9.
Caesar, being informed of these things by Crassus, since he was so far distant himself, orders
ships of war to be built in the mean time on the river Loire , which
flows into the ocean; rowers to be raised from the province; sailors and pilots
to be provided. These matters being quickly executed, he himself, as soon as the
season of the year permits, hastens to the army. The Veneti, and
the other states also, being informed of Caesar's
arrival, when they reflected how great a crime they had committed, in that, the
embassadors (a character which had among all nations ever been sacred and
inviolable) had by them been detained and thrown into prison, resolve to prepare
for a war in proportion to the greatness of their danger, and especially to
provide those things which appertain to the service of a navy, with the greater
confidence, inasmuch as they greatly relied on the nature of their situation.
They knew that the passes by land were cut off by estuaries, that the approach
by sea was most difficult, by reason of our ignorance of the localities, [and]
the small number of the harbors, and they trusted that our army would not be
able to stay very long among them, on account of the insufficiency of corn; and
again, even if all these things should turn out contrary to their expectation,
yet they were very powerful in their navy. They well understood that the Romans neither had any number of ships, nor were
acquainted with the shallows, the harbors, or the islands of those parts where
they would have to carry on the war; and the navigation was very different in a
narrow sea from what it was in the vast and open ocean. Having come to this
resolution, they fortify their towns, convey corn into them from the country
parts, bring together as many ships as possible to Venetia , where it appeared Caesar would at
first carry on the war. They unite to themselves as allies for that war, the
Osismii, the Lexovii, the Nannetes,
the Ambiliati, the Morini, the
Diablintes, and the Menapii; and send for auxiliaries
from Britain, which
is situated over against those regions.
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