The Light of Britannia

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DEDICATION.
difficult and deceitful shore, he ordered a number of flat-bottomed
boats to be constructed. In these he wafted over the infantry,
while the cavalry, partly by fording over the shallows, and partly
by switriping their horses, advanced to gain a footing in the
island."
Tacitus seems to have mixed together two episodes in the
invasion, and made both appear as one. The Romans must have
arrived in the Menai Straits by sea, doubtless from Blackpool,
l.ancashire, a distance of 60 miles as the crow flies, or from the
coast of Devonshire, and sailing by St. David's Head, Pembrokeshire,
reached the coast of Caernarfon, a distance of about 170
miles. The Romans appear to have crossed the Menai at Pont-
Din-Orwych, the ordinary ferry from time immemorial, and thus
is described what the Romans beheld on the shore of Anglesey :
" On the opposite shore," states the Roman son-in-law of
Agricola, " stood the Britcns, close embodied, and prepared for
action. Women were seen rushing through the ranks in wild
disorder, their apparel funereal, their hair loose to the wind, in
their hands flaming torches, and their whole appearance resembling
the frantic rage of the Furies !
" The Druids were ranged in order, with hands uplifted,
invoking the gods, and pouring forth horrible imprecations.
" The novelty of the sight struck the Romans with awe and
terror. They stood in stupid amazement, as if their limbs were
benumbed, rivetted to the spot, a mark for the enemy.
" The exhortations of the general diffused new vigour through
the ranks, and the men by mutual reproaches inflamed each other
to deeds of valour.
'•
They felt the disgrace of yielding to a troop of luovien and a
band of fanatic 'priests; they advanced their standards and
rushed on to the attack with impetuous fury.
" The Britons perished in the flames which they themselves
had kindled."
The torches carried by the Druidesses, and the other flames
referred to, indicate the atrocious barbarity perpetrated by the
Romans upon "a troop of women" and "fanatic priests," was