THE INVASION OF GAUL Read Online Free Page A

to open oneself than to be thought secretive.
    “ Very well sir.”
    Caesar once more took his seat, and refilled the goblets. “Tell me what you suspect and I will confirm and clarify for you.”
    Fronto swallowed and took a deep breath. “Here we go,” he thought, “time to leap from the Tarpeian Rock.” He leaned forward to narrow the distance between the General and himself and spoke in a low, conspiratorial voice.
    “ General, we go to war against the Helvetians tomorrow, do we not? I know there is a thin veil of embassy over the campaign, but let’s see this as soldiers. I cannot believe that you have set up this elaborate trap for anything less than a definitive military action. Permit me to speak very freely, sir?”
    Caesar nodded.
    “ You have more ambition than I. Possibly more than anyone alive in the state, including the great Pompey; ambition that could carry Rome to the limits of the earth. I mean no insult by this; I’m merely stating the facts the way I see them. I believe you will find a reason to wage war on the Helvetii, even if they go home in peace. I think you need it for your own personal self-worth, you need it to win the support of those in Rome who currently favour others, and you need it in order to create further opportunities.”
    “ Further opportunities, Marcus?” Caesar smiled a grim smile, and Fronto swallowed again, aware of the danger in which he had just placed himself.
    “ The Gauls sir. The Helvetii are not important enough for you. Certainly not enough to keep the four legions you have in these provinces busy. No, you want the big fish, sir, don’t you? You want the Gauls. It’d be a massive campaign, but that doesn’t matter, does it sir? The Gauls are famous. All Romans know them. Many fear them. Most hate them. To destroy the Gauls would be to earn a place in history, sir. Or am I far from the mark?”
    Caesar sat silently for a while, swilling the wine around in his cup. After a disturbingly long pause, he once more raised his head and fixed Fronto with his mesmerising stare.
    “ I was right about you Fronto. You could be exceptionally useful to me, but you could be a dangerous man. Few others have ever spoken to me like that, and none of them have come away better off for the experience. But you? You’re career military, with absolutely no pretensions to politics and no designs on Rome, and I find that, against all odds, I actually trust you. Do you know how many people there are in the whole of the Empire that I feel I could actually trust? Very few indeed, even in my own family. Very well; you have had your say, and I shall explain.”
    “ You are, of course, entirely correct in so far as you go. I have no intention of letting the Helvetii go, though we must not be seen to go wading into Gaulish territory unbidden. If we want Gaul, we have to manufacture a reason that will put all of Rome behind us. The Helvetii are merely the key. That idiot noble of theirs, Orgetorix, had worked so hard to bring himself to sole power over the Helvetii, and to create a union with a number of other tribes. If he had succeeded, we would have our reason now.”
    Fronto frowned, mulling through the information. He suddenly looked up, his eyes glinting.
    “ You don’t want to destroy the Helvetii at all, do you sir? The legions by the Rhone aren’t there to trap them, but to divert them and drive them on. You want them to go west, into Gaul, where they become enough of a danger for you to take the battle to them, yes?”
    “ Very good, Marcus. Very good indeed. Yes, we need the Helvetii to become enough of a threat to warrant Senatorial approval of our intervention. And once we’re deep into Gaul…”
    “ Nothing can stop us, sir?” Fronto smiled.
    “ Exactly! I know you have no interest in politics, Marcus, and I know that you’re only truly happy when you’re involved in a bloodbath, so I trust you won’t cause me any trouble?”
    “ Trouble, sir?”
    “ Marcus,