fallen a prey to their more warlike habits, had they not formed an alliance
with the Romans, who sent an army to their assistance. The commander of
this army, after defeating their enemies, granted them all the harbours,
and the whole sea-coast, between their city and the confines of Italy; and
thus at once secured their safety and extended their territory. A short
time afterwards, Marius conferred on them another benefit, not inferior in
importance and utility. While he was waiting for the Cimbri in Transalpine
Gaul, he was under great difficulty to procure provisions up the Rhone, in
consequence of the mouth of the river being obstructed with sand-banks. To
remedy this inconvenience, he undertook a great and laborious work, which,
from him, was called Fossa Marina: this was a large canal, beginning at his
camp, near Arles, and carried on to the sea, which was fed with water from
the Rhone; through this canal, the largest transports could pass. After his
victory over the Cimbrians, Marius gave this canal to the people of
Marseilles, in return for the support and supplies they had afforded him in
his war against them. As there was no passage into the interior of this
part of Gaul, except either through the Rhone or this canal, the
Marseillians, who were now masters of both, enriched themselves
considerably, partly by the traffic they carried on, and partly by the
duties they levied on all goods which were sent up the canal and the river.
In the civil war between Pompey and Cæsar, they took part with the former,
who, in return, gave them all the territory on the western bank of the
Rhone. Cæsar, exasperated at their hostility towards him, and at their
ingratitude (for he, on the conquest of Gaul, had enlarged their
territories, and augmented their revenues), blocked up their port by sea
and land, and soon obliged them to surrender. He stripped their arsenals of
arms, and obliged them to deliver up all their ships, as well as deprived
them of the colonies and towns that were under their dominion.

The Marseillians, in the pursuit of commerce, made several voyages to