"You must be rewarded for saving my life," he said firmly.

"I but did my duty, Caesar!" the young tribune protested.

"And in doing so you have lost your military career," the emperor replied. "What will happen to you when you return home? You have nothing, being a younger son. In saving my life you have, in a sense, lost yours, Flavius Drusus. I would be unworthy of the noble tradition of the Caesars if I allowed such a thing. I offer you one of two choices. Think carefully before choosing. Return to Rome with honor, if you desire. I will give you both a noble wife and a pension for all of your days. Or remain here in Britain. I will give you lands that will be yours and your descendants' forever. I will also settle a sum of money upon you that you may build a home."

Flavius Drusus thought a long moment. If he returned to Rome, noble wife or not, he would be forced to live in his father's house, which would one day be his eldest brother's house. His pension would probably not be enough for him to buy his own home. The noble wife would be some younger daughter with little of her own. How would they dower daughters, or successfully launch their sons' careers? If he remained in Britain, however, he would have his own lands. He would not be beholden to anyone. He would found a new branch of his family, and with hard work become a rich man in his own right.

"I will stay in Britain, Caesar," he said, knowing that he had made the right decision.

“And that,” Titus Drusus Corinium told his children in the summer of a.d. 406, "is how our family came to this land some three hundred and sixty-two years ago.