13 



torix. The news of this disaster coming on the 

 top of his own th.'ft.'at, and the desertion of the 

 States, left Cassivclauniis no choice but to submit. 

 Commius of Arras was again the mediator. Host- 

 ages were demanded and sent ; Cassivclaunus, by 

 express command, was forbidden over thereafter 

 to wage war upon Mandubracius or the State of 

 tho Trinobantes, and Csesar, having assessed the 

 amoimt of tribute to be paid yearly by Britain to 

 the Roman people, sailed away to Gaul with 

 his legions, bis hostages, and his prisoners, never 

 again to set foot on British soil. Now Cssar's 

 own ships on starting, as we have seen, numbei-ed 

 720. Forty of these, however, had be<'n completely 

 wrecked during a gale. This apparently would 

 leave 686 vessels in waiting for tho rf-embarka- 

 tion. When he arrived at the coast CiBsar tells 

 U3 that he desired to transport his host in two 

 relays, the transport ships returning to Britain 

 for the second contingent. The reason he gives 

 for this decision is that he had with him a largo 

 number of prisoners. It would bf interesting to 

 know what Caesar considered a large number of 

 prisoners. Fifty-three thousand, as we know, were 

 sold into slavery on a previous occasion withoxit 

 any comment on the magnitude of th<' haul, and 

 "the large number" may have been anything 

 between that and the at-tual number he could 

 pack into his ships. Besides the prisoners, a 

 number of hostages accompanied Ctesar on this 

 occasion. The year before, the British States had 

 promised to send hostages but had failed to do 

 so. This year it may be safely inferred that the 

 number of hostages woiUd be largely increased, 

 and these uncertainties forbid any attempt to 

 estimate the nurabera of those who retiu-ned from 

 Britain. That tlip prisoners and hostages were 

 sent by the first convoy is fairly certain, and we 

 have Caesar's word for it that only a very few of 

 the ti-ansports, and none at all of tho t}0 new ships 

 which Caesar had ordered to be built in Gaul, ever 

 reached the shores of Britain to carry over the 

 second contingent. Ctesar waited some time for 

 their arrival in vain, but the equinoctial gales 

 were at hand and he durst not linger. He stowed 

 away his troops as best he could in the few 

 transports he had and reached Gaul in safety. He 

 duly recorded his luck in not having lost any 

 vessel with troops on board. Casualties to 

 transports carrying prisoners or slaves ht' leaves 

 unnoticed. One fact emerges clearly from his 

 narrative ; a large number of his allied troops 

 must have remained bfhind in Britain. It is 

 clear that he did not take them all back, and 

 clear also that if the ships omployed in 

 the return were altogether about eqiial in 

 number to those in which the expedition 

 embarked, the auxiliary troops he left behind 

 in Britain must have been approximately as 

 nimierous as the numl>or of prisoners and host- 

 ages taken into Gaul, whatever that number may 

 have been. Between th« days of Julius and the 

 days of Claudius — almost an exact centxiry^ — no 

 Roman set foot in Britain. It follows, therefore, 

 that the historic event known as Ccesar's invasion 

 uf Britain was, in reality, the invasion of that 

 part of our island which may be regarded as already 

 English, by an army of men who, with the ex- 



ception of the Roman legions, may also be regarded 

 as mainly of Engli.sli blood ; and, further, that the 

 principal immediate resxilt was to leave a number 

 of these fighting men upon our shores to find sub- 

 sistence and a home. This, I have some reason to 

 believe, is a view of the subject not yet generally 

 appreciated. It is satisfactory to know, however, 

 that one Saxon invasion at least was not a myth but 

 a reality. Let me now add just a few words con- 

 cerning our old friend Commius of Arras, who has 

 afar closer connection with Britain even than the 

 divine JiUius himself. Ho was, as we have seen, 

 king of the At t rebates, hot li in Britain and on tho 

 Continent (his title on the Continent having 

 been given him by Caesar), His conduct in con- 

 nection with the British expedition had been 

 such that Ccesar now exempted his State from 

 the payment of tribute, and conferred upon him 

 the country of the Morini, a maritime State 

 adjoining that of the Attrebates, The dominions 

 of Commius, therefore, now stretched along the 

 seaboard from cf'nsJdei-ably beyond Boulogne in 

 one direction, to considerably beyond Dunkerque 

 on the other, thiis giving him practically absolute 

 control of the Channel traffic, in addition to » 

 broad belt of hinterland along his former frontiers. 

 Caesar no doul>t conferred these kingly gifts with a 

 view to making Commius a responsible guarantee 

 for the payment of the annual ti-ibute to Rome by 

 the other British princes, but at least he might 

 justly consider himself entitled to the fidelity and 

 gratitude of his vassal king. But when the day of 

 trial came, as it did only a year or so later, neither 

 gratitude nor loyalty coidd stand the strain of 

 Belgic patriotism, Commixis was appointed one of 

 the foxu' generals who led what then seemed to be 

 the invincible Gallic league against his benefactor, 

 and marched with his troops to the relief of 

 the heroic Vercingetorix at the siege of Alesia. 

 Even after the fall of Alesia and the glorius 

 suri'ender of Vercingetorix, Commius continued 

 his hostility, and tmmd a temporary home 

 among his German allies, when the Gallic 

 States yet once again bowed their necks to the yoke 

 of Rome. Labienus, Ctesar's lieutenant, attempted 

 to have the life of Commius taken by treachery, but 

 he contrived to escape with only a severe wound 

 in his head. He could no longer hope to defeat the 

 Roman legions, but at least he might \sTeak his 

 personal vengeance upon the officer who had struck 

 the treacherous blow. "With a few mounted troops 

 he still continued to harass small detachments of 

 the Roman Army. One day the same officer, now 

 commander of the horse under Marc Antony, was 

 sent in pursuit of Commius and his irregulars. 

 Commius pretended to fly, till he had drawn his 

 old antagonist to a distance from his troops ; then 

 he suddenly whetded round and tilted at him 

 with his lance. He only succeeded in dealing him 

 a terrible blow in his thigh, which nearly caused 

 his death, but he had achieved his revenge. He 

 at once tendered his submission to Marc Antony, 

 petitioning to be permitted to retire to a place 

 where he would never again come within sight of 

 a Roman soldier. The submission was accepted, 

 and the petition granted (his crimes being such 

 as an Antonj- or a Cfesar knew how to forgive). At 

 this point Commius di«api>ear3 from the pages of 



