Caesar, Julius; Rome -- History -- Republic, 265-30 B.C.
insurrection, and as long as he was free and unpunished the massacred
legion had not been fully avenged. Caesar was particularly anxious to
catch him, and once had found the nest warm which Ambiorix had left but
a few moments before.
In the pursuit he came again to Tongres, to the fatal camp which
Sabinus had deserted and in which the last of the legionaries had
killed each other, rather than degrade the Roman name by allowing
themselves to be captured. The spot was fated, and narrowly escaped
being the scene of a second catastrophe as frightful as the first. The
entrenchments were standing as they were left, ready to be occupied.
Caesar, finding himself encumbered by his heavy baggage in the pursuit
of Ambiorix, decided to leave it there with Quintus Cicero and the 14th
legion. He was going himself to scour Brabant and East Flanders as far
as the Scheldt. In seven days he promised to return, and meanwhile he
gave Cicero strict directions to keep the legion within the lines, and
not to allow any of the men to stray. It happened that after Caesar
recrossed the Rhine two thousand German horse had followed in bravado,
and were then plundering between Tongres and the river. Hearing that
there was a rich booty in the camp, that Caesar was away, and only a
small party had been left to guard it, they decided to try to take the
place by a sudden stroke. Cicero, seeing no sign of an enemy, had
permitted his men to disperse in foraging parties. The Germans were on
them before they could recover their entrenchments, and they had to
form at a distance and defend themselves as they could. The gates of
the camp were open, and the enemy were actually inside before the few
maniples who were left there were able to collect and resist them.
Fortunately Sextius Bacillus, the same officer who had so brilliantly
distinguished himself in the battle with the Nervii, and had since been
badly wounded, was lying sick in his tent, where he had been for five
days, unable to touch food. Hearing the disturbance, Bacillus sprang
out, snatched a sword, rallied such men as he could find, and checked
the attack for a few minutes. Other officers rushed to his help, and
the legionaries having their centurions with them recovered their
steadiness. Sextius Bacillus was again severely hurt, and fainted, but
he was carried off in safety. Some of the cohorts who were outside, and
had been for a time cut off, made their way into the camp to join the
defenders, and the Germans, who had come without any fixed purpose,
merely for plunder, gave way and galloped off again. They left the
Romans, however, still in the utmost consternation. The scene and the
associations of it suggested the most gloomy anticipations. They
thought that German cavalry could never be so far from the Rhine,
unless their countrymen were invading in force behind them. Caesar, it
was supposed, must have been surprised and destroyed, and they and
every Roman in Gaul would soon share the same fate. Brave as they were,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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