4.
When this scheme was disclosed to the Helvetii by
informers, they, according to their custom, compelled Orgetorix to
plead his cause in chains; it was the law that the penalty of being burned by
fire should await him if condemned. On the day appointed for the pleading of his
cause, Orgetorix drew together from all quarters to the court, all
his vassals to the number of ten thousand persons; and led together to the same
place all his dependents and debtor-bondsmen, of whom he had a great number; by
means of those he rescued himself from [the necessity of] pleading his cause.
While the state, incensed at this act, was endeavoring to assert its right by
arms, and the magistrates were mustering a large body of men from the country,
Orgetorix died; and there is not wanting a suspicion, as the
Helvetii think, of his having committed suicide.
C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library.
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