The whole of Gaul, which the Romans describe as their province, consisted of sixty-four _civitates_. In the time of Tiberius, there existed a number of separate tribes, each of which governed itself as a distinct state, and the same also continued afterwards. The Romans then divided Gaul into _Gallia Narbonensis_, _Aquitania_, and _Gallia Lugdunensis_. Each of these provinces consisted of a number of such _civitates_, which accordingly were both towns and states, and that more so than at present the French departments. They were absolutely subject to the Romans, but, before they obtained the Roman franchise, they had their own institutions. A _civitas_ was governed by a senate, of which the members resided in the capital, and every thing was managed according to their ancient rights and usages. The Roman franchise was first conferred upon them under Augustus; but they did not obtain the right of being elected to high offices or into the Roman senate. This franchise, however, was confined to the _provincia Romana_, which extended as far north as Lyons. The particulars are not known, but some _civitates_ within the Province had only the _jus Latii_. Afterwards many individual Gauls obtained the full franchise, including the right of being elected into the Roman senate. Claudius extended the franchise to Gallia Narbonensis, at the same time conferring upon the inhabitants the right of becoming members of the senate. Under Galba, the remaining Gauls also obtained the franchise, but not the Belgae. Tacitus (_Ann._ iii. 44) states that the sixty-four Gallic _civitates_ revolted, which no doubt is the sum total of all the Gallic _civitates_, though it is not certain whether Gallia Narbonensis is included or not. After the Gallic migration, and previously to the Roman dominion in Gaul, some states had raised themselves to a kind of supremacy, and many others were in a condition of dependence. After the stormy period of migration, two tribes, the _Arverni_ and _Aedui_, unfortunately for Gaul, had risen, and tried to crush each other, as Athens and Sparta did in Greece. About two hundred and sixty years after the capture of Rome by the Gauls, these two tribes were the most powerful in the country; and all the others were obliged to acknowledge the majesty of either the one or the other. The Romans, who protected the Allobroges, became involved in a war with the Arverni; and it must have been on that occasion, perhaps after the victory of Q. Fabius, that they concluded the alliance with the Aedui, in which the latter were declared _fratres populi Romani_: with their assistance, the Arverni were greatly humbled. After this, the Aedui were, for a time, at the head of affairs; but soon the Cymri or Cimbri, driven back from the east of Europe, inundated Gaul. The Aedui then lost their power, and the Sequani, in Franche Comté, rose in their place. Caesar’s expressions on these affairs are unusual and strange, and require explanation.