SOMETIME AFTER 120 BC, A GREAT NORTHERN TRIBE CALLED the Cimbri left their homeland near modern Denmark and migrated south. Over the following months and years they progressed toward the Danube, and then followed the course of the river west toward the Alps. Since no one is thrilled when a horde of three hundred thousand strangers comes wandering over the horizon, wherever the Cimbri went, they were met by hostile natives. But since the Cimbri were not a conquering horde, they were willing to move on when faced with hostility from the existing inhabitants. All they were looking for was a
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