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 XtarovrdvBa, in his 

 list of towns in North Germany (Geog. 2, 11, 27, ap. Furneaux 

 Annals of Taeitus, ], p. 9). I have casually noticed an almost 

 equally stupid blunder in his account of Britain, where he puts the 

 Ilnd Augustan Legion at Isca (Exeter) in Devon, confusing it with 

 Isea 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 iEneas (Verg. 

 iEn., vii., 706), and from the first Roman Claudius, whose original 

 name was said to be Attus Clausus (Liv. ii., 16, etc.). 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 Belgse (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 



