The Dawn in Britain :: :: University of Virginia Library

And now hath Claudius journeyed from Thames' frith,
Two days; but foundered, in the fenny reeds,
Were two, his great Numidic, elephants lost.
Gauls have and Roman knights, lost, likewise, steeds.
Now, from short march, he measured his third camp;
Will wait, there, coming of his legate Aulus.

And he, left Roman sick, in conquered Verulam,
With garrison; is marched forth, to meet with Claudius;
Who, in Thames' mouth, he hears, now gone to land.
Lo, glittering trains of his victorious legions!
But, for the field lies open, where they pass;
Nor wots he, where became Caratacus;
He, each eve, lodged, fenced with a nine-foot bank,
(Which, stranger scars, yet, in our soil, remain!)

Then, to vast salty tide, his army arrives;
Whence merchant Troynovant, beyond, appears;
Which, he omitting, pitched, at poplar grove,

143

That sanctuary is of Lud, the river's god:
Place, where discern the heavens, in age to come,
Be built, the Mart of men, another Rome.

Thence, to wide fleet, Rome's legions be come down;
Where flows out, shole, to Thames, soft-streaming Lea,
Bordered with sallows, whose deep fenny brinks.
And, lo, a remnant of blue scattered Britons,
Of Antethrigus, hold that further shore!
And though this Summer day be young, blows Aulus
Halt; till to-morrow, here should rest his cohorts.
But fallen the night, he sends out tall Batavians,
Well-nigh five hundred men, to overswim
That oozy sound, on udders, with their arms:
And promised meed, if ford, of them, were found;
Where might, at low ebb, pass his heavy cohorts.

Those enter, with their floats, at the moonrise,
(Encouraging, in Almain tongue, each other,)
The stream. To Britons, that keep watch, beyond;
Those seemed some harts, that wont, from Epping forest,
By night-time, overswim, in Summer season.
But, angry, river-gods, send water-sprites;
Them to confound. Following whose flickering brands,
The most, on shelves, fell unwares and vast flats;

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Whereas, their fellows calling, long, in vain,
Their limbs stick fast; and drencheth them, ere dawn,
Inflowing tide. Being few, like worms, crept forth,
From slough; those found, then, of fierce ambushed wights,
Were slain; and left, in stinking weeds, to rot.

Upward, in forest, thence, his guides lead Aulus;
Where, marshal of his camps, Primitius, such
An hasty bridge devised, as they might pass.
He laid hewed-alders on great cables, stretcht,
Twixt the two brinks; and bavin strewed and earth,
Thereon. Armed Romans, by the moon's lamp, march
Beyond; holding now drift-way of the Britons,
Which leads to the imperial camp forthright.

Utres: blown-up bags of leather.