Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066; Middle Ages -- Sources
Androgeus after this went to Cæsar, and after a respectful salutation
addressed him in this manner:--"You have sufficiently revenged yourself
upon Cassibellaun; and now let clemency take place of vengeance. What
more is there to be done than that he make his submission and pay
tribute to the Roman state?" To this Cæsar returned him no answer: upon
which Androgeus said again; "My whole engagement with you, Cæsar, was
only to reduce Britain under your power, by the submission of
Cassibellaun. Behold! Cassibellaun is now vanquished, and Britain by my
assistance become subject to you. What further service do I owe you? God
forbid that I should suffer my sovereign, who sues to me for peace, and
makes me satisfaction for the injury which he has done me, to be in
prison or in chains. It is no easy matter to put Cassibellaun to death
while I have life; and if you do not comply with my demand, I shall not
be ashamed to give him my assistance." Cæsar, alarmed at these menaces
of Androgeus, was forced to comply, and entered into peace with
Cassibellaun, on condition that he should pay a yearly tribute of three
thousand pounds of silver. So then Julius and Cassibellaun from this
time became friends, and made presents to each other. After this, Cæsar
wintered in Britain, and the following spring returned into Gaul.[178]
At length he assembled all his forces, and marched towards Rome against
Pompey.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 178: "Cæsar's expedition against the Britons was of singular
boldness; for he was the first who proceeded with a fleet to the Western
Ocean, and sailed over the Atlantic Sea, conducting an army to war; and
being desirous of possessing an island, for its size hardly believed in,
and giving occasion for much controversy to various writers, as if a
name and a tale had been invented of a place which never had been nor
was yet in existence, he advanced the dominion of the Romans beyond the
limits of the known world; and having twice sailed over to the island
from the opposite coast of Gaul, and having rather worsted his enemies
in many battles, than advantaged his own soldiers, for there was nothing
worth taking from men who had a bare subsistence and were poor, he
terminated the war not in the way he wished; but taking hostages from
the king, and appointing tributes, he departed from the
island."--PLUTARCH. This is the language of a writer favourable to the
reputation of Cæsar, and may teach us how worthless are the old British
or rather Welsh legends in comparison with the classic historians.
But the classic historians deal sometimes in fables. Witness the
following quotation from Polyænus:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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