his stakes while the game
was still in his favour. He sent his fleet north-about (thus, for the
first time, _proving_ Britain to be an island),[186] and marched his
army across to meet it on the Clyde, whence he had already drawn his
famous rampart to the Forth, henceforward to be the extreme limit of
Roman Britain.[187] His work was now done, and well done. He resigned
his Province, and returned to Rome, in time to avoid dismissal by
Domitian, to whom preeminent merit in any subject was matter for
jealous hatred,[188] and who now made Agricola report himself by
night, and received him without one word of commendation. Had his life
been prolonged he would undoubtedly have perished, like so many of the
best of the Roman aristocracy, by the despot's hands; but just before
the unrestrained outbreak of tyranny, he suddenly died--"_felix
opportunitate mortis_"--to be immortalized by the love and genius
of his daughter's husband. And he left Britain, as it had never been
before, truly within the comity of the Roman Empire.

CHAPTER IV

THE ROMAN OCCUPATION, A.D. 85-211

SECTION A.

Pacification of Britain--Roman roads--London their centre--Authority
for names--Watling Street--Ermine Street--Icknield Way.

A. 1.--The work of Agricola inaugurated in Britain that wonderful _Pax
Romana_ which is so unique a phenomenon in the history of the world.
That Peace was not indeed in our island so long continued or so
unbroken as in the Mediterranean lands, where, for centuries on end,
no weapon was used in anger. But even here swords were beaten into
ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks to an extent never known
before or since in our annals. So profound was the quiet that for a
whole generation Britain vanishes from history altogether. All through
the Golden Age of Rome, the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, no writer
even names her; and not till A.D. 120 do we find so much as a passing
mention of our country. But we may be sure that under such rulers the
good work of Agricola was developing itself upon the lines he had laid
down, and that Roman civilization was getting an ever firmer hold. The
population was recovering from the frightful drain of the Conquest,
the waste cities were rebuilt, and new towns sprang up all over the
land, for the most part probably on old British sites, connected by
a network of roads, no longer the mere trackways of the Britons, but
"streets" elaborately constructed and metalled.

A. 2.--All