In 81, Agricola "crossed in the first ship" and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. Tacitus, in Chapter 24 of
Agricola,
[6] does not tell us what body of water he crossed, although most scholars believe it was the Clyde or Forth, and some translators even add the name of their preferred river to the text; however, the rest of the chapter exclusively concerns
Ireland, so southwest Scotland is perhaps to be preferred.
[7] The text of the
Agricola has been emended here to record the Romans "crossing into trackless wastes", referring to the wilds of the Galloway peninsula.
[8] Agricola fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalls that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with a single
legion and
auxiliaries. He had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped he might use as the excuse for conquest. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory or
punitive expedition to Ireland,
[9] though no Roman camps have been identified to confirm such a suggestion.
Irish legend provides a striking parallel.
Tuathal Teachtmhar, a legendary
High King, is said to have been exiled from Ireland as a boy, and to have returned from Britain at the head of an army to claim the throne. The traditional date of his return is 76–80, and
archaeology has found Roman or Romano-British artefacts in several sites associated with Tuathal.
[10]