Sabinus the Coward: A Lesson for the West

Original Post Date: 2001-11-22 Time: 11:42:19  Posted By: Jan

I’m still managing to read a bit of Julius Caesar’s Gallic wars and
thoroughly enjoying it.

There is one interesting war which occurred which has in it a
lesson for the Western world. I see it being relevant in our part of
the world when dealing with guys like Mugabe, and it is relevant in
America when dealing with Russia and China.

The following true events illustrate the futility of negotiation and
reasonableness when your enemy hates you and is out to get you
at all costs.

Julius Caesar was in charge of Gaul and had put down yet another
rebellion. All was quiet and winter set in. So he sent his legions to
different territories where they built camps and settled down for
winter.

The leader of a tiny Gaul nation came up with a bold plan to attack
the Romans. He mustered all the troops he could and set off to
attack a legion commanded by a man named, Sabinus.

The Gauls attacked the camp without effect. After a time, the Gaul
leader asked Sabinus to parley with him. Sabinus accepted. The
Gault told Sabinus that he had not really wanted to attack the
Romans but that his action was a small part of a much bigger
conspiracy. He said that all of Gaul had connived to attack the
Romans that winter and that they had enlisted the assistance of
enormous numbers of Germans who would cross the Rhine and
help them. The Germans, he said, would arrive any day now. He
said that in attacking Sabinus he had fulfilled his part of the
agreement among the Gauls. He said, he did not really want to
fight the Romans and therefore he would offer them some sound,
friendly advice. He advised Sabinus to strike camp and to move off
and join with the other Romans camped far away. Then the Gaul
and his troops disappeared.

Sabinus was troubled. What if the Gaul had told him the truth? So
he held a council of war. He and his officers argued all day and
deep into the night. His officers advised that there was no need to
strike camp. Even if a huge enemy attacked they could hold them
off. Also, the Gaults would think they were scared if they packed
up and left. Sabinus was troubled that maybe large numbers of
Germans were on the way. Eventually, Sabinus won out over all the
others and forced them to accept his view that they must leave
immediately.

The next morning, the legion set off. Some distance away they
entered a valley. As they did so, the Gaul and his army reappeared
and they shut off both ends of the valley. The Romans were trapped
inside. Now the Romans were out in the open, and at a great
disadvantage compared to the defences of their camp. The enemy
was pleased and attacked them heartily. The Romans struggled to
hold their ground – but they did.

Now that the going was tougher for the Gauls, and they were not
making headway, the Gaul leader appeared once more. He offered
to parley with Sabinus again. Sabinus and some of his officers
went. One very experienced officer refused. He said that it was
madness to engage in negotiation. He stayed behind. Sabinus and
the others went. He asked the Gaul if he would spare the Romans
and let them move to their destination.

The Gaul said to them that they must drop their weapons and then
he would parley. So Sabinus and the others dropped their
weapons. The Gauls came closer. They surrounded Sabinus and
his officers and killed them all. Then the Gauls attacked the Roman
troops more fiercely than ever before. Eventually they killed them
all, except for a mere handful who managed to escape.

After the Gaul’s victory, he immediately went to other Gaul nations
and told them of his great accomplishment and encouraged them
to attack the Romans. The Gaul’s army swelled tremendously and
they set off to attack yet another legion aiming to try the same
ruse on them.

The huge host of Gauls arrived, surrounded a legion commanded
by Quintus Cicero and attacked them. When the Romans held, the
Gauls offered to parley. They gave the same speech as had been
given to Sabinus. They added though, that resistance was futile
and that they had wiped out Sabinus’s legion and that nobody
would come to Cicero’s aid. But Quintus Cicero was made of
tougher stuff than Sabinus. After listening to the speech, he
responded as follows: It was not the Roman people’s custom to
accept terms from an armed enemy. He would only offer them
assistance if they laid down their weapons. The Gauls refused.

The Gauls built walls around the Roman camp and for the next
several days proceeded to attack the Romans all day, every day.
The vastly outnumbered Romans were fighting by day and repairing
and strengthening their defences all night. They tried to get
messages of their plight out, but their messengers were killed.
Wounded and sick men alike had to fight as the hordes attacked
them. Eventually, they succeeded in getting a messenger out to
Caesar.

Julius Caesar immediately came to their aid and dispersed the
Gauls.

The actions of Sabinus caused Caesar problems for a very long
time. The annihilation of Sabinus’s legion caused the Gauls to keep
on trying to make war for a long time and many conspiracies were
hatched and many attempts at starting wars were made. All
because one Roman commander had shown cowardice and
indecision and had behaved differently to all the others.

This opening illustrates clearly, how well deception and
psychological warfare can be used to gain advantages. The clever
Gaul had, through trickery, managed to get Sabinus to weaken his
position. Through continual deceit he eventually managed to
destroy them all.

With each negotiation, Sabinus was worse off than before, until he
was killed outright. Quintus Cicero, and others never fell for these
tricks and thus survived.

The lesson is simple: When an enemy hates you and is out to get
you, then all negotiation is FUTILE. Take the situation of farmers in
Zimbabwe today, constantly negotiating and yet each time, they
are cheated and are weaker than before. Consider the position of
the New National Party in South Africa which also believes in
prostrating itself before its enemies and negotiating ad infinitum
until what? Until it negotiates itself out of existence. Consider
George Bush who negotiates with Putin (former KGB) and now
says he is downsizing the US Nuclear arsenal.

Negotiation, and supposed “reasonableness” can spell the end of a
nation’s existence.

One most interesting thing I note in Caesar’s Gallic campaigns, as
he fights Gauls, Germans and Britons, is the extent to which the
Barbarians lied and deceived. Lying and deceiving was the order of
the day for them. Trickery, treachery and double-crossing were
normal. They’d beg for peace today, and launch a surprise attack
tomorrow. They would attack today, and if the Romans beat them,
then tomorrow they would beg forgiveness and claim that they had
made a stupid mistake. Caesar would forgive them, and next year
the same story would repeat itself.

History’s graveyards are filled with examples of people who thought
negotiation and reasonableness would buy them survival. A classic
example of negotiating yourself out of existence comes from
studying how Hitler took Czechoslovakia. The Czechs were strong
and had great defences. They were ready for the Germans. But
Hitler, through a series of threats and negotiations caused the
Czechs to give up their position piece by piece, just like Sabinus
did, just like is happening in Zimbabwe and South Africa today.
Piece by piece, the Czechs made important concessions in the
name of peace, hoping to avert war. And, when they had weakened
themselves sufficiently, Hitler invaded them and overran them.
From hindsight we learn that Hitler actually did not want to attack
them at first because he feared all the losses his army would
suffer. So through negotiation he weakened them until his army
was assured an easy victory and then he attacked. By negotiating
and retreating they actually created the very conditions which
would cause their own destruction.

An American general once said that negotiation with communists
is a fraud. He said it was better to have an honest confrontation
than a dishonest peace. I agree.

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