He shot me a sidelong glance, opened his mouth as if to argue, then merely shrugged. “I suppose.”
I was not willing to pursue more of a victory than that, and let the matter drop. We made as thorough a search as possible, given the circumstances and the time we were permitted. It was rapidly nearing sundown, and we had been ordered to be out of the town by then, Caesar wanting to avoid the very kind of incidents that Vibius and I were arguing about. Caesar’s orders were followed, but I am not so foolish as to think that there were not a few gold pieces, or a necklace or two that found their way into the pouch of one of the Legionaries of the 10th, and while there was no rape, there were a few bottoms and breasts fondled as some of our men “searched” the women for a hidden dagger. But it takes a good amount of time to conduct a proper search, and we were under no illusions that we found everything. As it turned out, neither was Caesar.
Extremely tired from the day’s exertions as we were, it was with groans and curses that we were ordered to maintain an alert of 50 percent through the night. “Caesar doesn’t trust these bastards, and I don’t blame him, seeing the way they reacted when we took their weapons,” the Primus Pilus told us as he passed the word to each Cohort.
As a further precaution, Caesar also ordered bundles of sticks and the like, items that were easily ignited, to be left in bunches at various points along the walls of the camp. Therefore, it was not much of a surprise when, during the third watch of the night, the gates burst open and a large armed force came streaming out, heading for the wall built along the neck of the horseshoe.
“To arms! Man the walls!”
Springing up from where I was curled up in my sagum in one of the small forts built at strategic points behind the wall cutting off the town, I was thankful that I had kept my armor on and only had to grab my harness and helmet. Running to our assigned place on the wall, I saw that the men standing guard had already lit the bundles then thrown them as far from the wall as they could. It was in the flickering illumination of those bundles that we could see the Aduatuci come hurtling at us, and we were not surprised to see that they were all armed.
“Prepare Javelins!”
This was not going to be a battle, it was going to be a slaughter I thought, pulling my arm back into position. Having the advantage of our walls and towers, giving us the high ground, the Aduatuci were packed into a tight mass, realizing that their only chance was to exploit one small part of the wall. However, that wall was lined with men in three ranks, shoulder to shoulder, for its entire length, and each man had two javelins to throw at a target that was impossible to miss.
"Release!”
There was no need to aim, so we launched our missiles high into the air, letting the momentum spend itself before turning downward to whistle down into the packed men running towards us. There was also no need for the illumination of the bundles to tell us we hit our mark, the screams of men transfixed or pinned together in some cases rolling back to us in the dark. The charge inevitably halted for a moment as men stumbled over the bodies of their dead and wounded comrades, or discarded their shields now that it had a shaft of a javelin dragging and sticking in the ground, before they began running at us again. Another volley knifed through the air, and the effects were just as devastating as the first time. Even above the screams we could hear the twanging of the tension cords of the scorpions as they launched their bolts into the midst of the Aduatuci, with the range close enough that a single bolt could pass through a man’s body like it was papyrus to skewer another man behind him, and even another one after that. Although they were being slaughtered, the Aduatuci kept advancing before the third volley finally broke them and they went streaming back towards the gates of the town, our jeers and taunts ringing in their ears.
When the sun came up the next morning, we were greeted by the sight of more than 3,000 bodies, those of the dead mingling with those that would be joining them shortly, once we moved among them and finished them off. The treachery of the Aduatuci sealed their fate, despite the pleas yet again from their elders, although this time they did it from the walls, not daring to show themselves in person after the attempt the night before. They were merely prolonging their fate, however, Caesar giving orders to loot the town and round up the remaining people. The Aduatuci did not resist, surprising me somewhat, although putting myself in their place, I guess they realized that if they resisted, they would all be put to death. Still, they had to know what awaited them in a lifetime of slavery, and it is this point of view that, despite witnessing it many times, I have never understood. For myself, and most of the Romans I have known, the idea of slavery is so horrific that we would prefer to die, preferably with a sword in hand, or at least that is what we say to ourselves and to each other. And when I was young I accepted that as an article of faith, not only about myself but my fellow Romans, yet now that I am at least older, if not wiser, I sometimes wonder if it is only because we never had to face choosing between life, even in an unpleasant form, or the finality of death. Diocles and I have had many debates about this question, and I bow to his gift of persuasion to admit that at least I now will entertain an idea that I once would have rejected out of hand.
(My master and friend does not do himself enough credit. He is correct in saying that we have discussed this at length many times, but I do not think it was due to any persuasive measures on my part that have brought him to this relatively recent viewpoint. I do think that Titus has gained much wisdom over the years, harvested from all of the battlefields and all of his contact with men from all parts of the world. He is very much a man of the world now, although he would threaten to beat me if he heard me describe him so. He is not quite the simple old soldier that he likes to portray himself.)
Nevertheless, we were given the town to sack, making Vibius and admittedly everyone else happy to see that something good came from all their sweat and toil, although I think the Aduatuci did not see it that way. However they had rolled the dice, and they lost, so as far as I was concerned, they had no right to bemoan their fate, although it did not stop them from doing just that. Caesar sold the entire remaining population of the town, some 53,000 people, in one lot, although he did decree that more than one of the slave traders who followed us around execute the sale so that the profits were shared. All the wailing that ensued was tedious, and admittedly somewhat heart wrenching, as we supervised the process of shackling the Aduatuci, their first introduction to their new lives. I was just thankful that I would not be present when they were sold and families were torn apart, each of them going to separate parts of the Empire, or Republic as we thought of it then. Still, it was not a pleasant task, and one that we were thankful when it was over, though once it was done, the campaign was over. The Belgae were subdued, if only for the moment as it turned out.
Chapter 8- The Veneti
All activity did not cease with the fall of the Aduatuci, however. Caesar, with the help of his Legions, had managed to open up a vast new territory for trade, and it was with that in mind that he sent one of the Tribunes, Servius Galba along with the 12th Legion, to open up a new route through the mountains leading to the Province. While we were subduing the Aduatuci, Publius Crassus was sent to the coast of Gaul, along with the 7th, to subdue the tribes of the Veneti, Venelli, Ausuvi and some others I forget, which he did with great success. Galba was not so fortunate, and it is with a soldier’s superstition that I say that I often wonder if it had been different if he had taken a Legion other than the 12th. They were already the most under strength Legion of the army to begin with, and while I will not belabor their spotty record, it would be a lie to say that Galba’s failure did not give even more credence to the belief that the Legion was cursed. As for the rest of the army, the 7th stayed with Crassus and wintered to the southwest. The rest of us were sent into winter quarters in various parts of the region of the Belgae, in groups of two Legions, and we were sent back to the spot where the Sabis and Mosa intersected. Meanwhile, Caesar left us once more, this time to Illyricum, which was his other province, one he had yet to set foot in, despite it going on the third year of his governorship. What we did to the Belgae was met with widespread rejoicing, and Caesar was awarded a period of fifteen days of thanksgiving in Rome, which to that time had never happened before. Most of the army was proud that he was receiving the accolades that he was, though not everyone felt that way of course. When the thanksgiving was announced at one of our morning formations, I mentally counted the heartbeats before Vibius started his grumbling once we were dismissed. I do not believe I got past ten.