ire, with regard to foreign affairs common rules and a moderate
policy took place. War became no more than a sort of exercise for the
Roman forces.[17] Even whilst they were declaring war they looked
towards an accommodation, and were satisfied with reasonable terms when
they concluded it. Their politics were more like those of the present
powers of Europe, where kingdoms seek rather to spread their influence
than to extend their dominion, to awe and weaken rather than to destroy.
Under unactive and jealous princes the Roman legates seldom dared to
push the advantages they had gained far enough to produce a dangerous
reputation.[18] They wisely stopped, when they came to the verge of
popularity. And these emperors fearing as much from the generals as
their generals from them, such frequent changes were made in the
command that the war was never systematically carried on. Besides, the
change of emperors (and their reigns were not long) almost always
brought on a change of measures; and the councils even of the same reign
were continually fluctuating, as opposite court factions happened to
prevail. Add to this, that during the commotions which followed the
death of Nero the contest for the purple turned the eyes of the world
from every other object. All persons of consequence interested
themselves in the success of some of the contending parties; and the
legates in Britain, suspended in expectation of the issue of such mighty
quarrels, remained unactive till it could be determined for what master
they were to conquer.

On the side of the Roman government these seem to have been some of the
causes which so long protracted the fate of Britain. Others arose from
the nature of the country itself, and from the manners of its
inhabitants. The country was then extremely woody and full of morasses.
There were originally no roads. The motion of armies was therefore
difficult, and communication in many cases impracticable. There were no
cities, no towns, no places of cantonment for soldiers; so that the
Roman forces were obliged to come into the field late and to leave it
early in the season. They had no means to awe the enemy, and to prevent
their machinations during the winter. Every campaign they had nearly the
same work to begin. When a civilized nation suffers some great defeat,
and loses some place critically situated, such is the mutual dependence
of the several parts by commerce, and by the orders of a well-regulated
commun