In this situation, Cæsar detached from the line of transport ships the galleys – lighter ships, and of a form which was new to the barbarians – and directed them by force of rowing upon the enemy’s uncovered flank (that is, on his right side), in order to drive him from his position by means of slings, arrows, and darts thrown from the machines. This manœuvre was of great assistance; for the Britons, struck with the look of the galleys, the movement of the oars, and the novel effect of the machines, halted and drew back a little. Still the Romans hesitated, on account of the depth of the water, to leap out of the ships, when the standard-bearer of the 10th legion, invoking the gods with a loud voice, and exhorting his comrades to defend the eagle, leaps into the sea and induces them to follow.354 This example is imitated by the legionaries embarked in the nearest ships, and the combat begins. It was obstinate. The Romans being unable to keep their ranks, or gain a solid footing, or rally round their ensigns, the confusion was extreme; all those who leapt out of the ships to gain the land singly, were surrounded by the barbarian cavalry, to whom the shallows were known, and, when they were collected in mass, the enemy, taking them on the uncovered flank, overwhelmed them with missiles. On seeing this, Cæsar caused the galleys’ boats and the small vessels which served to light the fleet to be filled with soldiers, and sent them wherever the danger required. Soon the Romans, having succeeded in establishing themselves on firm ground, formed their ranks, rushed upon the enemy, and put him to flight; but a long pursuit was impossible for want of cavalry, which, through contrary winds in the passage, had not been able to reach Britain. In this alone fortune failed Cæsar.
In this combat, in which, no doubt, many acts of courage remained unknown, a legionary, whose name, Cæsius Scæva, has been preserved by Valerius Maximus, distinguished himself in a very remarkable manner. Having thrown himself into a boat with four men, he had reached a rock,355 whence, with his comrades, he threw missiles against the enemy; but the ebb rendered the space between the rock and the land fordable. The barbarians then rushed to them in a crowd. His companions took refuge in their boat; he, firm to his post, made an heroic defence, and killed several of his enemies; at last, having his thigh transpierced with an arrow, his face bruised by the blow of a stone, his helmet broken to pieces, his buckler covered with holes, he trusted himself to the mercy of the waves, and swam back towards his companions. When he saw his general, instead of boasting of his conduct, he sought his pardon for returning without his buckler. It was, in fact, a disgrace among the ancients to lose that defensive arm; but Cæsar loaded him with praise, and rewarded him with the grade of a centurion.
The landing having been effected, the Romans established their camp near the sea, and, as everything leads us to believe, on the height of Walmer. The galleys were hauled on the strand, and the transport ships left at anchor not far from the shore.
The enemies, who had rallied after their defeat, decided on peace. They joined with their deputies; sent, to solicit it, some of the Morini, with whom they lived on friendly terms,356 and Commius, the King of the Atrebates, who had been previously sent on a mission to Britain. The barbarians had seized his person the moment he landed, and loaded him with fetters. After the combat, they set him at liberty, and came to ask pardon for this offence, throwing the fault upon the multitude. Cæsar reproached them with having received him as an enemy, after they had, of their own motion, sent deputies to him on the continent to treat of peace. Nevertheless, he pardoned them, but required hostages; part of these were delivered to him immediately, and the rest promised within a few days. Meanwhile they returned to their homes, and from all sides the chiefs came to implore the protection of the conqueror.
Peace seemed to be established. The army had been four days in Britain, and the eighteen ships which carried the cavalry, quitting the upper port with a light breeze, approached the coast, and were already in view of the camp, when suddenly a violent tempest arose which drove them out of their course. Some were carried back to the point whence they had started, whilst others were driven towards the south of the island, where they cast anchor; but, beaten by the waves, they were obliged, in the midst of a stormy night, to put to sea and regain the continent.
This night, between the 30th and 31st of August, coincided with full moon; the Romans were ignorant of the fact that this was the period of the highest tides on the ocean. The water soon submerged the galleys which had been drawn upon the dry beach, and the transport ships which had remained at anchor, yielding to the tempest, were broken on the coast or disabled. The consternation became general; the Romans were in want of everything at once, both of the means of transport, of materials for repairing their ships, and even of provisions; for Cæsar, not intending to winter in Britain, had carried thither no supplies.
At the moment of this disaster, the chiefs of the Britains had again assembled to carry out the conditions imposed upon them; but, informed of the critical position of the Romans, and judging the small number of the invaders by the diminutive proportions of their camp, which was the more contracted as the legions had embarked without baggage357 they determined on again resorting to arms. The opportunity seemed favourable for intercepting provisions, and prolonging the struggle till winter, in the firm conviction that, if they annihilated the Romans and cut them off from all retreat, nobody would dare in future to carry the war into Britain.
A new league is forming. The barbarian chiefs depart one after another from the Roman camp, and secretly recall the men they had sent away. Cæsar as yet was ignorant of their design; but their delay in delivering the rest of the hostages, and the disaster which had befallen his fleet, soon led him to anticipate what would happen. He therefore took his measures to meet all eventualities. Every day the two legions repaired in turn to the country to reap; the fleet was repaired with the timber and copper of the ships which had suffered most, and the materials of which they were in want were brought over from the continent. Thanks to the extreme zeal of the soldiers, all the ships were set afloat again, with the exception of twelve, which reduced the fleet to sixty-eight vessels instead of eighty, its number when it left Gaul.
During the execution of these works, Britons came backwards and forwards to the camp freely, and nothing predicted the approach of hostilities; but one day, when the seventh legion, according to custom, had proceeded to no great distance from the camp to cut wheat, the soldiers on guard before the gates suddenly came to announce that a thick cloud of dust arose in the direction taken by the legion. Cæsar, suspecting some attack from the barbarians, assembles the cohorts on guard, orders two others to replace them, and the rest of the troops to arm and follow him without delay, and hurries forward in the direction indicated. What had happened was this. The Britons, foreseeing that the Romans would repair to the only spot which remained to reap (pars una erat reliqua), had concealed themselves the previous night in the forests. After waiting till the soldiers of the 7th legion had laid aside their arms and begun to cut the grain, they had fallen upon them unexpectedly, and, while the legionaries in disorder were forming, they had surrounded them with their cavalry and chariots.
This strange manner of combating had thrown the soldiers of the 7th legion into disorder. Closely surrounded, and resisting with difficulty under a shower of missiles, they would perhaps have succumbed, when Cæsar appeared at the head of his cohorts; his presence restored confidence to his own men and checked the enemy. Nevertheless, he did not judge it prudent to risk a battle, and, after remaining a certain length of time in position, he withdrew his troops. The 7th legion had experienced considerable loss.