chariots with him, confined his efforts to harassing the invaders. The civil dissensions of the island then began to give Cæsar the advantage of his enterprises. The Trinobantes, of whose territories London was the metropolis, desired his aid for their chief Mandubratius, or Androgorus, against Cassivellaun; and five other tribes also sent in their submission. Cæsar was afterwards attacked by four kings of Kent, Cingetorix, Carnilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax, but without success; and Cassivellaun now sending an embassy for peace1, Cæsar immediately granted it, demanded hostages, appointed a tribute, retired with his army to the sea coast, and relanded it in Gaul.5 The Romans appeared no more in Britain, nor attempted to molest it, for several years. Augustus afterwards talked of an expedition to Britain, and entered France, as if beginning it. But the Britons met him there with peaceful embassies, and custom-duties were imposed on the commodities that were objects of trade between Gaul and Britain; as ivory, bridles, amber, and glass vessels. Strabo well remarks, that to have raised a tribute from the island, he must have established a military force there, but the expense of these troops would have 4 Cæsar. lib. v. c. 7-19. Dio remarks, that it would have been dangerous to him to have wintered in the island, lib. xl. p. 137. Polyænus has preserved a story that Cæsar's success in battle against the Britons was obtained by placing an armed elephant with a tower of soldiers in his front, whose appearance threw the natives into a panic. But Cæsar's force, skill, and discipline, were sufficient to have obtained his victories without this stratagem. 5 From Cæsar's own account, as thus abstracted, we perceive the propriety of Horace applying the epithet of intactus to Britain, as also of the invictus of Propertius. Tacitus has justly given the amount of his successes, when he states, that he did not subdue the island, but only showed it to the Romans. This correct intimation keeps clear of Lucan's extreme, that he showed his affrighted back to the Britons; and of that of Paterculus, that he twiced passed through the island. His successes however astonished and delighted his countrymen. He offered to Venus, whom he once stated to be the ancestor of one of his aunts (Suet. c. 6.), a breast-plate of British pearls. Pliny. The victories over the Britons were painted on purple hangings; and some of the natives were given to the theatre. See Virgil, Georg. 3., and Servius on the passage, p. 126. consumed the contribution; and when violent courses are pursued, he adds, danger begins. 6 Tiberius was content to leave Britain unmolested. Caligula was flattered in Gaul, by one of the British princes seeking an asylum in his court; and drawing up his army on the sea shore, he sounded a charge and commanded them to gather cockle-shells, as indications of a conquest. With this bloodless triumph, and the erection of a watch tower to commemorate it, his ambition was satisfied. He left Britain to the continuation of those internal wars which all uncivilised nations pursue, and which at last occasioned some to sacrifice their patriotism to their revenge, and to incite Claudius, his successor, to order Aulus Plautus to lead an army into the island. This general landed with a powerful force, comprising German auxiliaries and some elephants; and with Vespasian for one of his officers. He had the usual successes of the Roman discipline and skill. The emperor Claudius came himself to partake the triumph. He took Camalodunum or Malden, the capital of Cunobellin's dominion; and, after a residence of sixteen days in the island, returned to Rome, leaving Plautus to govern Britain. Games, triumphal arches, dramatic representations, horseraces, bear-combats, pyrrhic dances, gladiators, rewards to his officers, and a piendid triumph to himself, with the surname of Britannicus, attested his 6 Horace. Strabo. In the following year Augustus resumed his project of an invasion, because the natives broke their treaty; but the insurrection of the Cantabri in Spain prevented it. The "adjectis Britannis imperio," of Horace, is therefore rather a poetical figure, than an achieved fact. 7 Dio mentions Bericus as one of this description, lib. lx. p. 779. His remark on the political state of the Britons is, "that they were not avтovoμoi, but were subject to several kings," ibid. Of these Plautus first defeated Kataratakos, and afterwards Togodoumnos, the two sons of Kunobellin. Ibid. s Dio, lib. lx. p. 781, 782. Tacitus's account of this invasion has perished in his last books. That elephants were used by the Romans in England, appears from the bones of an elephant having been found, on digging for gravel, in a field near Battle Bridge. 1 Lel. Collect. p. lxiv. СНАР, VI. BOOK I. own and the national exultations at his successes in Britain. Vespasian distinguished himself in Britain at this period. He fought thirty battles with the natives, took twenty towns, and subdued the Isle of Wight"; exertions which imply corresponding efforts and intrepidity on the part of the Britons. The great Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem, fought here also, as military tribune under his father, with much reputation both for his modesty and courage.10 It is interesting to read of this celebrated man, that when Vespasian was surrounded by the Britons, and in extreme danger, Titus rushed upon the assailing enemies, and at last extricated his revered parent.11 We may consider this great instrument of Providence as training himself, unconsciously, in Britain, for the awful task he was to accomplish. The island, although thus penetrated to a certain extent, and the southern parts occupied by the Romans, was as yet neither conquered nor tranquil. Seven years afterwards, we find Ostorius withstanding the British assaults, and establishing a line of posts between the Nen and the Severn. The Britons on the east and north, and afterwards those of Wales, renewed the conflicts. The defeat and capture of Caradawg or Caractacus, whose appearance at Rome, as a prisoner, excited peculiar exultation, and for whom an impressive speech has been composed by Tacitus, of which the rude Briton could only recognise the manly feeling it displays 12, secured the Roman conquests. 10 Suet. Tit. c. 4. 9 Sueton. Vesp. c. 4. "Dio. Cass. lib. lx. p. 788. Josephus mentions the extraordinary strength and activity of Titus, and gives instances of his rescuing his soldiers from the Jews by his personal exertions. Few pieces of history are more interesting, than Josephus's account of the final siege and destruction of Jerusalem. 12 See it in Tacitus, Ann. lib. xii. c. 37. Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, whom Caractacus had married, was afterwards subdued, ibid. c. 40. The allusions to these victories in Britain, in the Roman poets of the day, show the joy of the About ten years afterwards, the Britons rushed to a new effort to regain their independence, under Boadicea, which they began, like Mithridates in Asia, by an inhuman massacre of all the Romans within their reach. This new struggle has been described by Tacitus with all his energy. The Roman governor Suetonius happened to be a man of talent, equal to the emergency, and finally triumphed over all the fury and forces of the Britons. Boadicea poisoned herself; and the island was again subdued into terror and peace 13, though much remained unconquered. Vespasian had the recollection of his personal exploits to excite his military attention to Britain, after he had obtained the empire. He sent powerful armies to extend the Roman conquests. The conflicts continued with varying success, but the Britons were resolute and undaunted by failure.14 Seventeen years after the volt of Boadicea Agricola was appointed to command the Roman forces in Britain, and by him the conquest of the island was completed. The pen and affection of Tacitus have amply, and interestingly, detailed his political and military conduct; and has made Galgacus or Gallwg, on the Grampian Hills, as interesting as Caractacus. 15 It is needless to detail battles that so much resemble each other, and always pain humanity both to read and to narrate. It is more pleasing to contemplate the wisdom of his liberal mind, which directca its public feeling on the occasion. See them collected in Camden's Introduction to the Britannia. It is amusing to read that our island was deemed a new world, an impervious region of frost and snow, where stars never set, and placed beyond the limits of the earth, &c. 13 Tacit. Ann. lib. xiv. c. 29-39., and more concisely in his life of Agricola, c. 14-16. 14 These events are briefly noticed by Tacitus in his Agricola, c. 16, 17. One of the able governors here was Frontinus, the author of the book on the stratagems of war. 15 His animated, and no doubt much amplified and polished speech is in Vit. Agric. s. 30. CHAP. VI. BOOK I. A.C. 121. powers to civilise and improve the fierce natives. He assisted them to build temples, forums, and more convenient habitations. He inspired them with a love of education; he applauded their talents; flattered them as possessing a genius superior to the Gauls; and he persuaded the sons of the chiefs to study letters. The Roman dress, language, and literature gradually spread among the natives. All this was improvement; but human advantages are mingled with imperfections. The civilisation of Rome also introduced its luxury; and baths, porticoes, and sensual banquets became as palatable to the new subjects as to their corrupted masters.16 Four legions were kept in the island. Their labours pervaded it with four great military roads, that became the chief Saxon highways; and, in the military stations, upon and near them, laid the foundations of our principal towns and cities. The Roman laws and magistracies were everywhere established, and the British lawyers, as well as the British ladies 17, have obtained the panegyrics of the Roman classics. It is beautifully said by Rutilius, that Rome filled the world with her legislative triumphs, and caused all to live under one common pact; that she blended discordant nations. into one country; and, by imparting to those she conquered a companionship in her rights and laws, made the earth one great united city.18 Britain, nearly half a century after Agricola, was 16 Tac. Ag. s. 21. 17 The stern Juvenal has Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos. Sat. And Martial has an epigram on the decus formæ of a British lady, whom he calls Claudia Rufina. The epithet of blue-eyed, which he applies to the Britons, was also given to them by Seneca. All the northern nations of Europe exhibit in their physiognomy, this contrast with the black eyes and darker skins of Italy. |