You are not to think or
ask questions. I tell you the truth, and you must prepare for it. If any
of you are alarmed, I shall send you home."
Yet he was singularly careful of his soldiers. He allowed his legions
rest, though he allowed none to himself. He rarely fought a battle at a
disadvantage. He never exposed his men to unnecessary danger, and the loss
by wear and tear in the campaigns in Gaul was exceptionally and even
astonishingly slight. When a gallant action was performed, he knew by whom
it had been done, and every soldier, however humble, might feel assured
that if he deserved praise he would have it. The army was Caesar's family.
When Sabinus was cut off, he allowed his beard to grow, and he did not
shave it till the disaster was avenged. If Quintus Cicero had been his own
child, he could not have run greater personal risk to save him when shut
up at Charleroy. In discipline he was lenient to ordinary faults, and not
careful to make curious inquiries into such things. He liked his men to
enjoy themselves. Military mistakes in his officers too he always
endeavored to excuse, never blaming them for misfortunes, unless there had
been a defect of courage as well as judgment. Mutiny and desertion only he
never overlooked. And thus no general was ever more loved by, or had
greater power over, the army which served under him.
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