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The Tigurini had destroyed the army of Longinus, and on them the first retribution fell. Caesar cut them to pieces. A single day sufficed to throw a bridge over the Saone, and the Helvetii, who had looked for nothing less than to be pursued by six Roman legions, begged for peace.

XVIII. Cæsar's first Gallic campaign was against the Helvetii and Tigurini, who had burnt their cities, twelve in number, and their villages, of which there were four hundred, and were advancing through that part of Gaul which was subject to the Romans, like the Cimbri and Teutones of old, to whom they were considered to be not inferior in courage and in numbers equal, being in all three hundred thousand, of whom one hundred and ninety thousand were fighting men.

Caesar crossed the Rhone above Lyons, and came up with the marauding hosts as they were leisurely passing in boats over the Saone. They had been twenty days upon the river, transporting their wagons and their families. Three quarters of them were on the other side. The Tigurini from Zurich, the most warlike of their tribes, were still on the left bank.

In B.C. 107 the consul L. Cassius Longinus fell in battle against the Galli Tigurini, who inhabited a part of Switzerland, and his army was sent under the yoke. This was while his colleague Marius was carrying on the campaign against Jugurtha in Africa. In B.C. 105 Cn.

The Tigurini were not opposed by Cæsar in person, but by Labienus, who was sent against them by Cæsar and totally defeated them near the Arar. The Helvetii fell on Cæsar unexpectedly as he was leading his forces to a friendly city, but he succeeded in making his way to a strong position, where he rallied his army and prepared for battle.

Nor were they inferior to these in courage; and in numbers they were equal, being in all three hundred thousand, of which one hundred and ninety thousand were fighting men. Caesar did not engage the Tigurini in person, but Labienus, under his directions, routed them near the river Arar.

His first war in Gaul was against the Helvetians and Tigurini, who having burnt their own towns, twelve in number, and four hundred villages, would have marched forward through that part of Gaul which was included in the Roman province, as the Cimbrians and Teutons formerly had done.