so that it was only by crowding his vessels that Cæsar managed to transport all his forces back to Gaul in one voyage. He made a good passage without mishap.
As in the previous year, the Britons employed no naval force against the Romans, either with a view to preventing the landing or with a view to severing Cæsar's communications with Gaul, and to obstructing the reinforcements from Labienus. The only possible conclusion is that at that time the maritime strength of south-eastern Britain was insignificant.
After Cæsar's second withdrawal, nothing further was done for many years towards the extension of Roman power in Britain. On three separate occasions Augustus meditated an expedition to the island, but he was as often prevented, either by necessity for his presence elsewhere, or by the diplomatic action of British emissaries, who net him in Gaul and promised to pay the tribute with greater regularity. Once, indeed, the ambassadors went as far as Rome itself to make their submission.[1] Again, when Cunobelinus, or Cymbeline, reigned at Camulodunum, and Caligula was Emperor, a Roman invasion appeared to be imminent; but the insane vanity of Caligula was contented with a theatrical and ridiculous demonstration on the opposite coasts;[2] and not until the time of Claudius, in A.D. 43, was any step taken towards an effective conquest of Britain.
The successive campaigns of Aulus Plautius, of Claudius himself, of Ostorius Scapula, in A.D. 50, of Suetonius Paulinus, in A.D. 58, of Petilius Cerealis, in A.D. 70, of Julius Frontinus, about A.D. 77, of Julius Agicola, from A.D. 78 to 85, and of many other leaders, were almost entirely military, and require little notice here. It will suffice to say that under Agricola,[3] the Roman naval commanders ascertained that Britain was an island; and that for a long time afterwards the Roman naval power in Britain appears to have been steadily increased, in order to secure the coasts and the surrounding seas against the Teutonic tribes, which were already distinguished for their piratical boldness, and which were later to exercise so important an influence upon the fortunes of the island.
For the repression of the Teutonic intruders, a special officer was at length appointed by the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian,
