appear to have possessed no shipping in the time of Cæsar. They were foreign ships which came to the neighbourhood of Cape Belerium to fetch the tin, which the inhabitants worked with as much skill as profit.340 About a century after Cæsar, the boats of the Britons were still only frames of wicker-work covered with leather.341 The inhabitants of Britain were less ignorant in the art of war than in that of navigation. Protected by small bucklers,342 and armed with long swords, which they handled with skill, but which became useless in close combat, they never combated in masses: they advanced in small detachments, which supported each other reciprocally.343 Their principal force was in their infantry;344 yet they employed a great number of war-chariots armed with scythes.345 They began by driving about rapidly on all sides, and hurling darts, seeking thus to spread disorder in the enemy’s ranks by the mere terror caused by the impetuosity of the horses and the noise of the wheels; then they returned into the intervals of their cavalry, leaped to the ground, and fought on foot mixed with the horsemen. During this time the drivers withdrew themselves with the chariots so as to be ready in case of need to receive the combatants.346 The Britons thus united the movableness of cavalry with the steadiness of infantry; daily exercise had made them so dexterous that they maintained their horses at full speed on steep slopes, drew them in or turned them at will, ran upon the shaft, held under the yoke, and thence threw themselves rapidly into their chariots.347 In war they used their dogs as auxiliaries, which the Gauls procured from Britain for the same purpose. These dogs were excellent for the chase.348
In short, the Britons were less civilised than the Gauls. If we except the art of working certain metals, their manufactures were limited to the fabrication of the coarsest and most indispensable objects; and it was from Gaul they obtained collars, vessels of amber and glass, and ornaments of ivory for the bridles of their horses.349
It was known also that pearls were in the Scottish sea, and people easily believed that it concealed immense treasures.
These details relating to Britain were not collected until after the Roman expeditions, for that country was previously the subject of the most mysterious tales; and when Cæsar resolved on its conquest, this bold enterprise excited people’s minds to the highest degree by the ever-powerful charm of the unknown. As to him, in crossing the Channel, he obeyed the same thought which had carried him across the Rhine: he wished to give the barbarians a high notion of Roman greatness, and prevent them from lending support to the insurrections in Gaul.
First Expedition to Britain.
V. Although the summer approached its end, the difficulties of a descent upon Britain did not stop him. Even supposing, indeed, that the season should not permit him to obtain any decisive result by the expedition, he looked upon it as an advantage to gain a footing in that island, and to make himself acquainted with the locality, and with the ports and points for disembarking. None of the persons whom he examined could or would give him any information, either on the extent of the country, or on the number and manners of its inhabitants, or on their manner of making war, or on the ports capable of receiving a large fleet.
Desirous of obtaining some light on these different points before attempting the expedition, Cæsar sent C. Volusenus, in a galley, with orders to explore everything, and return as quickly as possible with the result of his observations. He proceeded in person with his army into the country of the Morini, from whence the passage into Britain was shortest. There was on that coast a port favourably situated for fitting out an expedition against this island, the Portius Itius, or, as we shall endeavour to prove farther on, the port of Boulogne. The ships of all the neighbouring regions, and the fleet constructed in the previous year for the war against the Veneti, were collected there.
The news of his project having been carried into Britain by the merchants, the deputies of several nations in the island came with offers of submission. Cæsar received them with kindness; and on their return he sent with them Commius, whom he had previously made king of the Atrebates. This man, whose courage, prudence, and devotion he appreciated, enjoyed great credit among the Britons. He directed him to visit the greatest possible number of tribes, to keep them in good feelings, and to announce his speedy arrival.
While Cæsar remained among the Morini, waiting the completion of the preparations for his expedition, he received a deputation which came in the name of a great part of the inhabitants to justify their past conduct. He accepted their explanations readily, unwilling to leave enemies behind him. Moreover, the season was too far advanced to allow of combating the Morini, and their entire subjection was not a matter of sufficient importance to divert him from his enterprise against Britain: he was satisfied with exacting numerous hostages. Meanwhile Volusenus returned, at the end of five days, to report the result of his mission: as he had not ventured to land, he had only performed it imperfectly.
The forces destined for the expedition consisted of two legions, the 7th and the 10th, commanded probably by Galba and Labienus, and of a detachment of cavalry, which made about 12,000 legionaries and 450 horses.
Q. Titurius Sabinus and L. Aurunculeius Cotta received the command of the troops left on the continent to occupy the territory of the Menapii and that of the country of the Morini which had not submitted. The lieutenant P. Sulpicius Rufus was charged with the guard of the port with a sufficient force.
They had succeeded in collecting eighty transport ships, judged capable of containing the two legions of the expedition, with all their baggage, and a certain number of galleys, which were distributed among the quæstor, the lieutenants, and the prefects. Eighteen other vessels, destined for the cavalry, were detained by contrary winds in a little port (that of Ambleteuse) situated eight miles to the north of Boulogne.350 (See Plate 16.)
Having made these dispositions, Cæsar, taking advantage of a favourable wind, started in the night between the 24th and 25th of August (we shall endeavour to justify this date farther on), towards midnight, after giving orders to the cavalry to proceed to the port above (Ambleteuse); he reached the coast of Britain at the fourth hour of the day (ten o’clock in the forenoon), opposite the cliffs of Dover. The cavalry, which had embarked but slowly, had not been able to join him.
From his ship Cæsar perceived the cliffs covered with armed men. At this spot the sea was so close to these cliffs that a dart thrown from the heights could reach the beach.351 The place appeared to him in no respect convenient for landing. This description agrees with that which Q. Cicero gave to his brother, of “coasts surmounted by immense rocks.”352 (See Plate 17.) Cæsar cast anchor, and waited in vain until the fifth hour (half-past three) (see the Concordance of Hours, Appendix B), for the arrival of the vessels which were delayed. In the interval, he called together his lieutenants and the tribunes of the soldiers, communicated to them his plans as well as the information brought by Volusenus, and urged upon them the instantaneous execution of his orders on a simple sign, as maritime war required, in which the manœuvres must be as rapid as they are varied. It is probable that Cæsar had till then kept secret the point of landing.
When he had dismissed them, towards half-past three o’clock, the wind and tide having become favourable at the same time, he gave the signal for raising their anchors, and, after proceeding about seven miles to the east, as far as the extremity of the cliffs, and having, according to Dio Cassius, doubled a lofty promontory,353 the point of the South Foreland (see Plate 16), he stopped before the open and level shore which extends from the castle of Walmer to Deal.
From the heights of Dover it was easy for the Britons to trace the movement of the fleet; guessing that it was making for the point where the cliffs ended, they hastened thither, preceded by their