Chap. X Androgeus’s Speech to Cæsar
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
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:
“Cæsar attempting to pass a large river in Britain, Cassolaulus, king of the Britons, obstructed him with many horsemen and chariots. Cæsar had in his train a very large elephant, an animal hitherto unseen by the Britons. Having armed him with scales of iron, and put a large tower upon him, and placed therein archers and slingers, he ordered them to enter the stream. The Britons were amazed at beholding a beast till then unseen, and of an extraordinary nature. As to the horses, what need to write of them! since even among the Greeks, horses fly on seeing elephants even without harness, but thus towered and armed, and casting darts and slinging, they could not endure even to look upon the sight. The Britons therefore fled with their horses and chariots. Thus the Romans passed the river without molestation, having terrified the enemy by a single animal.”