Hibernia

[Nathan Ross]

From Juvenal's 2nd Satire (probably published somewhere around 115AD):

arma quidem ultra
litora Iuvernae promovimus et modo captas
Orcades ac minima contentos nocte Brittanos
sed quae nunc populi fiunt victoris in urbe
non faciunte illi quos vicimus

Juvenal - Satire 2: 159-163

Indeed, we have advanced our arms beyond the shores
of Ireland and the recently captured Orkneys
and the mighty Britons with their short nights
but the deeds we perform in our victorious city
will never be done by the men we have conquered

This is either
a) Poetic exaggeration
b) Confused translation - Iuvernae might not refer to Ireland...
c) Juvenal's ignorance of British geography
d) A scrap of evidence to suggest that, at some point around 100AD, the Romans did indeed 'advance beyond the shores of Ireland' :o

- N Ross