerint. Ad urbem ita veni, ut nemo ullius ordinis h.o.m.o nomenclatori notus fuerit, qui mihi obviam non venerit, praeter eos {15} inimicos, quibus id ipsum, se inimicos esse, non liceret aut dissimulare aut negare. c.u.m venissem ad portam Capenam, gradus templorum ab infima plebe completi erant, a qua plausu maximo c.u.m esset mihi gratulatio significata, similis et frequentia {20} et plausus me usque ad Capitolium celebravit, in foroque et in ipso Capitolio miranda mult.i.tudo fuit. Postridie in senatu, qui fuit dies Nonarum Septembr., senatui gratias egimus.
CICERO, _Ep. ad Att._ iv. 1.
[Linenotes: 1. +Dyrrachio+ (formerly _Epid.a.m.nus_, mod. _Durazzo_), a town in Illyria, on a peninsula in the Adriatic. It was the usual port of landing and departure from and for Brundisium (distant about 100 miles).
3. +Tulliola+, Cicero's dearly-loved daughter Tullia, the only one of his family of whose conduct he never complains, and his tender and sympathising companion in all his pursuits.
4-5. +qui casu... coloniae.+ Brundisium was founded 244 B.C. The Via Appia terminated here.
5. +tuae vicinae Salutis+, the Temple of Salus on the Quirinal was near the house of Atticus.
9. +Quinti+ (sc. _Ciceronis_): Cicero's only brother, a gallant soldier (e.g. as legatus to Caesar in Gaul), but a man of violent temper. Proscribed by the Triumvirs, and put to death in 43 B.C.
11-12. +a Brundisinis... ornatus+ = _having received attentions from the most respectable men of Brundisium_.
13. +legati+ = _deputations_, i.e. from the various towns en route.
14. +nomenclatori+ (= lit. _one who calls by name_, cf.?a?-??, _Cal-endae_): a confidential slave who attended his master in canva.s.sing, and on similar occasions, and told him the names of the people he met.
18. +ad portam Capenam+ (_Porta S. Sebastiano_), by which the Via Appia led to Capua. 'Cicero, perhaps for effect, followed the line of triumphal procession.' --Impey.]
B46
CICERO'S RECANTATION, 56 B.C.
_In praise of Caesar._
Itaque c.u.m acerrimis nationibus et maximis Germanorum et Helvetiorum proeliis felicissime decertavit: ceteras conterruit, compulit, domuit, imperio populi Romani parere a.s.suefecit, et quas regiones, quasque gentes nullae n.o.bis antea litterae, {5} nulla vox, nulla fama notas fecerat, has noster imperator nosterque exercitus et populi Romani arma peragrarunt. Semitam tantum Galliae tenebamus antea, patres conscripti; ceterae partes a gentibus aut inimicis huic imperio, aut infidis, aut {10} incognitis, aut certe immanibus et barbaris et bellicosis tenebantur; quas nationes, nemo umquam fuit, quin frangi domarique cuperet; nemo sapienter de republica nostra cogitavit iam inde a principio huius imperi, quin Galliam maxime timendam huic {15} imperio putaret; sed propter vim ac mult.i.tudinem gentium illarum numquam est antea c.u.m omnibus dimicatum. Rest.i.timus semper lacessiti. Nunc denique est perfectum, ut imperii nostri terrarumque illarum idem esset extremum. {20}
CICERO, _de Provinciis Consularibus_, -- 33.
[Linenotes: 3. +compulit+ = _checked_, usu. = _to constrain_.
5. +nullae litterae+ = _no book_.
8. +Semitam tantum Galliae+ = _it was but a strip of Gaul._ --W. F.
+Semita+ (_se + mi_ = _go aside_, cf. _meo_, _trames_) = lit.
_a narrow way_, _path._ 13-14. +nemo... cogitavit+ = _there never has been a prudent statesman_. --W. F.
17. +c.u.m omnibus+, i.e. with the Gauls as a nation.
19-20. +ut imperi... extremum+, i.e. that our Empire extends to the utmost limits of that land.]
+Cicero's Recantation+ (pa????d?a). The time for the struggle between the Senatorial party (the Optimates) and the Triumvirs, weakened by their mutual jealousy, seemed to have come. Accordingly Cicero proposed in a full house to reconsider Caesar's Agrarian Law (of 59 B.C.) for the allotment of lands in Campania; while Domitius Ahen.o.barbus (candidate for next year's Consuls.h.i.+p) openly declared his intention to propose Caesar's recall. Caesar acted with his usual promptness, and the Conference at Luca restored an understanding between the three regents.
Pompeius then crossed to Sardinia, and informed Q. Cicero that he would be held reponsible for any act of hostility on the part of his brother.
Cicero had no choice but to submit, and delivered in the Senate his oration _de Provinciis Consularibus_, a political manifesto on behalf of Caesar and Pompeius--the _Recantation_ alluded to in _Ep. ad Att._ iv.
5, and elaborately explained in _Ep. ad Fam._ i. 9 (to Lentulus Spinther).
B47
CARRHAE, 53 B.C. (1)
'_Quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat._'