"Not lyrical, but accurate, Insubrecus. All these stories and reports of
Romans, Belgae, Krauts, and whatnot have become a knot I do not have
time to unravel, so I'm just going to slice it open!" Caesar announced.
"Tomorrow at dawn, this army marches on the Aeduan capital. . .we march
on Bibracte!" With these words, Gaius Iulius Caesar sent his army on
what most of his officers considered a suicide mission with the
Helvetians and their German allies across their line of retreat and the
army trapped against the impregnable walls of Bibracte, the
fortress-capital of their treacherous Gallic allies, the Aedui.
"The Helvetian Affair" is the second book of the Gaius Marius Chronicle,
the memoir of a retired Roman soldier, Gaius Marius Insubrecus, a
legionary who fought with Caesar throughout his Gallic campaigns and the
Roman civil wars.
"The Helvetian Affair" recounts Insubrecus' coming of age as a Roman
soldier in the legionary camps outside the city of Aquileia, and serving
his patron, Caesar, as he conducts a lightening campaign to prevent the
fierce and ruthless attempt by the Helvetii to conquer Celtic Gaul and
threaten the Roman province.
The narrative recreates a colorful and culturally complex portrait of
ancient northern Italy and the Rhone valley, as Romans, Celts and
Germans struggle for supremacy in the hills and dark forests of western
Gaul.
