He next led the army by slow stages through the country of the Allobroges and Vocontii,[136] bribes to the general determining the length of each day's march and the choice of a camp. For Valens struck disgraceful bargains with the landowners and municipal authorities, often applying violent threats, as, for instance, at Lucus,[137] a township of the Vocontii, which he threatened to burn, until he was appeased with money. Where it was impossible to get money, he was mollified by appeals to his lust. And so it went on until the Alps were reached. FOOTNOTES: [124] Metz. [125] They would wear veils and fillets, as suppliants. Cp. chap. 66 and iii. 31. [126] Living round Toul between the Marne and the Moselle. [127] Chap. 59. [128] Cp. chap. 51. [129] Cp. chap. 59. [130] This was probably one of the _cohortes civium Romanorum_, volunteer corps raised in Italy on lighter terms of service than prevailed in the legions. [131] With Vindex. [132] The chief town of the Allobroges, and the capital of Narbonese Gaul. [133] So was Vienne; but the status had been conferred on the Gauls of this town as lately as Caligula's reign, whereas Lugdunum had been colonized in B.C. 43 by Roman citizens expelled from Vienne. [134] Cf. iii. 31. [135] Nearly fifty shillings. [136] Part of Dauphine and Provence, with a capital town at Vaison. [137] Luc-en-Diois. THE MARCH OF CAECINA'S COLUMN There was even more looting and bloodshed on Caecina's march. The 67 Helvetii, a Gallic tribe[138] once famous as fighting men and still distinguished by the memory of their past, having heard nothing of Galba's murder, refused to acknowledge the authority of Vitellius. This exasperated Caecina's headstrong nature. Hostilities broke out owing to the greed and impatience of the Twenty-first legion, who had seized a sum of money which was being sent to pay the garrison of a fort in which the Helvetii used to keep native troops at their own expense.[139] The Helvetii, highly indignant at this, intercepted a dispatch from the German army to the Pannonian legions, and kept a centurion and some men in custody. Greedy for battle, Caecina hastened to take immediate vengeance without giving them time for second thoughts. Promptly breaking up his camp, he proceeded to harry the country, and sacked a charming and much-frequented watering-place,[140] which had grown during the long peace into the size and importance of a town. Instructions were sent to the Raetian auxiliaries to attack the Helvetii in the rear, while their attention was occupied with the legion.