Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . CHAPTER X. THE CONQUEST OF NORTH-WESTERN ||HE troops were withdrawn forif winter-quarters into the coun-try of the Sequani. Caesarwrote these few words in hisusualquiet and matter-of-factway, at the end of his firstbook on the GalHc War, as ifthere were no special signifi-cance about them. Yet hemust have very well knownthat this act of his was the declaration of a newpolicy, and full of meaning alike for Gauls, Germans,and Italians. So far he had been acting as thechampion of Gallic tribes against barbarian invaders,
Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . CHAPTER X. THE CONQUEST OF NORTH-WESTERN ||HE troops were withdrawn forif winter-quarters into the coun-try of the Sequani. Caesarwrote these few words in hisusualquiet and matter-of-factway, at the end of his firstbook on the GalHc War, as ifthere were no special signifi-cance about them. Yet hemust have very well knownthat this act of his was the declaration of a newpolicy, and full of meaning alike for Gauls, Germans,and Italians. So far he had been acting as thechampion of Gallic tribes against barbarian invaders,in order to secure the Roman frontier, and to pushback the elements of discord. But to keep an armyfor a whole winter in territory which was not Roman,meant something more than this—it meant that heII l6i. 162 yulius Ccesar, [57 was going to extend the frontier permanently, and totrust no longer to the weak and crumbling barrier ofGallic population which separated him from the Rhineand the Germans. The very sight of the Rhine, never till then seenby Roman soldiers, must have acted strongly on hisadventurous spirit, and have suggested that new anduseful strategic frontier which he bequeathed to along line of Roman emperors. But still more irre-sistible, we may imagine, was his new experience ofthose undulating plains of eastern Gaul, in which thegreater part of the summer had been spent. Thiswas not aland of swamp and forest, like the Germanyinto which he afterwards penetrated, but one flowingwith milk and honey, a veritable land of promise;inhabited by a settled and industrious people, activeand intelligent, good traders, and, with the necessarytraining, good soldiers also. Caesar had alreadybegun to note the characteristics of this people, theirstrong and weak points, their politi
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectcaesarjulius, booksubjectgenerals
