crossed from Belgium for the sake of war and booty, and retained, after settling in the country, the names of their mother states. The population is dense, and their buildings, in the main like those of Gaul, are numerous. They possess much cattle. For money, they use brass or iron blocks of ascertained weight. Tin is found in abundance in the midland districts; in those near the sea iron is obtained, but only in small quantities. Brass they procure from abroad. There is timber of all kinds, except beech and fir. Hares, hens, and geese they scruple to eat, but they breed them for amusement and pastime. The climate is milder than in Gaul, the frosts being less intense. The island is triangular in shape, one side lying opposite to Gaul. Of this side, one angle in Kent, where the Gallic ships generally touch, faces the East, the lower one the South; the whole length being about 500 miles. Another side inclines towards Spain and the West. On this side lies Ireland, supposed to be less than half the size of Britain; but about as far from that island as that island itself is from Gaul. Midway in this passage is Mona. . . . The nights are shorter than on the Continent. The length of the second side is 700 miles. The third side faces the North, having no land opposite to it. The angle of this side is in the direction of Germany. Its length is computed at about 800 miles. Thus the island is 2000 miles round. The inhabitants of Kent are the most civilized, and nearly resemble the Gauls in their customs. Few of the people of the interior sow corn; they live on milk and flesh, and dress in skins. All the Britons stain themselves blue with woad, thus presenting a horrifying aspect in battle. They wear their hair long. They shave the whole body except the head and upper lip. Parties of ten and twelve have wives in common; the children are considered to belong to those to whom the women were first wedded.

...

POMPONIUS MELA.

(Book III., c. 6.)

Before long, fuller and more authentic accounts of Britain and its inhabitants will be given to the public; for Claudius is opening to us an island that has so long been closed against us.

That illustrious emperor, long anxious to attest by the results of war the veracity of his descriptions of this country, will soon convey in triumphal procession the visible proofs of his truthfulness. According to our present information, Britain lies between the North and the West, facing the mouths of the Rhine; its coast lines forming an obtuse angle in that direction. It then slopes away, one side lying opposite Gaul, the other Germany. Again, closed in, as it were, behind by an uninterrupted line of even coast, forming angles at the extremities of the other two sides, it assumes a triangular shape, very much resembling Sicily in form; it is flat, large, adapted rather to the support of cattle than men; it is full of woods, lakes, and huge rivers, whose waters alternately flow into the sea, and retire from it. In some of these, pearls and precious stones are found. The various tribes, under the rule of kings, occupy the island; but they are all uncivilized, and the further they are removed from the mainland of Europe, the more they are destitute of any wealth except cattle and lands. They stain their bodies with woad, either because they like the look of it, or for other reasons. They are continually at war one with the other, from their eagerness to extend their rule and possessions. In battle they not only employ cavalry and infantry, but chariots drawn by two horses; their own arms resembling those of the Gauls. These chariots, whose axle-trees are fitted with scythes, are called 'covini.'

The following are the variations from Ritter's text. In this table, R denotes Ritter's reading; those in the second column are the readings retained in this edition.

GNAEI JULII AGRICOLAE VITA.

I. CLARORUM virorum facta moresque posteris tradere antiquitus usitatum, ne nostris quidem temporibus quanquam incuriosa suorum aetas omisit, quotiens magna aliqua ac nobilis virtus vicit ac supergressa est vitium, parvis magnisque civitatibus commune, ignorantiam recti et invidiam. Sed apud priores, ut agere digna memoratu pronum, magisque in aperto erat; ita celeberrimus quis

I. incuriosa suorum aetas] 'Incuriosus' is a favourite word of Tacitus (cf. A. ii. 88; iv. 32; xv. 31. H.i. 49), not found in the Augustan writers, but common in his contemporaries. The commentators compare such passages as Dialog. de Orat. 18, Vitio autem malignitatis humanae vetera semper in laude, praesentia in fastidio esse;" and A. ii. 88, "dum vetera extollimus, recentium incuriosi." But I do not see much connexion between such passages and the present. Tacitus does not appear to say that great men have not been celebrated because the age they lived in was envious of them; one would suppose such a feeling to exist as much at one time as another, and not in the age of Tacitus especially. I rather think a parallel remark conveyed in Juvenal's description of his own day (x. 77), "ex quo suffragia nulli vendimus, effudit curas;" and Tacitus means that the age has grown careless of all that appertains to its own times. This would be a natural result of the Imperial rule.

vicit ac supergressa est] The first word merely gives the idea of overcoming, the second adds the notion of mounting over the body of the prostrate enemy.

commune, &c.] 'equally shared by small and great states.' 'Communis' is that which belongs to the munus,' or duty of many; 'vulgaris' is that which exists amongst thevulgus,' and thence expresses what is generally prevalent.

priores] By this word Tacitus designates those who lived while there was still a constitutional government at Rome, under the Republic. Cf. A. iii. 55, xi. 24, and H. i. 1.

que ingenio, ad prodendam virtutis memoriam, sine gratia aut ambitione, bonae tantum conscientiae pretio, ducebatur. Ac plerique suam ipsi vitam narrare, fiduciam potius morum quam adrogantiam arbitrati sunt: nec id Rutilio et Scauro citra fidem aut obtrectationi fuit: adeo virtutes iisdem temporibus optime aestimantur, quibus facillime gignuntur. At nunc narraturo mihi vitam