near Vannes in the south, the Osismii, with their noble harbour Brivates Portus (Brest), in the west, and the Curiosolita in the north. In the centre of this region, Vorganium is now Carhaix; Uxantis Insula, at the western extremity, is Ouessant or Ushant; and Sena, the sacred island of the Gallic priestesses, is now Sain.

Gallia Belgica was divided into Belgica Prima and Secunda; Germania Prima, or Superior, and Secunda, or Inferior; and Maxima Sequanorum. In Belgica Prima, the principal people were the Treviri, whose capital, Augusta, is still called Treves, situated on the Mosella. Southwards were the Mediomatrici, whose capital, Divodurum, was afterwards Mettis, now Metz. Still south were the Leuci, whose capital was Tullum (Toul), and to the north-west the Virodunenses, whose city, Virodunum, is now Verdun. Northwards of Belgica Prima was Belgica Secunda. The principal people were the Remi, who attached themselves to the cause of the Romans, when Cæsar first entered this

part of Gaul. Their capital, Durocortorum, is now Rheims. Southwards, the Catalauni gave name to Durocatalaunum (Châlons-sur-Marne). Closely connected with the Remi were the Suessiones, whose capital, Augusta, is now Soissons. Northwards, are the Veromandui (Vermandois), whose capital, also called Augusta, is now St. Quentin. West of them were the Bellovaci, a very warlike nation, as we learn from Cæsar's Commentaries, whose city, Cæsaromagus, is now Beauvais. The Ambiani dwelt upon the Samarus (Somme), and their city, Samarobriva, or the bridge over the Samarus, is now Amiens. North of this river lay the Atrebates in Artois, whose capital was Nemetacum (Arras or Atrecht). The Morini* extended on either side of the Itium Promontorium (Cap Grisnez), the point at which the coast of Gaul approaches nearest to the opposite shore of Britain. Their capital Virg. Æn. viii. 727.

*

Extremique hominum Morini.

was Taruenna (Therouanne), but Gessoriacum, afterwards Bononia (Boulogne), became the most important position in their territory, as the place from which the Romans generally embarked for Britain. The Portus Itius, however, from which Cæsar sailed for the invasion of Britain, was probably Witsand, between Cap Grisnez and Calais. East of these were the Nervii, whose original capital was Bagacum (Bavay), in the middle of Hainault, but afterwards Camaracum (Cambray), and Turnacum (Tournay). Next to these was Germania Secunda, - Inferior, or Lower, occupying the low-lands (Netherlands) about the mouth of the Scaldis, Mosa, and Vahalis. On the west bank of the Rhine were its chief people, the Ubii, whose capital was transferred from Ara Ubiorum (Bonn) to the Roman Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), so called in compliment to Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, and wife of Claudius, who was born there during her father's campaigns in that quarter. West of these were the Eburones, a people who were annihilated by Cæsar, in revenge for their having slaughtered a Roman legion; and their country was occupied by the Tungri, whose capital, Aduatuca, is now Tongres. All these nations were immigrants from Germany, and it was the prevalence in these parts of tribes of German race, that gave the name to the two provinces. Between these and the Treviri lay the great forest of Arduenna (Ardennes), extending from the Scaldis to the Rhenus. Between the Scaldis and the Mosa were the Toxandri and Menapii; and the Batavi occupied the island formed by the right and left branches of the Rhine, namely the Lech, and the Wahal. Their city was Lugdunum Batavorum (Leyden). Noviomagus is the modern Nimeguen. The Gugerni were in Cleves and

Gueldres.

Germania Prima,-Superior or Upper,-so called from its lying on the upper course of the Rhine, contained three

Germanic nations, the Vangiones, Nemetes, and Tribocci. The capital of the first was Borbetomagus (Worms), north of which were Moguntiacum (Mentz) and Confluentes, at the junction of the Rhine and Moselle (Coblenz). The capital of the Nemetes was Noviomagus (Spires), and of the Tribocci, Argentoratum (Strasburg).

Maxima Sequanorum had for its principal nation the Sequani; their capital was Vesontio (Besançon), on the Dubis (Doubs). Next to them were the Helvetii, occupying the western parts of Switzerland, of whose towns Aventicum was Avenche, Turicum Zurich. They were separated from the Sequani by the mountain-range of the Jura or Jurassus, their difficulty in crossing which is particularly mentioned by Cæsar at the beginning of his Gallic wars. The Rauraci occupied the left bank of the Rhine, where it first emerges from the Swiss mountains, and their city, Augusta Rauracorum, now Augst, lay a little southeast of Basilia, the modern Basle.

CHAP. VII.

GERMANIA.

A. G. Plate V.

GERMANIA, in the most extended sense of the term, reached from the Alps to the North and Baltic Seas, and from the Rhine to the Vistula. Viewed physically, this vast parallelogram may be divided into two nearly equal portions, of which the southernmost comprises the great valley of the Danube, and the other is watered by the rivers which flow into the northern seas. Politically, the Danube itself forms a convenient division, and the districts between that river and the Alps will be described in a subsequent chapter. The centre of Europe is embraced by two ranges of mountains: that of the Alps, extending from the borders of Gaul, through the north of Illyria and Moesia, and terminating in the Hamus, or Balkan; and that of the Cevennes, the Jura, M. Abnoba or the Black Forest, the Montes Sudeti, or Erzgebirge, Mons Asciburgius, or Riesengebirge, and the Carpathian mountains. From the Jura to the Carpathians, that is, from the Rhine to the sources of the Vistula, this northern range was covered in antient times by a vast forest, under the general name of the Saltus Hercynius, which Cæsar was informed extended sixty days' journey in length.* Its breadth was, in some parts, nine days' journey. This enormous wilderness

*Cæsar, Bell. Gall. VI.

constituted a natural barrier between the northern and southern parts of Germany, and effected a complete political separation between them. From its northern flanks issued the waters of the Monus (Mayn) and Nicer (Neckar), which fall into the Rhine; of the Amisus (Ems), Visurgis (Weser), Viadrus (Oder), and Vistula. The Albis (Elbe), rising further to the south, penetrated the range of the Asciburgius and Sudeti Montes, and, receiving the Sala or Saale on the left, divided antient Germany north of the Danube into two nearly equal portions east and west.

--

The chief political divisions of Germania north of the Danube were these: Of the tribes adjacent to the Danube, the principal were the Quadi, the Marcomanni, and the Hermunduri. All these, together with the Suevi*, are comprised by some under the general name of Hermiones. The Istævones inhabited the western regions bordering on the Rhine, and the Ingævones occupied the low countries from the mouth of that river to the Cimbric Chersonesus. The Vindili, or Vandals, in the north-east, contiguous to the Baltic, were almost unknown as late as the period of Tacitus, but subsequently became the scourge of southern Europe. Rome was taken by Genseric, their king, a. D. 455. The Lygii seem to have been a considerable people, subdivided into many tribes, between the Viadrus and the Vistula. There is, however, great obscurity in the geography of the German tribes, partly through the imperfect knowledge possessed by the antient authors of the places they described, and partly through the frequent migration of tribes from place to place, including a general move

*It is difficult to assign a locality to the Suevi. Strabo describes them as an extensive tribe between the Rhine and Elbe. Tacitus, at a later period, gives the name to a collection of tribes occupying the greater part of Germany. Still later, Dion Cassius says that many German tribes pretended to the name, but the genuine Suevi lay near the Rhine (mod. Suabia).