Julius Caesar was a superb strategist and a deft forger of alliances. But, as our correspondent found during an arduous climb up the slopes of Gergovia, he downplayed his defeats
He was, of course, Julius Caesar. His “Commentaries on the Gallic Wars” is a fine work of literature. Cicero likened his prose to “nude figures, upright and beautiful, stripped of all ornament of style”. The “Gallic Wars” is also the only first-hand account of an ancient campaign written by a general of such stature. It is a priceless source for historians, yet also a slippery piece of propaganda.
He notes that the Germans shunned agriculture, preferring to live on milk, cheese and meat; that German men strove to remain celibate as long as possible, believing it would make them stronger, and that German tribes “regard it as their greatest glory to lay waste as much as possible of the land around them and to keep it uninhabited” to remove “any fear of sudden invasion”. Yet they were hospitable towards guests.
Incidentally, Romans were sniffy about the Gaulish habit of drinking wine neat, instead of mixing it with water like civilised people. Arriving in Lutetia , your correspondent checked to see if this barbaric custom persists. Happily, it does.The war began with a migration crisis. Nationalists today often describe an influx of migrants as an “invasion”. This one really was. The Helvetii, a tribe from what is now Switzerland, “felt that their territory was unduly small”.
On a sunny October Sunday, your correspondent climbed the same mountain path, stopping first to buy bread and goat’s cheese—rations any legionary would have recognised. As in Caesar’s day the slope is steep and rutted. Loose stones trip the unwary. Round every corner is a bush in which an archer might lurk. Even without armour, the hike was arduous. Under a hail of javelins it would presumably have been worse.
In his own account of the battle, Caesar is an ingenious tactician. He has mule-herders don helmets and pretend to be cavalry, to distract the Gauls’ attention. He moves soldiers quietly through his ditch to surprise them. He loses largely because of bad luck. Some of his men fail to hear a trumpet ordering them to fall back at a crucial moment. Others mistake their allies, from another Gaulish tribe, for Vercingetorix’s men.
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