rsm^. 
 
 wommmftmmmm. 
 
 vmmmumKmmmmamm&m^
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 SEELEY W. MUDD 
 
 and 
 
 GEORGE I. COCHRAN MEYER ELSASSER 
 
 DR. JOHN R. HAYNES WILLIAM L. HONNOLD 
 
 JAMES R. MARTIN MRS. JOSEPH F. SARTOR! 
 
 to the 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SOUTHERN BRANCH
 
 ■S 
 
 -»j.
 
 J J 1 » » 
 
 1 1 3 J > 
 
 CiESAR IN Kent 
 
 THE LANDING OF 
 
 JULIUS CiESAR 
 
 AND HIS BATTLES WITH THK 
 
 ANCIENT BRITONS 
 
 WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF EARLY BRITISH TRADE 
 AND ENTERPRISE 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. FRANCIS T. VINE, B.A. 
 
 RECTOR OF EASTINGTON, STONEHOUSE. GLOUCESTERSHIRE 
 
 /•'ro/ii an Old I'rint in .Samiitcs liritannia (lOyO) 
 
 I 886 
 
 998:^2
 
 • •• 
 
 1 1 ^ J. o
 
 V76 e 
 
 TO THE MOST NOBLE 
 
 THE MARQUIS CONYNGHAM, 
 
 THIS UO<JK IS, BY PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 BY HIS lordship's CHAPLAIN, 
 
 FRANCIS THOMAS VINII
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 14, line i,for " was" read " were." 
 
 Page 27, line 4, erase "other." 
 
 Page 51, line 14, /or "port" /w^" ports." 
 
 Page 56, line Z\,for " him " read " Scipio." 
 
 Page 56, line i -,for " other " read " others." 
 
 Page 63, line \(i,for " implies " read " imply." "^^^7 '^ 
 
 fable. 
 
 j'thical 
 
 stories of classic antiquity are 
 
 chiefly because of the grandeur of the literature 
 
 which has preserved tlicni, thought worthy of 
 
 notice and examination ; while the Argonautic ex- 
 
 f^ pedition, the Trojan war, and the story of Romulus 
 
 ^'^ and Remus are familiar to every schoolboy, very 
 
 little effort has been made, at any rate in our own 
 
 J^ day, to elucidate the truth concerning the some- 
 
 .^ what legendary history of what may be called 
 
 "the heroic age" of our own country. Thai 
 
 this history contains the record of brave and noble 
 
 deeds which, by careful and critical investigation, 
 
 may be rescued from the region of f.ible, 1 have 
 
 endeavoured in one or two instances to establish 
 
 b
 
 ^p 
 
 p J|^Hgi»^ar{OS8 
 
 ^^^^^^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HE early history of every country is 
 
 more or less mixed with fable. 
 
 While, however, the mythical 
 
 stories of classic antiquity are 
 
 chiefly because of the grandeur of the literature 
 
 which has preserved them, thought worthy of 
 
 notice and examination ; while the Argonautic ex- 
 
 ^ pedition, the Trojan war, and the story of Romulus 
 
 
 oj and Remus are familiar to every schoolboy, very 
 
 i^ 
 
 little effort has been made, at any rate in our own 
 ^ day, to elucidate the truth concerning the some- 
 /^i what legendary history of what may be called 
 "the heroic age" of our own country. Thai 
 this history contains the record of brave and noble 
 deeds which, by careful and critical investigation, 
 may be rescued from the region of fable, 1 have 
 endeavoured in one or two instances to establish
 
 VIU TREFACE. 
 
 in these pages. My principal object, however, 
 has been to write more fully than has been written 
 before, what has always been regarded as the 
 first page of our country's history, as distinguished 
 from the less reliable traditions of the prehistoric 
 period. 
 
 The traces of Julius Caesar's encampments in 
 the neighbourhood where I lately resided, as 
 Vicar of the parishes of Patrixbourne and Bridge, 
 wQve first brought to my notice by one who had 
 long made them his study. His love of retire- 
 ment has prevented him from associating his name 
 with this work ; but I desire gratefully to acknow- 
 ledge the deep interest he has taken in its produc- 
 tion, and the important help which he has 
 rendered me throughout its preparation, by giving 
 me the benefit of his archxological researches of 
 many years. 
 
 I have sought no novel sites for Cxsar's land- 
 ing and struggles with our British forefathers. 
 In all cases the only traditions extant corroborate 
 the choice of the localities in which I have placed 
 the scenes of his battles. I believe that where 
 tradition imhesitatingly localises events, it may
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 generally be relied upon. A striking instance of 
 the accuracy with which the memory of events 
 has thus been preserved for many centuries has 
 been made public while these pages have been 
 passing through the press. It occurred in con- 
 nection with the remarkable discovery by Mr 
 Petrie of the Palace of King Pharaoh at Tah- 
 panhes, in Egypt. When he approached, 
 wearied and footsore, the group of mounds called 
 Tell Defennah, which have long been supposed 
 to be the Tahpanhcs of the Bible, "he beheld," 
 as the Tunes article graphically relates, " one 
 of these mounds, consisting of the burnt and 
 blackened ruins of a huge pile of brick buildings, 
 standing high against a lurid sky and reddened 
 by a fiery sunset. His Arabs hastened to tell 
 him its local name; and \\v may be envied the 
 delightful surprise with which he learnt that it is 
 known far and near as ' EI Kasr cl Jiint cl Ya- 
 hudi " --the Castle of the Jew's Daughter." 'J'his 
 information enabled Mr Petrie to idt'iitify this 
 ruined pile with the House in Tahpanhcs which, as 
 we gather from the 43rd chapter of tlie liook of 
 the Prophet Jeremiah, Pharaoh set apart as aresi-
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 dence for the daughters of the Jewish King 
 Zedekiiih when he was dethroned and carried 
 captive to Babylon. Thus local tradition has 
 afforded a remarkable corroboration of this seem- 
 ingl)' unimportant detail of the Bible narrative. 
 
 Having, as I trust, established clearly Ccesar's 
 landing-place and general route of conquest, it 
 has been my aim to enable the reader to realize 
 the actual scenes in which he moved during his 
 stay in Britain. If it be thought presumptuous 
 to assign to particular localities the footprints of 
 the great conqueror, to assert that here his standard 
 was fixed, that there his entrenchments were 
 thrown up, that along this and that road his 
 legions marched, my reply is that my conclusions 
 must be considered as a whole. After laying 
 down on general lines the places where Ccesar 
 landed and fought his battles, I deem it of import- 
 ance to show that these localities afford evidence 
 of agreement even with the details of his history. 
 
 The dedication of this book has been accepted 
 by the representative of a family which has done 
 much to encourage and promote the study of 
 antiquarian pursuits. The successful researches
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 of the late Lord Albert Conyngham, afterwards 
 Lord Londeciborough, in the field of archaeology, 
 and the liberal and personal support which he 
 gave to many of our learned societies are well 
 known. The valuable collection also of anti- 
 quities at Bifrons, the seat ot the Marquis 
 Conyngham, testifies to the same interest in the 
 relics of the past by the grandfather and father 
 of the present Lord. It was my privilege, in 
 connection with a friend already mentioned, to 
 whom their discovery was due, to be of some 
 assistance to the late Marquis Conyngham, in 
 opening three large contiguous Tumuli, belong- 
 ing, as I believe, to the prehistoric period, in 
 Gorsley Wood, on the Bifrons estate. These 
 were found to contain cists of a remarkable 
 character. My account of this exploration, 
 which was carried (JUt at his Lordship's expense, 
 and with the active assistance of his agent, Mr 
 Robert Smith, was published in tlic i8tli volume 
 of the '• Archa-ologia Cantiana." Tlu' cists, 
 which are well worth a visit, are still carefully 
 preserved and protected by order of the present 
 Marquis.
 
 XU PREFACE. 
 
 Sliortly before his death, I had asked permis- 
 sion of the late Lord Conyngham to dedicate this 
 little book to him, and, with the heartiness and 
 kindliness so characteristic of him, he at once 
 acquiesced, saying, " Of course; won't I read it ?" 
 For this he was not spared, but his son, the 
 present Marquis Conyngham, has very kindly 
 granted me the same favour which his lamented 
 father had promised. 
 
 I have derived much assistance in the prepara- 
 tion of this work from previous publications. 
 My thanks are especially due to Messrs Cassell 
 & Co. for permission kindly given me to make 
 extracts from a work published by them, "The 
 History of Julius Caesar," by Napoleon III., to 
 the value of which I have borne testimony in the 
 Introduction. I am also indebted to Mr Edward 
 Hay ward, of Deal, for allowing me to quote 
 portions of the late Mr Stephen Pritchard's 
 interesting " History of Deal," of which I am 
 glad to hear he contemplates issuing a new 
 edition. I have also made use, in my description 
 of Dover, of '• Batcheller's Sketch of Dover." 
 For this 1 have the permission of Messrs Cuff
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 Brothers, of Snargate Street, Dover, who hiive, 
 1 am informed, issued, under the title of *' Visitor's 
 Guide to Dover," another edition of this useful 
 compendium. To another publication, "The 
 British Kymry," by the late Rev. R. W. Morgan, 
 of Tregynon, I have made frequent reference. I 
 have failed to discover to whom I should express 
 my obligations, but trust that any representatives 
 of his family will accept this acknowledgment of 
 my indebtedness to his valuable work. 
 
 Eastington Rectory, August 0, i 886.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SOURCES OF THE HISTORY. 
 
 YfmUE foundation and text-book of every 
 f^^xlr' history of Cccsar's invasion of Britain 
 must necessarily be the account 
 given of the event by Caesar himself 
 We must not indeed expect that he would give 
 precise geographical information with regard to 
 the countries which he conquered. His history 
 is the '' veni, vidi, vici " of the conqueror wiiose 
 chief aim was to establish the reputation ol his 
 army's success. Still it is universally ailowetl 
 that liis details, when he condescends to give 
 details, are wonderfully accurate. His accounts 
 of the manners and customs of the inluibitanfs
 
 2 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 of those lands in which his wars were carried on 
 although necessarily incomplete, have been in 
 most particulars corroborated by other historians. 
 His computations of the distances between places, 
 and the times in which those distances were 
 traversed by his army, will bear the closest 
 scrutiny. The officers employed by the Emperor 
 Napoleon III. have verified them wherever the 
 localities visited by Caesar can be assigned in 
 his Gallic and British Campaigns, and have found 
 them strictly accurate. The value of such cor- 
 roborative evidence cannot be over-estimated. 
 When an Emperor having at his command the 
 resources to be found in the whole civil adminis- 
 tration of a country and in an army of half a 
 million of men, gives the order to compare 
 /^ manuscripts, to explore and excavate fortifi- 
 cations, to measure distances, and in every way 
 to elucidate the history of a particular epoch, the 
 results of such investigations carry with them 
 an authority which could not be derived from 
 the researches of any private individual. The 
 conclusions laid down in the following pages with 
 regard to the site of Csesar's first inland encamp-
 
 SOURCES OF THE HISTORY. ' 3 
 
 ment were in the first instance arrived at inde- 
 pendently of Napoleon's suggestions, and before 
 his work on the life of Cassar was seen, but they 
 are found so entirely to agree with and to supple- 
 ment the remarks of that distinguished Emperor, 
 that they may almost be regarded as a sequel 
 to his work. 
 
 Besides the testimony of Cirsar himself regard- 
 ing his invasion of this country, we have that of 
 Djpil^ Ca.s.sius and Plutarch, as well as a few 
 passing notices of that event in other classic 
 writers, which do not, however, throw much light 
 upon the details of his conquests. 
 
 Another source of information, and that of 
 great importance, is afforded by__thc_j\Titiugs of 
 th e Brit ish bards and historians. First among 
 these must be mentioned the h istoric^ Tri ads. 
 These are disjointed and fragmentary, but they 
 were certainly transcribed at a very early period, 
 and contain the traditional account of various 
 historical events, amongst others of Caesar's 
 invasion oi Britain. They have never btcn 
 j)Lil)lished collectively in Knglish, but most of 
 them will be found in the Wcl^li language in
 
 / 
 
 4 CyESAR IN KENT. 
 
 " the Myvyri'cin Archiiiology." Those relating 
 to Julius Cassar and the heroic resistance he met 
 ■with from the British have been embodied in a 
 valuable work, published some years ago by the 
 Rev. R. W. Morgan of Tregynon, under the 
 title" of "The British Kymry, or the Britons of 
 Cambria." A larger work was promised by Mr 
 Morgan, but the author of the present treatise 
 has not been able to ascertain that it was ever 
 published. 
 
 In addition to that gathered from the Triads, a 
 British version of the events of Ccesar's progress 
 in Britain may be read in the rather fabulous his- 
 tory of Geoffrey of Monmouth, which seems to 
 have had a common origin with "The Chronicle 
 of Tyssilio," translated from a Welsh manuscript 
 in the Red Book of Hergest, found in the Library 
 of Jesus College, Oxford. It is needless to enter 
 into the controversy as to the genuineness of 
 Geoffrey's history, which he professes to have 
 translated from a manuscript received from 
 Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford. His history, 
 and also the very similar record of Tyssilio, 
 contain evidence of fabrication, and are only
 
 SOURCES OF THE HISTORV. 5 
 
 valuable so far as they agree with, or may be 
 reconciled with, other more trustworthy accounts. 
 They are not certainly to be wholly rejected, 
 for although embellished with much that is 
 legendary by the ingenious translator, there is 
 every reason to believe that they were founded 
 upon early British annals, upon the first records 
 of the traditional knowledge so carefully pre- 
 served and for centuries transmitted orally by 
 the ancient Druids and Bards. The accounts 
 given in these British histories should be critically 
 examined with respect to the several events 
 narrated, and compared with other more authentic 
 records of the same events. If, as will often 
 be found, they do not contradict these, but arc 
 evidently independent accounts of the .same 
 transactions, their corroborative testimony is of 
 considerable value. 
 
 The references to Julius Cxsar's invasion con- 
 tained in "The History of the Britains"by Nen- 
 nius, in Henry of Huntington, in the AngloSaxon 
 Chronicle, in Beda, and in other hiter authors, can 
 scarcely be considered as independent testimony, 
 being gathered jirincipally from the Roman
 
 6 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 authorities before mentioned, and in the case of 
 Henry of Huntingdon to a considerable extent 
 also from the earlier British histories. It has 
 not, therefore, been thought necessary to quote 
 them in the present work, except in one or 
 two instances in which their information seems 
 to have been derived from other sources not now 
 extant. 
 
 The author has, however, found much impor- 
 tant information in the writings of Camden, 
 Leland, and other early archxologists. These 
 have handed down traditions as to the site of 
 Ccesar's landing, and of hi3 first encounters with 
 the British, and have pointed out the position of 
 earthworks and entrenchments existing in their 
 day, many of which may still be traced, marking 
 the scenes of these battles. He has also been 
 assisted by the traditional knowledge still current 
 in the neighbourhood of these localities, parti- 
 cular scenes of historic interest being in some 
 cases indicated by names known only locally, and 
 handed down from age to age. The topographi- 
 cal position of Cccsar's early battlefields being 
 now discovered, as he believes beyond ques-
 
 SOURCES OF THE HISTORY. 7 
 
 tion, the traditional knowledge of them will be 
 seen to harmonize with the accounts given by 
 classic and early British authors, and not un- 
 frequently to reconcile these when apparently at 
 variance.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES AND WARLIKE 
 ENT-ERPRISES. 
 
 iT is commonly but erroneously sup-^ 
 posed that prior to the coming of 
 CtEsar the isle of Britain was known 
 only by name to the ancients, and 
 that it was peopled by barbarous races, shut out 
 by its inhospitable shores from all intercourse 
 with the rest of the world. To say that such 
 was not the case would be to state only half the 
 truth. The testimony of Ccesar, corroborated as 
 it is by that of many other writers, sufficiently 
 proves that not only had the Gauls and other 
 continental nations frequent communication with 
 Britain for trade and other purposes, but that 
 this country was the centre of their religious cul-
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 9 
 
 ture, and a principal source of their military 
 strength. The author has endeavoured in this 
 and the following chapter to describe the con- 
 dition of Britain, and the relationship of its in- 
 habitants to the neighbouring peoples at the time 
 when Caesar invaded its shores. In doing so he 
 has deemed it best to illustrate from other authors 
 what Ccesar has himself related, and to show that 
 his candid acknowledgment of the prowess and 
 resources of his British foemen entirely agrees 
 with the estimate which may be formed of their 
 character from what is known or may be con- 
 jectured as to their previous history. 
 
 No account of Ctcsar's invasion of Britain 
 could be deemed complete without some con- 
 sideration of the reason which he himself gives 
 for visiting these shores. 
 
 His commentaries relate: " Cxsar determined 
 to proceed into Britain because he understood 
 that in almost all the Gallic wars succours had 
 been supplied thence to our enemies." Tlu 
 writer of the commentaries doubtless refers prin- 
 cipally to the wars Ccesar had himself carried on 
 in the provinces of Gaul, but his memory may
 
 lO C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 have reverted to the history of other previous 
 wars between the Gauls and Romans, in which 
 British warriors had made their name distin- 
 guished and feared. The history of the long- 
 continued struggle between these two rival races, 
 the Romans and the Gauls, carries us back to a 
 period more than 300 years prior to the time of 
 Cassar. At an earlier period even than this the 
 Gauls had established themselves in the extensive 
 district between the Alps and the Apennines, 
 known as Cisalpine Gaul, but they did not come 
 into collision with the Roman armies till the year 
 B.C. 390, A.u.c. 364. Then it was that under 
 Brennus they inflicted the most serious blow 
 which the Roman power ever sustained by the 
 taking and burning of Rome itself, the capitol 
 alone being saved by the payment of a large 
 ransom. 
 
 Livy gives the following account of the first 
 inroads of the Gauls into Italy. He says ^ that in 
 the reign of Tarquinius Priscus (b.c. 616, a.u.c. 
 138) Ambigatus, King of the Bituriges, the chief 
 people of the Celtic, finding that part of Gaul 
 
 1 Livy, V. 34.
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. I I 
 
 over-populated, sent forth Bellovisus and Sego- 
 visus, his sister's sons, with as many as attached 
 themselves to them, to whatever settlements the 
 gods, by augury, might direct. The Hernician, 
 or Black Forest, fell to Segovisus, the road to 
 Italy to Bellovisus. The forces of the latter were 
 derived from the Bituriges, Averni, Senones, 
 CEqui, Ambarri, Carnutes, and Aulerci, Pro- 
 ceeding over the pathless Alps, uncrossed before 
 by man, and having defeated an army of Tuscans 
 near the river Ticin, they encamped in Insubria, 
 and built a city called Mediolanum (Milan). These 
 early settlers were followed, says Livy, by the 
 Ccenomani, and the Saluvii. Then the Boii 
 and Lingones crossed the Pennine Alps and the 
 river Po, and drove out the Etrurians and Um- 
 brians from the country. Then, last of all, the 
 Senones possessed themselves of the countries 
 between the rivers Montone and Fiumcsmo. Of 
 these various settlers, according to Livy, the 
 powerful nation of the Gauls was composed, who 
 at last ventured to assault and capture Rome 
 itself. 
 
 The names of many of these early (Jallic settlers
 
 12 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 are also given by Polybius,^ who thus describes 
 their nomadic character : "They dwelt in villages 
 open and without walls, they had few or no 
 moveables, they slept without beds, and their 
 chief employments were husbandry and war, since 
 they were totally ignorant of all other arts and 
 sciences ; their substance consisted chiefly in 
 cattle and gold, two commodities which they 
 could easily carry with them whenever by any 
 chance they should be compelled to remove. 
 They not only were masters of the country, 
 but compelled the neighbouring nations to pay 
 them obedience. At length they made war on 
 the Romans, whom, after they had vanquished in 
 battle, together with those who took part with 
 them, they pursued three days together, and took 
 at last the city of Rome itself, all but thecapitol." 
 Plutarch gives a very similar account of the 
 first coming of the Gauls.^ " Now as touch- 
 ing the Gauls they came (as they say) of the 
 Celtse, whose country not being able to maintain 
 the multitude of them, they were driven to go and 
 seek other countries to dwell in ; and there were 
 
 1 Polybius, vol. i., book 2. 2 Plutarch, '* Camillus."
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 1 3 
 
 amongst them many thousands of young men fit 
 for service, and good soldiers, but yet more of 
 women and little children. Of these people some 
 of them went towards the North Sea, passing the 
 mountains Riphei, and did dwell in the extreme 
 parts of Europe. Others remained between the 
 mountains Pirinei, and the greatest mountains of 
 the Alps, near unto the Senones, and the Celtorii. 
 There they continued a long time, until they hap- 
 pened at last to taste of the wine which was first 
 brought out of Italy unto them. Which drink 
 they found so good, and were so delighted with 
 it, that suddenly they armed themselves, and tak- 
 ing their wives and children with them, they went 
 directly towards the Alps, to go and seek that 
 country which produced such fruit, judging all 
 other countries in comparison with that to be but 
 wild and barren. . . . They conquered at their 
 first coming all that country which the Thuscans 
 held in old time, beginning at the foot of the 
 mountains, and stretched out in length from one sea 
 unto the other. All that country is well planted 
 with trees, and hath gootlly ))leasant pastures 
 for beasts and cattle to feed in, and is notably
 
 14 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 watered with goodly running rivers. There was 
 also at that time eighteen fair great cities in that 
 country, all of them very strong and well seated, 
 as well for to enrich the inhabitants thereof by 
 traffic as to make them to live delicately for 
 pleasure. All these cities the Gauls had won, 
 and had expelled the Thuscans, but this was done 
 long time before." The historian then relates 
 that entering further into Thuscan the Gauls at 
 length laid siege to the city of Clusium, the in- 
 habitants of which besought the intervention of the 
 Romans. The representatives sent by the latter, 
 consisting of three of the most honourable of the 
 house of the Fabians, forgetting their character of 
 ambassadors, and joining in hostilities against the 
 Gauls, were the cause of that invasion of Roman 
 territory which lead to such disastrous results. 
 
 There can be no doubt from these accounts 
 that the people who took possession of the 
 northern parts of Italy, and became eventually 
 the conquerors of Rome, were drawn from all 
 parts of Gaul, and, were there no other testimony, 
 it might fairly be concluded from this fact, that 
 there were among them British warriors. For
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 1 5 
 
 Livy states that some of the earlier settlers in 
 Italy came from the Aulerci, a people who 
 inhabited the district between the Seine and the 
 Loire, the sea coast of which district was known 
 as Armorica. This Armorica was so largely 
 peopled from the Isle of Britain, that Pliny 
 reckons the Britanni or Britons among the 
 maritime people of Gaul, and Dionysius Afer, 
 an early Greek writer, does the same in a pas- 
 sage of which Camden gives the following trans- 
 lation — 
 
 " Near the great pillars of the furthest land 
 The old Iberians, hauglity souls, command 
 Along the continent, where northern seas 
 Roll their vast tides, and in cold billows rise ; 
 Where British nations in long tracts appear, 
 And fair-skinned Germans ever famed in war." 
 
 That the inhabitants of this district and of the 
 adjacent British isles were conspicuously present 
 in the invading army may be iurilicr interred 
 from the description given by l-ivy, who rc'i)re- 
 scnts the attacking force as "an unknown ami 
 terrible enemy/z-o;// ihc ocean and utmost verges of 
 the earthy By this description he would cer- 
 tainly include our liriiish forefathers, since tlu'
 
 1 6 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 island of Britain was then the furthest known 
 land, and is so described in a passage of Pausanias. 
 "The Iberi and Celti," he says, "live near an 
 ocean, not a river, but near the farthest sea 
 navigated by man ; and this ocean contains the 
 island of the Britons." 
 
 The method also of warfare of the invaders, 
 their discordant shouts, the extraordinary size of 
 their men, as well as their unencumbered mode 
 of fighting, although to some extent characteristic 
 of the nation of the Gauls, were especially so of 
 the Britons, and seem to indicate the predomin- 
 ance of the latter, and that the leadership of the 
 invading host was entrusted to one of that nation. 
 With regard to these particulars, Livy^ gives the 
 following account. "The Clusians," he suys, 
 " were terrified both by the number and extra- 
 ordinary size of the enemy, and withal by the 
 kind of arms they used." He speaks also of their 
 rapid marches, and of the barbarous songs and 
 hideous bowlings which made all around them 
 resound with a horrible noise ; — so great was the 
 panic caused by these, that when the Roman 
 
 1 Livy, V. 35-55.
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. I 7 
 
 soldiers "heard the shouts of the Gauls, which 
 seemed to those who stood next to have been 
 raised from the flank, and to the most remote 
 from their rear, they fled in a body without 
 "■'striking a blow or even returning the enemy's 
 shout." The Gauls when '' they entered Rome 
 were heard roaring out their bowlings and dis- 
 cordant notes, as they strolled in troops round 
 the city walls." Camillus in addressing the people 
 of Ardca incites them to attack their enemy then 
 foraging in the neighbourhood, by describing 
 them as a people advancing in straggling parties, 
 on whom nature had bestowed enormity of size 
 and impetuosity of courage, rather than firmness 
 of body or constancy of mind ; and when acting 
 upon his advice, the Ardeans afterwards sur- 
 prise and slaughter the enemy, " they were 
 all butchered," says Livy, "without resistance, 
 naked as they were born, and fast asleep." 
 
 Thar the characteristics here given of the in- 
 vading army were such as might be expected 
 from British even more than from (iaulish warriors, 
 may be gathered from the following quotations 
 from classic authors. " The Britons," says 
 
 B
 
 1 8 CAESAR IN KENT. 
 
 Strabo, " in stature exceed the Gauls, and their 
 hair is not so yellow nor their bodies so well set. 
 Let this be an argument of their tallness, that I 
 myself have seen at Rome some young men of 
 them taller by half a foot than any other men. 
 Yet their legs were but weak, and the other 
 parts of the body showed them to be not well 
 made or handsome." Tacitus says of the Britons 
 that " they show more heat and fierceness than 
 the Gauls ; " Dio Nicceus, that " they run at a 
 great rate;" Cassar, that ** they fight in detach- 
 ments or small bodies of men at a time, others 
 being ready to relieve thtm in case of need." 
 Dion Cassius speaks of the loud clamour and songs 
 of defiance with which they advance towards 
 the enemy, and relates that being naked they 
 were able in warfare to swim rivers. Herodian 
 states that they fought " with a sword hanging 
 by their naked bodies." With regard to their 
 simple mode of life, it is described in very simi- 
 lar terms to those in which Polybius described 
 the Gauls who first settled in Italy. Diodorus 
 Siculus^ gives the following : — " Further, they 
 
 1 Diodor Siculi, Bibliotheca Historica, lib. i. ch. 4.
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. IQ 
 
 say that its aboriginal tribes inhabit Britain, in 
 their usages preserving the primitive modes of 
 life ; for in their wars they use chariots as the 
 ancient Greek heroes are reported to have done 
 in the Trojan war, and they have mean habita- 
 tions, constructed for the most part of reeds and 
 of wood, and they gather in their harvest by 
 cutting off the ears of corn and storing them in 
 subterranean repositories : that they cull there- 
 from daily such as are old, and dressing them 
 have thence their substance : that they are simple 
 in their manners, and far removed from the 
 cunning and wickedness of men of the present 
 day : that their modes of living are frugal, and 
 greatly differing from the luxury consequent on 
 riches." Dion Cassius' also makes Bunduica (or 
 Boadicea) say in her address to her army, com- 
 paring the Romans with the Britons, " We arc 
 endued with courage so superior, that we deem 
 our tents more secure than their walls, and our 
 shields a better defence than tluir c()mj)lete 
 armour. If we choose to retreat to any jilace, 
 we hide ourselves in marshes and mountains, 
 ' Dio. Cass., Ixii. 5.
 
 20 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 where we can neither be discovered nor taken ; 
 whereas they, from the weight of their armour, 
 are neither able to pursue others nor to escape 
 themselves : moreover, they stand in so much 
 need of shade and shelter, pounded corn, wine 
 and oil, that if one of these things fail them they 
 perish ; while to us every herb and root is food, 
 every juice is oil, every stream is wine, and every 
 tree an house." Strabo again says of the in- 
 habitants of the Cassiterides, by which name some 
 authors seem to refer to the Scilly Isles, others to 
 the British Isles generally, that " they subsist by 
 their cattle, leading for the most part a wandering 
 life." Pomponius Mela says : " The Britons are 
 uncultivated, and in proportion as they live a 
 great distance from the Continent, they are un- 
 acquainted with the wealth and riches in other 
 places, theirs consisting wholly in cattle and the 
 extent of their grounds." 
 
 y- This simplicity of life, which Mela and some 
 
 [other writers attributed to ignorance of luxury, 
 
 Vvas, however, adopted not from necessity but 
 
 from choice. The Britons and Gauls owed the 
 
 formation of their national character to the
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 2 I 
 
 Druidical religion, which, although a corruptea 
 form of Patriarchal worship, retained nevertheless 
 its primitive simplicity. Hence they despised 
 luxury ; and although carrying on a considerable 
 "trade with other more cultivated nations, pre- 
 ferred the nomadic life which they had inherited 
 from their forefathers, so that, even when they 
 settled in Italy, they continued, as Polybius states, 
 the same primitive mode of living. 
 
 The author has deemed it desirable to show on 
 the testimony of Greek and Latin authors that it 
 is more than probable that British warriors were 
 prominent among the conquerors of Rome ; and it 
 may be added that the name of their leader, 
 Brennus, mentioned by Livy, Plutarch, and 
 others, is apparently of British origin. " That 
 Brennus," says Camden, " so famous both in 
 Greek and Latin authors, was a Briton, some 
 think may be easily made out. For my part, 1 
 know only thus much in this matter, that the 
 name is not yet quite lost among the Britons, who 
 in their language call a king Brennin." 
 
 We need not, however, depend solely upon 
 the classical authorities. That the leack-r and the
 
 2 2 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 dominant part of the invading army were British 
 is distinctly claimed by the British historians. 
 The account of the invasions is as follows : — 
 
 Brennus and Belinus, the two sons of Dun- 
 wallo Molmutius, King of Britain, disputed after 
 their father's death for the sovereignty of the 
 island. Brennus, after some vicissitudes, being 
 defeated by his brother, took refuge with Seguin, 
 King of the Ligurians of Gaul (called by Geoifry 
 of Monmouth, Seginus, Duke of the Allobroges), 
 a people of Transalpine Gaul. He there became 
 so great a favourite that Seguin gave him his 
 daughter in marriage and bequeathed to him his 
 kingdom. Succeeding to this within a year, he 
 thought himself strong enough to equip an army 
 for the purpose of taking revenge upon his brother 
 Belinus. Marching through Gaul he at length 
 reached Britain, and the two brothers were about 
 to engage in fratricidal strife, when Corwenna, 
 their aged mother, rushed forward in the presence 
 of the armies, and by her entreaties and appeals 
 effected a reconciliation between her sons. Thus 
 united, Brennus and Belinus decided upon the 
 conquest of Europe, They accordingly passed
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 2$ 
 
 over into Gaul, and in two years reduced all the 
 Celtic population to British rule and administra- 
 tion, Mr Morgan thus describes their conquests: 
 " The Cymro-Celtic army then advanced under 
 the two brothers toward Italy. The Ligurians 
 joined them, and the first military passage of the 
 Alps was, in the face of apparent impossibilities, 
 accomplished. Over the plains of Northern Italy 
 the Kimric army swept in three divisions. The 
 Etrurians made a gallant but ineffectual stand in 
 defence of their empire. Defeated in five engage- 
 ments they withdrew their population southward, 
 consigning each city as they abandoned it to the 
 flames. The old Umbrian ^ nationality was re- 
 stored, the liberator and the liberated forming from 
 this period one Federation with equal rights and 
 laws," 
 
 After the conquest of Cisalpine (iaul, the 
 
 ^ The Umbiians were- probably the same nation as the 
 Kimri, the ancient inhabiuints of Britain and of aonie parts of 
 the Continent, whom Camden supposes to have been originally 
 Gomcric (descendants of Corner, the eldest son of Japhet) ; 
 others to have been Scythians, the same people as the Cim- 
 merians, a nation from the shores of the Euxine, or Black 
 Sea), and so named by the Greeks from the darkness of their 
 countrj'.
 
 24 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 brothers seem to have parted. Bellnus marched 
 northwards, and was engaged in subduing the 
 various tribes, known afterwards as the German 
 people, while Brennus extended his conquests 
 southwards, and at length became the conqueror of 
 Rome, demanding and obtaining a ransom of looo 
 pounds weight in gold in right of his conquest. 
 " When the gold was being weighed in the pre- 
 sence of the different commanders, Brennus, taking 
 off his belt and sword, threw them into the op- 
 posite scale. 'What means that act? ' asked the 
 Roman consul. ' It means,' replied Brennus, 
 ' gwae gwaethedigion ' (vae victis), woe to the 
 vanquished. The Romans endured the taunt in 
 silence. The gold was transferred to Narbonne 
 in Gaul. Brennus withdrew his troops from 
 Rome, but reigned for thirty years afterwards in 
 Northern Italy." ^ It is probable that he here 
 founded a dynasty, his successors also bearing the 
 name Brennus, as the kings of Egypt were called 
 Pharaoh, and the Roman emperors Caesar, after 
 the names of the founders of their dynasties. It 
 is at any rate recorded that the chief leader of 
 
 ^ Morgan, " Cambrian History."
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 25 
 
 the Gauls who invaded Macedonia and Greece, 
 B.C. 280-279, was named Brennus. 
 
 Now. whatever may be said in general of the 
 credibility of the British historians, it is evident 
 that the account given by them of the invasion oi 
 Italy was mainly derived from sources independent 
 of the narrative given by the Roman authors. 
 There is a general similarity between the two 
 stories, but at the same time such divergencies 
 as could only be accounted for by the fact that 
 the British and Roman authors drew their infor- 
 mation from different traditional accounts. In 
 both narratives two brothers leave their country 
 together with a numerous host. The Roman 
 authors give their names as Bellovisus and Sego- 
 visus, sons of Ambigatus, king of the Bituriges 
 in Gaul. Segovisus seeks the Hernician or Black 
 Forest in Germany; Bellovisus establishes a Gallic 
 colony in Italy, and is succeeded apparently by 
 Brennus, the conqueror of Rome. The Hriiisli 
 historians, on the other hand, call the brothers 
 Bcllinus and Brennus sons of a British sovereign, 
 and say that the latter became the son-in-law ot 
 Seginus or Seguin, duke of the Allobrogcs or
 
 26 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Ligurians of Gaul. Both brothers march to the 
 conquest of Northern Italy, and afterwards sepa- 
 rate, Belinus carrying his victorious standard into 
 Germany, Brcnnus extending his arms further 
 southwards towards Rome. In comparing these 
 two accounts it will be noticed that similar names, 
 evidently originally the same, namely, Bellovisus 
 or Bellinus, and Segovisus or Seginus, occur in 
 both, but their relationship is not the same in 
 the two narratives. Evidently tradition had 
 handed down the names of the heroes and the 
 general complexion of the story regarding them, 
 but, as is usually the case with different 
 traditional accounts of the same event, with 
 considerable variety of detail. Such general 
 agreement, with differences as to particulars, is 
 indicative of the truthfulness and independence 
 of the historian. Had the writers of the British 
 accounts, as some have asserted, constructed a 
 purely fictitious narrative, culling what suited 
 their purpose from the Roman histories, they 
 would have been careful to have avoided such 
 discrepancies as were not necessary to their 
 object. The independence of the British tra-
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 2*J 
 
 ditional account being thus rendered probable, 
 the statement by the latter that Brennus was a 
 Briton, and that his victorious army comprised, 
 in addition to its Ligurian and other Gallic 
 elements, a considerable proportion of British 
 warriors, may be readily believed, especially as 
 this has been also shown to be probable by the 
 testimony of classical authors. 
 
 Nor will it seem unlikely that the army of the 
 Gauls should accept the leadership of a British 
 general, when it is remembered that Britain, as 
 CjEsar tells us, was the centre of the Druidical 
 worship, and as the chief seat of learning was 
 held in such high repute that the youth of Gaul 
 were sent over into Britain to be educated. The 
 leadership in a time of natural danger or 
 adventure falls naturally to that people who 
 have acquired the greatest reputation for bravery, 
 intelligence, and learning. 
 
 After the taking of Rome, the British contin- 
 gent in the army of tlie Gauls settled partly in 
 Northern Italy, where, according to the account of 
 their incursion by Livy, they had founded the city 
 of Milan, and were probably the same people
 
 2 8 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 whom the Roman authors call Insubrians/ and 
 partly in the district above the Alps, among the 
 Allobroges or Ligurians, where their leader Bren- 
 nus had previously occupied the sovereignty. 
 They became here celebrated for their military 
 valour and love of adventure, and were probably 
 the people called Goesates or Gessates, a name of 
 British origin given them from their custom of 
 serving in the war for pay.'- Polybius, who relates 
 the history of the wars between the Gauls and the 
 Romans subsequently to the taking of Rome, in- 
 forms us that after many successful inroads of the 
 former, the tide of war began to turn against 
 
 1 May not the name Insubrla have been derived from 
 these British islanders, Ynys in British and Insula in Latin 
 signifying an island ? Livy states that the Jirst settlement of 
 Gauls was in Insubria, while Plutarch says tliat the Insubrians 
 were a people derived from the Gauls, clearly indicating that 
 the Gauls, by which term is described the invading host of 
 Gauls and Britons, gave the name to the country in which 
 they settled. 
 
 2 This derivation of the name is given by Polybius, and 
 Camden states " the Britons at this day call their hired ser- 
 vants Guessin." Another reason, however, for the name may 
 be advanced on the authority of Servius Honoratus, who 
 states that the stoutest and most vigorous soldiers were by the 
 ancient Gauls (who spoke the same language as the Britons) 
 called Gessi.
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 29 
 
 them, and that at length it became necessary for 
 the Gauls to combine in defence of the country 
 which they had made their own. "About i6o 
 years after the capture of Rome, the Bojans and 
 fmubrians, the two greatest people of Cisalpine 
 Gaul, sent ambassadors by common consent to //jc 
 rest of their nation inhabiting on the other side of 
 the Alps about the Rhone ; these people are called 
 Gessates, from their serving in the war for pay, for 
 so that word properly imports, and prevailing on 
 their two kings Concolitanus and Aneroestus, by 
 means of great sums of money, and by the hopes 
 they gave them of rich booty that would be 
 shared by this enterprise if they succeeded, 
 engaged them to join in a war against the 
 Romans, giving them their faith to assist and 
 abide firmly by them ; but the Gessates were 
 not hard to be persuaded. And now, further to 
 incite them, they reminded them of the glory of 
 their ancestors, who had not only van(|uished 
 the Romans in battle upon the like expedition, 
 but subdued and became masters of the city 
 itself, and that being lords of all the Romans 
 held, kept their city seven months in possession,
 
 30 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 and at length, freely and of their own mere 
 motive, restored it to that conquered people as an 
 effect of their generosity, and afterwards returned 
 to their country enriched with infinite booty, 
 without any danger, damage, or impediment. 
 These discourses so animated the leaders of the 
 Gessates, and incited them so powerfully to the 
 war, that it may be said so great an army never 
 marched out from among that nation, nor braver 
 nor more warlike men. . . In the meantime the 
 Gessates having passed the Alps with a magnifi- 
 cent army, furnished with all sorts of arms, came 
 and joined the Cisalpine Gauls, making their 
 rendezvous on the banks of the Po." ^ The forces 
 brought by the Gessates to the assistance of 
 their brethren beyond the Alps consisted of 
 50,000 foot and 20,000 horse, and as many 
 chariots. The use of the latter is worthy of 
 notice, since chariots were not generally em- 
 ployed in war among the Gauls. Strabo, on the 
 other hand, says of the Britons that " in their 
 wars they make use of chariots for the most 
 part," adding, " as do some of the Celti." That 
 ^ Polyb, vol. i., book 2.
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 3 I 
 
 their employment by the latter, however, was 
 very limited is evident from the astonishment 
 expressed by Caesar at the British chariots, which 
 he could not have felt had he encountered them 
 to any extent in his Gallic wars. It is probable 
 that their use in Gaul was confined to those 
 tribes which were of British extraction, and the 
 fact that the Gessates brought so many of them 
 to the war affords therefore further evidence of 
 their British origin. Polybius further describes 
 the Gessates as a race of giants, and makes their 
 custom of going naked — that is, unencumbered by 
 clothes and armour— into battle the subject of 
 special remark. "These Gessates," he says, 
 " such was their foolhardiness and opinion of 
 their strength, stripping themselves naked, 
 marched in that manner in the front of the 
 battle, with their arms in their hands, conceiving 
 that in that equipage they should not only l)e 
 able to use their arms with more freedom, but 
 being eased of their garments they should linJ 
 less impediment from the bushes and briars that 
 inight molest them in time of action. 
 The countenance and behaviour of those who
 
 32 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 marched naked at the head of their army was a 
 sight entirely new ; those giantlike men, strong 
 and well-fashioned, in the prime and strength of 
 their age, where you beheld none in their first 
 ranks who were not adorned with chains, collars, 
 and bracelets of gold." 
 
 Thus does the Roman historian trace out the 
 characteristics of that people, who, according to 
 the British account, migrated from our island and 
 settled first in Transalpine, and afterwards in 
 Cisalpine Gaul. In the Insubrians below the 
 Alps, the capital of whose country was Medio- 
 lanum (Milan), and in the Gessates above the 
 Alps, in the parts about the Rhone, we recognise 
 the same race, the descendants of those hardy 
 British warriors who made even Rome itself 
 tremble and succumb to their power. We see 
 them 1 60 years after the taking of Rome, still 
 pre-eminent for their military valour ; we find 
 them bearing names of British signification, fight- 
 ing from chariots as the Britons were accustomed 
 to fight, stripping themselves of their garments 
 after the British manner when going into battle, 
 remarkable for their extraordinary height and
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 33 
 
 imposing appearance, as even their enemies have 
 allowed our British forefiithers to have been. 
 Do not these characteristics afford evidence that 
 there existed among the Gauls a people distinct 
 from them although called by their name, — a 
 people separated into two nationalities by the 
 lofty barrier of the Alps, but proud of their 
 common British origin, and united in the time of 
 danger by the memory of that day of triumph 
 when Rome lay in ashes and her proudest citizens 
 prostrate at their feet ? 
 
 Nor are there wanting proofs of the continued 
 alliance in after years of the Insubrians and 
 Gessates, and further evidence oF their British 
 extraction and warlike character. 
 
 And first it may he mentioned that Hannibal 
 was careful to secure the aid of these hardy 
 warriors. 
 
 "When Ihmnibal proposed to cross the Alps, 
 he. first," writes Polybius,' ''sent ambassadors to 
 the country at the foot of the Alps and alM)ut the 
 River Po, which abounded in brave people given 
 to war ; and what was yet more to his wish, 
 ' Polybius, vol. ii., book 3. 
 C
 
 34 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 implacable haters of the Romans ever since the 
 war they made on them. Hannibal then used 
 his utmost diligence, and employed all his forces 
 to advance his purpose ; he sent frequent dis- 
 patches to the several princes of the Gauls in- 
 habiting on this side the Alps and in the moun- 
 tains themselves, conceiving it would be a main 
 step towards a happy issue of the war against 
 the Romans to compass his passage through those 
 countries we have named ; and after having sur- 
 mounted the many difficulties of a long march, to 
 be able to engage the Gauls to take part with him 
 and join in the enterprise, as he had laboured to 
 bring it to pass." 
 
 Again in Plutarch's history of Marcellus, and 
 his conflicts with the Gauls in the year 212 B.C., 
 we read, "When the Romans had ended their 
 first war against the Carthaginians, which held 
 them fully the space of two and twenty years ; 
 immediately after that they began a new war 
 against the Gauls. For the Insubrians, being a 
 people derived from the Gauls, and dwelling at 
 the foot of the Mountains of the Alps on Italy 
 side, being able to make a good power of them-
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 35 
 
 selves, did notwithstanding pray aid of the other 
 Gauls inhabiting on the other side of the moun- 
 tains, and they caused the Gessates, mercenary 
 people and hirelings to them that would give pay, 
 to bring great numbers with them." Peace 
 however at that time was concluded. " But 
 immediately after," says Plutarch, " the Gauls 
 and Gessates renewed the wars again. For there 
 came over the mountains of the Alps 30,000 of 
 them, and they joined with the Insubrians, which 
 were many more in number than themselves." 
 The historian then relates that the united armies 
 laying siege to the city of Acerres, "Britomarus, 
 the king of the Gessates, with 10,000 men went 
 and destroyed all the country above the Po. 
 Marcellus hearing that, marched night and day 
 against the enemy, until he encountered 10,000 
 Gessates, headed by their king Britomarus, near 
 Clostidium. Having vowed to Jupiter Feretrian 
 to olTcr him the goodliest spoils of his enemies if 
 he overcame, and seeing Britomarus that ho was 
 the goodliest person and strongest of all the 
 Gauls, and that his armour was all gilt and 
 silvered, and so set forth with sundry works mkI
 
 36 C^.SAR IN KENT. 
 
 colours that it shined as the sun, he challenged 
 him to single combat. Putting his horse in full 
 career against him, he came with such a force 
 and fury that he pierced his armour with his staff 
 and slew him. After this the Gessates, finding 
 that their king Britomarus was slain, returned 
 back into their own country, and the Insubrians 
 being thus deserted by their allies, their city of 
 Milan was taken by the Romans." 
 
 Up to this period, then, the Insubrians and 
 Gessates, although preserving their difference 
 of name, made common cause as one people. 
 In all the Gallic wars they were the leaders, 
 and the name of the King of the Gessates, 
 Britomarus, which, as Camden says, signifies "a 
 great Briton," shows that they had not forgotten 
 their British origin. But they were destined, 
 being now divided, to be dispersed by the advanc- 
 ing power of Rome. Soon after their defeat by 
 Marcellus, Cisalpine Gaul was, in the year b.c. 
 200, reduced to the form of a Roman province 
 by Scipio Africanus, who, it is said, drove large 
 numbers of the Boii to seek an asylum on the 
 banks of the Danube, where a part of their race
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 37 
 
 had long been settled, as the name implies, in 
 Boihemum (the home of the Boii), now Bohemia. 
 The more warlike spirits among the Insubrians, 
 who had ever been allied with the Boii in their 
 wars against Rome, probably migrated at the 
 same time, or were expelled, either accompany- 
 ing the Boii into Germany, or joining their 
 brethren, the Gessates, on the other side of the 
 Alps in the parts about the Rhone. The rest of 
 their nation doubtless became merged in the races 
 of Italy, The Gessates in their turn seem to 
 have lost their cohesion as a nation, for their 
 name is heard no more in history. These hardy 
 warriors of the British colonies in Gaul probably 
 found refuge among the Helvetii and other neigh- 
 bouring peoples, and their continued intercourse 
 with their brethren in Britain enabled first the 
 Helvetii, and then other races of the Gauls in 
 succession, to obtain the valuable assistance 
 which C^a-sar says they obtained from these 
 shores. 
 
 The Romans, however, were not to be left in 
 undisputed possession of the ground they had 
 gained. The expulsion of the Gauls and their
 
 O^ C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 flight to the shores of the Danube and other 
 parts, burning with hatred and desire of revenge, 
 although for a time it freed the Roman people 
 from hostile and troublesome neighbours, was 
 doubtful policy. A century had not elapsed 
 before another immense army of 300,000 fight- 
 ing men appeared (in b.c. 113) on the confines 
 of the Roman territory below the Danube. They 
 were no longer known as Gauls, but as Cimbri, 
 the generic name of the whole Kimric family, but 
 retained principally by the inhabitants of Northern 
 Germany in the country known as the Cimbric 
 Chersonese, and by the Kymri of Gaul and 
 Britain. They were accompanied by the Teutons 
 and Ambrons, and were joined by some of the 
 Helvetii, The united armies were known as the 
 Celto-Scythian host, and were doubtless drawn 
 from Germany, Gaul, and from the British Isles. 
 From their first appearing in the neighbourhood 
 of the Danube it is probable that they were in the 
 first instance invited by the Boii on the Danube, 
 who had been expelled from Roman territory, and 
 through whose territory they must have passed. 
 They first encountered the Roman armies near
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 39 
 
 Noreia, where they defeated the Consul, Papirius 
 Carbo. Flushed with success, and scarcedistinguish- 
 ing friends from foes, they became a marauding 
 host, and going into Gaul, ravaged in all directions. 
 Thence returning they defeated three Roman 
 Consular armies in the years B.C. 109, 107, and 
 105. As yet, however, they did not cross the 
 Alps, but proceeded westward to the conquest of 
 Spain. Afterwards coming back into Gaul (in 
 B.C. 102) they determined upon the invasion of 
 Italy. They divided their forces into two great 
 armies, the Cimbres deciding to pass into Italy 
 through Germany, the Teutons and Ambrons to 
 force a passage through the territory of Genoa 
 against the Roman armies led by Marius. The 
 engagement between the latter opposing forces 
 took, place at Aqux Sextx (Aix les Bains), where 
 the Teutons and Ambrons were utterly routed, 
 and upwards of 100,000 of them killed and taken 
 prisoners. In this conflict the Ambrons, accord- 
 ing to Plutarch, led the battle and were engaged 
 with the Ligurians, who dwelt upon the coast of 
 Genoa. Before they commenced the fight, he 
 says they made a noise simultaneously with their
 
 40 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 harness/ and oft repeated their own name, 
 " Ambrons, Ambrons, Ambrons." The Liguri- 
 ans, hearing this noise and cry of theirs, plainly- 
 understood them, and answered them again with 
 the like noise and cry, " Ligurians, Ligurians, 
 Ligiirians," saying that it was the true surname 
 of all their nation. Plutarch suggests that the in- 
 vaders called out the name of their race either to 
 encourage one ariother, or to intimidate the 
 Romans with the mere name, reminding them 
 thereby of a victory gained a few years previously, 
 by the Ambrons over the Roman captains, Man- 
 lius and Ccepio. It is doubtful, however, whether 
 the Ligurians and Ambrons had ever met in 
 battle before as enemies. The former encounter 
 between the Roman and the Celto-Scythian armies 
 had taken place in the Danubian provinces, where 
 the Ligurians would not be likely to be engaged. 
 A more probable reason for the remarkable 
 
 1 It seems to have been a custom among the Kymri to en- 
 deavour to strike terror by the noise of their chariots. Cassar 
 says of the British chariot warfare, " This is the kind of fight 
 from chariots : first they ride about everywhere and hurl darts, 
 and generally disorder the ranks by the very terror of the horses, 
 and by the rattle of the wheels."
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 4 1 
 
 behaviour of the two contending forces on this 
 occasion may be found in some alliance which 
 had formerly existed between the two races, and 
 the Ambrons in calling out the name of their race, 
 accompanied by their customary method of clash- 
 ing simultaneously the harness of their chariots, 
 doubtless intended to remind the Ligurians^ that 
 they were once their brethren in arms, and to 
 induce them to desert to their standard. The 
 Ligurians, however, did not respond in the 
 manner desired. They immediately understood 
 the Ambrons and their intention, but called out 
 in reply the name of their own race, loudly assert- 
 ing that that was their true patronymic, and 
 thereby rejecting the overtures of their former 
 confreres. 
 
 There is some reason to believe that an alliance, 
 if not a relationship, did exist between these two 
 races. Livy states that the (Tauls who invaded 
 the country above the Alps did not dispossess the 
 
 1 The origin of this people is involved in some obscurity. 
 They are supposed to be the same people as the LIccgrians, 
 called by the Greeks Ligyes and Ligystini. They settled on 
 both sides of the Alps, about the same time tliat the Umbrians 
 settled in luly. It is possible that they were of Kymric origin.
 
 42 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Ligurians, but settled by their side, and it will be 
 remembered that according to the British account, 
 Brennus, the British conqueror of Rome, had 
 married the daughter of Seguin, King of the 
 Ligurians, and that when he subsequently invaded 
 Roman territory he was joined by the Ligurians. 
 In espousing the Roman cause the Ligurians 
 were therefore now fighting against their former 
 friends, for the Ambrons, although a people of 
 Germany, and therefore associated in the war 
 with the Teutons, were probably of British 
 origin. From the prominent position assigned 
 to them in the battle they were evidently con- 
 sidered the bravest in the invading army, and 
 as Plutarch states that the most warlike of 
 the Celto-Scythian host dwelt in the farthest 
 parts of the earth near the great forest of 
 Hercynia, it is a reasonable conclusion that the 
 Ambrons were the people who came from this 
 district. Their former alliance with the Ligurians 
 may therefore be easily traced, for it was in this 
 very region that one of the two great divisions 
 of the Celto-British army (namely that under 
 Bellinus) settled after that the two brothers, with
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 43 
 
 the assistance of the Ligurians, had conquered 
 Cisalpine Gaul. That the Ambrons, who, in 
 after years engaged in such deadly conflict with 
 the Ligurians, were descended from these early 
 British settlers in Germany is rendered the more 
 probable by the finding (as related by Camden) 
 at Aix in Provence, where Marius slaughtered 
 the Ambrons, of the coat-armour of the King 
 Beleus on which the words "Beleos Cimbros " 
 were engraven in a strange character. Now the 
 people distinguished in the Celto-Scythian host 
 as Cimbri were not engaged in this battle, but 
 were defeated afterwards by Marius in the 
 plain of Versclles under their King Bccorix. The 
 armour therefore could not be that of the King 
 of the Cimbri. But if it be admitted that the 
 Ambrons' were also Cimbri, the descendants of 
 the British Umbri or Kymri who conquered 
 Germany under Bellinus, the inscription "Beleos 
 Cimbros " is at once expiainod. It referred to 
 one of a race of kings who, as the successors of 
 Bellinus, retained his name in an abbreviated or 
 corrupted form. 
 
 1 Strabo mentions the Ambrons with the Tigurini, who 
 were undoubtedly a Celtic or Cimbrian tribe.
 
 44 CESAR IN KENT. 
 
 After the defeat of the Cimbri and their allies, 
 the Romans were not engaged in any important 
 foreign wars until the time of Ccesar. The 
 hostility of the Gauls, however, was only smoulder- 
 ing, and the Helvetii were preparing a fresh 
 incursion into Roman territory at the time when 
 Cassar commenced his Gallic campaign. They 
 were the first of the Gauls to feel the weight of 
 his conquering arm. Amongst them, as already 
 stated, the descendants of the ancient British 
 conquerors of Rome probably took refuge when 
 driven back by the advancing power of Rome, 
 and were the means of their obtaining powerful 
 aid against Cccsar from their kindred in Britain. 
 Mr Morgan indeed quotes from the historic 
 Triads an additional reason why a large army was 
 sent against Cxsar at this period from the shores 
 of Britain. " Prior to the campaigns of Csesar," 
 he says, " in the north of Gaul ' the second silver 
 host ' recorded in these writings quitted Britain, 
 under the command of Gwenwynwyn and 
 Gwanan, nephews of Caswallon, accompanied 
 by Caswallon in person. They landed to 
 the number of 50,000 men at Brest, b.c. ^"j.
 
 EARLY BRITISH COLONIES. 45 
 
 Marching southward, they effected a junction 
 with the Aquitani. Flur or Flora, daughter 
 of Mygnach G6r (the Dwarf), who had 
 been engaged in marriage to Caswallon, had 
 been forcibly carried oft by Morchau, a Regulas 
 of Aquitania. The Triads affirm Ca?sar to have 
 been the instigator of this act, and the reckless 
 immorality of his private life in Gaul, as depicted 
 by Suetonius, gives colour to the statement. The 
 castle of Morchau was stormed by Caswallon, 
 and Flora brought in safety to Cacr Troia (Lon- 
 don)." Whatever credence may be given to the 
 details of this account, which seem indeed rather 
 legendary, it was no doubt founded upon a tradi- 
 tion that a considerable army, known as '' the 
 second silver host," left the shores of Britain 
 at this period for the purpose of taking part in 
 the desperate resistance which the Gauls were 
 making to the advance of C-a\sar. That such 
 was in fact the case, the words of Gcvsar himself 
 lead us to believe ; nor will his statement that 
 in "almost all the (iailic wars lul|) IkuI been 
 afforded his enemies from Britain," occasion any 
 surprise, since we have been able to trace the
 
 46 c^SAR IN kp:nt. 
 
 existence of a British colony for a period of 500 
 years on the very confines of Roman territory. 
 A people who retained, as we have seen, British 
 names and characteristics for so long a period, 
 must have continued to hold frequent communica- 
 tion with Britain itself, and it was to be expected 
 that they would seek aid, as doubtless they had 
 done in previous wars, from the mother country. 
 That abundant means of communication existed 
 in the considerable trade carried on between this 
 country and all parts of Gaul, will be fully 
 explained in the next chapter.
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 
 
 HE Statements of Cxsar with regard 
 to the intercommunication which 
 ^X existed between Britain and the 
 Continent are very conflicting. On 
 the one hand lie .states tliat he deemed it of im- 
 portance, supposing the time of year should fail 
 for his invasion of the country, if only he could 
 approach the island, in order to ascertain what 
 race of men lived there, and to discover its situa- 
 tion, its ports, and means of access, '-almost all 
 which things," he says, "were unknown to the 
 Gauls. For neither does any one besides the 
 merchants go there unadvisedly, nor is anything 
 known to the merchants themselves beyond the
 
 48 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 sea-coast and the parts which are over against 
 Gaul." 
 
 Having called these merchants together from 
 ] every quarter he could not find out from them 
 either the size of the island nor what nations, or 
 how great, inhabited it, nor what was their mode 
 of warfare or form of government, nor even what 
 ports were suitable for a number of large vessels. 
 On the other hand he speaks of a considerable 
 intercourse between Britain and Belgic Gaul. 
 Colonies from Gaul, he informs us, passed into 
 Britain and established themselves there, bearing 
 the names of the people from which they came. 
 Thus the Atrebates inhabited Berkshire, and 
 Comius, the king of the Atrebates in Gaul, pos- 
 sessed great influence also in Britain. The inhabi- 
 tants of Wiltshire also were called BelgiP, suffi- 
 ciently indicating their origin, while Ccesar states 
 that the inhabitants of the southern part of the 
 island by the sea-coast were chiefly of Belgic 
 descent, having crossed over from that country for 
 the sake of plunder and conquest. It is certain 
 that these still kept up intercourse with the Belgae 
 of the Continent, since Cxsar mentions that, on
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 49 
 
 his conquering the Bellovaci, a Belgic people, he 
 was informed by them that the chief promoters ot 
 the war had fled into the isle of Britain. We also 
 learn from the same source that Dlvitiacus, the 
 king of the Suessiones, having established a very 
 powerful monarchy in Gaul, had also extended 
 his authority into Britain. 
 
 Not only had large populations from Gaul 
 migrated to Britain, but there had been a 
 corresponding migration of Britons into Gaul. 
 Besides the British colony in the south of (xaul, 
 the origin and continuance of which we have 
 traced in the previous chapter, the Morini and 
 the inhabitants generally of the district known as 
 Armorica were Britons by descent and association ; 
 and this the name itself of the Morini (mor, ynys), 
 signifying " inlanders by the sea," seems to imj)ly. 
 
 If then there existed this community of interest 
 between the southern part of this island and 
 Gaul, if the inhabitants of these districts were, 
 many of them, of the same race and to some 
 extent under the same rule, how is the statement 
 of Carsar to be understood that the people of 
 Gaul knew but little of Britain ; and that even 
 
 D
 
 50 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 the merchants who traded there could give no 
 information respecting the country or its principal 
 ports? In reply, we say that there can be no 
 doubt that the ignorance professed by these mer- 
 chants, and, in^eedTby the Gauls generally, was 
 feigned, and that they purposely withheld from 
 Ccrsar the information that he sought. Caesar's 
 narrative of his dealings with the Morini shows 
 that they deceived him in every possible way, as 
 the Britons did afterwards ; nor would he be 
 likely to receive from the merchants any informa- 
 tion respecting the country whence they derived 
 their trade, but rather every discouragement in 
 his project of invading its shores. For the trade 
 with Britain was most jealously guarded, and 
 the greatest reticence was observed by those who 
 had knowledge of it, as will be shown when we 
 consider what ancient writers relate concerning 
 it. How, we may ask, could there have been 
 this ignorance in Gaul concerning the land of 
 Britain, when Ca?sar himself admits that the 
 southern parts of Britain were peopled from 
 Gaul and under the influence to some extent of 
 the Belgic kings ; how especially could there
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 5 I 
 
 have been this ignorance at Boulogne (the 
 Fortius Itius), where Cassar then was, when this 
 port was the British port of the Morini, a people 
 who had migrated from Britain ? And if the 
 youth of Gaul went over, as he relates, to Britain 
 for their education, how could the Gauls be 
 ignorant of the race of men and the form of 
 government in that country ? If succours were 
 supplied from thence to the Gauls in time of 
 , war, how could the latter be ignorant of the 
 customs of war prevailing in Britain ? and if the 
 merchants went over thither for purposes of 
 trade, how could they fail to be acquainted with 
 the port and harbours of the British coast ? It 
 is indeed a proof of the close tie of kindred and 
 religion which united the two nations, and of 
 how important tlicy deemed it to keep the trade 
 carried on between them from others, that all 
 Ca'sar's attempts to elicit information from the 
 Morini and from the merchants were fruitless. 
 From reasons of policy and of kindrc-d. they 
 naturally wished to i)revent Gx\sar's invasion of 
 the island, and it was therefore to their interest 
 to represent the Britons as savage and barbarous.
 
 52 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 and their country as difficult of approach. The 
 same motives, according to Strabo, influenced the 
 Veneti to oppose Ctesar on the ocean. "The 
 Veneti," he says, " who fought against Ccesar by 
 sea were ready to obstruct his passage to Britain, 
 because they used it as a mart." The Veneti of 
 Armorica were the principal maritime people 
 among the Gauls, and the carrying trade between 
 Britain and Gaul was in their hands. As long 
 as the Venetine navy, which was a very powerful 
 one, was mistress of the narrow sea between the 
 two countries, no hostile expedition could quit 
 the ports of Gaul. Before therefore he could 
 invade Britain, Ccesar recognized the necessity of 
 subduing the Veneti. Their very powerful vessels 
 and the superiority of their naval tactics obliged 
 him to take advantage of a dead calm to attack 
 them, when after a battle which lasted from morn- 
 ing till night, they were at last conquered, and to 
 Ca?sar's disgrace were sold into slavery. 
 
 But it may be asked, what means of intercom- 
 munication were there at this early period between 
 Britain and the districts of Gaul more remote 
 from her.'' Admitting the existence of interna-
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 53 
 
 tional relations between Britain and the Belgic 
 states and the district of Armorica, what evidence 
 is there of any intercourse being maintained with 
 the people of the south of Gaul and of those 
 _ . regions which bordered upon the Roman territory ? 
 Do not historians inform us that Britain, before 
 the time of Ccesar, was a " terra incognita " to 
 the Romans, who were even doubtful whether it 
 were an island or a continent ? In reply to these 
 inquiries it will suffice to examine the accounts 
 which Greek and Roman writers have given. 
 The supposed ignorance of the ancients concern- 
 ing the British Isles rests chiefly on the authority 
 of Dion Cassius.^ "' To the earliest of the Greeks 
 and Romans," he says, '' the existence of Britain 
 was not known, but to those of after times it be- 
 came matter of dispute whether it were a conti- 
 nent or an island, and much has been written on 
 either side by persons who having neither them- 
 selves seen nor heard of it from its inhabiianls, 
 knew nothing concerning it, but merely conjec- 
 tured, as prompted by leisure or the love of con- 
 troversy : in process of time, however, first under 
 ' Dio. Cass., lib. xxxix. 50.
 
 54 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Agricola the Proprietor, and now under the 
 Emperor Severus, it has been clearly proved to 
 be an island." Now this statement of Dion 
 Cassius, who wrote about the year a.d. 230, 
 asserts no more than this : that there was a good 
 deal of random writing by the geographers of a 
 former day about Britain, and that many who 
 wrote were but ill-informed as to its extent and 
 shape, which were not satisfactorily ascertained 
 until the times of Agricola and Severus. 
 
 There were, however, several writers of an 
 early period who had obtained reliable informa- 
 tion respecting these islands. Even Herodotus, 
 who wrote as early as B.C. 445, states that tin 
 was brought to Greece from the islands of the 
 Cassiterides, although he professes to know no- 
 thing further about them. Aristotle of Stagira 
 (B.C. 345) also has the following: "The ocean 
 flows round the earth. In this ocean, however, 
 are two islands^ and those very large, called Bre- 
 tannic Albion and lerne, which lie beyond the 
 Celte." Polybius of Arcadia (b.c. 130) also 
 refers to the Bretannic Isles and the working of 
 tin, but gives no further description of them.
 
 J THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 55 
 
 Diodorus Siculus (b.c. 44) says that there "are 
 many idands in the ocean, of which that which 
 is called Britain is the largest." Cassar also dis- 
 tinctly states that Britain is an island, and describes 
 its triangular shape and general characteristics. 
 The statement, therefore, of Dion Cassius that 
 Britain was not certainly ascertained to be an 
 island till 'the time of Agricola and Severus, is 
 inaccurate, and must be attributed to the conceit, 
 not uncommon in writers of that period, of en- 
 deavouring to claim every discovery for their own 
 age, or that immediately preceding. 
 
 While, however, it is certain that the best 
 informed historians among the ancients had a 
 general knowledge of the island of Britain, and 
 Pytheas of Massilia (Marseilles) had, about the 
 year 350 B.C., reached it by sea, and having sailed 
 round part of the island travelled homewards by 
 land, it is probable that the Romans in gener.d, 
 notwithstanding the frequent intercourse both for 
 military purposes and for those of trade between 
 the British colony on both sides of the Alps and 
 the mother country, knew but little of it. In the 
 early days of the Roman Republic, literature and
 
 56 ^ CiESAR IN KENT. 
 
 learning were held in small repute ; so little were 
 they esteemed that Cato expelled the Grecian 
 philosophers from Rome. We cannot, therefore, 
 be surprised if the Romans possessed but a limited 
 knowledge of the history and geography of 
 Britain. The Gauls were only known to them 
 as fierce and barbarous enemies, concerning whom 
 they did not care to enquire. Whatever other 
 races there were amongst them were known all 
 as Gauls, and until the time of Ca?sar it is pro- 
 bable that they had a very imperfect knowledge of 
 the British Isles. The trade carried on between 
 this country and the Mediterranean ports, although 
 considerable, was retained exclusively in the hands 
 of Gaulic and Phoenician merchants, especially 
 those of Carthage, a Tyrian colony, and so great 
 was the jealousy lest any other should obtain a 
 knowledge of its source, that Polybius states that 
 none of the people of Massilia could offer any- 
 thing worthy of remembrance when questioned 
 by him about Britain, neither could those of 
 Narbonne nor of Corbelo, which are the chief 
 cities in that district. Now seeing that Massilia 
 was the principal emporium of the merchants
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 57 
 
 from Britain, there could not have been the 
 ignorance concerning that country which was 
 pretended. The reticence respecting it whicli 
 Scipio noticed with apparent surprise arose from 
 the same cause which led the merchants who 
 traded with Britain to withhold information from 
 Ccrsar. 
 
 The accounts of the early commerce between 
 this country and the Mediterranean ports are 
 very interesting, and entirely refute the com- 
 monly-received notion that before the coming 
 of the Romans, Britain was inhabited by wild 
 and wholly uncivilized races, who had little 
 intercourse with the people of other lands, and 
 no knowledge or possession of the articles of 
 utility and ornament which were there in use. 
 The nature of this commerce and the means of 
 its transmission are described by several early 
 historians. 
 
 The allusions to the trade in tin with Britain 
 by Herodotus and Polybius of y\rracli.i have been 
 already mentioned. Diodorus Sic iihis describes 
 it as follows: — "They who dwell near the 
 Promontory of Britain, which is called Bolerium,
 
 58 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 are singularly fond of strangers, and from their 
 intercourse with foreign merchants, civilized in 
 their habits. These people obtain the tin by 
 skilfully working the soil which produces it : 
 this being rocky, has earthy interstices, in which 
 working the ore and then fusing, they reduce 
 it to metal ; and when they have formed it into 
 cubical shapes, they convey it to a certain island 
 lying off Britain, named Ictis ; for at the low 
 tides the intervening space being laid dry, they 
 carry thither in waggons the tin in great abund- 
 ance. A singular circumstance happens with 
 respect to the neighbouring islands between 
 Europe and Britain ; for at the high tides the 
 intervening passage being flooded, they seem 
 islands ; but at the low tides, the sea retreating 
 and leaving much space dry, they appear penin- 
 sulas. From hence the merchants purchase the 
 tin from the natives, and carry it across into 
 Gaul, and finally journeying by land through 
 Gaul for about thirty days, they convey their 
 burdens on horses to the outlet of the river 
 Rhone." In another passage he says, ''Above 
 the country of the Lusitanians, there are many
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 59 
 
 mines of tin in the little islands, called Cassiterides, 
 from this circumstance, lying off Iberia in the 
 ocean. And much of it also is carried across 
 from the Bretannic isle to the opposite coast of 
 Gaul, and thence conveyed on horses by the 
 merchants through the intervening Celtic land, 
 to the people of Massilia and to the city called 
 Narbonne." 
 
 The following is Strabo's account of the trade 
 with Britain. " And he (Posidonius) says that 
 tin is not found upon the surface, as authors 
 commonly relate, but that it is dug up ; and that 
 it is produced both in places among the bar- 
 barians who dwell beyond the Lusitanians, and 
 in the islands Cassiterides, and that from the 
 Bretannic isles it is carried to Massilia. The 
 Cassiterides are ten in number, and lie near each 
 other in the ocean, towards the north from the 
 haven of the Artabri ; one of" tluin is desert, 
 but the others are inhabited by men in black 
 cloaks, clad in lunics reaching to ilie leet, and 
 girt about the breast; walking with staves and 
 bearded like goats. They subsist by their cattle, 
 leading for the most part a wandering life. And
 
 6o C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 having metals of tin and lead, these and skins 
 they barter with the merchants for earthenware 
 and salt and brazen vessels. Formerly the 
 Phoenicians alone carried on this traffic from 
 Gadeira, concealing the passage from every one ; 
 and when the Romans followed a certain ship- 
 master that they also might find the mart, the 
 shipmaster of jealousy purposely ran his vessel 
 upon a shoal, and leading on those who followed 
 him into the same destructive disaster, he himself 
 escaped by means of a fragment of the ship, and 
 received from the state the value of the cargo he 
 had lost. But the Romans, nevertheless, making 
 frequent efforts, discovered the passage : and as 
 soon as Publius Crassus, passing over to them, 
 perceived that the metals were dug out at a little 
 depth, and that the men being at peace were 
 already beginning, in consequence of their leisure, 
 to busy themselves about the sea, he pointed out 
 this passage to such as were willing to attempt 
 it, although it was longer than that to Britain," 
 
 With regard to the various passages from the 
 Continent to Britain, Strabo writes : "There are 
 four passages commonly used from the Continent
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 6 I 
 
 to the island, namely, from the mouths of the 
 rivers Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Garonne ; but to 
 such as set sail from the ports about the Rhine, 
 the passage is not exactly from its mouths, but 
 from the Morini who border on the Menapians. 
 among whom also is situated Itium, which the 
 deified Caesar used as his naval station when about 
 to pass over to the island."^ 
 
 From the foregoing accounts it would appear 
 that the earliest trade carried on with this country 
 was in the hands of the Phoenicians, who, being 
 at first the principal maritime people, were able 
 to keep the knowledge of it from others for a 
 considerable period, bringing the merchandise by 
 sea through the pillars of Hercules (Straits of 
 Gibraltar), and jealously preventing the ships ot 
 other nations from dii^covering ilic j^assage. 
 They received it from the r.atives, as it would 
 seem, not in Britain itself, but for greater privacy 
 in the islands of the Gassitcrides (Scilly Isles). 
 
 ' Thcri; was no port ni-arcr the moutli of tlie Rliino than 
 Itium, in all probability, at the time Strabo wrote. The 
 Morini, that Cxsjir might have nothing to conquer, (lestroyed 
 every building between tin- I'ortus Itius and tlic moutli of thi 
 Rhine.
 
 62 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 The Greeks at length, and afterwards the 
 Romans, found out the route, and Pubhus 
 Crassus (perhaps one of Ccpsar's generals, see 
 De Bel. Gal, lib. iii. Ch. 7) subsequently made it 
 known. But it is evident that other routes had 
 long been in use, though their existence was 
 before the coming of Ccesar unknown to the 
 Romans, since Strabo speaks but slightingly of 
 that to the Cassiterides as being a much longer 
 route than that to Britain itself, that is, than the 
 ordinary routes between Britain and the Con- 
 tinent. 
 
 What were these routes ? Strabo says that 
 there were four passages from the Continent to 
 Britain in his time, namely from the mouths of 
 the rivers Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Garonne. 
 It is probable that all these had been used for the 
 purposes of trade before Cccsar's time, but it is 
 certain that one of them had. Diodorus Siculus, 
 in the quotation already given, clearly defines one 
 of these routes. " The people of Bolerium (Corn- 
 wall)," he says, "having reduced the tin ore to 
 metal, convey it to a certain island lying off 
 Britain, called Ictis." This they did in waggons
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 63 
 
 at low water. This ishmd is clearly the same as 
 Vectis/ originally Ouictis (the Isle of Wight). 
 
 ^ It has been contended that the island called Ictis could 
 not have been that now known as the Isle of Wight, since Dio- 
 dorus is speaking of the trade at the western extremity of Corn- 
 wall, from which that island is nearly 200 miles distant. But 
 the similarity of the name Vectis or Ouictis with the Ictis ot 
 Diodorus renders it probable that the Isle of Wight is intended. 
 There was no reason why the ore should not have been brought 
 200 miles by land in order to shorten the sea passage (a dan- 
 gerous one if from Cornwall) to the Continent. If the mer- 
 chants conveyed the tin thirty days' journey through the Con- 
 tinent on horses, it was comparatively easy for the Britons to 
 bring it the much shorter distance from Cornwall to the Isle of 
 Wight by the same means of transit; and the words of Diodorus, 
 they " conveyed it across " to Gaul, rather implies that they 
 adopted a short passage from Britain to Gaul. The secrecy 
 moreover with which the trade in tin was carried on would 
 compel the miners of Britain if they desired to maintain their 
 relations with both the Phoenician and Massilian merchants to 
 keep from each the knowledge of the trade carried on with 
 the other, so that it would be necessary to negoti.iti- witli the 
 merchants from Gaul at some port distant from th.it at which 
 they sold to the Phoenicians. It is true that the Isle of Wight 
 is not now connected with the mainland at low water as 
 Diodorus says Ictis was. But he also speaks of several 
 islands along the south coast of Britain which were so con- 
 nected. The only one now connected with the mainland at 
 low water is a very small island, a mere high rock, called St 
 Michael's Mount, close to Penzance, in every way unsuitable 
 for trading, and so close to the mainland that there would have
 
 64 Ci^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Here the tin was purchased by the merchants, 
 who, carrying it across to Gaul, either to the 
 mouth of the Seine or to the Portus Itius 
 (Boulogne), conveyed it on horses to the outlet of 
 the River Rhone. From the mention of rivers in 
 connection with the trade routes, there can be no 
 doubt that the merchants used, whenever they 
 could, the water-courses of the rivers for the con- 
 veyance of their merchandize. After travelling, as 
 Diodorus relates, for thirty days overland, they 
 would reach in about that time the navigable 
 part of the Rhone, probably near the ancient 
 Lugdunum (Lyons), where the Saone joins the 
 Rhone. Conveying it down this river they 
 would be able speedily to discharge their cargo 
 either at NarbonnL' or at Massilia (Marseilles), 
 the great emporium of their trade, as both 
 Diodorus and Strabo relate. 
 
 been no object in the merchants transacting business there 
 rather than on the mainland itself. It is evident that in con- 
 sequence of the changes in the coast, seveial islands, the Isle 
 of Wight included, which once were more or less connected 
 with the southern coast of Britain, have become now wholly 
 separated from it. On the other hand, some wliich were for- 
 merly islands, such as the Isle of Thanet and Richborough (cer- 
 tainly once an island), are now connected with the mainland.
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 65 
 
 Of the ancient British ports and harbours, 
 there can be no doubt that Dubris (Dover) was 
 the most commodious and most important, being 
 the nearest to the Continent. It was chosen 
 by Ciesar at first as being the most suitable place 
 for landing his vessels on account of its excellent 
 harbour and its readiness of access from the 
 Portus Itius, his place of embarkation. But of 
 this we will treat at greater length in a subse- 
 quent chapter. That Itium was a Gallic port, 
 its name "Portus Itius," by which it was known 
 to Cnesar, implies, and its use as such previously 
 to his invasion of Britain may be gathered from 
 the passage of Strabo already quoted : " To such 
 as sail about the Rhine, the passage is not exactly 
 from its mouths, but from the Morini who border 
 on the Mcnapians, among whom also is situated 
 Itium, which the deified ('ccsar used as his naval 
 station when about to pass over to the island." 
 If Copsar is said to have "used" the port, it is 
 necessarily implied that it was known as a j)ort 
 before his time. With reference to the routes 
 which the caravans of merchants adopted in con- 
 veying their merchandise across the Continent we 
 
 £
 
 io- 
 
 66 CiESAK IN KENT. 
 
 >0 
 
 have no information, but they were probably 
 those which in after years were defined by the 
 construction of roads. Strabo relates that in the 
 reign of Augustus, Agrippa caused a road to be 
 constructed from Lugdunum (Lyons) to the ocean 
 across the country of the Bellovaci and Ambiani, 
 doubtless the same road which the itinerary of 
 Antoninus traces through Bagacum (Bavay), 
 Pons-Scaldis (Escant Point), Tournacum (Tour- 
 nay), Viroviacum (Werwick), Castellum (Cassel), 
 Tarrenna (Theroncnne), ending at Gessoriacum 
 (Boulogne). This no doubt indicated the original 
 trade-route which the merchants followed from 
 Lyons to Boulogne, connecting the trade carried 
 on between Marseilles and Britain. The trade 
 routes of a country are not easily diverted, and it 
 is probable that the road made by Agrippa was 
 constructed on the original pathway of the 
 merchant caravans, just as in Britain the Romans 
 formed their vias on the foundations of the 
 former British roads. Another route seems to 
 have been from Boulogne to Bonne on the 
 Rhine. Augustus caused bridges to be thrown 
 over the streams at the time he constructed a
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 67 
 
 road between these towns. The merchants 
 travelling by this route would no doubt avail 
 themselves of the great watercourse of the 
 Rhine, and afterwards of the Rhone, for the 
 conveyance of their wares, but it is doubtful 
 whether the Gaulish merchants made much use 
 of this route, as it would take them through 
 a foreign country rather than through their own. 
 Having indicated the various centres and sources 
 of the trade between this country and the Medi- 
 terranean ports, we will now inquire in what 
 that trade consisted. Of the exports from Britain, 
 tin, the plumbum album of the ancients, was the 
 earliest and most important. It was to procure 
 this that the Phoenician merchants braved a 
 dangerous ocean and the rocky headlands of the 
 islands of the Cassiterides. This was the prin- 
 cipal inducement to the merchants of Gaul to 
 undertake their long journeys across the con- 
 tinent between the ocean port and Massilia. 
 Cjus ar speaks of tin being -fouiul in the southern 
 parts of t he island, an d jron, although in small 
 quantities, on the sea-coast. The trade of the 
 Phoenicians with Britain in tin must have com-
 
 68 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 menced at least 1400 years before Christ, since 
 tin is enumerated among other metals that passed 
 through the purifying fire in the time of Moses 
 (Numbers xxxi. 22), and is also mentioned 
 by Homer (Iliad, ii. v. 25), and we read of no 
 other country that produced it in any quantity 
 in ancient times except Britain, nor any people 
 who extensively traded in it except the Phoeni- 
 cians. 
 
 An examination, moreover, of the mines of 
 Cornwall affords internal evidence of the remote 
 period at which they were worked, for at the 
 depth of fifty fathoms the miners frequently meet 
 with large timbers still entire, the props and pillars 
 of the mines exhausted at an early age. The 
 earliest name of the country, indeed, is probably 
 derived from the abundance of its wealth in tin, 
 for the Phoenician " Barat-anac," or " land of tin," 
 by which it is said to have been originally distin- 
 guished, was afterwards corrupted into BperuviKt], 
 or Britain, and subsequently, when the Greeks 
 became connected with the trade, this word re- 
 ceived the Greek form Cassiterides, from /cao-o-tre/joi', 
 a word signifiying tin, in which form it was gene-
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 69 
 
 rally applied to the islands' known now as "the 
 Scilly Isles." 
 
 When the tin trade commenced with Massilia 
 (Marseilles) by the caravan route through Gaul is 
 not easily ascertained. Massilia was a Greek 
 city founded by the Phoceans of Asia Minor 
 about the year B.C. 600. It soon became a very 
 flourishing city, and continued for some centuries 
 to be one of the most important commercial cities 
 in the ancient world. That its trade with Britain 
 commenced at an early period is certain from the 
 fact that the Greeks obtained their knowledge of 
 Britain from the Massilian merchants about the 
 time of Alexander the Great (i.e., about b.c. 330), 
 and especially from the voyage of Pytheas (of 
 Massilia), who sailed round a great part of the 
 island. 
 
 Nor were there wanting other commodities 
 besides tin which the Britons could export. Strabo 
 says that they bartered not cMily tin and lead 
 (plumbum nigrum), but skins and other articles of 
 commerce. "The country," he says, "produced 
 corn and cattle, and gold and silver, and iron, and 
 also skins and slaves, and dogs sagacious in hunt-
 
 70 CESAR IN KENT. 
 
 ing, which the Celti use for the purposes of war, 
 as well as their native dogs." In these com- 
 modities a large trade was doubtless carried on, 
 not only with Marseilles and Phoenicia, but with 
 the Gauls and other neighbouring peoples. 
 
 With respect to the foreign produce and 
 manufactures imported into this country in ex- 
 change for the tin and other articles of commerce, 
 it is certain that the trade with Phoenicia and 
 Massilia would introduce to the shores of Britain 
 all the wealth of the ancient world. Phoenicia 
 itself produced many articles of superior manufac- 
 ture. Amongst these may be mentioned the 
 purple-dyed garments of Tyre, the rich tapestry 
 and fine linen wrought in the Phoenician looms. 
 The glass of Sidon, too, made from the fine 
 sand of its sea-shore, was celebrated as the finest 
 and purest in the world, and ^ " the Sidonians had 
 brought its manufacture to such perfection that 
 they were able to impart to it a variety of the 
 most striking and beautiful colours. The arti- 
 ficers also of Tyre were so celebrated even in the 
 time of Solomon, especially in the working of 
 ' From Maurice's " Indian Antiquities."
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. "J I 
 
 metals and ivory, that they were employed in the 
 adornment of the Temple in Jerusalem and the 
 magnificent palace of Solomon, the one enriched 
 with emblematic de-vices in cast or sculptured gold, 
 the other with the famous ivory throne inlaid with 
 pure gold, of which the Scripture declares that 
 the like had not been made in any nation. For 
 proof of their great advance in the elegant arts of 
 engraving and sculpture, not less than of their 
 prodigious wealth, we need not go farther than 
 the temple of Hercules in their own city of Tyre, 
 which was not less remarkable for the superb 
 mythological devices, the egg of creation, the 
 nymphcca, and the serpent that adorned its walls, 
 than for those magnificent columns, the one of 
 massy gold, the other consisting of a solid emerald 
 which were seen and described by Herodotus on 
 his visit to that city ; the latter of w Iiich he asserts 
 by night illuminated the whole of the vast fabric." 
 Besides the products of Plurnicia itself, its 
 trade with other countries would enable its nur- 
 chants to barter even the j)recious metals and 
 stones of India aiui the Hast, for the Phoenicians 
 were the geiKr.il fact(.rs of the oriental world ;
 
 72 Ci^SAR IN KENT. - 
 
 all trade being carried on in the earliest times in 
 Phoenician vessels ; not indeed that the valuable 
 products of the East would find their way to 
 Britain in any large quantities, but such treasures 
 would probably be thus acquired by the British 
 kings and chieftains. There were, moreover, 
 countries nearer at hand with which the Phoeni- 
 cians also traded, which could supply articles of 
 exchange such as the Britons would value. With 
 Spain, for example, the Phoenician merchants 
 had carried on an extensive trade at Gades 
 (Cadiz) in gold and silver and brass, even, it is 
 said, before they traded with Britain. The 
 accounts given of the fertility of Spain in gold 
 and silver seem fabulous. Silius Itallcus called it 
 the " Aurifera terra," the land that bore gold, 
 and Aristotle^ informs us that "when the Phoeni- 
 cians first came among them they found the 
 inhabitants wallowing in gold and silver, and so 
 willing to part with their riches, from their ignor- 
 ance of the value of those precious metals, that 
 they exchanged their naval commodities for such 
 an immense weight of them, that their ships could 
 
 1 De miiabilibus auscult. Opera, vol. i.
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. "3 
 
 scarcely sustain the loads which they brought 
 away, though they used it for ballast and made 
 their anchors and other implements of silver." 
 These precious metals were carried to Tyre, and 
 thence to the various Mediterranean ports, and 
 transported in large quantities to India and the 
 East by the merchants trading through Palmyra 
 and the Arabian Gulf, though some would doubt- 
 less be transmitted to Britain. But gold and 
 silver were not the only products of Spain. 
 Rich veins of copper were also found in its 
 mountains. The making of brass by the fusion 
 of copper with the lapis caluminaris must have 
 been known from the earliest times, since we 
 read early in Genesis that Tubal-Cain was '' the 
 instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," 
 and we learn from Homer and other Greek 
 writers that the ancients made of brass their 
 domestic utensils, as well as their arms and 
 accoutrements. That this formed a jMiiKipal 
 commodity of trade with liiitain is untloubted. 
 Csesar says that ''the Britons used imporiaihniss,'' 
 and Strabo that " they bartered tin and lead with 
 the merchants for earthenware and salt and
 
 74 CAESAR IN KENT. 
 
 brazen vessels." That they also understood the 
 working of brass is evident from its use in the 
 construction of the tires of their chariot wheels, a 
 specimen of which, dug up by Canon Greenwell 
 in the Yorkshire Wolds, may be seen in the 
 British Museum. Their current coin also con- 
 sisted either of pieces of brass or of iron rings, 
 whose value was according to their weight. 
 Brass must therefore have been imported in its 
 crude state as well as in the shape of "brazen 
 vessels" as related by Strabo, and accordingly 
 the Phoenician and other merchants would have 
 an article of exchange easily procurable from the 
 neighbouring coast of Spain, and readily received 
 by the Britons in return for the tin and lead 
 which their mines supplied. 
 
 Besides the merchandize of other lands intro- 
 duced by the Phoenician, and we may add by the 
 Greek merchants who at a somewhat later period 
 carried on a traffic with Britain by the same route 
 as the Phfxnicians, the Massilian trade would 
 also bring to these shores the art treasures and 
 the products of the skill of almost all nations. 
 Strabo states that earthenware vessels were
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 75 
 
 largely imported into this country in exchange 
 for tin and lead, and it need not surprise us if 
 some of the best specimens of Roman and other 
 pottery found their way to Britain, especially 
 through the Massilian trade. Massilia had 
 cultivated the friendship of Rome long before 
 the coming of Cccsar to our shore, and although 
 she retained her independence as a city, the 
 south-east corner of Gaul, of which she formed a 
 part, had for a considerable time been annexed 
 as a Roman province. Roman earthenware, glass, 
 and other manufactures of that flourishing Re- 
 public would therefore be obtainable in Britain 
 through this source, and would be largely dis- 
 tributed throughout the country before the 
 Romans themselves came here. These, however, 
 would naturally consist chiefly of the small 
 articles of commerce. Trinkets, beads, small 
 vessels of glass, pottery, and brass, such articles 
 in fact of feminine ornament and taste as we our- 
 selves are accustomed to barter with the inhabi- 
 tants of uncivilized countries, would be easily 
 conveyed, and find a ready mart in jjiiiaiu, and 
 they would be prizeti in proj)ortion as they
 
 76 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 contrasted with the rough manufactures of the 
 natives themselves. Such wealth as they could 
 easily carry about with them would alone be 
 valued by a migratory people like the ancient 
 Britons. The simplicity of their habits, their 
 contempt for luxury, and above all the rudeness 
 of their habitations would render all other posses- 
 sion of little use to them. A glance at their 
 dwellings will suffice to show how unsuitable 
 to their wants would have been the articles 
 of luxury and refinement with which the 
 Romans and other cultivated nations were 
 accustomed to adorn their houses. "The 
 number of their oppida (or towns) was great" 
 says Caesar, and in describing them he states 
 that "the Britons called that a town where 
 they have used to assemble for the sake of avoid- 
 ing an incursion of enemies, when they have 
 fortified the entangled woods with a rampart 
 and ditch." The remains of many of these 
 oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of 
 the country. In the immediate neighbourhood 
 of Canterbury, the scene of Ccesar's early battles, 
 several may be traced out, namely at Durover-
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 77 
 
 num, Iffin Wood, Atchester Wood, Bridge Hill, 
 and other localities to which reference will be 
 made in the course of this work. They are all 
 similar in form, and answer well to the descrip- 
 tion given by Caesar of the British oppida. Some 
 of them are surrounded not by one but by several 
 ramparts with deep ditches between them, and 
 were evidently strongly fortified towns. The 
 habitations contained within these walls of earth 
 were mere huts of wood and thatch, though some 
 which have been discovered consisted of holes 
 dug in the earth, over which a thatched roof was 
 probably constructed. The late Mr Frank Buck- 
 land in his " Curiosities of Natural History "thus 
 describes some of them : " The ancient Britons 
 were in the habit of digging holes for shelter. 
 Not many weeks ago some labourers, when dig- 
 ging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, 
 came across several such excavations. They 
 were simply pits dug in the earth large enough to 
 hold one or two persons. From the sides of each 
 of these pits a certain quantity of earth had been 
 removed so as to form a seat. They were in 
 fact nothing more th.ui what were used by the
 
 78 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 riflemen before Sebiistopol in our day. The 
 ancient Britons made them probably only for 
 shelter. At the bottom of these pits were found 
 a few rude arrow heads made of flint, and a 
 quantity of bones. I examined these bones, and 
 found them to be frogs and shrew mice. I sup- 
 pose that these creatures fell into the pits long 
 after they had ceased to be used by their original 
 makers, and anterior to the time that they were 
 finally filled up." In the remarkable British 
 oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston Super Mare, 
 several circular well-like pits may be seen fairly 
 preserved in shape owing to the rocky nature of 
 the ground in which they have been excavated. 
 One in particular is very perfect, and about two 
 feet from the bottom is a seat formed of the rock, 
 as described in those seen by Mr Buckland, ex- 
 tending all round the pit. Tradition has assigned 
 these circular pits in some parts of the country as 
 the habitations of the Druids. De Moleville in 
 his History of Great Britain says, "There still 
 remain in the western islands of Scotland the 
 foundations of such circular houses capable of 
 containing only one person, and called by the
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 79 
 
 people of the country Druids' houses." It may be 
 observed that in the remains of most British 
 oppida hollows are to be seen which probably 
 were originally of this shape, but owing to the 
 sides having fallen in they have now the appear- 
 ance of natural hollows in the earth. Some of 
 the larger were perhaps used as repositories for 
 grain and other produce. 
 
 A people so primitive in their habits and mode 
 of life would readily supply themselves with all 
 that was necessar)' for their simple wants. Their 
 food was of the plainest description, consisting 
 principally of milk and the flesh of animals, 
 though in the southern parts of the island they 
 also sowed corn. Their clothing was made of 
 skins. Such earthenware vessels as they required 
 for household purposes they understood the art 
 of making, the rough sun-dried pottery dug up 
 by Canon Greenwell in Yorkshire, by Mr Samuel 
 Carrington in Staffordshire, by Mr Bell in Iflin 
 Wood, and by others, being clearl) of native 
 manufacture. Bricks they would scarcely require, 
 except, perhaps, for culinary purposes ; but .since 
 they made potter)', they could not have been
 
 8o C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 ignorant of the more simple art of brickmaking, 
 especially as it had been practised from the earliest 
 ages of the world, and the materials for it were 
 almost everywhere to be found. 
 
 Their weapons of war and agricultural imple- 
 ments they manufactured from the iron found in 
 the country, and from the brass imported from 
 abroad. For smaller vessels of earthenware and 
 brass, for ornaments such as earrings, brooches, 
 and other articles of female decoration, always 
 highly prized, as is the case even in the present 
 day, by nations otherwise uncultivated, they were 
 dependent, as has been already stated, upon the 
 merchants who traded with the country. Nor 
 need it surprise us to find in the graves of these 
 early inhabitants of our soil some of the best 
 specimens of Roman and other art, since Caesar 
 informs us that where the Druidical religion 
 prevailed funerals were conducted with great 
 expense, and that the surviving relatives were 
 accustomed to bury with the body whatever the 
 deceased person had most prized when living. 
 Considering the large number of articles of 
 foreign manufacture which must have been im-
 
 THE EARLY TRADE OF BRITAIN. 8 J 
 
 ported into this country in return for the immense 
 wealth of tin and lead exported by the merchants, 
 it would be strange if we did not find with the 
 remains of our British forefathers valuables of 
 metal and glass and pottery such as they them- 
 selves could not produce. And yet, so great is 
 the tendency among archaeologists of our day to 
 ignore everything prehistoric, that the discovery of 
 these foreign manufactures is too often regarded 
 as conclusive evidence that the interment of the 
 remains with which they are found took place 
 subsequently to the Roman occupation of Britain. 
 We may well admire and remember with gratitude 
 the higher civilisation introduced into our country 
 by the Romans, and prcjjonged to some extent 
 during the subsei]uent Saxon era; but wc must 
 not ascribe everything to this period, or lorgct 
 that it was preceded by a long prehistoric age 
 during which our British ancestors, notwithstaml- 
 ing the primitive mode of life which they followed 
 and preferred, were in frequent communication 
 with f(^reign nations, and liad the means of 
 acquiring the most valuable products of other 
 lands. 
 
 F
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 
 
 N the two previous chapters some 
 description has been given of the 
 people whom Julius Caesar assayed 
 to conquer. He had already learned 
 by experience in his Gallic wars that they were 
 a foe not to be despised, but he had yet to ex- 
 perience their indomitable spirit when gathered 
 in defence of their homes, their country, and 
 their gods. He acted, however, with caution. 
 With his usual forethought he took care to 
 obtain as accurate knowledge as possible con- 
 cerning the country he was about to invade. 
 Not obtaining sufficient information from the 
 merchants who traded with Britain, whom he 
 collected from every quarter, he determined to
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 8 
 
 J 
 
 send Caius Volusenus by ship to ascertain all 
 that it was possible to discover without dis- 
 embarking. In this there would be no risk, as 
 since his victory over the Veneti, Ccrsar had com- 
 mand of the sea. Having decided, as he naturally 
 would, to invade Britain by the shortest passage 
 from the Continent, he would now be assured by 
 the information gained from Volusenus that this 
 was by the Straits of Dover, and that his nearest 
 port of embarkation was the Portus Itius, now 
 known as Boulogne.^ Thence therefore he set 
 
 ' That the Portus Itius is Boulogne is argued at some 
 length by the I''mperor Napoleon, than whom there can be no 
 greater authority on such a point. After ])roving that it was 
 at Gessoriacum (Boulogne) that Caligula caused a Pharos 
 to be raised, and that this was also the point of embarkation of 
 Claudius and other conquerors who subsequently crossed over 
 into Britain, affording j)resumptive evidence of its having been 
 previously used by .lulius Cxsar, he points out that the con- 
 ditions of Cesar's commentiiries are best satisfied by the 
 selection of Boulogne as the place of his embarkation ; since 
 first, from thence is the shortest passage from the Continent to 
 Britain, being exactly thirty miles, and secondly, that there 
 is an u])per port (Ambleteuse) eight miles distant measured 
 round the coast, where Cxsar's cavalry may well have been 
 detained. "But," says Napoleon, "the peremptory reason 
 why, in our opinion, the port where Cxsar embarked is 
 certainly that of Boulogne is, that it would have been im-
 
 84 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 sail, nor can there be any reasonable doubt but 
 that Volusenus, having explored the coast of 
 Britain, would point out to Ccesar the harbour of 
 Dover as the nearest and most suitable for the 
 landing of his vessels. That Ccesar actually did 
 seek the shore at this place can however be 
 clearly established from the history. 
 
 possible to prepare elsewhere an expedition against England, 
 Boulogne being the only place which united the conditions 
 indispensable for collecting the fleet and embarking the troops. 
 In fact, it required a port capable of containing either eighty 
 transport ships and galleys, as in the first expedition, or 800 
 ships, as in the second ; and extensive enough to allow the 
 ships to approach the banks and embark the troops in a single 
 tide. Now these conditions could only be fulfilled where a 
 river sufficiently deep, flowing into the sea, formed a natural 
 port ; and, on the part of the coasts nearest to England we 
 find only at Boulogne a river, the Liane, which presents all 
 these advantages. Moreover it must not be forgotten, that all 
 the coast has been buried in sand. It appears that it is not more 
 than a century and a half that the natural basin of Boulogne 
 has been partly filled ; and according to tradition and geo- 
 logical observations, the coast advanced more than two kilo- 
 metres, forming two jetties, between which the high tide filled 
 the valley of the Liane to a distance of four kilometres 
 inland. 
 
 " None of the ports situated to the north of Boulogne could 
 serve as the basis of Caesar's expedition, for none could receive 
 so large a number of vessels, and we cannot suppose that
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 85 
 
 In determining the direction of his voyage and 
 his place of disembarkation we have this advan- 
 tage : — that " the commentaries " have given 
 details respecting his two voyages to Britain, and 
 expressly state that the points of embarkation 
 and landing were in each case the same. They 
 relate that in both expeditions he sailed from the 
 
 Caesar would have left them on the open coast, during more 
 than a month, exposed to the tempests of the ocean, which 
 were so fatal to him on the coasts of Britain. 
 
 " Boulogne was the only point of the coast where Caesar 
 could place in safety his depots, his supplies, and his spare 
 stores. The heights which command the port offered advan- 
 tageous positions for establishing camps, and the little river 
 Liane allowed him to bring with ease the timber and provi- 
 sions he required. At Calais he would have found nothing 
 but flats and marshes, at Wissand nothing but sands, as indi- 
 cated by the etymology of the word (white sand). 
 
 " It is worthy of remark, that the reasons which determineil 
 Caesar to start from Boulogne, were the same which decided 
 the choice of N.ipoleon I. in i H04. In s])ite of the difference 
 in the times and in the armies, the nautical and practical con- 
 ditions had undergone no change. ' The Emperor chose 
 Boulogne,' s.'iy8 M. Thiers, * because that port had been 
 pointed out as the best point of departure of an ex])edition 
 directed against England : lie chose Boulogne, because its 
 port is formed by the little river Liane, which allowed him, 
 with some labour, to place in safety from 1 200 to 1 300 
 vessels.
 
 86 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Portus Itius, and that in his second expedition 
 '' he sought the same part of the island on which 
 he had learned the previous summer a landing 
 could be best effected." ^ For the purpose 
 therefore of identifying the place of his landing, 
 we can make use of the information given with 
 reference to both his voyages. 
 
 In preparation for his first Invasion of Britain 
 Csesar collected eighty transport vessels capable 
 of conveying two legions, and as many galleys 
 as he could obtain : these he placed under the 
 direction of the Qucrstor, Lieutenants, and 
 Prefects. Eighteen other transports destined 
 for the cavalry were detained by contrary winds 
 at another port eight miles distant, and were 
 unable to join the rest of the fleet. Csesar 
 therefore directed the cavalry to proceed thither 
 and to get on board the vessels. Napoleon has 
 no doubt correctly identified this '•'farther port''' 
 of Ccesar with Ambleteuse, which is just eight 
 miles from Boulogne. No other port existed 
 within that distance. Calais (Wissand), even 
 now a poor harbour, was probably at that time a 
 
 ^ The same fact is also recorded by Dion Cassius, xl. i.
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 87 
 
 mere marsh, and, even had a port existed there, 
 the Morini and Menapii had probably destroyed 
 every vestige of a building between the Portus 
 Itius and the Rhine before Cxsar's conquest of 
 the country. 
 
 Having completed his preparations, Ca?sar set 
 sail at the third watch (about midnight) of the 
 night of the 24th August, ordering the transports 
 with the cavalry on board which were detained at 
 Ambleteuse to follow him as soon as possible. 
 
 The direction he sailed in his first expedition 
 
 is not mentioned, but it is sufficiently indicated 
 
 by certain details of the history. For Ccrsar 
 
 tells us, that the eighteen vessels with the cavalry 
 
 were unable to leave the farther port, owing to 
 
 contrary winds, rill the fourth day alter he 
 
 himself, with ihu oilier vessels, arrived at Britain. 
 
 Now, a glance at the map will show that the wind 
 
 which kept the vessels in harbour at Ambleteuse 
 
 must have come from tlie south or south-west, 
 
 and the fact tliat the vessels were ilei.uiuxl \\\crv 
 
 for more than lour days, shows thai it must have 
 
 been a steady continuous breeze, such as would 
 
 spread itself over the whole channel. Hut be-
 
 88 Ci^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 sides this, even supposing Ambleteuse were not 
 the port of embarkation of the cavalry, the subse- 
 quent career of these eighteen vessels shows, that 
 when at length they were able to leave the port 
 they sailed from (whatever it was), they must have 
 proceeded in a northerly, and not a southerly 
 direction, for the commentaries relate, that when 
 they were approaching Britain, and were within 
 sight of Caesar's naval camp, " so great a tempest 
 suddenly arose, that iione of the?n could hold its 
 course, but some were carried back to the same 
 place whence they had come forth, others were 
 cast down to the lower part of the island, which 
 is 7iear the suns setting, with great peril to them- 
 selves." If, then, they were driven by the tempest 
 towards the Cornish coast, that is towards the 
 south-west, in a direction opposite to that in which 
 they had been before sailing, it is evident that their 
 course previously was northerly or north-easterly, 
 and the main body of the fleet must, of course, 
 have sailed four days earlier in the same direction. 
 The details, then, of Caesar's first expedition 
 make it clear that his vessels in sailing to Britain 
 proceeded up channel towards Dover and Deal,
 
 C/esar's landing-place. 89 
 
 and not down channel towards Hythe or Lymne, 
 as some have contended ; and that, having started 
 in that direction, there being no change of wind till 
 the fourth day after Ccesar's arrival in Britain, they 
 could not have been diverted from their course.^ 
 
 The account of the second expedition is even 
 more conclusive as to the direction of his sailing. 
 His forces, on this occasion, consisted of five 
 legions and 2000 cavalry. Having provided a 
 sufficient number of vessels for these, " he 
 loosed his ships," the commentaries relate, '* at 
 sunset, and having been carried forward by a 
 gentle south-west breeze, the wind being inter- 
 mitted about midnight, he did not hold his 
 course. Being also carried too far by the tide, 
 at daybreak he beheld Britain forsaken on the 
 left band. Then, again, having followed the 
 change of tide, he strove, by rowing, to gain 
 that part of the island on which he had learned 
 
 1 In confirmation of this suitcmcnt, tliat tlic wind continued 
 to blow from tlu- soutli-wcst, Mr H.illcy has proved that at the 
 time Caesar set sail from the place where he first approached the 
 shore to his subsequent landing-place with the wind and tide 
 both in his favour (as the Commentaries adirni), the tide was 
 flowing up channel. His calculation will be given in another 
 page.
 
 90 C.f:SAR IN KENT. 
 
 the summer before that the landing was best." 
 By the praiseworthy efforts of the rowers, 
 assisted by the tide, he was able to approach 
 Britain with all his vessels about noon. 
 
 Now, we have here data from which the course 
 of the invading fleet can be approximately traced. 
 He set sail, we are told, with a gentle, south- 
 west wind at sunset. This favourable breeze 
 continued till midnight, so that, assuming that he 
 left Boulogne about six o'clock, he continued his 
 course with the wind and tide in his favour in 
 a northerly direction for six hours. Now we 
 know something of his rate of speed in his first 
 expedition, and that his ships took about ten 
 hours in crossing over from Boulogne to Britain. 
 In the first six hours then of his second journey, 
 during which the wind continued to blow from 
 the south-west, Ciesar must have accomplished 
 about two-thirds of the passage to the Kentish 
 coast. At midnight, however, the wind slackened 
 or ceased altogether, so that the vessels were 
 carried away by the tide and could not keep their 
 course. They drifted further from the British 
 coast, and at day-break, probably about five a.m.,
 
 CiESARS LANDING-PLACE. 9 1 
 
 Caesar beheld Britain forsaken on the left hand. 
 It is not likely that in these five hours during 
 which the vessels were acted upon only by the 
 tide they had been carried to any great distance, 
 but the deviation from their proper course caused 
 CiEsar considerable trouble and delay. He took 
 advantage, however, of the change of tide which 
 soon afterwards commenced, and by the extra- 
 ordinary exertions of his sailors in rowing, was 
 able to reach Britain with all his vessels, trans- 
 ports as well as galleys, by about noon. 
 
 Now it will be seen that all the conditions of 
 the narrative are fulfilled if Caesar be supposed 
 to have landed at Deal (and that Deal was his 
 landing-place will in these pages be conclusively 
 established), but how can the supposition of his 
 landing at Hythe or Lymne be entertained con- 
 sistently with the details of the history.? If 
 Cxsar beheld at daybreak Britain forsaken on the 
 left hand^ he must have been carried during the 
 night a considerable distance above the narrow 
 strip of sea between Dover and Calais, and if 
 this were so. how could his sailors in the seven 
 hours which elapsed between daybreak and noon,
 
 92 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 even with their most strenuous exertions, have 
 rovi^ed his heavy transports as far south as Lymne 
 or Hythe, a greater distance probably than from 
 Boulogne to Britain, which took him in his first 
 expedition with a favourable wind and tide ten 
 hours. 
 
 It is surely then unnecessary to give further 
 consideration to the suggestions, however ably 
 put forward, by Mr Lewin, Mr Beale Post, and 
 others, that Caesar landed at some place south of 
 Folkstone, since, as has been shown, the details 
 of his two voyages cannot be made to fit in with 
 this theory. Mr Beale Post indeed almost 
 admits that "his wish" to make Ccesar land 
 at Lymne ''was father to the thought." "It 
 seems," he says, "an undoubted axiom that if 
 Ccesar's place of arrival is fixed at Dover, and 
 that of his landing at Deal, or the old Richborough 
 Bay, his movements in these parts will never be 
 traced satisfactorily." " On the other hand it is 
 maintained that if Lymne is made the commenc- 
 ing point, research will be attended with very 
 favourable results : that several very remarkable 
 coincidences with Ccesar's narrative can be pointed
 
 C^SARS LANDING-PLACE. 93 
 
 out ; and his battles, marches, and other proceed- 
 ings, traced with far greater certainty than could 
 be anticipated." 
 
 How mistaken Mr Beale Post was in these 
 remarks will be abundantly shown in the course 
 of this volume. Not only can the subsequent 
 movements of Ca?sar after his landing at Deal as 
 recorded in histor)^ be traced during a considerable 
 part of his progress, but even the scenes of his early 
 battles and encampments can be accurately defined 
 from vestiges of them which in many places yet 
 remain, and from traditions which point them out. 
 
 The only other suggestion worthy of notice 
 with regard to the place of Caesar's landing is 
 that advocated by Archdeacon Batteley, namely, 
 that he landed at Richborough. So much \\ eight 
 attaches to the opinion of this learned author, and 
 so great an interest to the locality of which he 
 writes, that his suggestion and remarks will be 
 considered in a separate chapter.' 
 
 The necessity of comparing the accounts of 
 Cicsar's two voyages to Britain, in order to ascer- 
 tain beyond a doubt the direction from the Portus 
 
 • Sec Appendix.
 
 94 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Itius which his vessels took on each occasion, has 
 led us into some details of his second expedition. 
 But we will now retrace our steps, and regard 
 Ctrsar's approach to these shores after his first 
 passage across the channel. 
 
 He left Boulogne as has been related about 
 midnight, sailing up the channel, and reached the 
 coast of Britain at the fourth hour of the day 
 (about lo o'clock a.m.). From the description 
 given, there can be no doubt that he first sought 
 to land at Dover, for Ccrsar relates that on ap- 
 proaching the shore he beheld '' the armed forces 
 of the enemy posted on all the hills," and that the 
 sea was confined by so close mountains (angustis 
 montibus) that a dart could be hurled from the 
 higher places upon the shore." This description 
 so exactly corresponds with what is known to 
 have been the character of the shore at Dover, 
 that the greater number of writers on this subject, 
 although they have differed considerably as to the 
 place where Ccesar eventually landed, have agreed 
 that it was at Dover that he first sought the 
 shore. And truly when we stand under those 
 overhanging cliffs, whose height towers to heaven.
 
 C/ESARS LANDING-PLACE. 95 
 
 and whose base is washed at high water by the 
 waves, we might fancy that even the Dover of 
 to-day might be the shore described by Ccesar. 
 How greatly then are we strengthened in this 
 opinion, when we are assured that the sea, which 
 is now kept back by the beach and esplanade, 
 formerly swept over the valley where the modern 
 town of Dover is built, reaching the base of the 
 cliffs now known as the western heights, cover- 
 ing the broad space where is now the market- 
 place, and receiving, and at high tide mingling 
 with, the waters of the river Dour, which 
 descend along the Charlton valley, so that literally 
 the sea was, as Ca\sar relates, closely confined 
 by mountains. Camden, who published his 
 ''Britannia'' in the year 1586, thus describes 
 Dover and the interest that belongs to it : "All 
 along from Deal a ridge of high rocks (called 
 by Cicero ' moles magnifica\' stately clifTs) 
 abounding with samphire, in Latin Cr}thinos 
 and Sampctra, runs about seven miles to Dover, 
 where it gapes and opens itself to passengers. 
 And the nature of the place answers C;vsar's 
 character of it, receiving and enclosing the sea
 
 96 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 between two hills. In this break of that ridge of 
 rocks lies Dubris, mentioned by Antoninus, 
 called in Saxon ' Dofra,' and by us ' Dover.' 
 Darellus writes out of Eadmer/ that the name 
 was given from its being shut up and hard to 
 come to. 'For,' says he, 'because in old time, 
 the sea making a large harbour in that place 
 spread itself very wide, they were put under the 
 necessity of shutting it up within closer bounds.' 
 But William Lambard, with greater show oi 
 probability, fetches the name from Dufyrrha, 
 which in British signifies a steep place. The 
 town, which is seated among the rocks (where 
 the haven itself formerly was while the sea came 
 upl farther, as is gathered from the anchors and 
 planks of ships digged up), is more noted for the 
 convenience of its harbour (though it has now 
 but little of that left it) and the passage from 
 thence to France, than either its neatness or 
 populousness. For it is a famous passage ; and 
 it was formerly provided by law that no person 
 going out of the kingdom on pilgrimage should 
 take shipping at any other harbour. It is also 
 one of the Cinque ports, and was formerly bound 
 
 i " The Life of Eadmer," by William of Malmesbury.
 
 C^SAR S LANDING-PLACE. 97 
 
 to find twenty-one ships for the wars, in the 
 same manner and form as Hastings. On that 
 part which lies towards the ocean, now excluded 
 by the beach, it had a wall, of which there is 
 some part remaining still. It had a church, 
 dedicated to St Martin, founded by Whitred, 
 King of Kent (a.d. 700), and a house of Knights 
 Templars, which is now quite gone ; it also 
 affords a seat to the Archbishop of Canterbury's 
 Suffragan, who, when the Archbishop is taken 
 up with more weighty affairs, manages such things 
 as concern good order, but does not meddle in 
 matters of Episcopal jurisdiction. There is a 
 large castle like a little city, with strong fortifi- 
 cations, and a great many towers, which, as it 
 were, threatens the sea under it from a hill, or 
 rather a rock, upon the right hand, that is on every 
 side rugged and steep, l)ut towards the sea rises 
 to a wonderful height. Matthew Paris calls it 
 the key and barre of Englantl. The common 
 people dream of its being built by Julius (lii-sar ; 
 and I conclude that it was first built by the 
 Romans from those British bricks in the ciiapel, 
 which they used in their larger sort of buildings."
 
 98 LVESAR IN KENT. 
 
 The notion that Julius Ccesar began to build 
 the castle seems to be derived from a table, or 
 chart, which Camden says was formerly hung up 
 there, which relates that " Ccesar after he had 
 landed at Deal, and had beaten the Britons at 
 Baramdowne (a plain hard by passable for horses, 
 and fit to draw up an army in), began to build 
 Dover Castle, and that Arviragus afterwards 
 fortified it against the Romans and shut up the 
 harbour." 
 
 We have quoted in full the remarks of the 
 learned author Camden upon Dover, as they 
 prove the importance which attached to the place 
 300 years ago, and the traditions respecting its 
 harbour which were then current. The deriva- 
 tions he gives of the name of the place of them- 
 selves indicate what its nature formerly was, 
 although it is doubtful whether any of these 
 explanations of its origin is correct, and whether 
 the name "Dover" was not rather derived from 
 the river Dour (meaning " water ") which there 
 poured itself into the sea. With regard to the 
 ancient town of Dover, Kilburne says that before 
 King Arviragus stopped up the haven, the town
 
 C^SAR S LANDING-PLACE. 99 
 
 Stretched itself more to the eastward under the 
 castle, but that afterwards it was built on the south- 
 west side. Whether the closing of the harbour 
 was entirely the work of Arviragus seems doubt- 
 ful. Batcheller in his excellent sketch of Dover 
 says : " What circumstance could occasion so 
 total a change is uncertain ; either we must sup- 
 pose that the old harbour was destroyed, and 
 filled up by design to prevent the entrance of the 
 Romans ; or that the sea threw up such a vast 
 quantity of beach, as rendered it impossible for 
 the inhabitants to clear it, and induced them to 
 form a harbour elsewhere which might be less 
 liable to this obstruction." Napoleon gives the 
 following particulars respecting the ancient har- 
 bour, and the alterations it has undergone : — 
 " The port of Dover extended formerly from the 
 site of the present town, between the clilTs which 
 border the valley of the Dour or of Charlton. 
 Indeed from the facts furnished by ancient authors, 
 and geological examination of the ground, it 
 appears certain that once the sea penetrated into 
 the land, and formed a creek which occupied 
 nearly the whole of the valley of Charlton. The
 
 lOO C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 words of CiEsar are thus justified : ' Cujus loci 
 haec erat natura, atque ita montibus angustis 
 mare continebatur, uti ex locis superioribus in 
 littus telum adjici posset.' 
 
 " The proofs of the above assertion result from 
 
 several facts related in different notices on the 
 
 town of Dover. It is there said that in 1784 Sir 
 
 Thomas Hyde Page caused a shaft to be sunk 
 
 at a hundred yards from the shore, to ascertain 
 
 the depth of the basin at a remote period. This 
 
 proved that the ancient bed of the sea had been 
 
 formerly thirty English feet below the present 
 
 level of the high tide. In 1826, in sinking a 
 
 well at a place called Dolphin Lane, they found, 
 
 at a depth of 2 1 feet, a bed of mud resembling 
 
 that of the present port, mixed with the bones of 
 
 animals and fragments of leaves and roots. 
 
 Similar detritus have been discovered in several 
 
 parts of the valley. An ancient chronicler, named 
 
 Darell, relates that 'Wilbred,i King of Kent, 
 
 built in 700 the church of St Martin, the ruins of 
 
 which are still visible near the market-place, on 
 
 the spot where formerly ships cast anchor.' 
 
 1 Otherwise called " Withred " or " Whitred."
 
 CiESAR's LANDING-PLACE. lOI 
 
 " The town built under the Emperors Adrian 
 and Septimus Severus occupied a part of the port, 
 ■which had already been covered with sand, yet 
 the sea still entered a considerable distance inland. 
 " It would appear to have been about the year 
 950 that the old port was entirely blocked up 
 with the maritime and fluvial alluvium which had 
 been increasing till our day, and which at different 
 periods have rendered it necessary to construct 
 the dykes and quays which have given the port 
 its present form." 
 
 Before this filling up of the harbour there can 
 
 be no question but that Dofra or Dover (called 
 
 by the Romans Dubris) was the most convenient 
 
 and best known port of Britain, and the most 
 
 frequented by merchants before the coming of 
 
 the Romans, since it is the nearest point of the 
 
 shore to the coast of Gaul. Its importance as a 
 
 military stronghold was fully recognised by the 
 
 Romans during their occupation of the country. 
 
 We have no reason, other than that suggested on 
 
 the chart before referred to, which was formerly 
 
 hung on the wall of the castle, to believe that 
 
 Julius Ca\sar himself commenced tlie building of
 
 102 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 the castle, but part of its fortifications were 
 undoubtedly Roman work. "The Roman forti- 
 fications," says Batcheller, " were bounded by the 
 deep ditch, and it will be in vain to search after 
 any military works of the Romans in the castle 
 beyond it. The form of the camp, the ditch, 
 the parapet, and the octagon building all point 
 out the hand of the Roman engineer and the 
 Roman architect. It was no uncommon thing 
 for them, where the ground would admit of it, to 
 make their camp in the form of a parallelogram 
 with the angles rounded off, and to secure it 
 with a deep ditch and a high parapet. This 
 appears to have been the original plan of the 
 Roman camp on this hill before it was altered 
 either by the Saxons or the Romans." Batcheller 
 here refers to the description of a Roman camp 
 given by Hyginus, a writer of the reign of the 
 Emperor Trajan (a.d. 98-117). These Roman 
 works were perhaps due to Aulus Plautius, or 
 more probably to Publius Octavius Scapula, 
 whom the Emperor Claudius sent over in the 
 year a.d. 49, and who, finding the natives in- 
 clined to insurrection, disarmed those whom he
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 103 
 
 suspected, and built forts and castles to overawe 
 the rest. The octagon building originally de- 
 signed for a Roman pharos or lighthouse may- 
 be ascribed to the same period. Although 
 therefore there is no sufficient ground for con- 
 cluding that Julius Cxsar himself built any part 
 of the castle, the early attention given to this 
 work by succeeding Roman Emperors shows how 
 fully they recognized its strategical position and 
 importance. 
 
 But to return to Caesar's narrative. Acting 
 upon the advice of Volusenus, who in his in- 
 spection of the coast could not fail to notice the 
 suitableness of this port for a " number of large 
 vessels"' such as Caesar had with him, and 
 perhaps confirmed in his decision by the opinion 
 of Comius the Atrebatian, who was well ac- 
 quainted with Ikitain, Cxsar chose Dover as 
 his safest and best port of disembarkation. 1 1;id 
 he known the reception that awaited him, he 
 would certainly have chosen diilerently, hut it 
 must be remembered that he had not expected 
 that his landing would be opposed. Ambassa- 
 dors had come to him in CJaiil from many of
 
 I04 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 the British States, bringing in their submission, 
 and so httle did he expect a hostile reception, 
 that he entrusted to their hands his faithful ally 
 Comius, who was probably of British extraction, 
 and had great authority both in that country and 
 in Gaul, in order that his persuasions might 
 induce the remaining states to submit to the 
 Roman power. He therefore confidently ap- 
 proached the shore about the fourth hour of the 
 day, that is about ten o'clock in the morning. 
 To his surprise he beheld the armed forces of 
 the enemy drawn up on all the hills ; whose 
 darts and other missiles hurled from the high and 
 commanding cliffs at once convinced him of the 
 extreme danger of attempting to land on so con- 
 fined a shore. A landing, however, must be 
 effected, and that the same day. Ccesar could 
 not without loss of authority submit to the humi- 
 liation of returning with all his vessels to the 
 coast of Gaul. Nor could he wait till the next 
 day without affording greater opportunity of 
 resistance to the enemy. He at once summoned 
 Volusenus to his aid. He enquired of him how 
 far the cliffs extended, and whether beyond them 
 
 /
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 105 
 
 the shore offered facilities for a safe landing of his 
 troops. Having ascertained from him that about 
 seven miles farther along the coast there was an 
 open and level shore where he could on more 
 equal terms meet the enemy, he called together 
 the lieutenants and tribunes, and having informed 
 them of what he had learned from Volusenus and 
 of his own plans, he admonished them that his 
 orders should be carried out immediately upon a 
 signal being given {ad nutum et ad iempm). since 
 naval matters required rapid and varied move- 
 ments. Having dismissed them, he waited till 
 about half-past three o'clock, when the tide and 
 wind were both in his favour, and then gave the 
 signal to weigh anchor. Proceeding about seven 
 miles along the shore, and having passed, accord- 
 ing to Dion Cassius, "a lofty promontor)^" which 
 without doubt was ''the south foreland," he 
 stationed his vessels "near an open and level 
 shore." 
 
 Now if it be admitted that Ca\sar set sail 
 from Boulogne and first approached the shore at 
 Dover, it becomes a matter of simple calculation 
 to determine the shore on which he landed. He
 
 106 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 States that he waited till the tide and wind were 
 at the same time favourable, that is, he waited till 
 about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon ("ad 
 nonam horam "), when the tide had turned and 
 flowed in the same direction as the wind was 
 blowing, and then set sail. Now we have already- 
 seen that the wind was blowing up channel in a 
 southerly or south-westerly direction, and that it 
 was a steady continuous breeze which did not 
 change, since it was not till the fourth day after 
 these events that the eighteen transports wind- 
 bound at Ambleteuse were released. Napoleon 
 has given Halley's calculation to show that the 
 tide would also begin to flow in the same direction 
 about half-past three of the 25th August B.C. 5^1 
 A.u.c. 699. His argument, which must be con- 
 sidered as a whole, is as follows. He first proves 
 that this was the day on which Ca'sar landed. 
 " The year of the expedition," he says, " is known 
 by the Consulate of Pompey and Crassus ; it 
 was the year a.u.c. 699. The ?)iont/j in which 
 the departure took place is known by the follow- 
 ing data derived from ' the Commentaries.' The 
 fine season was near its end ('Exiqua pars
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 107 
 
 oestatis reliqua'), the wheat had been reaped 
 everywhere except in one spot (' omni ex re- 
 liquis partibus demesso frumento una pars erat 
 reliqua'), the equinox was near at hand (' pro- 
 pinqua die ccquinoctii '). These data point suffi- 
 ciently clearly to the month of August. Lastly, 
 we have relative to the day of landing the following 
 indications : — ' After four days past since his 
 arrival in Britain . . . there arose suddenly so 
 violent a tempest.' ' That same night it was 
 full moon, which is the period of the highest 
 tides of the ocean.' ('Post diem quartam, 
 quam est in Britannian ventum . . . tanta tem- 
 pestas subito coorta est.' ' Eodem nocte accidit, 
 ut esset luna plena . . , qui dies maritimis 
 rrstus maximos in oceano cfficere consuevit.) 
 According to this we consider that the tempest 
 took place after four days counted from the day 
 of landing; that the full moon fell on the follow- 
 ing night ; and histly, that this period coincitled 
 not with the highest //V/t, but with ilie highest 
 tides of the ocean. Thus we consider that it 
 would be sufficient for ascertaining the exact day 
 of landing, to take the sixth day which preceded
 
 I08 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 the full moon of the month of August 699 ; 
 now this phenomenon, according to the astrono- 
 mical tables, happened on the 3 1 st, towards three 
 o'clock in the morning. On the eve, that is on 
 the 30th, the tempest had occurred. Four days 
 had passed since the landing. This takes us 
 back to the 26th. Ccrsar then landed on the 
 25th of August. Mr Airy, it is true, has in- 
 terpreted the text altogether differently from our 
 explanation ; he believes that the expression 
 ' post diem quartam ' may be taken in Latin 
 for ' the third day ; ' on the other hand he 
 doubts if CcEsar had in his army almanacks by 
 which he could know the exact day of the full 
 moon ; lastly, as the highest tide takes place a 
 day and a half after the full moon, he affirms 
 that Cccsar, placing these two phenomena at the 
 same moment, must have been mistaken, either 
 in the day of the full moon or in that of the 
 highest tide ; and he concludes from this, that the 
 landing may have taken place on the second, 
 third, or fourth day before the full moon. 
 
 " Our reasoning has another basis. Let us first 
 state that at that time the science of astronomy
 
 C^SAR S LANDING-PLACE. IO9 
 
 permitted people to know certain epochs of the 
 moon, since, more than a hundred years before, 
 during the war against Perseus, a tribune of the 
 army of Paulus Emilius announced on the previous 
 day to his soldiers an eclipse of the moon, in 
 order to counteract the effect of their super- 
 stitious fears. Let us remark also that Cirsar, 
 who subsequently reformed the calendar, was 
 well informed in the astronomical knowledge ol 
 his time, already carried to a very high point of 
 advance by Hipparchus, and that he took 
 especial interest in it, since he discovered by 
 means of water clocks, that the nights were 
 shorter in Britain than in Italy. Everything, 
 then, authorises us in the belief that Caesar, when 
 he embarked for an unknown country, where he 
 might have to make night marches, must have 
 taken precautions for knowing the course of the 
 moon, and furnished himself with calendars. 
 But we have j)ut the question independently o\ 
 these considerations, by seeking among tlic days 
 which preceded the full moon of tlic end of 
 August .\.u.c. 699, which was the one in which 
 the shifting of the currents of which Ccrsar speaks
 
 I lO C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 could have been produced at the hour indicated 
 in the commentaries. 
 
 " Supposing then the fleet of Ccesar at anchor at 
 a distance of half a mile opposite Dover, as it 
 experienced the effect of the shifting of the 
 currents towards half-past three in the afternoon, 
 the question becomes reduced to that of de- 
 termining the day of the end of the month of 
 August when this phenomena took place at the 
 above hour. We know that in the Channel the 
 sea produces, in rising and falling, two alternate 
 currents, one directed from the west to the east 
 called flux (flot), or current of the rising tide; 
 the other directed from the east to the west 
 named reflux (jusant), or current of the falling 
 tide. In the sea opposite Dover, at a distance of 
 half a mile from the coast, the flux begins usually 
 to be sensible two hours before high tide at 
 Dover, and the reflux four hours after. 
 
 " So that, if we find a day before the full moon 
 of the 31st August 699, on which it was high 
 tide at Dover, either at half-past five in the after- 
 noon or at mid-day, that will be the day of land 
 ing ; and further, we shall know whether the
 
 Cesar's landing-place. i 1 1 
 
 current carried Ca['sar towards the east or towards 
 the west. Now we may admit, according to 
 astronomical data, that the tides of the days which 
 preceded the full moon of the 31st August 699 
 were sensibly the same as those of the days 
 which preceded the full moon of the 4th of Septem- 
 ber 1857 ; and as it was the sixth day before the 
 full moon of the 4th of September 1 85 7, that it was 
 high tide at Dover towards half-past five in the 
 afternoon (see the Annuaire des Marees des 
 Cotes de France for the year 1857), we are led 
 to conclude that the same phenomenon was pro- 
 duced also at Dover on the sixth day before the 
 31st of August 699; and that it was on the 
 25th of August that Caesar arrived in Britain, 
 his fleet being carried forward by the current of 
 tlie rising tide. This last conclusion, by obliging 
 us to seek the point of landing to the north of 
 Dover, constitutes the strongest theoretic pre- 
 sumption in favour of Deal." 
 
 Now it may be, and has been objected that an 
 argument based upon astronomical calculations 
 relating to the state of the tides more than 
 nineteen centuries ago, cannot carry much weight.
 
 I 12 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 This opinion, however, will not be hazarded by 
 any who know the accuracy with which modern 
 astronomers are accustomed to arrive at results. 
 Nor has another objection which may be 
 urged, namely, that the changes of the coast of 
 Britain may have produced an alteration in the 
 tides, any real importance. The change of coast 
 line would certainly affect the direction of the 
 currents of the ocean, but it would have no ap- 
 preciable effect upon the tides. As a matter 
 of fact, a change in the shore is continually 
 going on, and the sand banks are continually 
 shifting without causing any alteration of the 
 tides.i 
 
 ^ In corroboration of this the following incident, of which 
 the author has been informed on good authority, may be men- 
 tioned. Some twenty-six years ago the authorities of the 
 Trinity House instituted an examination with regard to the 
 position of the various buoys which had been placed on the 
 margin of the sands round the south-eastern coast, especially 
 of the Goodwin Sands. It so happened that a senior pilot 
 of Dover, who in his youth had been present when the buoys 
 were originally placed, was summoned to attend also on this 
 occasion, as he had been the principal cause of attention being 
 drawn to this subject. The result of the enquiry was stated 
 by him to be as follows. The sands had increased so much
 
 Cesar's LANDING-PLACE. 113 
 
 Napoleon's lucid argument respecting the 
 direction of the tide when Ccesar quitted Dover 
 has been introduced because it helps to confirm 
 the statement that he sailed from thence in the 
 direction of Deal. But, as has been already 
 seen, it is not necessary for the establishment of 
 this fact, the other data connected with both his 
 first and second expedition clearly proving that 
 he sailed in a northerly direction. 
 
 It remains then only to show that Deal 
 answers to Ccrsar's account of his landing-place 
 both in respect to its distance from Dover, and in 
 respect to his description of its shore. We again 
 transcribe from Napoleon's narrative a description 
 of the coast and its suitableness for the landing of 
 troops, as viewed from a military point of view. 
 
 "The cliffs which border the coasts of Knglaiul 
 towards the southern part of the county of Kcni 
 
 towards the shore that the buoys had to be removed more than 
 a quarter of a mile, to Ix- ])Iaced in a de])th of water equal to 
 that in which they had originally been fixed. These changes, 
 although they may have produced some variations in the direc- 
 tion of the currents, have made no alteration in the tides, the 
 tables for calculating which, can still be confidently relied ujwn 
 for accuracy. 
 
 H
 
 I 14 CESAR IN KENT. 
 
 form from Folkestone to the castle of Walmer a 
 vast quarter of a circle, convex towards the sea, 
 abrupt on nearly all points ; they present several 
 bays or creeks as at Folkestone, at Dover, at 
 St Margarets, and at Oldstairs, and, diminishing 
 by degrees in elevation, terminate in the castle of 
 Walmer. From this point, proceeding towards 
 the north, the coast is flat and favourable for 
 landing to an extent of several leagues. 
 
 " The country situated to the west of Walmer 
 and Deal is itself flat as far as the view can reach, 
 or presents only gentle undulations of ground. 
 We may add that it produces, in great quantities, 
 wheat of excellent quality, and that the nature of 
 the soil leads us to believe that it was the same at 
 a remote period. These different conditions ren- 
 dered the shore of Walmer and Deal the best 
 place of landing for the Roman army. 
 
 "Its situation, moreover, agrees fully with the 
 narrative of ' the Commentaries.' In the first 
 expedition, the Roman fleet starting from the cliffs 
 of Dover, and doubling the point of the South 
 Foreland, may have made the passage of seven 
 miles in an hour. It would thus have come to
 
 Cesar's LANDING-PLACE. 115 
 
 anchor opposite the present village of Walmer. 
 The Britons, starting from Dover, might have 
 made a march of eight kilometres quickly enough 
 to oppose the landing of the Romans. 
 
 "The combat which followed was certainly 
 fought on that part of the shore which extends 
 from Walmer Castle to Deal. At present the 
 whole of this coast is covered with buildings, so 
 that it is impossible to say what was its exact 
 form nineteen centuries ago, but from a view of 
 the locality we can understand without difficulty 
 the different circumstances of the combat de- 
 scribed in book iv. of ' the Commentaries.' " 
 
 Thus far we have been guided only by the 
 description which Ca?sar himself has given of his 
 voyage and disembarkation, and we have been led 
 to Deal as the only place of landing which accords 
 with that description. Let us now see how this 
 selection is corroborated by other evidence. 
 
 First, there is the direct testimony of the 
 ancient table (or cli.irt) mentioned by Camden, 
 which formerly hung up in the Castle of Dover, 
 that Ca*sar did actually land at Deal, and after- 
 wards defeated the liritons on Baram Downe.
 
 [ 1 6 d^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 The date of this document is not known, but 
 since Camden, who pubHshed his "Britannia" in 
 1586, says that it had then disappeared from the 
 castle walls, but was preserved in some papers in 
 which it had been transcribed, it must have been 
 of very great antiquity. 
 
 Nennius, also a very ancient writer, places 
 Ca?sar's landing at Deal, if the passage " Ccesar 
 ad Dole bellum pugnavit " (Cirsar fought a battle 
 at Dole) is correctly transcribed, of which there 
 seems some doubt. But Leland certainly accords 
 to Deal this honour in his Cygna^a Cantio, in 
 which he says — 
 
 " Jactat Dela novas Celebris arces, 
 Notus Caesariis locus trophseis." 
 
 which Camden thus translates — • 
 
 " And lofty Dele's proud towers are shown 
 Where Caesar's trophies grace the town." 
 
 With regard to the remains of Roman en- 
 trenchments in this place Camden says: — "Just 
 upon this shore are ridges for a long way together 
 like so many rampires, which some suppose the 
 wind has swept together. But I fancy it has 
 been a fence, or rather a station or sort of ship-
 
 CESAR S LANDING-PLACE. I I 7 
 
 camp, which Ccrsar was ten days and as many 
 nights in making, to draw into it his shattered 
 ships, and so secure them both against tempests 
 and also against the Britons, who made some 
 attempt upon them, but without success. For I am 
 told that the inhabitants call this rampire Rome's 
 work, as if one should say, ' the work of the 
 Romans.' " It may be that in this description of 
 " ridges supposed by some to have been thrown 
 up by the wind," Camden is referring to the 
 sandhills which stretch from Sandown Castle to 
 Pegwell Bay, and of which Mr Pritchard, a local 
 author, has given the following interesting account 
 in his "History of Deal": — "The mounds of 
 sand that abound in Deal it is presumed are all 
 artificial, and thrown up by manual labour. Tin- 
 encroachment of the sea of late years has brought 
 the sandbanks much nearer the sea than formerly. 
 For ages there existed, abutting to the sea, 
 many acres of b(;ulders or stones which the 
 washing of the tide has removed. The facing of 
 the shore at this spot resembled that at Walmer 
 Castle. Some early writers have supposed Ca'sar's 
 Naval Cainp to have been in tliese sandhills.
 
 I I 8 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 that is the old Haven midway between Deal 
 and Sandwich, and that the sand mounds were 
 called the work of the Romans. That these 
 mounds have been brought together by the 
 force of the wind is very improbable. From 
 whence could the hillocks come ? Surely not 
 from the sea, nor from the long range of marsh 
 land running on to Minster, nor from the high 
 ground of Upper Deal and Northbourne, as all 
 this land in all likelihood was covered with trees. 
 The practice of raising mounds of earth over the 
 remains of the dead was the custom of a very 
 early period. Homer illustrates it by saying, as 
 translated by Pope : 
 
 " ' Stern as he was — he yet revered tlie dead ; 
 Preserved his radiant arms from hostile spoil, 
 And laid him decent on the funeral pile, 
 Then raised a mountain where his bones were burned — 
 The mountain nymphs his rural tomb adorned.' 
 
 " Some forty years ago, a labouring man, in 
 digging for sand, discovered two Roman vases 
 containing a great quantity of coin — a circum- 
 stance leading to the conclusion that the Romans 
 buried their dead in these hills when they had
 
 C^SAR S LANDING-PLACE. I 1 9 
 
 full possession of the Island and were located at 
 Richborough, the supposed place of residence of 
 the Roman government of Britain for four cen- 
 turies." 
 
 "Whether or not these sandhills formed any 
 part of Julius Caesar's naval camp, there certainly 
 were, and still are, remains of other entrenchments 
 in Deal and Walmer which tradition points out 
 to have been his work, and which have all the 
 appearance of having been thrown up for such a 
 purpose. It must be remembered that Caesar 
 constructed two naval camps at his place of land- 
 ing, one during his first expedition, and the other, 
 a much larger one, on his second invasion of the 
 country, and that ow each occasion his ships were 
 shattered by a tempest ; so that it may well have 
 happened that some were driven in the direction 
 of these sandhills, and were there repaired by 
 being first drawn into dykes or basins dug out in 
 the sand, where they would be protected from the 
 violence ol any future tempest that might arise. 
 
 With regard to the remarkable entrcnchuKnts 
 in Deal itself, Leland in his Itinerary, published 
 in thr r(>ign of Henry VIII., gives the following
 
 I 20 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 account: — " Deale, half a myle fro the shore of 
 the sea — a Finssheher villlage, three myles or 
 more above Sandwic, is upon a flat shore, and 
 very open to the se, wher is a fosse or a great 
 bank, artificial, betwixt the town and se, and 
 beginneth about Deale, and runneth a great way 
 up towards the Clyse, in as much that sum 
 suppose that this is the place wher Cccsar 
 landed. Surely the fosse was made to keep owt 
 ennemyes ther or to defend the rage of the se or 
 by the casting up beche and pible." 
 
 Mr Pritchard remarks as follows concerning 
 this fosse, thus described by Leland, and the 
 ancient town of Deal : — " It is supposed by some 
 writers that Upper and Middle Deal was the 
 town described, particularly as Leland calls 
 " Deale " a village, which meant in those early 
 limes houses and buildings standing together 
 without being enclosed or protected by a wall 
 surrounding it — as we can see the remains of 
 such defences at Dover and Sandwich. The 
 valley of Deal, now named Lower Street, was in 
 that state so as to abut the sea in 1600, The 
 singularity of this trench between Beach Street
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 1 2 1 
 
 and West Street has caused considerable enquiries. 
 The fosse or ditch described by the historian 
 Leland, leads to the conclusion that it is artificial, 
 thrown up as a fortification to defend the in- 
 habitants from any attack by enemies on landing 
 on the shore. This trench commences at the 
 south end of the town, terminating at the north 
 end by Peter Street. Our ancestors in building 
 the New Town of Lower Deal never contem- 
 plated the time coming of its extension to the 
 degree it has now attained. Had that been done 
 when the trade and commerce increased in the 
 time of Elizabeth, which led to the settlement of 
 sea-faring people on its sea margin, the facility of 
 drainage would have been the first consideration, 
 and provision made for it ; but as it is now, it 
 must so remain, for to fill the valley up for the 
 purpose of drainage would destroy the best i)art 
 of the town." 
 
 This account, written in 1864, proves that the 
 vestiges of Cxsar s entrenchinents at Deal were 
 then easily traceable; uny arc there wanting at 
 Walmer even now remains ui e.ulliwoiks which 
 may have formed part of his naval camp, or ad-
 
 122 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 vanced outposts in connection with it, for "round 
 Walmer Church," says Mr Pritchard, " which 
 stands at the south end of the village, on a rise is 
 a deep fosse, and there are other visible signs of 
 entrenchments at Hawkeshill Close, near the Castle 
 to the southward, and on the place called Dane 
 Pitts, on the old down not far distant." And, 
 indeed, the very name of the place " Walmer," 
 anciently called "Wall mare," "quasi vallum 
 maris," as an old writer explains it, sufficiently in- 
 dicates the existence formerly of an extensive 
 fortification or sea-wall. Nor must we omit to 
 mention that between the two downs or hill sides 
 at Kingsdowne, near Walmer, were the remains 
 of an ancient camp, of which place Darell says, 
 that it was in our earliest history called "Roman 
 Codde," and by the common people " Romny 
 Coddy," which he explains to mean " the forti- 
 tude of the Romans." This place is too far 
 distant to have formed part of Cn^sar's naval 
 camp, but it may have been an ancient British 
 stronghold taken by the Romans in their incur- 
 sions from the camp, and so associated with their 
 name.
 
 Cesar's landing-place. 123 
 
 Such, then, are the indications, traditional and 
 otherwise, which point to Caesar's landing at 
 Deal. And it must be observed that for cen- 
 turies no question was ever raised as to any other 
 place having a claim to that distinction. What- 
 ever theories modern authors may have adopted 
 with regard to his landing, and however vigor- 
 ously they may have contended on behalf of other 
 places, no tradition points to any other locality 
 than Deal as the landing place of Julius Cirsar. 
 
 In saying this, we are not forgetful that several 
 other places may boast of having been called 
 " Ccrsar's camp." Batteley speaks of a " Ca?sar's 
 camp " at Richborough, and a hill near Folkestone 
 is still called by that name. There is also a 
 "Ccesar's camp" near Findon in Sussex. But 
 with regard to these places which lay claim to this 
 title, it must be remembered that the mere name 
 is handed down, and that no well-authenticated 
 tradition points them out as having been the en- 
 campments (jf Julius Cla\sar. Tiiat they may 
 have been the camps of C-a*sar, either of ('laudius 
 Cxsar (jr of Aulus Plautius, his general, and 
 called by him after the emperor, or of Vespasian
 
 124 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 or Severus, may be readily conceded. In fact it 
 is not improbable that the three camps at Rich- 
 borough, Folkestone, and Findon, were thrown 
 up by Aulus Piautius, who, as Dion Cassius 
 narrates, "divided his forces into three por- 
 tions, lest all arriving at one place he might 
 be prevented from landing." What is more 
 likely than that he chose for disembarking 
 his army ^ the three most celebrated ports 
 
 ' Aulus Piautius was sent over by Claudius with a double- 
 consular army of 52,000 men, at the instigation of Bericus 
 (or Vericus), a British chief who had been dispossessed of his 
 territory. His landing was unopposed, the Britons being 
 engaged in intestine wars, and unable to combine (as Bericus 
 had informed Claudius) for the defence of their country. 
 Geoffrey of Monmoutii and Matthew of Westminster make 
 him to have landed at Caer- Peris (Poitchester), but their 
 whole story of the event seems fabulous. From the account 
 of his voyage by Dion Cassius, Piautius would appear to have 
 sailed, perhaps with the main division of his army, in a westerly 
 direction, and we find him defeating the Dobuni (the inhabi- 
 tants of Gloucestershire), but whether he landed at Portchester 
 or (as "Caesar's camp," near Findon, would suggest) at 
 Adurni is uncertain. It seems likely, however, that Piautius, 
 having so large an army at his command, that he could 
 divide it, would detach some portion to occupy the Kentish 
 shore, where the Romans under .lulius Caesar had previously 
 established themselves, and with this intent where could he
 
 C^SAR S LANDING-PLACE. I 25 
 
 adjacent to these places, namely the Portus 
 Rutupinus, Lemanis, and Adurni, the nearest 
 ports (with the exception of Dover, which Julius 
 Ccesar had found to be unsuitable for landing) 
 to the coast of Gaul. Positions taken up by 
 Aulus Plautius in the name of the Emperor 
 Claudius would be more likely to be called 
 " CiEsar's camps " than those associated with the 
 expeditions of Julius Ccesar, for the Romans 
 accorded the conquest of Britain to Claudius 
 Citsar rather than to the great founder of that 
 
 have landed better than at Rutupium (Richborough), and 
 I^emanis (Lymne) ? Although we read of no conquests 
 made by him in Kent, Suetonius seems to account for this 
 when he says that "a part of the island surrendered without 
 the hazard of a battle or the shedding of blood." That 
 Aulus Plautius occupied Kent is rendered probable by the 
 stiUement of Dion Cassius, that Claudius, when summoned 
 by his general, crossed over to Britain, and at once marclied to 
 the Thames. This he could not have done with such con- 
 fidence had he not known that Plautius had previously occujiied 
 the country through which he would pass. 
 
 With regard to Ilciicus, the author would mention, as a 
 coincidence of name, but without foumiing any argument u|)on 
 it, that there is in the parish of Bridge, near Canterbury, a 
 l>lacc formerly called Bercacre, now Great and I/ittle Baraker, 
 and that the very ancient road leading to it is known locally 
 as " Bericus's road."
 
 126 CAESAR IN KENT. 
 
 family. " Chuidius," says Seneca, " might first 
 glory in conquering the Britains, for Julius Ccrsar 
 no more than showed them to the Romans," and 
 other Roman writers have used similar language, 
 some even asserting that Julius Ccesar turned his 
 back upon the Britons. With regiu-d to the 
 expedition of Aulus Plautius, it is certain that it 
 was carried out in the emperor's name, for he 
 had strict injunctions when any difficulty arose to 
 send for Claudius. He of course took care that 
 at the right opportunity the emperor should be 
 summoned, and by this preconcerted plan the 
 honour of the conquest was transferred from the 
 general to the emperor himself, who was 
 accorded a magnificent triumph on his return to 
 Rome, and received the appellation of Britanni- 
 cus. Is it not therefore extremely probable that 
 Aulus Plautius, knowing his master's ambition, 
 and perhaps having received instructions from 
 him to do so, called each of the three camps 
 which he fortified after landing his troops, as if 
 pitched in the emperor's name, " Caesar's camp " ? 
 However this may be, or whatever Roman 
 emperor may have given them their name, it is
 
 C^SAR S LANDING-PLACE. 12/ 
 
 certain that they could not all be the camps of 
 Julius Ccrsar, since his naval camp was on each 
 occasion thrown up at the same place, nor did he 
 form any other encampments near the sea. Since, 
 however, Richborough, Lemanis, and Adurni 
 present rival claims, we will leave to those who 
 advocate them the task of deciding which are the 
 strongest. For our own part we unhesitatingly 
 assert on the authority of Ccesar's own narrative, 
 interpreted by the only tradition extant, that the 
 landing of Julius Cirsar was on the "open and 
 level shore " of Deal, and that his naval camp 
 extended along that shore as far as Walmer 
 Castle.
 
 
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 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Cesar's first expedition, early 
 encounters with the britons. 
 
 HE events connected with the landing 
 of Cccsar on the shores of Britain, 
 the gallant resistance he met with, 
 the heroism and success of his 
 soldiers, and the subsequent disasters which led 
 him to leave the island for a time, form one 
 of the most interesting and stirring pages of 
 history. 
 
 When Caesar loosed his vessels from their 
 anchorage at Dover, the Britons, perceiving his 
 design to land further along the coast, having 
 sent forward cavalry and chariots, followed closely 
 with their remaining forces, and endeavoured to
 
 \ 
 
 CiESAR S FIRST EXPEDITION. I 29 
 
 prevent his disembarkation. From the lofty cliffs 
 between Dover and Deal the scouts of their 
 army could no doubt watch the progress of his 
 vessels, while the main body of the Britons came 
 by a shorter and easier route along the inland 
 valley. That they were able to reach Deal in 
 time to oppose his landing affords striking testi- 
 mony not only to the rapidity of their movements, . 
 but to the excellence of the roads over which / 
 they travelled. 
 
 It must, however, be borne in mind that Cccsar, 
 being imperfectly acquainted with the coast and 
 the tides, chose an unfavourable time for the 
 attempt to land his vessels, and so gave longer 
 lime for rallying to the enemy. According to 
 the computation of Dr Halley, Leverricr, and 
 others, he left Dover on the afternoon of the 
 25th of August B.C. 55, A.u.c. 699, on which 
 day the moon would be at the full and the tide 
 at its highest, and spring tides at about eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon. Consequently as he 
 probably reached the shore at Deal about an 
 hour after he set sail from Dover, that is at 
 about four o'clock p.m., only two hours remained 
 
 I
 
 130 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 before it was low water, and, as his ships pro- 
 bably drew eight or ten feet of water, he would 
 not be able at the ebb, and during spring tides, 
 to bring them nearer than 1 000 feet to the shore. 
 "There was great difficulty," he says, "because 
 the vessels on account of their size could not be 
 stationed except in deep water. But the soldiers, 
 oppressed with the great weight of their arms, 
 ignorant of the ground, and with their hands 
 encumbered, were obliged to leap from the ships, 
 and to engage the enemy standing close in the 
 waves ; — while they on the other hand, either 
 from dry land or having advanced a very little 
 into the water, with all their limbs perfectly free, 
 were boldly hurling darts from places with which 
 they were well acquainted, and urging on horses 
 inured to the service. Ccrsar finding his men 
 dismayed and disorganized by this unaccustomed 
 manner of fighting, ordered his long-boats or 
 galleys to be rowed a little distance from the 
 transports, so as to attack the open flank of the 
 enemy, and to dislodge them from their position 
 by slings and arrows and other missiles. This 
 manoeuvre was of great service, for the Britons
 
 C^SAR S FIRST EXPEDITION. I 3 I 
 
 confused by the shape of the vessels, the motion 
 of the oars, and the unusual kind of engines of war, 
 stopped and drew back, though but for a little 
 space. Still the Roman soldiers hesitated to leave 
 their galleys on account of the depth of the water, 
 and the temporary advantage gained might have 
 been thrown away but for the bravery of the 
 standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, who calling 
 upon the gods for the success of his venture, said 
 with a loud voice, ' Leap down, soldiers, unless 
 you wish to betray the eagle to the enemy ; I at 
 any rate shall have performed my duty to the 
 State and my general.' With these words he 
 threw himself from the vessel and began to bear 
 the eagle towards the enemy. Then the rest of 
 the soldiers encouraging one another, and fearing 
 the disgrace of the loss of a Roman eagle, leaped 
 down in a body from the vessel ; and others from 
 the nearest vessels, incited by their example, having 
 closely followed, they approached the enemy. 
 
 '• On both sides the battle was ,sluir|-)ly con- 
 tested. The Roman soldiers, unable to keej) 
 their ranks, or to stand firmly, or to follow 
 closely their standards, fell into great confusion,
 
 132 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 while the Britons, knowing the shallows, when- 
 ever they beheld from the shore any of the 
 enemy disembarking from their vessels, attacked 
 them, encumbered as they were, from their 
 chariots driven at full speed into the water, 
 many thus surrounding a few, while others 
 hurled darts from the open flank on the main 
 body of the enemy. 
 
 "On seeing this, Ccesar ordered the boats 
 belonging to the galleys, and the spy-boats, 
 to be filled with soldiers, and sent them to 
 help those whom he saw distressed. By thus 
 bringing into action all his reserve forces, he 
 at length revived the drooping courage of 
 his legions, and the Romans having gained the 
 shore, and their discipline being restored, they 
 made a simultaneous attack upon the Britons 
 and put them to flight. They could not, 
 however, pursue them very far, owing to the 
 vessels with the cavalry having been unable to 
 gain the island through contrary winds. In this 
 one particular his usual good fortune had failed 
 CiEsar." 
 
 Such is the account given in " the Commen-
 
 C^SARS FIRST EXPEDITION. 1 33 
 
 taries " of this memorable engagement, in which 
 were so conspicuously displayed the bravery of 
 the contending forces, and the skill and watch- 
 fulness of the great general who directed the 
 attack. An incident of remarkable heroism is 
 recorded by Valerius Maximus^ as having 
 occurred during the battle, which it is important 
 to notice, as it affords corroborative evidence 
 that the shore at Deal was the scene of the 
 encounter. The account, as translated by 
 Napoleon, is as follows : — " A certain legionary, 
 Ccesius Sca?va, having thrown himself into a 
 boat with four men, reached a rock, whence 
 with his comrades he threw missiles against the 
 enemy ; but the ebb rendered the space between 
 the rock and the land fordable. The barbarians 
 then rushed to them in a crowd. His com- 
 panions took refuge in tlieir boat ; he, firm to 
 his post, made an heroic defence, and kilk-d 
 several of his enemies ; at last, having his thigh 
 transpierced with an arrow, his face bruised by 
 the blow of a stone, his helmet broken to pieces, 
 his buckler covered with holes, he trusted him- 
 
 '"Val. Max." III., ii. 2V
 
 134 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 self to the mercy of the waves, and swam back 
 towards his companions. When he saw his 
 general, instead of boasting of his conduct, he 
 sought his pardon for returning without his 
 buckler. It was, in fact, a disgrace among the 
 ancients to lose that defensive arm ; but Cccsar 
 loaded him with praise, and rewarded him with 
 the grade of a centurion." The same exploit is 
 recorded by Eutropius from some pieces of 
 Suetonius now lost. Camden gives the following 
 translation of the passage: — "Sca^va, one of 
 Ccesar's soldiers, and four more with him, came 
 over before in a little ship to a rock near 
 the island, and were there left by the tide. 
 The Britons in great numbers fell upon these 
 few Romans ; yet the rest of his companions 
 got back again. Still Sca^va continues un- 
 daunted, overcharged with weapons on all sides ; 
 first resisting them with his spear, and after 
 with his sword, fighting there single against a 
 multitude. And when he was at length both 
 wearied and wounded, and had had his helmet 
 and buckler beat out of his hand, he swam off 
 with two coats of mail to Ccesar's camp ; where
 
 Caesar's first expedition. 135 
 
 he begged pardon for his rashness, and was 
 made a centurion." 
 
 These accounts of Scceva's exploit bear a 
 general similarity to one mentioned by Plutarch, 
 and the name of the soldier is attributed by 
 him to the hero of another deed of daring 
 at Dyrrachium. In describing the valour and 
 affection of Ccpsar's soldiers for their general, 
 Plutarch gives the following narrative : — " Cas- 
 sius Scxva also, in a conflict before the city 
 of Dyrrachium, having one of his eyes put 
 out with an arrow, his shoulder stricken 
 through with a dart, and his thigh with another, 
 and having received thirty arrows upon his 
 shield, he called to his enemies, and made as 
 though he would yield to them. But when 
 two of them came running to him, he clave the 
 shoulder of one of them from his body with 
 his sword, and hurt the other in the lace, 
 so that he made him turn his back, and at 
 length saved himself, by means of his companions 
 that came to help him. y\iul in Britain also, 
 when the captains of the bands were chivcii into 
 a marsh or bog full of mire and dirt, antl the
 
 I ^6 CiESAR IN KENT. 
 
 enemies did fiercely assail them there, Cxsar 
 then standing to view the battle, he saw a private 
 soldier of his thrust in among the captains, and 
 fight so valiantly in their defence, that at length 
 he drove the barbarous people to fly, and by this 
 means saved the captains, who otherwise were in 
 great danger of being cast away. Then this 
 soldier being the hindmost man of all the 
 captains, marching with great pain through the 
 mire and dirt, half swimming and half on foot, 
 in the end got to the other side, but left his 
 shield behind him. Ccesar, wondering at his 
 noble courage, ran to him with joy to embrace 
 him. But the poor soldier, hanging down 
 his head, fell at Cxsar's feet, and besought him 
 to pardon him, for that he had left his target 
 behind him." 
 
 Now it is evident from the foregoing accounts 
 that the story of Scceva's exploit was related with 
 considerable variety of circumstance ; in fact it 
 would appear from Plutarch's account that Scceva 
 was not the name of the hero of the brave deed 
 in Britain, but of a somewhat similar adventure 
 at Dyrrachium. There were, no doubt, many
 
 C^SAR S FIRST EXPEDITION. 1 37 
 
 deeds of daring related of the soldiers in Cxsar's 
 army, fireside stories passed from mouth to mouth. 
 As is usual with such accounts, the details of the 
 different stories became confused, the name of 
 the hero of one being associated with another, 
 each story growing in marvel as it travelled, until 
 it was difficult to distinguish the substratum of 
 truth upon which the narrative was founded. 
 The story, however, as recorded by the three 
 historians seems to be generally the same, namely, 
 that one of Caesar's soldiers, after a desperate 
 encounter single-handed with several of the 
 enemy on a rock near Caesar's landing-place, at 
 last escaped with many wounds and the loss of 
 his target, for which he asked Caesar's pardon 
 and was made a centurion. The rocks mentioned 
 by Valerius Maximus and Suetonius as the 
 scene of this encounter may still he seen at low 
 water during spring tides at Deal. They are 
 known as "the Malms," and are opposite the 
 naval yard and marine barracks. "There arc 
 other rocks," says Mr Pritchard, ";it a _i;ri';Uer 
 distance from the shore, which the Ixxiinicn in 
 running ashore can feel with their oars when the
 
 138 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 tide ebbs to a great extent. It is no uncommon 
 thing for coins and valuable articles to be picked 
 up from off these rocks, and the rocks must 
 have existed for many years past just as they 
 now are." It may be added that there are 
 no such rocks at any of those other localities 
 which have been named as the scene of Caesar's 
 disembarkation. 
 
 The decisive battle by which Ciesar effected 
 the landing of his troops was succeeded by a 
 temporary peace. Ambassadors were sent to 
 Caesar by the conquered Britons, promising their 
 submission, and that hostages should be sent, in 
 assurance of their future good behaviour. With 
 these came Comius, the Atrebatian, whom CiEsar 
 had sent before him into Britain. In waging 
 war with the Britons Cccsar relied as much on 
 intrigue and bribery as he did on skill and 
 the bravery of his troops. The Atrebates, a 
 Belgic people, having been conquered, Ctesar 
 made Comius a regulus or petty king over them, 
 and knowing his influence with the Atrebatian 
 colony in Britain, and with the Britons generally, 
 he sent him thither before he invaded the country,
 
 Cesar's first expedition. 139 
 
 in order that he might win over to his cause 
 whatever states he could. Comius doubtless met 
 with some success in these endeavours, and it was 
 probably through his means that negotiations 
 were opened with Androgens or Avarwy, whose 
 treachery, as will be seen in the next chapter, 
 was the cause of so much disaster to the Britons 
 in Cccsar's second invasion of the country. The 
 British historians indeed relate that Avarwy made 
 a secret treaty with Ccrsar prior to his first 
 expedition, and that he was preparing to betray 
 his country, and to throw open the gates oi 
 Caer Troia (London) to the conqueror, when the 
 disaster which happened to his vessels compelled 
 Caesar to leave the country. Whatever success, 
 however, Comius may have had at first in 
 treating with some of the British chiefs, it was 
 thwarted by the action of the people, who rose in 
 indignation at the proposal of vassalage, and 
 having seized Comius, threw liiiu into prison. 
 After the victorious landing of the Roman army, 
 Comius was, as we have seen, restored to C-iWsar, 
 who, on the ground ol this poj)ular lunuilt which 
 the British princes said they could not control,
 
 I 40 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 excused the treatment he had received, and con- 
 tented himself with demanding a large number of 
 hostages, of which some were surrendered at 
 once, and others promised from more distant 
 
 parts. 
 
 The peace thus concluded was destined to be 
 of short duration. The fourth day after Cxsar's 
 an-ival in Britain a change of wind took place, 
 which enabled the eighteen transport vessels with 
 the cavalry to leave the port (Ambleteuse), and 
 they were at length within sight of the naval 
 camp (at Deal), when the shifting wind was suc- 
 ceeded by so violent a tempest that not one of 
 them could hold its course. Some were driven 
 back to the place whence they sailed, others to 
 the coast of Cornwall, whence, after securing for 
 a time safe anchorage, they eventually sailed back 
 to the Continent. 
 
 The tempest, however, occasioned more serious 
 disaster to Caesar than the disappointment at 
 not receiving his cavalry. His vessels lying at 
 anchor near the shore were many of them com- 
 pletely wrecked, and even his galleys which 
 were beached, the moon being at the full and the
 
 CtSA-R S FIRST EXPEDITION. I4I 
 
 tide consequently very high, were filled with 
 water, so that, having made no provision for a 
 winter campaign, and having no means at his 
 command for repairing his vessels, he was re- 
 duced for a time to a state of complete help- 
 lessness. 
 
 Seeing the desperate condition of the Romans, 
 and judging them to be few in number from the 
 smallness of their camp (for Cxsar, having no 
 heavy baggage with him, had confined his encamp- 
 ment within narrow limits), the princes who had 
 just made peace with Cxsar, having conferred 
 together, decided to renew the war. They 
 thought that by protracting it into the winter, 
 and preventing all supply of provisions to the 
 Romans, they would so subdue them that no 
 foreign foe would hereafter venture to invade 
 their country. Having therefore laid their plans 
 they left the camp one by one, and withdrew 
 their men from the fields. 
 
 Ca\sar, although as yet he had no knowledge 
 of their intention, nevertheless Iron-, ilieir ceasing 
 to bring hostages, suspected they were plotting 
 some mischief He at once prepared for every
 
 142 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 emergency. He brought in each day the corn 
 from the fields, and by using the material of 
 those vessels which were completely shattered, 
 was able so to repair the others which had sus- 
 tained less damage, that, twelve being broken up, 
 the rest were rendered seaworthy. 
 
 Meanwhile the Britons were not slow in carry- 
 ing out their design. Having reaped the corn 
 everywhere except in one locality, they laid an 
 ambush by night in the woods adjacent to this, 
 so that when the seventh legion of the Roman 
 army came there to forage, they rushed out upon 
 them unawares, and having slain some, threw the 
 rest into confusion by surrounding them with 
 cavalry and chariots. The dust caused by these 
 movements having attracted the notice of the 
 guards on station before the camp, they reported 
 the matter to Ca\sar. He, taking with him the 
 cohorts that were in advanced positions before 
 the camp, at once went to the relief of his men. 
 His arrival both revived the courage of his own 
 soldiers, and arrested the onslaught of the enemy. 
 Ccesar, however, does not claim to have won a 
 victory. He held his ground, but deemed it in-
 
 Cesar's first expedition. 143 
 
 expedient to provoke the enemy to a battle. 
 Both armies retired from the contest, the Britons 
 being so for victorious that they were suffered to 
 carry away as prisoners those whom they had 
 seized upon in the fields. 
 
 Such is the account given by Caesar himself of 
 this remarkable conflict, which drew from him 
 unqualified admiration, not only of the chariot 
 system in use among the Britons, but also of 
 the dexterity and fearlessness with which they 
 manoeuvred. His description, which will be given 
 in another chapter, brings vividly before us the 
 heroic age and the chariot system of Troy as 
 celebrated in the verse of Homer, 
 
 Tlic British accounts of this engagement change 
 the drawn battle of Cxsar's commentaries into a 
 signal defeat sustained by the Roman legions. 
 They are thus summarised by Mr Morgan. 
 "The seventh legion was in the act of giving 
 way, when Ca\sar's arrival changed for a time the 
 aspect of the engagement. Hut the rej)ulse was 
 of short duration. The British cavalry, under 
 Nennius, attacked the tenth legion commanded 
 by Cxsar in person ; their infantry at the same
 
 144 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 time bore down and completed the success of the 
 charge. The utmost efforts of the Roman general 
 failed to remedy the confusion which ensued. In 
 vain he threw himself into the melee. The dis- 
 order and mingling of the troops was irretrievable. 
 His voice was lost in the tumult and din of the 
 field. The eagle itself was borne down, and 
 Cassar in covering it with his body was assailed 
 by Nennius. The sword of the great Roman 
 buried itself in the shield of the British prince, 
 and before he could extricate it, the tide of battle 
 separated the combatants, leaving the weapon a 
 trophy to be long afterwards exhibited to the 
 inhabitants of Caer Troia. CoDsar performed all 
 that an able general or intrepid soldier could do 
 to recover the honour of the day. But fortune 
 and superior skill were both against him. All 
 that he could succeed in effecting was to prevent 
 the British army entering the camp with the 
 routed remains of his own legions." 
 
 In endeavouring to assign the locality of this 
 engagement there are certain particulars men- 
 tioned in Caesar's history which will assist us. 
 First, the battle was fought out of view of the
 
 a^SARS FIRST EXPEDITION. I45 
 
 camp, the dust only caused by the strife being 
 visible from the gates. Secondly, it was fought 
 upon arable land, with woods close by, in which 
 the Britons lay in ambush. Thirdly, there were 
 stations of the Roman army in the direction of 
 the battle-field, from which Caesar drew his 
 troops when advancing to the relief of his seventh 
 legion. Taking these facts into consideration, it 
 seems probable that the battle was fought in the 
 neighbourhood of Ringwould and Martin Mill. It 
 will be remembered that the British forces which 
 opposed Ccrsar's landing had come from Dover. 
 They do not seem to have been drawn from dis- 
 tant parts, but were for the most part local forces. 
 When defeated they would therefore naturally 
 retire in the direction whence they came, so as, if 
 necessary, to fall back upon their former strong 
 position at Dover. Thus Ringwould and the 
 neighbourhood of Martin Hill would lie on their 
 direct line of retreat. This position moreover 
 accords well with the details of the history. l'\)r 
 in the first place, it is so situated thai thr rising 
 ground between it and the shore would prevent 
 the actual combat being seen from the camp, but 
 
 K
 
 146 CESAR IN KENT. 
 
 yet it is not so far distant, but that the dust raised 
 by the manoeuvres of the chariots and cavalry 
 would be easily noticed by the guards before the 
 camp. Secondly, the country inland from Deal 
 was described by Ca?sar as a plain and open 
 shore, and to the present day is singularly barren 
 of trees, while on the other hand the arable land 
 between Ringwould and Martin Mill is skirted 
 by the considerable woodlands of Oxney, which 
 divide it from the shore. In these are the 
 remains to all appearance of an ancient British 
 Oppidum and chariot road, and the land bears 
 every indication of having been covered with 
 trees from a remote period. Thirdly, as men- 
 tioned by Mr Pritchard in his history of Deal, 
 there were in his time at Kingsdown, between 
 Caesar's camp and Ringwould, the traces of a 
 Roman encampment which bore locally the name 
 " Roman Codde " (the fortitude of the Romans). 
 CoDsar would be very likely to form an advanced 
 post at this spot, for the little valley at Kings- 
 down, forming a break in the line of cliffs, would 
 otherwise present a favourable opportunity for 
 the Britons to approach by the seashore and
 
 C.€SAR S FIRST EXPEDITION. I 47 
 
 attack his naval camp in reiir or flank. The 
 Commentaries, indeed, seem to indicate that 
 there was a considerable encampment in the 
 direction in which this engagement was fought, 
 as a protection to the naval camp. The narra- 
 tive states that Cxsar drew his relieving force 
 from "the stations before the camp," and that 
 he ordered these to be occupied by two other 
 cohorts, that is by i coo men (each cohort ' 
 consisting of about 500 men), and left word that 
 others should follow. Ccesar then drew his 
 troops from these advanced posts, as being 
 doubtless in the direction in which he was ad- 
 vancing to succour his seventh legion ; and in 
 order that he might have a strong reserved 
 force in case he should be defeated, he left 
 word that two other cohorts, with others to 
 follow, .should occupy the vacated stations. In 
 thus moving his troops along the shore, from 
 his naval camp to the advanced camp at Kings- 
 
 ' A k'gion consisted of from 5000 to 6000 niL-n. Cxsar's 
 legions probably contained about 5000. Ten cohorts con- 
 stituted a legion, liach cohort therefoie consisted of about 
 500 men, though the complement of soldiers was larger in 
 some cohorts than in others.
 
 148 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 down, he would have this advantage, that his 
 supplies would be protected from the observation 
 of the enemy by the line of cliffs between 
 Walmer and Kingsdown. 
 
 In confirmation of the site we have named 
 being the scene of the attack by the Britons on 
 the foraging troops of the Romans, and the 
 slaughter of many of them, it may be mentioned 
 that in the construction of the Deal and Dover 
 Railway a number of Roman urns, Samian and 
 other ware, have been recently discovered near 
 Martin Mill, some of which are in the possession 
 of the owner of the adjoining property, Mr 
 William Banks of Oxney Court. Many of these 
 certainly belong to a subsequent period to that of 
 Julius Ccesar, but it would only be in accordance 
 with a general custom if the ground consecrated 
 by the burial of these early Roman heroes who 
 fell in the first invasion of the country, was 
 afterwards used as a Roman cemetery. 
 
 The subsequent events connected with Ccrsar's 
 first expedition may be briefly narrated. "For 
 many days in succession," he tells us, " tempes- 
 tuous weather prevented both armies from re-
 
 Caesar's first expedition. 149 
 
 suming hostilities. This, at least, may be regarded 
 as CcEsar's excuse for his own inactivity. The 
 Britons, however, were not idle. Thinking to 
 drive the comparatively small force of the in- 
 vaders from their camp, and so for ever to free 
 themselves from them, they despatched mes- 
 sengers in all directions, and having collected a 
 large multitude both of infantry and cavalry, 
 they advanced towards the camp. The issue of 
 the battle that followed was such as might be 
 expected, when an army gathered hastily from 
 all parts attacked a well-disciplined force defended 
 by a fortified position. Ca?sar's legions were 
 drawn up in array before his camp, and their 
 rear being thus secured from attack, they fought 
 with such confidence and intrepidity, that the 
 Britons speedily gave way. They were pursued 
 to some distance by the Roman soldiers, .iiui 
 Caesar being now in possession of some thirty horse 
 which Comius, the Atrebatian, had brought over 
 to liril.iin with him, the rout was c()iii|)Uie. 
 T]\v brave but over-matched defenders ol ihcir 
 country were many of them slain, and their nulc 
 habitations destroyed. Their chiefs were fain to
 
 I 50 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 secure peace by promising twice the number of 
 hostages that Cxsar had before required. 
 
 The great Roman general, although in the end 
 victorious, had little cause to congratulate himself 
 upon the results of his expedition. With a 
 shattered fleet, and an army largely reduced in 
 numbers, he was compelled to return to the con- 
 tinent, not having gained sufficient footing in the 
 country to maintain his position through the 
 coming winter. Such a conquest seemed hardly 
 distinguishable from a defeat, and although a 
 thanksgiving of twenty days was decreed by the 
 Senate in his honour, there were not wanting 
 those who declared his expedition a failure and 
 a disgrace, and charged him openly with turning 
 his back upon the victorious Britons.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Cesar's second invasion of Britain, his 
 
 VOYAGE, inland MARCH, AND FIRST BATTLE. 
 
 i HE account of Cxsar's second invasion 
 
 ^^ 3^1^ '•'^ Britain commences with the eighth 
 |fg^g chapter of the fifth book of liis 
 C'ommentaries. He proceeds to re- 
 I.ite that having left Labienus on the Continent 
 with three legions and 2000 horse, for tlie i)ro- 
 tection of the ports and for tlie provisioning of 
 com, as well as to watch the course of i- vents 
 and act as occasion might require, he himself 
 with five legions and 2000 horse, set sail at sun- 
 set with a gentle soulh-wfst wiiul.' The wind, 
 however, having slackened about midiiighl, he did 
 
 * Napoleon has proved by calculations based upon various 
 data that Csesar started on his second expedition on .Inly 2i8t, 
 in the year a.u.c. 700, or n.c 54.
 
 152 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 not hold his course, but was carried too far by 
 the tide, and at daybreak found that he had left 
 Britain on his left hand. The tide changing, he 
 endeavoured to gain by rowing that part of the 
 island where he had found the previous summer 
 a landing could be best effected. In this he was 
 much assisted by the praiseworthy endurance of 
 his soldiers in the transports and heavy boats, who 
 by their unremitted exertions in rowing kept pace 
 with the long and lighter vessels. Thus Britain 
 was approached by all the vessels about mid-day. 
 No enemy, however, was seen at the place of 
 landing. Ca\sar states, that he subsequently 
 learned from the prisoners that great bands of 
 the Britons had assembled there, but that being 
 terrified by the number ui' his vessels (which 
 with those built the previous year and the 
 privateers amounted to more than 800), they had 
 withdrawn to the higher grounds. 
 
 The reason Cxsar here gives for his landing 
 being unopposed hardly accords with the brave 
 and fearless character which the Britons had ex- 
 hibited at his previous invasion of their country. 
 A more probable reason, about which Ccesar 
 himself is naturally silent, is furnished by the
 
 Cesar's second invasion of Britain. 153 
 
 Welsh, or rather British, history of the tninsaction. 
 According to this account, Cxsar, prior to his 
 first invasion of Britain, had, through the medium 
 of Comius, opened secret communications with 
 Avarwy or Androgeus, son of the last sovereign, 
 Lud, and regarded by a powerful faction as the 
 rightful heir to the throne. ^ A secret treaty 
 
 1 This traitor has been identified with Mandubratius, a 
 British chieftain, mentioned by Caesar as having formed an 
 alliance with him. The unpopularity of Avarwy with the 
 great mass of the people was marked by the stigmatic name, 
 "Du-bradwr" or "Mandubrad" (the Black Traitor). There 
 are, however, some differences between the Cambrian account of 
 Avarwy and Cassar's account of Mandubratius. According 
 to the former, Avarwy was the son of the last sovereign, Lud. 
 Caswallon, after his election to the Pendragonate or military 
 dictatorship of the whole island, treated Avarwy as his own 
 son, giving him Kent and the whole territory between the 
 Thames and the Wash for his princedom, and appointing him 
 also governor of London. To his brother, Tenuantius, he 
 also assigned the dukedom of Cornwall. Caesar, on the other 
 hand, says of Mandubratius, whom he calls the youth Man- 
 dubratius, that he was the son of Imanuentius, who had 
 obtained the rule over the country of the Trinobantes (the 
 district now comprising Middlesex and I'issex), and had been 
 killed by Cassivellaunus. Mandubratius himself escaped death 
 by flight. Mandubratius, according to Cacsiir, came to him in 
 Gaul, and it would appear accompanied him to Britiiin in his 
 second exjjedition, for we find from the subsequent history 
 that, after Carsar had defeated Cassivellaunus at the Thames,
 
 154 CiESAR IN KENT. 
 
 was formed between them, by which, in return 
 For Cxsar's support, Avarwy engaged, on the 
 deposition of Caswallon (Cassivellaunus), to 
 hold the kingdom as a tributary of Rome. 
 The ill success of Cxsar's first expedition pre- 
 
 and had crossed that river, tlie Trlnobantes sent ambassadors 
 begging his protection for Mandubratius from the injustice of 
 Cassivellaunus, and that he would send him to rule over them. 
 The two accounts are not altogether irreconcilable. Each 
 describes the person spoken of as a youth, and the son of a 
 former sovereign ; the one stating that liis father's name was 
 " Imanuentius," the other mentioning that his brother bore 
 the very similar name, " Tenuantius." If Avarwy in the one 
 account is identical with Mandubratius in the other, it is 
 probable that the southern portion of the territory originally 
 assigned to him by Cassivellaunus had been taken from him 
 thi'ough distrust of his loyalty, and that, smarting under this 
 supposed injustice, he went over to Cassar in Gaul, hoping to 
 regain his authority by traitorously bringing over the great 
 Roman conqueror to his assistance. We are led to this sup- 
 position by the Welsh account, which states that Avarwy had 
 command only over the Coranidae, or Coritani, who inhabited 
 some of the midland counties, and by Caesar's own statement 
 that the Trinobantes requested him to restore Mandubratius 
 to his former rule over themselves. Cassar would naturally 
 suppress the fact that Mandubratius had departed from him 
 in Gaul in order to return and play the traitor in Britain, 
 and that it was through his treachery that he was afterwards 
 able to land his army and conquer the Britons.
 
 Cesar's second invasion of Britain. 155 
 
 vented Avarwy at that time from carrying out 
 his contemplated treachery. When, however, 
 tidings reached the British chieftains that Ccesar 
 intended a second invasion of the country (to 
 quote the words of Mr Morgan), "The Gorsedd or 
 high council of the nation was convened by Cas- 
 wallon in London. Avarwy and his faction 
 attended in large numbers. The decision arrived 
 at is known in the Triads as the first of the three 
 fatal counsels of the Isle of Britain. Caswallon, 
 who had already posted detachments of troops 
 along the coast, urged the policy of opposing so 
 formidable an invader, as before, on the beach 
 itself, and thus preventing a single hostile camp 
 being thrown up on British soil. Avarwy, on 
 the contrary, maintained that it was derogatory 
 to the honour of the nation to adopt any other 
 plan of action than one which would at once bring 
 the Romans and Britons face to face on an v(\wa\ 
 field with each other, that every facility for land- 
 ing ought to be afforded Ca?sar, that the great 
 lesson to be taught the continent was, that Britain 
 relied for the maintenance of her liberties, not on 
 her inaccessibility as an island, hut on the natural
 
 156 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 courage of her own children. The insidious 
 advice prevailed. The council resolved " that it 
 was beneath the dignity of the nations of the 
 Britons to defend their country otherwise than by 
 the might of manhood, and that the landing of the 
 Ca^saridcE be unopposed." 
 
 The motives which actuated Avarwy in giving 
 this fatal advice were not only that he might 
 enable Ctrsar to land his army, but that he might 
 draw the British forces into a position at which he 
 could with safety desert with his forces to the 
 Romans. The vSequel will show how he after- 
 wards carried out this traitorous intention. 
 
 But let us proceed with Caesar's narrative. 
 "The army/' he says, "being set on shore, and 
 a proper place chosen for the camp, when Cccsar 
 learnt from the captives in what place the forces 
 of the enemy had pitched, having left ten cohorts 
 and 300 horse by the sea as a guard to the 
 vessels, he himself, at the third watch of the 
 night, advanced towards the enemy, having little 
 fear for his vessels, because he was leaving them 
 at anchor on a smooth and open shore, and he 
 appointed over the guard for the vessels Quintus
 
 C^SARS SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN. I57 
 
 Atrius. After a night march of about twelve 
 miles, he came m sight of the forces of the enemy." 
 We may remark here that Cxsar, notwithstand- 
 ing his own statement to the contrary, must have 
 obtained very accurate information as to the 
 movements of the British forces, to have ventured 
 on a march of twelve miles by night in an enemy's 
 country, and that too on the same night on which 
 he landed. The hilly ground between Deal and 
 Dover' would have afforded a favourable position 
 from which an enemy encamped there might have 
 attacked his rear ; and had he not ascertained to 
 a certainty that there were no British forces in 
 the neighbourhood, it would have ill accorded with 
 his usual prudence to have ventured with the 
 greater part of his army so far from his base of 
 operations, leaving only ten cohorts (equal to one 
 legion) and 300 horse as a protection to his ships, 
 and at the risk of having his retreat cut off. He 
 tells us indeed that he learned the disposition of 
 
 ' The traces of fortified j)Ositions may he found at Walnier 
 near the old church, and at Oxney. As before sutcd, at the 
 latter place, about midway between Deal and Dover tliere arc 
 the remains of what was evidently a wcll-fortified British 
 oppidum.
 
 158 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 the enemy's forces from the captives, and we 
 know that Ccrsar usually took with him in his 
 marches the captives taken in previous engage- 
 ments, and that he had taken many captives in 
 his previous invasion of Britain. But these 
 captives could not have informed him as to the 
 enemy's present position; and a few stragglers 
 captured, even if he found any (which is hardly 
 likely) immediately upon landing on the beach at 
 Deal, could not be relied on to give accurate in- 
 formation as to the movements of the British now 
 more than twelve miles distant. On the con- 
 trary, Ccesar's rapid 7nove?nent shows that he had 
 a preconcerted scheme^ an accurate knowledge of 
 the enemy's plans, a definite understanding with 
 some secret ally, such as we find from the British 
 account he had with Avarwy. 
 
 It will be necessary to be more discursive 
 in our comments upon Ccesar's history of his 
 j^rogress from this point, for one of the principal 
 objects of these pages is to trace the course 
 of his army during the next two days^ as 
 marked out by historical, local, and traditional 
 knowledge. After his march of twelve miles
 
 CESAR S SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN. I 59 
 
 from the coast he came in sight of the enemy, 
 and he relates : " They having proceeded with 
 chariots and cavalry to the river, began from the 
 higher ground to check the advance of our men, 
 and to join battle."' The direction which Ccpsar 
 took on this occasion has been examined with 
 great attention to detail by Napoleon III. From 
 the measurements of his surveyors he has ascer- 
 tained that a circle with a twelve mile radius, 
 having Deal for its centre, touches the river Stour 
 (i.e., the river now known as the lesser Stour^) 
 
 ' Napoleon writes : " This stream is incontcstably the 
 Jlumen of ' the Commentaries.' There is less room for error, 
 as we find no other stream in the part of the county of Kent 
 comprised as between the coast of Deal and the Great Stour, 
 and as this latter runs too far from Deal to answer to the text. 
 Although the little Stour is not, between Bariiam and 
 Kingston, more than from three to four metres broad, we nei-d 
 not be astonished at the denomination oi Jlumen given to it by 
 Caesar, for he employs the same expression to designate sim])li' 
 rivulets such as the Ose and Oserain " (De Bello Gallico,vii.69, 
 Alesia). Naj)oleon also points out that it should not be 
 expected from the recital of " the Commcntaiics " tliat the 
 river was a very wide one, as " Caesar's c.ivalry passed it witli- 
 out difficulty, and this fact forms an objection to the Great 
 Stour which several authors, and amongst others General de 
 Gaeler, take for i\\c Jlumen of the text ; it is sufficiently broad 
 and sufficiently steep-banked towards Sturry, where they place
 
 •>0 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 along ;in arc, the two extreme points of which 
 are at Kingston and Littlebourne. Napoleon 
 inclines to the opinion that Kingston was the 
 place where the two armies first joined battle, as 
 answering best to the description in " the Com- 
 mentaries ; " although he admits it to be doubt- 
 ful whether that or Littlebourne was the first 
 battlefield. From traces of encampments which 
 still remain, there is every reason to believe 
 that Cnesar's army advanced towards both these 
 localities. In marching from the coast, especially 
 
 the scene of the action to render the passage difficult for 
 cavahy. Moreover Sturry is fifteen and not twelve miles 
 from the coast of Deal." 
 
 There is, however, every reason to believe that the lesser 
 ^Stour, though not so wide and deep in Caesar's time as to 
 prevent the passage of cavalry, was formerly a very much 
 wider stream, and more worthy the designation of *' fliu»*fi " 
 than it is at the present day. Among the authorities who 
 have written on this subject the following from the Rev. 
 Bryan Faussett may be quoted : — " In the bottom, between 
 the village of Kingston and these tumuli, (referring to numerous 
 tumuli on Barham Downs,) there is what in this part of Kent 
 is commonly called an Aylebourne, Naylebourne, or rivulet, 
 which though it is not now-a-days a constant but occasional 
 stream, yet certainly was in former ages by no means unworthy 
 the name of a river. And such indeed it is at this day, at 
 the small distance of but a mile lower, namely to the north-
 
 Cesar's second invasion of Britain. i6i 
 
 during the night, Ca?sar would not strike out into 
 the open country, but would follow the course of 
 the ancient British road, probably that which may 
 still be traced, and which tradition refers to an 
 early period, from the Strand at Deal passing 
 
 west where it still retiiins the name of the Lesser Stour, and 
 where it is seldom or never dry, but continues its course 
 through Bishopsbourne, Bridge, Patricksbourne, and Bekes- 
 boume, till at last it joins the greater Stour, Up to which last 
 mentioned place (viz., Bekesbourne) there was, in the time of 
 Edward III. and long after, a small navigation out of the 
 Greater Stour. And as a proof of this Aylcbourne having 
 been much deeper and broader than it ever now is, I my- 
 self saw the shells of mussels turned plentifully out of the 
 ground in digging a hole for a post at the distance of at least 
 ten rods from its present channel, and at the perpendicular 
 height of no less than three feet above its usual level." It 
 may be added that the Greater Stour must have also been 
 much wider in the time of Caesar than it is now. It emptied 
 itself into the Wantsum, and was probably tidal as far as 
 Canterbury. This is indicated by the geological aspect of the 
 surrounding land, and it may be mentioned in confirmation 
 that the skeleton of an ox in an upnght position, as if sub- 
 merged while standing in the river, was some years ago dug 
 out of the meadows near Canterbury. It is certain tlien that 
 Caesar could not liave crossed the Stour at Sturry (as I)r 
 Guest and others contend that he did) without experiencing 
 considerable difficulty, esj)ecially for his cavalry. This would 
 be contrary to what his "Commentaries" imply was the case. 
 
 L
 
 l62 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 through Upper Deal, Knowlton, Goodneston, and 
 Adisham. Proceeding with all his forces by this 
 road as far probably as what is now known as 
 Adisham Mill, a remarkably elevated situation, 
 he descried the British forces, where indeed from 
 the information of Avarwy he had expected to 
 find them, lining the crest of the hill (described in 
 " the Commentaries " as " superior locus ") from 
 Garrington (near Littlebourne) on his right hand, 
 to probably the part of Barham Downs opposite 
 Bridge and Bishopbournc on his left. This was 
 the best position which the Britons could possibly 
 have chosen for the purpose of arresting the 
 progress of an army marching upon Caer Caint 
 (Canterbury) ; for the hills there are higher than 
 any others in the immediate neighbourhood, 
 varying from 190 to 120 feet above the sea 
 level, as shown by the depth of the wells. 
 We may assume that Ccesar, in accordance with 
 his usual tactics, deployed his forces, after de- 
 scrying the enemy, in three divisions, so as the 
 more readily to extend them in line of battle, 
 the vanguard moving to the right towards 
 Garrington, forming the right wing of his army.
 
 C.-ESAr's second invasion of BRITAIN. I 6 
 
 J 
 
 the centre advancing towards Bridge Hill, the 
 rear guard extending to the left (as the left 
 wing) to drive the enemy from their position 
 on Barham Downs, where they threatened to 
 intercept his approach to the river. This would 
 be the probable disposition of the Roman forces, 
 and we have reason to believe that they after- 
 wards occupied and fortified these localities. 
 
 The first encounter seems to have been for the 
 most part a cavalry engagement. This would 
 naturally be the case. After a forced march 
 of twelve miles through a country where he 
 would meet with no streams of water, C'a^sar's 
 first thouglit would be to obtain water for his 
 horses. The river being apparently open to 
 him, or only weakly defended at Charlton (in 
 Bishopsbourne), he directed his cavalry there in 
 the first instance. The Britons, thinking that this 
 was a movement to outflank them, ru.>lR\l ilown, 
 as Ccrsar relates, '-from the higher ground 
 with their chariots and their cavalry to the 
 river;" no doubl [o check their advance and 
 prevent their reaching the stream. That the 
 Britons were traditionally reported to have opposed
 
 164 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Caesar's progress before he reached the river, 
 rather than after passing it, may be inferred from 
 the following passage from Pomponius Sabinus, 
 out of Seneca: "And in the night marching 
 twelve miles up into the country, Ccesar finds out 
 the Britons, who retreated as far as the river ^ but 
 gave him battle there." 
 
 The battle was a terrible one, but decisive. 
 The Roman cavalry, of which there were 1700 
 (300 only out of the 2000 brought over by 
 Caesar having been left at the naval encampment 
 at Deal), completely routed the enemy, and drove 
 them into the woods. The right wing of Ccesar's 
 army encountered no resistance, for at Garrington 
 it is probable that Avarwy and his Coranidce 
 were stationed, and these at once deserted to the 
 Romans. A gallant resistance, however, was 
 offered by the Britons, who had sought refuge in 
 the woods. "Being repulsed," says Ccesar, "by 
 our cavalry, they withdrew themselves into the 
 woods, and reached a place excellently fortified 
 both by nature and art, which they had prepared 
 before on account, as it seemed, of some domestic 
 war, having closed all the approaches to it by
 
 C/ESAR's second invasion of BRITAIN. I 65 
 
 felled timber. They, few in number/ defended 
 it from the woods, and prevented our men from 
 entering the fortifications. The soldiers of the 
 seventh legion, however, having formed a tortoise, 
 and thrown up a mound against the fortifications, 
 took the place, and drove them from the woods, 
 a few wounds having been received." 
 
 The woods here mentioned still to a consider- 
 able extent remain. Beyond them, along the 
 brow of the hill looking towards Canterbury, is 
 " the green spot," so called in the British narrative 
 of the battle, — now known as Patrixbourne Hill. 
 It has been a burial-place of many generations. 
 British, Roman, Saxon, Danish warriors here 
 doubtless lie side by side, each nation, in accordance 
 with an universal custom in those early times, 
 
 ' The words of Cxsar, " ipsi rari propugnabant ex silvis," 
 might be translated, "They in small deUiched parties defended 
 it from the woods ; " but this rendering does not seem to 
 agree with the statement tliat the Britons found protection in 
 an oppidum, all the approaches to which had been closed 
 That the Romans found it necess.'iry to throw up a mound 
 against the rampart proves that the difTiculty in taking it arose, 
 not from the opposition of small parties outside, but from the 
 strength of its defences, and from the obstinate rcsisUnce of 
 its garrison.
 
 I 66 CiESAR IN KENT. 
 
 regarding a place of sepulture once set apart as 
 devoted for such uses in perpetuity. These places 
 were generally on the highest ground of the neigh- 
 bourhood, and near the public roads. ^ The ground 
 of Patrixbourne Hill, except where roads have 
 since intercepted it, has not been disturbed for 
 many centuries. It is still " the green spot," the 
 chalky subsoil presenting no inducement to the 
 agriculturist to disturb it with the plough. 
 Thus has nature preserved the site of the fight 
 for liberty so gallantly made by our British fore- 
 fathers. Through the woods and down the green 
 slope of Patrixbourne Hill, the Britons over- 
 powered by numbers fled, and were pursued, many 
 being cut down in their flight. A brave few, how- 
 ever, for some time arrested the onslaught of the 
 enemy. A British Thermopylae was found in an 
 ancient oppidum''^ prepared for purposes of de- 
 
 1 Many very interesting specimens of ancient pottery, and 
 glass, brazen, and other ornaments, as well as iron spear heads 
 and swords, with human remains, were dug up some years ago 
 on Patrixbourne Hill. They belonged to various periods. 
 Some have been deposited in the Maidstone and Canterbury 
 museums, and an interesting collection has been carefully ])re- 
 served at Bifrons, the residence of the Marquis Conyngham. 
 
 * Caesar (v. 21) says : " The Britains call that an oppidum
 
 C^iSAR's SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN. I 67 
 
 fence in their intestine wars. All the approaches 
 to this oppidum were so protected by timber laid 
 across and interlaced that the Roman cavalry 
 could not dislodge the garrison which held it ; 
 and it was not until the soldiers of the seventh 
 legion (Ccrsar's favourite and most reliable corps) 
 formed a tortoise with their shields, and under 
 cover of it threw up a mound against the rampart, 
 that they were able to scale its height. Even 
 then its gallant defenders, though completely out- 
 numbered, did not give way without inflicting 
 some loss upon the enemy. 
 
 Now were we unable to discover any vestiges 
 of this stronghold, there would be wanting one 
 important link in the chain of evidence by which 
 we identify the locality of Caesar's first battle- 
 ground. I^ut the position of this oppidum can 
 be readily assigned. Tradition points to a sj)ot 
 in Bourne Park not far from tlie road leading up 
 Bridge Hill as the scene of tlu- last struggle 
 of these brave defenders of tluir country. It 
 
 where they li;ivc been useti to assemble to avoid an incursion 
 of enemies, when they have fortified the entangled woods with 
 a rampart and a ditch."
 
 t68 C^SAR in KENT. 
 
 hears the name of " Old England's Hole " or 
 hollow, and has always been associated by local 
 tradition with some gallant but ineffectual defence 
 of the early inhabitants of the country against 
 their invaders. " Never forget, my son," said the 
 father of him whose researches and suggestions 
 have done so much to inspire the writer of these 
 pages, *' never forget that this is 'Old England's 
 Hole,' and that here a last stand was made for 
 liberty by your British forefathers." An ex- 
 amination of " Old England's Hole " affords 
 abundant confirmation of this tradition. Its 
 situation is just where we might expect to find 
 the oppidum mentioned in the history. " This 
 place," says Napoleon, " must not be sought for 
 far from the scene of the first encounter ; " 
 '' England's Hole " is only a few hundred yards 
 from the locality where we have placed that 
 encounter, and from the outskirts of the woods 
 into which, Caesar says, the Britons retired. Its 
 size is such that while it was a formidable strong- 
 hold, it might easily be defended by a few men. 
 The rampart and ditch by which it was sur- 
 rounded may still be traced. An agger or
 
 C/ESAR's second invasion of BRITAIN. I 69 
 
 mound (probably that thrown up by the Roman 
 soldiers, as it is evidently not part of the fortifi- 
 cations of the place, but thrown up as it were 
 against them from without) still remains as 
 if to prove the accuracy of Ccesar's narrative. 
 Cross roads, traces of which may still be seen 
 within fifty yiu-ds of the enclosure, afforded the 
 garrison of the oppidum a ready means of 
 escape if necessary. One especially, the ancient 
 Roman Watling Street, but before that in all 
 probability a British road, runs close to the 
 enclosure, below the modern road by wliich 
 Bridge Hill is now ascended. Numerous trees, 
 giving it the appearance of an ancient grove, 
 afford some indication of what its strength must 
 have been when to trees, the progenitors of 
 these, were fastened and interlaced the felled 
 timber by which, as we read in '' the Com- 
 mentaries," it was rendered yet more impregnable. 
 Nor are there wanting other jM-oofs of a struggle 
 having taken place at this spot. When the 
 present road on Bridge Hill was dug out in 1S29 
 five or six Roman urns,' with six or eight human 
 
 ' These urns are tlius alluded to in tlie report of tlie first 
 meeting, at Canterbury, of tlie Archxological Association :
 
 170 C/KSAR IN KENT. 
 
 skulls, were discovered about five feet below the 
 surface, embedded in the chalk. The remains also 
 of a horse in a ferruginous condition were found 
 within the oppidum by some boys about fifteen 
 years ago. 
 
 The few brave defenders of this oppidum being 
 at length dislodged, the victory of the Romans 
 was fully assured and the rout complete. Circum- 
 stances, however, prevented Caesar from following 
 up his advantage to its full extent. " Ccrsar," 
 says the history, "forbade his men to follow the 
 
 " It is remarkable that the hill above Bourne (called, from the 
 neighbouring village, Bridge Hill), where the Saxon barrows 
 are found, appears to have been previously a Roman cemetery ; 
 for about twelve years ago, when the new Dover road was 
 cut through it, a number of Romano-British urns and earthen 
 vessels were discovered, with skeletons and fragments of 
 weapons, at a greater depth than the Saxon graves. Some 
 of these urns, now in the possession of Mr W. H. Rolfe of 
 Sandwich, were exhibited by that intelligent antiquary at the 
 meeting of the primeval section." The Rev. J. Hughes- 
 Hallet, of Higham, also possesses one of the urns. In a 
 tumulus about eighty feet from the oppidum, Lord A. 
 Conyngham (so the author is informed by the workman who 
 opened it for him) found, together with a human skull and 
 bones, a breastplate of silver, a curved sword six inches out 
 of line, two bronze shoulder-pieces, four spear-heads, and a 
 wooden vessel banded with bronze bands.
 
 Cesar's second invasion of Britain. i 7 i 
 
 fugitives too far, both because he was ignorant of 
 the nature of the place, and because a great part 
 of the day was now spent, and he wished time to 
 be left for the fortification of the camp." Cccsar 
 had a general knowledge of the locality from 
 information received from Avarwy, and fi-om the 
 captives he had brought over from Gaul, as well 
 as from the numerous scouts which he employed 
 whenever circumstances permitted. But the 
 country into which his forces were now pursuing 
 the enemy was densely wooded. At any point 
 his soldiers might be taken in an ambush through 
 ignorance of the positions of the various oppida 
 (of which Ccrsar says there were many), and 
 which were generally concealed from view by 
 thick foliage. Partly for this reason, and partly 
 because in accordance with the universal custom 
 of the Roman armies, he wished to fortify his 
 camp for the night, Ca\sar recalled his men. 
 
 This step, however, woukl in any case have been 
 advisable in consequence of the great fatigue his 
 soldiers had undergone. For two nights ami 
 nearly two days they h;ul liati no rest, ami a re- 
 capitulation of the history will show iliiit during
 
 172 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 this period, extraordinary exertions had been 
 required of them. They had set sail from the 
 Portus Itius at sunset, and the first night had 
 been spent in anxiety upon an unknown sea, their 
 vessels being carried out of their course by the 
 tide. From daybreak of the next day until noon 
 Ccesar's soldiers were arduously employed in row- 
 ing the transports and heavy boats in order to re- 
 gain the ground they had lost, and to land at the 
 desired point of the shore. The rest of the day 
 had been occupied in disembarking and securing 
 their vessels. Another night followed, in which 
 they were allowed no rest, but marching for the 
 distance of twelve miles, they halted at daydawn, 
 only to prepare for an immediate and sharply 
 fought contest, which, although the recital of it 
 occupies only a brief space in Cirsar's " Com- 
 mentaries," lasted, with the subsequent rout and 
 pursuit, till the day was far spent. Such unusual 
 labours, with the necessary duty still before them 
 of fortifying their camp before they could retire 
 for the night, must have rendered it absolutely 
 necessary, were there no other reasons for it, that 
 the troops should be recalled from the pursuit.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Cesar's second invasion, his first inland 
 encampment. 
 
 |N searching for the defences which 
 Ca\siir threw up after the victory 
 recorded in the last cliapter, and 
 which were afterwards, during his 
 absence at tlie place of disembarkation, more 
 strongly fortified, we must not expect to find any 
 traces of stone battlements or walls of brick. " It 
 is certain," says tlie Rev. John Hatteley, in his 
 History of Rutu})ium, "that (-. Julius C':\\sar, 
 both because of the conliiuial movfineiits of his 
 troops in war, and because of the brevity of his 
 stay in (jur isi.mil, left no canij)s except such as 
 were hastily thrown up, antl construrtcil only of 
 turf and earth."' Mr liatteley might haw aildeil
 
 1 74 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 that from this very fact the vestiges of his 
 camps may be expected to be the better preserved, 
 mounds and fortifications of earth remaining clearly 
 defined, especially in chalky soil, as the sepulchral 
 tumuli in all parts of the world testify, for many 
 centuries, long after buildings of stone and brick 
 have entirely disappeared. 
 
 It has before been stated that the Roman forces 
 were probably, on Ccrsar's arrival at Adisham Mill 
 or thereabout, extended in three divisions, the right 
 wing towards Garrington, the centre towards 
 Bridge Hill, and the left wing towards Charlton. 
 That having occupied the positions at these 
 localities, they afterwards fortified them, is 
 evidenced by the remains of encampments and 
 lines of earthworks still traceable at these places. 
 Let us visit them in turn. 
 
 And first we bend our steps to what may be 
 called "the heights of Garrington." Passing 
 through the meadows at the back^of Bekesbourne 
 Vicarage we are struck by the unusual character 
 of the hills to the right of us. Terrace rises 
 above terrace, sometimes three, sometimes four or 
 five, succeeding one another. Nature never
 
 C/ESARS FIRST INLAND ENCAMPMENT. I 75 
 
 formed them. We see here the defences fomid 
 by experience to be the only effective ones 
 against the formidable British chariots which 
 struck such terror into the hearts of the Roman 
 soldiers. It may be well to refer to Ccesar's de- 
 scription of the chariot mode of warfare as prac- 
 tised by the Britons. " This is the way of fighting 
 from Chariots. First they drive about every- 
 where, and hurl darts ; and generally cause dis- 
 order in the ranks by the veiy terror of the horses 
 and the noise of the wheels, and when they have 
 forced an entrance among the troops of horse, 
 they leap down from the chariots and fight on 
 foot. The charioteers meanwhile witlidraw a 
 little from the battle, and so dispose themselves 
 that if those who are fighting shouM \)c pressed 
 by a multitude of the enemy they may have a 
 ready retreat to their own men. Thus they \nc- 
 sent in battle the mobility of horse, and the 
 steadiness of foot soldiers, and they acconii^lish so 
 much by daily use and exercise that on downhill 
 and precipitous jj;roun(l they are accustometl to 
 IioKi up thci)- horses when at full s|)eed, and to 
 manage and turn them in a short space, and to
 
 176 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 run along the pole, and to stand upon the yoke, 
 and thence to get back into their chariots with 
 very great rapidity."^ The student of Homer will 
 recognise in this description a remarkable simi- 
 larity to the chariot system of ancient Troy, and 
 
 ' The chariot here described by Csesar was called " Esse- 
 dum " (from the British " Ess," a carriage). It carried 
 several warriors, who were by its means enabled to transport 
 themselves to any part of the battle where they could engage 
 the enemy with the greatest effect, the headlong career of the 
 chariots meanwhile causing great disorder in the enemies' ranks. 
 The charioteers were called "essedarii." 
 
 The scythed chariots, said to have been also in use among 
 the Belgi and Britons (Mela., iii. 6 ; Lucan, i. 426 ; Silius, 
 xvii. 422), were called " Covini " (from the British Cowain, 
 a waggon), and the drivers, who appear to have been their sole 
 occupants, "covinarii." They had hooks or scythes fastened 
 to the axles and other parts of the chariots, and being driven 
 furiously among the enemy, committed great havoc, mowing 
 down all who could not escape from them. We find mention 
 of them among some other nations. Thus the Nigritae are 
 reported by F'rontinus and Strabo to have used them in their 
 wars, and the Cyrenians, a neighbouring people, delivered over 
 to Thimbro (in the time of Alexander) half of their armed 
 chariots. Antiochus Eupator also invading Judaea, apparently 
 with a Greek force (u.c. 163), brought with him 350 
 chariots. Hirtius also (Bell. Alex., Ixxv.) states that scythed 
 chariots were employed by Pharnaccs against Caesar with great 
 effect : — " Our ranks being not yet formed, the scythed 
 chariots disordered and confused the soldiers."
 
 C^^SAR S FIRST INLAND ENCAMPMENT. i;/ 
 
 wiil be disposed to regard with some interest the 
 claim of the Britons to be of Trojan descent. 
 
 Against this mode of warfare the only effective 
 defence was an embankment so precipitous that 
 the chariots could not surmount it, and accord- 
 ingly all British strongholds were surrounded by 
 these steep embankments very frequently, as at 
 Garrington, one above another. Let us ascend 
 the ''heights of Garrington' along the course of 
 the old chariot road (characteristic of all British 
 oppida'-) which leads up to the inner rampart. 
 
 ' This name, according to Hasted, was formerly " Garwin- 
 ton," and in the Domesdiiy Survey was written " War- 
 winton." It is reasonable to suppose that it took its origin 
 from its fortified and commanding position. 
 
 - It may be objected that this and otlier similar narrow 
 roads were boundaries between different j)roperties. It is 
 very probable that they were so used, but judging from 
 their breadth and depth they certainly could not iiave been 
 originally framed for that puq^ose ; nor can we in this way 
 explain the remarkable fact that to all liritish oppida, wher- 
 ever they are found, similar roads may almost invariably be 
 traced. The reason why old loads and escarpments became 
 the boundaries of estates is not dilFicult to assign. When 
 petty chieftiiins or lairds established themselves by right of 
 conquest or by settlement upon the soil, and others Ix-gan to 
 settle around them, it became necessary to ilefme their estates, 
 
 M
 
 1/8 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 Ascending by this winding road, which commences 
 from the extreme left of the hill, we reach at last 
 an open plateau, from which we can survey the 
 country beneath us. Let any military man stand 
 on this high ground and walk along its whole 
 length overlooking the terraced battlements, and 
 he will at once acknowledge it to be a very com- 
 manding position. To his right is a considerable 
 extent of marshy ground, even at the present day, 
 although drained oif in ditches, sometimes flooded 
 in winter. The lesser Stour, which winds its 
 way through this marshy ground, was, as we 
 have before remarked, at one time a much wider 
 stream than it is now, and navigable by vessels 
 as far as Bekesbourne. It is certain then that 
 the land to the left of Garrington was at the time 
 of Ccrsar everywhere a morass, with a river flow- 
 ing through it. An army stationed on these 
 heights would therefore have no reason to fear 
 an attack upon its right, and the lines of earth- 
 
 and they claimed such boundaries for their properties as they 
 found to be aheady existing. Thus ancient roads and escarp- 
 ments came in time to be planted with hedges or other land- 
 marks, the better to preserve the limits of estates.
 
 C.^SARS FIRST INLAND ENCAMPMENT. I 79 
 
 works, by which the position is so well protected, 
 would render it pnictically impregnable in front. 
 
 But it may be urged, '' This is no Roman 
 camp ; it has none of the straight and exact lines 
 which the Romans generally laid down in measur- 
 ing out their camps ; it has more the appearance 
 of a British stronghold." And so in fact it was, 
 — a part of Cccsar's camp, but fortified, perhaps 
 long before, but if not, at any rate at the time of 
 his encampment on Barham Downs, after the 
 British mode. A reference to the British histories 
 will afford the explanation of this. It has already 
 been mentioned that, during the battle on Barham 
 Downs and at Old England's Hole, Avarwy with 
 the Coranida^ under his command went over, ac- 
 cording to a preconcerted plan, to the Romans. 
 These deserters were probably, as we have stated, 
 originally opposed in position to the right wing 
 of the Roman army, and after llicir desertion 
 formed part of that wing. It is certain at any 
 rate that in a subsequent battle fought after 
 Ccrsar's return from his naval camp, their forces 
 were opposed to the left wing of the liritish 
 force, for we read in the British account of the
 
 l8o CESAR IN KENT. 
 
 battle, " On the left " (opposed therefore to the 
 Roman right) " the battle raged between Nennius 
 (a leader of the Britons) and the Coranidce." The 
 British position to the right of the marshy ground 
 below Garrington is indicated by the description, 
 also from a British source, "The British army occu- 
 pied the open ground " (opposite the green slope), 
 " its left wing under Nennius, resting on a marshT 
 On the Garrington heights, therefore, we may 
 assume that the Coranidce, of which there were 
 20,000 under Avarwy, encamped after their 
 desertion to the Romans, overlooking on their 
 right the marshy ground before described. Fear- 
 ful as to the consequences of their treachery, 
 they threw up, if not previously existing, these 
 formidable battlements which no enemy could 
 with impunity assail. Supported, no doubt, by 
 a considerable Roman force, they were permitted, 
 being so numerous a body, to fortify their camp 
 after their own manner. 
 
 Leaving then Garrington, with its garrison of 
 Coranida^, let us next visit Ca?sar's own camp on 
 Barham Downs. That these downs were the 
 scene of Caesar's first inland battle and encamp-
 
 Cesar's first inland encampment. i8i 
 
 ment tradition universally asserts, and we have the 
 direct statement recorded on the chart found in 
 Dover Castle, that " Caesar having landed at 
 Deal, afterwards conquered the Britons on Barham 
 Down, a plain hard by, passable for horses, and 
 fit to draw up an army in." A very superficial 
 examination of the ground will show here the 
 traces of Roman encampments. The two his- 
 torians who have given descriptions of Roman 
 castra are Polybius, who wrote about B.C. 140, 
 and Hyginus, who wrote about a.d. i 10. Plans 
 of these two camps, the first of which was for 
 two legions, and the second for three legions, are 
 given in Dr Smith's "Dictionary of Antiquities." 
 The two plans differ as to the dimensions and the 
 internal divisions of the camps, but they have 
 certain points in common which we should there- 
 fore expect to find in any Roman castni thrown 
 up between these two dates. These common 
 characteristics are first tlu- rampart and ditch 
 which formed the defence all roiiiul the camji, ex- 
 cept at the four gates; secondly, the intervallum 
 or intervening space (in the camj) of Polybius 200 
 feet, and in that of Ilyginus 60 feet) between the
 
 I 82 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 rampart and the camp itself; thirdly, the clearly- 
 defined roads marking out the different divisions 
 of the camp, and which crossed one another at 
 right angles. Examining the ground on Barham 
 Downs with the view of tracing these characteris- 
 tics, we are unable to describe with certainty the 
 boundary ramparts enclosing the camp. From the 
 extent of the ground apparently used for the 
 purpose of encampment, there were probably two 
 large oblong castra of the shape of that of 
 Hyginus, the one extending along Barham Downs 
 opposite Charlton, the other at the western 
 extremity of the Downs extending over part of 
 Bridge Hill, Bourne Park, and perhaps the grounds 
 of Higham. Be this as it may, there can be no 
 question that the remarkable parallel lines, in 
 some places several exactly 60 feet apart, in 
 others 20, 40, or 50 feet apart, with others inter- 
 secting at right angles, formed the dividing roads 
 or vias of a Roman encampment. With the 
 exception of these clearly marked lines excavated 
 for military purposes, and the trenches dug out 
 for the purpose of defining the race course which 
 run in a different direction to the lines of the
 
 C/ESAr's first inland encampment. 183 
 
 Roman camp, it may be asserted with certainty 
 that the Barham Downs have been undisturbed 
 by man from time immemorial. Tliey have 
 always been used for pasturage only, the chalk 
 with large flints interspersed on which the turf 
 grows rendering them unsuitable for any other 
 purpose ; and there is no conceivable reason, 
 except a military one, why these deep ditches or 
 roads which are traceable on all parts of '• the 
 Downs "' should have been dug out. When we 
 consider that Ccesar's army with the camp 
 followers could not have been less than 40,000 
 men, besides the 20,000 Coranida^ under Avarwy 
 at Garrington, there can be no doubt that camps 
 covering the whole ground which we have ilc- 
 scribed would be required. 
 
 The question may arise whether the encamp- 
 ments traceable on Barham Downs were not 
 the work of some of those ai'inies which it is 
 well known were encamped iJiere in more iieeiu 
 times. It may be well, tlierefore, to note the 
 varions occasions when the Downs have been 
 so occupied. 
 
 During the period of the Saxon ;uul Danish
 
 184 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 invasions we do not read of any resistance being 
 offered in this immediate neighbourhood to their 
 incursions, except perhaps on one occasion,^ and 
 
 1 The exception was the battle of Mercredesburne, which, 
 as the site of it has not been before clearly identified, 
 it will be well to describe. Several chroniclers of the 
 Anglo-Saxon period iiave recorded this battle. The fullest 
 account is that given by Henry of Huntingdon in his annals of 
 the year a.d. 485. x'^.fter describing the landing of Aella 
 and his three sons Cynien, and Wlencing, and Cissa, he says, 
 " The Britons fled as far as the nearest wood which is called 
 Andredeslige. But the Saxons occupied the Sussex sea- 
 shore more and more, seizing for themselves the land of the 
 boundary until the ninth year of their coming. But then 
 wlien they had seized too boldly the distant boundary, the 
 kings and sovereigns of the Britons met at Mercredesburne^ 
 and fought against Aella and his sons, and the victory was 
 almost doubtful : for each army being thoroughly injured and 
 threatened, cursing the attack of the other, returned to their 
 own. Aella therefore sent to his compatriots demanding help." 
 
 The same events are thus described in the Anglo-Saxon 
 Chronicle: — a.d, 477. "This year Aella and his three 
 sons, Cymen, and Wlencing, and Cissa, came to the land of 
 Britain with three ships, at a ])lace which is named Cymenes- 
 ora, and there slew many Welsh, and some they drove in 
 flight into the wood which is called Andrcdslca." a.d. 485. 
 " This year Aella fought against the Welsh near the bank of 
 Mearcraedsburn" 
 
 Florence of Worcester also gives the following account : — 
 " A.D. 485. Aella in a battle with the Britons near Mearcredes-
 
 Cesar's first inland encampment. 185 
 
 the conflict did not then take place on Barham 
 Downs, or indeed on that side of the river Stour. 
 Canterbury was more than once ravaged by these 
 
 Burn, that is Mearcred's Brook., slew many of them, and put 
 the rest to flight." 
 
 The battle lastly is thus described in the Chronicle of 
 Fabius Ethelwerd : — " Aella ai rived in Britain from Germany 
 with his three sons at a place called Cymenes-ora, and pursued 
 the Britons to a place called Aldredesleage. After eight 
 years more the same chiefs attack the Britons near a place 
 called Mercredes-hurnan-stedey 
 
 Now, independently of any argument to be derived from the 
 name of the site of this battle, as it is variously given by the 
 different chroniclers, there is reason to believe that the country 
 to the west of the lesser Stour must have been the scene of it. 
 For the Saxon chronicle (see a.d. 893) states that the great 
 wood of Andred extended from east to west 112 miles or 
 longer, that it was 30 miles broad, and that the sea-port at the 
 eastern end was Limcne (Lymne). It is added that the river 
 Limcne (probably the Ko\.\\(:T)Jlo'wcd out of the ivculd ; so that 
 it is evident that the wood itself extended still further eastward, 
 and there is therefore every reason to believe that the extensive 
 woods called Atchester, Gorsley, and Wliitehill, and other 
 woods in the neighbourhood of Elham, Hardrcs, and Pctliam, 
 were offshoots of the forest of Anderida or Andredeswold. 
 
 Now according to the quotation given above from Hinry 
 of Huntingdon, Aella, at his first landing, pursued the Britons 
 into the wood of Andred, and tiun for eight years gradu:illy 
 encroached upon the land of the boundary along the sea coast, 
 until at last venturing too boldly to seize the distimt boundary,
 
 I 86 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 devastating hordes, but their approach to the city 
 was either from Rutiipium or Lemanis, and after a 
 weak resistance at those places their progress was 
 practically unopposed, and was simply a continued 
 
 he was stoutly resisted by the British, and compelled to retire 
 within his own lines. Now the meaning of the above account 
 seems to be this : Aella, being unable to drive the British 
 out of so immense a forest, contented himself with extending 
 his conquests along the sea coast, until at last arriving at the 
 termination of the wood, somewheie to the east of Lymnc, he 
 ventured inland, when he was opposed by the British at Mer- 
 craedsburn. This, as we have shown, would place the scene 
 of the battle somewhere on the confines of the woods 
 Atchester, Whitehill, Gorsley and others, which were the 
 extreme eastward limits of the Forest of Anderida. 
 
 But there is other evidence that the scene of the battle was 
 in this neighbourhood. The loc^ility where it took place is 
 variously described by the different chroniclers as " Mercredes- 
 bume," " near the bank, of Mercraedsburn," " near Mearcredes- 
 burne, that is Mcarcred's Brook," and " near a place called 
 Mcrcredes-burnan-stede." Now, as there is no other brook 
 outside the eastern limits of the wood of Andred except the 
 Lesser Stour, which takes its rise in the Elham valley, this 
 river must, I imagine, be the burn (or brook) here intended ; 
 and the termination of the name " Mercredsburn " seems to 
 confirm this, since the Lesser Stour was formerly called " the 
 Burn" (or "Bourne"), as we may surely gather from the 
 fact that most of the villages through which it now ])asses, 
 namely, Bishopsbourne, Patrixbourne, Bekesbourne, and Little- 
 bourne, retain the suffix "burn " or "bourne " to the present
 
 Cesar's first inland encampment. 187 
 
 course of rapine and slaughter. Nor is there any 
 reason to believe that the lines of fortification on 
 Barham Downs were the work of armies in more 
 modern times. The earliest account of any mili- 
 
 day. The first part of the name " Mercredsburne " was un- 
 doubtedly derived from the god Mercred or Mercury. We 
 are told by Cassar that "the Gauls and Britons worshipped 
 as their divinity * Mercury ' in particular, and have many 
 images of him, and regard him as the inventor of all arts; they 
 consider him the guide of their journeys and marches, and 
 believe him to have very great influence in the acquisition of 
 gain and mercantile transactions." Mcrcredsburn seems to 
 have been the name of the brook, and Mercredes-burnan- 
 sted the name of the place near it where the battle was 
 fought. From the latter, the exact locality of this battle 
 may be assigned ; for there is a place about a mile and 
 a half disUint from the river on its western side, nametl 
 " Burstcd," which may well be an abbreviated form of 
 •' Burnansted," and to which tradition has always pointed as 
 the scene of some great battle. The " Mercred " in " Mer- 
 credes-burnan-sted has now, it is true, been lost sight of, but 
 it is still, I think, preserved in another form in a locality ni-ar 
 at hand called " Hermansole," — evidently a cori-uj)tion of 
 " l'"rmen8eul," the name given by the Saxons to the pillars or 
 statues erected to the god " Hermes," the Greek form, as is 
 generally sujjposed, of •' Mercury." This place, Bursted, 
 entirely accords with the description given in the Saxon 
 chronicle, and by Florence of Worcester, both of which 
 accounts state that the battle was fought not nl but near the 
 bank of Mcarcredesburn.
 
 I 88 C-«SAR IN KENT. 
 
 tary encampment on these downs since the 
 Norman conquest is thus recorded by Hasted : 
 "On these downs, anno 1213, King John en- 
 camped with a mighty army of 60,000 men, to 
 oppose Philip, King of France, who was marching 
 to invade this kingdom ; but Pandulph, the Pope's 
 legate, who was then at the house of the Knight's 
 Templars in this neighbourhood, sent two of them 
 to persuade the king to come to him there, where 
 the King, in the presence of his principal nobles 
 and the bishops, resigned his crown to the legate, 
 as the Pope's representative." " Here also, in 
 King Henry III.'s reign, Simon Montford, Earl of 
 Leicester, being declared general of their army by 
 the discontented barons, engaged a numerous 
 army to oppose the landing of Queen Eleanor, 
 whom the king had left behind in France." The 
 downs were also used as a camping-ground in 
 1642 by the army of the Cavaliers ; also in 1760, 
 as appears from the following entry in the Register 
 Book of Burials, in the parish of Bridge : " John 
 Livingstone, a private soldier in Major-General 
 jefFery's Regiment of Foot (No. 14), who was 
 accidentally killed by a bread or forage waggon 
 
 I
 
 Cesar's first inland encampment. 189 
 
 belonging to the Ciimp at Barham Downs, going 
 over his body, whereby he was crushed to death, 
 Aug. 17, 1760." In still later times the British 
 troops were also here encamped in preparation 
 for their embarkation for the continent, previous 
 to the battle of Waterloo. 
 
 With regard to these various occasions when 
 Barham Downs were occupied by troops, it must 
 be observed that the encampments were only 
 temporary : we have no record of an) engage- 
 ments taking place, or of any escarpments being 
 thrown up for defensive purposes. Barham 
 Downs being within easy reach of the coast, were 
 suitable as a temporary halting-place for troops 
 about to embark for foreign service, or for pro- 
 viding a reserve force in case of the attempt eil 
 landing of a hostile army ; but we have no reason 
 to suppose that any earthworks were thrown up 
 by the troops thus for short periods quarten-d 
 there. Indeed the' defensive strength ui' the old 
 English barons lay rather in stone walls and 
 castles than in battlements of earth anil turf. The 
 fact that these Downs have been used in Liter 
 years for military purposes, so far from allord-
 
 190 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 ing iiny argument "dgiiinst Julius Cxsar having 
 encamped there, points them out rather as the 
 traditional camping-ground which, following the 
 example of the Roman conqueror, successive 
 generations employed in times of war. 
 
 But we have yet another portion of Caesar's 
 encampment to describe. The left wing of the 
 Roman army, including the cavalry, advanced, as 
 before-mentioned, in all probability towards the 
 river at Charlton, that being the nearest part of 
 the stream where, after their twelve miles' night- 
 march, they could obtain water for the horses. 
 After the victory of the Roman army on Barham 
 Downs, the greater portion of the left wing was 
 no doubt quartered within the lines of one of the 
 great camps on the downs ; but an examination 
 of the declivity between Barham Downs and the 
 river opposite Charlton reveals the traces of three 
 lines of earthworks, each of the length of about 
 three furlongs. Probably Cccsar here quartered 
 his cavalry, in consequence of the proximity to 
 the river. These lines of fortification were 
 perhaps originally thrown up in earlier British 
 wars, but even if they were so, they would
 
 CiESARS FIRST INLAND ENCAMPMENT. I9I 
 
 doubtless be used by the Romans as an outer line 
 of defence for the camp. It may be noticed also 
 that on the opposite hill, beyond the river, there 
 is a double line of entrenchments, as if of an 
 opposing army. These corresponding entrench- 
 ments on each side of the river extend, with 
 greater or less prominence, as far as Kingston 
 Church. There are also two parallel lines of 
 escarpments about 200 yards in length on the 
 brow of the hill in Bourne Park, with others at 
 their extremities, at right angles to them, forming, 
 as it were, a double parapet, one line within the 
 other. They are not at first easily discerned 
 (which argues their great antiquity), but when 
 once noticed, can be plainly made out. 
 
 Before quitting Barham Downs and their 
 neighbourhood, it will be well to notice one or 
 two other features, which are corroborative as to 
 their having been the site of (';vsar's camp. 
 
 On the brow of the hill, in Bourne Park, theie 
 are what appear to be the remains of two oui- 
 jiosts, 400 yards aj^art, surrounded eacli b) a 
 ditch. They are of the same dimensions, and 
 form almost pirfcct hexagons, each side being
 
 192 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 about 50 feet in length. They are situated in 
 commanding positions on a hill, called locally 
 " Star Hill," and would afford excellent stations 
 for the guards placed before the gates of the 
 camp, whence they could view the position and 
 movements of the enemy. They are known 
 traditionally as "the Forts." They are now bare 
 of trees, but have the appearance of having been 
 planted at some comparatively recent period. 
 
 A deep depression a few yards distant from 
 one of these may possibly have been one of those 
 extemporized amphitheatres with which we know 
 Cxsar sought amusement for his soldiers, when 
 not in actual combat. While Ccesar was ten days 
 absent repairing his vessels, such entertainments 
 would doubtless be resorted to by his soldiery 
 who remained, as we shall hereafter notice, at 
 the camps. 
 
 A very formidable stronghold, pointed out by 
 the Ordnance Surveyors on their map as " Roman 
 entrenchments," may be seen at the eastern ex- 
 tremity of the Downs. It is not of Roman but 
 British construction, but may very likely have 
 been used by Coesar's army as an outpost for the
 
 C^SARS FIRST INLAND ENCAMPMENT. I 93 
 
 defence of his camp on the extreme left. There 
 appears also to have been a very great mound or 
 tumulus near the south-east comer of the Downs. 
 
 On the south-west of Bourne Park there is a 
 noted spring, which is still called " The Roman's 
 Cold Bath." This may have had its origin in 
 Ccesar's time, or subsequently ; but we may 
 remark that such a spring, if available, would be 
 much sought for by the soldiers of a stationary 
 camp (castrum stativum) such as Cccsar's was. 
 
 With these remarks upon the vestiges still 
 remaining of Caesar's camp, which, though neces- 
 sarily imperfect, corroborate, so far as they go, the 
 traditional site on Barham Downs, we pass on to 
 his narrative of the events of the day following 
 his first night of encampment. '' Early the day 
 after that day he sent foot soldiers and cavalry in 
 three divisions on an expediticm for the purpose 
 of following up those who had fled." This 
 pursuing force corresponded with the three 
 divisions of Cxsar's army, each probably furnish- 
 ing a contingent, so as not materially to weaken 
 any one division. Three very ancient roads by 
 which they doubtless pursued the retreating 
 
 N
 
 194 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Britons may all be seen from Patrixbourne Hill, 
 the left and central ones in particular being visible 
 at the present day for more than a mile and a 
 half. It is true that in Ccesar s time the country 
 was more thickly wooded than it is now, but these 
 roads passing over chalky soil, and being on rising 
 ground, and converging towards Patrixbourne 
 Hill, would even at that period be readily dis- 
 cerned. We will describe them as they now 
 present themselves to a spectator on the hill. 
 The road on the left hand ascends the steep hill 
 in the direction of Hardres, passing through 
 Whitehill Wood. It leads to an ancient British 
 oppidum in Iffin Wood,^ a strongly fortified 
 position still known as " the Castle." The 
 central road is now the main road between 
 Canterbury and Dover, and passes through the 
 village of Bridge. It is for a considerable dis- 
 tance identical with the old Roman Watling 
 Street, formerly a British road. The third or 
 right hand road, seen more clearly from Cccsar's 
 
 1 The owner of the property, Mr Bell of Bourne Park, some 
 years ago opened a large tumulus within the enclosure, and 
 dug up British sunburnt pottery and other remains, which 
 showed clearly its British origin.
 
 CtSARS FIRST INLAND ENCAMPMENT. I95 
 
 extreme right wing (consisting of the Coranidx 
 on the heights of Garrington) than from Patrix- 
 boLirne Hill, ascends Bekesbourne Hill and enters 
 Canterbury at Longport, while there is yet 
 another road passing through Patrixbourne and 
 Hode (known as the Pilgrims' way), which meets 
 the last mentioned at St Martin's Hill. 
 
 There is no doubt of the great antiquity of 
 these roads, and they would naturally be chosen 
 by the Britons for their escape, since they all led 
 to British strongholds, and afforded access to what 
 would be prol)al)ly their next rallying place, the 
 well-fortified positions at Durovernum and Caer 
 Caint (Canterbury).
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Cesar's return to the coast, and 
 subsequent events. 
 
 ^iESAR'S pursuit of the Britons, which 
 we have described in the previous 
 chapter, was arrested by an unfore- 
 seen and serious misfortune. He 
 tells us that when the soldiers ordered for the 
 pursuit "had advanced some portion of their 
 journey, and when already the last were in sight, 
 horsemen came from Quintus Atrius to Cccsar to 
 announce that a great tempest had arisen on the 
 previous night, and that nearly all the vessels had 
 been shattered and cast on shore ; that their 
 anchors and cables could no longer hold them, 
 nor could the sailors and masters of the vessels
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 197 
 
 endure the violence of the storm, and that the 
 vessels being driven into collision, great damage 
 had been received." 
 
 The news of this disaster reached Cccsar when, 
 as he says, his three pursuing columns " had 
 advanced some portion of their journey, and when 
 now the last were in sight." It has been 
 supposed by some that he intended by this that 
 the last of the fugitive Britons had just come 
 within sight of their pursuers, but the more natural 
 meaning of the passage would be that only the 
 extremities of his own pursuing columns could 
 now be seen from his camp. As we look from 
 Patrixbourne Hill, along the three roads described 
 in the last chapter, we see how the conditions of 
 Cxsar s description of this pursuit are satisfied ; 
 for he could see from the hill at Patrixbourne 
 the extreine end of the columns sent in pursuit, as 
 they defiled over the opposite hill, for a mile or a 
 mile and a half. Beyond this distance he would 
 be unable to see them, for, having gained the 
 height of the hill, they would begin to descend 
 into the lower ground beyond it. 
 
 The terrible disaster which had happened to
 
 198 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 his ships would have daunted a general less brave 
 and experienced than CcEsar. But his resolution 
 was at once taken. " These things being known," 
 he says, " Caesar orders the legions and the 
 cavalry to be recalled, and to desist from the 
 journey. He himself returns to his vessels ; he 
 perceives in person almost the same things that 
 he had learned from messengers and by letters, — 
 namely, that with the loss of about forty vessels 
 the rest could probably be repaired by great 
 efforts. He chooses therefore artificers from the 
 legions, and orders others to be brought over 
 from the continent." Now it is not to be 
 supposed, although many have assumed that he 
 did so, that Ctcsar returned to the coast with his 
 whole army. He nowhere says that he did, and 
 there were many reasons against such a course. 
 He would have lost all the ground he had gained, 
 and would besides have tempted the Britons to 
 have attacked his rear. When it is said that he 
 ordered the legions and cavalry to be recalled, 
 and to desist from their journey, the reference is 
 plainly to those foot soldiers and cavalry who 
 were on their journey in pursuit of the routed
 
 C^SARS RETURN TO THE COAST. 1 99 
 
 enemy. He says that he himself, no doubt with 
 a sufficient force for his own protection, returned 
 to the coast, and chose artificers from the legions for 
 the repair of his ships. It must be remembered 
 that the extremity of Ccesar's encampments on Bar- 
 ham Downs was only twelve Roman miles (about 
 eleven and one-third English miles) from the 
 strand at Deal, and that he could easily send that 
 distance for the artificers he required. Nor 
 would it be likely that Caesar, having after a hard 
 struggle gained the vantage ground of these hills 
 for his camp, would readily relinquish it, and thus 
 allow the Britons to reoccupy their former posi- 
 tions. No necessity for such a course had arisen. 
 Cccsar had left 5000 men, besides his naval 
 brigade (probably 5000), in charge of his vessels, 
 and no doubt took with him on his return to the 
 coast a considerable force including the artificers. 
 These, with others which he says were brought 
 over from the continent, would suffice to throw 
 up his naval camp ;nul haul up his vessels, 
 especially as they were employcil lor ten days and 
 nights in the work. He certainly would not have 
 required his whole army for the purpose, and it is
 
 200 a-ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 much more reasonable to suppose that the main 
 portion of CtFsar's army on Barham Downs and 
 his allies at Garrington, thoroughly fortified the 
 camp (and the traces of entrenchments already 
 described bear out the supposition), so as to pro- 
 tect themselves from all hostile attacks during 
 Ccesar's ten days' absence.' 
 
 In place of the forty vessels which were de- 
 stroyed by the storm, Ccrsar orders others to be 
 built on the continent. " He writes to Labienus 
 that he should build as many vessels as he could 
 with the help of those legions which were with 
 him. He himself, although it was a work of 
 much toil and trouble, determines that it would be 
 most advantageous that all the vessels should be 
 drawn on shore and be united with the camp by 
 one fortification. In these measures he spends 
 about ten days, the labours of the soldiers being 
 not even relaxed during the night." 
 
 The labour of thus hauling his vessels on shore 
 
 1 In this we are confirmed by the opinion of Camden, who 
 says that Caesar " kept his men encamped for ten days, till he 
 had refitted his fleet, shattered very much by a tempest, and got 
 it to shore."
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 201 
 
 must have been immense, but Cxsar had the 
 example of others to guide him, for the feat was 
 not now accomplished for the first time. Homer 
 relates that, when the Greeks had landed on tlie 
 coast of Troy, the ships were drawn on land, and 
 listened at the poop to large stones, attached to 
 ropes, which served as anchors. The Greeks then 
 surrounded the fleet with a fortification to secure 
 it against the attacks of the enemy. It is recorded 
 also by Herodotus, Thucydides, and others, that 
 in cases where it would have been necessary to 
 coast round a considerable extent of country con- 
 nected with the mainland by a narrow neck, the 
 ships were sometimes drawn across the neck ot 
 land from the one sea to the other by machines 
 called oXkoi (olkoi). This was done not iinfre- 
 (jueiuly across the Isthmus of Corinth. 
 
 But to continue Cirsar's history. " The 
 vessels," he relates, "having been drawn up, 
 and the camp excellently fortified,' he leaves the 
 same forces which he left befure as a guard to 
 
 ' The vestiges of his naval cami) mentioned by Camden, 
 Leland, and others, and still to some extent visible, have been 
 licsciibed in a former chapter.
 
 202 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 the ships, and proceeded to the same place 
 whence he liad returned. When he had come 
 thither greater forces of the Britons had assem- 
 bled at that place from all parts." It is evident 
 from this account that his camp at Barham Downs 
 was seriously threatened during his absence, news 
 probably having reached the British chiefs of the 
 loss he had sustained at the coast. The strength 
 of his camp on the downs had prevented any 
 attack being as yet made upon it, but a long line, 
 sometimes a double line of entrenchments, still 
 traceable about half a mile from the foot of the 
 hills from Garrington to Charlton, remains in 
 proof that the Britons had not been idle. Here 
 doubtless they took up their defensive position on 
 the western side of the stream during Ccesar's 
 absence, not venturing, after their former ex- 
 perience, to attack the camp, but awaiting the 
 course of events, while Cxsar had ordered his 
 own men to remain in their entrenched position 
 till his return. 
 
 The Britons had an able general, by whose 
 advice they seem to have proceeded cautiously in 
 their future engagements with the Roman army.
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 203 
 
 Ccpsar mentions him now for the first time, though 
 it is certain that he had from the commencement 
 of the war been their leader. " The chief com- 
 mand and management of the war," he says, " was 
 entrusted by common consent to Cassivellaunus, 
 'whose territories the river called Thames divides 
 from the maritime states at about eighty miles 
 from the sea. In former time continual warfare 
 had waged between him and the other states, but 
 on our arrival the Britons, moved with fear, had 
 given this man chief command of military affairs." 
 
 Several succeeding chapters of Cirsar's '' Com- 
 mentaries " are occupied with a digression on the 
 geography, manners, and customs of the Britons. 
 Many of his remarks on these subjects have been 
 introduced from time to time according as they 
 seemed to illustrate our narrative. We pass on, 
 therefore, to chapter xv., where the history of his 
 progress in Britain is resumed. 
 
 "The horse and chariotinen of the vucmy 
 engaged," he says, '^ in sharp combat uiili our 
 cavalry on their joiiriK-y ; not hut that our men, 
 however, were superior everywhere, and drove 
 them into the woods and hills."
 
 204 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 It seems uncertain whether Caesar is here re- 
 ferring to attacks made upon the force he had 
 with him on his return from the coast, or to the 
 battles fought afterwards in his further progress. 
 It is very likely that he was molested to some 
 extent on his return journey from his naval camp, 
 for the Britons had doubtless many oppida ' near 
 his line of march, and several kings, some of whose 
 names are afterwards mentioned in the history, and 
 who carried on a guerilla warfare with him. But, 
 as Caesar has told us that on his return to his camp 
 (on Barham Downs), he found the enemy gathered 
 there in large numbers, we may infer that he did 
 not meet with any very serious opposition till he 
 arrived there. On his arrival, however, at his 
 camp, and after resting the troops he had brought 
 back with him, he would appear to have lost no 
 time in displacing the Britons from the positions 
 they had taken up. The "Cambrian history" 
 relates that " to guard the camp, Caesar stationed 
 10,000 men with the two first cohorts of the 
 seventh and ninth legions. The rest of his army, 
 consisting of 35,000 legionaries, 3000 cavalry, 
 and 20,000 Coranidae under Avarwy, he drew up 
 
 ^ Traces of oppida remain at Coldred, Kingston, and Atchester.
 
 C'yESAR S RETURN TO THE COAST. 2O5 
 
 in three divisions on a declivity, called in 'the 
 Triads ' ' the green spot.' The British army 
 occupied the open ground opposite, its left wing 
 under Nennius, resting on a marsh." We are led 
 to suppose from this account that Caesar, leaving 
 10,000 men in his camp, now advanced and took 
 up his position in three divisions on the brow of 
 the hill. A line of embankment is still traceable 
 along the brow of the hill in several places, 
 especially between Patrixbourne and Bekesbourne, 
 and at Bishopsbourne — indicating the positions 
 which the advanced guards of his three divisions 
 probably took up, and, as we have already noticed, 
 there are corresponding lines of entrenchment of 
 the Britons, about half a mile from the foot of the 
 hill on the other side of the stream. A desperate 
 encounter here took place, as C'a\sar himself 
 admits. His cavalry, as was natural, were the 
 first to attack. They were strenuously resisted 
 by the cavalry and chariotmcn of the enemy, and 
 although Caesar's forces still advanced and drove 
 the Britons into the woods and hills, yet he records 
 some casualties among his own men. •• \\-ry many 
 (of the enemy) having been killed, oui' men lost
 
 206 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 some of their own, from hiiving pursued too 
 eagerly. Yet they, after an interval, rushed sud- 
 denly from the woods, our men being taken 
 unawares and being occupied in the fortification 
 of the camp ; and an attack having been made on 
 those who were placed in station before the camp, 
 there was a sharp encounter, and two cohorts 
 (and those the first of two legions) having been 
 sent in aid by Ctpsar, when they had stopped, 
 with a very small interval between them (our 
 men being terrified by the unaccustomed mode of 
 warfare), the enemy burst forth with great bold- 
 ness through tlieir midst, and retired thence un- 
 harmed. On that day Quintus Laberius Durus 
 was slain, but the enemy was driven back, more 
 cohorts having been sent in aid." 
 
 It would appear from the foregoing narrative 
 that notwithstanding the desperate opposition they 
 met with, the Roman army had made sufficient 
 progress to have chosen an advanced camp, which 
 they were fortifying when the Britons rushed out 
 upon them from the woods. May not this new 
 camp have been the strong British oppidum in 
 Iffin Wood, about three miles distant from their
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 207 
 
 former camp on Barham Downs ? In the kind of 
 guerilla warfare which the British adopted, it was 
 necessary for the Romans to dispossess them from 
 their strongholds, " to drive them," as Ccesar puts 
 it "from the woods," where their oppida were 
 situated. This particular oppidum was very 
 strongly entrenched, and the Romans by possess- 
 ing themselves of it would obtain a very strong 
 position for their advanced camp, and one which 
 we can easily understand the Britons would make 
 every effort to retake. There are indeed indica- 
 tions of its having been held by Roman soldiers at 
 some time or another; for a long straight line of 
 outer entrenchment, in the shape of a Roman 
 agger and ditch, still remains at a short distance 
 from the British oppidum, at the side ot the 
 Roman road called " Stone Street." 
 
 The extent of the advance made by the Roman 
 army during this day's continuous fighting is 
 indicated by the tradition which assigns to Clhil- 
 ham the tomb of Lalierius. Although doubt is 
 thrown ui:)on this traditional account by Arch- 
 deacon Batteley, the locality so entirely agrees 
 with the limit which our history would have
 
 208 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 claimed for Ccesiu-'s advance that we are inclined 
 to accept it. 
 
 It may be observed in conclusion that a victori- 
 ous result of the day's conflict is claimed by both 
 sides. The Cambrian history says that " the 
 Romans were towards evening driven from their 
 camp, but the success of the day was dearly pur- 
 chased by the death of Nennius, who fell in the 
 last onset of the retreating enemy." 
 
 The British account refers to the combat of the 
 right wing of theRoman army, consisting principally 
 of the Coranidcc under Avarwy, with the Britons 
 led by Nennius. The Roman historian, on the 
 other hand, having regard principally to the victory 
 of the left wing and centre of Ctesar's army, claims 
 the day for the Romans. Possibly both accounts 
 are substantially correct. It is clear, however, 
 from Cccsar's own narrative that his army had 
 not gained a decisive victory. The enemy, after 
 greatly disordering the Roman cohorts and inflict- 
 ing upon them the loss of a tribune (Laberius 
 Durus), were only at last repulsed by a strong 
 reinforcement. Cxsar makes mention of their 
 skilful management of their chariots in this battle,
 
 CiESARS RETURN TO THE COAST. 209 
 
 for observing which the elevated position which 
 he occupied on the hill at Patrixbourne afforded 
 him a good opportunity. " In the whole of this 
 kind of battle," he says, " since it was contested 
 under the eyes of all and before the camp, it was 
 perceived that our men, on account of the weight 
 of their arms (inasmuch as they could neither 
 follow those who were givmg way, nor dared to 
 depart from, their standards), were little suited for 
 an enemy of this kind ; that the cavalry moreover 
 fought with great danger, because that they (the 
 enemy) would ofttimes retreat even designedly, 
 and \\hen they had drawn off our horse a little 
 way from the legions, would leap down from their 
 chariots and fight on foot in unequal combat. 
 But the system of cavalry engagement is wont to 
 bring equal danger, and of the same kind both to 
 those retreating and those pursuing." To this was 
 added, " that the eneiny never fouglii in close 
 order, but in sinall parties, and at considerable 
 distances, and had detachments placed about (in 
 different parts), and soine in luni took the place 
 of others, and the vigorous and fresh succeeded 
 those who were wearied." 
 
 o
 
 2IO C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 The day following the Britons endeavoured to 
 renew the tactics which they had found successful 
 on the previous day. " They took up their posi- 
 tion at a distance from the camp, on the hills, and 
 began to show themselves in small parties, and 
 with less spirit than on the day before, to provoke 
 our horsemen to combat." It does not, however, 
 appear from this statement of " the Commen- 
 taries " that Cccsar accepted the challenge to 
 renew the contest. He recognised the necessity 
 of occupying his troops in what must have become 
 a work of no little difficulty in a country where 
 he could carry on no barter with the inhabitants, 
 namely, the_provisioning of his large army. At 
 noon, therefore, he sent out three legions and all 
 the cavalry with C. Trebonius, the lieutenant, for 
 the purpose of foraging. He was probably led to 
 suppose by the want of vigour with which the 
 small parties of the enemy manoeuvred, that their 
 main forces had withdrawn themselves to a 
 distance. Soon, however, he was undeceived. 
 They were concealed, doubtless, in the strongly 
 fortified oppidum at Durovernum, and in the neigh- 
 bouring woods ; and now that the Roman legions,
 
 C-ESAR S RETURN TO THE COAST. 2 I I 
 
 thrown off their guard, were scattered throughout 
 the fields, " they flew," writes Cccsar, " upon 
 the foragers suddenly from all quarters, so that 
 they did not hold off even from the standards 
 and legions. Our men, making a fierce attack 
 upon them, repulsed them ; nor did they cease 
 from pursuing them until the horse, confident of 
 support, since they saw the legions behind them, 
 drove the enemy headlong, and slaying a great 
 number of them, gave them no opportunity either 
 of rallying or halting, or of leaping down from 
 their chariots." 
 
 Whither did the fugitive Britons escape? The 
 description of their rout would lead to the sup- 
 position that they fled, not at once into their 
 woods and oppida, but along their principal 
 chariot roads, making all haste to escape from 
 their fierce pursuers; and since it is stated that 
 the Roman cavalry, knowing that tlie legions were 
 behind them, pursued them with confidence, it 
 seems probable that the liritons fled for ilic most 
 part ill one direction. It may also bt- conrluded 
 that they escaped by a road in an exactly oj^jjosite 
 direction t(; that which led to the Roman encamp-
 
 2 I 2 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 ments on Barham Downs, namely, by their prin- 
 cipal military road,^ the Sarn Gwyddelin, or Irish 
 Road, afterwards the Roman Watling Street. It 
 is related by Geoffrey of Monmouth that Cas- 
 sivellaunus, being defeated in the battle, fled with 
 his disordered forces to a rocky hill, on the top 
 of which was a thick hazel wood, and that he 
 defended the hill with such bravery and obstinacy 
 that Ccesar could only dislodge him by besieging 
 the place for two days, after which, compelled by 
 famine, Cassivellaunus submitted himself to his 
 great conqueror. The details of this story must 
 be rejected as altogether inconsistent with Ccesar's 
 narrative ; but that the Britons, followed in hot 
 pursuit by the victorious Roman cavalry and 
 legions, found at length a temporary refuge in 
 
 ^ The Romans laid down their miHtaiy vias, wherever they 
 could, upon the foundations of the previously existing British 
 roads. The British chroniclers claim that the principal military 
 roads (many of them known afterwards as Roman roads) of 
 the country were the work of Dunwallo Molmutius (Dyvnwal 
 Moelmud), their great lawgiver, and that, being completed by 
 his son, Bclinus, they were called the Belinian Roads. The 
 rapidity with which the British chariots moved from one point 
 to another (see page 129) proves that these roads were well 
 made and maintained.
 
 C^SAR S RETURN TO THE COAST. 2 I ^ 
 
 some stronghold, whence they were with difficulty 
 dislodged by Cxsar, is not improbable. That 
 there was some such foundation for the story 
 seems to be justified by a tradition which assigns 
 to a hill near Newington, about eighteen miles 
 from Canterbury, the name of Key Coll or 
 Caius' (Julius Ccesar's) hill. 
 
 The disastrous results of this day's combat 
 thoroughly disheartened the brave British allies. 
 Cassivellaunus experienced the humiliating fortune 
 of all unsuccessful generals, namely, the falling 
 away of his auxiliary forces. " Immediately after 
 this retreat," says Caesar, " the auxiliaries who 
 had assembled from all sides departed ; nor after 
 that time did the enemy ever engage with us in 
 very large numbers." 
 
 The British resistance from this time consisted 
 for the most part of a guerilla warfare, harassing, 
 no doubt, to Caesar's disciplined forces, but not 
 affording any prospect of a successful result. 
 Ca?sar relates that, " discovering their design, he 
 led his army into the territories of C'assivellaunus 
 to the river Thames." It must be remembered 
 that Ccrsar wrote after the event ; the design,
 
 214 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 therefore, which he professes to have discovered 
 must be interpreted by the after history. It was, 
 in the first place, to hasten forward with his 
 main forces in order to prevent his passage of 
 the Thames, and meanwhile to weaken his 
 legions by attacking them when foraging in 
 isolated parties in the fields. 
 
 From this point the identification of Ccesar's 
 progress to the Thames with actual localities 
 becomes practically impossible. His history of 
 events is somewhat confused. No distances are 
 recorded, nor the number of days occupied in his 
 journeys from place to place. He was frequently 
 harassed by small parties of Britons, from whom 
 his cavalry especially suffered, but never really 
 confronted by any serious opposition. 
 
 There can be little doubt, however, as to the 
 route which he took in his journey to the 
 Thames. He had with him Avarwy, from 
 whom he would learn that the Gwyddelin road 
 was the usual and direct route to the river 
 Thames, and moreover passed through a com- 
 paratively open country, in which his army would 
 be less likely to be disturbed by sudden irruptions 
 of the enemy from the woods.
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 215 
 
 We have no data whereby we can assign with 
 certainty the various halting-places of Ca?sar s 
 army ; but the fortified positions of the Britons, 
 which he doubtless occupied along the Gwyddelin 
 road, and \\'hich it is probable afterwards became 
 Roman military stations, have a strong claim to 
 be regarded as the sites of his temporary 
 encampments. Some of these, named in " the 
 Itinerary " of Antoninus, may, I think, be identi- 
 fied with actual localities, although their distances 
 from one another are not in all cases exactly 
 the same ^ as those given by Antoninus. 
 
 1 Many writers have attempted to reconcile the differences 
 between the distances of " the Itinerary," and the actual dis- 
 tances between places mentioned by Antoninus, An explana- 
 tion worthy of notice is given by Horsley, wlio supposes that the 
 Romans measured the horizontal distances from place to place 
 without regard to the inequalities of the surface; so that on undu- 
 lating ground the distances given by Antoninus would be less than 
 the actual measurements along the roads. For insUince, on the 
 hilly road between Dover and Canterbury, which Antoninus 
 makes to be fourteen Roman miles (equal to about thirteen and 
 one-third I'^nglish miles) apart, there is a difference of nearly three 
 miles between this measurement and the real distance along the 
 road, which is sixteen miles. Even this explanation, however, 
 will not reconcile the differences in all cases, and the most 
 reasonable conclusion seems to be, that some of the distances
 
 2 I 6 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 After the battle, which we have supposed to 
 have terminated with the final struggle at Key- 
 Coll, it is probable that Ca?sar (though still 
 holding the hill) encamped his troops a little 
 further back along the Gwyddelin Road, namely, 
 at Bapchild, which 1 think was the ancient 
 Durolevum.^ He must have traversed with 
 
 given by Antoninus have been altered by transcribers, since we 
 iind that some of the numerals vary in different editions of 
 "the Itinerary." One other explanation, however, may be 
 suggested, namely, that although we may be able to identify 
 most of the Roman stations mentioned in " the Itinerary " 
 with modern towns, we do not know from what particular 
 place in each town Antoninus measured his journeys. He 
 ])robably commenced from the extremity of the Roman settle- 
 ment, which may have been in some cases a mile or two 
 outside the modern town. 
 
 ^ Gibson, Camden's annotator, after objecting that Len- 
 ham, where Camden has placed Durolevum, did not suit well 
 with the distance given by Antoninus of that place from 
 Durovcrnum (Canterbury), observes, "What then if we 
 should pitch upon Bapchild, a place lying between Sittingbourne 
 and Ospringe, the ancient name whereof is Baccanceld, 
 afterwards corrupted into Beck-child, and now corruptly 
 called Bapchild. For as Dur (in British) denotes ivater, so 
 Bee in the Saxon answers to that ; or at least the termination 
 cehl, implying a pool, will in some measure suit the old name. 
 But what is of more consequence in this matter, is its being in 
 the Saxon times a place of veiy great note ; insomuch that
 
 C^SAR S RETURN TO THE COAST. 2 I 7 
 
 his army, during that hard day's fighting and 
 pursuit of the Britons, a distance of more than 
 twenty miles. From Bapchild to Rochester 
 (Durobrovis), which was the next Roman station, 
 is a distance of about twelve miles, and it may 
 well be imagined that, after the great exertions 
 of his army the previous day, Ccesar would be 
 
 Bishop Brightwald, a.d. 700, held a Synod at it. Now, 'tis 
 a general remark made by antiquaries, that the Saxons parti- 
 cularly fixed upon those places where the Romans had left 
 their stations; from whence at present so many of our towns 
 end in Chester. And even at this day here are the ruins of 
 two old churches or chapels, besides the ])arish church. 
 Moreover, if the Roman Road, betwixt the Kentish towns, 
 was the same with the present, then Durolevum (which, by 
 the way, is only read Durolenum, to reconcile it to Lcnham) 
 must be somewhere about this j)ansh ; because no other ])lace 
 in the present road is so agreeable a distance between the said 
 cities. Now there cannot be a shorter cut between Rochester 
 and Canterbury, than that at present is, unless one should 
 level hills or travel through bogs ; and yet by this the distance 
 bc-tween is about 25 miles, the same with tlie Itinerary 
 (Iter. 2 and 4), as also where Durolevum comes between, 
 I 3 to it from Rochester, and i 2 from it to Canterbury, makes 
 exactly the same number." 
 
 It may be added that the valuable collection of Roman 
 pottery and glass, dug up by Mr George Payne, jun., of 
 Sittingbourne, in this immediate neighbourhood, affords 
 further presumptive evidence that the ancient Durolevum was 
 at Bapchild.
 
 2l8 C^:SAR IN KENT. 
 
 content with this short progress, and make at 
 Rochester his next encampment. Mr C. Roach 
 Smith, whose residence at Strood (near Rochester) 
 has afforded him opportunities of observing the 
 ancient bed of the river, and of the Swale into 
 which it flows, is of opinion that the river Med- 
 way passing through Rochester would, at the 
 time of Julius Cccsar, present no difficulty to his 
 progress, being fordable at low water, or easily 
 bridged over. 
 
 In his valuable " Retrospections," ^ of which the 
 first two volumes have been published, he writes, 
 speaking of the low-lying land to the south of 
 the Medway, called "the Upchurch Marshes," — 
 " These marshes are an interesting study for the 
 geologist as well as the antiquary. When the 
 Romans inhabited and worked the land, it lay high 
 and dry, and the Medway must have been confined 
 within comparatively narrow limits. It was pro- 
 bably some time after the Romans had left before 
 the sea began to make inroads and submerge 
 hundreds of acres." Mr R, Smith has discovered 
 large quantities of Roman pottery by digging in 
 
 ^ " Retrospections, Social and Archaeological," by C. Roach 
 Smith, Esq., F.S.A.
 
 C^SAR S RETURN TO THE COAST. 219 
 
 the creeks of the marshes, and In the river at low 
 water ; and he says that there was time enough 
 for the earth to accumulate two or three feet 
 over the debris of the kilns, ere the creeks 
 formed, and washed the remains into their beds, 
 where they are now found. 
 
 After crossing the Medway, Ccesar would no 
 doubt have pursued his journey by the 
 Gwyddelin road until he reached the Thames ^ 
 
 ^ I am confirmed in this statement by the opinion, kindly com- 
 municated to me, of Mr Roach Smith, that the modern road 
 from Dover to London runs upon the Roman military via, and 
 that this was constructed upon the remains of the ancient British 
 road. The idea which formerly prevailed, that the Roman road 
 was diverted from its direct course in consequence of the marshes 
 about Deptford forming a large lake or lagoon, has been dis- 
 proved by recent researches. An interesting paper in the 
 " Archjcological Journal " for 18H5, by Mr F. C. .1. Spurrell, 
 enters fully into this subject. Mr Spurrell shows that a yew 
 forest, of which the stubs may still be seen at 1 2 feet below 
 the present high-water mark, stretched over the whole of the 
 marshes at Deptford, Dagenham, Rainham, Erith, and Plum- 
 stead. He also states that Roman bricks and pottery have 
 been discovered in these marshes, and the remains of Roman 
 dwellings, both at Westminster (in digging the foundations of 
 the Canon's residences) and at Southwark ; — in every case 
 several feet below the present high-water mark. In fact, the 
 whole of Roman London was built on a much lower level 
 than the modern city. Sir Christopher Wren (see Noor- 
 thouck's "History of London"), in digging the foundations
 
 2 20 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 had there been any means of transit for his army 
 at the point where the road met that river. Mr 
 Morgan indeed asserts, on the authority of some 
 British account, that the Romans followed this 
 road, but found upon arriving at the river that 
 the bridge between Belins' Tower and the 
 southern bank of the Thames was broken down, 
 and that consequently they were compelled to 
 cross the river at its nearest fordable place. 
 This statement, although I think it cannot be 
 sustained, it will be well to examine. 
 
 There are certainly some grounds for the 
 supposition that there may have been a bridge 
 over the Thames at the period of our history. 
 
 The fact that the Britons endeavoured to 
 prevent the passage of Cccsar's army, where 
 it afterwards crossed the Thames by wooden 
 piles driven into the bed of the river, shows 
 that they could easily have formed one ; and 
 
 for the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, found a 
 Roman causeway, four feet thick, made of rough stone and 
 Roman brick, 1 8 feet below the level of the present city. 
 These facts show that the Thames could not have been at 
 the time of the Roman occupation so considerable a river as it 
 is at the present day.
 
 Cesar's RETURN TO THE COAST. 22 1 
 
 they must have understood the construction of 
 bridges, since Ccesar, in his Belgic war, crossed 
 the river Aisne by a bridge; and he himself 
 tells us that the southern portion of Britain 
 was largely peopled from Belgium. The rapidity 
 with which bridges were made at the period 
 of our history would surprise even the engi- 
 neers of our own day. Cccsiu- relates that he 
 formed a bridge of wooden piles over the Rhine 
 (probably at Bonn), for the passage of his army 
 in the short space of ten days, including the 
 time occupied in the conveyance of the timber. A 
 century later, when Aulus Plautius crossed the 
 Thames, the Germans in his army swam the 
 river at its mouth, -'where," as Dion states, 
 "by the flowing of the tide it stagnates," but 
 the rest of his troops crossed at a higher part 
 of the river by bridges (possibly a bridge of 
 boats). Mr Beale Poste thinks that tin- river 
 thus crossed was the Lea, a tributary of the 
 Thames, rather than the Thames itself, but Dion 
 Cassius' history of the event affords no ground 
 for such a supposition. On the contrary, he 
 relates that having crossed the Thames, Tlautius
 
 2 22 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 sent for the Emperor Claudius, and having 
 awaited his arrival, — probably at the strongly 
 fortified position of Keston in Kent, — he gave 
 over the command of the army to the Emperor, 
 who crossed the river, and having conquered 
 the enemy, took Camulodunum (Colchester, in 
 Essex), the royal seat of Cunobellin. Whether 
 this bridge, over which Plautius, and afterwards 
 his royal master, crossed, existed previously, or 
 whether it was temporarily thrown over the 
 river by the Roman soldiers, we have no means 
 of deciding, but the mention of it suggests the 
 possibility that only a century after Julius Caesar's 
 invasion of the country, the Britons had con- 
 structed, or reconstructed, a bridge across the 
 river. ^ 
 
 ^ We have no record that the Romans, during their occu- 
 pation of the country, used any other means of transit over 
 the Thames than a trajectus of wood. Mr Roach Smith, 
 however (see " Illustrations of Roman London "), has dis- 
 covered indications of the existence of a Roman bridge on 
 the site of old London Bridge. Great quantities of Roman 
 coins and antiquities were brought up from the bed of the 
 river when foundations of tlie old bridge were taken down, 
 while the houses there were generally built on piles, showing 
 that the ground had been gained fiom the river. The Saxon
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 223 
 
 While, however, these arguments may be urged 
 in favour of the British account that Caesar 
 proceeded to the Thames, expecting to find a 
 bridge by which his army could cross the river, 
 they are outweighed by the fact that Caesar 
 makes no allusion to this in his " Commentaries." 
 He would naturally be reluctant to mention any 
 failure of his designs, but he could scarcely omit 
 all reference to such a manifest discomfiture of his 
 plans, since it would have been witnessed by his 
 whole army. We are led, therefore, to the con- 
 clusion that he diverged from the Gwyddelin 
 road at some point after passing Rochester in 
 order to reach that part of the river where he 
 had learnt from Avarwy it was fordable. The 
 road he followed probably led to what was after- 
 wards the Roman station Noviomagus. This is 
 generally believed to have been at IIoKvood Hill. 
 
 chroniclers do not make mention of tlie existence of .i 
 bridge across the Thames at London until a.d. 1017, when 
 Cnut (or Canute), the Dane, invadinj; London with a fleet, 
 to dispossess Edmund Ironside, found himself unable to pass 
 the bridge over the river at London, which the citizens had 
 strongly fortified. He consequently cut a canal on the south 
 side of the river, deej) and broad enough to convey ships 
 above the bridge.
 
 2 24 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 near Keston, ^ which is in a direct line between 
 London and Maidstone (probably the Roman 
 station called Vagniaccr), and agrees fairly well with 
 the distances of Noviomagus from those towns 
 in " the Itinerary." The name " Keston," Hasted 
 thinks, is derived from " Chesterton," i.e.^ " the 
 place of the Camp, or Fortification," though some 
 fancy that it is a corruption of " Kcesar's town." 
 Many Roman remains and foundations with coins 
 of the middle and lower Empires have been dis- 
 covered there, and the extensive fortifications, 
 nearly two miles in circumference, and existing in 
 parts of ramparts and double ditches, prove it to 
 have been a large Roman encampment. 
 
 From this place Ccesar would reach, in less 
 than a day's march, the fordable part of the 
 
 1 Crayford, on the Watling Street, or Gwyddclin Road, has 
 by many learned authors been identified with Noviomagus. 
 It is about the right distance both from London and Maid- 
 stone, although not in a direct line between them. Its manor, 
 says Hasted, is called " Newbury," which signifies the same 
 as '* Noviomagus," namely, " the new fortress, or station." 
 Its claims to have been a Roman station are not, however, 
 supported by any considerable discoveries of Roman antiquities. 
 Mr Spurrell says that a quarter of a mile south of Howbury 
 there is the barest outline of an oval camp.
 
 C/ESAR S RETURN TO THE COAST. 225 
 
 Thames. His passage of the river was not un- 
 challenged. Cassivellaunus, with his chariots and 
 Essedarii, of whom he still retained 4000, had anti- 
 cipated his arrival. When Ccrsar arrived there "he 
 perceived," so his '' Commentaries " relate, " that 
 numerous forces of the enemy were marshalled on 
 the other bank of the river ; the bank also was 
 defended by sharp stakes fixed in front, and 
 stakes of the same kind fixed under the water 
 were covered by the river." The Roman general, 
 however, knew the resolution and bravery of his 
 own soldiers ; " discovering these things from 
 prisoners and deserters, sending forward the 
 cavair)', he ordered the legions to follow them 
 immediately. With such speed and eagerness 
 did the soldiers advance, though they stood up to 
 their heads in the water, that the enemy could not 
 sustain the attacks of the legions and of the horse, 
 but quitted the banks and betook themselves to 
 flight." ' 
 
 * The story of Polyaenus that Cassar employed an elephaiu 
 on this occasion, which struck such terror by its novel appear- 
 ance, that the Britons fled in all directions, is unsupported 
 by any other testimony.
 
 2 26 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 The particular place where the Roman army 
 crossed the Thames has been the subject of much 
 dispute. Tradition, however, again helps us to a 
 conclusion. The part of the river known as 
 " Coway Stakes " by its very name is pointed out 
 as the place where Cccsar's forces forded the 
 stream. Even in Bede's time (a.d. 730) the 
 stakes fixed by the Britons were still visible, and, 
 remaining there for so many centuries, un- 
 doubtedly gave the name to the place. Bede 
 thus describes them and their origin, according to 
 the tradition extant in his day. Cccsar "pro- 
 ceeded to the river Thames, where an immense 
 multitude of the enemy had posted themselves on 
 the farther side of the river, under the command 
 of Cassivellaunus, and fenced the bank of the 
 river and almost all the ford under water, with 
 sharp stakes, the remains of which are to be seen 
 to this day, each apparently about the thickness of 
 a man s thigh, and being cased with lead, were 
 fixed immoveably in the bottom of the river." 
 Camden has no hesitation in assigning to this 
 locality the passage of the great conqueror. " 'Tis 
 impossible," he says, "I should be mistaken in
 
 Cesar's return to the coast. 227 
 
 the place, because here the river is scarce six foot 
 deep, and the place, at this day, from those stakes 
 is called Coway Stakes ; to which add that Ccrsar 
 makes the bounds of Cassivellaun, where he 
 settles this passage of his, to be about 80 miles 
 distant from that sea which washes the east part 
 of Kent, where he landed. Now this ford, we 
 mention, is at the same distance from the sea ; 
 and I am the first that I know of that has men- 
 tioned and settled it in its proper place." 
 
 The subsequent progress of Cccsar may be 
 briefly narrated. After passing the Thames, he 
 advanced against the stronghold of Cassivellaunus, 
 generally supposed to have been at Verulam (St 
 Albans), harassed continually on the way by the 
 chariotmen of the enemy, who, from their know- 
 ledge of the roads and paths, were able to make 
 unexpected attacks upon his soldiers while occu- 
 pied in devastating the country. Meanwhile the 
 influence of Avarwy (Mandubratius) with the 
 Trinobantes (the inhabitants of Middlesex), over 
 whom his father, and probably he himself, had 
 formerly ruled, obtained for Ca\sar the submission 
 of that people ; and other neighbouring tribes,
 
 2 28 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 seeing the protection iilTorded by Caesar to the 
 Trinobantes, soon after sent in their allegiance 
 to him. 
 
 The oppidum of Cassivellaunus was now- 
 attacked. It was surrounded by woods and 
 marshes, and well fortified both by nature and art. 
 Ccesar assaulted it on two sides, and although its 
 defenders made a brief but gallant stand, dis- 
 pirited and outnumbered, they soon fled from the 
 stronghold, and very many of them were cut 
 down in their flight. A large number of cattle 
 was found there ; of which Ciesar makes special 
 mention, as the provisioning of his army had no 
 doubt been a matter of considerable difficulty. 
 
 One final struggle of the gallant British nation 
 against the invaders of their country was, how- 
 ever, yet to be made in Kent. It will be remem- 
 bered that, after the defeat of the Britons at Key 
 Coll, the auxiliary forces of Cassivellaunus were 
 dispersed. Those who remained with him were 
 probably the forces he had brought from his own 
 tribe, and others north of the Thames. Finding, 
 however, the desperate straits to which he was 
 reduced, Cassivellaunus made one more attempt
 
 C^SARS RETURN TO THE COAST. 2 29 
 
 to rally the people of Kent. He sent messengers 
 to the four kings of Kent, Cingetorix, Carnilius, 
 Taximagulus, and Segonax, enjoining them to 
 gather all their forces, and make a sudden attack 
 upon Ccesar's naval camp, hoping, no doubt, by 
 this expedient to compel Ccesar to return at once 
 to the coast. His orders were obeyed, but the 
 spirit which still animated the Britons to rise at 
 the call of duty was invoked in vain. The attack 
 upon Cccsar's naval camp was unsuccessful. The 
 well-disciplined Romans who defended it, made a 
 sortie in full force from the camp. Cingetorix 
 was taken prisoner, and the defeated Britons 
 many of them slain. 
 
 The news of this disaster decided Cassivelhumus 
 to seek for terms of peace. "So many losses 
 having been received, his territories devastated, and 
 being distressed most of all by the defection of the 
 states, he sends ambassadors to Crrsar to treat, 
 through Comius the Atrcbatian, concerning a 
 surrender." 
 
 Caesar wishing to pass the winter on the con- 
 tinent, and the summer being now nearly past, de- 
 manded hostages of Cassivelhumus, and an annual
 
 230 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 tribute to be paid to the Romiin people. Having 
 received the hostages, and enjoined Cassivel- 
 launus not to wage war against Mandubratius or 
 the Trinobantes, he led his army back to the sea. 
 There he found his ships repaired, and caused them 
 to be launched. His numerous prisoners, and the 
 fact that some of his ships had been lost in the 
 storm, compelled him to carry back his army 
 to the continent in two convoys. In this he met 
 with some disappointment. Although none of 
 the ships which bore his troops were lost, yet the 
 greater part of those which were returning empty 
 after landing the first convoy, and most of those 
 which Labienus had, to the number of sixty, pro- 
 vided, did not reach their destination, being driven 
 back by contrary winds to the continent. Cccsar, 
 having waited for them for some time in vain, 
 and fearing from the approach of the equinox 
 that the time for safe sailing would soon be 
 past, decided to pack his soldiers more closely 
 than usual into the vessels that remained to him. 
 Taking advantage therefore of calm weather, 
 he set sail at the beginning of the second watch 
 (9 P.M.), and after a favourable passage, landed all
 
 Ci^SAR's RETURN TO THE COAST. 23 I 
 
 his vessels in safety on the continent at day-break.^ 
 Thus ended an expedition, which, for the boldness 
 of its design, and the undaunted energy with which 
 it was carried through, has not perhaps been sur- 
 passed in the history of the world. It has been 
 our aim to trace the footsteps of the conqueror 
 through that part of England on which he landed. 
 His place of disembarkation and the earlier part 
 of his progress have, we trust, been established 
 clearly in these pages, and, so far as reasonable 
 conjecture can serve as a guide, his subsequent 
 advance to the Thames has been pointed out. 
 Beyond this we do not attempt to define his route, 
 or to decide whether Verulam, or, as some say, 
 
 ' Caesar, according to his own statement, set sail shortly 
 before the equinox (September 26th). This accords well with 
 a letter of Cicero, in whicli he says, " On the 1 i th of the 
 calends of November (October 17th), I received letters from 
 my brother Quintus and from Cxsar ; the cxjjedition was 
 finished and the hostages delivered. They had made no booty ; 
 they had only im])osed contributions. The letters, written 
 from the shores of Britain, are dated on the ^)th of the calends 
 of October (September 21st), at the moment of embarking 
 the army which they are bringing back." Cajsar then left 
 Britain on September 2i8t, having stiiyed on the island about 
 sixty days.
 
 232 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Wendover was the stronghold of his great oppo- 
 nent. It may be for others to take up the 
 narrative who have greater local knowledge of 
 the country through which he afterwards passed. 
 So far as we have been able to do so, it has 
 been a pleasant recreation both to follow the 
 footsteps of so great a hero as Ccesar, and to 
 place on record in clearer light the exploits of 
 our brave forefathers. Enough, if we have done 
 anything to elucidate a page of our country's 
 history, which has hitherto been much obscured.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 RESPECTING RICHBOROUGH, AND ITS CLAIM TO 
 BE THE LANDING PLACE OF JULIUS CiESAR. 
 
 ,LTHOUGH Deal so entirely answers to the 
 description given by Cxsar of his landing 
 place, that there can be no doubt but that he 
 disembarked his troops at that place, Rich- 
 borough, tlie ancient Rutupium, is certainly a 
 formidable rival, and has found very able advocacy from 
 many,^ and especially from the learned antiquary, Archdeacon 
 Battcley. His arguments deserve consideration in these 
 ])ages, not only on account of the weight which attaches to his 
 authority, but on account of the challenge, as it were, thrown 
 down to those who advance the claims of Deal. His work, 
 written in Latin, and published in 171 i, is in the form of a 
 dialogue between himself and his two friends, Wharton and 
 Maurice. It will be sufficient to summarize the arguments by 
 which he seeks to estiiblish that Ricliborough was tin- landing- 
 place of Julius Crcsar, 
 
 He argues first from the alleged suitableness of the |)lace 
 
 ' The most recent advocate for Rutupium is Mr CJeorpe Dowker, 
 whose paper, published it) tlie "Journal of the Archarolojjical Iii'-ti- 
 tute," vol. xxxiii., is valiMlile on account of the attention he has 
 given to the geological changes of the coast and of the river Stour.
 
 2 34 C/ESAR IN KENT. 
 
 itself; the facilities it afforded for the landing and provisioning 
 of troops, its proximity to the continent, and the ready 
 means of retreat it afforded to an army harassed by the enemy. 
 Let us consider how these advantages bear upon the question 
 of Cxsar's landing. 
 
 That Richborough and its harbour became, after the time 
 of Julius Cxsar, celebrated in history may be readily con- 
 ceded. No one who has visited the remains of its ancient 
 Roman castle, within whose walls King Etiiclbert held his court, 
 and where he received St Augustine and his monks ; no one 
 who has stood over the cross on which the ancient chapel was 
 afterwards built, and where Christianity began to send forth 
 afresh its blessings through our country, would wish to deny 
 to Richborough any honour that rightly belongs to it. It 
 was probably the first stone-built stronghold in England, and 
 it is marvellous, especially considering that its walls have no 
 solid foundation, that it has stood through so many ages of 
 wars and invasions. The Saxon, the Dane, the Norman 
 have assailed its battlements or have found refuge within its 
 walls. Still the old castle stands, a ruin of its former self, 
 battered about by time and war, yet not destroyed ; the cir- 
 cumference of its walls complete or nearly so, its gates still 
 remaining, amongst them the decuman or ancient skaian gate, 
 with its oblique entrance, the scene doubtless of many a 
 conflict and many a deed of bravery. Batteley is probably 
 right in saying that the foundation of its walls dates from the 
 time of Aulus Plautius, though doubtless they owed much to 
 the labours of successive generations, and especially to the 
 Emperor Severus, who, it is said, built the neighbouring castle 
 at Reculver. 
 
 But why did Richborough and the Rutupian harbour 
 become of such importance as to need such a defence as this ?
 
 APPENDIX. 235 
 
 For the same reason, we reply, that Malta and Gibraltar are of 
 such importance to us now ; because they commanded the 
 water-way of nations. The nan'ow stream, now separating the 
 isle of Thanet from the mainland, was formerly an arm of the 
 sea some miles in breadth. ^ Large vessels traversed its waters, 
 bringing the merchandise of many lands to the great port of 
 London, for, as Batteley says, the river Thames continued to 
 give its name to the waters which flowed through the Want- 
 sum, and claimed for itself the sea coast as far as Dover. '- 
 Richborough, strongly fortified, held the key of this the nearest 
 and most commodious route to London. 
 
 But the question for our consideration is, had Richborough 
 this importance at the time of Julius Cxsar's invasion ? What 
 was the condition of Richborough and the Portus Rutupinus 
 at that period ? Batteley himself tells us that Richborough was 
 an island. " I think, indeed," he says, " that Rutupium was 
 neither in the Isle of Thanet nor in Britain, but in an island 
 of its own, which the Wantsum made near its eastern mouth ; 
 since the marshy and low plain by wliicii the field ot 
 
 ' It was called the Wantsum, a Saxon word mianiiij!;, according to 
 Batteley, " valde decrescens." Hasted says that " it wai once in its 
 widest part four miles across, but it had by degrct^s retired so much, 
 that even in the Venerable Bede's time it was but three furlongs over, 
 and was usually passable at two places only ; these were Sarrc and 
 Stonar, where two ferry-boats were kept for that purpose. It was 
 navigable throughout so late as the time of King Henr)- VIII., for 
 Twyne, who lived in the latter part of that reign, tells us that there 
 were people then living who had often seen vessel* of good burthen 
 pass to and fro upon it, where the water was then, especially towards 
 the west, totally excluded ; all which, he adils, happened I)ecause the 
 fresh streams were not surficient to check the salt water that choked 
 up the channel," 
 
 - The rights of pilotage still exercised by the Trinity House pilots 
 as far as Dover are a remnant of this ancient claim.
 
 236 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Rutupium is on all sides surrounded, proves to any one con- 
 templating the situation of the place, that it was formerly sur- 
 rounded by water." A visit to Richborough will confirm 
 the opinion Battclcy here expresses. The castle of Rich- 
 borough was evidently built on an island comparatively small 
 in size, separated from the mainland by a channel of consider- 
 able width. The low level of the surrounding country proves 
 that the southern bank of this channel and of the Wantsum 
 must have been a morass, covered by the waves at high water; 
 at low water stagnant, and in many places impassable. Was 
 this, we ask, a favourable situation for the landing of Caesar's 
 large army ? Aulus Plautius no doubt found the island itself 
 suitable as a place of garrison, in the rear of his advancing 
 army, and the Rutupian harbour would afford safe anchorage 
 for his fleet. But Julius Cssar could not have landed on an 
 island, for he marched, on the occasion of his second invasion, 
 twelve miles inland on the very day of disembarking his troops ; 
 nor could so small an island as Richborough have afforded 
 accommodation for the encampment of his legions. 
 
 Are we then to suppose that so experienced a general as 
 Julius Csesar brought his vessels to the marshy shore of the 
 Rutupian straits, when he himself tells us, with evident satis- 
 faction, that he chose an open and level shore for landing, 
 and when he is entirely silent as to the almost insuperable diffi- 
 culties which he would have encountered had he attempted to 
 land on a morass ? Batteley, however, brings forward his 
 authorities to prove that Caesar did so land, although he con- 
 fesses that he cannot reconcile their statements with Caesar's 
 own narrative. His witnesses are Plutarch and Dion Cassius. 
 Let us see what weight attaches to their authority, as against 
 that of Caesar himself The statement of Plutarch, on which 
 Batteley relies, is that relating to the exploit (recorded in
 
 APPENDIX. 237 
 
 chapter iv.) of one of Caesar's soldiers in Britain, when his 
 captains were " driven into a marsh or bog full of mire and 
 dirt." Now, apart from the fact that the incident he relates 
 is somewhat similar to one recorded by Valerius Maximus 
 and Suetonius, which they say happened at Cassar's landing, 
 we have no reason to conclude that Plutarch's story is to be 
 referred to the time of his landing ; in fact, it would be more 
 natural to conclude that it occurred when he was crossing the 
 Thames, or some other river. Supposing, however, that 
 Plutarch did relate the same story as Valerius and Suetonius, 
 let us estimate the value of his testimony. In the first place, 
 he wrote one hundred years after Ccesar's invasion of Britain, 
 and his knowledge of the event must have been derived fioni 
 Caesar's own narrative, or from other traditionary accounts, 
 so that his testimony is not that of an eye-witness, or even of a 
 contemporary of Caesar. Again, the title he gives to his 
 writings — "Plutarch's Lives" — sufficiently indicates their aim 
 and scope, and shows that he intended rather to present the 
 histories and characters of his heroes, than to give a detailed 
 account of the events of the times in which they lived. 'Vo 
 this end he arranged his " Lives " in pairs, each i)air contain- 
 ing the life of a Greek and of a Roman hero. .Julius Ca-sar's 
 life, for examifle, he compares with that of Alexander, point- 
 ing out the points of similarity in tlieir characters ami 
 career. While, therefore, we should expect to find him 
 writing with accuracy with respect to Carsar's personal history, 
 Plutarch would not be careful to enquire into the truth of 
 every story related of his soldiers, A few years before Ik- 
 wrote, Aulus Plautius had landed in Pjritain, and his landing 
 had been unopposed, the Britons iiiding themselves in marslies 
 and woods, in order to entice iiis army into dangerous and 
 inextricable places. Such a report reaching the ears o\
 
 238 CyESAR IN KENT. 
 
 Plutarch, might very well lead him to conclude that the 
 southern shore of Britain was everywhere marshy, and to 
 place the scene of the noble deed of Scceva in the mire and 
 marsh rather than among the sand and rocks of the ocean. 
 
 The other testimony adduced by Batteley is that of Dion 
 Cassius. He states that Caesar " having sailed round a cer- 
 tain promontory, landed on the other side, and there scattered 
 the enemy who attacked him when landing his army in the 
 marshes (ra rsvay?]), and occupied the ground." Now, it is 
 probable that Dion Cassius, who wrote a century later than 
 Plutarch, and therefore about two hundred years after the time 
 of Julius Cassar, was led into error by the same cause as 
 Plutarch, or perhaps through following his account of Scasva's 
 exploit. It must be observed, however, that his description 
 is not altogether inconsistent with Cxsar's narrative, since ra 
 TitayYi imply generally muddy or shifting ground, but not neces- 
 sarily marshes. Nor is it by any means certain that the shore 
 of Deal would not at the time of Cassar's landing have given 
 occasion for some such description, the beach which now 
 bounds the shore having probably been thrown up at a subse- 
 quent period. 
 
 In his zeal for Rutupium our learned author, Archdeacon 
 Batteley, makes the most of these quotations from Plutarch 
 and Dion Cassius, because they afford his only argument 
 against Caesar's landing having taken place at Deal ; his other 
 objections to Deal being in reality only apologies for his own 
 departure from this traditional landing-place. 
 
 Let us consider his further arguments, or rather apologies, 
 for his choice of Rutupium. 
 
 He first endeavours to meet the objection that Richborough 
 is sixteen miles from Dover, whereas Caesar states that his 
 landing-place was only eight Roman miles from the place
 
 APPENDIX. 239 
 
 where he first approached the shore. Battelcy, recognising 
 how well Dover suits Caesar's description of the latter place, 
 suggests that the reading of eight miles may be inaccurate. 
 This may doubtless have been the case, since the manuscripts 
 generally state seven miles to have been the distance (which 
 would tell still more against his argument), and it is not 
 improbable that vii may have been by some transcribers 
 changed into viii. But apart from this slight error, which 
 may easily have crept in, it is not likely that the distance 
 given by Csesar has been altered, no writings of antiquity 
 having been more carefully preserved than those of Csesar, 
 owing to the attention given to literature in the Augustan 
 age, which succeeded him. Batteley further suggests that 
 the Romans, in common with other ancient nations, were 
 inexperienced in the art of measuring distances by sea, and 
 that Caesar therefore probably erred in the calculation of the 
 distance he had travelled. Now, it is hardly jios'ible that he 
 could have travelled sixteen miles to Richburough, and 
 imagined he had only sailed seven miles, even had he been 
 thus inexperienced in calculating distjinces by sea. But lie 
 had no need to trust to his own judgment of the distance. 
 When at last he had effected a landing, and defeated the 
 Britons, Comius, the Atrebatian, whom the Britons had 
 imprisoned, was restored to him. Comius knew the coa.st 
 well, and could give certain information as to the disunce by 
 land from Dovt-r to the place of landing, so that Cxsar had 
 abundant opportunity of verifying his own reckoning. It 
 must also be rcmcmbtTed that the Britons travelled by land to 
 prevent his disembarkation, and tliat since Cxsar, after loosing 
 his vessels from Dover, sailed with the wind and tide both in 
 his favour, sixteen miles would have been an almost impossible 
 distance for them to have travelled, in tinif to antici])ate and 
 oppose his landing.
 
 240 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 Batteley, however, realising that facts are against him in 
 his attempt to reconcile the distance between Dover and 
 Richborough with that recorded in "the Commentaries," 
 changes his argument, and attempts to throw doubts upon 
 Dovei- being the place intended by Cxsar. " It is to no 
 purpose," he says, "to state that Caesar sought to land at 
 the port of Dover, since there are other places on that 
 shore no less difficult of approach than Dover on account 
 of the rocks." " Where are the places ? " we may ask. To 
 suit Batteley's purpose they must be much nearer to Rich- 
 borough than Dover is ; but with the exception of the small 
 inlet called St Margaret's Bay, which we have no reason to 
 believe was ever a port, there is no other place at all answer- 
 ing to the descnption. Dover, as we have seen, answers to 
 it perfectly. 
 
 Further, with reference to the statement of Dion Cassius, 
 that Ceesar sailed round a certain promontory before he 
 reached his place of disembarkation. Archdeacon Batteley 
 remarks, " there was a promontory near Rutupium, which 
 being sailed round, a port is reached, such as Caesar required, 
 suitable for a multitude of large vessels." But he explains 
 that " the promontory was not the Pepernesse of to-day, but 
 the extreme boundary of the shore, wherever it was, and by 
 whatsoever name it was known, which was on the left of those 
 entering the Rutupian harbour, and which now perhaps is a con- 
 siderable distance from the sea." Standing on the hill of Rich- 
 borough we look around and wonder where this promontory 
 could have been, for Richborough itself is on the highest 
 ground for some miles round, and no signs of a promontory 
 of any kind present themselves in the direction whence Caesar 
 would have come. How indefinite and indeed imaginary is 
 such a supposed promontory, compared with that which is
 
 APPENDIX. 241 
 
 circumnavigated by vessels sailing from Dover to Deal, called 
 the South Foreland. The abruptness of this promontory 
 is not very noticeable on the map of the coast, but to one 
 coasting along, as Cxsar did, near the shore round its rugged 
 and projecting rocks, Dion Cassius needs no justification in 
 calling it a " promontory," or the Dover boatmen of the 
 present day in speaking of it as " the point." 
 
 One advantage claimed by Batteley for Rutupium we 
 readily concede, namely, that its harbour afforded far safer 
 anchorage for vessels than the open shore of Deal, unless 
 moored at some distance from the land. This alone would, I 
 think, of itself be conclusive against the stiitement that Cscsar 
 landed at Rutupium. For how could that be a safe anchor- 
 age, where his vessels were, on each occasion, driven on 
 shore and wrecked ? Deal certainly was not a port, and 
 although it afforded ample room for Ccesar to land his troops, 
 which was apparently what he chiefly thought of, the event 
 proved that there was no safe anchorage for his vessels close 
 to the shore. Had he landed at Richboicuigh, as Batteley 
 contends, his vessels would probably lia\c been ])erfectly safe 
 from the storms which wrecked tlu-ni. 
 
 How, then, can we agree with tlic followmg arguiiuiu by 
 which our learned author concludes his remarks res]H'cting 
 Caesar's landing-place. *' I may say, in a word, that the 
 Romans, during tlie whole time in whicli they possessed oui 
 island, landed at tlie Portus Rutupiiius only, and unless any- 
 thing can Ik- shown to the contrary, I conclude that Cxsar 
 there disembarked, and that others after Cx8;ir, led by his 
 example, landed at the same place." We say, on the con- 
 trary, that the disasters he met with on each occasion of 
 his invasion of Britain in the destruction of his fleet, served as 
 beacons to warn others against attempting to land upon tlie
 
 242 C^SAR IN KENT. 
 
 same shore. We find, accordingly, that no attempt was 
 made to land at Deal by those who subsequently invaded our 
 country. Richborough and its safe harbour, commanding 
 the nearest approach by sea to London, became, as Batteley 
 correctly asserts, the place of disembarkation of future con- 
 querors, and a place of arms during the Roman occupation of 
 Britain. 
 
 ' 
 
 Turnbull ^ Spears, Printers, Edinbtir^h.
 
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