02 STATE OF BRITAIN 



fifty-four years before the Christian era, the 

 Britons were left in the possession of their inde- 

 pendence, until the reign of Claudius, who sent 

 Aulus Plautius with four legions with auxiliaries 

 and cavalry amounting to fifty thousand men. 

 This was in A. D. 43. This commander, with 

 his immense army of Romans, fought a battle 

 with the Britons which lasted two days, in which 

 the latter w^ere defeated. But a Roman army of 

 50,000 men, was considered equal to the subju- 

 gation of the most formidable states. It appears, 

 however, to have been thought necessary, for 

 Claudius himself to follow with another large 

 army, of horse, foot, and elephants, to subdue 

 the few barbarians. 



After this, we find Vespasian, who was second 

 in command, fighting no less than thirty battles. 

 He took, also, twenty towns, and conquered 

 the isle of Wight, and the whole country from 

 Kent to Cornwall. But, do these struggles of 

 the natives, disputing the progress of the in- 

 vaders at every step, shew that the country was 

 poor and barbarous ? Certainly not. The in- 

 habitants appear to have been divided into a 

 number of small states, and their invaders at- 

 tacked them separately, and in succession ; but 

 if they had not been numerous and powerful, 

 they could not have made the resistance they 



