98 STATE OF BRITAIN 



this terrible defeat and slaughter of the natives ? 

 So far from this being the case, the Romans do 

 not appear to have extended their conquests, for 

 we find, that in the year 78, that is, in 1 7 years after 

 the victory of Seutonitrs, the celebrated Agricola 

 had to reconquer the island of Anglesea, and to 

 subdue the Ordovices of North Wales and 

 Cheshire. This commander, is represented by 

 Tacitus, as possessed of talents of the highest 

 order, either for peace or war; yet this great 

 man, with all the advantages arising from the 

 Roman arms and discipline, and his own talents, 

 took six years to push his conquests into Scot- 

 land, and defeat Galgacus. Where we find the 

 Romans, fearing that from the surpassing multi- 

 tude of the enemy, they would be beset at once 

 in the front and on each flank. 



Thus, then, we see, that from the year 43, 

 A. D., when Aulus Plautius was sent by Claudius 

 with an army of fifty thousand men, that the 

 Romans had to send successively, their most 

 able generals, with formidable armies, during a 

 period of forty-one years, or until the year 84 

 when Galgacus was defeated. Must not Britain 

 then have been both populous and powerful ? 

 Can any other supposition account for the 

 lengthened resistance made to the Roman arms ? 

 Gaul was conquered by Julius Caesar, in a few 



