[*] 103.19. latitudinem, etc.: Caesar's passage of the Rhine was most probably at Bonn, where the high and rocky banks begin ; or at Neuwied, 20 or 25 miles further south, where there is a break in the chain of hills, though here, it is said, the bottom is rock, and not fit for driving piles. The width of the river at either place is about 1400 feet, and its depth is very variable. It is now crossed in these parts by floating bridges of boats. [*] 103.21. rationem, plan. The brief description which Caesar gives of his rough and ready but very serviceable engineering may be made clearer by giving its different points as follows （see Fig. 59）: 1. A pair of unhewn logs, a foot and a half thick （tigna bina sesquipedalia）, braced two feet apart and sharpened at the end, are set up by derricks and driven with pile drivers （fistucis） into the bottom, sloping a little with the stream. 2. A similar pair is driven in opposite, 40 feet below, sloping a little in the other direction against the stream ; the upper ends of the two pairs would thus be some 25 or 30 feet apart, the width of the roadway. It is possible, as Rustow thinks, that the 40 feet refer to the top and not to the bottom of the piles. 3. A beam of square timber, two feet thick （trabs bipedalis）, and about 30 feet long, is made fast at the ends by ties （fibulis） between the logs of each pair, — which are thus kept at a proper distance apart, while they are strongly braced against the current. 4. A suitable number （probably about 60） of these trestles, or timber-arches, having been built and connected by cross-ties,—this part of the structure must be taken for granted,—planks are then laid lengthwise of the bridge （directa materia）, resting on the heavy floor-timbers ; and upon these, again, saplings and twigs （longurii, crates） are spread, to prevent the jar and wear of the carts and hoofs of the pack-animals on the flooring. 5. Piles （sublicae） are then driven in below, resting obliquely against the logs, to which they serve as shores or buttresses （pro ariete）, and other heavier piles a little way above, to break the force of floating logs or boats sent down to destroy the bridge. [*] 103.22. tigna, probably unhewn logs. — bina, two and two, i.e. in pairs. [*] 103.24. pedum duorum: i.e. between the timbers of each pair. — cum … defixerat, etc.: cum here equals whenever or as often as and the clause is equivalent to the protasis of a general condition; hence the use of the pluperf. indic. ; cf. 84 22 and note. [*] 103.26. sublicae modo, like a pile. [*] 103.27. ut … procumberent, so as to lean forward in the direction of the current. [*] 103.29. ab inferiore parte, down stream. — contra … conversa, slanting against, agrees with duo [tigna]. [*] 103.30. haec utraque … distinebantur, these two sets （or pairs） were held apart by two-foot timbers laid on above, equal [in thickness] to the interval left by the fastening of the beams （quantum … distabat）, with a pair of ties at each end. For number of utraque, see vocab. [*] 104.2. quibus [tignis] … revinctis, after these were held apart and secured in opposite directions: i.e. the horizontal beams held the piles （tigna） apart, which, sloping in opposite directions, had been secured by the clamps. [*] 104.4. rerum, structure; see note on 4 4. — quo major … hoc artius: the greater … the more closely, abl. of degree of difference. The only doubtful part of the description is in fibulis, of which the exact meaning is somewhat uncertain. They are thought by some to be cross-ties （as in Fig. 80）. But, as the word means properly a kind of clasp exactly like a modem safety-pin, it seems better to suppose they were damps joining the two piles with perhaps an iron bolt put through, answering to the pin of the fibula. [*] 104.5. haec … contexebantur, these （the framework of timber） were covered with boards placed lengthwise. [*] 104.7. sublicae … agebantur, piles also were driven on the lower side in a slanting direction, so as to prop the bridge against the current. [*] 104.8. pro ariete, as a buttress. [*] 104.10. aliae item: other piles a little way above, to serve as a break-water. There is nothing in the text to show whether these were attached to the bridge or not.—spatio: abl. of degree of difference. [*] 104.11. deiciendi operis: pred. gen. expressing tendency or purpose （§ 504. a. N. 1 (298. R.); B. 339. 6; G. 428. R. 2; H. 544. N. 2; H-B. 616, last example）, to throw down the work. [*] 104.12. neu … nocerent, and that they （trunci, etc.） might not harm the bridge.
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FIRST INVASION of BRITAIN.
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BOOK FIRST. — B.C. 58.
book 2
BOOK THIRD. — B.C. 56.
BOOK FOURTH. — B.C. 55.
BOOK FIFTH.—B.C. 54.
BOOK VI. BOOK SIXTH.—B.C. 53.
BOOK SEVENTH.—B.C. 52.
Caesar's Gallic War. J. B. Greenough, Benjamin L. D'Ooge and M. Grant Daniell. Boston. Ginn and Company. 1898.
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