FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   >>  
reconquer the rights of old Gaul."--Thierry. [10] Here are Caesar's own words on this extraordinary event, taken from his _Ephemerides_, or diary, wherein with his own hand he was accustomed to enter day by day what of interest had occurred to him. These words are transmitted to us by Servius: "Caius Julius Caesar, cum dimicaret in Gallia, et ab hoste raptus, equo ejus portaretur armatus, occurrit quidam ex hostibus qui cum nosset et insultans ait: Ceco Caesar! quod in lingua Gallorum dimitte significat. Et ita factum est ut dimitteretur. "Hoc autem dicit ipse Caesar in Ephemeride sua ubi propriam commemorat felicitatem."--Ex Servio LXI. Aeneid, edit. Amstelod, type Elsevir, 1650, ex antiquo Vatic. Extemp. cap. VIII. "One can see by this passage," adds d'Auvergne, "that Caesar, having been released by the Gaul who had made him prisoner and who was carrying him off on his horse fully armed from the field of battle, believed the saving of his life to be due to the very word which was intended to be his death sentence: to the word _sko_, which Caesar wrote _ceco_, and which he falsely interpreted to mean _release_ when the word in Gallic in reality means _kill_, _strike_, _beat down_. Everything points to the conclusion that fear or stupefaction having seized the Gauls, in whose power Caesar completely was, at the mere mention of his name, he owed his safety to the sheer astonishment of his captor." [11] "During the fight, which lasted from the seventh hour until the evening, not a Gaul was seen turning his back (aversum hostem nemo videre potuit)."--Caesar, _De Bello Gallico_, ch. XXXVII. [12] "When the Romans drew near the chariots they came face to face with a new enemy, the war dogs. These were with difficulty exterminated by the archers."--Pliny, book LXXII, chap. C. [13] The total destruction of the Gallic fleet was the result of an extremely dangerous invention by the Romans, who, by means of scythes fastened to long poles, cut the stays which held the masts. These fell, and the Gallic vessels, deprived of sails and motion, were reduced to impotence. See Caesar, _De Bello Gallico_, book III, ch. XIV, XV. [14] See Pliny, Quintilian, Seneca, etc. Cited by Wallon in his _History of Slavery in Antiquity_, vol. II, p. 329. [15] About $100 or $120 in modern money. This was at the time the market price of a slave. (Wallon, _History of Slavery in Antiquity_, vol. II, p. 329.) [16] Slaves had no name of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   >>  



Top keywords:
Caesar
 

Gallic

 

History

 
Wallon
 

Slavery

 
Romans
 

Gallico

 

Antiquity

 

potuit

 

videre


chariots

 
stupefaction
 

seized

 

XXXVII

 

turning

 

During

 

mention

 

captor

 

safety

 
astonishment

lasted

 

completely

 
aversum
 

evening

 

seventh

 

hostem

 

Quintilian

 
Seneca
 

deprived

 
motion

reduced

 

impotence

 

Slaves

 

market

 
modern
 

vessels

 

destruction

 
archers
 

difficulty

 

exterminated


result

 
fastened
 

extremely

 

conclusion

 

dangerous

 

invention

 

scythes

 

sentence

 

nosset

 

insultans