Post eius mortem nihilō minus Helvētiī id quod cōnstituerant facere cōnantur, ut ē fīnibus suīs exeant. Ubi iam sē ad eam rem parātōs esse arbitrātī sunt, oppida sua omnia, numerō ad duodecim, vīcōs ad quadringentōs, reliqua prīvāta aedificia incendunt; frūmentum omne, praeter quod sēcum portātūrī erant, combūrunt, ut domum redītiōnis spē sublātā parātiōrēs ad omnia perīcula subeunda essent; trium mensum molita cibāria sibi quemque domō efferre iubent. Persuādent Rauracīs et Tulingīs et Latobrīgīs finitimīs utī, eōdem ūsī cōnsiliō, oppidīs suīs vīcīsque exustīs ūnā cum eīs proficīscantur, Boiōsque, quī trāns Rhēnum incoluerant et in agrum Noricum transīerant Noreiamque oppugnābant, receptōs ad sē sociōs sibi adsciscunt. Erant omnīnō itinera duo, quibus itineribus domō exīre possent: ūnum per Sēquanōs, angustum et difficile, inter montem Iūram et flūmen Rhodanum, vix quā singulī carrī dūcerentur, mōns autem altissimus impendēbat, ut facile perpaucī prohibēre possent; alterum per provinciam nostram, multō facilius atque expedītius, proptereā quod inter fīnēs Helvētiōrum et Allobrogum, quī nūper pācātī erant, Rhodanus fluit isque nōnnūllis locīs vadō trānsītur. Extrēmum oppidum Allobrogum est proximumque Helvētiōrum fīnibus Genava. Ex eō oppidō pōns ad Helvētiōs pertinet. Allobrogibus sēsē vel persuāsūrōs, quod nōndum bonō animō in populum Rōmānum vidērentur, existimābant vel vī coactūrōs ut per suōs fīnēs eōs īre paterentur. Omnibus rēbus ad profectiōnem comparātis diem dīcunt, quā diē ad rīpam Rhodanī omnēs conveniant. Is diēs erat a. d. V. Kal. Apr. L. Pīsōne, A. Gabīniō cōnsulibus.

After his death nevertheless the Helvetians attempt to do that which they had established, that they go out from their territories. When they now thought that were prepared for this departure, they burn down all their towns, around twelve in number, around four hundred villages, and the remaining private buildings; all of their grain, except that which they were going to bring with themselves, they burned, so that with the hope of a return home destroyed they might be more prepared for facing all dangers; they order each man to carry out from home for himself flour for three months. They persuade their neighbors the Rauraci and the Tulingi and the Latobrigians so that they, having used the same plan, set out together with them with all their towns and villages burned, and they add to themselves the Boians, having been received to them as friends, who had lived across the Rhine and crossed into the land of Noricum and attacked Noreia. There were only two routes, by which routes they could go out of their home: one through the Sequani, narrow and difficult, between the Iura mountain and the Rhone river, where sinfle carts could hardly be led, moreover a very tall mountain hung over, so that few people could easily stop them; the other was through our province, much easier and faster, because between the limits of the Helvetians and the Allobroges, who were recently pacified, the Rhone flows, and it is crossed in some places by a ford. The farthest town of the Allebroges and the one nearest to the boundaries of the Helvetians is Geneva. Out of this town a bridge stretches to the Helvetians. They thought that they would either persuade the Allobroges, because they did not yet seem well-disposed to the Roman people, or they would compel them by force to allow them to go through their borders. With all things prepared for the departure they named the day, on which day they may all gather at the bank of the Rhone. That day was the fifth day before the Kalends of April with L. Piso and A. Gabinius as consuls.