When Vespasian assumed the purple, a new era dawned upon the empire. This fact is well indicated upon a coin struck at this period. In the engraving, taken from a specimen found on the Wall, the emperor is observed raising a prostrate female from the ground (doubtless Rome), whilst Mars looks approvingly on; the inspiring motto “ROMA RESURGES”—_Rome thou shalt rise again_,—encircles the group.[2] Vespasian appointed Petilius Cerealis his proprætor in Britain, who in five years succeeded in adding the Brigantes, a powerful tribe, to the subjects of the empire. Julius Frontinus was his successor, who, in the three years of his government, nearly subdued the warlike nation of the Silures. [Sidenote: HIS PROPRÆTORS SUBJUGATE THE ISLAND.] One hundred and thirty-three years had now elapsed since the first descent of Cæsar, and thirty-five years, since Claudius had claimed the honour of conquering Britain, and yet but a fraction of the island was in subjection to Roman power. Nothing, as Dr. Giles well remarks, can more strongly shew the stubborn spirit of the natives, than their protracted resistance to the invaders. Battle after battle had been lost; but many of these tribes were still unsubdued, and several even undiscovered. [Sidenote: THE OPERATIONS OF AGRICOLA.] But the reputation of all preceding governors, was obscured by a greater man than they. Cnæus Julius Agricola had served in Britain under some preceding commanders; so that when he landed as governor in the year 78 he was prepared to act with all the promptitude which a knowledge of the country and the people could give him. During the eight years of his rule, he subjugated the remaining tribes of southern Britain, carried his arms into the northern section of the island, and drove, in successive campaigns, the natives before him, until at length, in the battle of the Grampians, he paralyzed their strength for a while. He circumnavigated the whole island, and planted the Roman standard upon the Orkneys. He built walls and fortresses in all places where they were required, and softened the fierceness of the barbarians, by fostering a taste for letters and the luxuries of the Eternal City. But it is necessary to trace the movements of Agricola, with some of the detail with which they are given in the pages of Tacitus.