" Once upon a journey he
was compelled by a storm to take shelter in a poor man's hut, which
contained only a single chamber and that hardly large enough for one
person, on which he observed to his friends that the post of honour
must be given to the worthiest and the place of safety to the weakest;
and he bade Oppius lie down while he and the rest slept in the porch.
XVIII. Caesar's first Gallic campaign was against the Helvetii[486] 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. The Tigurini
were not opposed by Caesar in person, but by Labienus, who was sent
against them by Caesar and totally defeated them near the Arar. The
Helvetii fell on Caesar 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. A horse
being brought to him, he said, "I shall want this for the pursuit
after I have defeated the enemy; but let us now move on against them;"
and accordingly he made the charge on foot. After a long and difficult
contest, the Helvetian warriors were driven back, but the hardest
struggle was about the chariots and the camp, for the Helvetians made
a stand there and a desperate resistance, and also their wives and
children, who fought till they were cut to pieces, and the battle was
hardly over at midnight.
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