20. It is affirmed that the emperor Vespasian fought thirty battles with the united forces of the Damnonii and Belgæ. The ten different tribes who inhabited the south banks of the Thames and Severn being gradually subdued, their country was formed into the province of Britannia Prima, so called because it was the first fruit of victory obtained by the Romans.
21. Next in order is Britannia Secunda, which is divided from Britannia Prima by the countries already mentioned, and from the Flavian province by the Sabrina[471] and the Deva;[472] and the remaining parts are bounded by the internal sea. This was the renowned region of the Silures,[473] inhabited by three powerful tribes. Among these were particularly distinguished the Silures Proper, whom the turbid estuary of the Severn divides from the country we have just described. These people, according to Solinus, still retain their ancient manners, have neither markets nor money, but barter their commodities, regarding rather utility than price. They worship the gods, and both men and women are supposed to foretell future events. 22. The chief cities of the Silures were, Sariconium,[474] Magna,[475] Gobanium,[476] and Venta[477] their capital. A Roman colony possessed the city built on the Isca,[478] and called after that name, for many years the station of the second or Augustan legion, until it was transferred to the Valentian province, and Rhutupis.[479] This was the primary station of the Romans in Britannia Secunda.
23. The country of the Silures was long powerful, particularly under Caractacus, who during nine years withstood the Roman arms, and frequently triumphed over them, until he was defeated by Ostorius, as he was preparing to attack the Romans. Caractacus, however, escaped from the battle, and in applying for assistance to the neighbouring chieftains was delivered up to the Romans, by the artifices of a Roman matron, Cartismandua, who had married Venutius, chief of Brigantia. After this defeat the Silures bravely defended their country till it was overrun by Veranius, and being finally conquered by Frontinus, it was reduced into a Roman province under the name of Britannia Secunda.
24. Two other tribes were subject to the Silures. First the Ordovices, who inhabited the north towards the isle of Mona;[480] and secondly the Dimetiæ, who occupied the west, where the promontory Octorupium[481] is situated, and from whence is a passage of thirty miles[482] to Ireland. The cities of the Dimetiæ were Menapia[483] and Maridunum[484] the metropolis. The Romans seized upon Lovantium[485] as their station. Beyond these, and the borders of the Silures, were the Ordovices, whose cities were Mediolanum[486] and Brannogenium.[487] The Sabrina, which rises in their mountains, is justly reckoned one of the three largest rivers of Britain, the Thamesis (Thames) and the Tavus (Tay) being the other two. The name of the Ordovices is first distinguished in history on account of the revenge which they took for the captivity of their renowned chief. Hence they continually harassed the Roman army, and would have succeeded in annihilating their power, had not Agricola turned hither his victorious arms, subdued the whole nation, and put the greater part to the sword.
25. The territory situated north of the Ordovices, and washed by the ocean, was formerly under their dominion. These parts were certainly inhabited by the Cangiani, whose chief city was Segontium,[488] near the Cangian promontory,[489] on the Minevian shore, opposite Mona,[490] an island long distinguished as the residence of the druids. This island contained many towns, though it was scarcely sixty miles in circuit; and, as Pliny asserts, is distant from the colony of Camalodunum two hundred miles. The rivers of the Cangiani were Tosibus,[491] called also Canovius, and the Deva,[492] which was their boundary. In this region is the stupendous mountain Eriri.[493] Ordovicia, together with the regions of the Cangiani and Carnabii, unless report deceives me, constituted a province called Genania, under the reign of the emperors subsequent to Trajan.
26. I now proceed to the Flavian province; but for want of authentic documents, am unable to ascertain whether it derived its name from Flavia Julia Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who was born in these parts, or from the Flavian family.
27. Towards the river Deva were situated, in the first place, the Carnabii.[494] Their principal places were Benonæ,[495] Etocetum,[496] and Banchorium,[497] the last the most celebrated monastery in the whole island, which being overthrown in the dispute with Augustine was never afterwards restored; and the mother of the rest, Uriconium,[498] esteemed one of the largest cities in Britain. In the extreme angle of this country, near the Deva, was the Roman colony Deva,[499] the work of the twentieth legion, which was called Victrix, and was formerly the defence of the region. This place is supposed to be what is now termed West Chester.
28. Below these people stretched the kingdom, or rather the republic, of the Cassii, called by Ptolemy Catieuchlani, which arose from the union of two nations. Those nearest the Sabrina were called the Dobuni, or, according to the annals of Dio, the Boduni.[500] In their country the Thames rises, and, proceeding through the territories of the Hedui, Atrebates, Cassii, Bibroci, Trinobantes, and Cantii, after a long course flows into the German Ocean. The cities of the Dobuni were Salinæ,[501] Branogena,[502] on the left of the Sabrina [Severn], Alauna,[503] and the most venerable of all, Corinium,[504] a famous city supposed to have been built by Vespasian. But Glevum,[505] situated in the extreme part of the kingdom, towards the territory of the Silures, was occupied by a Roman colony, which, according to the writers of those times, was introduced by Claudius Cæsar. Adjoining to these were the Cassii, whose chief cities were Forum Dianæ[506] and Verulamium.[507] But when the last was raised by the Romans to the municipal rank, it obtained the pre-eminence over the other cities. St. Alban the martyr was here born. This city was involved in the ruin of Camalodunum[508] and Londinium,[509] in the insurrection of Bonduica, which is related by Tacitus. The Cassii were conspicuous above the other nations of the island; and Cæsar in his second invasion had the severest conflicts with their renowned chief Cassibellinus, to whom many people were tributary; and was repulsed by the Cassii in league with the Silures; to which Lucan alludes:—"Territa quæsitis ostendit terga Britannis." But on the coming of Claudius, they, with the neighbouring people, were subdued, and their country reduced to a Roman province, first called Cæsariensis, and afterwards Flavia.
29. Near the Cassii, where the river Thamesis approaches the ocean, was the region of the Trinobantes,[510] who not only entered into alliance with the Romans, but resigned to them Londinium their metropolis, and Camalodunum situated near the sea, for the purpose of establishing colonies. In this city was supposed to be born Flavia Julia Helena, the pious wife of Constantine Chlorus and mother of Constantine the Great, who was descended from the blood of the British kings. It was the chief colony of the Romans in Britain, and distinguished by a temple of Claudius, an image of Victory, with many ornaments.[511] But Londinium was and ever will be a city of great eminence. It was first named Trinovantum, then Londinium, afterwards Augusta, and now again Londona. According to the chronicles it is more ancient than Rome. It is situated upon the banks of the Thamesis, and is the great emporium of many nations trading by land or sea. This city was surrounded with a wall by the empress Helena, the discoverer of the Holy Cross; and, if reliance may be placed on tradition, which is not always erroneous, was called Augusta, as Britain was distinguished by the name of the Roman Island.