his share in the
execution of the Catalinarian conspirators. Finding that he could not rely
upon the support of his friends, Cicero went into exile without awaiting
trial. He was formally banished, his property was confiscated, and he
himself sought refuge in Thessalonica, where the governor of Macedonia
offered him protection. Cato was entrusted with a special mission to
accomplish the incorporation of Cyprus, then ruled by one of the Egyptian
Ptolemies, into the Roman Empire, and his Stoic conception of duty
prevented him from refusing the appointment. Caesar remained with his army
in the vicinity of Rome until after Cicero's banishment and then set out
for his province.

II. CAESAR'S CONQUEST OF GAUL: 58-51 B. C.

*The defeat of the Helvetii and Ariovistus: 58 B. C.* In 58 B. C., when
Caesar entered upon his Gallic command, the Roman province in Transalpine
Gaul (_Gallia __Narbonensis_) embraced the coast districts from the Alps
to the borders of Spain and the land between the Alps and the Rhone as far
north as Lake Geneva. The country which stretched from the Pyrenees to the
Rhine, and from the Rhone to the ocean was called _Gallia comata_ or
"long-haired Gaul," and was occupied by a large number of peoples of
varying importance. These were usually regarded as falling into three
groups, (1) those of Aquitania, between the Pyrenees and the Loire, where
there was a large Iberian element, (2) those called Celts, in a narrow
sense of the word, stretching from the Loire to the Seine and the Marne,
and (3) the Belgian Gauls, dwelling between these rivers and the Rhine.
Among the latter were peoples of Germanic origin. Although conscious of a
general unity of language, race and customs, the Gauls had not developed a
national state, owing to the mutual jealousy of the individual peoples,
and each tribe was perpetually divided into rival factions supporting
different chiefs. Rome had sought to protect the province of Narbonensis
by establishing friendly relations with some of these Gallic peoples and
had long before (c. 121 B. C.) made an alliance with the Aedui. About 70
B. C. conditions in _Gallia comata_ had been disturbed by an invasion of
Germanic Suevi, from across the Rhine, under their King Ariovistus. He
united with the rivals of the Aedui, the Sequani, and after a number of
years reduced the former to submission. In 59 B. C. he reached an
agreement with Rome, became a "friend" of the Roman peo