Boek 39, 51-53

51 To this island (Britain), therefore, Caesar wished to cross, once he had won over the Morini, and the rest of Gaul was quiet. He made the crossing with his infantry by the best route, but he did not land where he should have. For the Britons, being forewarned of the in­vasion, occupied in advance all the landing places facing the continent. Caesar, therefore, sailed round a projecting headland and skirted along the coast on the other side of it. There he defeated those who joined battle with him as he disembarked in the shallows, and secured a bridgehead before reinforcements could arrive. He then repulsed this attack too. Not many of the barbarians fell, however, since they consisted of charioteers and cavalry and easily escaped the Romans, whose own cavalry had not yet arrived. However, the natives were alarmed both by reports about the Romans that came over from the continent, and by the fact that they had dared to cross over at all and had been able to set foot on their territory. So they sent some of the Morini, who were friends of theirs, to Caesar in order to arrange peace.

52 At the time they were willing to give him the hostages he demanded, but when subsequently the Romans suffered damage both to the fleet they had with them and to the one on its way (from the continent) as the result of a storm, they changed their minds. While not attack­ing the Romans openly, since their camp was strongly guarded, they did seize a number of men who had been sent out as if into friendly territory to forage for provisions, and killed all but a few of them, the remainder being hastily rescued by Caesar. After this they even assaulted the Roman encampment itself, but they achieved nothing, and in fact came off badly. Even so, they would not come to terms until they had been defeated on a number of occasions. Indeed Caesar had no intention of making peace with them, but winter was coming on and he was supplied with insufficient forces for engaging in hostilities at that time of year. Since too those forces being shipped over (from the continent) had been prevented from arriving and the Gauls had risen in his absence, he reluctantly entered into a treaty with the Britons, demanding many hostages on this occasion also, though he received only a few.

53 Thus, he sailed back to the continent and ended the disturbances. For himself or the state he had gained nothing from Britain except the glory of having led an expedition against it. Indeed he himself took great pride in this, and the Romans at home made great play of it. For seeing what was previously unknown had been revealed to sight, and what had formerly been unheard of had become accessible to them, they regarded future expectations arising from these events as already realised, and gloried in all the gains they expected to achieve as if they already had them in their possession. On account of this they voted to hold a festival of thanksgiving for twenty days.

Boek 40, 1-4

1 Among Caesar's other undertakings in Gaul during the consulship of those same men, Lucius Domitius and Appius Claudius, he had built ships that were half-way between his own swift vessels and the local cargoboats. This was so they might combine as far as possible lightness of construction and the ability to withstand the waves, and also so that they would not come to any harm when left high and dry. Once the weather was fit for sailing, Caesar again crossed over to Britain, giving as his excuse the fact that they had not sent him all the hostages they had promised. They evidently thought that because Caesar had withdrawn from Britain empty-handed on one occasion, he would not trouble them again. In fact, however, he coveted the island greatly so that he would certainly have found another excuse if he had not had this one. So he landed at the same place as before and because of the number of his ships and the fact that they put into the shore at many points simultaneously, no one dared to oppose him. Immediately, therefore, Caesar was able to consolidate his beachhead.

2 For this reason the barbarians were unable to prevent his invasion, and because Caesar's arrival with a larger army caused them even greater alarm than had been the case the previous occasion, they gathered together all their most valued possessions into the densest and most thickly overgrown parts of the surrounding countryside. Once they had made them secure by cutting down the trees round about and piling more on top of them row after row so that the end result was a kind of stockade, they then began to harass the Roman foraging parties. Indeed, after being defeated in a battle on open ground, they drew the Romans in pursuit towards their stockade and killed a number in turn. After this a storm once again damaged the Roman ships and the Britons sent for allies and moved against the fleet with Cassivellaunus, the foremost of the island's chieftains, as their leader. On engaging them, the Romans were at first thrown into confusion by the onslaught of the British chariots, but then they opened their ranks, and allowing the chariots to pass through, hurled their weapons at the enemy from the side as they rushed past. In this way they made the battle equal.

3 For a while both sides stood their ground, but then, though the barbarians gained the upper hand over the Roman infantry, they were routed by the Roman cavalry and withdrew to the Thames, where they camped after blocking the crossing point there by means of stakes both above and below the water line. Caesar, however, forced them to abandon this stockade with a vigorous attack, and later, by means of a siege, drove them out of their stronghold, while others beat off an attack on the naval camp. As a result the Britons became very much alarmed; they ended hostilities, provided hostages, and agreed to pay a yearly tribute.

4 Thus did Caesar depart from the island for good, leaving no troops behind in it; for he believed that such a force would be in danger if it passed the winter in a foreign land, and that it would not be ad­visable for himself to be absent from Gaul any longer. He contented himself with his present achievements for fear that in striving after greater ones he should be deprived of even these. And it seemed that he was right in this, as was proved in the event.

Boek 59, 25

25 On his arrival at Ocean, as if he [Caligula] were going to conduct a campaign in Britain, he drew up all his soldiers on the shore. Then he embarked on a trireme, and after putting out a little from the land, sailed back again. After this he took his seat on a high platform, gave the soldiers a signal as if for battle, and urged them on by means of the trumpeters. Then suddenly he ordered them to gather seashells, and having got these spoils – for it was clear he needed booty for his triumphal procession – he became very excited, as though he had enslaved Ocean itself, and gave his soldiers many presents. The shells he carried off to Rome in order to exhibit his booty there as well.

Boek 60, 19-23

19 At the same time as these events were happening in the City [Rome] Aulus Plautius, a senator of great distinction, led a campaign to Briatin, since a certain Berikos [Verica], who had been driven out of the island as the rsult of an uprising, had persuaded Claudius to send a force there. So it was that Plautius undertook the expedition, though he had difficulty in getting his army to leave Gaul, since the troops were indignant at the prospect of campaigning outside the known world, and would not obey him until Narcissus, who had been sent by Claudius, mounted Plautius' tribunal and tried to harangue them. Thereupon they became even more angry and refused to allow him to speak at all, but suddenly all in unison they raised the cry “Io Saturnalia” (at the festival of Saturn the slaves take over the role of their masters and engage in festivities) and at once they willingly followed Plautius. These events did, however, delay the departure. They made the crossing in three divisions so as not to be hampered in landing, as a single force might be. On their way across, however, they were at first disheartened by being driven back in their course. Subsequent­ly, though, they recovered their spirits when a bolt of lightning shot from east to west – the direction they were sailing. On putting in to the island they met with no resistance, since the Britons, from what they had learned, had not expected them to come, and had not assembl­ed beforehand. Even when they did assemble they did not engage the Romans, but took refuge in the marshes and woods hoping to wear them out by these tactics, so that they would sail back empty-handed, as had happened in Julius Caesar's day.

20 Plautius, therefore, had a good deal of trouble in searching them out, and when he did eventually locate them, he defeated first Caratacus and then Togodumnus, the sons of Cunobelinus, who was now dead. The Britons were not in fact independent, but ruled over by various kings. With these two put to flight Plautius secured the surrender on terms of part of the Bodunni (Dobunni) tribe who were subject to the Catuvellauni. Leaving a garrison there he advanced further and came to a river. The barbarians thought the Romans would not be able to cross this without a bridge, and as a result had pitched camp in a rather careless fashion on the opposite bank. Plautius, however, sent across some Celts who were practised in swimming with ease fully armed across even the fastest of rivers. These fell unexpectedly on the enemy, but rather than attacking the men they maimed the horses that drew their chariots instead. In the resultant confusion not even the mounted warriors could get away unscathed. Plautius then sent across Flavius Vespasian, who subsequently became Emperor, and his brother Sabinus, who was serving under him. They too manag­ed to get across the river and killed some of the enemy, since they were not expecting them. Those Britons who survived did not, however, take to flight, but rather joined battle with them again the following day. The struggle was indecisive until Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, after narrowly escaping capture, defeated the enemy so resound­ingly that he was awarded triumphal ornaments' even though he had not yet held the consulship. From there the Britons withdrew to the Thames, at a point where it flows into the sea and at high tide forms a lake. This they crossed with ease since they knew precisely where the ground was firm and the way passable. The Romans, however, in pursuing them, got into difficulties here. Once again the Celts swam across, while others crossed by a bridge a little way upstream, and they engaged the enemy from several sides at once, cutting many of them down. However, in pursuing the survivors without due precau­tion they got into marshes from which it was difficult to find a way out and lost a number of men.

21 On account of this and the fact that the death of Togodumnus, far from causing the Britons to give in, had united them all the more to avenge him, Plautius became afraid and advanced no further. Instead, he hung on to what was already in his possession and sent for Claudius. He had in fact been instructed to do this in the event of any strong opposition, and a good deal of equipment, including elephants, had already been assembled for this campaign. When the report reached Claudius, he handed over affairs at home to his colleague Lucius Vitellius (father of the future emperor), whom he had obliged to re­main consul like himself for the full half year, and went off on cam­paign. After sailing downriver to Ostia he was then conveyed along the coast to Massilia. From there he travelled partly overland and partly along the rivers and on his arrival at Ocean, he crossed over to Britain and joined the army, which was waiting for him at the Thames. Taking over command, he crossed the river and engaging the natives who had gathered at his approach, defeated them, and took Camulodunum [Colchester], the capital of Cunobelinus. As a result of this he won over numerous tribes, some on terms of surrender, others by force, and was saluted Imperator on several occasions – contrary to precedent; for no one may receive this title more than once for the same war. In addition he disarmed the Britons and handed them over to Plautius, whom he authorised to subjugate the remaining areas. Claudius himself hastened back to Rome, sending the news of his victory on ahead by means of his sons-in-law, Magnus and Silanus.

22 When the Senate learned of these achievements, it awarded Claudius the title Britannicus and gave him permission to celebrate a triumph. They also voted to hold an annual festival and to erect two triumphal arches, one in Rome, the other in Gaul, from where he had put to sea when he crossed to Britain. They also bestowed on his son the same title, with the result that Britannicus came in a way to be the boy's actual name, and they granted Messalina the privilege that Livia had had of sitting in the front seat at the theatre and the use of the carriage.

23 Thus were parts of Britain captured at that time. Later, when Gaius Crispus and Titus Statilius were consuls, the former for the second time, Claudius came to Rome after an absence of six months, of which he had spent only sixteen days in Britain, and celebrated his triumph. In this he did everything according to precedent, including going up the steps of the Capitol on his knees with his sons-in-law supporting him on either side. To the senators who had gone on campaign with him he awarded triumphal ornaments, and this not only to those who had held consular office ... (lacuna) ... something he used to do with great lavishness and on the slightest pretext ... Having attend­ed to these affairs he held his victory celebration, assuming a kind of consular authority for it. It took place in two theatres at the same time. On many occasions Claudius himself left the spectacle and others took charge of it in his stead. He announced as many horse races as could be fitted into a day, but not more than ten in fact took place, for in between the races there was bear-baiting, athletic contests, and boys brought from Asia danced the Pyrrhic war-dance. Another festival, this too in honour of the victory, was given by the stage art­ists with the permission of the Senate. This was done on account of events in Britain, and so that other tribes might come to terms more easily, it was enacted that all the treaties made with tribes by Claudius or his lieutenants should be as binding as if made by the Senate and People.

Boek 62, 1-12 (Epitome)

1 While this child's play was going on in Rome, a dreadful disaster occurred in Britain: two cities were sacked, 80,000 Romans and provincials were slaughtered, and the island fell into the hands of the enemy. All this, moreover, the Romans sustained at the hands of a woman, something that in fact caused them the greatest of shame. Indeed the gods gave them advance warning of the disaster: during the night a clamour of foreign voices mingled with laughter had been heard in the council chamber and in the theatre uproar and lamentation, but it was no mortal who uttered those words and groans; houses were seen underwater in the river Thames, and the Ocean between the island of Britain and Gaul on one occasion turned blood-red at high tide.

2 The ostensible cause of the war was the confiscation of money which Claudius had given to the leading Britons, but which now had to be repaid - so at least the Procurator of the island Decianus Catus claim­ed. For this reason, therefore, they rose in revolt, this and the fact that Seneca had lent them 10,000,000 drachmas (40,000,000 sesterces) they did not want in the hope of a good return, and had then called in the debt all at once and in a heavy-handed manner. However, the one person who most roused them to anger and per­suaded them to go to war against the Romans, the one person thought worthy of leading them and who directed the course of the whole war, was Boudouica, a woman of the British royal family who possessed more spirit than is usual among women. Having collected an army of 120,000, she mounted a tribunal made in the Roman fashion out of earth. In stature she was very tall and grim in appearance, with a piercing gaze and a harsh voice. She had a mass of very fair hair which she grew down to her hips, and wore a great gold torque and a multi-coloured tunic folded round her, over which was a thick cloak fastened with a brooch. This was how she always dressed. And now, taking a spear in her hand so as to present an impressive sight to everyone, she spoke as follows:

3  “You have learned from actual experience what a difference there is between freedom and slavery. As a result, though some of you through your ignorance of which is better were previously deceived by the Romans' tempting promises, now at least you have tried them both and understand how great a mistake you made in preferring an im­ported tyranny to your ancestral way of life. You have realised how much better is poverty with no master than riches accompanied by slavery. For what great dishonour, what extreme of grief have we not suffered from the moment these Romans arrived in Britain? Have we not been entirely deprived of our most important possessions, and pay taxes on what is left? In addition to pasturing and tilling all our other property for them, do we not also pay an annual tax on our very bodies? How much better would it have been to be sold to masters once and for all, rather than to ransom ourselves every year and retain the empty name of freedom! How much better to have been slaughtered and perish than to go around with a tax on our heads! But why do I mention this? Not even death is free with them; you know how much we pay even for the dead. Among the rest of humanity death frees even those who are slaves; only among the Romans do the dead live for their profit. Why is it that though we have no money - how could we have any, from what source? – we are stripped and despoiled like murder-victims? And why should they moderate their behaviour with the passage of time when they have treated us like this from the outset, a time when all men show some consideration even for the animals they have newly caught?

4 Yet, to tell the truth, we are ourselves responsible for all these troubles. We allowed them to set foot upon our island in the first place, and did not immediately drive them out as once we did the famous Julius Caesar. We did not make even the attempt to set sail a frightful prospect for them while they were still far away, as we did in the case of Augustus and Gaius Caligula. For this reason, though we inhabit so large an island, or rather a continent as it were, surrounded by the sea, and though we have a world of our own and are separated from all the rest of mankind by the Ocean to such an extent that people believe we live in another world under another sky, and some of them – the most erudite included – have hitherto not known for certain what we are called, yet we have been despised and trampled under foot by men who understand nothing except giving vent to their greed. But if we have not done so in the past, let us do our duty now, my countrymen, friends and kinsmen – for I consider you all my kinsmen inasmuch as you inhabit a single island and are called by one common name – now while we still remember freedom, so that we may bequeath it to our children both as a term and a reality. For if we forget altogether that happy state in which we grew up, what will they do who are reared in slavery?

5 This I say not to make you hate your present state, for hatred of it you already have, nor to make you fear the future, for you already fear it, but in order to praise you because of your own accord you choose the necessary path of action and to thank you for being ready to unite with myself and one another. Have no fear of the Romans, for they are superior to us in neither numbers nor bravery. Proof of this is the fact that they have encased themselves in helmets, breastplates and greaves, and have built themselves stockades, walls and trenches so as not to suffer any harm from enemy attack. This course they choose out of fear, rather than acting as the spirit moves, as we do. For we enjoy such a superabundance of courage that we regard our tents as safer places than walls, and our shields as more effective protection than all their arms and armour. In consequence, when we are victorious we capture them, and when we are beaten we escape. If we choose to retreat anywhere, we go to ground in swamps and mountains, the nature of which renders us undetectable and beyond capture. They on the other hand cannot pursue anyone because of the weight they carry, neither can they escape, and if ever they do elude us, they take refuge in pre-arranged spots and there pen themselves up as if in a trap. It is not only in this respect, however, that they are vastly inferior to us: they are also incapable of enduring hunger or thirst, cold or heat as we do. Instead they need shade and shelter, kneaded bread, wine and oil, and if ever they run short of any of these, they perish. For us on the other hand any grass or root serves as bread, any plant juice as oil, any water as wine, any tree as home. What is more, this land is familiar to us and our ally, but to them it is unknown and hostile. The rivers we swim naked, but they cannot cross them with ease even in boats. So let us go against them placing our trust in good fortune; let us show them that they are hares and foxes attempting to rule over dogs and wolves.”

6 Having made her speech, she then engaged in a type of divination by releasing a hare from the fold of her tunic, and since it ran on what was for them the lucky side, the whole mass of people shouted for joy and Boudouica raised her hand to heaven and said: “I thank you, Andraste, and I call upon you woman to woman, not as one who rules over Egyptians with their burdens as Nitocris did, nor over Assyrian traders as did Semiramis – this much we have learned from the Romans – nor yet indeed as one ruling over the Romans themselves, as once Messalina did, then Agrippina and now Nero – for though he has the title of man, he is in fact a woman, as his singing and playing the lyre and painted face declare – but as one who rules over Britons who have no knowledge of tilling the earth or work­ing with their hands, but are experts in the art of war and hold all things in common, even their wives and children. Through this the women too possess the same valour as the men. As queen, then, of such men and women I pray to you and ask for victory, safety and freedom from men who are insolent, unjust, insatiable and impious – if indeed we ought to call them men when they bathe in warm water, eat fancy food, drink unmixed wine, smear themselves with myrrh, sleep on soft beds with boys – boys past their prime at that – and are slaves to a lyre-player, and a bad one at that. May this woman, Domitia Nero, reign no longer over me or you men; rather let her lord it over the Romans with her singing; for they deserve to be slaves to such a woman, whose tyranny they have put up with for so long. For us on the other hand may you alone, Lady, for ever be our leader.”

7 Having made her harangue after this fashion Boudouica led her army against the Romans, who happened to be leaderless because their com­mander, Paulinus, had gone off on campaign to the island of Mona [Anglesey], which lies close to Britain. For this reason she sacked and plundered two Roman cities and inflicted untold slaughter, as I have said. Those who were taken prisoner by the Britons underwent every possible outrage; the most atrocious and bestial committed was this: they hung up naked the noblest and most beautiful women, cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths so that they seemed to be eating them. Then they impaled them on sharp stakes which ran the length of their bodies. All this they did to the accompaniment of sacrifices, feasting, and orgies in their various sacred places, but especially in the grave of Andate. This is the name they gave to Victory, and they regarded her with particular reverence.

8 As it turned out Paulinus had already reduced Mona to surrender, and on learning of the disaster in Britain he immediately sailed back there from the island. However, fear of the natives' numbers and their mad fury dissuaded him from risking everything against them. Rather, he was inclined to put off the battle till a more suitable occasion, but since he was short of food and there was no let-up in the native onslaught, he was forced to engage them, even against his better judgement. Boudouica, with an army of up to 230,000 men, rode in a chariot herself and arranged the others in their various positions. Paulinus on the other hand could not extend his own line to face (all of) hers – they would not have stretched far enough even if drawn up one man deep, so outnumbered were they. Nor did he dare to join battle in a single formation for fear of being surrounded and cut to pieces. So he disposed his army in three divisions so as to fight on several fronts at once, and had each of the divisions maintain close ranks so as to be difficult to penetrate.

9 As he drew up his men and set them in their positions he encouraged them as follows: “Come, my fellow soldiers, come Romans, show these murdering savages how great is your superiority even in adversity. For it would be shameful for you to lose in ignominy what a short time ago you won through your valour. On numerous occasions we ourselves and our fathers have defeated numerically superior adversaries with fewer numbers than we now have. Do not be alarmed by the size of their forces or their rebellious spirit – their boldness is the product of a recklessness bolstered by neither arms nor training – neither be alarmed by the fact that they have set fire to a couple of towns. They did not take them by force or as the result of a battle, but one through treachery, the other after its evacuation. So exact from them the due penalty for their deeds, so that they learn by experience what sort of men it is they have wronged compared with themselves.”

10 This was the speech he made to one division. He then went to another and said: “Now is the time, my fellow soldiers, for spirit, now the time for daring. If today you show yourselves brave, you will recover everything you have lost. If you conquer these people, no one else will stand against us any longer. Through a single battle such as this you will secure what is already yours, and all else you will make subject to you. Our forces, even those in other countries, will seek to match you, and our enemies will stand in awe of you. So you have it in your power either to rule all men without fear – both those your fathers bequeathed to you and those you yourselves have gained – or to be deprived of them altogether: the choice to be free, to rule, to be rich and happy rather than to suffer the opposite through want of effort.”

11 Such was the speech he made to this division. He then went to the third and spoke to them too: “You have heard the kind of thing these accursed creatures have done to us, or rather you have seen some of them yourselves. Choose then whether you wish to suffer the same as those others suffered, and even more, to be driven altogether from Britain, or by conquering to avenge those who have perished and to provide an example to all men of kindness and fairness to the obedient, and of inevitable harshness towards the rebellious. For my part I hope above all that we conquer: in the first place because we have the gods as our allies, since they generally side with those who have been wronged, then because of the valour we have inherited from our forefathers, since we are Romans and have conquered all mankind by our valour, then by virtue of our experience, since we have defeated and subdued those very men who are now pitted against us, and finally as a result of our reputation, for it is not adversaries we are about to engage but our slaves whom we conquered even when they were free and independent. If, however, something unexpected happens – I will not shrink from mentioning even this possibility – it is better for us to fall fighting manfully than to be captured and impaled, to see our own entrails cut from us, to be skewered on red-hot spits, and to perish by being rendered down in boiling water, to perish as though we had been thrown to lawless and godless wild beasts. Let us therefore either conquer them or die here. Britain will be a fine monument for us even if all other Romans are driven out of it, since at all events we shall possess it with our bodies.”

12 After this speech and others of a similar nature he raised the signal for battle. Thereupon the two sides closed on one another: the natives with much shouting and threatening warsongs, the Romans in silence and order until they came within javelin range. Then, while the enemy was still advancing against them at walking pace, the Romans rushed forward in a mass at a given signal, and charged them for all they were worth. In the onslaught they easily broke through the opposing ranks of the Britons, though they were surrounded by the great numbers (of the enemy) and engaged in fighting on all sides at once. The struggle took many forms: light-armed troops exchanged missiles with other light-armed forces; heavy-armed were matched against heavy-armed; cavalry engaged cavalry, and Roman archers clashed with the native chariots. The natives would swoop upon the Romans with their chariots, throwing them into confusion, and then be themselves repulsed by the arrows, since they fought without breastplates. Horseman would ride down infantryman, and infantry­man would strike down cavalryman. One group of Romans in close formation would advance on the chariots; another would be scattered by them. Some of the Britons would close with the archers and put them to flight; others kept out of their way at a distance, and all this was going on not just at one spot but in three places at once. Both sides fought for a long time, spurred on by equal spirit and daring, but finally, late in the day, the Romans prevailed. Many Britons were cut down in the battle and before the wagons and the woods. Many too were taken alive. Some, however, escaped and made preparations to fight again, but when in the meantime Boudouica fell ill and died the Britons mourned her deeply and gave her a lavish funeral, and then they disbanded in the belief that now they really were defeated.

Boek 66, 20 (Epitome)

20 In the meantime war broke out again in Britain and Gnaeus Julius Agricola overran all the enemy's territory there. He was the first Roman of whom we have any information to discover that Britain is surrounded by water. For some soldiers mutinied, and having murdered their centurions and a tribune, they took refuge in boats, put out to sea and sailed round the western part of Britain just as the current and winds took them. And they escaped detection on the other (eastern) side when they put in at the forts there. As a result of this Agricola sent others to attempt the circumnavigation, and learned from them too that it was an island. These were the events in Britain and as a result Titus was given the title Imperator for the fifteenth time. Agricola, however, lived out the rest of his life in disgrace and want since he had accomplished more than was proper for a general. Finally he was murdered by Domitian for this very reason, though he had received triumphal honours from Titus.

Boek 72, 8 (Epitome)

8 The greatest war was in Britain. For the tribes in the island crossed the wall that seperated them from the Roman army and did a great amount of damage, even cutting down a general together with his troops. Commodus therefore became alarmed and sent Ulpius Marcellus' against them. Marcellus was a temperate and frugal man and when on active service lived like a soldier in the matter of what he ate and his con- duct in general, but he was becoming haughty and arrogant. He was totally and patently incorruptible, but in his character not the least bit pleasant or kindly. He could go without sleep more than any other general, and since he wanted those who accompanied him to remain awake and alert, he used to write orders on twelve tablets – the kind made out of limewood – pretty well every evening, and he would order someone to take them to this or that person at various times so that being convinced their commander was awake, they might not themselves get their fill of sleep. He had besides a natural ability to resist sleep, and this he further developed through fasting. In general he never took his fill of food, and so as not to fill himself up even with bread, he used to send to Rome for it, not because he was unable to eat the local variety, but so that he would not be able to eat any more of it than was absolutely necessary because of its staleness, since he had bad gums and they bled easily because of the bread's dryness. So he took care to exaggerate this (resistance to sleep) in order to gain the greatest possible reputation for being able to stay awake. Such was the character of Marcellus, and he inflicted major defeats on the barbarians in Britain. Later, when he was on the point of being put to death by Commodus because of his singular abilities, he was nevertheless spared.

Boek 76, 11-13, 15 (Epitome)

11 Seeing that his sons were becoming unruly and the army slack through inactivity, Severus made an expedition to Britain though he knew he would not return. ...

12 There are among the Britons two very large tribes, the Caledonians and the Maeatae. The names of the others have been merged as it were into these. The Maeatae for their part live near the wall which divides the island into two, and the Caledonians beyond them. Both tribes inhabit wild and waterless mountains and desolate marshy plains, and possess neither walls nor cities nor farms. Instead they live on their flocks, on game and on certain fruits, and though there are vast and limitless stocks of fish they do not eat them. They live in tents without clothes or shoes; they share their womenfolk and rear all their offspring in common. Their form of government is for the most part democratic, and they have a great liking for plunder. For this reason they choose their boldest men to be their leaders. They go into battle both in chariots with small swift horses, and on foot. They are in addition very fast runners and very resolute when they stand their ground. Their weapons consist of a shield and a short spear with a bronze `apple' at the end of the shaft which is designed to make a loud noise when shaken and thus terrify the enemy. They also have daggers. They are able to endure cold, hunger and all kinds of hardship; for they plunge into the marshes and stay there for many days with only their heads above water; in the forests they live on bark and roots, and in case of emergency they prepare a type of food, a piece of which, the size of a bean, when eaten, stops them feeling hunger or thirst. Such is the island of Britain and such are the inhabitants, at least in the hostile part.

13 Wishing therefore to subdue the whole of Britain, Severus invaded Caledonia, and as he passed through it, he experienced untold difficulties in cutting down the forests, levelling the high ground, filling in the swamps, and bridging the rivers. He fought no battles nor did he see any enemy drawn up for battle. Instead they deliberately put sheep and cattle in the Romans' way for the soldiers to seize, so that they might be lured on further still and thus be worn out. In fact the Romans suffered great hardships because of the water, and any stragglers became a prey to ambush. Then, unable to go on, they would be killed by their own men so they might not fall into enemy hands. As a result as many as 50,000 died in all. However, Severus did not give up until he neared the furthest point of the island where in particular he observed with great accuracy the change in the sun's motion and the length of days and nights in both summer and winter. And so, having been conveyed through the whole of enemy territory as it were – for he actually was carried in a covered litter for much of the time on account of his infirmity – he returned to friendly ter­ritory once he had forced the Britons to come to terms whereby they ceded a large sector of their land.

15 When the inhabitants of the island rose again in rebellion, Severus called together his troops and ordered them to invade their territory and to kill everyone they found, and he quoted these lines: “Let no one escape total destruction at our hands, not even the child carried in its mother's womb, if it be male; let it not escape total destruction.” When this had been done and the Caledonians had joined the Maeatae in revolt, Severus prepared to make war on them in person, and while he was engaged in this he was carried off by illness on the 4th of February [211] not without a certain amount of help it is said from Antoninus (Caracalla). Before his death he is said to have told his sons the following – I give the actual words spoken without any embellishment: “Live in harmony with one another; enrich the soldiers, and ignore everyone else.”