The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

G r e at S o l d i e r s a n d B at t l e s 305
lates how the same man helped to save the day, along with the tribune Gaius Volusenus,
when the winter quarters of legio XII under Servius Galba was attacked
by the Gauls (Ga llic Wa r 3 . 4 – 5 ) . The situ a ti on was so bad that the unders
trength legi on did not have su f f i c i ent men to defend the ra m p a rt s , and the
Gauls had managed to get close enough to begin to fill in the ditch and to demolish
the earthen walls. Baculus and Volusenus urged the commander to make
a sortie, since attack was the best form of defense. The legionaries erupted from
all the gates, killed a third of the Gauls, and drove the rest off. A similar occasion
at a different camp gave Baculus a chance to demonstrate his courage later on,
when he was supposed to be recuperating with the wounded and sick men, and
the camp was attacked while five cohorts were outside gathering food. All the
gates needed defending, and despite the fact that he was wounded and had not
eaten for five days, Baculus dashed out to one of the gates, seized arms from the
nearest man, gathered the centurions of the cohort left to guard the camp, and
s tood firm in the ga tew ay, providing the nece s s a ry breathing space for the
troops to form up. He was badly wounded again, and had to be dragged back to
safety. Caesar does not tell us that he died, so perhaps this irrepressible soldier
survived to fight more battles.
Caesar names Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta as a heroic officer who was killed
in tra gic circ u m s t a n ce s . Cotta was in wi n ter qu a rters with Quintus Ti tu riu s
Sabinus when the revolt of Ambiorix broke out. The camp was besieged, and after
a parley, Ambiorix offered safe passage for the Romans to leave camp and
join either Cicero or Labienus in their winter quarters, something over 50 miles
away. This would be at least two days’ journey, weather permitting, and Cotta
advised against leaving. Here Caesar manages to insert a moral lesson, summarizing
and perhaps inventing Cotta’s speech in the military consilium with Sabinus
and the of f i cers . The main points ra i s ed by Cotta were that no orders to
evacuate had come from Caesar, the battles of the past days had shown that the
entrenched camp was strong enough to withstand assaults, good stores of food
had been brought in, and Caesar would come to their relief when he heard of
their plight. Sabinus, on the other hand, feared a long siege and starvation, and
thinking that Caesar had left for Italy, he concluded that there would be no rel
i eving co lu m n . He chose to trust Am bi orix and accepted what he though t
would be a safe passage, and eventually the other officers agreed. The troops left
the camp the next day. Cotta went up and down the column, but it was too long
for him to control, so he eventually ordered the men to abandon the baggage
and form a square for better protection on the march, which as Caesar says was
the correct dec i s i on but insti ll ed fear into the men . Th ey prob a bly had little
chance however they had marched, because Ambiorix had prepared an ambush.
Du ring the figh ti n g, Cotta was hit in the face by a sling bu ll et but carri ed on
fighting, refusing to join Sabinus in an attempt to negotiate with Ambiorix. He
died still fighting, and Caesar’s judgment of him was that he had done his duty