In Caesar’s time they were usually men who had started in the ranks (although in later days so highly valued had the rank become that even monied men sought to buy a centurionate). As regulars they would serve twenty-five years or even more, usually with the same legion. As his name suggests, the commander of a century, the centurion was expected to be a “hard case,” for on him largely rested the discipline of the legions. His badge of office was the vine cane—often laid across the soldier’s back—and he was distinguished from the legionary by wearing the crest on his helmet transversely and his sword on the left, while on his right he had a dagger. They were expected to be Spartans, to stand and fight and die. There were fifty-nine centurions to a legion.

Each legion was commanded by six tribunes, usually young men aspiring to become senators, or others who had tried the military life, developed a taste for it, and would stay there for years. Senior to them were the prefects, who might become aides to generals or be put in command of cavalry, or even become a prefect of the fleet—for the Romans made no real distinction between military service ashore or afloat. Above them in the chain of command came the legate (under Caesar, of a legion), usually a senator, and therefore one who must at some time previously have been a magistrate, or quaestor. These were the men who, under great captains like Caesar or Pompey, formed an experienced group of commanders, a general staff as it were.

The whole legion, if at its full strength—which was rare enough—consisted of 6,000 men divided into ten cohorts. Further subdivisions within the cohort were each commanded by a centurion, and each with its individual standard bearer and hornblower (the group’s signalman). In the old legions of pre-Marian days each had also had attached to it its own cavalry, light infantry or skirmishers, engineers and artillerymen. In the new army these departments had become quite separate units on their own. If the siege of a town was to be undertaken, then the corps of engineers and artillery had to be brought up, similarly whenever cavalry was needed. The latter largely came from Spain, although Caesar was to conscript useful cavalry from Gaul and Germany at various times in his campaigns. The new legion, was, therefore, not a self-contained structure as it had been in the past, but what it had lost in one sense it had gained in another. Its flexibility as a unit of disciplined, highly-trained professionals made it a formidable instrument of war in the hands of a man of genius. The legionary’s training was rigorous: weapons drill, long runs in full armor, practice fighting with swords which had a button on the point, javelin-throwing and, throughout their training, constant attention to the condition of arms and armor, with on-the-spot checks by eagle-eyed centurions. All this attention to detail, so familiar to armies of later centuries (if of any quality), was what gave the Roman legionary his permanent edge over the brave barbarian.

For there can be no doubt about the bravery and the fighting qualities of the warriors of Gallic and Germanic stock with whom the legionaries were soon to come in conflict. Long-moustached, shaggy-haired, despising the protective armor of their enemies, the peoples of the north inhabited a Homeric world. Boastful, deep-drinking, prone to fits of berserker rage, wearing great torques and massive armbands of gold, whether Gauls or Germans, all had one thing in common—they lived for war. Unlike the Romans and the Greeks, they went trousered through the world—such clothing being more suitable for their climate, but setting them apart as “barbarians” in the eyes of Mediterranean peoples. The Greek historian Diodorus wrote of them: “They enlarge the bronze helmets that they wear with horns, to give an appearance of great size. They carry shields as long as their bodies, embossed with the head of some beast. They speak in riddles, hinting darkly at their meaning, while always extolling themselves. Terrible in aspect, they appear very threatening; yet they have sharp wits and are often clever in learning.” Since, under the influence of their Druidic religion, they were confident of an afterlife, they had no fear of death, and the ambition of the warrior was to die in battle.

 

 

 

13

 

The First Planned Victories

 

CAESAR refused to accept the fact that the withdrawal of the Helvetii to the north meant that the threat to the province was over. He intended that the danger should at least appear to remain. When he later came to publish his commentaries on his campaigns, he took care that they should show him as a Roman provincial governor doing no more than his duty by protecting the interests of the state.

Although the Helvetii had made it clear that they did not want to fight the Romans, and that they only wished to migrate to other lands where they would be free from harassment by the Germans, they had in the past—seven years before Caesar was born—defeated a Roman consul and enforced the subjection of his entire army (“passing under the yoke”). This gave good grounds for wishing to humiliate them, but better were now provided by the pro-Roman tribe of the Aedui and their neighbors, who appealed for military assistance against this great migratory wave which threatened their peace and their lands. It is more than probable that this appeal was made at Caesar’s instigation, for he had already summoned a further two legions from Cisalpine Gaul—as if anticipating trouble.

He made his base at Lyons where the gentle river Saone joins the turbulent Rh6ne. Here he regrouped his forces: he now had nearly 50,000 men under his command, the legionaries from Italy, the Tenth Legion under Labienus, his legate, a detachment of cavalry provided by the Aedui and a number of auxiliaries recruited from the province.