[Footnote 478:  Caesar’s Gallic campaign began B.C. 58.

He carried on the war actively for eight years, till the close of B.C. 51.  But he was still proconsul of Gallia in the year B.C. 50.  Plutarch has not attempted a regular narrative of Caesar’s campaigns, which would have been foreign to his purpose (see the Life of Alexander, c. 1); nor can it be attempted in these notes.  The great commander has left in his Commentary on the Gallic War an imperishable record of his subjugation of Gaul.]

[Footnote 479:  Plutarch here, after his fashion, throws in a few anecdotes without any regard to the chronological order.]

[Footnote 480:  Massalia, an ancient Greek settlement, now Marseilles, was called Massilia by the Romans.  The siege of Massalia is told by Caesar (Civil War, ii. 1, &c.).  It took place after Pompeius had fled from Brundisium.]

[Footnote 481:  The story of Scaeva is told by Caesar (Civil War, iii. 53).  The missiles were arrows.  As to the exact number of arrows that the brave centurion Scaeva received in his shield, see the note in Oudendorp’s Caesar.  Scaeva was promoted to the first class of centurions (Suetonius. Caesar, 68).]

[Footnote 482:  Cordoba or Cordova in Hispania Baetica.  Caesar must therefore have been subject to these attacks during his quaestorship, or at least his praetorship in Spain.

Of Caesar’s endurance and activity, Suetonius also (Caesar, 57) has preserved several notices.]

[Footnote 483:  Kaltwasser translates this:  “He travelled with such speed that he did not require more than eight days to reach the Rhone after leaving Rome;” as if this was his habit.  But Kaltwasser is mistaken.]

[Footnote 484:  See the Life of Pompeius, c. 10.

In the time of Gellius (xvii. 9) there was extant a collection of Caesar’s letters to C. Oppius and Cornelius Balbus, written in a kind of cipher. (See Suetonius, Caesar, 56.) Two letters of Caesar to Oppius and Balbus are extant in the collection of Cicero’s letters (Ad Atticum, ix. 8, 16), both expressed with admirable brevity and clearness.  One of them also shows his good sense and his humanity.]

[Footnote 485:  The story is also told by Suetonius (Caesar, 54).  Instead of using plain oil, Leo thought he should please his guests by mixing it with a fragrant oil (conditum oleum pro viridi).  He was an ill-bred fellow for his pains; but a well-bred man would affect not to notice his blunder.]

[Footnote 486:  This campaign belongs to B.C. 58.  The Helvetii occupied the country between the Rhine, the Jura, the Rhone, and the Rhaetian Alps.  The history of the campaign is given by Caesar (Gallic War, i. 2-29; Dion Cassius, 38, c. 31).  The Arar is the Saone, which joins the Rhone at Lyons.]

[Footnote 487:  This German chief had been acknowledged as king and ally (rex et amicus) during Caesar’s consulship, B.C. 59.  What territory the Romans considered as belonging to his kingdom does not appear.  The campaign with Ariovistus and the circumstances which preceded it are told by Caesar (Gallic War, i. 31, &c.).