d. He was not allured either by its riches or its
renown; but being ambitious of carrying the Roman arms into a new
world, then mostly unknown, he took advantage of a short interval in
his Gaulic wars, and made an invasion on Britain. The natives,
informed of his intention, were sensible of the unequal contest, and
endeavoured to appease him by submissions, which, however, retarded
not the execution of his design. After some resistance, he landed, as
is supposed, at Deal; [MN Anno Ante C. 55.] and having obtained
several advantages over the Britons, and obliged them to promise
hostages for their future obedience, he was constrained, by the
necessity of his affairs, and the approach of winter, to withdraw his
forces into Gaul. The Britons, relieved from the terror of his arms,
neglected the performance of their stipulations; and that haughty
conqueror resolved next summer to chastise them for this breach of
treaty. He landed with a greater force; and though he found a more
regular resistance from the Britons, who had united under
Cassivelaunus, one of their petty princes, he discomfited them in
every action. He advanced into the country; passed the Thames in the
face of the enemy; took and burned the capital of Cassivelaunus;
established his ally, Mandubratius, in the sovereignty of the
Trinobantes; and having obliged the inhabitants to make him new
submissions, he again returned with his army into Gaul, and left the
authority of the Romans more nominal than real in this island.

The civil wars which ensued, and which prepared the way for the
establishment of monarchy in Rome, saved the Britons from that yoke
which was ready to be imposed upon them. Augustus, the successor of
Caesar, content with the victory obtained over the liberties of his
own country, was little ambitious of acquiring fame by foreign wars;
and being apprehensive lest the same unlimited extent of dominion,
which had subverted the republic, might also overwhelm the empire, he
recommended it to his successors never to enlarge the territories of
the Romans. Tiberius, jealous of the fame which might be acquired by
his generals, made this advice of Augustus a pretence for his
inactivity [k]. The mad sallies of Caligula, in which he menaced
Britain with an invasion, served only to expose himself and the empire
to ridicule: and the Britons had now, during almost a century, enjoyed
their liberty unmolested; when the Romans, in the reign of Claudius