XL] CAESAR'S ACCOUNT OF GAUL. 2 29

His successive campaigns carried him and his lieutenants even
into the remotest districts, and the knowledge which he thus
obtained both of their natural features and of their inhabitants
enabled him to accumulate a large store of facts, by which his
history is throughout elucidated. He notices at TT. ,, .

... . ... . His Etimo-

startmg the three great nations which occupied graphical and
Gaul— the Aquitani in the south, the Celts or Gauls %SŁ^*
in the centre, and the Belgae in the north — together
with the rivers which separated them one from another, the
Garumna (Garonne) in the one case, and the Sequana (Seine) and
Matrona (Marne) in the other. He shews himself well acquainted
with the principal mountain chains — the Jura and the Mons
Vosegus (Vosges) towards the east, and the Mons Cebenna
(Cevennes) in the south — and with the Silva Arduenna, or forest
district of the Ardennes, which spread over a wide tract in Belgica.
His accuracy extends to geographical details, when there is any
need to introduce them : thus he remarks that the stream of the
Vacalus (Waal) is a branch of the Rhine which flows into the
Meuse1, and he observes that Lutetia (Paris) is situated on an
island in the Seine3. He obtained exact details respecting the
subdivisions of the tribes with which from time to time he
came into' conflict, and of these he has drawn up lists in
various parts of his work. Their position can in a large
number of instances be verified owing to the permanence of
their names, which came to be attached, either to the districts
in which they dwelt, or, as often happened, to the chief town
of the district. The latter process, in the course
of which the previous appellation of the city was

superseded, has given birth to the names of many Names of
important places in France. Thus the tribe of
Lexovii, whose city was called Noviomagus, is recognised in
the modem Lisieux, and the Senones have given their name to
Sens in place of that of Agedincum; Mediolanum, the capital
of the Eburovices, is now Evreux, and Avaricum of the Bitu-
riges is Bourges. A marked instance of the interest which
Caesar took in the remote tribes, and of his carefulness in
recording the geographical features of the lands which they
1 Bell Gall., 4. 10* * /^., 7. 57.