All
Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the
Belgae inhabit, the
Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called
Celts, in our
Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river
Garonne separates the
Gauls from the
Aquitani; the
and the
separate them from the
Belgae. Of all these, the
Belgae are the bravest, because they are furthest from the civilization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind; and they are the nearest to the
Germans, who dwell beyond the
, with whom they are continually waging war; for which reason the
Helvetii also surpass the rest of the
Gauls in valor, as they contend with the
Germans in almost daily battles, when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers. One part of these, which it has been said that the
Gauls occupy, takes its beginning at the river
; it is bounded by the river
Garonne, the ocean, and the territories of the
Belgae; it borders, too, on the side of the
Sequani and the
Helvetii, upon the river
, and stretches toward the north. The
Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of
Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river
; and look toward the north and the rising sun.
extends from the river
Garonne to the
Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near
Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star.