5. Caesar

by Colleen McCullough

  From prisoners Caesar learned the dispositions of the Gallic relief army. As Labienus had guessed, a split high command: Commius the Atrebatan, Cotus, Eporedorix and Viridomarus of the Aedui, and Vercingetorixs cousin Vercassivellaunus. "Commius I expected," said Caesar, "but where's Litaviccus? I wonder. Cotus is too old to sit well in such a youthful high command, Eporedorix and Viridomarus are insignificant. The one to watch will be Vercassivellaunus." "Not Commius?" asked Quintus Cicero. "He's Belgic; they had to give him a titular command. The Belgae are broken, Quintus. I don't imagine Belgic contribution to the relief army is more than a tenth of its strength. This is a Celtic revolt and it belongs to Vercingetorix, little though the Aedui might like that. Vercassivellaunus is the one to watch." "How much longer will it go on?" asked Antony, very pleased with himself; he had, he decided, done quite as well as Trebonius. "I think the next attack will be the hardest, and the last," said Caesar, looking at his cousin with an uncomfortable shrewdness, as if he understood very well what was going through Antony's mind. "We can't clean up the field outside on the plain, and they'll use the bodies as bridges. A great deal depends upon whether they've found our weakness. Antistius, Rebilus, I can't emphasize enough that you must be ready to defend your camp. Trebonius, Fabius, Sextius, Quintus, Decimus, be prepared to move like lightning. Labienus, you'll hover in the area, and have the German cavalry in the camp on the north side. I don't need to tell you what to do, but keep me informed every inch of the way."

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  Vercassivellaunus conferred with Commius, Cotus, Eporedorix and Viridomarus; Gutruatus, Sedulius and Drappes were also there, together with one Ollovico, a scout. "The Roman defenses on the northwestern mount look excellent from here and from the plain," said Ollovico, who belonged to the Andes, but had made a great name for himself as a man who could spy out the land better than any other. "However, while the battle raged last night, I investigated at close quarters. There is a big infantry camp below the northwestern mount adjacent to the north river, and beyond it, up a narrow valley on a tributary stream, a cavalry camp. The fortifications between this cavalry camp and the main line are very heavy; there's little hope there. But the Roman encirclement is not quite complete. There is a gap on the banks of the north river beyond the infantry camp. From here or from the plain it's invisible. They've been as clever as they could given the terrain, for their fortifications go up the side of the northwestern mount, and really do look as if they go right over the top. But they do not. It's an illusion. As I've explained, there is a gap going down to the river, a tongue of unwalled land. You can't get into the Roman ring from it; that's not why finding it excited me. What it does do is enable you to attack the Roman line at the infantry camp from downhill the fortifications are aslant the sloping flank, they don't go up and over. Nor is the ground outside the camp's double ditch and wall mined with hazards. The ground's not suitable. Much easier to get inside. Take that camp, and you will have penetrated the Roman ring." "Ah!" said Vercassivellaunus, smiling. "Very good," purred Cotus. "We need Vercingetorix to tell us how best to do it," said Drappes, pulling at his moustache. "Vercassivellaunus will cope," said Sedulius. "The Arverni are mountain people they understand land like this." "I need sixty thousand of our very finest warriors," said Vercassivellaunus. "I want them hand-picked from among those peoples known not to count the cost." "Then start with Bellovaci," said Commius instantly. "Foot, Commius, not horse. But I will take the five thousand Nervii, the five thousand Morini and the five thousand Menapii. Sedulius, I'll take you and your ten thousand Lemovices. Drappes, you and ten thousand of your Senones. Gutruatus, you and ten thousand of your Carnutes. For the sake of Biturgo I'll take five thousand from among the Bituriges, and for the sake of my cousin, the King, ten thousand of the Arverni. Is that agreeable?" "Very much so," said Sedulius. The others nodded gravely, though the three Aeduan co-generals, Cotus, Eporedorix and Viridomarus, looked unhappy. The command had been thrust upon them unexpectedly at Carnutum when Litaviccus, for reasons no one began to understand, suddenly climbed upon his horse and deserted the Aedui with his kinsman, Surus. One moment Litaviccus was sole leader, the next gone! Vanished east with Surus! Thus command of the thirty-five thousand Aeduan troops had devolved upon Cotus, old and tired, and two men who were still not sure that they wanted to be free of Rome. Besides which, their presence at this council, they suspected, was mere lip service. "Commius, you'll command the cavalry and advance on the plain under the northwestern mount. Eporedorix and Viridomarus will take the rest of the foot to the south side of the plain and use it to make a huge demonstration. Try to force your way to the Roman ramparts we'll keep Caesar busy there too. Cotus, you'll hold this camp. Is that clear, you three Aedui?" Vercassivellaunus asked, tone confident, voice clipped. The three Aedui said it was clear. "We time the attack for the hour when the sun is directly overhead. That gives the Romans no advantage, and as the sun sinks it will shine in their eyes, not in ours. I'll leave camp with the sixty thousand at midnight tonight with Ollovico as our guide. We'll climb the northwestern mount and go part of the way down the tongue before dawn, then hide ourselves in the trees until we hear a great shout. Commius, that's your responsibility." "Understood," said Commius, whose rather homely face was grossly disfigured by a scar across his forehead, the wound Gaius Volusenus had been responsible for during that meeting primed for treachery. He burned to avenge himself; all his dreams of being High King of the Belgae were gone, his people the Atrebates so reduced by Labienus a scant month before that all he could bring with him to the muster at Carnutum was four thousand, mostly old men and underaged boys. He had hoped for his southern neighbors the Bellovaci; but of the ten thousand Gutruatus and Cathbad had demanded from the Bellovaci a mere two thousand came to Carnutum, and those only because Commius had begged them from their king, Correus, his friend and relative by marriage. "Take two thousand if it makes you happy," said Correus, "but no more. The Bellovaci prefer to fight Caesar and Rome in their own time and in their own way. Vercingetorix is a Celt, and the Celtae don't know the first thing about attrition or annihilation. By all means go, Commius, but remember when you come back defeated that the Bellovaci will be looking for Belgic allies. Keep your men and my two thousand very safe. Don't die for the Celtae." Correus was right, thought Commius, beginning to see the shape of a vast fate hovering above Alesia: the Roman Eagle. And the Celtae didn't know anything about attrition or annihilation. Ah, but the Belgae did! Correus was right. Why die for the Celtae?