The steady and continuous operation of Roman influences may be said to
begin in the reign of Claudius, A.D. 43; the sceptre of Cynobelin having
passed into the hands of his sons. Against these, and against the other
princes of Britain, such as Caradoc (Caractacus) and Cartismandua, the
active commanders Aulus Plautius and Ostorius Scapula are employed.
Three lines diverging from the parts about London give us the direction
of their conquests. One running along the valley of the Thames takes us
to the Dobuni of Gloucestershire, and the Silures of South Wales; both
of which are specially enumerated as subdued populations. The other,
almost at right angles with the last, gives us the operations against
the town of Camelodunum in Essex, the Iceni who afterwards revolted, and
the Brigantes of Yorkshire. The third is indicated by Paulinus'
campaigns in North Wales, and his bloody deeds in the Isle of Anglesey,
a line of conquest which probably arose out of the reduction of the
midland counties of Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Stafford, and
Shropshire. I do not say that these give us the actual movements of the
Roman army. They serve, however, to note the points where the special
evidence of Roman occupation is most definite.

In the reign of Vespasian the conquests were not only consolidated but
extended. Agricola builds his line of forts from the Forth to the Clyde,
and penetrates as far north as the Grampians. Whether the warriors whom
he here met under Galgacus were Britons, like those whom he had seen in
the south, or Gaels, is a matter which will be considered hereafter; but
he fought against them with foreign as well as with Roman soldiers. The
German Usipii formed one, if not more, of his cohorts; a circumstance
which shews what will be illustrated, with fuller details, in the
sequel, viz., that the Roman conquerors of Britain were far from being
exclusively Roman. The Usipii, however, are the first non-Roman soldiers
mentioned by name. On the west coast of Britain, Agricola had to deal
with the pirates from Ireland--undoubted Gaels whatever the warriors of
the Grampians may have been.

Roman civilization took root rapidly in Britain, though in a bad form.
The early existence of lawyers and money-lenders shew this. During the
reign of Domitian the advocates of Britain were known to the satirists
of Rome; and, as early as that of Nero, the calling-in of a loan by the
philosopher Seneca helped to create the great revolt