Part 28
5. From these _data_, That it was in the Year of the _Consulate_ of _Pompey_, and _Crassus_; That it was _Exigua parte æstatis reliqua_, and Four Days before a Full-Moon, which fell out in the Night time. The time of this Invasion will be determined to a Day: For by the Eclipse of the Moon, whereof _Drusus_ made so good use to quiet a Mutiny in the _Pannonian_ Army, upon the News of the Death of _Augustus_, it follows that _Augustus_ Died _Anno Christi_ 14. which was reckoned _Anno Vrbis conditæ_ 767. and that this Action was 68 Years before, _viz._ in the 55_th_ Year before Christ Current. In which Year the Full Moon fell out _August 30._ after Midnight, or 31 in the Morning before Day; and the preceeding Full-Moon, was _August 1._ soon after Noon; so that this could not be the Full-Moon mentioned, as falling in the Day time: nor that in the beginning of _July_, it being not 10 Days after the Summer solstice, when it would not have been said _exigua parte æstatis reliqua_. It follows therefore that the Full-Moon spoken of, was on _August 30._ at Night, and that the Landing on _Britain_ was _August 26._ in the Afternoon, about a Month before the Autumnal equinox; which agrees to all the Circumstances of the Story in point of Time.
6. As to the Place, the high Land and Cliffs described, could be no other than those of _Dover_, and are allowed to have been so by all, it remains only to examine whether the Descent was made to the Northward or Southward of the place where he first Anchored. The _data_ to determine this are first that it was Four Days before the Full-Moon. 2. That that Day by Three of the Clock in the Afternoon the Tide ran the same way he Sail'd. 3_dly._ That a S. by E. Moon makes High-Water on all that Coast, the Flood coming from the Southward: hence it will follow, that that Day it was High-Water there about Eight in the Morning, and consequently Low-Water about Two, wherefore by Three the Tide of Flood was well made up, and it is plain that _Cæsar_ went with it, and the Flood setting to the Northward shews that the open plain Shore where he Landed was to the Northward of the Cliffs, and must be in the _Downs_; and this I take to be little less than Demonstration. A second Argument is drawn from the Wind wherewith he set out on his second Expedition, _viz._ S. W. as appears by the Words _leni Africo profectus_, with which the Navigation of those times would hardly permit a Ship to Sail nearer the Wind than Eight Points, or a N. W. Course; which would serve indeed to go into the _Downs_, but would by no means fetch the Low-land towards _Dengyness_, which is much about West from _Calais_, and not more than W. N. W. from _Boulogne_, if it shall be said that that was the _Portus Icius_ from which _Cæsar_ set out. Whence I take it to be evident that if _Cæsar_ was not bound more Northerly than the _South-Foreland_, he could not have thought the _Africus_ or S. W. Wind proper for his passage, which was then intended for the place where he first Landed the year before.
7. Justly to determine which the _Portus Icius_ was I find no where sufficient grounds; only _Ptolemy_ calls the Promontory of _Calais-Cliffs_ by the name of Ἴκιον ἄκρον, whence there is reason to conjecture, that the _Portus Icius_ was very near thereto, and that it was either _Ambletuse_ on one side, or _Calais_ on the other. The same _Ptolemy_ places Γισοῤῥίακον ἐπίνειον in the same Latitude with the ἴκιον ἄκρον, but something more to the East, which seems to refute those that have supposed the Ancient Port of _Gessoriacum_ to have been _Boulogne_, whereas by _Ptolemy_'s position, it must be either _Dunkirk_ or _Graveling_, but the former most likely, both by the distance from the Ἴκιον ἄκρον, being about 20 Miles or half a degree of Longitude to the East, or ⅔ of the whole Coast of _Flanders_, which he makes but a degree and quarter from the _Acron Icion_ to the mouth of the _Scheld_ which he calls _Ostia Tabudæ_: As also for that _Pliny_ l. 4. c. 16. speaking of _Gessoriacum_, says the _Proximus Trajectus_ into _Britain_ from thence is 50 Miles, which is too much unless _Gessoriacum_ were something more Easterly than _Calais_. _Dion Cassius_ makes the distance between _France_ and _Britain_ 450 _stadia_ or 56 Miles, and says likewise 'tis the nearest, τὸ Συντομώτατον. But this is in part amended by the explication given in the _Itinerary_ of _Antoninus_, where the space between _Gessacorum_ and _Rutupium_ is said to be 450 _stadia_ (for this was the ordinary passage of the _Romans_ into _Britain_,) _Rutupium_ being more Northerly and _Gessoriacum_ more Easterly than the _termini_ of _Cæsars_ Voyage, and consequently the distance greater than 30 Miles which _Cæsar_ had observ'd; and now lately an accurate Survey has proved the distance between Land and Land to be 26 _English Miles_ or 28½ _Roman Miles_, which shews how near _Cæsars_ estimate was to the Truth.
A farther Argument (but not of equal force with the former because of the modernness of the Author, who writ above 250 Years after) may be drawn from the words of _Dion Cassius_, where he says ἄκραν τινὰ προέχουσαν περιπλεύσας ἑτέρωσε παρεκομίσθη, that after his first Anchoring he Sail'd about a Promontory to the place where he Landed: Now there are no other Promontories on all that Coast but the _South-Foreland_ and _Dengyness_; the latter of which it could not be, because _Cæsar_ says he Sail'd but 8 Miles, and the _Ness_ it self is about 10 Miles from the South and nearest end of the _Chalk-Cliffs_ by the Town of _Hith_; and to have gone round that Point to the other side, the distance must have been much greater. So that the Promontory spoken of by _Dion_, must needs be the _South-Foreland_, and _Cæsar_ must Anchor near over against _Dover_, from whence Sailing 8 Miles, he would double a Head-land and come to the _Downs_; which is such a Coast as he describes in one place by _apertum ac planum littus_, and in his 5_th_ Book by _molle ac apertum littus_. As to _Dions_ word εἰς τὰ τενάγη, what I have already said about it seems sufficient to prove that he means no more than the Waters edg; and the _Etymologists_ derive it from τέγγω _madefacio_, because the wash and breach of the Sea does always keep it wet. And this word τὰ τενάγη is used by _Polybius_ for the Sea Ouse; and in another place he speaks of the difficulty of Landing at the mouth of a River, Διὰ τὴν τεναγώδη πάροδον, _ob limosum accessum_, so that it is not to be doubted that it ought to be rendred in this place, _ad vadum maris_ rather than _in paludibus_. And so this objection against the assertion that _Cæsar_ Landed in the _Downs_, which is known to be a firm Champain Country without Fenns and Morasses, will be removed; and the whole Argument will 'tis hoped be admitted by the Curious.
* * * * *
_FINIS._
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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
In the texts of Greek inscriptions, original letter forms have been normalised as follows:
Lunate epsilon ϵ (the usual form in the inscriptions), curly epsilon Ɛ (in the plate facing p. 235), and two reversed lunate epsilons ϶ (both probable misprints) have been replaced by ordinary epsilon Ε.
Lunate sigma Ϲ (the usual form in the inscriptions) and rectangular sigma ⊏ (in the inscription on pp. 118 and 149) have been replaced by Σ.
ω-shaped omega (the usual form in the inscriptions) has been replaced by Ω.
Inverted mu ꟽ (throughout the inscription on p. 130) has been replaced by upright mu Μ.
ου-ligature ȣ (in the inscription on pp. 118 and 149) has been replaced by ΟΥ.
In the illustration facing p. 232 the columns illustrating Chinese characters in the caption are ordered from top to bottom then from right to left across the columns.
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
Enclosed italics markup in _underscores_.
Enclosed bold markup in =equals=.
Enclosed Greek underline markup in _underscores_.
End of Project Gutenberg's Miscellanea Curiosa. Volume 3, by Various