Such was the state of Britain, and such the knowledge the Romans now possessed of its northern districts and tribes, when, in the middle of the summer of the year 78, Julius Agricola arrived to take the government of Britain. The frontiers of the Roman province had been extended over the western tribes of Wales, and advanced beyond the Humber to the north, till they embraced the greater part of the territories of the Brigantes, and its northern limit certainly touched upon the Solway Firth in the north-west, while it did not probably fall much short of the Firth of Forth on the north-east. The present southern boundary of Scotland seems to have represented the northern limit of the Roman province at this time, and Agricola was thus the first to carry the Roman arms within the limits of that part of Britain which afterwards constituted the kingdom of Scotland. Agricola had every circumstance in his favour in commencing his government which could tend to a distinguished result, and the consciousness of this probably led him to desire to add the wild and barren regions of the north to the acquisitions of Rome—a design which could not be justified on any considerations of sound policy, and for which, in encountering natives apparently of a different race, there was little excuse. He had already served under three of the governors of Britain, two of these, Petilius Cerealis and Suetonius Paulinus, among the most distinguished. He was familiar with all the characteristics and peculiarities of a war with the British tribes. He had acquired no small renown for military talent and success, and had given evidence of those enlarged conceptions of policy and views of government which could not but greatly affect the state and progress of the province under his charge. The appointment of a new governor seems generally to have been a signal to the persevering hostility of the British tribes to strike a blow for their independence, till practical experience of the qualities of their antagonist showed them whether success was likely to attend a prosecution of the war; and accordingly the first year of a new government appears always to have been marked by the insurrection of one or more of the subjugated tribes. On the arrival of Agricola he found the western nation of the Ordovices in open insurrection. The summer was far advanced, and the Roman troops stationed at different quarters expected a cessation of arms during the rest of the year; but, adopting the policy of Suetonius, Agricola at once drew the troops together, and attacking the enemy, the Ordovices were defeated in battle and entirely crushed for the time. Agricola, still having the example of Suetonius before him, followed up his advantage and accomplished what the latter had attempted, the subjugation of the island of Mona or Anglesea.