The sweeping off
the earth in such a manner of a quarter of a million human creatures, even
in those unscrupulous times, could not be heard of without a shudder. The
irritation in the Senate can hardly be taken as disinterested. Men who had
intrigued with Ariovistus for Caesar's destruction, needed not to be
credited with feelings of pure humanity when they made the most of the
opportunity. But an opportunity had undoubtedly been offered them. The
rights of war have their limits. No living man in ordinary circumstances
recognized those limits more than Caesar did. No commander was more
habitually merciful in victory. In this case the limits had been
ruthlessly exceeded. The Germans were not indeed defending their own
country; they were the invaders of another; but they were a fine brave
race, overtaken by fate when doing no more than their forefathers had done
for unknown generations. The excuse for their extermination was simply
this: that Caesar had undertaken the conquest of Gaul for the defence of
Italy. A powerful party among the Gauls themselves were content to be
annexed to the Roman Empire. The patriots looked to the Germans to help
them in driving out the Romans. The Germanizing of Gaul would lead with
certainty to fresh invasions of Italy; and it seemed permissible, and even
necessary, to put a stop to these immigrations once for all, and to show
Gauls and Germans equally that they were not to be.
Pages:
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371