CÆSAR must have felt that he had not really conquered the
Britons for, as soon as he arrived safely in France, he began
to gather together another army. In the spring of the following
year, he again sailed over to Britain. He came now not with eighty,
but with eight hundred ships and many thousands of men. But this
time there was no one to meet him when he landed. The Britons
indeed had heard of his coming, and had gathered in great force
to resist him. But, when they saw such a huge number of ships,
their hearts were filled with fear, and they fled into the forests
and hills to hide.
It must have been a wonderful sight, in the eyes of the ancient
Britons, to see so many ships sailing on the sea all at once.
They knew scarcely anything of the great lands which lay beyond
the blue sea surrounding their little island. They had not even
dreamed that the whole world contained as many ships as they now
saw. So it was not surprising that at first they were afraid and
fled. But they did not lose courage for long. They soon returned
and many battles were fought.
The Romans seemed to think that they won all these battles, but
the Britons were not at all sure of it. Certainly a great many
people on both sides were killed. If the Britons had been less
brave than they were, they would have been very badly beaten,
for the Romans wore strong armor and carried shields made of steel,
while the Britons had little armor, if any at all, and their shields
were made of wood covered with skins of animals. The Roman swords
too were strong and sharp, while those of the Britons were made
of copper. Copper is a very soft metal, and swords made of it
are easily bent and so made useless.
The Britons at this time were divided into many tribes, each
following their own chief. They often used to quarrel among themselves.
Now, however, they joined together against their great enemy and
chose a brave man, called Cassivellaunus, to be their leader.
Cassivellaunus led the Britons so well, and Cæsar found
it such a difficult task to conquer them, that at last he was
glad to make peace again and sail back to his own country.
He did not like to go away as if he had been defeated, so he
sent messengers to the British chief, saying, "If you let
me take some of your warriors back to Rome as a sign that you
are now Roman subjects and will not rebel against me, I will go
away."
The Britons were only too glad to be rid of Cæsar and his
soldiers at any price. They gave him some British soldiers to
take back to Rome, and even promised to pay him a certain sum
of money every year.
But it almost seemed as if Neptune had been doing battle for
his beloved Albion with his winds and waves. For while Cæsar
had been fighting the Britons, such fierce storms arose that his
ships were thrown upon the rocky shore and many of them dashed
to pieces. Indeed so few of his ships remained fit to put to sea
again that Cæsar could not take all his soldiers away at
one time. As many went as could, and the ships came back again
for the others.
Cæsar did not leave any soldiers in Britain at all, so
it does not seem as if he had really conquered the land. These
things happened in the year 54 B.C., that is, fifty-four years
before Christ was born. All Christian lands count time from the
year in which Christ was born, because His coming is the most
wonderful thing which has ever happened. Anything that took place
before Christ was born is said to be in such and such a year B.C.
Everything which has taken place since then is said to be A.D.
or Anno Domini, which means, "in the year of our Lord."
