put into office by the noblemen to check Caesar
and limit his ambitious designs, which included doing all that he could
to better the condition of the common people. But Caesar soon had the
upper hand in all the affairs of the consulship, so that the people
said jokingly that the two consuls for the year were Julius and Caesar,
instead of Caesar and Bibulus.

Among other things that Caesar accomplished was the passing of a land
law that provided land for all of Pompey's old soldiers, and was also
designed to give land to the people at Rome who were without occupation
and often on the verge of starvation. Naturally this law made Caesar
even more popular with Pompey, as for the people they cheered him
lustily and said among themselves that this Julius Caesar was certainly
a most noble and generous leader. Had he not been the follower of
Marius and replaced his statues which were overthrown by tyranny? Had
he not provided games the like of which the people had never seen
before? And now, by his land law, had he not shown that he was devoted
to the poor, ready at all times to fight their battles and to provide
generously for them?

Such were the means by which Caesar endeared himself to the Romans. And
now was to come the opportunity by which at a single leap he placed
himself above all others. The province of Gaul which lay to the
northwest of Italy, and included most of what is now modern France, was
an extremely rich and fertile country, occupied by wild tribes that
were hardly friendly to the Romans. Through his political power, and
much scheming, Caesar had himself made governor of all Gaul for five
years. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, for he could not only make
himself famous as a conqueror by subduing the Gaulish tribes, but could
raise an enormous army, devoted to his interests, by which he could
take by force the entire control of the Roman State as Sulla had done
before him.

Naturally Caesar did not voice these designs, but he entertained them
just the same, and began a series of wars in Gaul in which over a
million of his enemies are said to have perished on the battlefield.

When Caesar entered upon his duties in governing Gaul, certain tribes
came to him with complaints of a people called the Helvetii, who were
leaving their own country, or what is now Switzerland, to enter upon
the more fertile and less mountainous lands of their neighbors. Caesar
mustered his soldiers and marched against the Helv