Read Caesar's Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome for Free Online

eagle feathers on his helmet, the metal greaves on his shins, and the fact that he wore his sword on his left hip rather than on the right like enlisted men, Centurion Crastinus had joined the 8th or 9th Legion in 65 b.c.
    when Pompey the Great raised the new legions in Spain. He had transferred over to the 10th when it was formed four years later as a junior grade centurion, being personally chosen by Caesar. Now, not more than twenty-seven, he would have commanded a cohort of six hundred men.
    Later events would suggest that Crastinus was a good centurion. He was a fearless fighter, but it took more than that to command the respect and attention of his men. He showed an interest in their welfare, on and off the battlefield. And he never tired of encouraging them. A few weeks back, the legion had turned back a mass of Helvetii tribesmen when they’d tried to make another river crossing, this time at the Saône, and if Crastinus remained true to form he would have dived from maniple to maniple of his cohort, exhorting his men.
    Crastinus, standing on the extreme left of his cohort’s front line, probably pondered the same question that would have been exercising the minds of his men as they watched the Helvetii roll up to their elevated position. Later, documents would be found in the Helvetii baggage, written in Greek, that turned out to be a register of the names of 368,000
    men, women, and children who were taking part in the migration from Switzerland. And the vast majority of them were here, now.
    Mounted Helvetii had dispersed Colonel Aemilius and his cavalry and were chasing them all over the plain as the main Helvetian body came up to the hill with all their wheeled transport. Their women, children, and elderly parked the vast train in a mass below the hill as their men-at-arms joined their traditional clans and formed into solid phalanxes of spearmen many men deep, each wearing a Gallic-style helmet with a plume like a horse’s tail, a small breastplate, and carrying a spear up to twelve feet long.
    The Helvetii were Celts, larger men than the Romans, brave, and well versed in the arts of war. They had defeated Roman armies in the past and were confident of doing it again.

    c03.qxd 12/5/01 4:53 PM Page 17
    S AVA G I N G T H E S W I S S , O V E R R U N N I N G T H E G E R M A N S
    17
    As Centurion Crastinus looked down the slope, he would have seen Caesar dismount and have his horse led away. At the commander in chief’s instruction, all the other officers did the same. Crastinus was to become devoted to Julius Caesar, and it’s probable that ever since he’d served under Caesar in Spain he’d been of the firm opinion that the general was a great man, a man destined for great things. And Crastinus would have recognized that in sending the horses away Caesar was cleverly sending a message to his troops that they all, officers and enlisted men alike, now stood in equal danger.
    If Crastinus was as astute as he was brave, he wouldn’t have had as high a regard for some of Caesar’s generals as he did for Caesar himself, men sent by the Senate so that Caesar had to take the good with the bad.
    They were easy enough to pick out in their scarlet cloaks, one pacing nervously back and forth, another talking with aides, one or two resolutely arming themselves with shields. Even though the campaign was only months old, the centurion may have already summed up Caesar’s mixed bag of commanders, with their strengths and weaknesses revealed by their actions. Labienus, the second-in-command—a damn fine general, despite his savage tongue, cool under pressure, and quick to see both dangers and opportunities. Galba—overconfident, petty, ambitious. Pedius, a relative of Caesar’s—young, but competent and reliable. Sabinus—a fool, gul-lible, unadventurous, and too inclined toward the safe course, a man who shouldn’t be leading troops. Cotta—stubborn, argumentative, but a good man to have at your head just the