rmined to
migrate for the shores of the Atlantic and demanded a passage through Roman
territory. According to Caesar's statement they numbered 368,000, and it
was necessary at all hazards to save the Roman province from the invasion.
Caesar had but one legion beyond the Alps. With this he marched to Geneva,
destroyed the bridge over the Rhone, fortified the left bank of the river,
and forced the Helvetii to follow the right bank. Hastening back to Italy
he withdrew his three remaining legions from Aquileia, raised two more,
and, crossing the Alps by forced marches, arrived in the neighbourhood of
Lyons to find that three-fourths of the Helvetii had already crossed the
Saone, marching westward. He destroyed their rearguard, the Tigurini, as it
was about to cross, transported his army across the river in twenty-four
hours, pursued the Helvetii in a northerly direction, and utterly defeated
them at Bibracte (Mont Beuvray). Of the survivors a few were settled
amongst the Aedui; the rest were sent back to Switzerland lest it should
fall into German hands.

The Gallic chiefs now appealed to Caesar to deliver them from the actual or
threatened tyranny of Ariovistus. He at once demanded a conference, which
Ariovistus refused, and on hearing that fresh swarms were crossing the
Rhine, marched with all haste to Vesontio (Besancon) and thence by way of
Belfort into the plain of Alsace, where he gained a decisive victory over
the Germans, of whom only a few (including Ariovistus) reached the right
bank of the Rhine in safety. These successes roused natural alarm in the
minds of the Belgae--a confederacy of tribes in the north-west of Gaul,
whose civilization was less advanced than that of the Celtae of the
centre--and in the spring of 57 B.C. Caesar determined to anticipate the
offensive movement which they were understood to be preparing and marched
northwards into the territory of the Rem[=i] (about Reims), who alone
amongst their neighbours were friendly to Rome. He successfully checked the
advance of the enemy at the passage of the Aisne (between Laon and Reims)
and their ill-organized force melted away as he advanced. But the Nervii,
and their neighbours further to the north-west, remained to be dealt with,
and were [v.04 p.0940] crushed only after a desperate struggle on the banks
of the Sambre, in which Caesar was forced to expose his person in the
_melee_. Finally, the Aduatuci (near Namur) were compelled to submit, and
were