Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter five begins with the new Consul, Quintus Servilius Caepio, being tasked to subdue the Germans in Gaul. As he makes very clear in his first address, he will not be using the methods of Marius in raising his army. Rather than using head-count troops, he will raise his army the old-fashioned way—by conscripting small, land-owning farmers and merchants in Italy and Rome. Still, after all of the recent defeats of the Roman army, suitable men are hard to find. Caepio's men take to kidnapping young boys and old men to staff his legions. Soon enough, though, the legions are staffed and they head off to Gaul. After marching to Gaul, Caepio find that the Germans residing there have quarreled with the native peoples and have left. Caepio deals with the small number of barbarians left and busies himself trying to...