CHAPTER VIII.

THE SIEGE OF MASSILIA.

B.C. 49.

WHILE Caesar was in great straits at Ilerda (B. C. i. 56), the inhabitants of Massilia following the advice of L. Domitius made ready seventeen ships of war, of which eleven were decked.' They also prepared many small vessels, for it was their design to terrify the Romans by numbers. They embarked a large body of archers, and of the Albici, who have been already mentioned, and encouraged them by gifts and promises. Domitius asked for a certain number of ships, which he manned with the "coloni" (tenants, p. 44) and shepherds whom he had brought with him. With the fleet thus equipped the Massiliots advanced with great confidence against the ships commanded by D. Brutus, which were stationed at an island opposite to Massilia. This island is one of the dismal rocks near the entrance of the port of Marseille, now named Ratoneau and Pomègue.2

Brutus was much inferior in the number of ships; but Caesar had assigned to him the bravest men selected from all the legions, "antesignani" (p. 51) and centurions, who had volunteered for this service. The men were provided with hooks and grappling irons, and a great number of pila or

1 "Naves tectae," named also "constratae" (Bell. Alex. c. 11). The vessels which were only partially covered at the head and stern were named "open" (apertae).

2 The islands and the smaller rocks near them seem to be the Stoechades of Agathemerus. They are not the Stoechades of Pliny (N. H. 3. 11) and of Strabo (p. 184), who speaks of them as five in number and cultivated by the Massiliots. The Stoechades of Pliny at least seem to be the Isles d'Hières.

:

heavy javelins, darts and other missiles. Having notice of the approach of the Massiliot fleet they came out of port and began the engagement. The struggle was very fierce on both sides the Albici, a race of hardy mountaineers, well trained to the use of arms, were scarcely inferior to the Romans in courage, and having recently parted from the townspeople they were animated by the promises which had been made to them; the shepherds of Domitius also were encouraged by the hope of freedom, and fighting under the eye of their master were eager to merit his approbation. The Massiliots confiding in the easy movements of their vessels and the skill of the helmsmen eluded the attacks of Brutus' ships; and so long as they had plenty of sea-room, they endeavoured by extending their line to surround the vessels of their adversaries, or to attack single ships with several ships, or to sweep past them and break the oars. When they were compelled to come to close quarters, where the skill and dexterity of the helmsmen were of no use, they relied on the courage of the mountaineers. The men of Brutus had rowers of less experience and less skilful helmsmen to aid them, for they had been taken from merchant-ships and had not yet learned even the names of the tackle; and besides this, the ships being built of unseasoned timber were not so light and manageable as those of the enemy. However when there was an opportunity of coming to close quarters, the men of Brutus were well content to fight against a couple of the enemy's ships. with a single vessel, and when they had fixed their grappling irons on both ships and held them fast, they boarded, and slaughtered a great number of the Albici and of the shepherds. In this way they sank part of the enemy's fleet, captured some vessels with the men in them and drove the rest into the harbour. The Massiliots lost nine ships, captured and sunk.

Caesar was still busy in Spain when his legatus C. Trebonius began the siege of Massilia by raising earthworks in two places and pushing his galleries and towers towards the town. One place was close to the port and the ship-yards; the other was on that side of the town by which it was approached from Gallia and Spain; or, as Caesar explains it,

at that part of the sea which lies towards the mouth of the Rhone. The port, named Lacydon, was, as Strabo describes it, beneath a theatre-formed rock looking towards the south; and it was on the south-east side of this port where Trebonius made one of his earthworks. The other was made on the east side of the town. Caesar describes Massilia as washed by the sea on three fourths of the circuit; and the remaining fourth part was the approach on the land side. On this fourth side also the part which extended to the citadel being defended by the nature of the ground and a very deep valley made the attack tedious and difficult. In order to construct his earthworks Trebonius sent for a great number of beasts and men from all parts of the Provincia, and got together brushwood and timber. By these means he raised an earthwork to the height of eighty feet. (B. C. ii. 1.)

Massilia had always possessed great military stores and numerous engines, which no galleries (vineae) made of osiers could resist. Wooden stakes twelve feet long pointed with iron and discharged from powerful ballistae pierced through four layers of hurdles and entered the ground. Accordingly the galleries of the besiegers were covered with pieces of wood a foot in the square fastened together, and under this cover the material for the earthworks was passed from hand to hand. A Testudo or cover sixty feet wide was pushed on in front for the purpose of levelling the ground: it was constructed of very strong pieces of wood and covered with everything that could protect it against fire and stones. But the magnitude of the works, the height of the wall and the towers and the number of the enemy's engines retarded the operations of the

3 The old port was evidently not the modern port, but was at the part named in some maps the Catalan village and harbour; and it must have been constructed in Greek fashion by artificial moles. The modern city is built round the modern port. Eumenius states that Massilia was connected with the mainland by a space of fifteen hundred paces, which, as D'Anville remarks (Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, Massilia) is too much, "for from the bottom of the port measured in a direction towards the sea as far as the place called La Grande Pointe, it is only 700 or 800 Roman paces." The modern port has probably been chiefly formed by dredging a shallow natural inlet, which is still shallow and only kept accessible to merchant-ships by constant labour.

4 The Testudo described by Vitruvius (x. 14) had a square basis of twentyfive feet to the side.

besiegers. Frequent sallies also were made by the Albici and fire was thrown on the earthworks and the towers, but the sallies were easily repelled with great loss to the assailants, who were driven back into the town.

In the meantime L. Nasidius, who was sent by Cn. Pompeius to relieve Massilia with sixteen ships, a few of which had brazen beaks, passed through the straits of Sicily without being observed by Curio, who had not then left Sicily. Nasidius brought his ships up to Messana (Messina), and as the alarm drove away the chief inhabitants he was able to carry off one of the ships from the naval station. With this addition to his fleet he directed his course to Massilia, and sending before him a small vessel he announced his approach to Domitius and the Massiliots and earnestly pressed them to join him in fighting another battle with Brutus.

After their defeat the Massiliots brought out old ships from the ship-yards to make up the number which they had lost, and repaired and fitted them out with wonderful expedition. They had an abundant supply of rowers and helmsmen. They also had some fishing-vessels which they covered over to protect the rowers against missiles, and they filled these vessels with archers and military engines. With a fleet thus equipped and encouraged by the tears and entreaties of the old, the matrons and the young women to protect their native city in this great extremity, the men embarked with no less spirit and confidence than they showed before the late defeat. It is a common fault of mankind, observes Caesar, to trust more to the unseen and the unknown, and also to be more alarmed by them: and the first thing happened now; for the arrival of L. Nasidius filled the citizens with hope and made them ready to fight. They left the port with a fair wind, and sailed to Tauroeis, a fort belonging to Massilia, where they found Nasidius, put their ships in order and prepared for a second battle. After deliberation the right wing was assigned to the Massiliots, and the left to Nasidius. Tauroeis was probably on the right of the entrance of the bay of Ciotat, which is between Marseille and Toulon; for there is still a place named Taurenti in that part of the coast.

Brutus sailed to Tauroeis with his fleet increased; for in

addition to the ships built at Arelate, he had six vessels which had been taken from the Massiliots, and were now repaired and well equipped. Encouraging his men to despise an enfeebled enemy whom they had defeated in all their strength, he advanced against Nasidius and the Massiliots full of hope and spirit. It was easy to see into the city from the camp of Trebonius and from the heights. All the young men who had been left in Massilia to keep guard and all the older people with their wives and children were stretching their hands from the wall in a suppliant attitude to heaven, or visiting the temples and praying prostrate before the statues for victory. There was not a person in the city who did not believe that his own fate depended on that day's battle; for the young men of the best condition and those of highest rank of every age had been summoned by name, and entreated to man the fleet, so that, if the Massiliots should be defeated, it was plain that they would be unable to make another effort; but, if they should be victorious, they were confident that they would save the city either by their own means or with aid from without.

When the battle began, the Massiliots showed no want of courage. Remembering the recent exhortation of their friends they fought with a conviction that they would never have another opportunity, and that those who fell in battle would only perish a little sooner than the rest of the citizens, who would have the same fate when the city was taken. The ships of Brutus being gradually separated from one another by the skilful manœuvres of the enemy's helmsmen, the Massiliots had an opportunity of taking advantage of the ease with which their vessels were worked, and if the Romans ever succeeded in holding any ship with their grappling irons, the enemy came from all directions to aid their countrymen. At close quarters also joined with the Albici the Massiliots fought with spirit and were little inferior in courage to their adversaries; at the same time a great number of missiles discharged from their smaller vessels inflicted many wounds on the Romans. Two of the enemy's triremes spying the ship of Brutus, which was easily known by the admiral's flag, came right against it from two directions; but Brutus perceiving their design took