Note 176 — LETTER III.

The quotation is from Suetonius, Life of Julius Cæsar, chap. 67. Suetonius observes that sometimes Cæsar, after a great victory, relaxed the strict rules of discipline, and allowed his army to abandon themselves to the utmost license, boasting that ‘his soldiers, even if perfumed for a banquet, would fight well.’ The conference with Ariovistus is described in Cæsar de Bello Gallico, i. 43-45, and in Merivale, chap. vii.: ‘Each was attended by a squadron of cavalry of equal numbers. Cæsar had no Roman cavalry, nor could he safely confide in his Gaulish auxiliaries: yet he would not reject the arrangement proposed by his adversary, nor betray any appearance of distrust or dread. He caused a party of Gauls to dismount, and placed upon their horses the infantry of his favourite legion’ (the tenth). The conference was interrupted by the impatience of the German horse, who suddenly assailed the Romans with stones and arrows. See also pages 48 and 49.