Napoleon III - History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

The Sequani , whose territory embraced the ancient Franche-Comté (Jura, Doubs, Haute-Saône, and part of the Haut-Rhin). Principal town, Vesontio ( Besançon ).

The Turones , who occupied Touraine (department of Indre-et-Loire).

The peoples whom Cæsar calls maritime , or Armorican , were —

The Ambibari , established at the point where the departments of La Manche and Ille-et-Vilaine join.

The Ambiliates , whose territory comprised the part of the department of Maine-et-Loire situated to the south of the Loire.

The Andes , occupying Anjon (department of Maine-et-Loire and a fraction of the department of the Sarthe).

The Curiosolitæ , occupying the greatest part of the department of the Côtes-du-Nord.

The Lemovices Armorici , fixed to the south of the Loire, in the southern part of the department of the Loire-Inférieure and the west of that of Maine-et-Loire.

The Lexovii , occupying the department of Calvados, and a fraction of that of the Eure.

The Namnetes , who occupied, in the department of the Loire-Inférieure, the right bank of the Loire.

The Osismii , whose territory answered to the department of Finistère.

The Pictones , occupying Poitou (departments of La Vendée, the Deux-Sèvres, and the Vienne).

The Redones , whose territory embraced the greatest part of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine.

The Santones , occupying Saintonge, Aunis, and Angoumois (department of the Charente and the Charente-Inférieure, and a part of the department of the Gironde).

The Unelli , the people of the ancient Contentin (department of La Manche).

The Veneti , whose territory included the department of Morbihan.

Tacitus. Germania , 28.

Peoples of Aquitaine:

The Ausci , who occupied the central part of the department of the Gers, the most powerful of the nations of Aquitaine, according to Pomponius Mela (III. 2).

The Bigerriones occupied Bigorre (department of the Hautes-Pyrénées).

The Cocosates , established on the coasts of the Gulf of Gascony, in the Landes (the southern part of the department of the Gironde and the northern of the department of the Landes).

The Elusates occupied the north-west part of the department of the Gers and part of that of the Lot-et-Garonne.

The Gates , at the confluence of the Gers and the Garonne.

The Garumni , in the south of the department of the Haute-Garonne.

The Ptianes , probably towards Pau and Orthez.

The Sibuzates appear to have occupied the ancient country of Soule (Basses-Pyrénées).

The Sotiates occupied the south-west part of the department of Lot-et-Garonne and a part of the departments of the Landes and the Gers.

The Tarbelli occupied all the territory bordering upon the head of the Gulf of Gascony (departments of the Landes and the Basses-Pyrénées).

The Tarusates , established on the Adour, in the ancient Tursan (the south-east part of the department of the Landes). Peoples of Aquitaine ( continued ).

The Vasates or Vocates , established in the country of Bazas (the south-east part of the department of the Gironde).

“Pagus, pars civitatis.” ( De Bello Gallico , I. 12.)

Cæsar mentions in different pasages the existence of vici among the Helvetii (I. 5), the Allobroges trans Rhodanum (I. 11), the Remi (II. 7), the Morini (III. 29), the Menapii (IV. 4), the Eburones (VI. 43), the Boii (VII. 14), the Carnutes (VIII. 5), and the Veragri (III. 1).

De Bello Gallico VII. 15, 25, 68.

The “Commentaries” name twenty-one oppida : Alesia, Avaricum, Bibracte, Bibrax, Bratuspantium, Cabillonum, Genabum, Genava, Gergovia, Gorgobina, Lutetia, Lemonum, Melodunum, Noviodunum Æduorum, Noviodunum Biturigum, Noviodunum Suessionum, Uxellodunum, Vellaunodunum, Vesontio, the oppidum Aduatucorum, and the oppidum Sotiatum.

“Oppidum dictum quod ibi homines opes suas conferunt.” (Paulus Diaconus, p. 184, edit. Müller.)

The Gauls lived in houses, or rather in huts, constructed of wood and with hurdles, tolerably spacious and of a circular form, covered with a high roof. (Strabo, IV. 163, edit. Didot.) – The Gauls, to avoid the heat, almost always built their habitations in the neighbourhood of woods and rivers. (Cæsar, De Bello Gallico , VI. 30.)

See a very curious passage in Solinus, chap. 25, on the practice of tattooing among the Gauls.

Diodorus Siculus (V. 28) says that the Gauls were of tall stature, had white flesh, and were lymphatic in constitution. Some shaved; the majority had beards of moderate size. – According to Titus Livius, the Gauls possessed a tall stature ( procera corpora ), flowing hair of an auburn colour ( promissæ et rutilatæ comæ ), a white complexion ( candida corpora ). (Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 17, 21, and Ammianus Marcellinus, XV. 22.) The latter adds that the Gauls had generally a threatening and terrible tone of voice, which is also stated by Diodorus Siculus (V. 31). – The skeletons found in the excavations at Saint-Etienne-au-Temple are 1·80m. to 1·90m. in length.

Strabo, p. 163, edit. Didot.

Isidorus Hispalensis, Origines , I. 19, 24.

Diodorus Siculus, V. 30.

Diodorus Siculus, V. 33.

Pliny, XXXIII. 24. – Gold was very abundant in Gaul; silver was much less common. The rich wore bracelets, rings on the leg, and collars, of the purest gold and tolerably massive; they had even breastplates of gold. (Diodorus Siculus, V. 27.) – A great number of these rings and circles of gold, of very good workmanship, have been found in the Gaulish burying-places. The Museum of Saint-Germain contains bracelets and earrings of chased gold, found, in 1863, in a tumulus situated near Châtillon-sur-Seine.

De Bello Gallico , VI. 14.

De Bello Gallico , VI. 13.

Pliny, Hist. Nat. , VIII. xlviii. lxxiii., p. 127, edit. Sillig.

De Bello Gallico , VII. 22. – Pliny, XXXIV. xvii., p. 162, edit. Sillig.

“Deinde et argentum incoquere simili modo cœpere, equorum maxime ornamentis, jumentorumque ac jugorum, in Alesia oppido.” (Pliny, XXXIV. xvii., p. 162. – Florus, III. 2.)

Milk and the flesh of wild or domestic animals, especially swine’s flesh fresh or salted, formed the principal food of the Gauls. (Strabo, IV., p. 163.) – Beer and mead were the principal drink of the Gauls. (Posidonius quoted by Athenæus, IV., p. 151, Fragmenta Historicum Græc. , III. 260.) – This statement is made also by Diodorus Siculus (V. 26), who informs us that this beer was made with barley.