own up, the galleys beached at the
top of the tide and run up high and dry beyond the reach of the surf,
the transports swung to their anchors where the ebb would not leave
them grounded, the quarters of the various cohorts assigned them, the
sentries and patrols duly set; and under the summer moon, these first
of the Roman invaders lay down for their first night on British soil.

SECTION D.

Wreck of fleet--Fresh British levy--Fight in corn-field--British
chariots--Attack on camp--Romans driven into sea.

D. 1.--Meanwhile the defeated Britons had made off, probably to their
camp above Dover, where their leaders' first act, on rallying, was to
send their prisoner, Commius, under a flag of truce to Caesar, with
a promise of unconditional submission. That his landing had been
opposed, was, they declared, no fault of theirs; it was all the
witlessness of their ignorant followers, who had insisted on fighting.
Would he overlook it? Yes; Caesar was ready to show this clemency;
but, after conduct so very like treachery, considering their embassy
to him in Gaul, he must insist on hostages, and plenty of them. A few
were accordingly sent in, and the rest promised in a few days,
being the quota due from more distant clans. The British forces were
disbanded; indeed, as it was harvest time, they could scarcely have
been kept embodied anyhow; and a great gathering of chieftains was
held at which it was resolved that all alike should acknowledge the
suzerainty of Rome.

D. 2.--This assembly seems to have been held on the morrow of the
battle or the day after, so that it can only have been attended by the
local Kentish chiefs, unless we are to suppose (as may well have been
the case), that the Army of Dover comprised levies and captains from
other parts of Britain. But whatever it was, before the resolution
could be carried into effect an unlooked-for accident changed the
whole situation.

D. 3.--On the fourth day after the Roman landing, the south-westerly
wind which had carried Caesar across shifted a few points to the
southward. The eighteen cavalry transports were thus enabled to leave
Ambleteuse harbour, and were seen approaching before a gentle breeze.
The wind, however, continued to back against the sun, and, as usual,
to freshen in doing so. Thus, before they could make the land, it was
blowing hard from the eastward, and there was nothing for them but to
bear up. Some succeeded in getting back to the shelter of the