o the 16th of
April of the Julian calendar.
34. IV. V. The Cimbri, Teutones, and Helvetii Unite
35. -Julia Equestris-, where the last surname is to be taken as in
other colonies of Caesar the surnames of sextanorum, decimanorum,
etc. It was Celtic or German horsemen of Caesar, who, of course
with the bestowal of the Roman or, at any rate, Latin franchise,
received land-allotments there.
36. Goler (Caesars gall. Krieg, p. 45, etc.) thinks that he has
found the field of battle at Cernay not far from Muhlhausen, which,
on the whole, agrees with Napoleon's (Precis, p. 35) placing of
the battle-field in the district of Belfort. This hypothesis, although
not certain, suits the circumstances of the case; for the fact that
Caesar required seven days' march for the short space from Besancon
to that point, is explained by his own remark (i. 41) that he had
taken a circuit of fifty miles to avoid the mountain paths; and
the whole description of the pursuit continued as far as the Rhine, and
evidently not lasting for several days but ending on the very day
of the battle, decides--the authority of tradition being equally
balanced--in favour of the view that the battle was fought five,
not fifty, miles from the Rhine. The proposal of Rustow
(-Einleitung zu Caesars Comm-. p. 117) to transfer the field of
battle to the upper Saar rests on a misunderstanding. The corn
expected from the Sequani, Leuci, Lingones was not to come to
the Roman army in the course of their march against Ariovistus, but to
be delivered at Besancon before their departure, and taken by
the troops along with them; as is clearly apparent from the fact that
Caesar, while pointing his troops to those supplies, comforts them
at the same time with the hope of corn to be brought in on
the route. From Besancon Caesar commanded the region of Langres and
Epinal, and, as may be well conceived, preferred to levy his
requisitions there rather than in the exhausted districts from
which he came.
37. This seems the simplest hypothesis regarding the origin of
these Germanic settlements. That Ariovistus settled those peoples
on the middle Rhine is probable, because they fight in his army
(Caes. i. 51) and do not appear earlier; that Caesar left them in
possession of their settlements is probable, because he in presence
of Ariovistus declared himself ready to tolerate the Germans
already settled in Gaul (Caes. i. 35, 43), and because we find them
afterwards in
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