Note 3131 — THE PLACE OF CAESAR’S LANDING IN BRITAIN

Schneider maintains (Comm. de bellis C. I. Caesaris, ii, 45-6) that ‘molle idem esse quod leniter acclive, imprimis apto exemplo demonstravit Heldius, 7, 46, ad molliendum clivum non aliter dictum docens’. I do not think that Schneider is right in arguing that mollis should be translated by ‘gently sloping’, though that meaning is doubtless implied. My friend, Professor Postgate, who agrees with me, has kindly referred me to a passage in Ovid (Ep. ex Ponto, i, 2, 61-2)— Cum subit Augusti quae sit clementia, credo Mollia naufragiis litora posse dari—

which seems to justify my explanation. Professor Postgate has also written me a most interesting letter, in which he remarks that while aperto describes the approach to the shore, which was not blocked by rocks, molli connotes both a gentle slope and a soft surface: he refers to a passage in Pomponius Mela (i, 19, § 102), where the Black Sea is described as non molli neque harenoso circumdatus litore.