Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/301

 1042 HELVETIL Tuiited the Seqnanii and pennaded Casticiis, irliose ikther Catamantaloedes haid held for many jeare the kiogly power ^here, to seize the place which his fikther once had* He also persuaded Dumnorix, the brother of Divitiacas, to do tlie same among the Aedui, and he gave Dumnorix his daughter to wire. He told them that they might easily do what he ad- Tised, for he was going to have the snpreme power among the Helvetii, that the Helvetii were the most powerful Gallic people, and that he would help to secure their royal power with the Helretian army. This was agreed: the three conspiratora were to make tliemselves kings, and then they had good hopes of mastering all Gallia. Thu conspiracy h^g Iknown to the Helvetii by some informer, Oi^torix was summoned to trial. The punishment foe treason among the Helvetii was burning. The man came on the day fixed for the trial, but he had a train of 10,000 slaves and dependents about him, and there was no trial. Orgetorix was in open rebellion, and while the magistrates were getting together a force from the country to maintain the law and put him down, he died, or, as the Helvetii supposed, he put an end to himself. Though usurpation was a com- mon thing in the Gallic states, the people were never long pleased with it, and a usurper had generally a abort reign. The Helvetii still determined to leave their conn* try. They burnt their 12 towns, their 400 villages, and all the private buildings. They burnt also all the «om which they did not want; and they were directed by their leaders to take meal and flour enough to last three months. They persuaded the Rauraci to join them, a tribe who were situated on tiie Rhine about JBdUf but probably within the territory of theSequani; and also Tulingi and Latobrigi, who were on the east side of the Rhine, and either a Gennan people or a remnant of those Helvetii who once occupied the country. They also got some Boii to join them, whom Caesar describes as Bmi " who had settled beyond the Rhine and had passed into the None territory, and had attacked Noreia." This is very obscure. The simplest explanation is, that some of the Boii who had been long settled in Germany, and who hap> pened now to be on the eastern borders of the Helvetic country, were persuaded to join them. MAP SHOWING THE POSITION OP CAE8AR*8 MUBU8 ON THE RHONE. A, A. Caesar's earthwork or wall. 1. The Rhone. S. L. Lemau. 3. The Arve^ 4. Geneva. 5. Mt. Jura* 6. Mt. aux Vachea. 7. Fort TEcliue. HELVETIL The Helvetii, says Caesar, could only g«t out of their country by two ways; an expfeasMO whiek implies that the direction of their route w» deter- mined, for they oouki certainly have got out by the north as well as by the south. One of these two rnxji led along the Rhone, on the right bank, to the pfaice where the Jura abuts on the river, leaving only ivob for a single waggon. This is the place wbete Fori VEcUiU stands. The other road waa over the Shoe at Geneva, and through the country of the Alkbraga and the Provincia. The route of the Helvetn was therefore to the south-west. At the point vheie the Rhone flows out of the kke of Geneva is an islaad, on which stood the town of Geneva, which beVaigei to the Allobroges. The modem town ia on the isbad and on both sides of the Rhone. There waa a brijge from Geneva to the territory of the Hdvetii, and we assume that theie was another bridge fiom the idaad to the south side. All the Helvetii were to meet at Geneva on the 28th of March of the nnrcfonDed calendar, expecting to prevail on the Allobftiges to allow them a passage, and intending to fbree a ps- sage if it was not granted. Caesar, who was mm proconsul of Gallia Cisalpina and of the Piuvloua, was at Rome ; and, hearing of this prepe r at i B H, he hurried from the city and arrived at Geneva. He does not tell where he crossed the AlpsL He mustered as many men as he could in the Provincia, for he had only one legion with him, and he ordcfcd the bridge at Geneva to be destroyed, — the bridge which connected the island with the north bank cf the Rhone, if he only destroyed one bridge. The Helvetii sent to say that they intended to pa^ through the Provincia without doing any hnnn, aai begged that he would give them permissiQn. Ceew, recollecting what had happened to L. CassiuB anA his army, whom the Helvetii had sent nnder the yoin [Gallia, p. 955], resolved not to allow them ta pass through the Provinda. He told them that he would consider about it, and they must oome again on the 13th of April. (b.c. 68.) In the mean time Caesar employed his legkos and the troops that he had raised in the Provinda, the number of which ia not mentioned, in hnilding a wall (murus), probably an earthen rampart, on the south side of the Rhone, from the phioe when it flows out of the Leman lake to the Jura. The wa9 was 19 Roman miles long and 16 feet high, with a ditch ; which may mean that it waa 16 feet a^ from the bottom of the ditch. The wall was manned, and at intervals there were towers (ca^teQa). When the day came for Caeaar*s answer, be refused to aUow the Helvetii to pass through the ProviDcia,aad tohl them, that if they made the attempt, he shonld pre* vent them. The Helvedi tried to break through the walL Some crossed the river by bridges of boats and plaeka fastened together, and others forded the Rhone wbee it was shallowest : sometimes they attacked the wail by day, and sometimes by night ; but the Roman tnxfe drove them back, and they failed to break t fanw^ tlie Roman lines. Some persons who have explained Caesar's operations before Giaierra, or imtber have found fault with his story, begin by supposing that his wall was made on the north side cSl the Rhone. If men can make such a blunder as tliis, thef« is no need to waste any words on Uiem. The wall began on the south side of the river, doee to the lake, and was made along the river to the point wheav the Arve enters the Rhone, just below Genera ; and it was continued along the Rhone to the point where the Rhone passes through the Jura. Ou the north