[56-55 B.C.]

rions, to whom the several ships were assigned, what to do, or what system of tactics to adopt; for they knew that damage could not be done by their beaks; and that, although turrets were built (on their decks), yet the height of the stems of the barbarian ships exceeded these; so that weapons could not be cast up from (our) lower position with sufficient effect, and those cast by the Gauls fell the more forcibly upon us. One thing provided by our men was of great service, viz., sharp hooks inserted into and fastened upon poles, of a form not unlike the hooks used in attacking town walls. When the ropes which fastened the sail yards to the masts were caught by them and pulled, and our vessel vigorously impelled with the oars, they (the ropes) were severed; and when they were cut away, the yards necessarily fell down; so that as all the hope of the Gallic vessels depended on their sails and rigging, upon these being cut away, the entire management of the ships was taken from them at the same time. The rest of the contest depended on courage; in which our men decidedly had the advantage; and the more so, because the whole action was carried on in the sight of Cæsar and the entire army; so that no act, a little more valiant than ordinary, could pass unobserved, for all the hills and higher grounds, from which there was a near prospect of the sea, were occupied by our army.

The sail yards (of the enemy) as we have said, being brought down, although two and (in some cases) three ships (of theirs) surrounded each one (of ours), the soldiers strove with the greatest energy to board the ships of the enemy; and, after the barbarians observed this taking place, as a great many of their ships were beaten, and as no relief for that evil could be discovered, they hastened to seek safety in flight. And, having now turned their vessels to that quarter in which the wind blew, so great a calm and lull suddenly arose, that they could not move out of their place, which circumstance, truly, was exceedingly opportune for finishing the business; for our men gave chase and took them one by one, so that very few out of all the number, (and those) by the intervention of night, arrived at the land, after the battle had lasted almost from the fourth hour till sunset.d

The Veneti were forced to sue for peace, and as they had only detained his agents, Cæsar was mercifully content with putting their whole senate to death, and selling the people for slaves, a characteristic exhibition of Roman clemency towards conquered "barbarians."

As the Morini and Menapii of the north coast (Picardy) had been in league with the Veneti, Cæsar invaded their country, which abounded in woods and marshes, but the approach of the wet season obliged him to retire. Having put his troops into winter quarters, he set out to look after his affairs in Italy. During this summer P. Crassus, who had been sent into Aquitaine to keep it quiet, or rather, as it would appear, to raise a war, routed the people named the Sotitates (Sos), forced their chief town to surrender, and defeated a large army of the adjoining peoples, and the Spaniards who had joined them. Shortly after he left Gaul to join his father in Syria, taking with him one thousand Gallic horse.

Tribes of Germans named Usipetes and Tencteri having crossed the Rhine and entered the Menapian country, Cæsar, fearing lest their presence might induce the Gauls to rise, hastened (55) to oppose them. Some negotiations took place between them, during which a body of eight hundred German horse fell on, and even put to flight, with a loss of seventy-four men, five thousand of Cæsar's Gallic cavalry; and they then had the audacity, as Cæsar represents it, to send an embassy, in which were all their principal men, to the Roman camp to justify themselves and to seek a truce.c

THE MASSACRE OF THE GERMANS

[55 B.C.]

After this engagement, Cæsar considered that neither ought ambassadors to be received to audience, nor conditions be accepted by him from those who, after having sued for peace by way of stratagem and treachery, had made war without provocation. And to wait till the enemy's forces were augmented and their cavalry had returned, he concluded, would be the greatest madness; and knowing the fickleness of the Gauls, he felt how much influence the enemy had already acquired among them by this one skirmish. He (therefore) deemed that no time for concerting measures ought to be afforded them. After having resolved on these things and communicated his plans to his lieutenants and quæstor in order that he might not suffer any opportunity for engaging to escape him, a very seasonable event occurred, namely, that on the morning of the next day a large body of Germans, con

ROMAN HELMET

sisting of their princes and old men, came to the camp to him to practise the same treachery and dissimulation; but, as they asserted, for the purpose of acquitting themselves for having engaged in a skirmish the day before, contrary to what had been agreed and to what, indeed, they themselves had requested; and also if they could by any means obtain a truce by deceiving him. Cæsar, rejoicing that they had fallen into his power, ordered them to be detained. He then drew all his forces out of the camp, and commanded the cavalry, because he thought they were intimidated by the late skirmish, to follow in the rear.

Having marshalled his army in three lines, and in a short time performed a march of eight miles, he arrived at the camp of the enemy before the Germans could perceive what was going on; who being suddenly alarmed by all the circumstances, both by the speediness of our arrival and the absence of their own officers, as time was afforded neither for concerting measures nor for seizing their arms, are perplexed as to whether it would be better to lead out their forces against the enemy, or to defend their camp, or seek their safety by flight. Their consternation being made apparent by their noise and tumult, our soldiers, excited by the treachery of the preceding day, rushed into the camp; such of them as could readily get their arms for a short time withstood our men, and gave battle among their carts and baggage waggons; but the rest of the people, (consisting) of boys and women (for they had left their country and crossed the Rhine with all their families) began to fly in all directions; in pursuit of whom Cæsar sent the cavalry.

The Germans, when upon hearing a noise behind them (they looked and) saw that their families were being slain, throwing away their arms and abandoning their standards, fled out of the camp, and when they had arrived at the confluence of the Meuse and the Rhine, the survivors despairing of further escape, as a great number of their countrymen had been killed, threw themselves into the river and there perished, overcome by fear, fatigue, and the violence of the stream. Our soldiers, after the alarm of so great a war,

[55 B.C.]

for the number of the enemy amounted to 430,000 [including women and children], returned to their camp, all safe to a man, very few being even wounded. Cæsar granted those whom he had detained in the camp liberty of departing. They however, dreading revenge and torture from the Gauls, whose lands they had harassed, said that they desired to remain with him. Cæsar granted them permission.d

Being resolved that Gaul should be all his own, Cæsar thought it would be well to show the Germans that their country too might be invaded. Accordingly, under the pretext of aiding the Ubii who had placed themselves under the protection of Rome against the Suevi, he threw a bridge over the Rhine, and having ravaged the lands of the Sugambri, who had retired to their woods, he entered the country of the Ubii; then hearing that the Suevi had collected all their forces in the centre of their territory, and waited there to give him battle, he returned to the Rhine, having, as he says, accomplished all he had proposed. This run (as we may term it) into Germany had occupied only eighteen days; and as there was a part of the summer remaining, he resolved to employ it in a similar inroad into the isle of Britain, whose people he asserts, but untruly, had been so audacious as to send aid to the Gauls when fighting for their independence against him: moreover, the invasion of unknown countries like Germany and Britain would tell to his advantage at Rome. He accordingly had ships brought round from the Loire to the Morinian coast (Boulogne), and putting two legions on board he set sail at midnight. At nine next morning he reached the coast of Britain; but as the cliffs (Dover) were covered with armed men, he cast anchor, and in the evening sailed eight miles further down (Deal), and there effected a landing, though vigorously opposed by the natives. The Britons soon sent to sue for peace; and they had given some of the hostages demanded of them, when a spring tide having greatly damaged the Roman fleet, they resolved to try again the fate of war.c

THE ROMAN ARMY MEETS THE BRITONS

On discovering these things the chiefs of Britain, who had come up after the battle was fought to perform those conditions which Cæsar had imposed, held a conference, when they perceived that cavalry, and ships, and corn were wanting to the Romans, and discovered the small number of our soldiers from the small extent of the camp (which, too, was on this account more limited than ordinary, because Cæsar had conveyed over his legions without baggage), and thought that the best plan was to renew the war, and cut off our men from corn and provisions and protract the affair till winter; because they felt confident that, if they were vanquished or cut off from a return, no one would afterwards pass over into Britain for the purpose of making war. Therefore, again entering into a conspiracy, they began to depart from the camp by degrees and secretly bring up their people from the country parts.

But Cæsar, although he had not as yet discovered their measures, yet, both from what had occurred to his ships, and from the circumstance that they had neglected to give the promised hostages, suspected that the thing would come to pass which really did happen. He therefore provided remedies against all contingencies; for he daily conveyed corn from the country parts into the camp, used the timber and brass of such ships as were most seriously damaged for repairing the rest, and ordered whatever things besides were