ERRATA .

Page 1 4, l ine I,f0r was ” read were .

Page 2 7 , l ine 4 , erase“ other.

Page 5 1 , l i ne I 4,f0r“ port ” read “ ports .

Page 5 6, l i ne 2 1 ,for h im ”r ead S c ip io .

Page 5 6 , l i ne I 7,for“ other ” read others.

l try IS

fabl e.

ythica]

Page 6 3 , l ine 1 6 ,for imp l ies ” rear] “ imp l y .

s tor i es of cl ass ic an t i qui ty are

ch i efly becaus e of the grandeur of the l i terature

wh ich has preserved them,thought worthy of

not ice and exam inat ion ; wh i l e the Argonaut i c ex

pedition, the Trojan war, and the story of Romulus

83 and Remus are fam i l iar to every schoolboy, veryH l i t t l e effort has been made

,at any rate in our own

PSA3 day, to el uc idate the truth concern ing the some

,2what l egendary h i s tory of what may be cal l edI“ “ the hero i c age ”

of our own country . Tha t

th i s h i s tory con t a ins the record of brave and nobl e

deeds wh ich,by carefu l and cr i t ical invest iga t ion

,

may be rescued from the reg ion of fabl e,1 have

endeavoured in one or two instances to es tabl i sh

6

P RE FACE .

HE early h i story of every country i s

more or l ess m ixed w i th fabl e .

Wh i l e,however

,the my thical

s tor i es of cl ass ic an ti qui ty are

ch iefly because of the grandeur of the l i t erature

wh ich has preserved them,thought worthy of

not ice and exam inat ion ; wh i l e the Argonaut i c ex

pedition, the Troj an war, and the s tory ofRomulus20 ) and Remus are fam i l iar to every schoolboy, very

l i t t l e effort has been made,at any rate in our own

day , to el uc idate the t ruth concern ing the some

what l egendary h i story of what may be cal l edFi

ske

l

“ the hero i c age”

of our own country . Tha t

th i s h i s tory conta ins the record of brave and nobl e

deeds wh ich,by careful and cr i t ical invest igat ion ,

may be rescued from the reg ion of fable , I have

endeavoured in one or two instances to es tabl i sh

6

PREFACE .

i n these pages . My pr inc ipal obj ec t,however

,

has been to wr i t e more fu l ly than has been wri t ten

before,what has always been regarded as the

firs t page ofour country’s h i s tory,as di s t ingu ished

from the l es s re l i abl e trad i t ions of the preh i s tor i c

period .

The traces of Ju l i u s Caesar’s encampment s in

the neighbourhood where I late l y res ided,as

Vicar of the pari shes ofPatrixbourne and Bridge,were firs t brough t to my not ice by one who had

long made them h i s s tudy . Hi s love of ret i re

men t has preven ted h im from assoc iat ing h i s name

wi th th i s work ; but I des i re gratefu l ly to acknow

ledge the deep interes t he has taken in i t s produc

t ion,and the importan t help which he has

rendered me throughou t i t s preparat ion,by giv ing

me the benefi t of hi s archaeological researches of

many years .I have sought no nove l s i tes for Cmsar’s land

ing and struggles w i th our Bri t i sh forefathers .

In a l l cas es the on ly tradi t ion s extan t corroborate

the choice of the local i t i es i n wh ich I have p laced

the scenes of h i s batt les . I be l i eve that where

tradi t ion unhes i tat ing ly local i ses even ts, i t may

PREFACE . ix

general ly be rel ied upon . A s tr ik ing ins tance of

the accuracy wi th wh ich the memory of events

has thus been preserved for many cen turi es has

been inade pubhc “dukz these pages have been

pass ing through the pres s . I t occurred in con

nection wi th the remarkabl e d i scovery by M r

Petri e of the Palace of K i ng Pharaoh at Tah

panhes, i n Egypt . When he approached,

weari ed and footsore,the group ofmounds cal l ed

Tel l D efennah,wh ich have long been supposed

to be the Tahpanhes of the B ibl e,

“ he beheld,

as the Times art ic l e graph ical ly rel ates,

“one

of these mounds,cons i s t ing of the burn t and

blackened ru ins of a huge p i l e of brick bu i l d ings,

s tand ing h igh aga ins t a l uri d sky and redden ed

by a fiery sunset . Hi s A rabs has t ened to t el l

him i ts local name ; and he may be env i ed the

del ightfu l surpr i s e wi th which he l earn t that i t i s

known far and near as ‘E l Kasr e l B int e l Ya

hudi —the Cast l e of the J ew’s Daughter. Th i s

informat ion enabl ed Mr Petr i e to iden t i fy th i s

ru ined p i l e w i th the House in Tahpanhes wh ich,as

we gather from the 43 rd chapter o f the Book of

the Prophet jerem iah , Pharaoh set apart as a res i

! PREFACE .

dence for the daughters of the Jewi sh K ing

Z edekiah when he was dethroned and carried

cap ti ve to Babylon . Thus local trad i t ion has

afforded a remarkable corroborat ion of th i s seem

ingly un importan t deta i l of the Bib l e narrat ive .

Hav ing,as I trus t

,es tab l i shed c l early Caesar’s

land ing - place and genera l route of conques t,i t

has been my a im to enable the reader to real i ze

the actual scenes i n which he moved during h i s

s tay in Br i ta in . If i t be thought presumptuous

to ass ign to part icu lar local i t ies the footpr ints of

the great conqueror,to assert that here hi s s tandard

was fixed,that there h i s entrenchments were

thrown up,that along th i s and that road h i s

l eg ions marched,my reply i s that my conclus ions

mus t be consi dered as a whole . After lay ing

down on genera l l ines the p laces where Cae sar

l anded and fough t h i s bat t les,I deem i t of import

ance to show that thes e local i t ies afford ev idence

of agreement even wi th the deta i l s of h i s h i s tory .

The ded icat ion of th i s book has been accepted

by the representat ive of a fam i ly which has done

much to encourage and promote the s tudy of

ant iquarian pursu i t s . The successful researches

PREFACE . x i

of the late Lord A lbert Conyngham,afterwards

Lord Londesborough,i n the fie ld of archaeology

,

and the liberal and persona l support which he

gave to many of our learned soc i et i es are wel l

known . The va luab le co l l ect ion al so of an t i

quities at Bi frons, the seat of the Marqu i s

Conyngham,t es t ifies to the same int eres t i n the

rel ic s of the pas t by the grandfather and father

of the presen t Lord . I t was my pr iv i lege,i n

connect ion wi th a fri end already men t ioned,to

whom thei r d i scovery was due,to be of some

ass i s tance to the l ate Marqu i s Conyngham,i n

open ing three large cont iguous Tumul i,be long

ing,as I be l i eve

,to the preh i s tori c per iod, in

C ors ley Wood,on the B ifrons es tat e . These

were found to contain c i s t s of a remarkabl e

character. My accoun t of thi s explorat ion ,which was carr ied out at h i s Lordsh ip’s expense,and wi th the act i ve ass i s tance of h i s agen t , M r

Robert Smi th,was pub l i shed in the 1 8th volume

The c i s ts,

which are wel l worth a v i s i t,are s t i l l careful ly

1

of the “ A rchce ologia Cantiana.

’

preserved and protected by order of the presen t

Marqui s .

PREFACE .

Shor t ly before h i s death,I had asked permi s

s ion of the lat e Lord Conyngham to dedicat e th i s

l i t t l e book to h im,and

,wi th the heart ines s and

k indl iness so character i s t i c of h im,he at once

acqui esced,saying

,

“ Of course ; won’t I read i t

For thi s he was not spared,bu t h i s son

,the

present Marqu i s Conyngham,has very k indly

gran ted me the same favour wh ich hi s lamented

father had promi sed .

I have derived much ass i s tance i n the prepara

t ion of th i s work from previ ous publ icat ions .

My thanks are espec ial ly due to M essrs Cassel l

Co . for perm i ss ion kind ly g iven me to make

extrac ts from a work publ i shed by them,“ The

Hi story of Ju l i us Caesar,by Napol eon III .

,to

the value of wh ich I have borne tes t imony in the

Introduct ion . I am al so indebted to Mr Edward

Hayward,of Deal

,for al lowing me to quote

port ions of the l at e M r S tephen Pri tchard’s

interest ing “ History of Deal,

”

of which I am

g l ad to hear he contemplates i s su ing a new

ed i t ion . I have al so made use,i n my descrip t ion

of Dover,of “ Batcheller

’s Sketch of D over.”

For th i s I have the permiss ion of M essrs Cuff

PREFACE .

Brothers,of Snargate S treet

,Dover

,who have

,

I am informed,i ssued

,under the t i t l e of “ V i s i tor’s

Gu ide to Dover,

” another ed i t ion of th i s usefu l

compend ium . To another publ icat ion,

“ The

Br i t i sh Kymry,

” by the lat e Rev. R . W . Morgan ,of Tregynon

,I have made frequen t reference . I

have fa i l ed to d i scover to whom I shou ld expres s

my obl igat ions,bu t trus t that any representat ives

ofhi s fami ly wi l l accept th i s acknowledgment of

my indebtedness to h i s valuab l e work .

Easrmc r on R ECTORY , Aug ust 6 , i 886 .

INTRODUCTION .

S O U R C E S O F T H E H I S T O R Y .

H E foundat ion and text - book of every

h i s tory of Caesar’s i nvas ion ofBri ta in

mus t necessari l y be the account

g iven of the even t by Caesar h imself.

We must not indeed expect that he would g i ve

prec i s e geographica l i nformat ion wi th regard to

the countri es which be conquered . H i s his tory

i s the “ ven i,v id i

,v ic i ” of the conqueror whose

ch ief a im was to es tabl i sh the repu tat ion of h i s

army’s success . S t i l l i t i s un i versal ly al l owed

that h i s detai l s,when he condescends to g ive

deta i l s,are wonderfu l ly accurate .

’

H i s accoun ts

of the manners and cus toms of the inhab i tan t s

2 C/ESAR IN KENT.

of those lands in wh ich h i s wars were carri ed on

a l though necessari ly incomp let e,have been in

most part iculars corroborated by other h i s torians .

His computat ion s of the d i s tances between p laces,and the t imes i n wh ich thos e d i s tances were

traversed by h i s army,wi l l bear the closes t

scrut iny. The officers employed by the Emperor

Napoleon III . have ver ified them wherever the

l ocal i t i es v i s i ted by Caesar can be ass igned i n

h i s Gal l i c and Bri t i sh Campa igns,and have found

them stri c t ly accurat e. The val ue of such cor

roborat ive ev i dence cannot be over - es t imated .

When an Emperor having at h i s command the

resources to be found i n the whole‘

c iv i l adminis

tration of a country and in an army of half a

m i llion of men,g i ves the order to compare

manuscript s,to exp lore and excavate fortifi

cat ions,to measure d i s tances

,and i n every way

to eluc i date the h i s tory of a part icu l ar epoch,the

resu l ts of such i nves t igat ion s carry wi th them

an authori ty wh ich could not be deri ved from

the researches of any private ind ividual . The

conc lus ions l aid down in the fol lowing pages wi th

regard to the s i te of Caesar’s firs t in land encamp

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4 C/ESAR I N KENT.

theMy vy rim Those re lat ing

to Ju l i us Caesar and the heroi c res i stance he met

wi th from the Bri t i sh have been embodi ed in a

va luab le work,publ i shed some years ago by the

Rev . R . W . Morgan of Tregynon , under the

t i t l e'

of “ The Bri t i sh Kymry,or the Bri tons of

Cambria . A l arger work was promi sed by Mr

Morgan,but the author of the presen t treat i se

has not been ab le to ascertain that it was ever

publ i shed .

In addi t ion to that gathered from the Triads,a

Br i t i sh vers ion of the events of Cae sar’s progres s

in Bri tain may be read i n the rather fabu l ous hi s

tory ofGeoffrey of Monmou th,which seems tohave had a common or ig in w i th “ The Chron ic l e

ofTy ssilio,” t rans lated from a We l sh manuscript

i n the Red Book ofHerges t,found in the L ibrary

ofJ esu s Co l lege, Oxford . I t i s needl es s to enter

into the con troversy as to the genu ineness of

Geoffrey’s h i s tory, wh ich he professes to have

t ran s lated from a manuscri p t rece i ved from

Wal ter,Archdeacon of Oxford. His h i s tory

,

and also the very s imi lar record of Ty ssilio,

conta in ev idence of fabricat ion,and are only

SOURCES OF THE H ISTORY. 5

valuabl e so far as they agree wi th,or may be

reconci l ed wi th,other more t rustw orthy accounts .

They are not certa in ly to be whol ly rej ected,

for al though embe l l i shed w i th much that i s

l egendary by the ingen ious trans lator,there i s

every reason to bel i eve that they were founded

upon early Bri t i sh annal s,upon the firs t records

of the trad i t ional know ledge so careful ly pre

served and for cen turi es transmi t ted oral ly by

the anc i en t Dru i ds and Bards . The accoun ts

gi ven in thes e Bri t i sh h i s tori es Should be cri t ical ly

exam ined wi th respec t to the several event s

narrated,and compared wi th other more au thent i c

records of the same even ts . If,as w i l l often

be found,they do not contradi ct these

,but are

evident ly independen t accoun ts of the same

transac t i ons,the i r corroborat i ve tes t imony i s of

cons iderabl e val ue .

The references to J ul ius Cmsar's i nvas ion con

tained i n “ The H i s tory of the Bri tains by N eu

n i us,i n Henry of Hun t ing ton

,in the Ang lo- Saxon

Chronicl e,i n Beda

,and in other later authors , can

scarcely be cons idered as independen t t es t imony ,be ing ga thered princ ipal ly from the Roman

6 C/ESAR IN KENT .

authori ties before ment ioned,and in the cas e of

Henry of Hunt ingdon to a cons iderable ex ten t

al so from the earl i er Bri t i sh hi s tori es . I t has

not,therefore

,been thought necessary to quote

them in the presen t work,except i n one or

two ins tances in wh i ch thei r i nformat ion seems

to have been deri ved from other sources not now

extan t .

The au thor has,however

,found much impor

tan t informat ion in the wri t ings of Camden,

Lel and,and other early archaeologi s ts . These

have handed down tradi t ion s as to the s i te of

Caesar’s landing,and of h i s firs t encounters w i th

the Bri t i sh,and have poin ted out the pos i t ion of

earthworks and en trenchmen ts ex i s t ing in the i r

day,many of wh i ch may s t i l l be traced

,marking

the scenes of thes e bat t l es . He has al so been

ass i s ted by the trad i t iona l knowl edge s t i l l curren t

in the ne ighbourhood of thes e local i t i es,part i

cular scenes of hi s tori c i nteres t being in some

cases indicated by names known on ly local ly,and

handed down from age to age. The topographi

cal pos i t ion of Caesar’s early bat t lefields be ing

now d i scovered,as he be l i eves beyond ques

SOURCES OF TH E H ISTORY . 7

t ion, the tradi t iona l knowl edge of them wi l l be

s een to harmon i ze with the accounts given by

class ic and early Bri t i sh au thors,and not nu

frequent ly to reconc i l e thes e when apparen t ly at

variance .

CHAPTER I .

EARLY BR IT ISH COLONIES AND W ARL IKE

ENTE RPRISES .

T i s common ly but erroneous ly supp,

posed that pr ior to the coming of

Caesar the is l e of Bri ta in was known

on ly by name to the anci en ts,and

that i t was peopl ed by barbarous races,shut out

by i t s i nhosp i tab le shores from al l i n tercours e

wi th the res t of the world . To say that such

was not the case would be to s tate only half the

truth . The tes t imony of Caesar,corroborated as

i t i s by that of many other wri ters,suffic i en t ly

proves that not only had the Gaul s and other

cont inen ta l nat ion s frequen t commun icat ion wi th

Br i ta in for trade and other purposes,but that

thi s country was the centre of. _their . religious cul

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 9

ture,and a princ ip al source of thei r m i l i tary

s trength . The author has endeavoured i n th i s

and the fo l lowing chapter to describe the con

di t ion of Bri ta in,and the re lat ionship of i t s in

habi tan ts to the neighbouring peoples at the t ime

when Cmsar i nvaded i ts shores . In doing so he

has deemed i t bes t to i l lus trate from other au thors

what Caesar has h imse lf re lated,and t o Show that

hi s candid acknowledgment of the prowess and

resources of h i s Bri t i sh foemen en t i re ly agrees

wi th the es t imate which may be formed of thei r

character from what i s known or may be con

jectured as to thei r prev i ous h i s tory .

No accoun t of Caesar’s i nvas ion of Bri ta in

cou l d be deemed comp lete wi thou t some con

s iderat ion of the reason which he h imsel f g i v es

for v i s i t ing thes e shores .

H i s commentari es re late “ Cae sar determ ined

to proceed in to Bri ta in because he unders tood

that i n almos t all the Gallic wars succours had

been supp l i ed thence to our . enem i es . ” The

wri ter of the commentari es doub t l es s refers pr in

cipally to the wars Caesar had h imsel f carri ed on

in the provi nces of Gaul,but h i s memory may

I O C/ESAR IN KENT .

have reverted to the h i story of other prev ious

wars between the Gaul s and Romans,i n wh ich

Br i t i sh warriors had made their name”

d i s t i n

guished and feared . The h i s tory of the long

cont inued struggl e between these two riva l races,

the Romans and the Gaul s,carri es u s back to a

period more than 3 0 0 years prior to the t ime of

Caesar. A t an earl i er period even than th i s the

Gau l s had es tab l i shed themsel ves i n the extens i ve

d i s tric t between the Alps and the Apenn ines,

known as C isal p i ne Gau l,bu t they d id not come

into col l i s ion wi th the Roman armi es t i l l the year

B . C . 3 90 , A .U . C . 3 64 . Then i t was that under

Brennus they i nfl ic ted the mos t seriou s blow

which the Roman power ever sus tai n ed by the

tak ing and burn ing of Rome i tse lf,the cap i to l

alone being saved by the payment of a large

ran som .

L ivy gives the fol lowing account of the firs t

inroads of the Gau l s i n to I t a ly . He say s 1 that i n

the reign of Tarquinius P riscus 6 1 6,A .U .C .

1 3 8) Ambigatus, K i ng of the Bituriges, the ch i ef

peop le of the Gel tse,find ing that part of Gaul

1 L ivy,v . 3 4.

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1 2 C/ESAR IN KENT .

are a l so given by Polybius,1 who thu s describes

thei r nomad i c character : “ They dwe l t i n v i l lages

open and wi thou t wal l s,they had few or no

moveab les,they s l ep t wi thout beds

,and thei r

ch ief employment s were husbandry and war,s ince

they were total ly ignoran t of al l other art s and

sc i ences ; thei r subs tance cons i s ted ch i efly in

cat t l e and gold,two commodi t i es wh ich they

cou l d eas i ly carry wi th them whenever by any

chance they shou l d be compe l l ed to remove.

They not on ly were mas ters of the coun try,

bu t compe l l ed the neighbouring nat ions to pay

them obed i ence . A t l ength they made war on

the Romans,whom

,after they had

'

vanqu i shed i n

bat t l e,together wi th those who took part wi th

them,they pursued three days together

,and took

at las t the c i ty ofRome i tsel f,all bu t the cap i tol .

P lutarch g ives a very s imi l ar accoun t of the

fir s t coming of the Gau l s . 2 “ Now as touch

ing the Gaul s they came (as they say) of the

Celtae,whose coun try not being ab le to maintain

the mu l t i tude ofthem,they were driven to go an d

seek other countri es to dwel l i n ; and there were1 Po l yb ius

,vo l . i. , book 2 .

2 Pl uta rch , Cam i l l us.”

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 1 3

amongst them many thousands of young men fit

for serv ice,and good soldi ers

,bu t yet more of

women and l i t t l e chi ldren . O f thes e peop l e some

of them wen t towards the North Sea,pass ing the

mountain s Riphei, and d id dwel l i n the extreme

parts of Europe . O thers rema ined between the

mountai n s P irinei,and the greates t mountains of

the A lps,near un to the S enones , and the Celtorii.

There they cont inued a long t ime, unt i l they hap

pened at las t to tas te of the w ine wh ich was firs t

brought out of I taly unto them . Wh ich drink

they found so good,and were so de l igh ted wi th

i t,that sudden ly they armed themse lves

,and tak

ing thei r wi ves and ch i ldren wi th them,they went

d i rec t ly towards the A l ps,to go and seek that

coun try wh i ch produced such fru i t,j udg ing al l

other countri es in compari son wi th that to be bu t

wi ld and barren . They conquered at the i r

firs t coming all that coun try which the Thuscans

held in old t ime,beg inn ing a t the foot of the

mountain s,and s tretched out in l eng th from one sea

un to the other. A l l that country i s wel l p lan t ed

wi th t rees,and hath goodly p leasan t pas tures

for beas t s and cat t l e to feed in,and is notably

14 CZESAR IN KENT.

watered wi th good ly runn ing rivers . There was

al so at that t ime eigh teen fai r great c i t i es i n that

count ry,al l of them very s trong and we ll s eated

,

as wel l for to enrich the inhabi tant s thereof by

traffic as to make them to l ive de l icate ly for

p leasure. A l l thes e c i t i es the Gaul s had won,

and had expel l ed the Thuscans,bu t th i s was done

long t ime before . The h i s torian then re lat es

that en tering further i nto Thuscan the Gau l s a t

l ength laid s iege to the c i ty of Clus i um,the in

habi tan ts of which besough t the i n terven t ion ofthe

Romans . The representat i ves sen t by the lat ter,

consi s t ing of three of the mos t honourab le of the

house of the Fabians,forget t ing thei r charac ter of

ambassadors,and j oin ing in hos t i l i t ies agains t the

Gau l s,were the cau s e of that invas ion of Roman

terri tory wh ich lead to such d i sas trous resu l ts .

There can be no doubt from these accounts

that the peopl e who took poss ess ion of the

northern parts of I taly,and became eventual ly”

the conquerors of Rome,were drawn from_ -all

parts of Can],and

,were there no other tes t imony

,

i t m ight fai rly be conc luded from th i s fac t,that

there were among them Bri t i sh warriors . For

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . I S

Livy s tates that some of the ear l ier set t lers in

I taly came from the Aulerci,a peop l e who

i nhabi ted the d i s tr ic t between the Seine and the

Loi re,the s ea coas t ofwh ich d i s tri c t was known

as A rmorica . Th i s Armori ca was so l argely

peopled from th e I s l e of Bri ta in,that P l iny

reckon s the Bri tann i or Br i tons among the

mari t ime peop l e of Gau l,and D ionys ius Afer

,

an earl y Greek wri ter,does the same in a pas

sage ofwhich Camden gi ves the fol lowing trans

lat ion

Nea r the great p i l la rs of the furt hest landThe old I be rian s

,haugh ty soul s

,command

A long the cont inen t,where northern seas

Ro l l the i r vast t ides,and in co ld bi l lows r i se ;

Where B ri t i sh nat ion s i n long t racts appea r,A nd fa i r - sk i n ned Germans ever famed i n war.

That the inhabi tan ts of thi s d i s tric t and of the

adjacen t Bri t i sh i s l es were consp icuously present

in the i nvad ing army may be fur ther inferred

from the descr ipt ion g i ven by L ivy,who repre

s en t s the attacking force as an unknown and

terribl e en emyfrom ocean and almost v erges ofear t/J.

” By th i s"

descrip t i on he wou ld cer

tainly incl ude our Br i t i sh forefathers , s ince the

1 6 C/ESAR I N KENT.

i s land of Bri tai n was then the furthes t known

land,and i s so described in a passage ofPausan i as .

“ The Iber i and Cel t i,

” he says,

“ l i ve n ear an

ocean,not a r iver

,bu t n ear the farthes t s ea

nav igated by man ; and thi s ocean contain s the

i s land of the Bri ton s . ”

The method al so of warfare of the invaders,

thei r d i scordan t shout s,the extraordinary s i ze of

thei r men,as wel l as thei r unencumbered mode

offight ing,a l though to some exten t charac teri s t ic

of the nat ion of the Gau l s , were espec ia l ly so of

the Bri tons,and seem to ind icate the predomin

ance of the l at ter,and that the leadersh i p of the

invad ing hos t was en trus ted to One of that nat ion .

With regard to these part iculars,L ivy 1 gives the

fol lowing accoun t . “ The Clusians,he says

,

“ were terrified both by the number and extra

ord inary s i ze of the enemy,and wi thal by the

kind of arms they used .

” He speaks al so of thei r

rap id marches,and of the barbarous songs and

hideous howl ings wh i ch made al l around them

resound wi th a horr ibl e no i s e - so great was the

pan i c caused by thes e,that when the Roman

1 L i vy, v . 3 5-

5 5 .

EARLY BR IT ISH COLONIES . I 7

sold i ers “ heard the shou ts of the Gau l s,which

seemed to those who s tood next to have been

rai s ed from the flank,and to the mos t remote

from the i r rear,they fled i n a body wi thou t

S tr ik ing a blow or even return ing the enemy’s

The Gau l s when “ they en tered RomeHshou t .

were heard roaring out thei r how l i ngs and d i s

cordan t notes as they s trol led in troops round

the c i ty wal l s . Cami l l us i n address ing th e p eop l e

of Ardea i nc i t es them to at tack thei r en emy then

forag ing i n the ne ighbourhood,by descr ib ing

them as a peopl e advancing i n s traggl ing part i es,

on whom nature had bes towed enorm i ty of s i ze

and impetuos i ty ofcourage,rather than firmness

of body or cons tancy of m ind ; and when act ing

upon h i s adv ice,the Ardeans afterwards sur

pri s e and s l aughter the enemy,

“ they were

al l butchered,

” says Li vy,

“ wi thou t res i s tance,

naked as they were born,and fas t as l eep .

”

That the charac teri s t i cs here g i ven of the in

vad ing army were such as might be expected

from Bri t i sh even more than from Gaul i sh warr iors ,may be gathered from the fo l low ing quo ta t ions

from c lass i c authors . “ The Br i tons,

” say s

18 C/E SAR IN KENT .

S trabo,

“ i n s tature exceed the Gauls,and thei r

hair i s no t so ye l low nor thei r bodi es so we l l s et .

Let th i s be an argument of thei r ta l lness , that I

myself have seen at Rome some young men of

them ta l l er by half a foot than any other men .

Yet thei r legs were bu t weak , and the other

parts of the body showed them to be not we l l

made or handsome.’ Tac i tus says of the Bri tons

that “ they show more heat and fierceness than

the Gaul s D io N i esens,that “ they run at a

great rat e ; Caesarr that'

W hey fight i tach

or smal l bodi es of men at a t ime,

being i n case of need .

DionC’assiuS speaks ofthe loud clainour and songs

of defiance wi th wh ich they advance towards ‘

the e nemy,and rel ates that be ing naked they

were ab l e i n warfare to swrm r i vers . Herodian

s tates that they fought “ wit-

hk

a s‘ word hanging

by thei r naked bodi es . With regard to thei r

Simp l e mode of l i fe,i t i s described i n very s imi

l ar terms to those i n whi ch Po lybi us described

the Gaul s who firs t s et t led in I taly. Diodorus

Siculus1 g ives the fol l owing z—“ Further,they

1 Diodor S icu l i,B ib l iotheca H istorica

,l ib. i . ch . 4.

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2 0 CJESAR IN KENT.

where we can nei ther be di scovered nor taken ;whereas they

,from the weigh t of thei r armour

,

are neither‘

able to pursue others nori

to escap e

themse lves : moreover,they s tand in So much

need of shade and she l ter,pounded corn

,wine

and oil,that i f one of thes e th ings fa i l them they

peri sh ; wh i le to us every herb and root i s food,every ju ice i s oil

,every s tream i s wine

,and every

tree an house . ” S trabo agai n say s of the in

hab i tan ts of the Cassiterides,by which name some

authors s eem to refer to the Sc i l ly Is les,others to

the Bri t i sh I s l es general ly,that “ they subs i s t by

the i r catt l e,lead ing for the mos t part a wandering

l ife.”

P omponius M e la say s“ The Bri ton s are

uncul t ivated,and i n proport ion as they l i ve a

great di s tance from the Cont inen t,they are un

acquain ted wi th the weal th and riches i n other

p laces,the i rs cons i s t i ng whol ly in cat t le and the

exten t of thei r grounds .”

Thi s s impl ic i ty of l ife,wh ich M el a and some

her wri ters at tributed to ignorance of luxury,

as,however

,adopted not from necess i ty but

from choi ce . The Bri tons and Gauls owed the

format ion of thei r nat iona l charac ter to the

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 2 I

Dru i d i cal rel igion,wh i ch

,al though a corrupted

form ofPatriarcha l worsh i p,retain ed neverthe less

i t s primi t i ve s impl ic i ty . Hence they despi sed

luxury ; and al though carry ing on a considerable

t rade w i th other more cul t ivated nat ion s,pre

ferred the nomadi c l i fe wh i ch they had i nheri ted

from thei r forefathers,so that

,even when they

set t l ed i n I taly,they con t inued

,as Po lybius s tates

,

the same primi t i ve mode of l iv i ng .

The author has deemed i t des i rab l e to show on

the tes t imony of Greek and Lat i n au thors that i t

i s more than probab le that Bri t i sh warriors were

prom inen t among the conquerors ofRome ; and i t

may be added that the name of the i r leader

Brennus,ment ioned by L i vy

,P lutarch

,and

others,i s apparen t ly of Bri t i sh or ig in .

“ That

B rennus,

” says Camden,

“ so famous both in

Greek and Lat i n au thors,was a Bri ton

,some

think may be eas i ly made out. For my par t , I

know only thus much i n thi s mat ter, that the

name i s not yet qu i t e los t among the Br i tons , who

in thei r l anguage cal l a k ing B rennin.

We need not,however

,depend sol ely upon

the cl ass ical au thori t i es . That the l eader and the

2 2 CE SAR IN KENT .

dom inan t part of the i nvading army were Bri t i sh

i s d i s t inc t ly claimed by the Bri t i sh h i s torians .

The account of the invas ion s i s as fo l lows

Brennus and B elinus,the two sons of Dun

wal lo Molmutius,K ing of Bri ta in

,di spu ted after

the i r father’s death for the sovereign ty of the

i s land . Brennus,after some v ic i s s i tudes

,being

defeated by h i s brother,took refuge wi th Segu in

,

K ing of the L igurian s ofGau l (cal l ed by Geoffry

ofMonmou th,Seginus

,Duke of the A l lobroges),

a peop le ofTransalp in e Gau l . He there became

so great a favouri te that Seguin gave h im h i s

daugh ter in marri age and bequeathed to h im h i s

k ingdom . Succeed ing to thi s wi th i n a year,he

though t h imsel f s trong enough to equi p an army

for the purpose oftaking revenge upon h i s brother

Belinus. March ing through Gaul he at length

reached Bri tain,and the two brothers were abou t

to engage i n fratri c ida l s tri fe, when Corwenna,thei r aged mother

,rushed forward in the pres ence

of the armi es, and by her en treat i es and appea l s

effected a reconc i l i at ion between her sons . Thus

un i ted,Brennus and B elinus decided upon the

conques t of Europe . They accord ingly passed

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 2 3

over in to Gaul,and i n two years reduced al l the

Ce l t ic popu lat ion to Bri t i sh rule and admin i s tra

t ion . M r Morgan thu s describes thei r Conques t s“ The Cymro - Cel t ic army then advanced under

the two brothers toward I taly . The L iguri an s

joined them,and the firs t m i l i tary passage of the

Alps was,i n the face of apparen t imposs ibi l i t i es ,

accompl i shed . Over the p lain s ofNorthern I taly

the Kimric army swept i n three d iv i s ions . The

E trurian s made a gal lan t bu t ineflectual s tand i n

defence of thei r empire . Defeated in five engage

men ts they wi thdrew thei r popu lat ion sou thward,

cons ign ing each c i ty as they abandoned i t to the

flames . The old Umbrian 1 nat ional i ty was re

s tored,the l iberator and the l iberated forming from

th i s period one Federat ion wi th equa l rights and

laws .”

After the conques t of Cisalp ine Gau l , the1 Th e Umbrians were p robably the same nat io n as th e

Kimri, the anc ien t inhab i tan ts of B ri ta in and of some parts ofthe Con t i nen t

,whom Camden supposes to have been orig i na l l y

C ome ric (descendan ts of C ome r, the e ldest son of Japhe t)others to have been S cy th ian s , the same peop l e a s the Cimmer ian s

,a n at ion from the shores of the Eux i ne , or B lack

S ea), and so named by the G reek s from th e darkness of the i rcou nt ry .

24 C/ESAR I N KENT.

brothers s eem to have parted .

’

B elinus marched

northwards,and was engaged i n subdu i ng the

various tribes,known afterwards as the German

peop le,whi le B rennus extended h i s conques t s

sou thwards,and at length became the conqueror of

Rome,demanding and obta in ing a ransom of 1 0 0 0

pounds weigh t i n gold i n righ t of h i s conques t .

When the gold was being weighed in the pre

sence ofthe d ifferen t commanders,B rennus

,tak ing

off h i s bel t and sword,threw them into the op

posite scale.‘What mean s that ac t ? asked the

Roman consu l . ‘ I t means,

’ rep l i ed B rennus,

gwae gwae thedigion’

(vae v i c t i s), woe to the

vanqu i shed . The Romans endured the taun t i n

s i l ence . The go ld was transferred to Narbonne

in Gau l . B rennus wi thdrew h i s t roops from

Rome,but reigned for th i rty years afterwards i n

Northern I taly .

” 1 I t i s probab le that he here

founded a dynas ty,h i s successors also bear ing the

name B rennus,as the k ings ofEgypt were cal l ed

Pharaoh,and the Roman emperors Caesar

,after

the names of the founders of the i r dynas t ies . I t

i s at any rat e recorded that the ch i ef l eader of

1 Morgan , Cambr i an H i story .

”

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 2 5

the Gaul s who invaded Macedon i a and Greece,

B .C . 2 80 - 2 79, was named Brennus.

Now,whatever may be sai d i n general of the

cred ib i l i ty of the Bri t i sh hi s tori ans,i t i s ev iden t

that the accoun t g iven by them of the i nvas ion of

I taly was main ly deri ved from sources i ndependen t

of the narrat ive g iven by the Roman au thors .

There i s a genera l s im i lari ty between the two

s tori es,bu t a t the same t ime such d ivergenc i es

as cou l d on ly be accounted for by the fac t that

the Bri t i sh and Roman authors drew thei r infor

mat ion from differen t t rad i t ional accounts . In

both narrat i ves two brothers l eave thei r country

together wi th a numerou s hos t . The Roman

authors g i ve thei r names as B ellov isus and Sego

v i sus,sons of Ambigatus, king of the B ituriges

i n Gau l . Segovisus s eeks the H ernician or Black

Fores t i n Germany ; B ellovisus es tabl i shes a Gal l ic

colony i n I taly,and i s succeeded apparen t ly by

Brennus,the conqueror of Rome . The Br i t i sh

hi s tor ians,on the other hand

,ca l l the bro thers

Bellinus and B rennus sons of a Br i t i sh sovere ign ,

and say tha t the lat ter became the son - in- l aw of

Seg inus or Segu in,duk e of the A l l obroges or

26 C/ESAR I N KENT.

L igurians ofGau l . Both brothers march to the

conques t ofNorthern I ta ly,and afterward s s epa

rat e,B elinus carry ing h i s v i c tor ious s tandard in to

Germany,Brennus extend ing h i s arms further

southwards towards Rome. In comparing thes e

two accounts i t w i l l be noti ced that s imi lar names,

ev iden t ly original ly the same,name ly

,B ellovisus

or Bellinus,and Segovisus or Seginus

,Occur i n

both,but thei r re lat ionsh ip i s not the same i n

the two narrat i ves . Ev iden t ly tradi t ion had

handed down the names of the heroes and the

genera l compl ex ion of the s tory regard i ng them,

bu t,as i s u sual ly the case wi th d ifferen t

trad i t ional accounts of the same event,wi th

cons iderabl e vari ety of detai l . Such genera l

agreemen t,wi th differences as to part icu l ars

,i s

i nd icat i ve of the tru thfu lness and independence

of the h i s tori an . Had the wri ters of the Bri t i sh

accounts,as some have asserted

,cons truc t ed a

purely fict i t iou s narrat ive,cu l l ing what su i ted

thei r purpose from the Roman h i s tori es , they

would have been carefu l to have avoided such

di screpanc i es as were not necessary to the i r

obj ec t . The independence of the Bri t i sh tra

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2 8 CE SAR I N KENT .

whom the Roman authors Cal l Insubrians,

1 and

part ly i n the d i s tr i c t above the A lps,among the

A l lobroges or L iguri ans,where thei r leader Bren

nu s had prev ious ly occup i ed the sovereignty .

They became here ce lebrated for thei r m i l i tary

valour and love of adven ture,and were probab ly

the p eop l e ca l l ed Goesates or Gessates,a name of

Bri t i sh origi n given them from thei r cus tom of

serv i ng in the war for pay .

2 Polyb iu s,who re lates

the h i s tory of the wars between the Gau l s and the

Roman s subsequen t ly to the taking of Rome,in

forms us that after many succes sful i nroads of the

former,the t ide of war began to turn agai ns t

1 May not th e name Insubria have been derived fromthese B r i t ish i s l anders

,Ynys i n B ri t i sh an d I n sul a i n Lat i n

s ign ifying an i s lan d ? L i vy s tates th at the fir st sett lement ofGaul s was in Insubria, w h i l e Pl utarch says that the Insubrianswere a peop le der i ved from the Gau l s

,c lear l y ind icat ing that

th e Gau l s,by wh i ch term is desc r ibed the i nvad i ng host of

Gau l s and B r iton s,gave the n ame to the country i n wh ich

they sett led.2 Th i s der ivat io n of th e n ame i s g iven by Po l yb i u s, an d

Camden states “ th e B ri to ns at th i s day ca l l the i r h i red ser

van ts Guessin.

” A nother reason,however

,for the name may

be advanced on the author i ty of Serv iu s H onoratus,who

states that the stoutest an d most v igorous so ldiers were by thean c ient Gau l s (who spoke the same language as the B r i tons)ca l led Gess i.

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 29

them,and that a t length i t became necessary for

the Gaul s to combine i n defence of the country

wh ich they had made thei r own .

“ About 1 60

years after the cap ture of Rome,the Bojans and

Insubrians,the two greates t p eop le of C i sa lp ine

Gau l,s en t ambassadors by common consen t to [be

rest of tbeir nation inhabiting on the otber side ofthe Alps about ibe R/Jone thes e peop le are cal l ed

Gessates,from thei r serv ing i n the war for pay

,for

so that word properly- imports,and prevai l i ng on

thei r two k ings Concolitanus and Aneroestus,by

means ofgrea t sums ofmoney,and by the hopes

they gave them of r ich booty that wou ld be

shared by th i s en terpri s e i f they succeeded,

engaged them to jo i n i n a war agains t the

Romans,giv ing them the i r fa i th to ass i s t and

ab ide firmly by them ; but the Gessate s were

not hard to be persuaded . And now,further to

i nc i t e them,they rem inded them of the g lory of

thei r ances tors,who had not on ly vanqu i shed

the Romans in batt l e upon the l ik e exped i t ion ,bu t subdued and became masters of the c i t y

i tsel f,and that be ing lords of al l the Romans

held,kep t thei r c i ty s even months in possess ion ,

3 0 CZESAR IN KENT.

and at length,free ly and of thei r own mere

mot ive,res tored i t to that conquered peop le asan

effec t of thei r generos i ty,and afterwards re turned

to thei r coun try enriched wi th i nfin i t e booty,wi thou t any danger

,damage

,or impedimen t .

These d i scourses so an imated the leaders of the

Gessates,and inc i t ed them so powerful ly to the

war,that i t may be said so great an army never

marched out from among that nat ion,nor brav er

nor more warl i ke men. In the meant ime the

Gessates hav i ng passed the A lps wi th a magnifi

cen t army,furn i shed wi th al l sorts of arms

,came

and j oi ned the C i salp in e Gaul s,making thei r

rendezvous on the banks of the 1 The forces

brough t by the Gessates to the ass i s tance of

thei r brethren beyond the Alps cons i s ted of

foot and horse,and as many

eloariots.The u s e of the latter i s worthy of

not ice,s i nce chariot s were not general ly em

p loyed i n war among the Gauls. S trabo, on the

other hand,says of the B ritons that “ in thei r

wars they make use of chariots for the mos t

part,add ing

,

“ as do some of the Cel t i .” That

1 Polyb. vol. i., book 2 .

EARLY BR IT ISH COLONIES . 3 1

thei r emp loyment by the lat ter,however

,was

very l im i ted i s ev i den t from the as ton i shment

express ed by Caesar at the Bri t i sh chariots,which

he could not have fe l t had he encountered them

to any exten t i n h i s Gal l ic wars . I t i s probab le

that thei r u s e i n Gau l was confined to those

tr ibes wh i ch were of Bri t i sh extract ion,and the

fact that the Gessates brought'

so many of them

to the war affords therefore further ev idence of

the i r Bri t i sh orig in . Polyb ius further describes

the Gessates as a race ofg i an ts , and makes thei r

cus tom ofgoing naked—that i s,unencumbered by

c lothes and armour—i n to bat t l e the subj ec t ofspeci a l remark .

“ These Gessates,he says

,

“ such was the i r foolhardiness and op in ion of

the i r s trength,s tri pp ing themse lves naked

,

marched i n that manner i n the fron t of the

bat t l e,wi th thei r arms in the i r hands

,concei v ing

that in that equ ipage they shoul d not on ly be

abl e to use the i r arms w i th more freedom , bu t

being eased of the i r garment s they should find

l ess imped imen t from the bushes and briars tha t

m ight mol es t them in t ime of ac t i on

The countenance and behaviour of thos e who

3 2 CE SAR I N KENT.

marched naked at the head of the i r army was a

sigh entirely new ; thos e g i an t l ik e men , s trong

and we l l - fash ioned,i n the prime and s trength of

thei r age,where y ou behe ld none in thei r firs t

ranks who were not adorned wi th chains,co l lars

,

and brace lets of gold .

”

Thus does the Roman h i s torian t race out the

charac ter i s t ics of that peop l e,who

,accord ing to

the Bri t i sh account,migrated from our i s land and

s et t led firs t i n Transalp i n e,and afterwards i n

C i salpi ne Gau l . In the Insubrians be low the

A l ps,the cap i ta l of whose coun try was M edio

l anum (M i l an), and in the Gessates above the

A lp s,i n the parts abou t the Rhone

,we recogn i se

the same race,the descendan ts of those hardy

Br i t i sh warriors who made even Rome i tse lf

trembl e and succumb to thei r power. We see

them 1 60 y ears after the taking of Rome,s t i l l

pre - eminen t for the i r mi l i tary valour ; we find

them bearing names ofBr i t i sh s ign ificat ion,fight

i ng from chariots as the Br i ton s were accus tomed

to fight,s tripp ing themsel ves of thei r garmen ts

after the Bri t i sh manner when going in to bat t le,

remarkab le for thei r extraordinary height and

EARLY BR IT I SH COLON IES . 3 3

impos ing appearance,as even the ir enem ies have

al lowed our Bri t i sh forefathers to have been .

Do not these charact eri s t i cs afford ev idence that

there exi s t ed among the Gau l s a peopl e d i s t inct

from them al though cal l ed by the i r name,—a

peopl e separat ed in to two nat ional i t i es by the

lofty barri er of the A lp s,bu t proud of the i r

common Bri t i sh origin,and un i ted in the t ime of

danger by the memory of that day of tri umph

when Rome lay in ashes and her proudes t c i t i zen s

pros trate at the ir feet ?

Nor are there wan t ing proofs of the con t inued

al l iance i n after years of the Insubrians and

G essates,and further ev idence of the i r Bri t i sh

extract ion and warl i ke charac ter.

And firs t i t may be men t ioned that Hann ibal

was carefu l to secure the aid of these hardy

warriors .“When Hann ibal proposed to cross the A l ps ,

he firs t,

” wri tes P olybius,l “ s en t ambassadors to

the country at the foot of the A l ps and abou t the

R iver Po,wh ich abounded in brave peopl e g iven

to war ; and wha t was yet more to h i s wi sh ,I Po lybi u s , vo l . II . . book 3 .

3 4 CE SAR I N KENT.

imp lacabl e haters of the Romans ever s ince the

war they made on t hem . Hann iba l then used

h i s u tmos t d i l igence,and employed a l l h i s forces

to advance h i s purpose ; he sen t frequen t di s

patches to the s evera l princes of the Gau l s in

habi t ing on thi s s ide the A l ps and i n the moun

ta in s themse lves,conce iv ing i t wou l d b e a main

s tep towards a happy i s sue of the war agains t

the Romans to compass h i s passage through those

countri es we ha ve named ; and after having sur

mounted the many difliculties ofa long march,to

be abl e to engage the Gau l s to take part w i th h im

and join i n the en terpri s e,as he had laboured to

bring i t to pass . ”

Again i n P lu tarch’s h i s tory of Marcel lus,and

h i s confl ic t s w i th the Gaul s in the year 2 1 2 B . C .

we read,

“When the Romans had ended the i r

firs t war agains t the Carthagin i an s,which held

them ful ly the space of two and twen ty years ;immed iately after that they began a new war

again s t the Gau l s . For the Insubrians,being a

peop l e deri ved from the Gau l s,and dwel l ing a t

the foot of the Mountains of the A lp s on I taly

s ide,being ab le to make a good power of them

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3 6 CE SAR I N KENT .

colours that i t sh ined as the sun,he chal lenged

h im to s ing l e combat . Pu t t ing h i s horse in fu l l

career agains t h im,he came w i th such a force

and fury that he p i erced h i s armour wi th hi s s taff

and s lew h im . A fter th i s the Gessates, find ing

that the i r k ing B ritomarus was s lain,returned

back in to thei r own country,and the Insubrians

being thus des ert ed by thei r a l l ies,thei r c i ty of

Mi l an was taken by the Romans . ”

Up to th i s p eri od,then

,the Insubrians and

Gessates,al though preserv ing thei r d ifference

of name,made common caus e as one peop le .

In al l the Gal l ic wars they were the l eaders,

and the name of the K i ng of the Gessates

B ritomarus,wh i ch

,as Camden says

,s ign ifies “ a

great Bri ton,

” shows that they had not forgot ten

thei r Bri t i sh origin . But they were dest ined,

be ing now div i ded, to be di spersed by the advanc

i ng power of Rome . Soon after the i r defeat by

Marce l lus,Cisalp ine Gau l was

,i n the year

2 0 0 , reduced to the form of a Roman prov ince

by Scip io Africanus,who

,i t i s sa id

,drove large

numbers of the Bo i i to s eek an asy l um on the

banks of the Danube,where a part of thei r race

EARLY BR ITISH COLONIES . 3 7

had long been set t l ed,as the name imp l ies

,i n

Boihemum (the home of the Boi i), now Bohem ia .

The more warl ike sp i ri t s among the Insubrians,

who had ever been a l l i ed wi th the Boi i in the i r

wars agains t Rome,probab ly m igrated at the

same t ime,or were expel l ed

,e i ther accompany

ing the Boi i i n to Germany,or join ing the i r

brethren,the Gessates, on the other s id e of the

A l ps i n the part s abou t the Rhone . The res t of

the i r nat ion doubt l es s became merged i n the races

of I taly . The Gessares in thei r turn seem to

have los t thei r cohes ion as a nat ion,for thei r

name i s heard no more in h i s tory . These hardy

warriors of the Bri t i sh colon i es in Gau l probably

found refuge among the He lvet i i and other ne igh

bouring peopl es , and thei r con t inued intercours e

wi th t hei r brethren i n Bri tai n enabled firs t the

Helvet i i,and then other races of the Gaul s in

succes s ion,to obtai n the val uabl e as s i s tance

which Cre sar say s they obtained from these

shores .The Romans

,however

,were no t to be l eft in

undi spu ted posses s ion of the ground they had

ga ined . The expul s ion of the Gaul s and thei r

3 8 CE SAR I N KENT .

fl igh t to the shores of the Danube and o ther

parts,burn ing wi th hatred and des i re ofrevenge,

al though for a t ime i t freed the Roman peop le

from host i le and troubl esome neighbours , was

doubtfu l po l i cy. A cen tury had not e lapsed

before another immense army of fight

i ng men appeared (i n B .C . 1 1 3) on the confines

ofthe Roman terri tory below the Danube . They

were no longer known as Gau l s,but as C imbri

,

the generi c name of the whol e Kimric fami l y,bu t

retained princ ipal ly by the inhabi tants ofNorthern

Germany i n the coun try known as the C imbri c

Chersones e,and by the Kymri of Gau l and

Bri tain . They were accompan ied by the Teu ton s

and Ambron s,and were j o ined by some of the

He lvet i i . The un i ted armies were known as the

GeltO- Scyth i an hos t, and were doubt less drawn

from Germany,Gaul

,and from the Bri t i sh I s les .

From thei r firs t appearing in the neighbourhood

of the Danube i t i s probab le that they were i n the

firs t ins tance inv i ted by the Boi i on the Danube,

who had been expel l ed from Roman terri tory,and

through whose terri tory they must have passed .

They firs t encountered the Roman armi es n ear

EARLY BR IT ISH COLONIES . 3 9

Noreia,where they defeated the Consu l

,P apirius

Carbo . F lushedwi th succes s,and scarce d i s t ingu i sh

i ng fr iends from foes,they became a marauding

hos t,and go ing in to Gaul

,ravaged i n al l d irec t ions .

Thence re turn ing they defeated three Roman

Consu l ar armies in the years B . C . 1 0 9, 1 0 7 , and

1 0 5 . A s ye t,however

,they d id not cross the

A l ps,but proceeded westward to the conques t of

Spa in . Afterwards coming back in to Gau l (in

1 0 2) they determ ined upon the invas ion of

I taly. They d iv i ded the ir forces i n to two great

arm i es,the C imbres dec i d ing to pass in to I t aly

through Germany,the Teutons and Ambrons to

force a passage through the terri tory of Genoa

aga ins t the Roman arm i es led by Marius . Theengagement between the l at ter oppos ing forces

took place at Aquae S exta: (Aix Ies Ba ins), where

the Teutons and Ambron s were ut terly routed ,and upwards of of them k i l led and tak en

pr i soners . In thi s confl ic t the Ambrons , accord

ing to P lutarch,l ed the batt l e and were engaged

wi th the Ligur ians,who dwel t upon the coas t of

Genoa . Before they commenced the fight , he

says they made a noi s e s imul taneous ly wi th the i r

40 CE SAR I N KENT.

harn ess,

1 and oft repeated thei r own name,Ambrons

,Ambron s

,Ambrons . ” The Liguri

ans,hearing th i s noi s e and cry of theirs

,p la in ly

unders tood them,and answered them agai n wi th

the l i ke noi s e and cry,

“ L igurian s,L iguri an s

,

L i guri ans,

” say ing that i t was the true surname

ofall thei r nat ion . P lutarch sugges t s that the ia

vaders cal l ed out the name of thei r race ei ther to

encourage one another, or to i nt im idate the

Romans wi th the mere name,remind ing them

thereby of a v ictory gained a few years prev ious ly,

by the Ambron s over the Roman captain s,Man

l i u s and Coepio . I t i s doubtfu l,however

,whether

the L igurian s and Ambrons had ever met i nbatt l e before as enem i es . The former encounter

between the Roman and the Gelto- Scythian armies

had taken p lace i n the Danubian prov inces,where

the L igurian s would not be l i ke l y to be engaged .

A more probabl e reason for the remarkabl e

1 I t seems to h ave been a cu stom among the Kymr i to eudeav our to str ike terro r by the no ise of the i r char iots . Cae sarsay s of the Br it ish c har iot warfare, Thi s i s th e k i n d of figh tfrom ch ariot s : fi rst they ride abou t everywhere and h u rl darts

,

and genera l l y d isorder the ran ks by the very terror of the horses,

an d by the ratt le of the whee l s.

EARLY BR IT ISH COLON IES . 4 1

behav iour of the two con tend ing forces on th i s

occas ion may be found in some al l iance which

had formerly exi s t ed between the two races,and

the Ambron s i n ca l l ing out the name of thei r race

accompan i ed by thei r cus tomary method of dash

i ng s imu l taneous l y the harnes s of their chario ts,

doubt less i n tended to remind the L iguri an s 1 that

they were once thei r brethren i n arms,and to

induce them to desert to th’e i r s tandard . The

Ligurians,however

,di d not respond in the

manner des i red . They immed i at e ly unders tood

the Ambrons and thei r i n ten t ion,bu t cal l ed out

i n rep ly the name of thei r own race,loudly assert

i ng that that was thei r true patronymic,and

thereby rej ect ing the overtures of thei r former

confreres .

There i s some reason to bel i eve that an al l iance,i f not a re lat ionsh i p

,d id ex i s t between these two

races . L ivy s tates that the Gaul s who invaded

the country above the A l ps d id not d i sposses s the1 The o rig i n of th i s peop l e i s i n vo lved i n some obscu r i ty .

They are supposed to be the same peop le a s the L lce grians,ca l led by the G reeks L igy es and L igy stini. They sett led on

both s ides of the Alps,abo u t the same t ime that the Umbr ian s

sett led i n I taly . I t i s poss ib l e that they were of Kymr i c or ig i n .

42 CZESAR IN KENT .

L igurian s,but set t l ed by the i r s i de

,and i t w i l l be

remembered that accord ing to th e Bri t i sh account ,Brennus

,the Bri t i sh conqueror of Rome, had

marr i ed the daughter of Seguin,King of the

L igurians,and that when he subsequen t ly invaded

Roman terri tory he was jo ined by the L iguri an s .

In espous ing the Roman cause the L igurian s

were therefore now fight ing aga ins t thei r former

fri ends,for the Ambrons

,al though a peopl e of

Germany,and therefore associated in the war

wi th the Teutons,were probably of Bri t i sh

origin . From the prominen t pos i t ion ass igned

to them in the bat t le they were evident ly con

sidered the braves t i n the invading army,and

as P lu tarch s tates that the mos t warl ike of

the Gelto - Scy th i an hos t dwel t i n the farthes t

parts of the earth near the great fores t of

Hercyn ia,i t i s a reasonabl e conc l us ion that the

Ambrons were the peopl e who came from th i s

d i s tri ct . Thei r former al l iance wi th the Ligurian s

may therefore be eas i l y t raced,for i t was in th i s

very region that one of the two great div i s ions

of the Gelto - Bri t i sh army (namely that under

B ellinus) s et t l ed after that the two brothers , wi th

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44 CE SAR I N KENT .

After the defeat of the C imbri and thei r a l l i es,

the Romans were not engaged i n any importan t

foreign wars unt i l th e t ime of Cae sar. The

host i l i ty ofthe Gau l s,however

,was on ly smou lder

ing,and the Helvet i i were preparing a fresh

incurs ion into Roman terri tory at the t ime when

Caesar commenced h i s Gal l ic campaign . They

were the firs t of the Gau l s t o fee l the weigh t of

hi s conquering arm . Amongs t them,as already

s tat ed,the descendants of the anci en t Bri t i sh

conquerors of Rome probab ly took refuge when

driven back by the advanc ing power of Rome,

and were the means of thei r obtain ing powerful

aid agains t Caesar from thei r k indred in Bri tain .Mr Morgan indeed quotes from the h i s toric

Tr iads an addi t ional reason why a large army was

s en t agains t Caesar at th i s period from the shores

ofBri tain .

“ Prior to the campaigns of CE sar,

”

he says,

“ i n the nor t/o of Gaul‘ the second s i lver

hos t recorded in these wri t ings qui t t ed Bri ta in,

under the command of Gwenwynwyn and

Gwanam,nephews of Caswallon

,accompan i ed

by Caswallon i n person . They landed to

the number of men at Bres t,B .C . 5 7 .

EARLY BR ITISH COLON IES . 4 5

M arch ing sou thward,they effected a junct ion

wi th the Aqu i tan i . F lfir or F lora daughter

of My gnach Gor (the Dwarf), who hadbeen engaged i n marriage to Caswallon

,had

been forcib ly carr i ed ofl by Morchau,a Regul as

ofAqu i tan ia . The Triads affirm Caesar to have

been the i ns t igator of th i s act,and the reck less

immoral i ty ofh i s pr ivat e l ife i n Gau l,as dep icted

by Sue ton i us,gives co lour to the s tatemen t . The

cast l e of Morchau was s tormed by Caswallon,

and Flora brought i n safety to Caer Troia (Lon

don). Whatever credence may be given to the

detai ls of th i s accoun t,which s eem indeed rather

legendary,i t was no doubt founded upon a trad i

t ion that a cons iderabl e army,known as “ the

s econd s i lver hos t,

” left the shores of Br i ta in

a t th i s period for the purpose of tak ing part in

the desperat e res i s tance wh ich the Gau ls were

making to the advance of Caesar . That such

was in fact the case,the words of ( la‘ sar h imsel f

l ead u s to be l i eve ; nor wi l l h i s s tatemen t that

i n “ almos t al l the Gal l i c wars he lp had been

afforded hi s enem i es from Bri ta in ,” occas ion any

surpri se,s ince we have been abl e to t race the

46 CE SAR I N KENT .

ex i s t ence of a Bri t i sh colony for a period of 5 0 0

years on the very confines of Roman terri tory .

A peop le who retained,as we have seen

,Bri t i sh

names and charac ter i s t i cs for so long a period,

mus t have cont inued to ho ld frequen t communica

t i on w i th Bri tain i t se lf, and i t was to be expec ted

that they would seek a id,as doubt l es s they had

done in previous wars,from the mother country .

That abundan t means of commun i cat ion exi s ted

in the cons iderab le trade carri ed on between th i s

country and a l l parts of Gau l,wi l l be fu l l y

exp lai ned i n the next chapter.

CHAPTER I I .

TH E EARLY T RADE OF BR ITAIN .

HE s tatements of Cre sar wi th regard

to the in tercommun icat ion which

ex i s ted between Bri ta in and the

Cont inen t are very confl ic t ing . On

the pnee hatl d h€ - s tat es - that‘ h e u deemed i t of im

pofrf tance , suppos ing the t ime of year should fa i linvas ion of the country , i f on ly he could

approach the i s land,in order to ascerta in wha t

race of men l i ved there,and to d i scover i t s s i tua

t ion,i t s ports

,and mean s of acces s

,

“ a lmos t al l

wh i ch th ings,

” he says,

“ were unknown to the

Gaul s . For ne i ther does any one bes ides the

merchants go there unadvis ed ly,nor i s any thing

known to the merchan t s themsel ves beyond the

48 CE SAR I N KENT .

s ea - coas t and the par t s wh i ch are over again s t

Gau l . ”

Hav ing cal l ed these merchan ts together from

every quarter he cou ld not find out from them

ei ther the s i ze of the i s l and nor what nat i ons,or

how great,i nhab i t ed i t

,nor what was thei r mode

ofwarfare or form of government,nor even what

port s were su i tab l e for a number of large vesse ls .

On the other hand he speaks ofa cons iderab le

int ercourse between Bri tain and Be lg i c Gaul .

Co loni es from Gaul,he informs us

,passed in to

Bri tai n and es tab l i shed themse l ves there,bearing

the names of the peop l e from wh ich they came .

Thu s the A t rebates i nhab i t ed B erksh i re,and

Comius,the king of the A trebates in Gau l

,pos

ses sed great i nfluence al so i n Bri ta in . The inhabi

t ant s ofWi l t sh i re al so were cal l ed Belgae,sufli

ciently i nd icat ing the i r or ig in , wh i l e Caesar s tates

that the i nhab i tant s of the sou thern part of the

i s land by the s ea - coas t were ch i efly of Belgic

descen t,hav ing crossed over from that country for

the sake ofplunder and conques t . I t i s certai n

that these s t i l l kept up in tercourse wi th the Belgae

of the Con t inen t,s ince Caesar men t ions that

,on

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 49

hi s conquering the Bel lovac i,a Belgic peop l e

,he

was i nformed by them that the ch i ef promoters of

the war had fled i n to the i s l e ofBri ta in . We al so

l earn from the same source that Divitiacus,the

king of the Suess iones,hav ing es tab l i shed a very

powerfu l monarchy in Gau l,had al so extended

h i s au thori ty in to Bri tain .

Not only had l arge populat ions from Gau l

migratéd to Bri tain . bu t there had been a

correspond ing migrat ion of Bri ton s i n to Gau l .

Bes ides the Bri t i sh colony i n the south of Gaul,

the origin and con t inuance of which we have

traced i n the prev iou s chapter,the Morin i and

the inhab i tants general ly of the d i s tri c t known as

Armorica were Bri tons by descen t and assoc iat ion

and thi s the name i tse lf of the Morin i (mor, yny s),s ign ify ing “ i s l anders by the s ea

,

” s eems to imply .

If then there exi s ted thi s commun i ty of in tere s t

between the -

southe rn part of th i s i s l and and

Gaul,i f the inhabi tan t s of these d i s tr ict s were.

many of them,of the same race and to some

extent under the same rul e,how i s the s tat emen t

of Caesar to be unders tood that the peopl e of

Gaul knew but l i t t l e of Bri ta in ; and tha t even

D

5 0 CE SAR I N KENT.

the merchan t s who t raded there cou l d gi ve no

informat ion respec t ing the country or i t s princ i pa l

ports ? In rep ly,we say that there can be no

doubt that the ignorance professed by . _ these mer

chan ts,and

,in y

—fhe Gau l s general ly

,was

M aud that they purpose l y wi thhe ld from

Caesar the informat ion that he sought . Caesar’s

narrat i ve of h i s deal ings wi th t_h__

e MOrInI showsthat they dece ived h im in ev erm way , as

the Bri ton s IRS -

afterwards ; nor would he be

l ike ly to receive from the merchan t s any i nforma

t ion respect ing the country whence they deri ved

thei r trade,but rather every d i scouragemen t in

hi s proj ect of invading i ts shores . For the trade

w i th Bri tain was most j ea lous ly guarded,and

the greates t ret icence was observed by those who

had know ledge of i t,as wi l l be shown when we

cons i der what anc i en t wri t ers re lat e concern ing

i t . H ow,we may ask

,cou ld there have been

th i s ignorance i n Gau l concern ing the l and of

Bri tain,when Caesar himse lf adm i t s that the

sou thern parts of Bri tain were peopled from

Gau l and under the influence to"

Some exten t of

the Be lg ic k ings; how esp ec ial ly coul d there

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5 2 CE SAR I N KENT .

and their country as d ifficu l t of approach . The

same mot i ves,according to St rabo

,i nfluenced the

Venet i to Oppose Cae sar on the ocean .

“ The

Yeneti,he says

,

“ who fought again s t Caesar by

sea were ready to obs truc t h i s passage to Bri ta in,

because they used i t as a.man; “ The - Venet i of

Armorica were the princ ipa l mari t ime peopl e

among the Gau l s,and the carry i ng trade between

Bri tain and Gau l was i n thei r hands . A s long

as the V enetine navy,wh i ch was a very powerfu l

one,was mi stres s of the narrow sea between the

two coun tri es,no host i l e exped i t ion cou l d qu i t

the port s of Gaul . Before therefore he ,could

i nvade Bri tain,Caesar recogn ized the necess i ty of

subdu ing the Venet i . Their very powerful vessel s

and the superiori ty of thei r naval tac t ics obl iged

h im to take advantage of a dead calm to at tack

them,when after a bat t le which las t ed from morn

ing t i l l n ight,they were at las t conqu ered

,and to

Cae sar’s d i sgrace were sol d i n to s lavery .

But i t may be asked,what means of i n tercom

munication were there a t thi s early period between

Br i t ai n and the di s tric ts of Gaul more remote

from her ? Admi t t ing the exis tence of interna

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 5 3

tional rel at ions between Bri tai n and the Belgic

s tates and the d i s tri c t ofArmorica,what ev idence

i s there of any i n t ercourse being main tained w i th

the peop l e of the south of Gaul and of those

region s wh ich bordered upon the Roman terri tory ?

Do not h i s tori an s inform u s that Bri ta in,before

the t ime of Cae sar,was a “ t erra incogn i ta ” to

the Romans,who were even doubtful whether i t

were an i s l and or a con t i nen t ? In rep ly to these

i nqui r i es i t w i l l suffice to examine the accounts

which Greek and Roman wri ters have gi ven .

The s ignorance of the anc i en ts concern

ing the B ritish Isles_

rests e au‘

thori t'

yof D ion Cassius l To the earl i es t of the C

'

r

'

é’

éks

and Romans,

” he says,

“ the exis tence of Br i ta in

was no t known,but to those of after t imes i t he

came mat ter of d i spu t e whether i t were a cont i

nen t or an i s land,and much has been wr i t t en on

ei ther s ide by person s who having nei ther them

selves s een nor heard of i t from i t s inhab i tan t s,

knew noth ing concern ing i t,but merely conjee

tured,as prompted by l e i sure or the love of con

tro versy : in proces s of t ime , however, firs t under

Dio . Cass . , l i b . xxx ix . 50 .

5 4 C/ESAR IN KENT .

Agrico la the Proprae tor,and now under the

Emperor S everus,i t has been Cl ear ly proved to

be an is land .

” Now thi s s tatement of Dion

Cass iu s,who wro te abou t the year A .D . 2 3 0 ,

asserts no more than th i s : that there was a good

dea l ofrandom wri t ing by the geographers of a

former day abou t Bri tain,and that many who

wrote were bu t i l l - i nformed as to i ts exten t and

shape,which were not sat i sfac tori ly ascertained

un t i l the t imes ofAgricol a and Severus .

There were,however

,s everal wri ters of an

ear ly period who had obta ined rel i ab l e informa

t ion respec t ing thes e i s lands . Even Herodotus

who wrote as early as 44 5 , s tates that t i n

was brough t to Greece from the islands of the

Cassiterides,al though he professes to know no

th ing further about them . A ri s tot l e of S tagi ra

3 45 ) al so has the fol lowing :“ The ocean

flows round the earth . In thi s ocean,however

,

are two islands,and those very large

,cal led Bre

tannic Alb ion and Ierne,wh ich l i e beyond the

Cel te . Polyb ius of Arcad ia (B .C . 1 3 0 ) al sorefers to the B re tannj cl rles and the work ing of

t in,bu t g ives no further descrip t ion of them .

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 5 5

many islands i n the ocean,of which that which

i s cal l ed Bri tai n i s the larges t . ” Cae sar al so d i s

tinctly states that Br i tain i s an i s l and, and descr ibes

i t s triangular shape and genera l characteri s t i cs .

The S tatement,therefore

,of Dion Cass i us that

Bri ta in was not certain ly ascertained to be an

i s land t i l l'

the t ime of Agri cola and Severu s,i s

i naccurat e,and mus t be at tr ibu t ed to the concei t

,

not uncommon i n wri ters of that period,of en

deavouring to cl aim every d i scovery for the ir own

age,or that immediat e ly preceding.

Wh i l e,however

,i t i s certa in that the bes t

informed h i s tori an s among the anci en ts had a

general knowledge of the i s l and of Br i ta in,and

Py theas of Mass i l i a (Marsei l l es) had, about the

year 3 5 0 B . C .

,reached i t by sea

,and hav ing sa i l ed

round part of the i s land travel l ed homewards by

l and,i t i s probabl e that the Romans i n general ,

notwi thstand ing the frequen t in tercours e both for

m i l i tary purposes and for those of trade between

the Br i t i sh colony on both s ides of the A l ps and

the mo ther coun try,knew but l i tt l e of i t . In the

early day s of the Roman Republ i c, l i terature and

5 6 CE SAR I N KENT.

l earn ing were he ld in smal l repu t e ; so l i t t l e were

they es teemed that Cato expel l ed the Grec i an

ph i losophers from Rome . We cannot,therefore

,

be surpri sed i f the Romans possessed bu t a l im i ted

know ledge of the h i s tory and geography of

Bri tain . The Gau l s were only known to them

as fierce and barbarous enemies,concern ing whom

they di d not care to enqu i re . Whatever other

races there were amongst them were known al l

as Gau l s,and unt i l the t ime of Caesar i t i s pro

bab le that they had a very imperfect knowl edge of

the Br i t i sh I s les . The trade carri ed on between

th i s country and the Medi terran ean ports,a l though

cons iderab le,was reta ined exc l us i vely in the hands

of Gaul i c and Phoen ic ian merchan ts,espec ial ly

thos e ofCarthage,a Tyr ian colony

,and so great

was the j ealousy les t any other shou ld obtain a

know ledge of i t s source,that Polybius s tates that

none of the peopl e of Mass i l ia cou ld offer any

th ing worthy of remembrance when ques t ioned

by him abou t Bri tain,nei ther cou ld those of

Narbonn e nor of Corbelo,wh ich are the ch i ef

c i t i es i n that d i s tric t . Now see ing that Mass i l i a

was the princ ipa l emporium of the merchan ts

THE EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 5 7

from Bri ta in,there cou l d not have been the

ignorance concern ing that country wh ich was

pretended . The ret i cence respect ing i t wh i ch

Sc ip io not iced wi th apparen t surpri s e arose from

the same caus e which l ed the merchan ts who

traded wi th Bri tain to wi thhold informat ion from

Caesar .

The accoun ts of the early commerce between

thi s country and the -Medi terr'

anean ports are

very in teres t ing,and ent i re ly refut e the com

mouly - recei ved not ion that before the coming

of the Romans,Bri tai n was inhabi ted by w i l d

and whol ly unc ivi l i zed races,who had l i t t l e

i n tercourse wi th the peop l e of other lands,and

no know ledge or poss es s ion of the art icl es of

u t i l i t y and ornament wh i ch were there in us e.

The nature of thi s commerce and the means of

i ts t ran sm i ss ion are descr ibed by several early

hi s tori an s .

The al l us ion s to the trade in t i n wi th Br i ta in

by Herodotus and Po lybius ofArcad ia have been

al ready ment ioned . D iodorus S iculus descr ibes

i t as fol lows : “ They who dwel l near the

Promontory of Br i tain,which i s cal l ed Bolerium,

5 8 CE SAR I N KENT .

are s ingular ly fond of s trangers,and from thei r

i nt ercours e with foreign merchan ts,c i v i l i zed i n

thei r habi ts . Thes e peop le obtai n the t i n by

ski l ful ly work ing the soi l wh ich produces i t :

th i s being rocky,has earthy i n ters t ices

,i n which

working the ore and then fus ing,they reduce

i t to metal ; and when they have formed i t i n to

cubical shapes,they convey i t to a certai n i s land

l y i ng off Bri ta in,named Ictis ; for at the low

t ides the in terven ing space being laid dry,they

carry th i ther i n waggons the t in i n great abund

ance . A s ingular ci rcumstance happens wi th

respec t to the ne ighbouring i s lands between

Europe and Bri tai n ; for at the h igh t i des the

i n terven ing passage be ing flooded,they seem

i s lands ; but at the low t ides, the s ea retreat ing

and leav ing much space dry,they appear pen in

sulas . From hence the merchant s purchase the

t i n from the nat i ves,and carry i t across in to

Gau l,and final ly j ourneying by land through

Gau l for about thirty days,they convey thei r

burdens on horses to the ou t l et of the riv er

Rhone .” In another passage he says,

“ Above

the country of the Lus i tan i ans,there are many

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60 CE SAR I N KENT .

having'

metals of t i n and lead,these and sk ins

they barter wi th the merchan ts for earthenware

and sa l t and brazen ves se l s . Formerly the

Phaenicians alone carri ed on th i s t raffic from

Gadeira,conceal ing the passage fromevery one

and when the Romans fol lowed a certa in ship

master that they al so migh t find the mart,the

sh ipmaster of j ealousy purpose l y ran h i s vessel

upon a shoal,and l ead ing on those who fo l low ed

h im in to the same des truct ive d i sas ter,he h imself

escaped by means of a fragment of the ship,and

recei ved from the s tate the va lue of the cargo he

had los t . But the Romans,neverthe less

,making

frequen t efforts,d i scovered the pas sage : and as

soon as Publ i us Crassus , pass ing over to them ,perce ived that the metal s were dug out at a l i t t l e

dep th,and that the men be ing at peace were

a lready beginn ing,i n con sequence of the i r l ei sure

,

to busy themse l ves abou t the s ea,he poin ted out

th i s passage to such as were wi l l ing to at temp t

it, a lthough i t was longer than that to Bri ta in .

”

With regard to the various passages from the

Con t in en t to Bri tain,S trabo wri tes “ There are

four pas sages commonly u sed from the Cont inen t

THE EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAI N . 6 1

to the i s land,namel y

,from the mou ths of the

r i vers Rhine,Seine

,Loi re

,and Garonne ; bu t to

such as set sa i l from the ports abou t the Rh ine,

the passage i s not exact ly from i t s mou ths,bu t

from the Morini who border on the Menapians ,

among whom al so i s s i tuated Itium,which the

de ified Caesar u sed as h i s nava l s tat ion when abou t

to pas s over t o the i s l and .

” 1

From the foregoing accoun ts i t would appear

that the earl i es t trade carr i ed on wi th th i s country

was in the hands of the Phoen ic ian s,who

,being

at firs t the princ ipal mari t ime peop le,were abl e

to keep the knowledge of i t fromothers for a

cons iderabl e period,br ing ing the merchand i s e by

sea through the p i l l ars of Hercu l es (S tra i t s of

Gibral tar), and j ealous ly preven t ing the sh ips of

other nat ion s from d i scover ing the passage .

They rece ived i t from the nat ives,as i t would

seem,not in Bri ta i n i t s el f

,bu t for grea ter pr ivacy

in the i s lands of the Cassiteride s (Sc i l ly I s l es).

I The re was no port n earer the mouth of the R h i ne thanItium

,i n a l l p robabi l i ty

,at the t ime S t rabo w rote . Th e

Mo ri n i , that Caz sar m igh t have noth i ng to conquer, destroyedevery bu i ld i ng between the Portu s I t ins a nd the mout h of thtR h i ne.

6 2 CE SAR I N KENT .

The Greeks at length,and afterwards the

Romans,found out the rou t e and Publ ius

Crassus (perhaps one of Caesar s general s,s ee

De Be l . Gal . , l ib . i i i . Ch . 7) subsequen t ly made i t

known . But i t i s eviden t that other routes had

long been i n us e,though thei r exi s t ence was

before the coming of Caesar unknown to the

Romans,s i nce S trabo speaks bu t s l ight i ng ly of

that to the Cassiterides as being a much longer

rou te than that to Bri ta in i ts e lf,that i s

,than the

ordinary rou tes between Bri tai n and the Con

tinent.

What were these routes ? S trabo says that

there were four passages from the Contin en t to

Bri tain in h i s t ime,namely from the mou ths of

the r ivers Rhine,Seine

,Loi re

,and Garonne .

It i s probab le that al l these had been us ed for the

purposes of t rade before Caesar’s t ime,bu t i t i s

certai n that one of them had . D iodorus Siculus,

i n the quotat ion al ready given , c l early defin es one

of these rou t es . The peop l e ofBolerium(Corn

he says,

“ hav ing reduced the t in ore to

metal,convey i t to a certa in i s land lying of

Bri ta in cal l ed Ictis.

” Thi s they did in waggons

THE EARLY TRADE or BR ITAIN . 6 3

a t low water . Th i s i s l and i s c learly the same as

Vect i s,

1 origina l ly Ouictis (the I s l e of Wight).

1 I t has been contended that the i s land ca l led I c tis cou ldnot h ave been that now known as th e I s le of W igh t

,s i nce Dio

do ru s i s speaking of th e trade at the weste rn extrem i ty of Cornwa l l , from wh i c h that i s land i s near l y 20 0 m i les d i stan t . Bu tthe s im i larity of th e name V ec t i s or Ouictis w i th the I c tis ofDiodorus renders i t p robab le that th e I s le ofW igh t i s in tended .

There was no reason w hy the ore shou ld not have been brough t20 0 miles by land i n order to shorten the sea passage (a dangerons one i f from Cornwa l l ) to the Con t inen t. I f the merc han ts con veyed the t in th i rty days’ j ourney th rough the Continent on horses , i t was comparat i ve ly easy for the B r i ton s tob ri ng it the muc h shorter d i stan ce from Cornwa l l to the I s le ofW igh t by the same means of tran s i t ; an d the words ofD iodoru s,they “ con veyed i t across ” to Gau l

,rathe r imp l ies that they

adop ted a shor t passage from B ri ta i n to Gau l . The sec recymoreover w i th wh i ch the trade i n t i n was carr i ed on wou ldcompe l the m i ners o f B ri ta i n i f they des i red to ma i n ta i n the i rre lat ion s w i th bo th the Phaanician and Mass i l ia n merchant s tokeep from eac h the know ledge of the trade ca rr ied on w i ththe other

, so that i t wou ld be necessary to negot iate w i th t hemerc hants from Gaul at some port d i sta n t from that at wh i c hthey so ld to the t nic ians. I t i s fin e that the I s le of “fighti s no t now connec ted w i th the ma i n land at low water asD iodorus say s Ic tis was . B u t he a l so speak s of seve ra li s lands a long the so u th coast o f B rita i n w h i c h were so connec ted. The on ly one now connec ted w i th the ma in land atlow water i s a ve ry sma l l i s land

,a mere h igh rock , ca l led S t

M i c hae l’s Moun t,c lose to I’enz ance

,i n every way u nsu i tab le

fo r t ra d i ng , and so close to the ma i n land that the re would ha ve

64 C/ESAR I N KENT .

Here the t in was purchased by the merchan ts,who

,carry ing i t across to Gaul

,e i ther to the

mou th of the S eine or to the Portu s I t ins

(Bou l ogne), conveyed i t on hors es to the out l et of

the River Rhone. From the men t ion of rivers i n

connect ion wi th the trade rou t es,there can be no

doubt that the merchan ts used,whenever they

could,the water - courses of the ri vers for the con

veyance of thei r merchandi ze . After trave l l i ng, as

Diodorus relates , for th i rty days overl and , they

would reach in abou t that t ime the nav igab le

par t of the Rhone, probably near the anc i en t

Lugdunum (Lyons), where the Saone joi n s the

Rhone Conv ey ing i t down th i s ri ver they

wou l d be able speedi ly to d i scharge the i r cargo

ei ther at Narbonn e or at Mass i l ia (Marsei l les),the great empori um of thei r trade

,as both

Diodorus and S trabo re lat e .

been n o objec t i n the merchants tran sac t ing business thererather than on the ma in land i tse l f. I t i s ev iden t that i n consequen ce oi th e c hanges i n the coast, severa l i s lands, the I s l eof W igh t i n c l uded

,wh i c h on ce were more or l ess con nec ted

w i th the southern coast ofB ri ta i n,h ave become now who l l y

separated from i t. O n the other h and, some wh ich were former l y i s lands

,suc h as th e I s l e ofThanet and R ichborough (cer

tainly on ce an i s land), are now con nec ted w i th the ma in land .

THE EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 6 5

Of the anc i en t Bri t i sh port s and harbours,

there can be no doubt that Dubris (Dover) wasthe mos t commodious and mos t important

,being

the neares t to the Con t in en t . I t was chosen

by Caesar at firs t as be ing the mos t su i tab le p lace

for l anding hi s vessel s on accoun t of its exce l l en t

harbour and i ts readines s of access from the

Portus I t i n s,h i s p lace of embarkat ion . But of

th i s we w i l l t reat a t greater length in a subse

quen t chapter . That Itium was a Gal l i c port,

i t s name “ Portus I t i n s,by wh ich i t was known

to Caesar,impl i es

,and i t s u s e as such prev ious ly

to hi s invas i on of Bri tai n may be gathered from

the passage of S trabo al ready quoted : To such

as sa i l about the Rh ine,the passage i s not exact ly

from i ts mouths,bu t from the Morin i who border

on the Menapians, among whom al so i s s i tuated

Itium,wh ich the deified Caesar used as h i s nava l

stat ion when about to pass over to the i s l and .

If C ze sar i s sa i d to have “ us ed ” the port,i t i s

necessar i ly impl i ed that i t was known as a port

before h i s t ime . W i th reference to the routes

wh ich the caravans of merchants adopted in con

v ey ing the i r merchand i se across the Cont inent we

66 c z ESAR I N KENT .

have no informat ion , bu t they were probably

th’

o se wh i ch i n after years were defined by the

cons truc t ion of roads . S trabo relates that in the

reign ofAugus tus,Agr ippa caused a road to be

constructed from Lugdunum(Lyons) to the ocean

across the country of the Bel lovac i and Ambiani,

doubt l es s the same road which the i t inerary ofAnton inu s t races through Bagacum (Bavay),Pons - Sca ldi s (Escau t Po in t), Tournacum (Tournay), V irov iacum (W erwick), Cas tel lum (Cassel),Tarrenna end ing at Gessoriacum

(Bou logne). Th i s no doubt ind i cat ed the orig inal

t rade- route wh i ch the merchant s fo l lowed from

Lyons to Bou logne,connect ing the t rade carri ed

on between Marsei l l es and Bri ta in . The trade

rou t es of a country are not eas i ly d ivert ed , and i t

i s probab le that the road made by Agr ippa was

constructed on the orig inal pathway of the

merchan t caravans,jus t as in Bri tain the Romans

formed thei r v ias on the foundat ions of the

former Bri t i sh roads . Another rou te seems to

have been from Bou logne to Bonne on the

Rhine.Augus tus caused br idges to be thrown

over the s treams at the t ime he con struc ted a

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68 C/BSAR I N KENT.

menced at leas t 140 0 years before Chri s t, s i nce

t i n i s enumerated among other metal s that pas sed

through the puri fy ing fire in the t ime of Moses

(Numbers xxx i . and i s al s o men t ioned

by Homer (I l i ad, i i . v . and we read of no

other country that p roduced i t i n any quan t i ty

in anc ien t t imes excep t Bri tain,nor any peop le

who extens i ve ly traded in i t excep t the P hoeni

e i aus .

An examinat ion,moreover

,of the mines of

Cornwal l affords internal ev idence of the remote

per iod at wh ich they were worked,for at the

depth offifty fathoms the mi ners frequent ly meet

wi th l arge t imbers s t i l l en t ire,the props and p i l l ar s

of the mines exhaus t ed at an early age . The

earl ies t name of the country,indeed

,i s probably

der ived from the abundance of i ts weal th i n t in,

for the Phoen ic ian Barat - anac,or “ l and of t in

,

”

by wh ich i t i s sai d to hav e been or ig inal ly d i s t in

guished, was afterwards corrup ted into Bpe‘ravucn,or Bri tain

,and subsequent ly

,when the Greeks

became connec ted wi th the t rade,th i s word re

ceived theGreek formCassiterides,from KaO

'

O'

tTepOV,

a word signifiy ing t in , i n which form i t was gene

THE EARLY TRADE os BRITAIN . 69

ral ly app l i ed to the i s lands'

known now as “ theSci l ly Is l es .

When the t in trade commenced wi th Mass i l ia

(Mars e i l l es) by the caravan route through Gau l i s

not eas i ly ascertained . Mass i l i a was a Greek

c i ty founded by the P hoceans of A s i a M inor

abou t the year B . C . 60 0 . I t soon became a very

flouri shing ci ty,and cont inued for some cen tur i es

to be one of the mos t importan t commerc i a l c i t ies

in the anc i en t wor ld . That i t s trade wi th Bri tai n

commenced at an early period i s certa in from the

fact that the Greeks obtained the i r knowl edge of

Bri ta in from the M ass i l i an merchan ts abou t the

t ime ofA l exander the Great abou t B C . 3

and espec ial ly from the voyage of Pytheas (of

M ass i l ia), who sa i l ed round a great part of the

i s l and .

Nor were there wan t ing other commod i t i es

bes ides t i n wh i ch the Br i tons could export . S trabo

say s that they bartered not on ly t in and lead

(pl umbum n igrum), but sk ins and other art icl es of

commerce . “ The country,

” he says,

“ produced

corn and cat t l e,and gold and s i l ver

,and i ron , and

al so sk ins and s laves,and dogs sagac ious in hunt

7o C/ESAR I N KENT .

i ng,which the Cel t i use for the purposes ofwar,

In thes e com

modities a l arge trade was doubt l ess carri ed on,

not on ly wi th Marse i l l es and Phcenicia,bu t wi th

as wel l as the ir nat ive dogs . ’

the Gau l s and other ne ighbour ing peop l es .

W i th respec t to the fore ign produce and

manufactures imported into th i s country in ex

change for the t in and other art ic l es of commerce,

i t i s certa in that the trade wi th Phoen ic ia and

Mass i l ia wou l d in troduce to the shores of Bri tain

al l the weal th of the anc ien t world . Phoen ici a

i t s elf produced many art ic l es of super ior manufac

ture . Amongst these may be ment ioned the

purpl e- dyed garments of Tyre,the ' rich tapes try

and fine l inen wrough t in the Phoen ic ian looms .

The glass of S idon,too

,made from the fine

sand of i t s sea- shore,was cel ebrated as the fines t

and pures t i n the world,and 1 “ the S idon ians had

brought i t s manufacture to such perfect ion that

they were able to impart to i t a var i ety of the

most s t r iking and beaut ifu l co lours . The art i

ficers al so ofTyre were so cel ebrated even in the

t ime of Solomon,espec ial ly in the work ing of

F rom Mau ri ce’s I nd ian An t iqu i t ies .

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 7 1

metal s and ivory,that they were employ ed in the

adornmen t of the Templ e in J eru sa lem and the

magn ificen t palace ofSolomon , the one enr iched

w i th embl emat ic dev ices in cas t or scu lp tured gold,the other wi th the famous i vory throne in la id wi th

pure gold,of which the Scripture decl ares that

the l ike had not been made in any nat ion . For

proof of thei r great advance in the el egan t art s of

engrav ing and sculp ture,not l es s than of the i r

prod ig iou s weal th,we need not go farther than

the templ e of Hercu l es i n their own c i ty ofTyre,

wh ich was not less remarkab l e for the superb

mytholog ica l dev i ces,the egg of creat ion

,the

nymphoea, and the s erpen t that adorned i ts wal l s,than for those magn ificent col umns

,the one of

massy gold,the other cons i s t ing ofa sol id emerald

wh ich were seen and described by Herodotus on

h i s v i s i t to that c i ty the l at ter of wh ich he assert s

by n ight i l l umina t ed the whol e of the vas t fabr ic .”

Bes ides the products of P htr nicia i t sel f, i t s

t rade w i th o ther countr i es would enabl e i t s mer

chants to barter even the prec ious metal s and

stones of Ind ia and the East,for the Phoen ician s

were the general factors of the or iental world ;

72 C/ESAR I N KENT .

all trade be ing carri ed on i n the earl i es t t imes i n

P hoen ic i an vessel s ; not indeed tha t the val uab l e

products of the Eas t wou ld find thei r way to

Bri ta in in any large quan t i t i es,but such t reasures

would probably be thu s acqu i red by the Bri t i sh

kings and Chi efta in s There were,moreover

,

countri es nearer at hand w i th wh i ch the P hoeni

e iaus al so traded , wh ich could supp ly art ic l es of

exchange such as the Bri tons wou ld value . With

Spa in,for examp le

,the Phoen i c i an merchan ts

had carri ed on an extens ive trade at Gades

(Cadi z) i n gold and s i lver and brass , even , i t i ssai d

,before they t raded wi th Bri tain . The

accoun ts given of the fert i l i ty of Spain i n go ld

and s i lver s eem fabulous . S i l ius I tal ien s cal led i t

the “ Auri fera t erra,

” the l and that bore gold,

and Ari s tot le 1 i nforms u s that “ when the P hoeni

cians firs t came among them they found the

inhabi tan ts wal lowing in gold and s i lver,and so

wi l l ing to part wi th thei r r i ches,from thei r ignor

ance of the value of those prec i ous meta ls,that

they exchanged the i r naval commodi t i es for such

an immense weight of them,that the i r sh ips could

1 D e mirabilibus au scu l t . Opera, vo l . i .

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 73

scarcely sus ta in the loads wh ich they brought

away,though they u sed i t for bal las t and made

thei r anchors and other imp lement s of s i lver. ”

Thes e prec i ou s meta ls were carr ied to Tyre,and

thence to the various Med i t erranean ports,and

transported i n large quan t i t i es to India and the

Eas t by the merchant s trad ing through Palmyra

and the Arab ian Gu l f,though some would doubt

l es s be transmi t ted to Bri tain . Bu t gold and

s i l ver were not the on ly products of Spa in .

R i ch veins of copper were al so found in i ts

moun tains . The making of bras s by the fus ion

of copper wi th the lap i s caluminaris mus t have

been known from the ear l i es t t imes,s ince we

read ear l y i n Genes i s that Tubal - Cain was “ the

instructor of every artificer i n brass and i ron ,”

and we l earn from H omer and o ther Greek

wri ters that the anc i en ts made of brass the i r

domest i c u tens i l s,as wel l as thei r arms and

accout rements . That th i s formed a pr inc ipal

commodi ty of t rade wi th Br i ta in i s undoubted

Caesar say s that “ the Bri ton s used impor ted brass ,and S trabo that “ they bat tered t in and lead w i th

the merchants for earthenware and sa l t and

74 CE SAR I N KENT .

brazen ves s e l s . That they al so unders tood the

work ing of brass i s ev i den t from i t s us e i n the

cons truc t i on of the t ires of thei r chario t whee l s,a

spec imen ofwh ich,dug up by Canon Greenwe l l

i n the Yorksh i re Wold s,may be seen in the

Bri t i sh Museum . Thei r curren t co in a lso con

s i s ted ei ther of p i eces of brass or of i ron rings,

whose va lue was accord ing to thei r weigh t .

Brass mus t therefore have been imported in i t s

crude s tat e as well as i n the shap e of “ brazen

ves sel s ” as relat ed by Strabo,and accord ing ly

the Phoen ic ian and other merchants would have

an art icle of exchange eas i ly procurab le from the

neighbouring coas t of Spain,and read i ly received

by the Bri tons in return for the t in and l ead

wh i ch thei r mines suppl ied .

Bes ides the merchandi ze of other lands in tro

duced by the Phoen ic i an , and we may add by the

Greek merchants who at a somewhat la ter peri od

carr i ed on a traffic w i th Bri tai n by the s ame rou t e

as the Phoen ic i ans,the Mass i l i an trade would

al so bring to these shores the art treasures and

the produc t s of the ski l l of almos t all nat ions .

S trabo s tates that earthenw are vesse l s were

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76 C/ESAR I N KENT .

con tras ted wi th the rough manufactures of the

nat ives themse lves . Such weal th as they could

eas i ly carry abou t w i th them would alone be

va lued by a migratory peopl e l i ke the anc i en t

Bri tons . The s imp l ic i ty of thei r habi t s,thei r

contempt for luxury,and above a l l the rudenes s

of their hab i tat ion s wou ld render all Other poss es

s ion of l i t t l e u s e to them . A glance at thei r

dwel l ings wi l l suffice to show how unsu i tab le

to the i r wants would have been the art icles

of l uxury and refinement w i th wh ich the

Romans and other cul t i vat ed nat ion s were

accus tomed to adorn thei r houses . “ The

number of thei r opp ida (or towns) was great”

say s Caesar,and in describi ng them he s tates

that “ the Bri tons cal led that a town where

they have u sed to assemb le for the sake ofavoi d

ing an incurs ion of enemies,when they have

fort ified the entangl ed woods wi th a rampart

and d i tch .

” The remains of many of thes e

opp ida may s t i l l b e seen i n almos t al l parts of

the country . In the immediat e neighbourhood

of Canterbury,the scene ofCmsar’s early bat t l es

,

s evera l may be traced out,namely at Durover

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 7 7

num,lffin Wood

,A tchester Wood

,Bridge Hi l l

,

and other local i t i es to wh i ch reference w i l l be

made i n the cours e of th i s work . They are al l

s im i l ar i n form,and answer wel l t o the descrip

t i on g iven by Caesar of the Bri t i sh opp ida . Some

of them are surrounded not by one but by several

rampart s wi th deep d i tches between them,and

were ev i den t ly s trongly fort ified towns . The

habi tat i ons con tained w i th i n thes e wa l l s of earth

were mere hu t s of wood and thatch,though some

wh i ch have been d i scovered cons i s ted of hol es

dug in the earth,over wh i ch a thatched roof was

probably con structed . The la te Mr Frank Buck

land i n h i s “ Cur ios i t i es ofNatural H is tory thus

describes some of them :“ The anc i en t Bri tons

were i n the habi t of digging hol es for shel ter .

Not many weeks ago some labourers,when d ig

g ing grave l at Brighthampton,near Oxford

came acros s several such excavat ions . They

were s imply pi t s dug i n the earth large enough to

hold one or two persons . From the s ides of each

of these p i t s a certa in quant i ty of earth had been

removed so a s to form a sea t . They were in

fac t no th ing more than wha t were used by the

78 CZESAR I N KENT.

riflemen before S ebas topol i n our day . The

anc i en t Bri tons made them probably on ly for

she l t er. A t the bottom of thes e p i t s were found

a few rude arrow heads made of fli n t,and a

quan t i ty of bones . I examined thes e bones,and

found them to be frogs and shrew m ice . I sup

pose that these creatures fel l i n to the p i ts long

after they had ceased to be used by thei r orig ina l

makers,and an terior to the t ime that they were

final ly fi l l ed up .

” In the remarkab le Bri t i sh

opp i dum at W orlebury , near Wes ton Super Mare,s everal ci rcu l ar wel l - l ike p i t s may be seen fa irly

preserved in shape owing to the rocky nature of

the ground in wh i ch they have been excavated .

One in part icu lar i s very perfect,and about two

feet from the bot tom is a seat formed of the rock

as descr ibed in those s een by M r Buckland,ex

tend ing al l round the p i t . Trad i t ion has ass igned

thes e c ircu l ar p i ts i n some parts of the country as

the habi tat ions of the Druids . De Moleville in

hi s Hi s tory of Great Bri ta in says,

“ There s t i l l

remain in the wes tern i s lands of Scot land the

foundat ions of such ci rcular hous es capab le of

con tain ing on ly one person,and cal led by the

TH E EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 79

people ofthe coun try Dru i ds’ houses . I t may be

observed that in the rema ins of mos t Bri t i sh

oppida ho l lows are to be seen which probably

were original ly of thi s shape,but owing to the

s ides hav ing fal l en in they have now the appear

ance of natura l hol low s i n the earth . Some of

the larger were perhaps u s ed as repos i tor i es for

gra i n and other produce

A peop le so pr im i t i ve in thei r hab i t s and mode

of l i fe wou l d read i ly supply themse lves w i th a l l

that was necessary for thei r s impl e wants . The i r

food was of the pla ines t descr ipt ion,cons i s t ing

principal ly of mi lk and the flesh of an imal s ,though in the southern parts of the i s l and they

al so sowed corn . Thei r c loth ing was made of

skins . Such earthenware vesse l s as they requi red

for househo ld purposes they understood the art

of mak ing,the rough sun - dr i ed pot tery dug up

by Canon Greenwel l in Yo rksh i re,by M r Samuel

Carr ington in S taflb rdshire,by M r Bel l in Iflin

Wood,and by others

,be ing c l early of nat ive

manufacture . Br icks they wou l d scarcely requ i re,except

,perhaps

,for cu l inary purposes ; bu t s ince

they made pott ery,they cou ld not have been

80 CAESAR I N KENT .

i gnorant of the more s imp le ar t ofbrickmaking,

especi al ly as i t had been pract i s ed from the ear l i es t

ages of the world,and the material s for i t were

almost everywhere to be found .

Their weapons of war and agricu l tura l imple

ments they manufac tured from the i ron found i n

the country,and from the brass imported from

abroad . For smal l er vesse l s of earthenware and

brass,for ornaments such as earrings

,brooches

,

and other art i c les of femal e decorat ion,alwavs

h igh l y pri zed,as i s the cas e even in the pres en t

day,by nat ions otherw i s e uncul t ivated

,they were

dependen t,as has been al ready s tated

,upon the

merchan ts who traded w i th the country . Nor

need it surpri s e us to find i n th e graves of the s e

early inhabi tan ts of our so i l some of the bes t

spec imens of Roman and other art,s ince Caesar

informs us that where the Dru i dica l re l igion

prevail ed funeral s were conducted wi th great

expense,arid that the surv i v ing relat i ves were

accustomed to bury wi th the body whatever the

deceased person had most pri zed when l iv ing .

Cons idering the l arge number of art ic les of

foreign manufacture wh ich mus t have been im

THE EARLY TRADE OF BR ITAIN . 8 1

ported in to thi s country in return for the immense

weal th of t in and lead exported by the merchants,i t wou l d be s trange i f we d id not find wi th the

rema ins of our Bri t i sh forefathers valuabl es of

metal and g l as s and pot tery such as they them

selves could not produce . And yet,so grea t i s

the t endency among archaeologi s t s of our day to

ignore everyth ing preh i s toric,that the d i scovery of

these fore ign manufac tures i s too oft en regarded

as conc l us i ve ev i dence that the in terment of the

remains wi th wh i ch they are found took p lace

subsequent ly to the Roman occupat ion ofBri ta in .

We may wel l admire and remember wi th grat i tude

the h igher ci v i l i sat ion in troduced in to our country

by the Romans,and prolonged to some exten t

dur ing the subsequen t Saxon era ; but we mus t

not ascr ibe every th ing to th i s period,or forge t

that i t was preceded by a long prehi s toric age

during which our Br i t i sh ances tors,notw ithstand

ing the prim i t i ve mode of l ife wh ich they fol lowed

and preferred,were in frequent commun icat ion

w i th fore ign nat ions,and had the means of

acqu i ring the most valuabl e products of o ther

lands .

CHAPTER Ill.

CfESAR’

s LANDING - PLACE .

N the two previou s chapters some

descr ipt ion has been g iven of the

peop l e whom Ju l ius Cae sar as sayed

to conquer . He had already l earned

by experi ence in h i s Gal l ic wars that they were

a foe not to be despi sed,but he

‘

had yet to ex

perience thei r indomi tab l e sp ir i t when gathered

in defence of the ir homes,thei r country

,and

the ir gods . He acted,however

,w i th caut ion .

W i th h i s usual forethough t he took care to

obta in as accurat e knowl edge as poss ib l e con

cern ing the country he was abou t to invade .Not obtain ing suflicient informat ion from the

merchants who traded wi th Bri ta in,whom he

co l l ected from every quarter,he determ ined to

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84 C/ESAR I N KENT .

sai l,nor can there be any reasonabl e doubt but

that V olusenus,hav ing exp lored the coas t of

Bri ta in,wou ld poin t ou t to Caesar the harbour of

Dover as the nearest and mast suitable for the

l anding of h i s vesse l s . That Caesar actua l l y d id

s eek the shore at thi s p lace can however be

cl early es tab l i shed from the hi s tory .

poss ib le to p repare e l sewhere an exped i t ion aga i n st Eng l and ,Boulogne be ing the on ly p lace wh i c h un ited the cond it ionsind i spen sab l e for co l lec t ing the fl eet and embark ing the troops .I n fac t, i t requ i red a port capab l e of con ta i n ing e i ther e igh tyt ransport sh ips and ga l leys, as in th e fi rs t exped i t ion , or 80 0sh ips, as i n the second ; an d ex ten s ive enough to a l low thesh ips to approach the ban ks an d embark th e troops i n a s ing l et ide. Now these condi t ion s cou ld on l y be fu l fi l led where ar iver suffic ien t l y deep, flow ing i nto the sea, formed a natu ra lport ; and, on the part of the coasts neares t to E ng land wefind on ly at Bou logne a r iver

,the L iane

,wh i c h presen ts a l l

these advan tages . Moreover i t m ust not be forgotten , th at allthe coast has been bu r ied i n sand . I t appears that i t is n otmorethan a century and a half that the natura l bas in of Bou lognehas been part l y fi l led ; and ac cord ing to t radit ion and geol og ica l observat ion s, the coast advan ced more than two k i lometres, form ing two j ett ies, between wh i c h the h igh t ide fi l ledthe va l ley of the L iane to a d i stance of four ki lomet resi n l and .

None of the ports s i tuated to the north of Bou logne cou ldserve as the bas i s ofCz sar’s exped i t ion

,for none could rece i ve

so l arge a number of vesse l s, and we cannot suppose that

C/ESAR’S LAND I NG - PLACE . 85

In determin ing the d i rec t ion of h i s voyage and

h i s p lace of di sembarkat ion we have th i s advan

tage z—that “ the commentar i es have given

detai l s respec t ing hi s tw o voyages to Bri ta in,and

express ly s tat e that the poin t s of embarkat ion

and l anding were i n each case tbe same. They

relate that in both expedi t ion s he sai led from the

Caesa r wou ld h ave left th em on the Open coast , during morethan a mon th

,exposed to the tempests of the ocean , wh i ch

were so fata l to h im on the coasts ofBr i ta in .“ Boulogne was the on l y po i n t of th e coast w here Cae sar

could p lace i n safety h i s depots, h i s supp l ies, an d h i s sparestores . The he igh ts w h i ch command th e po rt offered advan

tageous pos i t ions fo r establ i sh ing camps, and the l i tt le ri verL iane a l lowed h im to br i ng w i th ease the t imber and p rov is ions be requi red . A t Ca l a i s he wou ld have found noth ingbu t fl ats and marshes, at W issand noth i ng bu t sands, as i nd icated by the etymo logy of the word (wh i te sand ).

I t i s wo rthy of remark , that the reason s wh i c h dete rm i nedCaesa r to s ta rt from Boulogne

,were the same wh ic h dec ided

the cho i ce ofNapo leon I . i n 1 80 4. I n sp i te of the d ifferen cei n the t imes and i n the arm i es

,the n au t i ca l and prac t i ca l con

ditions h ad undergone no change . ‘The Emperor c hoseBou logne

,

’ say s M . Th iers , ‘ becau se that port had beenpo i nted out as the best po i n t of departu re of an exped it iondirec ted aga i n st Eng land : he c hose Bou logne , becau se itspo rt i s fo rmed by the l i tt le r i ve r L i ane , wh i c h a l l owed h im ,

w i th some labou r, to p lace i n sa fety from 1 200 to 1 30 0

86 CE SAR I N KENT.

Portus Itius,and that in h i s s econd exped i t ion

he sough t the same part of the i s l and on wh i ch

he had l earned the previous summer a land ing

cou ld be bes t effec ted .

” 1 For the purpose

therefore of i den t i fy ing the p lace of h i s l anding,we can make us e of the informat ion given wi th

reference to both h i s voyages .

In preparat ion for h i s firs t invas ion of Bri tai n

Caesarm eigh ty t ransport ves se l s capabl e

of convey ing two leg ions,and as many gal leys

as he could obtain : thes e he p laced under the

di rec t ion of the Quaes tor, L i eu tenan ts, and

Prefects . E igh teen other transport s " des t ined

for! the caval ry were“

detain ed by con trary w indsW

” —4at another port e ight m i l es dis tant, and were

fi ‘ J ’

unab le to join the res t of the fleet . Caesar

therefore di rected the caval ry to proceed th i ther

and to get on board the vesse l s . Napoleon has

no doubt correct ly i den t ified th i s “

far t/oer por t”

of Caesar wi th Ambleteuse,which i s jus t e ight

mi les from Boulogne . No other port ex i s ted

wi th i n that di s tance . Calai s (W issand), even

now a poor harbour,was probably at that t ime a

1 The same fac t i s a l so recorded by D ion Cass i us, x l . i .

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88 C/ESAR I N KENT .

s ides thi s,even suppos ing Ambleteu se were not

the port of embarkat ion of the cava lry,the subse

quen t career of these e ighteen vesse l s shows,that

when at l ength they were abl e to leave the port

they sai l ed from (whatever i t was), they must have

proceeded in a northerly,and not a sou therly

d irect ion,for the commentar i es re late

,that when

they were approaching Bri tain,and were wi thin

s igh t ofCaesar’s naval camp,

“ so great a t empes t

sudden ly arose,that none of tbem could bold its

course,but some were car ried back to the same

place whence they had come forth’,others were

cas t down to the low er part of the i s land,wh ich

i s near tbe sun’

s setting, w i th great peri l to them7,s elves . If

,then

,they were driven by the tempes t

towards the Corn i sh coas t,that i s towards the

south- west,in a d irec t ion opposite to that in wh ich

they had been before sa i l ing,i t i s ev iden t that the i r

cours e prev ious ly was northerly or north - eas terly,

and the ma in body of the fleet mus t,of course

have sai l ed four days earl ier in the same direc t ion .

The detai l s,then

,of Cmsar

’

s firs t expedi t ion

make i t c l ear that h i s vessel s in sa i l ing to Br i tain

proceeded up channe l towards Dover and Deal,

C/ESAR’S LAND I NG - PLACE . 89

and not down channel towards Hythe or Lymne ,as some have contended and that

,hav ing s tarted

in that d i rect ion,there be ing no change of wind t i ll

the fourth day after Caesar’s arr ival in Bri tain,they

cou ld not have been d i verted from the ir course . 1

The account of the second exped i t ion i s even

more conclus i ve as to the d irec t ion of h i s sa i l ing .

His forces,on th i s occas ion

,cons i s ted of five

l eg ions and 2 0 0 0 cava lry. Hav ing prov ided a

suffic i en t number of vesse l s for these,

“ he

loosed h i s ships,

” the commentari es re lat e,

“ at

sunset,and hav ing been carri ed forward by a

gent l e south - wes t breeze,the wind be ing in ter

mitted about midn ight,he d id not hold h i s

cours e . Be ing also carri ed too far by the t ide,

at daybreak he beheld Br i tai n forsaken on the

left band. Then,again

,hav ing fo l lowed the

change of t ide,he s trove

,by row ing

,to gain

that part of the i s l and on which he had l earned1 I n confi rmat ion of th i s s ta tement

,that the w i nd cont i nued

to b low from th e sou th - west,M r Ha l ley has proved that at the

t ime Cte sar set sa i l from the p lace where he fi rst approached theshore to h i s subsequen t land i ng - p l ace w i th the w i nd and t idebot/J i n h i s favou r (as the Commenta r ies affirm ), the t ide wasflow i ng up c hanne l . H i s ca l c u lat ion w i l l b e g i ven i n anotherpage .

90 CfESAR IN KENT.

the summer before that the landing was best .By the prai seworthy efforts of the rowers

,

ass i s ted by the t i de,he was ab l e to approach

Bri ta in w i th al l h i s vessel s about noon .

Now,we have here data from which the cours e

of the invad ing fleet can be approx imate ly traced .

He set sai l,we are to ld

,wi th a gen t l e

,sou th

wes t wind at sunset . Th i s favourable breeze

con t inued t i l l m idn ight,so that

,assuming that he

l eft Boulogn e about s ix o’c lock,he cont i nued h i s

cours e wi th the wind and t ide in h i s favour in

a norther ly di rect ion for s ix hours . Now we

know someth ing of h i s rat e of speed i n h i s first

exped i t ion,and that h i s sh ip s took about ten

hours i n cross ing over from Boulogne to Bri tain .

In the firs t s i x hours then of h i s second journey,during wh ich the wind cont inued to b low from

the sou th - wes t,Caesar mus t have accomp l i shed

abou t two - th i rds of the passage to the Kent i sh

coas t . A t m idnight,however

,the wind s l ackened

or ceased al together,so that the vesse l s were

carr ied away by the t ide and cou l d not keep the i r

course . They drifted further from the Bri t i sh

coast,and at day - break

,probab ly abou t five A .M.

,

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9 2 C/ESAR IN KENT.

even wi th thei r most s trenuou s exert ions,have

rowed h i s heavy transports as far sou th as Lymne

or Hy the,a greater di s tance probably than from

Boulogne to Bri tain,wh i ch took h im i n h i s firs t

exped i t ion wi th a favourab l e wind and t ide t en

hours .

I t i s surely then unnecessary to g ive further

cons iderat ion to the suggesti ons,however ably

pu t forward,by M r Lewin

,M r Bea le P os t

,and

others,that Caesar l anded a t some p lace sou th of

Fo lks tone,s ince

,as has been shown

,the detai ls

of h i s two voyages canno t be made to fi t i n wi th

th i s theory . M r Beale Pos t i ndeed almos t

admits that “ h i s wi sh ” to make Caesar land

a t Lymne was father to the though t .” “ I t

s eems,

” he says,an undoubted axiom that i f

Caesar’s p lace of arriva l i s fixed at Dover,and

that ofh i s landing at Deal,or the old R ichborough

Bay,hi s movements i n these part s wi l l never be

traced sat i sfactori ly .

“ On the other hand it i s

main tained that i f Lymne i s made the commenc

ing poin t,research w i l l be at tended wi th very

favourab le resul t s : that several very remarkabl e

co inc id ences wi th Caesar’s narrat ive can be poin ted

CE SAR’

S LAND I NG - PLACE . 93

out ; and hi s bat t l es , marches, and other proceed

ings,t raced wi th far greater certain ty than could

be an t ic ipated .

”

How mist aken Mr Beal e Pos t was in these

remarks w i l l be abundant ly shown in the course

of th i s vo l ume . Not on ly can the subsequen t

movements ofCaesar after hi s l and ing at Deal as

recorded in h i s tory be traced dur ing a cons iderabl e

part of h i s progress,but even the scenes of h i s early

bat t l es and encampmen ts can be accurate ly defined

from vest iges of them whi ch i n many p laces ye t

rema in,and from tradi t ions wh i ch poin t them out.

The only other sugges t ion worthy of not ice

w i th regard to the place of Cae sar’s l and ing i s

tha t advocat ed by Archdeacon Batte ley , namely,that he l anded a t R ichborough . So much we igh t

at taches to the op in ion of th i s l earned author,and

so great an interes t to the local i ty of wh i ch he

wr i t es,that h i s suggest ion and rem arks w i l l be

cons idered in a separat e chap t er . ’

The necess i ty of compar ing the account s of

Cmsar'

s two voyages to Br i ta in,in order to asce r

ta in beyond a doubt the di rec t ion from the Portu s1 S ee A ppend ix .

94 c zESAR IN KENT.

I t ins wh ich h i s ves se l s took on each occas ion,has

l ed u s into some deta i l s of h i s s econd expedi t ion .

Bu t we wi l l now retrace our s teps,and regard

Cze sar’

s approach to these shores after h i s first

pas sage across the channel .

He l eft Bou logne as has been re lated about

m idn ight,sa i l ing up the channel

,and reached the

coas t of Bri ta in at the fourth hour of the day

(abou t 1 0 o’c lock From the descrip t ion

g iven,there can be no doubt that he firs t sough t

to l and at Dover,for Caesar rel ates that on ap

proaching the shore he behe ld“ the armed forces

of the enemy posted on a l l the h i l l s,” and that the

sea was confined by so close mounta ins (august i s

montibus) that a dart cou l d be hurl ed from thehigher p laces upon the shore .’ Th i s descript ion

so exact ly corresponds w i th what i s known to

have been the charac t er of the shore at Dover,

that the greater number of wr i ters on th i s subj ect,

al though they have d iffered cons iderably as to the

p lace where Cmsar eventua l ly l anded,have agreed

that i t was at Dover that he firs t sought the

shore . And tru ly when we s tand under those

overhang ing c l iffs,whose he ight towers to heaven

,

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96 CE SAR I N KENT.

between two h i l l s . In th i s break of that ridge of

rocks l i e s Dubris,men t ioned by Anton inus

ca l led i n Saxon ‘Dofra,

’ and by u s ‘Dover.

Darellus wri tes out of Eadmer,

l that the name

was gi ven from i ts be ing shu t up and hard to

come to . ‘For,

’ say s he,‘because i n old t ime

,

the sea mak ing a large harbour in that p lace

Spread i tsel f very wide, they were pu t under the

necess i ty of shu t t ing i t up wi thin c loser bounds .’

Bu t W i l l i am Lambard,wi th greater show of

probab i l i ty,fetches the name from Dufy rrha,

wh i ch in Bri t i sh s ign ifies a s teep p lace . The

town,which i s s eated among the rocks (where

the haven i ts e lf formerly was wh i l e the s ea came

up!farther, as i s gathered from the anchors and

p lank s of sh ips d igged up), i s more noted for the

conven ience of i t s harbour (though i t has now

bu t l i t t l e of that l eft i t) and the passage from

thence to France, than e i ther i ts neatness or

populousness . For i t i s a famous passage ; and

i t was former ly prov ided by law that no person

going out of the k ingdom on p i lgrimage should

take shipp ing at any other harbour . I t i s a lso

one of the C inque ports, and was formerly bound1 “ TheL ife ofEadmer,” by W i l l iam ofMa lmesbury.

CE SAR’S LAND ING - PLACE . 9 7

to find twen ty - one ships for the wars,i n the

same manner and form as H ast i ngs . On that

part wh i ch l i es towards the ocean,now exc luded

by the beach,i t had a wal l

,of wh ich there i s

some part rema in ing st i l l . I t had a church,

ded icated to S t Mar t i n,founded by W hitred

,

K ing ofKen t (AD . and a hous e ofKn igh ts

Templ ars,wh ich i s now qu i t e gone ; i t al so

affords a seat to the Archb i shop of Can terbury’s

Suffragan,who

,when the Archbi shop i s taken

up wi th more weighty affairs,manages such th ings

as concern good order,but does not medd le in

matters of Epi scopal jur i sd ict ion . There i s a

large cas t l e l ike a l i t t le c i ty,wi th s trong fortifi

ca t ion s,and a great many towers

,wh ich

,a s i t

were,threatens the sea under i t from a hi l l

,or

rather a rock,upon the r ight hand

,that i s on every

s ide rugged and s t eep,but towards the sea ri s es

to a wonderfu l height . Mat thew Pari s ca l l s i t

the key and barre of England . The common

peop le dream of i t s being bu i l t by J ul ius Ca‘sar ;and I concl ude that i t was firs t bu i l t by the

Romans from those Br i t i sh bricks i n the chapel

wh ich they used in thei r larger sort of bu i ld ings .

98 CE SAR I N KENT .

The not ion that jul ius Caesar began to bu i ld

the cast le seems to be derived from a table,or

chart,wh i ch Camden says was former ly hung up

there,wh i ch re lates that “ Caesar after he had

landed a t Deal,and had beaten the Bri tons at

Baramdowne (a pl a in hard by passab le for hors es,and fi t to draw up an army in), began to bui ldDover Cas t l e

,and that Arviragus afterwards

fort ified i t agains t the Romans and shu t up the

harbour . ”

We have quoted in fu l l the remarks of the

l earned au thor Camden upon Dover,as they

prove the importance wh i ch at tached to the p lace

3 0 0 years ago, and the trad i t ion s respect ing i ts

harbour which were then curren t . The deri va

t ions he gives of the name of the p lace of them

se lves indi cate what i t s nature formerly was,

al though i t i s doubtfu l whether any of these

exp lanat ions of i ts or ig in i s correct,and whether

the name “ Dover ” was not rather derived from

the river Dour (mean ing water ”) which there

poured i t se lf in to the sea . W i th regard to the

anc i en t town of Dover,Kilburne says that before

K i ng A rviragus s topped up the haven , the town

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I OO CZESAR IN KENT.

words of Cze sar are thu s jus t ified : ‘Cuju s loci

haec erat natura,atque i ta montibus angustis

mare continebatur,u t i ex loc i s superioribus in

littus telumadjici posset .’

“ The proofs of the above assert ion resul t from

severa l fac t s re lated i n d ifferen t not ices on the

town ofDover. I t i s there said that i n 1 784 Si r

Thomas Hyde Page caused a shaft to be sunk

a t a hundred yards from the shore,to ascerta in

the depth of the bas in at a remote p eriod . Thi s

prov ed that the anc i en t bed of the sea had been

formerly th i rty Engl i sh feet below the presen t

leve l of the h igh t i de . In 1 826,in s inking a

wel l a t a p lace cal led Dolpbin Lane, they found ,at a depth of 2 1 feet

,a bed ofmud resemb l ing

that of the presen t port,mixed wi th the bones of

an ima l s and fragmen t s of leaves and roots .

S im i lar detri tus have been di scovered in severa l

part s of the val ley. An anci en t chron ic ler,named

Darel l,re lates that ‘W ilbred

,

1 K i ng of Kent,

bui l t i n 7 0 0 the church ofS t Mart in,the ru i n s of

wh ich are s t i l l v i s ibl e near the market - p lace,on

the spot where former ly ships cas t anchor.’

1 O therw ise ca l led “ W ithred or“ W hitred.

CE SAR’S LAND ING - PLACE . 10 1

The town bu i l t under the Emperors Adri an

and Sept imu s S everu s occup ied a part of the port,

wh ich had already been covered wi th sand,yet

the sea s t i l l entered a cons iderab le d i s tance i n land .

“ I t would appear to have been abou t the year

95 0 that the old port was en t i re ly blocked up

wi th the mar i t ime and fluv i a l al luv ium wh i ch had

been increas ing t i l l our day,and wh ich at d ifferen t

periods have rendered i t necessary to cons truct

the dykes and quays wh ich have given the port

i t s presen t form .

Before th i s fi l l i ng up of the harbour there can

be no ques t ion but that Dofra or Dover (cal l ed

by the Romans Dubris) was the mos t conven i entand bes t known port of Bri tain

,and the mos t

frequen ted by merchan t s before the com ing of

the Romans,s ince i t i s the neares t poin t of the

shore to the coas t of Gaul . I t s importance as a

m i l i tary s trongho ld was ful l y recogn i sed by the

Romans during thei r occupati on of the country .

We have no reason,other than that sugges ted on

the chart before referred to,wh ich was formerly

hung on the wal l of the cast l e, to bel ieve that

ju l i us Cmsar h imsel f commenced the bu i ld ing of

1 0 2 CZESAR IN KENT.

the cas t le,bu t part of i t s fort ificat ion s were

undoubted ly Roman work .

“ The Roman fort i

ficat ions,

” say s Batchel l er,“ were bounded by the

deep d i tch,and i t wi l l be in vain to search after

any m i l i tary works of the Romans in the cast l e

beyond i t . The form of the camp,the d i tch

,

the parapet,and the octagon bu i ld ing al l po in t

out the hand of the Roman eng ineer and the

Roman arch i tec t . I t was no uncommon th ing

for them,where the ground wou ld adm i t of i t

,to

make thei r camp in the form of a paral lelogram

wi th the ang les rounded off,and to secure it

wi th a deep di tch and a h igh parapet . Th i s

appears to have been the orig inal plan of the

Roman camp on th i s h i l l before i t was a l tered

e i ther by the Saxons or the Romans . Batchel ler

here refers to the descri p t ion of a Roman camp

given,

by Hyg inus,a wri ter of the reign of the

Emperor Traj an (A .D . 98 These Roman

works were perhaps due to Au l us P laut ius,or

more probably to Publ ius Octav ius Scapu l a,

whom the Emperor C laudi us s en t over i n the

year A .D . 49, and who, find ing the nat ives in

clined to i nsurrec t ion,di sarmed those whom he

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I O4 C/ESAR IN KENT.

the Bri t i sh States,bring ing in thei r submiss ion ,

and so l i t t le d id he expec t a hos t i le recep t ion ,that he entrus ted to thei r hands his fai thful a l ly

Comins who was probably of Bri t i sh extract ion ,and had great au thori ty both i n that country and

in Gaul,i n order that h i s p ersuas ions migh t

induce the remain ing s tates to submi t to the

Roman power. He therefore confident ly ap

proached the shore abou t the fourth hour of the

day,that i s abou t t en o’clock in the morn ing .

To h i s surpri s e he behe ld the armed forces of

the enemy drawn up on all the h i l ls ; whose

darts and other miss i l es hur led from the h igh and

commanding cl iffs at once conv inced him of the

extreme danger of attempt ing to land on so con

fined a shore. A landing,however

,mus t be

effec t ed,and that the same day . Caesar could

not wi thou t loss ofau thori ty submi t to the humi

liation of return ing wi th al l h i s vess el s to the

coas t ofGau l . Nor cou l d he wai t t i l l the next

day wi thou t afford i ng greater opportun i ty of

res i s tance to the enemy . He at once summoned

V olusenus to h i s a id . He enqu i red of h im how

far the cl iffs extended,and whether beyond them

CE SAR’S LAND ING - PLACE . I 0 5

the shore offered fac i l i t i es for a safe land ing ofh i s

troops . Having ascertained from h im that abou t

s even mi les farther a long the coas t there was an

Open and leve l shore where he could on more

equal t erms meet the enemy,he cal l ed together

the l i eu tenants and tribunes,and hav ing in formed

them ofwhat he had learned from V olusenus and

of h i s own p lans,he admon i shed them that hi s

orders should be carr i ed out immediate ly upon a

s ignal being given (ad natamet aa’

tempos), s ince

nav a l matters requ i red rap id and vari ed move

ments . Hav i ng d i sm i ss ed them,he wai ted t i l l

abou t hal f- pas t three o’c lock,when the t i de and

wind were both i n h i s favour,and then gave the

s ignal to weigh anchor. Proceed ing abou t s even

m i l es along the shore,and hav ing pass ed, accord

ing to D ion Cass ius,

“ a lofty promon tory,

” wh ich

wi thou t doubt was “ the south foreland,”

he

s tat i oned hi s vessel s “ near an open and level

shore . ”

Now i f i t be admi t ted that Cre sar s et sa i l

from Bou logn e and firs t approached the shore at

Dover,i t becomes a mat ter of s impl e calculat ion

to determ ine the shore on which he l anded . H e

I 0 6 CE SAR I N KENT.

s tates that he wai ted t i l l the t ide and wind were

at the same t ime favourab le,that i s

,he wai ted t i l l

abou t half- pas t three o’c lock i n the afternoon (“ ad

monam horam when the t ide had turn ed and

flowed i n the same d irect ion as the wind was

blowing,and then set sai l . Now we have a lready

seen that the wind was b lowing up channe l i n a

sou therly or sou th - westerly d irec t ion,and that it

was a s teady cont inuous breeze which d id not

change,s i nce i t was not t i l l the fourth day after

these event s that the eigh teen transports w ind

bound at Ambleteus e were re leased . Napo leon

has given Hal ley’s calculat ion to show that the

t i de wou l d al so begin to flow in the same d i rect ion

abou t half- pas t three of the 2 5 th Augus t B C . 5 5 ,

A .U . C . 699. H i s argumen t,wh ich mus t be con

sidered as a whol e,i s as fo l lows . He firs t proves

that th i s was the day on which Caesar landed .

“ The y ear of the exped i t ion ,” he say s

,

“ i s known

by the Consu l at e of Pompey and Crassus ; i t

was the year A . U . C . 699. The nzontb i n wh i ch

the departure took p lace i s known by the fo l low

ing data derived from ‘ the Commentari es .’ The

fine season was near i t s end Ex iqua pars

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I 0 8 CE SAR I N KENT.

the fu l l moon of the month of Augus t 699 ;now th i s phenomenon

,accord ing to the astrono

mica l tab les,happened on the 3 I st, towards three

o’clock i n the morn ing. On the eve, that i s on

the 3 oth, the t empes t had occurred. Four days

had passed s ince the l and ing . Th i s takes us

back to the 2 6th. Cae sar then landed on the

2 5 th of Augus t . M r A i ry,it i s t rue

,has in

terpreted the t ex t al together d ifferent ly from our

exp lanat ion ; he be l i eves that the express ion‘pos t d i em quartam

’ may be taken i n Lat in

for ‘ the th i rd day ;’

on the other hand he

doubts i f Caesar had in h i s army almanacks by

which he cou l d know the exact day of the ful l

moon ; las t ly, as the highes t t ide takes p lace a

day and a hal f after the ful l moon,he affirms

that Caesar,p lacing thes e two phenomena at the

same momen t,must have been mi s taken

,e i ther

i n the day of the ful l moon or i n that of the

highes t t i de ; and he conc ludes from th i s, that the

l and ing may have taken p lace on the second,

th i rd, or fourth day before the fu l l moon .

Our reason ing has another bas i s . Let u s firs t

s tate that at that t ime the sc i ence of as tronomy

CE SAR’S LAND ING - PLACE. 10 9

permi t ted peopl e to know certa in epochs of the

moon,s ince

,more than a hundred y ears before

,

during the war agains t Pers eus,a tribune of the

army of Paulus Emilius announced on the prev ious

day to h i s sold iers an ec l ip s e of the moon,in

order to coun terac t the effec t of their super

stitious fears . Let us remark al so that Caesar,

who subsequen t ly reformed the cal endar,was

wel l i nformed i n the as tronomical knowledge of

h i s t ime,a l ready carri ed to a very h igh poi n t of

advance by H ipparchus,and that he took

espec i a l in teres t i n i t,s i nce he d i scovered by

means of water c locks,that the n ights were

shorter in Bri tain than in I taly . Everyth ing,

then,authorises us i n the bel i ef that Cre sar

,when

he embarked for an unknown country,where he

migh t have to make n ight marches,must have

taken precaut ions for know ing the cours e of the

moon,and furn i shed h imsel f w i th cal endars .

Bu t we have put the ques t ion independent ly of

thes e cons idera t i on s,by s eek ing among the day s

wh ich preceded the ful l moon of the end of

August A . U . C . 699, which was the one i n which

the sh i ft ing of the curren ts ofwhich Caesar speak s

I I O C/ESAR I N KENT.

could have been produced a t the hour ind icated

in the commentari es .“ Supposing then the fleet ofCaesar at anchor at

a d i s tance of ha lf a mi l e oppos i t e Dover, as i t

experi enced the effect of the sh i ft ing of the

curren ts towards half- pas t three in the afternoon,

the ques t ion becomes reduced to that of de

termining the day of the end of the month of

Augus t when th i s phenomena took p lace at the

above hour. We know that in the Channe l the

s ea produces,i n ri s ing and fal l ing

,two al ternat e

curren ts,one directed from the wes t to the eas t

cal l ed flux (flot), or curren t of the ri s ing t ide ;the other d irec t ed from the eas t to the wes t

named reflux (jusan t), or curren t of the fal l ing

t i de. In the sea Oppos i te Dover,at a d i s tance of

hal f a mi l e from the coas t,the flux begin s usual ly

to be sens ib l e two hours before h igh t ide at

Dover,and the reflux four hours after .

SO that,i f we find a day before the fu l l moon

of the 3 I st Augu s t 699, on which i t was h igh

t ide at Dover,e i ther at hal f- pas t five i n the after

noon or at m id - day,that w i l l be the day of land

i ng ; and further, we shal l know whether the

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I I 2 C/ESAR IN KENT.

Th i s op in i on,however

,wi l l not be hazarded by

any who know the accuracy wi th which modern

astronomers are accus tomed to arr ive at resu l t s .

Nor has another Obj ect ion which may be

urged,name ly

,that the changes of the coas t of

Bri tain may have produced an a l t erat ion i n the

t ides,any real importance. The change of coas t

l in e wou ld certain ly affec t the d i rec t i on of the

curren ts of the ocean,bu t i t wou l d have no ap

preciable effec t upon the t ides . A s a matter

of fac t,a change i n the shore i s cont inual ly

going on,and the sand banks are con t inual ly

sh i ft ing wi thou t caus ing any al t erat ion of the

t ides . 1

1 I n corroborat ion of th is th e fo l low ing inc iden t, of wh ichthe au thor has been informed on good au thori ty, may be mentioned. Some twenty - s ix years ago the au tho rit ies of theT r i n i ty House in st i tu ted an exam i nat ion w i th regard to th epos i t ion of the variou s buoys wh i ch had been p laced on themarg in of th e sands round the sou th - eastern coast

,espec ia l l y

of the Goodw in Sands . I t so happened that a sen ior p i lotofDover, who in h i s you th had been p resen t when the buoyswere or ig i na l ly p laced, was summoned to attend a l so on th i soccas ion , as h e had been the p ri n c ipa l cause of attent ion be ingdrawn to th i s subjec t. The resu l t of the enqu i ry was statedby h im to be as fo l lows. Th e sands had in creased so much

CE SAR’S LAND ING - PLACE . l I 3

Napo leon’s luc i d argumen t respect ing the

d irect ion of the t ide when Caesar qu i t t ed Dover

has been in troduced becaus e i t he lps to confirm

the s tat ement that he sai l ed from thence in the

d irect ion of Deal . But,as has been al ready

seen,i t i s not necessary for the es tabl ishment of

thi s fact,the other data connected w i th both h i s

firs t and second exped i t ion clearly prov ing that

he sai l ed i n a northerly d i rect ion .

I t remains then on l y to show that Deal

answers to C ze sar’s accoun t of h i s l and ing - p lace

both in respec t to i t s d i s tance from Dover,and in

respect to h i s descr ipt ion of i ts shore . We aga in

transcribe from Napol eon’s narrat i ve a descr ipt ion

of the coas t and i t s su i tab leness for the l and ing of

troops,as v i ewed from a mi l i tary poin t of v iew .

“ The c l iffs which border the coas t s of Eng l and

towards the southern part of the coun ty of Ken t

towards the shore that the buoy s had to be removed more thana qua rte r ofa m i le

,to be p laced i n a depth of water equa l to

that in wh i c h they had orig i na l l y been fixed . These c hanges ,a l though they may ha ve p rodu ced some va r iat ions in the direet ion of the c u rrents

,h ave made no a l terat ion i n the t ides , the

tab les for ca l cu lat ing wh ich,can st i l l be confident l y re l ied upo n

for accu ra cy .

I I 4 CE SAR I N KENT.

form from Fol kes ton e to the cas t le of Walmer a

vas t quarter of a c i rc l e,convex towards the sea

,

abrupt on near ly al l poin t s they presen t several

bays or creeks as at Fo lkes ton e,at Dover

,at

S t M argarets,and at Oldstairs

,and

,d imin i sh ing

by degrees i n el evat ion,terminat e i n the cas t l e of

Wa lmer. From th i s poin t , proceed ing towards

the north,the coas t i s flat and favourab le for

land ing to an exten t of s evera l leagues .

The country s i tuat ed to the west Of Wa lmer

and Deal i s i ts el f flat as far as the v i ew can reach,

or presen ts on ly gent le undu l at ion s of ground .

We may add that i t produces,i n great quan t i t i es

,

wheat ofexcel l en t qual i ty,and that the nature of

the soi l leads us to bel i eve that i t was the same at

a remote period . These d ifferen t cond i t ions ren

dered the shore of Walmer and Dea l the bes t

p lace of landing for the Roman army .

“ I t s s i tuat ion,moreover

,agrees fu l ly wi th the

narrat i ve of ‘ the Commentari es . ’ In the firs t

exped i t ion,the Roman fleet s tart ing from the c l iffs

of Dover,and doubl ing the poin t of the South

Foreland,may hav e made the passage of seven

m i l es in an hour. I t would thus have come to

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I I 6 CE SAR I N KENT .

The date of th i s documen t i s not known,bu t

s ince Camden,who pub l i shed h i s “ Bri tannia in

I 5 86 , says that i t had then d i sappeared from the

cast l e wal l s,but was preserved i n some papers in

wh i ch i t had been transcribed,i t mus t have been

of very great ant iqu i ty .

N ennius,also a very anc i en t wri t er

,p laces

Cae sar’s l and ing at Deal,i f the passage “ Cae sar

ad Dol e bel lum pugnavit (Caesar fought a bat t l e

at Dol e) i s correc t l y transcr ibed, of which theres eems some doubt . But Leland certa in ly accords

to Dea l th i s honour i n h i s Cygnze a Cantio, in

wh i ch he says

Jac tat D e l a novas celebris arc'

es,

Notus Cte sariis l ocus trophasis.

”

wh ich Camden thu s trans l ates

A nd lofty D e le’s proud towers are shownWhere Caesar’s trophies grace the town .”

W i th regard to the rema ins of Roman en

trenchments i n th i s p lace Camden says : “ Jus t

upon thi s shore are ridges for a long way together

l ike so many rampi res,which some suppose the

w ind has swept together. Bu t I fancy i t has

been a fence,or rather a s tat ion or sort of sso

CE SAR’S LAND ING - PLACE . I I 7

camp, wh ich Caesar was ten days and as many

n igh t s i n mak ing,to draw into i t h i s shat tered

sh ip s,and so secure them both agains t t empest s

and a l so agains t the Bri tons,who made some

at tempt upon them,bu t wi thou t success . F or I am

told that the i nhabi tants cal l th i s rampire Rome’s

work,as i f one shou ld say

,

‘ the work of the3 ”Romans . I t may be tha t in thi s descript ion of

r idges supposed by some to have been thrown

up by the wind,Camden i s referring to the

sandh i l l s which s tretch from Sandown Cast l e to

Pegwel l Bay,and of wh ich M r Pri tchard

,a loca l

au thor,has g i ven the fo l lowing in teres t ing accoun t

i n h i s “ History of Deal “ The mounds of

sand that abound i n Deal i t i s presumed are al l

art ific ial,and thrown up by manual labour . The

encroachment of the sea of lat e years has brought

the sandbanks much nearer the sea than formerly .

For ages there ex i s ted,abut t ing t o the sea

many acres of boulders or s tones wh ich the

wash ing of the t ide has removed . The fac ing of

the shore at thi s spot resembl ed that at Walmer

Cas t l e . Some early wri ters have supposed Ca‘sar’

s

Naval Camp to have been in these sandh i l l s ,

I I 8 CE SAR I N KENT.

that i s the old Haven midway between Deal

and Sandwich,and that the sand mounds were

cal led the work of the Romans . That thes e

mounds have been brough t together by the

force of the wind i s very improbab le . From

whence cou ld the h i l locks come ? Sure ly not

from the sea,nor from the long range of marsh

l and runn ing on to M ins ter,nor from the h igh

ground ofUpper D eal and Northbourne,as all

th i s l and in al l l ike l ihood was covered wi th trees .

The pract ice of rai s ing mounds of earth over the

remains of the dead was the custom of a very

early period . Homer i l l us trates i t by say ing,as

trans lated by Pope :

S tern as he was—he yet revered the dead ;Preserved h i s rad ian t arms from host i le spo i l ,An d l a id h im decen t on th e funera l p i le,Then ra ised a moun ta i n where h i s bones were bu rnedThe moun ta i n nymph s h i s ru ra l tomb adorned.

’

“ Some forty years ago,a labouring man

,i n

d igging for sand,di scovered two Roman vases

contain ing a great quan t i ty of co in—a c i rcum

stance l ead ing to the concl us ion that the Romans

buri ed thei r dead in these hi l l s when they had

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I 2O CfESAR IN KENT.

accoun t : “ Deale,hal f a my le fro the shore of

the s ea—a F inssheher villiage, three my les or

more above Sandwic,i s upon a flat shore

,and

very open to the se,wher i s a fos se or a great

bank,art ifici al

,betwix t the town and s e

,and

beginne th abou t D eal e, and runneth a great way

up towards the Cly se , i n as much that sum

suppose that th i s i s the p lace wher Caesar

landed . Surely the fosse was made to keep ow t

ennemy es ther or to defend the rage of the s e or

by the cas t ing up beche and pible .

Mr Pri tchard remarks as fol lows concern ing

th i s fos se,thus described by Lel and

,and the

anc i en t town ofDeal : “ I t i s supposed by some

wri ters that Upper and Middle Deal was the

town described,part icul arly as Lel and cal l s

“ Deal e ” a vi l l age,which mean t i n those early

t imes houses and bu i l d ings s tanding together

wi thou t being enclosed or protected by a w al l

surrounding it—as we can s ee the remains of

such defences at Dover and Sandwich . The

val l ey of D eal,now named Lower S treet . was in

that s tat e so as to abut the sea i n 1 60 0 . The

s ingulari ty of thi s t rench between Beach S treet

CE SAR’S LAND I NG - PLACE . I 2 I

and West S treet has caus ed cons iderab le enquir i es .

The foss e or di tch described by the hi s tori an

Leland,leads to the concl us i on that i t i s art ific i al

thrown up as a fort ificat ion to defend the in

habi tan ts from any at tack by enemies on l anding

on the shore . Thi s t rench commences at the

south end of the town,t erminat ing at the north

end by Peter S treet . Our ances tors in bu i ld ing

the N ew Town of Lower Deal never con tem

plated the t ime coming of i t s extens ion to the

degree i t has now atta ined . Had that been done

when the trade and commerce increased in the

t ime of E l i zabeth,wh i ch l ed to the sett l emen t of

sea - faring peop le on i t s s ea marg in,the faci l i ty of

drainage would have been the firs t cons iderat ion,

and prov i s ion made for i t ; bu t as i t i s now,i t

must so remain,for to fi l l the val l ey up for the

purpose of dra inage wou ld des troy the bes t part

of the town .

”

Th i s accoun t,wr i t t en in 1 864, proves tha t the

vest iges of Cmsar’s en trenchmen ts at Dea l were

then eas i ly t raceabl e ; nor are there want ing at

Walmer even now rema in s of ear thwo rks wh ich

may have formed part of h i s nava l camp,or ad

1 2 2 CE SAR IN KENT .

vanced ou tpos t s i n connect ion w i th i t,for “ round

Walmer Church,

” says Mr Pri tchard,

“ which

s tands at the south end of the v i l lage,on a ri s e i s

a deep fosse,and there are other v i s ib l e s igns of

en trenchments at H awkeshillClose,near the Cas t le

to the sou thward,and on the p lace ca l led Dane

P i t ts,on the Old down not far di stant .” And

,

indeed,the very name of the p lace “ Walmer

,

”

anci en t ly cal l ed “Wal l mare ” “ quas i val l um

mar i s,

” as an old wri ter exp la ins i t,suffici ent ly in

dicates the exi s t ence formerly of an extens ive

for t ificat ion or sea - wal l . Nor must we omi t to

ment ion that between the two downs or hi l l s ides

at Kingsdowne , near Walmer, were the remains

of an anc i en t camp,of which place Darel l says

,

that i t was in our earl i es t h i s tory cal l ed “ Roman

Codde,

” and by the common peopl e “ Romny

Coddy,wh i ch he expla ins to mean “ the fort i

tude of the Romans . ”

di s tan t to have formed part of Caesar’s naval

This pl ace i s too far

camp,bu t i t may have been an anc i en t Bri t i sh

s tronghold taken by the Romans i n thei r incur

s ions from the camp,and so assoc i at ed wi th thei r

name .

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I 24 CE SAR I N KENT .

or Severus,may be readi ly conceded . In fact i t

i s not improbabl e that the three camps at Rich

borough,Fo lkes tone

,and F i ndon

,were thrown

up by Au l us P lau t i us,who

,as D ion Cass ius

narrates,

“ di v i ded h i s forces in to three por

t i on s,les t al l arr iv ing at one p lace he migh t

be preven ted from land ing .

” What i s more

l ikely than that he chose for d i sembarking1hi s army the three most ce l ebrat ed ports

1 Au l u s P laut ius was sen t Over by C laudiu s w i th a doub leconsular army of men , at the i nstigat ion of Bericus

(or V ericus), a B rit i sh ch ief who h ad been d i spossessed ofhiste rr i tory . H i s land ing was unopposed

,the B r i ton s be ing

engaged in i ntest ine wars, and unabl e to comb i ne (as Bericushad i nformed C laudius) for the defen ce of the i r coun try.Geoffrey of Monmou th and Matthew ofWestm inster makeh im to have landed at Caer - Per is (Po rtc hester), bu t thei rwho le story of the even t seems fabulou s. F rom the ac coun tof h i s voyage by D ion Cass iu s, Pl au t i us would appear to havesa i led

,perhaps w i th the ma i n d i v i s io n of h i s army, in a wester l y

d i rec t ion,and we find h im defeat i ng the D obuni (the inhabi

tan ts ofGloucestersh i re), bu t w hether he landed at Portchesteror (as

“ Caesar’s camp,” near F i ndon , wou l d suggest) atAdurni i s un cer ta in . I t seems l ike l y , however, tha t P lau t i us,hav ing so l arge an army at h is command, that he cou ldd i v ide i t

,wou ld detac h some port ion to occupy the Kent i sh

shore,where the Roman s under Jul i u s Cassar had p rev ious l y

estab l i shed themse lves, and w i th th i s i ntent where could h e

CE SAR’S LAND I NG - PLACE . I 2 5

adj acen t to thes e p laces,name ly the Portus

Rutupinus, Lemanis,and Adurni

,the neares t

port s (wi th the except ion ofDover, wh i ch Ju l ius

Cae sar had found to be unsu i tab l e for land ing)to the coas t of Gaul . Pos i t ions taken up by

Au l us P lau t iu s i n the name of the Emperor

C laudius would be more l ikely to be ca l l ed

Cae sar’s camps than those assoc i at ed wi th the

exped i t ions of Ju l i us Caesar,for the Romans

accorded the conques t of Bri ta in to C laud ius

Cazsar rather than to the great founder of that

have landed bette r than a t Rutupium (R ic hborough), andL emanis (Lymne ) ? Al though we read of n o con questsmade by h im i n Ken t, S ueton i u s seems to ac coun t for th i sw hen he says that “ a pa rt of the i s land su rrendered w i thou tthe hazard of a batt l e or the shedd i ng of b lood .

” ThatA u lus Plaut i u s occ up ied Ken t i s rendered probable by thes ta temen t of D ion Cass i us, that C laud i us , w hen summonedby h i s genera l

,c rossed over to B ri ta i n

,and at once marched to

[be 7 6am“ . Thi s he cou ld not have done w i th suc h confidence had he not known that Plau t i us had p rev ious ly occupiedthe coun t ry th rough w h i ch he would pass .W i th regard to Be 1icus, th e au thor wou ld men t ion , a s a

co i nc idence of name, bu t w i thout found i ng any a rg ument uponi t,that there i s in the pa ri sh of B ridge

,nea r Canterbury

,a

p lace former l y ca l led Be reac re,now G reat and L i tt le Barake r,

and tha t the very an c ien t road lead i ng to i t is known loca l lyas Be ricus

’

s road .

”

1 26 CE SAR I N KENT.

fami ly .

“ Claudius,says Seneca

,

“ might firs t

glory i n conquer ing the Bri tains,for Jul i us Caesar

no more than showed them to the Romans,and

other Roman wri ters have used s imi lar l anguage,

some even assert ing that Ju l i us Caesar turned hi s

back upon the Bri tons . With regard to the

expedi t ion ofAulus P lau t i us,i t i s certa in that i t

was carri ed out i n the emperor’s name,for he

had s tri c t inj unct ions when any d ifficu l ty aros e to

send for C laudius . He of cours e took care that

at the r ight Opportun i ty the emperor shou ld be

summoned,and by th i s preconcerted pl an the

honour of the conques t was transferred from the

general to the emperor h imself,who was

accorded a magnificen t tr iumph -on hi s return to

Rome,and recei ved the appe l l at ion of Bri tann i

cus . I s i t not therefore extremely probabl e that

Aulus P laut i us,knowing h i s mas t er’s ambi t ion

,

and perhaps hav ing rece ived i nst ruct ions from

him to do so,cal l ed each of the three camps

wh ich he fort ified after l anding h i s troops,as i f

p i tched in the emperor’

s name,Cae sar’s camp

However th i s may be,or whatever Roman

emperor may have g i ven them their name,i t i s

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CHAPTER IV .

CE SAR’S FIR ST EXPED IT ION . EARLY

EN COUNTE RS W ITH TH E BR ITON S .

HE even ts ’connected wi th the l anding

of Cae sar on the shores ofBri ta in,

the gal l an t res i s tance he met wi th,

the hero i sm and succes s of hi s

so ldiers,and the subsequen t d isas t ers wh i ch led

h im to leave the i s l and for a t ime,form on e

of the mos t in teres t ing and s t irring pages of

hi story .

When Caesar loosed h i s vesse l s from thei r

anchorage at Dover,the Br i tons

,perceiv i ng h i s

des ign to land further a long the coast,hav ing

s en t forward caval ry and chariots,fol lowed c losely

wi th thei r rema ining forces , and endeavoured to

CE SAR’S F IRST EX PED ITION . 1 29

preven t hi s d i s embarkat ion . From the lofty c l iffs

between Dover and Deal the scou t s of thei r

army cou l d no doub t watch the progress of h i s

ves sel s,wh i le the main body of the Bri tons came

by a shorter and eas i er rou t e along the in land

val l ey. That they were abl e to reach Deal i n

t ime to oppose h i s l anding affords s trik ing t es t i

mony not on ly to the rap idi ty of thei r movement s,

bu t to the excel l ence of the road s over which

they travel l ed .

I t must,however

,be borne i n mind that Cae sar

,

being imperfec t ly acquain ted wi th the coas t and

the t ides,chose an unfavourab le t ime for the

at tempt to l and h i s vessel s,and so gave longer

t ime for ral ly i ng to the enemy . Accord ing to

the computat ion of Dr Ha l ley,Leverri er, and

others,he l eft Dover on the afternoon of the

a5 th of Augus t B C . 5 5 , A .U . C . 699, on wh i ch

day the moon woul d be at the ful l and the t ide

at i t s h ighes t,and spring t i des a t abou t e leven

o’

clock i n the forenoon . Consequent ly as he

probably reached the shore a t Deal abou t an

hour after he set sa i l from Dover,that i s a t

about four o’c lock P .M.

,on ly two hours remained

I 3 0 CE SAR I N KENT .

before i t was l ow water,and

,as h i s sh i p s pro

bab ly drew eigh t or t en feet of water,he wou l d

not be ab l e at the ebb,and duri ng spring t ides

,

to bring them nearer than 1 0 0 0 feet to the shore .“ There was great d ifficu l ty ,

” he says,

“ becaus e

the vesse ls on accoun t of thei r s i ze coul d not be

s tat ioned excep t i n deep water . But the so ldi ers,

oppressed wi th the great weigh t of thei r arms,

ignoran t of the ground,and wi th the i r hands

encumbered,were obl iged to l eap from the sh ips

,

and to engage the enemy stand ing clos e i n the

waves ; wh i l e they on the other hand, ei ther

from dry land or hav ing advanced a very l i t t le

in to the water,wi th a l l thei r l imbs perfect ly free

,

were boldly hur l ing darts from p laces wi th wh i ch

they were wel l acquaint ed,and urg ing on horses

inured to the serv i ce . Cae sar find ing h i s men

d i smayed and d i sorgan i zed by th i s unaccus tomed

manner of fight ing,ordered h i s long - boat s or

gal l ey s to be rowed a l i t t le di s tance from the

transports,so as to at tack the open flank of the

enemy,and to di s lodge them from thei r pos i t ion

by s l ings and arrows and other mi s s i l es . This

manoeuvre was of great serv ice,for the Bri tons

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1 3 2 CE SAR IN KENT.

wh i l e the Bri tons,knowing the sha l lows

,when

ever they behe ld from th e shore any of the

enemy di sembark ing from thei r vesse ls,at tacked

them,encumbered as they were

,from thei r

chariot s driven at fu l l sp eed in to the water,

many thus surround ing a few,wh i l e others

hurl ed darts from the open flank on the main

body of the enemy .“ On seeing th i s

,Cae sar ordered the boat s

belong ing to the gal l eys,and the spy - boats

,

to be fi l led wi th sol d i ers,and sen t them to

help those whom he saw d i s tress ed . By thu s

bringing into act ion al l h i s res erve forces,he

at l ength revi ved the droop ing courage of

hi s l egions,and the Romans hav ing ga ined the

shore,and the i r d i sc ipl ine being res tored

,they

made a s imu l tan eous attack upon the Br i ton s

and put them to fl ight . They cou ld not,

however,pursue them v ery far

,owing to the

vessel s w i th the cava l ry hav i ng been unabl e to

gain the i s land through contrary winds . In thi s

on e part icu lar h i s usual good fortune had fai led

Caesar. ”

Such i s the account g i ven i n “ the Commem

CE SAR’

S F IRST EXPED IT ION . 1 3 3

taries of th i s memorab le engagement,i n which

were so consp icuous ly di sp l ayed the bravery of

the contending forces,and the Ski l l and watch

fu lnes s of the great genera l who d i rect ed the

at tack . An inc i den t of remarkab l e heroi sm i s

recorded by Va leriu s Max imus 1 as hav i ng

occurred during the bat t le,wh i ch i t i s importan t

to not i ce,as i t afford s corroborat ive ev idence

that the Shore at Dea l was the scene of the

encounter . The account , as trans l ated by

N apo leon,i s as fol lows “ A certai n l egionary

,

C te s i us Sete va, hav ing thrown h imse lf in to a

boat w i th four men,reached a rock

,whence

wi th hi s comrades he threw m i ss i l es aga ins t the

en emy ; but the ebb rendered the space between

the rock and the l and fordab l e . The barbarians

then rushed to them in a crowd . H i s com

pan ion s took refuge i n thei r boat ; he, firm to

h i s pos t,made an heroic defence

,and k i l led

severa l of h i s enem i es ; at las t, hav ing h i s th igh

t ransp i erced wi th an arrow,h i s face bru i sed by

the b low of a s tone,h i s he lmet broken to p ieces

,

h i s buckler covered wi th hol es he trusted h imi n Val. Max

.

” I I I - i2 3 ~

I 3 4 CE SAR I N KENT .

se lf to the mercy of the waves,and swam back

towards h i s compan ions . When he saw h i s

gen eral,i ns tead of boas t ing of h i s conduc t

,he

sough t h i s pardon for return ing wi thou t h i s

buck ler. I t was,in fact

,a di sgrace among the

anc i en ts to lose that defens ive arm ; bu t Cee sar

l oaded him with pra i s e,and rewarded him wi th

the grade of a cen turion .

” The same exp loi t i s

recorded by EutrOpius from some p ieces of

Sueton ius now l os t . Camden gi ves the fol lowing

tran sl at ion of the passage : “ Scaeva,

one of

Cae sar’s sold i ers,and four more wi th him

,came

over before in a l i t t l e sh ip to a rock near

the i s land,and were there l eft by the t ide .

The Bri tons i n great numbers fe l l upon thes e

few Romans ; yet the res t Of h i s compan ion s

got back again . S t i l l Scaeva cont inues un

daunted,overcharged wi th weapon s on al l s ides ;

firs t res i s t ing them wi th h i s spear,and after

wi th h i s sword,

figh t i ng there s ing le agains t a

mu l t i tude. And when he was at length both

weari ed and wounded,and had had h i s helmet

and buckl er beat ou t of h i s hand,he swam off

wi th two coats of mai l to Caesar’s camp where

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I 3 6 CE SAR IN KENT

en emi es d i d fiercely assa i l them there, Cae sar

then s tand ing to v i ew the bat t l e, he saw a private

sol di er of h i s thrus t i n among the captains , and

figh t so val i an t ly i n thei r defence,that at l ength

he drove the barbarous peop le to fly,and by th i s

means saved the capta ins,who otherwi se were i n

great danger of being cas t away . Then th i s

soldi er be ing the h i ndmos t man of all the

captai n s,march ing wi th great pain through the

m ire and d irt,half swimming and hal f on foot

,

i n the end got t o the other s i de,bu t left h i s

sh i e ld beh i nd h im . Caesar,wondering a t h i s

nob le courage,ran to him wi th j oy to embrace

h im . Bu t the poor so ldi er,hang ing down

h i s head,fe l l at Caesar’s feet

,and besought him

to pardon h im,for that he had left h i s target

behind h im .

”

Now i t i s ev iden t from the foregoing accounts

that the s tory of Sc ze va’s exp loi t was rel ated wi th

cons iderab l e vari e ty of c ircumstance ; i n fac t i t

wou ld appear from P lutarch’s account that Scee va

was not the name of the hero of the brave deed

i n Bri ta in,bu t of a somewhat s imi lar adven ture

at Dyrrach ium. There were,no doubt

,many

CE SAR’S F IRST EXPED IT ION . I 3 7

deeds ofdaring re lated of the so ld i ers i n Caesar’s

army,fires ide s tori es passed from mouth to mou th .

A s i s usua l wi th such accounts,the detai l s of the

d ifferen t s tori es became confused, the name of

the hero of one bei ng assoc i ated wi th another,

each s tory growing in marve l as i t travel l ed,unt i l

i t was d ifficu l t to d i s t ingu i sh the substratum of

t ru th upon wh ich the narrat ive was founded .

The s tory,however

,as recorded by the three

h i s torian s s eems to be genera l ly the same,namely

,

that one of Cae sar’s sold i ers,after a desperat e

encoun ter s ingl e - handed wi th s everal of the

enemy on a rock near Caes ar’s land ing - p lace,at

las t escaped wi th many wounds and the loss of

hi s target,for wh ich he as ked Cce sar’s pardon

and was made a cen turion . The rocks ment ioned

by Val er i us Maximus and Sueton iu s as the

scen e of th i s encoun ter may St i l l be seen a t low

water during Spring t ides a t Deal . They are

known as “ the Malms,

” and are oppos i t e the

naval yard and marine barracks . “ There are

other rocks,

” say s M r Pri tchard,

“ at a greater

d i s tance from th e shore,which the boatmen in

running ashore can feel wi th thei r oars when th e

I 3 8 CE SAR I N KENT.

t i de ebbs to a great exten t . I t i s no uncommon

th ing for co ins and va luab le art icles to be p icked

up from off thes e rocks,and the rocks mus t

have exi s t ed for many years pas t jus t as they

I t may be added that there are

no sucb rocks at any of those other local i t i es

now are .’

wh i ch have been named as the scene ofCae sar’s

d i s embarkat ion .

The dec i s ive bat t l e by wh ich Caesar effec t ed

the l anding of h i s troops was succeeded by a

temporary peace . Ambassadors were s en t to

Caesar by the conquered Bri ton s,prom is ing the i r

submi ss ion,and tha t hos tages shou ld be sent

,i n

assurance of thei r future good behav i our. With

these came Comius,the Atrebatian

,whom Cae sar

had sen t before h im i n to Bri ta in . In waging

war wi th the Bri ton s Caesar re l i ed as much on

intrigue and br ibery as h e did on sk i l l and

the bravery . of h i s t roops . The A t rebates,a

Be lgic peop l e,hav ing been conquered

,Cae sar

made Comins a regulus or p et ty king over them,

and knowing h i s i nfluence wi th the Atrebatian

co lony in Bri tai n,and wi th the Bri ton s general ly

,

he sen t h i m thi ther before he i nvaded the country,

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140 CE SAR I N KENT .

excused the treatmen t he had recei ved,and con

t en ted h imse lf wi th demanding a large number of

hos tages,of which some were surrendered at

once,and others prom i sed from more di s tan t

parts .

The peace thus conc luded was des t ined to be

of short durat ion . The fourth day after Caesar’s

arriva l i n Br i ta in a change of wind took p lace,

wh ich enab led the e ighteen transport vesse l s w i th

the cavalry to l eave the port (Ambl eteus e), andthey were at l ength wi th in S ight of the nava l

camp (at Deal), when the shi ft ing wind was suc

ceeded by so v i o l en t a t empes t that not one of

them cou l d hol d i ts course . Some were dr iven

back to the p lace whence they sai l ed,others to

the coas t of Cornwal l,whence

,after s ecuring for

a t ime safe anchorage,they even tual ly sai l ed back

to the Cont inen t .

The tempes t,however

,occas ion ed more ser iou s

d i sas ter to Caesar than the d i sappoin tmen t at

not rece iv ing h i s caval ry . His vesse l s ly ing at

anchor near the Shore were many of them com

pletely wrecked, and even hi s gal l eys which

were beached,the moon being at the fu l l and the

CE SA-

R’

S F IRST EXPED IT ION . I 4 1

t i de consequen t ly very high,were fi l l ed w i th

water,so that

,hav i ng made no prov i s ion for a

win ter campaign,and hav ing no mean s at h i s

command for repai ring h i s vesse ls,he was re

duced for a t ime to a s tat e of comp lete help

l essnes s .

S eeing the desperate cond i t i on of the Romans,

and j udging them to be few in number from the

smal l nes s of thei r camp (for Cae sar, hav ing no

heavy baggage wi th him,had confined h i s encamp

men t wi th i n narrow l imi ts),the princes who had

jus t made peace wi th Cae sar,hav ing conferred

together,dec ided to renew the war . They

thought that by protract ing i t i n to the win ter,and preven t ing al l supp ly of prov i s i ons to the

Romans,they would so subdue them that no

fore ign foe would hereafter ven ture to invade

thei r country . Hav ing therefore la id the i r p lan s

they l eft the camp one by one,and w i thdrew

the i r men from the fields .Cae sar

,a l though as y et he had no knowledge

of thei r in ten t ion,neverthel es s from the i r ceas ing

to br ing hos tages,su spect ed they were plott ing

some m i sch i ef. He at once prepared for every

142 CE SAR I N KENT .

emergency . H e brough t i n each day the corn

from the fields,and by u s i ng the mater ial of

those vessel s wh i ch were completely Shat tered,

was abl e so to repa i r the others which had sus

tained less damage, that , twe l ve being broken up ,the res t were rendered seaworthy .

Meanwh i l e the Bri tons were not s low i n carry

ing out thei r des ign . Having reaped the corn

everywhere except i n one local i ty,they laid an

ambush by n ight i n the woods adj acen t to th i s,

so that when the seventh leg ion of the Roman

army came there to forage,they rushed out upon

them unawares,and hav ing s lai n some

,threw the

res t i n to confus ion by surrounding them wi th

caval ry and chariots . The dus t c aused by these

movements having attracted the not i ce of the

guards on stat ion before the camp,they reported

the matter to Caesar. He,taking wi th h im the

cohorts that were i n advanced pos i t ions before

the camp,at once wen t to the rel i ef of h i s men .

His arrival both rev i ved the courage of hi s own

sold i ers,and arres ted the ons laught of the enemy .

Caesar,however

,does not c la im to have won a

v ictory . He he ld hi s ground , but deemed it ia

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144. CE SAR I N KENT.

t ime bore down and comp le ted the success of the

charge. The u tmos t efforts of the Roman genera l

fai led to remedy the confus ion wh ich ensued . In

vain he threw h imsel f i n to the melee. The di s

order and mingl ing of the. troops was i rretri evab le .

His voice was los t in the tumu l t and d i n Of the

fie ld The eagl e i t se l f was borne down,and

Cae sar i n covering i t w i th h i s body was assa i l ed

by N ennius. The sword of the great Roman

buri ed i t se lf in the Sh i e l d of the Bri t i sh prince,

and before he cou l d extr icat e i t,the t ide ofbat t l e

separated the combatants,l eav i ng the weapon a

trophy to be long afterwards exhibi ted to the

i nhab i tants of Caer Tro ia . Cae sar p erformed al l

that an abl e genera l or intrep i d so ldi er cou l d do

to recover the honour of the day . But fortune

and superior Ski l l were both agains t h im . Al l

that he could succeed i n effect ing was to preven t

the Bri t i sh army en tering the camp wi th the

rou t ed remain s ofhi s own l eg ions . ”

In endeav ouring to ass ign the local i ty of th i s

engagemen t there are certa in part iculars men

tioned i n Cae sar’s h i s tory which wi l l ass i s t us .

Fi rs t,the batt le was fought ou t of v i ew of the

CE SAR’

S F IRST EXPED IT ION . 145

camp,the dus t on ly caus ed by the s trife being

v is ib l e from the gates . Secondly,i t was fought

upon arabl e land,wi th woods c l ose by

,i n which

the Bri tons lay i n ambush . Th i rd ly, there were

s tat ion s of the Roman army i n the di rect ion of

the batt l e- field,from wh ich Cae sar drew h i s

t roops when advanc i ng to the rel i ef ofh i s s eventh

l egion . Taking thes e fac t s in to cons iderat ion,i t

s eems probabl e that the bat t le was fough t in the

ne ighbourhood ofRingwou ld and Mart in M i l l . I t

wi l l be remembered that the Bri t i sh forces which

Opposed Cae sar’s landing had come from D ov er .

They do not s eem to have been drawn from d i s

tan t part s,but were for the most part local forces .

When defeated they wou ld therefore natural ly

ret i re i n the di rect i on whence they came,so as

,i f

necessary,to fal l back upon the i r former s trong

pos i t ion at Dover . Thus R ingwou ld and the

ne ighbourhood of M art in H i l l wou l d l i e on the i r

d i rec t l in e of retreat . Th i s pos i t ion moreover

accords wel l wi th the deta i l s of the h i s tory . Fo r

i n the firs t p lace,it i s so s i tuated that the r i s ing

ground between i t and the shore wou l d preven t

the actual combat being seen from the camp,bu t

K

146 CE SAR I N KENT .

yet i t i s not so far di s tant,bu t that the dus t rai s ed

by the manoeuvres of the chariots and caval ry

wou l d be eas i l y not i ced by the guards before the

camp . Second ly,the c ountry in l and from Deal

was described by Cae sar as a pl ain and open

shore,and to the pres en t day i s s ingularly barren

of trees,whi l e on the other hand the arab le land

between Ringwou ld and M art i n Mi l l i s sk i rted

by the cons iderab l e woodlands of Oxney,which

div ide i t from the Shore . In thes e are the

remains to al l appearance of an anci en t Bri t i sh

Oppidum and chario t road,and the l and bears

every ind icat ion of hav ing been covered wi th

trees from a remote period . Th irdly,as men

tioned by Mr Pri tchard i n hi s h i s tory of Deal,

there were in h i s t ime at K i ngsdown , between

Caesar’s camp and Ringwould, the traces of a

Roman encampment which bore local ly the name“ Roman Codde (the fort i tude of the Romans).

Cmsar would be very l ikely to form an advanced

pos t at thi s spot, for the l i t t l e val l ey at K ings

down,forming a break in the l ine of c l iffs

,wou l d

otherwi se presen t a favourab l e opportun i ty for

the Bri ton s to approach by the s eashore and

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148 CE SAR I N KENT .

down,he wou l d have th i s advan tage

,that h i s

suppl i es would be protec t ed from the observat ion

of the enemy by the l ine of c l iffs be tween

Walmer and K i ngsdown .

In confirmat i on of the s i t e we have named

being the scene of the at tack by the Bri tons on

the foraging troops of the Romans,and the

s l aughter of many of them,i t may be ment ioned

that in the cons truct ion of the Dea l and Dover

Ra i lway a number of Roman urn s,Samian and

other ware,have been recen t ly di scovered near

Mart in Mi l l,some of wh i ch are i n the possess ion

of the owner of the adjoin ing property,M r

Wi l l i am Banks ofOxney Court . Many of these

certa inly belong to a subsequen t period to that of

Ju l ius Caesar,bu t i t wou ld on ly be in accordance

wi th a genera l cus tom i f the ground consecrated

by the burial of thes e early Roman heroes who

fe l l i n the firs t i nvas ion of the coun try,was

afterwards u sed as a Roman cemetery .

The subsequen t even ts connect ed with Cae sar’s

firs t exped i t ion may be bri efly narrated .

“ For

many day s i n success ion,he tel l s us

,

“ t empes

tuous weather prevented both armies from re

CE SAR’S F IRST EX PED IT ION . 149

suming host i l i t i es . Th i s, at leas t, may be regarded

as Caesar’s excus e for h i s own i nact iv i ty . The

Bri tons,however

,were not id le. Th i nk ing to

dri ve the comparat ive ly smal l force of the in

vaders from thei r camp,and so for ever to free

themse lves from them,they despatched mes

sengers i n al l d irect ion s, and hav ing col lect ed a

l arge mul t i tude both of i nfantry and cavalry,they advanced towards the camp . The i ssue of

the bat t l e that fo l lowed was such as m igh t be

expect ed,when an army gathered hast i ly from

al l part s at tacked a wel l - di sc ipl ined force defended

by a fort ified pos i t ion . Caesar’s leg ions were

drawn up i n array before hi s camp,and the i r

rear being thus secured from attack,they fought

wi th such confidence and intrep id i ty,that the

Bri tons speedi ly gave way . They were pursued

to some d i s tance by the Roman sold i ers,and

Caesar being now in posses s ion ofsome th i rty hors e

wh ich Com ins,the A trebatian

,had brought over

to Br i ta in w i th h im,the rout was compl et e.

The brave but over - matched defenders of the i r

coun try were many of them s la in , and the i r rude

hab i tat ions destroyed . The i r chi efs were fa in to

I 5 0 CE SAR I N KENT .

s ecure peace by promis ing tw ice the number of

hostages that Cae sar had before required .

The great Roman general,al though in the end

v i ctoriou s,had l i tt l e caus e to congratu l at e h imself

upon the resu l t s of h i s exped i t ion . With a

shat tered fleet,and an army largely reduced in

numbers,he was compel l ed to return to the con

tinent,not hav ing gained suffi c i en t foot ing in the

country to ma inta in hi s pos i t ion through the

com ing winter”Such ‘ hardly

dis t ingu i shab l e from a defeat,and a l though a

thanksg iving of twenty days was decreed by the

S enate in hi s honour,there were not want ing

thos e who dec lared hi s exped i t ion a fai lure and

a di sgrace,and charged him Open ly wi th t urn ing

h i s back upon the v ic tor ious Br i tons .

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1 5 2 CE SAR I N KENT.

not hold h i s cours e,but was carr i ed too far by

the t ide,and at daybreak found that he had left

Bri ta in on hi s l eft hand . The t ide chang ing, he

endeavoured to ga in by rowing that part of the

i s land where he had found the prev ious summer

a l and ing could be bes t effected . In thi s he was

much ass i s t ed by the pra i seworthy endurance of

hi s sol di ers in the transports and heavy boats,who

by thei r unrem i t t ed exert ion s i n rowing kept pace

wi th the long and l ighter vesse l s . Thus Bri tain

was approached by a l l the vess el s abou t mid - day.

No enemy,however

,was seen at the p lace of

landing . Cae sar s tat es,that he subsequent ly

l earned from the pr i soners that great bands Of

the Bri tons had assembled there,but that be ing

terrified by the number of h i s vessel s (wh i ch

w i th those bu i l t the prev ious y ear and the

pr ivateers amounted to more than they had

wi thdrawn to the h igher grounds .

The reason Cae sar here g ives for h i s land ing

being unopposed hardly accords wi th the brave

and fear l es s character which the Bri ton s had ex

hibited at h i s prev ious invas ion of thei r coun try .

A more probabl e reason,about which Cae sar

h imself i s natural ly s i l en t,i s furn i shed by the

CE SAR’

S SECOND I NVAS ION OF BR ITAIN . I 5 3

Welsh,or rather Bri t i sh

,hi s tory of the transact ion .

According to thi s accoun t,Caesar

,prior to h i s

firs t i nvas ion ofBr i tain,had

,through the medium

of Comins,opened secret connnunications wi th

A varwy or Androgeus,son of the las t sovere ign

,

Lud,and regarded by a powerfu l fact ion as the

righ tfu l hei r to the throne . 1 A secret treaty

1 Thi s t ra i to r has been iden t ified w i th Mandubratius, aB rit i sh Ch iefta i n

,men t ioned by Cae sar as hav i ng formed an

a l l ian ce w i th h im . The unpopu lar i ty of A varwy w i th thegreat mass of the people was marked by the st igmat ic name ,Da- bradw r ” or

“Mandubrad”

(the B l ack Tra i to r). Thereare, however, some d ifferences between the Cambr ian accoun t OfA varwy and Cae sar

’s accoun t ofMandubratius. A ccord ingto the former, A varwy was the son of the last sovere ign , L ud .

Caswallon, after h i s e lec t ion to the P endragonate o r m i l i ta ryd i c tatorsh ip of the who le i s land , t reated A varwy as h i s ownson, g i v i ng h im Ken t and the who l e terr i to ry between theThames and the Wash for h i s p ri n cedom

,and appo i n t i ng h im

a l so governo r of L ondon . To h i s brother, Tenuantius, h ea l so ass igned the dukedom of Cornwa l l . Cae sa r, on the otherhand , say s of Mandubratius

,whom h e ca l l s the you th Man

dubratius, that he was the son of lmanuentius, who hadobtai ned the ru l e over the count ry of the '

I’

1' inobante s (the

d i st ri c t n ow compr i s ing M idd lesex an d E ssex ), and had beenk i l led by Cassive llaunus. Mandubratius h imse l f escaped deathby fl ight . Mandubratius, accord ing to Cae sar, came to h im i nGau l , and i t wou ld appea r accompan ied h im to B r i tai n i n hisse cond exped i t ion , for we fi nd from the subsequen t h i sto rythat, after Cae sar had defeated Cassiv e llaunus a t the Thames ,

1 5 4 CE SAR I N KENT .

was formed between them,by wh i ch

,i n return

for Cae sar’s support,Avarwy engaged, on the

depos i t ion of Caswallon (Cassivellaunus), toho ld the kingdom as a tribu tary of Rome .

The i l l succes s of Caesar’s firs t exped i t ion pre

and had c rossed that r i ver, the Trinobantes sen t ambassadorsbegg ing his p rotec t ion for Mandubratius from the injust i ce of

Cassivellaunus, and that he wou ld send h im to rule Over them .

The two account s a re no t a l together i rrecon c i lable . Eachdesc r ibes the person spoken of as a youth , and the son of aformer sovere ign the one stat ing that h i s father’s name was“ Imanuentius,

” the other men t ion ing that h i s bro ther boret he very s im i lar n ame , Tenuantius.

” I f A varwy in the oneaccoun t i s ident ica l w i th Mandubratius in t he o ther, i t i sprobab le that the southern port ion of the terr itory or ig ina l l yass igned to h im by Cassivellaunus had been taken from h imth rough dist rust of h i s loya l ty , and that, Smart ing under th issupposed i njust i ce, he wen t over to Caesar i n Gaul , hop ing torega in h i s author i ty by t ra i torou s l y br ing ing over th e greatRoman conqueror to his ass i stan ce . We are led to th i s suppos i t ion by the We l sh accoun t, wh ich s tates th at A varwy hadcommand on ly over the Coranidae , or Coritani, who inhab i tedsome of the m idlan d coun t ies, and by Cae sar’s own s ta tementthat the T rinobantes requested h im to resto re Mandubratius

to h i s former ru l e over themse l ves . Cae sar wou ld n atu ra l lysuppress the fac t th at Mandubratius had depa rted from h imi n Gaul in order to retu rn and p lay the tra ito r i n Br i ta i n ,and th at i t was th rough h is t reachery that he was afterwardsab le to land h i s army an d conquer th e Br i to ns .

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I 5 6 CE SAR I N KENT.

courage of her own ch i ldren . The ins idious

advi ce preva i led . The counc i l reso lved “ that i t

was beneath the d igni ty of the nat ion s of the

Bri tons to defend thei r coun try otherwi se than by

the might of manhood,and that the landing of the

Cae saridae be unopposed .

”

The mot ives wh i ch actuated Avarwy i n giv ing

thi s fatal adv ice were not on ly that he might

enab le Caesar to land h i s army,but that he migh t

draw the Bri t i sh forces in to a pos i t ion at wh ich he

coul d wi th safety desert wi th h i s forces to the

Romans . The seque l wi l l show how he after

wards carri ed out th i s trai torous i n ten t ion.

But let u s proceed w i th Caesar’s narrati ve.

The army,

” he says,

“ being set on shore,and

a proper p lace chosen for the camp,when Cae sar

l earn t from the capt ives i n what p lace the forces

of the enemy had pi tched,hav ing l eft ten cohort s

and 3 0 0 horse by the sea as a guard to the

vess el s,he h imsel f

,at the th i rd watch of the

n ight,advanced towards the enemy

,hav ing l i t t le

fear for h i s vessel s,because he was leav i ng them

at anchor on a smooth and open shore,and be

appoin ted over the guard for the vessel s Qiintus

CE SAR’S SECOND INVAS ION OF BR ITAIN . [ 5 7

A tri us . Aft er a n igh t march of about twelve

mi les,he came m sight ofthe forces of the enemy .

”

We may remark here that Cae sar,notwithstand

i ng h i s own s tat emen t to the contrary,mus t have

obtained very accurat e informat ion as to the

movements of the Bri t i sh forces,to have ven tured

on a march of twelve mi l es by n ight in an enemy’s

country,and that too on the same n ight on wh ich

he landed . The h i l ly ground between Dea l and

Dover 1 wou l d have afforded a favourabl e pos i t ion

from which an enemy encamped there m ight have

at tacked hi s rear ; and had he not ascerta ined to

a certa inty that there were no Bri t i sh forces in

the neighbourhood,i t would have i l l accorded w i th

h i s u sual prudence to have ventured w i th the

greater part of h i s army so far from hi s base of

operat ions,l eav ing on ly t en cohort s (equal to one

l eg ion) and 3 0 0 hors e as a protec t ion to hi s ships ,and at the ri sk of hav ing h i s retreat cut off. He

te l l s us indeed that he l earned the di spos i t ion of

l The traces of fort ified pos i t ions may be fou nd a t Wa lmernear the o ld Chu rch

,and at Oxney . A s before s tated

,a t the

latter p lace , abou t m idway between Dea l and Dove r there a rethe rema i ns of what was ev iden t ly a we l l - fo rtified B ri t i shopp idum .

I 5 8 CE SAR I N KENT .

the enemy’s forces from the cap t ives,and we

know that Caesar usua l ly took wi th h im in h i s

marches the capt i ves taken in prev iou s engage

ments,and that he had taken many capt ives i n

h i s previou s invas ion of Bri tain Bu t thes e

cap t i ves could not have informed h im as to the

enemy’s presen t pos i t ion ; and a few s tragg lers

cap tured,even i f he found any (which i s hardly

l ike ly) immediately upon land ing on the beach at

Deal,cou ld not be rel i ed on to give accurate in

format ion as to the movement s of the Bri t i sh now

more than twe lve mi les di s tan t . On the con

trary , Cae sar’s rapid mov ement sbow s tbat be bad

a preconcerted scbenze,an accurat e know ledge of

the enemy’s p lan s,a defin i te unders tand ing wi th

some secret al ly,such as we find from the Bri t i sh

accoun t he had w i th Avarw y .

I t w i l l b e neces sary to be more di scurs i ve

in our commen ts upon Cwsar’s hi s tory of hi s

progress from thi s po int,for one of the princ i pal

obj ect s of these pages i s to trace the course

of h i s army during the nex t tw o day s, as

marked out by h i s torical , local , and tradi t ional

knowledge . After h i s march of twe lve mi les

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CE SAR I N KENT .

along an are,the two extreme po in t s ofwh ich

are at K i ngs ton and Li tt l ebourne . Napol eon

inc l ines to the opin ion that K i ngs ton was the

place where the two arm i es firs t jo ined bat t le,as

answer ing bes t to the descript ion in “ the Com

mentaries a l though he adm i t s i t to be doubt

fu l whether that or L i t t l ebourne was the firs t

bat t l efield . From traces of encampments wh ich

s t i l l rema in,there i s every reason to bel i eve

that CE sar’s army advanced towards both these

local i t ies . In march ing from the coas t,espec ia l ly

the scene of the ac t ion to render the passage d ifficu l t fo rcava l ry . Moreover S tu rry i s fi fteen and not twe lve m i lesfrom the coast ofD ea l . ”

There is,however

,every reaso n to be l ieve that the lesser

though not so w ide an d deep in - Cae sar’s t ime as topreven t the passage of cava l ry , was former l y a very muchw ider Stream , an d more worthy the des ignat ion of flumenthan i t i s a t th e presen t day . Among the autho ri t ies whohave wr itten on th is subj ec t the fo l low i ng from the Rev .Bryan F aussett may be quoted I n th e bottom

,between

the v i l lage ofK i ngston and these tumu l i , (referr i ng to n umerou stum u l i on Barham Downs ,) th ere i s wh at i n th i s part ofKen ti s common l y ca l led an A y lebourne , Nay lebourne, or r ivu let,wh i c h though i t i s not now - a- day s a constan t bu t occas iona lstream

,yet certa i n l y was i n former ages by no means unworthy

the name of a r i ver. A nd such i ndeed i t i s at th i s day , atthe sma l l d i stance of bu t a m i le lower

,namely to the north

CE SAR’

S SECOND INVAS ION OF BR ITAI N . 1 6 1

dur ing the n ight,Cae sar wou ld not s tr ike out into

the open country,but would fol low the cours e of

the anc i en t Br i t i sh road,probab ly that wh ich may

st i l l be t raced,and wh ich tradi t ion refers to an

early per iod,from the S trand at D eal pass ing

west where i t s t i l l reta i n s the name of the Lesser S tou r, andwhere i t i s se l dom or n ever d ry, bu t con tinues i ts cou rseth rough B i shopsbourn e, Br idge, Patricksbourne, and Bekesboume, t i l l at l ast i t j o ins th e greater S tou r. Up to wh i ch l astmen t ioned p lace (v iz . , Bekesbou rne) there was, i n the t ime ofEdward I I I . and long after

,a sma l l n av igat ion ou t of the

G reate r S tou r. A n d as a p roof of th is A y lebourne hav ingbeen muc h deeper an d broader than i t ever now is, I myse l f saw the She l l s of musse l s turned p lent ifu l ly out of th eground i n d igg ing a ho l e for a post at the d i stance of a t leastten rods from i ts p resen t chan ne l

,and at the perpend i cu la r

he igh t o f n o less than th ree feet above i t s usua l leve l .” I tmay be added that the G reater S tou r must have a l so beenm uc h w ider i n the t ime of Caesar than i t i s now . I t empt i edi tse l f i n to the W antsum, an d was p robab l y t ida l a s fa r a sCanterbu ry . Thi s i s ind i cated by the geo log i ca l aspec t of thesu rrou nd i ng land

,and i t may be men t ioned i n confi rmat ion

that the ske leton of an o x i n an upn'

ght pos i t ion , as i f submerged wh i le stand ing i n the r i ver

,was some yea rs ago dug

ou t of the meadows nea r Can terbu ry . I t i s certa i n then thatCae sa r cou ld not have c rossed the S tou r a t S tu rry (as D rGuest and others con tend that h e d id ) w ithou t ex per ienc i ngcon s i derab l e difficu l ty

,espec ia l ly for his cava l ry . Th i s wou l d

be con trary to w hat h i s Commen tar ies ” imp ly was the case .

I 6 2 CE SAR I N KENT.

through Upper Deal,Knowl ton

,Goodneston

,and

Adisham . Proceeding wi th al l h i s forces by th i s

road as far probab ly as what i s now known as

Ad i sham M i l l,a remarkab ly e levated s i tuat ion

,

he descri ed the Bri t i sh forces,where indeed from

the i nformat ion of Avarwy he had expected to

find them,l i n ing the cres t of the hi l l (descr ibed i n

“ the Commentar i es ” as “ superior locu s from

Garr ington (near Li t t lebourne) on h i s right hand,to probab ly the par t of Barham Downs oppos i t e

Br idge and B ishOpbourne on h i s l eft . Th i s was

the best pos i t ion which the Bri tons cou l d poss ibly

have chosen for the purpose of arres t ing the

progress of an army march ing upon Caer Cain t

(Canterbury) for the h i l l s there are h igher than

any others in the immed iate n e ighbourhood,

vary ing from 1 90 to 1 2 0 feet above the s ea

l evel,as shown by the depth of the wel l s .

We may assume that Caesar,in accordance wi th

h i s usual tact ics,deploy ed h i s forces, after de

scry ing the enemy,in three d iv i s ions

,so as the

more read i ly to extend them in l ine of bat t l e,

the vanguard mov ing to the r ight towards

Garr ington,forming the r ight wing of h i s army

,

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1 64 CE SAR I N KENT .

Cae sar’s progress before be r eacbed the ri ver,

rather than after pass ing i t,may be inferred from

the fo l lowing passage from P omponius Sabinus,out of Seneca “ “ And in the n ight marching

twelve m i l es up in to the country,Cae sar find s out

the Bri tons,who r etr eated asfar as tbe riv er

,bu t

gave h im batt l e there . ”

The bat t l e was a terr ibl e one,but dec i s i ve .

The Roman caval ry,of which there were 1 70 0

(3 0 0 on ly out of the 2 0 0 0 brought over by

Cae sar hav ing been l eft at the nava l encampmen t

at Deal), compl ete ly routed the enemy, and drove

them into the woods . The r ight w ing of Caesar’s

army encountered no res i s tance,for at Garr ington

i t i s probab l e that A varwy and h i s Coranidae

were s tat ioned,and these at once des erted to the

Romans . A gal lan t res i s tance,however

,was

offered by the Br i tons,who had sought refuge in

the woods . “ Be ing repu l s ed,

” says Cae sar,

“ by

our caval ry,they withdrew themse l ves into the

woods,and reached a place excel l en t ly fort ified

both by nature and art,which they had prepared

before on accoun t,as i t s eemed

,of some domest ic

war,having c losed al l the approaches to i t by

CE SAR’S SECOND I NVAS ION OF BR ITAIN . 1 6 5

fel led t imber. They, few in number,

1 defended

i t from the woods,and prevented our men from

entering the fort ificat ions . The so ldiers of the

seventh l eg ion,however

,having formed a torto i s e

,

and thrown up a mound aga ins t the fort ificat ions,

took the p lace,and dr ove them from the woods

,

a few wounds hav ing been recei ved .

”

The woods here ment ioned s t i l l to a cons ider

ab le exten t remain . Beyond them,along the

brow Of the h i l l look ing towards Canterbury,i s

the green spot,so cal l ed in the Br i t i sh narrat ive

of the bat t l e,—now known as Patrixbourne H i l l .

I t has been a buri al - pl ace of many generat ions .

Bri t i sh,Roman

,Saxon

,Danish warr iors here

doubt l ess l ie S i de by s ide,each nat ion

,in accordance

wi th an un iversal cus tom in those early t imes,

1 The words of Cae sa r, “ ips i rar i prOpugnabant ex s i l v i s ,m igh t be t ran s lated

,They in sma l l detac hed part ies defended

i t from the woods ; ” bu t th i s render ing does not seem toagree w i th the statemen t that the B ri ton s fou nd protec t ion i nan opp idum , a l l the approac hes to w h i c h had been closed.

That the Roman s found i t necessa ry to th row up a moundaga i n st the rampa rt proves that the d ifficu l ty i n tak ing i t a rose

,

not from th e oppos i t ion of sma l l part ies ou ts ide , bu t from thestrength of i ts defen ces

,and from the obst inate res istance of

i ts gar ri son .

166 CE SAR IN KENT .

regarding a place Of s epu l ture once s et apart as

devoted for such u ses in perpetu i ty . These p laces

were general ly on the h ighes t ground of the neigh

bourhood,and near the publ ic roads . 1 The ground

of Patrixbourne H i l l,except where roads have

Si nce intercepted i t,has no t been d i s turbed for

many centuri es . I t i s s t i l l “ the green Spot,the

chalky subsoi l present ing no inducement to the

agr i cul turi s t to d i sturb i t w i th the p lough .

Thus has nature preserved the S i t e of the fight

for l iberty SO gal lan t ly made by our Br i t i sh fore

fathers . Through the woods and down the green

S lope of Patrixbourne H i l l,the Bri tons over

powered by numbers fled,and were pursued

,many

be ing cu t down in the ir fl ight . A b rave few,how

ever,for some t ime arrested the ons laught of the

enemy. A Bri t i sh Thermopylae was found in an

anc i ent Oppidum 2 prepared for purposes Of de1 Many very i nteresting spec imens of an c ien t pottery, and

g l ass,brazen

,and other o rn amen ts, as we l l as i ro n spear heads

and swords,w ith human rema ins, were dug up some years ago

on Patrixbou rne H i l l . They be longed to va riou s periods.Some have been depos i ted in the Ma idstone and Can terburymuseums

,and an in terest i ng co l lec t ion has been ca refu l l y pre

se rved at B ifrons , the res iden ce of the Marqu i s Conyngham .

2 Caesar (v . 2 1 ) say s : The Br ita i ns ca l l that a n opp idum

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I 68 CE SAR I N KENT.

bears the name of “ O ld England’s Hole or

hol low,and has alway s been assoc iat ed by local

t rad i t ion wi th some gal lan t but ineffectual defence

of the ear ly inhabi tants of the country agains t

the ir invaders . “ N ever forget,my son

,

” sa id the

father of h im whose researches and sugges t ions

have done so much to insp ire the wr i ter of these

pages,

“ never forget that th i s i s ‘O l d England’s

Hole,

’ and that here a las t s tand was made for

l iberty by your Bri t i sh forefathers . ” An ex

am inat ion of “ O l d England’s Hol e affords

abundan t confirmat ion of th i s trad i t ion . I t s

s i tuat ion i s j us t where we m ight expect to find

the opp idum ment ioned in the hi s tory.

“ Thi s

p l ace,says Napol eon

,

“ mus t not be sought for

far from the scene Of the firs t encounter ;”

“ England’s Hole ” i s on ly a few hundred yards

from the local i ty where we have p laced that

encounter,and from the outsk irt s Of the woods

into wh ich,Cae sar says

,the Br i ton s ret ired . I t s

s ize i s such that whi l e i t was a form idab le s trong

hold,i t m ight eas i ly be defended by a few men .

The rampart and ditch by which i t was sur

rounded may s t i l l be t raced . An agger or

CE SAR’S SECOND I NVAS ION OF BR ITAIN . 1 69

mound (probably that thrown up by the Roman

sold i ers,as i t i s ev ident ly not part of the fortifi

cat ions of the p lace,but thrown up as i t were

agains t them from w i thout) St i l l rema ins as

i f to prove the accuracy of Caesar’s narrat ive .

Cros s roads,traces of wh ich may st i l l be s een

w i th in fifty yards of the enc losure,afforded the

garri son of the Opp idum a ready means of

escape if necessary . One espec ial ly,the anci en t

Roman Watl ing S treet,bu t before that in al l

probab i l i ty a Bri t ish road,runs clos e to the

enc losure,below the modern road by wh ich

Br idge H i l l i s now ascended . Numerous trees,

g iving i t the appearance of an anc i ent grove ,afford some ind icat ion of what i t s s trength must

have been when to t rees,the progen i tors of

these,were fastened and interlaced the fel l ed

t imber by which,as we read in “ the Com

mentaries,i t was rendered yet more impregnabl e .

Nor are there want ing other proofs of a s t rugg l e

having t aken place at th i s spo t . When the

presen t road on Br idge H i l l was dug out in 1 829

five or s i x Roman urns,

1 wi th s ix o r e ight humanl These u rn s a re thu s a l l uded to i n the report of the first

meet i ng , at Canterbu ry , of the A rchaeo log i ca l A ssoc iat ion

1 70 CE SAR IN KENT.

sku l l s,were d i scovered about five feet below the

surface,embedded in the chalk . The remains also

of a horse in a ferrug inous condi t ion were found

wi thin the oppidum by some boys abou t fifteen

years ago .

The few brave defenders of thi s Opp idum being

at length d i s lodged,the v ictory of the Romans

was ful ly assured and the rou t compl et e . C ircum

stances,however

,preven ted Cae sar from fo l lowing

up h i s advantage to i t s fu l l exten t .“ Cae sar

,

says the hi s tory,

“ forbade h i s men to fol low the“ I t i s remarkab le that th e h i ll above Bourne (cal led, from th en e ighbou ring v i l lage, Bridge Hi l l ), where th e S axon barrowsare found, appears to have been prev iou s l y a Roman cemete ry ;for abou t twe l ve years ago, when the n ew Dover road wascu t th rough i t, a number of Romano - B r itish u rns and ea rthenvessel s were d i scovered, w i th ske l eton s and fragmen ts of

weapon s,at a greater depth than th e Saxon graves. Some

of these u rn s, now i n the possess io n of M r W . H . Ro l fe ofS an dw ich , were exh ib i ted by that in te l l igen t an t iquary at th emeet ing of the p r imeva l sec t ion .” The Rev. J. H ughesH a l let

, of H igham , a l so possesses one of the u rn s. I n atumu l us abou t e igh ty feet from the Opp idum

,Lord A .

Conyngham (so the au thor i s i nformed by the workman whoopened i t for h im ) found , together w i th a human skul l an dbones

,a breastpl ate of s i l ver, a cu rved sword six in ches out

of l ine,two bronze shou lder- p i eces, four spear- heads, and a

wooden vesse l banded w i th bronze bands.

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1 72 CZESAR IN KENT .

th i s per iod,extraordinary exert ions had been

requ ired of them . They had set sai l from the

Portu s Itius at sunset,and the firs t n igh t had

been spen t in anx i ety upon an unknown sea,the ir

vesse l s be ing carr i ed out of thei r course by the

t ide . From daybreak of the next day unt i l noon

Caesar’s so ld iers were arduous ly emp loyed in row

ing the transports and heavy boats in order to re

ga in the ground they had lost,and to l and at the

des ired poin t of the shore . The res t of the day

had been occup i ed in dis embarking and securing

the ir vessel s . Another n ight fol lowed,i n wh ich

they were al lowed no res t,but marching for the

di s tance of twel ve m i l es,they hal t ed at daydawn

,

on ly to prepare for an immed iate and sharp ly

fough t con test,wh ich

,al though the rec i tal of i t

occupies on ly a br ief space in Caesar’s “ Com

mentaries,

” l as ted,w i th the subsequen t rou t and

pursu i t,t i l l the day was far spen t . Such unusua l

l abours,w i th the necessary duty s t i l l before them

of fort ifying the ir camp before they cou ld ret i re

for the n ight,mus t have rendered i t abso lutely

necessary,were there no other reasons for i t

,that

the troops shou l d be recal led from the pursu i t .

CHAPTER V I .

CE SAR’S SECOND I NV ASION . H IS FIRST INLAND

EN CA M P M EN T .

N s earching for the defences wh ich

Cmsar threw up after the v ictory

recorded in the las t chapter,and

wh ich were afterwards,dur ing h i s

absence at the p lace of d i s embarkat ion,more

s trong ly fort ified,we mus t not expect to find any

t races of stone bat t l ement s or wal l s of br ick . l t

i s certa in,

” says the Rev . john Batte le y , in h i s

H i s tory of Rutupium,

“ that C . Jul ius Ca‘sa r,

bo th because of the cont inual movemen t s of h i s

troops in war,and because of the bre v i t y o f h i s

s tay in our i s l and,l eft no camps excep t such as

were has t i ly thrown up,and cons truc t ed on ly of

turf and earth .

” M r Batte le y m ight have added

l 74 C/ESAR I N KENT .

that from thi s very fact the ves t iges of h i s

camps may be expected to be the bet ter preserved,

mounds and fort ificat ions of earth rema in ing clearly

defined,especial ly in chalky so i l

,as the sepu lchra l

t umul i i n a l l part s of the world t es t i fy,for many

cen turi es,long after bu i ld ings of s tone and br ick

have ent i rely d isappeared .

I t has before been s tated that the Roman forces

were probably,on Cmsar’s arr ival at Adisham Mi l l

or thereabout,extended in three d iv i s ions

,the righ t

w ing towards Garrington,the centre towards

Br idge H i l l,and the l eft w ing towards Char l ton .

That hav ing occupi ed the pos i t ions at these

local i t i es,they afterwards fort ified them

,i s

ev i denced by the rema ins of encampments and

l ines of earthworks s t i l l t raceabl e at these p laces .Le t u s v i s i t them in turn .

And firs t we bend our s teps to what may be

cal l ed “ the he ights of Garr ington . Pass ing

through the meadows at the backzofBekesbourne

Vicarage we are s truck by the unusual character

of the h i l l s to the r ight of us . Terrace ri s es

above terrace,sometimes three

,somet imes four or

five,succeed ing one another. Nature never

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1 76 CfESAR I N KENT.

run along the pol e,and to stand upon the yoke

,

and thence to get back in to the i r char iots wi th

very great rap id i ty .

” 1 The s tuden t ofHomer w i l l

recogni se in thi s descript ion a remarkab l e s im i

larity to the chariot sys tem of anc i en t Troy,and

The c har iot here desc r ibed by s ar was ca l led E ssedum (from the B ri t i sh E ss, a carr iage). I t carr iedsevera l warriors

,who were by i ts mean s en ab led to t ransport

themse lves to any pa rt of the battle where they could engagethe enemy w ith the greatest effec t, th e headlong career of th echar iots meanwh i le caus ing great d i sorder i n the enem ies’rank s.The char ioteers were ca l l ed essedarii.

”

The scy t/y ed c har iots, sa id to h ave been a l so in use amongth e B e lg i and Br iton s (Me la . , i i i . 6 ; Lucan , i . 42 6 ; S ilius,xv i i . were ca l led Cov i n i (from the Br i t i sh Cowain,a waggon), and the dr i vers , who appear to have been the i r so l eoc cupants, covinarii They h ad books or scy thes fasten edto the ax les and other parts of the c hariots

,and be ing dr iven

fur ious l y among the enemy, comm i tted great havoc , mow i ngdown a l l who cou ld not escape from them . We fi nd men t ionof them among some other nat ions . Thus the Nigritm arereported by F rontinus and S trabo to h ave u sed them i n th e i rwars

,and the Cy ren ian s

,a ne ighbou r ing peop le, de l i vered over

to Thimbro (i n the t ime of A l exander) ha l f of thei r armedc h ariots . A nt iochu s Eupator a l so i nvad ing Judaea, apparent l yw i th a G reek force (u. c . brough t w i th h im 3 5 0

c har iots . H irtius a l so (Be l l . A lex . , lxxv . ) states that scythedc har iots were emp loyed by Pharnaces aga in st Cz sar w ith greatefie ct O ur rank s be i ng not yet formed , th e scy thedc har iots d isordered and confused the so ld iers.”

cmsaa’

s F IRST INLAND ENCAMP M ENT . 1 7 7

W il l be d i sposed to regard w i th some in t eres t the

cl a im of the Br i ton s to be of Troj an descen t .

Agains t th i s mode of warfare the on ly effect ive

defence was an embankmen t so prec ip i tous that

the chario t s could not surmoun t i t,and accord

ingly al l Br i t i sh s trongholds were surrounded by

these s teep embankments very frequent ly,as at

Garrington,one abo ve another . Let us ascend

the “ he ights of Garr ington 1 along the course of

the old char iot road (characteri s t ic of al l Br i t i sh

Oppidai’

) wh ich l eads up to the inner rampar t .

1 Thi s name, accord ing to H asted , was former ly Ga rw i nton

,

” and i n the Domesday Su rvey was wr i tten VVar

I t i s reasonab le to suppose that i t took i ts o r ig i nw into n . ’

from its fort ified and command i ng pos it ion .I t may be obj ec ted that th i s and o ther s im i la r narrow

roads were bou ndar ies between d iffe ren t p ropert ies. I t i svery p robab le that they were so u sed

,bu t j udg i ng from

the i r breadth an d depth they certa i n ly cou ld not have beeno r ig i na l ly framed for that pu rpose ; nor can we i n th i s wayexp la i n the remarkab le fac t that to a l l B r i t i sh opp ida

,whe r

ever they a re found,s im i la r roads may a lmost i n va r iab ly be

t raced.Th e reason why o ld roads and esca rpments became

the bou ndar ies of estates i s not d iffic u l t to ass ign . W henpe tty Ch ieftai ns o r la i rd s estab l i shed themse l ves by r igh t ofconquest o r by sett lemen t upo n the so i l , and others began t osett le around them

,i t became necessa ry to d efi ne the i r estates

,

1 78 C/ESAR I N KENT .

Ascending by th i s winding road,wh ich commences

from the extreme l eft of the hi l l,we reach at las t

an open plateau,from wh ich we can survey the

country beneath us . Le t any m i l i tary man s tand

on th i s h igh ground and walk a long i t s whol e

l ength overlook ing the terraced bat t l emen ts,and

he wi l l at once acknow ledge i t to be a very com

mand ing pos i t ion . To h i s r igh t i s a cons iderab l e

exten t ofmarshy ground,even at the presen t day

,

a l though drained off i n d i tches,sometimes flooded

in winter. The l esser S tour,wh ich winds i t s

way through th i s marshy ground,was

,as we

have before remarked,at one t ime a much wider

s tream than i t i s now,and nav igabl e by vess el s

as far as Bekesbourne. I t i s certa in then that

the l and to the l eft of Garr ington was at the t ime

ofCaesar everywhere a morass,wi th a r iver flow

ing through i t . An army stat ioned on these

he ights wou ld therefore have no reason to fear

an at tack upon i t s r ight,and the l ines of earth

and they c la imed suc h boundar ies fo r the i r propert ies as theyfound to be a l ready ex ist i ng . Th us an c ien t roads and escarpments came i n t ime to be p lan ted w i th hedges or other landmarks

,the better to p reserve the l im i ts ofesta tes .

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1 80 CE SAR I N KENT.

bat t l e,

“ On 173 3 left”

(opposed therefore to the

Roman r ight)“ the bat t l e raged between Nennius

(a l eader of the Bri ton s) and the Coranidee .

”

The

Br i t i sh pos i t ion to the right of the marshy ground

below Garr ington i s i ndicated by the descrip t ion,

a l so from a Br i t i sh source,

“The Br i t i sh army occu

p i ed the open ground ”

(oppos i te the green s lope),i t s l eft wing under N ennius

,resting on amarsh ”

On the Garrington heights,therefore

,we may

assume that the Coranidae,of wh ich there were

under Avarwy , encamped after thei r

desert ion to the Romans,over look ing on thei r

right the marshy ground before descr ibed . F ear

fu l as to the consequences of thei r treachery,

they threw up,if not prev ious ly exis t ing

,thes e

formidabl e batt l ements wh ich no enemy cou ld

w i th impun i ty assa i l . Supported,no doubt

,by

a cons iderable Roman force,they were perm i t ted

,

be ing so numerous a body,to fort ify the ir camp

after the ir own manner.

Leav ing then Garr ington,w i th i t s garri son of

Coranidce,l et us next v i s i t Caesar’s own camp on

Barham Downs . That these downs were the

scene of Caesar’s firs t in land bat t l e and encamp

C/ESAR’S F IRST INLAND ENCA M P M ENT . 18 1

ment trad i t ion universal ly asserts,and we have the

d irec t s tatemen t recorded on the chart found i n

Dover Cast l e,that “ Caesar hav ing landed at

Deal,afterwards conquered the Br i tons on Barham

Down,a p la in hard by

,passab le for horses

,and

fi t to draw up an army in .

” A very superfic ial

exam inat ion of the ground wi l l show here the

traces of Roman encampments . The two h i s

torians who have g iven descript ions of Roman

cas tra are Polyb ius,who wrote about B . C . 140 ,

and Hyg inus,who wrote abou t A .D . 1 I O . Plans

of thes e two camps,the firs t of which was for

two leg ions,and the second for three l eg ions

,are

g i ven in Dr Sm i th’s “ D ict ionary of Ant iqu i t ies . "

The two plans d iffer as to the d imens ions and the

inter nal d iv i s ion s of the camps,but they have

certa in po ints in common wh ich we should there

fore expect to find in any Roman castra thrown

up between thes e two dates . These common

character i s t ics are firs t the rampart and d i tch

which formed the defence al l round the camp,ex

cept at the four gates ; s econdly , the interval lum

or in terven ing Space (in the camp of Polyb ius 2 0 0

feet,and in that of Hyg inus 60 feet) between the

l 82 CE SAR I N KENT .

rampart and the camp i ts elf; th i rd ly, the clearly

defined roads mark ing out the differen t d ivi s ion s

of the camp,and which crossed one another at

r ight angles . Examin ing the ground on Barham

Downs w i th the v i ew of trac ing these characteris

t i cs,we are unabl e to describe w i th certain ty the

boundary ramparts enclos ing the camp . F rom the

exten t of the ground apparen t ly used for the

purpose of encampment,there were probab ly two

l arge ob long castra of the shape of that of

Hyginus,the one extend ing along Barham Downs

oppos i t e Char l ton,the other at the wes tern

extremi ty of the Downs extend ing over part of

Bridge Hi l l,Bourne Park

,and perhaps the grounds

of H igham . Be th i s as i t may,

“there can be no

quest ion that the remarkabl e paral l e l l i nes,in

some p laces several exact ly 60 feet apart,i n

others 2 0, 40 , or 5 0 feet apart, w i th others in ter

secting at right angl es, formed the d iv id ing roads

or vi as of a Roman encampment . With the

except ion of these cl early marked l ines excavat ed

for m i l i tary purposes,and the trenches dug out

for the purpose ofdefin ing the race course wh ich

run in a d ifferent d irect ion to the l ines of the

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I 84 CzE SAR I N KENT .

invas ion s we do not read of any res i s tance be ing

offered in th i s immed iat e ne ighbourhood to the ir

incurs ions,except perhaps on one occas ion ,1 and

1 The except ion was the batt le ofMercredesburne , wh i c h ,as the s i te of i t has not been befo re c lear ly iden t ified ,i t w i l l be we l l to desc r ibe. Severa l ch ron ic lers of theA ng lo - Saxon period h ave recorded th i s ba tt l e . The fu l lestaccoun t i s th at g i ven by Hen ry ofH unt i ngdon in h is an na l s ofthe year A.D . 485 . After desc r ib ing the l and ing of Ae l laand his th ree son s Cymen, and W lencing, and Ci ssa, he says,“ Th e B r i ton s fled as far as the nearest wood wh ic h i s ca l l edA ndredeslige . Bu t the Saxon s occup ied the Sussex sea

sho re more and more,se iz ing fo r themse lves the land of the

boundary un t i l the n i nth year of t he i r com ing . Bu t thenwhen they had se ized too bo ld l y the d iscan t boun dary, thek ings an d sovere ign s of the Br iton s met a t Mercr edcréurne

,

and fough t aga i nst A e l l a and h i s sons, and the v i c to ry wasa lmost doubtfu l : for each army be ing thorough l y injured andth reaten ed

,cu rs i ng the attack of th e other, retu rned to the i r

own. A e l la therefo re sent to h i s compat rio ts demand i ng he lp . ”

The same even ts are thu s desc r ibed i n the Ang lo - Saxo nCh ron ic le —A.D. 47 7 .

“ Thi s year Ae l la an d his th reeson s

, Cymen, and W lencing , and Ci ssa, came to the land of

B ri ta in w i th th ree sh ips,at a p lace wh ich is named Cymenes

ora, an d there s lew many We l sh , and some they drove infl igh t i nto the wood wh i c h i s ca l led A ndredslea.

”A.D. 485 .

Th i s year Ae l la fough t aga in st the We l sh near t/ae bank qfMearcraea

'rlum.

”

F loren ce of Worcester a l so g ives th e fo l low ing accoun tA.D. 485 . Ae l l a i n a batt le w i th th e Bu' ton s nearMearcreder

C/ESAR’S F IRST I NLAND ENCA M PMENT. 1 85

the confl ict d id not then take p lace on Barham

Downs,or indeed on that s ide of the r iver S tour.

Canterbury was more than once ravaged by these

B urn, that is Mear crea": B rooé, s lew many of them ,

an d putthe res t to fl igh t .”

The batt le last l y i s thus desc r ibed i n the Ch ron i c l e of

F ab i us E thelwerd A e l l a arrived i n Br i ta in from Germanyw i th h i s th ree son s at a p l ace ca l led Cymenes - ora

,and pu rsued

the B r i ton s to a p lace ca l led A ldredesleage . After e igh tyears more the same ch iefs at tack the B r i ton s near a p laceca l led Mercreder - burnan- stede.

’

Now , i ndependen tl y ofany argumen t to be der ived from thename of the s i te of th i s batt le

,as i t is various l y g i ven by the

d ifferen t ch ron i c le rs,there i s reason to be l ieve that the coun t ry

to the west of the l esser S tou r must have been the scene of i t .F or the Saxon ch ron i c l e (see A.O. 893 ) states that the greatwood of A ndred ex tended from east to west 1 1 2 m i les o rlonge r, that i t was 30 m i les broad , and that the sea - port at theeaste rn end was L imene (L ymne ). I t is added that the riverL imene (probab l y the Rothe r)fiafw erl out of w ed /(1; so thati t i s ev iden t that the wood i tse l f extended st i l l further eastward ,and there i s therefore every reason to be l ieve that the e x ten s i vewoods ca l led A tchester, C ors l ey , and Wh i teh i l l , and otherwoods i n the ne ighbou rhood of E lham

,H ard res

,and Petham ,

were offshoots ofthe forest ofA nde rida or A ndredeswold.

Now accord i ng to the quo tat ion g i ven abo ve from H en ryof Hun t i ngdon , Ae l la , at h i s fi rst land i ng , p u rsued the B r i tonsi n to the wood of A ndred

,and then fo r e igh t years gradua l ly

en c roached upo n the la nd of the boundary a long the sea coast ,u n t i l at last ventu r ing too bo ld l y to se i ze the d i s tan t boundary

,

186 C/ESAR I N KENT .

devas tat ing hordes,but the ir approach to the c i ty

was e i ther from Rutupium or Lemanis, and after a

weak res i s tance at those p laces the ir progress was

pract ical ly unopposed,and was s imply a con t inued

he was stoutly res i sted by th e Bri t i sh , and compe l led to ret i rew i th i n h i s own l i nes . Now the mean ing of the above accoun tseems to be th i s : A e l l a, be ing unab le to dr ive the B ri t ishout of so immense a forest, con ten ted h imse l f w i th extend inghis conquests a long the sea coast, un t i l at last arriv ing at th eterm inat ion of th e wood, somewh ere to the east ofLymne , h even tu red in land , when h e was opposed by the B ri t ish at Merc raedsburn. Th i s, as we h ave Shown , wou ld p lace the scen eof the bat tle somewhere on the confi nes of the woodsA tchester, Wh iteh i l l , C ors ley and o thers , wh ich were theex treme eastward l im i ts of th e Fo rest ofA nderida.

B u t there i s other ev iden ce that th e scen e of the batt le wasi n th is n e ighbou rhood . Th e loca l i ty w here i t took p lace isva rious l y desc ribed by the d ifferen t ch ron ic lers as Mercredes

bu rn e,” near th e ban k ofMercraedsburn,

” nea rMearcredes

burne,that isMearcred

’s B rook

,

” and near a p lace ca l ledMercredes- bu rnan - Stede.” Now

,as there is no other brook

ou t s ide the eastern l im i ts of the wood ofA ndred ex cep t th eL esser S tou r, wh i ch takes i ts r i se i n the El ham va l ley, th isriver mu st, I imag i ne, be th e bu rn (or brook) here i ntendedand the term inat ion of th e n ame “ Mercredsburn

”seems to

con fi rm th i s,S i nce the Lesse r S tour was formerly ca l l ed th e

Burn ” (or as we may su re l y gather from thefac t that most of the vi l lages th rough wh i c h i t now passes,name l y

,B i shopsbourne, Pat rixbourn e , Bekesbourne, and L itt le

bou rne,reta in th e suffix bu rn or

“ bou rn e to the p resen t

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1 88 C/ESAR I N KENT .

tary encampment on these downs s ince the

Norman conques t i s thus recorded by Hasted

On these downs,anno 1 2 1 3 , K ing John en

camped wi th a m ighty army of men,to

oppose Phi l ip,King ofFrance

,who was march ing

to invade th i s k ingdom ; but P andulph , the Pope’s

l egate,who was then at the house ofthe Kn ight’s

Templars in th i s ne ighbourhood,s en t two of them

to persuade the k ing to come to him there,where

the K ing,in the presence of h i s pr inc ipal nob l es

and the b i shops,res igned hi s crown to the legate

,

as the Pope’s representat ive.” “ Here al so,i n

King H enry III.’S re ign,S imon Montford

,Ear l of

Leices ter,being dec lared general of their army by

the d iscontented barons,engaged a numerou s

army to Oppose the l and ing of (b een E l eanor,whom the k ing had l eft beh ind in France. The

downs were al so u s ed as a camp ing- ground in

1 642 by the army of the Caval iers a l so in 1 760 ,as appears from the fo l lowing entry in the Regi s ter

Book of Bur ial s,i n the par i sh ofBridge : “ John

Liv ingstone,a pr ivat e sold ier in Major- Genera l

J effery ’s R eg iment of Foo t (No . who was

acc idental ly ki l l ed by a bread or forage waggon

C/ESAR’S F IRST I NLAND ENCA M P M ENT . 1 89

belong ing to the camp at Barham Downs,go ing

over h i s body,whereby he was crushed to death

,

Aug. 1 7, In s t i l l l at er t imes the Br i t i sh

t roops were a l so here encamped in preparat ion

for thei r embarkat ion for the cont inent,prev iou s

to the bat t l e of !Vaterloo .

W i th regard to these var ious occas ions when

Barham Downs were occup i ed by troops,i t mus t

be observed that the encampments were on ly

t emporary : we have no record of any engage

men ts tak ing p lace,or of any escarpments be ing

thrown up for defens ive purposes . Barham

Downs being w i th in easy reach of the coas t,were

su i tab l e as a t emporary hal t ing- p lace for troops

about to embark for fore ign serv ice,or for pro

v iding a reserve force in case of the at temp t ed

l and ing of a hos t i l e army but we have no reason

to suppose that any ear thworks were thrown up

by the troops thus for Short per iods quart ered

there. Indeed the defens i v e strength of the o ld

Eng l i sh baron s lay rather in s ton e wal l s and

cast l es than in bat t l emen t s of earth and turf. The

fac t that these Downs have been used in la t er

years for m i l i tary purposes , so far from afford

190 C/ESAR I N KENT .

ing any argument aga ins t Ju l i us Caesar hav ing

encamped there,po int s them out rather as the

traditional camping -

ground which , fo l lowing the

examp l e of the Roman conqueror, success i ve

generat ions emp loyed in t imes ofwar .

Bu t we have yet another port ion ofCafsar’

s

encampmen t to descr ibe. The left w ing of the

Roman army,i nc lud ing the caval ry

,advanced

,as

before -men t ioned,i n al l probab i l i ty towards the

river at Char l ton,that being the neares t part of

the s tream where,after thei r twel ve mi les ’ n ight

march,they cou l d obtai n water for the horses .

After the v i ctory of the Roman army on Barham

Downs,the greater port ion of the l eft wing was

no doubt quartered wi th in the l i nes of one of the

great camps on the downs ; bu t an examinat ion

of the decl iv i ty between Barham Downs and the

r iver oppos i t e Charl ton reveal s the traces of three

l ines of earthworks , each of the l ength of abou t

three furlongs . Probab ly Caesar here quart ered

hi s caval ry,i n con sequence of the prox imi ty to

the r iver . These l i n es of fort ificat ion were

perhaps original ly thrown up i n earl i er Bri t i sh

wars,but even i f they were so

,they wou l d

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192 C/ESAR I N KENT .

about 5 0 feet in l ength . They are S i tuated i n

command ing pos i t ion s on a h i l l,cal l ed local ly

“ Star Hil l,and wou l d afford exce l lent s tat ions

for the guards p laced before the gates of the

camp,whence they could v i ew the pos i t ion and

movemen ts of the enemy . They are known

trad i t ional ly as “ the Forts . They are now bare

of trees,but have the appearance of hav ing been

plan ted at some comparat ive ly recen t per iod .

A deep depress ion a few yards d i s tant from

one of these may poss ibly have been one of those

extempor ized amph i theatres w i th wh ich we know

Cae sar sought amusement for h i s sold iers,when

not i n actual combat . Whi l e Cae sar was t en days

absen t repa ir ing h i s ves sel s,such enterta inments

wou ld doubt l es s be resorted to by hi s so ld iery

who rema ined,as we shal l hereaft er not ice

,at

the camps .A very form idab l e s tronghold

,po inted ou t by

the Ordnance Surveyors on thei r map as “ Roman

entrenchments,

” may be seen at the eas tern ex

tremity of the Downs . I t i s not Of Roman but

Bri t i sh cons truct ion,but may very l ikely have

been used by Cae sar’s army as an outpos t for the

CE SAR’S F IRS T I NLAND ENCAMP M ENT . 1 93

defence ofh i s camp on the extreme left . There

appears al so to have been a very great mound or

t umu l us near the south- eas t corn er of the Down s .

On the south -wes t ofBourne Park there i s a

noted spr ing,which i s s t i l l ca l l ed “ The Roman’s

,Cold Bath .

” Thi s may have had i t s or ig in in

Caesar’s t ime,or subsequent ly ; but we may

remark that such a spring,i f ava i l ab le

,would be

much sought for by the sol di ers of a s tat ionary

camp (cas trum stativum) such as Caesar’s was.

W i th thes e remarks upon the vest iges st i l l

rema in ing of Caesar’s camp,wh ich

,though neces

sarily imperfect , corroborat e, so far as they go, the

t rad i t iona l s i t e on Barham Downs,we pass on to

h i s narrat ive of the even t s of the day fol low ing

hi s firs t n ight of encampmen t . “ Early the day

aft er that day he sen t foot sold i ers and cavalry in

three d iv i s ions on an exped i t ion for the purpose

of fol low ing up those who had fled .

" Th i s

pursuing force corresponded wi th the three

d iv i s ions ofC ze sar’s army,each probab ly furn i sh

ing a cont ingen t,so as not mater ial ly to weaken

any one d iv i s ion . Three very anci en t roads by

wh ich they doubt l ess pursued the retreat ing

194 CE SAR IN KENT.

Bri tons may al l be s een from Patr ixbourne Hi l l,

the l eft and centra l ones in part icular being v i s ib l e

at the presen t day for more than a m i l e and a

half. I t i s true that in Caesar’s t ime the country

was more th ickly wooded than i t i s now,but thes e

roads pass ing over chalky so i l,and being on r i s ing

ground,and converging towards Patr ixbourne

H i l l,wou ld even at that per iod be read i ly di s

cerned . We wi l l describe them as they now

presen t themselves to a spectator on the h i l l .

The road on the l eft hand ascends the s teep h i l l

in the d irect ion of Hardres,pass ing through

W h i t ehi l l Wood . I t l eads to an anc ien t Br i t i sh

oppidum in Iffin Wood,

1 a strongly fort ified

pos i t ion s t i l l known as “ the Cast l e. The

cen tral road i s now the main road between

Can terbury and Dover,and passes through the

v i l lage of Br idge . I t i s for a cons iderab l e d i s

tance ident ical wi th the old Roman Watl ing

Street,formerly a Bri t i sh road . The th ird or

right hand road,s een more c l early from Caesar’s

1 The owner of the property , Mr Be l l of Bourne Park , someyears ago Opened a large tumu l u s w i th i n the enc losu re

,and

dug up Br it ish sunburn t pottery and other rema ins, wh i chshowed c learly its Br i tish or ig i n .

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CHAPTER V II .

CfESAR’

s RETURN TO TH E COAST,AND

SUBSEQQENT EV EN TS .

ZESAR’

S pursu i t of the Bri tons,wh ich

we have descr ibed in the prev iou s

chapter, was arres ted by an unfore

s een and ser ious m i sfortune . He

tel l s us that when the so ld i ers ordered for the

pursu i t “ had advanced some port ion of thei r

j ourney,and when already the l as t were in s igh t,

horsemen came from Qiintus A tri us to Caesar to

announce that a great tempes t had ari s en on the

prev ious n ight,and that nearl y al l the vessel s had

been shat tered and cas t on shore ; that their

anchors and cabl es cou l d no longer hold them,

nor could the sa i l ors and mas ters of the vesse ls

C/ESAR’S RETURN To THE COAST . 197

endure the v io l ence of the s torm,and that the

vess el s being dr iven into co l l i s ion,great damage

had been recei ved .

”

The news of th i s d i sas ter reached Caesar when,

as he says,hi s three pursu ing columns “ had

advanced some port ion of the i r j ourney,and when

now the l as t were i n s ight .” I t has been

supposed by some that he in tended by th i s that

the l as t of the fugi t i ve Bri tons had j us t come

wi th i n s ight of their pursuers,bu t the more natura l

mean ing of the passage woul d be that on ly the

extremi t i es of h i s own pursuing columns cou ld

now be seen from h i s camp . A s we look from

Patrixbourne H i l l,along the three roads descr ibed

in the las t chapter,we see how the condi t ions of

Cce sar’

s descript ion of th i s pursu i t are sat i sfied ;for he could s ee from the hi l l at Patrixbourne

the extreme end of the col umns s en t in pursu i t , as

they defiled over the oppos i t e h i l l,for a m i l e or a

m i l e and a hal f. Beyond th i s d i s tance he would

be unabl e to see them,for

,hav ing ga ined the

height of the hi l l,they would beg in to descend

into the lower ground beyond i t .

The t err ibl e d i sast er wh ich had happened to

I 98 CAZSAR I N KENT.

h i s sh ips would have daunted a genera l l es s brave

and exper ienced than Cae sar. But h i s reso lu t ion

was at once taken .

“ Thes e th ings be ing known,

”

he says,

“ C ze sar orders the l egions and the

caval ry to be recal l ed,and to des i s t from the

j ourney . He h imsel f returns to h i s vesse l s ; he

perceiv es in person a lmost the same things that

he had learned from messengers and by let ters,

namely,that wi th the loss of about forty vesse l s

the res t cou l d probably be repai red by great

efforts . He chooses therefore artificers from the

l egions,and orders O thers to be brought over

from the cont inent . ” Now i t i s not to be

supposed,a l though many have assumed that he

d id so,that Caesar return ed to

'

the coas t wi th h i s

whol e army . He nowhere says that he d id,and

there were many reasons agains t such a course.

He wou l d have los t al l the ground he had gained,

and would bes ides have tempted the Bri tons to

have at tacked h i s rear. When i t i s sa id that he

ordered the l egions and caval ry to be recal led,

and to des i s t from the i r j ourney,the reference i s

p l ain ly to those foot so ld i ers and cavalry who

were on the ir j ourney in pursu i t of the rou ted

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200 CZESAR IN KENT.

much more reasonab le to suppose that the ma in

port ion of Caesar’s army on Barham Downs and

hi s al lies at Garring ton, thoroughly fort ified the

camp (and the traces of en trenchments al ready

descr ibed bear out the suppos i t ion), so as to pro

tect themse lves from al l host i l e at tacks dur ing

Caesar’s ten days ' absence . 1

In place of the forty vessel s wh ich were de

s troyed by the Storm,Caesar orders others to be

bui l t on the cont inen t . He wri tes to Labienus

that he shou ld bu i l d a s many vessel s as he cou ld

w i th the help of those l eg ion s wh ich were wi th

him . He himse l f,al though i t was a work of

much toi l and trouble,determ ines that i t wou l d be

most advantageous that al l the vessel s Should be

drawn on shore and beun i ted w i th the camp by

one fort ificat ion . In thes e'

measures he spends

about t en days,the labours of the so ldiers being

not evenre laxed dur ing the n igh t . ”

The' labour of thus haul ing h i s v es sel s on shore

1 I n th i s we are confi rmed by theO

OPinion ofCamden,who

says that Cae sar “ kept h i s men encamped for te n days,t i l l h e

had refi tted h i s fleet,shatte red very m uch by a tempest

,and got

i t to'

shore.

C/E SAR’S RETURN To THE COAST .

mus t have been immense,bu t Cae sar had the

exampl e ofothers to gu i de h im,for the feat was

not now accompl i shed for the firs t t ime . Homer

relates that,when the Greeks had l anded on the

coas t ofTroy,the sh ips were drawn on land

,and

fastened at the poop to l arge s tones,at tached to

ropes,wh ich s erved as anchors . The Greeks then

surrounded the fleet w i th a fort ificat ion to s ecure

i t aga ins t the at tacks of the enemy. I t i s recorded

al so by Herodotus,Thucyd ides

,and others

,that

i n cases where i t wou l d have been necessary to

coas t round a cons iderabl e exten t ofcountry con

nected w i th the ma inland by a narrow neck,the

sh ips were somet imes drawn across the neck of

land from the one s ea to the other by machines

cal l ed o!ucai (ol koi). Thi s was done not unfre

quent ly across the I sthmus of Corinth .

But to cont inue Caesar’s h i s tory . The

vessel s,he relates

,

“ hav ing been drawn up ,and the camp exce l l en t ly fortified

,

1 he l eaves the

same forces which he l eft before as a guard to

1 The vest iges of h i s nava l cam p men t ioned by Camden ,L e land , and others, and s t i l l to some extent v i s i b le , have bee ndesc ribed i n a former c hap te r.

20 2 CZESAR IN KENT .

the sh ips,and proceeded to the same p lace

whence he had re turn ed . When he had come

th i ther greater forces of the Bri tons had as sem

bl ed at that p l ace from al l part s . ” I t i s ev iden t

from th i s accoun t that hi s camp at Barham Downs

was s erious ly threatened during h i s absence,news

probab ly having reached the Bri t i sh chi efs of the

loss he had sus ta ined at the coas t . The s t rength

of hi s camp on the downs had prevented any

at tack be ing as yet made upon i t,bu t a long l in e

,

somet imes a doub le l ine of en trenchments,s t i l l

t raceabl e about half a m i l e from the foot of the

h i l l s from Garrington to Charl ton,rema ins in

proof that the Br i tons had not been id l e Here

doubt l es s they took up the ir defens ive posit ion on

the western s ide of the s tream during Caesar’s

absence,not venturing

,after thei r former ex

perience , t o attack the camp, bu t awa i t ing the

cours e of even ts,whi l e Caesar had ordered h i s

own men to remain in the i r en trenched pos i t ion

t i l l h i s return .

The Br i ton s had an ab le general,by whose

adv ice they seem to have proceeded cau t ious ly in

the ir fu ture engagements w i th the Roman army .

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204 C/ESAR I N KENT.

I t s eems uncerta in whether Caesar i s here re

ferring to at tacks made upon the force he had

wi th h im on h i s return from the coas t,or to the

batt l es fought afterwards i n h i s further progress .

I t i s very l ikely that he was mo l est ed to some

exten t on h i s return j ourney from h i s naval camp,

for the Bri tons had doubt l es s many oppidal near

h i s l ine ofmarch,and s everal kings

,some ofwhose

names are afterwards ment ioned in the h i s tory,and

who carri ed on a gueri l l a warfare wi th h im . Bu t,

as Caesar has to ld us that on h i s return to h i s camp

(on Barham Downs), he found the enemy gathered

Mars in large numbers,we may infer that he did

not meet wi th any very seri ous oppos iti on t i l l he

arri ved there. On h i s arrival,however

,at h i s

camp,and after res t i ng the troops he had brough t

back wi th h im,he would appear to have los t no

t ime in d i spl aci ng the Bri tons from the pos i t ion s

they had taken up . The “ Cambr ian h i s tory ”

rel ates that “ to guard the camp,Caesar s tat ioned

men wi th the two firs t cohorts of the

seventh and n in th legions . The res t ofh i s army,

cons i s t ing of 3 l eg ionari es, 3 0 0 0 cavalry,

and Coranidae under Avarwy , he drew up1 T race s ofOpp ida rema i n at Coldred , Kingston , and A tchester.

C/ESAR’S RETURN To THE COAST . 2 0 5

in three di v i s ions on a decl iv i ty,ca l l ed i n ‘ the

Triads ‘ the green Spot .’ The Bri t i sh army

occup i ed the open ground oppos i te,i t s l eft wing

under N ennius,rest ing on a marsh We are led

to suppose from th i s account that Cae sar,l eav ing

.1 men i n h i s camp,now advanced and took

up h i s pos i t ion in three d i v i s ions on the brow of

the h i l l . A l ine of embankment i s St i l l t raceab le

along the brow of the h i l l In s everal p l aces,

espec ial ly between Patr ixbourne and Bekesbourne,

and at Bi shopsbourne—i nd icat ing the pos i t ionswhich the advanced guards of hi s three d iv is ions

probab ly took up,and

,as we have al ready not iced

,

there are correspond ing l ines of en trenchmen t of

the Bri tons,abou t half a mi l e from the foot of the

h i l l on the other s ide of the s tream . A desperat e

encounter here took p lace,as Ca‘sar h imsel f

admi t s . H i s caval ry,as was natural

,were the

firs t to at tack . They were s trenuous ly res i s ted

by the caval ry and chariotmen of the enemy,and

al though Cae sar’s forces s t i l l advanced and drove

the Br i tons into the woods and h i l l s,yet he records

some casual t i es among h i s own men . Very many

(of the enemy) having been k i l l ed , our men los t

20 6 CE SAR I N KENT.

some of thei r own,from hav ing pursued too

eagerly . Y et they,after an in terval

,rushed sud

denly from the woods, our men being taken

unawares and being occup i ed in the fort ificat ion

of the camp ; and an at tack hav ing been made on

thos e who were p laced in s tat ion before the camp,

there was a sharp encounter,and two cohort s

(and those the firs t of two l egions) hav i ng been

sent in a id by Caesar,when they had s topped

,

w i th a very smal l i n terval between them (our

men being terrified by the unaccustomed mode of

warfare), the enemy burs t forth wi th great bold

ness through the ir m idst,and ret i red thence un

harmed . On that day Qi intus Laberius Durus

was s lain,bu t the enemy was driven back

,more

cohorts hav ing been sent in a id .

”

I t wou l d appear from the foregoing narrat ive

that notwi thstand ing the desperate oppos i t ion they

met wi th,the Roman army had made suffic i en t

progress to have chosen an advanced camp,which

they were fort ifying when the Bri tons rushed out

upon them from the woods . May not th i s new

camp have been the s trong Bri t i sh oppidum in

1a Wood,about three mi l es d i s tan t from thei r

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CZESAR IN KENT.

c la imed for Cae s ar’s advance that we are inc l ined

to accept i t .

I t may be observed i n conc lus ion that a victori

ous resu l t of the day’s confl ic t i s c la imed by both

sides . The Cambri an hi s tory says that “ the

Romans were towards even ing driven from thei r

camp,but the succes s of the day was dearly pur

chased by the death of N ennius,who fel l in the

las t ons et of the retreat ing enemy. ”

The Br i t i sh accoun t refers to the combat of the

r igh t wing oftheRoman army,cons i s t ing principal ly

of the Coranidae under Avarwy , wi th the Bri tons

l ed by N ennius. The Roman h i s torian,on the

other hand,having regard principal ly to the v ictory

of the left wing and cen tre of Caesar’s army,c la ims

the day for the Romans . Poss ibly both accounts

are substant ial ly correct . I t i s c lear,however

,

from Caesar’s own narrat i ve that hi s army had

not gained a deci s ive v ictory . The enemy,after

great ly d i sordering the Roman cohort s and infli c t

ing upon them the los s of a tribune (Laberius

Durus), were only at las t repul sed by a s trong

reinforcement . Cae sar makes men t ion of thei r

sk i lfu l management of their chario ts i n thi s bat t l e,

C/ESAR’S RETURN TO THE COAST. 2 0 9

for observ i ng wh i ch the e levated pos i t ion wh i ch

he occup ied on the h i l l at Patrixbou rne afforded

h im a good opportun i ty .

“ In the whole of th i s

k ind of batt l e,he says

,s ince i t was contes ted

under the eyes of al l and before the camp,i t was

perce ived that our men, on account of the we igh t

of the ir arms (inasmuch as they cou ld nei ther

fol low those who were giv ing way,nor dared to

depart from the i r s tandards), were l i t t l e su i t ed for

an enemy of th i s k ind ; that the caval ry moreover

fought wi th great danger,because that they (the

enemy) would oft t imes retreat even des ignedly,and when they had drawn off our hors e a l i t t l e

way from the l egion s,wou l d leap down from the i r

char iots and fight on foot in unequal combat .

But the sys t em of cavalry engagement i s wont to

bring equal danger,and of the same k ind both to

those retreat ing and those pursuing .

” To th i s was

added “ that the enemy never fought in c lose

order,but in smal l part ies

,and at cons iderable

d i s tances,and had detachments placed about (in

d ifferen t parts), and some in t urn took the p lace

of others,and the v igorous and fresh succeeded

those who were wear i ed .

2 1 0 CE SAR IN KENT.

The day fol lowing the Bri ton s endeavoured to

renew the tact ics wh i ch they had found successfu l

on the prev ious day.

“ They took up thei r pos i

t i on at a d i s tance from the camp,on the h i l l s

,and

began to show themse l ves i n smal l part i es,and

wi th l ess sp iri t than on the day before,to provoke

our horsemen to combat . I t does not,however

,

appear from thi s s tatemen t of “ the Commen

tar i es that Caesar accepted the chal l enge to

renew the con tes t . He recogn i sed the neces s i ty

ofoccupy ing hi s troops i n what mus t have become

a work of no l i t t l e d iffi cu l ty in a coun try where

he cou l d carry on no barter w i th the inhabi tan ts,

namely, thaw of h i s l arge army . A t

noon,therefore

,he sen t ou t three l eg ions and al l

the cava l ry w i th C . Trebon ius,the l i eutenan t

,for

the purpose offoraging . He was probably l ed to

suppose by the wan t of v igour w i th which the

smal l part i es of the enemy manoeuvred,that the ir

main forces had wi thdrawn themsel ves to a

d i s tance . Soon,however

,he was undece ived .

They were conceal ed,doubt l es s

,i n the s trong ly

fort ified opp idum at Durovernum,and in the ne igh

bouring woods ; and now that the Roman l eg ions,

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2 I 2 CZESAR IN KENT .

ments on Barham Downs,name ly

,by thei r prin

cipal mi l i tary road,1 the SamGw y ddelin, or Iri sh

Road, afterwards the Roman Wat l ing Street . I t

i s related by Geoffrey of Monmou th that Cas

sivellaunus,be ing defeated in the batt l e

,fled wi th

h i s d i sordered forces to a rocky h i l l,on the top

of wh i ch was a th ick hazel wood,and that he

defended the h i l l wi th such bravery and obst inacy

that Cmsar could on ly d i s lodge h im by bes i eg ing

the p lace for two day s,after wh i ch

,compe l led by

fam ine,Cassiv ellaunus subm i t ted h imself to h i s

great conqueror. The detai l s of thi s s tory mus t

be rej ec ted as a l together incons i s ten t wi th Caesar’s

narrat i ve ; but that the Br i ton s, fo l lowed in hot

pursu i t by the v ictor ious ROman caval ry and

l eg ions,found at l ength a t emporary refuge in

1 Th e Romans laid down the i r m i l i ta ry v ias, wherever theycould, upon the foundat ion s of th e p rev ious l y ex i st ing B ri t ishroads. The B ri t i sh ch ron ic lers c l a im that the pri nc ipa l m i l i ta ryroads (many of them known afterwards as Roman roads)ofthe coun try were the work ofDunwallo Molmutius (Dy vnwalMoelmud), the i r great lawg i ver, and that, be ing comp leted byh i s son

,Belinus

,th ey were ca l led the Belinian Roads . The

rap id i ty w i th wh i ch the B ri t ish cha riots moved from one po in tto another (see page 1 29) proves that these roads were we l lmade and ma in ta ined .

CE SAR’S RETURN TO THE COAST . 2 1 3

some Stronghold,whence they were wi th difficu l ty

d i s lodged by Caesar,i s not improbabl e That

there was some such foundat ion for the Story

seems to be j ust ified by a tradi t ion wh ich ass igns

to a h i l l n ear N ewington,abou t eighteen mi les

ffom Canterbury,the name of Key Col l or

Caius’ (jul iu s Cae sar’s) hi l l .

The d i sas trou s resu l t s of th i s day’s combat

thoroughly d i sheartened the brave Br i t i sh al l i es .

Cassivellaunus experi enced the humi l iat ing fortune

of a l l unsuccessfu l general s,name ly

,the fal l ing

away of h i s aux i l iary forces . “ Immediately after

th i s retreat,

” say s Caesar,

“ the auxi l iar i es who

had assembled from al l s ides departed ; nor after

that t ime d id the enemy ever engage w i th us i n

very l arge numbers .”

The Bri t i sh res i s tance from th i s t ime cons i s t ed

for the mos t part of a gueri l l a warfare,harass ing ,

no doubt,to Caesar’s d i sc i p l i ned forces

,but not

afford ing any prospect of a succes sfu l resu l t .

Caesar rel ates that,

“ discov er ing t/Joir design, he

l ed h i s army in to the terri tori es of Cassive llaunus

to the r iver Thames . ’ I t mus t be remembered

that C zc sar wrote after the even t ; the des ign ,

2 I 4 CZESAR I N KENT .

therefore,wh ich he professes to have d i scovered

mus t be in terpreted by the after hi s tory . I t was,

i n the firs t p lace,to has ten forward wi th hi s

main forces in order to preven t h i s passage of

the Thames,and meanwhi l e to weaken h i s

l egions by at tacking them when foraging i n

i so lated part i es in the fie lds .

From th i s poin t the i den t ificat ion of Cae sar’s

progress to the Thames wi th actua l local i t i es

becomes pract ical ly imposs ib le. His h i s tory of

events i s somewhat confused . No di s tances are

recorded nor the number ofdays occup i ed in h i s

j ourneys from p lace to p lace. He was frequent l y

harassed by smal l part i es of Bri tons,from whom

hi s cavalry espec ial ly suffered,bu t never real ly

confron ted by any serious oppos i t ion .

There can be l i t t l e doubt,however

,as to the

rou t e wh ich he took in h i s j ourney to the

Thames . He had wi th him Avarwy , from

whom he wou l d learn that the Gwy ddelin road

was the usua l and direct rou t e to the river

Thames,and moreover passed through a com

parat ively open country,in which hi s army would

be l es s l ikely to be di s turbed by sudden i rrupt ions

of the enemy from the woods .

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2 16 C/ESAR I N KENT.

A fter the bat t l e,which we have supposed to

have t erminated wi th the final s truggl e at Key

Col l,i t i s probabl e that Caesar (though still

holding the h i l l) encamped h i s troops a l i t t l efurther back along the Gwy ddelin Road , name ly,at Bapch i ld

,wh i ch I th i nk was the anc ien t

Durolevum.

l He must have traversed wi th

g iven by An ton inus have been a l tered by tran sc ribers, sin ce wefi nd that some of the n umera l s vary i n d ifferen t ed i t ion s of“ th e I t i nera ry.” O ne other exp lanat ion

,however, may be

suggested, name l y, tha t a l though we may be ab l e to iden t ifymost of the Roman stat ions men t ioned i n “ the I t ineraryw i th modern town s

,we do not know from what part i c u lar

p l ace in each town A n to n i nu s measu red h i s j ourney s . H eprobab ly commenced from the ex trem i ty of the Roman sett l emen t

,whic h may have been i n some cases a m i l e or two

outs ide the modern town .1 G ibson , Camden’s an notator, after objec t ing that L en

ham,where Camden has p laced D urole vum

,d id not su i t we l l

w ith the d istan ce g iven by A nton i nu s of that p lace fromDurovernum (Can terbury), observes, “What then if weshould p i tch upon Bapch i l d

,a p lace l y ing between S i tt ingbou rn e

and O sp r inge, the anc ien t name whereof i s Baccanceld,afterwards corrup ted in to Beck - ch i ld, and now corrup t lyca l led Bapch i ld . F or as B ar (i n B r i t i sh) denotes w ater , so

B ee i n the Saxon an swers to that or at l east th e term i nat ioncelrl

,imp lying a pool, w i l l i n some measure su i t the old n ame .

But what i s ofmore con sequence i n th i s matter, i s i ts be i ng i nthe Saxon t imes a p lace of very great note ; in somuch that

CE SAR’

S RETURN To THE COAST. 2 1 7

hi s army,dur ing that hard day’s fight ing and

pursu i t of the Bri tons,a d i s tance of more than

twenty m i les . From Bapch i l d to Roches ter

(Durobrovis), which was the next Roman Stat ion ,i s a di s tance of about twelve mi les

,and i t may

wel l be imag ined that,after the great exert ions

of hi s army the previous day,Caesar wou ld be

B i shop B rightwald, A.O. 70 0 , he ld a Synod at i t . Now,

’t i sa general remark made by an t iqua ries

,that the Saxons part i

cularly fixed upo n those p l aces where the Roman s had l eftthe i r stations , from when ce at p resen t so many of ou r townsend i n Cheste r. A nd even at th i s day here are the ruin s oftwo O ld c hu rches or chapels, bes ides the par ish churc h .

Moreover, i f the Roman Road, betw ixt the Kent ish towns ,was the same w i th the p resent

,then D urolevum (wh i ch , by

the way , i s on l y read Durolenum,to reconc i le i t to L enham )

m us t be somewhere about th i s par i sh because no other p lacei n the p rese n t road i s so agreeab le a d i sta n ce between the sa idc i t ies . Now there can not be a shorte r cut be tween Roc hesterand Can terbu ry, than that at presen t i s , u n less o ne Shou ldleve l bills or trave l th rough bogs ; and yet by th i s the d i stancebetween i s abou t 2 5 m i les , the same w i th the I t i nera ry(I ter . 2 and as a l so where D urole vum comes between ,1 3 to i t from Roc heste r, a nd 1 2 from i t to Canterbu ry , makesexac t l y the same numbe r .”

I t may be added that the va l uab le co l lec t io n of Romanpottery an d g lass

,dug up by M r G eorge l ’ayne , j u n .

, ofS i tt i ngbourne , i n th i s immed iate n e ighbou rhood , afford sfu rther p resumpt i ve e v idence that the anc ient D uro le vumwasa t Bapc h i ld .

2 I 8 C/ESAR I N KENT .

conten t wi th th is Short progress,and make at

Roches ter h i s next encampmen t . M r C . Roach

Sm i th,whose res idence at S trood (near Rochester)

has afforded h im opportun i t ies of observ ing the

anc ien t bed of the r iver,and of the Swale in to

which i t flows,i s of Op in ion that the river Med

way pass ing through Rochester wou ld,at the

t ime of Jul ius Cae sar,presen t no d ifficul ty to h i s

progress,be ing fordab le at low water

,or eas i ly

br idged over .

In hi s val uab l e Retrospect ions,

” 1 ofwh i ch the

firs t two volumes have been pub l i shed,he wr i t es

speaking of the low - ly ing land to the sou th of

the M edway,cal l ed “ the Upchurch Marshes

,

”

“ These marshes are an in teres ting s tudy for the

geo logi s t as wel l as the ant iquary . When the

Romans inhab i ted and worked the l and,i t l ay h igh

and dry,and the M edway mus t have been confined

w i thin comparat i ve ly narrow l imits . I t was pro

bably some t ime after the Romans had left before

the sea began to make inroads and submerge

hundreds of acres . ” Mr R . Sm i th has d iscovered

large quan t i t ies of Roman pot tery by digg ing in

1 Retrospec t ions, Soc ia l and A rche o log i ca l ,” by C . RoachSm i th , E sq . , F .S .A .

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2 20 C/ESAR IN KENT.

had there been any means of t rans i t for h i s army

at the poin t where the road met that river. Mr

Morgan indeed asserts,on the au thori ty of some

Bri t i sh accoun t,that the Romans fol lowed thi s

road,bu t found upon arriv ing at the river that

the bridge between Bel in s’ Tower and the

sou thern bank of the Thames was broken down,

and that consequent ly they were compel l ed to

cros s the ri ver at i t s neares t fordab le p lace .

Thi s s tat ement,al though I think i t cannot be

sus ta ined,i t wi l l b e wel l to exam ine.

There are certa inly some grounds for the

suppos i t ion that there may have been a bridge

over the Thames at the per iod ofour hi s tory .

The fact that the Br i tons endeavoured to

prevent the passage of Caesar’s army,where

i t afterwards crossed the Thames by wooden

p i l es dri ven into the bed of the river,Shows

that they could eas i ly have formed one ; and

for the Church of St Mary - Ie - Bow, Cheaps ide, found aRoman causeway, four feet th i ck , made of rough sto ne andRoman bri ck , 1 8 feet be low the level of the presen t c i ty.These fac ts Show that the Thames cou ld not h ave been at

the t ime of the Roman occupat ion so cons iderab l e a river as i ti s at the p resen t day.

C/ESAR’S RETURN TO THE COAST .

they mus t have unders tood the cons truct ion of

bridges,s ince Caesar

,i n h i s Belg ic war

,crossed

the r iver A i sne by a br idge ; and he h imsel f

t el l s us that the southern port ion of Bri ta in

was l arge ly peop led from Belg ium . The rap id i ty

w i th which bridges were made at the per iod

of our hi s tory wou ld surpr i s e even the eng i

neers of our own day . Caesar re lates that he

formed a br idge of wooden p i l es over the Rh ine

(probably at Bonn), for the passage of h i s army

in the Short space of t en days,incl ud ing the

t ime occup ied in the conveyance of the t imber. A

century later,when Aulus P laut ius crossed the

Thames,the Germans in h i s army swam the

r i ver at its mouth,

“ where,

” as D ion s tates,

“ by the flow ing of the t ide i t s tagnates,

” but

the res t of h i s troops crossed at a h igher part

of the r iver by br idges (poss ibly a br idge of

boats). M r Beal e Poste th inks that the river

thus crossed was the Lea,a tributary of the

Thames,ra ther than the Thames i t s el f

,bu t D ion

Cass ius’ hi s tory of the even t affords no ground

for such a suppos i t ion . On the contrary,he

relates that hav ing crossed the Thames,P lau t ius

2 2 2 CZESAR IN KENT.

sen t for the Emperor C laud i us,and hav ing

awai ted hi s arrival,—probably at the s trongly

fort ified pos i t ion of Kes ton in Kent,—he gave

over the command of the army to the Emperor,

who crossed the ri ver,and hav ing conquered

the enemy,took Camu lodunum (Co lches ter, i n

E ssex), the roya l s eat of Cunobellin. Whether

thi s bridge,over which Plaut ius

,and afterwards

hi s royal master,crossed

,ex i s ted prev ious ly

,or

whether i t was temporari ly thrown over the

r iver by the Roman so ld iers,we hav e no means

Of dec id ing,but the ment ion of i t sugges ts the

poss ib i l i ty that on ly a cen tury after Ju l ius Cae sar’s

invas ion Of the country,the Br i ton s had con

s tructed,or recons truct ed

,a bridge across the

r iver. 1

1 We have no record that the Roman s, du r ing the i r ocenpation of the coun try, used any Other mean s Of tran si t Overthe Thames than a trajec tus of wood . M r Roac h Sm i th ,however (see “ I l l us trat ions of Roman L ondon has discovered ind i cat ion s Of the ex i sten ce Of a Roman bridge onthe s i te of o ld L ondon B r idge . G reat quan t i t ies of Romanco in s and an t iqu i t ies were brough t up from the bed of ther iver when foundat ions of th e o ld br idge were taken down ,wh i le the hou ses there were genera l l y bu i l t on p i les, show i ngthat the g round had been ga ined from the river. The Saxon

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2 24 CZESAR I N KENT .

near Kes ton,

1 wh ich i s i n a d irec t l ine between

London and Ma ids tone (probably the Roman

s tat ion cal l edVagniacae), and agrees fa irly wel l w i ththe dis tances Of Noviomagus from those towns

in “ the I t inerary . The name Kes ton,

” Hasted

th inks,i s derived from “ Chest erton

,i.e.

,

“ the

p lace Of the Camp,or Fortification

,

” though some

fancy that i t i s a corrupt ion of “ Kaesar’

s town .

Many Roman rema ins and foundat ions wi th coins

of the middle and lower Empires have been d i s

covered there,and the extens i ve fort ificat ions

,

near ly two m i l es in c ircumference,and exis t ing in

parts of ramparts and doub l e d i tches,prove i t to

have been a large Roman encampment .

From thi s place Caesar would reach,i n less

than a day’s march,the fordab l e part Of the

1 C rayford, on the Watl ing S t reet, o r Gwyddelin Road, hasby many learned au thors been iden t ified w i th Noviomagus.

I t is about the r igh t d i stan ce both from London and Ma idstone

,a l though not i n a d i rec t l ine between them . I ts manor,

says Hasted,i s ca l led Newbu ry ,” wh ich s ign ifies the same

as “ Noviomagus,” n ame l y, “ the new fortress, or sta t ion .”

I ts c la ims to have been a Roman stat ion are not, however,supported by any cons iderab l e d i scover ies Of Roman an t iqu i t ies.M r Spu rre l l says that a quarte r of a m i l e south of H owburythere i s the barest out l i ne of an ova l camp .

CfESAR’

S RETURN To THE COAST . 2 2 5

Thames . H is passage of the ri ver was not nu

chal l enged . Cassivellaunus,with h i s char iots and

Essedarii,ofwhom he s t i l l reta ined 40 0 0 ,

had ant i

cipatedhis arri val . When C ze sar arr ived there“he

perceived,

” so h i s “ Commentar i es ” rel at e,

“ that

numerous forces of the enemy were marshal l ed onthe other bank of the ri ver ; the bank al so was

defended by sharp s takes fixed in front,and

s takes of the same k ind fixed under the water

were covered by the river . The Roman general,

however,knew the reso l ut ion and bravery of h i s

own so ldi ers ; “ discover ing thes e things from

pr i soners and deserters,s end ing forward the

caval ry,he ordered the l eg ions to fol low them

immed iate ly . W i th such speed and eagerness

d id the sold iers advance,though they Stood up to

the i r heads in the water,that the enemy could not

sus ta in the at tacks of the l eg ions and of the horse

bu t qu i t t ed the banks and betook themsel ves to

fl ight . ” 1

1 The story of I’Oly zenus that Csesar emp loyed an e lephanto n th i s occas ion , wh i c h s t ruck suc h terro r by i ts nove l appea ran ce , that the B r i tons fled i n a l l d i rec t ions

,i s unsuppo rted

by any other test imony .

2 26 CAiSAR I N KENT.

The part icu l ar place where the Roman army

crossed the Thames has been the subj ec t ofmuch

d i spute . Trad i t ion,however

,again helps u s to a

conclus ion . The par t of the river known as

Coway Stakes” by i ts very name i s pointed out

as the place where Cmsar’s forces forded the

s tream . Even in Bede’s t ime (A .D . 73 0) the

stakes fixed by the Bri tons were st i l l v i s ible,and

,

rema in ing there for SO many centuri es,

um

doubtedly gave the name to the p lace. Bede

thus descr ibes them and thei r orig in,according to

the tradit ion extant i n h i s day . Cae sar “

pro

ceeded to the r i ver Thames,where an immense

mul t i tude of the enemy had pos ted themse lves on

the farther S i de of the r iver,under the command

of Cassivellaunus,and fenced the bank of the

r iver and almost al l the ford under water,wi th

Sharp s takes,the remains ofwh ich are to be seen

to th i s day,each apparen t ly about the th ickness of

a man’s th igh,and being cased wi th l ead

,were

fixed immoveably in the bot tom Of the river.”

Camden has no hes i tati on in ass ign ing to th i s

local i ty the passage of the great conqueror. ’Tis

imposs ibl e,he says

,

“ I shou l d be m i s taken in

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2 28 C/ESAR I N KENT.

s eeing the protect ion afforded by Cce sar to the

Trinobantes,soon after s en t in the ir al legiance

to him .

The oppidum of Cassivellaunus was now

at tacked . I t was surrounded by woods and

marshes,and wel l fort ified both by nature and art .

Cae sar assau l t ed i t on two s ides,and al though i t s

defenders made a bri ef bu t gal lan t s tand,d i s

pirited and outnumbered, they soon fled from the

s tronghold,and very many of them were cut

down in the ir fl ight . A large number of cat t l e

was found there ; Of wh ich Cae sar makes spec ia l

ment ion,as the prov i s ion ing of h i s army had no

doubt been a matter ofcons iderabl e d ifficu l ty.

One fina l s truggle of the ga l lan t Br i t ish nat ion

aga ins t the invaders of the ir country was,how

ever,yet to be made in Ken t . I t wi l l b e remem

bered that,after the defeat of the Br i ton s at Key

Col l,the auxi l i ary forces Of Cassivellaunus were

d ispersed . Those who rema ined w i th h im were

probab ly the forces he had brought from h i s own

t ribe,and others north of the Thames . F inding,

however,the desperat e Stra i t s to wh i ch he was

reduced,Cassivellaunus made one more at tempt

C.ESAR’S RETURN TO THE COAST. 2 29

to ral l y the peop le of Ken t . He sen t messengers

to the four kings of Kent,Cingetorix , Carnilius,

Tax imagulus, and Segonax , enjoin ing them to

gather al l thei r forces,and make a sudden attack

upon Caesar’s naval camp,hop ing

,no doubt

,by

th i s exped ien t to compe l Cae sar to return at once

to the coas t . His orders were obeyed,bu t the

sp iri t wh ich s t i l l an imated the Bri tons to ri s e at

the cal l ofduty was i nvoked in va in . The at tack

upon Caesar’s naval camp was unsuccessfu l . The

wel l - di sc ipl ined Romans who defended i t,made a

sort i e i n fu l l force from the camp . Cingetorix

was taken pri soner,and the defeated Bri tons

many of them s la in .

The news of th i s d i sas ter dec i ded Cassivellaunus

to seek for terms of peace. “ SO many losses

hav ing been recei ved,hi s t erri tori es devas tated

,and

be ing d i s tressed most ofal l by the defect ion of the

states,he sends ambassadors to C zc sar to t reat ,

through Comin s the A trebatian, concern ing a

surrender .

C zc sar w i sh ing to pass the winter on the con

tinent,and the summer being now nearly pas t , de

manded hostages of Cassive llaunus, and an annual

2 3 0 CZESAR I N KENT.

tribu t e to be paid to the Roman peopl e . Hav ing

received the hostages,and enj oined Cassivel

launus not to wage war aga ins t Mandubratius or

the Trinoban tes,he l ed hi s army back to the sea .

There he found h i s ships repa ired,and caused them

to be launched . H i s numerous pr i soners,and the

fact that some of hi s Ships had been los t i n the

s torm,compel l ed h im to carry back hi s army

to the cont in en t i n two convoys . In thi s he met

wi th some di sappoin tment . A l though none of

the ships wh i ch bore h i s troops were los t, yet the

greater part of those wh ich were return ing empty

after l anding the firs t convoy,and most of those

which Labienus had,to the number of S ixty

,pro

v ided,d id not reach the i r des t inat ion

,being dr tven

back by contrary w inds to the cont inen t . Caesar

hav ing wa i ted for them for some t ime in va in

and fearing from the approach of the equ inox

that the t ime for safe sa i l ing wou l d soon be

pas t,decided to pack h i s so ld iers more c lose ly

than usua l i n to the vesse l s that remained to h im .

Taking advantage therefore of calm weather,

he set sa i l a t the beg inn ing of the s econd watch

(9 and aft er a favourabl e passage,landed al l

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2 3 2 CZESAR I N KENT .

Wendover was the Stronghold Of hi s great oppo

nent . I t may be for others to take up the

narrat i ve who have greater local knowledge of

the country through wh ich he aft erwards pass ed .

SO far as we have been abl e to do so,i t has

been a p l easant recreat ion both to fo l low the

foots teps of so great a hero as Cae sar,and to

p lace on record in c l earer l ight the exp loi ts of

our brave forefathers . Enough,i f we have done

any th ing to elucidate a page of our country’s

h i s tory,which has h i th erto been much obscured

A P P E N D I ! .

RESPECT ING R ICHBOROUGH,AN D ITS CLAI M TO

BE T H E LANDING PLACE OF JUL IUS CJESA R .

LTH OUGH Dea l so en t i re l y an swers to thedescn

'

ption g iven by Cae sar of h i s land i ngp lace, that there can be no doubt bu t that h ed i sembarked h i s t roops at that p lace

,Ric h

borough,th e an c i en t Rutupium, i s certa i n l y a

form idab l e r i va l,and has found very ab le advocacy from

many,1 and espec ia l l y from the l earned an t iquary , A rc hdeacon

Batteley . H i s a rguments deserve cons iderat ion i n thesepages, not on l y on accoun t of the we igh t w h i c h attaches to h i sauthori ty

,bu t on accoun t o f the c ha l lenge, as i t were , th rown

down to those w ho advance the c la ims of Dea l . H i s work ,wri tten i n L at in

,and pub l i shed i n 1 7 1 1 , i s i n th e form of a

d i a logue between h imse l f and h i s two fr i ends,Wha rto n and

Mau ri ce. I t w i l l be suffic ien t to summar ize the a rguments bywh i c h he seeks to es tab l i sh that R i c hborough was the landi ngp lace of Jul i u s C is sa r .H e argues fi rst from the a l leged su i tab leness of the p lace1 The mo st re cent advocate fo r Rutupium is Mr G eo rge Dowke rw h ose pape r

,pub l i s h e d in the “ Jo urnal of the A rch ze o log ical Inst i

tute,

"

v ol. x x x i i i . , is valuab le o n ac co unt o f the atte nt ion he has

g i ve n to the geo log i cal c h ange s ofthe coast and ofthe r i ve r S tout .

2 34 C/ESAR I N KENT .

i tse lf ; the fac i l it ies i t afforded for the land ing an d p rov is ion ingof t roop s

,its prox im i ty to the con t i nen t

,and the ready

mean s of retrea t i t afforded to an army harassed by the enemy.L et us cons ider how these advan tages bear upon the quest ionofCae sar’s l anding .That Richborough and its harbour became, after the t ime

of Jul i u s Cae sar, ce l ebrated i n h i story may be readi ly conceded . No one who has v i s i ted th e rema in s of its anc ientRoman castle

,within whose wa l l s K ing E the lbert he ld his cou rt,

and w here he rece i ved St A ugust i ne and h i s mon ks no one

who h as stood over th e c ross on wh i c h the an c ien t chape l wasafterwards bu i l t, and where Ch ri st ian i ty began to send fo rthafresh i ts b less ings th rough our country

,would w ish to deny

to Richborough any honou r that r igh t l y be l ongs to i t. I twas probab l y the fi rst stone - bu i l t Strongho ld i n Eng land, an di t is marve l lous, espec ia l l y cons idering that i ts wa l l s have noso l id foundat ion , that i t has stood th rough SO many ages ofwars an d i nvas ion s . Th e Saxon , the D an e, the Normanhave assa i led its batt l ements or have found refuge w i th in i t swa l l s

.S t i l l the O ld cast le stands, a rui n of its former se l f,

battered abou t by t ime and war, ye t not destroyed ; the c i rcumference of i ts wa l l s comp lete or near ly so, i ts gates st i l lrema in i ng

,amongst them th e decuman or anc ien t skaian gate ,

w i th i t s ob l ique en trance, the scene doubtless of many aconfl i c t and many a deed of bravery. Batteley i s p robab l yrigh t i n sayi ng that the foundat ion of i t s wa l l s dates from thet ime of Au l u s Plaut i u s, though doubt less they owed m uc h tothe labou rs of success i ve generat ions, and espec ia l l y to theEmperor Severus, who, i t is sa id, bu i l t the n e ighbou ring cast leat Recu l ver.Bu t wh y did Richborough and th e Rutupian harbou r

become of suc h impo rtan ce as to need such a defen ce as th is

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2 3 6 C/ESAR I N KENT .

Rutupium i s on all s ides surrounded,proves t o any one con

templating th e situat ion of th e pl ace, that i t was former l y surrounded by water.” A v i s i t to Richborough w i l l con fi rmthe Op in ion Batteley here exp resses. The cast le of Richborough was ev iden t l y bui l t on an i s l and comparat ive ly sma l li n size, separated from the ma in l and by a c han nel of cons iderab le w idth . Th e low leve l of th e su rround ing coun try p rovesthat the southern ban k of th is chan nel an d of the W antsummust have be en a morass, covered by th e waves at h igh water ;at low water stagnan t, and i n many p l aces impassab le. Wasth i s

,we ask, a favou rab l e s i tuat io n for the land ing of Caesar’s

l arge army Au lus P laut i us n o doubt found the is land i tse l fsui tab l e as a place of garr i son

,i n th e rear of his advan c ing

army, and the Rutupian h arbou r wou ld afford safe an choragefor h i s fl eet. Bu t Jul ius Cae sa r cou ld not have l anded on anisland

,for h e marched , on the occas ion ofhis second in vas ion ,

twel ve m i les in land on th e very day ofd i sembark ing his t r00 psnor cou ld so sma l l an i s land as R ichborough have affordedaccommodat ion for the en campmen t of h i s leg ions.

A re we then to suppose that so experien ced a genera l asJu l ius Caesar brough t h i s vesse l s to the marshy shore of theRutupian stra i ts, w hen he h imse lf te l l s u s, w i th ev iden t sat i sfac t ion , that he chose an open and l eve l sho re for landing ,and when h e i s en t i rel y s i len t as to the a lmost i n superab le difficulties wh ic h he wou ld h ave en countered had he attempted tolan d on a morass Batteley , however, brings forward hisau thor i t ies to p rove that s sar d id so land, al though he confesses that he can not recon c ile the i r statemen ts w i th Caesar’sown narrat ive. His w itnesses are Pl u ta rch an d Dion Cassius.L et u s see what we igh t at tac hes to the i r au tho ri ty, as aga in stthat ofCz sar h imse lf. Th e statemen t ofP lu tarch , on wh i chBatteley rel ies, is th at relat ing to the exp lo i t (recorded i n

APPEND IX . 2 3 7

chapter iv .) of one of Cz sar’s so ld iers i n B r ita in

,when h i s

captains were d riven in to a marsh or bog fu l l of m i re andd i rt . ” Now, apart from the fac t that the i n c ident he re latesi s somewhat s im i lar to one recorded by V a le ri us Max imusand Sueton i u s

,wh ich they say h appened at Caesar

’s land ing,we have n o reason to con c l ude that Pluta rch’s sto ry i s to bereferred to the t ime of h is l and i ng i n fac t , i t wou ld be morenatural to con c l ude that i t oc cu rred when he was c ross ing theThames

,or some other r i ver . Suppos ing

,however, that

Pl utarc h d id re late tbe same story as V a ler i us and S ueto n i us,

let us est imate the va l ue of h i s test imony . I n the fi rst p lace,h e w rote one hundred years after Caesar’s i nvas ion of Br i ta in ,and h i s know ledge of the even t m us t have been der i ved froms a r’s own narrat ive

,or from other t rad it ionary accou n ts ,

so that his test imony i s not that ofan eye - w i tness , or even of acon temporary of Caesar. Aga in , the t i t le he g i ves to h i swri t ings Pl u ta rch’s L ives ”—sufiiciently ind icates the i r a imand scope

,an d shows th at h e intended rather to presen t the

h i stor ies and cha rac ters of h i s heroes, than to g i ve a deta i ledaccoun t of the even ts of the t imes i n wh i c h they l i ved . Toth i s end he a rranged h i s L i ves i n pa i rs , each pa i r con ta i ni ng the l i fe ofa G reek and of a Roman hero. J u l i u s Cresar'sl ife

,fo r examp le

,he compa res w i th that of A lexander, po in t

i ng ou t the po i n ts of s im i la r i ty i n the i r c ha rac te rs andca ree r. Wh i le , therefo re , we shou ld expec t to fi nd h imwri t ing w i th accu racy w ith respec t to Caesar' s persona l h i story ,Plu ta rc h wou ld not be carefu l to enqu i re i nto the tru th ofevery s to ry re lated of h i s so ld iers . A few years before hew rote

,Au l u s Plau t i u s had landed i n Br i ta in

,and h i s land i ng

had been unopposed,the B ri ton s h id i ng themse l ves i n marshes

and woods,i n order to en t i ce h i s a rmy i nto dange rou s and

i nex t ricab l e p laces . Suc h a report reac h i ng the ears of

2 3 8 CE SAR I N KENT .

P l utarch,m igh t very well lead h im to con c l ude that the

sou thern shore of Br i tai n was everywhere marshy, and top lace th e scene of the nob l e deed of Soz va i n th e m i re andmarsh rather than among the sand and rocks of the ocean .The other test imony adduced by Batteley is that of D ion

Cass iu s. H e states that Cae sar “ hav i ng sa i led round a certa in promontory, landed on th e other s ide, an d there scatteredthe en emy who attacked h im when lan ding his army in themarshes (m r evay n), and occup ied the ground Now

,i t i s

p robab le that Dion Cass i us, w ho wrote a cen tu ry later thanPl u tarch , and therefore abou t two hundred years after th e t imeof Jul ius Cae sar

,was l ed i n to error by the same cause as

P l utarch, or perhap s th rough fo l low i ng h i s acco un t ofScae va’s

exp lo i t. I t mu st be observed , however, that hi s desc r ipt ioni s not a l together incons i sten t w i th Cae sar’s narrat i ve, s i nce !m

r evay a imp l y genera l l y muddy or sh i ft ing ground, bu t not necessarily marshes . Nor i s i t by any mean s certai n that the shoreof D ea l wou ld not at the t ime of Caesar’s landing h ave g i venoccas ion for some suc h desc r i pt ion , the beach wh ich nowbounds the shore having probab l y been th rown up a t a subsequent period .I n h i s zea l for Rutupium ou r learned au thor, A rchdeacon

Batteley , makes the most of these quotat ions from Pl utarchand D ion Cass ius

,because they afford h i s on l y argumen t

aga i n st Cae sar’s l and ing hav ing taken p lace at D ea l h i s otherobjec t ion s to Dea l be ing i n rea l i ty on l y apo log ies for h i s owndeparture from th i s t radi t iona l land i ng - place .Let u s cons ider h is fu rther arguments, or rather apolog ies,

for h i s cho i ce ofRutupium.

H e fi rst endeavours to meet the obj ec t ion that R ic hboroughi s s ixteen m i les from Dover, whereas Caesa r states that h i sland i ng - p l ace was on l y e igh t Roman m i l es from the place

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240 c zESAR I N KENT.

Batteley , however, rea l i s ing that fac ts are aga in st him i nh i s attemp t to reconc i l e the d istance between Dove r andRichborough w i th that recorded i n “ th e Commenta ries ,changes h i s argument, an d attempts to th row doubts uponDover be ing the place i ntended by Caesar. “ I t i s to no

purpose,

” he says, “ to state that Ce sar sough t to land atthe port of Dover

,s in ce there are other p laces on that

shore n o less d ifficu l t of app roac h than Dover on accoun tof the rocks.” Where are the p laces we may ask. Tosu i t Batteley

’s pu rpose they mu st be much neare r to R ich

borough than Dover i s but w i th the ex cept ion of the sma l lin let ca l led St Margaret’s Bay, wh i ch we have no reason tobe l ieve was ever a port, there i s no other p l ace at a l l answeri ng to the descript ion . Dover, as we have seen , an swers toi t perfec t l y .

F urther,w i th reference to the statemen t of Dion Cass ius,

th at Cze sar sa i led rou nd a certa in p romontory before h ereached h is p lace of d isembarkat ion , A rchdeacon Batteleyremarks

,“ there was a p romonto ry n ea r Rutupium, wh i ch

be ing sa i led round,a port i s reached, suc h

'

as Caesar requ i red ,su i tab le for a mul t itude of la rge vesse l s . ” B ut he exp la in sthat “ the p romonto ry was not the P epemesse of to- day, bu tthe extreme boundary of the shore, wherever i t was, and bywhatsoever name i t was known

,wh i ch was on the left ofthose

en tering the Rutupian harbou r, and wh i ch now perhaps is a conside rable dista nce from the sea . ” S tand ing on th e h i l l ofR ichborough we look aroun d an d wonder where th is p romontorycou ld have been

,for Richborough i tse l f i s on the h ighest

ground for some m i les round , and n o s ign s of a promontoryof any k i nd presen t themse lves i n the d i rec t ion when ce s ar

wou ld h ave come. How indefi n ite an d i ndeed imag i na ry i ssuch a supposed p romontory

,compa red w i th that wh ic h i s

APPEND IX . 24 1

c i rcumnav igated by vesse l s sa i l i ng from Dover to Dea l,ca l led

the South Fore land . The abruptness of th i s p romontoryis not very not iceab le on the map of the coast, bu t to onecoast ing a long

,as Ce sa r d id , near the sho re round i ts rugged

and p roj ec t ing rocks, D ion Cass i u s needs no j ust ificat ion inca l l i ng i t a “ promontory,” or the Dover boatmen of thepresent day i n Speak ing of i t as the point.”

O ne advan tage c la imed by Batteley for Rutupium wereadi l y concede, name l y , that its harbour afforded far saferanc horage fo r vesse l s than the Open shore of Dea l , un lessmoored at some di s tance from the land. Th i s a lone wou ld

,I

th i nk,of i tse lf be conc l us ive aga i nst the statement that Ce sa r

landed at Rutupium. F or how cou ld that be a safe an chorage, where h is vesse l s were, ou each occas ion , dri ven on

shore and wrecked ? Dea l certa i n ly was not a po rt,and

a l though i t afforded amp l e room for Ce sar to land h i s t r0 0 ps ,wh i c h was apparent ly what h e c h iefl y though t of

,the even t

p roved that there was no saf e anchorage for h i s vesse l s c loseto the shore. H ad he landed at R i c hborough

,as Batte ley

contends,h i s vesse l s wou ld probab l y have been perfec t ly safe

from the storms wh i c h wrecked them .

How,then

,can we agree w i th the fo l low i ng argumen t by

wh i c h our l earned author conc l udes h is remarks respec t ingCe sar’s land ing - p lace . “ I may say

,i n a word

,that the

Romans,du ri ng the who le t ime i n wh ic h they possessed ou r

i s land,landed at the Portu s Rutupinus on ly , and u n less any

th i ng can be shown to the cont rary , I con c l ude that Ce sarthere d i sembarked

,an d that others afte r Ce sar, led by h i s

example , landed at the same place . ” We say , on the contrary , that the d i sasters he met w i th on each occas ion o fh i s i nvas ion of B r i ta i n i n the destruc t ion of h i s fl eet

,se rved as

beacon s to warn others aga in st attempt i ng to land upon the

Q

242 CZESAR I N KENT.

same shore. W e fi nd,accord ing l y

,that no attemp t was

made to land a t Dea l by those who subsequen t l y i nvaded ourcoun try . R ichborough and i t s safe ha rbou r

,commandi ng

the n earest approach by sea to London , became, as Batteleycorrec t l y asserts, the p lace of d i sembarkat ion of future con

querors, and a p lace of arms dur ing the Roman occupation ofB r i ta in .

Tz trnbu ll 67°

Spears, E dinburgh