{"id":528865,"date":"2025-08-28T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=528865"},"modified":"2025-09-02T15:50:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:50:40","slug":"galba-cesar-octodure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/history\/galba-cesar-octodure\/","title":{"rendered":"Galba, Caesar and the memory of Octodurus"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his column, the former Federal Councillor shares a book that has made a lasting impression on him. This month, he comments on the comic strip I, Julius Caesar<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In 57 BC, Servius Sulpivius Galba was sent by Julius Caesar with a legion to occupy the southern access to Mont Joux, today's Grand-Saint-Bernard pass. Galba intended to take up his winter quarters at Octodure, now Martigny. But the V\u00e9ragres and their local allies were not to be counted out. In his History of the Gallic War<\/em> that one morning, by surprise, a troop of V\u00e9ragres, gathered discreetly during the night, ran down the slope, attacked the Roman camp and forced Galba to retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of this orderly retreat occupies a chapter of the De Bello Gallico<\/em>. Was it a half-victory, as Caesar claimed, or \u00aba defeat more glorious than a victory\u00bb, as our teachers in my youth used to describe the outcome of the Battle of Marignan? The fact remains that, thanks to this military episode, Martigny has gone down in history. The story of the battle is engraved, in Latin, on a marble wall a few steps from the Fondation Gianadda. And Julius Caesar, thanks to Galba, became a local hero in my hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read also | Our Swiss heroes dossier<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Reading comics I, Julius Caesar<\/em> de Montesquiou and N\u00e9vil. I really enjoyed it. The drawings are dynamic and expressive, and the script is respectful of historical truth. Caesar's life is as romantic as one could wish... Few things predestined the young Julius Caesar for a glorious future. Admittedly, he came from a great Roman family, the Juli, but this people<\/em> was decadent and impoverished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julius Caesar, moreover, was afflicted with a falsetto voice. The Roman Republic itself was in peril, torn apart by infighting between populares<\/em> and optimates<\/em>. Some Marxist writers see this situation as an example of class struggle, but their interpretation is an anachronism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n