History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

The vanguard, consisting of 5,000 cavalry, marched without distrust, reckoning on the truce which had been concluded. Suddenly, 800 horsemen (all at the disposal of the Germans, since the greater part of their cavalry had passed the Meuse) appeared bearing down upon Cæsar’s cavalry from the greatest distance at which they could be seen. In an instant the ranks of the latter are thrown into disorder. They have succeeded in forming again, when the German horsemen, according to their custom, spring to the ground, stab the horses in the bellies, and overthrow their riders, who fly in terror till they come in sight of the legions. Seventy-four of the cavalry perished, among whom was the Aquitanian Piso, a man of high birth and great courage, whose grandfather had wielded the sovereign power in his country, and had obtained from the Senate the title of “Friend.” His brother, in the attempt to save him, shared his fate.

This attack was a flagrant violation of the truce, and Cæsar resolved to enter into no further negotiation with so faithless an enemy. Struck with the impression produced by this single combat on the fickle minds of the Gauls, he was unwilling to leave them time for reflection, but decided on delaying battle no longer; besides, it would have been folly to give the Germans leisure to wait the return of their cavalry. Next morning their chiefs came to the camp in great numbers, to offer their justification for the previous day’s attack in defiance of the convention, but their real object was to obtain by deception a prolongation of the truce. Cæsar, satisfied at seeing them deliver themselves into his power of their own accord, judged right to make use of reprisals, and ordered them to be arrested. The Roman army, then encamped on the Niers, was only eight miles distant from the Germans.[302 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 13.]

Rout of the Usipetes and the Tencteri.

II. Cæsar drew all the troops out of his camp, formed the infantry in three lines,[303 - “Acie triplici instituta.” Some authors have translated these words by “the army was formed in three columns;” but Cæsar, operating in a country which was totally uncovered and flat, and aiming at surprising a great mass of enemies, must have marched in order of battle, which did not prevent each cohort from being in column.] and placed the cavalry, still intimidated by the late combat, in the rear guard. After marching rapidly over the short distance which separated him from the Germans, he came upon them totally unexpected. Struck with terror at the sudden appearance of the army, and disconcerted by the absence of their chiefs, they had the time neither to deliberate nor to take their arms, and hesitated for a moment between flight and resistance.[304 - Attacked unexpectedly in the afternoon, while they were sleeping. (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 48.)] While their cries and disorder announce their terror, the Romans, provoked by their perfidious conduct on the previous day, rush upon the camp. As many of the Germans as are quick enough to gain their arms attempt to defend themselves, and combat among the baggage and wagons. But the women and children fly on every side. Cæsar sends the cavalry to pursue them. As soon as the barbarians, who still resisted, hear behind them the cries of the fugitives, and see the massacre of their companions, they throw down their arms, abandon their ensigns, and rush headlong out of the camp. They only cease their flight when they reach the confluence of the Rhine and the Meuse, where some are massacred and others are swallowed up in the river.[305 - The study of the deserted beds of the Rhine leads us to believe that the confluence of the Waal and the Meuse, which is at present near Gorkum, was then much more to the east, towards Fort Saint-André. In that case, Cæsar made no mistake in reckoning eighty miles from the junction of the Waal and the Meuse to the mouth of the latter river.] This victory, which did not cost the Romans a single man, delivered them from a formidable war. Cæsar restored their liberty to the chiefs he had retained; but they, fearing the vengeance of the Gauls, whose lands they had ravaged, preferred remaining with him.[306 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 14, 15.]

First Passage of the Rhine.

III. After so brilliant a success, Cæsar, to secure the results, considered it a measure of importance to cross the Rhine, and so seek the Germans in their homes. For this purpose, he must choose the point of passage where the right bank was inhabited by a friendly people, the Ubii. The study of this and the following campaigns leads us to believe that this was Bonn.[307 - The following reasons have led us to adopt Bonn as the point where Cæsar crossed the Rhine: —We learn from the “Commentaries” that in 699 he debouched in the country of the Ubii, and that two years later it was a little above (paulum supra) the first bridge that he established another, which joined the territory of the Treviri with that of the Ubii. Now everything leads to the belief that, in the first passage as in the second, the bridge was thrown across between the frontiers of the same peoples; for we cannot admit, with some authors, that the words paulum supra apply to a distance of several leagues. As to those who suppose that the passage was effected at Andernach, because, changing with Florus the Meuse (Mosa) into Moselle, they placed the scene of the defeat of the Germans at the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine, we have given the reasons for rejecting this opinion. We have endeavoured to prove, in fact, that the battle against the Usipetes and the Tencteri had for its theatre the confluence of the Meuse and the Rhine; and since, in crossing this latter river, Cæsar passed from the country of the Treviri into that of the Ubii, we must perceive that after his victory he must necessarily have proceeded up the valley of the Rhine to go from the territory of the Menapii to the Treviri, as far up as the territory of the Ubii, established on the right bank.This being admitted, it remains to fix, within the limits assigned to these two last peoples, the most probable point of passage. Hitherto, Cologne has been adopted; but, to answer to the data of the “Commentaries,” Cologne appears to us to be much too far to the north. In fact, in the campaign of 701, Cæsar, having started from the banks of the Rhine, traversed the forest of the Ardennes from east to west, passed near the Segni and the Condrusi, since they implored him to spare their territory, and directed his march upon Tongres. If he had started from Cologne, he would not have crossed the countries in question. Moreover, in this same year, 2,000 Sicambrian cavalry crossed the Rhine thirty miles below the bridge of the Roman army. Now, if this bridge had been constructed at Cologne, the point of passage of the Sicambri, thirty miles below, would have been at a very great distance from Tongres, where, nevertheless, they seem to have arrived very quickly.On the contrary, everything is explained if we adopt Bonn as the point of passage. To go from Bonn to Tongres, Cæsar proceeded, as the text has it, across the forest of the Ardennes; he passed through the country of the Segni and Condrusi, or very near them; and the Sicambri, crossing the Rhine thirty miles below Bonn, took the shortest line from the Rhine to Tongres. Moreover, we cannot place Cæsar’s point of passage either lower or higher than Bonn. Lower, that is, towards the north, the different incidents related in the “Commentaries” are without possible application to the theatre of the events; higher, towards the south, the Rhine flows upon a rocky bed, where the piles could not have been driven in, and presents, between the mountains which border it, no favourable point of passage. We may add that Cæsar would have been much too far removed from the country of the Sicambri, the chastisement of whom was the avowed motive of his expedition.Another fact deserves to be taken into consideration: that, less than fifty years after Cæsar’s campaigns, Drusus, in order to proceed against the Sicambri – that is, against the same people whom Cæsar intended to combat – crossed the Rhine at Bonn. (Florus, IV. 12.)] From the field of battle, then, he proceeded up the valley of the Rhine; he followed a direction indicated by the following localities: Gueldres, Crefeld, Neuss, Cologne, and Bonn. (See Plate 14.) Above all, it was Cæsar’s intention to put a stop to the rage of the Germans for invading Gaul, to inspire them with fears for their own safety, and to prove to them that the Roman army dared and could cross a great river. He had, moreover, a plausible motive for penetrating into Germany – the refusal of the Sicambri to deliver up to him the cavalry of the Usipetes and Tencteri, who had taken refuge among them after the battle. The Sicambri had replied to his demand, that the empire of the Roman people ended with the Rhine, and that beyond it Cæsar had no further claims. At the same time, the Ubii, who alone of the peoples beyond the Rhine had sought his alliance, claimed his protection against the Suevi, who were threatening them more seriously than ever. It would be a sufficient guarantee for their safety, they said, to show himself on the right bank of the Rhine, so great was the renown of the Roman army among even the most remote of the German nations, since the defeat of Ariovistus and the recent victory; and they offered him boats for passing the river. Cæsar declined this offer. It did not appear to him worthy of the dignity of himself or of the Roman people to have recourse to barbarians, and he judged it unsafe to transport the army in boats. Therefore, in spite of the obstacles presented by a wide, deep, and rapid river, he decided on throwing a bridge across it.

It was the first time that a regular army attempted to cross the Rhine. The bridge was constructed in the following manner. (See Plate 15.) Two trees (probably in their rough state), a foot and a half in thickness, cut to a point at one of their extremities, and of a length proportionate to the depth of the river, were bound together with cross-beams at intervals of two feet from each other; let down into the water, and stuck into the ground by means of machines placed in boats coupled together, they were driven in by blows of a rammer, not vertically, like ordinary piles, but obliquely, giving them an inclination in the direction of the current. Opposite them, and at a distance of forty feet below, another couple of piles were placed, arranged in the same manner, but inclined in a contrary direction, in order to resist the violence of the river. In the interval left between the two piles of each couple, a great beam was lodged, called the head-piece, of two feet square; these two couples (hæc utraque) were bound together on each side, beginning from the upper extremity, by two wooden ties (fibulæ), so that they could neither draw from nor towards each other, and presented, according to the “Commentaries,” a whole of a solidity so great, that the force of the water, so far from injuring it, bound all its parts tighter together.[308 - The following passage has given room for different interpretations: —“Hæc utraque insuper bipedalibus trabibus immissis, quantum eorum tignorum junctura distabat, binis utrimque fibulis ab extrema parte distinebantur; quibus disclusis atque in contrariam partem revinctis, tanta erat operis firmitudo atque ea rerum natura, ut, quo major vis aquæ se incitavisset, hoc arctius illigata tenerentur.” (De Bello Gallico, IV. 17.)It has not been hitherto observed that the words hæc utraque relate to the two couples of one row of piles, and not to the two piles of the same couple. Moreover, the words quibus disclusis, &c., relate to these same two couples, and not, as has been supposed, to fibulis.] This system formed one row of piles of the bridge; and as many of them were established as were required by the breadth of the river. The Rhine at Bonn being about 430 mètres wide, the bridge must have been composed of fifty-six arches, supposing each of these to have been twenty-six Roman feet in length (7·70 mètres). Consequently, there were fifty-four rows of piles. The floor was formed of planks reaching from one head-piece to the other, on which were placed transversely smaller planks, which were covered with hurdles. Besides this, they drove in obliquely, below each row of piles, a pile which, placed in form of a buttress (quæ pro ariete subjectæ), and bound in with it, increased the resistance to the current. Other piles were similarly driven in at a little distance above the rows of piles, so as to form stockades, intended to stop trunks of trees and boats which the barbarians might have thrown down in order to break the bridge.

These works were completed in ten days, including the time employed for the transport of the materials. Cæsar crossed the river with his army, left a strong guard at each extremity of the bridge, and marched towards the territory of the Sicambri, proceeding, no doubt, up the valley of the Sieg and the Agger, (See Plate 14.) During his march, deputies from different peoples came to solicit his alliance. He gave them a friendly reception, and exacted hostages. As to the Sicambri, at the beginning of the erection of the bridge, they had fled to the deserts and forests, terrified by the reports of the Usipetes and Tencteri, who had taken refuge among them.

Cæsar remained only eighteen days beyond the Rhine. During this time he ravaged the territory of the Sicambri, returned to that of the Ubii, and promised them succour if they were attacked by the Suevi. The latter having withdrawn to the centre of their country, he renounced the prospect of combating them, and considered that he had thus accomplished his design.

It is evident, from what precedes, that Cæsar’s aim was not to make the conquest of Germany, but to strike a great blow which should disgust the barbarians with their frequent excursions across the Rhine. No doubt he hoped to meet with the Suevi, and give them battle; but learning that they had assembled at a great distance from the Rhine, he thought it more prudent not to venture into an unknown country covered with forests, but returned into Gaul, and caused the bridge to be broken.

It was not enough for Cæsar to have intimidated the Germans; he formed a still bolder project, that of crossing the sea, to go and demand a reckoning of the Britons for the succour which, in almost all his wars, and particularly in that of the Veneti, they had sent to the Gauls.[309 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 20.]

Description of Britain in the time of Cæsar.

IV. The Romans had but imperfect information relating to Britain, which they owed to certain Greek writers, such as Pytheas of Marseilles, who had visited the Northern Sea in the fourth century before our era, and Timæus of Tauromenium. The Gauls who visited Britain for the sake of traffic, knew hardly more than the southern and south-eastern coasts. Nevertheless, a short time before the arrival of the Romans, one of the populations of Belgic Gaul, the Suessiones, then governed by Divitiacus, had extended their domination into this island.[310 - De Bello Gallico, II. 4.]

It was only after having landed in Britain that Cæsar was able to form a tolerably exact idea of its form and extent. “Britain,” he says, “has the form of a triangle, the base of which, about 500 miles in extent, faces Gaul. The side which faces Spain, that is, the west, presents a length of about 700 miles. In this direction the island is separated from Hibernia (Ireland) by an arm of the sea, the breadth of which is apparently the same as the arm of the sea which separates Britain from Gaul;” and he adds that “the surface of Hibernia represents about one half the surface of Britain. The third part of the triangle formed by this latter island is eastward turned to the north, and 800 miles long; it faces no land; only one of the angles of this side looks towards Germany.”[311 - De Bello Gallico, V. 13.] These imperfect estimates, which were to give place in the following century to others less inaccurate,[312 - Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. 30, § 16.] led the great captain to ascribe to the whole of Britain twenty times 100,000 paces in circuit. He further gathered some information still more vague on the small islands in the vicinity of Britain. “One of them,” he writes, “is called Mona (the Isle of Man), and is situated in the middle of the strait which separates Britain from Hibernia.” The Hebrides, the Shetland islands (Acmodæ of the ancients), and the Orcades, which were only known to the Romans at the commencement of our era,[313 - Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. 30, § 16. – Tacitus, Agricola, 10.] were confounded, in the minds of Cæsar and his contemporaries, with the archipelago of the Feroe isles and Scandinavia. Caledonia (Scotland) appeared only in an obscure distance.

Cæsar represents the climate of Britain as less cold and more temperate than that of Gaul. With the exception of the beech (fagus) and the fir (abies), the same timbers were found in the forests of this island as on the neighbouring continent.[314 - De Bello Gallico, V. 12.] They grew wheat there, and bred numerous herds of cattle.[315 - Strabo, IV., p. 199.] “The soil, if it is not favourable to the culture of the olive, the vine, and other products of warm climates,” writes Tacitus,[316 - Agricola, 12.] “produces in their place grain and fruits in abundance. Although they grow quickly, they are slow in ripening.”

Britain contained a numerous population. The interior was inhabited by peoples who believed themselves to be autochthones, and the southern and eastern coasts by a race who had emigrated from Belgic Gaul, and crossed the Channel and the Northern Sea, attracted by the prospect of plunder. After having made war on the natives, they had established themselves in the island, and became agriculturalists.[317 - De Bello Gallico, V. 12.] Cæsar adds that nearly all these tribes which had come from the continent had preserved the names of the civitates from whence they had issued. And, in fact, among the peoples of Britain named by geographers in the ages subsequent to the conquest of Gaul, we meet, on the banks of the Thames and the Severn, with the names of Belgæ and Atrebates.

The most powerful of the populations of Belgic origin were found in Cantium (Kent), which was placed, by its commercial relations, in more habitual intercourse with Gaul.[318 - De Bello Gallico, V. 13 and 14.] The “Commentaries” mention only a small number of British nations. These are the Trinobantes (the people of Essex and Middlesex), who proved the most faithful to the Romans,[319 - De Bello Gallico, V. 20.] and whose principal oppidum was probably already, in the time of Cæsar, Londinium (London), mentioned by Tacitus;[320 - Annales, XIV. 33.] the Cenimagni[321 - Although the greater number of manuscripts read Cenimagni, some authors have made two names of it, the Iceni and the Cangi.] (Suffolk, to the north of the Trinobantes); the Segontiaci (the greater part of Hampshire and Berkshire, southern counties); the Bibroci (inhabiting a region then thickly wooded, over which extended the celebrated forest of Anderida);[322 - The Anderida Silva, 120 miles in length by 30 in breadth, extended over the counties of Sussex and Kent, in what is now called the Weald. (See Camden, Britannia, edit. Gibson, I., col. 151, 195, 258, edit. of 1753.)] their territory comprised a small part of Hampshire and Berkshire, and embraced the counties of Surrey and Sussex and the most western part of Kent; the Ancalites (a more uncertain position, in the north of Berkshire and the western part of Middlesex); the Cassii (Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, central counties). Each of these little nations was governed by a chieftain or king.[323 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 21. – Tacitus, Agricola, 12.]

The Belgæ of Britain possessed the same manners as the Gauls, but their social condition was less advanced. Strabo[324 - IV., p. 200.] gives this proof, that, having milk in abundance, the Britons did not know how to make cheese, an art, on the contrary, carried to great perfection in certain parts of Gaul. The national character of the two populations, British and Gaulish, presented a great analogy: – “The same boldness in seeking danger, the same eagerness to fly from it when it is before them,” writes Tacitus; “although the courage of the Britons has more of pride in it.”[325 - Agricola, 11.] This resemblance of the two races showed itself also in their exterior forms. Yet, according to Strabo, the stature of the Britons was taller than that of the Gauls, and their hair was less red. Their dwellings were but wretched huts made of stubble and wood;[326 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 21.] they stored up their wheat in subterranean repositories; their oppida were situated in the middle of forests, defended by a rampart and a fosse, and served for places of refuge in case of attack.[327 - De Bello Gallico, V. 21.]

The tribes of the interior of the island lived in a state of greater barbarism than those of the maritime districts. Clothed in the skins of animals, they fed upon milk and flesh.[328 - De Bello Gallico, V. 14.] Strabo even represents them as cannibals; and assures us that the custom existed among them of eating the bodies of their dead relatives.[329 - Strabo, IV., p. 200.] The men wore their hair very long, and a moustache; they rubbed their skin with woad, which gave them a blue colour, and rendered their aspect as combatants singularly hideous.[330 - De Bello Gallico, V. 14.] The women also coloured themselves in the same manner for certain religious ceremonies, in which they appeared naked.[331 - Pliny, Hist. Nat., XXII. 1.] Such was the barbarism of the Britons of the interior, that the women were sometimes common to ten or twelve men, a promiscuousness which was especially customary amongst the nearest relatives. As to the children who were born of these incestuous unions, they were considered to belong to the first who had received into his house the mother while still a girl.[332 - De Bello Gallico, V. 14.] The Britons of the Cape Belerium (Cornwall) were very hospitable, and the trade they carried on with foreign merchants had softened their manners.[333 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 22.]

The abundance of metals in Britain, especially of tin, or plumbum album, which the Phœnicians went to seek there from a very remote antiquity,[334 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 22. – Strabo, IV., p. 200.] furnished the inhabitants with numerous means of exchange. At all events, they were not acquainted with money, and only made use of pieces of copper, gold, or iron, the value of which was determined by weighing. They did not know how to make bronze, but received it from abroad.[335 - De Bello Gallico, V. 12.]

The religion of the Britons, on which Cæsar gives us no information, must have differed little from that of the Gauls, since Druidism passed for having been imported from Britain into Gaul.[336 - De Bello Gallico, VI. 13.] Tacitus, in fact, tells us that the same worship and the same superstitions were found in Britain as among the Gauls.[337 - Agricola, 11.] Strabo speaks, on the authority of Artemidorus, of an island neighbouring to Britain, where they celebrated, in honour of two divinities, assimilated by the latter to Ceres and Proserpine, rites which resembled those of the mysteries of Samothrace.[338 - Strabo, IV., p. 199.] Under the influence of certain superstitious ideas, the Britons abstained from the flesh of several animals, such as the hare, the hen, and the goose, which, nevertheless, they domesticated as ornamental objects.[339 - De Bello Gallico, V. 12.]

The Britons, though living in an island, appear to have possessed no shipping in the time of Cæsar. They were foreign ships which came to the neighbourhood of Cape Belerium to fetch the tin, which the inhabitants worked with as much skill as profit.[340 - Diodorus Siculus, V. 22.] About a century after Cæsar, the boats of the Britons were still only frames of wicker-work covered with leather.[341 - Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. 30, § 16.] The inhabitants of Britain were less ignorant in the art of war than in that of navigation. Protected by small bucklers,[342 - Tacitus, Agricola, 36.] and armed with long swords, which they handled with skill, but which became useless in close combat, they never combated in masses: they advanced in small detachments, which supported each other reciprocally.[343 - De Bello Gallico, V. 16.] Their principal force was in their infantry;[344 - Tacitus, Agricola, 12.] yet they employed a great number of war-chariots armed with scythes.[345 - Frontinus, Stratagm., II. 3, 18. – Diodorus Siculus, V. 21. – Strabo, IV., p. 200.] They began by driving about rapidly on all sides, and hurling darts, seeking thus to spread disorder in the enemy’s ranks by the mere terror caused by the impetuosity of the horses and the noise of the wheels; then they returned into the intervals of their cavalry, leaped to the ground, and fought on foot mixed with the horsemen. During this time the drivers withdrew themselves with the chariots so as to be ready in case of need to receive the combatants.[346 - The account on page 213 confirms this interpretation, which is conformable to that of General Gœler.] The Britons thus united the movableness of cavalry with the steadiness of infantry; daily exercise had made them so dexterous that they maintained their horses at full speed on steep slopes, drew them in or turned them at will, ran upon the shaft, held under the yoke, and thence threw themselves rapidly into their chariots.[347 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 32 and 33.] In war they used their dogs as auxiliaries, which the Gauls procured from Britain for the same purpose. These dogs were excellent for the chase.[348 - Strabo, IV., p. 200.]

In short, the Britons were less civilised than the Gauls. If we except the art of working certain metals, their manufactures were limited to the fabrication of the coarsest and most indispensable objects; and it was from Gaul they obtained collars, vessels of amber and glass, and ornaments of ivory for the bridles of their horses.[349 - Strabo, IV., p. 201.]

It was known also that pearls were in the Scottish sea, and people easily believed that it concealed immense treasures.

These details relating to Britain were not collected until after the Roman expeditions, for that country was previously the subject of the most mysterious tales; and when Cæsar resolved on its conquest, this bold enterprise excited people’s minds to the highest degree by the ever-powerful charm of the unknown. As to him, in crossing the Channel, he obeyed the same thought which had carried him across the Rhine: he wished to give the barbarians a high notion of Roman greatness, and prevent them from lending support to the insurrections in Gaul.

First Expedition to Britain.

V. Although the summer approached its end, the difficulties of a descent upon Britain did not stop him. Even supposing, indeed, that the season should not permit him to obtain any decisive result by the expedition, he looked upon it as an advantage to gain a footing in that island, and to make himself acquainted with the locality, and with the ports and points for disembarking. None of the persons whom he examined could or would give him any information, either on the extent of the country, or on the number and manners of its inhabitants, or on their manner of making war, or on the ports capable of receiving a large fleet.

Desirous of obtaining some light on these different points before attempting the expedition, Cæsar sent C. Volusenus, in a galley, with orders to explore everything, and return as quickly as possible with the result of his observations. He proceeded in person with his army into the country of the Morini, from whence the passage into Britain was shortest. There was on that coast a port favourably situated for fitting out an expedition against this island, the Portius Itius, or, as we shall endeavour to prove farther on, the port of Boulogne. The ships of all the neighbouring regions, and the fleet constructed in the previous year for the war against the Veneti, were collected there.

The news of his project having been carried into Britain by the merchants, the deputies of several nations in the island came with offers of submission. Cæsar received them with kindness; and on their return he sent with them Commius, whom he had previously made king of the Atrebates. This man, whose courage, prudence, and devotion he appreciated, enjoyed great credit among the Britons. He directed him to visit the greatest possible number of tribes, to keep them in good feelings, and to announce his speedy arrival.

While Cæsar remained among the Morini, waiting the completion of the preparations for his expedition, he received a deputation which came in the name of a great part of the inhabitants to justify their past conduct. He accepted their explanations readily, unwilling to leave enemies behind him. Moreover, the season was too far advanced to allow of combating the Morini, and their entire subjection was not a matter of sufficient importance to divert him from his enterprise against Britain: he was satisfied with exacting numerous hostages. Meanwhile Volusenus returned, at the end of five days, to report the result of his mission: as he had not ventured to land, he had only performed it imperfectly.

The forces destined for the expedition consisted of two legions, the 7th and the 10th, commanded probably by Galba and Labienus, and of a detachment of cavalry, which made about 12,000 legionaries and 450 horses.

Q. Titurius Sabinus and L. Aurunculeius Cotta received the command of the troops left on the continent to occupy the territory of the Menapii and that of the country of the Morini which had not submitted. The lieutenant P. Sulpicius Rufus was charged with the guard of the port with a sufficient force.

They had succeeded in collecting eighty transport ships, judged capable of containing the two legions of the expedition, with all their baggage, and a certain number of galleys, which were distributed among the quæstor, the lieutenants, and the prefects. Eighteen other vessels, destined for the cavalry, were detained by contrary winds in a little port (that of Ambleteuse) situated eight miles to the north of Boulogne.[350 - From what will be seen further on, each transport ship, on its return, contained 150 men. Eighty ships could thus transport 12,000 men, but since, reduced to sixty-eight, they were enough to carry back the whole army to the continent, they can only have carried 10,200 men, which was probably the effective force of the two legions. The eighteen ships appropriated to the cavalry might transport 450 horses, at the rate of twenty-five horses each ship.] (See Plate 16.)

Having made these dispositions, Cæsar, taking advantage of a favourable wind, started in the night between the 24th and 25th of August (we shall endeavour to justify this date farther on), towards midnight, after giving orders to the cavalry to proceed to the port above (Ambleteuse); he reached the coast of Britain at the fourth hour of the day (ten o’clock in the forenoon), opposite the cliffs of Dover. The cavalry, which had embarked but slowly, had not been able to join him.

From his ship Cæsar perceived the cliffs covered with armed men. At this spot the sea was so close to these cliffs that a dart thrown from the heights could reach the beach.[351 - The port of Dover extended formerly from the site of the present town, between the cliffs which border the valley of the Dour or of Charlton. (See Plate 17.) Indeed, from the facts furnished by ancient authors, and a geological examination of the ground, it appears certain that once the sea penetrated into the land, and formed a creek which occupied nearly the whole of the valley of Charlton. The words of Cæsar are just justified: “Cujus loci hæc erat natura, atque ita montibus angustis mare continebatur, uti ex locis superioribus in littus telum adjici posset.” (IV. 23.)The proofs of the above assertion result from several facts related in different notices on the town of Dover. It is there said that in 1784 Sir Thomas Hyde Page caused a shaft to be sunk at a hundred yards from the shore, to ascertain the depth of the basin at a remote period; it proved that the ancient bed of the sea had been formerly thirty English feet below the present level of the high tide. In 1826, in sinking a well at a place called Dolphin Lane, they found, at a depth of twenty-one feet, a bed of mud resembling that of the present port, mixed with the bones of animals and fragments of leaves and roots. Similar detritus have been discovered in several parts of the valley. An ancient chronicler, named Darell, relates that “Wilbred, King of Kent, built in 700 the church of St. Martin, the ruins of which are still visible near the market-place, on the spot where formerly ships cast anchor.”The town built under the Emperors Adrian and Septimus Severus occupied a part of the port, which had already been covered with sand; yet the sea still entered a considerable distance inland. (See Plate 17.)It would appear to have been about the year 950 that the old port was entirely blocked up with the maritime and fluvial alluvium which have been increasing till our day, and which at different periods have rendered it necessary to construct the dykes and quays which have given the port its present form.] The place appeared to him in no respect convenient for landing. This description agrees with that which Q. Cicero gave to his brother, of “coasts surmounted by immense rocks.”[352 - “Constat enim aditus insulæ esse munitos mirificis molibus.” (Cicero, Epist. ad Atticum, IV. 16.)] (See Plate 17.) Cæsar cast anchor, and waited in vain until the fifth hour (half-past three) (see the Concordance of Hours, Appendix B), for the arrival of the vessels which were delayed. In the interval, he called together his lieutenants and the tribunes of the soldiers, communicated to them his plans as well as the information brought by Volusenus, and urged upon them the instantaneous execution of his orders on a simple sign, as maritime war required, in which the manœuvres must be as rapid as they are varied. It is probable that Cæsar had till then kept secret the point of landing.

When he had dismissed them, towards half-past three o’clock, the wind and tide having become favourable at the same time, he gave the signal for raising their anchors, and, after proceeding about seven miles to the east, as far as the extremity of the cliffs, and having, according to Dio Cassius, doubled a lofty promontory,[353 - Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 51.] the point of the South Foreland (see Plate 16), he stopped before the open and level shore which extends from the castle of Walmer to Deal.

From the heights of Dover it was easy for the Britons to trace the movement of the fleet; guessing that it was making for the point where the cliffs ended, they hastened thither, preceded by their cavalry and their chariots, which they used constantly in their battles. They arrived in time to oppose the landing, which had to be risked under the most difficult circumstances. The ships, on account of their magnitude, could only cast anchor in the deep water; the soldiers, on an unknown coast, with their hands embarrassed, their bodies loaded with the weight of their arms, were obliged to throw themselves into the waves, find a footing, and combat. The enemy, on the contrary, with the free use of their limbs, acquainted with the ground, and posted on the edge of the water, or a little way in advance in the sea, threw their missiles with confidence, and pushed forward their docile and well-disciplined horses into the midst of the waves. Thus the Romans, disconcerted by this concurrence of unforeseen circumstances, and strangers to this kind of combat, did not carry to it their usual ardour and zeal.

In this situation, Cæsar detached from the line of transport ships the galleys – lighter ships, and of a form which was new to the barbarians – and directed them by force of rowing upon the enemy’s uncovered flank (that is, on his right side), in order to drive him from his position by means of slings, arrows, and darts thrown from the machines. This manœuvre was of great assistance; for the Britons, struck with the look of the galleys, the movement of the oars, and the novel effect of the machines, halted and drew back a little. Still the Romans hesitated, on account of the depth of the water, to leap out of the ships, when the standard-bearer of the 10th legion, invoking the gods with a loud voice, and exhorting his comrades to defend the eagle, leaps into the sea and induces them to follow.[354 - The Emperor Julian (p. 70, edit. Lasius) makes Cæsar say that he had been the first to leap down from the ship.] This example is imitated by the legionaries embarked in the nearest ships, and the combat begins. It was obstinate. The Romans being unable to keep their ranks, or gain a solid footing, or rally round their ensigns, the confusion was extreme; all those who leapt out of the ships to gain the land singly, were surrounded by the barbarian cavalry, to whom the shallows were known, and, when they were collected in mass, the enemy, taking them on the uncovered flank, overwhelmed them with missiles. On seeing this, Cæsar caused the galleys’ boats and the small vessels which served to light the fleet to be filled with soldiers, and sent them wherever the danger required. Soon the Romans, having succeeded in establishing themselves on firm ground, formed their ranks, rushed upon the enemy, and put him to flight; but a long pursuit was impossible for want of cavalry, which, through contrary winds in the passage, had not been able to reach Britain. In this alone fortune failed Cæsar.

In this combat, in which, no doubt, many acts of courage remained unknown, a legionary, whose name, Cæsius Scæva, has been preserved by Valerius Maximus, distinguished himself in a very remarkable manner. Having thrown himself into a boat with four men, he had reached a rock,[355 - It is in the text, in scopulum vicinum insulæ, which must be translated by “a rock near the isle of Britain,” and not, as certain authors have interpreted it, “a rock isolated from the continent.” (Valerius Maximus, III. ii. 23.) – In fact, these rocks, called Malms, are distinctly seen at low water opposite the arsenal and marine barracks at Deal.] whence, with his comrades, he threw missiles against the enemy; but the ebb rendered the space between the rock and the land fordable. The barbarians then rushed to them in a crowd. His companions took refuge in their boat; he, firm to his post, made an heroic defence, and killed several of his enemies; at last, having his thigh transpierced with an arrow, his face bruised by the blow of a stone, his helmet broken to pieces, his buckler covered with holes, he trusted himself to the mercy of the waves, and swam back towards his companions. When he saw his general, instead of boasting of his conduct, he sought his pardon for returning without his buckler. It was, in fact, a disgrace among the ancients to lose that defensive arm; but Cæsar loaded him with praise, and rewarded him with the grade of a centurion.

The landing having been effected, the Romans established their camp near the sea, and, as everything leads us to believe, on the height of Walmer. The galleys were hauled on the strand, and the transport ships left at anchor not far from the shore.

The enemies, who had rallied after their defeat, decided on peace. They joined with their deputies; sent, to solicit it, some of the Morini, with whom they lived on friendly terms,[356 - Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 51.] and Commius, the King of the Atrebates, who had been previously sent on a mission to Britain. The barbarians had seized his person the moment he landed, and loaded him with fetters. After the combat, they set him at liberty, and came to ask pardon for this offence, throwing the fault upon the multitude. Cæsar reproached them with having received him as an enemy, after they had, of their own motion, sent deputies to him on the continent to treat of peace. Nevertheless, he pardoned them, but required hostages; part of these were delivered to him immediately, and the rest promised within a few days. Meanwhile they returned to their homes, and from all sides the chiefs came to implore the protection of the conqueror.

Peace seemed to be established. The army had been four days in Britain, and the eighteen ships which carried the cavalry, quitting the upper port with a light breeze, approached the coast, and were already in view of the camp, when suddenly a violent tempest arose which drove them out of their course. Some were carried back to the point whence they had started, whilst others were driven towards the south of the island, where they cast anchor; but, beaten by the waves, they were obliged, in the midst of a stormy night, to put to sea and regain the continent.

This night, between the 30th and 31st of August, coincided with full moon; the Romans were ignorant of the fact that this was the period of the highest tides on the ocean. The water soon submerged the galleys which had been drawn upon the dry beach, and the transport ships which had remained at anchor, yielding to the tempest, were broken on the coast or disabled. The consternation became general; the Romans were in want of everything at once, both of the means of transport, of materials for repairing their ships, and even of provisions; for Cæsar, not intending to winter in Britain, had carried thither no supplies.

At the moment of this disaster, the chiefs of the Britains had again assembled to carry out the conditions imposed upon them; but, informed of the critical position of the Romans, and judging the small number of the invaders by the diminutive proportions of their camp, which was the more contracted as the legions had embarked without baggage[357 - Cæsar himself had only carried three servants with him, as Cotta relates. (Athenæus, Deipnosophist., VI. 105.)] they determined on again resorting to arms. The opportunity seemed favourable for intercepting provisions, and prolonging the struggle till winter, in the firm conviction that, if they annihilated the Romans and cut them off from all retreat, nobody would dare in future to carry the war into Britain.

A new league is forming. The barbarian chiefs depart one after another from the Roman camp, and secretly recall the men they had sent away. Cæsar as yet was ignorant of their design; but their delay in delivering the rest of the hostages, and the disaster which had befallen his fleet, soon led him to anticipate what would happen. He therefore took his measures to meet all eventualities. Every day the two legions repaired in turn to the country to reap; the fleet was repaired with the timber and copper of the ships which had suffered most, and the materials of which they were in want were brought over from the continent. Thanks to the extreme zeal of the soldiers, all the ships were set afloat again, with the exception of twelve, which reduced the fleet to sixty-eight vessels instead of eighty, its number when it left Gaul.

During the execution of these works, Britons came backwards and forwards to the camp freely, and nothing predicted the approach of hostilities; but one day, when the seventh legion, according to custom, had proceeded to no great distance from the camp to cut wheat, the soldiers on guard before the gates suddenly came to announce that a thick cloud of dust arose in the direction taken by the legion. Cæsar, suspecting some attack from the barbarians, assembles the cohorts on guard, orders two others to replace them, and the rest of the troops to arm and follow him without delay, and hurries forward in the direction indicated. What had happened was this. The Britons, foreseeing that the Romans would repair to the only spot which remained to reap (pars una erat reliqua), had concealed themselves the previous night in the forests. After waiting till the soldiers of the 7th legion had laid aside their arms and begun to cut the grain, they had fallen upon them unexpectedly, and, while the legionaries in disorder were forming, they had surrounded them with their cavalry and chariots.

This strange manner of combating had thrown the soldiers of the 7th legion into disorder. Closely surrounded, and resisting with difficulty under a shower of missiles, they would perhaps have succumbed, when Cæsar appeared at the head of his cohorts; his presence restored confidence to his own men and checked the enemy. Nevertheless, he did not judge it prudent to risk a battle, and, after remaining a certain length of time in position, he withdrew his troops. The 7th legion had experienced considerable loss.[358 - Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53.] Continual rains, during some days, rendered all operations impossible; but eventually the barbarians, believing that the moment had arrived to recover their liberty, assembled from all parts, and marched against the camp.

Deprived of cavalry, Cæsar foresaw well that it would go the same with this combat as with the preceding, and that the enemy, when repulsed, would escape easily by flight; nevertheless, as he had at his disposal thirty horses brought into Britain by Commius, he believed that he could use them with advantage;[359 - At the battle of Arcola, in 1796, twenty-five horsemen had a great influence on the issue of the day. (Mémoires de Montholon, dictées de Sainte-Hélène, II. 9.)] he drew up his legions in battle at the head of the camp, and ordered them to march forward. The enemy did not sustain the shock long, and dispersed; the legionaries pursued them as quickly and as far as their arms permitted; they returned to the camp, after having made a great slaughter, and ravaged everything within a vast circuit.

The same day, the barbarians sent deputies to ask for peace. Cæsar doubled the number of hostages he had required before, and ordered them to be brought to him on the continent. In all Britain, two states only obeyed this order.

As the equinox approached, he was unwilling to expose vessels ill repaired to a navigation in winter. He took advantage of favourable weather, set sail a little after midnight, and regained Gaul with all his ships without the least loss. Two transport vessels only were unable to enter the port of Boulogne with the fleet, and were carried a little lower towards the south. They had on board about 300 soldiers, who, once landed, marched to rejoin the army. In their way, the Morini, seduced by the prospect of plunder, attacked them by surprise, and soon, increasing to the number of 6,000, succeeded in surrounding them. The Romans formed in a circle; in vain their assailants offered them their lives if they would surrender. They defended themselves valiantly during more than four hours, until the arrival of all the cavalry, which Cæsar sent to their succour. Seized with terror, the Morini threw down their arms, and were nearly all massacred.[360 - De Bello Gallico, IV. 36 and 37.]