[309] The following passage has given room for different interpretations:—
“Hæc utraque insuper bipedalibus trabibus immissis, quantum eorum tignorum junctura distabat, binis utrimque fibulis ab extrema parte distinebantur; quibus disclusis atque in contrariam partem revinctis, tanta erat operis firmitudo atque ea rerum natura, ut, quo major vis aquæ se incitavisset, hoc arctius illigata tenerentur.” (De Bello Gallico, IV. 17.)
It has not been hitherto observed that the words hæc utraque relate to the two couples of one row of piles, and not to the two piles of the same couple. Moreover, the words quibus disclusis, &c., relate to these same two couples, and not, as has been supposed, to fibulis.
[310] De Bello Gallico, IV. 20.
[311] De Bello Gallico, II. 4.
[312] De Bello Gallico, V. 13.
[313] Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. 30, § 16.
[314] Pliny, Hist. Nat., IV. 30, § 16.—Tacitus, Agricola, 10.
[315] De Bello Gallico, V. 12.
[316] Strabo, IV., p. 199.