But
Roman civilians had followed in the van of the armies. Roman traders had
penetrated into the towns on the Seine and the Loire, and the curious
Celts had learnt from them the distractions of their new rulers. Caesar's
situation was as well understood among the Aedui and the Sequani as in the
clubs and coteries of the capital of the Empire, and the turn of events
was watched with equal anxiety. The victory over Sabinus, sharply avenged
as it had been, kept alive the hope that their independence might yet be
recovered. The disaffection of the preceding summer had been trampled out,
but the ashes of it were still smouldering; and when it became known that
Clodius, who was regarded as Caesar's tribune, had been killed, that the
Senate was in power again, and that Italy was threatened with civil
convulsions, their passionate patriotism kindled once more into flame.
Sudden in their resolutions, they did not pause to watch how the balance
would incline. Caesar was across the Alps. Either he would be deposed, or
civil war would detain him in Italy. His legions were scattered between
Treves, Auxerre, and Sens, far from the Roman frontier. A simultaneous
rising would cut them off from support, and they could be starved out or
overwhelmed in detail, as Sabinus had been at Tongres and Cicero had
almost been at Charleroy.
Pages:
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434