Cæsar marched to meet the Germans, and in a conference with their leaders told them they must leave Gallic territory, at the same time offering to make an arrangement by which they could receive land on the right bank of the Rhine. They seemed disposed to accept these terms, but soon hostilities were precipitated because, while the terms were being discussed, the Germans attacked some of the Gallic cavalry attached to Cæsar’s army. The Romans moved suddenly, and according to Cæsar’s own account, butchered in cold blood men, women, and children to the number of 430,000, a hearsay number of course, but there is no reason for doubting that there was a massacre. No Roman was killed and few were wounded. Even in Rome, notoriously insensible to deeds of blood, this wholesale butchery caused disgust. Cato proposed that Cæsar should be given up to the barbarians as an act of justice. But the Senate contented itself with decreeing honors for the victory, although it was proposed, but not carried, that the operations in Gaul should be investigated by a commission. To finish up the moral effect made on the Germans by the massacre of their kinsmen, Cæsar built a trestle across the Rhine, transported his army into German territory, and for a short time his soldiers were employed in laying waste the country contiguous to the river. He had no intention of penetrating to the interior of the country, and soon returned to Gaul, after destroying the bridge he had built. This year’s campaign had been marked by daring adventures; it was to have a spectacular close in the expedition to Britain, an island known in a general way to traders from Gaul, but never yet visited by a Roman official or by a Roman army. Cæsar affected to believe that resistance to Roman rule in Gaul was being supported from Britain. In any case a protectorate of the island seemed to offer great material advantages, for exaggerated reports were in circulation as to its wealth and fertility. The expedition was only a partial success. A few tribes made their submission, but the troops had to be hastily withdrawn, because Cæsar desired to be back on the mainland before the equinoctials set in, as the fleet had already severely suffered in a storm.