§ 1. Whether the Cymry were among the Britons who assisted the Gauls in resisting Julius Cæsar, there is little historic evidence to show. Nor does it appear that any of the Cymric states were among those which, having learned from Gallic merchants that he intended to invade Britain, sent across the Channel ambassadors who came to him in Gaul, offering hostages and tributary submission, with a view to avert at once his anger and his visit.

Fifty-five years before the Christian era, Julius Cæsar first landed in Britain. The defeat of this expedition resulted from the valour and warlike prowess of the Cantii and other southern tribes, aided by the ignorance of the Romans of the effect of spring-tides upon the British Channel.

Cæsar came a second time in the following year (b.c. 54), with an army more numerous and better equipped than that with which he afterwards conquered at Pharsalia; but Caswallawn (Cassivellaunus), who had been elected martial monarch of the Britons, conducted the defence of the country with such vigorous ability, that the Roman hero soon abandoned his attempt at conquest. He did not penetrate farther inland than the places now known as Kingston-upon-Thames and Verulam; and he probably saw no other parts of the country than those which now constitute the counties of Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, and Essex, with parts of Buckingham and Hertford.