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The Historians' History of the World 05 [The Roman Republic]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1905
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: История
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Meantime, the imposing forces of the Romans had induced the Cimbrians to enter into negotiations. Cæpio, seeing the consul in negotiation with the delegates of the barbarians, and thinking that he was desirous of keeping all the honours of victory for himself, attacked them without delay. As a result his troops were entirely destroyed and his camp was taken. After this the Cimbrians engaged in battle with the troop under Mallius and utterly defeated them. The Romans suffered this terrible reverse near the town of Arausio (Orange). On the Roman side eighty thousand soldiers and forty thousand men belonging to the commissariat are said to have been killed, only ten men being saved, amongst whom was Cæpio.
The earlier defeats had already so terrified the Italians that the raising of fresh soldiers presented difficulties; but now, after the defeat of Arausio the “Cimbrian panic” reached its height. Besides panic, the people also felt a burning rage, particularly against the corrupt government of the nobility which had jeopardised the state. Against certain individuals their indignation was extreme, particularly against Cæpio, whose insubordination had been the main cause of the defeat. By decision of the people he was now deposed from the proconsulate, and his property was confiscated; by a second decision of the people he was driven from the senate, and when, long after, in consequence of the malversation and high treason practised in Gaul, a court of judicial inquiry was convened, on the instigation of several of the people’s tribunes, Cæpio narrowly escaped the death sentence. He was banished, and went to Smyrna. Mallius Maximus and several other men of distinction were tried at the same time. The senate and their generals had lost all confidence; only one man seemed to be able to save the state in these perilous times—C. Marius, he who at the end of the Jugurthine War was regarded as the greatest general of his time. Whilst he was still in Africa he was chosen consul for the year 104, although it was against the rule to elect any one who was absent, or any one who had already been a consul at any time during the previous ten years. On the same day—January 1—on which Marius celebrated his triumph over Jugurtha, he entered upon his second consulate; and the same office was conferred upon him every succeeding year until the Cimbrian danger was over.
[103-102 B.C.]
When Marius with his force reached the Rhone, the Cimbrians, always hasty in their movements, had wandered off through southern Gaul towards the west and had entered Spain. Marius accordingly spent some time restoring the disorganised and disintegrated Gallic peoples to a sense of their duty; he raised auxiliary troops from the allied states and by dint of unswerving severity and unremitting exertions made his troops once more fit for action. Once let a soldier under Marius be accustomed to his severity of mien, his rough voice and wild looks, once let him learn never to fail in his duty, never to be insubordinate, and his fear of Marius would be changed into confidence; the man of terror would seem formidable only to his enemies. But his chief attraction for his men was his strict justice and impartiality. It was probably in the year 103, that the Cimbrians returned to Gaul from Spain, where they had encountered a stout resistance from the Celtiberians. They marched through the country along the Atlantic coast to the Seine on the borders of Belgium. Here they were joined by Teuton tribes of the same family under their king Teutobodus, tribes which, driven like the Cimbrians from their home on the Baltic, were moving aimlessly about the world. Notwithstanding their united forces they met with such resistance from the brave Belgians that they gave way, and finally decided to go to Italy. They again divided, perhaps for convenience in obtaining supplies, into two hosts. The Cimbrians, with the Helvetian Tigurini, who seem only recently to have joined them, went back to Noricum in order to enter Italy at the same point as before. The Teutones with the Ambrones, probably a Celtic people, proceeded towards the Rhone, in order to go from thence over the western Alps.
In the summer of 102 the Teutones crossed the Rhone and proceeded down the left bank to meet the army of Marius, which was encamped in a strong position at the junction of the Isère and the Rhone and was well provisioned. Here he was barring both the highroads which at that time led to Italy, the route over the Little St. Bernard, and the route along the coast. The barbarians encamped in countless numbers on the wide plain in front of Marius’ camp and challenged him to battle. He, however, following the plan of remaining strictly on the defensive, stayed quietly in camp and let them spend their strength in daily attempts to storm the Roman fortifications. In vain; their impetuosity was wrecked by the arts of war as practised by the Romans and by the prudence of Marius. At last they drew off in the direction of the south, in order to march into Italy by the road along the coast. They were six days marching past the Roman camp in enormous crowds with numberless heavily-laden carts. The Romans from their walls jeered at them as they passed, asking if they had no commands for their wives. When the procession had gone by, Marius followed with his force, and camped always close beside them, but behind strong entrenchments and in favourable positions, so that he was protected against night surprises and could not be forced into an engagement against his will. In this way they travelled until they came to Aquæ Sextiæ (now Aix in Provence); from here it was only a little way to the Alps, and Marius was compelled to consider the question of a decisive battle. He pitched his camp at a place where there was no spring of water, and when his soldiers grumbled and asked him where they could get it, he pointed downwards to the river Canus (now the Arc) which flowed near the enemy’s camp. They demanded that he should at once lead them against the enemy, whilst they had still blood to spend. He answered coolly: “First we must fortify the camp.”
Whilst the soldiers were fortifying the camp Marius sent his camp-followers to the river to fetch water. For their defence they carried hatchets and axes, swords and lances. Soon a scuffle arose on the banks with the roving bands of the Ambrones who, separated from the Teutones, covered the rear of the whole army on the march. As new combatants constantly hurried to the assistance of both sides, the Ambrones at last played their full strength, thirty thousand men, and Marius was no longer able to restrain his men. In crossing the river, the Ambrones fell into disorder and the Romans, in a rush down from the heights attacked them in the rear with such force, that having suffered great loss, they fled back to their camp and barricade of wagons. Here the fight was renewed after a strange fashion, for the wives of the Ambrones, armed with swords and hatchets, rushed with wild cries to meet them as they fled, forcing them back towards the enemy, and those who saw that all was lost, fell into a frenzy and threw themselves into the midst of the combat, letting themselves be cut and hacked to pieces.
The Romans felt encouraged by this victory, but dared not give themselves over to the joy of triumph, for by far the greater number of the enemy had not yet been engaged. The great plain was still covered with myriads of Teutones, who filled the air all night with threatening cries and occupied themselves all the following day preparing for a further encounter. It was not till three days later that the fight recommenced. By break of day, Marius and his men had ranged themselves on the hill in front of the camp in order for battle. As soon as the barbarians saw them they attacked the hill with fury. The Romans waited quietly till they came within range, then threw their lances and seized their swords. There was a long and obstinate fight lasting till midday; then the Germans, weakened by their own impetuosity and the heat of the southern sun, began to give way: as they reached the plain and were in the act of reorganising their front ranks which had fallen into disarray three thousand men under Claudius Marcellus fell on them from an ambush in the rear. That decided the issue; startled at the double attack the barbarians broke up their lines and fled in wild confusion.