[2934] Formae orbis antiqui, 1894, xxvi.
[2935] B. G., iv, 20, § 4. I agree with Meusel in adopting the reading (ad) maiorem (navium multitudinem idonei portus), not maiorum. A moment’s reflection will show that we ought to read maiorem, even though there is no better MS. authority for it than the codex Vratislaviensis I. Caesar was not anxious to find out what harbours would accommodate a flotilla of large ships, but what harbours would accommodate a large flotilla. The draught of his ships was so small that when they were aground the men could jump overboard and wade ashore. See Classical Review, xv, 1901, p. 176.
[2936] See p. 554, supra.
[2937] Mr. H. E. Malden (Journal of Philology, xxii, 1894, p. 168) remarks that the words cuius loci haec erat natura atque ita montibus angustis mare continebatur uti ex locis superioribus in litus telum adigi posset have been ‘taken as applying to old Dover harbour’. It is true that they have been taken in this sense by commentators who were ignorant of the meaning of angustis; but even if they could be interpreted as meaning a creek or inlet hemmed in by precipitous heights, they could not apply to ‘old Dover harbour’, which occupied part of the Priory Valley, and was never hemmed in by ‘precipitous heights’. Hoffmann unnecessarily conjectures that Caesar wrote not angustis but anguste.
[2938] See pp. 653-4, infra.
[2939] See p. 602, n. 5, infra.
[2940] quae tamen ancoris iactis cum fluctibus complerentur, necessario adversa nocte in altum provectae continentem petierunt (B. G., iv, 28, §3). The meaning of adversa nocte has been much discussed. According to C. Schneider (Comm. de bellis C. I. Caesaris, i, 397), who refers to a passage in the Civil War, ii, 31, §7—Vnamque huius modi res aut pudore aut metu tenentur, quibus rebus nox maxime adversaria est—the word adversa is equivalent to obstante, that is to say, ‘being unfavourable to them’: but, assuming that this is the meaning, did Caesar intend to convey that the ships stood out to sea though night was unfavourable to the voyage, or because night was unfavourable to their remaining where they were? I unhesitatingly reject the former alternative, for all Caesar’s voyages between Gaul and Britain were made by night, and, moreover, on this particular night there was a full moon: on the other hand, it would not have been more dangerous to remain at anchor in the night than in the daytime. I agree with Kraner-Dittenberger (C. I. Caesaris comm. de b. G., 1890, p. 85), who hold that, just as adverso colle (B. G., ii, 19, §3) means ‘up the hill’, and adverso flumine (ib., vii, 60, § 3) ‘up the river’, so adversa nocte means ‘in the face of night’ (‘der Nacht entgegen’, ‘in die Nacht hinein’), a translation which reminds one of Browning’s famous line ‘And into the midnight we galloped abreast’.
[2941] See p. 331, supra.
[2942] The meaning of mollis is discussed on p. 630, infra.
[2943] See p. 680, infra.