XIII.] PROGRESSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF BRITAIN. 287
the invention of printing, and it has several times been reprinted.
To us at the present day it is chiefly of interest as shewing ho\v
greatly under the Roman empire the popular notion of geography
lagged behind the scientific knowledge of the time. An acquaint-
ance with this fact enables us to explain the existence at a later
period of traditions on the subject which appear to us exceedingly
primitive.
In no part of the world was greater advance made in the know-
ledge of geography during the first century and a pro essive
half after Augustus than in Britain. Subsequently to Knowledge of
the expeditions of Julius Caesar no serious attempt
had been made by the Romans to conquer that country until the
time of Claudius (43 A.D.), by whom and his lieu-
tenants the southern part of the island was reduced
to submission. Camulodunum, the capital of the
Trinobantes, which was taken on this occasion, was afterwards
occupied by a Roman colony—the first of many that were
established in the island—and was consequently known as
Coloniae Castrum (Colchester). The province which was now
formed was gradually consolidated and extended, until in Nero's
reign (61 A.D.) the conquests of Suetonius Paullinus
carried its limits as far north as Lindum on the
one side and Deva on the other, which two places
also became Roman settlements, and were called Lindum Colonia
(Lincoln) and Devae Castrum (the fortress on the Dee, or Chester).
Already at this time we hear of Londinium (London) as being the
greatest and most populous commercial centre in the country on
account of its favourable position at the mouth of the Thames, for
Tacitus in his account of the campaign of Suetonius Paullinus
speaks of it as the principal resort of traders and the chief depot
for stores1. The next advance was made under Domitian by
Agricola, who in the course of eight years (78—85
A.D.) extended the Roman dominion as far as the
Firths of Clyde and Forth, and defended the isthmus which lies
1 Tac. Ann., 14. 33; Londinium...copia negotiatoram et commeatuum
maxime celebre.