_Louis XIV._ translated the first book of the _Commentaries_. His translation was printed at Paris in 1651, in folio, with figures. This work has not been reprinted; it is now very rare. The reader may consult on this subject the _Méthode d’étudier l’Histoire_ of the Abbé Lenglet-Dufresnoy, tom. II., p. 481; and J. Ch. Brunet, _Manuel du Libraire et de l’Amateur de Livres_, fourth edition, tom. I., p. 519. _The great Condé_, who had studied with care the campaigns of Cæsar, encouraged the translation of the _Commentaries_ undertaken by Nicolas Perrot d’Ablancourt; it was the translation most esteemed and the most in vogue during the last century. _Christina, Queen of Sweden_, had composed _Reflections on the Life and Actions of Cæsar_, as we are informed by J. Arckenholz in his work entitled _Mémoires concernant Christine, Reine de Suède_, Amsterdam, 1751-1760, tom. IV., No. 6, p. 4. _Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans_, surnamed _Egalité_, was a great reader of the _Commentaries_. He caused a map of Cæsar’s campaigns in Gaul to be made. Lastly, _the Emperor Napoleon I._, at St. Helena, dictated a _Précis des Guerres de César_ to Comte Marchand, who published it in Paris in 1836, in 8vo. CONTENTS. BOOK III. THE WARS IN GAUL, AFTER THE “COMMENTARIES.” CHAPTER I. POLITICAL CAUSES OF THE GALLIC WAR. PAGE I. ENTERPRISING CHARACTER OF THE GAULS. 1 II. WARS OF THE ROMANS BEYOND THE ALPS. 3 III. CONTINUAL PRE-OCCUPATION OF THE ROMANS IN REGARD TO THE GAULS. 7 IV. PLAN FOLLOWED IN THE RELATION OF THE WAR IN GAUL. 13 CHAPTER II. STATE OF GAUL IN THE TIME OF CÆSAR. I. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. (_See Plate 1._) 15 II. POLITICAL DIVISIONS. (_See Plate 2._) 22 III. MANNERS. 32 IV. INSTITUTIONS. 41 CHAPTER III. CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE HELVETII. (Year of Rome 696.) (BOOK I. OF THE “COMMENTARIES.”) I. PROJECTS OF INVASION BY THE HELVETII. (_See Plate 3._) 49 II. CÆSAR’S ARRIVAL AT GENEVA. 52 III. DESCRIPTION OF THE RETRENCHMENT OF THE RHONE. (_See Plate 8._) 52 IV. THE HELVETII BEGIN THEIR MARCH TOWARDS THE SAÔNE. CÆSAR UNITES HIS TROOPS. (_See Plates 2 and 4._) 59 V. DEFEAT OF THE HELVETII ON THE SAÔNE. (_See Plates 2 and 4._) 64 VI. DEFEAT OF THE HELVETII NEAR BIBRACTE. (_See Plates 4 and 5._) 72 VII. PURSUIT OF THE HELVETII 76 VIII. OBSERVATIONS 79 CHAPTER IV. CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARIOVISTUS. (Year of Rome 696.)