e Roman people, which
formerly had been thought equal to everything, came now to be less
relied upon than the abilities of a few popular men. The war with the
Gauls, as the old and most dangerous enemy of Rome, was of the last
importance; and Caesar had the address to obtain the conduct of it for a
term of years, contrary to one of the most established principles of
their government. But this war was finished before that term was
expired, and before the designs which he entertained against the liberty
of his country were fully ripened. It was therefore necessary to find
some pretext for keeping his army on foot; it was necessary to employ
them in some enterprise that might at once raise his character, keep his
interest alive at Rome, endear him to his troops, and by that means
weaken the ties which held them to their country.

From this motive, colored by reasons plausible and fit to be avowed, he
resolved in one and the same year, and even when that was almost
expired, upon two expeditions, the objects of which lay at a great
distance from each other, and were as yet untouched by the Roman arms.
And first he resolved to pass the Rhine, and penetrate into Germany.

Caesar spent but twenty-eight days in his German expedition. In ten he
built his admirable bridge across the Rhine; in eighteen he performed
all he proposed by entering that country. When the Germans saw the
barrier of their river so easily overcome, and Nature herself, as it
were, submitted to the yoke, they were struck with astonishment, and
never after ventured to oppose the Romans in the field. The most
obnoxious of the German countries were ravaged, the strong awed, the
weak taken into protection. Thus an alliance being formed, always the
first step of the Roman policy, and not only a pretence, but a means,
being thereby acquired of entering the country upon any future occasion,
he marched back through Gaul to execute a design of much the same nature
and extent in Britain.

[Sidenote: B.C. 55.]

The inhabitants of that island, who were divided into a great number of
petty nations, under a very coarse and disorderly frame of government,
did not find it easy to plan any effectual measures for their defence.
In order, however, to gain time in this exigency, they sent ambassadors
to Caesar with terms of submission. Caesar could not colorably reject
their offers. But as their submission rather clashed than coincided with
his real designs, he still persist