44.
Ariovistus briefly replied to the demands of Caesar; but expatiated largely on his own virtues, "that he had
crossed the
Rhine
not of his own accord, but on being invited and sent for by the Gauls; that he had not left home and kindred without
great expectations and great rewards; that he had settlements in Gaul, granted by the Gauls themselves;
that the hostages had been given by their good-will; that he took by right of
war the tribute which conquerors are accustomed to impose on the conquered; that
he had not made war upon the Gauls, but the Gauls upon him; that all the states of Gaul came to attack him, and had encamped against him; that all
their forces had been routed and beaten by him in a single battle; that if they
chose to make a second trial, he was ready to encounter them again; but if they
chose to enjoy peace, it was unfair to refuse the tribute, which of their own
free-will they had paid up to that time. That the friendship of the Roman people ought to prove to him an ornament and a
safeguard, not a detriment; and that he sought it with that expectation. But if
through the Roman people the tribute was to be
discontinued, and those who surrendered to be seduced from him, he would
renounce the friendship of the Roman people no less
heartily than he had sought it. As to his leading over a host of Germans into Gaul, that he was doing this
with a view of securing himself, not of assaulting Gaul: that there
was evidence of this, in that he did not come without being invited, and in that
he did not make war, but merely warded it off. That he had come into Gaul before the Roman people. That never
before this time did a Roman army go beyond the
frontiers of the province of Gaul. What [said he] does [Caesar] desire?- why come into his
[Ariovistus] domains?-that this was his province of Gaul, just as that is ours. As it ought not to be pardoned in him,
if he were to make an attack upon our territories; so, likewise, that we were
unjust, to obstruct him in his prerogative. As for Caesar's saying that the Aedui had been styled
'brethren' by the senate, he was not so uncivilized nor so ignorant of affairs,
as not to know that the Aedui in the very last war with the
Allobroges had neither rendered assistance to the Romans, nor received any from the Roman people in the struggles which the Aedui had been
maintaining with him and with the Sequani. He must feel suspicious,
that Caesar, though feigning friendship as the reason
for his keeping an army in Gaul, was keeping it with the
view of crushing him. And that unless he depart and withdraw his army from these
parts, he shall regard him not as a friend, but as a foe; and that, even if he
should put him to death, he should do what would please many of the nobles and
leading men of the Roman people; he had assurance of
that from themselves through their messengers, and could purchase the favor and
the friendship of them all by his [Caesar's] death. But if he would
depart and resign to him the free possession of Gaul, he would
recompense him with a great reward, and would bring to a close whatever wars he
wished to be carried on, without any trouble or risk to him."
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