Marius' Mules VII: The Great Revolt Read Online Free PDF Page A

senior chieftain replied patiently, ‘is somewhere in the region of six or seven thousand men. Lucterius has just taken two thousand more south and expects to triple that on his journey. So this morning there were perhaps nine thousand men here. How many Romans are quartered in the north this winter?’
    Critognatos cleared his throat. ‘Ten legions.’
    ‘Yes. Ten legions. That means fifty thousand men if they are at full strength, which they might well be after months of idleness. And that is not counting their auxiliary archers and slingers and the many thousands of horsemen raised from the Belgae and other tribes who ally with them. It would be foolish indeed to take nine thousand men against fifty thousand, would it not?’
    The grumbling brother made faintly affirmative noises.
    ‘And even if we drew in all the allies who have pledged to us so far, we will still not match their numbers. We have to have the rest of the tribes on our side if we are to beat Rome. And if we wish to do so, we need to catch them at their lowest time, while they are still in winter quarters and their general is still across the Alpes. We will be ready to move before the spring, my friend, but we cannot move until we are strong enough to be at least reasonably assured of success.’
    He slapped the irritable warrior on the shoulder in a supportive manner.
    ‘We all think we have different ways to succeed, Critognatos, and Vercingetorix and I have considered every possible angle and each idea that has been brought before us, but this is the only sensible direction to take. Trust us, my friend. We may all have different thoughts on the matter, but we all have the same goal in mind: to crush the Romans and free our lands for ourselves.’
    Cavarinos watched as the pair walked out into the cold sunlight and the door shut behind them with a heavy thump as the conversation went on, Vergasillaunus doing his best to persuade Critognatos of the sense of his words.
    For a long moment Cavarinos stood alone in the room, trying not to let that same scene replay itself in his mind which had been rising in his dreams so many nights now. Yet again, he failed.
    A tavern in the Aedui capital of Bibracte less than a year ago . He and Vergasillaunus and a number of the stronger warriors of the warband accompanying Vercingetorix as he sat at a table and talked of matters with the Roman officers who happened to be passing through.
    He remembered the Roman commander well. A man with the look of a survivor of many battles, yet with eyes that glittered with intellect and who spoke to Vercingetorix as to an equal. Dressed in Roman tunic, and yet with a good torc of Belgic design around his neck. And with him not the pasty-skinned senatorial officers from Rome, but a weathered legionary who reeked of common sense and earthiness, an ebony-skinned man from the lands beyond the south sea, and a noble of the Remi, masters of horse.
    Most of all, he remembered the tingle of hope he had felt when Vercingetorix and the Roman had spoken. There had been a level of respect and understanding between them that he had not expected. When the great chief had broached the subject of a peaceful solution, albeit one Vercingetorix had never for a moment believed in, the Roman had seemed surprisingly receptive.
    From the first days when the Arverni had watched Caesar’s legions march into the lands just north of them, following the Helvetii, Cavarinos had been champing at the bit to bring war against the legions, and it had taken five long years for anything to happen, to bring the possibility of opposition. Over that time the Roman presence here had grown each year, with ever more legionaries stationed among the tribes, bringing death and fire. And Cavarinos had left the oppidum of Nemossos with his brother and joined Vercingetorix and Vergasillaunus at Gergovia and begun the great task of uniting the tribes.
    But now he was beginning to feel shaky on the whole subject, though he