200 On the Roman Conquest of Southern Britain. 
understanding it ‘the rebels having dispersed to Suatutanda,” since 
he inserts this entirely absurd name in the form 2vatovrdvéa, in his 
list of towns in North Germany (Geog. 2, 11, 27, ap. Furneaux 
Annals of Tacitus, 1, p. 9). I have casually noticed an almost 
equally stupid blunder in his account of Britain, where he puts the 
IInd Augustan Legion at Isea (Exeter) in Devon, confusing it with 
Isca Silurum (Caerleon on Usk). It would seem worth while with 
these clues to scrutinise carefully the other lists of names in Ptolemy, 
and to see if others of them may not be explained by similar means. 
Supposing, then, that the army led by Aulus Plautius landed at 
the head of Southampton Water, it was natural that the first station 
founded by it should receive its name from the Emperor. This, I 
believe, according to a conjecture already made, is to be found in Clau- 
sentum, now generally identified with Bittern, a little to the east of 
Southampton. Professor Hiibner suggests that this was corrupted 
from Claudientum, but no such suggestion is needed. The Emperor 
was nothing if he was not an antiquary, and I believe he called, or 
Plautius at his direction called, this new town Clausentum, from 
the mythical ancestor of his gens, the Sabine ally of Aineas (Verg. 
/in., vii., 706), and from the first Roman Claudius, whose original 
name was said to be Attus Clausus (Liv. ii., 16, ete.). Clausentum 
would then be, unlike most Romano-British names, a purely Latin 
form like Laurentum. The importance attached to the expedition 
by the Emperor is shown by the name Britannicus taken by his son 
as well as by himself. It was the only expedition in which he 
personally took part, and was therefore likely to be specially marked 
by the foundation of a town bearing his family name. 
The first step in conquest after the army landed was probably the 
subjection of the Isle of Wight by Vespasian (Suet. Vesp. 4). 
Contemporaneous with this must have been the construction of the 
road to Venta, the capital of the Belg (Winchester). Thence the 
road would naturally be extended to Calleva, the capital of the 
Atrebates, for the reasons already given. Venta and Calleva seem 
at once to have become important military centres. The city of the 
Regni (Chichester) must also have very soon declared itself friendly ; 
and as we hear of no conflicts either now or at any later time with 
