Helvetii

A Celtic people inhabiting, according to Cæsar, the region between the mountains of Jura on the west, the Rhone on the south, and the Rhine on the east and north, the region corresponding pretty closely with modern Switzerland. The great and fatal event in their history is their attempted irruption into and conquest of Southern Gaul, in which they were repulsed by Cæsar with frightful slaughter in 58 B.C. , and compelled to return to their own country, where they became subjects to the Romans. In the commotions which followed the death of Nero, the Helve tians met with another terrible catastrophe. Remaining faithful to Galba, they were fallen upon by Cacina, a general of Vitelli us, who gave them up to the rapacity of his legions, and from this time they scarcely appear in history as a distinct people.