The Historians' History of the World 05

We have no means of ascertaining for how long the Cimbrians wandered through the north and east of Europe, nor do we know which roads they traversed. From what is now Bohemia they wandered southward to Noricum—the Carinthia and Carniola of to-day. Here, on the borders of the Roman Empire, they appeared in the year 113. On being informed of this, the Romans sent out the consul Cn. Papirius Carbo, the son of that Carbo who was a marked figure of the Gracchian period, with an army to guard the Alpine passes of that neighbourhood. When Carbo, approaching from Aquileia, entered Noricum, the Cimbrians, who had heard of the great power of the Romans, sent them envoys, who explained that they, the Cimbrians, desired to be allowed to settle amongst the Noricans, and had no desire to go to war with them. Carbo replied that the Roman people were bound to the Noricans by bonds of hereditary hospitality, and that he had not the right to grant the Cimbrians permission to settle in Noricum. The Cimbrians decided to proceed farther. Carbo gave them guides who were to lead them out of the country; but by his instructions these guides brought them to a place in the neighbourhood of Noreia (now Görz), near which he and his men were ambushed, and as the Cimbrians passed they attacked them. But this piece of treachery recoiled upon the perpetrator. Carbo’s force was beaten and would have been completely destroyed had not a tremendous storm hindered the Cimbrians from pursuit. It was now in the power of the Cimbrians to enter Italy by these Alpine passes, but they preferred to cross the northern Alps and wander westward towards Gaul. In this direction they persuaded two tribes of Helvetia, the Tigurini and Tugeni, to join them, or at any rate to travel the same route. Since the conquests made in western Gaul in the year 125 by Fulvius Flaccus, the friend of C. Gracchus, the Romans had founded a new province between the Alps and the Pyrenees, bounded by the Cevennes and the Mediterranean, with a principal town, Narbo. This was now threatened by the Cimbrians and other wandering tribes, and so in 109 the Romans sent the consul M. Junius Silanus there at the head of an army.

The Cimbrians appealed to him to show them in what part of the country they might be allowed to settle; but instead of answering, he attacked them. He suffered a terrible defeat. Instead of following up their victory, the Cimbrians despatched an embassy to Rome with an appeal to be allowed to settle in that country, and turned to do battle with the neighbouring Celtic tribes. Meanwhile in the year 107 the above-mentioned Helvetian tribes invaded the Roman province under the leadership of Divico, and springing upon the consul, Cassius Longinus, from an ambush, utterly defeated him. The consul himself was killed, and his legate C. Popilius, who had fled into camp with the remainder of the force, could only save his men by a disgraceful treaty. He gave hostages, resigned half his baggage, and withdrew under the yoke.

The position of the Romans in Gaul was so shaken by these numerous defeats that the town of Tolosa (Toulouse) revolted and took the Roman garrison prisoners. As, however, neither the Cimbrians nor the Helvetians troubled the province further, Q. Servilius Cæpio, who was the consul there in the year 106, was able to regain possession of the town by a trick. He took advantage of this opportunity to rifle completely the temple of the Gallic god of healing, called by the Romans Apollo; but when the booty—alleged to be about 100,000 pounds of gold and 110,000 pounds of silver—was sent to Massilia, the convoy was attacked on the road by bandits, who overpowered a weak resistance, and took away gold and silver, at the instigation, it is said, of Cæpio and his officers, who took their share of the plunder.

[105-103 B.C.]

In the next year, 105, the Cimbrians again appeared in the province, under their king, Boiorix, this time with the serious intention of going on into Italy. In the province, besides the troops under the proconsul Cæpio, there was now a second force under the consul Cn. Mallius Maximus; this occupied the right bank of the Rhone, the other force the left bank, both being drawn up to await the enemy, without either section paying much attention to the movements of the other. When, however, a corps under the legate M. Aurelius Scaurus was attacked and completely defeated by the Cimbrians, the consul ordered the proconsul to lead his force over the Rhone and unite with his own men. Cæpio, who had a personal enmity against Mallius, and plumed himself on his superior birth, obeyed with reluctance, but could not bring himself to make common cause with Mallius against the enemy and discuss operations with him.