The New Student's Reference Work/Helvetii
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Helvetii (hel-vē′shĭ-ī), a people of Celtic origin, so says Caesar, who inhabited what is now western Switzerland. The chief event in their history was their attempt to migrate to southern Gaul, in which they were driven back with frightful slaughter by Caesar in 58 B. C. Of 368,000 who left their homes, only 110,000 returned, and these became subject to Rome. The story is told in Cæsar's lifelike way in his Commentaries.