de bello gallico, 1.7

When it had been announced to Caesar that they were trying to make a journey through our province, he hurried to set out from the city and strove in the longest forced marches possible to farther Gaul, and he arrived at Genava. He levies the whole province as great a number of soldiers as possible (there was altogether one legion in farther Gaul), he ordered the bridge which was at Genava to be cut down. When the Helvetii were made aware (lit. more certain) about his arrival they sent ambassadors to him, the most noble of the state, of which legation Nammeius and Verucloetius were occupying the principal spot, who said that they had in mind to make a journey through the province without any misdeed, on account of the fact that they had no other route; they asked that it be allowed for them to do this by/with his willingness. Caesar, because he was holding in memory that Lucius Cassius the Consul had been killed and that his army had been beaten by the Helvetii and had been sent under the yoke, was not thinking that it should be yielded; and he was not thinking that the men of (lit. in) a hostile mind, with the means/opportunity of making a journey through the province having been given, would refrain from injury and misdeed. Nevertheless, that a space could intervene while soldiers gathered whom he had levied, he responded to the ambassadors that he would take a day for deliberating: if they wished anything they should return (let them return) on the Ides of April.

de bello gallico, 1.6

There were in all two journeys, by which routes they were able to leave their home. One (was) through the Sequani, narrow and difficult, between Mt. Iura and the river Rhodanus, by which scarcely a single line of wagons might be led; moreover, the tallest mountain was hanging over, so that very easily could few prevent (many): the other journey (was) through our province, easier by much and less encumbered, on account of the fact that the Rhodanus river flows between the territories of the Helvetii and the Allobrogi, who recently had been pacified, and this is crossed in not no places by a ford. Genava is last town of the Allobrogi and is closest to the border of the Helvetii. From this town a bridge reaches to the Helvetii. They were thinking that they themselves would persuade the Allobrogi, because they seemed not yet in good spirit towards the Roman populace, or they would compel them by force to allow them to go through their territory. With all these things having been prepared for departure they announced the date they would all convene, five days before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Lucius Piso and Aullus Gabinus.

de bello gallico, 1.5

After his death, the less by none, the Helvetii tried to do this which they had decided, to leave from their territory. When now they thought that were prepared for this thing, they burned all their cities, numbering to twelve, their villages, numbering to four hundred, and the remaining private buildings; they torch all the grain, except that which they would carry with them, so that, with the hope of returning home having been removed, they were more prepared for every danger about to be undertaken; they order each one to carry from home ground grain for three months. They persuaded the Raurici and the Tulingi and the Latovici, their neighbors, having used the same plan, their cities and their villages having been burned, to set out together with them, and they took the Boii (who had lived across the Rhenus and had gone across into the Noric territory and had attacked the Noreia) to themselves, having been received to themselves as allies.

de bello gallico, 1.4

This affair was announced to the Helvetii through informers. According to their customs, they compelled Orgetorix to plead his case in chains. It was necessary for the punishment to follow the condemned that they be burned by fire. On the appointed day of the pleading of his case, Orgetorix gathered to the court all of his family from all sides, up to ten thousand (of) men, and he brought all of his clients and debtors, of which he had a great number, together to this spot: through these he snatched himself away lest he plead his case. When the state, stirred up on account of this matter, tried to follow its right by arms, and when the magistrates gathered a multitude of men from the fields, Orgetorix died; and suspicion was not absent, as the Helvetians thought, but that he himself had decreed death for himself.

de bello gallico, 1.3

Influenced by these things and very moved by the authority of Orgetorix, they decided to prepare those things which related to departure, to buy as great a number as possible of mules and cart, to sow as much seed as possible to provide a supply of grain on the journey, to confirm peace and friendship with the neighboring states. For the accomplishment of these things they considered two years enough for themselves: they set by law their departure in the third year. Orgetorix was chosen for the accomplishment of these things. This man took up for himself the legation to the states. In this journey he persuaded the Sequanus Casticus, son of Catamantaloedis, whose father had held kingship among the Sequani for many years and had been called a friend by the senate of the people of Rome, to take the kingship in his state which his father had held before; and likewise he persuaded the Aeduus Dumnorix, brother of Diviciacus, who at this time was holding the principate in his state and was most well-liked by the plebs, to try (to do) the same, and he gave him his daughter in marriage. He showed them that it was a very easy thing to do to accomplish these attempts, on account of the fact that he himself would obtain the power of his own state; there was no doubt but that the Helvetii were the most powerful of all Gaul; he confirmed that he would buy for them (i.e. unite with them) their kingdoms with his troops and army. Influenced by this speech, they gave faith among themselves and sworn oaths, and, with power having been gained, they hoped that they would be able to gain possession of all Gaul through (these) three most powerful and strong peoples.

de bello gallico, 1.2

Among the Helvetii by far the most noble and rich was Orgetorix. This man, in the consulship of Marcus Messalla and Marcus Pupius Piso, influenced by a desire for kingship, made a conspiracy of the nobility and persuaded the state to leave from their borders with all their troops: it was very easy to gain possession of all Gaul when/because they excelled everyone in virtue. He persuaded them (of) this more easily by this, because the Helvetii everywhere are contained by the nature of the place: from one part by the Rhenus river, most wide and deep, which divides Helvetian territory from the Germans; from another part by Mt. Iura, most high, which is between the Sequani and the Helvetii; (from the) third (part) by lake Lemannus and the river Rhodanus, which divides our province from the Helvetii. By these things it was happening both that they wandered less widely and that they could make war on their neighbors less easily; from which part the men, desirous of war, were afflicted with great grief. Moreover, for the multitude of men and for the glory of war and of their bravery, they thought that they had petty (i.e. narrow, scanty) territory, which extend in longitude 240 miles, in latitude 180 miles.

de bello gallico, 1.1

All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgians inhabit, another the Aquitani, the third (those inhabit) who in the language of themselves (are called) the Celts, in our (language) are called the Gauls. These all differ among themselves in language, institutions, laws. The Garumna river (separates) the Gauls from the Aquitani, the Matrona and Sequana divide (the Gauls) from the Belgians. Of all these the bravest are the Belgians, on account of the fact that they are farthest from the culture and humanity of our province, and least often do merchants go back and forth to them and import these things which pertain to the weakening of spirits, and they are nearest to the Germans, who live across the Rhenus, with whom they continually wage war. From which cause the Helvetii also surpass the remaining Gauls in virtue because they strive in nearly daily wars with the Germans, when either they keep them from their territory or they themselves wage war in their territory. One part of these, which it is said that the Gauls hold, takes its beginning from the river Rhodanus; it is contained by the river Garumna, by the Ocean, by the territory of the Belgians; it touches also the Rhenus river from the Sequani and Helvetii; it lies to the north. The Belgians arise from the last borders of Gaul; they look into the north and rising sun. Aquitania stretches from the Garumna river to the Pyrenese mountains and this part of the Ocean which is near Spain; it looks between the setting of the sun and the north.