Ariovistus
Person
The negotiations with Ariovistus expose competing accounts of sovereignty, friendship with Rome, migration, tribute and the right to command. Caesar reports both his own demands and Ariovistus’ rebuttal. Read these as rival political claims within a participant narrative; the label German does not itself supply a precise territorial boundary.
Named form in selected editions; identity established only to the extent of the cited context.
Editorial evidence: Gallic War 1.35 · Gallic War 1.44
Gallic War 1.31
Caesar
… But a worse thing had befallen the victorious Sequani than the vanquished Aedui, for Ariovistus the king of the Germans, had settled in their territories, and had seized upon a third of their land, which was the best in the whole of Gaul, and was now ordering them to depart from another third part, because a few months previously 24,000 men of the Harudes had come to him, for whom room and settlements must be provided. …
Gallic War 1.32
Caesar
… When he had repeatedly inquired of them and could not elicit any answer at all, the same Divitiacus the Aeduan answered, that-"the lot of the Sequani was more wretched and grievous than that of the rest, on this account, because they alone durst not even in secret complain or supplicate aid; and shuddered at the cruelty of Ariovistus [even when] absent, just as if he were present; for, to the rest, despite of every thing there was an opportunity of flight given; but all tortures must be endured by the Sequani, who had admitted Ariovistus within their territories, and whose towns were all in his power."
Gallic War 1.33
Caesar
Caesar, on being informed of these things, cheered the minds of the Gauls with his words, and promised that this affair should be an object of his concern, [saying] that he had great hopes that Ariovistus, induced both by his kindness and his power, would put an end to his oppression. …
All indexed divisions · 24
Gallic War 1.31 · Gallic War 1.32 · Gallic War 1.33 · Gallic War 1.34 · Gallic War 1.36 · Gallic War 1.37 · Gallic War 1.38 · Gallic War 1.39 · Gallic War 1.40 · Gallic War 1.41 · Gallic War 1.42 · Gallic War 1.43 · Gallic War 1.44 · Gallic War 1.45 · Gallic War 1.46 · Gallic War 1.47 · Gallic War 1.48 · Gallic War 1.49 · Gallic War 1.50 · Gallic War 1.53 · Gallic War 4.16 · Gallic War 5.29 · Gallic War 5.55 · Gallic War 6.12