War gives the right of the conquerors to impose any conditions they please upon the vanquished.
Gaius Julius Caesar

War in Northern Gaul


The Roman Empire, by Wolfgang Schreier, Bonn 2003

After the Battle of Cabalum, Caesar started to pardon the surrendering Senators. Among them were Dollabella, the leader of the Senatorial faction, Orata the most influential Senator, the young Brutus and Lepidus. Clementia Caesaris (forgiveness of Caesar) became the effective catchphrase.
Of course all this had a catch too: First of all Caesar had to undermine the rhetoric of his enemies; as the attacker on the Roman Republic he was in a difficult position. Many refrained of resisting him from now own, which saved a lot of energy. On the other hand there was a subtle form of arrogance in Caesars actions: One who is mild also signalises that he could be cruel. It is in his hand to deal with his antagonists, which effectively makes on a tyrant after all.

Caesars former enemies returned to Spain and Italy, while he stayed in Gaul preparing a punitive expedition against the Aedui. He knew his campaign had to be swift and decisive, after all he still had a lot of work to do in Rome.
After Neros war in Southern Gaul a decade earlier, the Aedui had the leading position of the remaining Gauls. Their king Vertiscos was in a union with Ligones, and the rest of Gaul was tributary to the Aedui king.

Caesars campaign started in early 47 BC with a surprise attack on the Aedui town Avaricum. He then forced the Aedui king into battle in April at the Battle of Decetia.




Roman troops marching into battle.




While the Roman troops have no trouble defeating the Gauls in open fields...
...some stiff resistance is encountered in the woods. These small pockets get defeated nontheless.


 Gaul in 47 BC. The Venetii still resist Roman ocupation, which will serve as the basis for the later Asterix comics.

With the defeat of the Aedui at Decetia most of Gaul submitted to Caesar. In winter 47 Caesar reached the river Seine where he received the lords of the Aulerici tribe. The only Gauls who still resisted Caesar where the Venetii, a small tribe in modern Brittany. Caesar had pressing issues to deal in Rome, so he conveniently left his second in command, Sextus Fabius Ambustus to deal with the remaining forces in Gaul. In early spring 46 Caesar returned to Rome again. Nevertheless it took Ambustus until 44 BC to finally defeat the Venetii.


Ambustus faced strong Ventii troops in 44 BC at the Battle of Radones.


Venti infantry trying to break through Roman lines.


Fighting was tough and the battle lasted for several hours.


 But Ambustus won an important victory for Caesar: All Gaul was now in Roman hands.

Caesar celebrated his second triumph in 46 BC and announced that the civil war was over. In the last decade Caesar had spent hardly any time in Rome, now he sought to bring his power to a political basis. In his work many contemporaries saw the reforming energy of a great statesman, who drew the consequences of the limping Roman state.
The most important change was to the Senate itself. The numbers of Senators was increased to 900. Some Greeks and even a few Syrians and Gauls were among them. The Quaestors were increased to 40, the plebeian Aediles to four and Praetors to 16. The pro-consulship was increased from one to two years. The lex Iulia municipalis uniformly organised all towns in Italy, all Itialians north to the river Po received Roman citizenship.
The most long ranging reform was the changes to the calendar: the year now had 365 and a quarter days. This Julian calendar was very accurate and was only slightly altered during Medieval times.
Caesar also initiated many new colonies: five in Africa, including the rebirth of a (Roman) Carthage, three in Greece, in Anatolia eight and thirteen in Spain, increasing Romanisation in Spain.

Caesar gave himself new political powers. Starting from 46 BC he became Dictator for ten years. He was now the only one to command the armies and he could declare war to anyone without having to ask the Senate for approval. Furthermore he also had the power to appoint the magistrates of his choice. He also had the sacrosanctias of a tribune and the praefectura morum; the watch over morals and therefore the possibility to remove Senators from the Senate.

He achieved multiple honours: pater patriae – father of the fatherland and liberator – the liberator who protected Rome from all dangers. The title imperator was incorporated to his name and he could always wear the cloths of the triumphant.
Yet Caesar avoided any divinisation, fearing that it could be too much. When some Senators offered him the title deo invicto (the invincible god) he refused it. Also he avoided anything that would put him close to the old monarchical title rex. When Marc Antony offered Caesar the diadem of the Hellenistic Kings he infuriately refused – but not without being flattered somehow.
Nevertheless Caesar assigned many statues to be built all over the Roman Republic, among them one in the Temple of Jupiter and one on the Forum Romanum.

Some resistance started to form against Caesar, but his politics were clever enough not to overstretch the patience of his opposition.
After the first years of reforming the Roman state, Caesar started to prepare for his next campaign against the Parthians. In mid 44 BC he left for Asia again.