ABSTRACT
When Britain was finally annexed to the Roman empire in AD 43, conditions in the empire were very different to those at the time of Caesar’s incursions a century before. The crucial difference was that the tottering and corrupt government of senate and people (the republic) had been swept away at the battle of Actium in 31 BC, and replaced by a form of monarchy, where central direction of imperial policy became possible. The historian, Tacitus, observed that the empire was the chief beneficiary of this change, gaining stability and sound government in place of corruption and exploitation.
