diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/12910.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/12910.txt | 9037 |
1 files changed, 9037 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/12910.txt b/old/12910.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6de537 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12910.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9037 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Early Britain--Roman Britain, by Edward +Conybeare + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Early Britain--Roman Britain + +Author: Edward Conybeare + +Release Date: July 14, 2004 [eBook #12910] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY BRITAIN--ROMAN BRITAIN*** + + +E-text prepared by Paul Murray, Bill Hershey, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +EARLY BRITAIN--ROMAN BRITAIN + +BY EDWARD CONYBEARE + +WITH MAP + +1903 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: A MAP OF BRITAIN to illustrate THE ROMAN OCCUPATION. + +London: Published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.] + + + + +ERRATA. + + +p. vii. _for_ Caesar 55 A.D. _read_ Caesar 55 B.C. + +" 56 " 11th century " 12th century. + +" 58 " Damnonian Name " Damnonian name. + +" 66 " [Greek: ediken] " [Greek: aethikaen] + +" 108 " sunrise " sunset. + +" 133 " some lost authority " Suetonius. + +" 141 " DONATE " DONANTE. + +" 150 " Venta Silurum " Isca Silurum. + +" 185 " is flanked " was flanked. + +" 209 " iambic " trochaic. + +" " " Exquis " Ex quis. + +" 213 " one priceless " once priceless. + +" 232 " in pieces " to pieces. + +" 238 " constrigit " constringit. + +" " " Sparas " Sparsas. + + + + +PREFACE + + +A little book on a great subject, especially when that book is one +of a "series," is notoriously an object of literary distrust. For +the limitations thus imposed upon the writer are such as few men can +satisfactorily cope with, and he must needs ask the indulgence of his +readers for his painfully-felt shortcomings in dealing with the mass +of material which he has to manipulate. And more especially is this +the case when the volume which immediately precedes his in the series +is such a mine of erudition as the 'Celtic Britain' of Professor Rhys. + +In the present work my object has been to give a readable sketch +of the historical growth and decay of Roman influence in Britain, +illustrated by the archaeology of the period, rather than a mainly +archaeological treatise with a bare outline of the history. The chief +authorities of which I have made use are thus those original classical +sources for the early history of our island, so carefully and ably +collected in the 'Monumenta Historica Britannica';[1] which, along +with Huebner's 'Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum[2],' must always be +the foundation of every work on Roman Britain. Amongst the many +other authorities consulted I must acknowledge my special debt to Mr. +Elton's 'Origins of English History'; and yet more to Mr. Haverfield's +invaluable publications in the 'Antiquary' and elsewhere, without +which to keep abreast of the incessant development of my subject by +the antiquarian spade-work now going on all over the land would be an +almost hopeless task. + +EDWARD CONYBEARE. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +A complete Bibliography of Roman Britain would be wholly beyond the +scope of the present work. Much of the most valuable material, indeed, +has never been published in book form, and must be sought out in the +articles of the 'Antiquary,' 'Hermes,' etc., and the reports of the +many local Archaeological Societies. All that is here attempted is to +indicate some of the more valuable of the many scores of sources to +which my pages are indebted. + +To begin with the ancient authorities. These range through upwards of +a thousand years; from Herodotus in the 5th century before Christ, to +Gildas in the 6th century after. From about 100 A.D. onwards we find +that almost every known classical authority makes more or less mention +of Britain. A list of over a hundred such authors is given in the +'Monumenta Historica Britannica'; and upwards of fifty are quoted +in this present work. Historians, poets, geographers, naturalists, +statesmen, ecclesiastics, all give touches which help out our +delineation of Roman Britain. + +Amongst the historians the most important are--Caesar, who tells his +own tale; Tacitus, to whom we owe our main knowledge of the Conquest, +with the later stages of which he was contemporary; Dion Cassius, who +wrote his history in the next century, the 2nd A.D.;[3] the various +Imperial biographers of the 3rd century; the Imperial panegyrists of +the 4th, along with Ammianus Marcellinus, who towards the close of +that century connects and supplements their stories; Claudian, the +poet-historian of the 5th century, whose verses throw a lurid gleam +on his own disastrous age, when Roman authority in Britain was at its +last gasp; and finally the British writers, Nennius and Gildas, whose +"monotonous plaint" shows that authority dead and gone, with the first +stirring of our new national life already quickening amid the decay. + +Of geographical and general information we gain most from Strabo, in +the Augustan age, who tells what earlier and greater geographers than +himself had already discovered about our island; Pliny the Elder, +who, in the next century, found the ethnology and botany of Britain so +valuable for his 'Natural History'; Ptolemy, a generation later yet, +who includes an elaborate survey of our island in his stupendous Atlas +(as it would now be called) of the world;[4] and the unknown compilers +of the 'Itinerary,' the 'Notitia,' and the 'Ravenna Geography.' To +these must be added the epigrammatist Martial, who lived at the time +of the Conquest, and whose references to British matters throw a +precious light on the social connection between Britain and Rome which +aids us to trace something of the earliest dawn of Christianity in our +land.[5] + + + + +ANCIENT AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK + + +NAME. REFERENCE. APPROXIMATE DATE, ETC. + +Aelian III. A. 6 A.D. 220. Naturalist. +Appian IV. D. 1 A.D. 140. Historian. +Aristides V.E. 4 A.D. 160. Orator. +Aristotle I.C. 1 B.C. 333. Philosopher. +St. Athanasius V.B. 1, etc. A.D. 333. Theologian. +Ausonius V.B. 7 A.D. 380. Poet. +Caesar V. etc. B.C. 55. Historian. +Capitolinus IV. E. 3 A.D. 290. Imperial Biographer. +Catullus V.E. 4 B.C. 33. Poet. +St. Chrysostom V.E. 15, etc. A.D. 380. Theologian. +Cicero I.D. 3, etc. B.C. 55. Orator, etc. +Claudian vi. etc. A.D. 400. Poet-Historian. +St. Clement V.E. 4 A.D. 80. Theologian. +Constantius V.F. 4 A.D. 480. Ecclesiastical + Biographer. +Diodorus Siculus I.E. 11, etc. B.C. 44. Geographer. +Dion Cassius v. etc. A.D. 150. Historian. +Dioscorides I.E. 4 A.D. 80. Physician. +Eumenius V.A. 1 A.D. 310. Imperial Panegyrist. +Eutropius V.A. 1 A.D. 300. Imperial Panegyrist. +Firmicus V.B. 2 A.D. 350. Controversialist. +Frontinus III. A. 1 A.D. 80. Wrote on Tactics. +Fronto IV. D. 2 A.D. 100. Historian. +Gildas vi. etc. A.D. 500. Theologian. +Hegesippus II. F. 3 A.D. 150. Historian. +Herodian IV. E. 3 A.D. 220. Historian. +Herodotus I.C. 3 B.C. 444. Historian, etc. +St. Hilary V.B. 3 A.D. 350. Theologian. +Horace III. A. 7 B.C. 25. Poet. +Itinerary IV. A. 7 A.D. 200. +St. Jerome V.C. 12 A.D. 400. Theologian. +Josephus III. F. 1 A.D. 70. Historian. +Juvenal III. F. 5 A.D. 75. Satirist. +Lampridius IV. E. 1 A.D. 290. Imperial Biographer. +Lucan II. E. 1 A.D. 60. Historical Poet. +Mamertinus V.A. 5 A.D. 280. Panegyrist. +Marcellinus vi. etc. A.D. 380. Historian. +Martial vi. etc. A.D. 70. Epigrammatist. +Maximus II. C. 13 A.D. 30. Wrote Memorabilia. +Mela I.H. 7 A.D. 50. Geographer, etc. +Menologia Graeca V.E. 5 A.D. 550. +Minucius Felix I.E. 2 A.D. 210. Geographer. +Nemesianus IV. C. 15 A.D. 280. Wrote on Hunting. +Nennius vi. etc. A.D. 500. Historian. +Notitia vi. etc. A.D. 406. +Olympiodorus V.C. 10 A.D. 425. Historian. +Onomacritus I.C. 1 B.C. 333. Poet. +Oppian IV. C. 15 A.D. 140. Wrote on Hunting +Origen V.E. 13 A.D. 220. Theologian. +Pliny vi. etc. A.D. 70. Naturalist. +Plutarch I.C. 1 A.D. 80. Historian, etc. +Polyaenus II. E. 8 A.D. 180. Wrote on Tactics. +Procopius V.D. 5 A.D. 555. Wrote on Geography, + etc. +Propertius III. 1. 7 B.C. 10. Poet. +Prosper V.F. 4 A.D. 450. Ecclesiastical + Historian. +Prudentius IV. C. 15 A.D. 370. Ecclesiastical Poet. +Ptolemy v. etc. A.D. 120. Geographer. +Ravenna Geography vi. etc. A.D. 450. +Seneca III. C. 7 A.D. 60. Philosopher. +Sidonius Apollinaris V.F. 3 A.D. 475. Letters. +Solinus I.E. 4, etc. A.D. 80. Geographer. +Spartianus IV. D. 2 A.D. 303. Historian. +Strabo vi. etc. B.C. 20. Geographer. +Suetonius I.H. 10 A.D. 110. Imperial Biographer. +Symmachus IV. C. 15 A.D. 390. Statesman, etc. +Tacitus v. etc. A.D. 80. Historian. +Tertullian V.E. 11 A.D. 180. Theologian. +Theodoret V.E. 4 A.D. 420. Wrote Commentaries. +Tibullus III. A. 7 B.C. 20. Poet. +Timaeus I.D. 2 B.C. 300. Geographer. +Vegetius V.B. 5 A.D. 380. Historian. +Venantius V.E. 4 A.D. 580. Wrote Ecclesiastical + Poems. +Victor V.A. 9 A.D. 380. Historian. +Virgil III. 1. 7 B.C. 30. Poet. +Vitruvius. I.G. 5 A.D. Wrote on Geography, + etc. +Vobiscus. IV. C. 17 A.D. 290. Historian. +Xiphilinus vi. etc. A.D. 1200. Abridged Dio Cassius. +Zosimus V.C. 11 A.D. 400. Historian. + + + + +LATER AUTHORITIES + + +The constant accession of new material, especially from the unceasing +spade-work always going on in every quarter of the island, makes +modern books on Roman Britain tend to become obsolete, sometimes with +startling rapidity. But even when not quite up to date, a well-written +book is almost always very far from worthless, and much may be learnt +from any in the following list:-- + +BABCOCK 'The Two Last Centuries of Roman Britain' (1891). +BARNES 'Ancient Britain' (1858). +BROWNE, BISHOP 'The Church before Augustine' (1895). +BRUCE 'Handbook to the Roman Wall' (1895). +CAMDEN 'Britannia' (1587). +COOTE 'Romans in Britain' (1878). +DAWKINS 'Early Man in Britain' (1880). + 'The Place of the Welsh in English History' (1889). +DILL 'Roman Society' (1899). +ELTON 'Origins of English History' (1890). +EVANS, SIR J. 'British Coins' (1869). + 'Bronze Implements' (1881). + 'Stone Implements' (1897). +FREEMAN 'Historical Essays' (1879). + 'English Towns' (1883). + 'Tyrants of Britain' (1886). +FROUDE 'Julius Caesar' (1879). +GUEST 'Origines Celticae' (1883). +HADDAN AND STUBBS 'Concilia' (1869). + 'Remains' (1876). +HARDY 'Monumenta Historica Britannica' (1848). +HAVERFIELD 'Roman World' (1899), etc. +HODGKIN 'Italy and her Invaders' (1892), etc. +HOGARTH (ed.) 'Authority and Archaeology' (1899). +HORSLEY 'Britannia Romana' (1732). +HUEBNER 'Inscriptiones Britannicae Romanae' (1873). + 'Inscriptiones Britannicae + Christianae' (1876), etc. +KEMBLE 'Saxons in England' (1876). +KENRICK 'Phoenicia' (1855). + 'Papers on History' (1864). +LEWIN 'Invasion of Britain' (1862). +LUBBOCK, SIR J. 'Origin of Civilization' (1889). +LYALL 'Natural Religion' (1891). +LYELL 'Antiquity of Man' (1873). +MAINE, SIR H. 'Early History of Institutions' (1876). +MAITLAND 'Domesday Studies' (1897). +MARQUARDT 'Roemische Staatsverwaltung' (1873). +MOMMSEN 'Provinces of the Roman Empire' (1865). +NEILSON 'Per Lineam Valli' (1892). +PEARSON 'Historical Atlas of Britain' (1870). +RHYS 'Celtic Britain' (1882). + 'Celtic Heathendom' (1888). + 'Welsh People' (1900). +ROLLESTON 'British Barrows' (1877). + 'Prehistoric Fauna' (1880). +SCARTH 'Roman Britain' (1885). +SMITH, C.R. 'Collectanea' (1848), etc. +TOZER 'History of Ancient Geography' (1897). +TRAILL AND MANN 'Social England' (1901). +USHER, BP. 'British Ecclesiastical Antiquity' (1639). +VINE 'Caesar in Kent' (1899). +WRIGHT 'Celt, Roman and Saxon' (1875). + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE + + +DATE EVENTS. EMPEROR. +B.C. + +350 (?) Pytheas discovers Britain [I.D. 1] +100 (?) Divitiacus Overlord of Britain (?) + [II. B. 4] + Gauls settle on Thames and Humber + (?) [I.F. 4] + Posidonius visits Britain [I.D. 3] + Birth of Julius Caesar [II. A. 6] + 58 Caesar conquers Gaul [II. A. 9] + 56 Sea-fight with Veneti and Britons + [II. B. 3] + 55 First invasion of Britain [II. + C., D.] + Cassivellaunus Overlord of Britain + (?) [II. F. 3] + Mandubratius, exiled Prince of + Trinobantes, appeals to Caesar (?) + [II. E. 10] + 54 Second Invasion of Britain [II. + E., F., G.] + 52 Revolt of Gaul. Commius, Prince + of Arras, flies to Britain and + reigns in South-east [III. A. 1] + 44 Caesar slain [II. G. 9] + 32 Battle of Actium [III. A. 6] Augustus. + About this time the sons of Commius + reign in Kent, etc., Addeomarus + over Iceni, and Tasciovan + at Verulam [III. A. 1] +A.D. About this time the Commian + princes are overthrown [III. + A. 2] + Cymbeline, son of Tasciovan, becomes + Overlord of Britain [III. + A. 4]. Commians appeal to + Augustus [III. A. 5] + 14 Death of Augustus Tiberius. + 29 Consulship of the Gemini. The + Crucifixion (?) + 37 Death of Tiberius Caligula. + 40 (?) Cymbeline banishes Adminius, + who appeals to Rome [III. A. 5] + Caligula threatens invasion [III. + A. 6] + 41 Caligula poisoned [III. A. 9] Claudius. + Death of Cymbeline (?). His son + Caradoc succeeds + 43 Antedrigus and Vericus contend + for Icenian throne: Vericus appeals + to Rome [III. A. 9] + 44 Claudius subdues Britain [III. B.] + Cogidubnus, King in South-east, + made Roman Legate [III. C. 8] + 45 Triumph of Claudius [III. C. + 1, 2] + 47 Ovation of Aulus Plautius, conqueror + of Britain. [III. C. 2] + 48 Vespasian and Titus crush British + guerrillas [III. C. 3] + 50 Britain made "Imperial" Province. + Ostorius Pro-praetor + [III. C. 9] + Icenian revolt crushed [III. D. + 1-6]. + Camelodune a colony [III. D. 8] + 51 Silurian revolt under Caradoc + [III. D. 7, 8] + 52 Caradoc captive [III. D. 9] + 53 Uriconium and Caerleon founded + [III. D. 12] + 54 Death of Ostorius [III. D. 11] + 55 Didius Gallus Pro-praetor. Last + Silurian effort [III. D. 13] + Death of Claudius [III. D. 13] Nero. + 56 (?) Aulus Plautius marries Pomponia + Graecina [V.E. 10] + 61 Suetonius Paulinus Pro-praetor + [III. E. 7] + + Massacre of Druids in Mona [III. + E. 8, 9] + Boadicean revolt [III. E. 2-13]. + St. Peter in Britain (?) [V.E. 5] + 62 Turpiliannus Pro-praetor. "Peace" + in Britain [III. E. 13] + 63 (?) Claudia Rufina Marries Pudens + [V.E. 9] + 64 Burning of Rome. First Persecution. + St. Paul in Britain (?) + [V.E. 4] + 65 Aristobulus Bishop in Britain (?) + [V.E. 5] + 68 Death of Nero (June 10) Galba. + Galba slain (Dec. 16) Civil War between + 69 Otho slain (April 20) Otho and Vitellius. + Vitellius slain (Dec. 20) + British army under Agricola Vespasian. + pronounces for Vespasian + [III. F. 1] + 70 Cerealis Pro-praetor. Brigantes + subdued by Agricola [III. F. 1] + Destruction of Jerusalem [IV. + C. 5] + 75 Frontinus Pro-praetor. Silurians + subdued by Agricola [III. F. 2] + 78 Agricola Pro-praetor. Ordovices + and Mona subdued [III. F. 3] + 79 Agricola Latinizes Britain [III. Titus. + F. 4]. Vespasian dies + 80 Agricola's first Caledonian campaign + [III. F. 5]. + 81 Agricola's rampart from Forth to Domitian. + Clyde [III. F. 7]. Titus dies + 82 Agricola invades Ireland (?) [III. + F. 5] + 83 Agricola advances into Northern + Caledonia [III. F. 5] + First circumnavigation of Britain + [III. F. 7] + 84 Agricola defeats Galgacus [III. + F. 6], resigns and dies [III. F. 7] + + 95 Second persecution. Flavia Domitilla + [V.E. 11] + 96 Domitian slain Nerva. + 98 Nerva dies Trajan. +117 Trajan dies Hadrian. +120 Hadrian visits Britain and builds Wall + [IV. D. 1] + Britain divided into "Upper" and + "Lower" [IV. D. 3] + First "Britannia" coinage [IV. D. 4] +138 Hadrian dies Antoninus Pius. +139 Lollius Urbicus, Legate in Britain, + replaces Agricola's rampart by turf + wall from Forth to Clyde [IV. D. 5] +140 Britain made Pro-consular [IV. E. 5] +161 Antoninus dies Marcus Aurelius. +180 British Church organized by Pope + Eleutherius (?) [V.E. 12] + Marcus Aurelius dies Commodus. +181 Caledonian invasion driven back by + Ulpius Marcellus [IV. E. 1] +184 Commodus "Britannicus" [IV. E. 1] +185 British army mutinies against reforms + of Perennis [IV. E. 1] +187 Pertinax quells mutineers [IV. E. 3] +192 Pertinax superseded by Junius Severus + [IV. E. 3] + Death of Commodus Interregnum. +193 Pertinax slain by Julianus and Albinus. Pertinax; Julianus; + Julianus slain Albinus; Severus. + Severus proclaimed. Albinus Emperor in + Britain [IV. E. 3] +197 British army defeated at Lyons. Severus. + Albinus slain [IV. E. 3] +201 Vinius Lupus, Pro-praetor, buys off + Caledonians [IV. E. 4] +208 Caledonian invasion. Severus comes to + Britain [IV. E. 5] +209 Severus overruns Caledonia [IV. + E. 5] +210 Severus completes Hadrian's Wall + [IV. E. 6] +211 Severus dies at York [IV. G. 2] {Caracalla. + {Geta. +212 Geta murdered [IV. G. 2] Caracalla. +215 (?) Roman citizenship extended to + British provincials [IV. G. 2] +(?) Itinerary of Antonius [IV. A. 7] +217 Caracalla slain Macrinus. +218 Macrinus slain Helagabalus. +222 Helagabalus slain Alexander Severus. +235 Alexander Severus slain Maximin. +238 Maximin slain Gordian. +244 Gordian slain Philip. +249 Philip slain Decius. +251 Decius slain Gallus. +254 Gallus slain {Valerian. + {Gallienus. +258 Postumus proclaimed Emperor in + Britain [V.A. 1] +260 Valerian slain Gallienus. +265 Victorinus associated with + Postumus [V.A. 1] +268 Gallienus slain Tetricus. +269 Tetricus slain Claudius Gothicus. +270 Claudius Gothicus dies Aurelian. +273 (?) Constantius Chlorus marries + Helen, a British lady [V.A. 6] +274 Constantine the Great born at + York [V.A. 6] +275 Aurelian slain Tacitus. +276 Tacitus slain Florianus. + Florianus slain Probus. +277 Vandal prisoners deported to + Britain [V.A. 1] +282 Probus slain Carus. +283 Carus dies Numerian. +284 Numerian dies Carinus. +285 Carinus dies {Diocletian. + {Maximian. +286 Carausius, first "Count of the + Saxon Shore," becomes Emperor + in Britain [V.A. 3] +292 Constantine and Galerius "Caesars" + [V.A. 5] +294 Carausius murdered by Allectus + [V.A. 4] +296 Constantius slays Allectus and + recovers Britain [V.A. 7, 8] + Britain divided into four "Diocletian" + Provinces [V.A. 9] +303 Tenth Persecution. Martyrdom + of St. Alban [V.A. 11] +305 Diocletian and Maximian abdicate {Constantius. + [V.A. 12] {Galerius. +306 Constantius dies at York [V.A. + 13]. Constantine, Galerius, + Maxentius, Licinius, etc., contend Interregnum. + for Empire [V.A. 14] +312 Constantine with British Army + wins at Milvian Bridge, and + embraces Christianity [V.A. 14] Constantine. +314 Council of Arles [V.E. 14] +325 Council of Nicaea [V.B. 1] + {Constantine II. +337 Constantine dies {Constantius II. + {Constans. +340 Constantine II. dies +343 Constans and Constantius II. visit + Britain [V.B. 1] +350 Constans slain. Usurpation of Constantius II. + Magnentius in Britain [V.B. 3] +353 Magnentius dies [V.B. 3] +358 Britain under Julian. Exportation + of corn [V.B. 4] +360 Council of Ariminum [V.E. 14] +361 Death of Constantius [V.B. 6] Julian. +362 Lupicinus, Legate in Britain, repels + first attacks of Picts + and Scots [V.B. 5] +363 Julian dies {Valentinian. + {Valens. +365 Saxons, Picts, and Scots ravage + shores of Britain [V.B. 7] + {Valentinian. +366 Gratian associated in Empire {Valens. + {Gratian. +367 Great barbarian raid on Britain + Roman commanders slain [V. + B. 7] +368 Theodosius, Governor of Britain, + expels Picts and Scots [V. + B. 7] +369 Theodosius recovers Valentia [V. + B. 7] +374 Saxons invade Britain [V.B. 8] + {Valens. +375 Valentinian dies {Gratian. + {Valentinian II. + + {Gratian. +378 Valens slain. Theodosius associated {Valentinian II. + in Empire {Theodosius. + +383 Gratian slain. British Army proclaims {Valentinian II. + Maximus and conquer {Theodosius. + Gaul [V.C. 1] +387 British Army under Maximus take + Rome [V.C. 1] +388 Maximus slain. First British + settlement in Armorica (?) [V. + C. 1] +392 Valentinian II. slain. Penal laws Theodosius. + against Heathenism +394 Ninias made Bishop of Picts by + Pope Siricius (?) [V.F. 1] +395 Death of Theodosius {Arcadius. + {Honorius. +396 Stilicho sends a Legion to protect + Britain (?) [V.C. 1] + {Arcadius. +402 Theodosius II. associated in Empire {Honorius. + {Theodosius II. +406 Stilicho recalls Legion to meet + Radagaisus [V.C. 2] + 'Notitia' composed (?) [V.C. 3-9] + German tribes flood Gaul [V.C. 2] + +407 British Army proclaim Constantine + III. and reconquer Gaul [V.C. + 10] + +408 Arcadius dies. Constantine III. {Honorius. + recognized as "Augustus" {Theodosius II. + {Constantine III. +410 Visigoths under Alaric take Rome + [V.C. 11] + +411 Constantine III. slain {Honorius. + {Theodosius II. +413 (?) Pelagian heresy arises in Britain + [V.F. 3] + +415 (?) Rescript of Honorius to the Cities + of Britain [V.C. 11] + +423 Death of Honorius Theodosius II. + +425 Valentinian III., son of Galla {Theodosius II. + Placidia, Emperor of West [V.D. 3] {Valentinian III. + +429 (?) SS. Germanus and Lupus sent to + Britain by Pope Celestine (?) + [V.F. 4] + +432 (?) St. Patrick sent to Ireland by + Pope Celestine [V.F. 2] + +435 (?) Roman Legion sent to aid Britons (?) + +436 (?) Roman forces finally withdrawn (?) + +446 Vain appeal of Britons to Actius (?) + [V.D. 2] + +447 (?) The Alleluia Battle [V.F. 4] + +449 (?) Hengist and Horsa settle in + Thanet (?) [V.D. 3] + +450 (?) English defeat Picts at Stamford + (?) [V.B. 2] + Theodosius II. dies Valentinian III. + +455 (?) Battle of Aylesford begins English + conquest of Britain (?) [V.D. 2] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN + +Sec. A.--Palaeolithic Age--Extinct fauna--River-bed men--Flint +implements--Burnt stones--Worked bones--Glacial climate ... _p_. 25 + +Sec. B.--Neolithic Age--"Ugrians"--Polished flints--Jadite--Gold +ornaments--Cromlechs--Forts--Bronze Age--Copper and tin--Stonehenge +... _p_. 28 + +Sec. C.--Aryan immigrants--Gael and Briton--Earliest classical +nomenclature--British Isles--Albion--Ierne--Cassiterides--Phoenician +tin trade _via_ Cadiz ... _p_. 31 + +Sec. D.--Discoveries of Pytheas--Greek tin trade _via_ Marseilles--Trade +routes--Ingots--Coracles--Earliest British coins--Lead-mining ... _p_. +34 + +Sec. E.--Pytheas trustworthy--His notes on Britain--Agricultural +tribes--Barns--Manures--Dene Holes--Mead--Beer--Parched +corn--Pottery--Mill-stones--Villages--Cattle--Pastoral tribes--Savage +tribes--Cannibalism--Polyandry--Beasts of chase--Forest trees--British +clothing and arms--Sussex iron ... _p_. 39 + +Sec. F.--Celtic types--"Roy" and "Dhu"--Gael--Silurians--Loegrians-- +Basque peoples--Shifting of clans--Constitutional disturbances--Monarchy +--Oligarchy--Demagogues--First inscribed coins ... _p_. 50 + +Sec. G.--Clans at Julian invasion--Permanent natural +boundaries--Population Celtic settlements--"Duns"--Maiden Castle ... +_p_. 54 + +Sec. H.--Religious state of Britain--Illustrated by +Hindooism--Totemists--Polytheists--Druids--Bards--Seers--Druidic +Deities--Mistletoe--Sacred herbs--"Ovum Anguinum"--Suppression of +Druidism--Druidism and Christianity _p_. 62 + + +CHAPTER II + +THE JULIAN INVASION + +B.C. 55, 54 + +Sec. A.--Caesar and Britain--Breakdown of Roman Republican +institutions--Corruption abroad and at home--Rise of Caesar--Conquest +of Gaul ... _p_. 73 + +Sec. B.--Sea-fight with Veneti and Britons--Pretexts for invading +Britain--British dominion of Divitiacus--Gallic tribes in +Britain--Atrebates--Commius ... _p_. 79 + +Sec. C.--Defeat of Germans--Bridge over Rhine--Caesar's army--Dread +of ocean--Fleet at Boulogne--Commius sent to Britain--Channel +crossed--Attempt on Dover--Landing at Deal--Legionary +sentiment--British army dispersed ... _p_. 83 + +Sec. D.--Wreck of fleet--Fresh British levy--Fight in corn-field--British +chariots--Attack on camp--Romans driven into sea ... _p_. 94 + +Sec. E.--Caesar worsted--New fleet built--Caesar at +Rome--Cicero--Expedition of 54 B.C.--Unopposed landing--Pro-Roman +Britons--Trinobantes--Mandubratius--British army surprised--"Old +England's Hole" ... _p_. 102 + +Sec. F.--Fleet again wrecked--Britons rally under Caswallon--Battle of +Barham Down--Britons fly to London--Origin of London--Patriot army +dispersed ... _p_. 112 + +Sec. G.--Passage of Thames--Submission of clans--Storm of Verulam--Last +patriot effort in Kent--Submission of Caswallon--Romans leave +Britain--"Caesar Divus" ... _p_. 118 + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ROMAN CONQUEST + +B.C. 54-A.D. 85 + +Sec. A.--Britain after Julius Caesar--House of Commius--Inscribed +coins--House of Cymbeline--Tasciovan--Commians overthrown--Vain +appeal to Augustus--Ancyran Tablet--Romano-British +trade--Lead-mining--British fashions in Rome--Adminius banished by +Cymbeline--Appeal to Caligula--Futile demonstration--Icenian civil +war--Vericus banished--Appeal to Claudius--Invasion prepared ... _p_. +124 + +Sec. B.--Aulus Plautius--Reluctance to embark--Narcissus--Passage of +Channel--Landing at Portchester--Strength of expedition--Vespasian's +legion--British defeats--Line of Thames held--Arrival of +Claudius--Camelodune taken--General submission of island _p_. 131 + +Sec. C.--Claudius triumphs--Gladiatorial shows--Last stand of +Britons--Gallantry of Titus--Ovation of Plautius--Distinctions +bestowed--Triumphal arch--Commemorative coinage--Conciliatory +policy--British worship of Claudius--Cogidubnus--Attitude of +clans--Britain made Imperial province ... _p_. 135 + +Sec. D.--Ostorius Pro-praetor--Pacification of Midlands--Icenian +revolt--The Fleam Dyke--Iceni crushed--Cangi--Brigantes--Silurian +war--Storm of Caer Caradoc--Treachery of Cartismandua--Caradoc +at Rome--Death of Ostorius--Uriconium and Caerleon--Britain +quieted--Death of Claudius ... _p_. 142 + +Sec. E.--Neronian misgovernment--Seneca--Prasutagus--Boadicean +revolt--Sack of Camelodune--Suetonius in Mona--Druidesses--Sack +of London and Verulam--Boadicea crushed at Battle Bridge--Peace of +Petronius ... _p_. 151 + +Sec. F.--Otho and Vitellius--Civil war--Army of +Britain--Priscus--Agricola--Vespasian Emperor--Cerealis--Brigantes +put down--Silurians put down--Agricola Pro-praetor--Ordovices put +down--Frontinus--Pacification of South Britain--Roman +civilization introduced--Caledonian campaign--Galgacus--Agricola's +rampart--Domitian--Resignation and death of Agricola ... _p_. 159 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROMAN OCCUPATION + +A.D. 85-211 + +Sec. A.--Pacification of Britain--Roman roads--London their +centre--Authority for names--Watling Street--Ermine Street--Icknield +Way ... _p_. 165 + +Sec. B.--Romano-British towns--Ancient lists--Method of +identification--Dense rural population--Remains in Cam +valley--Coins--Thimbles--Horseshoes ... _p_. 171 + +Sec. C.--Fortification of towns late--Chief Roman +centres--London--York--Chester--Bath--Silchester--Remains there +found--Romano-British handicrafts--Pottery--Basket-work--Mining--Rural +life--Villas--Forests--Hunting-dogs--Husbandry--Britain under _Pax +Romana ... p_. 178 + +Sec. D.--The unconquered North--Hadrian's Wall--Upper and Lower +Britain--Romano-British coinage--Wall of Antoninus--Britain +Pro-consular ... _p_. 193 + +Sec. E.--Commodus Britannicus--Ulpius Marcellus--Murder of Perennis--Era +of military turbulence--Pertinax--Albinus--British army defeated at +Lyons--Severus Emperor--Caledonian war--Severus overruns Highlands ... +_p_. 198 + +Sec. F.--Severus completes Hadrian's Wall--"Mile +Castles"--"Stations"--Garrison--The Vallum--Rival +theories--Evidence--Remains--Coins--Altars--Mithraism--Inscription to +Julia Domna--"Written Rock" on Gelt--Cilurnum aqueduct ... _p_. 203 + +Sec. G.--Death of Severus--Caracalla and Geta--Roman +citizenship--Extension to veterans--_Tabulae honestae +missionis_--Bestowed on all British provincials ... _p_. 212 + + +CHAPTER V + +THE END OF ROMAN BRITAIN + +A.D. 211-455 + +Sec. A.--Era of Pretenders--Probus--Vandlebury--First notice of +Saxons--Origin of name--Count of the Saxon Shore--Carausius +--Allectus--Last Romano-British coinage--Britain Mistress of +the Sea--Reforms of Diocletian--Constantius Chlorus--Re-conquest +of Britain--Diocletian provinces--Diocletian persecution--The +last "Divus"--General scramble for Empire--British army wins +for Constantine--Christianity established ... _p_. 218 + +Sec. B.--Spread of Gospel--Arianism--Britain orthodox--Last +Imperial visit--Heathen temples stripped--British +Emperors--Magnentius--Gratian--Julian--British corn-trade--First +inroad of Picts and Scots--Valentinian--Saxon raids--Campaign +of Theodosius--Re-conquest of Valentia--Wall restored and cities +fortified ... _p_. 229 + +Sec. C.--Roman evacuation of Britain begun--Maximus--Settlement +of Brittany--Radagaisus invades Italy--Twentieth Legion leaves +Britain--Britain in the 'Notitia'--Final effort of British army--The +last Constantine--Last Imperial Rescript to Britain--Sack of Rome by +Alaric--Final collapse of Roman rule in Britain ... _p_. 235 + +Sec. D.--Beginning of English Conquest--Vortigern--Jutes in +Thanet--Battle of Stamford--Massacre of Britons--Valentinian +III.--Latest Roman coin found in Britain--Progress of +Conquest--The Cymry--Survival of Romano-British titles--Arturian +Romances--Procopius--Belisarius--Roman claims revived by +Charlemagne--The British Empire ... _p_. 244 + +Sec. E.--Survivals of Romano-British civilization--Romano-British +Church--Legends of its origin--St. Paul--St. Peter--Joseph +of Arimathaea--Glastonbury--Historical notices--Claudia and +Pudens--Pomponia--Church of St. Pudentiana--Patristic references +to Britain--Tertullian--Origen--Legend of Lucius--Native +Christianity--British Bishops at Councils--Testimony of Chrysostom and +Jerome ... _p_. 249 + +Sec. F.--British missionaries--Ninias--Patrick--Beatus--British +heresiarchs--Pelagius--Fastidius--Pelagianism stamped out by +Germanus--The Alleluia Battle--Romano-British churches--Why so seldom +found--Conclusion ... _p_. 261 + + + + +ROMAN BRITAIN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN + + +SECTION A. + +Palaeolithic Age--Extinct fauna--River-bed men--Flint +implements--Burnt stones--Worked bones--Glacial climate. + +A. 1.--All history, as Professor Freeman so well points out, centres +round the great name of Rome. For, of all the great divisions of +the human race, it is the Aryan family which has come to the front. +Assimilating, developing, and giving vastly wider scope to the highest +forms of thought and religion originated by other families, notably +the Semitic, the various Aryan nationalities form, and have formed +for ages, the vanguard of civilization. These nationalities are now +practically co-extensive with Christendom; and on them has been laid +by Divine Providence "the white man's burden"--the task of raising the +rest of mankind along with themselves to an ever higher level--social, +material, intellectual, and spiritual. + +A. 2.--Aryan history is thus, for all practical purposes, the history +of mankind. And a mere glance at Aryan history shows how entirely +its great central feature is the period during which all the +leading forces of Aryanism were grouped and fused together under +the world-wide Empire of Rome. In that Empire all the streams of our +Ancient History find their end, and from that Empire all those of +Modern History take their beginning. "All roads," says the proverb, +"lead to Rome;" and this is emphatically true of the lines of +historical research; for as we tread them we are conscious at every +step of the _Romani Nominis umbra_, the all-pervading influence of +"the mighty name of Rome." + +A. 3.--And above all is this true of the history of Western Europe +in general and of our own island in particular. For Britain, History +(meaning thereby the more or less trustworthy record of political and +social development) does not even begin till its destinies were drawn +within the sphere of Roman influence. It is with Julius Caesar, that +great writer (and yet greater maker) of History, that, for us, this +record commences. + +A. 4.--But before dealing with "Britain's tale" as connected with +"Caesar's fate," it will be well to note briefly what earlier +information ancient documents and remains can afford us with regard +to our island and its inhabitants. With the earliest dwellers upon its +soil of whom traces remain we are, indeed, scarcely concerned. For in +the far-off days of the "River-bed" men (five thousand or five hundred +thousand years ago, according as we accept the physicist's or the +geologist's estimate of the age of our planet) Britain was not yet an +island. Neither the Channel nor the North Sea as yet cut it off from +the Continent when those primaeval savages herded beside the banks of +its streams, along with elephant and hippopotamus, bison and elk, bear +and hyaena; amid whose remains we find their roughly-chipped flint +axes and arrow-heads, the fire-marked stones which they used in +boiling their water, and the sawn or broken bases of the antlers +which for some unknown purpose[6] they were in the habit of cutting +up--perhaps, like the Lapps of to-day, to anchor their sledges withal +in the snow. For the great Glacial Epoch, which had covered half the +Northern Hemisphere with its mighty ice-sheet, was still, in their +day, lingering on, and their environment was probably that of Northern +Siberia to-day. Some archaeologists, indeed, hold that they are to +this day represented by the Esquimaux races; but this theory cannot be +considered in any way proved. + +A. 5.--Whether, indeed, they were "men" at all, in any real sense +of the word, may well be questioned. For of the many attempts which +philosophers in all ages have made to define the word "man," the only +one which is truly defensible is that which differentiates him +from other animals, not by his physical or intellectual, but by his +spiritual superiority. Many other creatures are as well adapted in +bodily conformation for their environment, and the lowest savages are +intellectually at a far lower level of development than the highest +insects; but none stand in the same relation to the Unseen. "Man," as +has been well said, "is the one animal that can pray." And there is +nothing amongst the remains of these "river-bed men" to show us that +they either did pray, or could. Intelligence, such as is now found +only in human beings, they undoubtedly had. But whether they had +the capacity for Religion must be left an unsolved problem. In this +connection, however, it may be noted that Tacitus, in describing the +lowest savages of his Germania [c. 46], "with no horses, no homes, no +weapons, skin-clad, nesting on the bare ground, men and women alike, +barely kept alive by herbs and such flesh as their bone-tipped arrows +can win them," makes it his climax that they are "beneath the need of +prayer;"--adding that this spiritual condition is, "beyond all others, +that least attainable by man." + + + +SECTION B. + +Neolithic Age--"Ugrians"--Polished flints--Jadite--Gold +ornaments--Cromlechs--Forts--Bronze Age--Copper and tin--Stonehenge. + +B. 1.--Whatever they were, they vanish from our ken utterly, these +Palaeolithic savages, and are followed, after what lapse of time we +know not, by the users of polished flint weapons, the tribes of the +Neolithic period. And with them we find ourselves in touch with the +existing development of our island. For an island it already was, and +with substantially the same area and shores and physical features as +we have them still. Our rivers ran in the same valleys, our hills rose +with the same contour, in those far-off days as now. And while the +place of flint in the armoury of Britain was taken first by bronze +and then by iron, these changes were made by no sudden breaks, but so +gradually that it is impossible to say when one period ended and the +next began. + +B.2.--It is almost certain, however, that the Neolithic men were +not of Aryan blood. They are commonly spoken of by the name of +_Ugrians_,[7] the "ogres"[8] of our folk-lore; which has also handed +down, in the spiteful Brownie of the wood and the crafty Pixie of +the cavern, dimly-remembered traditions of their physical and mental +characteristics. Indeed it is not impossible that their blood may +still be found in the remoter corners of our land, whither they were +pushed back by the higher civilization of the Aryan invaders, before +whom they disappeared by a process in which "miscegenation" may well +have played no small part. But disappear they did, leaving behind them +no more traces than their flint arrow-heads and axes (a few of these +being of jadite, which must have come from China or thereabouts), +together with their oblong sepulchral barrows, from some of which the +earth has weathered away, so that the massive stones imbedded in it +as the last home of the deceased stand exposed as a "dolmen" or +"cromlech." But an appreciable number of the earthworks which stud our +hill-tops, and are popularly called "Roman" or "British" camps, really +belong to this older race. Such are "Cony Castle" in Dorset, and the +fortifications along the Axe in Devon. + +B. 3.--During the neolithic stage of their development the Ugrians +were acquainted with but one metal, gold, and some of their stone +weapons and implements are thus ornamented. For gold, being at +once the most beautiful, the most incorruptible, the most easily +recognizable, and the most easily worked of metals, is everywhere +found as used by man long before any other. But before the Ugrian +races vanish they had learnt to use bronze, which shows them to +have discovered the properties not only of gold, but of both tin and +copper. All three metals were doubtless obtained from the streams of +the West. They had also become proficients, as their sepulchral urns +show, in the manufacture of pottery. They could weave, moreover, both +linen and woollen being known, and had passed far beyond the mere +savage. + +B. 4.--The race, indeed, which could erect Avebury and Stonehenge, +as we may safely say was done by this people,[9] must have possessed +engineering skill of a very high order, and no little accuracy of +astronomical observation. For the mighty "Sarsen" stones have all been +brought from a distance,[10] and the whole vast circles are built on a +definite astronomical plan; while so careful is the orientation that, +at the summer solstice, the disc of the rising sun, as seen from the +"altar" of Stonehenge, appears to be poised exactly on the summit of +one of the chief megaliths (now known as "The Friar's Heel"). From +this it would seem that the builders were Sun-worshippers; and amongst +the earliest reports of Britain current in the Greek world we find +the fame of the "great round temple" dedicated to Apollo. But no Latin +author mentions it; so that it is doubtful whether it was ever used +by the Aryan, or at least by the Brythonic, immigrants. These brought +their own worship and their own civilization with them, and all that +was highest in Ugrian civilization and worship faded before them, such +Ugrians as remained having degenerated to a far lower level when first +we meet with them in history. + + + +SECTION C. + +Aryan immigrants--Gael and Briton--Earliest classical +nomenclature--British Isles--Albion--Ierne--Cassiterides--Phoenician +tin trade _via_ Cadiz. + +C. 1.--How or when the first swarms of the Aryan migration reached +Britain is quite unknown.[11] But they undoubtedly belonged to the +Celtic branch of that family, and to the Gaelic (Gadhelic or Goidelic) +section of the branch, which still holds the Highlands of Scotland and +forms the bulk of the population of Ireland. By the 4th century +B.C. this section was already beginning to be pressed northwards and +westwards by the kindred Britons (or Brythons) who followed on their +heels; for Aristotle (or a disciple of his) knows our islands as "the +Britannic[12] Isles." That the Britons were in his day but new comers +may be argued from the fact that he speaks of Great Britain by the +name of _Albion_, a Gaelic designation subsequently driven northwards +along with those who used it. In its later form _Albyn_ it long +remained as loosely equivalent to North Britain, and as _Albany_ it +still survives in a like connection. Ireland Aristotle calls _Ierne_, +the later Ivernia or Hibernia; a word also found in the Argonautic +poems ascribed to the mythical Orpheus, and composed probably by +Onomacritus about 350 B.C., wherein the Argo is warned against +approaching "the Iernian islands, the home of dark and noisome +mischief." This is the passage familiar to the readers of Kingsley's +'Heroes.'[13] + +C. 2.--Aristotle's work does no more than mention our islands, as +being, like Ceylon, not pelagic, but oceanic. To early classical +antiquity, it must be remembered, the Ocean was no mere sea, but a +vast and mysterious river encircling the whole land surface of the +earth. Its mighty waves, its tides, its furious currents, all made it +an object of superstitious horror. To embark upon it was the height +of presumption; and even so late as the time of Claudius we shall find +the Roman soldiers feeling that to do so, even for the passage of the +Channel, was "to leave the habitable world." + +C. 3.--But while the ancients dreaded the Ocean, they knew also that +its islands alone were the source of one of the most precious and +rarest of their metals. Before iron came into general use (and the +difficulty of smelting it has everywhere made it the last metal to +do so), tin had a value all its own. It was the only known substance +capable of making, along with copper, an alloy hard enough for cutting +purposes--the "bronze" which has given its name to one entire Age of +human development. It was thus all but a necessary of life, and was +eagerly sought for as amongst the choicest objects of traffic. + +C. 4.--The Phoenicians, the merchant princes of the dawn of history, +succeeded, with true mercantile instinct, in securing a monopoly of +this trade, by being the first to make their way to the only spots +in the world where tin is found native, the Malay region in the East, +Northern Spain and Cornwall in the West. That tin was known amongst +the Greeks by its Sanscrit name _Kastira_[14] ([Greek: kassiteros]) +shows that the Eastern source was the earliest to be tapped. But the +Western was that whence the supply flowed throughout the whole of the +classical ages; and, as the stream-tin of the Asturian mountains seems +to have been early exhausted, the name _Cassiterides_, the Tin +Lands, came to signify exclusively the western peninsula of Britain. +Herodotus, in the 5th century B.C., knew this name, but, as he frankly +confesses, nothing but the name.[15] For the whereabouts of this El +Dorado, and the way to it, was a trade secret most carefully kept by +the Phoenician merchants of Cadiz, who alone held the clue. So jealous +were they of it that long afterwards, when the alternative route +through Gaul had already drawn away much of its profitableness, we +read of a Phoenician captain purposely wrecking his ship lest a Roman +vessel in sight should follow to the port, and being indemnified by +the state for his loss. + + + +SECTION D. + +Discoveries of Pytheas--Greek tin trade _via_ Marseilles--Trade +routes--Ingots--Coracles--Earliest British coins--Lead-mining. + +D. 1.--But contemporary with Aristotle lived the great geographer +Pytheas; whose works, unfortunately, we know only by the fragmentary +references to them in later, and frequently hostile, authors, such +as Strabo, who dwell largely on his mistakes, and charge him with +misrepresentation. In fact, however, he seems to have been both an +accurate and truthful observer, and a discoverer of the very first +order. Starting from his native city Massilia (Marseilles), he passed +through the Straits of Gibraltar and traced the coast-line of Europe +to Denmark (visiting Britain on his way), and perhaps even on into the +Baltic.[16] The shore of Norway (which he called, as the natives still +call it, Norge) he followed till within the Arctic Circle, as his +mention of the midnight sun shows, and then struck across to Scotland; +returning, apparently by the Irish Sea, to Bordeaux and so home +overland. This truly wonderful voyage he made at the public charge, +with a view to opening new trade routes, and it seems to have +thoroughly answered its purpose. Henceforward the Phoenician monopoly +was broken, and a constant stream of traffic in the precious tin +passed between Britain and Marseilles.[17] + +D. 2.--The route was kept as secret as possible; Polybius tells +us that the Massiliots, when interrogated by one of the Scipios, +professed entire ignorance of Britain; but Pytheas (as quoted by his +contemporary Timaeus, as well as by later writers) states that the +metal was brought by coasters to a tidal island, _Ictis_, whence it +was shipped for Gaul. This island was six days' sail from the tin +diggings, and can scarcely be any but Thanet. St. Michael's Mount, now +the only tidal island on the south coast, was anciently part of the +mainland; a fact testified to by the forest remains still seen around +it. Nor could it be six days' sail from the tin mines. The Isle of +Wight, again, to which the name Ictis or Vectis would seem to point, +can never have been tidal at this date. But Thanet undoubtedly was +so in mediaeval times, and may well have been so for ages, while its +nearness to the Continent would recommend it to the Gallic merchants. +Indeed Pytheas himself probably selected it on this account for his +new emporium. + +D. 3.--In his day, as we have seen, the tin reached this destination +by sea; but in the time of the later traveller Posidonius[18] it came +in wagons, probably by that track along the North Downs now known as +the "Pilgrims' Way." The chalk furnished a dry and open road, much +easier than the swamps and forests of the lower ground. Further +west the route seems to have been _via_ Launceston, Exeter, Honiton, +Ilchester, Salisbury, Winchester, and Alton; an ancient track often +traceable, and to be seen almost in its original condition near +"Alfred's Tower," in Somerset, where it is known as "The Hardway." +And this long land transit argues a considerable degree of political +solidarity throughout the south of the island. The tale of Posidonius +is confirmed by Caesar's statement that tin reached Kent "from the +interior," _i.e._ by land. It was obtained at first from the streams +of Dartmoor and Cornwall, where abundant traces of ancient washings +are visible, and afterwards by mining, as now. And when smelted it +was made up into those peculiar ingots which still meet the eye in +Cornwall, and whose shape seems never to have varied from the +earliest times. Posidonius, who visited Cornwall, compares them to +knuckle-bones[19] [Greek: astrhagaloi] + +D. 4.--The vessels which thus coasted from the Land's End to the South +Foreland are described as on the pattern of coracles, a very light +frame-work covered with hides. It seems almost incredible that +sea-going craft could have been thus constructed; yet not only is +there overwhelming testimony to the fact throughout the whole history +of Roman Britain, but such boats are still in use on the wild rollers +which beat upon the west coast of Ireland, and are found able to live +in seas which would be fatal to anything more rigidly built. For the +surf boats in use at Madras a similar principle is adopted, not a nail +entering into their construction. They can thus face breakers which +would crush an ordinary boat to pieces. This method of ship-building +was common all along the northern coast of Europe for ages.[20] Nor +were these coracles only used for coasting. As time went on, the +Britons boldly struck straight across from Cornwall to the Continent, +and both the Seine and the Loire became inlets for tin into Gaul, thus +lessening the long land journey--not less than thirty days--which was +required, as Polybius tells us, to convey it from the Straits of Dover +to the Rhone. (This journey, it may be noted, was made not in wagons, +as through Britain, but on pack-horses.) + +D. 5.--Thus it reached Marseilles; and that the trade was founded +by the Massiliot Pytheas is borne testimony to by the early British +coins, which are all modelled on the classical currency of his age. +The medium in universal circulation then, current everywhere, like the +English sovereign now, was the Macedonian stater, newly introduced by +Philip, a gold coin weighing 133 grains, bearing on the one side +the laureated head of Apollo, on the other a figure of Victory in a +chariot. Of this all known Gallic and British coins (before the Roman +era) are more or less accurate copies. The earliest as yet found in +Britain do not date, according to Sir John Evans, our great authority +on this subject,[21] from before the 2nd century B.C. They are all +dished coins, rudely struck, and rapidly growing ruder as time goes +on. The head early becomes a mere congeries of dots and lines, but one +horse of the chariot team remains recognizable to quite the end of the +series. + +D. 6.--These coins have been found in very large numbers, and of +various types, according to the locality in which they were struck. +They occur as far north as Edinburgh; but all seem to have been issued +by one or other of the tribes in the south and east of the island, who +learnt the idea of minting from the Gauls. Whence the gold of which +the coins are made came from is a question not yet wholly solved: +surface gold was very probably still obtainable at that date from the +streams of Wales and Cornwall. But it was long before any other metal +was used in the British mints. Not till after the invasion of Julius +Caesar do we find any coins of silver or bronze issued, though he +testifies to their existence. The use of silver shows a marked +advance in metallurgy, and is probably connected with the simultaneous +development of the lead-mining in the Mendip Hills, of which about +this time we first begin to find traces. + + + +SECTION E. + +Pytheas trustworthy--His notes on Britain--Agricultural +tribes--Barns--Manures--Dene Holes--Mead--Beer--Parched +corn--Pottery--Mill-stones--Villages--Cattle--Pastoral tribes--Savage +tribes--Cannibalism--Polyandry--Beasts of chase--Forest trees--British +clothing and arms--Sussex iron. + +E. 1.--The trustworthiness of Pytheas is further confirmed by the +astronomical observations which he records. He notices, for example, +that the longest day in Britain contains "nineteen equinoctial hours." +Amongst the ancients, it must be remembered, an "hour," in common +parlance, signified merely the twelfth part, on any given day, of +the time between sunrise and sunset, and thus varied according to +the season. But the standard hour for astronomical purposes was the +twelfth part of the equinoctial day, when the sun rises 6 a.m. and +sets 6 p.m., and therefore corresponded with our own. Now the longest +day at Greenwich is actually not quite seventeen hours, but in the +north of Britain it comes near enough to the assertion of Pytheas to +bear out his tale. We are therefore justified in giving credence +to his account of what he saw in our country, the earliest that we +possess. He tells us that, in some parts at least, the inhabitants +were far from being mere savages. They were corn-growers (wheat, +barley, and millet being amongst their crops), and also cultivated +"roots," fruit trees, and other vegetables. What specially struck him +was that, "for lack of clear sunshine[22]," they threshed out their +corn, not in open threshing-floors, as in Mediterranean lands, but in +barns. + +E. 2.--From other sources we know that these old British farmers were +sufficiently scientific agriculturalists to have invented _wheeled_ +ploughs,[23] and to use a variety of manures; various kinds of +mast, loam, and chalk in particular. This treatment of the soil was, +according to Pliny, a British invention[24] (though the Greeks of +Megara had also tried it), and he thinks it worth his while to give +a long description of the different clays in use and the methods of +their application. That most generally employed was chalk dug out from +pits some hundred feet in depth, narrow at the mouth, but widening +towards the bottom. [_Petitur ex alto, in centenos pedes actis +plerumque puteis, ore angustatis; intus spatiante vena_.] + +E. 3.--Here we have an exact picture of those mysterious excavations +some of which still survive to puzzle antiquaries under the name of +_Dene Holes_. They are found in various localities; Kent, Surrey, and +Essex being the richest. In Hangman's Wood, near Grays, in Essex, +a small copse some four acres in extent, there are no fewer than +seventy-two Dene Holes, as close together as possible, their entrance +shafts being not above twenty yards apart. These shafts run vertically +downwards, till the floor of the pit is from eighty to a hundred feet +below the surface of the ground. At the bottom the shaft widens out +into a vaulted chamber some thirty feet across, from which radiate +four, five, or even six lateral crypts, whose dimensions are usually +about thirty feet in length, by twelve in width and height. When the +shafts are closely clustered, the lateral crypts of one will extend to +within a few feet of those belonging to its neighbours, but in no +case do they communicate with them (though the recent excavations of +archaeologists have thus connected whole groups of Dene Holes). Many +theories have been elaborated to account for their existence, but +the data are conclusive against their having been either habitations, +tombs, store-rooms, or hiding-places; and, in 1898, Mr. Charles +Dawson, F.S.A., pointed out that, in Sussex, chalk and limestone +are still quarried by means of identically such pits. The chalk so +procured is found a far more efficacious dressing for the soil than +that which occurs on the surface, and moreover is more cheaply got +than by carting from even a mile's distance. At the present day, as +soon as a pit is exhausted (that is as soon as the diggers dare make +their chambers no larger for fear of a downfall), another is sunk hard +by, and the first filled up with the _debris_ from the second. In the +case of the Dene Holes, this _debris_ must have been required for some +other purpose; and to this fact alone we owe their preservation. It +is probable that the celebrated cave at Royston in Hertfordshire +was originally dug for this purpose, though afterwards used as a +hermitage. + +E. 4.--Pytheas is also our authority for saying that bee-keeping was +known to the Britons of his day;[25] a drink made of wheat and honey +being one of their intoxicants. This method of preparing mead (or +metheglin) is current to this day among our peasantry. Another drink +was made from barley, and this, he tells us, they called [Greek: +koyrmi], the word still used in Erse for beer, under the form _cuirm_. +Dioscorides the physician, who records this (and who may perhaps have +tried our national beverage, as he lived shortly after the Claudian +conquest of Britain), pronounces it "head-achy, unwholesome, and +injurious to the nerves": [[Greek: kephalalges esti kai kakhochymon, +kai tou neurou blaptikon]]. + +E. 5.--Not all the tribes of Britain, however, were at this level of +civilization. Threshing in barns was only practised by those highest +in development, the true Britons of the south and east. The Gaelic +tribes beyond them, so far as they were agricultural at all, stored +the newly-plucked ears of corn in their underground dwellings, day by +day taking out and dressing [[Greek: katergazomenous]] what was needed +for each meal. The method here referred to is doubtless that described +as still in use at the end of the 17th century in the Hebrides.[26] "A +woman, sitting down, takes a handful of corn, holding it by the stalks +in her left hand, and then sets fire to the ears, which are presently +in a flame. She has a stick in her right hand, which she manages very +dexterously, beating off the grains at the very instant when the husk +is quite burnt.... The corn may be thus dressed, winnowed, ground, and +baked, within an hour of reaping." + +When kept, it may usually have been stored, like that of Robinson +Crusoe, in baskets;[27] for basket-making was a peculiarly British +industry, and Posidonius found "British baskets" in use on the +Continent. But probably it was also hoarded--again in Crusoe +fashion--in the large jars of coarse pottery which are occasionally +found on British sites. These, and the smaller British vessels, are +sometimes elaborately ornamented with devices of no small artistic +merit. But all are hand-made, the potter's wheel being unknown in +pre-Roman days. + +E. 6.--Nor does the grinding of corn, even in hand-mills, seem to have +been universal till the Roman era, the earlier British method being +to bruise the grain in a mortar.[28] Without the resources of +civilization it is not easy to deal with stones hard enough for +satisfactory millstones. We find that the Romans, when they came, +mostly selected for this use the Hertfordshire "pudding-stone," a +conglomerate of the Eocene period crammed with rolled flint pebbles, +sometimes also bringing over Niederendig lava from the Rhine valley, +and burr-stone from the Paris basin for their querns. + +E. 7.--These tribes are described as living in cheap [[Greek: +euteleis]] dwellings, constructed of reeds or logs, yet spoken of as +subterranean.[29] Light has been thrown on this apparent contradiction +by the excavation in 1889 of the site of a British village at +Barrington in Cambridgeshire. Within a space of about sixty yards +each way, bounded by a fosse some six feet wide and four deep, were +a collection of roughly circular pits, distributed in no recognizable +system, from twelve to twenty feet in diameter and from two to four in +depth. They were excavated in the chalky soil, and from each a small +drainage channel ran for a yard or two down the gentle slope on which +the settlement stood. Obviously a superstructure of thatch and wattle +would convert these pits into quite passable wigwams, corresponding to +the description of Pytheas. This whole village was covered by +several feet of top-soil in which were found numerous interments +of Anglo-Saxon date. It had seemingly perished by fire, a layer of +incinerated matter lying at the bottom of each pit. + +E. 8.--The domestic cattle of the Britons were a diminutive breed, +smaller than the existing Alderney, with abnormally developed +foreheads (whence their scientific name _Bos Longifrons_). Their +remains, the skulls especially, are found in every part of the land, +with no trace, in pre-Roman times, of any other breed. The gigantic +wild ox of the British forests (_Bos Primigenius_) seems never to have +been tamed by the Celtic tribes, who, very possibly, like the Romans +after them, may have brought their own cattle with them into the +island. According to Professor Rolleston the small size of the breed +is due to the large consumption of milk by the breeders. (He notes +that the cattle of Burmah and Hindostan are identically the same +stock, and that in Burmah, where comparatively little milk is used, +they are of large size. In Hindostan, on the contrary, where milk +forms the staple food of the population, the whole breed is stunted, +no calf having, for ages, been allowed its due supply of nutriment.) +The Professor also holds that these small oxen, together with the +goat, sheep, horse, dog, and swine (of the Asiatic breed), were +introduced into Britain by the Ugrian races in the Neolithic Age; and +that the pre-Roman Britons had no domestic fowls except geese.[30] + +E. 9.--If these considerations are of weight they would point to an +excessive dependence on milk even amongst the agricultural tribes of +Britain. And there were others, as we know, who had not got beyond the +pastoral stage of human development. These, as Strabo declares, had no +idea of husbandry, "nor even sense enough to make cheese, though milk +they have in plenty."[31] And some of the non-Aryan hordes seem to +have been mere brutal savages, practising cannibalism and having wives +in common. Both practices are mentioned by the latest as well as the +earliest of our classical authorities. Jerome says that in Gaul +he himself saw Attacotti (the primitive inhabitants of Galloway) +devouring human flesh, and refers to their sexual relations, which +more probably imply some system of polyandry, such as still prevails +in Thibet, than mere promiscuous intercourse. Traces of this system +long remained in the rule of "Mutter-recht," which amongst several of +the more remote septs traced inheritance invariably through the mother +and not the father. + +E. 10.--These savages knew neither corn nor cattle. Like the "Children +of the Mist" in the pages of Walter Scott,[32] their boast was "to own +no lord, receive no land, take no hire, give no stipend, build no hut, +enclose no pasture, sow no grain; to take the deer of the forest +for their flocks and herds," and to eke out this source of supply by +preying upon their less barbarous neighbours "who value flocks and +herds above honour and freedom." Lack of game, however, can seldom +have driven them to this; for the forests of ancient Britain seem to +have swarmed with animal life. Red deer, roebuck, wild oxen, and wild +swine were in every brake, beaver and waterfowl in every stream; +while wolf, bear, and wild-cat shared with man in taking toll of their +lives. The trees of these forests, it may be mentioned, were (as in +some portions of Epping Forest now) almost wholly oak, ash, holly, +and yew; the beech, chestnut, elm, and even the fir, being probably +introduced in later ages. + +E. 11.--Of the British tribes, however, almost none, even amongst +these wild woodlanders, were the naked savages, clothed only in blue +paint, that they are commonly imagined to have been. On the contrary, +they could both weave and spin; and the tartan, with its variegated +colours, is described by Caesar's contemporary, Diodorus Siculus, as +their distinctive dress, just as one might speak of Highlanders at +the present day.[33] Pliny mentions that all the colours used were +obtained from native herbs and lichens,[34] as is still the case in +the Hebrides, where sea-weed dyes are mostly used. Woad was used for +tattooing the flesh with blue patterns, and a decoction of beechen +ashes for dyeing the hair red if necessary, whenever that colour was +fashionable.[35] The upper classes wore collars and bracelets of gold, +and necklaces of glass and amber beads. + +E. 12.--This last item suggests an interesting question as to whence +came the vast quantities of amber thus used. None is now found upon +our shores, except a very occasional fragment on the East Anglian +beaches. But the British barrows bear abundant testimony to its +having been in prehistoric times the commonest of all materials for +ornamental purposes--far commoner than in any other country. Beads +are found by the myriad--a single Wiltshire grave furnished a +thousand--mostly of a discoid shape, and about an inch in diameter. +Larger plates occasionally appear, and in one case (in Sussex) a cup +formed from a solid block of exceptional size. If all this came from +the Baltic, the main existing source of our amber,[36] it argues +a considerable trade, of which we find no mention in any extant +authority. Pytheas witnesses to the amber of the Baltic, and says +nothing, so far as we know, of British amber. But, according to +Pliny,[37] his contemporary Solinus speaks of it as a British product; +and at the Christian era it was apparently a British export.[38] The +supply of amber as a jetsom is easily exhausted in any given district; +miles of Baltic coast rich in it within mediaeval times are now quite +barren; and the same thing has probably taken place in Britain. The +rapid wearing away of our amber-bearing Norfolk shore is not unlikely +to have been the cause of this change; the submarine fir-groves of the +ancient littoral, with their resinous exudations, having become silted +over far out at sea.[39] The old British amber sometimes +contained flies. Dioscorides[40] applies to it the epithet [Greek: +pterugophoron] ["fly-bearing"]. + +E. 13.--The chiefs were armed with large brightly-painted shields,[41] +plumed (and sometimes crested) helmets, and cuirasses of leather, +bronze, or chain-mail. The national weapons of offence were darts, +pikes (sometimes with prongs--the origin of Britannia's trident), and +broadswords; bows and arrows being more rarely used. Both Diodorus +Siculus [v. 30] and Strabo [iv. 197] describe this equipment, and +specimens of all the articles have, at one place or another, been +found in British interments.[42] The arms are often richly worked and +ornamented, sometimes inlaid with enamel, sometimes decorated with +studs of red coral from the Mediterranean.[43] The shields, being of +wood, have perished, but their circular bosses of iron still remain. +The chariots, which formed so special a feature of British militarism, +were also of wood, painted, like the shields, and occasionally +ironclad.[44] The iron may have been from the Sussex fields. We know +that in Caesar's day rings of this metal were one of the forms of +British currency, so that before his time the Britons must have +attained to the smelting of this most intractable of metals. + + + +SECTION F. + +Celtic types--"Roy" and "Dhu"--Gael--Silurians--Loegrians--Basque +peoples--Shifting of clans--Constitutional disturbances--Monarchy +--Oligarchy--Demagogues--First inscribed coins. + +F. 1.--Our earliest records point to the existence among the Celtic +tribes in Britain of the two physical types still to be found amongst +them; the tall, fair, red-haired, blue-eyed Gael, whom his clansmen +denominate "Roy" (the Red), and the dark complexion, hair and eyes, +usually associated with shorter stature, which go with the designation +"Dhu" (the Black). Rob Roy and Roderick Dhu are familiar illustrations +of this nomenclature. In classical times these types were much less +intermingled than now, and were characteristic of separate races. The +former prevailed almost exclusively amongst the true Britons of the +south and east, and the Gaelic septs of the north, while the latter +was found throughout the west, in Devon, Cornwall, and Wales. The +Silurians, of Glamorgan, are specially noted as examples of this +"black" physique, and a connection has been imagined between them and +the Basques of Iberia, an idea originating with Strabo. + +F. 2.--That a good deal of non-Aryan blood was, and is, to be found +in both regions is fairly certain; but any closer correlation must +be held at any rate not proven. For though Strabo asserts that the +Silurians differ not only in looks but in language from the Britons, +while in both resembling the Iberians, it is probable that he derives +his information from Pytheas four centuries earlier. At that date +non-Aryan speech may very possibly still have lingered on in the West, +but there is no trace whatever to be found of anything of the sort in +the nomenclature of the district during or since the Roman occupation. +All is unmitigated Celtic. We may, however, possibly find a +confirmation of Strabo's view in the word _Logris_ applied to Southern +Britain by the Celtic bards of the Arturian cycle. The word is said +to be akin to _Liger_ (Loire), and tradition traced the origin of the +Loegrians to the southern banks of that river, which were undoubtedly +held by Iberian (Basque) peoples at least to the date when Pytheas +visited those parts. The name, indeed, seems to be connected with +that of the Ligurians, a kindred non-Aryan community, surviving, in +historical times, only amongst the Maritime Alps. + +F. 3.--It is probable that the status of each clan was continually +shifting; and what little we know of their names and locations, +their rise and their fall, presents an even more kaleidoscopic +phantasmagoria than the mediaeval history of the Scotch Highlands, +or the principalities of Wales, or the ever-changing septs of ancient +Ireland. Tribes absorbed or destroyed by conquering tribes, tribes +confederating with others under a fresh name, this or that chief +becoming a new eponymous hero,--such is the ceaseless spectacle of +unrest of which the history of ancient Britain gives us glimpses. + +F. 4.--By the time that these glimpses become anything like +continuous, things were further complicated by two additional elements +of disturbance. One of these was the continuous influx of new settlers +from Gaul, which was going on throughout the 1st century B.C. Caesar +tells us that the tribes of Kent, Sussex, and Essex were all of the +Belgic stock, and we shall see that the higher politics of his day +were much influenced by the fact that one and the same tribal chief +claimed territorial rights in Gaul and Britain at once; just like so +many of our mediaeval barons. The other was the coincidence that +just at this period the British tribes began to be affected by the +turbulent stage of constitutional development connected, in Greece and +Rome, with the abolition of royalty. + +F. 5.--The primitive Aryan community (so far, at least, as the +western branch of the race is concerned) everywhere presents to us the +threefold element of King, Lords, and Commons. The King is supreme, +he reigns by right of birth (though not according to strict +primogeniture), and he not only reigns but governs. Theoretically he +is absolute, but practically can do little without taking counsel with +his Lords, the aristocracy of the tribe, originally an aristocracy +of birth, but constantly tending to become one of wealth. The Commons +gather to ratify the decrees of their betters, with a theoretical +right to dissent (though not to discuss), a right which they seldom or +never at once care and dare to exercise. + +F. 6.--In course of time we see that everywhere the supremacy of the +Kings became more and more distasteful to the Aristocracy, and was +everywhere set aside, sometimes by a process of quiet depletion of the +Royal prerogative, sometimes by a revolution; the change being, in +the former case, often informal, with the name, and sometimes even +the succession, of the eviscerated office still lingering on. +The executive then passed to the Lords, and the state became an +oligarchical Republic, such as we see in Rome after the expulsion of +the Tarquins. Next came the rise of the Lower Orders, who insisted +with ever-increasing urgency on claiming a share in the direction of +politics, and in every case with ultimate success. Almost invariably +the leaders who headed this uprising of the masses grasped for +themselves in the end the supreme power, and as irresponsible +"Dictators," "Tyrants," or "Emperors" took the place of the old +constitutional Kings. + +F. 7.--Such was the cycle of events both in Rome and in the Greek +commonwealths; though in the latter it ran its course within a few +generations, whilst amongst the law-abiding Romans it was a matter of +centuries. And the pages of Caesar bear abundant testimony to the fact +that in his day the Gallic tribes were all in the state of turmoil +which mostly attended the "_Regifugium_" period of development. Some +were still under their old Kings; some, like the Nervii, had developed +a Senatorial government; in some the Commons had set up "Tyrants" of +their own. It was this general unrest which contributed in no small +degree to the Roman conquest of Gaul. And the same state of things +seems to have been begun in Britain also. The earliest inscribed +British coins bear, some of them the names of Kings and Princes, +others those of peoples, others again designations which seem to point +to Tyrants. To the first class belong those of Commius, Tincommius, +Tasciovan, Cunobelin, etc.; to the second those of the Iceni and the +Cassi; to the last the northern mintage of Volisius, a potentate +of the Parisii, who calls himself Domnoverus, which, according to +Professor Rhys,[45] literally signifies "Demagogue." + + + +SECTION G. + +Clans at Julian invasion--Permanent natural +boundaries--Population--Celtic settlements--"Duns"--Maiden Castle. + +G. 1.--The earliest of these inscribed coins, however, take us +no further back than the Julian invasion; and it is to Caesar's +Commentaries that we are indebted for the first recorded names of any +British tribes. It is no part of his design to give any regular list +of the clans or their territories; he merely makes incidental mention +of such as he had to do with. Thus we learn of the four nameless +clans who occupied Kent (a region which has kept its territorial +name unchanged from the days of Pytheas), and also of the Atrebates, +Cateuchlani, Trinobantes, Cenimagni, Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci, +and Cassi. + +G. 2.--To the localities held by these tribes Caesar bears no direct +evidence; but from his narrative, as well as from local remains and +later references, we know that the Trinobantes possessed Essex, and +the Cenimagni (i.e. "the Great Iceni" as they were still called,[46] +though their power was on the wane), East Anglia; while the +Cateuchlani, already beginning to be known as the Cassivellauni (or +Cattivellauni), presumably from their heroic chieftain Caswallon (or +Cadwallon),[47] corresponded roughly to the later South Mercians, +between the Thames and the Nene. The Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci, +and Cassi were less considerable, and must evidently have been +situated on the marches between their larger neighbours. The name of +the Cassi may still, perhaps, cling to their old home, in the _Cashio_ +Hundred and _Cassiobury_, near Watford; while conjecture finds traces +of the Ancalites in _Henley_, and of the Bibroci in _Bray_, on either +side of the Thames. + +G. 3.--The Atrebates, who play a not unimportant part (as will be +seen in the next chapter) in Caesar's connection with Britain, were +apparently in possession of the whole southern bank of the Thames, +from its source right down to London--the river then, as in +Anglo-Saxon times, being a tribal boundary throughout its entire +length. This would make the Bibroci a sub-tribe of the Atrebatian +Name, and also the Segontiaci, if Henry of Huntingdon (writing in the +12th century with access to various sources of information now lost) +is right in identifying Silchester, the Roman _Calleva_, with their +local stronghold Caer Segent. + +G. 4.--But the whole attempt to locate accurately any but the chiefest +tribes found by the Romans in Britain is too conjectural to be +worth the infinite labour that has been expended upon the subject by +antiquaries. All we can say with certainty is that forest and fen +must have cut up the land into a limited number of fairly recognizable +districts, each so far naturally separated from the rest as to have +been probably a separate or quasi-separate political entity also. +Thus, not only was the Thames a line of demarcation, only passable +at a few points, from its estuary nearly to the Severn Sea, but the +southern regions cut off by it were parted by Nature into five main +districts. Sussex was hemmed in by the great forest of Anderida, and +that of Selwood continued the line from Southampton to Bristol. +Kent was isolated by the Romney marshes and the wild country about +Tunbridge, while the western peninsula was a peninsula indeed when +the sea ran up to beyond Glastonbury. In this region, then, the later +Wessex, we find five main tribes; the men of Kent, the Regni south of +the Weald, the Atrebates along the Thames, the Belgae on the Wiltshire +Avon, and the Damnonii of Devon and Cornwall, with (perhaps) a +sub-tribe of their Name, the Durotriges, in Dorsetshire. + +G. 5.--Like the south, the eastern, western, and northern districts of +England were cut off from the centre by natural barriers. The Fens of +Cambridgeshire and the marshes of the Lea valley, together with the +dense forest along the "East Anglian" range, enclosed the east in +a ring fence; within which yet another belt of woodland divided the +Trinobantes of Essex from the Iceni of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Severn +and the Dee isolated what is now Wales, a region falling naturally +into two sub-divisions; South Wales being held by the Silurians and +their Demetian subjects, North Wales by the Ordovices. The lands +north of the Humber, again, were barred off from the south by barriers +stretching from sea to sea; the Humber itself on the one hand, the +Mersey estuary on the other, thrusting up marshes to the very foot of +the wild Pennine moorlands between. And the whole of this vast region +seems to have been under the Brigantes, who held the great plain of +York, and exercised more or less of a hegemony over the Parisians +of the East Riding, the Segontii of Lancashire, and the Otadini, +Damnonii, and Selgovae between the Tyne and the Forth. Finally, +the Midlands, parcelled up by the forests of Sherwood, Needwood, +Charnwood, and Arden, into quarters, found space for the Dobuni in the +Severn valley (to the west of the Cateuchlani), for the Coritani east +of the Trent, and for their westward neighbours the Cornavii.[48] + +G. 6.--All these tribes are given in Ptolemy's geography, but only a +few, such as the Iceni, the Silurians, and the Brigantes, meet us +in actual history; whilst, of them all, the Damnonian name alone +reappears after the fall of the Roman dominion. Thus the accepted +allotment of tribal territory is largely conjectural. North of the +Forth all is conjecture pure and simple, so far as the location of +the various Caledonian sub-clans is concerned. We only know that there +were about a dozen of them; the Cornavii, Carini, Carnonacae, +Cerones, Decantae, Epidii, Horestae, Lugi, Novantae, Smertae, Taexali, +Vacomagi, and Vernicomes. Some of these may be alternative names. + +G. 7.--The practical importance of the above-mentioned natural +divisions of the island is testified to by the abiding character of +the corresponding political divisions. The resemblance which at once +strikes the eye between the map of Roman and Saxon Britain is no mere +coincidence. Physical considerations brought about the boundaries +between the Roman "provinces" and the Anglo-Saxon principalities +alike. Thus a glance will show that Britannia Prima, Britannia +Secunda, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis correspond to +the later Wessex, Wales, Northumbria, and Mercia (with its dependency +East Anglia).[49] And even the sub-divisions remained approximately +the same. In Anglo-Saxon times, for example, the Midlands were still +divided into the same four tribal territories; the North Mercians +holding that of the British Cornavii, the South Mercians that of the +Dobuni, the Middle Angles that of the Coritani, and the South Angles +that of the Cateuchlani. So also the Icenian kingdom, with its old +boundaries, became that of the East Angles, and the Trinobantian that +of the East Saxons. + +G. 8.--What the entire population of Britain may have numbered at the +Roman Conquest is, again, purely a matter of guess-work. But it may +well have been not very different in amount from what it was at the +Norman Conquest, when the entries in Domesday roughly show that the +whole of England (south of the Humber) was inhabited about as thickly +as the Lake District at the present day, and contained some two +million souls. The primary hills, and the secondary plateaux, where +now we find the richest corn lands of the whole country, were in +pre-Roman times covered with virgin forest. But in the river valleys +above the level of the floods were to be found stretches of good open +plough land, and the chalk downs supplied excellent grazing. Where +both were combined, as in the valleys of the Avon and Wily near +Salisbury, and that of the Frome near Dorchester, we have the ideal +site for a Celtic settlement. In such places we accordingly find the +most conspicuous traces of the prehistoric Briton; the round barrows +which mark the burial-places of his chiefs, and the vast earthworks +with which he crowned the most defensible _dun_, or height, in his +territory. + +G. 9.--These fortified British _duns_ are to be seen all over England. +Sometimes they have become Roman or mediaeval towns, as at Old Sarum; +sometimes they are still centres of population, as at London, Lincoln, +and Exeter; and sometimes, as at Bath and Dorchester, they remain +still as left by their original constructors. For they were designed +to be usually untenanted; not places to dwell in, but camps of refuge, +whither the neighbouring farmers and their cattle might flee when in +danger from a hostile raid. The lack of water in many of them shows +that they could never have been permanently occupied either in war or +peace.[50] Perhaps the best remaining example is Maiden[51] Castle, +which dominates Dorchester, being at once the largest and the most +untouched by later ages. Here three huge concentric ramparts, nearly +three miles in circuit, gird in a space of about fifty acres on a +gentle swell of the chalk ridge above the modern town by the river. A +single tortuous entrance, defended by an outwork, gives access to the +levelled interior. All, save the oaken palisades which once topped +each round of the barrier, remains as it was when first constructed, +looking down, now as then, on the spot where the population for whose +benefit it was made dwelt in time of peace. For English Dorchester is +the British town whose name the Romans, when they raised the square +ramparts which still encircle it, transliterated into Durnovaria. +Durnovaria in turn became, on Anglo-Saxon lips, Dornwara-ceaster, +Dorn-ceaster, and finally Dorchester. + +G. 10.--We have already, on physical grounds, assigned these +Durotriges to the Damnonian Name. There were certainly fewer natural +obstacles between them and the men of Devon to the west than between +them and the Belgae to the northward. Caesar, however, distinctly +states that the Belgic power extended to the coast line, so the +Britons of the Frome valley may have been conquered by them. Or the +Durotriges may be a Belgic tribe after all. For, as we have pointed +out, our evidence is of the scantiest, and there is every reason +to suppose that the era of the Roman invasion was one of incessant +political confusion in the land. + + + +SECTION H. + +Religious state of Britain--Illustrated by +Hindooism--Totemists--Polytheists--Druids--Bards--Seers--Druidic +Deities--Mistletoe--Sacred herbs--"Ovum Anguinum"--Suppression of +Druidism--Druidism and Christianity. + + +H. 1.--The religious state of the country seems to have been in no +less confusion than its political condition. The surviving "Ugrian" +inhabitants appear to have sunk into mere totemists and fetish +worshippers, like the aboriginal races of India; while the Celtic +tribes were at a loose and early stage of polytheism, with a Pantheon +filled by every possible device, by the adoration of every kind of +natural phenomenon, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the winds +and clouds, the earth and sea, rivers, wells, sacred trees, by the +creation of tribal divinities, gods and goddesses of war, commerce, +healing, and all the congeries of mutually tolerant devotions which +we see in the Brahmanism of to-day. And, as in Brahmanism, all these +devotions were under the shadow of a sacerdotal and prophetic caste, +wielding vast influence, and teaching, esoterically at least, a far +more spiritual religion. + +H. 2.--These were the Druids, whose practices and tenets fortunately +excited such attention at Rome that we know more about them by far +than we could collect concerning either Jews or Christians from +classical authors. And though most of our authorities refer to +Druidism as practised in Gaul, yet we have the authority of Caesar for +Britain being the special home and sanctuary of the faith, to which +the Gallic Druids referred as the standard for their practices.[52] We +may safely, therefore, take the pictures given us by him and others, +as supplying a representation of what took place in our land ere the +Romans entered it. + +H. 3.--The earliest testimony is that of Julius Caesar himself, in his +well-known sketch of contemporary Druidism ('De Bello Gallico,' vi. +14-20). He tells us that the Druids were the ministers of religion, +the sacrificial priesthood of the nation, the authorized expounders of +the Divine will. All education and jurisprudence was in their hands, +and their sentences of excommunication were universally enforced. The +Gallic Druids were under the dominion of a Primate, who presided at +the annual Chapter of the Order, and was chosen by it; a disputed +election occasionally ending in an appeal to arms. As a rule, however, +Druids were supposed not to shed blood, they were free from all +obligation to military service, and from all taxation of every kind. +These privileges enabled them to recruit their ranks--for they were +not an hereditary caste--from the pick of the national youth, in spite +of the severe discipline of the Druidical novitiate. So great was the +mass of sacred literature required to be committed to memory that a +training of twenty years was sometimes needed. All had to be learnt +orally, for the matter was too sacred to be written down, though +the Druids were well acquainted with writing, and used the Greek +alphabet,[53] if not the Greek language,[54] for secular purposes. +Caesar's own view is that this refusal to allow the inditing of their +sacred books was due to two causes: first, the fear lest the secrets +of the Order should thus leak out, and, secondly, the dread lest +reading should weaken memory, "as, in fact, it generally does." Even +so, amongst the Brahmans there are, to this day, many who can not only +repeat from end to end the gigantic mass of Vedic literature, but who +know by heart also with absolute accuracy the huge and complicated +works of the Sanscrit grammarians. + +H. 4.--Caesar further tells us that the Druids taught the doctrine of +transmigration of souls, and that their course of education included +astronomy, geography, physics, and theology. The attributes of their +chief God corresponded, in his view, with those of the Roman Mercury. +Of the minor divinities, one, like Apollo, was the patron of healing; +a second, like Minerva, presided over craft-work; a third, like +Jupiter, was King of Heaven, and a fourth, like Mars, was the +War-god.[55] Their calendar was constructed on the principle that each +night belongs to the day before it (not to that after it, as was +the theory amongst the Mediterranean nations), and they reckoned +all periods of time by nights, not days, as we still do in the word +"fortnight." For this practice they gave the mystical reason that the +Celtic races were the Children of Darkness. At periods of national +or private distress, human sacrifices were in vogue amongst them, +sometimes on a vast scale. "They have images [_simulacra_] of huge +size, whose limbs when enclosed [_contexta_] with wattles, they fill +with living men. The wattles are fired and the men perish amid the +hedge of flame [_circumventi flamma exanimantur homines_]." It +is usually supposed that these _simulacra_ were hollow idols of +basket-work. But such would require to be constructed on an incredible +scale for their limbs to be filled with men; and it is much more +probable that they were spaces traced out upon the ground (like the +Giant on the hill above Cerne Abbas in Dorset), and hedged in with the +wattles to be fired. + +H. 5.--From the historian Diodorus Siculus, whose life overlapped +Caesar's, we learn that Druid was a native British name. "There are +certain philosophers and theologians held in great honour whom they +call Druids."[56] Whether this designation is actually of Celtic +derivation is, however, uncertain. Pliny thought it was from the Greek +affected by the Druids and connected with their oak-tree worship. +Professor Rhys mentions that the earliest use of the word in +extant Welsh literature is in the Book of Taliesin, under the form +_Derwyddon_,[57] and that in Irish is to be found the cognate form +_Drui_. But these are as likely to be derived from the Greek [Greek: +_drouides_] as this from them. Diodorus adds that they have mighty +influence, and preside at all sacred rites, "as possessing special +knowledge of the Gods, yea, and being of one speech [[Greek: +homophonon]] with them." This points to some archaic or foreign +language, possibly Greek, being used in the Druidical ritual. Their +influence, he goes on to say, always makes for peace: "Oft-times, when +hosts be arrayed, and either side charging the one against the other, +yea, when swords are out and spears couched for the onset, will these +men rush between and stay the warriors, charming them to rest [[Greek: +katepasantes]] like so many wild beasts." + +H. 6.--With the Druids Diodorus associates two other religiously +influential classes amongst the Britons, the Bards [[Greek: bardos]] +and the Seers [[Greek: manteis]]. The former present the familiar +features of the cosmopolitan minstrel. They sing to harps [[Greek: +organon tais lurais homoion]], both fame and disfame. The latter seem +to have corresponded with the witch-doctors of the Kaffir tribes, +deriving auguries from the dying struggles of their victims +(frequently human), just as the Basuto medicine-men tortured oxen to +death to prognosticate the issue of the war between Great Britain +and the Boers in South Africa. Strabo, in the next generation, also +mentions together these three classes, Bards, Seers [[Greek: Ouateis] += Vates] and Druids. The latter study natural science and ethics +[[Greek: pros te phusiologia kai ten ethiken philosophian askousin]]. +They teach the immortality of the soul, and believe the Universe to be +eternal, "yet, at the last, fire and water shall prevail." + +H. 7.--Pomponius Mela, who wrote shortly before the Claudian conquest +of Britain, says that the Druids profess to know the shape and size of +the world, the movements of the stars, and the will of the Gods. They +teach many secrets in caves and woods, but only to the nobles of +the land. Of this esoteric instruction one doctrine alone has been +permitted to leak out to the common people--that of the immortality of +the soul--and this only because that doctrine was calculated to make +them the braver in battle. In accordance with it, food and the like +was buried with the dead, for the use of the soul. Even a man's debts +were supposed to pass with him to the shades. + +H. 8.--Our picture of the Druids is completed by Pliny,[58] writing +shortly after the Claudian conquest. Approaching the subject as a +naturalist he does not mention their psychological tenets, but +gives various highly interesting pieces of information as to their +superstitions with regard to natural objects, especially plants. "The +Druids," he says, "(so they call their Magi) hold nothing so sacred +as the mistletoe and that tree whereon it groweth, if only this be an +oak. Oak-groves, indeed, they choose for their own sake, neither do +they celebrate any sacred rite without oak-leaves, so that they appear +to be called Druids from the Greek word for this tree. Whatsoever +mistletoe, then, groweth on such a tree they hold it for a heaven-sent +sign, and count that tree as chosen by their God himself. Yet but +very rarely is it so found, and, when found, is sought with no small +observance; above all on the sixth day of the moon (which to this +folk is the beginning of months and years alike),[59] and after the +thirtieth year of its age, because it is by then in full vigour of +strength, nor has its half-tide yet come. Hailing it, in their own +tongue, as 'Heal-all,' they make ready beneath the tree, with all due +rites, feast and sacrifice. Then are brought up two bulls of spotless +white, whose horns have never ere this known the yoke. The priest, in +white vestments, climbeth the tree, and with a golden sickle reapeth +the sacred bough, which is caught as it falls in a white robe +[_sagum_]. Then, and not till then, slay they the victims, praying +that their God will prosper this his gift to those on whom he hath +bestowed the same." + +H. 9.--A drink made from mistletoe, or possibly the mere insertion of +the branch into drinking water, was held by the Druids, Pliny adds, +as an antidote to every kind of poison. Other herbs had like remedial +properties in their eyes. The fumes of burning "_selago_"[60] were +thus held good for affections of the eyesight, only, however, when +the plant was plucked with due ceremonies. The gatherer must be all +in white, with bare and washen feet, and must hallow himself, ere +starting on his quest, with a devotional partaking of bread and wine +[_sacro facto ... pane vinoque_]. He must by no means cut the sacred +stem with a knife, but pluck it, and that not with bare fingers, but +through the folds of his tunic, his right hand being protruded for +this purpose beneath his left, "in thievish wise" [_velut a furante_]. +Another herb, "_samolum_," which grew in marshy places, was of avail +in all diseases both of man and beast. It had to be gathered with the +left hand, and fasting, nor might the gatherer on any account look +back till he reached some runlet [_canali_] in which he crushed his +prize and drank. + +H. 10.--Pliny's picture has the interest of having been drawn almost +at the final disappearance of Druidism from the Roman world. For some +reason it was supposed to be, like Christianity, peculiarly opposed +to the genius of Roman civilization, and never came to be numbered +amongst the _religiones licitae_ of the Empire. Augustus forbade the +practice of it to Roman citizens,[61] Tiberius wholly suppressed it in +Gaul,[62] and, in conquering Britain, Claudius crushed it with a +hand of iron. Few pictures in the early history of Britain are more +familiar than the final extirpation of the last of the Druids, when +their sacred island of Mona (Anglesey) was stormed by the Roman +legionaries, and priests and priestesses perished _en masse_ in +the flames of their own altars.[63] Their desperate resistance was +doubtless due to the fact that Rome was the declared and mortal +enemy of their faith. So baneful, indeed, did Druidism come to be +considered, that to hold even with the least of its superstitions +was treated at Rome as a capital offence. Pliny tells us of a Roman +knight, of Gallic birth, who was put to death by Claudius for no other +reason than that of being in possession of a certain stone called +by the Druids a "snake's egg," and supposed to bring good luck in +law-suits.[64] + +H. 11.--This stone Pliny himself had seen, and describes it (in his +chapter on the use of eggs) as being like a medium-sized apple, having +a cartilaginous shell covered with small processes like the discs +on the arms of an octopus. This can scarcely have been, as most +commentators suppose, the shell of an echinus (with which Pliny was +well acquainted), even if fossil. His description rather seems to +point to some fossil covered with _ostrea sigillina_, such as are +common in British green-sands. He adds an account of the Druidical +view of its production, how it is the solidified poison of a number of +serpents who put their heads together to eject it, and how, even when +set in gold, it will float, and that against a stream. This "egg," it +will be seen, was from Gaul. The British variant of the superstition +was that the snakes thus formed a ring of poison matter, larger or +smaller according to the number engaged, which solidified into a gem +known as _Glain naidr_, "Adder's glass."[65] The small rings of green +or blue glass, too thick for wear, which are not uncommonly found in +British burial-places, are supposed to represent this gem. So also, +possibly, are the much larger rings of roughly-baked clay which occur +throughout the Roman period. For superstitions die hard, and Gough +assures us that even in 1789 such "adder-beads" or "snake-stones" were +considered "lucky" in Wales and Cornwall, and were still ascribed to +the same source as by the Druids of old. + +H. 12.--After its suppression by Claudius, Druidism still lingered +on in Britain beyond the Roman pale, and amid the outlaws of the +Armorican forests in Gaul, but in a much lower form. The least worthy +representatives of the Brahmanic caste in India are those found in +the least civilized regions, whose tendency is to become little better +than sorcerers.[66] And in like manner it is as sorcerers that the +later Druids of Scotland and Ireland meet us in their legendary +encounters with St. Patrick and St. Columba. They are called "The +School of Simon the Druid" (_i.e._ Simon Magus), and a 9th-century +commentary designates Jannes and Jambres as "Druids." But the word did +not wholly lose its higher associations. It is applied to the Wise Men +in an early Welsh hymn on the Epiphany; and in another, ascribed to +Columba himself, the saint goes so far as to say, "Christ, the Son of +God, is my _Druid_."[67] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE JULIAN INVASION, B.C. 55, 54 + + +SECTION A. + +Caesar and Britain--Breakdown of Roman Republican +institutions--Corruption abroad and at home--Rise of Caesar--Conquest +of Gaul. + +A. 1.--If the connection of Britain with Rome is the pivot on which +the whole history of our island turns, it is no less true that the +first connection of Rome with Britain is the pivot whereon all Roman +history depends. For its commencement marks the furthest point reached +in his career of conquest by the man without whom Roman history must +needs have come to a shameful and disastrous end--Julius Caesar. + +A. 2.--The old Roman constitution and the old Roman character had +alike proved wholly unequal to meet the strain thrown upon them by the +acquisition of the world-wide empire which they had gained for their +city. Under the stress of the long feud between its Patrician and +Plebeian elements that constitution had developed into an instrument +for the regulation of public affairs, admirably adapted for a +City-state, where each magistrate performs his office under his +neighbour's eye and over his own constituents; constantly amenable +both to public opinion and to the checks provided by law. But it +never contemplated Pro-consuls bearing sway over the unenfranchised +populations of distant Provinces, whence news filtered through to Rome +but slowly, and where such legal checks as a man had to reckon with +were in the hands of a Court far more ready to sympathize with the +oppression of non-voters than to resent it. + +A. 3.--And these officials had deteriorated from the old Roman +rectitude, as the Spartan harmosts deteriorated under conditions +exactly similar in the days of the Lacedaemonian supremacy over +Hellas. And, in both cases, the whole national character was dragged +down by the degradation of what we may call the Colonial executive. +Like the Spartan, the Roman of "the brave days of old" was often +stern, and even brutal, towards his enemies. But he was a devoted +patriot, he was true to his plighted faith, and above all he was free +from all taint of pecuniary corruption. The earlier history of both +nations is full of legends illustrating these points, which, whether +individually true or not, bear abundant testimony to the national +ideal. But with irresponsible power, Roman and Spartan alike, while +remaining as brutally indifferent as ever to the sufferings of others, +lost all that was best in his own ethical equipment. Instead of +patriotism we find unblushing self-interest as the motive of every +action; in place of good faith, the most shameless dishonesty; and, +for the old contempt of ill-gotten gains, a corruption so fathomless +and all-pervading as fairly to stagger us. The tale of the doings of +Verres in a district so near Rome as Sicily shows us a depth of mire +and degeneration to which no constitution could sink and live. + +A. 4.--Nor could the Roman constitution survive it. From the Provinces +the taint spread with fatal rapidity to the City itself. The thirst +for lucre became the leading force in the State; for its sake the +Classes more and more trampled down the Masses; and entrance to the +Classes was a matter no longer of birth, but of money alone. And all +history testifies that the State which becomes a plutocracy is doomed +indeed. Of all possible forms of government--autocracy, oligarchy, +democracy--that is the lowest, that most surely bears within itself +the seeds of its own inevitable ruin. + +A. 5.--So it was with the Roman Republic. As soon as this stage was +reached it began to "stew in its own juice" with appalling rapidity. +Reformers, like the Gracchi, were crushed; and the commonwealth went +to pieces under the shocks and counter-shocks of demagogues like +Clodius, conspirators like Catiline, and military adventurers such +as Marius and Sulla--for whose statue the Senate could find no more +constitutional title than "The Lucky General" [_Sullae Imperatori +Felici_] Well-meaning individuals, such as Cicero and Pompey, were +still to be found, and even came to the front, but they all alike +proved unequal to the crisis; which, in fact, threw up one man, and +one only, of force to become a real maker of history--Caius Julius +Caesar, the first Roman invader of Britain. + +A. 6.--Caesar was at the time of this invasion (55 B.C.) some +forty-five years old; but he had not long become a real power in the +political arena. Sprung from the bluest blood of Rome--the Julian +House tracing their origin to the mythical Iulus, son of Aeneas, and +thus claiming descent from the Goddess Venus--we might have expected +to find him enrolled amongst the aristocratic conservatives, the +champions of the _regime_ of Sulla. But though a mere boy at the date +of the strife between the partisans of Sulla and Marius (B.C. 88-78), +Caesar was already clear-sighted enough to perceive that in the +"Classes" of that day there was no help for the tempest-tossed +commonwealth. Accordingly he threw in his lot with the revolutionary +Marian movement, broke off a wealthy matrimonial engagement arranged +for him by his parents to become the son-in-law of Cinna, and in the +very thick of the Sullan proscriptions, braved the Dictator by openly +glorying in his connection with the defeated reformers. How he escaped +with his life, even at the intercession, if it was indeed made, of the +Vestals, is a mystery; for Sulla (who had little regard for religious, +or any other, scruples) was deliberately extirpating every soul whom +he thought dangerous to the plutocracy, and is said to have pronounced +"that boy" as "more to be dreaded than many a Marius." He did, +however, escape; but till the vanquished party recovered in some +degree from this ruthless massacre of their leaders, he could take no +prominent part in politics. The minor offices of Quaestor, Aedile, +and Praetor he filled with credit, and meanwhile seemed to be giving +himself up to shine in Society, which was not, in Rome, then at its +best; and his reputation for intrigue, his skill at the gaming-table, +and his fashionable swagger were the envy of all the young bloods of +the day. + +A. 7.--The Catiline conspiracy (B.C. 63), and the irregular executions +that followed its suppression, at length gave him his opportunity. +While the Senate was hailing Cicero as "the Father of his country" for +the stern promptitude which enabled him, as Consul, to say "_Vixere_" +["They _have_ lived"] in answer to the question as to the doom of the +conspirators, Caesar had electrified the assembly by his denunciation +of the view that, in whatsoever extremity, the blood of Roman citizens +might be shed by a Roman Consul, secretly and without legal warrant. +Henceforward he took his place as the special leader on whom popular +feeling at Rome more and more pinned its hopes. As Pontifex Maximus he +gained (B.C. 63) a shadowy but far from unreal religious influence; +as Pro-praetor he solidified the Roman dominion in Spain (where he +had already been Quaestor); and on his return (B.C. 60) reconciled +Crassus, the head of the moneyed interest, with Pompey, the darling +of the Army, and by their united influence was raised next year to the +Consulship. + +A. 8.--A Roman Consul invariably, after the expiration of his year of +office, was sent as Pro-consul to take charge of one of the Provinces, +practically having a good deal of personal say as to which should be +assigned to him. Caesar thus chose for his proconsular government the +district of Gaul then under Roman dominion, _i.e._ the valley of the +Po, and that of the Rhone. In making this choice Caesar was actuated +by the fact that in Gaul he was more likely than anywhere else to come +in for active service. Unquiet neighbours on the frontier, Germans and +Helvetians, were threatening invasion, and would have to be repelled. +And this would give the Pro-consul the chance of doing what Caesar +specially desired, of raising and training an army which he might make +as devoted to himself as were Pompey's veterans to their brilliant +chieftain--the hero "as beautiful as he was brave, as good as he was +beautiful." Without such a force Caesar foresaw that all his efforts +to redress the abuses of the State would be in vain. As Consul he had +carried certain small instalments of reform; but they had made him +more hated than ever by the classes at whose corruption they were +aimed, and might any day be overthrown. And neither Pompey nor Crassus +were in any way to be depended upon for his plans in this direction. + +A. 9.--Events proved kinder to him than he could have hoped. His +ill-wishers at Rome actually aided his preparations for war; for +Caesar had not yet gained any special military reputation, while +the barbarians whom he was to meet had a very high one, and might +reasonably be expected to destroy him. And the Helvetian peril proved +of such magnitude that he had every excuse for making a much larger +levy than there was any previous prospect of his securing. On the +surpassing genius with which he manipulated the weapon thus put into +his hand there is no need to dwell. Suffice it to say that in spite +of overwhelming superiority in numbers, courage yet more signal, a +stronger individual physique, and arms as effective, his foes one +after another vanished before him. Helvetians, Germans, Belgians, +were not merely conquered, but literally annihilated, as often as they +ventured to meet him, and in less than three years the whole of Gaul +was at his feet. + + + +SECTION B. + +Sea-fight with Veneti and Britons--Pretexts for invading +Britain--British dominion of Divitiacus--Gallic tribes in +Britain--Atrebates--Commius. + +B. 1.--One of the last tribes to be subdued (in B.C. 56) was that +which, as the chief seafaring race of Gaul, had the most intimate +relations with Britain, the Veneti, or men of Vannes, who dwelt in +what is now Brittany.[68] These enterprising mariners had developed a +form of vessel fitted to cope with the stormy Chops of the Channel on +lines exactly opposite to those of the British "curraghs."[69] Instead +of being so light as to rise to every lift of the waves, and with +frames so flexible as to bend rather than break under their every +stress, the Venetian ships were of the most massive construction, +built wholly of the stoutest oak planking, and with timbers upwards of +a foot in thickness. All were bolted together with iron pins "as thick +as a man's thumb." Forecastle and poop were alike lofty, with a lower +waist for the use of sweeps if needful. But this was only exceptional, +sails being the usual motive power. And these were constructed chiefly +with a view to strength. Instead of canvas, they were formed of +untanned hides. And instead of hempen cables the Veneti were so far +ahead of their time as to use iron chains with their anchors; an +invention which perished with them, not to come in again till the 19th +century. Their broad beam and shallow keel enabled these ships to +lie more conveniently in the tidal inlets on either side of the +Channel.[70] + +B. 2.--Thus equipped, the Veneti had tapped the tin trade at its +source, and established emporia at Falmouth, Plymouth, and Exmouth; +on the sites of which ancient ingots, Gallic coins of gold, and +other relics of their period have lately been discovered. Thence they +conveyed their freight to the Seine, the Loire, and even the Garonne. +The great Damnonian clan, which held the whole of Devon and Cornwall, +were in close alliance with them, and sent auxiliaries to aid in their +final struggle against Caesar. Indeed they may possibly have drawn +allies from a yet wider area, if, as Mr. Elton conjectures, the +prehistoric boats which have at various times been found in the silt +at Glasgow may be connected with their influence.[71] + +B. 3.--Caesar describes his struggle with the Veneti and their British +allies as one of the most arduous in his Gallic campaigns. The Roman +war galleys depended largely upon ramming in their sea-fights, but the +Venetian ships were so solidly built as to defy this method of attack. +At the same time their lofty prows and sterns enabled them to deliver +a plunging fire of missiles on the Roman decks, and even to command +the wooden turrets which Caesar had added to his bulwarks. They +invariably fought under sail, and manoeuvred so skilfully that +boarding was impossible. In the end, after several unsuccessful +skirmishes, Caesar armed his marines with long billhooks, instructing +them to strike at the halyards of the Gallic vessels as they swept +past. (These must have been fastened outboard.) The device succeeded. +One after another, in a great battle off Quiberon, of which the Roman +land force were spectators, the huge leathern mainsails dropped on +to the decks, doubtless "covering the ship as with a pall," as in the +like misfortune to the Elizabethan _Revenge_ in her heroic defence +against the Spanish fleet, and hopelessly crippling the vessel, +whether for sailing or rowing. The Romans were at last able to board, +and the whole Venetian fleet fell into their hands. The strongholds +on the coast were now stormed, and the entire population either +slaughtered or sold into slavery, as an object lesson to the rest of +the confederacy of the fate in store for those who dared to stand out +against the Genius of Rome. + +B. 4.--Caesar had now got a very pretty excuse for extending his +operations to Britain, and, as his object was to pose at Rome as "a +Maker of Empire," he eagerly grasped at the chance. Something of a +handle, moreover, was afforded him by yet another connection between +the two sides of the Channel. Many people were still alive who +remembered the days when Divitiacus, King of the Suessiones (at +Soissons), had been the great potentate of Northern Gaul. In Caesar's +time this glory was of the past, and the Suessiones had sunk to +a minor position amongst the Gallic clans. But within the last +half-century the sway of their monarch had been acknowledged not only +over great part of Gaul, but in Britain also. Caesar's words, indeed, +would almost seem to point to the island as a whole having been in +some sense under him: _Etiam Britanniae imperium obtinuit_.[72] + +B. 5.--And traces of his rule still existed in the occupation of +British districts by colonists from two tribes, which, as his nearest +neighbours, must certainly have formed part of any North Gallic +confederacy under him--the Atrebates and the Parisii. The former had +their continental seat in Picardy; the latter, as their name tells us, +on the Seine. Their insular settlements were along the southern bank +of the Thames and the northern bank of the Humber respectively. How +far the two sets of Parisians held together politically does not +appear; but the Atrebates, whether in Britain or Gaul, acknowledged +the claim of a single magnate, named Commius, to be their paramount +Chieftain.[73] In this capacity he had led his followers against +Caesar in the great Belgic confederacy of B.C. 58, and on its +collapse, instead of holding out to the last like the Nervii, had +made a timely submission. If convenient, this submission might be +represented as including that of his British dominions; especially +as we gather that a contingent from over-sea may have actually fought +under his banner against the Roman eagles. Nay, it is possible that +the old claims of the ruler of Soissons over Britain may have been +revived, now that that ruler was Julius Caesar. It is even conceivable +that his complaint of British assistance having been given to the +enemy "in all our Gallic wars" may point to his having heard some form +of the legend, whose echoes we meet with in Welsh Triads, that the +Gauls who sacked Rome three centuries earlier numbered Britons amongst +their ranks. + + + +SECTION C. + +Defeat of Germans--Bridge over Rhine--Caesar's army--Dread +of ocean--Fleet at Boulogne--Commius sent to Britain--Channel +crossed--Attempt on Dover--Landing at Deal--Legionary +sentiment--British army dispersed. + +C. 1.--For making use of these pretexts, however, Caesar had to wait +a while. It was needful to bring home to both supporters and opponents +his brilliant success by showing himself in Rome, during the idle +season when his men were in winter quarters. And when he got back to +his Province with the spring of A.D. 55, his first attention had to be +given to the Rhine frontier, whence a formidable German invasion +was threatening. With his usual skill and war-craft--which, on +this occasion, in the eyes of his Roman ill-wishers, seemed +indistinguishable from treachery--he annihilated the Teutonic +horde which had dared to cross the river; and then, by a miracle of +engineering skill, bridged the broad and rapid stream, and made such a +demonstration in Germany itself as to check the national trek westward +for half a millennium. + +C. 2.--By this time, as this wonderful feat shows, the Army of Gaul +had become one of those perfect instruments into which only truly +great commanders can weld their forces. Like the Army of the +Peninsula, in the words of Wellington, "it could go anywhere and do +anything." The men who, when first enlisted, had trembled before +the Gauls, and absolutely shed tears at the prospect of encountering +Germans, now, under the magic of Caesar's genius, had learnt to dread +nothing. Often surprised, always outnumbered, sometimes contending +against tenfold odds, the legionaries never faltered. Each individual +soldier seems to have learnt to do instinctively the right thing in +every emergency, and every man worshipped his general. For every man +could see that it was Caesar and Caesar alone to whom every victory +was due. The very training of the engineers, the very devices, such as +that of the Rhine bridge, by which such mighty results were achieved, +were all due to him. Never before had any Roman leader, not even +Pompey "the Great," awakened such devotion amongst his followers. + +C. 3.--Caesar therefore experienced no such difficulty as we shall +find besetting the Roman commanders of the next century, in persuading +his men to follow him "beyond the world,"[74] and to dare the venture, +hitherto unheard of in the annals of Rome, of crossing the ocean +itself. We must remember that this crossing was looked upon by the +Romans as something very different from the transits hither and +thither upon the Mediterranean Sea with which they were familiar. The +Ocean to them was an object of mysterious horror. Untold possibilities +of destruction might lurk in its tides and billows. Whence those tides +came and how far those billows rolled was known to no man. To dare +its passage might well be to court Heaven knew what of supernatural +vengeance. + +C. 4.--But Caesar's men were ready to brave all things while he led +them. So, after having despatched his German business, he determined +to employ the short remainder of the summer in a _reconnaissance +en force_ across the Channel, with a view to subsequent invasion +of Britain. He had already made inquiries of all whom he could find +connected with the Britanno-Gallic trade as to the size and military +resources of the island. But they proved unwilling witnesses, and +he could not even get out of them what they must perfectly well have +known, the position of the best harbours on the southern shores. + +C. 5.--His first act, therefore, was to send out a galley under +Volusenus "to pry along the coast," and meanwhile to order the fleet +which he had built against the Veneti to rendezvous at Boulogne. +Besides these war-galleys (_naves longae_) he got together eighty +transports, enough for two legions, besides eighteen more for the +cavalry.[75] These last were detained by a contrary wind at "a further +harbour," eight miles distant--probably Ambleteuse at the mouth of the +Canche.[76] + +C. 6.--All these preparations, though they seem to have been carried +out with extreme celerity, lasted long enough to alarm the Britons. +Several clans sent over envoys, to promise submission if only Caesar +would refrain from invading the country. This, however, did not +suit Caesar's purpose. Such diplomatic advantages would be far less +impressive in the eyes of the Roman "gallery" to which he was playing +than his actual presence in Britain. So he merely told the envoys that +it would be all the better for them if he found them in so excellent +and submissive a frame of mind on his arrival at their shores, and +sent them back, along with Commius, who was to bring in his own clan, +the Atrebates, and as many more as he could influence. And the Britons +on their part, though ready to make a nominal submission to "the +mighty name of Rome," were resolved not to tolerate an actual invasion +without a fight for it. In every clan the war party came to the front, +all negotiations were abruptly broken off, Commius was thrown into +chains, and a hastily-summoned levy lined the coast about Dover, where +the enemy were expected to make their first attempt to land. + +C. 7.--Dover, in fact, was the port that Caesar made for. It was, at +this date, the obvious harbour for such a fleet as his. All along +the coast of Kent the sea has, for many centuries, been constantly +retreating. Partly by the silting-up of river-mouths, partly by +the great drift of shingle from west to east which is so striking a +feature of our whole southern shore, fresh land has everywhere been +forming. Places like Rye and Winchelsea, which were well-known havens +of the Cinque Ports even to late mediaeval times, are now far inland. +And though Dover is still our great south-eastern harbour, this is +due entirely to the artificial extensions which have replaced the +naturally enclosed tidal area for which Caesar made. There is abundant +evidence that in his day the site of the present town was the bed +of an estuary winding for a mile or more inland between steep chalk +cliffs,[77] not yet denuded into slopes, whence the beach on either +side was absolutely commanded. + +C. 8.--Caesar saw at a glance that a landing here was impossible to +such a force as he had with him. He had sailed from Boulogne "in the +third watch"--with the earliest dawn, that is to say--and by 10 +a.m. his leading vessels, with himself on board, were close under +Shakespeare's Cliff. There he saw the British army in position +waiting for him, crowning the heights above the estuary, and ready +to overwhelm his landing-parties with a plunging fire of missiles. He +anchored for a space till the rest of his fleet came up, and meanwhile +called a council of war of his leading officers to deliberate on the +best way of proceeding in the difficulty. It was decided to make for +the open shore to the northwards (perhaps for Richborough,[78] the +next secure roadstead of those days), and at three in the afternoon +the trumpet sounded, the anchors were weighed, and the fleet coasted +onwards with the flowing tide.[79] + +C. 9.--The British army also struck camp, and kept pace by land with +the invaders' progress. First came the cavalry and chariot-men, the +mounted infantry of the day; then followed the main body, who in the +British as in every army, ancient or modern, fought on foot. We can +picture the scene, the bright harvest afternoon--(according to +the calculations of Napoleon, in his 'Life of Caesar,' it was St. +Bartholomew's Day)--the calm sea, the long Roman galleys with their +rows of sweeps, the heavier and broader transports with their great +mainsails rounding out to the gentle breeze, and on cliff and beach +the British ranks in their waving tartans--each clan, probably, +distinguished by its own pattern--the bright armour of the chieftains, +the thick array of weapons, and in front the mounted contingent +hurrying onwards to give the foe a warm greeting ere he could set foot +on shore. + +C. 10.--Thus did invaders and defenders move on, for some seven miles, +passing, as Dio Cassius notes, beneath the lofty cliffs of the South +Foreland,[80] till these died down into the flat shore and open beach +of Deal. By this time it must have been nearly five o'clock, and if +Caesar was to land at all that day it must be done at once. Anchor was +again cast; but so flat was the shore that the transports, which drew +at least four feet of water, could not come within some distance +of it. Between the legionaries and the land stretched yards of +sea, shoulder-deep to begin with, and concealing who could say what +treacherous holes and quicksands beneath its surface. And their wading +had to be done under heavy fire; for the British cavalry and chariots +had already come up, and occupied every yard of the beach, greeting +with a shower of missiles every motion of the Romans to disembark. +This was more than even Caesar's soldiers were quite prepared to face. +The men, small shame to them, hesitated, and did not spring overboard +with the desired alacrity. Caesar's galleys, however, were of lighter +draught, and with them he made a demonstration on the right flank (the +_latus apertum_ of ancient warfare, the shield being on every man's +_left_ arm) of the British; who, under a severe fire of slings, +arrows, and catapults, drew back, though only a little, to take up a +new formation, and their fire, in turn, was for the moment silenced. +And that moment was seized for a gallant feat of arms which shows how +every rank of Caesar's army was animated by Caesar's spirit. + +C. 11.--The ensign of every Roman legion was the Roman Eagle, perched +upon the head of the standard-pole, and regarded with all, and +more than all, the feeling which our own regiments have for their +regimental colours. As with them, the staff which bore the Eagle +of the Legion also bore inscriptions commemorating the honours and +victories the legion had won, and to lose it to the foe was an even +greater disgrace than with us. For a Roman legion was a much larger +unit than a modern regiment, and corresponded rather to a Division; +indeed, in the completeness of its separate organization, it might +almost be called an Army Corps. Six thousand was its normal force in +infantry, and it had its own squadrons of cavalry attached, its +own engineer corps, its own baggage train, and its own artillery of +catapults and balistae.[81] There was thus even more legionary feeling +in the Roman army than there is regimental feeling in our own. + +C. 12.--At this time, however, this feeling, so potent in its effects +subsequently, was a new development. Caesar himself would seem to have +been the first to see how great an incentive such divisional sentiment +might prove, and to have done all he could to encourage it. He had +singled out one particular legion, the Tenth, as his own special +favourite, and made its soldiers feel themselves the objects of his +special regard. And this it was which now saved the day for him. The +colour-sergeant of that legion, seeing the momentary opening given by +the flanking movement of the galleys, after a solemn prayer that this +might be well for his legion, plunged into the sea, ensign in hand. +"Over with you, comrades," he cried, "if you would not see your Eagle +taken by the enemy." With a universal shout of "Never, never" the +legion followed; the example spread from ship to ship, and the whole +Roman army was splashing and struggling towards the shore of Britain. + +C. 13.--At the same time this was no easy task. As every bather +knows, it is not an absolutely straightforward matter for even an +unencumbered man to effect a landing upon a shingle beach, if ever so +little swell is on. And the Roman soldier had to keep his footing, and +use his arms moreover for fighting, with some half-hundredweight +of accoutrements about him. To form rank was, of course, out of +the question. The men forced their way onward, singly and in little +groups, often having to stand back to back in rallying-squares, as +soon as they came within hand-stroke of the enemy.[82] And this was +before they reached dry land. For the British cavalry and chariots +dashed into the water to meet them, making full use of the advantage +which horsemen have under such circumstances, able to ply the full +swing of their arms unembarrassed by the waves, not lifted off their +feet or rolled over by the swell, and delivering their blows from +above on foes already in difficulties. And on their side, they copied +the flanking movement of the Romans, and wheeled round a detachment +to fire upon the _latus apertum_ of such invaders as succeeded in +reaching shallower water. + +C. 14.--Thus the fight, in Caesar's words, was an exceedingly sharp +one. It was not decided till he sent in the boats of his galleys, and +any other light craft he had, to mingle with the combatants. These +could doubtless get right alongside the British chariots; and now the +advantage of position came to be the other way. A troop of irregular +horsemen up to their girths in water is no match for a boat's crew of +disciplined infantry. Moreover the tide was flowing,[83] and driving +the Britons back moment by moment. For a while they yet resisted +bravely, but discipline had the last word. Yard by yard the Romans won +their way, till at length they set foot ashore, formed up on the beach +in that open order[84] which made the unique strength of the Legions, +and delivered their irresistible charge. The Britons did not wait for +the shock. Their infantry was, probably, already in retreat, covered +by the cavalry and chariots, who now in their turn gave rein to their +ponies and retired at a gallop. + +C. 15.--Caesar saw them go, and bitterly felt that his luck had failed +him. Had he but cavalry, this retreat might have been turned into +a rout. But his eighteen transports had failed to arrive, and his +drenched and exhausted infantry were in no case for effective pursuit +of a foe so superior in mobility. Moreover the sun must have been now +fast sinking, and all speed had to be made to get the camp fortified +before nightfall. But the Roman soldier was an adept at entrenching +himself. A rampart was hastily thrown up, the galleys beached at the +top of the tide and run up high and dry beyond the reach of the surf, +the transports swung to their anchors where the ebb would not leave +them grounded, the quarters of the various cohorts assigned them, the +sentries and patrols duly set; and under the summer moon, these first +of the Roman invaders lay down for their first night on British soil. + + + +SECTION D. + +Wreck of fleet--Fresh British levy--Fight in corn-field--British +chariots--Attack on camp--Romans driven into sea. + +D. 1.--Meanwhile the defeated Britons had made off, probably to their +camp above Dover, where their leaders' first act, on rallying, was to +send their prisoner, Commius, under a flag of truce to Caesar, with +a promise of unconditional submission. That his landing had been +opposed, was, they declared, no fault of theirs; it was all the +witlessness of their ignorant followers, who had insisted on fighting. +Would he overlook it? Yes; Caesar was ready to show this clemency; +but, after conduct so very like treachery, considering their embassy +to him in Gaul, he must insist on hostages, and plenty of them. A few +were accordingly sent in, and the rest promised in a few days, +being the quota due from more distant clans. The British forces were +disbanded; indeed, as it was harvest time, they could scarcely have +been kept embodied anyhow; and a great gathering of chieftains was +held at which it was resolved that all alike should acknowledge the +suzerainty of Rome. + +D. 2.--This assembly seems to have been held on the morrow of the +battle or the day after, so that it can only have been attended by the +local Kentish chiefs, unless we are to suppose (as may well have been +the case), that the Army of Dover comprised levies and captains from +other parts of Britain. But whatever it was, before the resolution +could be carried into effect an unlooked-for accident changed the +whole situation. + +D. 3.--On the fourth day after the Roman landing, the south-westerly +wind which had carried Caesar across shifted a few points to the +southward. The eighteen cavalry transports were thus enabled to leave +Ambleteuse harbour, and were seen approaching before a gentle breeze. +The wind, however, continued to back against the sun, and, as usual, +to freshen in doing so. Thus, before they could make the land, it was +blowing hard from the eastward, and there was nothing for them but to +bear up. Some succeeded in getting back to the shelter of the Gallic +shore, others scudded before the gale and got carried far to the +west, probably rounding-to under the lee of Beachy Head, where they +anchored. For this, however, there was far too much sea running. +Wave after wave dashed over the bows, they were in imminent danger of +swamping, and, when the tide turned at nightfall, they got under weigh +and shaped the best course they could to the southern shore of the +Channel. + +D. 4.--And this same tide that thus carried away his reinforcements +all but wrecked Caesar's whole fleet at Deal. His mariners had +strangely forgotten that with the full moon the spring tides would +come on; a phenomenon which had been long ago remarked by Pytheas,[85] +and with which they themselves must have been perfectly familiar on +the Gallic coast. And this tide was not only a spring, but was driven +by a gale blowing straight on shore. Thus the sleeping soldiers were +aroused by the spray dashing over them, and awoke to find the breakers +pounding into their galleys on the beach; while, of the transports, +some dragged their anchors and were driven on shore to become total +wrecks, some cut their cables, and beat, as best they might, out to +sea, and all, when the tide and wind alike went down, were found next +morning in wretched plight. Not an anchor or cable, says Caesar, was +left amongst them, so that it was impossible for them to keep their +station off the shore by the camp. + +D. 5.--The army, not unnaturally, was in dismay. They were merely on +a reconnaissance, without any supply of provisions, without even their +usual baggage; perhaps without tents, certainly without any means of +repairing the damage to the fleet. Get back to Gaul for the winter +they must under pain of starvation, and where were the ships to take +them? + +D. 6.--The Britons, on the other hand, felt that their foes were +now delivered into their hands. Instead of the submission they were +arranging, the Council of the Chiefs resolved to make the most of the +opportunity, and teach the world by a great example that Britain was +not a safe place to invade. Nor need this cost many British lives. +They had only to refuse the Romans food; what little could be got by +foraging would soon be exhausted; then would come the winter, and the +starving invaders would fall an easy prey. The annihilation of the +entire expedition would damp Roman ambitions against Britain for many +a long day. A solemn oath bound one and all to this plan, and every +chief secretly began to levy his clansmen afresh. + +D. 7.--Naturally, hostages ceased to be sent in; but it did not need +this symptom to show Caesar in how tight a place he now was. His only +chance was to strain every nerve to get his ships refitted; and by +breaking up those most damaged, and ordering what materials were +available from the Continent, he did in a week or two succeed in +rendering some sixty out of his eighty vessels just seaworthy. + +D. 8.--And while this work was in progress, another event showed how +imperative was his need and how precarious his situation. He had, in +fact, been guilty of a serious military blunder in going with a mere +flying column into Britain as he had gone into Germany. The Channel +was not the Rhine, and ships were exposed to risks from which his +bridge had been entirely exempt. Nothing but a crushing defeat would +cut him off from retiring by that; but the Ocean was not to be so +bridled. + +D. 9.--It was, as we have said, the season of harvest, and the corn +was not yet cut, though the men of Kent were busily at work in the +fields. With regard to the crops nearest the camp, the legionaries +spared them the trouble of reaping, by commandeering the corn +themselves, the area of their operations having, of course, to be +continually extended. Harvesters numbered by the thousand make quick +work; and in a day or two the whole district was cleared, either by +Roman or Briton. Caesar's scouts could only bring him word of one +unreaped field, bordered by thick woodland, a mile or two from the +camp, and hidden from it by a low swell of the ground. Mr. Vine, in +his able monograph 'Caesar in Kent,' thinks that the spot may still be +identified, on the way between Deal and Dover, where, by this time, a +considerable British force was once more gathered. So entirely was +the whole country on the patriot side, that no suspicion of all this +reached the Romans, and still less did they dream that the unreaped +corn-field was an elaborate trap, and that the woodlands beside it +were filled, or ready for filling, by masses of the enemy. The Seventh +legion, which was that day on duty, sent out a strong fatigue party +to seize the prize; who, on reaching the field, grounded shields and +spears, took off, probably, their helmets and tunics, and set to work +at cutting down the corn, presumably with their swords. + +D. 10.--Not long afterwards the camp guard reported to Caesar that +a strange cloud of dust was rising beyond the ridge over which the +legion had disappeared. Seeing at once that something was amiss, he +hastily bade the two cohorts (about a thousand men) of the guard to +set off with him instantly, while the other legion, the Tenth, was to +relieve them, and follow with all the rest of their force as speedily +as possible. Pushing on with all celerity, he soon could tell by the +shouts of his soldiers and the yells of the enemy that his men were +hard pressed; and, on crowning the ridge, saw the remnant of the +legion huddled together in a half-armed mass, with the British +chariots sweeping round them, each chariot-crew[86] as it came up +springing down to deliver a destructive volley of missiles, then on +board and away to replenish their magazine and charge in once more. + +D. 11.--Even at this moment Caesar found time to note and admire the +supreme skill which the enemy showed in this, to him, novel mode of +fighting. Their driving was like that of the best field artillery of +our day; no ground could stop them; up and down slopes, between and +over obstacles, they kept their horses absolutely in hand; and, out of +sheer bravado, would now and again exhibit such feats of trick-driving +as to run along the pole, and stand on the yoke, while at full speed. +Such skill, as he truly observed, could not have been acquired without +constant drill, both of men and horses; and his military genius +grasped at once the immense advantages given by these tactics, +combining "the mobility of cavalry with the stability of infantry." + +D. 12.--We may notice that Caesar says not a word of the scythe-blades +with which popular imagination pictures the wheels of the British +chariots to have been armed. Such devices were in use amongst the +Persians, and figure at Cunaxa and Arbela. But there the chariots were +themselves projectiles, as it were, to break the hostile ranks; and +even for this purpose the scythes proved quite ineffective, while they +must have made the whole equipment exceedingly unhandy. In the 'De Re +Militari' (an illustrated treatise of the 5th century A.D. annexed to +the 'Notitia') scythed chariots are shown. But the scythes always +have chains attached, to pull them up out of the way in ordinary +manoeuvres. The Britons of this date, whose chariots were only to +bring their crews up to the foe and carry them off again, had, we may +be sure, no such cumbrous and awkward arrangement.[87] + +D. 13.--On this scene of wild onset Caesar arrived in the nick of time +[_tempore opportunissimo_]. The Seventh, surprised and demoralized, +were on the point of breaking, when his appearance on the ridge caused +the assailants to draw back. The Tenth came up and formed; their +comrades, possibly regaining some of their arms, rallied behind them, +and the Britons did not venture to press their advantage home. But +neither did Caesar feel in any case to retaliate the attack [_alienum +esse tempus arbitratus_], and led his troops back with all convenient +speed. The Britons, we may well believe, represented the affair as a +glorious victory for the patriot arms.[88] They employed several days +of bad weather which followed in spreading the tidings, and calling +on all lovers of freedom or of spoil to join in one great effort for +crushing the presumptuous invader. + +D. 14.--The news spread like wild-fire, and the Romans found +themselves threatened in their very camp (whence they had taken care +not to stir since their check) by a mighty host both of horse and +footmen. Caesar was compelled to fight, the legions were drawn up with +their backs to the rampart, that the hostile cavalry might not take +them in rear, and, after a long hand-to-hand struggle, the Roman +charge once more proved irresistible. The Britons turned their backs +and fled; this time cut up, in their retreat, by a small body of +thirty Gallic horsemen whom Commius had brought over as his escort, +and who had shared his captivity and release. So weak a force could, +of course, inflict no serious loss upon the enemy, but, before +returning to the camp, they made a destructive raid through the +neighbouring farms and villages, "wasting all with fire and sword far +and wide." + +D. 15.--That same day came fresh envoys to treat for peace. They were +now required to furnish twice as many hostages as before; but Caesar +could not wait to receive them. They must be sent after him to the +Continent. His position had become utterly untenable; the equinoctial +gales might any day begin; and he was only too glad to find wind and +weather serve that very night for his re-embarkation. Under cover +of the darkness he huddled his troops on board; and next morning the +triumphant Britons beheld the invaders' fleet far on their flight +across the Narrow Seas. + + + +SECTION E. + +Caesar worsted--New fleet built--Caesar at Rome--Cicero--Expedition +of 54 B.C.--Unopposed Landing--Pro-Roman Britons--Trinobantes +--Mandubratius--British army surprised--"Old England's Hole." + +E. 1.--Caesar too had, on his side, gained what he wanted, though at a +risk quite disproportionate to the advantage. So much prestige had +he lost that on his disembarkation his force was set upon by the very +Gauls whom he had so signally beaten two years before. Their attack +was crushed with little difficulty and great slaughter; but that +it should have been made at all shows that he was supposed to be +returning as a beaten man. However, he now knew enough about Britain +and the Britons to estimate what force would be needful for a real +invasion, and energetically set to work to prepare it. To make such +an invasion, and to succeed in it, had now become absolutely necessary +for his whole future. At any cost the events of the year 55 must be +"wiped off the slate;" the more so as, out of all the British clans, +two only sent in their promised hostages. Caesar's dispatches home, we +may be sure, were admirably written, and so represented matters as to +gain him a _supplicatio_, or solemn thanksgiving, of twenty days from +the Senate. But the unpleasant truth was sure to leak out unless it +was overlaid by something better. It did indeed so far leak out +that Lucan[89] was able to write: _Territa quaesitis ostendit terga +Britannis_. + + ["He sought the Britons; then, in panic dread, + Turned his brave back, and from his victory fled."] + +E. 2.--Before setting off, therefore, for his usual winter visit to +Rome, he set all his legionaries to work in their winter quarters, at +building ships ready to carry out his plans next spring. He himself +furnished the drawings, after a design of his own, like our own +Alfred a thousand years later.[90] They were to be of somewhat lower +free-board than was customary, and of broader beam, for Caesar had +noted that the choppy waves of the Channel had not the long run of +Mediterranean or Atlantic rollers. All, moreover, were to be provided +with sweeps; for he did not intend again to be at the mercy of the +wind. And with such zeal and skill did the soldiers carry out his +instructions, by aid of the material which he ordered from the +dockyards of Spain, that before the winter was over they had +constructed no fewer than six hundred of these new vessels, besides +eighty fresh war-galleys. + +E. 3.--Caesar meanwhile was also at his winter's work amid the turmoil +of Roman politics. His "westward ho!" movement was causing all the +stir he hoped for. We can see in Cicero's correspondence with Atticus, +with Trebatius, and with his own brother Quintus (who was attached +in some capacity to Caesar's second expedition), how full Rome was of +gossip and surmise as to the outcome of this daring adventure. "Take +care," he says to Trebatius, "you who are always preaching caution; +mind you don't get caught by the British chariot-men."[91] "You will +find, I hear, absolutely nothing in Britain--no gold, no silver. I +advise you to capture a chariot and drive straight home. Anyhow get +yourself into Caesar's good books."[92] + +E. 4.--To be in Caesar's good books was, in fact, Cicero's own great +ambition at this time. Despite his constitutional zeal, he felt "the +Dynasts," as he called the Triumvirate, the only really strong force +in politics, and was ready to go to considerable lengths in courting +their favour--Caesar's in particular. He not only withdrew all +opposition to the additional five years of command in Gaul which the +subservient Senate had unconstitutionally decreed to the "dynast," +but induced his brother Quintus to volunteer for service in the coming +invasion of Britain. Through Quintus he invited Caesar's criticisms +on his own very poor verses, and wrote a letter, obviously meant to be +shown, expressing boundless gratification at a favourable notice: "If +_he_ thinks well of my poetry, I shall know it is no mere one-horse +concern, but a real four-in-hand." "Caesar tells me he never read +better Greek. But why does he write [Greek: rhathumotera] ['rather +careless'] against one passage? He really does. Do find out why." + +E. 5.--This gentle criticism seems to have somewhat damped Cicero's +ardour for Caesar and his British glories. His every subsequent +mention of the expedition is to belittle it. In the spring he had +written to Trebatius: "So our dear Caesar really thinks well of you as +a counsel. You will be glad indeed to have gone with him to Britain. +There at least you will never meet your match."[93] But in the summer +it is: "I certainly don't blame you for showing yourself so little +of a sight-seer [_non nimis_ [Greek: philotheoron]] in this British +matter."[94] "I am truly glad you never went there. You have missed +the trouble, and I the bore of listening to your tales about it +all."[95] To Atticus he writes: "We are all awaiting the issue of +this British war. We hear the approaches [_aditus_] of the island are +fortified with stupendous ramparts [_mirificis molibus_]. Anyhow we +know that not one scruple [_scrupulum_] of money exists there, nor +any other plunder except slaves--and none of them either literary or +artistic."[96] "I heard (on Oct. 24) from Caesar and from my brother +Quintus that all is over in Britain. No booty.... They wrote on +September 26, just embarking." + +E. 6.--Both Caesar and Quintus seem to have been excellent +correspondents, and between them let Cicero hear from Britain almost +every week during their stay in the island, the letters taking on +an average about a month to reach him. He speaks of receiving on +September 27 one written by Caesar on September 1; and on September 13 +one from Quintus ("your fourth")[97] written August 10. And apparently +they were very good letters, for which Cicero was duly grateful. "What +pleasant letters," he says to Quintus, "you do write.... I see you +have an extraordinary turn for writing [[Greek: hypothesin] _scribendi +egregiam_]. Tell me all about it, the places, the people, the customs, +the clans, the fighting. What are they all like? And what is your +general like?"[98] "Give me Britain, that I may paint it in your +colours with my own brush [_penicillo_]."[99] This last sentence +refers to a heroic poem on "The Glories of Caesar," which Cicero +seems to have meditated but never brought into being. Nor do we know +anything of the contents of his British correspondence, except that it +contains some speculations about our tide-ways; for, in his 'De Natura +Deorum,'[100] Cicero pooh-poohs the idea that such natural phenomena +argue the existence of a God: "Quid? Aestus maritimi ... Britannici +... sine Deo fieri nonne possunt?" + +E. 7.--Neither can we say what he meant by the "stupendous ramparts" +against Caesar's access to our island. The Dover cliffs have been +suggested, and the Goodwin Sands; but it seems much more probable +that the Britons were believed to have artificially fortified the most +accessible landing-places. Perhaps they may have actually done so, but +if they did it was to no purpose; for this time Caesar disembarked +his army quite unopposed. On his return from Rome he had bidden his +newly-built fleet, along with what was left of the old one, +rendezvous at Boulogne; whence, after long delay through a continuous +north-westerly breeze [_Corus_], he was at length enabled to set sail +with no fewer than eight hundred vessels. Never throughout history has +so large a navy threatened our shores. The most numerous of the +Danish expeditions contained less than four hundred ships, William the +Conqueror's less than seven hundred;[101] the Spanish Armada not two +hundred. + +E. 8.--Caesar was resolved this time to be in sufficient strength, and +no longer despised his enemies. He brought with him five out of +his eight legions, some thirty thousand infantry, that is, and two +thousand horse. The rest remained under his most trusted lieutenant, +Labienus, to police Gaul and keep open his communications with Rome. +According to Polyaenus[102] (A.D. 180), he even brought over with him +a fighting elephant, to terrify the natives and their horses. There +is nothing impossible about the story; though it is not likely Caesar +would have forgotten to mention so striking a feature of his campaign. +One particular animal we may be sure he had with him, his own famous +charger with the cloven hoof, which had been bred in his own stud, and +would suffer on its back none but himself. On it, as the rumour went, +it had been prophesied by the family seer that he should ever ride to +victory. + +E. 9.--It was, as the Emperor Napoleon has calculated, on July +21 that, at sun-set this mighty armament put out before a gentle +south-west air, which died away at midnight, leaving them becalmed +on a waveless sea. When morning dawned Britain lay on their left, and +they were drifting up the straits with the tide. By and by it turned, +oars were got out, and every vessel made for the spot which the events +of the previous year had shown to be the best landing-place.[103] +Thanks to Caesar's foresight the transports as well as the galleys +could now be thus propelled, and such was the ardour of the soldiers +that both classes of ships kept pace with one another, in spite of +their different build. The transports, of course, contained men enough +to take turns at the sweeps, while the galley oarsmen could not be +relieved. By noon they reached Britain, and found not a soul to resist +their landing. There had been, as Caesar learnt from "prisoners," a +large force gathered for that purpose, but the terrific multitude of +his ships had proved quite too demoralizing, and the patriot army had +retired to "higher ground," to which the prisoners were able to direct +the invader. + +E. 10.--There is obviously something strange about this tale. There +was no fighting, the shore was deserted, yet somehow prisoners were +taken, and prisoners singularly well informed as to the defenders' +strategy. The story reads very much as if these useful individuals +were really deserters, or, as the Britons would call it, traitors. We +know that in one British tribe, at least, there was a pro-Roman party. +Not long before this there had fled to Caesar in Gaul, Mandubratius, +the fugitive prince of the Trinobantes, who dwelt in Essex. His +father Immanuentius had been slain in battle by Cassivellaunus, +or Caswallon[104] (the king of their westward neighbours the +Cateuchlani), now the most powerful chieftain in Britain, and he +himself driven into exile. + +E. 11.--This episode seems to have formed part of a general native +rising against the over-sea suzerainty of Divitiacus, which had +brought Caswallon to the front as the national champion. It was +Caswallon who was now in command against Caesar, and if, as is very +probable, there was any Trinobantian contingent in his army, they +may well have furnished these "prisoners." For Caesar had brought +Mandubratius with him for the express purpose of influencing the +Trinobantes, who were in fact thus induced in a few weeks to set an +example of submission to Rome, as soon as their fear of Caswallon +was removed. And meanwhile nothing is more likely than that a certain +number of ardent loyalists should leave the usurper's ranks and hasten +to greet their hereditary sovereign, so soon as ever he landed. +The later British accounts develop the transaction into an act of +wholesale treachery; Mandubratius (whose name they discover to mean +_The Black Traitor_) deserting, in the thick of a fight, to Caesar, +at the head of twenty thousand clansmen,--an absurd exaggeration which +may yet have the above-mentioned kernel of truth. + +E. 12.--But whoever these "prisoners" were, their information was so +important, and in Caesar's view so trustworthy, that he proceeded to +act upon it that very night. Before even entrenching his camp, leaving +only ten cohorts and three hundred horse to guard the vessels, most of +which were at anchor on the smooth sea, he set off at the head of his +army "in the third watch," and after a forced march of twelve miles, +probably along the British trackway afterwards called Watling Street, +found himself at daybreak in touch with the enemy. The British forces +were stationed on a ridge of rising ground, at the foot of which +flowed a small stream. Napoleon considers this stream to have been the +Lesser Stour (now a paltry rivulet, dry in summer, but anciently much +larger), and the hill to have been Barham Down, the camping-ground of +so many armies throughout British history. + +E. 13.--The battle began with a down-hill charge of the British +cavalry and chariots against the Roman horse who were sent forward +to seize the passage of the stream. Beaten back they retreated to its +banks, which were now, doubtless, lined by their infantry. And here +the real struggle took place. The unhappy Britons, however, were +hopelessly outclassed, and very probably outnumbered, by Caesar's +twenty-four thousand legionaries and seventeen hundred horsemen. They +gave way, some dispersing in confusion, but the best of their troops +retiring in good order to a stronghold in the neighbouring woods, +"well fortified both by nature and art," which was a legacy from some +local quarrel. Now they had strengthened it with an abattis of felled +trees, which was resolutely defended, while skirmishers in open +order harassed the assailants from the neighbouring forest [_rari +propugnabant e silvis_]. It was necessary for the Seventh legion +to throw up trenches, and finally to form a "tortoise" with their +shields, as in the assault on a regularly fortified town, before the +position could be carried. Then, at last, the Britons were driven from +the wood, and cut up in their flight over the open down beyond. +The spot where they made this last stand is still, in local legend, +associated with the vague memory of some patriot defeat, and known by +the name of "Old England's Hole." Traces of the rampart, and of the +assailants' trenches, are yet visible.[105] + + + +SECTION F. + +Fleet again wrecked--Britons rally under Caswallon--Battle of Barham +Down--Britons fly to London--Origin of London--Patriot army dispersed. + +F. 1.--It was Caesar's intention to give the broken enemy no chance +of rallying. In spite of the dire fatigue of his men (who had now been +without sleep for two nights, and spent the two succeeding days in +hard rowing and hard fighting), he sent forward the least exhausted to +press the pursuit. But before the columns thus detailed had got out of +sight a message from the camp at Richborough changed his purpose. The +mishap of the previous year had been repeated. Once more the gentle +breeze had changed to a gale, and the fleet which he had left so +smoothly riding at anchor was lying battered and broken on the beach. +His own presence was urgently needed on the scene of the misfortune, +and it would have been madness to let the campaign go on without +him. So the pursuers, horse and foot, were hastily recalled, and, +doubtless, were glad enough to encamp, like their comrades, on the +ground so lately won, where they took their well-earned repose. + +F. 2.--But for Caesar there could be no rest. Without the loss of a +moment he rode back to the landing-place, where he found the state +of things fully as bad as had been reported to him. Forty ships were +hopelessly shattered; but by dint of strenuous efforts he succeeded +in saving the rest. All were now drawn on shore, and tinkered up by +artificers from the legions, while instructions were sent over to +Labienus for the building of a fresh fleet in Gaul. The naval station, +too, was this time thoroughly fortified. + +F. 3.--Ten days sufficed for the work; but meanwhile much of the +fruit of the previous victory had been lost. The Britons, finding the +pursuit checked, and learning the reason, had rallied their scattered +force; and when Caesar returned to his camp at Barham Down he found +before it a larger patriot army than ever, with Caswallon (who is +now named for the first time) at its head. This hero, who, as we +have said, may have been brought to the front through the series of +inter-tribal wars which had ruined the foreign supremacy of Divitiacus +in Britain, was by this time acclaimed his successor in a dignity +corresponding in some degree to the mythical Pendragonship of Welsh +legend.[106] His own immediate dominions included at least the future +districts of South Anglia and Essex, and his banner was followed by +something very like a national levy from the whole of Britain south +of the Forth. When we read of the extraordinary solidarity which +animated, over a much larger area, the equally separate clans of Gaul +in their rising against the Roman yoke a year later, there is nothing +incredible, or even improbable, in the Britons having developed +something of a like solidarity in their resistance to its being laid +upon their necks. Burmann's 'Anthology' contains an epigram which +bears witness to the existence amongst us even at that date of the +sentiment, "Britons never shall be slaves." Our island is described as +"_Libera non hostem non passa Britannia regem_."[107] + +F. 4.--Even on his march from the new naval camp to Barham Down Caesar +was harassed by incessant attacks from flying parties of Caswallon's +chariots and horsemen, who would sweep up, deliver their blow, and +retire, only to take grim advantage of the slightest imprudence on +the part of the Roman cavalry in pursuit. And when, with a perceptible +number of casualties, the Down was reached, a stronger attack was +delivered on the outposts set to guard the working parties who were +entrenching the position, and the fighting became very sharp +indeed. The outposts were driven in, even though reinforced by two +cohorts--each the First of its Legion, and thus consisting of picked +men, like the old Grenadier companies of our own regiments. Though +these twelve hundred regulars, the very flower of the Roman army, +awaited the attack in such a formation that the front cohort was +closely supported by the rear, the Britons pushed their assault home, +and had "the extreme audacity" to charge clean through the ranks of +both, re-form behind, and charge back again, with great loss to +the Romans (whose leader, Quintus Labienus Durus, the Tribune, or +Divisional General in command of one of the legions, was slain), +and but little to themselves. Not till several more cohorts were +dispatched to the rescue did they at length retire. + +F. 5.--This brilliant little affair speaks well both for the +discipline and the spirit of the patriot army; and Caesar ungrudgingly +recognizes both. He points out how far superior the British warriors +were to his own men, both in individual and tactical mobility. The +legionaries dare not break their ranks to pursue, under pain of being +cut off by their nimble enemies before they could re-form; and even +the cavalry found it no safe matter to press British chariots too far +or too closely. At any moment the crews might spring to earth, and the +pursuing horsemen find themselves confronted, or even surrounded, by +infantry in position. Moreover, the morale of the British army was so +good that it could fight in quite small units, each of which, by the +skilful dispositions of Caswallon, was within easy reach of one of his +series of "stations" (_i.e._ block-houses) disposed along the line of +march, where it could rest while the garrison turned out to take its +turn in the combat. + +F. 6.--Against such an enemy it was obviously Caesar's interest to +bring on, as speedily as possible, a general action, in which he +might deliver a crushing blow. And, happily for him, their success had +rendered the Britons over-confident, so that they were even deluded +enough to imagine that they could face the full Roman force in open +field. Both sides, therefore, were eager to bring about the same +result. Next morning the small British squads which were hovering +around showed ostentatious reluctance to come to close quarters, so as +to draw the Romans out of their lines. Caesar gladly met their views, +and sent forward all his cavalry and three legions, who, on their +part, ostentatiously broke rank and began to forage. This was the +opportunity the Britons wanted--and Caesar wanted also. From every +side, in front, flank, and rear, the former "flew upon" their enemies, +so suddenly and so vigorously that ere the legions, prepared as they +were for the onset, could form, the very standards were all but taken. + +F. 7.--But this time it was with legions and not with cohorts that +the enemy had to do. Their first desperate charge spent itself +before doing any serious damage to the masses of disciplined valour +confronting them, and the Romans, once in formation, were able to +deliver a counter-charge which proved quite irresistible. On every +side the Britons broke and fled; the main stream of fugitives unwisely +keeping together, so that the pursuers, cavalry and infantry alike, +were able to press the pursuit vigorously. No chance was given for a +rally; amid the confusion the chariot-crews could not even spring to +earth as usual; and the slaughter was such as to daunt the stoutest +patriot. The spell of Caswallon's luck was broken, and his auxiliaries +from other clans with one accord deserted him and dispersed homewards. +Never again throughout all history did the Britons gather a national +levy against Rome. + +F. 8.--This break-up of the patriot confederacy seems, however, to +have been not merely the spontaneous disintegration of a routed army, +but a deliberately adopted resolution of the chiefs. Caesar speaks of +"their counsel." And this brings us to an interesting consideration. +Where did they take this counsel, and why did the fleeing hosts follow +one line of flight? And how was the line of the Roman advance so +accurately calculated upon by Caswallon that he was able to place +his "stations" along it beforehand? The answer is that there was an +obvious objective for which the Romans would be sure to make; indeed +there was almost certainly an obvious track along which they would be +sure to march. There is every reason to believe that most of the later +Roman roads were originally British trackways, broad green ribands of +turf winding through the land (such as the Icknield Way is still in +many parts of its course), and following the lines most convenient for +trade. + +F. 9.--But, if this is so, then that convergence of these lines on +London, which is as marked a feature of the map of Roman Britain as it +is of our railway maps now, must have already been noticeable. And the +only possible reason for this must be found in the fact that already +London was a noted passage over the Thames. That an island in +mid-stream was the original _raison d'etre_ of London Bridge is +apparent from the mass of buildings which is shown in every ancient +picture of that structure clustering between the two central spans. +This island must have been a very striking feature in primaeval days, +coming, as it did, miles below any other eyot on the river, and +must always have suggested and furnished a comparatively easy +crossing-place. Possibly even a bridge of some sort may have existed +in 54 B.C.; anyhow this crossing would have been alike the objective +of the invading, and the _point d'appui_ of the defending army. And +the line both of the Roman advance and of the British retreat would +be along the track afterwards known as the Kentish Watling Street. For +here again the late British legends which tell us of councils of war +held in London against Caesar, and fatal resolutions adopted there, +with every detail of proposer and discussion, are probably founded, +with gross exaggeration, upon a real kernel of historic truth. It was +actually on London that the Britons retired, and from London that the +gathering of the clans broke up, each to its own. + + + +SECTION G. + +Passage of Thames--Submission of clans--Storm of Verulam--Last patriot +effort in Kent--Submission of Caswallon--Romans leave Britain--"Caesar +Divus." + +G. 1.--Caswallon, however, and his immediate realm still remained to +be dealt with. His first act, on resolving upon continued resistance, +would of course be to make the passage of the London tide-way +impossible for the Roman army; and Caesar, like William the Conqueror +after him, had to search up-stream for a crossing-place. He did not, +however, like William, have to make his way so far as Wallingford +before finding one. Deserters told him of a ford, though a difficult +one, practicable for infantry, not many miles distant. The traditional +spot, near Walton-on-Thames, anciently called Coway Stakes, may +very probably be the real place. Both name and stakes, however, have +probably, in spite of the guesses of antiquaries, no connection with +Caesar and his passage, but more prosaically indicate that here was a +passage for cattle (Coway = Cow Way) marked out by crossing stakes. + +G. 2.--The forces of Caswallon were accompanying the Roman march on +the northern bank of the stream, and when Caesar came to the ford he +found them already in position [_instructas_] to dispute his passage +behind a _chevaux de frise_ of sharpened stakes, more of which, he +was told, were concealed by the water. If the Britons had shown +their wonted resolution this position must have been impregnable. But +Caswallon's men were disheartened and shaken by the slaughter on +the Kentish Downs and the desertion of their allies. Caesar +rightly calculated that a bold demonstration would complete their +demoralization. So it proved. The sight of the Roman cavalry plunging +into the steam, and the legionaries eagerly pressing on neck-deep in +water, proved altogether too much for their nerves. With one accord, +and without a blow, they broke and fled.[108] + +G. 3.--Nor did Caswallon think it wise again to gather them. He had no +further hope of facing Caesar in pitched battle, and contented +himself with keeping in touch with the enemy with a flying column of +chariot-men some two thousand strong. His practice was to keep his men +a little off the road--there was still, be it noted, a _road_ along +which the Romans were marching--and drive off the flocks and herds +into the woods before the Roman advance. He made no attempt to attack +the legions, but if any foragers were bold enough to follow up the +booty thus reft from them, he was upon them in a moment. Such serious +loss was thus inflicted that Caesar had to forbid any such excursions, +and to content himself with laying waste the fields and farms in +immediate proximity to his route. + +G. 4.--He was now in Caswallon's own country, and his presence there +encouraged the Trinobantian loyalists openly to throw off allegiance +to their conqueror and raise Mandubratius to his father's throne under +the protection of Rome; sending to Caesar at the same time provisions +for his men, and forty hostages whom he demanded of them. Caesar +in return gave strict orders to his soldiers against plundering or +raiding in their territory. This mingled firmness and clemency made +so favourable an impression that the submission of the Trinobantes was +followed by that of various adjoining clans, small and great, from the +Iceni of East Anglia to the little riverside septs of the Bibroci and +Ancalites, whose names may or may not be echoed in the modern Bray and +Henley. The Cassi (of Cassiobury) not only submitted, but guided the +Romans to Caswallon's own neighbouring stronghold in the forests near +St. Alban's. It was found to be a position of considerable natural +strength (probably on the site of the later Verulam), and well +fortified; but all the heart was out of the Cateuchlanians. When the +assailing columns approached to storm the place on two sides at once, +they hesitated, broke, and flung themselves over the ramparts on the +other sides in headlong flight. Caesar, however, was able to head +them, and his troops killed and captured large numbers, besides +getting possession of all the flocks and herds, which, as usual, had +been gathered for refuge within the stockade. + +G. 5.--Caswallon himself, however, escaped, and now made one last bid +for victory. So great was still the influence of his prestige that, +broken as he was, he was able to prevail upon the clans of Kent +to make a sudden and desperate onset upon the Naval Station at +Richborough. All four of the chieftains beneath whose sway the county +was divided (Cingetorix, Canilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax) rose with +one accord at his summons. The attack, however, proved a mere flash +in the pan. Even before it was delivered, the garrison sallied +out vigorously, captured one of the British leaders, Lugotorix, +slaughtered the assailants wholesale, and crushed the whole movement +without the loss of a man. This final defeat of his last hopes broke +even Caswallon's sturdy heart. His followers slain, his lands wasted, +his allies in revolt, he bowed to the inevitable. Even now, however, +he did not surrender unconditionally, but besought Caesar's _protege_, +the Atrebatian chieftain Commius, to negotiate terms with the +conqueror. + +G. 6.--To Caesar this was no small relief. The autumn was coming +on, and Caswallon's guerrilla warfare might easily eat up all the +remainder of the summer, when he must needs be left alone, conquered +or unconquered, that the Roman army might get back to its winter +quarters on the Continent; more especially as ominous signs in Gaul +already predicted the fearful tempest of revolt which, that winter, +was to burst. Easy conditions were therefore imposed. Caswallon +pledged himself, as Lord Paramount, that Britain should pay an annual +tribute to the Roman treasury, and, as Chief of the Cateuchlani, that +he would leave Mandubratius on the Trinobantian throne. Hostages were +given, and the Roman forces returned with all convenient speed to the +coast; this time, presumably, crossing the Thames in the regular way +at London. + +G. 7.--After a short wait, in vain expectation of the sixty ships +which Labienus had built in Gaul and which could not beat across the +Channel, Caesar crowded his troops and the hordes of British captives +on board as best he could, and being favoured by the weather, found +himself and them safe across, having worked out his great purpose, and +leaving a nominally conquered and tributary Britain behind him. This, +as we have seen from Cicero's letter, was on September 26, B.C. 54. + +G. 8.--We have seen, too, that Cicero's cue was to belittle the +business. But this was far from being the view taken by the Roman "in +the street." To him Caesar's exploit was like those of the gods and +heroes of old; Hercules and Bacchus had done less, for neither had +passed the Ocean. The popular feeling of exultation in this new glory +added to Roman fame may be summed up in the words of the Anthologist +already quoted: + + Libera non hostem, non passa Britannia regem, Aeternum nostro + quae procul orbe jacet; Felix adversis, et sorte oppressa + secunda, Communis nobis et tibi Caesar erit. ["Free Britain, + neither foe nor king that bears, That from our world lies + far and far away, Lucky to lose, crushed by a happy doom, + Henceforth, O Caesar, ours--and yours--will be."] + +G. 9.--Caesar never set foot in Britain again, though he once saved +himself from imminent destruction by utilizing his British experiences +and passing his troops over a river in coracles of British build.[109] +He went his way to the desperate fighting, first of the great Gallic +revolt, then of the Civil War (with his own Labienus for the most +ferocious of his opponents), till he found himself the undisputed +master of the Roman world. But when he fell, upon the Ides of March +B.C. 44, it was mainly through the superhuman reputation won by +his invasion of Britain that he received the hitherto unheard of +distinction of a popular apotheosis, and handed down to his successors +for many a generation the title not only of Caesar, but of "Divus." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ROMAN CONQUEST, B.C. 54--A.D. 85 + + +SECTION A. + +Britain after Julius Caesar--House of Commius--Inscribed coins--House +of Cymbeline--Tasciovan--Commians overthrown--Vain appeal to +Augustus--Ancyran Tablet--Romano-British trade--Lead-mining--British +fashions in Rome--Adminius banished by Cymbeline--Appeal to +Caligula--Futile demonstration--Icenian civil war--Vericus +banished--Appeal to Claudius--Invasion prepared. + +A. 1.--With the departure of Caesar from its shores our knowledge of +the affairs of Britain becomes only less fragmentary than before he +reached them. We do not even learn how far the tribute he had imposed +continued to be paid. Most probably during the confusion of the Gallic +revolt and the Civil Wars it ceased altogether. In that confusion +Commius finally lost his continental principality of Arras, and had +to fly for his life into his British dominions. He only saved himself, +indeed, by an ingenious stratagem. When he reached the shore of Gaul +he found his ship aground in the tide-way. Nevertheless, by hoisting +all sail, he deceived the pursuing Romans into thinking themselves too +late till the rising tide permitted him really to put to sea.[110] The +effect of the extinction of Atrebatian power in Gaul was doubtless to +consolidate it in Britain, as when our English sovereigns lost their +hold on Normandy and Anjou, for we find that Commius reigned at least +over the eastern counties of Wessex, and transmitted his power to his +sons, Verica, Eppillus, and Tincommius, who seem to have shared +the kingdom between them. Tincommius, however, may possibly be, as +Professor Rhys suggests, merely a title, signifying the _Tanist_ (or +Heir) of Commius. In this case it would be that of Verica, who was +king after his father.[111] + +A. 2.--The evidence for this is that in the district mentioned +British coins are found bearing these names. For now appears the first +inscribed British coinage; the inscriptions being all in Latin, a +sign of the abiding influence of the work of Caesar. And it is by that +light mainly that we know the little we do know of British history for +the next century. The coins are very numerous, and preserve for us +the names of no fewer than thirty several rulers (or states). They +are mostly of gold (though both silver and bronze also occur), and +are found over the greater part of the island, the southern and the +eastern counties being the richest. The inscriptions indicate, as +has already been mentioned,[112] a state of great political confusion +throughout the country. But they also bear testimony not only to the +dynasty of Commius, but to the rise of a much stronger power north of +the Thames. + +A. 3.--That power was the House of Cunobelin, or Cinobellinus[113] +(Shakespeare's Cymbeline), who figures in the pages of Suetonius as +King of all Britain, insomuch that his fugitive son, Adminius, posed +before Caligula as the rightful sovereign of the whole island. His +coins were undoubtedly current everywhere south of Trent and east of +Severn, if not beyond those rivers. They are found in large numbers, +and of most varied devices, all showing the influence of classical +art. A head (probably his own portrait) is often on the obverse, and +on the reverse Apollo playing the lyre, or a Centaur, or a Victory, or +Medusa, or Pegasus, or Hercules. Other types show a warrior on horse +or foot, or a lion,[114] or a bull, or a wolf, or a wild boar; others +again a vine-leaf, or an ear of bearded wheat. On a very few is found +the horse, surviving from the old Macedonian mintage.[115] And +all bear his own name, sometimes in full, CVNOBELINVS REX, oftener +abbreviated in various ways. + +A. 4.--But the coins do more than testify to the widespread power of +Cymbeline himself. They show us that he inherited much of it from his +father. This prince, whose name was Tasciovan, is often associated +with his son in the inscriptions, and the son is often described as +TASCIIOVANI F. (_Filius_) or TASCIOVANTIS. There are besides a large +number of coins belonging to Tasciovan alone. And these tell us where +he reigned. They are struck (where the mint is recorded) either at +Segontium[116] or at Verulam. The latter is pretty certainly the town +which had sprung up on the site of Caswallon's stronghold, so that +we may reasonably conclude that Tasciovan was the successor of the +patriot hero on the Cateuchlanian throne--very probably his son. +But Cymbeline's coins are struck at the _Trinobantian_ capital, +Camelodune,[117] which we know to have been the royal city of his son +Caratac (or Caradoc) at the Claudian conquest. + +A. 5.--It would seem, therefore, that, Caesar's mandate to the +contrary notwithstanding, Caswallon's clan, who were now called +(perhaps from his name), Cattivellauni, had again conquered the +Trinobantes, deposing, and probably slaying, Mandubratius.[118] This +would be under Tasciovan, who gave the land to his son Cymbeline, and, +at a later date, must have subdued the Atrebatian power in the south. +The sons of Commius were, as is shown by Sir John Evans, contemporary +with Tasciovan. But, by and by, we find Epaticcus, _his_ son, and +Adminius, apparently his grandson, reigning in their realm, the latter +taking Kent, the former the western districts. The previous Kentish +monarch was named Dumnovellanus, and appears as DAMNO BELLA on the +Ancyran Tablet. This wonderful record of the glories of Augustus +mentions, _inter alia_, that certain British kings, of whom this +prince was one, fled to his protection. The tablet is, unhappily, +mutilated at the point where their names occur, but that of another +begins with TIM--probably, as Sir John Evans suggests, Tin-Commius. +Adminius also was afterwards exiled by his own father, Cymbeline, and +in like manner appealed to Caesar--Caligula--in 40 A.D. + +A. 6.--Nothing came of either appeal. Augustus did indeed, according +to Dio Cassius, meditate completing his "father's" work, and (in B.C. +34) entered Gaul with a view to invading Britain. But the political +troubles which were to culminate at Actium called him back, and +he contented himself with laying a small duty on the trade between +Britain and Gaul. Tin, as before, formed the staple export of our +island, and other metals seem now to have been added--iron from Sussex +and lead from Somerset. Doubtless also the pearls from our native +oysters (of which Caesar had already dedicated a breastplate to his +ancestral Venus) found their way to Rome, though of far less value +than the Oriental jewel, being of a less pure white.[119] Besides +these we read of "ivory bracelets and necklets, amber and glass +ornaments, and such-like rubbish,"[120] which doubtless found a sale +amongst the _virtuosi_ of Rome, as like products of savage industry +from Africa or Polynesia find a sale amongst our _virtuosi_ nowadays. +Meanwhile, Roman dignity was saved by considering these duties to be +in lieu of the unpaid tribute imposed by Caesar, and the island was +declared by courtly writers to be already in practical subjection. +"Some of the chiefs [Greek: dunastai] have gained the friendship of +Augustus, and dedicated offerings in the Capitol.... The island +would not be worth holding, and could never pay the expenses of a +garrison."[121] + +A. 7.--At the same time the Romans of the day evidently took a very +special interest in everything connected with Britain. The leaders of +Roman society, like Maecenas, drove about in British chariots,[122] +smart ladies dyed their hair red in imitation of British +warriors,[123] tapestry inwoven with British figures was all the +fashion,[124] and constant hopes were expressed by the poets that, +before long, so interesting a land might be finally incorporated in +the Roman Empire.[125] + +A. 8.--Augustus was too prudent to be stirred up by this "forward" +policy; which, indeed, he had sanctioned once too often in the fatal +invasion of Germany by Varus. But the diseased brain of Caligula _was_ +for a moment fired with the ambition of so vast an enterprise. He +professed that the fugitive Adminius had ceded to him the kingship of +the whole island, and sent home high-flown dispatches to that effect. +He had no fleet, but drew up his army in line of battle on the Gallic +shore, while all wondered what mad freak he was purposing; then +suddenly bade every man fill his helmet with shells as "spoils of the +Ocean" to be dedicated in the Capitol. Finally he commemorated this +glorious victory by the erection of a lofty lighthouse,[126] probably +at the entrance of Boulogne harbour. + +A. 9.--It was clear, however, that sooner or later Britain must be +drawn into the great system so near her, and the next reign furnished +the needful occasion. Yet another exiled British pretender appealed +to the Emperor to see him righted--this time one Vericus. His name +suggests that he may have been Verica son of Commius; but the theory +of Professor Rhys and Sir John Evans seems more probable--that he was +a Prince of the Iceni. The earliest name found on the coins of that +clan is Addeomarus (Aedd Mawr, or Eth the Great, of British legend), +who was contemporary with Tasciovan. After this the tribe probably +became subject to Cymbeline, at whose death[127] the chieftainship +seems to have been disputed between two pretenders, Vericus +and Antedrigus; and on the success of the latter (presumably by +Cateuchlanian favour) the former fled to Rome. Claudius, who now sat +on the Imperial throne, eagerly seized the opportunity for the renown +he was always coveting, and in A.D. 44 set in motion the forces of the +Empire to subdue our island. + + + +SECTION B. + +Aulus Plautius--Reluctance to embark--Narcissus--Passage of +Channel--Landing at Portchester--Strength of expedition--Vespasian's +legion--British defeats--Line of Thames held--Arrival of +Claudius--Camelodune taken--General submission of island. + +B. 1.--The command of the expedition was entrusted to Aulus Plautius +Laelianus, a distinguished Senator, of Consular rank. But the +reluctance of the soldiery to advance "beyond the limits of this +mortal world" [Greek: _exo tas ohikoumenes_], and entrust themselves +to the mysterious tides of the ocean which was held to bound it, +caused him weeks of delay on the shores of Gaul. Nor could anything +move them, till they found this malingering likely to expose them +to the degradation of a quasi-imperial scolding from Narcissus, the +freed-man favourite of Claudius, who came down express from Rome as +the Emperor's mouthpiece.[128] To bear reproof from one who had been +born a slave was too much for Roman soldiers. When Narcissus mounted +the tribune to address them in the Emperor's name, his very first +words were at once drowned by a derisive shout from every mouth +of "_Io Saturnalia_!" the well-known cry with which Roman slaves +inaugurated their annual Yule-tide licence of aping for the day the +characters of their masters. The parade tumultuously broke off, and +the troops hurried down to the beach to carry out the commands of +their General--who was at least free-born. + +B, 2.--The passage of the Channel was effected in three separate +fleets, possibly at three separate points, and the landing on our +shores was unopposed. The Britons, doubtless, had been lulled to +security by the tidings of the mutinous temper in the camp of the +invaders, and were quite unprepared for the very unexpected result +of the mission of Narcissus. It seems likely, moreover, that the +disembarkation was made much further to the west than they would have +looked for. The voyage is spoken of as long, and amid its discomforts +the drooping spirits of the soldiery were signally cheered by a +meteor of special brilliance which one night darted westwards as their +harbinger. Moreover we find that when the Romans did land, their first +success was a defeat of the Dobuni, subject allies of the House +of Cymbeline, who, as we gather from Ptolemy, dwelt in what is now +Southern Gloucestershire.[129] This objective rather points to their +landing-place having been in Portsmouth harbour[130] (_the_ Port, as +its name still reminds us, of Roman Britain), where the undoubtedly +Roman site of Portchester may well mark the exact spot where the +expedition first set foot on shore. + +B. 3.--Besides an unknown force of Gallic auxiliaries, its strength +comprised four veteran legions, one (the Ninth _Hispanica_)[131] from +the Danube frontier, the rest (Twentieth, Fourteenth, and Second) from +the Rhine. This last, an "Augustan"[132] legion, was commanded by the +future Emperor Vespasian--a connection destined to have an important +influence on the _pronunciamento_ which, twenty-five years later, +placed him on the throne.[133] As yet he was only a man of low family, +whom favouritism was held to have hurried up the ladder of promotion +more rapidly than his birth warranted.[134] Serving under him as +Military Tribunes were his brother Sabinus and his son Titus; and in +this British campaign all three Flavii are said to have distinguished +themselves,[135] especially at the passage of an unnamed river, where +the Britons made an obstinate stand. The ford was not passed till +after three days' continuous fighting, of which the issue was finally +decided by the "Celtic" auxiliaries swimming the stream higher up, and +stampeding the chariot-horses tethered behind the British lines. + +B. 4.--What this stream may have been is a puzzle.[136] Dion Cassius +brings it in after a victory over the sons of Cymbeline, Caradoc (or +Caractacus, as historians commonly call him) and Togodumnus, wherein +the latter was slain. And he adds that from its banks the Britons fell +back upon their next line of defence, the _tide-way_ on the Thames. He +tells us that, though tidal, the river was, at this point, fordable at +low water for those who knew the shallows; and incidentally mentions +that at no great distance there was even a bridge over it. But it was +bordered by almost impassable[137] swamps. It must be remembered that +before the canalizing of the Thames the influence of the tide +was perceptible at least as high as Staines, where was also a +crossing-place of immemorial antiquity. And hereabouts may very +probably have been the key of the British position, a position so +strong that it brought Plautius altogether to a standstill. Not till +overwhelming reinforcements, including even an elephant corps, were +summoned from Rome, with Claudius in person at their head, was a +passage forced. The defence then, however, collapsed utterly, and +within a fortnight of his landing, Claudius was able to re-embark for +Rome, after taking Camelodune, and securing for the moment, without +the loss of a man,[138] as it would seem, the nominal submission of +the whole island, including even the Orkneys.[139] + + + +SECTION C. + +Claudius triumphs--Gladiatorial shows--Last stand of +Britons--Gallantry of Titus--Ovation of Plautius--Distinctions +bestowed--Triumphal arch--Commemorative coinage--Conciliatory +policy--British worship of Claudius--Cogidubnus--Attitude of +clans--Britain made Imperial Province. + +C. 1.--The success thus achieved was evidently felt to be something +quite exceptionally brilliant and important. Not once, as was usual, +but four several times was Claudius acclaimed "Imperator"[140] even +before he left our shores; and in after years these acclamations +were renewed at Rome as often as good news of the British war +arrived there, till, ere Claudius died, he had received no fewer +than twenty-one such distinctions, each signalized by an issue of +commemorative coinage. His "Britannic triumph" was celebrated on a +scale of exceptional magnificence. In addition to the usual display, +he gave his people the unique spectacle of their Emperor climbing the +ascent to the Capitol not in his triumphal car, nor even on foot, but +on his knees (as pilgrims yet mount the steps of the Ara Coeli), in +token of special gratitude to the gods for so signal an extension +of the glory and the Empire of Rome. In the gladiatorial shows which +followed, he presided in full uniform [_paludatus_],[141] with his son +(whose name, like his own, a _Senatus consultum_ had declared to +be _Britannicus_)[142] on his knee.[143] One of the spectacles +represented the storm of a British _oppidum_ and the surrender of +British kings. The kings were probably real British chieftains, and +the storm was certainly real, with real Britons, real blood, real +slaughter, for Claudius went to every length in this direction. + +C. 2.--The narrative of Suetonius[144] connects these shows with the +well-known tale of the unhappy gladiators who fondly hoped that a +kind word from the Emperor meant a reprieve of their doom. He had +determined to surpass all his predecessors in his exhibition of a +sea-fight, and had provided a sheet of water large enough for the +manoeuvres of real war-galleys, carrying some five hundred men +apiece.[145] The crews, eleven thousand in all, made their usual +preliminary march past his throne, with the usual mournful acclaim, +"_Ave Caesar! Salutant te morituri_!" Claudius responded, "_Aut non_:" +and these two words were enough to inspire the doomed ranks with hopes +of mercy. With one accord they refused to play their part, and he had +to come down in person and solemnly assure them that if his show was +spoilt he would exterminate every man of them "with fire and sword," +before they would embark. Once entered upon the combat, however, they +fought desperately; so well, indeed, that at its close the survivors +were declared exempt from any further performance. Such was the fate +which awaited those who dared to defend their freedom against the +Fortune of Rome, and such the death died by many a brave Briton for +the glory of his subjugators. Dion Cassius[146] tells us that +Aulus Plautius made a special boast of the numbers so butchered in +connection with his own "Ovation." + +C. 3.--This ceremony was celebrated A.D. 47, two years after that of +Claudius. Plautius had remained behind in Britain to stamp out the +last embers of resistance,--a task which all but proved fatal to +Vespasian, who got hemmed in by the enemy. He was only saved by the +personal heroism and devotion of Titus, who valiantly made in to his +father's rescue, and succeeded in cutting him out. This seems to +have been in the last desperate stand made by the Britons during +this campaign. After this, with Togodumnus slain, Caradoc probably a +fugitive in hiding, and the best and bravest of the land slaughtered +either in the field or in the circus at Rome, British resistance +was for the moment utterly crushed out. Claudius continued his +demonstrations of delight; when Plautius neared Rome he went out in +person to meet him,[147] raised him when he bent the knee in homage, +and warmly shook hands with him[148] [Greek:[kalos diacheirisas]]; +afterwards himself walking on his left hand in the triumphal +procession along the Via Sacra.[149] + +C. 4.--Rewards were at the same time showered on the inferior +officers. Cnaeus Ostorius Geta, the hero of the first riverside fight +in Britain, was allowed to triumph in consular fashion, though not yet +of consular rank; and an inscription found at Turin speaks of collars, +gauntlets and phalera bestowed on one Caius Gavius, along with +a golden wreath for Distinguished Service. Another, found in +Switzerland,[150] records the like wreath assigned to Julius Camillus, +a Military Tribune of the Fourth Legion, together with the decoration +of the _Hasta Pura_ (something, it would seem, in the nature of the +Victoria Cross); which was also, according to Suetonius,[151] given to +Posides, one of the Emperor's favourite freedmen. + +C. 5.--To Claudius himself, besides his triumph, the Senate voted +two triumphal arches,[152] one in Rome, the other in the Gallic port +whence he had embarked for Britain. Part of the inscription on the +former of these was found in 1650 on the site where it stood (near +the Palazzo Sciarra), and is still to be seen in the gardens of the +Barberini Palace. It runs as follows (the conjectural restoration of +the lost portions which have been added being enclosed in brackets): + + TI CLAVD [IO. CAES.] AVG [VSTO] PONTIFIC [I. MAX. TR. P. IX] + COS. VI. IM [P. XVI. PP] SENATVS. PO [PVL. Q.R. QVOD] REGES. + BRIT [ANNIAE. ABSQ] VLLA. JACTV [RA. DOMVERIT] GENTES QVE + [BARBARAS] PRIMVS. INDI [CIO. SVBEGERIT] + +"To Tiberius Claudius Caesar, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, holding +for the 9th time the authority of Tribune, Consul for the 6th time, +acclaimed Imperator for the 16th, the Senate and People of Rome [have +dedicated this arch]. Because that without the loss of a man he hath +subdued the Kings of Britain, and hath been the first to bring under +her barbarous clans under our sway." Claudius also affixed to the +walls of the imperial house on the Palatine (which was destined +to give the name of "palace" to royal abodes for all time),[153] a +"_corona navalis_"--a circlet in which the usual radiations were made +to resemble the sails, etc. of ships--in support of his proud claim +to have tamed the Ocean itself [_quasi domiti oceani_] and brought it +under Roman sway: "_Et jam Romano cingimur Oceano_."[154] + +C. 6.--As usual, coins were struck to commemorate the occasion, the +earliest of the long series of Roman coins relating to Britain. They +bear on the obverse the laureated head of Claudius to the right, with +the superscription TI. CLAVD. CAESAR. AVG. P.M. TR. P. VIIII. IMP. +XVI. On the reverse is an equestrian figure, between two trophies, +surmounting a triumphal arch, over which is inscribed the legend DE. +BRITAN. This coin, being of gold, was struck not by the Senate (who +regulated the bronze issue), but by the Imperial mint, and dates from +the year 46, when Claudius was clothed for the ninth time with the +authority of Tribune. By that time the arch was doubtless completed, +and the coin may well show what it was actually like. Another coin, +also bearing the words DE. BRITAN., shows Claudius in his triumphal +chariot with an eagle on his sceptre. Even poor little Britannicus, +who never came to his father's throne, being set aside through the +intrigues of his stepmother Agrippina and finally poisoned (A.D. 55) +by Nero, had a coin of his own on this occasion issued by the +Senate and inscribed TI. CLAVD. CAESAR. AVG. F. [_Augusti Filius_] +BRITANNICVS. + +C.7.--Seneca, whose own connection with Britain was that of a grinding +usurer,[155] speaks with intense disgust of the conciliatory attitude +of Claudius towards the populations, or more probably the kinglets, +who had submitted to his sway. He purposed, it seems, even to see some +of them raised to Roman citizenship [_Britannos togatos videre_]. +That the grateful provincials should have raised a temple to him at +Camelodune, and rendered him worship as an incarnate deity, adds to +the offence. And, writing on the Emperor's death, the philosopher +points with evident satisfaction to the wretched fate of the man who +triumphed over Britain and the Ocean, only to fall at last a victim to +the machinations of his own wife. + +C. 8.--An interesting confirmation of this information as to the +relations between Claudius and his British subjects is to be found in +a marble tablet[156] discovered at Chichester, which commemorates +the erection of a temple (dedicated to Neptune and Minerva) for +the welfare of the Divine [_i.e._ Imperial] Household by a Guild of +Craftsmen [_collegium fabrorum_] on a site given by Pudens the son +of Pudentinus;[157] all under the authority of Tiberius Claudius +Cogidubnus, at once a native British kinglet and Imperial Legate in +Britain. This office would imply Roman citizenship, as would also the +form of his name. That (doubtless on his enfranchisement) he should +have been allowed to take such a distinguished _nomen_ and _praenomen_ +as Tiberius Claudius marks the special favour in which he was held by +the Emperor.[158] To this witness is also borne by Tacitus, who says +that certain states in Britain were placed under Cogidubnus not as a +tributary Kingdom but as a Roman Province. Hence his title of Imperial +Legate. These states were doubtless those of the Cantii and Regni in +Kent, Surrey and Sussex. + +C. 9.--The Iceni, on the other hand, were subject allies of Rome, with +Vericus, in all probability, on the throne.[159] The Atrebates would +seem also to have been "friendlies." But the great mass of the British +clans were chafing under the humiliation and suffering which the +invaders had wrought for them, and evidently needed a strong hand +to keep them down. Under the Empire provinces requiring military +occupation were committed not to Pro-consuls chosen by the Senate, but +to Pro-praetors nominated by the Emperor, and were called "Imperial" +as opposed to "Senatorial" governments.[160] Britain was now +accordingly declared an Imperial Province, and Ostorius Scapula sent +by Claudius to administer it as Pro-praetor. + + + +SECTION D. + +Ostorius Pro-praetor--Pacification of Midlands--Icenian revolt--Camb's +dykes--Iceni crushed--Cangi--Brigantes--Silurian war--Storm of +Caer Caradoc--Treachery of Cartismandua--Caradoc at Rome--Death of +Ostorius--Uriconium and Caerleon--Britain quieted--Death of Claudius. + +D. 1.--When Ostorius, in A.D. 50, reached Britain he found things in a +very disturbed state. The clans which had submitted to the Romans were +being raided by their independent neighbours, who calculated that +this new governor would not venture on risking his untried levies in a +winter campaign against them. Ostorius, however, was astute enough to +realize that such a first impression of his rule would be fatal, and, +by a sudden dash with a flying column (_citas cohortes_), cut the +raiders to pieces. As usual the Britons hoisted the white flag in +their familiar manner, making a surrender which they had no intention +whatever of keeping to longer than suited their plans; and they +were proportionately disgusted when Ostorius set to work at a real +pacification of the Midlands, constructing forts at strategic points +along the Trent and Severn, and requiring all natives whatsoever +within this Roman Pale to give up their arms. + +D. 2.--This demand the Britons looked upon as an intolerable +dishonour, even as it seemed to the Highlanders two centuries ago. +The first to resent it were the chieftain and clan whose alliance with +Rome had been the _raison d'etre_ of the Conquest, Vericus and his +Iceni.[161] Was this brand of shame to be their reward for bringing +in the invaders? They received the mandate of Ostorius with a burst of +defiance, and hastily organized a league of the neighbouring tribes +to resist so intolerable a degradation. Before their allies could +come in, however, Ostorius was upon them, and it became a matter of +defending their own borders. + +D. 3.--The spot they selected for resistance was a space shut in by +earthworks _(agresti aggere)_ accessible only by one narrow entrance. +This description exactly applies to the locality where we should look +for an Icenian Thermopylae. The clan dwelt, as we have said, in East +Anglia, their borders to the south being the marshy course of the +Stour, running from the primaeval forest that capped the "East Anglian +Heights," and, to the west, the Cambridgeshire Fens. They thus lived +within a ring fence almost unassailable. Only in one spot was there an +entrance. Between the Fen and the Forest stretched a narrow strip of +open turf, some three or four miles across, affording easy marching. +And along it ran their own great war-path, the Icknield Street, +extending from the heart of their realm right away to the Thames +at Goring. It never became a Roman road, though a few miles are now +metalled. Along most of its course it remains what it was in British +days, a broad, green track seamed with scores of rut-marks. And even +where it has been obliterated, its course may be traced by the +names of Ickborough in Norfolk, Iclingham in Suffolk, Ickleton in +Cambridgeshire, and Ickleford in Hertfordshire.[162] + +D. 4.--The Iceni had long ago taken care to fortify this approach to +their land. The whole space between fen and forest in the Cam valley +was cut across by four (or five) great dykes which may still be +traced, constructed for defence against invaders from the westward. +Of these, the two innermost are far more formidable than the rest, the +"Fleam Dyke" near Cambridge, and the "Devil's Ditch" by Newmarket. +The outer fosse of each is from twenty to thirty feet deep; and the +rampart, when topped by a stockade, must have constituted an obstacle +to troops unprovided with artillery which the Iceni might justifiably +think insuperable. The "one narrow entrance" along the whole length +of the dykes (five miles and ten miles respectively) is where the +Icknield Way cuts through them. + +D. 5.--Here then, probably, the Icenian levies confidently awaited +the onslaught of Ostorius--the more confidently inasmuch as he had +not waited to call up his legionaries from their winter quarters, but +attacked only with the irregulars whom he had been employing against +the marauders in the midlands. The Iceni, doubtless, imagined that +such troops would be unequal to assaulting their dyke at all. But +Ostorius was no ordinary leader. Such was the enthusiasm which he +inspired in his troops that they surprised the revolters by attacking +along the whole line of the Fleam Dyke at once, and that with such +impetuosity that in a moment they were over it. The hapless Iceni were +now caught in a death-trap. Behind them the Devil's Ditch barred all +retreat save through its one narrow entrance, and those who failed to +force their way through the mad crush there could only fight and die +with the courage of despair. "Many a deed of desperate valour did +they," says Tacitus [_multa et clara facinora_], and the Romans +displayed like courage; the son of Ostorius winning in the fray the +"civic crown"[163] awarded for the rescue of a Roman citizen. But no +quarter seems to have been given, and the flower of the Icenian tribe +perished there to a man. + +D. 6.--This slaughter effectually scotched the rising which the +Icenians were hoping to organize. All Central Britain submitted, and, +we may presume, was quietly disarmed; though the work cannot have been +very effectually done, as these same tribes were able to rise under +Boadicea twelve years later. The indefatigable Ostorius next led +his men against the Cangi in North Wales[164] (who seem to have been +stirred to revolt by the Icenian Prince Antedrigus), and gained much +booty, for the Britons dared not venture upon a battle, and had +no luck in their various attempts at surprise. But before he quite +reached the Irish Sea he was recalled by a disturbance amongst the +Brigantes, which by a judicious mixture of firmness and clemency he +speedily suppressed. And all this he did without employing a single +legionary. + +D. 7.--But neither firmness nor clemency availed to put an end to the +desperate struggle for freedom maintained by the one clan in Britain +which still held out against the Roman yoke. The Silurians of South +Wales were not to be subdued without a regular campaign which was to +tax the Legions themselves to the utmost. Naturally brave, stubborn, +and with a passionate love of liberty, they had at this juncture a +worthy leader, for Caradoc was at their head. We hear nothing of +his doings between the first battle against Aulus Plautius, when his +brother Togodumnus fell, leaving him the sole heir of Cymbeline, until +we find him here. But we may be pretty sure that he was the animating +spirit of the resistance which so long checked the conquerors on +the banks of the Thames, and that he took no part in the general +submission to Claudius. Probably he led an outlaw life in the forest, +stirring up all possible resistance to the Roman arms, till finally +he found himself left with this one clan of all his father's subjects +still remaining faithful. + +D. 8.--But he never thought of surrender. He was everywhere amongst +his followers, says Tacitus, exhorting them to resist to the death, +reminding them how Caswallon had "driven out" the great Julius, +and binding one and all by a solemn national covenant [_gentili +religione_] never to yield "either for wound or weapon." Ostorius had +to bring against him the whole force he could muster, even calling out +the veterans newly settled at the Colony[165] of Camelodune. Caradoc +and his Silurians, on their part, did not wait at home for the attack, +but moved northwards into the territory of the Ordovices, who at least +sympathized if they did not actually aid. Here he entrenched himself +upon a mountain, very probably that Caer Caradoc, near Shrewsbury, +which still bears his name. Those who know the ground will not wonder +that Ostorius hesitated at assaulting so impregnable a position. His +men, however, were eager for the attack. "Nothing," they cried, "is +impregnable to the brave." The legionaries stormed the hill on +one side, the auxiliaries on the other; and once hand to hand, the +mail-clad Romans had a fearful advantage against defenders who wore +no defensive armour, nor even helmets. The Britons broke and fled, +Caradoc himself seeking refuge amongst the Brigantes of the north. + +D. 9.--At this time the chief power in this tribe was in the hands of +a woman, Cartismandua, the heiress to the throne, with whose name and +that of her Prince Consort scandal was already busy. The disturbances +amongst the clan which Ostorius had lately suppressed were probably +connected with her intrigues. Anyhow she posed as the favourite and +friend of the Romans; and now showed her loyalty by arresting the +national hero and handing him over to the enemy. With his family +and fellow-captives he was [A.D. 52] deported to Rome, and publicly +exhibited by the Emperor in his chains, as the last of the Britons, +while the Praetorian Guards stood to their arms as he passed. + +D. 10.--According to Roman precedent the scene should have closed with +a massacre of the prisoners. But while the executioners awaited the +order to strike, Caradoc stepped forward with a spirited appeal, the +substance of which there is every reason to believe is truthfully +recorded by Tacitus. Disdaining to make the usual pitiful petitions +for mercy, he boldly justified his struggle for his land and crown, +and reminded Claudius that he had now an exceptional opportunity for +winning renown. "Kill me, as all expect, and this affair will soon be +forgotten; spare me, and men will talk of your clemency from age to +age." Claudius was touched; and even the fierce Agrippina, who, to +the scandal of old Roman sentiment, was seated beside him at the +saluting-point "as if she had been herself a General," and who must +have reminded Caradoc of Cartismandua, was moved to mercy. Caradoc was +spared, and assigned a residence in Italy; and the Senate, believing +the war at an end with his capture, voted to Ostorius "triumphal +insignia"[166]--the highest honour attainable by any Roman below +Imperial rank.[167] + +D. 11.--But even without their King the stubborn clan still stood +desperately at bay. Their pertinacious resistance in every pass and +on every hill-top of their country at length fairly wore Ostorius out. +The incessant fatigues of the campaign broke down his health, and he +died [A.D. 54] on the march; to the ferocious joy of the Silurians, +who boasted that their valour had made an end of the brave enemy who +had vowed to "extinguish their very name,"[168] no less than if they +had slain him upon the field of battle. + +D. 12.--Before he died, however, he had curbed them both to north and +south by the establishment of strong Roman towns at Uriconium on the +Severn (named after the neighbouring Wrekin), and Isca Silurum at +the mouth of the Usk. The British name of the latter place, Caerleon +[Castra Legionum], still reminds us that it was one of the great +legionary stations of the island, while the abundant inscriptions +unearthed upon the site, tell us that here the Second Legion had its +head-quarters till the last days of the Roman occupation.[169] + +D. 13.--The unremitting pressure of these two garrisons crushed out at +last the Silurian resistance. The fighting men of the clan must +indeed have been almost wholly killed off during these four years +of murderous warfare. Thus Avitus Didius Gallus, the successor of +Ostorius, though himself too old to take the field, was able to +announce to Claudius that he had completed the subjugation of Britain. +The Silurians after one last effort, in which they signally defeated +an entire Legion, lay in the quietude of utter exhaustion; and though +Cartismandua caused some little trouble by putting away her husband +Venusius and raising a favourite to the throne, the matter was +compromised by Roman intervention; and Claudius lived to hear that the +island was, at last, peacefully submissive to his sway. Then Agrippina +showed herself once more the Cartismandua of Rome, and her son Nero +sat upon the throne of her poisoned husband [A.D. 55]. + + + +SECTION E. + +Neronian misgovernment--Seneca--Prasutagus--Boadicea's revolt--Sack +of Camelodune--Suetonius in Mona--"Druidesses"--Sack of London and +Verulam--Boadicea crushed at Battle Bridge--Peace of Petronius. + +E. 1.--Under Nero the unhappy Britons first realized what it was to be +Roman provincials. Though Julius Caesar and Augustus had checked the +grossest abuses of the Republican proconsulates, yet enough of the +evil tradition remained to make those abuses flourish with renewed +vigour under such a ruler as Nero. The state of things which ensued +can only be paralleled with that so vividly described by Macaulay in +his lurid picture of the oppression of Bengal under Warren Hastings. +The one object of every provincial governor was to exploit his +province in his own pecuniary interest and that of his friends at +Rome. Requisitions and taxes were heaped on the miserable inhabitants +utterly beyond their means, with the express object of forcing them +into the clutches of the Roman money-lenders, whose frightful terms +were, in turn, enforced by military licence. + +E. 2.--The most virtuous and enlightened citizens were not ashamed +thus to wring exorbitant interest from their victims. Cicero tells +us[170] how no less austere a patriot than Brutus thus exacted from +the town of Salamis in Cyprus, 48 per cent. compound interest, and, +after starving five members of the municipality to death in default of +payment, was mortally offended because he, Cicero, as proconsul, would +not exercise further military pressure for his ends. + +E. 3.--The part thus played in Cyprus by Brutus was played in Britain +by Seneca, another of the choice examples of the highest Roman virtue. +By a series of blood-sucking transactions[171] he drove the Britons +to absolute despair, his special victim being Prasutagus, now Chief of +the Iceni, presumably set up by the Romans on the suppression of the +revolt under Vericus. As a last chance of saving any of his wealth for +his children, Prasutagus, by will, made the Emperor his co-heir. +This, however, only hastened the ruin of his family. His property +was pounced upon by the harpies of Seneca and Nero, with the +Procurator[172] of the Province, Catus Decimus, at their head, his kin +sold into slavery, his daughters outraged, and his wife Boadicea, or, +more correctly, _Boudicca_, brutally scourged. This was in A.D. 61. + +E. 4.--A convulsive outburst of popular rage and despair followed. +The wrongs of Boadicea kindled the Britons to madness, and she found +herself at once at the head of a rising comprising all the clans of +the east and the Midlands. Half-armed as they were, their desperate +onset carried all before it. The first attack was made upon the hated +Colony at Camelodune, where the great Temple of "the God" Claudius, +rising high above the town, bore an ever-visible testimony to Rome's +enslavement of Britain,[173] and whence the lately-established +veterans were wont, by the connivance of the Procurator, to treat the +neighbourhood with utterly illegal military licence, sacking houses, +ravaging fields, and abusing their British fellow-subjects as "caitiff +slaves."[174] + +E. 5.--These marauders were, however, as great cowards as bullies, and +were now trembling before the approach of vengeance. How completely +they were cowed is shown by the gloomy auguries which passed from +lip to lip as foreshadowing the coming woe. The statue of Victory +had fallen on its face, women frantic with fear rushed about wildly +shrieking "Ruin!", strange moans and wailings were heard in Courthouse +and Theatre, on the Thames estuary the ruddy glow of sunset looked +like blood and flame, the sand-ripples and sea-wrack left by the ebb +suggested corpses; everything ministered to their craven fear. + +E. 6.--So hopeless was the demoralization that the very commonest +precautions were neglected. The town was unfortified, yet these old +soldiers made no attempt at entrenchment; even the women and children +were not sent away while the roads were yet open. And when the storm +burst on the town the hapless non-combatants were simply abandoned to +massacre, while the veterans, along with some two hundred badly-armed +recruits (the only help furnished by their precious Procurator, who +himself fled incontinently to Gaul), shut themselves up in the Temple, +in hopes of thus saving their own skins till the Ninth Legion, which +was hastening to their aid, should arrive. + +E. 7.--It is a satisfaction to read that in this they were +disappointed. Next day their refuge was stormed, and every soul within +put to the sword. The Temple itself, and all else at Camelodune, was +burnt to the ground, and the wicked Colony blotted off the face of the +earth. The approaching Legion scarcely fared better. The victorious +Britons swept down upon it on the march, cut to pieces the entire +infantry, and sent the cavalry in headlong flight to London, where +Suetonius Paulinus, the Governor of Britain, was now mustering such +force as he could make to meet the overwhelming onslaught. + +E. 8.--When the outbreak took place he had been far away, putting down +the last relics of the now illicit Druidism in the island of Mona or +Anglesey. The enterprise was one which demanded a considerable display +of force, for the defenders of the island fought with fanatical +frenzy, the priests and priestesses alike taking part in the fray, +and perishing at last in their own sacrificial fires, when the passage +over the Menai Straits was made good. + +E. 9--It is noticeable that in Mona alone do we meet with +"Druidesses." Female ministers of religion, whether priestesses or +prophetesses, are always exceptional, and usually mark a survival from +some very primitive cult. The Pythoness at Delphi, and the Vestals at +Rome, obviously do so. And amongst the races of Gaul and Britain +the same fact is testified to by such female ministrations being +invariably confined to far western islands. Pytheas, as he passed Cape +Finisterre (in Spain) by night, heard a choir of women worshipping +"Mother Earth and her Daughter"[175] with shrill yells and music. +A little further he tells of the barbarous rites observed by the +_Samnitae_ or _Amnitae_[176] in an island near the mouth of the Loire, +on which no male person might ever set foot; and of another island at +the extreme point of Gaul, already known as Uxisana (Ushant), where +nine virgin sorceresses kept alight the undying fire on their sacred +hearth and gave oracular responses. These cults clearly represented a +much older worship than Druidism, though the latter may very probably +have taken them under its shadow (as in India so many aboriginal rites +are recognized and adopted by modern Brahmanism). And the priestesses +in Mona were, in like manner, not "Druidesses" at all, but +representatives of some more primitive cult, already driven from the +mainland of Britain and finding a last foothold in this remote island. + +E. 10.--The stamping out of the desperate fanaticism of Mona was +barely accomplished, when tidings were brought to Suetonius of +Boadicea's revolt. By forced marches he reached London before her, +only to find himself too weak, after the loss of the Ninth Legion, to +hold it. London, though no Colony, was already the largest and most +thriving of the Roman settlements in Britain, and piteous was the +dismay of the citizens when Suetonius bade the city be evacuated. +But neither tears nor prayers could postpone his march, and such +non-combatants as from age or infirmity could not retire with his +column, were massacred by the furious Britons even as those at +Camelodune. Next came the turn of Verulam, the Roman town on the +site of Tasciovan's stronghold,[177] where like atrocities marked the +British triumph. Every other consideration was lost in the mad lust of +slaughter. No prisoners were taken, no spoil was made, no ransom was +accepted; all was fire, sword, and hideous torturing. Tacitus declares +that, to his own knowledge,[178] no fewer than seventy thousand Romans +and pro-Romans thus perished in this fearful day of vengeance; the +spirit of which has been caught by Tennyson, with such true poetic +genius, in his 'Boadicea.' + +E. 11.--Suetonius, however, now felt strong enough to risk a battle. +The odds were enormous, for the British forces were estimated at +two hundred and thirty thousand, while his own were barely ten +thousand--only one legion (the Fourteenth) with the cavalry of the +Twentieth. (Where its infantry was does not appear: it may have been +left behind in the west.) The Ninth had ceased to exist, and the +Second did not arrive from far-off Caerleon till too late for the +fight. The strength of legionary sentiment is shown by the fact that +its commander actually slew himself for vexation that the Fourteenth +had won without his men. + +E. 12.--Where the armies met is quite uncertain, though tradition +fixes on a not unlikely spot near London, whose name of "Battle +Bridge" has but lately been overlaid by the modern designation of +"King's Cross."[179] We only know that Suetonius drew up his line +across a glade in the forest, which thus protected his flanks, and +awaited the foe as they came pouring back from Verulam. In front of +the British line Boadicea, arrayed in the Icenian tartan, her plaid +fastened by a golden brooch, and a spear in her hand, was seen passing +along "loftily-charioted" from clan to clan, as she exhorted each +in turn to conquer or die. Suetonius is said to have given the like +exhortation to the Romans; but every man in their ranks must already +have been well aware that defeat would spell death for him. The one +chance was in steadiness and disciplined valour; and the legionaries +stood firm under a storm of missiles, withholding their own fire +till the foe came within close range. Then, and not till then, they +delivered a simultaneous discharge of their terrible _pila_[180] on +the British centre. The front gave with the volley, and the Romans, at +once wheeling into wedge-shape formation, charged sword in hand into +the gap, and cut the British line clean in two. Behind it was a laager +of wagons, containing their families and spoil, and there the Britons +made a last attempt to rally. But the furious Romans entered the +enclosure with them, and the fight became a simple massacre. No +fewer than eighty thousand fell, and the very horses and oxen were +slaughtered by the maddened soldiery to swell the heaps of slain. +Boadicea, broken-hearted, died by poison; and (being reinforced by +troops from Germany) Suetonius proceeded "to make a desert and call it +Peace."[181] + +E. 13.--The punishment he dealt out to the revolted districts was +so remorseless that the new Procurator, Julius Classicianus, sent a +formal complaint to Rome on the suicidal impolicy of his superior's +measures. Nero, however, did not mend matters by sending (like +Claudius) a freed-man favourite as Royal Commissioner to supersede +Suetonius. Polycletus was received with derision both by Roman and +Briton, and Suetonius remained acting Governor till the wreck of some +warships afforded an excuse for a peremptory order to "hand over +the command" to Petronius Turpilianus. Fighting now ceased by mutual +consent; and this disgraceful slackness was called by the new Governor +"Peace with Honour" [_honestum pacis nomen segni otio imposuit_]. + + + +SECTION F. + +Civil war--Otho and Vitellius--Army of +Britain--Priscus--Agricola--Vespasian Emperor--Cerealis--Brigantes put +down--Frontinus--Silurians put down--Agricola Pro-praetor--Ordovices +put down--Pacification of South Britain--Roman civilization +introduced--Caledonian campaign--Galgacus--Agricola's +rampart--Domitian--Resignation and death of Agricola. + +F. 1.--Disgraceful as the policy of Petronius seemed to Tacitus +(under the inspiration probably of his father-in-law Agricola), it did +actually secure for Britain several years of much-needed peace. Not +till the months of confusion which followed the death of Nero [June +10, A.D. 68] did any native rising take place, and then only in Wales +and the north. The Roman Army of Britain was thus free to take sides +in the contest for the throne between Otho and Vitellius, of which all +that could be predicted was that the victor would be the worse of the +two [_deteriorem fore quisquis vicisset_]. They were, however, so +much ahead of their date that, before accepting this alternative, +they actually thought of setting up an Emperor of their own, after the +fashion so freely followed in later centuries. Fortunately the popular +subaltern [[Greek: hupostrategos]] on whom their choice fell, one +Priscus, had the sense to see that the time was not yet come for such +action, and sarcastically refused the crown. "I am no more fit," he +said, "to be an Emperor [[Greek: autokrator]]than you to be soldiers." +The army now proceeded to "sit on the fence"; some legions, notably +the famous Fourteenth, slightly inclined to Otho, others to Vitellius, +till their hesitation was ended by their own special hero, Vespasian, +fresh from his Judaean victories,[182] coming forward as Pretender. +Agricola, now in command of the Twentieth, at once declared for him, +and the other legions followed suit--the Fourteenth being gratified by +the title "_Victores Britannici_," officially conferred upon them by +the Emperor's new Pro-praetor, Petilius Cerealis. + +F. 2.--We now enter upon the last stage of the fifty years' struggle +made by British patriots before they finally bowed to the Roman +yoke. The glory of ending the long conflict is due to Agricola, +whose praises are chronicled by his son-in-law Tacitus, and who does +actually seem to have been a very choice example of Roman virtue and +ability. The Army of Britain had been his training school in +military life, and successive commanders had recognized his merits by +promotion. Now his superiors gave him an almost independent command, +in which he showed himself as modest as he was able. Thanks to him, +Cerealis was able in A.D. 70 to end a Brigantian war (of which the +inevitable Cartismandua was the "_teterrima causa_" now no less than +twenty years earlier), and the next Pro-praetor, Frontinus, to put +down, in 75, the very last effort of the indomitable Silurians. Yet +another year, and he himself was made Military Governor of the island, +and set about the task of permanently consolidating it as a Roman +Province, with an insight all his own. + +F. 3.--The only Britons yet in arms south of the Tyne were the +Ordovices of North Wales, who had lately cut to pieces a troop of +Roman cavalry. Agricola marched against them, and, by swimming +his horsemen across the Menai Straits, surprised their stronghold, +Anglesey, thus bringing about the same instant submission of the whole +clan which through the same tactics he had seen won, seventeen years +earlier, by Suetonius. + +F. 4.--But Agricola was not, like Suetonius, a mere military +conqueror. He saw that Britons would never unfeignedly submit so +long as they were treated as slaves; and he set himself to remedy the +grievances under which the provincials so long had suffered. Military +licence, therefore, and civil corruption alike, he put down with +a resolute hand, never acting through intermediaries, but himself +investigating every complaint, rewarding merit, and punishing +offences. The vexatious monopolies which previous governors had +granted, he did away with; and, while he firmly dealt with every +symptom of disloyalty, his aim was "not penalty but penitence" [_nom +paena sed saepius paenitentia_]--penitence shown in a frank acceptance +of Roman civilization. Under his influence Roman temples, Roman +forums, Roman dwelling-houses, Roman baths and porticoes, rose all +over the land, and, above all, Roman schools, where the youth of the +upper classes learnt with pride to adopt the tongue[183] and dress of +their conquerors. It is appropriate that the only inscription +relating to him as yet found in Britain should be on two of the lead +water-pipes (discovered in 1899 and 1902) which supplied his new Roman +city (_Deva_) at Chester.[184] + +F. 5.--This proved a far more effectual method of conquest than any +yet adopted, and Southern Britain became so quiet and contented that +Agricola could meditate an extension of the Roman sway over the wilder +regions to the north, and even over Ireland.[185] He did not, indeed, +actually accomplish either design, but he extended the Roman frontier +to the Forth, and carried the Roman arms beyond the Tay. The game, +however, proved not worth the candle. The regions penetrated were wild +and barren, the inhabitants ferocious savages, who defended themselves +with such fury that it was not worth while to subdue them. + +F. 6.--The final battle [A.D. 84], somewhere near Inverness, is +described in minute and picturesque detail by Tacitus, who was +present. He shows us the slopes of the Grampians alive with the +Highland host, some on foot, some in chariots, armed with claymore, +dirk, and targe as in later ages. He puts into the mouth of the +leader, Galgacus, an eloquent summary of the motives which did really +actuate them, and he reports the exhortation to close the fifty years +of British warfare with a glorious victory which Agricola, no doubt, +actually addressed to his soldiers. He paints for us the wild charge +of the clans, the varying fortunes of the conflict (which at one point +was so doubtful that Agricola dismounted to fight on foot with his +men), and the final hopeless rout of the Caledonian army, with +the slaughter of ten thousand men; the Roman loss being under four +hundred--including one unlucky colonel [_praefectus cohortis_] whose +horse ran away with him into the enemy's ranks. + +F. 7.--Agricola had now the prudence to draw his stakes while the game +was still in his favour. He sent his fleet north-about (thus, for the +first time, _proving_ Britain to be an island),[186] and marched his +army across to meet it on the Clyde, whence he had already drawn his +famous rampart to the Forth, henceforward to be the extreme limit of +Roman Britain.[187] His work was now done, and well done. He resigned +his Province, and returned to Rome, in time to avoid dismissal by +Domitian, to whom preeminent merit in any subject was matter for +jealous hatred,[188] and who now made Agricola report himself by +night, and received him without one word of commendation. Had his life +been prolonged he would undoubtedly have perished, like so many of the +best of the Roman aristocracy, by the despot's hands; but just before +the unrestrained outbreak of tyranny, he suddenly died--"_felix +opportunitate mortis_"--to be immortalized by the love and genius +of his daughter's husband. And he left Britain, as it had never been +before, truly within the comity of the Roman Empire. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROMAN OCCUPATION, A.D. 85-211 + + +SECTION A. + +Pacification of Britain--Roman roads--London their centre--Authority +for names--Watling Street--Ermine Street--Icknield Way. + +A. 1.--The work of Agricola inaugurated in Britain that wonderful _Pax +Romana_ which is so unique a phenomenon in the history of the world. +That Peace was not indeed in our island so long continued or so +unbroken as in the Mediterranean lands, where, for centuries on end, +no weapon was used in anger. But even here swords were beaten into +ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks to an extent never known +before or since in our annals. So profound was the quiet that for a +whole generation Britain vanishes from history altogether. All through +the Golden Age of Rome, the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, no writer +even names her; and not till A.D. 120 do we find so much as a passing +mention of our country. But we may be sure that under such rulers the +good work of Agricola was developing itself upon the lines he had laid +down, and that Roman civilization was getting an ever firmer hold. The +population was recovering from the frightful drain of the Conquest, +the waste cities were rebuilt, and new towns sprang up all over the +land, for the most part probably on old British sites, connected by +a network of roads, no longer the mere trackways of the Britons, but +"streets" elaborately constructed and metalled. + +A. 2.--All are familiar with the Roman roads of Britain as they +figure on our maps. Like our present lines of railway, the main routes +radiate in all directions from London, and for a like reason; London +having been, in Roman days as now, the great commercial centre of the +country. The reason for this, that it was the lowest place where the +Thames could be bridged, we have already referred to.[189] We see the +_Watling Street_ roughly corresponding to the North-Western Railway on +one side of the metropolis, and to the South-Eastern on the other; the +_Ermine Street_ corresponding to the Great Northern Railway; while +the Great Western, the South-Western, the Great Eastern, and the +Portsmouth branch of the South Coast system are all represented in +like manner. We notice, perhaps, that, except the Watling Street and +the Ermine Street, all these routes are nameless; though we find four +minor roads with names crossing England from north-east to south-west, +and one from north-west to south-east. The former are the _Fosse +Way_ (from Grimsby on the Humber to Seaton on the Axe), the _Ryknield +Street_ (from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Caerleon-upon-Usk), the _Akeman +Street_ (from Wells on the Wash to Aust on the Severn), and the +_Icknield Way_ (from Norfolk to Dorset). The latter is the _Via +Devana_ (from Chester to Colchester). + +A. 3.--It comes as a surprise to most when we learn that all these +names (except the Watling Street, the Fosse, and the Icknield Way +only) are merely affixed to their respective roads by the conjectures +of 17th-century antiquarianism, Gale being their special identifier. +The names themselves (except in the case of the Via Devana) are old, +and three of them, the Ermine Street, the Icknield Street, and the +Fosse Way, figure in the inquisition of 1070 as being, together with +the Watling Street, those of the Four Royal Roads (_quatuor chimini_) +of England, the King's Highways, exempt from local jurisdiction and +under the special guard of the King's Peace. Two are said to cross the +length of the land, two its breadth. But their identification (except +in the case of the main course of Watling Street) has been matter of +antiquarian dispute from the 12th century downwards.[190] The very +first chronicler who mentions them, Geoffrey of Monmouth, makes Ermine +Street run from St. David's to Southampton, Icknield Street from St. +David's to Newcastle, and the Fosse Way from Totnes in Devon to far +Caithness; and his error has misled many succeeding authorities. That +it _is_ an error, at least with regard to the Icknield Way and the +Fosse Way, is sufficiently proved by the various mediaeval charters +which mention these roads in connection with localities along their +course as assigned by our received geography. + +As to the main Watling Street there is no dispute. Running right +across the island from the Irish Sea[191] to the Straits of Dover, it +suggested to the minds of our English ancestors the shining track of +the Milky Way from end to end of the heavens. Even so Chaucer, in his +'House of Fame,' sings: + + "Lo there!" quod he, "cast up your eye, + Se yonder, lo! the Galaxie, + The whiche men clepe the Milky Way, + For it is white, and some, parfay, + Y-callen han it Watlinge-strete." + +At Dover it still retains its name, and so it does in one part of its +course through London (which it enters as the Edgware Road, and leaves +as the Old Kent Road).[192] + +A. 4.--This name, like that of the Ermine Street, is most probably +derived from Teutonic mythology; the "Watlings" being the patrons of +handicraft in the Anglo-Saxon Pantheon, and "Irmin" the War-god from +whom "Germany" is called.[193] There is no reason to suppose that +the roads of Britain had any Roman name, like those of Italy. The +designations given them by our English forefathers show how deeply +these mighty works impressed their imagination. The term "street" +which they adopted for them shows, as Professor Freeman has pointed +out, that such engineering ability was something quite new to their +experience.[194] It is the Latin "Via _strata_" Anglicized, and +describes no mere track, but the elaborately constructed Roman +causeway, along which the soft alluvium was first dug away, and +its place taken by layers of graduated road metal, with the surface +frequently an actual pavement.[195] + +A. 5.--For the assignment of the name Ermine Street to the Great North +Road there is no ancient authority.[196] All we can say is that this +theory is more probable than that set forth by Geoffrey of Monmouth. +That the road existed in Roman times is certain, as London and York +were the two chief towns in the island; and direct communication +between them must have been of the first importance, both for military +and economical reasons. Indeed it is probably older yet. (See p. 117.) +But, with the exceptions already pointed out, the nomenclature of the +Romano-British roads is almost wholly guess-work. Some archaeological +maps show additional Watling Streets and Ermine Streets branching +in all directions over the land,[197] presumably on the authority of +local tradition. And these traditions may be not wholly unfounded; +for the same motives which made the English immigrants of one district +ascribe the handiwork of by-gone days to mythological powers might +operate to the like end in another. + +A. 6.--The origin of the names Ryknield Street and Akeman Street +is beyond discovery;[198] but that of the Icknield Street is almost +undoubtedly due to its connection with the great Icenian tribe, to +whose territory it formed the only outlet.[199] By them, in the days +of their greatness, it was probably driven to the Thames, the more +southerly extension being perhaps later. It was never, as its present +condition abundantly testifies, made into a regular Roman "Street." +The final syllable may possibly, as Guest suggests, be the A.S. _hild_ += war. + +A. 7.--Besides these main routes, a whole network of minor roads must +have connected the multitudinous villages and towns of Roman Britain, +a fact which is borne witness to by the very roundabout route often +given in the 'Itinerary' of Antoninus between places which we know +were directly connected.[200] Moreover this network must have been +at least as close as that of our present railways, and probably +approximated to that of our present roads. + + + +SECTION B. + +Romano-British towns--Ancient lists--Methods of identification--Dense +rural population--Remains in Cam valley--Coins--Thimbles--Horseshoes. + +B. 1.--Of these many Romano-British towns we have five contemporary +lists; those of Ptolemy in the 2nd century, of the Antonine +'Itinerary' in the 3rd, of the 'Notitia'[201] in the 5th, and those +of Nennius and of the Ravenna Geographer, composed while the memory of +the Roman occupation was still fresh. Ptolemy and Nennius profess to +give complete catalogues; the 'Itinerary' and 'Notitia' contain only +incidental references; while the Ravenna list, though far the most +copious, is expressly stated to be composed only of selected names. Of +these it has no fewer than 236, while the 'Notitia' gives 118, Ptolemy +60, and Nennius 28 (to which Marcus Anchoreta adds 5 more). + +B. 2.--With this mass of material[202] it might seem to be an easy +task to locate every Roman site in Britain; especially as Ptolemy +gives the latitude (and sometimes the longitude[203] also) of every +place he mentions, and the 'Itinerary' the distances between its +stations. Unfortunately it is quite otherwise; and of the whole number +barely fifty can be at all certainly identified, while more than half +cannot even be guessed at with anything like reasonable probability. +To begin with, the text of every one of these authorities is corrupt +to a degree incredible; in Ptolemy we find _Nalkua_, for example, +where the 'Itinerary' and Ravenna lists give _Calleva_; _Simeni_ +figures for _Iceni_, _Imensa_ for _Tamesis_. The 'Itinerary' itself +reads indiscriminately _Segeloco_ and _Ageloco_, _Lagecio_ and +_Legeolio_; and examples might be multiplied indefinitely. In Nennius, +particularly, the names are so disguised that, with two or three +exceptions, their identification is the merest guess-work; _Lunden_ is +unmistakable, and _Ebroauc_ is obviously York; but who shall say what +places lie hid under _Meguaid_, _Urnath_, _Guasmoric_, and _Celemon_? +And if this corruption is bad amongst the names, it absolutely runs +riot amongst the numbers, both in Ptolemy and the 'Itinerary,' so that +the degrees of the former and the distances of the latter are alike +grievously untrustworthy guides. Ptolemy, for example, says that the +longest day in London is 18 hours, an obvious mistake for 17, as the +context clearly shows. There is further the actual equation of error +in each authority: Ptolemy, for all his care, has confused +Exeter (_Isca Damnoniorum_) with the more famous _Isca Silurum_ +(Caerleon-on-Usk); and there are blunders in his latitude and +longitude which cannot wholly be ascribed to textual corruption. Still +another difficulty is that then, as now, towns quite remote from each +other bore the same name, or names very similar. Not only were two +called _Isca_, but three were _Venta_, two _Calleva_, two _Segontium_, +and no fewer than seven _Magna_; while _Durobrivae_ is only too like +to _Durocobrivae_, _Margiodunum_ to _Moridunum_, _Durnovaria_ to +_Durovernum_, etc. The last name even gets confounded with _Dubris_ by +transcribers. + +B. 3.--In all the lists we are struck by the extraordinary +preponderance of northern names. Half the sites given by Ptolemy lie +north of the Humber, and this is also the case with the Ravenna list, +while in the 'Notitia' the proportion is far greater. In the last case +this is due to the fact that the military garrisons, with which the +catalogue is concerned, were mainly quartered in the north, and a like +explanation probably holds good for the earlier and later lists +also. Nennius, as is to be expected, draws most of his names from the +districts which the Saxons had not yet reached; all being given with +the Celtic prefix _Caer_ (=city). + +B. 4.--Amid all these snares the most certain identification of a +Roman site is furnished by the discovery of inscriptions relating to +the special troops with which the name is associated in historical +documents. When, for example, we find in the Roman station at +Birdoswald, on the Wall of Hadrian, an inscription recording the +occupation of the spot by a Dacian cohort, and read in the 'Notitia' +that such a cohort was posted at _Amboglanna per lineam Valli_, we +are sure that Amboglanna and Birdoswald are identical. This method, +unfortunately, helps us very little except on the Wall, for the +legionary inscriptions elsewhere are found in many places with which +history does not particularly associate the individual legions thus +commemorated.[204] However, the special number of such traces of the +Second Legion at Caerleon, the Twentieth at Chester, and the Sixth at +York, would alone justify us in certainly determining those places +to be the Isca, Deva, and Eboracum given as their respective +head-quarters in our documentary and historical evidence. + +B. 5.--In the case of York another proof is available; for the name, +different as it sounds, can be traced, by a continuous stream of +linguistic development, through the Old English Eorfowic to the Roman +_Eboracum_. In the same way the name of _Dubris_ has unmistakably +survived in Dover, _Lemannae_ in Lympne, _Regulbium_ in Reculver. +_Colonia, Glevum_, _Venta, Corinium, Danum_, and _Mancunium_, with the +suffix "chester,"[205] have become Colchester, Gloucester, Winchester, +Cirencester, Doncaster, and Manchester. Lincoln is _Lindum Colonia_, +Richborough, _Ritupis_; while the phonetic value of the word London +has remained absolutely unaltered from the very first, and varies but +slightly even in its historical orthography. + +B. 6.--With names of this class, of which there are about thirty, +for a starting-point, we can next, by the aid of our various lists +(especially Ptolemy's, which gives the tribe in which each town lies, +and the 'Itinerary'), assign, with a very high degree of probability, +some thirty more--similarity of name being still more or less of +a guide. For example, when midway between _Venta_ (Winchester) and +_Sorbiodunum_ (Sarum) the 'Itinerary' places _Brige_, and the name +_Broughton_ now occupies this midway spot, _Brige_ and _Broughton_ may +be safely assumed to be the same. This method shows Leicester to +be the Roman _Ratae_, Carlisle to be _Luguvallum_, Newcastle +_Pons Aelii_, etc., with so much probability that none of these +identifications have been seriously disputed amongst antiquaries; +while few are found to deny that Cambridge represents +_Camboricum_,[206] Huntingdon (or Godmanchester) _Durolipons_, +Silchester _Calleva_, etc. A list of all the sites which may be said +to be fairly certified will be found at the end of this chapter. + +B. 7.--Beyond them we come to about as many more names in our ancient +catalogues of which all we can say is that we know the district to +which they belong, and may safely apply them to one or other of the +existing Roman sites in that district; the particular application +being disputed with all the heat of the _odium archaeologicum_. Thus +_Bremetonacum_ was certainly in Lancashire; but whether it is +now Lancaster, or Overborough, or Ribchester, we will not say; +_Caesaromagum_ was certainly in Essex; but was it Burghstead, Widford, +or Chelmsford? And was the original _Camalodunum_ at Colchester, +Lexden, or Maldon? + +B. 8.--And, yet further, we find, especially in the Ravenna list, +multitudes of names with nothing whatever to tell us of their +whereabouts; though nearly all have been seized upon by rival +antiquaries, and ascribed to this, that, and the other of the endless +Roman sites which meet us all over the country.[207] + +B. 9.--For it must be remembered that there are very few old towns in +England where Roman remains have not been found, often in profusion; +and even amongst the villages such finds are exceedingly common +wherever excavations on any large scale have been undertaken. Thus +in the Cam valley, where the "coprolite" digging[208] resulted in +the systematic turning over of a considerable area, their number +is astounding, proving the existence of a teeming population. Many +thousands of coins were turned up, scarcely ever in hordes, but +scattered singly all over the land, testifying to the amount of petty +traffic which must have gone on generation after generation. For these +coins are very rarely of gold or silver, and amongst them are found +the issues of every Roman Emperor from Augustus to Valentinian III. +And, besides the coins, the soil was found to teem with fragments of +Roman pottery; while the many "ashpits" discovered--as many as thirty +in a single not very large field--have furnished other articles of +domestic use, such as thimbles.[209] Even horseshoes have been found, +though their use only came in with the 5th century of our era.[210] + +B. 10.--Now there is no reason for supposing that the Cam valley was +in any way an exceptionally prosperous or populous district in the +Roman period. It contained but one Roman town of even third-class +importance, Cambridge, and very few of the "villas" in which the +great landed proprietors resided. The wealth of remains which it has +furnished is merely a by-product of the "coprolite" digging, and it +is probable that equally systematic digging would have like results in +almost any alluvial district in the island. We may therefore regard +it as fairly established that these districts were as thickly peopled +under the Romans as at any other period of history, and that the +agricultural population of our island has never been larger than in +the 3rd and 4th centuries, till its great development in the 19th. + + + +SECTION C. + +Fortification of towns late--Chief Roman +centres--London--York--Chester--Bath--Silchester--Remains there +found--Romano-British handicrafts--Pottery--Basket work--Mining--Rural +life--Villas--Forests--Hunting dogs--Husbandry--Britain under the _Pax +Romana_. + +C. 1.--The profound peace which reigned in these rural districts is +shown by the fact that Roman weapons are the rarest of all finds, far +less common than the earlier British or the ensuing Saxon.[211] At the +same time it is worthy of note that every Roman town which has been +excavated has been found to be fortified, often on a most formidable +scale. Thus at London there still remains visible a sufficiently large +fragment of the wall to show that it must have been at least thirty +feet high, while that of Silchester was nine feet thick, with a fosse +of no less than thirty yards in width. And at Cirencester the river +Churn or Corin (from which the town took its name _Corinium_) was made +to flow round the ramparts, which consisted first of an outer +facing of stone, then of a core of concrete, and finally an earthen +embankment within, the whole reaching a width of at least four yards. +It is probable, however, that these defences, like those of so many of +the Gallic cities, and like the Aurelian walls of Rome itself; belong +to the decadent period of Roman power, and did not exist (except +in the northern garrisons and the great legionary stations, York, +Chester, and Caerleon) during the golden age of Roman Britain.[212] + +C. 2.--Their circuit, where it has been traced, furnishes a rough +gauge of the comparative importance of the Roman towns of Britain. +Far at the head stands London, where the names of Ludgate, Newgate, +Aldersgate, Moorgate, Bishopsgate, and Aldgate still mark the ancient +boundary line, five miles in extent (including the river-front), +nearly twice that of any other town.[213] And abundant traces of the +existence of a flourishing suburb have been discovered on the southern +bank of the river. To London ran nearly all the chief Roman roads, and +the shapeless block now called London Stone was once the _Milliarium_ +from which the distances were reckoned along their course throughout +the land.[214] + +C. 3.--The many relics of the Roman occupation to be seen in the +Museum at the Guildhall bear further testimony to the commercial +importance of the City in those early days, an importance primarily +due, as we have already seen, to the natural facilities for crossing +the Thames at London Bridge.[215] The greatness of Roman London seems, +however, to have been purely commercial. We do not even know that it +was the seat of government for its own division of Britain. It was +not a Colony, nor (in spite of the exceptional strength of the site, +surrounded, as it was, by natural moats)[216] does it ever appear as +of military importance till the campaign of Theodosius at the very end +of the chapter.[217] In the 'Notitia' it figures as the head-quarters +of the Imperial Treasury, and about the same date we learn that the +name Augusta had been bestowed upon the town, as on Caerleon and on +so many others throughout the Empire, though the older "London" still +remained unforgotten.[218] + +C. 4.--But, so far as Britain had a recognized capital at all, +York and not London best deserved that name. For here was the chief +military nerve-centre of the land, the head-quarters of the Army, +where the Commander-in-Chief found himself in ready touch with the +thick array of garrisons holding every strategic point along the +various routes by which any invader who succeeded in forcing the Wall +would penetrate into the land. At York, accordingly, the Emperors who +visited Britain mostly held their court; beginning with Hadrian, who +here established the Sixth Legion which he had brought over with him, +possibly incorporating with it the remains of the Ninth, traces of +which are here found. And here it remained permanently quartered to +the very end of the Roman occupation, as abundant inscriptions, +etc. testify. One of these, found in the excavations for the railway +station, is a brass tablet with a dedication (in Greek) to _The +Gods of the Head Praetorium_ [[Greek: theois tois tou haegemonikou +praitoriou]], bearing witness to the essential militarism of the city. + +C. 5.--A Praetorium, moreover, was not merely a military centre. It +was also, as at Jerusalem, a Judgment Hall; and here, probably, the +_Juridicus Britanniae_[219] exercised his functions, which would +seem to have been something resembling those of a Lord Chief Justice. +Precedents laid down by his Court are quoted as still in force even by +the Codex of Justinian (555). One of these incidentally lets us know +that the Romans kept up not only a British Army, but a British Fleet +in being.[220] The latter, probably, as well as the former, had its +head-quarters at York, where the Ouse of old furnished a far more +available waterway than now. Even so late as 1066 the great fleet of +Harold Hardrada could anchor only a few miles off, at Riccall: and +there is good evidence that in the Roman day the river formed an +extensive "broad" under the walls of York itself. As at Portsmouth and +Plymouth to-day, the presence of officers and seamen of the Imperial +Navy must have added to the military bustle in the streets of +Eboracum; while tesselated pavements, unknown in the ruder fortresses +of the Wall, testify to the softer side of social life in a garrison +town. + +C. 6.--Chester [Deva] was also a garrison town, the head-quarters +of the Twentieth Legion; so was Caerleon-upon-Usk [Isca], with the +Second. A detachment was almost certainly detailed from one or other +of these to hold Wroxeter [Uriconium], midway between them;[221] thus +securing the line of the Marches between the wild districts of Wales +and the more fertile and settled regions eastward. And the name of +Leicester records the fact (not otherwise known to us) that here too +was a military centre; probably sufficient to police the rest of the +island.[222] + +C. 7.--Gloucester, Colchester, and Lincoln, as being Colonies, may +have been also, perhaps, always fortified, and possibly garrisoned. +But in the ordinary Romano-British town, such as London, +Silchester, or Bath,[223] the life was probably wholly civilian. +The fortifications, if the place ever had any, were left to decay +or removed, the soldiery were withdrawn or converted into a mere +_gendarmerie_, and under the shield of the _Pax Romana_, the towns +were as open as now. And as little as now did they look forward to +a time when each would have to become a strongly-held place of arms +girded in by massive ramparts, yet destined to prove all too weak +against the sweep of barbarian invasion. + +C. 8.--On most of these sites continuous occupation for many +subsequent ages has blotted out the vestiges of their Roman day. Every +town has a tendency literally to bury its past; and the larger the +town the deeper the burial. Thus at London the Roman pavements, etc. +found are some twenty feet below the present surface, at Lincoln some +six or seven, and so forth. To learn how a Roman town was actually +laid out we must have recourse to those places which for some reason +have not been resettled since their destruction at the Anglo-Saxon +conquest, such as Wroxeter and Silchester, where the remains +accordingly lie only a foot or two below the ground. The former has +been little explored, but the latter has for the last ten years +been systematically excavated under the auspices of the Society of +Antiquaries, the portions unearthed being reburied year by year, after +careful examination and record.[224] + +C. 9.--The greater part of the site has thus been already (1903) dealt +with; proving the town to have been laid out on a regular plan, with +straight streets dividing it, like an American city, into rectangular +blocks. Twenty-eight of these have, so far, been excavated. They are +from 100 to 150 yards in length and breadth, arranged, like the blocks +in a modern town, with houses all round, and a central space for +gardens, back-yards, etc. The remains found (including coins from +Caligula to Arcadius) prove that the site was occupied during the +whole of the Roman period. Originally it was, in all probability, one +of the towns built for the Britons by Agricola[225] on the distinctive +Roman pattern, with a central forum, town hall, baths, temples, and an +amphitheatre outside the city limits. + +C. 10.--The forum was flanked by a vast basilica, no less than 325 +feet in length by 125 in breadth, with apses of 39 feet radius.[226] A +smaller edifice of basilican type is generally supposed to have been +a Christian church. It stands east and west, and consists of a nave 30 +feet long by 10 broad, flanked by 5-feet aisles, with a narthex of 7 +feet (extending right across the building) at the east end, and at +the west an apse of 10 feet radius, having in the centre a tesselated +pavement 6 feet square, presumably for the Altar.[227] + +C. 11.--The main street of Silchester ran east and west, and _may_ +have been the main road from London to Bath; while that which crosses +it at the forum was perhaps an extension of the Icknield Way +from Wallingford to Winchester. A third road led straight to Old +Sarum,[228] and there may have been others. Silchester lies about +half-way between Reading and Basingstoke. + +C. 12.--The relics of domestic life found indicate a high order of +peaceful civilization. Abundance of domestic pottery (some of it +the glazed ware manufactured at Caistor on the Nen), many bones +of domestic animals (amongst them the cat),[229] finger-rings +with engraved gems, and the like, have been discovered in the old +wells[230] and ashpits. More remarkable was the unearthing (in 1899) +of the plant of a silver refinery,[231] showing that the method +employed was analogous to that in vogue amongst the Japanese to-day, +and that bone-ash was used in the construction of the hearths.[232] +The houses were mainly built of red clay (on a foundation wall of +flint and mortar) filled into a timber frame-work and supported by +lath or wattle. The exterior was stamped with ornamental patterns, +as in modern "parjetting" (which may thus very possibly be an actual +survival from Roman days). This clay has in most cases soaked away +into a mere layer of red mud overlying the pavements; but in 1901 +there was unearthed a house in which a fortunate fire had calcined it +into permanent brick, still retaining the parjetting and the impress +of wattle and timber. But the whole site has not provided a single +weapon of any sort or kind, and the construction of the defences +clearly shows that they formed no part of the original plan on which +the place was laid out.[233] They were probably, as we have said, +added at the break up of the Pax Romana. + +C. 13.--With the exception of the silver refinery above mentioned, +nothing has appeared to tell us what handicrafts were practised +at Silchester; but such industries formed a noteworthy feature of +Romano-British life. Naturally the largest traces have been left in +connection with that most imperishable of all commodities, pottery. +The kilns where it was made are frequently met with in excavations; +and individual vases, jugs,[234] cups, and amphorae (often of very +large dimensions) constantly appear. Many of these are beautifully +modelled and finished, and not unseldom glazed in various ways. But +there is no evidence that the delicate "Samian" ware[235] was ever +manufactured in Britain, though every house of any pretensions +possessed a certain store of it. The indigenous art of +basket-making[236] also continued as a speciality of Britain under the +Romans, and the indigenous mining for tin, lead, iron, and copper was +developed by them on the largest scale. In every district where these +metals are found, in Cornwall, in Somerset, in Wales, in Derbyshire, +and in Sussex, traces of Roman work are apparent, dating from the very +beginning of the occupation to the very end. The earliest known +Roman inscription found in Britain is one of A.D. 49 (the year before +Ostorius subdued the Iceni) on a pig of lead from the Mendips,[237] +and similar pigs bearing the Labarum, _i.e._ not earlier than +Constantine presumably, have been dredged up in the Thames below +London.[238] Inscriptions also survive to tell us of a few amongst +the many other trades which must have figured in Romano-British +life,--goldsmiths, silversmiths, iron-workers, stone-cutters, +sculptors, architects, eye-doctors, are all thus commemorated.[239] + +C. 14.--But then, as always, the life of Britain was mainly rural. The +evidence for this unearthed in the Cam valley has already been spoken +of, and in every part of England the "villas" of the great Roman +landowners are constantly found. Hundreds have already been +discovered, and year by year the list is added to. One of the most +recent of the finds is that at Greenwich in 1901, and the best known, +perhaps, that at Brading in the Isle of Wight. Here, as elsewhere, +the tesselated pavements, the elaborate arrangements for warming (by +hypocausts conveying hot air to every room), the careful laying out of +the apartments, all testify to the luxury in which these old landlords +lived. For the "villa" was the Squire's Hall of the period, and was +provided, like the great country houses of to-day, with all the best +that contemporary life could give.[240] And, like these also, it was +the centre of a large circle of humbler dependencies wherein resided +the peasantry of the estate and the domestics of the mansion.[241] The +existence amongst these of huntsmen (as inscriptions tell) reminds +us that not only was the chase, then as now, popular amongst the +squirearchy, but that there was a far larger scope for its exercise. +Great forests still covered a notable proportion of the soil (the +largest being that which spread over the whole Weald of Sussex)[242], +and were tenanted by numberless deer and wild swine, along with the +wolves, and, perhaps, bears,[243] that fed upon them. + +C. 15.--Hence it came about that during the Roman occupation the +British products we find most spoken of by classical authors are the +famous breeds of hunting-dogs produced by our island. Oppian[244] +[A.D. 140] gives a long description of one sort, which he describes +as small [Greek: _baion_], awkward [Greek: _guron_], long-bodied, +rough-haired, not much to look at, but excellent at scenting out their +game and tackling it when found--like our present otter-hounds. The +native name for this strain was Agasseus. Nemesianus[245] [A.D. 280] +sings the swiftness of British hounds; and Claudian[246] refers to a +more, formidable kind, used for larger game, equal indeed to pulling +down a bull. He is commonly supposed to mean some species of mastiff; +but, according to Mr. Elton[247] mastiffs are a comparatively recent +importation from Central Asia, so that a boarhound of some sort is +more probably intended, such as may be seen depicted (along with its +smaller companion) on the fine tesselated pavement preserved in the +Corinium Museum at Cirencester.[248] Whatever the creature was, it is +probably the same as the Scotch "fighting dog," which figures in the +4th century polemics as a huge massive brute of savage temper[249] +and evil odour,[250] to which accordingly controversialists rejoice +in likening their ecclesiastical opponents.[251] Jerome incidentally +tells us that "Alpine" dogs were of this Scotch breed, which thus may +possibly be the original strain now developed into the St. Bernard. + +C. 16.--But the existence of such tracts of forest, even when very +extensive, is quite compatible (as the present state of France shows +us) with a highly developed civilization, and a population thick upon +the ground. And that a very large area of our soil came to be under +the plough at least before the Roman occupation ended is proved by the +fact that eight hundred wheat-ships were dispatched from this island +by Julian the Apostate for the support of his garrisons in Gaul. The +terms in which this transaction is recorded suggest that wheat was +habitually exported (on a smaller scale, doubtless) from Britain to +the Continent. At all events enough was produced for home consumption, +and under the shadow of the Pax Romana the wild and warlike +Briton became a quiet cultivator of the ground, a peaceful and not +discontented dependent of the all-conquering Power which ruled the +whole civilized world. + +C. 17.--In the country the husbandman ploughed and sowed and reaped +and garnered,[252] sometimes as a freeholder, oftener as a tenant; +the miller was found upon every stream; the fisher baited his hook and +cast his net in fen and mere; the Squire hunted and feasted amid his +retainers (who were usually slaves); his wife and daughters occupied +themselves in the management of the house. The language of Rome +was everywhere spoken, the literature of Rome was read amongst the +educated classes; while amongst the peasantry the old Celtic tongue, +and with it, we may be sure, the old Celtic legends and songs, held +its own. Intercourse was easy between the various districts; for along +every great road a series of posting-stations, each with its stud of +relays, was available for the service of travellers. In the towns were +to be found schools, theatres, and courts of justice, with shops of +every sort and kind, while travelling pedlars supplied the needs of +the rural districts. No one, except actual soldiers, dreamt of bearing +arms, or indeed was allowed to do so,[253] and the general aspect of +the land was as wholly peaceful as now. But every one had to pay a +substantial proportion of his income in taxes, in the collection of +which there was not seldom a notable amount of corruption, as amongst +the publicans of Judaea. In the bad days of the decadence this became +almost intolerable;[254] but so long as the central administration +retained its integrity the amount exacted was no more than left to +every class a fair margin for the needs, and even the enjoyments, of +life. + + + +SECTION D. + +The unconquered North--Hadrian's Wall--Upper and Lower +Britain--Romano-British coinage--Wall of Antoninus--Britain +Pro-consular. + +D. 1.--The weak point of all this peaceful development was that the +northern regions of the island remained unsubdued. It was all very +well for the Roman Treasury, with true departmental shortsightedness, +to declare (as Appian[255] reports) that North Britain was a worthless +district, which could never be profitable [Greek: [_euphoron_]] to +hold. The cost would have been cheap in the end. All through the Roman +occupation it was from the north that trouble was liable to arise, +and ultimately it was the ferocious independence of the Highland clans +that brought Roman Britain to its doom. The Saxons, as tradition tells +us, would never have been invited into the land but for the ravages +of these Picts; and, in sober history, it may well be doubted whether +they could ever have effected a permanent settlement here had not the +Britons, in defending our shores, been constantly exposed to Pictish +attacks from the rear. + +D. 2.--Thus our earliest notice of Britain in this period tells us +that Hadrian (A.D. 120), our first Imperial visitor since Claudius +(A.D. 44), found it needful (after a revolt which cost many lives, +and involved, as it seems, the final destruction of the unlucky Ninth +Legion, which had already fared so badly in Boadicea's rebellion[256]) +to supplement Agricola's rampart, between Forth and Clyde, with +another from sea to sea, between Tynemouth and Solway, "dividing the +Romans from the barbarians."[257] This does not mean that the district +thus isolated was definitely abandoned,[258] but that its inhabitants +were so imperfectly Romanized that the temptation to raid the more +civilized lands to the south had better be obviated. The Wall of +Hadrian marked the real limit of Roman Britain: beyond it was a +"march," sometimes strongly, more often feebly, garrisoned, but never +effectually occupied, much less civilized. The inhabitants, indeed, +seem to have rapidly lost what civilization they had. Dion Cassius +describes them, in the next generation, as far below the Caledonians +who opposed Agricola, a mere horde of squalid and ferocious +cannibals,[259] going into battle stark-naked (like their descendants +the Galwegians a thousand years later),[260] having neither chief nor +law, fields nor houses. The name Attacotti, by which they came finally +to be known, probably means _Tributary_, and describes their nominal +status towards Rome. + +D. 3.--How hopeless the task of effectually incorporating these +barbarians within the Empire appeared to Hadrian is shown by the +extraordinary massiveness of the Wall which he built[261] to keep them +out from the civilized Provinces[262] to the southwards. "Uniting the +estuaries of Tyne and Solway it chose the strongest line of defence +available. Availing itself of a series of bold heights, which slope +steadily to the south, but are craggy precipices to the north, as if +designed by Nature for this very purpose, it pursued its mighty course +across the isthmus with a pertinacious, undeviating determination +which makes its remains unique in Europe, and one of the most +inspiriting scenes in Britain."[263] Its outer fosse (where the nature +of the ground permits) is from 30 to 40 feet wide and some 20 deep, so +sloped that the whole was exposed to direct fire from the Wall, +from which it is separated by a small glacis [_linea_] 10 or 12 feet +across. Beyond it the upcast earth is so disposed as to form the +glacis proper, for about 50 feet before dipping to the general ground +level. The Wall itself is usually 8 feet thick, the outer and inner +faces formed of large blocks of freestone, with an interior core of +carefully-filled-in rubble. The whole thus formed a defence of the +most formidable character, testifying strongly to the respect in which +the valour of the Borderers against whom it was constructed was held +by Hadrian and his soldiers.[264] + +D. 4.--This expedition of Hadrian is cited by his biographer, Aelius +Spartianus, as the most noteworthy example of that invincible activity +which led him to take personal cognizance of every region in his +Empire: "_Ante omnes enitebatur ne quid otiosum vel emeret aliquando +vel pasceret."_ His contempt for slothful self-indulgence finds vent +in his reply to the doggerel verses of Florus, who had written: + + _Ego nolo Caesar esse, ["To be Caesar I'd not care, + Ambulare per Britannos, Through the Britons far to fare, + Scythicas pati pruinas_. Scythian frost and cold to bear."] + +Hadrian made answer: + + _Ego nolo Florus esse, ["To be Florus I'd not care, + Ambulare per tabernas, Through the tavern-bars to fare, + Cimices pati rotundas_. Noxious insect-bites to bear."] + +To us its special interest (besides the Wall) is found in the bronze +coins commemorating the occasion, the first struck with special +reference to Britain since those of Claudius. These are of various +types, but all of the year 120 (the third Consulate of Hadrian); and +the reverse mostly represents the figure so familiar on our present +bronze coinage, Britannia, spear in hand, on her island rock, with her +shield beside her.[265] This type was constantly repeated with slight +variations in the coinage of the next hundred years; and thus, when, +after an interval of twelve centuries, the British mint began once +more, in the reign of Charles the Second, to issue copper, this device +was again adopted, and still abides with us. The very large number of +types (approaching a hundred) of the Romano-British coinage, from this +reign to that of Caracalla, shows that Hadrian inaugurated the system +of minting coins not only with reference to Britain, but for special +local use. They were doubtless struck within the island; but we can +only conjecture where the earliest mints were situated. + +D. 5.--Twenty years after Hadrian's visit we again find (A.D. +139) some little trouble in the north, owing to a feud between the +Brigantes and Genuini, a clan of whom nothing is known but the name. +The former seem to have been the aggressors, and were punished by the +confiscation of a section of their territory by Lollius Urbicus, +the Legate of Antoninus Pius; who further "shut off the excluded +barbarians by a turf wall" (_muro cespitio submotis[266] barbaris +ducto_). The context connects this operation with the Brigantian +troubles; but it is certain that Lollius repaired and strengthened +Agricola's rampart between Forth and Clyde. His name is found in +inscriptions along that line,[267] and that of Antoninus is frequent. +This work consisted of a _vallum_ some 40 miles in length, from +Carriden to Dumbarton, with fortified posts at frequent intervals. +It is locally known as "Graham's Dyke," and, since 1890, has been +systematically explored by the Glasgow Archaeological Society. It is +in the strictest sense "a turf wall"--no mere grass-grown earthwork, +but regularly built of squared sods in place of stones (sometimes on +a stone base). Roman engineers looked upon such a rampart as being the +hardest of all to construct. + + + +SECTION E. + +Commodus Britannicus--Ulpius Marcellus--Murder of Perennis--Era of +military turbulence--Pertinax--Albinus--British Army defeated at +Lyons--Severus--Caledonian war--Severus overruns Highlands. + +E. 1.--It may very probably be owing to the energy of Lollius that +Britain, "Upper" and "Lower" together as it seems, as inscriptions +tell us, was about this date ranked amongst the Senatorial Provinces +of the Empire, the Pro-consul being C. Valerius Pansa. That it should +have been made a Pro-consulate shows (as is pointed out on p. 142) +that they were now considered amongst the more peaceful governorships. +In fact, though some slight disturbances threatened at the death of +Antoninus (A.D. 161), the country remained quiet till Commodus came to +the throne (A.D. 180). Then, however, we hear of a serious inroad of +the northern barbarians, who burst over the Roman Wall and were not +repulsed without a hard campaign. The Roman commander was Ulpius +Marcellus, a harsh but devoted officer, who fared like a common +soldier, and insisted on the strictest vigilance, being himself "the +most sleepless of generals."[268] The British Army, accordingly, swore +by him, and were minded to proclaim him Emperor,[2] a matter which +all but cost him his life at the hands of Commodus; who, however, +contented himself with assuming, like Claudius, the title of +Britannicus, in virtue of this success.[2] The further precaution was +taken of cashiering not only Ulpius but all the superior officers +of this dangerous army; men of lower rank and less influence being +substituted. The soldiers, however, defeated the design by breaking +out into open mutiny, and tearing to pieces the "enemy of the Army," +Perennis, Praefect of the Praetorian Guards, who had been sent from +Rome (A.D. 185) to carry out the reform.[269] + +E. 2.--This episode shows us how great a solidarity the Army of +Britain had by this time developed. It was always the policy of +Imperial Rome to recruit the forces stationed throughout the Provinces +not from the natives around them, but from those of distant regions. +Inscriptions tell that the British Legions were chiefly composed of +Spaniards, Aquitanians, Gauls, Frisians, Dalmatians, and Dacians; +while from the 'Notitia' we know that, in the 5th century, such +distant countries as Mauretania, Libya, and even Assyria,[270] +furnished contingents. Britons, in turn, served in Gaul, Spain, +Illyria, Egypt, and Armenia, as well as in Rome itself. + +E. 3.--The outburst which led to the slaughter of Perennis was but the +dawn of a long era of military turbulence in Britain. First came the +suppression of the revolt A.D. 187 by the new Legate,[271] Pertinax, +who, at the peril of his life, refused the purple offered him by the +mutineers,[272] and drafted fifteen hundred of the ringleaders into +the Italian service of Commodus;[273] then Commodus died (A.D. 192), +and Pertinax became one of the various pretenders to the Imperial +throne; then followed his murder by Julianus, while Albinus succeeded +to his pretensions as well as to his British government; then that of +Julianus by Severus; then the desperate struggle between Albinus and +Severus for the Empire; the crushing defeat (A.D. 197) of the British +Army at Lyons, the death of Albinus,[274] and the final recognition of +Severus[275] as the acknowledged ruler of the whole Roman world. + +E. 4.--Of all the Roman Emperors Severus is the most closely connected +with Britain. The long-continued political and military confusion +amongst the conquerors had naturally excited the independent tribes +of the north. In A.D. 201 the Caledonians beyond Agricola's rampart +threatened it so seriously that Vinius Lupus, the Praetor, was fain +to buy off their attack; and, a few years later, they actually joined +hands with the nominally subject Meatae within the Pale, who thereupon +broke out into open rebellion, and, along with them, poured down upon +the civilized districts to the south. So extreme was the danger that +the Prefect of Britain sent urgent dispatches to Rome, invoking the +Emperor's own presence with the whole force of the Empire. + +E. 5.--Severus, in spite of age and infirmity,[276] responded to the +call, and, in a marvellously short time, appeared in Britain, bringing +with him his worthless sons, Caracalla[277] and Geta[278]--"my +Antonines," as he fondly called them,[279] though his life was already +embittered by their wickedness,--and Geta's yet more worthless mother, +Julia Domna. Leaving her and her son in charge south of Hadrian's +Wall, Severus and Caracalla undertook a punitive expedition[280] +beyond it, characterized by ferocity so exceptional[281] that the +names both of Caledonians and Meatae henceforward disappear from +history. The Romans on this occasion penetrated further than even +Agricola had gone, and reached Cape Wrath, where Severus made careful +astronomical observations.[282] + +E. 6.--But the cost was fearful. Fifty thousand Roman soldiers +perished through the rigour of the climate and the wiles of the +desperate barbarians; and Severus felt the north so untenable that he +devoted all his energies to strengthening Hadrian's Wall,[283] so as +to render it an impregnable barrier beyond which the savages might be +allowed to range as they pleased.[284] + +E. 7.--In what, exactly, his additions consisted we do not know, but +they were so extensive that his name is no less indissolubly connected +with the Wall than that of Hadrian. The inscriptions of the latter +found in the "Mile Castles" show that the line was his work, and +that he did not merely, as some have thought, build the series of +"stations" to support the "Vallum." But it is highly probable that +Severus so strengthened the Wall both in height and thickness as to +make it[285] far more formidable than Hadrian had left it. For now it +was intended to be the actual _limes_ of the Empire. + + + +SECTION F. + +Severus completes Hadrian's Wall--Mile +Castles--Stations--Garrison--Vallum--Rival +theories--Evidence--Remains--Coins--Altars--Mithraism--Inscription to +Julia Domna--"Written Rock" on Gelt--Cilurnum aqueduct. + +F. 1.--It is to Severus, therefore, that we owe the final development +of this magnificent rampart, the mere remains of which are impressive +so far beyond all that description or drawing can tell. Only those +who have stood upon the heights by Peel Crag and seen the long line of +fortification crowning ridge after ridge in endless succession as +far as the eye can reach, can realize the sense of the vastness and +majesty of Roman Imperialism thus borne in upon the mind. And if this +is so now that the Wall is a ruin scarcely four feet high, and, but +for its greater breadth, indistinguishable from the ordinary local +field-walls, what must it have been when its solid masonry rose to +a height of over twenty feet; with its twenty-three strong +fortresses[286] for the permanent quarters of the garrison, its +great gate-towers[287] at every mile for the accommodation of the +detachments on duty, and its series of watch-turrets which, at every +three or four hundred yards, placed sentinels within sight and call of +each other along the whole line from sea to sea? + +F. 2.--Of all this swarming life no trace now remains. So entirely did +it cease to be that the very names of the stations have left no shadow +of memories on their sites. Luguvallum at the one end, and Pons +Aelii at the other, have revived into importance as Carlisle and +Newcastle,[288] but of the rest few indeed remain save as solitary +ruins on the bare Northumbrian fells tenanted only by the flock and +the curlew. But this very solitude in which their names have perished +has preserved to us the means of recovering them. Thanks to it there +is no part of Britain so rich in Roman remains and Roman inscriptions. +At no fewer than twelve of these "stations" such have been already +found relating to troops whom we know from the 'Notitia' to have been +quartered at given spots _per lineam valli_. A Dacian cohort (for +example) has thus left its mark at Birdoswald, and an Asturian +at Chesters, thereby stamping these sites as respectively the +_Amboglanna_ and _Cilurnum_, whose Dacian and Asturian garrisons the +'Notitia' records. The old walls of Cilurnum, moreover, are still +clothed with a pretty little Pyrenaean creeper, _Erinus Hispanicus_, +which these Asturian exiles must have brought with them as a memorial +of their far-off home. + +F. 3.--Many such small but vivid touches of the past meet those who +visit the Wall. At "King Arthur's Well," for example, near Thirlwall, +the tiny chives growing in the crevices of the rock are presumably +descendants of those acclimatized there by Roman gastronomy. At +Borcovicus ("House-steads") the wheel-ruts still score the pavement; +at Cilurnum the hypocaust of the bath is still blackened with smoke, +and at various points the decay of Roman prestige is testified to by +the walling up of one half or the other in the wide double gates which +originally facilitated the sorties of the garrisons. + +F. 4.--The same decay is probably the key to the problem of the +"Vallum," that standing crux to all archaeological students of the +Wall. Along the whole line this mysterious earthwork keeps company +with the Wall on the south, sometimes in close contact, sometimes +nearly a mile distant. It has been diversely explained as an earlier +British work, as put up by the Romans to cover the fatigue-parties +engaged in building the Wall, and as a later erection intended to +defend the garrison against attacks from the rear. Each of these views +has been keenly debated; the last having the support of the late Dr. +Bruce, the highest of all authorities on the mural antiquities. And +excavations, even the very latest, have produced results which are +claimed by each of the rival theories.[289] + +F. 5.--Quite possibly all are in measure true. The "Vallum" as we now +see it is obviously meant for defence against a southern foe. But the +spade has given abundant evidence that the rampart has been altered, +and that, in many places at least, it at one time faced northwards. +Though not an entirely satisfactory solution of the problem, the +following sequence of events would seem, on the whole, best to explain +the phenomena with which we are confronted. Originally a British +earthwork[290] defending the Brigantes against the cattle-lifting +raids of their restless northern neighbours, the "Vallum" was +adapted[291] for like purposes by the Romans, and that more than once. +After being thus utilized, first, perhaps, by Agricola, and afterwards +by Hadrian (for the protection of his working-parties engaged in +quarrying stone for the outer fortifications), it became useless when +the Wall was finally completed,[292] and remained a mere unfortified +mound so long as the Roman power in Southern Britain continued +undisturbed. + +But when the garrison of the Wall became liable to attacks from +the rear, the "Vallum" was once more repaired, very probably by +Theodosius,[293] and this time with a ditch to the south, to enable +the soldiers to meet, if needful, a simultaneous assault of Picts in +front and Scots[294] or Saxons behind. Weak though it was as compared +to the Wall, it would still take a good deal of storming, if stoutly +held, and would effectually guard against any mere raid both the small +parties marching along the Military Way[295] from post to post, and +the cattle grazing along the rich meadows which frequently lie between +the two lines of fortification. + +F.6.--As we have said, the line of country thus occupied teems with +relics of the occupation. Coins by the thousand, ornaments, fragments +of statuary, inscriptions to the Emperors, to the old Roman gods, to +the strange Pantheistic syncretisms of the later Mithraism[296], to +unknown (perhaps local) deities such as Coventina, records of +this, that, and the other body of troops in the garrison, personal +dedications and memorials--all have been found, and are still +constantly being found, in rich abundance. Of the whole number +of Romano-British inscriptions known, nearly half belong to the +Wall.[297] + +F.7.--As an example of these inscriptions we may give one discovered +at Caervoran (the Roman _Magna_), and now in the Newcastle Antiquarian +Museum,[298] the interpretation of which has been a matter of +considerable discussion amongst antiquaries. It is written in letters +of the 3rd century and runs as follows:-- + + IMMINET . LEONIVIRGO . CAELES TI . SITV SPICIFERA . IVSTI . IN + VENTRIXVRBIVM . CONDITRIX EXQVISMVNERIBVS . NOSSECON + + + TIGITDEOS . ERGOEADEMMATERDIVVM PAX . VIRTVS . CERES . DEA . + SYRIA LANCEVITAMETIVRAPENSITANS IN . CAELOVISVMSYRIASIDVSEDI + DIT . LIBYAE . COLENDVMINDE CVNCTIDIDICIMVS + ITAINTELLEXITNVMINEINDVCTVS TVO . MARCVSCAECILIVSDO NATIANVS . + MILITANS . TRIBVNVS INPRAEFECTODONO . PRINCIPIS. + +Here we have ten very rough trochaic lines: + + Imminet Leoni Virgo caelesti situ Spicifera, justi inventrix, + urbium conditrix; Ex quis muneribus nosse contigit Deos. Ergo + eadem Mater Divum, Pax, Virtus, Ceres, Dea Syria, lance vitam + et jura pensitans. In caelo visum Syria sidus edidit Libyae + colendum: inde cuncti didicimus. Ita intellexit, numine + inductus tuo, Marcus Caecilius Donatianus, militans Tribunus + in Praefecto, dono Principis. + +This may be thus rendered: + + O'er the Lion hangs the Virgin, in her place in heaven, With + her corn-ear;--justice-finder, city-foundress, she: And in + them that do such office Gods may still be known. She, then, + is the Gods' own Mother, Peace, Strength, Ceres, all; Syria's + Goddess, in her Balance weighing life and Law. Syria sent + this Constellation shining in her sky Forth for Libya's + worship:--thence we all have learnt the lore. Thus hath + come to understanding, by the Godhead led, Marcus Caecilius + Donatianus Serving now as Tribune-Prefect, by the Prince's + grace. + +F. 8.--These obscure lines Dr. Hodgkin refers to Julia Domna, the wife +of Severus, the one Emperor that Africa gave to the Roman world. +He was an able astrologer, and from early youth considered himself +destined by his horoscope for the throne. He was thus guided by +astrological considerations to take for his second wife a Syrian +virgin, whose nativity he found to forecast queenship. As his Empress +she shared in the aureole of divinity which rested upon all members +of the Imperial family. This theory explains the references in the +inscription to the constellation Virgo, with its chief star Spica, +having Leo on the one hand and Libra on the other, also to the Syrian +origin of Julia and her connection with Libya, the home of Severus. +It may be added that Dr. Hodgkin's view is confirmed by the fact that +this Empress figures, on coins found in Britain, as the Mother of +the Gods, and also as Ceres. The first line may possibly have special +reference to her influence in Britain during the reign of Severus +and her stepson[299] Caracalla (who was also her second husband), Leo +being a noted astrological sign of Britain.[300] The inscription was +evidently put up in recognition of promotion gained by her favour, +though the exact interpretation of _Tribunus in praefecto_ requires a +greater knowledge of Roman military nomenclature than we possess. +Dr. Hodgkin's "Tribune instead of Prefect" seems scarcely admissible +grammatically. + +F. 9.--Another inscription which may be mentioned is that referred to +by Tennyson in 'Gareth and Lynette' (l. 172), which + + "the vexillary + Hath left crag-carven over the streaming Gelt."[301] + +This is one of the many such records in the quarries south of the Wall +telling of the labours of the fatigue-parties sent out by Severus +to hew stones for his mighty work, and cut on rocks overhanging the +river. It sets forth how a _vexillatio_[302] of the Second Legion +was here engaged, under a lieutenant [_optio_] named Agricola, in the +consulship of Aper and Maximus (A.D. 207);[303] perhaps as a guard +over the actual workers, who were probably a _corvee_ of impressed +natives. + +F. 10.--Yet another inscription worth notice was unearthed in 1897, +and tells how a water supply to Cilurnum was brought from a source +in the neighbourhood through a subterraneous conduit by Asturian +engineers under Ulpius Marcellus (A.D. 160). That this should have +been done brings home to us the magnificent thoroughness with which +Rome did her work. Cilurnum stood on a pure and perennial stream, the +North Tyne, with a massively-fortified bridge, and thus could never be +cut off from water; it was only some six acres in total area; yet in +addition to the river it received a water supply which would now be +thought sufficient for a fair-sized town.[304] Well may Dr. Hodgkin +say that "not even the Coliseum of Vespasian or the Pantheon of +Agrippa impresses the mind with a sense of the majestic strength of +Rome so forcibly" as works like this, merely to secure the passage of +a "little British stream, unknown to the majority even of Englishmen." + + +SECTION G. + +Death of Severus--Caracalla and Geta--Roman citizenship--Extended +to veterans--_Tabulae honestae, missionis_--Bestowed on all British +provincials. + +G. 1.--This mighty work kept Severus in Britain for the rest of his +life. He incessantly watched over its progress, and not till it was +completed turned his steps once more (A.D. 211) towards Rome. But he +was not to reach the Imperial city alive. Scarcely had he completed +the first stage of the journey than, at York, omens of fatal import +foretold his speedy death. A negro soldier presented him with a +cypress crown, exclaiming, "_Totum vicisti, totum fuisti. Nunc +Deus esto victor_."[305] When he would fain offer a sacrifice of +thanksgiving, he found himself by mistake at the dark temple of +Bellona; and her black victims were led in his train even to the +very door of his palace, which he never left again. Dark rumours were +circulated that Caracalla, who had already once attempted his father's +life, and was already intriguing with his stepmother, was at the +bottom of all this, and took good care that the auguries should be +fulfilled. Anyhow, Severus never left York till his corpse was carried +forth and sent off for burial at Rome. With his last breath he is said +solemnly to have warned "my Antonines" that upon their own conduct +depended the peace and well-being of the Empire which he had so ably +won for them.[306] + +G. 2.--The warning was, as usual, in vain. Caracalla and Julia were +now free to work their will, and, having speedily got rid of her son +Geta, entered upon an incestuous marriage. The very Caledonians, whose +conjugal system was of the loosest,[307] cried shame;[308] but +the garrison of the Wall which kept them off was, as we have seen, +officered by Julia's creatures, and all beyond it was definitely +abandoned,[309] not to be recovered for two centuries.[310] The guilty +pair returned to Rome, and a hundred and thirty years elapsed before +another Augustus visited Britain.[311] + +G. 3.--They left behind them no longer a subject race of mere +provincials, but a nation of full Roman citizens. For it was +Caracalla, seemingly, who, by extending it to the whole Roman +world, put the final stroke to the expansion, which had long been in +progress, of this once priceless privilege; with its right of appeal +to Caesar, of exemption from torture, of recognized marriage, and of +eligibility to public office. Originally confined strictly to natives +of Rome and of Roman Colonies, it was early bestowed _ipso facto_ +on enfranchised slaves, and sometimes given as a compliment to +distinguished strangers. After the Social War (B.C. 90) it was +extended to all Italians, and Claudius (A.D. 50) allowed Messalina +to make it purchasable ("for a great sum," as both the Acts of the +Apostles and Dion Cassius inform us) by provincials. + +G. 4.--And they could also earn it by service in the Imperial armies. +A bronze tablet, found at Cilurnum,[312] sets forth that Antoninus +Pius confers upon the _emeriti_, or time-expired veterans, of the +Gallic, Asturian, Celtiberian, Spanish, and Dacian cohorts in Britain, +who have completed twenty-five years' service with the colours, the +right of Roman citizenship, and legalizes their marriages, whether +existing or future.[313] As there is no reason to suppose that such +discharged soldiers commonly returned to their native land, +this system must have leavened the population of Britain with a +considerable proportion of Roman citizens, even before Caracalla's +edict. Besides its privileges, this freedom brought with it certain +liabilities, pecuniary and other; and it was to extend the area of +these that Caracalla took this apparently liberal step, which had +been at least contemplated by more worthy predecessors[314] on +philanthropic grounds. Any way, Britain was, by now, in the fullest +sense Roman. + + +ROMANO-BRITISH PLACE-NAMES.[315] + +TOWNS, ETC. + +Aballaba = Watch-cross +AESICA = GREAT CHESTERS +AMBOGLANNA = BIRDOSWALD +AQUAE (SULIS) = BATH +BORCOVICUS = HOUSE-STEADS +Branodunum = Brancaster +_Braboniacum_ = Ribchester +Brige = Broughton +_Caesaromagum = Chelmsford_ +Calcaria = Tadcaster +Calleva = Silchester +Camboricum = Cambridge +Cataractonis = Catterick +_Clausentum = Southampton_ +CILURNUM = CHESTERS +Colonia = Colchester +Concangium = Kendal +CORINIUM = CIRENCESTER +DANUM = DONCASTER +DEVA = CHESTER +_Devonis = Devonport_ +Dictis = Ambleside +DUBRIS = DOVER +DURNOVARIA = DORCHESTER +Durobrivis = Rochester +Durolipons = Godmanchester +Durnovernum = Canterbury +EBORACUM = YORK +_Etocetum = Uttoxeter_ +GLEVUM = GLOUCESTER +Gobannium = Abergavenny +ISCA SILURUM = CAERLEON +Isca Damnoniorum = Exeter +Isurium = Aldborough (York) +LEMANNAE = LYMPNE +LINDUM COLONIA = LINCOLN +_Longovicum = Lancaster_ +LONDINIUM = LONDON +Lugovallum = Carlisle +Magna = Caervoran +Mancunium = Manchester +_Moridunum = Seaton +Muridunum = Caermarthen +Olikana = Ilkley_ +Pons Aelii = Newcastle +Pontes = Staines +PORTUS = PORTCHESTER +_Procolitia = Carrawburgh_ +RATAE = LEICESTER +_Regnum = Chichester_ +REGULBIUM = RECULVER +RITUPIS = RICHBOROUGH +Segedunum = Wall's End +SORBIODUNUM = SARUM +Spinae = Speen (Berks) +URICONUM = WROXETER +VENTA BELGARUM = WINCHESTER +VENTA ICENONUM = CAISTOR-BY-NORWICH +VENTA SILURUM = CAER GWENT +VERULAMIUM = VERULAM +Vindoballa = Rutchester +Vindomara = Ebchester +Vindolana = Little Chesters + + +RIVERS AND ESTUARIES. + +Alaunus Fl. = Tweed +Belisama Est. = Mouth of Mersey +CLOTA EST. = FIRTH OF CLYDE +_Cunio Fl. = Conway_ +TUNA EST. = SOLWAY +MORICAMBE EST. = MORCAMBE BAY +SABRINA FL. = SEVERN +Setantion Est. = Mouth of Ribble +Seteia Est. = Mouth of Dee +TAMARIS FL. = TAMAR +TAMESIS FL. = THAMES +Tava Est. = Firth of Tay +_Tuerobis Fl. = Tavy_ +VARAR EST. = MORAY FIRTH +Vedra Fl. = Wear + + +CAPES AND ISLANDS. + +BOLERIUM PR. = LAND'S END +CANTIUM PR. = N. FORELAND +Epidium Pr. = Mull of Cantire +Herculis Pr. = Hartland Point +MANNA I. = MAN +MONA I. = ANGLESEY +Noranton Pr. = Mull of Galloway +OCRINUM PR. = THE LIZARD +OCTAPITARUM PR. = ST. DAVID'S HEAD +Orcas Pr. = Dunnet Head +Taexalum Pr. = Kinnaird Head +TANATOS I. = THANET +VECTIS I. = I. OF WIGHT +VIRVEDRUM PR. = CAPE WRATH + +N.B.--Many of these names vary notably in our several authorities: +e.g. Manna is also written Mona, Monaoida, Monapia, Mevania. + + + + +CHAPTER. V + +THE END OF ROMAN BRITAIN, A.D. 211-455 + + +SECTION A. + +Era of Pretenders--Probus--Vandlebury--First notice of Saxons--Origin +of name--Count of the Saxon Shore--Carausius--Allectus--Last +Romano-British coinage--Britain Mistress of the Sea--Reforms of +Diocletian--Constantius Chlorus--Re-conquest of Britain--Diocletian +provinces--Diocletian persecution--The last "Divus"--General +scramble for Empire--British Army wins for Constantine--Christianity +established. + +A. 1.--After the death of Severus in A.D. 211, Roman historians tell +us nothing more concerning Britain till we come to the rise of the +only other Emperor who died at York, Constantius Chlorus. During the +miserable period which the wickedness of Caracalla brought upon the +Roman world, when Pretender after Pretender flits across the scene, +most to fail, some for a moment to succeed, but all alike to end their +brief course in blood, our island remained fairly quiet. The Army of +Britain made one or two futile pronunciamentos (the least unsuccessful +being those for Postumus in A.D. 258, and Victorinus in A.D. 265), and +in 277 the Emperor Probus, probably to keep it in check, leavened it +with a large force recruited from amongst his Vandal prisoners,[316] +whose name may, perhaps, still survive in Vandlebury Camp, on the +Gog-Magog[317] Hills, near Cambridge. But not till the energy and +genius of Diocletian began to bring back to order the chaos into which +the Roman world had fallen does Britain play any real part in the +higher politics. + +A. 2.--Then, however, we suddenly find ourselves confronted with names +destined to exert a supreme influence on the future of our land. The +Saxons from the Elbe, and the Franks from the Rhine had already begun +their pirate raids along the coasts to the westwards.[318] Each tribe +derived its name from its peculiar national weapon (the Franks from +their throwing-axe (_franca_),[319] the Saxons from the _saexes_, long +murderous knives, snouted like a Norwegian knife of the present day, +which they used with such deadly effect);[320] and their appearance +constituted a new and fearful danger to the Roman Empire. Never, since +the Mediterranean pirates were crushed by Pompey (B.C. 66) had it been +exposed to attacks by sea. A special effort was needed to meet this +new situation, and we find, accordingly, a new officer now added to +the Imperial muster,--the Count of the Saxon Shore. His jurisdiction +extended over the northern coast of Gaul and the southern and eastern +shores of Britain, the head-quarters of his fleet being at Boulogne. + +A. 3.--The first man to be placed in this position was Carausius,[321] +a Frisian adventurer of low birth, but great military reputation, +to which unfortunately he proved unequal. When his command was not +followed by the looked-for putting-down of the pirate raiders, he was +suspected, probably with truth, of a secret understanding with them. +The Government accordingly sent down orders for his execution, to +which he replied (A.D. 286) by open rebellion, took the pirate fleets +into his pay, and having thus got the undisputed command of the sea, +succeeded in maintaining himself as Emperor in Britain for the rest of +his life. + +A. 4.--His reign and that of his successor (and murderer) Allectus +are marked by the last and most extraordinary development of +Romano-British coinage. Since the time of Caracalla no coins which can +be definitely proved to deserve this name are found; but now, in less +than ten years, our mints struck no fewer than five hundred several +issues, all of different types. Nearly all are of bronze, with the +radiated head of the Emperor on the obverse, and on the reverse +devices of every imaginable kind. The British Lion once more figures, +as in the days of Cymbeline; and we have also the Roman Wolf, the +Sea-horse, the Cow (as a symbol of Prosperity), Plenty, Peace, +Victory, Prudence, Health, Safety, Might, Good Luck, Glory, all +symbolized in various ways. But the favourite type of all is the +British warship; for now Britannia, for the first time, ruled the +waves, and was, indeed, so entirely Mistress of the Sea that her fleet +appeared even in Mediterranean waters.[322] The vessels figured are +invariably not Saxon "keels," but classical galleys, with their rams +and outboard rowing galleries, and are always represented as cleared +for action (when the great mainsail and its yard were left on shore). + +A. 5.--The usurpation of Carausius, "the pirate," as the Imperial +panegyrists called him,[323] brought Diocletian's great reform of +the Roman administration within the scope of practical politics in +Britain. The old system of Provinces, some Imperial, some Senatorial, +with each Pro-praetor or Pro-consul responsible only and immediately +to the central government at Rome, had obviously become outgrown. And +the Provinces themselves were much too large. Diocletian accordingly +began by dividing the Empire into four "Prefectures," two in the east +and two in the west. Each pair was to be under one of the co-Augusti, +who again was to entrust one of his Prefectures to the "Caesar"[324] +or heir-apparent of his choice. Thus Diocletian held the East, +while Galerius, his "Caesar," took the Prefecture of Illyricum. His +colleague Maximian, as Augustus of the West, ruled in Italy; and the +remaining Prefecture, that of "the Gauls," fell to the Western +Caesar, Constantius Chlorus. Each Prefecture, again, was divided into +"Dioceses" (that of Constantius containing those of Britain, Gaul, +Spain, and Mauretania), each under a "Vicar," and comprising a certain +number of "Provinces" (that of Britain having four). Thus a regular +hierarchy with rank above rank of responsibility was established, +and so firmly that Diocletian's system lasted (so far as provincial +government was concerned) till the very latest days of the Roman +dominion. + +A. 6.--When Constantius thus became Caesar of the West, his first +task was to restore Britain to the Imperial system. He was already, it +seems, connected with the island, and had married a British lady +named Helen.[325] Their son Constantine, a youth of special promise +(according to the panegyrists), had been born at York, about A.D. +274, and now appeared on the scene to aid his father's operations +with supernatural speed, "_quasi divino quodam curriculo_."[326] +Extraordinary celerity, indeed, marked all these operations. Allectus +was on his guard, with one squadron at Boulogne to sweep the coast +of Gaul, and another cruising in the Channel. By a sudden dash +Constantius [in A.D. 296] seized the mouth of Boulogne harbour, threw +a boom across it, "_defixis in aditu trabibus_," and effectually +barred the pirates from access to the sea.[327] Meanwhile the fleet +which he had been building simultaneously in various Gallic ports was +able to rendezvous undisturbed at Havre. + +A. 7.--His men were no expert mariners like their adversaries; and, +for this very reason, were ready, with their Caesar at their head, +to put to sea in threatening weather, which made their better-skilled +pilots hesitate. "What can we fear?" was the cry, "Caesar is with us." +Dropping down the Seine with the tide on a wild and rainy morning, +they set sail with a cross wind, probably from the north-east, a rare +thing with ancient ships. As they neared the British coast the breeze +sank to a dead calm, with a heavy mist lying on the waveless sea, in +which the fleet found it impossible to keep together. One division, +with Constantius himself on board, made their land-fall somewhere in +the west, perhaps at Exeter, the other far to the east, possibly at +Richborough. + +A. 8.--But the wonderful luck which attended Constantius, and on which +his panegyrists specially dwell, made all turn out for the best. The +mist enabled both his divisions to escape the notice of the British +fleet, which was lying off the Isle of Wight on the watch for him; and +the unexpected landing at two such distant points utterly demoralized +the usurper. Of the large force which had been mustered for land +defence, only the Frankish auxiliaries could be got together in time +to meet Constantius--who, having burnt his ships (for his only hope +now lay in victory), was marching, with his wonted speed, straight on +London. One battle,[328] in which scarcely a single Roman fell on the +British side, was enough; the corpse of Allectus [_ipse vexillarius +latrocinii_] was found, stripped of the Imperial insignia, amongst the +heaps of slain barbarians, and the routed Franks fled to London. Here, +while they were engaged in sacking the city before evacuating it, +they were set upon by the eastern division of the Roman army (under +Asclepiodotus the Praetorian Prefect)[329] and slaughtered almost to +a man. The rescued metropolis eagerly welcomed its deliverers, and the +example was followed by the rest of Britain; the more readily that the +few surviving Franks were distributed throughout the land to perish in +the provincial amphitheatres. + +A. 9.--The Diocletian system was now introduced; and, instead of +Hadrian's old divisions of Upper and Lower Britain, the island south +of his Wall was distributed into four Provinces, "Britannia Prima," +"Britannia Secunda," "Maxima Caesariensis," and "Flavia Caesariensis." +That the Thames, the Severn, and the Humber formed the frontier lines +between these new divisions is probable. But their identification, +in the current maps of Roman Britain, with the later Wessex, Wales, +Northumbria, and Mercia (with East Anglia), respectively, is purely +conjectural.[330] All that we know is that when the district between +Hadrian's Wall and Agricola's Rampart was reconquered in 369, it was +made a fifth British Province under the name Valentia. The Governor +of each Province exercised his functions under the "Vicar" of the +"Diocese," an official of "Respectable" rank--the second in precedence +of the Diocletian hierarchy (exclusive of the Imperial Family). + +A. 10.--With the Diocletian administration necessarily came the +Diocletian Persecution--an essential feature of the situation. There +is no reason to imagine that the great reforming Emperor had, like +his colleague Maximian, any personal hatred for Christianity. But +Christianity was not among the _religiones licitae_ of the Empire. +Over and over again it had been pronounced by Imperial Rescript +unlawful. This being so, Diocletian saw in its toleration merely +one of those corruptions of lax government which it was his special +mission to sweep away, and proceeded to deal with it as with any other +abuse,--to be put down with whole-hearted vigour and rigour. + +A. 11.--The Faith had by this time everywhere become so widespread +that the good-will of its professors was a political power to be +reckoned with. Few of the passing Pretenders of the Era of Confusion +had dared to despise it, some had even courted it; and thus throughout +the Empire the Christian hierarchy had been established, and Christian +churches been built everywhere; while Christians swarmed in every +department of the Imperial service,--their neglect of the official +worship winked at, while they, in turn, were not vigorous in rebuking +the idolatry of their heathen fellow-servants. Now all was changed. +The sacred edifices were thrown down, or (as in the famous case of St. +Clement's at Rome) made over for heathen worship, the sacred books and +vessels destroyed, and every citizen, however humble, had to produce +a _libellus_,[331] or magisterial certificate, testifying that he had +formally done homage to the Gods of the State, by burning incense at +their shrines, by pouring libations in their name, and by partaking of +the victims sacrificed upon their altars. Torture and death were the +lot of all recusants; and to the noble army of martyrs who now sealed +their testimony with their blood Britain is said (by Gildas) to have +contributed a contingent of no fewer than seventeen thousand, headed +by St. Alban at Verulam. + +A. 12.--So thorough-going a persecution the Church had never known. +But it came too late for Diocletian's purpose; and it was probably +the latent consciousness of his failure that impelled him, in 305, +to resign the purple and retire to his cabbage-garden at Dyrrhachium. +Maximian found himself unwillingly obliged to retire likewise; and the +two Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, became, by the operation of the +new constitution, _ipso facto_ Augusti. + +A. 13.--But already the mutual jealousy and distrust in which that +constitution was so soon to perish began to manifest themselves. +Galerius, though properly only Emperor of the East, seized on Rome, +and with it on the person of the young Constantine, whom he hoped +to keep as hostage for his father's submission. The youth, however, +contrived to flee, and post down to join Constantius in Gaul, +slaughtering every stud of relays along the entire road to delay his +pursuers. Both father and son at once sailed for Britain, where the +former shortly died, like Severus, at York. With their arrival the +persecution promptly ceased;[332] for Helena, at least, was an ardent +Christian, and her husband well-affected to the Faith. Yet, on his +death, he was, like his predecessors, proclaimed _Divus_; the last +formal bestowal of that title being thus, like the first,[333] +specially connected with Britain. Constantius was buried, according +to Nennius,[334] at Segontium, wherever that may have been; and +Constantine, though not yet even a Caesar, was at once proclaimed by +the soldiers (at his native York) Augustus in his father's room. + +A. 14.--This was the signal for a whole outburst of similar +proclamations all over the Roman world, Licinius, Constantine's +brother-in-law, declared himself Emperor at Carnutum, Maxentius, +son of Maximian and son-in-law of Galerius, in Rome, Severus in the +Illyrian provinces, and Maximin (who had been a Caesar) in Syria. +Galerius still reigned, and even Maximian revoked his resignation +and appeared once more as Augustus. But one by one this medley of +Pretenders swept each other away, and the survival of the fittest was +exemplified by the final victory of Constantine over them all. For +a few years he bided his time, and then, at the head of the British +army, marched on Rome. Clear-sighted enough to perceive that events +were irresistibly tending to the triumph of Christianity, he declared +himself the champion of the Faith; and it was not under the Roman +Eagle, but the Banner of Christ,[335] that his soldiers fought and +won. Coins of his found in Britain, bearing the Sacred Monogram which +led his men to the crowning victory of 312 at the Milvian Bridge (the +intertwined letters [Greek: Chi] and [Greek: Rho] between [Greek: +Alpha] and [Greek: Omega], the whole forming the word [Greek: ARChO], +"I reign"), with the motto _Hoc Signo Victor Eris_, testify to the +special part taken by our country in the establishment of our Faith +as the officially recognized religion of Rome,--that is to say, of the +whole civilized world. And henceforward, as long as Britain remained +Roman at all, it was a monarch of British connection who occupied +the Imperial throne. The dynasties of Constantius, Valentinian, and +Theodosius, who between them (with the brief interlude of the reign +of Julian) fill the next 150 years (300-450), were all markedly +associated with our island. So, indeed, was Julian also. + + +SECTION B. + +Spread of Gospel--Arianism--Britain orthodox--Last +Imperial visit--Heathen temples stripped--British +Emperors--Magnentius--Gratian--Julian--British corn-trade--First +inroad of Picts and Scots--Valentinian--Saxon raids--Campaign of +Theodosius--Re-conquest of Valentia. + +B. 1.--For a whole generation after the triumph of Constantine +tranquillity reigned in Britain. The ruined Christian churches were +everywhere restored, and new ones built; and in Britain, as elsewhere, +the Gospel spread rapidly and widely--the more so that the Church here +was but little troubled[336] by the desperate struggle with Arianism +which was convulsing the East. Britain, as Athanasius tells us, gave +an assenting vote to the decisions of Nicaea [[Greek: sumpsephos +etunchane]], and British Bishops actually sat in the Councils of Arles +(314) and of Ariminum (360). + +B. 2.--The old heathen worship still continued side by side with the +new Faith; but signs soon appeared that the Church would tolerate no +such rivalry when once her power was equal to its suppression. Julius +Firmicus (who wrote against "Profane Religions" in 343) implores +the sons of Constantine to continue their good work of stripping the +temples and melting down the images;--in special connection with +a visit paid by them that year to Britain[337] (our last Imperial +visit), when they had actually been permitted to cross the Channel +in winter-time; an irrefragable proof of Heaven's approval of their +iconoclasm. It is highly probable that they pursued here also a course +at once so pious and so profitable, and that the fanes of the ancient +deities but lingered on in poverty and neglect till finally suppressed +by Theodosius (A.D. 390). + +B. 3.--And now Britain resumed her _role_ of Emperor-maker.[338] +After the death of Constans, (A.D. 350), Magnentius, an officer in the +Gallic army of British birth, set up as Augustus, and was supported +by Gratian, the leader of the Army of Britain, and by his son +Valentinian. Magnentius himself had his capital at Treves, and +for three years reigned over the whole Prefecture of the Gauls. He +professed a special zeal for orthodoxy, and was the first to introduce +burning, as the appropriate punishment for heresy, into the penal code +of Christendom. Meanwhile his colleague Decentius advanced against +Constantius, and was defeated, at Nursa on the Drave, with such awful +slaughter that the old Roman Legions never recovered from the shock. +Henceforward the name signifies a more or less numerous body, more or +less promiscuously armed, such as we find so many of in the 'Notitia.' +Magnentius, in turn, was slain (A.D. 353), and the supreme command in +Britain passed to the new Caesar of the West, Julian "the Apostate." + +B. 4.--Under him we first find our island mentioned as one of the +great corn-growing districts of the Empire, on which Gaul was able to +draw to a very large extent for the supply of her garrisons. No fewer +than eight hundred wheat-ships sailed from our shores on this errand; +a number which shows how large an area of the island must have been +brought under cultivation, and how much the country had prospered +during the sixty years of unbroken internal peace which had followed +on the suppression of Allectus. + +B. 5.--That peace was now to be broken up. The northern tribes had +by this recovered from the awful chastisement inflicted upon them by +Severus,[339] and, after an interval of 150 years, once more (A.D. +362) appeared south of Hadrian's Wall. Whether as yet they _burst +through_ it is uncertain; for now we find a new confederacy of +barbarians. It is no longer that of Caledonians and Meatae, but of +Picts and Scots. And these last were seafarers. Their home was not in +Britain at all, but in the north of Ireland. In their "skiffs"[340] +they were able to turn the flank of the Roman defences, and may well +have thus introduced their allies from beyond Solway also. Anyhow, +penetrate the united hordes did into the quiet cornfields of Roman +Britain, repeating their raids ever more frequently and extending them +ever more widely, till their spearmen were cut [Errata: to] pieces in +450 at Stamford by the swords of the newly-arrived English.[341] + +B. 6.--For the moment they were driven back without much difficulty, +by Lupicinus, Julian's Legate (the first Legate we hear of in Britain +since Lollius Urbicus), who, when the death of Constantius II. (in +361) had extinguished that royal line, aided his master to become +"_Dominus totius orbis_"--as he is called in an inscription[342] +describing his triumphant campaigns "_ex oceano Britannico_." And +after "the victory of the Galilaean" (363) had ended Julian's brief +and futile attempt to restore the Higher Paganism (to which several +British inscriptions testify),[343] it was again to an Emperor from +Britain that there fell the Lordship of the World--Valentinian, son +of Gratian, whose dynasty lasted out the remaining century of +Romano-British history. + +B. 7.--His reign was marked in our land by a life-and-death struggle +with the inrushing barbarians. The Picts and Scots were now joined by +yet another tribe, the cannibal[344] Attacotti[345] of Valentia, and +their invasions were facilitated by the simultaneous raids of the +Saxon pirates (with whom they may perhaps have been actually in +concert) along the coast. The whole land had been wasted, and more +than one Roman general defeated, when Theodosius, father of the Great +Emperor, was sent, in 368, to the rescue. Crossing from Boulogne to +Richborough in a lucky calm,[346] and fixing his head-quarters at +London, or Augusta, as it was now called [_Londinium vetus oppidum, +quod Augustam posteritas apellavit_], he first, by a skilful +combination of flying columns, cut to pieces the scattered hordes of +the savages as they were making off with their booty, and finally +not only drove them back beyond the Wall, which he repaired and +re-garrisoned,[347] but actually recovered the district right up to +Agricola's rampart, which had been barbarian soil ever since the +days of Severus.[348] It was now (369) formed into a fifth British +province, and named Valentia in honour of Valens, the brother and +colleague of the Emperor. + +B. 8.--The Twentieth Legion, whose head-quarters had so long been at +Chester, seems to have been moved to guard this new province. Forty +years later Claudian speaks of it as holding the furthest outposts in +Britain, in his well-known description of the dying Pict: + + "Venit et extremis legio praetenta Britannis, + Quae Scoto dat frena truci, ferroque notatas + Perlegit exsangues Picto moriente figuras." + + ["From Britain's bound the outpost legion came, + Which curbs the savage Scot, and fading sees + The steel-wrought figures on the dying Pict."] + +The same poet makes Theodosius fight and conquer even in the Orkneys +and in Ireland; + + "--maduerunt Saxone fuso + Orcades; incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule; + Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne."[349] + + ["With Saxon slaughter flowed the Orkney strand, + With Pictish blood cold Thule warmer grew; + And icy Erin wept her Scotchmen slain."] + +The relief, however, was but momentary. Five years later (374) another +great Saxon raid is recorded; yet eight years more and the Picts and +Scots have again to be driven from the land; and in the next decade +their attacks became incessant. + + +SECTION C. + +Roman evacuation of Britain begun--Maximus--Settlement of +Brittany--Stilicho restores the Wall--Radagaisus invades +Italy--Twentieth Legion leaves Britain--Britain in the +'Notitia'--Final effort of British Army--The last Constantine--Last +Imperial Rescript to Britain--Sack of Rome by Alaric--Collapse of +Roman rule in Britain. + +C. 1.--By this time the evacuation of Britain by the Roman soldiery +had fairly begun. Maximus, the last victor over the Scots, the "Pirate +of Richborough," as Ausonius calls him, set up as Emperor (A.D. 383); +and the Army of Britain again marched on Rome, and again, as under +Constantine, brought its leader in triumph to the Capitol (A.D. 387). +But this time it did not return. When Maximus was defeated and slain +(A.D. 388) at Aquileia by the Imperial brothers-in-law Valentinian II. +and Theodosius the Great[350] (sons of the so-named leaders connected +with Britain), his soldiers, as they retreated homewards, straggled +on the march; settling, amid the general confusion, here and there, +mostly in Armorica, which now first began to be called Brittany.[351] +This tale rests only on the authority of Nennius, but it is far from +improbable, especially as his sequel--that a fresh legion dispatched +to Britain by Stilicho (in 396) once more repelled the Picts and +Scots, and re-secured the Wall--is confirmed by Claudian, who makes +Britain (in a sea-coloured cloak and bearskin head-gear) hail Stilicho +as her deliverer: + + Inde Caledonio velata Britannia monstro, Ferro picta genas, + cujus vestigia verrit Coerulus, Oceanique aestum mentitur, + amictus: "Me quoque vicinis percuntem gentibus," inquit, + "Munivit Stilichon, totam quum Scotus Iernen Movit, et infesto + spumavit remige Tethys. Illius effectum curis, ne tela timerem + Scotica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne litore toto Prospicerem dubiis + venturum Saxona ventis."[352] + + [Then next, with Caledonian bearskin cowled, Her cheek + steel-tinctured, and her trailing robe Of green-shot blue, + like her own Ocean's tide, Britannia spake: "Me too," she + cried, "in act To perish 'mid the shock of neighbouring + hordes, Did Stilicho defend, when the wild Scot All Erin + raised against me, and the wave Foamed 'neath the stroke of + many a foeman's oar. So wrought his pains that now I fear no + more Those Scottish darts, nor tremble at the Pict, Nor mark, + where'er to sea mine eyes I turn, The Saxon coming on each + shifting wind."] + +C. 2.--Which legion it was which Stilicho sent to Britain is much more +questionable. The Roman legions were seldom moved from province to +province, and it is perhaps more probable that he filled up the three +quartered in the island to something like their proper strength. But +a crisis was now at hand which broke down all ordinary rules. Rome was +threatened with such a danger as she had not known since Marius, five +hundred years before, had destroyed the Cimbri and Teutones (B.C. +101). A like horde of Teutonic invaders, nearly half a million +strong, came pouring over the Alps, under "Radagaisus the Goth," as +contemporary historians call him, though his claim, to Gothic lineage +is not undisputed. And these were not, like Alaric and his Visigoths, +who were to reap the fruits of this effort, semi-civilized Christians, +but heathen savages of the most ferocious type. Every nerve had to be +strained to crush them; and Stilicho did crush them. But it was at a +fearful cost. Every Roman soldier within reach had to be swept to the +rescue, and thus the Rhine frontier was left defenceless against the +barbarian hordes pressing upon it. Vandals, Sueves, Alans, Franks, +Burgundians, rushed tumultuously over the peaceful and fertile fields +of Gaul, never to be driven forth again. + +C. 3.--Of the three British legions one only seems to have been thus +withdrawn,--the Twentieth, whose head-quarters had been so long at +Chester, and whose more recent duty had been to garrison the outlying +province of Valentia, which may now perhaps have been again abandoned. +It seems to have been actually on the march towards Italy[353] when +there was drawn up that wonderful document which gives us our last and +completest glimpse of Roman Britain--the _Notitia Dignitatum Utriusque +Imperii_. + +C. 4.--This invaluable work sets forth in detail the whole machinery +of the Imperial Government, its official hierarchy, both civil +and military, in every land, and a summary of the forces under the +authority of each commander. A reference in Claudian would seem +to show that it was compiled by the industry of Celerinus, the +_Primicerius Notariorum_ or Head Clerk of the Treasury. The poet tells +us how this indefatigable statistician-- + + "Cunctorum tabulas assignat honorum, Regnorum tractat numeros, + constringit in unum Sparsas Imperii vires, cuneosque recenset + Dispositos; quae Sarmaticis custodia ripis, Quae saevis + objecta Getis, quae Saxona frenat Vel Scotum legio; quantae + cinxere cohortes Oceanum, quanto pacatur milite Rhenus."[354] + + ["Each rank, each office in his lists he shows, Tells every + subject realm, together draws The Empire's scattered force, + recounts the hosts In order meet;--which Legion is on guard By + Danube's banks, which fronts the savage Goth, Which curbs the + Saxon, which the Scot; what bands Begird the Ocean, what keep + watch on Rhine."] + +To us the 'Notitia' is only known by the 16th-century copies of a +10th-century MS. which has now disappeared.[355] But these were made +with exceptional care, and are as nearly as may be facsimiles of the +original, even preserving its illuminated illustrations, including the +distinctive insignia of every corps in the Roman Army. + +C. 5.--The number of these corps had, we find, grown erormously since +the days of Hadrian, when, as Dion Cassius tells us, there were 19 +"Civic Legions" (of which three were quartered in Britain). No fewer +than 132 are now enumerated, together with 108 auxiliary bodies. But +we may be sure that each of these "legions" was not the complete Army +Corps of old,[356] though possibly the 25 of the First Class, the +_Legiones Palatinae_, may have kept something of their ancient +effectiveness. Indeed it is not wholly improbable that these alone +represent the old "civil" army; the Second and Third Class +"legions," with their extraordinary names ("Comitatenses" and +"Pseudo-Comitatenses"), being indeed merely so called by "courtesy," +or even "sham courtesy." + +C. 6.--In Britain we find the two remaining legions of the +old garrison, the Second, now quartered not at Caerleon but at +Richborough, under the Count of the Saxon Shore, and the Sixth under +the "Duke of the Britains," holding the north (with its head-quarters +doubtless, as of yore, at York, though this is not mentioned). Along +with each legion are named ten "squads" [_numeri_], which may perhaps +represent the ten cohorts into which legions were of old divided. The +word cohort seems to have changed its meaning, and now to signify +an independent military unit under a "Tribune." Eighteen of these, +together with six squadrons [_alae_] of cavalry, each commanded by a +"Praefect," form the garrison of the Wall;--a separate organization, +though, like the rest of the northern forces, under the Duke of the +Britains. The ten squads belonging to the Sixth Legion (each under a +Prefect) are distributed in garrison throughout Yorkshire, +Lancashire, and Westmoreland. Those of the Second (each commanded by a +"Praepositus") are partly under the Count of the Saxon Shore, holding +the coast from the Wash to Arundel,[357] partly under the "Count of +Britain," who was probably the senior officer in the island[358] +and responsible for its defence in general. Besides these bodies of +infantry the British Army comprised eighteen cavalry units; three, +besides the six on the Wall, being in the north, three on the Saxon +Shore, and the remaining six under the immediate command of the Count +of Britain, to whose troops no special quarters are assigned. Not a +single station is mentioned beyond the Wall, which supports the theory +that the withdrawal of the Twentieth Legion had involved the practical +abandonment of Valentia.[359] + +C. 7.--The two Counts and the Duke were the military leaders of +Britain. The chief civil officer was the "respectable" Vicar of the +Diocese of Britain, one of the six Vicars under the "illustrious" +Pro-consul of Africa. Under him were the Governors of the five +Provinces, two of these being "Consulars" of "Right Renowned" rank +[_clarissimi_,] the other three "Right Perfect" [_perfectissimi_] +"Presidents." The Vicar was assisted by a staff of Civil Servants, +nine heads of departments being enumerated. Their names, however, have +become so wholly obsolete as to tell us nothing of their respective +functions. + +C. 8.--Whatever these may have been they did not include the financial +administration of the Diocese, the general management of which was in +the hands of two officers, the "Accountant of Britain" [_Rationalis +Summarum Britanniarum_] and the "Provost of the London Treasury" +[_Praepositus thesaurorum Augustensium_].[360] Both these were +subordinates of the "Count of the Sacred Largesses" [_Comes Sacrarum +Largitionum_], one of the greatest officers of State, corresponding to +our First Lord of the Treasury, whose name reminds us that all public +expenditure was supposed to be the personal benevolence of His Sacred +Majesty the Emperor, and all sources of public revenue his personal +property. The Emperor, however, had actually in every province domains +of his own, managed by the Count of the Privy Purse [_Comes Rei +Privatae_], whose subordinate in Britain was entitled the "Accountant +of the Privy Purse for Britain" [_Rationalis Rei Privatae per +Britanniam_]. Both these Counts were "Illustrious" [_illustres_]; +that is, of the highest order of the Imperial peerage below the "Right +Noble" [_nobilissimi_] members of the Imperial Family. + +C. 9.--Such and so complete was the system of civil and military +government in Roman Britain up to the very point of its sudden and +utter collapse. When the 'Notitia' was compiled, neither Celerinus, as +he wrote, nor the officials whose functions and ranks he noted, could +have dreamt that within ten short years the whole elaborate fabric +would, so far as Britain was concerned, be swept away utterly and for +ever. Yet so it was. + +C. 10.--For what was left of the British Army now made a last effort +to save the West for Rome, and once more set up Imperial Pretenders +of its own.[361] The first two of these, Marcus and Gratian, were +speedily found unequal to the post, and paid the usual penalty of such +incompetence; but the third, a private soldier named Constantine, all +but succeeded in emulating the triumph of his great namesake. For four +years (407-411) he was able to hold not only Britain, but Gaul and +Spain also under his sceptre; and the wretched Honorius, the unworthy +son and successor of Theodosius, who was cowering amid the marshes of +Ravenna, and had murdered his champion Stilicho, was fain to recognize +the usurper as a legitimate Augustus. Only by treachery was he put +down at last, the traitor being the commander of his British forces, +Gerontius. Both names continued for many an age favourites in British +nomenclature, and both have been swept into the cycle of Arturian +romance, the latter as "Geraint." + +C. 11.--Neither Gerontius nor his soldiers ever got back to their old +homes in Britain. What became of them we do not know. But Zosimus[362] +tells us that Honorius now sent a formal rescript to the British +cities abrogating the Lex Julia, which forbade civilians to carry +arms, and bidding them look to their own safety. For now the end had +really come, and the Eternal City itself had been sacked by barbarian +hands. Never before and never since does history record a sacked city +so mildly treated by the conquerors. Heretics as the Visi-goths +were, they never forgot that the vanquished Catholics were their +fellow-Christians, and, barbarians as they were, they left an example +of mercy in victory which puts to the blush much more recent Christian +and civilized warfare. + +C. 12.--But, for all that, the moral effect of Alaric's capture of +Rome was portentous, and shook the very foundations of civilization +throughout the world. To Jerome, in his cell at Bethlehem, the tidings +came like the shock of an earthquake. Augustine, as he penned his 'De +Civitate Dei,' felt the old world ended indeed, and the Kingdom of +Heaven indeed at hand. And in Britain the whole elaborate system of +Imperial civil and military government seems to have crumbled to the +ground almost at once. It is noticeable that the rescript of Honorius +is addressed simply to "the cities" of Britain, the local municipal +officers of each several place. No higher authority remained. The +Vicar of Britain, with his staff, the Count and Duke of the +Britains with their soldiery, the Count of the Saxon Shore with his +coastguard,--all were gone. It is possible that, as the deserted +provincials learnt to combine for defence, the Dictators they chose +from time to time to lead the national forces may have derived some +of their authority from the remembrance of these old dignities. "The +dragon of the great Pendragonship,"[363] the tufa of Caswallon +(633), and the purple of Cunedda[364] may well have been derived (as +Professor Rhys suggests) from this source. But practically the history +of Roman Britain ends with a crash at the Fall of Rome. + + +SECTION D. + +Beginning of English Conquest--Vortigern--Jutes in Thanet--Battle of +Stamford--Massacre of Britons--Valentinian III.--Latest Roman coin +found in Britain--Progress of Conquest--The Cymry--Survival of +Romano-British titles--Arturian Romances--Procopius--Belisarius--Roman +claims revived by Charlemagne--The British Empire. + +D. 1.--Little remains to be told, and that little rests upon no +contemporary authority known to us. In Gildas, the nearest, writing in +the next century, we find little more than a monotonous threnody over +the awful visitation of the English Conquest, the wholesale and utter +destruction of cities, the desecration of churches, the massacre of +clergy and people. Nennius (as, for the sake of convenience, modern +writers mostly agree to call the unknown author of the 'Historia +Britonum') gives us legends of British incompetence and Saxon +treachery which doubtless represent the substantial features of the +break-up, and preserve, quite possibly, even some of the details. Bede +and the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' assign actual dates to the various +events, but we have no means of testing their accuracy. + +D. 2.--Broadly we know that the unhappy civilians, who were not only +without military experience, but had up to this moment been actually +forbidden to carry arms, naturally proved unable to face the ferocious +enemies who swarmed in upon them. They could neither hold the Wall +against the Picts nor the coast against the Saxons. It may well be +true that they chose a _Dux Britannorum_,[365] and that his name may +have been something like Vortigern, and that he (when a final appeal +for Roman aid proved vain)[366] may have taken into his pay (as +Carausius did) the crews of certain pirate "keels" [_chiulae_],[367] +and settled them in Thanet. The very names of their English captains, +"Hengist and Horsa," may not be so mythical as critics commonly +assume.[368] And the tale of the victory at Stamford, when the +spears of the Scottish invaders were cut to pieces by the +swords of the English mercenaries,[369] has a very true ring +about it. So has also the sequel, which tells how, when the inevitable +quarrel arose between employers and employed, the Saxon leader gave +the signal for the fray by suddenly shouting to his men, _Nimed eure +saxes_[370] (_i.e._ "Draw your knives!"), and massacred the hapless +Britons of Kent almost without resistance. + +D. 3.--The date of this first English settlement is doubtful. Bede +fixes it as 449, which agrees with the order of events in Gildas, and +with the notice in Nennius that it was forty years after the end of +Roman rule in Britain [_transacto Romanorum in Britannia imperio_]. +But Nennius also declares that this was in the fourth year of +Vortigern, and that his accession coincided with that of the nephew +and successor of Honorius, Valentinian III., son of Galla Placidia, +which would bring in the Saxons 428. It may perhaps be some very +slight confirmation of the later date, that Valentinian is the last +Emperor whose coins have been found in Britain.[371] + +D. 4.--Anyhow, the arrival of the successive swarms of Anglo-Saxons +from the mouth of the Elbe, and their hard-won conquest of Eastern +Britain during the 5th century, is certain. The western half of the +island, from Clydesdale southwards, resisted much longer, and, in +spite of its long and straggling frontier, held together for more +than a century. Not till the decisive victory of the Northumbrians at +Chester (A.D. 607), and that of the West Saxons at Beandune (A.D. 614) +was this Cymrian federation finally broken into three fragments, each +destined shortly to disintegrate into an ever-shifting medley of petty +principalities. Yet in each the ideal of national and racial unity +embodied in the word Cymry[372] long survived; and titles borne to +this day by our Royal House, "Duke of Cornwall," "Prince of Wales," +"Duke of Albany," are the far-off echoes, lingering in each, of the +Roman "Comes Britanniae" and "Dux Britanniarum." The three feathers of +the Principality may in like manner be traced to the _tufa_, or plume, +borne before the supreme authority amongst the Romans of old, as the +like are borne before the Supreme Head of the Roman Church to this +day. And age after age the Cymric harpers sang of the days when +British armies had marched in triumph to Rome, and the Empire had +been won by British princes, till the exploits of their mystical +"Arthur"[373] became the nucleus of a whole cycle of mediaeval +romance, and even, for a while, a real force in practical +politics.[374] + +D. 5.--And as the Britons never quite forgot their claims on the +Empire, so the Empire never quite forgot its claims on Britain. How +entirely the island was cut off from Rome we can best appreciate by +the references to it in Procopius. This learned author, writing under +Justinian, scarcely 150 years since the day when the land was fully +Roman, conceives of Britannia and Brittia as two widely distant +islands--the one off the coast of Spain, the other off the mouth +of the Rhine.[375] The latter is shared between the Angili, +Phrissones,[376] and Britons, and is divided _from North to +South_[377] by a mighty Wall, beyond which no mortal man can +breathe. Hither are ferried over from Gaul by night the souls of the +departed;[378] the fishermen, whom a mysterious voice summons to the +work, seeing no one, but perceiving their barks to be heavily sunk in +the water, yet accomplishing the voyage with supernatural celerity. + +D. 6.--About the same date Belisarius offered to the Goths,[379] in +exchange for their claim to Sicily, which his victories had already +rendered practically nugatory, the Roman claims to Britain, "a much +larger island," which were equally outside the scope of practical +politics for the moment, but might at any favourable opportunity be +once more brought forward. And, when the Western Empire was revived +under Charlemagne, they were in fact brought forward, and actually +submitted to by half the island. The Celtic princes of Scotland, the +Anglians of Northumbria, and the Jutes of Kent alike owned the new +Caesar as their Suzerain. And the claim was only abrogated by the +triumph of the counter-claim first made by Egbert, emphasized by +Edward the Elder, and repeated again and again by our monarchs +their descendants, that the British Crown owes no allegiance to any +potentate on earth, being itself not only Royal, but in the fullest +sense Imperial.[380] + + +SECTION E. + +Survivals of Romano-British civilization--Romano-British +Church--Legends of its origin--St. Paul--St. Peter--Joseph +of Arimathaea--Glastonbury--Historical notices--Claudia and +Pudens--Pomponia--Church of St. Pudentiana--Patristic references +to Britain--Tertullian--Origen--Legend of Lucius--Native +Christianity--British Bishops at Councils--Testimony of Chrysostom and +Jerome. + +E. 1.--Few questions have been more keenly debated than the extent to +which Roman civilization in Britain survived the English Conquest. +On the one hand we have such high authorities as Professor Freeman +assuring us that our forefathers swept it away as ruthlessly and as +thoroughly as the Saracens in Africa; on the other, those who consider +that little more disturbance was wrought than by the Danish invasions. +The truth probably lies between the two, but much nearer to the former +than the latter. The substitution of an English for the Roman name of +almost every Roman site in the country[381] could scarcely have taken +place had there been anything like continuity in their inhabitants. +Even the Roman roads, as we have seen,[382] received English +designations. We may well believe that most Romano-British +towns shared the fate of Anderida (the one recorded instance of +destruction),[383] and that the word "chester" was only applied to +the Roman _ruins_ by their destroyers.[384] But such places as London, +York, and Lincoln may well have lived on through the first generation +of mere savage onslaught, after which the English gradually began to +tolerate even for themselves a town life. + +E. 2.--And though in the country districts the agricultural population +were swept away pitilessly to make room for the invaders,[385] till +the fens of Ely[386] and the caves of Ribblesdale[387] became the +only refuge of the vanquished, yet, undoubtedly, many must have +been retained as slaves, especially amongst the women, to leaven the +language of the conquerors with many a Latin word, and their ferocity +with many a recollection of the gentler Roman past. + +E. 3.--And there was one link with that past which not all the +massacres and fire-raisings of the Conquest availed to break. The +Romano-British populations might be slaughtered, the Romano-British +towns destroyed, but the Romano-British Church lived on; the most +precious and most abiding legacy bestowed by Rome upon our island. + +E. 4.--The origin of that Church has been assigned by tradition +to directly Apostolic sources. The often-quoted passage from +Theodoret,[388] of St. Paul having "brought help" to "the isles of the +sea" [[Greek: tais en to pelagei diakeimenais nesois]], can scarcely, +however, refer to this island. No classical author ever uses the +word [Greek: pelagos] of the Oceanic waters; and the epithet [Greek: +diakeimenais], coming, as it does, in connection with the Apostle's +preaching in Italy and Spain, seems rather to point to the islands +between these peninsulas--Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands. +But the well-known words of St. Clement of Rome,[389] that St. Paul's +missionary journeys extended to "the End of the West" [Greek: to terma +tes duseos], were, as early as the 6th century, held to imply a visit +to Britain (for our island was popularly supposed by the ancients to +lie west of Spain).[390] The lines of Venantius (A.D. 580) even seem +to contain a reference to the tradition that he landed at Portsmouth: + + "Transit et Oceanum, vel qua facit insula portum, Quasque + Britannus habet terras atque ultima Thule." + + ["Yea, through the ocean he passed, where the Port is made by + an island, And through each British realm, and where the world + endeth at Thule."] + +E. 5.--The Menology of the Greek Church (6th century) ascribes the +organization of the British Church to the visitation, not of St. Paul, +but of St. Peter in person. + + [Greek: O Petros ... ehis Bretannian paraginetai. Entha do + cheirotribosas [_sic_] kai polla ton hakatanomaton hethnon + eis ton tou Christou pistin epispasamenos ... kai pollous + toi logoi photisas tos charitos, ekklaesias te sustesamenos, + episkopous te kai presbuterous kai diakonous + cheipotonhesas, dodekatoi etei tou Kaisaros authis eis Romen + paraginetai.][391] + + ["Peter ... cometh even unto Britain. Yea, there abode he + long, and many of the lawless folk did he draw to the Faith of + Christ ... and many did he enlighten with the Word of Grace. + Churches, too, did he set up, and ordained bishops and priests + and deacons. And in the twelfth year of Caesar[392] came he + again unto Rome."] + +The 'Acta Sanctorum' also mentions this tradition (filtered through +Simeon Metaphrastes), and adds that St. Peter was in Britain during +Boadicea's rebellion, when he incurred great danger. + +E. 6--The 'Synopsis Apostolorum,' ascribed to Dorotheus (A.D. 180), +but really a 6th-century compilation, gives us yet another Apostolic +preacher, St. Simon Zelotes. This is probably due to a mere confusion +between [Greek: Mabritania] [Mauretania] and [Greek: Bretannia]. But +it is impossible to deny that the Princes of the Apostles _may_ +both have visited Britain, nor indeed is there anything essentially +improbable in their doing so. We know that Britain was an object of +special interest at Rome during the period of the Conquest, and it +would be quite likely that the idea of simultaneously conquering +this new Roman dominion for Christ should suggest itself to the two +Apostles so specially connected with the Roman Church.[393] + +E. 7.--But while we may _possibly_ accept this legend, it is otherwise +with the famous and beautiful story which ascribes the foundation of +our earliest church at Glastonbury to the pilgrimage of St. Joseph of +Arimathaea, whose staff, while he rested on Weary-all Hill, took root, +and became the famous winter thorn, which + + "Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord,"[394] + +and who, accordingly, set up, hard by, a little church of wattle to be +the centre of local Christianity. + +E. 8.--Such was the tale which accounted for the fact that this humble +edifice developed into the stateliest sanctuary of all Britain. We +first find it, in its final shape, in Geoffrey of Monmouth (1150); +but already in the 10th century the special sanctity of the shrine was +ascribed to a supernatural origin,[395] as a contemporary Life of St. +Dunstan assures us; and it is declared, in an undisputed Charter of +Edgar, to be "the first church in the Kingdom built by the disciples +of Christ." But no earlier reference is known; for the passages +cited from Gildas and Melkinus are quite untrustworthy. So striking a +phenomenon as the winter thorn would be certain to become an object +of heathen devotion;[396] and, as usual, the early preachers would +Christianize the local cult, as they Christianized the Druidical +figment of a Holy Cup (perhaps also local in its origin), into the +sublime mysticism of the Sangreal legend, connected likewise with +Joseph of Arimathaea.[397] + +E. 9.--That the original church of Glaston was really of wattle +is more than probable, for the remains of British buildings thus +constructed have been found abundantly in the neighbouring peat. The +Arimathaean theory of its consecration became so generally accepted +that at the Council of Constance (1419) precedence was actually +accorded to our Bishops as representing the senior Church of +Christendom. But the oldest variant of the legend says nothing about +Arimathaea, but speaks only of an undetermined "Joseph" as the leader +[_decurio_][398] of twelve missionary comrades who with him settled +down at Glastonbury. And this may well be true. Such bands (as we +see in the Life of Columba) were the regular system in Celtic mission +work, and survived in that of the Preaching Friars: + + "For thirteen is a Covent, as I guess."[399] + + +E. 10.--And though such high authorities as Mr. Haddan have come to +the conclusion that Christianity in Britain was confined to a small +minority even amongst the Roman inhabitants of the island, and almost +vanished with them, yet the catena of references to British converts +can scarcely be thus set aside. They begin in Apostolic times and +in special connection with St. Paul. Martial tells us of a British +princess named Claudia Rufina[400] (very probably the daughter of that +Claudius Cogidubnus whom we meet in Tacitus as at once a British +King and an Imperial Legate),[2] whose beauty and wit made no little +sensation in Rome; whither she had doubtless been sent at once for +education and as a hostage for her father's fidelity. And one of +the most beautiful of his Epigrams speaks of the marriage of this +foreigner to a Roman of high family named Pudens, belonging to the +Gens Aemilia (of which the Pauline family formed a part): + + "Claudia, Rufe, meo nubet peregrina Pudenti, + Macte esto taedis, O Hymenaee, suis. + Diligat illa senem quondam; sed et ipsa marito, + Tunc quoque cum fuerit, non videatur anus."[401] + + [To RUFUS. Claudia, from far-off climes, my Pudens weds: With + choicest bliss, O Hymen, crown their heads! May she still love + her spouse when gray and old, He in her age unfaded charms + behold.] + +It may have been in consequence of this marriage that Pudens joined +with Claudius Cogidubnus in setting up the Imperial Temple at +Chichester.[402] And the fact that Claudia was an adopted member of +the Rufine family shows that she was connected with the Gens Pomponia +to which this family belonged. + +E. 11.--Now Aulus Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, had married +a Pomponia, who in A.D. 57 was accused of practising an illicit +religion, and, though pronounced guiltless by her husband (to whose +domestic tribunal she was left, as Roman Law permitted), passed +the rest of her life in retirement.[403] When we read of an illicit +religion in connection with Britain, our first thought is, naturally, +that Druidism is intended.[404] But there are strong reasons for +supposing that Pomponia was actually a Christian. The names of her +family are found in one of the earliest Christian catacombs in Rome, +that of Calixtus; and that Christianity had its converts in very +high quarters we know from the case of Clemens and Domitilla, closely +related to the Imperial throne. + +E. 12.--Turning next to St. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy, we find, +in close connection, the names of Pudens and Claudia (along with +that of the future Pope Linus) amongst the salutations from Roman +Christians. And recent excavations have established the fact that the +house of Pudens was used for Christian worship at this date, and is +now represented by the church known as St. Pudentiana.[405] That this +should have been so proves that this Pudens was no slave going under +his master's name (as was sometimes done), but a man of good position +in Rome. Short of actual proof it would be hard to imagine a series +of evidences more morally convincing that the Pudens and Claudia of +Martial are the Pudens and Claudia of St. Paul, and that they, as well +as Pomponia, were Christians. Whether, then, St. Paul did or did +not actually visit Britain, the earliest British Christianity is, at +least, closely connected with his name. + +E. 13.--Neither legendary nor historical sources tell us of any +further development of British Christianity till the latter days of +the 2nd century. Then, however, it had become sufficiently widespread +to furnish a common-place for ecclesiastical declamation on +the all-conquering influence of the Gospel. Both Tertullian and +Origen[406] thus use it. The former numbers in his catalogue of +believing countries even the districts of Britain beyond the Roman +pale, _Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita_[407]. +And in this lies the interest of his reference, as pointing to the +native rather than the Roman element being the predominant factor +in the British Church. For just at this period comes in the legend +preserved by Bede,[408] that a mission was sent to Britain by Pope +Eleutherius[409] in response to an appeal from "Lucius Britanniae +Rex." The story, which Bede probably got from the 'Catalogus +Pontificum,'[410] may be apocryphal; but it would never have been +invented had British Christianity been found merely or mainly in the +Roman veneer of the population. Modern criticism finds in it this +kernel of truth, that the persecution which gave the Gallican Church +the martyrs of Lyons, also sent her scattered refugees as missionaries +into the less dangerous regions of Britain;--those remoter parts, in +especial, where even the long arm of the Imperial Government could not +reach them. + +E. 14.--The Picts, however, as a nation, remained savage heathens even +to the 7th century, and the bulk of our Christian population must +have been within the Roman pale; but little vexed, it would seem, +by persecution, till it came into conflict with the thorough-going +Imperialism of Diocletian.[411] Its martyrs were then numbered, +according to Gildas, by thousands, according to Bede by hundreds; and +their chief, St. Alban, at least, is a fairly established historical +entity.[412] Nor is there any reason to doubt that after Constantine +South Britain was as fully Christian as any country in Europe. In +the earliest days of his reign (A.D. 314) we find three bishops,[413] +together with a priest and a deacon, representing[414] the British +Church at the Council of Arles (which, amongst other things, condemned +the marriage of the "innocent divorcee"[415]). And the same number +figure in the Council of Ariminum (360), as the only prelates (out of +the 400) who deigned to accept from the Emperor the expenses of their +journey and attendance. + +E. 15.--This Council was called by Constantius II. in the semi-Arian +interest, and not allowed to break up till after repudiating the +Nicene formula. But the lapse was only for a moment. Before the +decade was out Athanasius could write of Britain as notoriously +orthodox,[416] and before the century closes we have frequent +references to our island as a fully Christian and Catholic land. +Chrysostom speaks of its churches and its altars and "the power of +the Word" in its pulpits,[417] of its diligent study of Scripture and +Catholic doctrine,[418] of its acceptance of Catholic discipline,[419] +of its use of Catholic formulae: "Whithersoever thou goest," he says, +"throughout the whole world, be it to India, to Africa, or to Britain, +thou wilt find _In the beginning was the Word_."[420] Jerome, in turn, +tells of British pilgrimages to Jerusalem[421] and to Rome;[422] and, +in his famous passage on the world-wide Communion of the Roman See, +mentions Britain by name: "Nec altera Romanae Urbis Ecclesia, altera +totius orbis existimanda est. Et Galliae, et Britanniae, et Africa, et +Persis, et Oriens, et Indio, et omnes barbarae nationes, unum Christum +adorant, unam observant regulam veritatis."[423] + + ["Neither is the Church of the City of Rome to be held one, + and that of the whole world another. Both Gaul and Britain + and Africa and Persia and the East and India, and all the + barbarian nations, adore one Christ, observe one Rule of + Truth."] + + +SECTION F. + +British Missionaries--Ninias--Patrick--Beatus--Heresiarchs--Pelagius +Fastidius--Pelagianism stamped out by Germanus--The Alleluia +Battle--Romano-British churches--Why so seldom found--Conclusion. + +F. 1.--The fruits of all this vigorous Christian life soon showed +themselves in the Church of Britain by the evolution of noteworthy +individual Christians. First in order comes Ninias, the Apostle of the +Southern Picts, commissioned to the work, after years of training at +Rome, by Pope Siricius (A.D. 394), and fired by the example of St. +Martin, the great prelate of Gaul. To this saint (or, to speak more +exactly, under his invocation) Ninias, on hearing of his death in A.D. +400, dedicated his newly-built church at Whithern[424] in Galloway, +the earliest recorded example of this kind of dedication in +Britain.[425] Galloway may have been the native home of Ninias, and +was certainly the head-quarters of his ministry. + +F. 2.--The work of Ninias amongst the Picts was followed in the next +generation by the more abiding work of St. Patrick amongst the Scots +of Ireland. Nay, even the Continent was indebted to British piety; +though few British visitors to the Swiss Oberland remember that the +Christianity they see around them is due to the zeal of a British +Mission. Yet there seems no solid reason for doubting that so it is. +Somewhere about the time of St. Patrick, two British priests, Beatus +and Justus, entered the district by the Brunig Pass, and set up their +first church at Einigen, near Thun. There Justus abode as the settled +Missioner of the neighbourhood, while Beatus made his home in the +ivy-clad cave above the lake which still bears his name,[426] sailing +up and down with the Gospel message, and evangelizing the valleys +and uplands now so familiar to his fellow-countrymen--Grindelwald, +Lauterbrunnen, Muerren, Kandersteg. + +F. 3.--And while the light of the Gospel was thus spreading on every +side from our land, Britain was also becoming all too famous as the +nurse of error. The British Pelagius,[427] who erred concerning +the doctrine of free-will, grew to be a heresiarch of the first +order;[428] and his follower Fastidius, or Faustus, the saintly Abbot +of Lerins in the Hyeres, the friend of Sidonius Apollinaris,[429] was, +in his day, only less renowned. He asserted the materiality of the +soul. Both were able writers; and Pelagius was the first to adopt the +plan of promulgating his heresies not as his own, but as the tenets of +supposititious individuals of his acquaintance. + +F. 4.--Pelagianism spread so widely in Britain that the Catholics +implored for aid from over-sea. St. Germanus of Auxerre, and St. +Lupus, Bishop of Troyes (whose sanctity had disarmed the ferocity even +of Attila), came[430] accordingly (in 429) and vindicated the faith in +a synod held at Verulam so successfully that the neighbouring shrine +of St. Alban was the scene of a special service of thanksgiving. In +a second Mission, fifteen years later, Germanus set the seal to his +work, stamping out throughout all the land both this new heresy and +such remains of heathenism as were still to be found in Southern +Britain. While thus engaged on the Border he found his work endangered +by a raiding host of Picts or Saxons, or both. The Saint, who had been +a military chieftain in his youth, promptly took the field at the head +of his flock, many of whom were but newly baptized. It was Easter Eve, +and he took advantage of the sacred ceremonies of that holy season, +which were then actually performed by night. From the New Fire, the +"Lumen Christi," was kindled a line of beacons along the Christian +lines, and when Germanus intoned the threefold Easter Alleluia, +the familiar strain was echoed from lip to lip throughout the host. +Stricken with panic at the sudden outburst of light and song, the +enemy, without a blow, broke and fled.[431] + +F. 5.--This story, as told by Constantius, and confirmed by both +Nennius and Bede, incidentally furnishes us with something of a key +to the main difficulty in accepting the widely-spread Romano-British +Christianity to which the foregoing citations testify. What, it is +asked, has become of all the Romano-British churches? Why are no +traces of them found amongst the abundant Roman remains all over the +land? That they were the special objects of destruction at the Saxon +invasion we learn from Gildas. But this does not account for their +very foundations having disappeared; yet at Silchester[432] alone have +modern excavations unearthed any even approximately certain example of +them. Where are all the rest? + +F. 6.--The question is partly answered when we read that the soldiers +of Germanus had erected in their camp a church of wattle, and that +such was the usual material of which, even as late as 446, British +churches were built (as at Glastonbury). Seldom indeed would such +leave any trace behind them; and thus the country churches of Roman +Britain would be sought in vain by excavators. In the towns, however, +stone or brick would assuredly be used, and to account for the paucity +of ecclesiastical ruins three answers may be suggested. + +F. 7.--First, the number of continuously unoccupied Romano-British +cities is very small indeed. Except at Silchester, Anderida, and +Uriconium, almost every one has become an English town. But when this +took place early in the English settlement of the land, the ruins of +the Romano-British churches would still be clearly traceable at the +conversion of the English, and would be rebuilt (as St. Martin's at +Canterbury was in all probability rebuilt)[433] for the use of English +Christianity, the old material[434] being worked up into the new +edifices. It is probable that many of our churches thus stand on the +very spot where the Romano-British churches stood of old. But this +very fact would obliterate the remains of these churches. + +F. 8.--Secondly, it is very possible that many of the heathen temples +may, after the edict of Theodosius (A.D. 392), have been turned into +churches (like the Pantheon at Rome), so that _their_ remains may mark +ecclesiastical sites. There are reasons for believing that in various +places, such as St. Paul's, London, St. Peter's, Cambridge, and St. +Mary's, Ribchester, Christian worship did actually thus succeed Pagan +on the same site. + +F. 9.--Thirdly, as Lanciani points out, the earliest Christian +churches were simply the ordinary dwelling-houses of such wealthier +converts as were willing to permit meetings for worship beneath their +roof, which in time became formally consecrated to that purpose. Such +a dwelling-house usually consisted of an oblong central hall, with +a pillared colonnade, opening into a roofed cloister or peristyle on +either side, at one end into a smaller guest-room [_tablinum_], at the +other into the porch of entry. The whole was arranged thus: + + Small Guest Room. P P e e r r i Central Hall, i s with pillars + s t on each side t y (often roofless). y l l e e Porch of + Entry. + +It will be readily seen that we have here a building on the lines of +an ordinary church. The small original congregation would meet, like +other guests, in the reception-room. As numbers increased, the hall +and adjoining cloisters would have to be used (the former being roofed +in); the reception-room being reserved for the most honoured members, +and ultimately becoming the chancel of a fully-developed church, with +nave and aisles complete.[435] It _may_ be, therefore, that some of +the Roman villas found in Britain were really churches.[436] + +F. 10.--This, however, is a less probable explanation of the absence +of ecclesiastical remains; and the large majority of Romano-British +church sites are, as I believe, still in actual use amongst us for +their original purpose. And it may be considered as fairly proved, +that before Britain was cut off from the Empire the Romano-British +Church had a rite[437] and a vigorous corporate life of its own, which +the wave of heathen invasion could not wholly submerge. It lived on, +shattered, perhaps, and disorganized, but not utterly crushed, to +be strengthened in due time by a closer union with its parent stem, +through the Mission of Augustine, to feel the reflex glow of its own +missionary efforts in the fervour of Columba and his followers,[438] +and, finally, to form an integral part of that Ecclesia Anglicana +whose influence knit our country into one, and inspired the Great +Charter of our constitutional liberties.[439] Her faith and her +freedom are the abiding debt which Britain owes to her connection with +Rome. + + + + +INDEX + + +Aaron of Caerleon, 259 +Addeomarus, 130 +Adder-beads, 71 +Adelfius, 259 +Adminius, 126, 128, 130 +Aetius, 245 +Agricola, 156, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165 +Agriculture, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 191, 231 +Agrippina, 140, 149, 150 +Akeman Street, 166 +Alaric, 237, 243 +Alban, St., 227, 259 +Albany, 247 +Albinus, 200 +Albion, 32 +Alexander Severus, 71 +Allectus, 220, 223, 224, 231 +Alleluia Battle, 264 +Alpine dogs, 191 +Amber, 48, 49 +Ambleteuse, 86, 95 +Amboglanna, 174, 204 +Aminus. _See_ Adminius +Amphitheatres, 185, 224 +Ancalites, 55, 120 +Ancyran Tablet, 128 +Anderida, 56, 240, 250, 265 +Anglesey, 154, 161 +Antedrigus, 131, 146 +Antonines, 213 +Antoninus Pius, 171, 197, 214 +Aquae Sulis, 183. _See_ Bath +Aquila, 257 +Arianism, 230 +Arms, 49, 178 +Army of Britain, 159, 160, 199, 200, 218, 228, 230, 235, 242 +Army of Church, 268 +Arthur, 247 +Arthur's Well, 205 +Asclepiodotus, 224 +Ash-pits, 177, 186 +Asturians, 204, 205 +Atrebates, 55, 56, 82, 87, 125, 127, 142 +Attacotti, 46, 194, 233 +Augusta, 180, 233 +Augustine, 243 +Augustus, 128, 129 +Avebury, 30 + +Bards, 66 +Barham Down, 110, 114 +Barns, British, 40 +Barrows, 29, 60 +Basilicas, 185 +Baskets, 43 +Basques, 51 +Bath, 60, 170, 174, 183 +Battle Bridge, 157 +Beads, 48, 128 +Beatus, St., 262 +Bee-keeping, 42 +Beer, 42 +Belgae, 52, 57, 61 +Belisarius, 249 +Bericus. _See_ Vericus +Bibroci, 55, 56, 120 +Birdoswald, 174, 203, 204 +Bishops, British, 230, 255, 259 +Boadicea, 152, 157, 158, 253 +Borcovicus, 205 +Boulogne, 86, 220, 223, 233 +Breeches, 47 +Brigantes, 49, 57, 146, 148, 160, 197, 206 +Brige, 175 +Britain, "Upper" and "Lower," 195 +Britannia coins, 197 +Britannia I. and II., 59, 225 +Britannicus, 136, 140, 199 +British coins, 38, 125, 126, 127 + " Lion, 126, 210 221 +Britons, Origin of, 32 +Brittany, 235 +Bronze, 30, 33 +Brownies, 29 +Brutus, 151 + +Cadiz, 34 +Cadwallon. _See_ Cassivellaunus +Caer Caradoc, 148 +Caergwent, 184 +Caerleon, 150, 166, 179, 182, 195, 239, 259 +Caer Segent, 56 +Caesar, Julius: + Earlier career, 73-83 + First invasion, 83-101 + Second invasion, 102-123 +Caesar (as title), 222 +Caesar's horse, 107 +Caledonians, 163, 194, 201, 202, 213, 232 +Caligula, 126, 130 +Calleva, 56, 172, etc. _See_ Silchester +Cambridge, 171, 175, 178, 266 +Camelodune, 127, 135, 147, 152, 154, 176 +Cangi, 146 +Cannibalism, 46, 233 +Canterbury, 265 +Caracalla, 171, 201, 212-214 +Caractacus (Caradoc, Caratac), 127, 134, 137, 147, 148, 149 +Carausius, 180, 220, 221, 245 +Carlisle, 175, 204 +Cartismandua, 148, 150, 160 +Cassi, 54, 55, 120 +Cassiterides, 34 +Cassivellaunus (Caswallon), 109, 113-122, 127 +Cateuchlani (Cattivellauni), 55, 58, 59, 109, 121, 127 +Cattle, British, 45 +Celestine, Pope, 263 +Celtic types, 50 +Cerealis, 160 +Cerne Abbas, 65 +Chariots, British, 50, 92, 99, 115, 129, 134, 163 +Charnwood, 190 +Chedworth, 58, 267 +Chester, 162, 167, 174, 179, 182, 195, 247, 250 +"Chester" (suffix), 175, 183, 250 +Chesters. _See_ Cilurnum +Chichester, 141 +Chives, 205 +Christianity, British, 225-230, 251-268 +Churches, British, 185, 264-267 +Cicero, 36, 75, 77, 104-106, 122, 151 +Cilurnum, 204, 205, 211 +Cirencester, 225. _See_ Corinium +Citizenship, Roman, 140, 141, 213, 214 +Clans, British, 52, 55-59 +Claudia Rufina, 141, 256, 257 +Claudius, 131, 134-143, 147, 149, 150 +Clement, St., 252 +Climate, British, 40, 185 +Cogidubnus, 141, 256 +Cohorts, 86, 114, 239 +Coins, British, 38, 54, 125-127 + " Romano-British, 139, 177, 197, 221, 246 +Colchester (Colonia), 167, 171, 175, 176, 222. _See_ Camelodune +Colonies, 147, 152-154, 175 +Columba, 71, 72, 268 +Comitatenses, 239 +Commius, 54, 83, 87, 94, 101, 121, 124-127, 130 +Commodus, 199, 200 +Constans, 230 +Constantine I., 222, 227-229 + " III., 242 +Constantius I., 180, 222-224, 227-229 +Constantius II., 231, 260 +Cony Castle, 30 +Coracles, 37, 245 +Corinium 179, 189-191. _See_ Cirencester +Corn-growing, 40, 191, 231 +Coronation Oath, 260 +Council of Ariminum, 230, 260 + " Arles, 230, 259 + " Cloveshoo, 267 + " Constance, 255 + " Nice, 230 +Count of Britain, 240, 243, 247 + " the Saxon Shore, 220, 240, 243 +Counts of the Empire, 240 +Coway Stakes, 119 +Cromlechs, 29 +Cymbeline (Cunobelin), 54, 126-128 +Cymry, 247 + +Damnonii, 57, 58, 61, 80, 247 +Deal, 89, 108 +Decangi, 146 +Decentius, 231 +Decurions, 182 +Dedication of churches, 261 +Dene Holes, 41 +"Dioceses," 222 +Diocletian, 59, 71, 219, 221, 222, 224-227 +Divitiacus, 82, 109 +Divorce, 259 +"Divus," 123, 227 +Dobuni, 57, 132 +Dogs, British, 190 +Dol, 235 +Dolmens, 29 +Domestic animals, 45, 46 +Domitian, 163 +Domitilla, 257 +Dorchester, 61 +Dover, 87 +Dragon standard, 244 +"Druidesses," 71, 154, 155 +Druidism, 62-72 +Duke of the Britains, 239, 243, 247 +Duke of the Britons, 245 +Duns, 60 +Durotriges, 57, 61 + +Eagles, Legionary, 90, 91, 228 +Eboracum, 174 +Eborius, 259 +Elephants, 107, 119, 134 +Eleutherius, 258 +Emeriti, 214 +English, 232, 245, 246 +Epping Forest, 47, 190 +Equinoctial hours, 39, 40 +Erinus Hispanicus, 204 +Ermine Street, 166-170 +Exports, British, 128, 129 + +Fastidius, Faustus, 263 +Flavians, 133 +Fleam Dyke, 144, 145 +Fleet, British, 182, 221 +Forests, 47, 56-58, 189 +Fosse Way, 166, 167, 169 +Frampton, 267 +Franks, 219, 224, 237 +Frisians, 200, 220, 248 +Fruit-trees, 186 + +Gael, 32, 50 +Galerius, 222, 227, 228 +Galgacus, 163 +Galloway, 46, 194, 233, 248, 261 +Gates of London, 179 +Geese, 46 +Gelt, R., 210 +Genuini, 197 +Germanus, 263-265 +Gerontius (Geraint), 242 +Geta, 201, 213 +Gladiators, 136, 137, 224 +Glass, 48, 129 +Glastonbury, 27, 57, 254, 255 +Glazed ware, 188 +Gnossus, 37 +Gog-Magog Hills, 219 +Gold, 30, 39, 48 +Goths, 249 +Grindelwald, 262 +Gulf Stream, 40 + +Hadrian, 181, 194-197 +Hair-dye, 48, 129 +Handicrafts, 187, 188 +Hardway, 36 +Hasta Pura, 138 +Havre, 223 +Helena, 222, 227 +"Hengist and Horsa," 245 +Heretics, 263 +Honorius, 242, 243 +Horseshoes, 177 +Hounds, 190 +Hugh, St., 185 +Huntingdon, 171 +Hypocausts, 189, 205 + +Iberians, 51 +Iceni, 54, 57, 58, 59, 120, 130, 142-146, 152, 157, 170 +Icknield Street, 144, 145, 167, 170, 186 +Ictis, 35 +Ierne, 32, 234, 236. _See_ Ireland +Immanuentius, 109 +Imperial visits, 134, 194, 201, 223, 230 +Ireland, 162, 232, 262, 268. _See_ Ierne +Iron, 33, 50 +Itinerary, 171, 172, 173, 175 + +Jadite, 29 +Jerome, St., 46, 191, 233, 260 +Jerusalem, 160, 181, 260 +Joseph of Arimathaea, 254 +Julia Domna, 209, 210, 213 + " Lex, 192, 243 +Julian, 191, 225, 231, 232 +Julianus, 200 +Julius Caesar. _See_ Caesar + " Classicianus, 158 + " Firmicus, 230 + " of Caerleon, 259 +Juridicus Britanniae, 181 +Justinian, 181, 248 +Justus, 262 + +Kalendar of Druids, 64 +"Keels," Saxon, 221, 245 +Kent, 55, 121, 127, 142, 247-249 +Kilns, 187 +King's Cross, 157 +Koridwen, 155 + +Labarum, 188, 228, 229, 267 +Labienus, 107, 122, 123 +Lambeth, 168 +Lead-mining, 39, 146, 188 +Legates, 141, 197, 200, 232 +Legion II., 133, 150, 157, 174, 182, 239 + " VI., 174, 182, 239 + " VII., 99 + " IX., 133, 154, 157, 178, 181, 194 + " X., 91, 99 + " XIV., 133, 150, 156, 160 + " XX., 133, 150, 157, 160, 174, 182, 234, 237, 240 +Legionary feeling, 91, 157 +Legions, Roman, 86, 90, 91, 231, 238, 239 +Leicester, 183 +Libelli, 226 +Liber Landavensis, 259 +Licinius, 228 +Ligurians, 51 +Lincoln, 171, 175, 185, 250, 259 +Linus, 257 +Lion, British, 126, 210, 221 +Loddon, R., 134 +Logris, 51 +Lollius Urbicus, 197, 198 +London, 60, 117, 118, 122, 154, 156, 157, 166, 168, 169, 171, + 179-183, 224, 233, 241, 250, 259 +Lupicinus, 232 +Lupus, 263 +Lyminge, 265 +Lyons, 200, 258 + +Magna, 208 +Magnentius, 230, 231 +Maiden Castle, 61 + " Way, 169 +Mandubratius, 109, 122, 127 +Mansions, 189 +Manures, 40 +Marcus Aurelius, 215 +Marseilles, 35, 38 +Martial, 43, 141, 255-257 +Martin, St., 261, 262 +Martyrs, British, 227, 259 +Mastiffs, 190 +Mater Deum, 209, 210 +Maxentius, 228 +Maximian, 222, 225, 227, 228 +Maximin, 228 +Maximus, 235 +Mead, 42 +Meatae, 201, 202, 232 +Mendips, 39, 188 +Mile Castles, 195, 204 +Milestones, 180 +Millstones, 44 +Missionaries, British, 261, 262 +Mistletoe, 67, 68 +Mithraism, 207, 208, 228 +Mona, 154, 155, 161 +Money-box, 184 +Morgan, 263 +Mutter-recht, 46 + +Narcissus, 131 +Needwood, 58, 190 +Nennius, 171-173, 244-247 +Neolithic Age, 28-30 +Nero, 151, 158, 159 +Nervii, 54 +Newcastle, 204 +Ninias, 261, 262, 264 +North Tyne R., 211 +Notitia, 171, 173, 174, 237-242 + +Oberland, 262 +Ocean, 33, 85, 97, 122, 131, 236, 238, 256 +Ogre, 29 +"Old England's Hole," 111 +Optio, 211 +Ordovices, 57, 147, 161 +Ostorius, 142-149 +Otho, 159, 160 + +Paganism suppressed, 230 +Palaeolithic period, 26-28 +Pansa, 198 +Pantheon, Druidic, 62, 64 +Parisii, 54, 58, 82 +Parjetting, 187 +Patrick, St., 71, 262 +Paul, St., 251-257 +Pax Romana, 165, 178, 187 +Pearls, British, 128 +Peel Crag, 203 +Pelagius, 263 +Perennis, 199 +Pertinax, 200 +Peter, St., 252, 253 +Petronius, 158 +Phoenicians, 33-37 +Picts, 193, 207, 232-236, 245, 259, 261, 264 +Pilgrims, British, 260 +Pilgrims' Way, 36 +Pillars, multiple, 185 +Pilum, 158 +Pirates, 219-221, 235, 245 +Plautius, 131, 134, 137, 147, 256 +Plough, British, 40 +Pomponia, 256 +Population, 59, 178 +Portsmouth Harbour, 132, 240, 252 +Port Way, 186 +Posidonius, 36, 82 +Posting, 189, 227 +Postumus, 218 +Pottery, 30, 187 +Praetorium, 181 +Prasutagus, 152 +Precedents, British, 182 +Prefectures, 221 +Prince of Wales, 247 +Priscilla, 257 +Priscus, 159 +Probus, 192, 218 +Pro-consuls, 74, 77, 142, 198 +Procurator of Britain, 152, 153, 158 +Prosper, 263 +Provinces, 59, 74, 77, 195, 198, 222, 225, 230, 240 +Ptolemy, 171-175 +Pudens, 141, 256, 257 +Pytheas, 34-36, 38-40, 42, 45, 49, 51, 55 + +Querns, 44 +Quiberon, Battle off, 81 +Quintus Cicero, 104, 105, 106 + +Radagaisus, 237 +Rampart of Agricola, 163, 194, 198, 201, 234 +Rationalis Britanniarum, 241 +Regni, 57, 142 +Ribchester, 176, 266 +Richborough, 88, 108, 121, 175, 223, 233, 235, 239 +Rings, 186 +Rite, British, 267 +River-bed men, 26, 27 +Rogation Days, 267 +Roman citizenship, 140, 141, 213, 214 +Roman roads, 117, 166-171 +Royal roads, 167 +Rycknield Street, 166, 170 + +Saexe, 219, 246 +Sallustius Lucullus, 164 +Samian pottery, 188 +"Sarsen," 30, 31 +Sarum, 175 +Saturnalia, 132 +Saxons, 193, 206, 219, 233, 234, 236, 238, 244, 245 + _See_ English +Saxon Shore, 219 +Scotch dogs, 191 +Scots, 232-238, 246, 262 +Scythed chariots, 100 +Seers, 66 +Segontium, 127, 172, 228 +Selwood, 38, 190 +Seneca, 140, 152 +Settle, 251 +Severus, 200-203, 209-213, 231 +Sherwood, 58, 190 +Shields, British, 49, 50 + " Roman, 178 +Ships, British, 37, 80 + " Venetian, 79, 80 + " Caesar's, 81, 103 + " Scotch, 232 + " Saxon, 245 +Silchester, 56, 162, 175,179, 183-188, 264, 265 +Silurians, 51, 57, 146-150, 161 +Silver, 39, 186 +Simon Magus, 71 + " Zelotes, 253 +"Snake's Egg," 70, 71 +South Foreland, 89 +Spain, 77, 103, 155, 200, 222, 242 +Squads, 239 +Squared word, 189 +Stamford, Battle of, 232, 246 +Staters, 38 +"Stations," 202, 203 +Stilicho, 235-237, 242 +Stoke-by-Nayland, 265 +Stonehenge, 30, 31 +"Streets," 169 +Suetonius Paulinus, 154-158, 161 +Sul, 183 +Sussex, 50, 128, 142 +Sylla, 75 +Syracuse, 219 + +Tabulae Missionis, 214 +Tartan, 47 +Tasciovan, 54, 127, 128, 130, 156 +Tattooing, 48 +Taxation, 192 +Thames, 56, 117-119, 122, 134 +Thanet, 36, 108, 245 +Theatres, 153, 184 +Theodosius the Elder, 233, 234 + " " Great, 230, 235, 242, 268 +Thimbles, Roman, 177 +Tides, 88, 93, 96, 108, 124, 233 +Tin, 33-38. 128 +Tincommius, 54, 125, 128 +Titus, 133, 137 +Togodumnus, 134, 147 +Tonsure, Druidic, 72 +Treasury, 180, 241 +Trebatius, 104 +Trees, 47 +Tribal boundaries, 56-58 +Tribune, 114, 138, 209, 239 +Trident, 49 +Trinobantes, 55, 57, 59, 109, 122, 127 +Triumphs, 135, 149 +Tufa, 244, 247 +Turf wall, 197, 198, 206 +Tyrants, 53, 54, 247 + +"Ugrians," 29-31, 62 +Ulpius Marcellus, 199, 211 +Ulysses, 64, 248 +Uriconium, 150, 179, 184 +Ushant, 155 +Uther, 244 + +Valens, 234 +Valentia, 225, 234, 237, 240 +Valentinian I., 230, 233 + " II., 235 + " III., 177, 246 +Vallum, 205-207, 233 +Vandals, 219, 237 +Varus, 130 +Veneti, 79-81 +Verica, 125 +Vericus, 130, 142, 143, 152 +Verulam, 120, 127, 156, 157, 168, 227, 263 +Vespasian, 133, 137, 159 +Vexillatio, 210 +Via Devana, 166, 167 +Vicar of Britain, 240, 243 +Victorinus, 218 +Villages, 27, 44, 45, 129 +Villas, 188, 189, 267 +Vine-growing, 192 +Visi-goths, 243 +Volisius, 54 +Vortigern, 245 + +Wagons, 36 +Wall (of Hadrian), 174, 195, 196, 202-212 +Wall (of London, etc.), 179 +Water-supply, 60, 162, 211 +Watling Street, 118, 166-170 +Wattle churches, 254, 255, 265 +Weald, 57, 189 +Wells, 186 +West Saxons, 248 +Whitherne, 261, 262 +Wight, I. of, 36, 133, 189, 224 +Winchester, 175 +Winter thorn, 254 + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Published by the Record Office, 1848.] + +[Footnote 2: Published by the Royal Academy of Berlin. Vol. VII. +contains the Romano-British Inscriptions.] + +[Footnote 3: His later books only survive in the epitome of +Xiphilinus, a Byzantine writer of the 13th century.] + +[Footnote 4: See p. 171.] + +[Footnote 5: See p. 256.] + +[Footnote 6: In the British (?) village near Glastonbury the bases of +shed antlers are found hafted for mallets.] + +[Footnote 7: This name is simply given for archaeological convenience, +to indicate that these aborigines were non-Aryan, and perhaps of +Turanian affinity.] + +[Footnote 8: Skeat, however, traces "ogre" (the Spanish "ogro") to the +Latin _Orcus_.] + +[Footnote 9: The latest excavations (1902) prove Stonehenge to be +a Neolithic erection. No metal was found, but quantities of flint +implements, broken in the arduous task of dressing the great Sarsen +monoliths. The process seems to have been that still used for granite, +viz. to cut parallel channels on the rough surface, and then break and +rub down the ridges between. This was done by the use of conical lumps +of Sarsen stone, weighing from 20 to 60 lbs., several of which were +discovered bearing traces of usage, both in pounding and rubbing. The +monoliths examined were found to be thus tooled accurately down to the +very bottom, 8 or 9 feet below ground. At Avebury the stones are not +dressed.] + +[Footnote 10: _Sarsen_ is the same word as _Saracen_, which in +mediaeval English simply means _foreign_ (though originally derived +from the Arabic _sharq_ = Eastern). Whence the stones came is still +disputed. They _may_ have been boulders deposited in the district by +the ice-drift of the Glacial Epoch.] + +[Footnote 11: Professor Rhys assigns 600 B.C. as the approximate date +of the first Gadhelic arrivals, and 200 B.C. as that of the first +Brythonic.] + +[Footnote 12: Whether or no this word is (as some authorities hold) +derived from the Welsh _Prutinach_ (=Picts) rather than from the +Brythons, it must have reached Aristotle through Brythonic channels, +for the Gadhelic form is _Cruitanach_.] + +[Footnote 13: A certain amount of British folk-lore was brought +back to Greece, according to Plutarch ('De defect. orac.' 2), by +the geographer Demetrias of Tarsus about this time. He refers to the +cavern of sleeping heroes, so familiar in our mediaeval legends.] + +[Footnote 14: The word is said to be derived from the root _kash_, +"shine." Some authorities, however, maintain that it came into +Sanscrit from the Greek.] + +[Footnote 15: 'Hist.' III. 112.] + +[Footnote 16: See p. 48.] + +[Footnote 17: For a full notice of Pytheas see Elton, 'Origins of +English History,' pp. 13-75. See also Tozer's 'Ancient Geography,' +chap. viii.] + +[Footnote 18: Posidonius of Rhodes, the tutor of Cicero, visited +Britain about 100 B.C., and wrote a History of his travels in fifty +volumes, only known to us by extracts in Strabo (iii. 217, iv. 287, +vii. 293), Diodorus Siculus (v. 28, 30), Athenaeus, and others. See +Bake's 'Posidonius' (Leyden, 1810).] + +[Footnote 19: The ingots of bronze found in the recent [1900] +excavations at Gnossus, in Crete, which date approximately from +2000 B.C., are of this shape. Presumably the Britons learnt it from +Phoenician sources.] + +[Footnote 20: _Saxon_ coracles are spoken of even in the 5th century +A.D. See p. 245.] + +[Footnote 21: 'Coins of the Ancient Britons,' p. 24.] + +[Footnote 22: This familiar feature of our climate is often touched on +by classical authors. Minucius Felix (A.D. 210) is observant enough +to connect it with our warm seas, "its compensation," due to the Gulf +Stream.] + +[Footnote 23: 'Nat. Hist.' xviii. 18.] + +[Footnote 24: _Ibid_. xvii. 4.] + +[Footnote 25: Solinus (A.D. 80) adds that bees, like snakes, were +unknown in Ireland, and states that bees will even desert a hive if +Irish earth be brought near it!] + +[Footnote 26: Matthew Martin, 'Western Isles,' published 1673. Quoted +by Elton ('Origins of English Hist.,' p. 16), who gives Martin's date +as 1703.] + +[Footnote 27: Strabo, iv. 277. The word _basket_ is itself of Celtic +origin, and passed into Latin as it has passed into English. +Martial ('Epig.' xiv. 299) says: "Barbara de pictis veni _bascauda_ +Britannis." Strabo wrote shortly before, Martial shortly after, the +Roman Conquest of Britain.] + +[Footnote 28: One of these primitive mortars, a rudely-hollowed block +of oolite, with a flint pestle weighing about 6 lbs., was found near +Cambridge in 1885.] + +[Footnote 29: Diod. Siculus, 'Hist.' v. 21.] + +[Footnote 30: 'British Barrows,' p. 750.] + +[Footnote 31: 'Geog.' IV.] + +[Footnote 32: 'Legend of Montrose,' ch. xxii.] + +[Footnote 33: Diod. Sic. v. 30: "Saga crebris tessellis florum instar +distincta." This _sagum_ was obviously a tartan plaid such as are now +in use. The kilt, however, was not worn. It is indeed a comparatively +quite modern adaptation of the belted plaid. Ancient Britons wore +trousers, drawn tight above the ankles, after the fashion still +current amongst agricultural labourers. They were already called +"breeches." Martial (Ep. x. 22) satirizes a life "as loose as the old +breeches of a British pauper."] + +[Footnote 34: Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.' viii. 48.] + +[Footnote 35: _Id_. xxviii. 2. Fashions about hair seem to have +changed as rapidly amongst Britons (throughout the whole period of +this work) as in later times. The hair was sometimes worn short, +sometimes long, sometimes strained back from the forehead; sometimes +moustaches were in vogue, sometimes a clean shave, more rarely a full +beard; but whiskers were quite unknown.] + +[Footnote 36: Tozer ('Ancient Geog.' p. 164) states that amber is also +exported from the islands fringing the west coast of Schleswig, and +considers that these rather than the Baltic shores were the "Amber +Islands" of Pytheas.] + +[Footnote 37: 'Nat. Hist.' xxxvii. 1.] + +[Footnote 38: See p. 128.] + +[Footnote 39: A lump weighing nearly 12 lbs. was dredged up off +Lowestoft in 1902.] + +[Footnote 40: A.D. 50.] + +[Footnote 41: Seneca speaks of the blue shields of the Yorkshire +Brigantes.] + +[Footnote 42: See Elton, 'Origins of English History,' p. 116.] + +[Footnote 43: Thurnam, 'British Barrows' (Archaeol. xliii. 474).] + +[Footnote 44: Propertius, iv. 3, 7.] + +[Footnote 45: 'Celtic Britain,' p. 40.] + +[Footnote 46: This seems the least difficult explanation of this +strange name. An alternative theory is that it = _Cenomanni_ (a Gallic +tribe-name also found in Lombardy). But with this name (which must +have been well known to Caesar) we never again meet in Britain. And it +is hard to believe that he would not mention a clan so important and +so near the sphere of his campaign as the Iceni.] + +[Footnote 47: See p. 109.] + +[Footnote 48: These tribes are described by Vitruvius, at the +Christian era, as of huge stature, fair, and red-haired. Skeletons of +this race, over six feet in height, have been discovered in Yorkshire +buried in "monoxylic" coffins; i.e. each formed of the hollowed trunk +of an oak tree. See Elton's 'Origins,' p. 168.] + +[Footnote 49: This correspondence, however, is wholly an antiquarian +guess, and rests on no evidence. It is first found in the forged +chronicle of "Richard of Cirencester." The _names_ are genuine, being +found in the 'Notitia,' though dating only from the time of Diocletian +(A.D. 296). But, on our theory, the same administrative divisions must +have existed all along. See p. 225.] + +[Footnote 50: General Pitt Rivers, however, in his 'Excavations in +Cranborne Chase' (vol. ii. p. 237), proves that the ancient water +level in the chalk was fifty feet higher than at present, presumably +owing to the greater forest area. "Dew ponds" may also have existed in +these camps. But these can scarcely have provided any large supply of +water.] + +[Footnote 51: The word is commonly supposed to represent a Celtic form +_Mai-dun_. But this is not unquestionable.] + +[Footnote 52: 'De Bello Gall.' vi. 13.] + +[Footnote 53: 'De Bell. Gall.' vi. 14.] + +[Footnote 54: Jerome ('Quaest. in Gen.' ii.) says that Varro, Phlegon, +and all learned authors testify to the spread of Greek [at the +Christian era] "from Taurus to Britain." And Solinus (A.D. 80) tells +of a Greek inscription in Caledonia, "ara Graecis literis +scripta"--as a proof that Ulysses (!) had wandered thither (Solinus, +'Polyhistoria,' c. 22). See p. 248.] + +[Footnote 55: 'De Bell, Gall.' vi. 16.] + +[Footnote 56: 'Hist.' v. 31.] + +[Footnote 57: 'Celtic Britain,' p. 69.] + +[Footnote 58: 'Nat. Hist.' xvi. 95.] + +[Footnote 59: So Caesar, 'De Bell. Gall.' vi. 17.] + +[Footnote 60: Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.' xxiv. 62. Linnaeus has taken +_selago_ as his name for club-moss, but Pliny here compares the herb +to _savin_, which grows to the height of several feet. _Samolum_ is +water-pimpernel in the Linnaean classification. Others identify it +with the _pasch-flower_, which, however, is far from being a marsh +plant.] + +[Footnote 61: Suetonius (A.D. 110), 'De xii. Caes.' v. 25.] + +[Footnote 62: Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.' xxx. 3.] + +[Footnote 63: Tacitus, 'Annals,' xiv. 30. See p. 154.] + +[Footnote 64: Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.' xxix. 12.] + +[Footnote 65: See Brand, 'Popular Antiquities,' under _Ovum Anguinum_. +He adds that _Glune_ is the Irish for glass.] + +[Footnote 66: Lampridius, in his life of Alexander Severus, tells us +of a "Druid" sorceress who warned the Emperor of his approaching doom. +Another such "Druidess" is said to have foretold Diocletian's rise. +See Coulanges, '_Comme le Druidisme a disparu_,' in the _Revue +Celtique_, iv. 37.] + +[Footnote 67: See Professor Rhys, 'Celtic Britain,' p. 70. The +Professor's view that the "schismatical" tonsure of the Celtic clergy, +which caused such a stir during the evangelization of England, was a +Druidical survival, does not, however, seem probable in face of the +very pronounced antagonism between those clergy and the Druids. That +tonsure was indeed ascribed by its Roman denouncers to Simon Magus +[see above], but this is scarcely a sufficient foundation for the +theory.] + +[Footnote 68: They may very possibly have been connected with the +Veneti of Venice at the other extremity of "the Gauls."] + +[Footnote 69: See p. 37.] + +[Footnote 70: Caesar, 'Bell. Gall.' iii. 9, 13.] + +[Footnote 71: Elton, 'Origins of English Hist.,' p. 237. Though less +massive, these vessels are built much as the Venetian. But it is just +as probable they may really be "picts." See p. 232.] + +[Footnote 72: This opening of Britain to continental influences may +perhaps account for Posidonius having been able to make so thorough a +survey of the islands. See p. 36.] + +[Footnote 73: Elton ('Origins of English Hist.') conjectures that +these tribes did not migrate to Britain till after Caesar's day. But +there is no evidence for this, and my view seems better to explain the +situation.] + +[Footnote 74: Solinus (A.D. 80) says of Britain, "_alterius orbis +nomen mereretur_." This passage is probably the origin of the Pope's +well-known reference to St. Anselm, when Archbishop of Canterbury, as +"_quasi alterius orbis antistes_."] + +[Footnote 75: A Roman legion at this date comprised ten "cohorts," +_i.e._ some six thousand heavy-armed infantry, besides a small +light-armed contingent, and an attached squadron of three hundred +cavalry. Each of Caesar's transports must thus have carried from one +hundred and fifty to two hundred men, and at this rate the eighteen +cavalry vessels (reckoning a horse as equivalent to five men, the +usual proportion for purposes of military transport) would suffice for +his two squadrons.] + +[Footnote 76: An ancient ship could not sail within eight points of +the wind (see Smith, 'Voyage of St. Paul'). Thus a S.W. breeze, while +permitting Caesar to leave Boulogne, would effectually prevent these +vessels from working out of Ambleteuse.] + +[Footnote 77: Hence the name Dubris = "the rivers."] + +[Footnote 78: The claims of Richborough [Ritupis] to be Caesar's +actual landing-place have been advocated by Archdeacon Baddeley, Mr. +G. Bowker, and others. But it is almost impossible to make this place +square with Caesar's narrative.] + +[Footnote 79: This was four days before the full moon, so that the +tide would be high at Dover about 6 p.m.] + +[Footnote 80: The "lofty promontory" rounded is specially noticed by +Dio Cassius.] + +[Footnote 81: The principle of the balista that of the sling, of the +catapult that of the bow. Ammianus Marcellinus (xv. 12) speaks of "the +snowy arms" of the Celtic women dealing blows "like the stroke of a +catapult."] + +[Footnote 82: Valerius Maximus (A.D. 30) has recorded one such act of +daring on the part of a soldier named Scaeva, who with four comrades +held an isolated rock against all comers till he alone was left, when +he plunged into the sea and swam off, with the loss of his shield. In +spite of this disgrace Caesar that evening promoted him on the field. +The story has a suspicious number of variants, but off Deal there +_is_ such a patch of rocks, locally called the Malms; so that it may +possibly be true ('Memorabilia,' III. 2, 23).] + +[Footnote 83: Valerius Maximus (A.D. 30) states that the Romans landed +on a _falling_ tide, which cannot be reconciled with Caesar's own +narrative (see p. 88). The idea may have originated in the fact that +it was probably the approaching turn of the tide which forced him to +land at Deal. He could not have reached Richborough before the ebb +began.] + +[Footnote 84: Every soldier was four feet from his nearest neighbour +to give scope for effective sword-play. No other troops in history +have ever had the morale thus to fight at close quarters.] + +[Footnote 85: See Plutarch, 'De placitis philosophorum.'] + +[Footnote 86: Each chariot may have carried six or seven men, like +those of the Indian King Porus. See Dodge, 'Alexander,' p. 554.] + +[Footnote 87: Pomponius Mela ('De Situ Orbis,' I) tells us that by his +date (50 A.D.) it had come in: "Covinos vocant, quorum falcatis axibus +utuntur."] + +[Footnote 88: It is thus represented by Giraldus Cambrensis, who gives +us the story of Caesar's campaigns from the British point of view, as +it survived (of course with gross exaggerations) in the Cymric legends +of his day.] + +[Footnote 89: Lucan, the last champion of anti-Caesarism, sung, two +generations after its overthrow, the praises and the dirge of the +Oligarchy.] + +[Footnote 90: See my 'Alfred in the Chroniclers,' p. 44.] + +[Footnote 91:'Ad Treb.' Ep. VI.] + +[Footnote 92: 'Ad Treb.' Ep. VII.] + +[Footnote 93: Ep. 10.] + +[Footnote 94: Ep. 16.] + +[Footnote 95: Ep. 17.] + +[Footnote 96: IV. 15.] + +[Footnote 97: III. 1.] + +[Footnote 98: II. 16.] + +[Footnote 99: II. 15.] + +[Footnote 100: III. 10.] + +[Footnote 101: Wace ('Roman de Ron,' 11,567) gives 696 as the exact +total.] + +[Footnote 102: 'Strategemata,' viii. 23.] + +[Footnote 103: This was probably not Deal, which had not proved a +satisfactory station, but Richborough, where the Wantsum, then a broad +arm of the sea between Kent and Thanet, provided an excellent harbour +for a large fleet. It was, moreover, the regular emporium of the tin +trade (see p. 36), and a British trackway thus led to it.] + +[Footnote 104: Otherwise _Cadwallon_, which, according to Professor +Rhys, signifies War King, and may possibly have been a title rather +than a personal name. But it remained in use as the latter for many +centuries of British history.] + +[Footnote 105: Vine, 'Caesar in Kent,' p. 171. The spot is "in Bourne +Park, not far from the road leading up to Bridge Hill."] + +[Footnote 106: See p. 244.] + +[Footnote 107: See II. G. 8. The tradition of this sentiment long +survived. Hegesippus (A.D. 150) says: "Britanni ... quidesse servitus +ignorabant; soli sibi nati, semper sibi liberi" ('De Bello Judiaco,' +II. 9).] + +[Footnote 108: Polyaenus (A.D. 180) in his 'Strategemata' (viii. 23) +ascribes their panic to Caesar's elephant. See p. 107.] + +[Footnote 109: At Ilerda. See Dodge, 'Caesar,' xxviii.] + +[Footnote 110: Frontinus (A.D. 90), 'Strategemata II.' xiii. II.] + +[Footnote 111: Coins of all three bear the words COMMI. F. (_Commii +Filius_), but Verica alone calls himself REX. Those of Eppillus were +struck at Calleva (Silchester?).] + +[Footnote 112: See p. 54.] + +[Footnote 113: This is the spelling adopted by Suetonius.] + +[Footnote 114: The lion was already a specially British emblem. +Ptolemy ('de Judiciis II.' 3) ascribes the special courage of Britons +to the fact that they are astrologically influenced by Leo and Mars. +It is interesting to remember that our success in the Crimean War +was prognosticated from Mars being in Leo at its commencement (March +1854). Tennyson, in 'Maud,' has referred to this--"And pointed to +Mars, As he hung like a ruddy shield on the Lion's breast."] + +[Footnote 115: See p. 38.] + +[Footnote 116: The site of this town is quite unknown. Caesar mentions +the Segontiaci amongst the clans of S.E. Britain.] + +[Footnote 117: In S.E. Essex, near Colchester. See p. 176.] + +[Footnote 118: See pp. 109, 122.] + +[Footnote 119: Aelian (A.D. 220), 'De Nat. Animal.' xv. 8.] + +[Footnote 120: [Greek: Elephantina psalia, kai periauchenia, kai +lingouria kai huala skeue, kai rhopos toioutos]. Strabo is commonly +supposed to mean that these were the _imports_ from Gaul. But his +words are quite ambiguous, and such of the articles he mentions as are +found in Britain are clearly of native manufacture. British graves +are fertile (see p. 48) in the "amber and glass ornaments" (the former +being small roughly-shaped fragments pierced for threading, the latter +coarse blue or green beads), and produce occasional armlets of narwhal +ivory. Glass beads have been found (1898) in the British village near +Glastonbury, and elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 121: Strabo, v. 278.] + +[Footnote 122: Propertius, II. 1. 73: Esseda caelatis siste Britanna +jugis.] + +[Footnote 123: _Ibid_. II. 18. 23. See p. 47.] + +[Footnote 124: Virgil, 'Georg.' III. 24.] + +[Footnote 125: Virgil, 'Eccl.' I. 65; Horace, 'Od.' I. 21. 13, 35. 30, +III. 5. 3; Tibullus, IV. 1. 147; Propertius, IV. 3. 7.] + +[Footnote 126: Suetonius, 'De XII. Caes.' IV. 19.] + +[Footnote 127: The lofty spur of the Chiltern Hills which overhangs +the church of Ellsborough is traditionally the site of his tomb.] + +[Footnote 128: This whole episode is from 'Dio Cassius' (lib. xxxix. +Section 50).] + +[Footnote 129: He places Cirencester in their territory, while both +Bath and Winchester belonged to the Belgae. To secure Winchester, +where they would be on the line of the tin-trade road (see p. +36), would be the first object of the Romans if they did land at +Portsmouth. Their further steps would depend upon the disposition of +the British armies advancing to meet them,--the final objective of the +campaign being Camelodune, the capital of the sons of Cymbeline.] + +[Footnote 130: This is stated by both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Matthew +of Westminster.] + +[Footnote 131: For three centuries this legion was quartered at +Caerleon-upon-Usk, and the Twentieth at Chester. See Mommsen, 'Roman +Provinces,' p. 174.] + +[Footnote 132: This was the honorary title of several legions; as +there are several "Royal" regiments.] + +[Footnote 133: Tac, 'Hist.' III. 44.] + +[Footnote 134: The Flavian family was of very humble origin.] + +[Footnote 135: Bede, from Suetonius, tells us that Vespasian with his +legion fought in Britain thirty-two battles and took twenty towns, +besides subduing the Isle of Wight ('Sex. Aet.' A.D. 80).] + +[Footnote 136: If the Romans were advancing eastward from the Dobunian +territory it may have been the Loddon. Mommsen cuts the knot in true +German fashion by refusing to identify the Dobuni of Ptolemy with +those of Dion, and placing the latter in Kent on his own sole +authority. ('Roman Provinces,' p. 175.)] + +[Footnote 137: [Greek: dusdiexoda.]] + +[Footnote 138: See p. 139.] + +[Footnote 139: 'Orosius,' VII. 5.] + +[Footnote 140: A victorious Roman general was commonly thus hailed by +his troops after any signal victory. But by custom this could only be +done once in the same campaign.] + +[Footnote 141: Suet. v. 21.] + +[Footnote 142: Dio Cassius, lx. 23. The boy, who was the child of +Messalina, had previously been named _Germanicus_.] + +[Footnote 143: Suet. v. 28.] + +[Footnote 144: Suet. v. 21.] + +[Footnote 145: Tac., 'Ann.' xii. 56.] + +[Footnote 146: Dio Cassius, lx. 30.] + +[Footnote 147: Suet. v. 24.] + +[Footnote 148: Dio Cassius, lx. 30.] + +[Footnote 149: Eutropius, vii. 13.] + +[Footnote 150: Muratori, Thes. mcii. 6.] + +[Footnote 151: 'De XII. Caesaribus,' v. 28.] + +[Footnote 152: Dio Cassius, lx. 23.] + +[Footnote 153: See Haverfield in 'Authority and Archaeology,' p. 319] + +[Footnote 154: 'Laus Claudii' (Burmann, 'Anthol.' ii. 8).] + +[Footnote 155: See p. 152.] + +[Footnote 156: The inscription runs thus: + + NEPTVNO. ET. MINERVAE TEMPLVM _pro_ SALVTE. DO _mus_ DIVINAE + _ex_ AVCTORITATE. _Ti_. CLAVD _Co_ GIDVBNI. R. LEGATI. AVG. + IN. BRIT. _Colle_ GIVM. FABRO. ET. QVI. IN. E. . . . . . + D.S.D. DONANTE. AREAM. _Pud_ ENTE. PVDENTINI. FIL_iae_ + +(The italics are almost certain restoration of illegible letters.)] + +[Footnote 157: See p. 256.] + +[Footnote 158: Claudia, the British Princess mentioned by Martial +as making a distinguished Roman marriage, may very probably be his +daughter.] + +[Footnote 159: See p. 130.] + +[Footnote 160: Thus in St. Luke ii. we find Cyrenius _Pro-praetor_ +([Greek: hegemon]) of Syria, but in Acts xviii. Gallio _Pro-consul_ +([Greek: hanthupatos]) of Achaia.] + +[Footnote 161: See p. 131.] + +[Footnote 162: See p. 170.] + +[Footnote 163: His reputation for strength, skill, and daring cost him +his life a few years later, under Nero (Tac, 'Ann.' xvi. 15).] + +[Footnote 164: Pigs of lead have been found in Denbighshire stamped +CANGI or DECANGI. Mr. Elton, however, locates the tribe in Somerset. +Coins testify to Antedrigus, the Icenian, being somehow connected with +this tribe.] + +[Footnote 165: A Roman "Colony" was a town peopled by citizens of +Rome (old soldiers being preferred) sent out in the first instance to +dominate the subject population amid whom they were settled. Such was +Philippi.] + +[Footnote 166: Tacitus, 'Annals,' xii. 38.] + +[Footnote 167: The distinction of an actual triumph was reserved for +Emperors alone.] + +[Footnote 168: Tacitus, 'Annals,' xii. 39.] + +[Footnote 169: See p. 239. Uriconium alone has as yet furnished +inscriptions of the famous Fourteenth Legion, _"Victores Britannici."_ +(See p. 160.)] + +[Footnote 170: 'Ep. ad Atticum,' vi. 1.] + +[Footnote 171: See Dio Cassius, xii. 2.] + +[Footnote 172: The Procurator of a Province was the Imperial Finance +Administrator. (See Haverfield, 'Authority and Archaeology,' p. 310.)] + +[Footnote 173: An inscription calls the place _Colonia Victricensis_.] + +[Footnote 174: Tacitus, 'Ann.' xiv. 32.] + +[Footnote 175: Demeter and Kore. M. Martin ('Hist. France,' i. 63) +thinks there is here a confusion between the Greek Kore (Proserpine) +and Koridwen, the White Fairy, the Celtic Goddess of the Moon and also +(as amongst the Greeks) of maidenhood. But this is not proven.] + +[Footnote 176: The former is Strabo's variant of the name (which may +possibly be connected with [Greek: _semnos_]), the latter that of +Dionysius Periegetes ('De Orbe,' 57). In Caesar we find a third form +_Namnitae_, which Professor Rhys connects with the modern Nantes.] + +[Footnote 177: See p. 127.] + +[Footnote 178: As Agricola, his father-in-law, was actually with +Suetonius, Tacitus had exceptional opportunities for knowing the +truth.] + +[Footnote 179: Suetonius probably retreated southward when he +left London, and reoccupied its ruins when the Britons, instead of +following him, turned northwards to Verulam.] + +[Footnote 180: The Roman _pilum_ was a casting spear with a heavy +steel head, nine inches long.] + +[Footnote 181: Tac., 'Agricola,' c. 12.] + +[Footnote 182: That the well-known coins commemorating these victories +and bearing the legend IVDAEA CAPTA are not infrequently found in +Britain, indicates the special connection between Vespasian and our +island. The great argument used by Titus and Agrippa to convince the +Jews that even the walls of Jerusalem would fail to resist the onset +of Romans was that no earthly rampart could compare with the ocean +wall of Britain (Josephus, D.B.J., II. 16, vi, 6).] + +[Footnote 183: The spread of Latin oratory and literature in Britain +is spoken of at this date by Juvenal (Sat. xv. 112), and Martial +(Epig. xi. 3), who mentions that his own works were current here: +"Dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus."] + +[Footnote 184: Mr. Haverfield suggests that Silchester may also be an +Agricolan city (see p. 184).] + +[Footnote 185: Juvenal mentions these designs (II. 159): + + "--Arma quidem ultra + Litora Juvernae promovimus, et modo captas + Orcadas, et minima contentos nocte Britannos" + (i.e. those furthest north).] + +[Footnote 186: According to Dio Cassius this voyage of discovery was +first made by some deserters ('Hist. Rom.' lxix. 20).] + +[Footnote 187: The little that is known of this rampart will be found +in the next chapter (see p. 198).] + +[Footnote 188: Sallustius Lucullus, who succeeded Agricola as +Pro-praetor, was slain by Domitian only for the invention of an +improved lance, known by his name (as rifles now are called Mausers, +etc.).] + +[Footnote 189: See p. 117.] + +[Footnote 190: All highways were made Royal Roads before the end +of the 12th century, so that the course of the original four became +matter of purely antiquarian interest.] + +[Footnote 191: Where it struck that sea is disputed, but Henry of +Huntingdon's assertion that it ran straight from London to Chester +seems the most probable.] + +[Footnote 192: The lines of these roads, if produced, strike the +Thames not at London Bridge, but at the old "Horse Ferry" to Lambeth. +This _may_ point to an alternative (perhaps the very earliest) route.] + +[Footnote 193: Guest ('Origines Celticae') derives "Ermine" from A.S. +_eorm_=fen, and "Watling" from the Welsh Gwyddel=Goidhel=Irish. The +Ermine Street, however, nowhere touches the fenland; nor did any +Gaelic population, so far as is known, abut upon the Watling Street, +at any rate after the English Conquest. Verulam was sometimes called +Watling-chester, probably as the first town on the road.] + +[Footnote 194: The distinction between "Street" and "Way" must not, +however, be pressed, as is done by some writers. The Fosse Way is +never called a Street, though its name [_fossa_] shows it to have been +constructed as such; and the Icknield Way is frequently so called, +though it was certainly a mere track--often a series of parallel +tracks (_e.g._ at Kemble-in-the-Street in Oxfordshire)--as it mostly +remains to this day.] + +[Footnote 195: This may still be seen in places; _e.g._ on the +"Hardway" in Somerset and the "Maiden Way" in Cumberland. See +Codrington, 'Roman Roads in Britain.'] + +[Footnote 196: Camden, however, speaks of a Saxon charter so +designating it near Stilton ('Britannia,' II. 249).] + +[Footnote 197: The whole evidence on this confused subject is well set +out by Mr. Codrington ('Roman Roads in Britain').] + +[Footnote 198: It is, however, possible that the latter is named from +Ake-manchester, which is found as A.S. for Bath, to which it must have +formed the chief route from the N. East.] + +[Footnote 199: See p. 144. Bradley, however, controverts this, +pointing out that the pre-Norman authorities for the name only refer +to Berkshire.] + +[Footnote 200: Thus Iter V. takes the traveller from London to Lincoln +_via_ Colchester, Cambridge, and Huntingdon, though the Ermine Street +runs direct between the two. The 'Itinerary' is a Roadbook of the +Empire, giving the stages on each route set forth, assigned by +commentators to widely differing dates, from the 2nd century to the +5th. In my own view Caracalla is probably the Antoninus from whom it +is called. But after Antoninus Pius (138 A.D.) the name was borne (or +assumed) by almost every Emperor for a century and more.] + +[Footnote 201: See p. 237.] + +[Footnote 202: Ptolemy also marks, in his map of Britain, some fifty +capes, rivers, etc., and the Ravenna list names over forty.] + +[Footnote 203: The longitude is reckoned from the "Fortunate Isles," +the most western land known to Ptolemy, now the Canary Islands. +Ferro, the westernmost of these, is still sometimes found as the Prime +Meridian in German maps.] + +[Footnote 204: Thus the north supplies not only inscriptions relating +to its own legion (the Sixth), but no fewer than 32 of the Second, and +22 of the Twentieth; while at London and Bath indications of all three +are found.] + +[Footnote 205: The Latin word _castra_, originally meaning "camp," +came (in Britain) to signify a fortified town, and was adopted into +the various dialects of English as _caster, Chester_, or _cester_; +the first being the distinctively N. Eastern, the last the S. Western +form.] + +[Footnote 206: Amongst these, however, must be named the high +authority of Professor Skeat. See 'Cambs. Place-Names.'] + +[Footnote 207: Pearson's 'Historical Maps of England' gives a complete +list of these.] + +[Footnote 208: This industry flourished throughout the last half of +the 19th century. The "coprolites" were phosphatic nodules found in +the greensand and dug for use as manure.] + +[Footnote 209: These are of bronze, with closed ends, pitted for the +needle as now, but of size for wearing upon the _thumb_.] + +[Footnote 210: There seems no valid reason for doubting that the +horseshoes found associated with Roman pottery, etc., in the ashpits +of the Cam valley, Dorchester, etc., are actually of Romano-British +date. Gesner maintains that our method of shoeing horses was +introduced by Vegetius under Valentinian II. The earlier shoes seem +to have been rather such slippers as are now used by horses drawing +mowing-machines on college lawns. They were sometimes of rope: _Solea +sparta pes bovis induitur_ (Columella), sometimes of iron: _Et supinam +animam gravido derelinquere caeno Ferream ut solam tenaci in voragine +mula_ (Catullus, xvii. 25). Even gold was used: _Poppaea jumentis suis +soleas ex auro induebat_ (Suet., 'Nero,' xxx.). The Romano-British +horseshoes are thin broad bands of iron, fastened on by three nails, +and without heels. See also Beckmann's 'History of Inventions' (ed. +Bohn).] + +[Footnote 211: This is true of the whole of Britain, even along the +Wall, as a glance at the cases in the British Museum will show. There +may be seen the most interesting relic of this class yet discovered, +a bronze shield-boss, dredged out of the Tyne in 1893 [see 'Lapid. +Sept.' p. 58], bearing the name of the owner, Junius Dubitatus, and +his Centurion, Julius Magnus, of the Ninth Legion.] + +[Footnote 212: The wall of London is demonstrably later than the town, +old material being found built into it. So is that of Silchester.] + +[Footnote 213: York was not three miles in circumference, Uriconium +the same, Cirencester and Lincoln about two, Silchester and Bath +somewhat smaller.] + +[Footnote 214: Roman milestones have been found in various places, +amongst the latest and most interesting being one of Carausius +discovered in 1895, at Carlisle. It had been reversed to substitute +the name of Constantius (see p. 222.). It may be noted that the +earliest of post-Roman date are those still existing on the road +between Cambridge and London, set up in 1729.] + +[Footnote 215: See p. 117. When the existing bridge was built, Roman +remains were found in the river-bed.] + +[Footnote 216: The Thames to the south, the Fleet to the west, and the +Wall Brook to the east and north.] + +[Footnote 217: See p. 233. The city wall may well be due to him.] + +[Footnote 218: See p. 233.] + +[Footnote 219: On this functionary, see article by Domaszewski in +the 'Rheinisches Review,' 1891. His appointment was part of the +pacificatory system promoted by Agricola.] + +[Footnote 220: An _archigubernus_ (master pilot) of this fleet left +his property to one of his subordinates in trust for his infant son. +The son died before coming of age, whereupon the estate was claimed by +the next of kin, while the trustee contended that it had now passed +to him absolutely. He was upheld by the Court. Another York decision +established the principle that any money made by a slave belonged +to his _bona fide_ owner. And another settled that a _Decurio_ (a +functionary answering to a village Mayor in France) was responsible +only for his own _Curia_.] + +[Footnote 221: Inscriptions of the Twentieth have been found here.] + +[Footnote 222: _Legra-ceaster_, the earliest known form of the name, +signifies Camp-chester _(Legra = Laager)_. In Anglo-Saxon writings the +name is often applied to Chester. This, however, was _the_ Chester, +_par excellence_, as having remained so long unoccupied. In the days +of Alfred it is still a "waste Chester" in the A.S. Chronicle. +The word _Chester_ is only associated with Roman fortifications in +Southern Britain. But north of the wall, as Mr. Haverfield points out, +we find it applied to earthworks which cannot possibly have ever been +Roman. (See 'Antiquary' for 1895, p. 37.)] + +[Footnote 223: Bath was frequented by Romano-British society for its +medicinal waters, as it has been since. The name _Aquae_ (like +the various _Aix_ in Western Europe) records this fact. Bath was +differentiated as _Aquae Solis_; the last word having less reference +to Apollo the Healer, than to a local deity _Sul_ or _Sulis_. Traces +of an elaborate pump-room system, including baths and cisterns still +retaining their leaden lining, have here been discovered; and even +the stock-in-trade of one of the small shops, where, as now at such +resorts, trinkets were sold to the visitors.(See 'Antiquary,' 1895, p. +201.)] + +[Footnote 224: Similar excavations are in progress at Caergwent, but, +as yet, with less interesting results. Amongst the objects found is a +money-box of pottery, with a slit for the coins. A theatre [?] is now +(1903) being uncovered.] + +[Footnote 225: See II. F. 4; also Mr. Haverfield's articles in the +'Athenaeum' (115, Dec. 1894), and in the 'Antiquary' (1899, p. 71).] + +[Footnote 226: Mr. Haverfield notes ('Antiquary,' 1898, p. 235) that +British basilicas are larger than those on the Continent, probably +because more protection from weather was here necessary. Almost as +large as this basilica must have been that at Lincoln, where sections +of the curious multiple pillars (which perhaps suggested to St. Hugh +the development from Norman to Gothic in English architecture) may be +seen studding the concrete pavement of Ball Gate.] + +[Footnote 227: A plan of this "church" is given by Mr. Haverfield in +the 'English Hist. Review,' July 1896.] + +[Footnote 228: An inspection of the Ordnance Map (1 in.) shows this +clearly. It is the road called (near Andover) the _Port Way_.] + +[Footnote 229: See p. 46.] + +[Footnote 230: The water supply of Silchester seems to have been +wholly derived from these wells, which are from 25 to 30 feet in +depth, and were usually lined with wood. In one of them there were +found (in 1900) stones of various fruit trees (cherry, plum, etc.), +the introduction of which into Britain has long been attributed to +the Romans, (See Earle, 'English Plant Names.') But this find is not +beyond suspicion of being merely a mouse's hoard of recent date.] + +[Footnote 231: Roman refineries for extracting silver existed in the +lead-mining districts both of the Mendips and of Derbyshire, which +were worked continuously throughout the occupation. But the Silchester +plant was adapted for dealing with far more refractory ores; for what +purpose we cannot tell.] + +[Footnote 232: See paper by W. Gowland in Silchester Report (Society +of Antiquaries) for 1899.] + +[Footnote 233: A glance at the maps issued by the Society of +Antiquaries will show this. The massive rampart, forming an irregular +hexagon, cuts off the corners of various blocks in the ground plan.] + +[Footnote 234: The well-known Cambridge jug of Messrs. Hattersley is a +typical example.] + +[Footnote 235: "Samian" factories existed in Gaul.] + +[Footnote 236: See p. 43.] + +[Footnote 237: TI. CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG. P.M. TRIB. P. VIIII. IMP, XVI. +DE BRITAN. This was found at Wokey Hole, near Wells.] + +[Footnote 238: Haverfield, 'Ant.' p. 147.] + +[Footnote 239: See 'Corpus Inscript. Lat.' Vol. VII.] + +[Footnote 240: A specially interesting touch of this old country house +life is to be seen in the Corinium Museum at Cirencester--a mural +painting whereon has been scratched a squared word (the only known +classical example of this amusement): + + ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR] + +[Footnote 241: The word _mansio_, however, at this period signified +merely a posting-station on one or other of the great roads.] + +[Footnote 242: Selwood, Sherwood, Needwood, Charnwood, and Epping +Forest are all shrunken relics of these wide-stretching woodlands, +with which most of the hill ranges seem to have been clothed. See +Pearson's 'Historical Maps of England.'] + +[Footnote 243: Classical authorities only speak of bears in Scotland. +See P. 236.] + +[Footnote 244: Cyneget., I. 468.] + +[Footnote 245: _Ibid_. 69.] + +[Footnote 246: In II. Cons. Stilicho, III. 299: _Magnaque taurorum +fracturae colla Britannae_.] + +[Footnote 247: 'Origins of English History,' p. 294.] + +[Footnote 248: A brooch found at Silchester also represents this dog.] + +[Footnote 249: Symmachus (A.D. 390) represents them as so fierce as to +require iron kennels (Ep. II. 77).] + +[Footnote 250: Prudentius (contra Sab. 39): _Semifer, et Scoto sentit +cane milite pejor_.] + +[Footnote 251: Proleg. to Jeremiah, lib. III.] + +[Footnote 252: Flavius Vopiscus (A.D. 300) tells us that vine-growing +was also attempted, by special permission of the Emperor Probus.] + +[Footnote 253: The Lex Julia forbade the carrying of arms by +civilians.] + +[Footnote 254: See Elton's 'Origins,' p. 347.] + +[Footnote 255: Proem, v.] + +[Footnote 256: See Fronto,'De Bello Parthico', I. 217. The latest +known inscription relating to this Legion is of A.D. 109 [C.I.L. vii. +241].] + +[Footnote 257: Spartianus (A.D. 300), 'Hist. Rom.'] + +[Footnote 258: About a fifth of the known legionary inscriptions of +Britain have been found in Scotland.] + +[Footnote 259: See p. 233.] + +[Footnote 260: At the Battle of the Standard, 1138.] + +[Footnote 261: That Hadrian and not Severus (by whose name it is +often called) was the builder of the Wall as well as of the adjoining +fortresses is proved by his inscriptions being found not only in them, +but in the "mile-castles" [see C.I.L. vii. 660-663]. Out of the 14 +known British inscriptions of this Emperor, 8 are on the Wall; out of +the 57 of Severus, 3 only.] + +[Footnote 262: Hadrian divided the Province of Britain [see p. 142] +into "Upper" and "Lower"; but by what boundary is wholly conjectural. +All we know is that Dion Cassius [Xiph. lv.] places Chester and +Caerleon in the former and York in the latter. The boundary _may_ thus +have been the line from Mersey to Humber; "Upper" meaning "nearer to +Rome."] + +[Footnote 263: Neilson, 'Per Lineam Valli,' p.I.] + +[Footnote 264: See further pp. 203-212.] + +[Footnote 265: The figure has been supposed to represent Rome seated +on Britain. But the shield is not the oblong buckler of the Romans, +but a round barbaric target.] + +[Footnote 266: So Tacitus speaks of "_Submotis velut in aliam insulam +hostibus_" by Agricola's rampart. And Pliny says, "_Alpes Gcrmaniam ab +Italia submovent_."] + +[Footnote 267: Corpus Inscript. Lat, vii. 1125.] + +[Footnote 268: Dio Cassius, lxxii. 8.] + +[Footnote 269: Aelius Lampridius, 'De Commodo,' c. 8.] + +[Footnote 270: Inscriptions in the Newcastle Museum show that bargemen +from the Tigris were quartered on the Tyne.] + +[Footnote 271: Dio Cassius, lxxii. 9.] + +[Footnote 272: Julius Capitolinus, 'Pertinax,' c. 3.] + +[Footnote 273: Orosius, 'Hist' 17.] + +[Footnote 274: Herodian, 'Hist.' iii. 20.] + +[Footnote 275: Lucius Septimus Severus.] + +[Footnote 276: Herodian, 'Hist. III.' 46. He is a contemporary +authority.] + +[Footnote 277: Also called Bassianus. His throne name was Marcus +Aurelius Antoninus Pius.] + +[Footnote 278: Publius Septimus Geta Antoninus Pius.] + +[Footnote 279: Aelius Spartianus, 'Severus,' c. 23.] + +[Footnote 280: Dion Cassius, lxxvi. 12.] + +[Footnote 281: Severus gave as a _mot d'ordre_ to his soldiers the "No +quarter" proclamation of Agamemnon. ('Iliad,' vi. 57): [Greek: _ton +metis hupekphugoi aipun olethron_].] + +[Footnote 282: Dion Cassius, lxxvi. 12.] + +[Footnote 283: See p. 195.] + +[Footnote 284: Aurelius Victor (20) makes him (as Mommsen and others +think) restore _Antonine's_ rampart: "_vallum per_ xxxii. _passuum +millia a mari ad mare_." But more probably xxxii. is a misreading for +lxxii.] + +[Footnote 285: The very latest spade-work on the Wall (undertaken by +Messrs. Haverfield and Bosanquet in 1901) shows that the original wall +and ditch ran through the midst of the great fortresses of Chesters +and Birdoswald, which are now astride, so to speak, of the Wall; +pointing to the conclusion that Severus rebuilt and enlarged them. In +various places along the Wall itself the stones bear traces of mortar +on their exterior face, showing that they have been used in some +earlier work.] + +[Footnote 286: This is the number _per lineam valli_ given in the +'Notitia.' Only twelve have been certainly identified. They are +commonly known as "stations."] + +[Footnote 287: Antiquaries have given these structures the name of +"mile-castles." They are usually some fifty feet square.] + +[Footnote 288: The familiar name of "Wallsend" coals reminds us of +this connection between the Tynemouth colliery district and the Wall's +end.] + +[Footnote 289: So puzzling is the situation that high authorities +on the subject are found to contend that the work was perfunctorily +thrown up, in obedience to mistaken orders issued by the departmental +stupidity of the Roman War Office, that in reality it was never +either needed or used, and was obsolete from the very outset. But this +suggestion can scarcely be taken as more than an elaborate confession +of inability to solve the _nodus_.] + +[Footnote 290: It should be noted that the "Vallum" is no regular +Roman _muris caespitius_ like the Rampart of Antoninus, though traces +have been found here and there along the line of some intention to +construct such a work (see 'Antiquary,' 1899, p. 71).] + +[Footnote 291: In more than one place the line of fortification +swerves from its course to sweep round a station.] + +[Footnote 292: Near Cilurnum the fosse was used as a receptacle for +shooting the rubbish of the station, and contains Roman pottery of +quite early date.] + +[Footnote 293: See p. 233.] + +[Footnote 294: See p. 232.] + +[Footnote 295: The existing military road along the line of the Wall +does not follow the track of its Roman predecessor. It was constructed +after the rebellion of 1745, when the Scots were able to invade +England by Carlisle before our very superior forces at Newcastle could +get across the pathless waste between to intercept them.] + +[Footnote 296: Mithraism is first heard of in the 2nd century A.D., +as an eccentric cult having many of the features of Christianity, +especially the sense of Sin and the doctrine that the vicarious +blood-shedding essential to remission must be connected with a New +Baptismal Birth unto Righteousness. The Mithraists carried out this +idea by the highly realistic ceremonies of the _Taurobolium_; the +penitent neophyte standing beneath a grating on which the victim +was slain, and thus being literally bathed in the atoning blood, +afterwards being considered as born again [_renatus_]. It thus evolved +a real and heartfelt devotion to the Supreme Being, whom, however +(unlike Christianity), it was willing to worship under the names of +the old Pagan Deities; frequently combining their various attributes +in joint Personalities of unlimited complexity. One figure has the +head of Jupiter, the rays of Phoebus, and the trident of Neptune; +another is furnished with the wings of Cupid, the wand of Mercury, the +club of Hercules, and the spear of Mars; and so forth. Mithraism thus +escaped the persecution which the essential exclusiveness of their +Faith drew down upon Christians; gradually transforming by its deeper +spirituality the more frigid cults of earlier Paganism, and making +them its own. The little band of truly noble men and women who in the +latter half of the 4th century made the last stand against the triumph +of Christianity over the Roman world were almost all Mithraists. For +a good sketch of this interesting development see Dill, 'Roman Society +in the Last Century of the Western Empire.'] + +[Footnote 297: Of the 1200 in the 'Corpus Inscript. Lat.' (vol. vii.), +500 are in the section _Per Lineam Valli_.] + +[Footnote 298: 'Corpus Inscript. Lat.' vol. vii., No. 759.] + +[Footnote 299: Some authorities consider him to have been her own +son.] + +[Footnote 300: See p. 126.] + +[Footnote 301: The Gelt is a small tributary joining the Irthing +shortly before the latter falls into the Eden.] + +[Footnote 302: Polybius (vi. 24) tells us that in the Roman army of +his day a _vexillum_ or _manipulum_ consisted of 200 men under two +centurions, each of whom had his _optio_. Vegetius (II. 1) confines +the word _vexillatio_ to the cavalry, but gives no clue as to its +strength.] + +[Footnote 303: On this inscription see Huebner, C.I.L. vii. 1. A +drawing will be found in Bruce's 'Handbook to the Wall' (ed. 1895), p. +23.] + +[Footnote 304: The name _Cilurnum_ may be connected with this wealth +of water. In modern Welsh _celurn_ = caldron.] + +[Footnote 305: "All hast thou won, all hast thou been. Now be God the +winner." (These final words are equivocal, in both Latin and English. +They might signify, "Now let God be your conqueror," and "Now, thou +conqueror, be God," _i. e_. "die"; for a Roman Emperor was deified at +his decease.) Spartianus, 'De Severo,' 22.] + +[Footnote 306: Aelius Spartianus, 'Severus,' c. 22.] + +[Footnote 307: See p. 46.] + +[Footnote 308: Dio Cassius, lxxvi. 16.] + +[Footnote 309: _Ibid_. lxxvii. I.] + +[Footnote 310: In 369. See p. 230.] + +[Footnote 311: Constans in 343. See p. 230.] + +[Footnote 312: See Bruce, 'Handbook to Wall' (ed. 1895), p. 267.] + +[Footnote 313: Such tablets, called _tabulae honestae missionis_ +("certificates of honourable discharge"), were given to every +enfranchised veteran, and were small enough to be carried easily on +the person. Four others, besides that at Cilurnum, have been found in +Britain.] + +[Footnote 314: None of the above-mentioned _tabulae_ found are later +than A.D. 146, which, so far as it goes, supports the contention that +Marcus Aurelius was the real extender of the citizenship; Caracalla +merely insisting on the liabilities which every Roman subject had +incurred by his rise to this status.] + +[Footnote 315: See pp. 175, 176. Only those fairly identifiable are +given; the certain in capitals, the highly probable in ordinary +type, and the reasonably probable in italics. For a full list +of Romano-British place-names, see Pearson, 'Historical Maps of +England.'] + +[Footnote 316: Probus was fond of thus dealing with his captives. He +settled certain Franks on the Black Sea, where they seized shipping +and sailed triumphantly back to the Rhine, raiding on their way the +shores of Asia Minor, Greece, and Africa, and even storming Syracuse. +They ultimately took service under Carausius. [See Eumenius, Panegyric +on Constantius.] The Vandals he had captured on the Rhine, after their +great defeat by Aurelius on the Danube.] + +[Footnote 317: This name may also echo some tradition of barbarians +from afar having camped there.] + +[Footnote 318: Eutropius (A.D. 360), 'Breviarium,' x. 21.] + +[Footnote 319: By the analogy of Saxon and of Lombard (_Lango-bardi_ += "Long-spears"), this seems the most probable original derivation of +the name. In later ages it was, doubtless, supposed to have to do with +_frank_ = free. The franca is described by Procopius ('De Bell. Goth.' +ii. 25.), and figures in the Song of Maldon.] + +[Footnote 320: See Florence of Worcester (A.D. 1138); also the Song of +Beowulf.] + +[Footnote 321: Eutropius, ix. 21.] + +[Footnote 322: The Franks of Carausius had already swept that sea (see +p. 219).] + +[Footnote 323: Mamertinus, 'Paneg. in Maximian.'] + +[Footnote 324: Caesar, originally a mere family name, was adapted +first as an Imperial title by the Flavian Emperors.] + +[Footnote 325: Henry of Huntingdon makes her the daughter of Coel, +King of Colchester; the "old King Cole" of our nursery rhyme, and as +mythical as other eponymous heroes. Bede calls her a concubine, a slur +derived from Eutropius (A.D. 360), who calls the connection _obscurius +matrimonium_ (Brev. x. 1).] + +[Footnote 326: Eumenius, 'Panegyric on Constantine,' c. 8.] + +[Footnote 327: Eumenius, 'Panegyric on Constantius,' c. 6.] + +[Footnote 328: Salisbury Plain has been suggested as the field.] + +[Footnote 329: The historian Victor, writing about 360 A.D., ascribes +the recovery of Britain to this officer rather than to the personal +efforts of Constantius. The suggestion in the text is an endeavour to +reconcile his statement with the earlier panegyrics of Eumenius.] + +[Footnote 330: See p. 59. An inscription found near Cirencester +proves that place to have been in Britannia Prima. It is figured +by Haverfield ('Eng. Hist. Rev.' July 1896), and runs as follows: +_Septimius renovat Primae Provinciae Rector Signum et erectam prisca +religione columnam_. This is meant for two hexameter lines, and refers +to Julian's revival of Paganism (see p. 233).] + +[Footnote 331: Specimens of these are given by Harnack in the +'Theologische Literaturzeitung' of January 20 and March 17, 1894.] + +[Footnote 332: See Sozomen, 'Hist. Eccl.' I, 6.] + +[Footnote 333: See p. 123.] + +[Footnote 334: The name commonly given to the really unknown author +of the 'History of the Britons.' He states that the tombstone of +Constantius was still to be seen in his day, and gives Mirmantum +or Miniamantum as an alternative name for Segontium. Bangor and +Silchester are rival claimants for the name, and one 13th-century MS. +declares York to be signified.] + +[Footnote 335: The Sacred Monogram known as _Labarum_. Both name +and emblem were very possibly adapted from the primitive cult of the +Labrys, or Double Axe, filtered through Mithraism. The figure is never +found as a Christian emblem before Constantine, though it appears as +a Heathen symbol upon the coinage of Decius (A.D. 250). See Parsons, +'Non-Christian Cross,' p. 148.] + +[Footnote 336: Hilary (A.D. 358), 'De Synodis,' Sec. 2.] + +[Footnote 337: Ammianus Marcellinus, 'Hist.' XX. I.] + +[Footnote 338: Jerome calls her "fertilis tyrannorum provincia." ['Ad +Ctesiph.' xliii.] It is noteworthy that in all ecclesiastical notices +of this period Britain is always spoken of as a single province, in +spite of Diocletian's reforms.] + +[Footnote 339: See p. 202.] + +[Footnote 340: These Scotch pirate craft (as it would seem) are +described by Vegetius (A.D. 380) as skiffs (_scaphae_), which, the +better to escape observation, were painted a neutral tint all over, +ropes and all, and were thus known as _Picts_. The crews were dressed +in the same colour--like our present khaki. These vessels were large +open boats rowing twenty oars a side, and also used sails. The very +scientifically constructed vessels which have been found in the silt +of the Clyde estuary may have been _Picts_. See p. 80.] + +[Footnote 341: Henry of Huntingdon, 'History of the English,' ii. I.] + +[Footnote 342: Murat, CCLXIII. 4.] + +[Footnote 343: See p. 225.] + +[Footnote 344: Jerome, in his treatise against Jovian, declares that +he could bear personal testimony to this.] + +[Footnote 345: See p. 194.] + +[Footnote 346: Marcellinus dwells upon the chopping seas which +usually prevailed in the Straits; and of the rapid tide, which is also +referred to by Ausonius (380), "Quum virides algas et rubra corallia +nudat Aestus," etc.] + +[Footnote 347: To him is probably due the reconstruction of the +"Vallum" as a defence against attacks from the south, such as the +Scots were now able to deliver. See p. 207.] + +[Footnote 348: Marcellinus, 'Hist.' XXVIII. 3. See p. 202.] + +[Footnote 349: 'De Quarto Consulatu Honorii,' I. 31.] + +[Footnote 350: Theodosius married Galla, daughter of Valentinian I.] + +[Footnote 351: For the later migrations to Brittany see Elton's +'Origins,' p. 350. Samson, Archbishop of York, is said to have fled +thither in 500, and settled at Dol. Sidonius Apollinaris speaks of +Britons settled by the Loire.] + +[Footnote 352: 'In Primum Consulatum Stilichonis,' II. 247.] + +[Footnote 353: Alone amongst the legions it is not mentioned in the +'Notitia' as attached to any province.] + +[Footnote 354: 'Epithalamium Paladii,' 85.] + +[Footnote 355: The first printed edition was published 1552.] + +[Footnote 356: See p. 90.] + +[Footnote 357: _Portus Adurni_. Some authorities, however, hold this +to be Shoreham, others Portsmouth, others Aldrington. The remaining +posts are less disputed. They were Branodunum (Brancaster), Garianonum +(Yarmouth), Othona (Althorne[?] in Essex), Regulbium (Reculver), +Rutupiae (Richborough), Lemanni (Lyminge), Dubris (Dover), and +Anderida.] + +[Footnote 358: There were six "Counts" altogether in the Western +Empire, and twelve "Dukes." Both Counts and Dukes were of +"Respectable" rank, the second in the Diocletian hierarchy.] + +[Footnote 359: See p. 237.] + +[Footnote 360: This word, however, may perhaps signify _Imperial_ +rather than _London_.] + +[Footnote 361: Olympiodorus (A.D. 425).] + +[Footnote 362: 'Hist. Nov.' vi. 10. He is a contemporary authority.] + +[Footnote 363: Tennyson, 'Guinevere,' 594. The dragon standard first +came into use amongst the Imperial insignia under Augustus, and the +red dragon is mentioned by Nennius as already the emblem of Briton +as opposed to Saxon. The mediaeval Welsh poems speak of the legendary +Uther, father of Arthur, as "Pendragon," equivalent to Head-Prince, of +Britain.] + +[Footnote 364: See Rhys, 'Celtic Britain,' pp. 116, 136.] + +[Footnote 365: Gildas (xxiii,) so calls him.] + +[Footnote 366: "The groans of the Britons" are said by Bede to have +been forwarded to Aetius "thrice Consul," _i.e._ in 446, on the eve of +the great struggle with Attila.] + +[Footnote 367: Nennius (xxviii.) so calls them, and they are commonly +supposed to have been clinker-built like the later Viking ships. But +Sidonius Apollinaris (455) speaks of them as a kind of coracle. See p. +37. + + "Quin et Armorici piratam Saxona tractus Sperabant, cui + _pelle_ salum sulcare Britannum Ludus, et _assuto_ glaucum + mare findere lembo." + + ('Carm.' vii. 86.)] + +[Footnote 368: See Elton, 'Origins,' ch. xii.] + +[Footnote 369: Henry of Huntingdon, 'Hist. of the English,' ii. 1.] + +[Footnote 370: Nennius, xlix. This is the reading of the oldest MSS.; +others are _Nimader sexa_ and _Enimith saxas_. The regular form would +be _Nimap eowre seaxas_.] + +[Footnote 371: A coin of Valentinian was discovered in the Cam valley +in 1890. On the reverse is a Latin Cross surrounded by a laurel +wreath.] + +[Footnote 372: _Cymry_ signifies _confederate_, and was the name +(quite probably an older racial appellation revived) adopted by the +Western Britons in their resistance to the Saxon advance.] + +[Footnote 373: Arthur is first mentioned (in Nennius and the 'Life +of Gildas') as a Damnonian "tyrant" (i.e. a popular leader with no +constitutional status), fighting against "the kings of Kent." This +notice must be very early--before the West Saxons came in between +Devon and the Kentish Jutes. His early date is confirmed by his +mythical exploits being located in every Cymric region--Cornwall, +Wales, Strathclyde, and even Brittany.] + +[Footnote 374: The ambition of Henry V. for Continental dominion was +undoubtedly thus quickened.] + +[Footnote 375: Procopius, 'De Bello Gothico,' iv. 20.] + +[Footnote 376: These presumably represent the Saxons, who were +next-door neighbours to the Frisians of Holland. But Mr. Haverfield's +latest (1902) map makes Frisians by name occupy Lothian.] + +[Footnote 377: Ptolemy's map shows how this error arose; Scotland, by +some extraordinary blunder, being therein represented as an _eastward_ +extension at right angles to England, with the Mull of Galloway as its +northernmost point.] + +[Footnote 378: This fable probably arose from the mythical visit of +Ulysses (see p. 64 _n_.), who, as Claudian ('In Rut.' i. 123) tells, +here found the Mouth of Hades.] + +[Footnote 379: Procopius, 'De Bello Gothico,' ii. 6.] + +[Footnote 380: See my 'Alfred in the Chroniclers,' p. 6.] + +[Footnote 381: See p. 175.] + +[Footnote 382: See p. 168.] + +[Footnote 383: 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,' A. 491: "This year Ella and +Cissa stormed Anderida and slew all that dwelt therein, so that not +one Briton was there left."] + +[Footnote 384: Chester itself, one of the last cities to fall, +is called "a waste chester" as late as the days of Alfred ('A.-S. +Chron.,' A. 894).] + +[Footnote 385: In the districts conquered after the Conversion of the +English there was no such extermination, the vanquished Britons being +fellow-Christians.] + +[Footnote 386: For the British survival in the Fenland see my 'History +of Cambs.,' III., Sec. 11.] + +[Footnote 387: Romano-British relics have been found in the Victoria +Cave, Settle.] + +[Footnote 388: 'Comm. on Ps. CXVI.' written about 420 A.D.] + +[Footnote 389: 'Epist. ad. Corinth.' 5.] + +[Footnote 390: Catullus, in the Augustan Age, refers to Britain as the +"extremam Occidentis," and Aristides (A.D. 160) speaks of it as "that +great island opposite Iberia."] + +[Footnote 391: 'Menol. Graec.,' June 29. A suspiciously similar +passage (on March 15) speaks of British ordinations by Aristobulus, +the disciple of St. Paul.] + +[Footnote 392: Nero. This would be A.D. 66.] + +[Footnote 393: It is less generally known than it should be that the +head of St. Paul as well as of St. Peter has always figured on the +leaden seal attached to a Papal Bull.] + +[Footnote 394: Tennyson, 'Holy Grail,' 53. This thorn, a patriarchal +tree of vast dimensions, was destroyed during the Reformation. But +many of its descendants exist about England (propagated from +cuttings brought by pilgrims), and still retain its unique season +for flowering. In all other respects they are indistinguishable from +common thorns.] + +[Footnote 395: See also William of Malmesbury, 'Hist. Regum,' Sec. 20.] + +[Footnote 396: See p. 62.] + +[Footnote 397: See Introduction to Tennyson's 'Holy Grail' (G.C. +Macaulay), p. xxix.] + +[Footnote 398: See Bp. Browne, 'Church before Augustine,' p. 46.] + +[Footnote 399: Chaucer, 'Sumpnour's Tale.'] + +[Footnote 400: Epig. xi. 54: "Claudia coeruleis ... Rufina Britannis +Edita."] + +[Footnote 401: See p. 141.] + +[Footnote 402: Epig. v. 13.] + +[Footnote 403: Tacitus, 'Ann.' xiii. 32.] + +[Footnote 404: See p. 69.] + +[Footnote 405: Lanciani, 'Pagan and Christian Rome,' p. 110. The house +was bought by Pudens from Aquila and Priscilla, and made a titular +church by Pius I.] + +[Footnote 406: Homily 4 on Ezechiel, 6 on St. Luke.] + +[Footnote 407: 'Adversus Judaeos,' c. 7.] + +[Footnote 408: 'Eccl. Hist.' iv.] + +[Footnote 409: Pope from 177-191.] + +[Footnote 410: Haddan and Stubbs, i. 25. The 'Catalogus' was composed +early in the 4th century, but the incident is a later insertion.] + +[Footnote 411: See p. 225.] + +[Footnote 412: He is mentioned by Gildas, along with Julius and Aaron +of Caerleon. These last were already locally canonized in the 9th +century, as the 'Liber Landavensis' testifies; and the sites of their +respective churches could still be traced, according to Bishop Godwin, +in the 17th century.] + +[Footnote 413: Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelfius of +"Colonia Londinensium." The last word is an obvious misreading. Haddan +and Stubbs ('Concilia,' p. 7) suggest _Legionensium_, i.e. Caerleon.] + +[Footnote 414: It is more reasonable to assume this than to +imagine, with Mr. French, that these three formed the entire British +episcopate. And there is reason to suppose that York, London, and +Caerleon were metropolitan sees.] + +[Footnote 415: Canon x.: De his qui conjuges suas in adulterio +deprehendunt, et iidem sunt fideles, et prohibentur nubere; Placuit +... ne viventibus uxoribus suis, licet adulteris, alias accipiant. +[Haddan, 'Concilia,' p. 7.]] + +[Footnote 416: 'Ad Jovian' (A.D. 363).] + +[Footnote 417: 'Contra Judaeos' (A.D. 387).] + +[Footnote 418: 'Serm. de Util. Lect. Script.'] + +[Footnote 419: Hom. xxviii., in II. Corinth.] + +[Footnote 420: This text seems from very early days to have been a +sort of Christian watchword (being, as it were, an epitome of the +Faith). The Coronation Oath of our English Kings is still, by ancient +precedent, administered on this passage, _i.e._ the Book is opened for +the King's kiss at this point. In mediaeval romance we find the words +considered a charm against ghostly foes; and to this day the text is +in use as a phylactery amongst the peasantry of Ireland.] + +[Footnote 421: Ep. xlix. ad Paulinum. These pilgrimages are also +mentioned by Palladius (420) and Theodoret (423).] + +[Footnote 422: Ep. lxxxiv. ad Oceanum.] + +[Footnote 423: Ep. ci. ad Evang.] + +[Footnote 424: Whithern (in Latin _Casa Candida_) probably derived its +name from the white rough-casting with which the dark stone walls of +this church were covered, a strange sight to Pictish eyes, accustomed +only to wooden buildings.] + +[Footnote 425: The practice, now so general, of dedicating a church +to a saint unconnected with the locality, was already current at Rome. +But hitherto Britain had retained the more primitive habit, by which +(if a church was associated with any particular name) it was called +after the saint who first built or used it, or, like St. Alban's, +the martyr who suffered on the spot. Besides Whithern, the church of +Canterbury was dedicated about this time to St. Martin, showing the +close ecclesiastical sympathy between Gaul and Britain.] + +[Footnote 426: The cave is on the northern shore of the Thuner-See, +near Sundlauenen. Beatus is said to have introduced sailing into the +Oberland by spreading his mantle to the steady breeze which blows +down the lake by night and up it during the day. The name of Justus is +preserved in the Justis-thal near Merlingen.] + +[Footnote 427: This name is merely the familiar Welsh _Morgan_, which +signifies _sea-born_, done into Greek.] + +[Footnote 428: See Orosius, 'De Arbit. Lib.,' and other authorities in +Haddan and Stubbs.] + +[Footnote 429: Sidonius, Ep. ix. 3.] + +[Footnote 430: Constantius, the biographer of Germanus, says they were +sent by a Council of Gallican Bishops; but Prosper of Aquitaine (who +was in Rome at the time) declares they were commissioned by Pope +Celestine. Both statements are probably true.] + +[Footnote 431: The lives of Germanus, Patrick, and Ninias will be +found in a trustworthy and well-told form in Miss Arnold-Foster's +'Studies in Church Dedication.'] + +[Footnote 432: See p. 185.] + +[Footnote 433: Bede, 'Eccl. Hist.' I. xxvi.] + +[Footnote 434: Many existing churches are more or less built of Roman +material. The tower of St. Albans is a notable example, and that of +Stoke-by-Nayland, near Colchester. At Lyminge, near Folkestone, so +much of the church is thus constructed that many antiquaries have +believed it to be a veritable Roman edifice.] + +[Footnote 435: See Lanciani, 'Pagan and Christian Rome,' p. 115.] + +[Footnote 436: At Frampton, near Dorchester, and Chedworth, near +Cirencester, stones bearing the Sacred Monogram have been found +amongst the ruins of Roman "villas."] + +[Footnote 437: The British rite was founded chiefly on the Gallican, +and differed from the Roman in the mode of administering baptism, in +certain minutiae of the Mass, in making Wednesday as well as Friday a +weekly fast, in the shape of the sacerdotal tonsure, in the Kalendar +(especially with regard to the calculation of Easter), and in the +recitation of the Psalter. From Canon XVI. of the Council of Cloveshoo +(749) it appears that the observance of the Rogation Days constituted +another difference.] + +[Footnote 438: The Mission of St. Columba the Irishman to Britain was +a direct result of the Mission of St. Patrick the Briton to Ireland.] + +[Footnote 439: Magna Charta opens with the words _Ecclesia Anglicana +libera sit_; and the Barons who won it called themselves "The Army of +the Church."] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY BRITAIN--ROMAN BRITAIN*** + + +******* This file should be named 12910.txt or 12910.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/1/12910 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |