Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . ncient renownin Gaul it was a part of his policy to re-establish. The reader of the Commentaries may be dis-posed to ask how it was that Caesar, with a force oflittle more than 40,000 men, could effect even atemporary conquest by simply marching throughthe country of the Belgse. 4lt was done, no doubt,in the first place by the very rapidity of his progressand the perfect organisation of his material; butalso in part by the demand for the surrender ofarms, and chiefly by the pfclicy of taking hostagesas a pledge of good faith. iThi
Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . ncient renownin Gaul it was a part of his policy to re-establish. The reader of the Commentaries may be dis-posed to ask how it was that Caesar, with a force oflittle more than 40,000 men, could effect even atemporary conquest by simply marching throughthe country of the Belgse. 4lt was done, no doubt,in the first place by the very rapidity of his progressand the perfect organisation of his material; butalso in part by the demand for the surrender ofarms, and chiefly by the pfclicy of taking hostagesas a pledge of good faith. iThis policy, now obso-lete in civilised warfare, had a force which can only beunderstood by the careful student of antiquity. Itis only when we have learnt to appreciate thestrength of the ties that bound men together ingroups of kin, and the troubles that might arisefrom a failure of heirs in those groups, that we canfeel the binding force of a compulsory surrender ofhostages. The claim of blood was the strongestthat the ancient Celts knew, and the feeling sur-. BALLISTA OR STONE-THROWER.(Baumeister.) 57 ] Conquest of North-western GauL 169 vives among them to the present day. To place inthe hands of their enemies those on whom thefuture of their race and their religious rites de-pended, was to let themselves be fettered by bondswhich only the most desperate would ever attemptto break. From the country round Amiens Caesar turned ina north-easterly direction, and soon found himself inthe territory of a people wilder and more warlikethan any he had encountered this year. The Nerviiwere not to be cowed by the easy submission oftheir kinsmen, whom they regarded with contemptas traitors and cowards, demoralised by luxury andself-indulgence. They themselves drank no wine,and gave no admission to the traders in such lux-uries, who swarmed in every other part of GauLThey fought on foot only, and were protected fromraids of hostile horsemen by the dense wall-likehedges of their countr
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