_Fifth Campaign_, B.C. 54.--The greater part of Caesar's fifth campaign was occupied with his second invasion of Britain. He sailed from the port Itius with an army of five legions, and landed, without opposition, at the same place as in the former year. The British states had intrusted the supreme command to Cassivellaunus, a chief whose territories were divided from the maritime states by the River Tamesis (Thames). The Britons bravely opposed the progress of the invaders, but were defeated in a series of engagements. Caesar crossed the Thames above London, probably in the neighborhood of Kingston, took the town of Cassivellaunus, and conquered great part of the counties of Essex and Middlesex. In consequence of these disasters, Cassivellaunus sued for peace; and after demanding hostages, and settling the tribute which Britain should pay yearly to the Roman people, Caesar returned to Gaul toward the latter part of the summer. He gained no more by his second invasion of Britain than by his first. He had penetrated, it is true, farther into the country, but had left no garrisons or military establishments behind him, and the people obeyed the Romans as little afterward as they had done before. In consequence of the great scarcity of corn in Gaul, Caesar was obliged to divide his forces, and station his legions for the winter in different parts. This seemed to the Gauls a favorable opportunity for recovering their lost independence and destroying their conquerors. The Eburones, a Gallic people between the Meuse and the Rhine, near the modern _Tongres_, destroyed the detachment under the command of T. Titurius Sabinus and L. Aurunculeius Cotta. They next attacked the camp of Q. Cicero, the brother of the orator, who was stationed among the Nervii. Cicero repulsed the enemy in all their attempts, till he was at length relieved by Caesar in person, who came to his assistance with two legions as soon as he heard of the dangerous position of his legate. The forces of the enemy, which amounted to 60,000, were defeated by Caesar, who then joined Cicero, and praised him and his men for the bravery they had shown.