§1.12.1Flumen est Arar, quod per fines Haeduorum et Sequanorum in Rhodanum influit, incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis in utram partem fluat iudicari non possit.
There is a river called the Arar, which flows through the territories of the Haedui and the Sequani into the Rhone with such incredible slowness that it cannot be determined by the eyes in which direction it flows.
Id Helvetii ratibus ac lintribus iunctis transibant.
The Helvetii were crossing this by means of rafts and boats joined together.
§1.12.2Ubi per exploratores Caesar certior factus est tres iam partes copiarum Helvetios id flumen traduxisse, quartam vero partem citra flumen Ararim reliquam esse, de tertia vigilia cum legionibus tribus e castris profectus ad eam partem pervenit quae nondum flumen transierat.
When Caesar was informed by scouts that the Helvetii had already conveyed three parts of their forces across that river, but that the fourth part was left on this side of the river Arar, he set out from the camp during the third watch with three legions, and came to that part which had not yet crossed the river.
§1.12.3Eos impeditos et inopinantes adgressus magnam partem eorum concidit; reliqui sese fugae mandarunt atque in proximas silvas abdiderunt.
Attacking them encumbered with baggage and suspecting nothing, he cut down a great part of them; the rest betook themselves to flight and concealed themselves in the nearest woods.
§1.12.4Is pagus appellabatur Tigurinus; nam omnis civitas Helvetia in quattuor pagos divisa est.
This canton was called the Tigurinus; for the whole Helvetian state is divided into four cantons.
§1.12.5Hic pagus unus, cum domo exisset, patrum nostrorum memoria L. Cassium consulem interfecerat et eius exercitum sub iugum miserat.
This single canton, having left its home, had, within the memory of our fathers, slain the consul Lucius Cassius, and sent his army under the yoke.
§1.12.6Ita sive casu sive consilio deorum immortalium quae pars civitatis Helvetiae insignem calamitatem populo Romano intulerat, ea princeps poenam persolvit.
Thus, whether by chance or by the design of the immortal gods, that part of the Helvetian state which had inflicted a signal calamity on the Roman people was the first to pay the penalty.
§1.12.7Qua in re Caesar non solum publicas, sed etiam privatas iniurias ultus est, quod eius soceri L. Pisonis avum, L. Pisonem legatum, Tigurini eodem proelio quo Cassium interfecerant.
In this matter, Caesar avenged not only public but also private wrongs, because the Tigurini, in the same battle in which they had slain Cassius, had also slain the legate Lucius Piso, the grandfather of his father-in-law, Lucius Piso.