84 WAREHAM : ITS INVASIONS AND BATTLES. 



in Strabo of a merchant bound to these islands, who, observing he 

 was followed by a Koman ship, sunk his own vessel to prevent 

 discovery. We learn from Hutchins that " Divitiacus, king of the 

 Sueffones, 25 years before Caesar's coming into Britain and about 

 80 before Christ, obtained possession of those parts of Dorsetshire 

 not already included in the list of his dominions. Prior to the 

 Christian dispensation there had been, according to Collier, some 

 advance made towards civilization in Southern Britain, so that, 

 though Britain was regarded by the Koman nation as beyond the 

 limits of the known world, it did not lie in the dim mists of 

 obscurity as was imagined. 



Julius Caesar, the great Koman general, was probably the first 

 who attempted an invasion of our land ; but the first attempt was 

 a failure the Britons assembled in such numbers and "looked so 

 fierce, that the Komans were frightened and sailed away." This 

 statement need excite no surprise. The Britons were, however, 

 not always so successful, nor were they subdued without desperate 

 efforts. " We may fairly conjecture that the victorious eagle 

 neither seized nor kept her prey without the greatest difficulty." 

 The skin-clothed untrained troops fought desperately to defend 

 their possessions, proving formidable antagonists in their endeavours 

 to repel the invaders ; nevertheless, they were no match against a 

 legion of well-disciplined men, used to hardship, skilled in military 

 exercises, and stimulated by conquest. But the undaunted courage 

 shown compensated in some degree for their lack of discipline, and 

 the vigorous efforts to withstand their assailants were undiminished 

 by frequent defeats. Minds far more civilized and enlightened 

 than the noble, brave, and haughty British king, Caractacus, would 

 have wondered as he marched loaded with chains through the 

 streets of Rome what the wealthy Roman Emperor envied him in 

 his island home. 



The Britons evidently made some efforts for coast defence in the 

 neighbourhood. " About a mile E. of Lulworth and in that parish, 

 on the top of a very high hill, E. of the Creek, and on the west 

 point of the hills, that runs hence to Corfe, is a fortification, 



