HKB
[Sidenote: Siege of Avaricum.]
IV. Vercingetorix, after having experienced so many reverses successively at Vellaunodunum, at Genabum, and at Noviodunum, convokes a council, in which he explains the necessity of adopting a new system of warfare. Above all, according to him, they must take advantage of the season, and of the numerous Gaulish cavalry, to cut off the Romans from provisions and forage, sacrifice private interest to the common welfare, set fire to the habitations, burgs, and oppida which they could not defend, so as to spread desolation from the territory of the Boii as far as the enemy could extend his incursions. If that be an extreme sacrifice, it is nothing in comparison with death and slavery.
This advice having been unanimously approved, the Bituriges, in one single day, set fire to more than twenty towns; the neighbouring countries follow their example. The hope of a speedy victory made them support this painful sight with resignation. They deliberated whether Avaricum should not undergo the same fate; the Bituriges implored them to spare one of the most beautiful towns in Gaul, the ornament and bulwark of their country; “the defence of it will be easy,” they added, “on account of its almost inaccessible position.” Vercingetorix, at first of a contrary opinion, ended by giving way to this general feeling of compassion, entrusted the place to men capable of defending it, and, following Cæsar by short marches, pitched his camp in a spot defended by woods and marshes, sixteen miles from Avaricum[470] (two kilomètres to the north of Dun-le-Roy, at the confluence of the Auron and the Taisseau).
Avaricum was situated, as Bourges is at present, at the extremity of a piece of ground surrounded, to the north and west, by several marshy streams: the Yèvre, the Yévrette, and the Auron. (See Plate 20.) The Gaulish town, adorned with public places, and enclosing 40,000 souls, exceeded, no doubt, in extent the Gallo-Roman circuit. The aspect of the locality is certainly no longer the same: the marshes have been dried, and the courses of water reduced within regular limits; the ruins accumulated so many centuries ago have raised the level of the ground on many points. To the south of Bourges, at a distance of 700 mètres, the ground forms a neck, which, in the time of Cæsar’s wars, was narrower than at present; it inclined more towards the place, and presented, at 80 mètres from the walls, a sudden depression, resembling a vast fosse. (See the section along C D.) The slopes, then, abrupt towards the Yévrette and the Auron, defined more clearly the only and very narrow avenue (unum et perangustum aditum) which gave access to the town.[471]
Cæsar established his camp behind this tongue of land, to the south, and at 700 mètres from Avaricum, between the Auron and the Yévrette. As the nature of the locality prevented all countervallation, he took his dispositions for a regular siege. The place was only open to attack towards that part of the enclosure which faced the avenue, on a width of from 300 to 400 Roman feet (about 100 mètres). In this place the summit of the walls commanded by about 80 feet (twenty-four mètres) the ground situated in advance.[472] Cæsar commanded a terrace to be commenced, covered galleries to be pushed towards the oppidum, and two towers to be constructed.
During the execution of these works, trusty messengers informed Vercingetorix every moment of what was going on in Avaricum, and carried back his orders. The besiegers were watched when they went to forage, and, notwithstanding their precaution to choose every day different hours and roads, they could not move any distance from the camp without being attacked.