Note 681 — Chapter IV · EVENTS OF THE YEAR 699.

“Cæsar was very proud of his expedition into Britain, and everybody at Rome cried it up with enthusiasm. People congratulated each other on becoming acquainted with a country of the existence of which they were previously ignorant, and of having penetrated into countries of which they had never heard before; everybody took his hopes for reality, and all that people flattered themselves with obtaining some day caused as great an outburst of joy as if they had already possessed it.” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53.)—“After having landed in Britain, Cæsar believed he had discovered a new world. He wrote (it is unknown to whom) that Britain was not an island, but a country surrounding the ocean.” (Eumenius, Panegyrici, IV. 2.)