Una erat magno usui res praeparata a nostris,--falces praeacutae insertae affixaeque longuriis non absimili forma muralium falcium. His cum funes qui antemnas ad malos destinabant comprehensi adductique essent, navigio remis incitato praerumpebantur. {5} Quibus abscisis antemnae necessario concidebant; ut, cum omnis Gallicis spes in velis armamentisque consisteret, his ereptis omnis usus navium uno tempore eriperetur. Reliquum erat certamen positum in virtute, qua nostri milites facile {10} superabant atque eo magis, quod in conspectu Caesaris atque omnis exercitus res gerebatur, ut nullum paulo fortius factum latere posset; omnes enim colles ac loca superiora, unde erat propinquus despectus in mare, ab exercitu tenebantur. Disiectis, ut diximus, {15} antemnis, cum singulas binae ac ternae naves circumsteterant, milites summa vi transcendere in hostium naves contendebant. Quod postquam barbari fieri animadverterunt, expugnatis compluribus navibus, cum ei rei nullum reperiretur auxilium, fuga {20} salutem petere contenderunt. Ac iam conversis in eam partem navibus quo ventus ferebat, tanta subito malacia ac tranquillitas exstitit ut se ex loco movere non possent. Quae quidem res ad negotium conficiendum maxime fuit opportuna; nam singulas {25} nostri consectati expugnaverunt, ut perpaucae ex omni numero noctis interventu ad terram pervenerint, cum ab hora fere quarta usque ad solis occasum pugnaretur. CAESAR, _de B. G._ iii. 14, 15. +Context.+ In the winter of 57-6 Roman officers, who came to levy requisitions of grain, were detained by the Veneti. Caesar’s attack on their coast-towns failed to reduce them to submission: so he determined to wait for his fleet. This he entrusted to Decimus Brutus, an able and devoted officer. At first the Roman galleys were powerless against the high-decked strong sailing-vessels of the Veneti, but +the use of the murales falces, and the opportune calm, enabled Brutus to annihilate their fleet+. [Linenotes: 11-12. +quod ... gerebatur.+ Napoleon (_Caesar_, vol. ii. p. 6) thinks that Caesar was encamped on the heights of Saint Gildas overlooking Quiberon Bay. 23. +malacia+ = _a calm_, but μαλακία = _softness_, L. _mollities_.] +Result of the Victory+--the surrender of the Veneti and of all Brittany. +The earliest historical naval battle fought on the Atlantic Ocean.+--M. B39 THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (3) _Caesar’s Bridge across the Rhine, 55 B.C._