From: george knysh
Message: 59329
Date: 2008-06-19
--- On Thu, 6/19/08, tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
Yes, let's look at Ariovistus.
The Senate called the Aedui 'brothers' of the Roman people
http://classics. mit.edu/Caesar/ gallic.1. 1.html 33
no later than 60 BCE
http://en.wikisourc e.org/wiki/ Letters_to_ Atticus/1. 19
Caesar in his consulship 59 BCE
http://www.livius. org/caa-can/ caesar/caesar03. html
called Ariovistus 'king and friend'.
http://classics. mit.edu/Caesar/ gallic.1. 1.html 35
That means Ariovistus can not have been at war with the Aedui in 59
****GK: Right. Not active, aggressive war.****
BCE. He must have been elsewhere before that in the 14 years he had
been without a roof (ie in 72 - 59 BCE).
****GK: Non-sequitur. After winning big in Gaul, he was relatively quiescent there while adjusting his Roman relations. Note the interesting fact that when Caesar initially entered Gaul to deal with the Helvetii, Ariovistus was not considered a factor at all. You didn't even know he existed.****
On the other hand, Caesar states
http://classics. mit.edu/Caesar/ gallic.1. 1.html 1
that the Helvetii were constantly at war with the Germani (ie. in the
time up to the Gallic War, before 58 BCE),
('when they either repel them from their own territories, or
themselves wage war on their frontiers', Latin 'in eorum finibus')
from whom they were separated by the Rhine
http://classics. mit.edu/Caesar/ gallic.1. 1.html 2
In other words the Helvetii were at war with someone, and losing, in
Southern Germany, an area where they had earlier prevailed.
http://www.fordham. edu/halsall/ basis/tacitus- germanygord. html
Part II, section 3
I suggest that Ariovistus was active in Southern Germany at the time,
colonizing it(?).
****GK: There were other Germani besides Ariovistus.*****
Torsten