HISTORY. 195 



Among the tribes with whom Csesar came in contact, the 

 Brigantes do not appear. They were separated by wide lands 

 and rivers from the dwellers on the southern coasts ; and per- 

 haps still more' estranged by difference of race and political 

 interests. The opponents of Csesar were chiefly Belgse who had 

 migrated from old Gaul and established themselves by force; 

 for the northern Highlanders*, hunters and shepherds, with- 

 drawn from the sound of war behind their shady mountains, 

 were uninjured by the Roman invasion, unmoved by the distresses 

 of Cassivelan and the capture of his city. 



This want of unanimity among the British tribes f, by which 

 each of the petty sovereignties or republics which existed in 

 the country was left to contend alone against a mightier enemy, 

 proved fatal to all in succession. Nearly a century, however, 

 passed before the attempt of Csesar was repeated. Then Aulus 

 Plautius (A.D. 43) was encountered by the sons of Cunobelin 

 of Camalodunum, who had been the ally of Rome, and whose 

 coins, bearing the effigy of the Horse, indicate the free com- 

 munication of Roman art. These sons, Cataratacus and Togo- 

 dumnus, were defeated, and Camalodunum was taken by the 

 Emperor Claudius; but the north of Britain still remained 

 unscathed by Roman war and unnoticed in Roman story. 



The Brigantes acquire both name and fame in the pages of 

 Tacitus. This writer, speaking of the exploits of Ostorius Sca- 

 pula, about A.D. 50, represents that commander marching from 

 the overthrown Iceni (Cambridgeshire) to the Cangi (South Lan- 

 cashire ? and Flintshire ?), and then returning from this un- 

 finished expedition to suppress internal discord among the Bri- 

 gantes (Tac. Ann. xii.). 



It may be thought these disturbances were of the nature of 

 insurrections against the sovereign, who had perhaps already 



* The Brigantes are by their etymology Highlanders, the Coritani 

 appear to have been dalesmen. 



t "Neque aliud adversus validissimas gentes pro nobis utilius quam 

 quod in communi non consulunt." Tacitus, Vit. Agric. 



o2 



