[677] According to the letter from Cicero to Atticus (IV. 13), Crassus had left Rome a little before the 17th of the Calends of December, 699, which answers, according to the concordance established by M. Le Verrier, to the 28th of October, 699.
[678] Justin, XLI. 6.
[679] Justin, XLII. 4.
[680] De Bello Gallico, IV. 38.
[681] “Cæsar was very proud of his expedition into Britain, and everybody at Rome cried it up with enthusiasm. People congratulated each other on becoming acquainted with a country of the existence of which they were previously ignorant, and of having penetrated into countries of which they had never heard before; everybody took his hopes for reality, and all that people flattered themselves with obtaining some day caused as great an outburst of joy as if they had already possessed it.” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53.)—“After having landed in Britain, Cæsar believed he had discovered a new world. He wrote (it is unknown to whom) that Britain was not an island, but a country surrounding the ocean.” (Eumenius, Panegyrici, IV. 2.)
[682] Lucan, Pharsalia, II., line 571.
[683] “Without paying any attention to the opinion of Cato, the people during fifteen days performed sacrifices to celebrate this victory, and exhibited the greatest marks of joy.” (Plutarch, Nicias and Crassus, 4.)
[684] Plutarch, Cato of Utica, 58.
[685] See page 456.
[686] Cicero, Epist. Familiar., I. 7.