and honours. He forbade
all persons, under severe penalties, to sacrifice to him, as they had
done to Calig'ula. He was assiduous in hearing and examining
complaints; and frequently administered justice in person with great
mildness. To his solicitude for the internal advantages of the state,
he added that of a watchful guardianship over the provinces. He
restored Jude'a to Her'od Agrip'pa,[22] which Calig'ula had taken from
Her'od Antipas, his uncle, the man who had put John the Baptist to
death, and who was banished by order of the present emperor.[23]

[Illustration: Triumph of Claudius.]

6. He even undertook to gratify the people by foreign conquest.
The Britons, who had for nearly a hundred years been left in quiet
possession of their own island, began to seek the mediation of Rome,
to quell their intestine commotions. 7. The principal man who desired
to subject his native country to the Roman dominion, was one Ber'icus,
who persuaded the emperor to make a descent upon the island,
magnifying the advantages that would attend the conquest of it. 8. In
pursuance of his advice, therefore, Plau'tius, the praetor, was ordered
to go into Gaul, and make preparations for this great expedition. At
first, indeed, his soldiers seemed backward to embark, declaring that
they were unwilling to make war beyond the limits of the world; for so
they judged Britain to be. However, they were at last persuaded to go,
and the Britons were several times overthrown.

[Sidenote: A.D. 46.]

9. These successes soon after induced Claud'ius to go into Britain in
person, under pretence that the natives were still seditious, and had
not delivered up some Roman fugitives, who had taken shelter among
them. 10. However, this exhibition seemed rather calculated for show
than service: the time he continued in Britain, which was in all but
sixteen days, was more taken up in receiving homage than extending his
conquests. 11. Great rejoicings were made upon his return to Rome: the
senate decreed him a splendid triumph; triumphal arches were erected
to his honour, and annual games instituted to commemorate his
victories. 12. In the mean time the war was vigorously prosecuted by
Plau'tius, and his lieutenant Vespasian, who, according to
Sueto'nius, fought thirty battles, and reduced a part of the island
into the form of a Roman province.

[Sidenote: A.D. 51]

13. However, this war broke out afresh under the government of
Osto'rius, who succeeded P