CHAPTER VI

CAESAR’S FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN

Caesar obliged to secure his rear before invading Britain 301

He contemplated invasion as early as 56 B.C. 301

Campaign against the Veneti necessary in order to secure command of the Channel 303

Campaign against the Morini 305

Its failure leaves Caesar’s base not quite secure 305

Caesar determines to sail from the Portus Itius (Boulogne) 306

He attempts to obtain information about Britain from Gallic traders 307

Gaius Volusenus sent to reconnoitre the opposite coast 308

Envoys from British tribes sent to Caesar to promise submission 308

He commissions Commius to return with them and gain over tribes 309

Volusenus’s voyage of reconnaissance 309

Kentishmen prepare for resistance 312

Certain clans of the Morini spontaneously promise to submit 312

Caesar’s expeditionary force 313

Sabinus and Cotta sent to punish the recalcitrant Morini and the Menapii 314

Caesar’s voyage 314

His cavalry transports fail to put to sea in time 314

He anchors off the Dover cliffs 315

Late in the afternoon he sails on to Walmer--Deal 316

The landing vigorously resisted 316

Caesar’s victory indecisive owing to want of cavalry 317

The Romans encamp 317

British chiefs sue for peace 318

The cavalry transports dispersed by a gale 318

Caesar’s fleet partially wrecked 319

The British chiefs prepare to renew hostilities 320

Caesar labours to retrieve the disaster 320

The 7th legion surprised and attacked while cutting corn 321

Military operations suspended owing to bad weather 322

The Britons, attempting to rush Caesar’s camp, are defeated with heavy loss 323

Caesar compelled by the approach of the equinox to return to Gaul 323

Causes of his partial failure 323

Two transports fail to make the Portus Itius: the troops whom they carried attacked by the Morini 324

Punishment of the Morini and Menapii 324

Thanksgiving service at Rome for Caesar’s success 325