"Dearest to every man are his children and kindred, by the contrivance and designation of nature. These are snatched from us for recruits, and doomed to bondage in other parts of the earth. Our wives and sisters, however they escape rapes and violence as from open enemies, are debauched under the appearance and privilege of friendship and hospitality. Our fortunes and possessions they exhaust for tribute, our grain for their provisions. Even our bodies and limbs are extenuated and wasted, while we are doomed to the drudgery of making cuts through woods, and drains in bogs, under continual blows and outrages. Such as are born to be slaves are but once sold, and thenceforward nourished by their lords. Britain is daily paying for its servitude, is daily feeding it. Moreover, as in a tribe of household slaves, he who comes last serves for sport to all his fellows; so in this ancient state of slavery to which the world is reduced, we, as the freshest slaves and thence held the most contemptible, are now designed to destruction. For, we have no fields to cultivate, nor mines to dig, nor ports to make; works for which they might be tempted to spare us alive: besides that ever distasteful to rulers is magnanimity and a daring spirit in their subjects. Indeed our very situation, so solitary and remote, the more security it affords to us, does but raise the greater jealousy in them. Seeing therefore you are thus bereft of all hopes of mercy, rouse now at last all your courage, both you to whom life is dearest, and you to whom glory. The Brigantes, even under the leading of a woman, burned their colony, stormed their entrenchments, and, had not such success degenerated into sloth, might have quite cast off the yoke of slavery. Let us who still preserve our forces entire, us who are still unsubdued, and want not to acquire liberty but only to secure it, manifest at once, upon the first encounter, what kind of men they are that Caledonia has reserved for her own vindication and defence.
"Do you indeed believe the Romans to be equally brave and vigorous in war, as during peace they are vicious and dissolute? From our quarrels and divisions it is that they have derived their renown, and thus convert the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army; an army compounded of many nations so different, that as it is success alone which holds them together, misfortunes and disasters will surely dissolve them. Unless you suppose that the Germans there, that the Gauls, and many of the Britons (whom with shame I mention), men who however have been all much longer their enemies than their slaves, are yet attached to them by any real fidelity and affection, whilst presenting their blood to establish a domination altogether foreign and unnatural to them all. What restrains them is no more than awe and terror, frail bonds of endearment; and when these are removed, such who cease to fear, will immediately begin to manifest their hate. Amongst us is found whatever can stimulate men to victory. The Romans have no wives to hearten and to urge them. They have here no fathers and mothers to upbraid them for flying. Many of them have no country at all, or at least their country is elsewhere. But a few in number they are, ignorant of the region and thence struck with dread, whilst to their eyes, whatever they behold around them, is all wild and strange, even the air and sky, with the woods and the sea; so that the Gods have in some sort delivered them enclosed and bound into our hands.
"Be not dismayed with things of mere show, and with a glare of gold and of silver: this is what can neither wound, nor save. In the very host of the enemy we shall find bands of our own. The Britons will own and espouse their own genuine cause. The Gauls will recollect their former liberty. What the Usipians have lately done, the other Germans will do, and abandon the Romans. Thereafter nothing remains to be feared. Their forts are ungarrisoned; their colonies replenished with the aged and infirm; and between the people and their magistrates, whilst the former are averse to obedience, and the latter rule with injustice, the municipal cities are weakened and full of dissensions. Here you see a general, here an army: there you may behold tributes and the mines, with all the other train of calamities and curses ever pursuing men enslaved. Whether all these are to be for ever imposed, or whether we forthwith avenge ourselves for the attempt, this very field must determine. As therefore you advance to battle, look back upon your ancestors, look forward to your posterity."
They received his speech joyfully, with chantings, and terrible din, and many dissonant shouts, after the manner of barbarians. Already too their bands moved, and the glittering of their arms appeared, as all the most resolute were running to the front: moreover the army was forming in battle array; when Agricola; who indeed saw his soldiers full of alacrity, and hardly to be restrained even by express cautions, yet chose to discourse to them in the following strain. "It is now the eighth year, my fellow-soldiers, since through the virtue and auspicious fortune of the Roman Empire, and by your own services and fidelity you have been pursuing the conquest of Britain. In so many expeditions that you have undertaken, in so many battles as you have fought, you have still had constant occasion either to be exerting your bravery against the foe, or your patience and pains even against the obstacles of nature. Neither, during all these struggles, have we found any cause of mutual regret, I to have conducted such soldiers, or you to have followed such a captain. We have both passed the limits which we found, I those known to the ancient governors, you those of former armies; and we possess the very extremity of Britain, not only in the bruitings of fame and vulgar rumour, but possess it with our camps and arms. Britain is entirely discovered, and entirely subdued. In truth, as the army has been marching, whilst in passing morasses and mountains and rivers you have been fatigued and distressed, I was wont to hear every man remarkably brave ask, When shall we see the enemy, when be led to battle? Already they are come, roused from their fastnesses and lurking holes. Here you see the end of all your wishes, here scope for all your valour, and all things promising and propitious, if you conquer; but all cross and disastrous, should you be vanquished. For, as to have thus marched over a tract of country so immense, to have passed through gloomy forests, to have crossed arms of the deep, is matter of glory and applause whilst we advance against the enemy; so if we fly before them, whatever is now most in our favour, will then prove most to our peril. We know not the situation of the country so well as they know it; we have not provisions so abundant as they have: but we have limbs and arms; and in these, all things. For myself; it is a rule long since settled by me, that safety there is none either to the army or to the general, in turning their backs upon the foe. Hence it is not only more eligible to lose life honourably than to save it basely, but security and renown both arise from the same source. Neither would it be a fate void of glory to fall in this the utmost verge of earth and of nature.
"Were the people now arrayed against you such as were new to you, were you to engage with bands never before tried, I should animate you by the examples of other armies. At present, only recollect and enumerate your own signal exploits, only ask and consult your own eyes. These are they whom but the last year you utterly discomfited, only by the terror of your shouting, when, trusting to the darkness of the night, they by stealth attacked a single legion. These are they who of all the Britons are the most abandoned to fear and flight, and thence happen thus long to survive all the rest. It is with us as with those who make inroads into woods and forests. As beasts of the greatest strength there, are driven thence by the superior force of such as pursue them, and as the timorous and spiritless fly even at the cry of the pursuers: in like manner, all the bravest Britons are long since fallen by the sword. They that remain are only a crowd, fearful and effeminate: nor can you consider them as men whom you have therefore reached, because they have persisted to oppose you, but as such whom you have surprised as the last and forlorn of all, who struck with dread and bereft of spirit, stand benumbed in yonder field, whence you may gain over them a glorious and memorable victory. Here complete all your expeditions and efforts: here close a struggle of fifty years with one great and important day, so that to the army may not be imputed either the procrastination of the war, or any cause for reviving it."
Apparent, even whilst Agricola spoke, was the ardour of the soldiers, mighty their transport and applause at the end of his speech, and instantly they flew to their arms. Thus inflamed and urging to engage, he formed them so that the strong band of auxiliary foot, who were eight thousand men, composed the centre. The wings were environed with three thousand horse. The legions without advancing stood embattled just without the entrenchment; for that mighty would be the glory of the victory, were it, by sparing them, gained without spilling any Roman blood; and they were still a sure stay and succour, should the rest be repulsed. The British host was ranged upon the rising grounds, at once for show and terror, in such sort that the first band stood upon the plain, and the rest rose successively upon the brows of the hills, one rank close above another, as if they had been linked together. Their cavalry and chariots of war filled the interjacent field with great tumult and boundings to and fro. Agricola then, fearing from the surpassing multitude of the enemy, that he might be beset at once in the front and on each flank, opened and extended his host. Yet, though thence his ranks must prove more relaxed, and many advised him to bring on the legions, he, who rather entertained a spirit of hope, and in all difficulties was ever firm, dismissed his horse and advanced on foot before the banners.
In the beginning of the onset the conflict was maintained at a distance. The Britons, they who were possessed at once of bravery and skill, armed with their huge swords and small bucklers, quite eluded our missive weapons, or beat them quite off, whilst of their own they poured a torrent upon us, till Agricola encouraged three Batavian cohorts and two of the Tungrians, to close with the enemy and bring them to an engagement hand to hand; as what was with those veteran soldiers a long practice, and become familiar, but to the enemy very uneasy and embarrassing, as they were armed with very little targets and with swords of enormous size. For, the swords of the Britons, which are blunt at the end, are unfit for grapling and cannot support a close encounter. Hence the Batavians thickened their blows, wounded them with the iron bosses of their bucklers, mangled their faces, and, bearing down all who withstood them upon the plain, were already carrying the attack up to the hills: insomuch that the rest of the cohorts, incited by emulation and sudden ardour, joined with those and made havoc of all whom they encountered. Nay, such was the impetuosity and hurry of the victory, that many were left behind but half dead, others not so much as wounded. In the meantime their troops of cavalry took to flight: the chariots of war mingled with the battalions of foot; and though they had so lately struck terror, were now themselves beset and entangled with our thick bands, as also with the unevenness and intricacy of the place. Of a combat of cavalry this bore not the least appearance: since here, standing obstinately foot to foot, they pressed to overthrow each other by the weight and bodies of their horses. Moreover the war-chariots, now abandoned and straggling, as also the horses destitute of managers and thence wild and affrighted, were running hither and thither just as the next fright drove them; insomuch that all of their own side, who met them or crossed their way, were beaten down by them.
Now those of the Britons who were lodged upon the ridges of the hills and had hitherto no share in the encounter, like men yet pressed by no peril looked with scorn upon our forces as but few in number, and began to descend softly and to surround them in the rear, whilst they were urging their victory. But Agricola, who had apprehended this very design, despatched to engage them four squadrons of horse, such as he had reserved near him for the sudden exigencies of the field; and by this providence of his, the more furiously they had advanced, the more keenly were they repulsed and utterly routed. Thus against the Britons themselves their own devices were turned; and by the order of the General, the squadrons of cavalry which charged in front, wheeled about and assailed the enemy behind. Then in truth, all over the open fields was to be seen a spectacle prodigious and tragical, incessant pursuits, wounds and captivity, and the present captives always slaughtered, as often as others occurred to be taken. Now the enemy behaved just as they happened to be prompted by their several humours. Sometimes they fled in large troops with all their arms, before a smaller number that pursued them: others, quite unarmed, rushed into peril, and desperately presented themselves to instant death. On all sides lay scattered arms and carcasses, and mangled limbs, and the ground was dyed with blood. Nay, now and then even by the vanquished was exerted notable wrath and bravery. When once they drew near the woods, they rejoined and rallied, and thus circumvented the foremost pursuers, such as, without knowing the country, had rashly ventured too far. Whence we must have suffered some notable disaster, from such confidence void of caution, had not Agricola who was assiduously visiting every quarter, ordered the stoutest cohorts lightly equipped to range themselves in the form of a toil {Footnote: A net or web, to encompass them; such as Herodotus describes, for clearing out a vanquished enemy.} to invest them, also some of the cavalry to dismount, and enter the strait passes, and the rest of the horse, at the same time, to beat the more open and passable parts of the woods. Now, as soon as they perceived our forces to continue the pursuit with ranks regular and close, they betook themselves to open flight, in no united bands as before, no one man regarding or awaiting another; but quite scattered, and each shunning any companion, they all made to places far remote and desert. What ended the pursuit was night and a satiety of slaughter. Of the enemy were slain ten thousand. There fell of our men three hundred and forty, amongst these Aulus Atticus, commander of a cohort; one by his own youthful heart, as also by a fiery horse, hurried into the midst of the enemies.
It was indeed a night of great joy to the conquerors, both from victory and spoil. The Britons, who wandered in despair, men and women uttering in concert their dismal wailings, dragged along their wounded, called to such as were unhurt, deserted their houses, nay, in rage even set them on fire; made choice of lurking holes, then instantly forsook them; then met to consult, and from their counsels gathered some hope: sometimes, upon beholding their dearest pledges of nature, their spirits became utterly sunk and dejected; sometimes, by the same sight, they were roused into resolution and fury. Nay, 'tis very certain, that some murdered their children and wives, as an act of compassion and tenderness. The next day produced a more ample display of the victory; on all sides a profound silence, solitary hills, thick smoke rising from the houses on fire, and not a living soul to be found by the scouts. When from these, who had been despatched out every way, it was learnt, that whither the enemy had fled no certain traces could be discovered, and that they had nowhere rallied in bodies; when the summer was likewise passed and thence an impossibility of extending the operations of war, he conducted his army into the borders of the Horestians. After he had there received hostages, he ordered the Admiral of the Fleet to sail round Britain. For this expedition he was furnished with proper forces, and before him was already gone forth the terror of the Roman power: he himself the while led on his foot and horse with a slow pace, that thus the minds of these new nations might be awed and dismayed even by prolonging his march through them: he then lodged his army in garrisons for the winter. The fleet too having found a favourable sea, entered with great fame, into the harbour of Rhutupium: {Footnote: Supposed to be Sandwich Haven.} for, from thence it had sailed, and coasting along the nethermost shore of Britain, thither returned.
With this course and situation of things Agricola by letters acquainted the Emperor; tidings which, however modestly recounted, without all ostentation, or any pomp of words, Domitian received as with joy in his countenance, so with anguish in his soul: such was his custom. His heart indeed smote him for his late mock triumph over the Germans, which he knew to be held in public derision; as to adorn it he had purchased a number of slaves, who were so decked in their habits and hair, as to resemble captives in war. But here a victory mighty and certain, gained by the slaughter of so many thousands of the enemy, was universally sounded by the voice of fame, and received with vast applause. Terrible above all things it was to him, that the name of a private man should be exalted above that of the Prince. In vain had he driven from the public tribunals all pursuits of popular evidence and fame, in vain smothered the lustre of every civil accomplishment, if any other than himself possessed the glory of excelling in war: nay, however he might dissemble every other distaste, yet to the person of the Emperor properly appertained the virtue and praise of being a great General. Tortured with these anxious thoughts, and indulging his humour of being shut up in secret, a certain indication that he was fostering some sanguinary purpose, he at last judged it the best course, upon this occasion, to hide and reserve his rancour till the first flights of fame were passed, and the affection of the army cooled. For, Agricola held yet the administration of Britain.