Note 497 — LIFE OF C. CÆSAR.

Cæsar describes the construction of this bridge (iv. 17) without giving any particulars as to the place where it was made. The situation can only be inferred from a careful examination of the previous part of his history, and it has been subject of much discussion, in which opinions are greatly divided. The narratives of Dion Cassius (39. c. 48) and Florus (iii. 10) give some assistance towards the solution of the question. Professor Müller, in an excellent article in the 'Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande' (vii. 1845), has proved that the bridge must have been built near Coblenz. Cæsar defeated the Germans in the angle between the Moselle and the Rhine. He must have crossed the Moselle in order to find a convenient place for his bridge, which he would find near Neuwied. The bridge abutted on the east bank on the territory of the Ubii, who were his friends. The narrative of Cæsar, when carefully examined, admits of no other construction than that which Müller has put upon it; and if there were any doubt, it is removed by Cæsar himself in another passage (Gallic War, vi. 9) where he speaks of his second bridge, which gave him a passage from the territory of the Treviri into that of the Ubii, and he adds that the site of the second bridge was near that of the first.

In the Gallic War (iv. 15) Cæsar speaks of the junction (ad confluentem Mosæ et Rheni) of the Mosa and the Rhine, where Müller assumes that he means the Moselle, as he undoubtedly does. Either the reading Mosa is wrong, or, what is not improbable, both the Moselle and the Maas had the same name, Mosa. Mosella or Mosula is merely the diminution of Mosa. At this confluence of the Moselle and Rhine the town of Coblenz was afterwards built, which retains the ancient name. Cæsar indicates which Mosa he means clearly enough by the words 'ad confluentem.' There was no 'confluens' of the Great Mosa and the Rhenus.