present times. The Britons
had made the best of the situation; but the Romans plunged into the
water, tore away the stakes and palisadoes, and obtained a complete
victory. The capital, or rather chief fastness, of Cassibelan was then
taken, with a number of cattle, the wealth of this barbarous city. After
these misfortunes the Britons were no longer in a condition to act with
effect. Their ill-success in the field soon dissolved the ill-cemented
union of their councils. They split into factions, and some of them
chose the common enemy for their protector, insomuch that, after some
feeble and desultory efforts, most of the tribes to the southward of the
Thames submitted themselves to the conqueror. Cassibelan, worsted in so
many encounters, and deserted by his allies, was driven at length to sue
for peace. A tribute was imposed; and as the summer began to wear away,
Caesar, having finished the war to his satisfaction, embarked for Gaul.

The whole of Caesar's conduct in these two campaigns sufficiently
demonstrates that he had no intention of making an absolute conquest of
any part of Britain. Is it to be believed, that, if he had formed such
a design, he would have left Britain without an army, without a legion,
without a single cohort, to secure his conquest, and that he should sit
down contented with an empty glory and the tribute of an indigent
people, without any proper means of securing a continuance of that small
acquisition? This is not credible. But his conduct here, as well as in
Germany, discovers his purpose in both expeditions: for by them he
confirmed the Roman dominion in Gaul, he gained time to mature his
designs, and he afforded his party in Rome an opportunity of promoting
his interest and exaggerating his exploits, which they did in such a
manner as to draw from the Senate a decree for a very remarkable
acknowledgment of his services in a supplication or thanksgiving of
twenty days. This attempt, not being pursued, stands single, and has
little or no connection with the subsequent events.

Therefore I shall in this place, where the narrative will be the least
broken, insert from the best authorities which are left, and the best
conjectures which in so obscure a matter I am able to form, some account
of the first peopling of this island, the manners of its inhabitants,
their art of war, their religious and civil discipline. These are
matters not only worthy of attention as containing a very remarkable