At the time when the history is taken up in the following narrative by Napoleon III, the great rebellion, B.C. 52, had sustained a heavy blow in the surrender of Alesia, and the capture of the heroic chief and leader of the insurrection, Vercingetorix, whom Caesar exhibited in his triumph at Rome, B.C. 46, and then caused to be put to death.

The capture of Alesia and that of Vercingetorix, in spite of the united efforts of all Gaul, naturally gave Caesar hopes of a general submission; and he therefore believed that he could leave his army during the winter to rest quietly in its quarters from the hard labors which had lasted without interruption during the whole of the past summer.

The chiefs of the Bellovaci then feared an investment like that of Alesia, and resolved to quit their position.

On seeing these preparations the besieged remembered the ill-fortune of Alesia, and feared a similar fate.

Vercingetorix, at the head of various Gallic tribes, makes a formidable effort to drive Cæsar out of Gaul; he is unsuccessful, and Cæsar, besieging him in his stronghold Alesia, forces him to surrender.

his cavalry being routed, Vercingetorix led back his troops in the same order as he had arranged them before the camp, and immediately began to march to Alesia, which is a town of the Mandubii; and ordered the baggage to be speedily brought forth from the camp, and follow him closely.

Caesar, having conveyed his baggage to the nearest hill, and having left two legions to guard it, pursued as far as the time of day would permit, and after slaying about three thousand of the rear of the enemy, encamped at Alesia on the next day.

On reconnoitring the situation of the city, finding that the enemy were panic-stricken, because the cavalry in which they placed their chief reliance were beaten, he encouraged his men to endure the toil, and began to draw a line of circumvallation round Alesia.

LXXV.Whilst those things are carried on at Alesia, the Gauls, having convened a council of their chief nobility, determine that all who could bear arms should not be called out, which was the opinion of Vercingetorix, but that a fixed number should be levied from each state; lest, when so great a multitude assembled together, they could neither govern nor distinguish their men, nor have the means of supplying them with corn.

All march to Alesia, sanguine and full of confidence: nor was there a single individual who imagined that the Romans could withstand the sight of such an immense host: especially in an action carried on both in front and rear, when [on the inside] the besieged would sally from the town and attack the enemy, and on the outside so great forces of cavalry and infantry would be seen.

LXXVII.But those who were blockaded at Alesia, the day being past on which they had expected auxiliaries from their countrymen, and all their corn being consumed, ignorant of what was going on among the Aedui, convened an assembly and deliberated on the exigency of their situation.

LXXIX.In the meantime, Commius and the rest of the leaders, to whom the supreme command had been intrusted, came with all their forces to Alesia, and having occupied the entire hill, encamp not more than a mile from our fortifications.

The town Alesia commanded a view of the whole plain.

But those who had come forth from Alesia returned into the town dejected and almost despairing of success.

LXXXIV.Vercingetorix, having beheld his countrymen from the citadel of Alesia, issues forth from the town; he brings forth from the camp long hooks, movable pent-houses, mural hooks, and other things, which he had prepared for the purpose of making a sally.

XIV.After spending several days in the same camp, the guards of the Bellovaci, learning that Caius Trebonius was advancing nearer with his legions, and fearing a siege like that of Alesia, send off by night all who were disabled by age or infirmity, or unarmed, and along with them their whole baggage.

XXXIV.When the townsmen perceived his design, being terrified by the recollection of the distress at Alesia, they began to dread similar consequences from a siege; and above all Luterius, who had experienced that fatal event, cautioned them to make provision of corn; they therefore resolve by general consent to leave part of their troops behind, and set out with their light troops to bring in corn.

They recollected too that they had suffered an alarming scarcity at Alesia, and a much greater at Avaricum, and yet had returned victorious over mighty nations.

From them L'Allemagne, the French name for Germany, is derived Alemannia, the country inhabited by the Alemanni Alesia, or Alexia, a town of the Mandubians, Alise; Caesar shuts up Vercingetorix there, C. vii.

They are ordered to furnish their contingent for raising the siege of Alesia, G. vii.

11 Belgia, Belgium, or Gallia Belgica, the Low Countries, or Netherlands Bellocassi, or Velocasses, a people of Gaul, inhabiting the country of Bayeux, in Normandy; they furnish three thousand men to the relief of Alesia, G. vii.

They are called in many editions Eleutheri Cadurci, but incorrectly, since Eleutheri is a term of Greek origin, and besides could hardly be applied to a Gallic tribe like the Eleuteti, who, in place of being free [Greek: eleutheroi], seem to have been clients of the Arverni; they furnish troops to the relief of Alesia, G. vii.

Having discovered this device Caesar did not give ground, but shut up in Alesia such of the foe as fled, and besieged them.

For the purpose of extending and securing their commercial expeditions, the Phoenicians founded colonies in several parts of Gaul, and to them is attributed the earliest origin of Nemausus (Nimes), and of Alesia, near Semur.

Even thus, thought Sidonius, must Vercingetorix have looked when he mounted his horse and rode from his lines at Alesia to save his people, by swelling Caesar's triumph and dying beneath the Capitol.