Note 477 — Chapter X · (Year of Rome 702.) (Book VII. of the “Commentaries.”) REVOLT OF GAUL—CAPTURE OF VELLAUNODUNUM, GENABUM, AND NOVIODUNUM—SIEGES OF AVARICUM AND GERGOVIA—CAMPAIGN OF LABIENUS AGAINST THE PARISII—SIEGE OF ALESIA.

Several authors have thought that these beams, instead of being placed perpendicularly to the direction of the wall, were placed parallel to that direction. This interpretation appears to us inadmissable. The beams so placed would have no solidity, and would easily have been torn down. We see on the Trajan Column walls constructed as we describe; moreover, the Latin expression trabes directæ can leave no doubt, for the word directus means always perpendicular to a direction. (See De Bello Gallico, IV. 17, directa materia injecta, and the dissertation in the Philologus, Jahrganges 19, Heft. 3.)