Spread of the Insurrection
Appearance of Caesar

The west from the mouth of the Garonne to that of the Seine was rapidly infected by the insurrection, and Vercingetorix was recognized by all the cantons there as commander-in-chief; where the common council made any difficulty, the multitude compelled it to join the movement; only a few cantons, such as that of the Bituriges, required compulsion to join it, and these perhaps only for appearance’ sake.  The insurrection found a less favourable soil in the regions to the east of the upper Loire.  Everything here depended on the Haedui; and these wavered.  The patriotic party was very strong in this canton; but the old antagonism to the leading of the Arverni counterbalanced their influence—­ to the most serious detriment of the insurrection, as the accession of the eastern cantons, particularly of the Sequani and Helvetii, was conditional on the accession of the Haedui, and generally in this part of Gaul the decision rested with them.  While the insurgents were thus labouring partly to induce the cantons that still hesitated, especially the Haedui, to join them, partly to get possession of Narbo—­one of their leaders, the daring Lucterius, had already appeared on the Tarn within the limits of the old province—­the Roman commander-in-chief suddenly presented himself in the depth of winter, unexpected alike by friend and foe, on this side of the Alps.  He quickly made the necessary preparations to cover the old province, and not only so, but sent also a corps over the snow-covered Cevennes into the Arvernian territory; but he could not remain here, where the accession of the Haedui to the Gallic alliance might any moment cut him off from his army encamped about Sens and Langres.  With all secrecy he went to Vienna, and thence, attended by only a few horsemen, through the territory of the Haedui to his troops.  The hopes, which had induced the conspirators to declare themselves, vanished; peace continued in Italy, and Caesar stood once more at the head of his army.

The Gallic Plan of War

But what were they to do?  It was folly under such circumstances to let the matter come to the decision of arms; for these had already decidedly irrevocably.  They might as well attempt to shake the Alps by throwing stones at them as to shake the legions by means of the Celtic bands, whether these might be congregated in huge masses or sacrificed in detail canton after canton.  Vercingetorix despaired of defeating the Romans.  He adopted a system of warfare similar to that by which Cassivellaunus had saved the insular Celts.  The Roman infantry was not to be vanquished; but Caesar’s cavalry consisted almost exclusively of the contingent of the Celtic nobility, and was practically dissolved by the general revolt.  It was possible for the insurrection, which was in fact essentially composed of the Celtic nobility, to develop such a superiority in this arm, that it could lay waste the land far and wide, burn down towns