MITHRAS AND THE ROMAN WALL. 
119 
In the year 43 a.d. Claudius sent Aulus Plautius with about 50,000 
men to renew the attempt at conquest. 
Dion Cassius tells us that the soldiers were unwilling to engage 
in a struggle, as it were, " out of the world." The year following 
Claudius engaged personally in the war, and advanced into the 
country as far as Colchester. Hence he was dubbed Britannicus, 
and received a triumph ; and now for the first time Britain is 
named in the Eoinan coinage, as we find on several gold and silver 
pieces on the reverse a triumphal arch, on which is inscribed the 
words, "De Britannis " — "Over the Britains." 
On the return of Claudius, the supreme command again devolved 
on Aulus Plautius, under whom also served Vespasian and his son 
Titus. 
Ostorius Scapula succeeded in the command, against whose 
troops Caractacus and the Silures brought an obstinate resistance. 
In the reign of Nero occurred the disastrous tragedy enacted by 
Boadicea, "England's warrior queen." 70,000 Eomans or ad- 
herents of the Eoman rule fell under her hand; but Suetonius 
exacted a dire revenge in the slaughter of not less than 80,000 of 
the British army. 
Under Vespasian a new era commenced, and the Brigantes and 
Silures were reduced to submission; and now at length, after 
one hundred and thirty-three years of intermittent struggles, a 
fair hold began to be obtained on the most valuable portion of the 
island. 
It remained for Cnseus Julius Agricola, who landed as governor 
in the year 78, to complete the work of subjugation. During the 
eight years of his rule he subdued the remaining tribes of South 
Britain ; carried his arms into the northern section of the island ; 
drove the natives before him ; and at length, in the battle of the 
Grampians, for a while at least, he paralyzed their strength, and 
finally planted the Eoman standard on the Orkneys. He first 
began on a large scale to build walls and fortresses in all places 
where they were required ; and by fostering a taste for letters, and 
also for luxury, began a more certain conquest over the people by 
undermining their self-reliance, and indisposing them for the 
privations of constant warfare. And this is just what Tacitus tells 
us: "During the following winter [viz. a.d. 80] he occupied himself 
in civilizing and polishing the rude inhabitants, who, living wild 
and dispersed over the country, were thence ever restless, and easily 
