The equinox was now coming on. The weather was again
threatening. Postponing, therefore, further inquiries into the nature of
the British and their country, Caesar used the first favorable
opportunity, and returned, without further adventure, to Boulogne. The
legions were distributed among the Belgae; and Caesar himself, who could
have no rest, hastened over the Alps, to deal with other disturbances
which had broken out in Illyria.
[Sidenote: B.C. 54.]
The bridge over the Rhine and the invasion of a country so remote that it
was scarcely believed to exist, roused the enthusiasm at Rome beyond the
point which it had hitherto reached. The Roman populace was accustomed to
victories, but these were portents like the achievements of the old
demigods. The humbled Senate voted twenty days of thanksgiving; and
faction, controlled by Pompey, was obliged to be silent.
The Illyrian troubles were composed without fighting, and the interval of
winter was spent in preparations for a renewal of the expedition into
Britain on a larger scale. Orders had been left with the officers in
command to prepare as many transports as the time would allow, broader and
lower in the side for greater convenience in loading and unloading. In
April, Caesar returned. He visited the different stations, and he found
that his expert legionaries, working incessantly, had built six hundred
transports and twenty-eight armed galleys.
Pages:
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377