Note 42 — Chapter IV · A New Interpretation
Reading edition
The purpose in both cases is excellently expressed by Caesar himself, Bell. Gall., IV, 20: “in Britanniam proficisci contendit (sc. Caesar), quod omnibus fere Gallicis bellis hostibus nostris inde subministrata auxilia intellegebat”; and IV, 16: “cum videret (sc. Caesar), Germanos tam facile impelli, ut in Galliam venirent, suis quoque rebus eos timere voluit, cum intellegerent et posse et audere populi Romani exercitum Rhenum transire.”