ore they should arrive at the spot and be ready
to oppose them.

[Illustration: THE LANDING IN ENGLAND]

[Sidenote: The landing.]
[Sidenote: The battle.]
[Sidenote: Defeat of the Britons.]

The fleet moved on until, at length, after sailing about eight miles,
they came to a part of the coast where there was a tract of
comparatively level ground, which seemed to be easily accessible from
the shore. Here Caesar determined to attempt to land; and drawing up his
vessel, accordingly, as near as possible to the beach, he ordered the
men to leap over into the water, with their weapons in their hands. The
Britons were all here to oppose them, and a dreadful struggle ensued,
the combatants dyeing the waters with their blood as they fought, half
submerged in the surf which rolled in upon the sand. Some galleys rowed
up at the same time near to the shore, and the men on board of them
attacked the Britons from the decks, by the darts and arrows which they
shot to the land. Caesar at last prevailed; the Britons were driven
away, and the Roman army established themselves in quiet possession of
the shore.

[Sidenote: Caesar's popularity at Rome.]

Caesar had afterward a great variety of adventures, and many narrow
escapes from imminent dangers in Britain, and, though he gained
considerable glory by thus penetrating into such remote and unknown
regions, there was very little else to be acquired. The glory, however,
was itself of great value to Caesar. During the whole period of his
campaigns in Gaul, Rome and all Italy in fact, had been filled with the
fame of his exploits, and the expedition into Britain added not a little
to his renown. The populace of the city were greatly gratified to hear
of the continued success of their former favorite. They decreed to him
triumph after triumph, and were prepared to welcome him, whenever he
should return, with greater honors and more extended and higher powers
than he had ever enjoyed before.

[Sidenote: Results of his campaigns.]

Caesar's exploits in these campaigns were, in fact, in a military point
of view, of the most magnificent character. Plutarch, in summing up the
results of them, says that he took eight hundred cities, conquered three
hundred nations, fought pitched battles at separate times with three
millions of men, took one million of prisoners, and killed another
million on the field. What a vast work of destruction was this for a man
to spend eight years of his life in