any for whom he would like to procure the same kindness.  At his request nine hundred were released.  The man’s name was Crato, a Greek name, which points to a connection with Marseilles or one of her colonies.  The Gauls, moreover, ran of themselves into the Roman trap.  Two of their confederations, the AEduans, of whom mention has already been made, and the Allobrogians, who were settled between the Alps, the Isere, and the Rhone, were at war.  A third confederation, the most powerful in Gaul at this time, the Arvernians, who were rivals of the AEduans, gave their countenance to the Allobrogians.  The AEduans, with whom the Massilians had commercial dealings, solicited through these latter the assistance of Rome.  A treaty was easily concluded.  The AEduans obtained from the Romans the title of friends and allies; and the Romans received from the AEduans that of brothers, which amongst the Gauls implied a sacred tie.  The consul Domitius forthwith commanded the Allobrogians to respect the territory of the allies of Rome.  The Allobrogians rose up in arms and claimed the aid of the Arvernians.  But even amongst them, in the very heart of Gaul, Rome was much dreaded; she was not to be encountered without hesitation.  So Bituitus, King of the Arvernians, was for trying accommodation.  He was a powerful and wealthy chieftain.  His father Luern used to give amongst the mountains magnificent entertainments; he had a space of twelve square furlongs enclosed, and dispensed wine, mead, and beer from cisterns made within the enclosure; and all the Arvernians crowded to his feasts.  Bituitus displayed before the Romans his barbaric splendor.  A numerous escort, superbly clad, surrounded his ambassador; in attendance were packs of enormous hounds; and in front; went a bard, or poet, who sang, with rotte or harp in hand, the glory of Bituitus and of the Arvernian people.  Disdainfully the consul received and sent back the embassy.  War broke out; the Allobrogians, with the usual confidence and hastiness of all barbarians, attacked alone, without waiting for the Arvernians, and were beaten at the confluence of the Rhone and the Sorgue, a little above Avignon.  The next year, 121 B.C., the Arvernians in their turn descended from the mountains, and crossed the Rhone with all their tribes, diversely armed and clad, and ranged each about its own chieftain.  In his barbaric vanity, Bituitus marched to war with the same pomp that he had in vain displayed to obtain peace.  He sat upon a car glittering with silver; he wore a plaid of striking colors; and he brought in his train a pack of war-hounds.  At the sight of the Roman legions, few in number, iron-clad, in serried ranks that took up little space, he contemptuously cried, “There is not a meal for my hounds.”