barbarians, distinguished themselves by their manly and heroic resistance to the hostile conquerors. They were indeed ceded to the Goths, but the barbarians did not settle among them, as they had done in other countries by force of arms. The country of the Arverni is called by Gregory of Tours that of the _Romana nobilitas_. Sidonius Apollinaris does the greatest honour to his province. The _Aedui_ are termed _fratres populi Romani_ as a recognition of their political fraternity and equality, but not on account of any relationship, as Lucan thinks. _Augustodunum_ was their most important town. The _Sequani_ rose after the fall of the Arverni, just as the Boeotians and Aetolians did in Greece after the decay of the great states. When Caesar arrived in Gaul, his conquest averted from the country the calamity which, four centuries and a half later, actually came upon it, I allude to its conquest by the Germans; for Ariovistus and the Suevi had already settled in the country, as was afterwards done by the Franks: if the first conquest had succeeded, the country would have been called Suabia instead of France. Caesar subdued the Sequani. _Tolosa_, on the left of the Arverni, was the most important town on the upper Garonne, and was remarkable for the temple and the gold accumulated in it, which the Romans, under Caepio, had taken as booty in the Cimbrian war. When Caesar appeared there, the people were already subject to the Romans. The real _Aquitanians_, as I have already observed, were Iberians; but Augustus extended Aquitania for political convenience as far as the Loire; historically it did not extend beyond the Garonne. _Burdigala_ was an ancient emporium. These towns were always favoured by the natural advantages of their situation.