Helvetii iam per angustias et fines Sequanorum suas copias traduxerant et in Aeduorum fines pervenerant eorumque agros populabantur. Aedui, cum se suaque ab eis defendere non possent, legatos ad Caesarem mittunt rogatum auxilium: Ita se omni tempore de populo Romano meritos esse, ut paene in conspectu exercitus nostri agri vastari, liberi eorum in servitutem abduci, oppida expugnari non debuerint. Eodem tempore [Aedui] Ambarri, necessarii et consanguinei Aeduorum, Caesarem certiorem faciunt ses depopulatis agris non facile ab oppidis vim hostium prohibere. Item Allobroges, qui trans Rhodanum vicos possessionesque habebant, fuga se ad Caesarem recipiunt et demonstrant sibi praeter agri solum nihil esse reliqui. Quibus rebus adductus Caesar non exspectandum sibi statuit, dum omnibus fortunis sociorum consumptis in Santonos Helvetii pervenirent.
By this time the Helvetii, having brought their own forces through the defiles and through the borders of the Sequani, had reached the borders of the Aedui, and were engaged in laying waste their lands. Unable to defend their persons and their property from the invaders, the Aedui sent deputies to Caesar to ask for aid. These pleaded that the Aedui had always deserved too well of the Roman people to merit the devastation of their lands, the removal of their children into slavery, and the capture of theirs towns, almost in sight of the Roman army. At the same time the Aedui Ambarri, close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui, informed Caesar that their lands had been laid waste, and that they could not easily safeguard their towns from the violence of the enemy. The Allobroges also, who had villages and settlements across the Rhone, fled to Caesar, affirming that they had nothing left to them save the bare ground. All these events drove Caesar to the decision that he must not wait till the Helvetii, having wasted all the substance of the Roman allies, should penetrate into the land of the Santoni.
Translation and notes by H.J. Edwards
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