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Reading Group--Caesar's Legion
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Chapter VI -- Revolt and Revenge (continued)
Then, when 60,000 picked Gauls launched an attack from Mount Rea, Vercingetorix attempted a coordinated attack from the inside at the same time, sending men pouring out of Alesia against Caesar's inner entrenchments.
With Caesar's troops strung out at the forts around the siege works, this two-way attack should have succeeded, but it didn't....Caesar accepted Labienus's advice, and he himself led the subsequent counterattack. By his own account, his troops and those of the other side were able to identify him by his flowing paludamentum, the scarlet general's cloak, in the forefront of the charge.
Have I mentioned that I need my own paludamentum?
Tens of thousands of prisoners were taken by the Romans -- possibly as many as seventy thousand -- enough, Caesar claimed, for him to give every single legionary in his force one prisoner each as a slave.
Again, the scale! Can you imagine 70,000 men captured and enslaved?
Then, when 60,000 picked Gauls launched an attack from Mount Rea, Vercingetorix attempted a coordinated attack from the inside at the same time, sending men pouring out of Alesia against Caesar's inner entrenchments.
With Caesar's troops strung out at the forts around the siege works, this two-way attack should have succeeded, but it didn't....Caesar accepted Labienus's advice, and he himself led the subsequent counterattack. By his own account, his troops and those of the other side were able to identify him by his flowing paludamentum, the scarlet general's cloak, in the forefront of the charge.
Have I mentioned that I need my own paludamentum?
Tens of thousands of prisoners were taken by the Romans -- possibly as many as seventy thousand -- enough, Caesar claimed, for him to give every single legionary in his force one prisoner each as a slave.
Again, the scale! Can you imagine 70,000 men captured and enslaved?
Chapter VI -- Revolt and Revenge (continued)
Vercingetorix's surrender is sad:
First putting on his richest armor and adorning his favorite horse with golden trappings, the commander of the Gauls rode out the gate of Alesia alone and came down to Caesar's camp...
Without a word, Vercingetorix removed his sword belt and handed it to Caesar. Caesar accepted the sword, then passed it to one of his staff. Vercingetorix removed his helmet, with its distinctive Gallic crest, and passed it over. Then his armor, richly decorated with gold and silver -- attendants helped him out of it, and then this, too, he presented to Caesar, who in turn passed it to subordinates.
I felt bad enough for him, reading about his surrender. Then this:
Kept a prisoner for six years, Vercingetorix would be exhibited at Caesar's Triumph at Rome in 46 BC, lashed, and then executed in the time-honored manner, garroted behind prison walls in the northwestern corner of the Forum, as the culmination of the triumphal parade through the city's streets.
Vercingetorix's surrender is sad:
First putting on his richest armor and adorning his favorite horse with golden trappings, the commander of the Gauls rode out the gate of Alesia alone and came down to Caesar's camp...
Without a word, Vercingetorix removed his sword belt and handed it to Caesar. Caesar accepted the sword, then passed it to one of his staff. Vercingetorix removed his helmet, with its distinctive Gallic crest, and passed it over. Then his armor, richly decorated with gold and silver -- attendants helped him out of it, and then this, too, he presented to Caesar, who in turn passed it to subordinates.
I felt bad enough for him, reading about his surrender. Then this:
Kept a prisoner for six years, Vercingetorix would be exhibited at Caesar's Triumph at Rome in 46 BC, lashed, and then executed in the time-honored manner, garroted behind prison walls in the northwestern corner of the Forum, as the culmination of the triumphal parade through the city's streets.
Chapter VI -- Revolt and Revenge (continued)
Commius then created a wall of flames in front of his camp one night, and screened by this, his troops hastily withdrew to a new position ten miles away.
Commius cast a 4th-level Wizard spell?
"Eagles don't catch flies."
"Don't make your physician your heir, and you're sure to live to a ripe old age."
I love those Roman sayings.
Commius then created a wall of flames in front of his camp one night, and screened by this, his troops hastily withdrew to a new position ten miles away.
Commius cast a 4th-level Wizard spell?
"Eagles don't catch flies."
"Don't make your physician your heir, and you're sure to live to a ripe old age."
I love those Roman sayings.
Re: Chapter VI -- Revolt and Revenge (continued)
Howdy!
Good one!!
Mike
Howdy!
mmadsen said:Commius then created a wall of flames in front of his camp one night, and screened by this, his troops hastily withdrew to a new position ten miles away.
Commius cast a 4th-level Wizard spell?
Good one!!
Mike
Chapter VII -- Enemy of the State
So the Senate schemes up a way to transfer one of Caesar's legions to Pompey's command. Caesar's response?
Caesar said he would give up his army if Pompey gave up his. If not, Caesar would advance on Italy and, in his own words, "Bring succor to my homeland and myself."
Because clearly a coup d'etat would bring succor to Rome...
[The Senate] appointed [Pompey] military commander in chief, voting him the powers necessary to mobilize an army of 130,000 men. And it declared Julius Caesar an enemy of the state.
It's hard to believe Caesar wins this one, isn't it?
So the Senate schemes up a way to transfer one of Caesar's legions to Pompey's command. Caesar's response?
Caesar said he would give up his army if Pompey gave up his. If not, Caesar would advance on Italy and, in his own words, "Bring succor to my homeland and myself."
Because clearly a coup d'etat would bring succor to Rome...
[The Senate] appointed [Pompey] military commander in chief, voting him the powers necessary to mobilize an army of 130,000 men. And it declared Julius Caesar an enemy of the state.
It's hard to believe Caesar wins this one, isn't it?
Chapter VII -- Enemy of the State
Julius Caesar stood beside the stream in the darkness, looking pensively into the rippling waters as the first rays of the new dawn pierced the eastern sky. This was the Rubicon River, an otherwise insignificant waterway in eastern Italy that marked the boundary between the province of Cisalpine Gaul and Italy.
He's not going to cross the Rubicon is he? (Of course, "cross the Rubicon" now means "to take an irrevocable step"...)
The day before, January 10, Caesar had secretly sent a commando force across the Rubicon....Made up of tribunes, centurions, and picked men of the 13th Legion, the small force had entered Italy with farmers' cloaks disguising their military uniforms and hiding the swords on their hips...
"Picked men" is code for "PCs".
Julius Caesar stood beside the stream in the darkness, looking pensively into the rippling waters as the first rays of the new dawn pierced the eastern sky. This was the Rubicon River, an otherwise insignificant waterway in eastern Italy that marked the boundary between the province of Cisalpine Gaul and Italy.
He's not going to cross the Rubicon is he? (Of course, "cross the Rubicon" now means "to take an irrevocable step"...)
The day before, January 10, Caesar had secretly sent a commando force across the Rubicon....Made up of tribunes, centurions, and picked men of the 13th Legion, the small force had entered Italy with farmers' cloaks disguising their military uniforms and hiding the swords on their hips...
"Picked men" is code for "PCs".
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Chapter VII -- Enemy of the State
Despite his promises to the 10th years before that he would make the legion his bodyguard, Caesar had instead come to use big, bearded, physically daunting, and highly mobile Trever and Batavian cavalrymen from the Rhine in that role. They were mercenaries in every sense of the word. While Caesar paid them well, they remained faithful -- not to his army, not to Rome, but to Caesar personally -- and they would serve him loyally thoughout his career.
I love the imagery of the big, bearded, barbarian cavalrymen -- and it still amuses me that these "giants" were, maybe, 5'8". One slice of bread for lunch doesn't build big legionaries...
Despite his promises to the 10th years before that he would make the legion his bodyguard, Caesar had instead come to use big, bearded, physically daunting, and highly mobile Trever and Batavian cavalrymen from the Rhine in that role. They were mercenaries in every sense of the word. While Caesar paid them well, they remained faithful -- not to his army, not to Rome, but to Caesar personally -- and they would serve him loyally thoughout his career.
I love the imagery of the big, bearded, barbarian cavalrymen -- and it still amuses me that these "giants" were, maybe, 5'8". One slice of bread for lunch doesn't build big legionaries...
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