Chapter 22

In the course of the third year the progress of the Roman arms discovered new nations, whose territories were laid waste as far as the estuary called the Firth of Tay. The legions had to struggle with all the difficulties of a tempestuous season, and yet the Barbarians, struck with a general panic, never dared to hazard an engagement. The country, as far as the Romans advanced, was secuied by forts and garrisons. No officer knew better than Agricola, how to seize the most advantageous situation; and, accordingly, not one of the stations, fortified by his direction, was taken by storm; not one was reduced to capitulate; not one was surrendered or abandoned to the enemy. The enemy who had been accustomed to retrieve in the winter what they lost in the antecedent summer, now saw no difference of seasons; they were defeated everywhere, and reduced to the last despair.