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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 39 Ocean, the British Channel, and the Bay of Biscay. The keel of their large flat-bottomed boats was framed of light timber, but the sides and upper work consisted only of wicker, with a covering of strong hides.^'^'' In the course of their slow and distant navigations, they must always have been exposed to the danger, and very frequently to the misfortune, of shipwreck ; and the naval annals of the Saxons were undoubtedly filled with the accounts of the losses which they sustained on the coasts of Britain and Gaul. But the daring spirit of the pirates braved the perils, both of the sea and of the shore ; their skill was confirmed by the habits of enterprise ; the meanest of their mariners was alike capable of handling an oar, of rearing a sail, or of conducting a vessel ; and the Saxons rejoiced in the ap- pearance of a tempest, which concealed their design, and dis- persed the fleets of the enemy. i*'^ After they had acquired an accurate knowledge of the maritime provinces of the West, they extended the scene of their depredations, and the most se- questered places had no reason to presume on their security. The Saxon boats drew so little water that they could easily pro- ceed fourscore or an hundred miles up the great rivers ; their weight was so inconsiderable that they were transported on waggons from one river to another ; and the pirates who had entered the mouth of the Seine or of the Rhine, might descend, a.d. an with the rapid stream of the Rhone, into the Mediterranean. Under the reign of Valentinian, the maritime provinces of Gaul were afflicted by the Saxons : a military count was stationed for the defence of the sea-coast, or Armorican limit ; and that officer, who found his strength, or his abilities, unequal to the task, implored the assistance of Severus, master-general of the infantry. The Saxons, surrounded and out-numbered, were forced to relinquish their spoil, and to yield a select band of their tall and robust youth to serve in the Imperial armies. They stipulated only a safe and honourable retreat : and the 107 Quin et Aremoricus piratam Saxona tractus Sperabat ; cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum Ludus et assuto glaucum mare findere lembo. Sidon. in Panegyr. Avit. 369. The genius of Cassar imitated, for a particular service, these rude, but light vessels, which were likewise used by the natives of Britain (Comment, de Bell. Civil, i. 51, and Guichardt, Nouveau.x M^moires Militaires, torn. ii. p. 41, 42). The British vessels would now astonish the genius of Caesar. 108 i^e xsX original account of the Sa.on pirates may be found m Jsidonius Apollinaris (1. viii. epist. 6, p. 223, edit. Sirmond. ), and the best commentary in the Abbi5 du Bos (Hist. Critique de la Monarchic Fran9oise, &c., torn. i. 1. i. c. 16, p. 148-155. See likewise p. "]•], 78). [The Saxons seem to have made a settlement in the north of Gaul.]