Of the dominion or ownership of the sea two books : in the first is shew'd that the sea, by the lavv of nature or nations, is not common to all men, but capable of private dominion or proprietie, as well as the land : in the second is proved that the dominion of the British sea, or that which incompasseth the isle of Great Britain is, and ever hath been, a part or appendant of the empire of that island writen at first in Latin, and entituled, Mare clausum, seu, De dominio maris, by John Selden, Esquire ; translated into English and set forth with som additional evidences and discourses, by Marchamont Nedham.

That the Britains were Lords of the Nor∣thern Sea, before they were subdued by the Romans. And that the Sea and the Land made one entire Bodie of the British Empire. CHAP. III.

THat the Britains were Lords also at that time of the Northern, or Deucalidonian Sea, is a thing proved by sufficient Testimonie. They called this part of the Sea Mario sui secretum, The secret or Closet of their Sea. Tacitus, relating the Navigation of Julius Agricola into this part, saith, the Britains, as it was understood by the Prisoners, were amazed at the sight of his Navie, as if upon thi•• opening the Closet or secret part of their Sea, there remained no farther refuge in case they were overcom. And in that stout Oration of Galgacus the Caledonian, wherein hee encouraged his Souldiers to fight, a 1.1 Now, saith hee, the Bound of Britain is laid open. The secret part of their Sea or their Sea-Territorie in the North, they called their Bound. Moreover, saith the same Gal∣gacus, beyond us there is no Land, and not the least se∣curitie at Sea, the Roman Navie beeing at hand; giving them to understand, that the Dominion hereof was to bee defended as was the Island, as a thing acquired before. Add also, that among the Writers of that Age, vincula dare Oceano, and to subdue the Britains, signified one and the same thing. So that place of Lucan is to bee understood, where hee reckon's what pompous Shew•• and Triumphs might have

usher'd Caesar into Rome, had hee returned onely with Conquest over the Gauls and the North;

—b 1.2 ut vincula Rheno, Oceanóque daret! celsos ut Gallia currus Nobilis, & flavis sequeretur mista Britannis.

What Stories had hee brought! how the vast Main, And Rhine, hee by his Conquests did re∣strain! The noble Gauls and yellow Britains tread Behind his loftie Chariot, beeing led!

But for all that, our Sea was not as yet subdued by the Romans, Julius Caesar onely shewed the Island, rather then deliver'd it into the hands of Posteritie: neither was any part of it reduced under the Roman power, before the Emperor Claudius his time; nor the Soveraigntie of the Sea transferr'd into the hands of any other. And although in Augustus his time, Drusus Germanicus c 1.3 sailed through that part of the Sea which lie's betwixt the entrance of the Ri∣ver Rhine and Denmark, and subdued the Fri••slanders, nevertheless, not any part of the Sea was added by that Victorie to the Roman Empire; for, the Britains held it all in possession, they beeing not yet fully sub∣dued. Nor is it unworthie observation here, that C. Caligula, beeing near Britain, and coming out of Germanie to the Coasts on the other side of our Sea, as if (saith d 1.4 Dio) hee intended to make war in Britain, and having drawn up his Armie, made readie all his slings and other warlick Engines, and given the sig∣nal or word for Battel, no man knowing or imagi∣ning what his intent was, hee on a sudden com∣manded them to fall a gathering of Cockles, and fill

their Laps and Helmets; Then, saying these Spoils of the Sea belong'd to the Capitol and Mount Palatin, hee vaunted as if hee had subdued the Ocean it self. At last, for a token or Trophie of this mock-victorie, hee rear'd a very lofty Tower hard by, out of which (as if it had been another * 1.5 Pharos) Lights were hung forth by night for the direction of Sea▪men in their Courses; the ruins whereof beeing not yet wholly demolished, but for the most part over∣whelm'd with water near Cattwiick, and very sel∣dom discover'd, it is called by the Hollanders that dwell near it, Britenhuis and L'Huis te Briten, that is the British Hous, or the British Tower. Certain it is out of Suetonius, that a Tower was raised by Caligula in that place: yea, and it is mainteined by divers learned men, as e 1.6 Hadrianus Junius the Hollan∣der, f 1.7 William Camden our Countriman, and g 1.8 Richardus Vitus, that these were the ruins of the same Tower; though others denie it, as Ortelius, Gotzius, and h 1.9 Clu∣verius: And they make a doubt both about the Original of the name, and also its signification; concerning which wee dispute not. But am ex∣tremely mis-taken, if Caligula, by this Action of his, did not so much neglect the conquest of Britain it self, which hee hoped or at least thought of, as seem to sport himself with the conceit of having found out so compendious a way of Victorie. Hee carried the matter as if hee had had an intent to subdue Britain; and supposed those Cockles, which hee called Spoils of the Sea, to bee Tokens of Sea-Dominion, and as a most sure pledg of the British Empire.

Moreover, it is upon good ground to bee con∣ceived, that there was one entire Territorie of the

British Empire, made up of the Land or continent of great Britain, with the Isles lying about it, and the Seas flowing between in their respective Chan∣nels: which may bee collected, both from that one single name of British, comprehending an entire Bodie of such a kinde of Territorie (as was shewn you before) and also from hence, that the very Sea it self is, by Albategnius and som others, described by the name of Britain, in the same manner as the Island, when as hee placeth Thule, an Isle of the Sea, in Britain. That is to say, just as Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and other Isles in the Tyrrhen Sea, have i 1.10 in Law been reckoned parts of Italie, yea, and continent thereto: For, Sicily (after that the Romans became Lords of the adjoining Sea flowing between) was called k 1.11 Regio Suburbana, as if it had been part of the Suburbs of Rome; and all these together with Italie and the Sea it self, made one Bodie or Province; so all the British Isles before mentioned, with great Britain and the Seas flowing about it, might well bee termed one Bodie of Britain or of the British Empire, forasmuch as the Seas as well as the Isles, passed alwaies into the Dominion of them that have born Rule within this Nation: From whence per∣haps it hapned, that the Romans conceived the British Empire consider'd apart by it self, to bee of so great a bigness, that l 1.12 Britain did not seem to bee com∣prehended by the Sea, but to comprehend the Sea it self, as it is express't by that Panegyrist.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Tacit. in vitâ Agrico∣lae.
• b 1.2

  Pharsal. 2.
• c 1.3

  Dio Cas∣sius▪ lib▪ 54. Plin. lib. 2. cap. 67. Sue∣ton in Claud. cap. 1.
• d 1.4

  Adde Au∣rel. Vict••rem, ut emenda∣tur ab An∣draea Scho••••o, Observat. Historic. lib. 3. ••ap. 21.
• * 1.5

  Pharos was a Tower built in the Island Pharos by Cleopatra Q. of Egypt, where lights were hung out to guide Marriners by night.
• e 1.6

  In Bataviâ, cap. 16.
• f 1.7

  In insulis Britann. pag. 852.
• g 1.8

  Histor. lib. 4. not. 56.
• h 1.9

  De Rheni Alveis, cap. 14. & videsis Ortelium in Thesaur. Geo∣graph. verb. Brittanni.
• i 1.10

  L. 9. ff. tit. de Judicus & l. 99. ff. tit. de V. S.
• k 1.11

  Cicero Acti∣one 2. in Ver∣rem, & Flo∣rus, lib. 3. cap. 19.
• l 1.12

  Panegyric. Maximiano dict. Si mihi.