A. D. 14. 



35 



Britifh trade, pretty fully, in the account of the commerce of Gaul ; 

 or they were carried quite acrofs the country in carts or upon the backs 

 of horfes, which mode of conveyance required thirty days to traverfe 

 the country from the Ocean to the mouth of the Rhodanus *, where 

 Arelate flood on the main channel of the river, with which Mallilia 

 was connedled by a canal, made in the preceding age by Marius. [^Diod. 

 Sic. L. V, § 22. — Fofidonius ap. Strab. L. iii, p. 1 19. — Strab. L. ii, p. 190 ; 

 jL. iv,pp. '2.']g, 318.] With the charge of fuch a multiphcity of car- 

 riages the Britilh tin cofl in Rome four fliillings and ten pence of our 

 money a pound. [P//«. L. xxxiv, c. 17,] 



The duties paid in Gaul upon the imports and exports of Britain 

 conflituted the only fpecies of revenue derived from it by the Romans, 

 according to the exprefs teftimony of Strabo ; [L. ii, p. 176; L. iv, p. 

 306] who thus proves, that the tribute, which Caefar alleges he ordered 

 the Britons to pay, was a mere flourifh. Strabo indeed afFeds to fay, 

 that any tribute, which could be levied on the ifland, would be too 

 trifling to bear the expenfe of the garrifons neceflary to enforce it, 

 which would require at leafl one legion and fome additional cavalry. 

 But the Roman emperors of fucceeding ages thought very differently 

 from him in that refpedt, when they employed four, or more, legions 

 in the conquefl of this country, and to garrifon it after it was fub- 

 dued f . 



* Diodorus, to whom we are indebted for this 

 information, leaves us ignorant, whether the jour- 

 ney of thirty days was from Burdigala acrofs the 

 narrow part of Gaul ; from the mouth of the Li- 

 geris ; or from the coaft oppofite to Britain, and 

 through the whole extent of the country. Mr. 

 Melot has endeavoured to fupply that defect in an 

 elaborate eflay on the antient commerce of Britain 

 in the Memoires tie Vacademie royale, V. xvi, in- 

 tended chiefly to confute the fancy of a very ear- 

 ly intercourfe of the Greeks with this country : 

 but as he has not made the journey commence from 

 any of the four ports noted by Strabo as the fta- 

 tions for pafiing over to Britain, I doubt we arc 

 ftill as much to feek as ever. 



f Some have fuppofed, that this country was 

 kept in fubjeclion by a fmaller force than four le- 

 gions. But Agrippa in a fpeech to the Jews, 

 wherein he magnifies the Roman valour, and (hows, 

 that the very reputation of it was fufiicient to keep 

 the world in awe, tells them, that all Spain was 

 commanded by only one legion, Egypt by two, 

 and all tlic reil of Africa by one ; and that Bri- 

 tain, almoft as large as all the reft of the world, 

 luhofe lualls -were the Ocean, yet was kept by only 

 four legions. [_J"feph. BcU. Jud. L. ii, c. 16.] 

 This fpeech has been often quoted ; but it has not 

 been fufficiently obferved, that the aim of the 

 fpeaker was to extenuate the force neceflary to 

 keep greater provinces than Judaea in fubjeftion. 



It ought therefor to be received as proof, that the 

 number of legions in Britain was at leajl four. But 

 to leave flowers of rhetoric, we have the clear hif- 

 torical evidence of Tacitus for the fecond, ninth, 

 fourteenth, and tiuent'teth, legions being in Britain 

 under Paulinus in the reign of Nero ; and there 

 may have been more. ^JTac. Annnl. L. xiv, cc. 

 32, 34, 37 ; Hijl. L. iii, c. 4J.] There is alfo 

 the authority of Ptolemy, the Itinerary, and Dion 

 Caflius, for the refidence of ti\e Jixth -viSor ous, and 

 apparently good authority for that of vhefeventh 

 Claud'mn, the ninth, and the tenth legions in Bri- 

 tain. But it does not follow, that there were 

 eight legions in it at once ; and we know, that the 

 fourteenth was for fome time drawn off by Vitel- 

 lius, and that during his reign one of thcjlxth le- 

 gions (for there were often feverals of the fame 

 number) and the frventh Claudian were alfo upon 

 the continent. It is, however, probable, that there 

 were generally more than four ; for Agricola had 

 three, if not four, legions with him at the battle 

 of the Grampian hill ; and the flendereft garrifons, 

 he could leave in the conquered country, would 

 require at leaft two legions. There was alio a 

 fleet of armed veffels with a proper eftablifliment 

 of marine forces conitantly kept up in the different 

 ports. So important in the eyes of the Roman 

 emperors was Britain : and its importance is, I 

 hope, a fufiicient apology for this rather uncom- 

 mercial note. 



