Page images
PDF
EPUB

for the shores of Gaul, sending forward one bark from his squadron to convey to the besieged the news of his arrival, and to exhort them to sally forth with their whole naval force and join him off Tauroentum, a port and fortress at a little distance on the coast. The Massilians, since their recent defeat, had devoted themselves with unwearied energy to repairing their galleys, and arming the merchant vessels and fishing boats with which their harbour swarmed. They were not disposed to shrink from making a second experiment of their prowess, while the acclamations of the unarmed multitude, of their women and old men, encouraged them to strain every nerve in a contest in which their pride was so deeply interested. Nor did the assailants, who had multiplied the numerical strength of their armament since the last engagement, and were prepared to decide the contest on the broad decks of their rude but massive fabrics, decline the proffered meeting.' In numbers, however, the fleet of the Massilians still preponderated; the prætorian galley of Decimus was attacked at the same moment from opposite quarters by two powerful triremes, which dashed towards it with all the velocity their oars could impart. By a skilful turn of the rudder the Cæsarian steersman extricated his vessel from both the assailants at the instant when they were about to strike her on either side, and the opposing beaks impinged violently against each other. Thus entangled and mutually disabled they were speedily attacked, boarded and destroyed. The Massilians and their allies, the Albici, are admitted to have fought admirably; but Nasidius gave them a very lukewarm support. As soon as the fortune of the day seemed to incline towards the Cæsarians, he quietly withdrew without the loss of a single vessel, while of his allies thus treacherously deserted, five galleys were sunk and four captured. A Roman officer might naturally be reluctant to exert himself in 1 Lucan, iii. 512.:

2

"Sed rudis et qualis procumbit montibus arbor,

Conseritur stabilis navalibus area bellis."

Lucan, iii. 535.: "Bruti prætoria puppis."

behalf of Greeks, whom he despised or hated, against the bravest and most illustrious of his own countrymen. Nasidius seems indeed to have had further orders to execute on the coast of Spain, and it is not improbable that Pompeius had strictly charged him not to entangle himself too closely in the defence of a city to which he attached only secondary importance. He sailed for his ultimate destination without bidding adieu to the unfortunate Massilians, who with difficulty and in diminished numbers escaped into their harbour, and betook themselves, not even yet dismayed, to the defence of their walls. The entrance of the port of Massilia is so narrow that a chain drawn across it secured it from the attacks of the victorious squadron.

But the operations which Trebonius was sedulously directing against the defences of the city on the land side were such as no artificial means of resistance were ca

Operations

against Mas

capitulation

silia: feigned pable of effectually withstanding.' Indeed, it and treachery may be observed that, in the best times of Roman of the besieged. military science, the means of attack were generally much superior to those of defence. While a fortress such as that of Ilerda, perched on a lofty eminence, with a steep and narrow access, was justly deemed impregnable, no resources or skill could avail to protect a city which stood upon comparatively level ground against the assault of a persevering and enterprizing besieger. Such was the site of Massilia, which had been chosen rather for the convenience of its haven than the natural security of its position. Having effected the complete blockade of the city by means of the gigantic barricade already described,' Trebonius proceeded to construct a tower at a short distance from the point in the wall which he destined for his attack. This tower was built of solid brickwork, and so covered with skins and mattrasses that the blows of the enemy's ponderous missiles fell dead

1 Cæs. B. C. ii. 8-14.

2 Guischard, in his Mém. Militaires, ii., has an elaborate discussion of these operations; but after all the ingenuity he has displayed in the explanation of them, there still remains much to perplex at least the non-professional student.

upon it, while other contrivances were applied to guard it from being set on fire. When at last this prodigious edifice overtopped the walls, (a work, however, which, in the face of a vigilant enemy, must have cost much time and many lives,) the Massilians could no longer maintain themselves on the summit of their ramparts, commanded as they now were by the assailants from above. The next step on the part of the besiegers was to fill up the fosse under the protection of this tower, and erect close to the walls the musculus, a ponderous and well-compacted roof of timber, under which men could work without interruption, picking out the stones with crowbars, and undermining with manual labour the bul warks of the city. The besiegers had thus succeeded in shaking one of the towers of the wall, and the rampart was tottering to its overthrow, when the Massilians hastened to anticipate, by a timely offer of capitulation, the moment which would deliver their hearths and altars to a furious and unbridled soldiery. Trebonius, on his part, had received strict orders to abstain from storming the city, which Cæsar was reluctant to surrender to the horrors of an assault. Accordingly, he was willing to accord honourable terms to the suppliant republic. His soldiers, indeed, murmured bitterly at being disappointed of the plunder which was almost in their grasp; it seems doubtful whether they would have continued to observe the armistice until the expected arrival of the Imperator himself. The apprehension of their uncontrollable fury may have driven the Massilians to violate the agreement they had themselves solicited, and taking advantage of the confidence reposed in them, to make a sudden attack upon the Roman works, and give them to the flames.

But this conspicuous instance of Grecian perfidy was displayed to no purpose. Trebonius resumed his operations with the same determination and on an ampler scale The siege rethan before. The original barricade had been sumed. constructed principally of timber, and the conflagration had reduced it to ruins. He now repaired it with earthworks and solid masonry, and again pushed forward his covered

galleries to the foot of the walls. Against these insidious enemies the great catapults on the ramparts were of no avail, for they were calculated to hurl their missiles to a distance, and their range could not be adjusted so as to reach an object The Massilians immediately below them.' Once more the Masoffer to capitu- silians despaired of defending themselves, and ventured to tempt the forbearance of the conquer

late a second

time.

or by a second offer of capitulation.

Cæsar establishes his headquarters at

the

camp

This time indeed it was not Trebonius or Brutus, but Cæsar, the politic and the merciful, with whom, as we shall presently see, they had to treat. The return to before their walls of the great captain Corduba. who had delivered Italy and pacified Spain, may both have cut off the last hope of escape, and at the same time have held forth an augury of pardon. For, after the capitulation of the Pompeian lieutenants on the Sicoris, Cæsar had hastened to complete the reduction of the three provinces of the peninsula. He had marched directly towards the south, and established his head-quarters at Corduba, the Iberian capital, whither he had summoned to his presence the representatives of all the states and cities beyond the PyreHere the favourable sentiments of the Further Province were speedily pronounced, and it was with full anticipation of the general concurrence of the native and colonial cities that Cæsar had postponed his return to finish the siege of Massilia. Nor had he any serious opposition to fear from M. Varro. That officer being left in command of the two districts into which the south and west were divided, had excused himself from joining the

nees.

Vacillating conduct of Varro.

1 Cæs. B. C. ii. 16.: "Suorumque tormentorum usum spatio propinquitatis interire." This obscure expression seems to be explained by Lucan (iii. 478.):

"Nec Graiis flectere jactum

Nec facilis labor est longinqua ad bella parati

Tormenti mutare modum, sed pondere solo
Contenti nudis evolvunt saxa lacertis."

2 Cæs. B. C. ii. 17-21.

[ocr errors]

camp of his colleagues, retaining two legions at his side to ensure the submission of the natives and the fidelity of the Roman inhabitants. In the first instance, he had allowed himself to express a favourable opinion both of the cause and the prospects of the invader. He admitted in his public harangues the inclination of the province towards Cæsar; but, undecided thus far as to his own course, he had faintly pleaded the duty which as a legatus he owed to his imperator Pompeius, and thus allowed himself to reconcile the maintenance of his official command with entire neglect of the active exertions demanded by the emergency. But the news of the vigorous resistance of Massilia, of the junction and subsequent successes of Afranius and Petreius, together with the assurances he received of the firm allegiance of the Hither Province, all these circumstances, coloured and magnified by the sanguine temper of Afranius in his correspondence, shook his resolu tion of neutrality. He now affected vast eagerness in the cause of the senate, and adopted active measures for recruiting his forces, for collecting supplies for Massilia and equipping a naval armament for the conveyance thither of men and stores. He did not scruple to wield, in the interest of his commander, all the terrors of the Roman proconsulate, imposing arbitrary contributions upon the states which he suspected of favouring the enemy, and abusing the forms of law to mulct the Roman citizens whose disaffection was reported to him. He invaded the sanctuaries of the Gods, and rifled the celebrated temple of Hercules at Gades. That important and hostile city he entrusted to C. Gallonius, a tried friend of Domitius, with a garrison of six cohorts. At the same time, the tone which he assumed in speaking of Cæsar was arrogant and violent. He described him as beaten in every engagement, and hourly abandoned by his soldiers; nor did he omit the solemn ceremony of summoning the Roman citizens throughout the province to renew the military oath of fidelity to their rightful proconsul.

But, notwithstanding all this pretended display of zeal, Varro was still cautious of openly taking the field against the

VOL. II.-11

« PreviousContinue »