Note 2 — Chapter XVI
Reading edition
“Britannici belli exitus exspectatur. Constat enim, aditus insulae esse munitos mirificis molibus. Etiam illud jam cognitum est, neque argenti scrupulum esse ullum in illâ insulâ, neque ullam spem praedae, nisi ex mancipiis: ex quibus nullos puto te litteris aut musicis eruditos exspectare.”—Ad Atticum, iv. 16. It does not appear what Cicero meant by the “mirificae moles” which guarded the approaches to Britain, whether Dover Cliff or the masses of sand under water at the Goodwins.