VII. While Pompey and Crassus, in accord with the convention of Lucca, employed all the means in their power to arrive at the consulship, Cæsar had his regards still fixed on a conquest which every year seemed achieved, yet every year it had to be commenced again. If the Gauls, divided into so many different peoples, were incapable of uniting for their common defence, they did not allow themselves to be discouraged by a single misfortune. Hardly were they crushed on one point, when the standard of insurrection was raised somewhere else. In 698, the agitation showed itself first along the shores of the ocean, from the Loire to the Seine. The peoples of the Morbihan, masters of a considerable fleet, and possessing the exterior trade, placed themselves at the head of the movement. They entered into alliance with all the peoples who dwelt on the coasts between the Loire and the Scheldt, and sent for assistance from England, with which country they were in constant relation. Under these circumstances, Cæsar foresaw that it was on the sea that he must curb the spirit of these maritime peoples. He gave orders for the building of ships on the Loire, demanded others from the peoples of the Charente and the Gironde, and sent from Italy Decimus Brutus with galleys and sailors. As soon as the season permitted, he repaired in person to the neighbourhood of Nantes, not far from Angers, where Publius Crassus was in winter quarters with the 7th legion. From the moment of his arrival his attention extended over the vast territory where he was to establish the domination of Rome. With this aim, he distributed his troops as follows: Labienus is sent with the cavalry to the east, in the direction of Trèves, to hold the Germans in check; on his way, he will confirm the fidelity of the people of Champagne and their neighbours; P. Crassus is sent towards Aquitaine, to subdue that country; Sabinus towards Normandy, to combat the insurgents of the Cotentin; Cæsar reserves for himself the operations in the Morbihan. After besieging, not without great difficulties, several small fortresses which, placed at the extremity of promontories, were surrounded with water at high tide, he resolved to wait for his fleet, and took a position on the coast, at Saint-Gildas, to the south of Vannes. Decimus Brutus led his vessels out of the Loire, encountered the enemy in sight of the Roman army, and, by a concurrence of fortunate circumstances, destroyed the Gaulish fleet; the flower of Brittany perished in the combat. The Morbihan and the neighbouring states submitted, and, nevertheless, the conqueror put to death all the principal citizens.