d consequently produce an increase of
reputation. His pretence was to punish these islanders for having sent
succors to the Gauls while he waged war against that nation, as well as
for granting an asylum to such of the enemy as had sought protection
from his resentment.

The natives, informed of his intention, were sensible of the unequal
contest and endeavored to appease him by submission. He received their
ambassadors with great complacency, and having exhorted them to continue
steadfast in the same sentiments, in the mean time made preparations for
the execution of his design. When the troops designed for the expedition
were embarked he set sail for Britain about midnight, and the next
morning arrived on the coast near Dover, where he saw the rocks and
cliffs covered with armed men to oppose his landing.

Finding it impracticable to gain the shore where he first intended, from
the agitation of the sea and the impending mountains, he resolved to
choose a landing-place of greater security. The place he chose was about
eight miles farther on (some suppose at Deal), where an inclining shore
and a level country invited his attempts. The poor, naked, ill-armed
Britons we may well suppose were but an unequal match for the
disciplined Romans who had before conquered Gaul and afterward became
the conquerors of the world. However, they made a brave opposition
against the veteran army; the conflicts between them were fierce, the
losses mutual, and the success various.

The Britons had chosen Cassibelaunus for their commander-in-chief; but
the petty princes under his command, either desiring his station or
suspecting his fidelity, threw off their allegiance. Some of them fled
with their forces into the internal parts of the kingdom, others
submitted to Caesar; till at length Cassibelaunus himself, weakened by
so many desertions, resolved upon making what terms he was able while
yet he had power to keep the field. The conditions offered by Caesar and
accepted by him were that he should send to the Continent double the
number of hostages at first demanded and that he should acknowledge
subjection to the Romans.

The Romans were pleased with the name of this new and remote conquest,
and the senate decreed a supplication of twenty days in consequence of
their general's success. Having therefore in this manner rather
discovered than subdued the southern parts of the island, Caesar
returned into Gaul with his forces and left the B