The great difficulty was to keep such large masses of men together and to provide them with food. In the time of Marius, the Germanic invaders, the Cimbri and the Teutones, in order to secure provisions as they went, had divided into several smaller groups, each one of which was beaten in detail by the Roman general. Cæsar’s strategy was to be governed by the same principles; he meant to wear the Belgæ out and to refuse to give battle until they had lost their unity, until each dissevered fraction might be drawn into action without support from the rest. Cæsar having recruited two new legions, in all there were eight. Besides, there served under him a variegated band of allies, Numidians, Cretans, men of the Balearic Islands, and Gallic cavalry. Altogether the Roman fighting host may be reckoned at fifty to sixty thousand men, with camp followers, perhaps nearly one hundred thousand in all. To keep such a body in the field for a considerable time meant a carefully organized system of transportation and economic equipment. A strongly fortified camp was constructed on the north bank of the River Aisne, where the soldiers were kept in good discipline. The remains of extensive fortifications, in the form of ditches eighteen feet wide and nine or ten feet deep, and a wall with palisades twelve feet high, were found on the site of Cæsar’s camp by the archæologists who worked under the direction of Napoleon III. The camp was in the country of the Remi, who had, as we have mentioned, become allies of the Romans; it was their town Bibrax which the Belgæ first attacked, hoping to induce Cæsar to leave his fortified position to repel them. He remained, however, where he was, sending sufficient help in the way of defensive artillery to enable the townsmen to defend themselves and to force the Belgæ to give up the siege. They then turned to attack the Roman camp. Cæsar drew up his army, but neither side had any desire to come to close quarters, as in front of the camp there was a considerable stretch of swampy ground. The Belgæ then tried to cut off the Roman line of communications, but this involved crossing the Aisne, and its banks were closely watched by Cæsar’s men. A few horsemen and war engines were sufficient to deter them from making the attempt.