Britannia

, an island in the northern ocean, the greatest in Europe, conquered by Julius Cæsar during his Gallic wars, B.C. 55, and first known to be an island by Agricola, who sailed round it. It was a Roman province from the time of its conquest till the 448th year of the christian era. The inhabitants, in the age of Cæsar, used to paint their bodies, to render themselves more terrible in the eyes of their enemies. The name of Britain was unknown to the Romans before Cæsar conquered it. Cæsar , Gallic War , bk. 4 .— Diodorus , bk. 5 .— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 33 .— Tacitus , Agricola , ch. 10 .— Pliny , bk. 34 , ch. 17 .