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B.C. 55.] of such construction were as follows as regards fighting capabilities. In the matter of manœuvring power and ready command of oars, we had an advantage; but in other respects, looking to the situation of the coast and the stormy weather, all ran very much in their favour; for neither could our ships injure theirs with their prows, so great were the strength and solidity of the hostile craft, nor could we easily throw in our darts, because of the loftiness of the foe above us. And this last fact was also a reason why we found it extremely difficult to grapple with him, and bring him to close action. More than all, when the sea began to get up, and when the enemy was obliged to run before it, he, fearing nothing from the rocks and cliffs when the tide should ebb, could, in addition to weathering the storm better, trust himself more confidently among the shallows." A complete victory was gained, nevertheless; and, no doubt, the British contingent was destroyed.

That Selden wrote primarily as a politician, and only secondarily as a historian, when he produced 'Mare Clausum,' has been too much overlooked by later writers, and especially by Dr. John Campbell and his editors, who follow Selden in finding, in a statement by Cæsar, evidence that the ancient Britons "had the dominion of their own seas in the most absolute degree." The statement is to the effect that Cæsar could get no information concerning the country or ports of Britain, because the inhabitants permitted none but merchants to visit their island, and restrained even them from travelling up the country. As well might it be argued that the Chinese of our own days "have the dominion of their own seas in the most absolute degree," because they have succeeded in limiting the intercourse of foreigners with the interior. All that we know points to a different conclusion. Whatever naval power the Britains, probably those of the western part of the island, possessed, seems to have been entirely expended in the fruitless co-operation with the Veneti. Thenceforward, the British fleet vanished from the scene; and Cæsar met with absolutely no resistance afloat.

Yet, although the Britons were weak at sea, they were not so ignorant that the cultured Romans had nothing to learn from them