12.
There is a river [called] the
Saone
, which flows through the territories of the Aedui and
Sequani into the
Rhone
with such incredible slowness, that it can not be determined by the eye
in which direction it flows. This the Helvetii were
crossing by rafts and boats joined together. When Caesar was informed by spies that the Helvetii had already conveyed three parts of their forces across
that river, but that the fourth part was left behind on this side of the
Saone
, he set out from the camp with three legions during the third watch, and
came up with that division which had not yet crossed the river. Attacking them
encumbered with baggage, and not expecting him, he cut to pieces a great part of
them; the rest betook themselves to flight, and concealed themselves in the
nearest woods. That canton [which was cut down] was called the
Tigurine; for the whole Helvetian state is divided
into four cantons. This single canton having left their country, within the
recollection of our fathers, had slain Lucius Cassius the consul,
and had made his army pass under the yoke. Thus, whether by chance, or by the
design of the immortal gods, that part of the Helvetian state which
had brought a signal calamity upon the Roman people,
was the first to pay the penalty. In this Caesar
avenged not only the public but also his own personal wrongs, because the
Tigurini had slain Lucius Piso the lieutenant [of
Cassius], the grandfather of Lucius Calpurnius
Piso, his [Caesar's] father-in-law, in the same battle
as Cassius himself.
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