s fell
and the ships were rendered useless. One after another they were easily
captured, and at sunset the victory lay with the Romans.

The whole of Gaul, from the Rhine to the Pyrenees, seemed now subdued.
Caesar had conquered as he explored, and the skill of his
well-disciplined army triumphed everywhere over the untrained courage
of the barbarian tribes.

Still, the German tribes were giving trouble about the country of the
Rhine, and in the words of the famous _Commentaries_, "Caesar was
determined to cross the Rhine, but he hardly thought it safe to cross
in boats. Therefore, although the construction of a bridge presented
great difficulties on account of the breadth, swiftness, and depth
of the stream, he nevertheless thought it best to make the attempt
or else not cross at all." Indeed, he wanted to impress the wild German
people on the other side with a sense of the vast power of the Roman
Empire. The barbarian tribes beyond must, indeed, have been impressed
with the skill of the Roman soldier. For in ten days the bridge was
completed: timber had been hewn from the forest, brought to the banks
of the Rhine, worked into shape, piles driven into the bed of the river,
beams laid across. And Caesar led his army in triumph to the other
side. They stood for the first time in the land of the Germans, near
the modern town of Coblenz, and after eighteen days on the farther
side, they returned to Gaul, destroying the bridge behind them.

Caesar had now a fresh adventure in view. He was going to make his
way to Britain. The summer of 55 B.C. was passing, and "in these parts,
the whole of Gaul having a northerly trend, winter sets in early,"
wrote Caesar afterwards. There would be no time to conquer, but he
could visit the island, find out for himself what the people were like,
learn about harbours and landing-places, "for of all this the Greeks
knew practically nothing. No one, indeed, readily undertakes the
voyage to Britain except traders, and even they know nothing of it
except the coast."

Caesar summoned all the traders he could collect and inquired the size
of the island, what tribes dwelt there, their names, their customs,
and the shortest sea passage. Then he sent for the ships which had
vanquished the fleet of Brittany the previous year; he also assembled
some eighty merchant ships on the northern coast of Gaul, probably
not very far from Calais.

It was near the end of August, when soon after midnight the