"--_Ad Atticum_, iv. 16. It does not appear
what Cicero meant by the "mirificae moles" which guarded the
approaches to Britain, whether Dover Cliff or the masses of sand
under water at the Goodwins.
CHAPTER XVII.
The summer had passed off gloriously for the Roman arms. The expedition to
Britain had produced all the effects which Caesar expected from it, and
Gaul was outwardly calm. Below the smooth appearance the elements of
disquiet were silently working, and the winter was about to produce the
most serious disaster and the sharpest trials which Caesar had yet
experienced. On his return from Britain he held a council at Amiens. The
harvest had been bad, and it was found expedient, for their better
provision, to disperse the troops over a broader area than usual. There
were in all eight legions, with part of another to be disposed of, and
they were distributed in the following order. Lucius Roscius was placed at
Seex, in Normandy; Quintus Cicero at Charleroy, not far from the scene of
the battle with the Nervii. Cicero had chosen this position for himself as
peculiarly advantageous; and his brother speaks of Caesar's acquiescence
in the arrangement as a special mark of favor to himself. Labienus was at
Lavacherie, on the Ourthe, about seventy miles to the south-east of
Cicero; and Sabinus and Cotta were at Tongres, among the Aduatuci, not far
from Liege, an equal distance from him to the north-east.
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