Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . ver, theyfound it flowing at the foot of a gradual descent; onthe other side the ground rose again at about thesame gradient, open for a short space, and coveredwith wood higher up. A few horsemen were seenon the lower open ground; these were quicklybrushed away by the Roman cavalry and light-armed, who easily crossed a stream not more thanthree feet in depth. The enemy disappeared intothe wood, but as quickly reappeared, and a desul-tory combat went on while the six legions came up,marked out their camp, and set to work upon
Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . ver, theyfound it flowing at the foot of a gradual descent; onthe other side the ground rose again at about thesame gradient, open for a short space, and coveredwith wood higher up. A few horsemen were seenon the lower open ground; these were quicklybrushed away by the Roman cavalry and light-armed, who easily crossed a stream not more thanthree feet in depth. The enemy disappeared intothe wood, but as quickly reappeared, and a desul-tory combat went on while the six legions came up,marked out their camp, and set to work upon they were thus engaged with spade and mat-tock, or in search of the brushwood needed to con-struct the defences, their helmets laid aside, theirshields hanging loose on their backs, there emergedfrom the wood opposite them the whole force of theenemy, sweeping the Roman cavalry before them,and making with prodigious speed for the river andthe unfinished camp. The struggle that ensued was one of the mostterrible that Roman soldiers ever had to go BATTLE OF THE SAMBRE, 57 A. C/ESARS CAMP. B. CAMP OF NERVIl. C. LABIENUS WITH TENTH LEGION. 57 ] Conquest of North-western Gaul, 171 The memory of It lived in Caesars mind so vividlythat he seems to fight the battle over again as hedescribes it, in language for him unusually strongand intense. There was no time to think, hesays; * the enemy were no sooner out of the woodthan they seemed to be upon us; the general hadbut a moment to go through the whole process ofgetting thirty thousand men into such order as thehurry And it is plain from his narrative thattwo things alone saved that army from total destruc-tion : the excellent discipline and intelligence of theindividual soldier, and the coolness and personal valourof the wonderful man who led Every man didhis part; each legion was got into some sort of fightingarray by its commander ; as the men hurried in theytook station where they could, and
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectcaesarjulius, booksubjectgenerals
