Note 32 — Chapter IV · THE EARLY SHIPS OF NORTHERN EUROPE.
Reading edition
Cæsar, “De Bello Gallico,” III. xiii.: “Namque ipsorum naves ad hunc modum factæ armatæque erant: carinæ aliquanto planiores quam nostrarum navium, quo facilius vada ac decessum æstus excipere possent: proræ admodum erectæ atque item puppes ad magnitudinem fluctuum tempestatumque accommodatæ; naves totæ factæ ex robore ad quamvis vim et contumeliam perferendam: transtra pedalibus in altitudinem trabibus confixa clavis ferreis digiti pollicis crassitudine; ancoræ pro funibus ferreis catenis revinctæ; pelles pro velis alutæque tenuiter confectæ, [hæc] sive propter lini inopiam atque ejus usus inscientiam, sive eo, quod est magis verisimile, quod tantas tempestates Oceani tantosque impetus ventorum sustineri ac tanta onera navium regi velis non satis commode posse arbitrabantur.”
Mr. St. George Stock in his edition (Cæsar, “De Bello Gallico,” books i.-vii., edited by St. George Stock, Oxford, 1898) understands “transtra” not to mean the rowing benches but crossbeams or decks.