The Seine Brought Up Goods Almost As Far
As The Moselle, From Which They Were Conveyed To The Rhine.
In the fourth
year of Nero's reign, the commander of the Roman army in Gaul joined the
Saone and the Moselle by a canal; and, though these canals were generally
made by the Romans, for purposes connected with the army, yet they were
soon applied to commerce.
The merchandize of the Saone was brought by land
carriage to the Seine, and by it conveyed to the ocean, and thence to
Britain. There seems to have been regular and established companies of
watermen on these rivers, whose business it was to convey goods on them: an
ancient inscription at Lyons mentions Tauricius of Vannes, as the general
overseer of the Gallic trade, the patron or head of the watermen on the
Seine and Loire, and the regulator of weights, measures, and carriages; and
other ancient inscriptions state, that the government of the watermen who
navigated the Rhone and the Saone, was often bestowed on Roman knights.
Besides the ports on the Mediterranean, or on the rivers which flow into
that sea, the Gauls in Caesar's time, or shortly afterwards, seem to have
had several, ports on the ocean. Caesar reckons the present Nantz, though at
some distance from the sea, as inhabited by people who were skilled in
maritime affairs; and he expressly informs us, that he built his ships at a
port at the mouth of the Seine, when he was preparing to invade Britain. In
his wars against the Vanni he brought ships from the present provinces of
Saintoinge and Poitou, which we may thence conclude were inhabited by
people skilled in maritime affairs. In later times, there was a marsh
filled with sea-water, not far from Bourdeaux, which made that city a
convenient port, and a place of considerable commerce. Strabo mentions a
town of some commerce, situated on the Loire, which he represents as equal
in size to Narbonne and Marseilles; but what town that was has not been
ascertained.
The most powerful and commercial, however, of all the tribes of Gaul, that
inhabited the coasts near the ocean, in the time of Caesar, were the Vanni.
These people carried on an extensive and lucrative trade with Britain,
which was interrupted by the success of Caesar, (who obliged them, as well
as the other tribes of Gaul, to give him hostages,) and which they
apprehended was likely to be still further injured by his threatened
invasion of Britain; in order to prevent this, as well as to liberate
themselves, they revolted against the Romans. As Caesar was sensible that it
would be imprudent and unsafe to attempt the invasion of Britain, so long
as the Vanni were unsubdued and powerful at sea, he directed his thoughts
and his endeavours to build and equip such a fleet as would enable him
successfully to cope with them on their own element. In building his ships,
he followed the model of those of his enemies, which were large,
flat-bottomed, and high in the head and stern: they were strong-built, and
had leathern sails, and anchors with iron chains. They had a numerous
squadron of such vessels, which they employed chiefly in their trade with
Britain: they seem also to have derived considerable revenue from the
tribute which they levied on all who navigated the adjacent seas, and to
have possessed many ports on the coast. Besides their own fleet, the
Britons, who were their allies, sent ships to their assistance; so that
their united force amounted to 220 sail, well equipped, and manned by bold
and expert seamen.
To oppose this formidable fleet, Caesar ordered ships to be built on the
Loire, and the rivers running into it, exactly, as we have just stated,
after the model of the ships of the Vanni; for he was informed, or learnt
by experience, that the vessels which were used in the Mediterranean were
not fit for navigating and fighting on the ocean, but that such as were
employed on the latter must be built, not only stronger, but flat-bottomed,
and high at the head and stern, in order to withstand the fury of the waves
and winds, which was greater in the ocean than in the Mediterranean, and at
the same time to sail up the rivers, or in very shallow water, and to take
the ground, without injury or danger. Not being able, however, to build in
time a sufficient number of ships in Gaul, after the model of those of the
Vanni, he was under the necessity of bringing some from the south coast of
Gaul, and other parts of the Mediterranean Sea; he also collected all the
experienced pilots he could meet with, who were acquainted with the coasts,
and with the management of such ships, and exercised a sufficient number of
men at the oar, to navigate them.
These preparations were all indispensably requisite; for in the battle
which ensued, the Vanni and their allies fought their ships with a skill
and a valour of which the Romans had not had any previous example; and they
would certainly have been beaten, if they had not, by means of sharp
engines, cut the ropes and sails of the hostile fleet, and thus rendered
their ships unmanageable: in this state they were easily and speedily
captured. As the Vanni had on this occasion mustered all their forces,
their defeat put an end to their resistance, and removed Caesar's principal
obstacle to the invasion of Britain.
The motives which induced Caesar to invade Britain can only be conjectured,
if, indeed, any other motive operated on his mind besides ambition, and the
love of conquest and glory; stimulated by the hope of subduing a country,
which seemed the limit of the world to the west, and which was in a great
measure unknown. He was, probably, also incited by his desire to punish the
Britons for having assisted the Vanni; and Suetonius adds, that he was
desirous of enriching himself with British pearls, which were at that time
in high repute.
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