Now, since we were leaving that baggage in the hands of the 14th as we continued to march, we were able to move more rapidly. During our movement, we received word that young Basilus had indeed managed to ambush Ambiorix with our cavalry, affecting such complete surprise that it was only by his own bodyguard sacrificing themselves that Ambiorix was allowed to get away, but he did manage to escape. With the bulk of the army following close behind, Caesar divided us into three smaller forces, sending each column into an area where there was a possibility of Ambiorix hiding. Into the land of the Eburones was where Labienus and 10th were sent, along with the 9th and 15th, the latter one of the new Legions, where we began a methodical search of the countryside. Every building, every hamlet, no matter how small or mean, was not only searched, but put to the torch. Because Ambiorix was one of their tribe, it made us just as determined to punish them as we were to avenge ourselves on Ambiorix himself. Yet the deeper and deeper we went into Eburones territory, it was clear that finding not only him, but any Eburones to punish would become more difficult with every passing day. Their lands are riddled with marshes, forests and glades where any resourceful people can hide, and this had been their home for generations, so they knew every inch. Realizing this, instead of putting us at risk, Caesar sent word to all the surrounding tribes, including those across the Rhenus, that the possessions of the Eburones, having been forfeited as a result of their rebellion, were now available for any tribe willing to send a large enough force to take them. As far as we were concerned, we were turned around and marched back in the direction of our baggage, sure that the surrounding Gauls and Germans would pick up ravaging the countryside where we had left off.
It was during this period and because of Caesar's order that another tragedy befell our army, again hitting the ill-starred 14th Legion. Caesar had chosen an experienced hand in Cicero, or so we all thought at the time, although to be fair it is hard to fault him personally for what happened. When we left the baggage, he told Cicero that he would be gone no more than a week, so there would be no need for him to leave the camp to forage. If Caesar was not delayed, there would have been no tragedy, yet Cicero, having heard no word from our commander for the entire week and now out of food, made a command decision. Ordering five Cohorts, along with about 300 men from all the other Legions who were convalescing to go forage for food, Cicero dispatched a cavalry escort for good measure. What he did not know, and truthfully what Caesar did not know, was that our general's offer for other tribes to maraud the Eburones would end up being the cause of the trouble. One of the tribes across the Rhenus, the Sugambri, had indeed been on the march to plunder Eburones territory, except their scouts spied our camp first, taking the measure of the 14th instantly. The foraging party was not gone more than a mile away when the Sugambri descended on the camp, completely encircling it then throwing themselves at the gates, trying to force a breach. It was only through the efforts of one of the convalescing Centurions, Sextus Baculus of the 12th, who was too weak to accompany the foraging party and rose from his sick bed at the sound of the commotion, that the enemy was repulsed from the gates, despite inflicting heavy losses. Meanwhile, the foraging party, alerted to the danger, began marching back to the camp to come to the aid of their comrades. I do not know exactly what happened then; there was talk in the army that some of the men who were made Centurions in the new Legion were not ready for such responsibility, so when the moment came to be tested, their nerve failed them. Whatever happened, the result was that there was a splitting of the Cohorts, with the experienced men banding together, along with the convalescing men, to march their way back to the camp, cutting their way through the Sugambri. The tiros, either refusing to move or being so scared that they were unable to do so, instead stood huddled on a small knoll, watching their more experienced comrades fight their way back to the camp. From all accounts it was a scene of utter chaos, making it easy to see how young, inexperienced men lost their heads. Unfortunately, either because they refused to listen to their Centurions, which is what the surviving Centurions and Optios claimed, or because they were abandoned when they did not instantly obey orders while under attack, which is what was more commonly accepted as fact, the loss of their heads went from the figurative to the literal. A total of a little more than two Cohorts were lost that day, further reinforcing in our minds that not only the site of the camp, but the 14th Legion itself was damned.
The aftermath of this battle was not yet cleaned up when we arrived back at the camp, the word spreading quickly through the column about what happened. I was saddened but not surprised when I saw the stiffening corpse of the young boy I had locked eyes with that day when we marched past, and I offered a short prayer to the gods to speak for him, although I never really knew him. This was the last operation of the season as winter was setting in. Although Ambiorix escaped, his people would very likely not survive the winter, because we not only laid waste to their lands, but also forbade any other tribe giving them aid, on pain of being considered in rebellion with them. We were going to be sent to new camps for the winter, distributed according to Caesar’s wishes, with ourselves and five other Legions going into winter quarters at Agedincum, where we made camp on an island in the middle of the river. Meanwhile, Caesar held a tribunal at Duroctorum, where the chief who we learned was the power behind the scenes that initiated all this business, Acco, was tried and found guilty of fomenting insurrection, and sentenced to death. With the army settling into its winter routine, most of us wondered if we would have another one as active as the last.
Chapter 11- Rebellion of Vercingetorix
The fact that Caesar went to the trouble of actually subjecting Acco to the formality of a trial had an unforeseen consequence because it prompted the chiefs of the various Gallic tribes to discuss this event among themselves. They came to the conclusion that Caesar subjecting Acco to such a punishment could only mean that Caesar was intent on subjugating Gaul to the point where it would be named a Senatorial province of Rome. I cannot say what was in Caesar’s mind, yet speaking from the ranks, it never occurred to us that Caesar held any other goal but making all of Gaul a Roman province. I for one found it puzzling that here, six years into Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul, these Gallic chiefs were just coming to a conclusion that we had assumed as fact for so long. Whatever the case, the discontent and resentment were about to boil over yet again, with the chiefs beginning to plot the overthrow of Caesar and Rome. In their earlier attempts what crippled them was that they still thought of themselves as separate tribes, so that they were either unwilling or unable to put aside old hatred for one tribe or another in order to work together. Then later, once they learned that they would have to cooperate if they were to have any chance of overthrowing us, they were faced with the problem of not having a leader with the vision and charisma needed to unite such a fractious lot. They were saddled with the likes of Ambiorix, who for whatever reason did not excite the other tribes to rally to his cause in sufficient numbers to be troublesome. Indutiomarus had his hands full trying to solidify his power within his own tribe, and replacing his son-in-law alienated as many of his people as it won to his banner. But now, there came the kind of man who was able to unite the tribes, a man who was the first real threat to our control of Gaul. His name was Vercingetorix.