Note 641 — Chapter III · EVENTS IN ROME DURING THE YEAR 698.

We have put into the mouth of Cæsar the following words of Cicero: “In giving the Alps as a boundary to Italy, Nature had not done it without a special intention of the gods. If the entrance had been open to the ferocity and the multitude of the Gauls, this town would never have been the seat and centre of a great empire. These lofty mountains may now level themselves; there is now nothing, from the Alps to the ocean, which Italy has to fear. One or two campaigns more, and fear or hope, punishments or recompenses, arms or the laws, will reduce all Gaul into subjection to us, and attach her to us by everlasting ties.” (Cicero, Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus, 14.