But did Cæsar reach the Little Stour towards Barham and Kingston or towards Littlebourne? The doubt is allowable. We believe, nevertheless, that the country of Barham and Kingston agrees best with the idea we form from reading the “Commentaries.” The heights on the left bank of the Little Stour are not so broken as to prevent chariots and cavalry from manœuvring on them, and the Britons might have occupied, as the text requires, a commanding position,
This stream, considering its little depth, does not form any real obstacle. Now it appears, in fact, to result from the recital of the “Commentaries,” that the engagement as it was not of a serious character, and that Cæsar’s cavalry passed it without difficulty. This last fact forms an objection to the Great Stour, which several authors, and among others General de Gœler, take for the
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It is evident that this place must not be sought at more than a few kilomètres from the Little Stour; for it must be remembered that the Romans had landed the day before, that they had made a night march of twelve miles, and that they have just given battle. Unfortunately, the country situated to the west of Kingston is so much broken and wooded, that it is impossible to choose one site rather than another to make a British
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It has appeared to us interesting to explain how Cæsar could join the fleet to his camp.
The Roman camp must have been on flat ground, to allow of the possibility of drawing up the ships of the fleet. Supposing that the mean size of each ship was twenty-five mètres long by six mètres broad, and that the 800 ships composing the fleet had been placed at two mètres from each other, on five lines separated by a distance of three mètres, the fleet would have covered a rectangle of 1,280 mètres by 140, joined with the camp by other trenches. It is, of course, understood that the lightest boats would form the line farthest from the sea.
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This is the expression of Cæsar, but it is certain that this number does not indicate the shortest distance from the Thames to the Straits. Cæsar, no doubt, meant to tell us the length of the route he took from the sea to the Thames.
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On the chariots of the Britons consult Strabo (IV., p. 166), and Dio Cassius (LXXVI. 12). Cæsar spoke of many thousand cavalry and war-chariots, in the third book of a Memoir addressed to Cicero, but which is lost. (Junius Philargyrus,
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There remains not the slightest vestige in the county of Kent which might help us in tracing the march of the Roman army. The camp of Holwood, near Keston, which the English maps call
Unfortunately, it is no more possible to ascertain the exact place where Cæsar crossed the Thames by a ford. We are convinced of this by the researches of all kinds made by the officers Stoffel and Hamelin. The boatmen of the Thames all assured them that between Shepperton and London there are now reckoned eight or nine places fordable; the most favourable is that at Sunbury. At Kingston, where General de Gœler places the passage, nothing leads us to suppose that a ford ever existed. The same thing must be said of Coway Stakes. At Halliford, in spite of the termination of the word, the inhabitants have no tradition of an ancient ford. The only thing which appears to us evident is, that the Roman army did not pass below Teddington. We know that this village, the name of which comes from
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After having crossed the Thames, Cæsar invaded the territory of Cassivellaunus, and directed his march to the