Julius (Caesar)

47 Caesar invaded Britain in the hope of finding pearls.

Caligula

45 On reaching the camp Caligula dismissed in disgrace the legates who were late in assembling auxiliary units from various places so as to demonstrate that he was a rigorous and strict leader. In his review of the troops he deprived many of the chief centurions of their rank, men who were by now getting on in years and in some cases had just a few days to go before they were due for discharge. This he did on the pretext of their age and infirmity. The rest he railed at for their greed, and reduced their retirement bonus to 6,000 sesterces. All that he accomplished was to receive the surrender of Adminius, a son of Cunobelinus, King of the Britons, who had been banished by his father and had gone over to the Romans with a few followers. Yet, as if the whole island had been handed over, he sent a pompous letter to Rome, and ordered the couriers to drive their vehicles right into the Forum and up to the Senate House, and not to hand it over to the consuls except in the Temple of Mars and before a full meeting of the Senate.

46 Finally, as if to bring the campaign to a close, he drew up his battle­line on the shore of Ocean and moved his ballistas and other artillery into position. Then, with no one knowing or able to guess what he was about, he suddenly ordered them to gather shells and fill their helmets and the folds of their tunics with them, calling them spoils from Ocean owed to the Capitol and Palatine. As a monument to his victory he erected a very high tower from which fires were to shine at night to guide the passage of ships, just like the Pharos (at Alexandria). He also announced to the soldiers a bonus of 100 denarii per man, as if he had shown unprecedented generosity, and said “Go on your way happy, go on your way rich.”

Claudius

17 He undertook but a single campaign, and a minor one at that. The Senate voted him the triumphal ornaments for it, but he considered the honour beneath his dignity as emperor and wanted the glory of a proper triumph. So, as the best place for gaining this he chose Britain, which no one had attempted to invade since the deified Julius, and which was in uproar at the time as a result of the Roman refusal to return certain fugitives. ... From there [Boulogne] he crossed to Britain. In the space of a very few days he received the surrender of part of the island without a single battle or any bloodshed, returned to Rome within six months of setting out, and celebrated his triumph with the greatest of pomp. To witness it he allowed not only provincial governors to come to Rome, but even some exiles, and among the spoils of victory he fixed a naval crown next to the civic crown on the pediment of the Palatine Palace as a sign that he had crossed and, as it were, conquered Ocean. His wife Messalina followed Claudius’ triumphal chariot in a carriage; then those who had won triumphal ornaments in the same cam­paign followed on foot wearing purple-bordered togas, with the exception of Marcus Crassus Frugi who rode a horse decorated with trappings and wore a tunic embroidered with palm branches, since this was the second time he had won the honour.

24 Claudius also decreed an ovation for Aulus Plautius, went out to meet him when Plautius entered the city, and walked on his left (a mark of respect) as he went to the Capitol and came away from it.

Nero

18 He was never moved by any desire or hope of increasing the empire. He even considered withdrawing from Britain, and only refrained from doing so out of deference, so that he should not appear to be belittling his father’s glory.