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AMBONES

Volume 1 · 195 words · 1797 Edition

AMBONES, a Gaulish people who lived near the foot of the Alps, between Switzerland and Provence. They invaded the Roman territories in conjunction with the Cimbri and Teutones; but were defeated with great slaughter by Marius, about 101 years before Christ. Their women, who had stood during the engagement in a kind of fortification made with their carts, on seeing their husbands flying, and the Romans at their heels, armed themselves with axes, and, gnashing with their teeth, fell with fury on the pursuers and the pursued. Their first rage being spent, they desired to surrender themselves, upon the single condition, that their chastity should not be violated; but this equitable request being denied, they first killed their children, and then themselves, not one remaining alive out of the whole multitude.

AMBROSE-ISLAND, a small island laid down in some of the most approved charts, and particularly mentioned in Mr Robertson's Elements of Navigation, as lying in S. Lat. 25° 30', W. Long. 82° 20'. It was searched for, however, in 1767, by Captain Carteret, with such diligence, that he concludes it to have no existence, as he could not discover land anywhere near that place.