This siege, so memorable in a military point of view, is still more so in the historic point of view. Beside the hill, so barren at the present day, of Mont Auxois, were decided the destinies of the world. In these fertile plains, on these hills, now silent, nearly 400,000 men encountered each other; one side led by the spirit of conquest, the other by the spirit of independence; but none of them were conscious of the work which destiny was employing them to accomplish. The cause of all civilisation was at stake. The defeat of Cæsar would have stopped for a long period the advance of Roman domination, of that domination which, across rivers of blood, it is true, conducted the peoples to a better future. The Gauls, intoxicated with their success, would have called to their aid all those nomadic peoples who followed the course of the sun to create themselves a country, and all together would have thrown themselves upon Italy; that focus of intelligence, destined to enlighten the peoples, would then have been destroyed, before it had been able to develop its expansive force. Rome, on her side, would have lost the only chief capable of arresting her decline, of re-constituting the Republic, and of bequeathing to her at his death three centuries of existence. Thus, while we honour duly the memory of Vercingetorix, we are not allowed to deplore his defeat. Let us admire the ardent and sincere love of this Gaulish chieftain for the independence of his country; but let us not forget that it is to the triumph of the Roman armies that we owe our civilisation; institutions, manners, language, all come to us from the conquest. Thus are we much more the children of the conquerors than of the conquered; for, during long years, the former have been our masters for everything which raises the soul and embellishes life; and, when at last the invasion of the barbarians came to overthrow the old Roman edifice, it could not destroy its foundations. Those wild hordes only ravaged the territory, without having the power to annihilate the principles of law, justice, and liberty, which, deeply rooted, survived by their own vitality, like those crops which, bent down for a moment beneath the tread of the soldiers, soon rise again spontaneously, and recover a new life. On the ground thus prepared by Roman civilisation, the Christian idea was able easily to plant itself, and to regenerate the world. The victory gained at Alesia was, then, one of those decisive events which decide the destinies of peoples.