Note 468 — Chapter X · (Year of Rome 702.) (Book VII. of the “Commentaries.”) REVOLT OF GAUL—CAPTURE OF VELLAUNODUNUM, GENABUM, AND NOVIODUNUM—SIEGES OF AVARICUM AND GERGOVIA—CAMPAIGN OF LABIENUS AGAINST THE PARISII—SIEGE OF ALESIA.

De Bello Gallico, VII. 11.—Contrary to the generally received opinion, we adopt Gien and not Orleans for the ancient Genabum, Triguères for Vellaunodonum, Sancerre for Noviodunum, and, lastly, Saint-Parize-le-Châtel for the Gorgobina of the Boii.

As Cæsar’s object, on quitting Sens, was to march as quickly as possible to the oppidum of the Boii, in order to raise the siege, since he starts without baggage, so as to be less impeded in his march, we will first examine the probable position of this latter town, before discussing the question relating to the intermediate points.

Gorgobina Boiorum. After the defeat of the Helvetii, Cæsar allowed the Ædui to receive the Boii upon their territory, and it is probable that they were established on the western frontier, as in an advanced post against the Arverni and the Bituriges. Several data confirm this opinion. Tacitus (Histor., II. 61) relates that: Mariccus quidam, e plebe Boiorum,.... concitis octo millibus hominum, proximos Æduorum pagos trahebat. The possessions of the Boii were, therefore, contiguous to the Æduan territory. Pliny the Elder (Hist. Nat., IV. 18) places the Boii in the number of the nations who inhabited the centre of the Lyonnaise. Intus autem Ædui fœderati, Carnuti fœderati, Boii, Senones.... The place here occupied by the word Boii shows us again that this people was not far from the Ædui, the Senones, and the Carnutes. Lastly, the text of the “Commentaries” represents Vercingetorix as obliged to traverse the country of the Bituriges to repair to Gorgobina. The most plausible opinion is that which places the Boii between the Loire and the Allier, towards the confluence of these two rivers. This was already an old tradition, adopted in the fifteenth century by Raimondus Marlianus, one of the first editors of Cæsar. This space of ground, covered in its eastern part with woods and marshes, was admirably suited by its extent to the limited population of the Boii, who did not number more than 20,000 souls. Neither Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, marked on the map of Gaul as Gorgobina, nor La Guerche, proposed by General de Gœler, answer completely, by their topographical position, to the site of a Gaulish oppidum. In fact, Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier is far from being advantageously situated; this village stands at the foot of the hills which border the right bank of the Allier. La-Guerche-sur-Aubois fulfils no better the conditions of defence which must be required in the principal town of the Boii: it is situated almost in a plain, on the edge of a marshy valley of the Aubois. It presents a few remains of fortifications of the Middle Ages, but not a trace of more remote antiquity has been discovered in it. To seek Gorgobina farther down, and on the left bank of the Loire, is impossible, since, according to Cæsar, the Boii had been established on the territory of the Ædui, and the Loire formed the boundary between the Ædui and the Bituriges. If we are reduced to conjectures, we must at least admit as incontestable what is advanced by Cæsar.

The village of Saint-Parize-le-Châtel suits better. It is about eight kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, nearly in the middle of the space comprised between the Loire and the Allier; it occupies the centre of ancient agglomeration of inhabitants, which Guy Coquille, at the end of the sixteenth century, designates under the name of the bourg de Gentily, and which the chronicles called, down to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Pagus Gentilicus, or bourg des gentils. The history of this people has this remarkable peculiarity, that, whilst all the neighbouring nations on the other side of the Allier and the Loire had, as early as the fourth century, accepted the Christian religion, they alone continued in idolatry until the sixth century. Does this fact apply to a tribe settled in a foreign country, as the Boii were, who would retain their customs and religion for a longer time unchanged? An ancient tradition states that, in the environs of Saint-Parize, there was, at a very remote period, a considerable town, which was destroyed by a fire. A few scattered foundations, discovered in the woods of Bord, to the south-west of Saint Parize, seem to indicate the site of the oppidum of the Boii. The name of the castle, of the domain, and of the place called Les Bruyères de Buy, remind us of that of the Boii.

There was probably a Roman station at Saincaise-Meauce (thirteen kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier), on the right bank of the Allier. In 1861, there were discovered there numerous objects of the Gallo-Roman period, and two busts in white marble, life-size, representing Roman emperors. At Chantenay, eight kilomètres south from Saint-Pierre, a few Roman foundations have been found, and a considerable number of Gaulish coins, one of which, amongst others, bears the name of the Æduan Litavicus.

Genabum. The position of Gorgobina once established at the confluence of the Loire and the Allier, we must admit Gien as the ancient Genabum, and not Orleans, for the following reasons:—

1st. We cannot believe that Cæsar, leaving Sens in spite of the rigour of the season, and in haste to raise the siege of Gorgobina, should, without any reason, have taken a circuitous road of seventy-five kilomètres, which would represent three or four days march, in order to pass by Orleans. In fact, the distance from Sens to the confluence of the Allier and the Loire, is, by Orleans, 270 kilomètres, whilst it is only 180 kilomètres by the way of Gien.

2nd. From Sens to Gien the road was short and easy; on the contrary, from Sens to Orleans it was necessary to pass the great marsh of Sceaux and the forest of Orleans, probably impracticable. Now, the road indicated on the Peutingerian Table, as leading from Orleans to Sens, must have had a decided curve towards the south, and passed close by Gien, after having passed through Aquæ-Segeste (Craon and Chenevière), for the distance between Sens and Orleans is marked at fifty-nine Gaulish leagues, or 134 kilomètres. The Roman road, which leads directly from Sens to Orleans, by way of Sceaux, and which the itineraries do not mention, has only a length of 110 kilomètres: it is certainly less ancient than the former, and can never have been a Gaulish road.

3rd. The “Commentaries” inform us that the news of the insurrection of Genabum arrived in a short time among the Averni (of whom Gergovia, near Clermont, was the principal centre), at a distance of 160 miles (237 kilomètres) from Genabum. Now, the distance from Gien to Gergovia, by the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, is 240 kilomètres, which agrees with the text, whilst from Orleans to the same spot it is 300 kilomètres.

4th. After having crossed the Loire at Genabum, Cæsar was in the territory of the Bituriges. This is true if he passed by Gien, and false if he passed by Orleans, since, opposite Orleans, the left bank belonged to the territory of the Carnutes. It is true that it has been pretended that Gien belonged to the ancient diocese of Auxerre, and that, consequently, it was in the territory of the Senones, and not in that of the Carnutes. The limits of the ancient dioceses cannot be considered as indicating in an absolute manner the frontiers of the peoples of Gaul; and we cannot admit that the territory of the Senones formed an acute angle upon the territory of the Carnutes, the summit of which would be occupied by Gien. Moreover, whatever change it may have experienced in feudal times, in regard to its diocesan attribution, Gien has never formed a part of the Orléanais, in its civil and political relations. In 561, Gien was included in the kingdom of Orleans and Burgundy.

We believe, therefore, that Genabum was, not old Gien, which, notwithstanding its epithet, may be posterior to Cæsar, but the present Gien. This little town, by its position on the banks of the Loire, besides containing a hill very appropriate for the site of an ancient oppidum, possesses sufficiently interesting ruins, and agrees much better than Old Gien with the oppidum of the Carnutes. Without attaching too great faith to traditions and etymologies, we must, nevertheless, mention a gate at Gien, which, from time immemorial, has been called Cæsar’s Gate (la Porte de César); a street called à la Genabye, which leads, not towards Orleans, but towards the high part of town; a piece of ground, situated to the north of Gien, at the angle formed by the road to Montargis and the Roman road, at a distance of about one kilomètre, which still preserves the name of the Field of the Camp (La Pièce du Camp). Perhaps this is the spot where Cæsar placed his camp, opposite the most accessible part of the town.

The principal reason why Orleans has been taken for Genabum is that the Itinerary of Antoninus indicates that town under the name of Cenabum or Cenabo, and that this name is also found in some lately discovered inscriptions. It may be supposed that the inhabitants of Gien, after having escaped from the destruction of their town, descended the river, and, on the spot where Orleans now stands, formed a new establishment, to which they gave the name of the first city; in the same manner the inhabitants of Bibracte removed to Autun, and those of Gergovia to Clermont.

Independently of the above considerations, Orleans, by its position on a declivity uniformly inclined toward the Loire, does not at all answer to the conditions of a Gaulish oppidum. If we admit Orleans to be Genabum, it becomes very difficult to assign a convenient site for the oppida of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.

Vellaunodunum. The situation of the territory of the Boii being admitted, as well as that of Genabum, we have to find, on the road which Cæsar pursued from Sens to Gorgobina, the intermediate points of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.

On the direct line from Sens to Gien, at the distance of 40 kilomètres from Sens, we meet with the little town of Triguères. The hill which overlooks it from the north agrees with the position of the ancient oppidum; the remains of walls, fosses, and parapets have been found on it. Farther, there were discovered in 1856, at 500 mètres to the north-west of Triguères, the ruins of a large semi-elliptical theatre, capable of containing from 5,000 to 6,000 spectators. In another direction, the ruins of a Druidical monument have been pointed out; in fact, everything leads to the belief that there existed at Triguères, in the Gallo-Roman period, an important centre, which had been preceded by a Gaulish establishment anterior to the conquest. A road paved with stones, considered by some as a Gaulish or Celtic way, but accepted by all archæologists as a Roman road, goes direct from Sens to Triguères, by Courtenay, and passes along the eastern side of the oppidum. Another ancient way leads similarly from Triguères to Gien. We feel no hesitation, after what precedes, in placing Vellaunodunum at Triguères.

It will be objected that the distance from Sens to this little town (40 kilomètres) is too small to have taken the Roman army, without baggage, three days’ march; but Cæsar does not say that he employed three days in proceeding from Agedincum to Vellaunodunum: he informs us merely that, leaving all his baggage at Agedincum, he journeyed towards the country of the Boii, and that on the second day he arrived at Vellaunodunum. Nothing, therefore, obliges us to suppose that, before it marched, the Roman army was concentrated or encamped at Agedincum itself. Persons unacquainted with military art are apt to suppose that an army lives and marches always concentrated on one point.

Cæsar, although he was effecting the concentration of his troops before entering into campaign, did not keep them massed at the gates of Sens, but he probably distributed them in échelon in the neighbourhood of the town, along the Yonne. When afterwards he decided on marching to the succour of the Boii, we must suppose that the first day was employed in concentrating the whole army at Sens itself, in leaving the baggage there, perhaps also in crossing the Yonne, a long operation for more than 60,000 men. The first day having passed, the army continued its march next day, and arrived at Triguères the day following, having performed two days’ march of 20 kilomètres each. We see, then, that the distance between Sens and Triguères does not prevent us from identifying this latter locality with Vellaunodunum. Triguères is distant 44 kilomètres from Gien, the distance which separated Vellaunodunum from Genabum, and which might have been marched in two days.

Noviodunum. To find the site of Noviodunum, we must seek a position which agrees best with the “Commentaries” in the triangle formed by the three known points, Gien, Le Bec-d’Allier, and Bourges. Since, according to the text, Vercingetorix did not raise the siege of the town of the Boii until he had heard of Cæsar’s arrival on the left bank of the Loire, and since the two hostile armies, marching towards each other, met at Noviodunum, it follows that this last-named town must be about half-way between the spot where the Loire was passed and the town of the Boii; on another hand, since Cæsar took several days to reach Bourges from Noviodunum, there must have been a rather considerable distance between those two last-named towns. Moreover, in order that the inhabitants of Noviodunum should have seen in the distance, from the top of their walls, the cavalry of Vercingetorix, the town must necessarily have been situated on an eminence. Lastly, the cavalry combat, fought at a small distance from the town, proves that the ground was sufficiently flat to permit that engagement.

It is, therefore, because certain points hitherto indicated do not answer to the conditions required by the text, that we have not admitted, as representing Noviodunum, the towns of Nouan-le-Fuselier, Pierrefitte-sur-Saudre, Nohant-en-Goût, Neuvy-en-Sullias, or Neuvy-sur-Barangeon. In fact, some of these are too far from Bec-d’Allier, while others are too near Bourges, and most of them are situated in a plain.

Sancerre, on the contrary, answers all the conditions of the text. It is situated on a hill which rises 115 mètres above the valley watered by the Loire. Encircled on all sides by deep ravines, it can only be approached from one point, situated to the east, where the ancient Roman road of Bourges terminated, which is still at the present day called the Big Road (le Gros Chemin). The Abbé Lebœuf, as early as 1727, had designated this town as the ancient Noviodunum. It is near Saint-Satur, at the very foot of the mountain of Sancerre, that a Gallo-Roman town existed, of which, within the last few years, numerous foundations have been found. It is probable that this Gallo-Roman town had succeeded to a great centre of Gaulish population, for the Bituriges must necessarily have occupied in their territory a point so admirably fortified by nature, and which commanded the course of the Loire, the line of boundary between them and the Ædui. The present town seems to have kept within the very limits of the ancient oppidum; it has the form of an ellipse of from 700 to 800 mètres in length on a breadth of about 500 mètres, capable of containing a population of from 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. At Sancerre there was also, at the extremity of one of the streets, towards the north, a gate called the Gate of Cæsar (Porte de César), which was demolished in the beginning of the nineteenth century. By adopting Sancerre, all the movements of the commencement of the campaign of 702 are easily explained. This town is forty-six kilomètres from Gien, forty-eight kilomètres from Le Bec-d’Allier, distances nearly equal, so that Vercingetorix and Cæsar, starting almost at the same time from two opposite points, may have met under its walls. Its elevated position allowed the eye to range far towards the south along the valley of the Loire, through which the inhabitants would have seen the approach of the cavalry of Vercingetorix. Cæsar may have occupied with his army the heights of Verdigny or Saint-Satur, to the north of Sancerre. A cavalry engagement may have taken place in the valley of Saint-Satur, or on the plain between Ménétréol and Saint-Thibaud. The captain of staff Rouby has examined with the greatest care the places just mentioned.

Cæsar, after the surrender of Noviodunum, marches towards Bourges. Vercingetorix follows him by short marches (minoribus itineribus). The Roman general, having Bourges before him, and a hostile army on his left, marches slowly and with precaution. Perhaps he took three or four days to perform the forty-five kilomètres which separate Sancerre from Bourges. At last, after having reconnoitred the site of Avaricum, he must have traversed the marshes of the Yèvre, at a distance of three or four kilomètres from that town, so as to take up a position to the south-east of the oppidum, in that part which was not surrounded by the river and the marshes, and which only offered a narrow passage. As to Vercingetorix, he follows, or rather hovers on, the Roman army, taking up his position on its left, and still keeping up his communication with Avaricum, hesitating whether he shall deliver it to the flames.