Liberty.

The kingdom of Cyprus, which had long been attached to that of Egypt,
had been bequeathed to Rome at the death of Ptolemy Alexander in 80. The
Senate had delayed to accept the bequest, and meanwhile the island was
ruled by Ptolemy of Cyprus, one of the heirs of the dead king.

Clodius, on the plea that this king harbored pirates, persuaded the
Assembly to annex the island, and to send Cato to take charge of it.
He accepted the mission, and was absent two years. His duties were
satisfactorily performed, and he returned with about $7,000,000 to
increase the Roman treasury. Thus, Cicero and Cato being out of the
city, the Senate was without a leader who could work injury in Caesar's
absence.

CHAPTER XXX. CAESAR'S CAMPAIGNS IN GAUL. Caesar was now in the prime of
manhood, in the full vigor of mind and body. His previous experience in
camp life had been comparatively small. His early service in Asia, and
his more recent campaigns in Spain, however, had shown his aptitude for
military life.

The Romans had already obtained a foothold in Gaul. Since 118, the
southern part of the country along the seaboard had been a Roman
province, called GALLIA NARBONENSIS, from the colony of Narbo which the
Romans had founded. The rest of Gaul included all modern France, and a
part of Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. The inhabitants were all
of the Celtic race, except a few Germans who had crossed the Rhine and
settled in the North, and the AQUITANI, who lived in the Southwest and
who are represented by the Basques of to-day.

The Gauls were more or less civilized since they had come into contact
with the Romans, but they still had the tribal form of government, like
the early Romans. There were more than fifty of these tribes, which were
mostly hostile to one another, as well as divided into factions among
themselves. This condition favored a conquest, for the factions were
frequently Roman and non-Roman. Two of the chief tribes were the AEDUI
and SEQUANI. The former had been taken under the protection of Rome; the
latter, impatient of control and Roman influence, had invited a tribe
of Germans under Ariovistus to come into Gaul and settle, and be their
allies. These Germans had attacked and conquered the Aeduans, taken from
them hostages, and with the Sequanians were in the ascendency.

In Switzerland lived the HELVETII. They had so increased in numbers
that their country was too small for them. They therefore pro