They were moreover enjoined to take
long journeys, and carry grain across the several countries to places
extremely distant; insomuch that the several communities, instead of
supplying the winter-quarters which lay adjoining, must furnish such as
were remote and difficultly travelled, to the end, that what was easy to
be had by all, might produce gain to a few.
A.D. 79. By suppressing these grievances immediately in his first year, he
gained a high character to a state of peace; a state which, either through
the neglect or connivance of his predecessors, was till then dreaded no
less than that of war. But, upon the coming of summer, he assembled his
army; then proceeded to commend such of the men who in marching observed
their duty and rank, and to check such as were loose and straggling. He
himself always chose the ground for encamping: the salt marshes, friths,
and woods he himself always first examined, and to the enemies all the
while allowed not a moment's quiet or recess, but was ever distressing
them with sudden incursions and ravages. Then, having sufficiently alarmed
and terrified them, his next course was to spare them, thus to tempt them
with the sweetness and allurements of peace.
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