A site as crucial as Bordeaux would naturally attract the attention of settlers from an early period. Around 300 BC, the Gallic tribe of Bituriges Vivisci (whose name means Kings of the World) established their chief town and port on the shores of the river Garonne. They called this settlement Burdigala. The city was heavily fortified when the Roman consul Lucius Cassius Longinus and ten thousand legionaries died nearby in the Battle of Burdigala in 107 BCE. The Romans captured Burdigala in 60 BC and, in the following centuries, turned it into a prosperous commercial centre that provided the empire with tin and lead. The poet Ausonius (c. 310-c. 395), born in Burdigala, praised the local waters, vineyards, and the wisdom of his fellow citizens. The winter was brief, the streets and the buildings impressive, while the town was among the foremost urban centres in Gaul.