Helvetii

Helvetii, a Celtic people inhabiting, according to Cæsar, the region between the mountains of Jura on the west, the Rhone on the south, and the Rhine on the east and north, the region corresponding pretty closely with the western part of modern Switzerland. Their chief town was Aventicum, and they were divided into four pagi or cantons, of which the most important was the pagus Tigurinus. They are first mentioned in the war with the Cimbri, but the chief event in their history is their attempted irruption into and conquest of southern Gaul, in which they were repulsed by Cæsar with frightful slaughter, 58 B.C. Fortunately we have the story in the terse but vivid narrative of Cæsar. They collected three months' provisions, burned down their twelve towns and 400 villages, and made a general rendezvous by Lake Leman in the spring of the year. Cæsar hastened to Geneva, destroyed the bridge, raised two legions in Cisalpine Gaul, and when the Helvetians sent delegates to demand a passage, delayed them until he had built a wall along the Rhone, 16 feet high and about 19 Roman miles in length, flanked with redoubts. After vainly attempting to pass this barrier, the Helvetii took another route, but were followed and defeated with terrible slaughter at Bibraecte (Autun), and the remnant obliged to return to their own country, where they became subject to the Romans, who overawed all disaffection by the fortresses which they built, Noviodunum, Vindonissa, Aventicum. Of 368,000 who left their homes, including 92,000 fighting-men, only 110,000 are said to have returned. See SWITZERLAND.