Origins of Caesar\'s 10th legion

[Jona Lendering]

So they were part of the Helvetii? Allied with them..?

We don't know. They were wandering, and they were at the wrong place at the wrong time - and they suffered dearly for trusting Caesar.

Surely Cato would be as unlikely a source of true information where Caesar was concerned as any?

We can not verify his interpretation of the news, but at least it is a bit of information that (a) goes back to the Proceedings of the Senate, (b) is not tainted by Caesarian propaganda, © fits the larger picture.

(a) We do not know how the Senate obtained its intelligence, but what is clear is that Cato's interpretation was not found incredible. Other senators must have agreed with it, otherwise, there would be no discussion and, hence, no remark in our sources.

(b) Speaks for itself. Same can be said of Dio, whose History is partly based on Caesar himself, but also on other sources, which he uses where he finds Caesar incredible (e.g., the capitulation of Alesia and Caesar's second invasion of Germania).

© Caesar admits - no: he boasts - that he destroyed the Eburones, another tribe in the northern part of Gallia Belgica. Caesar's merciless behavior towards the Tencteri and Usipetes fits the picture.