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Rh against inroads, the Caledonians, mistaking his two years' inaction for exhaustion or fear, resumed their courage. He returned, therefore, to offensive measures. Understanding them to be preparing to make a combined attack on his lines, he anticipated them by a rapid incursion into the regions beyond the Forth. The land was for the most part a barren waste; the enemy was numerous and able to cut off even the scantiest supply of food, and the army must therefore be furnished with a commissariat. This could be supplied by a naval armament alone. Such an armament accordingly was fitted out, and moved parallel to his flank as he marched along the coast of Fife. Prisoners reported that the Britons were astounded at the sight of the fleet, and saw that if their bays, creeks, and the mouths of their rivers were open to invasion no refuge would remain for themselves. Surprised they may have been by this novel aspect of war, but they were not disheartened, nor was their strategy that of ignorant barbarians. They would not meet the advancing legions, but got between them and the forts in their rear, so that in case of a defeat the retreat of the Romans would be cut off. On learning that the Caledonian attack would be made with more than one army, and taking into account their superior numbers and knowledge of the ground, Agricola distributed his forces in three divisions, and so advanced to the encounter. With the exception of a heavy loss sustained by the ninth legion from a sudden assault in the night, the defeat of the Britons was a signal one, and "had not the flying enemy been sheltered by morasses and forests, this victory would have ended the war."

We are now on the verge of the most animated and