178 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. II. 



from a host of enemies, who left 1 0,000 slain upon the field — and then 

 the Veneti began to harass the legion under P. Crassus, quartered on 

 the Atlantic. Caesar postponed his Italian trip, and matured with 

 consummate generalship his far-reaching plans. He did not instantly 

 hasten to the attack, for these people were not to be dreaded on the land, 

 but he sent one lieutenant-general to the Rhine, to keep the Germans 

 and the Belgians quiet, another into Aquitaine to prevent the Pyrenean 

 clans from mustering, and while he ordered the subject provinces to 

 prepare their auxiliary ships, he himself commenced the construction 

 and equipment of a fleet upon the lower Loire. 



The vessels of the Veneti are particularly described by Caesar ; light 

 of draft but solidly built of the best of oak, and as strong as iron bolts 

 could make them : — somewhat flat-bottomed craft, for they would, at 

 low tide, often lie upon the mud or sand banks of the shallow harbors — 

 high at bow and stern, so as to be comfortable in the heavy seas of the 

 Atlantic and the channel. Iron chains they had, no mere hempen 

 cables. Some few oars they used, but their chief reliance was on their 

 sailing qualities, and, being of heavy burden, they had dressed leather 

 for sails. 



The Roman ships were of Mediterranean pattern, with brazen rams 

 with banks of oars, and turrets in their waist, almost as lofty as the 

 poop decks of the enemy's liners, and not only were they manned by a 

 host of rowers, pressed in Provence, but by chosen soldiery who, besides 

 their usual weapons, were carefully provided with boat hooks, having 

 sharp sickles at their iron-shod ends. All the preparations are carried on 

 under the eye of Caesar, and a fleet is thus improvised in a single 

 season. 



Early in the spring, indeed, the generalissimo took the field ; not 

 waiting for his marine forces. Nowadays, engineers dig their way 

 towards beleaguered cities with parallels and trenches, but Caesar made 

 his way to town after town by dumping earth and stones into the tide- 

 way, damming out the water with his causeways, and raising mounds to 

 a level with the ramparts. When the cities thus were made untenablci 

 the Veneti would bring up their vessels, and removing the people and 

 their belongings, leave but empty houses to the conqueror. This toil of 

 Tantalus lasted all the summer, but finally the Roman fleet was ready 

 and the rivals met for the decisive encounter with over 200 vessels on 

 each side. The rostra were plainly all but useless against the stout 

 Breton craft ; the Roman darts were of less avail than usual, for they 

 had to be hurled upwards, but an inspiration seized the Roman admiral, 

 for, as the wind was light he signalled that the shrouds and the main 



