Claudius himself, finding matters sufficiently prepared for
his reception, made a journey into Britain, and received the
submission of several British states, the Cantii, Atrebates, Regni, and
Trinobantes, who inhabited the south-east parts of the island, and whom
their possessions and more cultivated manner of life rendered willing to
purchase peace at the expense of their liberty. The other Britons, under
the command of Caractacus, still maintained an obstinate resistance, and
the Romans made little progress against them; till Ostorius Scapula was
sent over to command their armies. [A. D. 50.] This general advanced
the Roman conquests over the Britons; pierced into the country of
the Silures, a warlike nation, who inhabited the banks of the Severn;
defeated Caractacus in a great battle; took him prisoner, and sent him
to Rome, where his magnanimous behavior procured him better treatment
than those conquerors usually bestowed on captive princes.[*]
[* Tacit. Ann lib. xii.]
Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the Britons were not subdued; and
this island was regarded by the ambitious Romans as a field in which
military honor might still be acquired.
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