Chapter XXXV: Appendix: D (4)

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.

[353] “Constat enim aditus insulæ esse munitos mirificis molibus.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 16.)

[354] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 51.

[355] The Emperor Julian (p. 70, edit. Lasius) makes Cæsar say that he had been the first to leap down from the ship.

[356] 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.

[357] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 51.

[358] Cæsar himself had only carried three servants with him, as Cotta relates. (Athenæus, _Deipnosophist._, VI. 105.)

[359] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53.

[360] 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.)

[361] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 36 and 37.

[362] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 38.

[363] Dio Cassius, XL. 1.--See Strabo, IV., p. 162, edit. Didot.

[364] _De Bello Gallico_, V. I.

[365] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 56. XL. 1.

[366] This opinion has been already supported by learned archæologists. I will cite especially M. Mariette; Mr. Thomas Lewin, who has written a very interesting account of Cæsar’s invasions of England; and lastly, M. l’Abbé Haigneré, archivist of Boulogne, who has collected the best documents on this question.

[367] Strabo, IV. 6, p. 173.

[368] According to the Itinerary of Antoninus, the road started from Bagacum (_Bavay_), and passed by Pons-Scaldis (_Escaut-Pont_), Turnacum (_Tournay_), Viroviacum (_Werwick_), Castellum (_Montcassel, Cassel_), Tarvenna (_Thérouanne_), and thence to Gesoriacum (_Boulogne_). According to Mariette, medals found on the road demonstrate that it had been made in the time of Agrippa; moreover, according to the same Itinerary of Antoninus, a Roman road started from Bavay, and, by Tongres, ended at the Rhine at Bonn. (See _Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthums Freunden_, Heft 37, Bonn, 1864. Now, admitting that there had been already under Augustus a road which united Boulogne with Bonn, we understand the expression of Florus, who explains that Drusus amended this road by constructing bridges on the numerous water-courses which it crossed, _Bonnam et Gesoriacum pontibus junxit_. (Florus, IV. 12.)

[369] Suetonius, _Caligula_, 46.--The remains of the pharos of Caligula were still visible a century ago.

[370] Suetonius, _Claudius_, 17.

[371] Ammianus Marcellinus, XX. 1.

[372] Ammianus Marcellinus, XX. 7, 8.

[373] Eumenius, _Panegyric of Constantinus Cæsar_, 14.

[374] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, cited by Mr. Lewin.

[375] “Qui tertia vigilia Morino solvisset a portu.” (Florus, III. 10.)

[376] Strabo, IV. 5, p. 166.

[377] “Ultimos Gallicarum gentium Morinos, nec portu quam Gesoriacum vocant quicquam notius habet.” (Pomponius Mela, III. 2.)--“Μορινὡν Γησοριακον ἑπἱνειον.” (Ptolemy, II. ix. 3.)

[378] “Hæc [Britannia] abest a Gesoriaco Morinorum gentis litore proximo trajectu quinquaginta M.” (Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IV. 30.)

[379] The camp of Labienus, during the second expedition, was, no doubt, established on the site now occupied by the high town. From thence it commanded the surrounding country, the sea, and the lower course of the Liane.

[380] _Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire_, tom. IV., I. 17.

[381] What is now called _Romney Marsh_ is the northern part of a vast plain, bounded on the east and south by the sea, and on the west and north by the line of heights at the foot of which the military canal has been cut. It is difficult to determine what was the aspect of Romney Marsh in the time of Cæsar. Nevertheless, the small elevation of the plain above the level of the sea, as well as the nature of the soil, lead us to conclude that the sea covered it formerly up to the foot of the heights of Lymne, except at least in the part called _Dymchurch-Wall_. This is a long tongue of land, on which are now raised three forts and nine batteries, and which, considering its height above the rest of the plain, has certainly never been covered by the sea. These facts appear to be confirmed by an ancient chart in the Cottonian collection in the British Museum.

Mr. Lewin appears to have represented as accurately as possible the appearance of Romney Marsh in the time of Cæsar, in the plate which accompanies his work. The part not covered by the sea extended, no doubt, as he represents it, from the bay of Romney to near Hythe, where it terminated in a bank of pebbles of considerable extent. But it appears to us that it would have been difficult for the Roman army to land on a bank of pebbles at the very foot of the rather steep heights of Lymne. Mr. Lewin places the Roman army, in the first expedition, at the foot of the heights, on the bank of pebbles itself, surrounded on almost all sides by the sea. In the second expedition, he supposes it to have been on the heights, at the village of Lymne; and, to explain how Cæsar joined his fleet to the camp by retrenchments common to both, he admits that this fleet was drawn on land as far as the slope of the heights, and shut up in a square space of 300 mètres each side, because we find there the ruins of an ancient castle called _Stutfall Castle_. All this is hardly admissible.

[382] Word for word, this expression signifies that the ships set sail four days after the arrival of the Romans in England. The Latin language often employed the ordinal number instead of the cardinal number. Thus, the historian Eutropius says, “Carthage was destroyed 700 years after it was founded, _Carthago septingentesimo anno quam condita erat deleta est_.” Are we, in the phrase, _post diem quartum_, to reckon the day of the arrival?--Virgil says, speaking of the seventeenth day, _septima post decimam_.--Cicero uses the expression _post sexennium_ in the sense of _six years_. It is evident that Virgil counts seven days after the tenth. If the tenth was comprised in this number, the expression _septima post decimam_ would signify simply the _sixteenth day_. On his part, Cicero understands clearly the six years as a lapse of time which was to pass, starting from the moment in which he speaks. Thus, the _post diem quartum_ of Cæsar must be understood in the sense of four days accomplished, without reckoning the day of landing.

[383] Titus Livius, XLIV. 37.

[384] We must now go back to the fourteenth day before the full moon, that is, to the 17th of August, 699, to find a day on which high tide took place at Dover towards midday.

[385] Mr. Lewin has stated that the country between Deal and Sandwich produces no wheat. This assertion is tolerably true for the tongue of marshy land which separates those two localities; but what does it signify, since wheat grows in great quantities in all the part of the county of Kent situated to the west of the coast which extends from the South Foreland to Deal and Sandwich?

[386] It is almost impossible to fix with certainty the day when Cæsar quitted Britain; we know only that it was a short time before the equinox (_propinqua die æquinoxii_), which, according to the calculations of M. Le Verrier, fell on the 26th of September, and that the fleet started a little after midnight. If we admit a passage of nine hours, with a favorable wind (_ipse idoneam tempestatem nactus_), as on the return of the second expedition, Cæsar would have arrived at Boulogne towards nine o’clock in the morning. As the fleet could not enter the port until the tide was in, it is sufficient, to know approximatively the date of Cæsar’s return, to seek what day in the month of September, 699, there was high tide at that hour at Bolougne. Now, in this port, the tide is always at its height towards nine o’clock in the morning two or three days before full moon and before new moon; therefore, since the full moon of the month of September, 699, took place on the 14th, it must have been about the 11th or 12th of September that Cæsar returned to Gaul. As to the two ships which were driven farther down, Mr. Lewin (_Invasion of Britain by J. Cæsar_) explains this accident in a very judicious manner. He states that we read in the tide-tables of the English Admiralty the following recommendation: “In approaching Boulogne when the tide is flowing in, great attention must be paid, because the current, which, on the English side, drags a ship towards the east, on the Boulogne side drags them, on the contrary, towards the Somme.” Nothing, then, is more natural than that the two Roman transport ships should be driven ashore to the south of Boulogne.

[387] “It was there (the mouth of the Seine) that Cæsar established his naval arsenal, when he passed over to that island (Britain.)” (Strabo, II. 160.)

[388] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 3, 4.

[389] The Meldæ dwelt on the Marne, in the country around Meaux; and as we have seen, according to Strabo, that Cæsar had established his naval arsenal at the mouth of the Seine, there is nothing extraordinary in the circumstance that some of the ships were built near Meaux. But it is not reasonable to suppose, with some writers, that the Meldæ dwelt at the mouth of the Scheldt, and believe that Cæsar had left important shipyards in an enemy’s country, and out of reach of protection.

[390] The five legions which Cæsar led into Britain made, at about 5,000 men each, 25,000 men. There were, in addition to these, 2,000 cavalry. If we suppose, as in the first expedition, twenty-five horses per ship, it would require eighty to contain the cavalry. In the preceding year, eighty transport ships had been sufficient for two legions, without baggage--200 ought to have been enough for five legions; but as the “Commentaries” give us to understand that those vessels were narrower, and that the troops had their baggage, it may be believed that they required double the number of ships, that is, 400, for the transport of the five legions, which would make about sixty-two men in a ship. There would remain 160 transport ships for the Gaulish and Roman chiefs, the valets, and the provisions. The twenty-eight galleys were, no doubt, the true ships of war, destined to protect the fleet and the landing.

[391] According to a passage in the “Commentaries” (Book V. 26), there was in the Roman army a body of Spanish cavalry.

[392] Dio Casstas, XL. 1.

[393] De Bella Galtico, V. 8.

[394] This appears to us to be evident, since we shall see subsequently Cæsar inclosed his fleet within the retrenchments contiguous to his camp.

[395] As in the first expedition the disaster which happened to his fleet must have proved to Cæsar the danger to which the vessels were exposed on the coast, the above reflection indicates that, in his second expedition, he chose a better anchorage, at a few kilomètres farther to the north.

[396] Ten cohorts formed a legion; but Cæsar does not employ this last expression, because, no doubt, he drew from each of his legions two cohorts, which he left for the guard of the camp. In this manner he preserved the tactical number of five legions, which was more advantageous, and caused each legion to participate in the honour of combating.

[397] If from the sea-shore, near Deal, where we suppose that the Romans established their camp, we describe, with a radius of twelve miles, an arc of a circle, we cut towards the west, the villages of Kingston and Barham, and more to the north, the village of Littlebourne, a stream called the Little Stour, which rises near Lyminge, flows from south to north across a rather irregular country, and falls into the Great Stour. This stream is incontestably the _flumen_ of the “Commentaries.” There is the less room for error, as we find no other stream in the part of the county of Kent comprised between the coast of Deal and the Great Stour, and as this latter runs too far from Deal to answer to the text. Although the Little Stour is not, between Barham and Kingston, more than from three to four mètres broad, we need not be astonished at the denomination of _flumen_ given to it by Cæsar, for he employs the same expression to designate simple rivulets, such as the Ose and the Oserain. (_De Bello Gallico_, VII. 69, _Alesia_.)

But did Cæsar reach the Little Stour towards Barham and Kingston or towards Littlebourne? The doubt is allowable. We believe, nevertheless, that the country of Barham and Kingston agrees best with the idea we form from reading the “Commentaries.” The heights on the left bank of the Little Stour are not so broken as to prevent chariots and cavalry from manœuvring on them, and the Britons might have occupied, as the text requires, a commanding position, _locus superior_, on the banks which end at the river in gentle slopes.

This stream, considering its little depth, does not form any real obstacle. Now it appears, in fact, to result from the recital of the “Commentaries,” that the engagement as it was not of a serious character, and that Cæsar’s cavalry passed it without difficulty. This last fact forms an objection to the Great Stour, which several authors, and among others General de Gœler, take for the _flumen_ of the text; it is sufficiently broad and sufficiently steep-banked towards Sturry, where they place the scene of the action, to render the passage difficult for cavalry. Moreover, Sturry is fifteen, and not twelve miles from the coast of Deal.

[398] It is evident that this place must not be sought at more than a few kilomètres from the Little Stour; for it must be remembered that the Romans had landed the day before, that they had made a night march of twelve miles, and that they have just given battle. Unfortunately, the country situated to the west of Kingston is so much broken and wooded, that it is impossible to choose one site rather than another to make a British _oppidum_. Perhaps it might be placed towards Bursted or Upper Hardres.

[399] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 9.

[400] It has appeared to us interesting to explain how Cæsar could join the fleet to his camp.

The Roman camp must have been on flat ground, to allow of the possibility of drawing up the ships of the fleet. Supposing that the mean size of each ship was twenty-five mètres long by six mètres broad, and that the 800 ships composing the fleet had been placed at two mètres from each other, on five lines separated by a distance of three mètres, the fleet would have covered a rectangle of 1,280 mètres by 140, joined with the camp by other trenches. It is, of course, understood that the lightest boats would form the line farthest from the sea.

[401] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 11.

[402] This is the expression of Cæsar, but it is certain that this number does not indicate the shortest distance from the Thames to the Straits. Cæsar, no doubt, meant to tell us the length of the route he took from the sea to the Thames.

[403] On the chariots of the Britons consult Strabo (IV., p. 166), and Dio Cassius (LXXVI. 12). Cæsar spoke of many thousand cavalry and war-chariots, in the third book of a Memoir addressed to Cicero, but which is lost. (Junius Philargyrus, _Comm. on the Georgics of Virgil_, III., p. 204.)

[404] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 17.

[405] There remains not the slightest vestige in the county of Kent which might help us in tracing the march of the Roman army. The camp of Holwood, near Keston, which the English maps call _Cæsar’s Camp_, does not belong to the period of which we are treating. On St. George’s Hill, near Walton-on-the-Thames, no camp ever existed.

Unfortunately, it is no more possible to ascertain the exact place where Cæsar crossed the Thames by a ford. We are convinced of this by the researches of all kinds made by the officers Stoffel and Hamelin. The boatmen of the Thames all assured them that between Shepperton and London there are now reckoned eight or nine places fordable; the most favourable is that at Sunbury. At Kingston, where General de Gœler places the passage, nothing leads us to suppose that a ford ever existed. The same thing must be said of Coway Stakes. At Halliford, in spite of the termination of the word, the inhabitants have no tradition of an ancient ford. The only thing which appears to us evident is, that the Roman army did not pass below Teddington. We know that this village, the name of which comes from _Tide-end-town_, marks the last point of the Thames where the tide is felt. We cannot believe that Cæsar would expose himself to be surprised during his passage by an increase of the volume of water.

[406] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 18.--Polyænus expresses himself thus: “Cæsar, when he was in the isle of Britain, sought to pass a great river. Cassivellaunus, King of the Britons, opposed the passage with a numerous cavalry and many chariots. Cæsar had a very great elephant, an animal which the Britons had never seen; he armed it with iron flakes, and placed on its back a great tower filled with archers and slingers, all men of skill, and caused it to advance into the river. The Britons were struck with astonishment at the view of such an enormous animal, which was unknown to them. And is it necessary to say that their horses were frightened at it, since we know that, even among the Greeks, the presence of an elephant causes the horses to flee? Much more were those of the barbarians unable to support the view of an elephant armed and loaded with a tower from which flew stones and arrows. Britons, horses, and chariots, all equally took flight; and the Romans, by means of the terror caused by a single animal, passed the river without danger.” (_Strateg._, VIII. 23, § 5.)

[407] After having crossed the Thames, Cæsar invaded the territory of Cassivellaunus, and directed his march to the _oppidum_ of that chief. Certain commentators place this _oppidum_ to the west of Wendover (_see Plate 15_), others at St. Albans, the ancient _Verulamium_. All we can possibly say is, that the brief indications of the “Commentaries” seem to agree best with the latter locality.

[408] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 22.

[409] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 23.

[410] Strabo, p. 167.

[411] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, IX., 116.--Solinus, LIII. 28.

[412] “I have received, on the 4th of the nones of June (the 1st of June, according to the concordance here adopted, _see Appendix A_), your letter dated from Placentia; that of the following day, dated from Lodi, arrived on the very day of the nones (4th of June).” It was accompanied with a letter from Cæsar, expressing his satisfaction at the arrival of Quintus. (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15.

[413] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 15. This letter was closed on the 5th of the calends of August, answering to the 26th of July.

[414] “I have received, on the day of the ides of September (the 9th of September), your fourth letter, dated from Britain on the 4th of the ides of August (8th of August).” (_Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.

[415] “The 11th of the calends of October (16th of September) your courier arrived; he has taken twenty days on the road; my uneasiness was mortal.” (_Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.)--“Cæsar has written to me from Britain a letter, dated on the calends of September (28th of August), which I received on the 4th of the calends of October. It appears that affairs are not going on ill with him. Cæsar adds, to prevent me from being surprised at not hearing from you, that you were not with him when he came to the coast (23rd of September).”

[416] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 3.

[417] At ten miles to the east of Deal it is high tide half an hour later than at Dover, and the reflux begins there four hours after the hour of high tide.

[418] Those who refuse to admit Boulogne and Deal for the points of Cæsar’s embarking and landing, pretend that so long a time was not necessary to effect so short a passage. But a fleet requires a longer time to navigate the more numerous it is; resembling in that an army, which marches much more slowly than a single man.

[419] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 17.

[420] To find the time required, we must suppose that, by some delay or by the absence of regular couriers, Cæsar’s letter to Cicero had been thirteen days on the road between Lodi and Rome.

[421] Much uncertainty exists in regard to the distribution of the legions; yet the location of two of the winter quarters appears to us certain, Samarobriva (_Amiens_) and Aduatuca (_Tongres_). If now, from a point situate near to the Sambre, from Bavay as the centre, we describe a circle, we shall see that Cæsar’s winter quarters, except those of Normandy, were all comprised in a radius of 100 miles, or 148 kilomètres. The researches which Major Cohausen kindly made for me, and those of MM. Stoffel and Locqueyssie, have enabled me to determine approximately the winter quarters.

[422] The brother of the orator.

[423] The Commandant of Artillery, De Locqueyssie, has found on the Ourthe, near the village of Lavacherie (_Duchy of Luxemburg_), the remains of a Roman camp with triangular fosses, and in a position which appears to agree with the date of the “Commentaries.”

[424] Under the name of _Belgium_, we must only comprise a part of the peoples of Belgic Gaul, such as the Atrebates, the Ambiani, and the Bellovaci. (_De Bello Gallico_, V. 24, 25, 46; VIII. 46.)

[425] _Unam legionem, quam proxime trans Padum conscripserat._--According to the use of the good Latin writers, _proxime_ does not mean _recently_, but _in the last place_. Through an incorrect interpretation of this phrase, General de Gœler has supposed that Cæsar had, at this time, brought from Italy the 15th legion; this legion, as we shall see, was only raised at a later period.

[426] More than fourteen different localities have been proposed for identification with Aduatuca. If some writers have advanced good arguments for placing Aduatuca on the right bank of the Meuse, others have believed that they have offered equally good ones for seeking it on the left bank of that river; but the greater part of them have admitted this or that site for the most futile reasons. Nobody has dreamt of resolving the question by the simplest of all means--which consists in seeking if, among the different sites proposed, there is one which, by the form of the ground, agrees with the requirements of the narrative given in the “Commentaries.” Now, Tongres is in this position, and it alone, and so completely satisfies them that we cannot think of placing Aduatuca elsewhere. In fact, Tongres is situated in the country occupied formerly by the Eburones, and, as Cæsar expresses it, _in modiis finibus Eburonum_, which signifies entirely in the country of the Eburones, and not in the centre of the country. It is moreover enclosed in a circle of a hundred miles radius, comprising all the winter quarters of the Roman army except those of Roscius. This locality fulfils all the conditions required for the establishment of a camp; it is near a river, on a height which commands the neighborhood, and the country produces wheat and forage. At two miles towards the west is a long defile, _magna convallis_, the vale of Lowaige, where the relation of the massacre of the cohorts of Sabinus is perfectly explained. At three miles from Tongres we find a plain, separated from the town by a single hill; on the same side as this hill rises a rounded eminence--that of Berg, to which the name of tumulus may be fairly applied. Lastly, the Geer, the banks of which were formerly marshy, defended through a large extent the height of Tongres. (_See Plate 18._)

[427] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 25.

[428] See the notice by M. M. F. Driesen on the position of Aduatuca, in the _Bulletins de l’Académie Royale de Belgique_, 2nd series, tom. XV. No. 3.

[429] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 37.

[430] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 39.

[431] The towers of the Romans were constructed of timber of small size, bound together by cross pieces. (_See Plate 27, fig. 8._) They still raise scaffolding at Rome in the same manner at the present day.

[432] Although the text has _passuum_, we have not hesitated in substituting _pedum_, for it is very improbable that Gauls could have made, in three hours’ time, a countervallation of more than 22 kilomètres.

[433] The siege machine called _testudo_, “a tortoise,” was ordinarily a gallery mounted upon wheels, made of wood strongly squared, and covered with a solid blindage. It was pushed against the wall of the place besieged. It protected the workmen employed either in filling the fosse, or in mining the wall, or in working the ram. The siege operations of the Gauls lead us to presume that the camp of Cicero was in a fort surrounded by a wall. (_See_, on the word _falces_, note (1) on p. 143.)

[434] In the coal-basin, in the centre of which Charleroy is situated, the coal layers crop out of the surface of the soil on different points. Still, at the present day, they knead the clay with small coal. But, what is most curious, people have found at Breteuil (Oise), as in the ruins of Carthage, a quantity of ovoid balls made of pottery.

[435] It will be seen that we use indifferently the terms _vallum_ and _rampart_.

[436] Dio Cassius, XL. 8.

[437] It has appeared to us that the movement of concentration of Cæsar and Fabius did not allow the winter quarters of the latter to be placed at Therouanne or at Montreuil-sur-Mer, as most authors have supposed. These localities are too far distant from the route from Amiens to Charleroy to have enabled Fabius to join Cæsar on the territory of the Atrebates, as the text of the Commentaries requires. For this reason, we place Fabius at Saint-Pol.

[438] The “Commentaries” say, _Græcis conscriptam litteris_; but Polyænus and Dio Cassius affirm that the letter was written in Greek.

[439] Polyænus, _Strateg._, VIII. xxiii. 6.

[440] We admit that Cicero encamped at Charleroi: all circumstances concur in justifying this opinion. Charleroi is situated on the Sambre, near the Roman road from Amiens to Tongres (_Aduatuca_), and, as the Latin text requires, at fifty miles from this latter town. On the high part of Charleroi, where the camp was, no doubt, established, we command the valley of the Sambre, and we can see, in the distance towards the west, the country through which Cæsar arrived. Moreover, the valley of the Haine and mount Sainte-Aldegonde, above the village of Carnières, agree perfectly with the details of the combat in which the Gauls were defeated.

[441] From Amiens to Charleroi it is 170 kilomètres. Cæsar must have arrived on the territory of the Nervii, towards Cambrai, _the morning of the third day_, counting from his departure from Amiens, after marching ninety kilomètres. He immediately sends the Gaulish horseman to Cicero. This horseman has to perform eighty kilomètres. He can only take eight to nine hours, and arrive at the camp in the afternoon of the third day. He throws his javelin, which remains where it was fixed _the third_ and _the fourth day_. The _fifth_ day it was discovered, and the smoke of the fires is then seen. Cæsar, then, arrived on the fifth day (reckoning thirty kilomètres for a day’s march) at Binche, twenty kilomètres from Charleroi. That town is on a sufficiently elevated knoll to allow the smoke to be seen. The siege lasted about fifteen days.

[442] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 53.

[443] “I have read with a lively joy what you tell me of the courage and strength of mind of Cæsar in this cruel trial.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. viii. 166.)

[444] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 67.--Polyænus, _Strateg._, VIII. xxiii.

[445] One is on the site of the citadel of Amiens; the second is near Tirancourt; the third is the camp of l’Etoile. (_See the Dissertation sur les Camps Romains de la Somme_, by the Comte L. d’Allonville.)

[446] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 58.

[447] _Précis des Guerres de César_, by Napoleon, Chapter V. 5.

[448] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 4.

[449] The “Commentaries,” after having informed us (V. 24) that Labienus established himself in the country of the Remi, on the confines of that of the Treviri, give us afterwards to understand that he encamped among the Treviri, where he had passed the winter, “Labienum cum una legione, quæ in eorum finibus hiemaverat.” (VI. 7.) We believe, with certain authors, that the country in which he encamped was either on the boundary of the two countries, or ground of which the Remi and the Treviri disputed the possession. Is it not evident, moreover, that after the catastrophe of Aduatuca and the insurrection of the people seduced by Ambiorix, everything dictated to Labienus the necessity of engaging himself no further in a hostile country, by separating himself from the other legions?

[450] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 6.

[451] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 8.

[452] See page 82.

[453] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 29.

[454] We must suppose from this that, during his march, Cæsar crossed the territory of the Segni and Condrusi, or that at least he passed not far from it. This consideration has induced us to extend this territory farther towards the north than is generally done. (_See Plates 1 bis and 13._)

[455] Cæsar might very well say that the Scheldt mingles his waters with those of the Meuse. Several ancient authors share in this opinion. This took place by the eastern arm of the Scheldt, formerly more developed than in modern times, which spread itself in the space which, according to Tacitus, formed the _immense mouth of the Meuse_ (_immensum Mosæ os_).

[456] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 34.

[457] Forty-five kilomètres reckoned down from Bonn bring us to the confluence of the Wipper and the Rhine.

[458] Cæsar complained of the conduct of Quintus, when he wrote to Cicero the orator: “He did not keep within the camp, as would have been the duty of a prudent and scrupulous general.” (Charisius, p. 101.)

[459] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 42.

[460] An ancient manuscript belonging to Upper Auvergne, the manuscript of Drugeac, informs us that this custom continued long in use, and that it still existed in the Middle Ages. Rough towers were built for this purpose on the heights, 400 or 500 mètres apart; watchmen were placed in them, who transmitted the news from one to another by sonorous monosyllables. A certain number of these towers still exist in the Cantal. If the wind prevented this mode of transmission, they had recourse to fire.

It is evident that criers had been posted beforehand from Genabum to Gergovia, since it was agreed that the Carnutes should give the signal of war. It is exactly 160 miles (about 240 kilomètres), through the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, from Gien to Gergovia, the principal _oppidum_ of the Arverni.

[461] “Hic corpore, armis, spirituque terribilis, nomine etiam quasi ad terrorem composito.” (Florus, II. x. 21.)--Vercingetorix was born at Gergovia. (Strabo, IV., p. 158.)

[462] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 5.

[463] Coins of Lucterius have been found, as well as of many of the Gaulish chiefs mentioned in the “Commentaries.” The first has been described by MM.[“Messieurs” methinks] Mionet and Chaudruc de Crazannes. (_Revue Numismatique_, t. V., pl. 16, p. 333.)

[464] Their capital was Alba, now Aps (_Ardèche_). During recent researches, remains of an ancient road have been discovered, which passed by the places here indicated, and led from the land of the Helvi to the Vellavi and Arverni.

[465] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 9.

[466] Since Cæsar did not start until after the murder of Clodius, which took place on the 13th of the Calends of February (December 30th, 701), and had raised troops in Italy, passed through the Roman province, penetrated over the Cévennes into Auvergne, and had thence returned to Vienne, it is probable that he did not arrive at Sens before the commencement of March.

[467] The Latin term has _Altero die, quum ad oppidum Senonum Vellaunodunum venisset_, &c. All authors, without exception, considering wrongly the expression of _altero die_ as identical with those of _postro die_, _proximo die_, _insequenti die_, _pridie ejus diei_, have translated it by _the following day_. We consider that _altero die_, when used with regard to an event, signifies the second day which follows that of the said event.

Thus Cicero gives it this sense in his _Philippica Prima_, § 13, where he reminds us of the conduct of Antony after the death of Cæsar. Antony had begun by treating with the conspirators who had taken refuge in the Capitol, and, at a sitting of the Senate, which he called together _ad hoc_, on the day of the Liberalia, that is to say, the 16th of the Calends of April, an amnesty was pronounced in favour of the murderers of Cæsar. Cicero, speaking of this session of the Senate, says, _Proximo, altero, tertio, denique reliquis consecutis diebus_, &c. Is it not evident that here _altero die_ signifies the second day which followed the session of the Senate, or two days after that session?

Here are other examples which show that the word _alter_ must be taken in the sense of _secundus_. Virgil says (_Eclogue_ VIII., line 39), _Alter ab undecimo tum jam me ceperat annus_, which must be translated, _I was thirteen years old_. Servius, who composed a commentary on Virgil at a time when the traditions were still preserved, makes the following comment on this verse: _Id est tertius decimus. Alter enim de duobus dicimus ut unus ab undecimo sit duodecimus, alter tertius decimus, et vult significare jam se vicinum fuisse pubertati, quod de duodecimo anno procedere non potest_. (Virgil, edit. Burmann, tom. I., p. 130.)

Forcellini peremptorily establishes that _vicesimo altero_ signifies the _twenty-second_; _legio altera vicesima_ means the _twenty-second legion_.

The “Commentaries” inform us (_De Bello Civili_, III. 9) that Octavius, when besieging Salona, had established five camps round the town, and that the besieged took those five camps one after the other. The text is thus expressed: _Ipsi in_ PROXIMA _Octavii castra irruperunt. Mis expugnatis, eodem impetu_, ALTERA _sunt adorti; inde_ TERTIA _et_ QUARTA, _et deinceps_ RELIQUA. (See also _De Bello Civili_, III. 83.)

In the “Commentaries” we find sixty-three times the expression _postero die_, thirty-six times _proximo die_, ten times _insequenti die_, eleven times _postridie ejus diei_, or _pridie ejus diei_. The expression _altero die_ is used only twice in the eight books _De Bello Gallico_, viz., lib. VII. cc. 11 and 68, and three times in _De Bello Civili_, lib. III. cc. 19, 26, and 30. Is that coincidence alone not sufficient to make us suppose that _altero die_ ought not to be confounded with the preceding expressions; and does it not appear certain that, if Cæsar had arrived at Vellaunodunum the morning after his departure from Agedincum, he would have written, _Postero die_ (or _proximo die_) _quum ad oppidum Senonum Vellaunodunum venisset_, &c.?

We believe, therefore, that we are authorized in concluding that Cæsar arrived at Vellaunodunum the second day after the army moved.

Farther on, on page 339, will be found a new confirmation of the sense which we give to _altero die_. It results from the appreciation of the distance which separates Alesia from the battle-field where Cæsar defeated the cavalry of Vercingetorix. (See the opinions of the commentators on _altero die_ in the sixth volume of Cicero, edit. Lemaire, Classiques Latins, _Excursus ad Philippicam primam_.)

[468] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 11.--Contrary to the generally received opinion, we adopt _Gien_ and not _Orleans_ for the ancient Genabum, _Triguères_ for Vellaunodonum, _Sancerre_ for Noviodunum, and, lastly, _Saint-Parize-le-Châtel_ for the Gorgobina of the Boii.

As Cæsar’s object, on quitting Sens, was to march as quickly as possible to the _oppidum_ of the Boii, in order to raise the siege, since he starts without baggage, so as to be less impeded in his march, we will first examine the probable position of this latter town, before discussing the question relating to the intermediate points.

_Gorgobina Boiorum_. After the defeat of the Helvetii, Cæsar allowed the Ædui to receive the Boii upon their territory, and it is probable that they were established on the western frontier, as in an advanced post against the Arverni and the Bituriges. Several data confirm this opinion. Tacitus (_Histor._, II. 61) relates that: _Mariccus quidam, e plebe Boiorum,.... concitis octo millibus hominum, proximos Æduorum pagos trahebat_. The possessions of the Boii were, therefore, contiguous to the Æduan territory. Pliny the Elder (_Hist. Nat._, IV. 18) places the Boii in the number of the nations who inhabited the centre of the Lyonnaise. _Intus autem Ædui fœderati, Carnuti fœderati, Boii, Senones_.... The place here occupied by the word _Boii_ shows us again that this people was not far from the Ædui, the Senones, and the Carnutes. Lastly, the text of the “Commentaries” represents Vercingetorix as obliged to traverse the country of the Bituriges to repair to Gorgobina. The most plausible opinion is that which places the Boii between the Loire and the Allier, towards the confluence of these two rivers. This was already an old tradition, adopted in the fifteenth century by Raimondus Marlianus, one of the first editors of Cæsar. This space of ground, covered in its eastern part with woods and marshes, was admirably suited by its extent to the limited population of the Boii, who did not number more than 20,000 souls. Neither Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, marked on the map of Gaul as Gorgobina, nor La Guerche, proposed by General de Gœler, answer completely, by their topographical position, to the site of a Gaulish _oppidum_. In fact, Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier is far from being advantageously situated; this village stands at the foot of the hills which border the right bank of the Allier. La-Guerche-sur-Aubois fulfils no better the conditions of defence which must be required in the principal town of the Boii: it is situated almost in a plain, on the edge of a marshy valley of the Aubois. It presents a few remains of fortifications of the Middle Ages, but not a trace of more remote antiquity has been discovered in it. To seek Gorgobina farther down, and on the left bank of the Loire, is impossible, since, according to Cæsar, the Boii had been established on the territory of the Ædui, and the Loire formed the boundary between the Ædui and the Bituriges. If we are reduced to conjectures, we must at least admit as incontestable what is advanced by Cæsar.

The village of Saint-Parize-le-Châtel suits better. It is about eight kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, nearly in the middle of the space comprised between the Loire and the Allier; it occupies the centre of ancient agglomeration of inhabitants, which Guy Coquille, at the end of the sixteenth century, designates under the name of the _bourg de Gentily_, and which the _chronicles_ called, down to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, _Pagus Gentilicus_, or _bourg des gentils_. The history of this people has this remarkable peculiarity, that, whilst all the neighbouring nations on the other side of the Allier and the Loire had, as early as the fourth century, accepted the Christian religion, they alone continued in idolatry until the sixth century. Does this fact apply to a tribe settled in a foreign country, as the Boii were, who would retain their customs and religion for a longer time unchanged? An ancient tradition states that, in the environs of Saint-Parize, there was, at a very remote period, a considerable town, which was destroyed by a fire. A few scattered foundations, discovered in the woods of Bord, to the south-west of Saint Parize, seem to indicate the site of the _oppidum_ of the Boii. The name of the castle, of the domain, and of the place called _Les Bruyères de Buy_, remind us of that of the Boii.

There was probably a Roman station at Saincaise-Meauce (thirteen kilomètres to the north of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier), on the right bank of the Allier. In 1861, there were discovered there numerous objects of the Gallo-Roman period, and two busts in white marble, life-size, representing Roman emperors. At Chantenay, eight kilomètres south from Saint-Pierre, a few Roman foundations have been found, and a considerable number of Gaulish coins, one of which, amongst others, bears the name of the Æduan Litavicus.

_Genabum_. The position of Gorgobina once established at the confluence of the Loire and the Allier, we must admit _Gien_ as the ancient Genabum, and not _Orleans_, for the following reasons:--

1st. We cannot believe that Cæsar, leaving Sens in spite of the rigour of the season, and in haste to raise the siege of Gorgobina, should, without any reason, have taken a circuitous road of seventy-five kilomètres, which would represent three or four days march, in order to pass by Orleans. In fact, the distance from Sens to the confluence of the Allier and the Loire, is, by Orleans, 270 kilomètres, whilst it is only 180 kilomètres by the way of Gien.

2nd. From Sens to Gien the road was short and easy; on the contrary, from Sens to Orleans it was necessary to pass the great marsh of Sceaux and the forest of Orleans, probably impracticable. Now, the road indicated on the Peutingerian Table, as leading from Orleans to Sens, must have had a decided curve towards the south, and passed close by Gien, after having passed through Aquæ-Segeste (_Craon_ and _Chenevière_), for the distance between Sens and Orleans is marked at fifty-nine Gaulish leagues, or 134 kilomètres. The Roman road, which leads directly from Sens to Orleans, by way of Sceaux, and which the itineraries do not mention, has only a length of 110 kilomètres: it is certainly less ancient than the former, and can never have been a Gaulish road.

3rd. The “Commentaries” inform us that the news of the insurrection of Genabum arrived in a short time among the Averni (of whom Gergovia, near Clermont, was the principal centre), at a distance of 160 miles (237 kilomètres) from Genabum. Now, the distance from Gien to Gergovia, by the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, is 240 kilomètres, which agrees with the text, whilst from Orleans to the same spot it is 300 kilomètres.

4th. After having crossed the Loire at Genabum, Cæsar was in the territory of the Bituriges. This is true if he passed by Gien, and false if he passed by Orleans, since, opposite Orleans, the left bank belonged to the territory of the Carnutes. It is true that it has been pretended that Gien belonged to the ancient diocese of Auxerre, and that, consequently, it was in the territory of the Senones, and not in that of the Carnutes. The limits of the ancient dioceses cannot be considered as indicating in an absolute manner the frontiers of the peoples of Gaul; and we cannot admit that the territory of the Senones formed an acute angle upon the territory of the Carnutes, the summit of which would be occupied by Gien. Moreover, whatever change it may have experienced in feudal times, in regard to its diocesan attribution, Gien has never formed a part of the Orléanais, in its civil and political relations. In 561, Gien was included in the kingdom of Orleans and Burgundy.

We believe, therefore, that Genabum was, not old Gien, which, notwithstanding its epithet, may be posterior to Cæsar, but the present Gien. This little town, by its position on the banks of the Loire, besides containing a hill very appropriate for the site of an ancient _oppidum_, possesses sufficiently interesting ruins, and agrees much better than Old Gien with the _oppidum_ of the Carnutes. Without attaching too great faith to traditions and etymologies, we must, nevertheless, mention a gate at Gien, which, from time immemorial, has been called Cæsar’s Gate (_la Porte de César_); a street called _à la Genabye_, which leads, not towards Orleans, but towards the high part of town; a piece of ground, situated to the north of Gien, at the angle formed by the road to Montargis and the Roman road, at a distance of about one kilomètre, which still preserves the name of the Field of the Camp (_La Pièce du Camp_). Perhaps this is the spot where Cæsar placed his camp, opposite the most accessible part of the town.

The principal reason why Orleans has been taken for Genabum is that the Itinerary of Antoninus indicates that town under the name of _Cenabum_ or _Cenabo_, and that this name is also found in some lately discovered inscriptions. It may be supposed that the inhabitants of Gien, after having escaped from the destruction of their town, descended the river, and, on the spot where Orleans now stands, formed a new establishment, to which they gave the name of the first city; in the same manner the inhabitants of Bibracte removed to Autun, and those of Gergovia to Clermont.

Independently of the above considerations, Orleans, by its position on a declivity uniformly inclined toward the Loire, does not at all answer to the conditions of a Gaulish _oppidum_. If we admit Orleans to be Genabum, it becomes very difficult to assign a convenient site for the _oppida_ of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.

_Vellaunodunum._ The situation of the territory of the Boii being admitted, as well as that of Genabum, we have to find, on the road which Cæsar pursued from Sens to Gorgobina, the intermediate points of Vellaunodunum and Noviodunum.

On the direct line from Sens to Gien, at the distance of 40 kilomètres from Sens, we meet with the little town of Triguères. The hill which overlooks it from the north agrees with the position of the ancient _oppidum_; the remains of walls, fosses, and parapets have been found on it. Farther, there were discovered in 1856, at 500 mètres to the north-west of Triguères, the ruins of a large semi-elliptical theatre, capable of containing from 5,000 to 6,000 spectators. In another direction, the ruins of a Druidical monument have been pointed out; in fact, everything leads to the belief that there existed at Triguères, in the Gallo-Roman period, an important centre, which had been preceded by a Gaulish establishment anterior to the conquest. A road paved with stones, considered by some as a Gaulish or Celtic way, but accepted by all archæologists as a Roman road, goes direct from Sens to Triguères, by Courtenay, and passes along the eastern side of the _oppidum_. Another ancient way leads similarly from Triguères to Gien. We feel no hesitation, after what precedes, in placing Vellaunodunum at Triguères.

It will be objected that the distance from Sens to this little town (40 kilomètres) is too small to have taken the Roman army, without baggage, three days’ march; but Cæsar does not say that he employed three days in proceeding from _Agedincum_ to _Vellaunodunum_: he informs us merely that, leaving all his baggage at Agedincum, he journeyed towards the country of the Boii, and that on the second day he arrived at Vellaunodunum. Nothing, therefore, obliges us to suppose that, before it marched, the Roman army was concentrated or encamped at Agedincum itself. Persons unacquainted with military art are apt to suppose that an army lives and marches always concentrated on one point.

Cæsar, although he was effecting the concentration of his troops before entering into campaign, did not keep them massed at the gates of Sens, but he probably distributed them in _échelon_ in the neighbourhood of the town, along the Yonne. When afterwards he decided on marching to the succour of the Boii, we must suppose that the first day was employed in concentrating the whole army at Sens itself, in leaving the baggage there, perhaps also in crossing the Yonne, a long operation for more than 60,000 men. The first day having passed, the army continued its march next day, and arrived at Triguères the day following, having performed two days’ march of 20 kilomètres each. We see, then, that the distance between Sens and Triguères does not prevent us from identifying this latter locality with Vellaunodunum. Triguères is distant 44 kilomètres from Gien, the distance which separated Vellaunodunum from Genabum, and which might have been marched in two days.

_Noviodunum._ To find the site of Noviodunum, we must seek a position which agrees best with the “Commentaries” in the triangle formed by the three known points, Gien, Le Bec-d’Allier, and Bourges. Since, according to the text, Vercingetorix did not raise the siege of the town of the Boii until he had heard of Cæsar’s arrival on the left bank of the Loire, and since the two hostile armies, marching towards each other, met at Noviodunum, it follows that this last-named town must be about half-way between the spot where the Loire was passed and the town of the Boii; on another hand, since Cæsar took several days to reach Bourges from Noviodunum, there must have been a rather considerable distance between those two last-named towns. Moreover, in order that the inhabitants of Noviodunum should have seen in the distance, from the top of their walls, the cavalry of Vercingetorix, the town must necessarily have been situated on an eminence. Lastly, the cavalry combat, fought at a small distance from the town, proves that the ground was sufficiently flat to permit that engagement.

It is, therefore, because certain points hitherto indicated do not answer to the conditions required by the text, that we have not admitted, as representing Noviodunum, the towns of Nouan-le-Fuselier, Pierrefitte-sur-Saudre, Nohant-en-Goût, Neuvy-en-Sullias, or Neuvy-sur-Barangeon. In fact, some of these are too far from Bec-d’Allier, while others are too near Bourges, and most of them are situated in a plain.

Sancerre, on the contrary, answers all the conditions of the text. It is situated on a hill which rises 115 mètres above the valley watered by the Loire. Encircled on all sides by deep ravines, it can only be approached from one point, situated to the east, where the ancient Roman road of Bourges terminated, which is still at the present day called the Big Road (_le Gros Chemin_). The Abbé Lebœuf, as early as 1727, had designated this town as the ancient Noviodunum. It is near Saint-Satur, at the very foot of the mountain of Sancerre, that a Gallo-Roman town existed, of which, within the last few years, numerous foundations have been found. It is probable that this Gallo-Roman town had succeeded to a great centre of Gaulish population, for the Bituriges must necessarily have occupied in their territory a point so admirably fortified by nature, and which commanded the course of the Loire, the line of boundary between them and the Ædui. The present town seems to have kept within the very limits of the ancient _oppidum_; it has the form of an ellipse of from 700 to 800 mètres in length on a breadth of about 500 mètres, capable of containing a population of from 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. At Sancerre there was also, at the extremity of one of the streets, towards the north, a gate called the Gate of Cæsar (_Porte de César_), which was demolished in the beginning of the nineteenth century. By adopting Sancerre, all the movements of the commencement of the campaign of 702 are easily explained. This town is forty-six kilomètres from Gien, forty-eight kilomètres from Le Bec-d’Allier, distances nearly equal, so that Vercingetorix and Cæsar, starting almost at the same time from two opposite points, may have met under its walls. Its elevated position allowed the eye to range far towards the south along the valley of the Loire, through which the inhabitants would have seen the approach of the cavalry of Vercingetorix. Cæsar may have occupied with his army the heights of Verdigny or Saint-Satur, to the north of Sancerre. A cavalry engagement may have taken place in the valley of Saint-Satur, or on the plain between Ménétréol and Saint-Thibaud. The captain of staff Rouby has examined with the greatest care the places just mentioned.