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Roman politics

We tend to think of Britain at the time of the Romans as a remote outpost on the edges of the Roman empire - a troublesome but unimportant backwater province, rather like the Hindu Kush in the British Raj. A posting here would surely mean uncomfortable conditions and dangerous assignments, in a downward-spiralling career. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Right from its first involvement in Roman politics, Britain was a dynamic, militarised territory which attracted some of Rome's best and most ambitious men, who were on their way to the pinnacle of achievement.

To understand this, you must understand the way that Roman politics worked. Rome's political system was based upon competition within the ruling elite. Senators competed fiercely for public office, the most coveted of which was the post of Consul. Two were elected each year to head the government of the state. Even in the imperial period this was maintained, though in fact true power lay with the emperor and his extended household.

During the Republic, the post of Consul was a quasi-military one: the Consuls were the commanders-in-chief of the Roman army, so military experience was of paramount importance to a Roman's political career. Military glory provided the greatest boost to any Roman's prestige and once again this carried over into the Empire. Military triumphs boosted your career, military service made you eligible for a wide range of profitable postings and for non-citizens, 25 years in the army was a guaranteed way of gaining citizenship for you and your family.

It is unsurprising then that Britain, a large island that was never fully conquered, should be seen as a land of opportunity to Romans with ambition. In fact during the imperial period, Britain was the only province in the entire empire that had a permanent garrison of more than two legions. Throughout most of its history, Britain contained three legions: IX Hispana followed by VI Victrix in York, II Augusta in Caerleon and II Adiutrix followed by XX Valeria Victrix in Chester.

Caesar

Bust of Julius Caesar  ©

The first Roman to seize the opportunities for glory provided by Britain was Julius Caesar. Having essentially conquered Gaul by 56 BC, he found himself in a position where he was compelled to return to Rome and disband his army, unless he could find an excuse to stay in the field. He found that excuse in Britain. By claiming that the British tribes had helped the Gauls he had just cause to invade. In fact, as his own writings and the letters he sent to Cicero indicate, he was much more interested in the glory he would gain for crossing the Great Ocean and in the wealth of silver rumoured to be on the island, than in any so-called security risk.

His first invasion in 55 BC seriously underestimated the British and was a near disaster. His second expedition in 54 BC was more successful but by then he had received the accolades he desired and was complaining to Cicero that the rumours of silver were greatly exaggerated. He pulled out of the island, exacting tribute and hostages and concentrated on pacifying the troublesome tribes of Gaul before crossing the Rubicon with his army and returning to Rome as its most powerful son. His power and prestige were so great, in fact, that his enemies were forced to assassinate him, sparking the civil war that destroyed the Republic.

Augustus

One might legitimately ask why, if Britain was such a land of opportunity, Caesar's ultimate successor Augustus had no interest in it. Strabo makes it perfectly clear that despite the perceived wealth of the country, Augustus did not think that it was worth conquering. These comments have often been used to argue that Britain was not economically viable to the Empire. Yet to argue this is to misunderstand the way the Roman system worked. Cost did not come into it, except as a reason to justify inaction.

There was nothing to be gained for Augustus in invading Britain. Caesar had already won the prestige for crossing the Great Ocean and claiming to have settled the country. There was more kudos then in conquering Germany north of the Elbe or beating up on Rome's favourite enemy, the Parthians (the precise geographical equivalent of modern-day Saddam bashing) than in belittling his adoptive father's claims. It was not until the German frontier was closed by the disaster of AD 9 in which Varus lost three legions at Teutoberger Wald and Parthia became too strong to seriously contemplate war that any Roman emperor could seriously contemplate a return to Britain.

Caligula and Claudius

Bronze head of the Emperor Claudius  ©

In AD 39, Caligula amassed a large army on the Rhine in preparation for an invasion of Britain. However, at the last minute, he changed his mind and ordered the troops to gather cockle shells from the beach instead, claiming in his Quixotic way to have won a great triumph over Neptune. The story is probably apocryphal but I like to think that the cabal of officers who assassinated him two years later still bore a grudge from this embarrassment on the Rhine.

In his place they elevated his uncle, Claudius, who by virtue of his stutter had been passed over as a fool. Claudius was no such thing and he understood that in order to survive he needed a triumph.

In the monolithic nature of Roman military bureaucracy, the army assembled for Caligula's abortive invasion was still largely intact and kicking its heels on the Rhine, so it made perfect sense to use it for its original purpose.

Vespasian

The Claudian invasion of AD 43 was the making of several Roman careers, not least that of a young legionary commander called Vespasian. At the decisive Battle of Medway it was he who crossed the river at the head of both his legion and a band of 'Celtic' auxiliaries, and routed the Britons. Whilst Claudius arrived to gather his laurels on the back of an elephant in Colchester, Vespasian marched west to storm Maiden Castle and Hod Hill with such ruthless efficiency that the catapult bolts used to subdue them can still be dug out of the ground to this day.

The reputation he established on this campaign overrode his disgrace at having fallen asleep during one of the new Emperor Nero's recitals later in his career and it bought him the command of three legions in the Jewish war of AD 66.

This placed him in a perfect position to challenge for the imperial purple during the civil war of AD 69, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. His two main rivals were Otho (supported by the ex-governor of Britain, Suetonius Paulinus) and Vitellius (supported by the British legions). Otho was killed by Vitellius who was in turn killed by Vespasian, who became emperor.

Paulinus

The governorship of Suetonius Paulinus, the ex-governor of Britain whose support tipped the balance in favour of Otho at the start of the war, illustrates what those who received a posting in post-invasion Britain hoped to gain out of it. Tacitus says that when Paulinus arrived in Britain 'He was ambitious to achieve victories as glorious as his rival Corbulo's reconquest of Armenia.' Consequently, he planned to attack the isle of Anglesey, which was controlled by druids and provided a refuge to those disaffected Britons ousted by the inexorable Roman conquest.

Britain was at this time very much a wild frontier, with all the opportunities for glory that this entailed; so wild, in fact, that while the governor was away in Wales the province erupted into the Boudiccan Revolt. This had been prompted by the over-zealous exploitation of the natives by those in power. Centurions assigned to supply saw a chance for profiteering and veteran colonists established at Colchester were only too willing to steal land from the natives in an attempt to make a killing on the new frontier. Instead, it was they who were massacred in their thousands.

Paulinus quelled the revolt with ruthless efficiency but his methods were frowned upon by the new procurator (finance official), Classicianus. Classicianus' influence was such that he could have Paulinus removed from office. Yet Paulinus' prestige had been so enhanced by his sojourn in Britain that even though he had a high profile on the wrong side in the ensuing civil war, he was untouched by the purges that followed. Classicianus meanwhile became so rich as procurator that he could afford a tomb as big as a small house, which can now be found in the British Museum.

Find out more

Books

The Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius, translated by HM Bird, introduction by Tamsyn Barton (Wordsworth Editions, 1997). Suetonius was a biographer and court official, born in AD 69; this work tells of the Roman emperors - their habits, loves and intrigues - from Julius Caesar to Domitian.

Links

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Schools: The Romans. The site has a long list of Roman emperors, presented in chronological order.

Places to visit

Castle Park, High Street, Colchester, CO1 1TJ. Tel: 01206 282931 and 282932

Once the capital of Roman Britain, Colchester experienced devastation during the Boudiccan rebellion. Beneath the castle are the remains of the Temple of Claudius, which can still be seen.

About the author

Dr Mike Ibeji is a Roman military historian who was an associate producer on Simon Schama's A History of Britain.