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CHAP. 31. (17.)—GALLIA BELGICA.

The whole of Gaul that is comprehended under the one general name of Comata1, is divided into three races of people, which are more especially kept distinct from each other by the following rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana2 it is Belgic Gaul; from the Sequana to the Garumna3 it is Celtic Gaul or Lugdunensis4; and from the Garumna to the promontory of the Pyrenæan range it is Aquitanian Gaul, formerly called Aremorica5. Agrippa makes the entire length of the coast of Gaul to be 1800 miles, measured from the Rhine to the Pyrenees: and its length, from the ocean to the mountains of Gebenna and Jura, excluding there from Gallia Narbonensis, he computes at 420 miles, the breadth being 318.

Beginning at the Scaldis, the parts beyond6 are inhabited by the Toxandri, who are divided into various peoples with many names; after whom come the Menapii7, the Morini8, the Oromarsaci9, who are adjacent to the burgh which is known as Gesoriacum10, the Britanni11, the Ambiani12, the Bel- lovaci13, the Hassi14, and, more in the interior, the Catoslugi15, the Atrebates16, the Nervii17, a free people, the Veromandui18, the Suæuconi19, the Suessiones20, a free people, the Ulmanetes21, a free people, the Tungri22, the Sunuci23, the Frisiabones24, the Betasi25, the Leuci26, a free people, the Treveri27, who were formerly free, and the Lingones28, a federal state, the federal Remi29, the Mediomatrici30, the Sequani31, the Raurici32, and the Helvetii33. The Roman colonies are Equestris34 and Rauriaca35. The nations of Germany which dwell in this province, near the sources of the Rhine, are the Nemetes36, the Triboci37, and the Vangiones38; nearer again39, the Ubii40, the Colony41 of Agrippina, the Cugerni42, the Batavi43, and the peoples whom we have already mentioned as dwelling on the islands of the Rhine.

1 Transalpine Gaul, with the exception of that part of it called Narbonensis, was called Gallia Comata, from the custom of the people allowing their hair to grow to a great length.

2 From the Scheldt to the Seine.

3 From the Seine to the Garonne.

4 Lyonese Gaul, from Lugdunum, the ancient name of the city of Lyons.

5 Said by Camden to be derived from the Celtic words Ar - mor, "by the Sea."

6 The provinces of Antwerp and North Brabant.

7 Inhabiting Western Flanders.

8 So called, it is supposed, from the Celtic word Mor, which means "the sea." Térouane and Boulogne are supposed to occupy the site of their towns, situate in the modern Pas de Calais.

9 D'Anville places them between Calais and Gravellines, in the Pas de Calais, and on the spot now known as the Terre de Marck or Merk.

10 Boulogne, previously mentioned.

11 Cluver thinks that "Brianni" would be the correct reading here; but D'Anville places the Britanni on the southern bank of the stream called La Canche in the Pas de Calais.

12 According to Parisot and Ansart they occupied the department of the Somme, with places on the site of Amiens (derived from their name) and Abbeville for their chief towns.

13 They dwelt in the modern department of the Oise, with Beauvais (which still retains their name) for their chief town.

14 D'Anville is of opinion that the place called Haiz or Hez in the diocese of Beauvais, received its name from this people, of whom nothing else is known. The name is omitted in several of the editions.

15 D'Anville is of opinion that their chief town was situate at the modern Chaours, at the passage of the river Serre, not far from Vervins in the department of the Aisne.

16 According to Ptolemy their chief town would be on the site of the modern Orchies in the department du Nord, but Cæsar makes it to be Nemetacum, the modern Arras, the capital of the department of the Pas de Calais.

17 According to Ansart their chief town was Bavai, in the department du Nord. They are called "Liberi," or free, because they were left at liberty to enjoy their own laws and institutions.

18 Their capital was Augusta Veromanduorum, and it has been suggested that the place called Vermand, in the department de l'Aisne, denotes its site; but according to Bellay and D'Anville the city of St. Quentin, which was formerly called Aouste, marks the spot.

19 Nothing whatever is known of them, and it is suggested by the commentators that this is a corrupted form of the name of the Suessiones, which follows.

20 They gave name to Soissons in the southern part of the department de l'Aisne.

21 It has been suggested that these are the same as the Silvanectes, the inhabitants of Senlis in the department de l'Oise.

22 The people of Tongres, in the provinces of Namur, Liège, and Limbourg.

23 They are supposed to have dwelt in the eastern part of the province of Limbourg.

24 They probably dwelt between the Sunuci and the Betasi.

25 They are supposed to have dwelt in the western part of the province of Limbourg, on the confines of that province and South Brabant, in the vicinity probably of the place which still bears the name of Beetz, upon the river Gette, between Leau and Haclen, seven miles to the east of Louvain.

26 According to Ptolemy the Leuci dwelt on the sites of Toul in the department of the Meurthe, and of Nais or Nays in that of the Meuse.

27 From them Trèves or Trier, in the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, takes its name.

28 Their chief town was on the site of Langres, in the department of the Haute Marne.

29 gave name to the city of Rheims in the department of the Marne.

30 Their chief town stood on the site of the modern Metz, in the department of the Moselle.

31 Besançon stands on the site of their chief town, in the department of the Doubs, extending as far as Bale.

32 The inhabitants of the district called the Haut Rhin or Higher Rhine.

33 The inhabitants of the west of Switzerland.

34 Or the "Equestrian Colony," probably founded by the Roman Equites. It is not known where this colony was situate, but it is suggested by Cluver and Monetus that it may have been on the lake of Geneva, in the vicinity of the modern town of Nyon.

35 Littré, in a note, remarks that Rauriaca is a barbarism, and that the reading properly is "Raurica."

36 Spire was their chief city, in the province of the Rhine.

37 They are supposed to have occupied Strasbourg, and the greater part of the department of the Lower Rhine.

38 They dwelt in the modern Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt; Worms was their chief city.

39 That is, nearer the mouths of the Rhine.

40 They originally dwelt on the right bank of the Rhine, but were transported across the river by Agrippa in B.C. 37, at their own request, from a wish to escape the attacks of the Suevi.

41 Now known as the city of Cologne. It took its name from Agrippina, the wife of Claudius and the mother of Nero, who was born there, and who, as Tacitus says, to show off her power to the allied nations, planted a colony of veteran soldiers in her native city, and gave to it her own name.

42 Their district was in the modern circle of Clèves, in the province of Juliers-Berg-Clèves.

43 Dwelling in the Insula Batavorum, mentioned in C. 29 of the present Book.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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