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: êdikên] " [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 oneof a "series, " is notoriously an object of literary distrust. Forthe limitations thus imposed upon the writer are such as few men cansatisfactorily cope with, and he must needs ask the indulgence of hisreaders for his painfully-felt shortcomings in dealing with the massof material which he has to manipulate. And more especially is thisthe case when the volume which immediately precedes his in the seriesis such a mine of erudition as the 'Celtic Britain' of Professor Rhys. 

In the present work my object has been to give a readable sketchof the historical growth and decay of Roman influence in Britain, illustrated by the archaeology of the period, rather than a mainlyarchaeological treatise with a bare outline of the history. The chiefauthorities of which I have made use are thus those original classicalsources for the early history of our island, so carefully and ablycollected in the 'Monumenta Historica Britannica';[1] which, alongwith Huebner's 'Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum[2], ' must always bethe foundation of every work on Roman Britain. Amongst the manyother authorities consulted I must acknowledge my special debt to Mr. Elton's 'Origins of English History'; and yet more to Mr. Haverfield'sinvaluable publications in the 'Antiquary' and elsewhere, withoutwhich to keep abreast of the incessant development of my subject bythe antiquarian spade-work now going on all over the land would be analmost hopeless task. 

EDWARD CONYBEARE. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete Bibliography of Roman Britain would be wholly beyond thescope of the present work. Much of the most valuable material, indeed, has never been published in book form, and must be sought out in thearticles of the 'Antiquary, ' 'Hermes, ' etc. , and the reports of themany local Archaeological Societies. All that is here attempted is toindicate some of the more valuable of the many scores of sources towhich my pages are indebted. 

To begin with the ancient authorities. These range through upwards ofa thousand years; from Herodotus in the 5th century before Christ, toGildas in the 6th century after. From about 100 A. D. Onwards we findthat almost every known classical authority makes more or less mentionof Britain. A list of over a hundred such authors is given in the'Monumenta Historica Britannica'; and upwards of fifty are quotedin this present work. Historians, poets, geographers, naturalists, statesmen, ecclesiastics, all give touches which help out ourdelineation of Roman Britain. 

Amongst the historians the most important are--Caesar, who tells hisown tale; Tacitus, to whom we owe our main knowledge of the Conquest, with the later stages of which he was contemporary; Dion Cassius, whowrote his history in the next century, the 2nd A. D. ;[3] the variousImperial biographers of the 3rd century; the Imperial panegyrists ofthe 4th, along with Ammianus Marcellinus, who towards the close ofthat century connects and supplements their stories; Claudian, thepoet-historian of the 5th century, whose verses throw a lurid gleamon his own disastrous age, when Roman authority in Britain was at itslast gasp; and finally the British writers, Nennius and Gildas, whose"monotonous plaint" shows that authority dead and gone, with the firststirring of our new national life already quickening amid the decay. 

Of geographical and general information we gain most from Strabo, inthe Augustan age, who tells what earlier and greater geographers thanhimself had already discovered about our island; Pliny the Elder, who, in the next century, found the ethnology and botany of Britain sovaluable 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 compilersof the 'Itinerary, ' the 'Notitia, ' and the 'Ravenna Geography. ' Tothese must be added the epigrammatist Martial, who lived at the timeof the Conquest, and whose references to British matters throw aprecious light on the social connection between Britain and Rome whichaids us to trace something of the earliest dawn of Christianity in ourland. [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 HuntingOrigen 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 unceasingspade-work always going on in every quarter of the island, makesmodern books on Roman Britain tend to become obsolete, sometimes withstartling rapidity. But even when not quite up to date, a well-writtenbook is almost always very far from worthless, and much may be learntfrom 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 'Römische 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. Dies343 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 Heathenism394 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

§ A. --Palaeolithic Age--Extinct fauna--River-bed men--Flintimplements--Burnt stones--Worked bones--Glacial climate ... _p_. 25

§ B. --Neolithic Age--"Ugrians"--Polished flints--Jadite--Goldornaments--Cromlechs--Forts--Bronze Age--Copper and tin--Stonehenge... _p_. 28

§ C. --Aryan immigrants--Gael and Briton--Earliest classicalnomenclature--British Isles--Albion--Ierne--Cassiterides--Phoeniciantin trade _viâ_ Cadiz ... _p_. 31

§ D. --Discoveries of Pytheas--Greek tin trade _viâ_ Marseilles--Traderoutes--Ingots--Coracles--Earliest British coins--Lead-mining ... _p_. 34

§ E. --Pytheas trustworthy--His notes on Britain--Agriculturaltribes--Barns--Manures--Dene Holes--Mead--Beer--Parchedcorn--Pottery--Mill-stones--Villages--Cattle--Pastoral tribes--Savagetribes--Cannibalism--Polyandry--Beasts of chase--Forest trees--Britishclothing and arms--Sussex iron ... _p_. 39

§ F. --Celtic types--"Roy" and "Dhu"--Gael--Silurians--Loegrians--Basquepeoples--Shifting of clans--Constitutional disturbances--Monarchy--Oligarchy--Demagogues--First inscribed coins ... _p_. 50

§ G. --Clans at Julian invasion--Permanent naturalboundaries--Population Celtic settlements--"Duns"--Maiden Castle ... _p_. 54

§ H. --Religious state of Britain--Illustrated byHindooism--Totemists--Polytheists--Druids--Bards--Seers--DruidicDeities--Mistletoe--Sacred herbs--"Ovum Anguinum"--Suppression ofDruidism--Druidism and Christianity _p_. 62

CHAPTER II

THE JULIAN INVASION

B. C. 55, 54

§ A. --Caesar and Britain--Breakdown of Roman Republicaninstitutions--Corruption abroad and at home--Rise of Caesar--Conquestof Gaul ... _p_. 73

§ B. --Sea-fight with Veneti and Britons--Pretexts for invadingBritain--British dominion of Divitiacus--Gallic tribes inBritain--Atrebates--Commius ... _p_. 79

§ C. --Defeat of Germans--Bridge over Rhine--Caesar's army--Dreadof ocean--Fleet at Boulogne--Commius sent to Britain--Channelcrossed--Attempt on Dover--Landing at Deal--Legionarysentiment--British army dispersed ... _p_. 83

§ D. --Wreck of fleet--Fresh British levy--Fight in corn-field--Britishchariots--Attack on camp--Romans driven into sea ... _p_. 94

§ E. --Caesar worsted--New fleet built--Caesar atRome--Cicero--Expedition of 54 B. C. --Unopposed landing--Pro-RomanBritons--Trinobantes--Mandubratius--British army surprised--"OldEngland's Hole" ... _p_. 102

§ F. --Fleet again wrecked--Britons rally under Caswallon--Battle ofBarham Down--Britons fly to London--Origin of London--Patriot armydispersed ... _p_. 112

§ G. --Passage of Thames--Submission of clans--Storm of Verulam--Lastpatriot effort in Kent--Submission of Caswallon--Romans leaveBritain--"Caesar Divus" ... _p_. 118

CHAPTER III

THE ROMAN CONQUEST

B. C. 54-A. D. 85

§ A. --Britain after Julius Caesar--House of Commius--Inscribedcoins--House of Cymbeline--Tasciovan--Commians overthrown--Vainappeal to Augustus--Ancyran Tablet--Romano-Britishtrade--Lead-mining--British fashions in Rome--Adminius banished byCymbeline--Appeal to Caligula--Futile demonstration--Icenian civilwar--Vericus banished--Appeal to Claudius--Invasion prepared ... _p_. 124

§ B. --Aulus Plautius--Reluctance to embark--Narcissus--Passage ofChannel--Landing at Portchester--Strength of expedition--Vespasian'slegion--British defeats--Line of Thames held--Arrival ofClaudius--Camelodune taken--General submission of island _p_. 131

§ C. --Claudius triumphs--Gladiatorial shows--Last stand ofBritons--Gallantry of Titus--Ovation of Plautius--Distinctionsbestowed--Triumphal arch--Commemorative coinage--Conciliatorypolicy--British worship of Claudius--Cogidubnus--Attitude ofclans--Britain made Imperial province ... _p_. 135

§ D. --Ostorius Pro-praetor--Pacification of Midlands--Icenianrevolt--The Fleam Dyke--Iceni crushed--Cangi--Brigantes--Silurianwar--Storm of Caer Caradoc--Treachery of Cartismandua--Caradocat Rome--Death of Ostorius--Uriconium and Caerleon--Britainquieted--Death of Claudius ... _p_. 142

§ E. --Neronian misgovernment--Seneca--Prasutagus--Boadiceanrevolt--Sack of Camelodune--Suetonius in Mona--Druidesses--Sackof London and Verulam--Boadicea crushed at Battle Bridge--Peace ofPetronius ... _p_. 151

§ F. --Otho and Vitellius--Civil war--Army ofBritain--Priscus--Agricola--Vespasian Emperor--Cerealis--Brigantesput down--Silurians put down--Agricola Pro-praetor--Ordovices putdown--Frontinus--Pacification of South Britain--Romancivilization introduced--Caledonian campaign--Galgacus--Agricola'srampart--Domitian--Resignation and death of Agricola ... _p_. 159

CHAPTER IV

THE ROMAN OCCUPATION

A. D. 85-211

§ A. --Pacification of Britain--Roman roads--London theircentre--Authority for names--Watling Street--Ermine Street--IcknieldWay ... _p_. 165

§ B. --Romano-British towns--Ancient lists--Method ofidentification--Dense rural population--Remains in Camvalley--Coins--Thimbles--Horseshoes ... _p_. 171

§ C. --Fortification of towns late--Chief Romancentres--London--York--Chester--Bath--Silchester--Remains therefound--Romano-British handicrafts--Pottery--Basket-work--Mining--Rurallife--Villas--Forests--Hunting-dogs--Husbandry--Britain under _PaxRomana ... P_. 178

§ D. --The unconquered North--Hadrian's Wall--Upper and LowerBritain--Romano-British coinage--Wall of Antoninus--BritainPro-consular ... _p_. 193

§ E. --Commodus Britannicus--Ulpius Marcellus--Murder of Perennis--Eraof military turbulence--Pertinax--Albinus--British army defeated atLyons--Severus Emperor--Caledonian war--Severus overruns Highlands ... _p_. 198

§ F. --Severus completes Hadrian's Wall--"MileCastles"--"Stations"--Garrison--The Vallum--Rivaltheories--Evidence--Remains--Coins--Altars--Mithraism--Inscription toJulia Domna--"Written Rock" on Gelt--Cilurnum aqueduct ... _p_. 203

§ G. --Death of Severus--Caracalla and Geta--Romancitizenship--Extension to veterans--_Tabulae honestaemissionis_--Bestowed on all British provincials ... _p_. 212

CHAPTER V

THE END OF ROMAN BRITAIN

A. D. 211-455

§ A. --Era of Pretenders--Probus--Vandlebury--First notice ofSaxons--Origin of name--Count of the Saxon Shore--Carausius--Allectus--Last Romano-British coinage--Britain Mistress ofthe Sea--Reforms of Diocletian--Constantius Chlorus--Re-conquestof Britain--Diocletian provinces--Diocletian persecution--Thelast "Divus"--General scramble for Empire--British army winsfor Constantine--Christianity established ... _p_. 218

§ B. --Spread of Gospel--Arianism--Britain orthodox--LastImperial visit--Heathen temples stripped--BritishEmperors--Magnentius--Gratian--Julian--British corn-trade--Firstinroad of Picts and Scots--Valentinian--Saxon raids--Campaignof Theodosius--Re-conquest of Valentia--Wall restored and citiesfortified ... _p_. 229

§ C. --Roman evacuation of Britain begun--Maximus--Settlementof Brittany--Radagaisus invades Italy--Twentieth Legion leavesBritain--Britain in the 'Notitia'--Final effort of British army--Thelast Constantine--Last Imperial Rescript to Britain--Sack of Rome byAlaric--Final collapse of Roman rule in Britain ... _p_. 235

§ D. --Beginning of English Conquest--Vortigern--Jutes inThanet--Battle of Stamford--Massacre of Britons--ValentinianIII. --Latest Roman coin found in Britain--Progress ofConquest--The Cymry--Survival of Romano-British titles--ArturianRomances--Procopius--Belisarius--Roman claims revived byCharlemagne--The British Empire ... _p_. 244

§ E. --Survivals of Romano-British civilization--Romano-BritishChurch--Legends of its origin--St. Paul--St. Peter--Josephof Arimathaea--Glastonbury--Historical notices--Claudia andPudens--Pomponia--Church of St. Pudentiana--Patristic referencesto Britain--Tertullian--Origen--Legend of Lucius--NativeChristianity--British Bishops at Councils--Testimony of Chrysostom andJerome ... _p_. 249

§ F. --British missionaries--Ninias--Patrick--Beatus--Britishheresiarchs--Pelagius--Fastidius--Pelagianism stamped out byGermanus--The Alleluia Battle--Romano-British churches--Why so seldomfound--Conclusion ... _p_. 261

ROMAN BRITAIN

CHAPTER I

PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN

SECTION A. 

Palaeolithic Age--Extinct fauna--River-bed men--Flintimplements--Burnt stones--Worked bones--Glacial climate. 

A. 1. --All history, as Professor Freeman so well points out, centresround the great name of Rome. For, of all the great divisions ofthe human race, it is the Aryan family which has come to the front. Assimilating, developing, and giving vastly wider scope to the highestforms of thought and religion originated by other families, notablythe Semitic, the various Aryan nationalities form, and have formedfor ages, the vanguard of civilization. These nationalities are nowpractically co-extensive with Christendom; and on them has been laidby Divine Providence "the white man's burden"--the task of raising therest 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 historyof mankind. And a mere glance at Aryan history shows how entirelyits great central feature is the period during which all theleading forces of Aryanism were grouped and fused together underthe world-wide Empire of Rome. In that Empire all the streams of ourAncient History find their end, and from that Empire all those ofModern History take their beginning. "All roads, " says the proverb, "lead to Rome;" and this is emphatically true of the lines ofhistorical research; for as we tread them we are conscious at everystep 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 Europein general and of our own island in particular. For Britain, History(meaning thereby the more or less trustworthy record of political andsocial development) does not even begin till its destinies were drawnwithin the sphere of Roman influence. It is with Julius Caesar, thatgreat writer (and yet greater maker) of History, that, for us, thisrecord commences. 

A. 4. --But before dealing with "Britain's tale" as connected with"Caesar's fate, " it will be well to note briefly what earlierinformation ancient documents and remains can afford us with regardto our island and its inhabitants. With the earliest dwellers upon itssoil of whom traces remain we are, indeed, scarcely concerned. For inthe far-off days of the "River-bed" men (five thousand or five hundredthousand years ago, according as we accept the physicist's or thegeologist's estimate of the age of our planet) Britain was not yet anisland. Neither the Channel nor the North Sea as yet cut it off fromthe Continent when those primaeval savages herded beside the banks ofits streams, along with elephant and hippopotamus, bison and elk, bearand hyaena; amid whose remains we find their roughly-chipped flintaxes and arrow-heads, the fire-marked stones which they used inboiling their water, and the sawn or broken bases of the antlerswhich for some unknown purpose[6] they were in the habit of cuttingup--perhaps, like the Lapps of to-day, to anchor their sledges withalin the snow. For the great Glacial Epoch, which had covered half theNorthern Hemisphere with its mighty ice-sheet, was still, in theirday, lingering on, and their environment was probably that of NorthernSiberia to-day. Some archaeologists, indeed, hold that they are tothis day represented by the Esquimaux races; but this theory cannot beconsidered in any way proved. 

A. 5. --Whether, indeed, they were "men" at all, in any real senseof the word, may well be questioned. For of the many attempts whichphilosophers in all ages have made to define the word "man, " the onlyone which is truly defensible is that which differentiates himfrom other animals, not by his physical or intellectual, but by hisspiritual superiority. Many other creatures are as well adapted inbodily conformation for their environment, and the lowest savages areintellectually at a far lower level of development than the highestinsects; but none stand in the same relation to the Unseen. "Man, " ashas been well said, "is the one animal that can pray. " And there isnothing amongst the remains of these "river-bed men" to show us thatthey either did pray, or could. Intelligence, such as is now foundonly in human beings, they undoubtedly had. But whether they hadthe capacity for Religion must be left an unsolved problem. In thisconnection, however, it may be noted that Tacitus, in describing thelowest savages of his Germania [c. 46], "with no horses, no homes, noweapons, skin-clad, nesting on the bare ground, men and women alike, barely kept alive by herbs and such flesh as their bone-tipped arrowscan win them, " makes it his climax that they are "beneath the need ofprayer;"--adding that this spiritual condition is, "beyond all others, that least attainable by man. "

SECTION B. 

Neolithic Age--"Ugrians"--Polished flints--Jadite--Goldornaments--Cromlechs--Forts--Bronze Age--Copper and tin--Stonehenge. 

B. 1. --Whatever they were, they vanish from our ken utterly, thesePalaeolithic savages, and are followed, after what lapse of time weknow not, by the users of polished flint weapons, the tribes of theNeolithic period. And with them we find ourselves in touch with theexisting development of our island. For an island it already was, andwith substantially the same area and shores and physical features aswe have them still. Our rivers ran in the same valleys, our hills rosewith the same contour, in those far-off days as now. And while theplace of flint in the armoury of Britain was taken first by bronzeand then by iron, these changes were made by no sudden breaks, but sogradually that it is impossible to say when one period ended and thenext began. 

B. 2. --It is almost certain, however, that the Neolithic men werenot of Aryan blood. They are commonly spoken of by the name of_Ugrians_, [7] the "ogres"[8] of our folk-lore; which has also handeddown, in the spiteful Brownie of the wood and the crafty Pixie ofthe cavern, dimly-remembered traditions of their physical and mentalcharacteristics. Indeed it is not impossible that their blood maystill be found in the remoter corners of our land, whither they werepushed back by the higher civilization of the Aryan invaders, beforewhom they disappeared by a process in which "miscegenation" may wellhave played no small part. But disappear they did, leaving behind themno more traces than their flint arrow-heads and axes (a few of thesebeing of jadite, which must have come from China or thereabouts), together with their oblong sepulchral barrows, from some of which theearth has weathered away, so that the massive stones imbedded in itas the last home of the deceased stand exposed as a "dolmen" or"cromlech. " But an appreciable number of the earthworks which stud ourhill-tops, and are popularly called "Roman" or "British" camps, reallybelong to this older race. Such are "Cony Castle" in Dorset, and thefortifications along the Axe in Devon. 

B. 3. --During the neolithic stage of their development the Ugrianswere acquainted with but one metal, gold, and some of their stoneweapons and implements are thus ornamented. For gold, being atonce the most beautiful, the most incorruptible, the most easilyrecognizable, and the most easily worked of metals, is everywherefound as used by man long before any other. But before the Ugrianraces vanish they had learnt to use bronze, which shows them tohave discovered the properties not only of gold, but of both tin andcopper. All three metals were doubtless obtained from the streams ofthe West. They had also become proficients, as their sepulchral urnsshow, in the manufacture of pottery. They could weave, moreover, bothlinen and woollen being known, and had passed far beyond the meresavage. 

B. 4. --The race, indeed, which could erect Avebury and Stonehenge, as we may safely say was done by this people, [9] must have possessedengineering skill of a very high order, and no little accuracy ofastronomical observation. For the mighty "Sarsen" stones have all beenbrought from a distance, [10] and the whole vast circles are built on adefinite 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 ofone of the chief megaliths (now known as "The Friar's Heel"). Fromthis it would seem that the builders were Sun-worshippers; and amongstthe earliest reports of Britain current in the Greek world we findthe fame of the "great round temple" dedicated to Apollo. But no Latinauthor mentions it; so that it is doubtful whether it was ever usedby the Aryan, or at least by the Brythonic, immigrants. These broughttheir own worship and their own civilization with them, and all thatwas highest in Ugrian civilization and worship faded before them, suchUgrians as remained having degenerated to a far lower level when firstwe meet with them in history. 

SECTION C. 

Aryan immigrants--Gael and Briton--Earliest classicalnomenclature--British Isles--Albion--Ierne--Cassiterides--Phoeniciantin trade _viâ_ Cadiz. 

C. 1. --How or when the first swarms of the Aryan migration reachedBritain is quite unknown. [11] But they undoubtedly belonged to theCeltic branch of that family, and to the Gaelic (Gadhelic or Goidelic)section of the branch, which still holds the Highlands of Scotland andforms the bulk of the population of Ireland. By the 4th centuryB. C. This section was already beginning to be pressed northwards andwestwards by the kindred Britons (or Brythons) who followed on theirheels; for Aristotle (or a disciple of his) knows our islands as "theBritannic[12] Isles. " That the Britons were in his day but new comersmay be argued from the fact that he speaks of Great Britain by thename of _Albion_, a Gaelic designation subsequently driven northwardsalong with those who used it. In its later form _Albyn_ it longremained as loosely equivalent to North Britain, and as _Albany_ itstill survives in a like connection. Ireland Aristotle calls _Ierne_, the later Ivernia or Hibernia; a word also found in the Argonauticpoems ascribed to the mythical Orpheus, and composed probably byOnomacritus about 350 B. C. , wherein the Argo is warned againstapproaching "the Iernian islands, the home of dark and noisomemischief. " 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, asbeing, like Ceylon, not pelagic, but oceanic. To early classicalantiquity, it must be remembered, the Ocean was no mere sea, but avast and mysterious river encircling the whole land surface of theearth. Its mighty waves, its tides, its furious currents, all made itan object of superstitious horror. To embark upon it was the heightof presumption; and even so late as the time of Claudius we shall findthe Roman soldiers feeling that to do so, even for the passage of theChannel, was "to leave the habitable world. "

C. 3. --But while the ancients dreaded the Ocean, they knew also thatits islands alone were the source of one of the most precious andrarest of their metals. Before iron came into general use (and thedifficulty of smelting it has everywhere made it the last metal todo so), tin had a value all its own. It was the only known substancecapable of making, along with copper, an alloy hard enough for cuttingpurposes--the "bronze" which has given its name to one entire Age ofhuman development. It was thus all but a necessary of life, and waseagerly 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 ofthis trade, by being the first to make their way to the only spotsin the world where tin is found native, the Malay region in the East, Northern Spain and Cornwall in the West. That tin was known amongstthe Greeks by its Sanscrit name _Kastira_[14] ([Greek: kassiteros])shows that the Eastern source was the earliest to be tapped. But theWestern was that whence the supply flowed throughout the whole of theclassical ages; and, as the stream-tin of the Asturian mountains seemsto have been early exhausted, the name _Cassiterides_, the TinLands, came to signify exclusively the western peninsula of Britain. Herodotus, in the 5th century B. C. , knew this name, but, as he franklyconfesses, nothing but the name. [15] For the whereabouts of this ElDorado, and the way to it, was a trade secret most carefully kept bythe Phoenician merchants of Cadiz, who alone held the clue. So jealouswere they of it that long afterwards, when the alternative routethrough Gaul had already drawn away much of its profitableness, weread of a Phoenician captain purposely wrecking his ship lest a Romanvessel in sight should follow to the port, and being indemnified bythe state for his loss. 

SECTION D. 

Discoveries of Pytheas--Greek tin trade _viâ_ Marseilles--Traderoutes--Ingots--Coracles--Earliest British coins--Lead-mining. 

D. 1. --But contemporary with Aristotle lived the great geographerPytheas; whose works, unfortunately, we know only by the fragmentaryreferences to them in later, and frequently hostile, authors, suchas Strabo, who dwell largely on his mistakes, and charge him withmisrepresentation. In fact, however, he seems to have been both anaccurate and truthful observer, and a discoverer of the very firstorder. Starting from his native city Massilia (Marseilles), he passedthrough the Straits of Gibraltar and traced the coast-line of Europeto Denmark (visiting Britain on his way), and perhaps even on into theBaltic. [16] The shore of Norway (which he called, as the natives stillcall it, Norgé) he followed till within the Arctic Circle, as hismention of the midnight sun shows, and then struck across to Scotland;returning, apparently by the Irish Sea, to Bordeaux and so homeoverland. This truly wonderful voyage he made at the public charge, with a view to opening new trade routes, and it seems to havethoroughly answered its purpose. Henceforward the Phoenician monopolywas broken, and a constant stream of traffic in the precious tinpassed between Britain and Marseilles. [17]

D. 2. --The route was kept as secret as possible; Polybius tellsus that the Massiliots, when interrogated by one of the Scipios, professed entire ignorance of Britain; but Pytheas (as quoted by hiscontemporary Timaeus, as well as by later writers) states that themetal was brought by coasters to a tidal island, _Ictis_, whence itwas shipped for Gaul. This island was six days' sail from the tindiggings, and can scarcely be any but Thanet. St. Michael's Mount, nowthe only tidal island on the south coast, was anciently part of themainland; a fact testified to by the forest remains still seen aroundit. Nor could it be six days' sail from the tin mines. The Isle ofWight, again, to which the name Ictis or Vectis would seem to point, can never have been tidal at this date. But Thanet undoubtedly wasso in mediaeval times, and may well have been so for ages, while itsnearness to the Continent would recommend it to the Gallic merchants. Indeed Pytheas himself probably selected it on this account for hisnew emporium. 

D. 3. --In his day, as we have seen, the tin reached this destinationby sea; but in the time of the later traveller Posidonius[18] it camein wagons, probably by that track along the North Downs now known asthe "Pilgrims' Way. " The chalk furnished a dry and open road, mucheasier than the swamps and forests of the lower ground. Furtherwest the route seems to have been _viâ_ Launceston, Exeter, Honiton, Ilchester, Salisbury, Winchester, and Alton; an ancient track oftentraceable, 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 politicalsolidarity throughout the south of the island. The tale of Posidoniusis confirmed by Caesar's statement that tin reached Kent "from theinterior, " _i. E. _ by land. It was obtained at first from the streamsof Dartmoor and Cornwall, where abundant traces of ancient washingsare visible, and afterwards by mining, as now. And when smelted itwas made up into those peculiar ingots which still meet the eye inCornwall, and whose shape seems never to have varied from theearliest times. Posidonius, who visited Cornwall, compares them toknuckle-bones[19] [Greek: astrhagaloi]

D. 4. --The vessels which thus coasted from the Land's End to the SouthForeland are described as on the pattern of coracles, a very lightframe-work covered with hides. It seems almost incredible thatsea-going craft could have been thus constructed; yet not only isthere overwhelming testimony to the fact throughout the whole historyof Roman Britain, but such boats are still in use on the wild rollerswhich beat upon the west coast of Ireland, and are found able to livein seas which would be fatal to anything more rigidly built. For thesurf boats in use at Madras a similar principle is adopted, not a nailentering into their construction. They can thus face breakers whichwould crush an ordinary boat to pieces. This method of ship-buildingwas common all along the northern coast of Europe for ages. [20] Norwere these coracles only used for coasting. As time went on, theBritons boldly struck straight across from Cornwall to the Continent, and both the Seine and the Loire became inlets for tin into Gaul, thuslessening the long land journey--not less than thirty days--which wasrequired, as Polybius tells us, to convey it from the Straits of Doverto 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 foundedby the Massiliot Pytheas is borne testimony to by the early Britishcoins, which are all modelled on the classical currency of his age. The medium in universal circulation then, current everywhere, like theEnglish sovereign now, was the Macedonian stater, newly introduced byPhilip, a gold coin weighing 133 grains, bearing on the one sidethe laureated head of Apollo, on the other a figure of Victory in achariot. Of this all known Gallic and British coins (before the Romanera) are more or less accurate copies. The earliest as yet found inBritain do not date, according to Sir John Evans, our great authorityon this subject, [21] from before the 2nd century B. C. They are alldished coins, rudely struck, and rapidly growing ruder as time goeson. The head early becomes a mere congeries of dots and lines, but onehorse of the chariot team remains recognizable to quite the end of theseries. 

D. 6. --These coins have been found in very large numbers, and ofvarious types, according to the locality in which they were struck. They occur as far north as Edinburgh; but all seem to have been issuedby one or other of the tribes in the south and east of the island, wholearnt the idea of minting from the Gauls. Whence the gold of whichthe coins are made came from is a question not yet wholly solved:surface gold was very probably still obtainable at that date from thestreams of Wales and Cornwall. But it was long before any other metalwas used in the British mints. Not till after the invasion of JuliusCaesar do we find any coins of silver or bronze issued, though hetestifies to their existence. The use of silver shows a markedadvance in metallurgy, and is probably connected with the simultaneousdevelopment of the lead-mining in the Mendip Hills, of which aboutthis time we first begin to find traces. 

SECTION E. 

Pytheas trustworthy--His notes on Britain--Agriculturaltribes--Barns--Manures--Dene Holes--Mead--Beer--Parchedcorn--Pottery--Mill-stones--Villages--Cattle--Pastoral tribes--Savagetribes--Cannibalism--Polyandry--Beasts of chase--Forest trees--Britishclothing and arms--Sussex iron. 

E. 1. --The trustworthiness of Pytheas is further confirmed by theastronomical 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 commonparlance, signified merely the twelfth part, on any given day, ofthe time between sunrise and sunset, and thus varied according tothe season. But the standard hour for astronomical purposes was thetwelfth part of the equinoctial day, when the sun rises 6 a. M. Andsets 6 p. M. , and therefore corresponded with our own. Now the longestday at Greenwich is actually not quite seventeen hours, but in thenorth of Britain it comes near enough to the assertion of Pytheas tobear out his tale. We are therefore justified in giving credenceto his account of what he saw in our country, the earliest that wepossess. He tells us that, in some parts at least, the inhabitantswere 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 himwas that, "for lack of clear sunshine[22], " they threshed out theircorn, not in open threshing-floors, as in Mediterranean lands, but inbarns. 

E. 2. --From other sources we know that these old British farmers weresufficiently scientific agriculturalists to have invented _wheeled_ploughs, [23] and to use a variety of manures; various kinds ofmast, loam, and chalk in particular. This treatment of the soil was, according to Pliny, a British invention[24] (though the Greeks ofMegara had also tried it), and he thinks it worth his while to givea long description of the different clays in use and the methods oftheir application. That most generally employed was chalk dug out frompits some hundred feet in depth, narrow at the mouth, but wideningtowards the bottom. [_Petitur ex alto, in centenos pedes actisplerumque puteis, ore angustatis; intus spatiante vena_. ]

E. 3. --Here we have an exact picture of those mysterious excavationssome of which still survive to puzzle antiquaries under the name of_Dene Holes_. They are found in various localities; Kent, Surrey, andEssex being the richest. In Hangman's Wood, near Grays, in Essex, a small copse some four acres in extent, there are no fewer thanseventy-two Dene Holes, as close together as possible, their entranceshafts being not above twenty yards apart. These shafts run verticallydownwards, till the floor of the pit is from eighty to a hundred feetbelow the surface of the ground. At the bottom the shaft widens outinto a vaulted chamber some thirty feet across, from which radiatefour, five, or even six lateral crypts, whose dimensions are usuallyabout thirty feet in length, by twelve in width and height. When theshafts are closely clustered, the lateral crypts of one will extend towithin a few feet of those belonging to its neighbours, but in nocase do they communicate with them (though the recent excavations ofarchaeologists have thus connected whole groups of Dene Holes). Manytheories have been elaborated to account for their existence, butthe data are conclusive against their having been either habitations, tombs, store-rooms, or hiding-places; and, in 1898, Mr. CharlesDawson, F. S. A. , pointed out that, in Sussex, chalk and limestoneare still quarried by means of identically such pits. The chalk soprocured is found a far more efficacious dressing for the soil thanthat which occurs on the surface, and moreover is more cheaply gotthan by carting from even a mile's distance. At the present day, assoon as a pit is exhausted (that is as soon as the diggers dare maketheir chambers no larger for fear of a downfall), another is sunk hardby, and the first filled up with the _débris_ from the second. In thecase of the Dene Holes, this _débris_ must have been required for someother purpose; and to this fact alone we owe their preservation. Itis probable that the celebrated cave at Royston in Hertfordshirewas originally dug for this purpose, though afterwards used as ahermitage. 

E. 4. --Pytheas is also our authority for saying that bee-keeping wasknown to the Britons of his day;[25] a drink made of wheat and honeybeing one of their intoxicants. This method of preparing mead (ormetheglin) is current to this day among our peasantry. Another drinkwas 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 havetried our national beverage, as he lived shortly after the Claudianconquest of Britain), pronounces it "head-achy, unwholesome, andinjurious 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 ofcivilization. Threshing in barns was only practised by those highestin development, the true Britons of the south and east. The Gaelictribes beyond them, so far as they were agricultural at all, storedthe newly-plucked ears of corn in their underground dwellings, day byday taking out and dressing [[Greek: katergazomenous]] what was neededfor each meal. The method here referred to is doubtless that describedas still in use at the end of the 17th century in the Hebrides. [26] "Awoman, sitting down, takes a handful of corn, holding it by the stalksin her left hand, and then sets fire to the ears, which are presentlyin a flame. She has a stick in her right hand, which she manages verydexterously, beating off the grains at the very instant when the huskis quite burnt.... The corn may be thus dressed, winnowed, ground, andbaked, within an hour of reaping. "

When kept, it may usually have been stored, like that of RobinsonCrusoe, in baskets;[27] for basket-making was a peculiarly Britishindustry, and Posidonius found "British baskets" in use on theContinent. But probably it was also hoarded--again in Crusoefashion--in the large jars of coarse pottery which are occasionallyfound on British sites. These, and the smaller British vessels, aresometimes elaborately ornamented with devices of no small artisticmerit. But all are hand-made, the potter's wheel being unknown inpre-Roman days. 

E. 6. --Nor does the grinding of corn, even in hand-mills, seem to havebeen universal till the Roman era, the earlier British method beingto bruise the grain in a mortar. [28] Without the resources ofcivilization it is not easy to deal with stones hard enough forsatisfactory millstones. We find that the Romans, when they came, mostly selected for this use the Hertfordshire "pudding-stone, " aconglomerate 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 assubterranean. [29] Light has been thrown on this apparent contradictionby the excavation in 1889 of the site of a British village atBarrington in Cambridgeshire. Within a space of about sixty yardseach way, bounded by a fosse some six feet wide and four deep, werea collection of roughly circular pits, distributed in no recognizablesystem, from twelve to twenty feet in diameter and from two to four indepth. They were excavated in the chalky soil, and from each a smalldrainage channel ran for a yard or two down the gentle slope on whichthe settlement stood. Obviously a superstructure of thatch and wattlewould convert these pits into quite passable wigwams, corresponding tothe description of Pytheas. This whole village was covered byseveral feet of top-soil in which were found numerous intermentsof Anglo-Saxon date. It had seemingly perished by fire, a layer ofincinerated 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 developedforeheads (whence their scientific name _Bos Longifrons_). Theirremains, the skulls especially, are found in every part of the land, with no trace, in pre-Roman times, of any other breed. The giganticwild ox of the British forests (_Bos Primigenius_) seems never to havebeen tamed by the Celtic tribes, who, very possibly, like the Romansafter them, may have brought their own cattle with them into theisland. According to Professor Rolleston the small size of the breedis due to the large consumption of milk by the breeders. (He notesthat the cattle of Burmah and Hindostan are identically the samestock, and that in Burmah, where comparatively little milk is used, they are of large size. In Hindostan, on the contrary, where milkforms 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 thegoat, sheep, horse, dog, and swine (of the Asiatic breed), wereintroduced into Britain by the Ugrian races in the Neolithic Age; andthat the pre-Roman Britons had no domestic fowls except geese. [30]

E. 9. --If these considerations are of weight they would point to anexcessive dependence on milk even amongst the agricultural tribes ofBritain. And there were others, as we know, who had not got beyond thepastoral stage of human development. These, as Strabo declares, had noidea of husbandry, "nor even sense enough to make cheese, though milkthey have in plenty. "[31] And some of the non-Aryan hordes seem tohave been mere brutal savages, practising cannibalism and having wivesin common. Both practices are mentioned by the latest as well as theearliest of our classical authorities. Jerome says that in Gaulhe himself saw Attacotti (the primitive inhabitants of Galloway)devouring human flesh, and refers to their sexual relations, whichmore probably imply some system of polyandry, such as still prevailsin Thibet, than mere promiscuous intercourse. Traces of this systemlong remained in the rule of "Mutter-recht, " which amongst several ofthe more remote septs traced inheritance invariably through the motherand not the father. 

E. 10. --These savages knew neither corn nor cattle. Like the "Childrenof the Mist" in the pages of Walter Scott, [32] their boast was "to ownno 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 forestfor their flocks and herds, " and to eke out this source of supply bypreying upon their less barbarous neighbours "who value flocks andherds above honour and freedom. " Lack of game, however, can seldomhave driven them to this; for the forests of ancient Britain seem tohave swarmed with animal life. Red deer, roebuck, wild oxen, and wildswine were in every brake, beaver and waterfowl in every stream;while wolf, bear, and wild-cat shared with man in taking toll of theirlives. The trees of these forests, it may be mentioned, were (as insome portions of Epping Forest now) almost wholly oak, ash, holly, and yew; the beech, chestnut, elm, and even the fir, being probablyintroduced in later ages. 

E. 11. --Of the British tribes, however, almost none, even amongstthese wild woodlanders, were the naked savages, clothed only in bluepaint, that they are commonly imagined to have been. On the contrary, they could both weave and spin; and the tartan, with its variegatedcolours, is described by Caesar's contemporary, Diodorus Siculus, astheir distinctive dress, just as one might speak of Highlanders atthe present day. [33] Pliny mentions that all the colours used wereobtained from native herbs and lichens, [34] as is still the case inthe Hebrides, where sea-weed dyes are mostly used. Woad was used fortattooing the flesh with blue patterns, and a decoction of beechenashes for dyeing the hair red if necessary, whenever that colour wasfashionable. [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 whencecame the vast quantities of amber thus used. None is now found uponour shores, except a very occasional fragment on the East Anglianbeaches. But the British barrows bear abundant testimony to itshaving been in prehistoric times the commonest of all materials forornamental purposes--far commoner than in any other country. Beadsare found by the myriad--a single Wiltshire grave furnished athousand--mostly of a discoid shape, and about an inch in diameter. Larger plates occasionally appear, and in one case (in Sussex) a cupformed from a solid block of exceptional size. If all this came fromthe Baltic, the main existing source of our amber, [36] it arguesa considerable trade, of which we find no mention in any extantauthority. Pytheas witnesses to the amber of the Baltic, and saysnothing, so far as we know, of British amber. But, according toPliny, [37] his contemporary Solinus speaks of it as a British product;and at the Christian era it was apparently a British export. [38] Thesupply of amber as a jetsom is easily exhausted in any given district;miles of Baltic coast rich in it within mediaeval times are now quitebarren; and the same thing has probably taken place in Britain. Therapid wearing away of our amber-bearing Norfolk shore is not unlikelyto have been the cause of this change; the submarine fir-groves of theancient littoral, with their resinous exudations, having become siltedover far out at sea. [39] The old British amber sometimescontained 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), andbroadswords; bows and arrows being more rarely used. Both DiodorusSiculus [v. 30] and Strabo [iv. 197] describe this equipment, andspecimens of all the articles have, at one place or another, beenfound in British interments. [42] The arms are often richly worked andornamented, sometimes inlaid with enamel, sometimes decorated withstuds of red coral from the Mediterranean. [43] The shields, being ofwood, 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 occasionallyironclad. [44] The iron may have been from the Sussex fields. We knowthat in Caesar's day rings of this metal were one of the forms ofBritish currency, so that before his time the Britons must haveattained to the smelting of this most intractable of metals. 

SECTION F. 

Celtic types--"Roy" and "Dhu"--Gael--Silurians--Loegrians--Basquepeoples--Shifting of clans--Constitutional disturbances--Monarchy--Oligarchy--Demagogues--First inscribed coins. 

F. 1. --Our earliest records point to the existence among the Celtictribes in Britain of the two physical types still to be found amongstthem; the tall, fair, red-haired, blue-eyed Gael, whom his clansmendenominate "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 illustrationsof this nomenclature. In classical times these types were much lessintermingled than now, and were characteristic of separate races. Theformer prevailed almost exclusively amongst the true Britons of thesouth and east, and the Gaelic septs of the north, while the latterwas found throughout the west, in Devon, Cornwall, and Wales. TheSilurians, of Glamorgan, are specially noted as examples of this"black" physique, and a connection has been imagined between them andthe Basques of Iberia, an idea originating with Strabo. 

F. 2. --That a good deal of non-Aryan blood was, and is, to be foundin both regions is fairly certain; but any closer correlation mustbe held at any rate not proven. For though Strabo asserts that theSilurians differ not only in looks but in language from the Britons, while in both resembling the Iberians, it is probable that he deriveshis information from Pytheas four centuries earlier. At that datenon-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 inthe nomenclature of the district during or since the Roman occupation. All is unmitigated Celtic. We may, however, possibly find aconfirmation of Strabo's view in the word _Logris_ applied to SouthernBritain by the Celtic bards of the Arturian cycle. The word is saidto be akin to _Liger_ (Loire), and tradition traced the origin of theLoegrians to the southern banks of that river, which were undoubtedlyheld by Iberian (Basque) peoples at least to the date when Pytheasvisited those parts. The name, indeed, seems to be connected withthat of the Ligurians, a kindred non-Aryan community, surviving, inhistorical times, only amongst the Maritime Alps. 

F. 3. --It is probable that the status of each clan was continuallyshifting; and what little we know of their names and locations, their rise and their fall, presents an even more kaleidoscopicphantasmagoria than the mediaeval history of the Scotch Highlands, or the principalities of Wales, or the ever-changing septs of ancientIreland. Tribes absorbed or destroyed by conquering tribes, tribesconfederating with others under a fresh name, this or that chiefbecoming a new eponymous hero, --such is the ceaseless spectacle ofunrest of which the history of ancient Britain gives us glimpses. 

F. 4. --By the time that these glimpses become anything likecontinuous, things were further complicated by two additional elementsof disturbance. One of these was the continuous influx of new settlersfrom Gaul, which was going on throughout the 1st century B. C. Caesartells us that the tribes of Kent, Sussex, and Essex were all of theBelgic stock, and we shall see that the higher politics of his daywere much influenced by the fact that one and the same tribal chiefclaimed territorial rights in Gaul and Britain at once; just like somany of our mediaeval barons. The other was the coincidence thatjust at this period the British tribes began to be affected by theturbulent stage of constitutional development connected, in Greece andRome, with the abolition of royalty. 

F. 5. --The primitive Aryan community (so far, at least, as thewestern branch of the race is concerned) everywhere presents to us thethreefold element of King, Lords, and Commons. The King is supreme, he reigns by right of birth (though not according to strictprimogeniture), and he not only reigns but governs. Theoretically heis absolute, but practically can do little without taking counsel withhis Lords, the aristocracy of the tribe, originally an aristocracyof birth, but constantly tending to become one of wealth. The Commonsgather to ratify the decrees of their betters, with a theoreticalright to dissent (though not to discuss), a right which they seldom ornever at once care and dare to exercise. 

F. 6. --In course of time we see that everywhere the supremacy of theKings became more and more distasteful to the Aristocracy, and waseverywhere set aside, sometimes by a process of quiet depletion of theRoyal prerogative, sometimes by a revolution; the change being, inthe former case, often informal, with the name, and sometimes eventhe succession, of the eviscerated office still lingering on. The executive then passed to the Lords, and the state became anoligarchical Republic, such as we see in Rome after the expulsion ofthe Tarquins. Next came the rise of the Lower Orders, who insistedwith ever-increasing urgency on claiming a share in the direction ofpolitics, and in every case with ultimate success. Almost invariablythe leaders who headed this uprising of the masses grasped forthemselves in the end the supreme power, and as irresponsible"Dictators, " "Tyrants, " or "Emperors" took the place of the oldconstitutional Kings. 

F. 7. --Such was the cycle of events both in Rome and in the Greekcommonwealths; though in the latter it ran its course within a fewgenerations, whilst amongst the law-abiding Romans it was a matter ofcenturies. And the pages of Caesar bear abundant testimony to the factthat in his day the Gallic tribes were all in the state of turmoilwhich mostly attended the "_Regifugium_" period of development. Somewere still under their old Kings; some, like the Nervii, had developeda Senatorial government; in some the Commons had set up "Tyrants" oftheir own. It was this general unrest which contributed in no smalldegree to the Roman conquest of Gaul. And the same state of thingsseems to have been begun in Britain also. The earliest inscribedBritish coins bear, some of them the names of Kings and Princes, others those of peoples, others again designations which seem to pointto Tyrants. To the first class belong those of Commius, Tincommius, Tasciovan, Cunobelin, etc. ; to the second those of the Iceni and theCassi; to the last the northern mintage of Volisius, a potentateof the Parisii, who calls himself Domnoverus, which, according toProfessor Rhys, [45] literally signifies "Demagogue. "

SECTION G. 

Clans at Julian invasion--Permanent naturalboundaries--Population--Celtic settlements--"Duns"--Maiden Castle. 

G. 1. --The earliest of these inscribed coins, however, take usno further back than the Julian invasion; and it is to Caesar'sCommentaries that we are indebted for the first recorded names of anyBritish tribes. It is no part of his design to give any regular listof the clans or their territories; he merely makes incidental mentionof such as he had to do with. Thus we learn of the four namelessclans who occupied Kent (a region which has kept its territorialname 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 directevidence; but from his narrative, as well as from local remains andlater references, we know that the Trinobantes possessed Essex, andthe Cenimagni (i. E. "the Great Iceni" as they were still called, [46]though their power was on the wane), East Anglia; while theCateuchlani, already beginning to be known as the Cassivellauni (orCattivellauni), presumably from their heroic chieftain Caswallon (orCadwallon), [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 beensituated on the marches between their larger neighbours. The name ofthe Cassi may still, perhaps, cling to their old home, in the _Cashio_Hundred and _Cassiobury_, near Watford; while conjecture finds tracesof the Ancalites in _Henley_, and of the Bibroci in _Bray_, on eitherside of the Thames. 

G. 3. --The Atrebates, who play a not unimportant part (as will beseen in the next chapter) in Caesar's connection with Britain, wereapparently in possession of the whole southern bank of the Thames, from its source right down to London--the river then, as inAnglo-Saxon times, being a tribal boundary throughout its entirelength. This would make the Bibroci a sub-tribe of the AtrebatianName, and also the Segontiaci, if Henry of Huntingdon (writing in the12th century with access to various sources of information now lost)is right in identifying Silchester, the Roman _Calleva_, with theirlocal stronghold Caer Segent. 

G. 4. --But the whole attempt to locate accurately any but the chiefesttribes found by the Romans in Britain is too conjectural to beworth the infinite labour that has been expended upon the subject byantiquaries. All we can say with certainty is that forest and fenmust have cut up the land into a limited number of fairly recognizabledistricts, each so far naturally separated from the rest as to havebeen probably a separate or quasi-separate political entity also. Thus, not only was the Thames a line of demarcation, only passableat a few points, from its estuary nearly to the Severn Sea, but thesouthern regions cut off by it were parted by Nature into five maindistricts. Sussex was hemmed in by the great forest of Anderida, andthat of Selwood continued the line from Southampton to Bristol. Kent was isolated by the Romney marshes and the wild country aboutTunbridge, while the western peninsula was a peninsula indeed whenthe sea ran up to beyond Glastonbury. In this region, then, the laterWessex, we find five main tribes; the men of Kent, the Regni south ofthe Weald, the Atrebates along the Thames, the Belgae on the WiltshireAvon, and the Damnonii of Devon and Cornwall, with (perhaps) asub-tribe of their Name, the Durotriges, in Dorsetshire. 

G. 5. --Like the south, the eastern, western, and northern districts ofEngland were cut off from the centre by natural barriers. The Fens ofCambridgeshire and the marshes of the Lea valley, together with thedense forest along the "East Anglian" range, enclosed the east ina ring fence; within which yet another belt of woodland divided theTrinobantes of Essex from the Iceni of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Severnand the Dee isolated what is now Wales, a region falling naturallyinto two sub-divisions; South Wales being held by the Silurians andtheir Demetian subjects, North Wales by the Ordovices. The landsnorth of the Humber, again, were barred off from the south by barriersstretching from sea to sea; the Humber itself on the one hand, theMersey estuary on the other, thrusting up marshes to the very foot ofthe wild Pennine moorlands between. And the whole of this vast regionseems to have been under the Brigantes, who held the great plain ofYork, and exercised more or less of a hegemony over the Parisiansof 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 theSevern valley (to the west of the Cateuchlani), for the Coritani eastof the Trent, and for their westward neighbours the Cornavii. [48]

G. 6. --All these tribes are given in Ptolemy's geography, but only afew, such as the Iceni, the Silurians, and the Brigantes, meet usin actual history; whilst, of them all, the Damnonian name alonereappears after the fall of the Roman dominion. Thus the acceptedallotment of tribal territory is largely conjectural. North of theForth all is conjecture pure and simple, so far as the location ofthe various Caledonian sub-clans is concerned. We only know that therewere 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 naturaldivisions of the island is testified to by the abiding character ofthe corresponding political divisions. The resemblance which at oncestrikes the eye between the map of Roman and Saxon Britain is no merecoincidence. Physical considerations brought about the boundariesbetween the Roman "provinces" and the Anglo-Saxon principalitiesalike. Thus a glance will show that Britannia Prima, BritanniaSecunda, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis correspond tothe later Wessex, Wales, Northumbria, and Mercia (with its dependencyEast Anglia). [49] And even the sub-divisions remained approximatelythe same. In Anglo-Saxon times, for example, the Midlands were stilldivided into the same four tribal territories; the North Merciansholding that of the British Cornavii, the South Mercians that of theDobuni, the Middle Angles that of the Coritani, and the South Anglesthat of the Cateuchlani. So also the Icenian kingdom, with its oldboundaries, became that of the East Angles, and the Trinobantian thatof the East Saxons. 

G. 8. --What the entire population of Britain may have numbered at theRoman Conquest is, again, purely a matter of guess-work. But it maywell have been not very different in amount from what it was at theNorman Conquest, when the entries in Domesday roughly show that thewhole of England (south of the Humber) was inhabited about as thicklyas the Lake District at the present day, and contained some twomillion souls. The primary hills, and the secondary plateaux, wherenow we find the richest corn lands of the whole country, were inpre-Roman times covered with virgin forest. But in the river valleysabove the level of the floods were to be found stretches of good openplough land, and the chalk downs supplied excellent grazing. Whereboth were combined, as in the valleys of the Avon and Wily nearSalisbury, and that of the Frome near Dorchester, we have the idealsite for a Celtic settlement. In such places we accordingly find themost conspicuous traces of the prehistoric Briton; the round barrowswhich mark the burial-places of his chiefs, and the vast earthworkswith which he crowned the most defensible _dun_, or height, in histerritory. 

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 remainstill as left by their original constructors. For they were designedto be usually untenanted; not places to dwell in, but camps of refuge, whither the neighbouring farmers and their cattle might flee when indanger from a hostile raid. The lack of water in many of them showsthat they could never have been permanently occupied either in war orpeace. [50] Perhaps the best remaining example is Maiden[51] Castle, which dominates Dorchester, being at once the largest and the mostuntouched by later ages. Here three huge concentric ramparts, nearlythree miles in circuit, gird in a space of about fifty acres on agentle swell of the chalk ridge above the modern town by the river. Asingle tortuous entrance, defended by an outwork, gives access to thelevelled interior. All, save the oaken palisades which once toppedeach round of the barrier, remains as it was when first constructed, looking down, now as then, on the spot where the population for whosebenefit it was made dwelt in time of peace. For English Dorchester isthe British town whose name the Romans, when they raised the squareramparts 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 theseDurotriges to the Damnonian Name. There were certainly fewer naturalobstacles between them and the men of Devon to the west than betweenthem and the Belgae to the northward. Caesar, however, distinctlystates that the Belgic power extended to the coast line, so theBritons of the Frome valley may have been conquered by them. Or theDurotriges may be a Belgic tribe after all. For, as we have pointedout, our evidence is of the scantiest, and there is every reasonto suppose that the era of the Roman invasion was one of incessantpolitical confusion in the land. 

SECTION H. 

Religious state of Britain--Illustrated byHindooism--Totemists--Polytheists--Druids--Bards--Seers--DruidicDeities--Mistletoe--Sacred herbs--"Ovum Anguinum"--Suppression ofDruidism--Druidism and Christianity. 

H. 1. --The religious state of the country seems to have been in noless confusion than its political condition. The surviving "Ugrian"inhabitants appear to have sunk into mere totemists and fetishworshippers, like the aboriginal races of India; while the Celtictribes were at a loose and early stage of polytheism, with a Pantheonfilled by every possible device, by the adoration of every kind ofnatural phenomenon, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the windsand clouds, the earth and sea, rivers, wells, sacred trees, by thecreation of tribal divinities, gods and goddesses of war, commerce, healing, and all the congeries of mutually tolerant devotions whichwe see in the Brahmanism of to-day. And, as in Brahmanism, all thesedevotions were under the shadow of a sacerdotal and prophetic caste, wielding vast influence, and teaching, esoterically at least, a farmore spiritual religion. 

H. 2. --These were the Druids, whose practices and tenets fortunatelyexcited such attention at Rome that we know more about them by farthan we could collect concerning either Jews or Christians fromclassical authors. And though most of our authorities refer toDruidism as practised in Gaul, yet we have the authority of Caesar forBritain being the special home and sanctuary of the faith, to whichthe Gallic Druids referred as the standard for their practices. [52] Wemay safely, therefore, take the pictures given us by him and others, as supplying a representation of what took place in our land ere theRomans entered it. 

H. 3. --The earliest testimony is that of Julius Caesar himself, in hiswell-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 ofthe Divine will. All education and jurisprudence was in their hands, and their sentences of excommunication were universally enforced. TheGallic Druids were under the dominion of a Primate, who presided atthe annual Chapter of the Order, and was chosen by it; a disputedelection occasionally ending in an appeal to arms. As a rule, however, Druids were supposed not to shed blood, they were free from allobligation to military service, and from all taxation of every kind. These privileges enabled them to recruit their ranks--for they werenot an hereditary caste--from the pick of the national youth, in spiteof the severe discipline of the Druidical novitiate. So great was themass of sacred literature required to be committed to memory that atraining of twenty years was sometimes needed. All had to be learntorally, for the matter was too sacred to be written down, thoughthe Druids were well acquainted with writing, and used the Greekalphabet, [53] if not the Greek language, [54] for secular purposes. Caesar's own view is that this refusal to allow the inditing of theirsacred books was due to two causes: first, the fear lest the secretsof the Order should thus leak out, and, secondly, the dread lestreading should weaken memory, "as, in fact, it generally does. " Evenso, amongst the Brahmans there are, to this day, many who can not onlyrepeat from end to end the gigantic mass of Vedic literature, but whoknow by heart also with absolute accuracy the huge and complicatedworks of the Sanscrit grammarians. 

H. 4. --Caesar further tells us that the Druids taught the doctrine oftransmigration of souls, and that their course of education includedastronomy, geography, physics, and theology. The attributes of theirchief 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, likeJupiter, was King of Heaven, and a fourth, like Mars, was theWar-god. [55] Their calendar was constructed on the principle that eachnight belongs to the day before it (not to that after it, as wasthe theory amongst the Mediterranean nations), and they reckonedall periods of time by nights, not days, as we still do in the word"fortnight. " For this practice they gave the mystical reason that theCeltic races were the Children of Darkness. At periods of nationalor private distress, human sacrifices were in vogue amongst them, sometimes on a vast scale. "They have images [_simulacra_] of hugesize, whose limbs when enclosed [_contexta_] with wattles, they fillwith living men. The wattles are fired and the men perish amid thehedge of flame [_circumventi flamma exanimantur homines_]. " Itis usually supposed that these _simulacra_ were hollow idols ofbasket-work. But such would require to be constructed on an incrediblescale for their limbs to be filled with men; and it is much moreprobable that they were spaces traced out upon the ground (like theGiant on the hill above Cerne Abbas in Dorset), and hedged in with thewattles to be fired. 

H. 5. --From the historian Diodorus Siculus, whose life overlappedCaesar's, we learn that Druid was a native British name. "There arecertain philosophers and theologians held in great honour whom theycall Druids. "[56] Whether this designation is actually of Celticderivation is, however, uncertain. Pliny thought it was from the Greekaffected by the Druids and connected with their oak-tree worship. Professor Rhys mentions that the earliest use of the word inextant 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 mightyinfluence, and preside at all sacred rites, "as possessing specialknowledge of the Gods, yea, and being of one speech [[Greek:homophônôn]] with them. " This points to some archaic or foreignlanguage, possibly Greek, being used in the Druidical ritual. Theirinfluence, he goes on to say, always makes for peace: "Oft-times, whenhosts be arrayed, and either side charging the one against the other, yea, when swords are out and spears couched for the onset, will thesemen 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 religiouslyinfluential classes amongst the Britons, the Bards [[Greek: bardos]]and the Seers [[Greek: manteis]]. The former present the familiarfeatures of the cosmopolitan minstrel. They sing to harps [[Greek:organôn tais lurais homoiôn]], both fame and disfame. The latter seemto 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 todeath to prognosticate the issue of the war between Great Britainand the Boers in South Africa. Strabo, in the next generation, alsomentions together these three classes, Bards, Seers [[Greek: Ouateis]= Vates] and Druids. The latter study natural science and ethics[[Greek: pros tê phusiologia kai tên êthikên philosophian askousin]]. They teach the immortality of the soul, and believe the Universe to beeternal, "yet, at the last, fire and water shall prevail. "

H. 7. --Pomponius Mela, who wrote shortly before the Claudian conquestof Britain, says that the Druids profess to know the shape and size ofthe world, the movements of the stars, and the will of the Gods. Theyteach many secrets in caves and woods, but only to the nobles ofthe land. Of this esoteric instruction one doctrine alone has beenpermitted to leak out to the common people--that of the immortality ofthe soul--and this only because that doctrine was calculated to makethem the braver in battle. In accordance with it, food and the likewas buried with the dead, for the use of the soul. Even a man's debtswere supposed to pass with him to the shades. 

H. 8. --Our picture of the Druids is completed by Pliny, [58] writingshortly after the Claudian conquest. Approaching the subject as anaturalist he does not mention their psychological tenets, butgives various highly interesting pieces of information as to theirsuperstitions with regard to natural objects, especially plants. "TheDruids, " he says, "(so they call their Magi) hold nothing so sacredas the mistletoe and that tree whereon it groweth, if only this be anoak. Oak-groves, indeed, they choose for their own sake, neither dothey celebrate any sacred rite without oak-leaves, so that they appearto be called Druids from the Greek word for this tree. Whatsoevermistletoe, then, groweth on such a tree they hold it for a heaven-sentsign, and count that tree as chosen by their God himself. Yet butvery rarely is it so found, and, when found, is sought with no smallobservance; above all on the sixth day of the moon (which to thisfolk is the beginning of months and years alike), [59] and after thethirtieth year of its age, because it is by then in full vigour ofstrength, nor has its half-tide yet come. Hailing it, in their owntongue, as 'Heal-all, ' they make ready beneath the tree, with all duerites, feast and sacrifice. Then are brought up two bulls of spotlesswhite, whose horns have never ere this known the yoke. The priest, inwhite vestments, climbeth the tree, and with a golden sickle reapeththe sacred bough, which is caught as it falls in a white robe[_sagum_]. Then, and not till then, slay they the victims, prayingthat their God will prosper this his gift to those on whom he hathbestowed the same. "

H. 9. --A drink made from mistletoe, or possibly the mere insertion ofthe branch into drinking water, was held by the Druids, Pliny adds, as an antidote to every kind of poison. Other herbs had like remedialproperties in their eyes. The fumes of burning "_selago_"[60] werethus held good for affections of the eyesight, only, however, whenthe plant was plucked with due ceremonies. The gatherer must be allin white, with bare and washen feet, and must hallow himself, erestarting on his quest, with a devotional partaking of bread and wine[_sacro facto ... Pane vinoque_]. He must by no means cut the sacredstem with a knife, but pluck it, and that not with bare fingers, butthrough the folds of his tunic, his right hand being protruded forthis purpose beneath his left, "in thievish wise" [_velut a furante_]. Another herb, "_samolum_, " which grew in marshy places, was of availin all diseases both of man and beast. It had to be gathered with theleft hand, and fasting, nor might the gatherer on any account lookback till he reached some runlet [_canali_] in which he crushed hisprize and drank. 

H. 10. --Pliny's picture has the interest of having been drawn almostat the final disappearance of Druidism from the Roman world. For somereason it was supposed to be, like Christianity, peculiarly opposedto the genius of Roman civilization, and never came to be numberedamongst the _religiones licitae_ of the Empire. Augustus forbade thepractice of it to Roman citizens, [61] Tiberius wholly suppressed it inGaul, [62] and, in conquering Britain, Claudius crushed it with ahand of iron. Few pictures in the early history of Britain are morefamiliar than the final extirpation of the last of the Druids, whentheir sacred island of Mona (Anglesey) was stormed by the Romanlegionaries, and priests and priestesses perished _en masse_ inthe flames of their own altars. [63] Their desperate resistance wasdoubtless due to the fact that Rome was the declared and mortalenemy of their faith. So baneful, indeed, did Druidism come to beconsidered, that to hold even with the least of its superstitionswas treated at Rome as a capital offence. Pliny tells us of a Romanknight, of Gallic birth, who was put to death by Claudius for no otherreason than that of being in possession of a certain stone calledby the Druids a "snake's egg, " and supposed to bring good luck inlaw-suits. [64]

H. 11. --This stone Pliny himself had seen, and describes it (in hischapter on the use of eggs) as being like a medium-sized apple, havinga cartilaginous shell covered with small processes like the discson the arms of an octopus. This can scarcely have been, as mostcommentators suppose, the shell of an echinus (with which Pliny waswell acquainted), even if fossil. His description rather seems topoint to some fossil covered with _ostrea sigillina_, such as arecommon in British green-sands. He adds an account of the Druidicalview of its production, how it is the solidified poison of a number ofserpents who put their heads together to eject it, and how, even whenset in gold, it will float, and that against a stream. This "egg, " itwill be seen, was from Gaul. The British variant of the superstitionwas that the snakes thus formed a ring of poison matter, larger orsmaller according to the number engaged, which solidified into a gemknown as _Glain naidr_, "Adder's glass. "[65] The small rings of greenor blue glass, too thick for wear, which are not uncommonly found inBritish burial-places, are supposed to represent this gem. So also, possibly, are the much larger rings of roughly-baked clay which occurthroughout the Roman period. For superstitions die hard, and Goughassures us that even in 1789 such "adder-beads" or "snake-stones" wereconsidered "lucky" in Wales and Cornwall, and were still ascribed tothe same source as by the Druids of old. 

H. 12. --After its suppression by Claudius, Druidism still lingeredon in Britain beyond the Roman pale, and amid the outlaws of theArmorican forests in Gaul, but in a much lower form. The least worthyrepresentatives of the Brahmanic caste in India are those found inthe least civilized regions, whose tendency is to become little betterthan sorcerers. [66] And in like manner it is as sorcerers that thelater Druids of Scotland and Ireland meet us in their legendaryencounters with St. Patrick and St. Columba. They are called "TheSchool of Simon the Druid" (_i. E. _ Simon Magus), and a 9th-centurycommentary designates Jannes and Jambres as "Druids. " But the word didnot wholly lose its higher associations. It is applied to the Wise Menin an early Welsh hymn on the Epiphany; and in another, ascribed toColumba himself, the saint goes so far as to say, "Christ, the Son ofGod, is my _Druid_. "[67]

CHAPTER II

THE JULIAN INVASION, B. C. 55, 54

SECTION A. 

Caesar and Britain--Breakdown of Roman Republicaninstitutions--Corruption abroad and at home--Rise of Caesar--Conquestof Gaul. 

A. 1. --If the connection of Britain with Rome is the pivot on whichthe whole history of our island turns, it is no less true that thefirst connection of Rome with Britain is the pivot whereon all Romanhistory depends. For its commencement marks the furthest point reachedin his career of conquest by the man without whom Roman history mustneeds have come to a shameful and disastrous end--Julius Caesar. 

A. 2. --The old Roman constitution and the old Roman character hadalike proved wholly unequal to meet the strain thrown upon them by theacquisition of the world-wide empire which they had gained for theircity. Under the stress of the long feud between its Patrician andPlebeian elements that constitution had developed into an instrumentfor the regulation of public affairs, admirably adapted for aCity-state, where each magistrate performs his office under hisneighbour's eye and over his own constituents; constantly amenableboth to public opinion and to the checks provided by law. But itnever contemplated Pro-consuls bearing sway over the unenfranchisedpopulations of distant Provinces, whence news filtered through to Romebut slowly, and where such legal checks as a man had to reckon withwere in the hands of a Court far more ready to sympathize with theoppression of non-voters than to resent it. 

A. 3. --And these officials had deteriorated from the old Romanrectitude, as the Spartan harmosts deteriorated under conditionsexactly similar in the days of the Lacedaemonian supremacy overHellas. And, in both cases, the whole national character was draggeddown by the degradation of what we may call the Colonial executive. Like the Spartan, the Roman of "the brave days of old" was oftenstern, and even brutal, towards his enemies. But he was a devotedpatriot, he was true to his plighted faith, and above all he was freefrom all taint of pecuniary corruption. The earlier history of bothnations is full of legends illustrating these points, which, whetherindividually true or not, bear abundant testimony to the nationalideal. But with irresponsible power, Roman and Spartan alike, whileremaining as brutally indifferent as ever to the sufferings of others, lost all that was best in his own ethical equipment. Instead ofpatriotism we find unblushing self-interest as the motive of everyaction; in place of good faith, the most shameless dishonesty; and, for the old contempt of ill-gotten gains, a corruption so fathomlessand all-pervading as fairly to stagger us. The tale of the doings ofVerres in a district so near Rome as Sicily shows us a depth of mireand degeneration to which no constitution could sink and live. 

A. 4. --Nor could the Roman constitution survive it. From the Provincesthe taint spread with fatal rapidity to the City itself. The thirstfor lucre became the leading force in the State; for its sake theClasses more and more trampled down the Masses; and entrance to theClasses was a matter no longer of birth, but of money alone. And allhistory testifies that the State which becomes a plutocracy is doomedindeed. Of all possible forms of government--autocracy, oligarchy, democracy--that is the lowest, that most surely bears within itselfthe seeds of its own inevitable ruin. 

A. 5. --So it was with the Roman Republic. As soon as this stage wasreached it began to "stew in its own juice" with appalling rapidity. Reformers, like the Gracchi, were crushed; and the commonwealth wentto pieces under the shocks and counter-shocks of demagogues likeClodius, conspirators like Catiline, and military adventurers suchas Marius and Sulla--for whose statue the Senate could find no moreconstitutional title than "The Lucky General" [_Sullae ImperatoriFelici_] Well-meaning individuals, such as Cicero and Pompey, werestill to be found, and even came to the front, but they all alikeproved unequal to the crisis; which, in fact, threw up one man, andone only, of force to become a real maker of history--Caius JuliusCaesar, the first Roman invader of Britain. 

A. 6. --Caesar was at the time of this invasion (55 B. C. ) someforty-five years old; but he had not long become a real power in thepolitical arena. Sprung from the bluest blood of Rome--the JulianHouse tracing their origin to the mythical Iulus, son of Aeneas, andthus claiming descent from the Goddess Venus--we might have expectedto find him enrolled amongst the aristocratic conservatives, thechampions of the _régime_ of Sulla. But though a mere boy at the dateof 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-tossedcommonwealth. Accordingly he threw in his lot with the revolutionaryMarian movement, broke off a wealthy matrimonial engagement arrangedfor him by his parents to become the son-in-law of Cinna, and in thevery thick of the Sullan proscriptions, braved the Dictator by openlyglorying in his connection with the defeated reformers. How he escapedwith his life, even at the intercession, if it was indeed made, of theVestals, is a mystery; for Sulla (who had little regard for religious, or any other, scruples) was deliberately extirpating every soul whomhe 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 somedegree from this ruthless massacre of their leaders, he could take noprominent part in politics. The minor offices of Quaestor, Aedile, and Praetor he filled with credit, and meanwhile seemed to be givinghimself up to shine in Society, which was not, in Rome, then at itsbest; and his reputation for intrigue, his skill at the gaming-table, and his fashionable swagger were the envy of all the young bloods ofthe day. 

A. 7. --The Catiline conspiracy (B. C. 63), and the irregular executionsthat followed its suppression, at length gave him his opportunity. While the Senate was hailing Cicero as "the Father of his country" forthe stern promptitude which enabled him, as Consul, to say "_Vixere_"["They _have_ lived"] in answer to the question as to the doom of theconspirators, Caesar had electrified the assembly by his denunciationof the view that, in whatsoever extremity, the blood of Roman citizensmight be shed by a Roman Consul, secretly and without legal warrant. Henceforward he took his place as the special leader on whom popularfeeling at Rome more and more pinned its hopes. As Pontifex Maximus hegained (B. C. 63) a shadowy but far from unreal religious influence;as Pro-praetor he solidified the Roman dominion in Spain (where hehad already been Quaestor); and on his return (B. C. 60) reconciledCrassus, the head of the moneyed interest, with Pompey, the darlingof the Army, and by their united influence was raised next year to theConsulship. 

A. 8. --A Roman Consul invariably, after the expiration of his year ofoffice, 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 beassigned to him. Caesar thus chose for his proconsular government thedistrict of Gaul then under Roman dominion, _i. E. _ the valley of thePo, and that of the Rhone. In making this choice Caesar was actuatedby the fact that in Gaul he was more likely than anywhere else to comein for active service. Unquiet neighbours on the frontier, Germans andHelvetians, were threatening invasion, and would have to be repelled. And this would give the Pro-consul the chance of doing what Caesarspecially desired, of raising and training an army which he might makeas devoted to himself as were Pompey's veterans to their brilliantchieftain--the hero "as beautiful as he was brave, as good as he wasbeautiful. " Without such a force Caesar foresaw that all his effortsto redress the abuses of the State would be in vain. As Consul he hadcarried certain small instalments of reform; but they had made himmore hated than ever by the classes at whose corruption they wereaimed, and might any day be overthrown. And neither Pompey nor Crassuswere 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. Hisill-wishers at Rome actually aided his preparations for war; forCaesar had not yet gained any special military reputation, whilethe barbarians whom he was to meet had a very high one, and mightreasonably be expected to destroy him. And the Helvetian peril provedof such magnitude that he had every excuse for making a much largerlevy than there was any previous prospect of his securing. On thesurpassing genius with which he manipulated the weapon thus put intohis hand there is no need to dwell. Suffice it to say that in spiteof overwhelming superiority in numbers, courage yet more signal, astronger individual physique, and arms as effective, his foes oneafter another vanished before him. Helvetians, Germans, Belgians, were not merely conquered, but literally annihilated, as often as theyventured to meet him, and in less than three years the whole of Gaulwas at his feet. 

SECTION B. 

Sea-fight with Veneti and Britons--Pretexts for invadingBritain--British dominion of Divitiacus--Gallic tribes inBritain--Atrebates--Commius. 

B. 1. --One of the last tribes to be subdued (in B. C. 56) was thatwhich, as the chief seafaring race of Gaul, had the most intimaterelations with Britain, the Veneti, or men of Vannes, who dwelt inwhat is now Brittany. [68] These enterprising mariners had developed aform of vessel fitted to cope with the stormy Chops of the Channel onlines exactly opposite to those of the British "curraghs. "[69] Insteadof being so light as to rise to every lift of the waves, and withframes so flexible as to bend rather than break under their everystress, the Venetian ships were of the most massive construction, built wholly of the stoutest oak planking, and with timbers upwards ofa foot in thickness. All were bolted together with iron pins "as thickas a man's thumb. " Forecastle and poop were alike lofty, with a lowerwaist for the use of sweeps if needful. But this was only exceptional, sails being the usual motive power. And these were constructed chieflywith a view to strength. Instead of canvas, they were formed ofuntanned hides. And instead of hempen cables the Veneti were so farahead of their time as to use iron chains with their anchors; aninvention which perished with them, not to come in again till the 19thcentury. Their broad beam and shallow keel enabled these ships tolie more conveniently in the tidal inlets on either side of theChannel. [70]

B. 2. --Thus equipped, the Veneti had tapped the tin trade at itssource, and established emporia at Falmouth, Plymouth, and Exmouth;on the sites of which ancient ingots, Gallic coins of gold, andother relics of their period have lately been discovered. Thence theyconveyed 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 theirfinal struggle against Caesar. Indeed they may possibly have drawnallies from a yet wider area, if, as Mr. Elton conjectures, theprehistoric boats which have at various times been found in the siltat Glasgow may be connected with their influence. [71]

B. 3. --Caesar describes his struggle with the Veneti and their Britishallies as one of the most arduous in his Gallic campaigns. The Romanwar galleys depended largely upon ramming in their sea-fights, but theVenetian ships were so solidly built as to defy this method of attack. At the same time their lofty prows and sterns enabled them to delivera plunging fire of missiles on the Roman decks, and even to commandthe wooden turrets which Caesar had added to his bulwarks. Theyinvariably fought under sail, and manoeuvred so skilfully thatboarding was impossible. In the end, after several unsuccessfulskirmishes, Caesar armed his marines with long billhooks, instructingthem to strike at the halyards of the Gallic vessels as they sweptpast. (These must have been fastened outboard. ) The device succeeded. One after another, in a great battle off Quiberon, of which the Romanland force were spectators, the huge leathern mainsails dropped onto the decks, doubtless "covering the ship as with a pall, " as in thelike misfortune to the Elizabethan _Revenge_ in her heroic defenceagainst 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 strongholdson the coast were now stormed, and the entire population eitherslaughtered or sold into slavery, as an object lesson to the rest ofthe confederacy of the fate in store for those who dared to stand outagainst the Genius of Rome. 

B. 4. --Caesar had now got a very pretty excuse for extending hisoperations to Britain, and, as his object was to pose at Rome as "aMaker of Empire, " he eagerly grasped at the chance. Something of ahandle, moreover, was afforded him by yet another connection betweenthe two sides of the Channel. Many people were still alive whoremembered the days when Divitiacus, King of the Suessiones (atSoissons), had been the great potentate of Northern Gaul. In Caesar'stime this glory was of the past, and the Suessiones had sunk toa minor position amongst the Gallic clans. But within the lasthalf-century the sway of their monarch had been acknowledged not onlyover 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 insome sense under him: _Etiam Britanniae imperium obtinuit_. [72]

B. 5. --And traces of his rule still existed in the occupation ofBritish districts by colonists from two tribes, which, as his nearestneighbours, must certainly have formed part of any North Gallicconfederacy under him--the Atrebates and the Parisii. The former hadtheir continental seat in Picardy; the latter, as their name tells us, on the Seine. Their insular settlements were along the southern bankof the Thames and the northern bank of the Humber respectively. Howfar the two sets of Parisians held together politically does notappear; but the Atrebates, whether in Britain or Gaul, acknowledgedthe claim of a single magnate, named Commius, to be their paramountChieftain. [73] In this capacity he had led his followers againstCaesar in the great Belgic confederacy of B. C. 58, and on itscollapse, instead of holding out to the last like the Nervii, hadmade a timely submission. If convenient, this submission might berepresented as including that of his British dominions; especiallyas we gather that a contingent from over-sea may have actually foughtunder his banner against the Roman eagles. Nay, it is possible thatthe old claims of the ruler of Soissons over Britain may have beenrevived, now that that ruler was Julius Caesar. It is even conceivablethat his complaint of British assistance having been given to theenemy "in all our Gallic wars" may point to his having heard some formof the legend, whose echoes we meet with in Welsh Triads, that theGauls who sacked Rome three centuries earlier numbered Britons amongsttheir ranks. 

SECTION C. 

Defeat of Germans--Bridge over Rhine--Caesar's army--Dreadof ocean--Fleet at Boulogne--Commius sent to Britain--Channelcrossed--Attempt on Dover--Landing at Deal--Legionarysentiment--British army dispersed. 

C. 1. --For making use of these pretexts, however, Caesar had to waita while. It was needful to bring home to both supporters and opponentshis brilliant success by showing himself in Rome, during the idleseason when his men were in winter quarters. And when he got back tohis Province with the spring of A. D. 55, his first attention had to begiven to the Rhine frontier, whence a formidable German invasionwas threatening. With his usual skill and war-craft--which, onthis occasion, in the eyes of his Roman ill-wishers, seemedindistinguishable from treachery--he annihilated the Teutonichorde which had dared to cross the river; and then, by a miracle ofengineering skill, bridged the broad and rapid stream, and made such ademonstration in Germany itself as to check the national trek westwardfor half a millennium. 

C. 2. --By this time, as this wonderful feat shows, the Army of Gaulhad become one of those perfect instruments into which only trulygreat commanders can weld their forces. Like the Army of thePeninsula, in the words of Wellington, "it could go anywhere and doanything. " The men who, when first enlisted, had trembled beforethe Gauls, and absolutely shed tears at the prospect of encounteringGermans, now, under the magic of Caesar's genius, had learnt to dreadnothing. Often surprised, always outnumbered, sometimes contendingagainst tenfold odds, the legionaries never faltered. Each individualsoldier seems to have learnt to do instinctively the right thing inevery emergency, and every man worshipped his general. For every mancould see that it was Caesar and Caesar alone to whom every victorywas due. The very training of the engineers, the very devices, such asthat of the Rhine bridge, by which such mighty results were achieved, were all due to him. Never before had any Roman leader, not evenPompey "the Great, " awakened such devotion amongst his followers. 

C. 3. --Caesar therefore experienced no such difficulty as we shallfind besetting the Roman commanders of the next century, in persuadinghis men to follow him "beyond the world, "[74] and to dare the venture, hitherto unheard of in the annals of Rome, of crossing the oceanitself. We must remember that this crossing was looked upon by theRomans as something very different from the transits hither andthither upon the Mediterranean Sea with which they were familiar. TheOcean to them was an object of mysterious horror. Untold possibilitiesof destruction might lurk in its tides and billows. Whence those tidescame and how far those billows rolled was known to no man. To dareits passage might well be to court Heaven knew what of supernaturalvengeance. 

C. 4. --But Caesar's men were ready to brave all things while he ledthem. So, after having despatched his German business, he determinedto employ the short remainder of the summer in a _reconnaissanceen force_ across the Channel, with a view to subsequent invasionof Britain. He had already made inquiries of all whom he could findconnected with the Britanno-Gallic trade as to the size and militaryresources of the island. But they proved unwilling witnesses, andhe could not even get out of them what they must perfectly well haveknown, the position of the best harbours on the southern shores. 

C. 5. --His first act, therefore, was to send out a galley underVolusenus "to pry along the coast, " and meanwhile to order the fleetwhich he had built against the Veneti to rendezvous at Boulogne. Besides these war-galleys (_naves longae_) he got together eightytransports, enough for two legions, besides eighteen more for thecavalry. [75] These last were detained by a contrary wind at "a furtherharbour, " eight miles distant--probably Ambleteuse at the mouth of theCanche. [76]

C. 6. --All these preparations, though they seem to have been carriedout with extreme celerity, lasted long enough to alarm the Britons. Several clans sent over envoys, to promise submission if only Caesarwould refrain from invading the country. This, however, did notsuit Caesar's purpose. Such diplomatic advantages would be far lessimpressive in the eyes of the Roman "gallery" to which he was playingthan his actual presence in Britain. So he merely told the envoys thatit would be all the better for them if he found them in so excellentand submissive a frame of mind on his arrival at their shores, andsent 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 Britonson their part, though ready to make a nominal submission to "themighty name of Rome, " were resolved not to tolerate an actual invasionwithout a fight for it. In every clan the war party came to the front, all negotiations were abruptly broken off, Commius was thrown intochains, and a hastily-summoned levy lined the coast about Dover, wherethe enemy were expected to make their first attempt to land. 

C. 7. --Dover, in fact, was the port that Caesar made for. It was, atthis date, the obvious harbour for such a fleet as his. All alongthe coast of Kent the sea has, for many centuries, been constantlyretreating. Partly by the silting-up of river-mouths, partly bythe great drift of shingle from west to east which is so striking afeature of our whole southern shore, fresh land has everywhere beenforming. Places like Rye and Winchelsea, which were well-known havensof the Cinque Ports even to late mediaeval times, are now far inland. And though Dover is still our great south-eastern harbour, this isdue entirely to the artificial extensions which have replaced thenaturally enclosed tidal area for which Caesar made. There is abundantevidence that in his day the site of the present town was the bedof an estuary winding for a mile or more inland between steep chalkcliffs, [77] not yet denuded into slopes, whence the beach on eitherside was absolutely commanded. 

C. 8. --Caesar saw at a glance that a landing here was impossible tosuch a force as he had with him. He had sailed from Boulogne "in thethird watch"--with the earliest dawn, that is to say--and by 10a. M. His leading vessels, with himself on board, were close underShakespeare's Cliff. There he saw the British army in positionwaiting for him, crowning the heights above the estuary, and readyto overwhelm his landing-parties with a plunging fire of missiles. Heanchored for a space till the rest of his fleet came up, and meanwhilecalled a council of war of his leading officers to deliberate on thebest way of proceeding in the difficulty. It was decided to make forthe open shore to the northwards (perhaps for Richborough, [78] thenext secure roadstead of those days), and at three in the afternoonthe trumpet sounded, the anchors were weighed, and the fleet coastedonwards with the flowing tide. [79]

C. 9. --The British army also struck camp, and kept pace by land withthe invaders' progress. First came the cavalry and chariot-men, themounted infantry of the day; then followed the main body, who in theBritish as in every army, ancient or modern, fought on foot. We canpicture the scene, the bright harvest afternoon--(according tothe calculations of Napoleon, in his 'Life of Caesar, ' it was St. Bartholomew's Day)--the calm sea, the long Roman galleys with theirrows of sweeps, the heavier and broader transports with their greatmainsails rounding out to the gentle breeze, and on cliff and beachthe 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 contingenthurrying onwards to give the foe a warm greeting ere he could set footon 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 SouthForeland, [80] till these died down into the flat shore and open beachof Deal. By this time it must have been nearly five o'clock, and ifCaesar was to land at all that day it must be done at once. Anchor wasagain cast; but so flat was the shore that the transports, which drewat least four feet of water, could not come within some distanceof it. Between the legionaries and the land stretched yards ofsea, shoulder-deep to begin with, and concealing who could say whattreacherous holes and quicksands beneath its surface. And their wadinghad to be done under heavy fire; for the British cavalry and chariotshad already come up, and occupied every yard of the beach, greetingwith 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 overboardwith the desired alacrity. Caesar's galleys, however, were of lighterdraught, 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 anew formation, and their fire, in turn, was for the moment silenced. And that moment was seized for a gallant feat of arms which shows howevery rank of Caesar's army was animated by Caesar's spirit. 

C. 11. --The ensign of every Roman legion was the Roman Eagle, perchedupon the head of the standard-pole, and regarded with all, andmore than all, the feeling which our own regiments have for theirregimental colours. As with them, the staff which bore the Eagleof the Legion also bore inscriptions commemorating the honours andvictories the legion had won, and to lose it to the foe was an evengreater disgrace than with us. For a Roman legion was a much largerunit than a modern regiment, and corresponded rather to a Division;indeed, in the completeness of its separate organization, it mightalmost be called an Army Corps. Six thousand was its normal force ininfantry, and it had its own squadrons of cavalry attached, itsown engineer corps, its own baggage train, and its own artillery ofcatapults and balistae. [81] There was thus even more legionary feelingin the Roman army than there is regimental feeling in our own. 

C. 12. --At this time, however, this feeling, so potent in its effectssubsequently, was a new development. Caesar himself would seem to havebeen the first to see how great an incentive such divisional sentimentmight prove, and to have done all he could to encourage it. He hadsingled out one particular legion, the Tenth, as his own specialfavourite, and made its soldiers feel themselves the objects of hisspecial regard. And this it was which now saved the day for him. Thecolour-sergeant of that legion, seeing the momentary opening given bythe flanking movement of the galleys, after a solemn prayer that thismight be well for his legion, plunged into the sea, ensign in hand. "Over with you, comrades, " he cried, "if you would not see your Eagletaken by the enemy. " With a universal shout of "Never, never" thelegion followed; the example spread from ship to ship, and the wholeRoman army was splashing and struggling towards the shore of Britain. 

C. 13. --At the same time this was no easy task. As every batherknows, it is not an absolutely straightforward matter for even anunencumbered man to effect a landing upon a shingle beach, if ever solittle swell is on. And the Roman soldier had to keep his footing, anduse his arms moreover for fighting, with some half-hundredweightof accoutrements about him. To form rank was, of course, out ofthe question. The men forced their way onward, singly and in littlegroups, often having to stand back to back in rallying-squares, assoon as they came within hand-stroke of the enemy. [82] And this wasbefore they reached dry land. For the British cavalry and chariotsdashed into the water to meet them, making full use of the advantagewhich horsemen have under such circumstances, able to ply the fullswing of their arms unembarrassed by the waves, not lifted off theirfeet or rolled over by the swell, and delivering their blows fromabove on foes already in difficulties. And on their side, they copiedthe flanking movement of the Romans, and wheeled round a detachmentto fire upon the _latus apertum_ of such invaders as succeeded inreaching shallower water. 

C. 14. --Thus the fight, in Caesar's words, was an exceedingly sharpone. It was not decided till he sent in the boats of his galleys, andany other light craft he had, to mingle with the combatants. Thesecould doubtless get right alongside the British chariots; and now theadvantage of position came to be the other way. A troop of irregularhorsemen up to their girths in water is no match for a boat's crew ofdisciplined infantry. Moreover the tide was flowing, [83] and drivingthe Britons back moment by moment. For a while they yet resistedbravely, but discipline had the last word. Yard by yard the Romans wontheir way, till at length they set foot ashore, formed up on the beachin that open order[84] which made the unique strength of the Legions, and delivered their irresistible charge. The Britons did not wait forthe shock. Their infantry was, probably, already in retreat, coveredby the cavalry and chariots, who now in their turn gave rein to theirponies and retired at a gallop. 

C. 15. --Caesar saw them go, and bitterly felt that his luck had failedhim. Had he but cavalry, this retreat might have been turned intoa rout. But his eighteen transports had failed to arrive, and hisdrenched and exhausted infantry were in no case for effective pursuitof a foe so superior in mobility. Moreover the sun must have been nowfast sinking, and all speed had to be made to get the camp fortifiedbefore nightfall. But the Roman soldier was an adept at entrenchinghimself. A rampart was hastily thrown up, the galleys beached at thetop 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 leavethem grounded, the quarters of the various cohorts assigned them, thesentries and patrols duly set; and under the summer moon, these firstof the Roman invaders lay down for their first night on British soil. 

SECTION D. 

Wreck of fleet--Fresh British levy--Fight in corn-field--Britishchariots--Attack on camp--Romans driven into sea. 

D. 1. --Meanwhile the defeated Britons had made off, probably to theircamp above Dover, where their leaders' first act, on rallying, was tosend their prisoner, Commius, under a flag of truce to Caesar, witha promise of unconditional submission. That his landing had beenopposed, was, they declared, no fault of theirs; it was all thewitlessness 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 embassyto him in Gaul, he must insist on hostages, and plenty of them. A fewwere accordingly sent in, and the rest promised in a few days, being the quota due from more distant clans. The British forces weredisbanded; indeed, as it was harvest time, they could scarcely havebeen kept embodied anyhow; and a great gathering of chieftains washeld at which it was resolved that all alike should acknowledge thesuzerainty of Rome. 

D. 2. --This assembly seems to have been held on the morrow of thebattle or the day after, so that it can only have been attended by thelocal Kentish chiefs, unless we are to suppose (as may well have beenthe case), that the Army of Dover comprised levies and captains fromother parts of Britain. But whatever it was, before the resolutioncould be carried into effect an unlooked-for accident changed thewhole situation. 

D. 3. --On the fourth day after the Roman landing, the south-westerlywind which had carried Caesar across shifted a few points to thesouthward. The eighteen cavalry transports were thus enabled to leaveAmbleteuse 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 wasblowing hard from the eastward, and there was nothing for them but tobear up. Some succeeded in getting back to the shelter of the Gallicshore, others scudded before the gale and got carried far to thewest, probably rounding-to under the lee of Beachy Head, where theyanchored. For this, however, there was far too much sea running. Wave after wave dashed over the bows, they were in imminent danger ofswamping, and, when the tide turned at nightfall, they got under weighand shaped the best course they could to the southern shore of theChannel. 

D. 4. --And this same tide that thus carried away his reinforcementsall but wrecked Caesar's whole fleet at Deal. His mariners hadstrangely forgotten that with the full moon the spring tides wouldcome on; a phenomenon which had been long ago remarked by Pytheas, [85]and with which they themselves must have been perfectly familiar onthe Gallic coast. And this tide was not only a spring, but was drivenby a gale blowing straight on shore. Thus the sleeping soldiers werearoused by the spray dashing over them, and awoke to find the breakerspounding into their galleys on the beach; while, of the transports, some dragged their anchors and were driven on shore to become totalwrecks, some cut their cables, and beat, as best they might, out tosea, and all, when the tide and wind alike went down, were found nextmorning in wretched plight. Not an anchor or cable, says Caesar, wasleft amongst them, so that it was impossible for them to keep theirstation off the shore by the camp. 

D. 5. --The army, not unnaturally, was in dismay. They were merely ona reconnaissance, without any supply of provisions, without even theirusual baggage; perhaps without tents, certainly without any means ofrepairing the damage to the fleet. Get back to Gaul for the winterthey must under pain of starvation, and where were the ships to takethem?

D. 6. --The Britons, on the other hand, felt that their foes werenow delivered into their hands. Instead of the submission they werearranging, the Council of the Chiefs resolved to make the most of theopportunity, and teach the world by a great example that Britain wasnot 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 byforaging would soon be exhausted; then would come the winter, and thestarving invaders would fall an easy prey. The annihilation of theentire expedition would damp Roman ambitions against Britain for manya long day. A solemn oath bound one and all to this plan, and everychief secretly began to levy his clansmen afresh. 

D. 7. --Naturally, hostages ceased to be sent in; but it did not needthis symptom to show Caesar in how tight a place he now was. His onlychance was to strain every nerve to get his ships refitted; and bybreaking up those most damaged, and ordering what materials wereavailable from the Continent, he did in a week or two succeed inrendering some sixty out of his eighty vessels just seaworthy. 

D. 8. --And while this work was in progress, another event showed howimperative was his need and how precarious his situation. He had, infact, been guilty of a serious military blunder in going with a mereflying column into Britain as he had gone into Germany. The Channelwas not the Rhine, and ships were exposed to risks from which hisbridge had been entirely exempt. Nothing but a crushing defeat wouldcut him off from retiring by that; but the Ocean was not to be sobridled. 

D. 9. --It was, as we have said, the season of harvest, and the cornwas not yet cut, though the men of Kent were busily at work in thefields. With regard to the crops nearest the camp, the legionariesspared them the trouble of reaping, by commandeering the cornthemselves, the area of their operations having, of course, to becontinually extended. Harvesters numbered by the thousand make quickwork; and in a day or two the whole district was cleared, either byRoman or Briton. Caesar's scouts could only bring him word of oneunreaped field, bordered by thick woodland, a mile or two from thecamp, and hidden from it by a low swell of the ground. Mr. Vine, inhis able monograph 'Caesar in Kent, ' thinks that the spot may still beidentified, on the way between Deal and Dover, where, by this time, aconsiderable British force was once more gathered. So entirely wasthe whole country on the patriot side, that no suspicion of all thisreached the Romans, and still less did they dream that the unreapedcorn-field was an elaborate trap, and that the woodlands beside itwere filled, or ready for filling, by masses of the enemy. The Seventhlegion, which was that day on duty, sent out a strong fatigue partyto seize the prize; who, on reaching the field, grounded shields andspears, took off, probably, their helmets and tunics, and set to workat cutting down the corn, presumably with their swords. 

D. 10. --Not long afterwards the camp guard reported to Caesar thata strange cloud of dust was rising beyond the ridge over which thelegion had disappeared. Seeing at once that something was amiss, hehastily bade the two cohorts (about a thousand men) of the guard toset off with him instantly, while the other legion, the Tenth, was torelieve them, and follow with all the rest of their force as speedilyas possible. Pushing on with all celerity, he soon could tell by theshouts of his soldiers and the yells of the enemy that his men werehard pressed; and, on crowning the ridge, saw the remnant of thelegion huddled together in a half-armed mass, with the Britishchariots sweeping round them, each chariot-crew[86] as it came upspringing down to deliver a destructive volley of missiles, then onboard and away to replenish their magazine and charge in once more. 

D. 11. --Even at this moment Caesar found time to note and admire thesupreme skill which the enemy showed in this, to him, novel mode offighting. Their driving was like that of the best field artillery ofour day; no ground could stop them; up and down slopes, between andover obstacles, they kept their horses absolutely in hand; and, out ofsheer bravado, would now and again exhibit such feats of trick-drivingas 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 withoutconstant drill, both of men and horses; and his military geniusgrasped 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-bladeswith which popular imagination pictures the wheels of the Britishchariots to have been armed. Such devices were in use amongst thePersians, and figure at Cunaxa and Arbela. But there the chariots werethemselves projectiles, as it were, to break the hostile ranks; andeven for this purpose the scythes proved quite ineffective, while theymust have made the whole equipment exceedingly unhandy. In the 'De ReMilitari' (an illustrated treatise of the 5th century A. D. Annexed tothe 'Notitia') scythed chariots are shown. But the scythes alwayshave chains attached, to pull them up out of the way in ordinarymanoeuvres. The Britons of this date, whose chariots were only tobring their crews up to the foe and carry them off again, had, we maybe 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 causedthe assailants to draw back. The Tenth came up and formed; theircomrades, possibly regaining some of their arms, rallied behind them, and the Britons did not venture to press their advantage home. Butneither did Caesar feel in any case to retaliate the attack [_alienumesse tempus arbitratus_], and led his troops back with all convenientspeed. The Britons, we may well believe, represented the affair as aglorious victory for the patriot arms. [88] They employed several daysof bad weather which followed in spreading the tidings, and callingon all lovers of freedom or of spoil to join in one great effort forcrushing the presumptuous invader. 

D. 14. --The news spread like wild-fire, and the Romans foundthemselves threatened in their very camp (whence they had taken carenot to stir since their check) by a mighty host both of horse andfootmen. Caesar was compelled to fight, the legions were drawn up withtheir backs to the rampart, that the hostile cavalry might not takethem in rear, and, after a long hand-to-hand struggle, the Romancharge once more proved irresistible. The Britons turned their backsand fled; this time cut up, in their retreat, by a small body ofthirty 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, beforereturning to the camp, they made a destructive raid through theneighbouring farms and villages, "wasting all with fire and sword farand wide. "

D. 15. --That same day came fresh envoys to treat for peace. They werenow required to furnish twice as many hostages as before; but Caesarcould not wait to receive them. They must be sent after him to theContinent. His position had become utterly untenable; the equinoctialgales might any day begin; and he was only too glad to find wind andweather serve that very night for his re-embarkation. Under coverof the darkness he huddled his troops on board; and next morning thetriumphant Britons beheld the invaders' fleet far on their flightacross the Narrow Seas. 

SECTION E. 

Caesar worsted--New fleet built--Caesar at Rome--Cicero--Expeditionof 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 arisk quite disproportionate to the advantage. So much prestige hadhe lost that on his disembarkation his force was set upon by the veryGauls whom he had so signally beaten two years before. Their attackwas crushed with little difficulty and great slaughter; but thatit should have been made at all shows that he was supposed to bereturning as a beaten man. However, he now knew enough about Britainand the Britons to estimate what force would be needful for a realinvasion, and energetically set to work to prepare it. To make suchan invasion, and to succeed in it, had now become absolutely necessaryfor 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, wemay be sure, were admirably written, and so represented matters as togain him a _supplicatio_, or solemn thanksgiving, of twenty days fromthe Senate. But the unpleasant truth was sure to leak out unless itwas overlaid by something better. It did indeed so far leak outthat Lucan[89] was able to write: _Territa quaesitis ostendit tergaBritannis_. 

 ["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 toRome, he set all his legionaries to work in their winter quarters, atbuilding ships ready to carry out his plans next spring. He himselffurnished the drawings, after a design of his own, like our ownAlfred a thousand years later. [90] They were to be of somewhat lowerfree-board than was customary, and of broader beam, for Caesar hadnoted that the choppy waves of the Channel had not the long run ofMediterranean or Atlantic rollers. All, moreover, were to be providedwith sweeps; for he did not intend again to be at the mercy of thewind. And with such zeal and skill did the soldiers carry out hisinstructions, by aid of the material which he ordered from thedockyards of Spain, that before the winter was over they hadconstructed no fewer than six hundred of these new vessels, besideseighty fresh war-galleys. 

E. 3. --Caesar meanwhile was also at his winter's work amid the turmoilof Roman politics. His "westward ho!" movement was causing all thestir he hoped for. We can see in Cicero's correspondence with Atticus, with Trebatius, and with his own brother Quintus (who was attachedin some capacity to Caesar's second expedition), how full Rome was ofgossip and surmise as to the outcome of this daring adventure. "Takecare, " he says to Trebatius, "you who are always preaching caution;mind you don't get caught by the British chariot-men. "[91] "You willfind, I hear, absolutely nothing in Britain--no gold, no silver. Iadvise you to capture a chariot and drive straight home. Anyhow getyourself into Caesar's good books. "[92]

E. 4. --To be in Caesar's good books was, in fact, Cicero's own greatambition at this time. Despite his constitutional zeal, he felt "theDynasts, " as he called the Triumvirate, the only really strong forcein politics, and was ready to go to considerable lengths in courtingtheir favour--Caesar's in particular. He not only withdrew allopposition to the additional five years of command in Gaul which thesubservient Senate had unconstitutionally decreed to the "dynast, "but induced his brother Quintus to volunteer for service in the cominginvasion of Britain. Through Quintus he invited Caesar's criticismson his own very poor verses, and wrote a letter, obviously meant to beshown, expressing boundless gratification at a favourable notice: "If_he_ thinks well of my poetry, I shall know it is no mere one-horseconcern, but a real four-in-hand. " "Caesar tells me he never readbetter Greek. But why does he write [Greek: rhathumôtera] ['rathercareless'] against one passage? He really does. Do find out why. "

E. 5. --This gentle criticism seems to have somewhat damped Cicero'sardour for Caesar and his British glories. His every subsequentmention of the expedition is to belittle it. In the spring he hadwritten to Trebatius: "So our dear Caesar really thinks well of you asa 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 summerit is: "I certainly don't blame you for showing yourself so littleof a sight-seer [_non nimis_ [Greek: philotheôron]] in this Britishmatter. "[94] "I am truly glad you never went there. You have missedthe trouble, and I the bore of listening to your tales about itall. "[95] To Atticus he writes: "We are all awaiting the issue ofthis British war. We hear the approaches [_aditus_] of the island arefortified with stupendous ramparts [_mirificis molibus_]. Anyhow weknow that not one scruple [_scrupulum_] of money exists there, norany other plunder except slaves--and none of them either literary orartistic. "[96] "I heard (on Oct. 24) from Caesar and from my brotherQuintus that all is over in Britain. No booty.... They wrote onSeptember 26, just embarking. "

E. 6. --Both Caesar and Quintus seem to have been excellentcorrespondents, and between them let Cicero hear from Britain almostevery week during their stay in the island, the letters taking onan average about a month to reach him. He speaks of receiving onSeptember 27 one written by Caesar on September 1; and on September 13one from Quintus ("your fourth")[97] written August 10. And apparentlythey were very good letters, for which Cicero was duly grateful. "Whatpleasant letters, " he says to Quintus, "you do write.... I see youhave an extraordinary turn for writing [[Greek: hypothesin] _scribendiegregiam_]. Tell me all about it, the places, the people, the customs, the clans, the fighting. What are they all like? And what is yourgeneral like?"[98] "Give me Britain, that I may paint it in yourcolours with my own brush [_penicillo_]. "[99] This last sentencerefers to a heroic poem on "The Glories of Caesar, " which Ciceroseems to have meditated but never brought into being. Nor do we knowanything of the contents of his British correspondence, except that itcontains some speculations about our tide-ways; for, in his 'De NaturaDeorum, '[100] Cicero pooh-poohs the idea that such natural phenomenaargue 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 beensuggested, and the Goodwin Sands; but it seems much more probablethat the Britons were believed to have artificially fortified the mostaccessible landing-places. Perhaps they may have actually done so, butif they did it was to no purpose; for this time Caesar disembarkedhis army quite unopposed. On his return from Rome he had bidden hisnewly-built fleet, along with what was left of the old one, rendezvous at Boulogne; whence, after long delay through a continuousnorth-westerly breeze [_Corus_], he was at length enabled to set sailwith no fewer than eight hundred vessels. Never throughout history hasso large a navy threatened our shores. The most numerous of theDanish expeditions contained less than four hundred ships, William theConqueror's less than seven hundred;[101] the Spanish Armada not twohundred. 

E. 8. --Caesar was resolved this time to be in sufficient strength, andno longer despised his enemies. He brought with him five out ofhis eight legions, some thirty thousand infantry, that is, and twothousand 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 hima fighting elephant, to terrify the natives and their horses. Thereis nothing impossible about the story; though it is not likely Caesarwould have forgotten to mention so striking a feature of his campaign. One particular animal we may be sure he had with him, his own famouscharger with the cloven hoof, which had been bred in his own stud, andwould 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 tovictory. 

E. 9. --It was, as the Emperor Napoleon has calculated, on July21 that, at sun-set this mighty armament put out before a gentlesouth-west air, which died away at midnight, leaving them becalmedon a waveless sea. When morning dawned Britain lay on their left, andthey 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 eventsof the previous year had shown to be the best landing-place. [103]Thanks to Caesar's foresight the transports as well as the galleyscould now be thus propelled, and such was the ardour of the soldiersthat both classes of ships kept pace with one another, in spite oftheir different build. The transports, of course, contained men enoughto take turns at the sweeps, while the galley oarsmen could not berelieved. By noon they reached Britain, and found not a soul to resisttheir landing. There had been, as Caesar learnt from "prisoners, " alarge force gathered for that purpose, but the terrific multitude ofhis ships had proved quite too demoralizing, and the patriot army hadretired to "higher ground, " to which the prisoners were able to directthe invader. 

E. 10. --There is obviously something strange about this tale. Therewas no fighting, the shore was deserted, yet somehow prisoners weretaken, and prisoners singularly well informed as to the defenders'strategy. The story reads very much as if these useful individualswere really deserters, or, as the Britons would call it, traitors. Weknow 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. Hisfather Immanuentius had been slain in battle by Cassivellaunus, or Caswallon[104] (the king of their westward neighbours theCateuchlani), now the most powerful chieftain in Britain, and hehimself driven into exile. 

E. 11. --This episode seems to have formed part of a general nativerising against the over-sea suzerainty of Divitiacus, which hadbrought Caswallon to the front as the national champion. It wasCaswallon who was now in command against Caesar, and if, as is veryprobable, there was any Trinobantian contingent in his army, theymay well have furnished these "prisoners. " For Caesar had broughtMandubratius with him for the express purpose of influencing theTrinobantes, who were in fact thus induced in a few weeks to set anexample of submission to Rome, as soon as their fear of Caswallonwas removed. And meanwhile nothing is more likely than that a certainnumber of ardent loyalists should leave the usurper's ranks and hastento greet their hereditary sovereign, so soon as ever he landed. The later British accounts develop the transaction into an act ofwholesale 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 whichmay yet have the above-mentioned kernel of truth. 

E. 12. --But whoever these "prisoners" were, their information was soimportant, and in Caesar's view so trustworthy, that he proceeded toact upon it that very night. Before even entrenching his camp, leavingonly ten cohorts and three hundred horse to guard the vessels, most ofwhich were at anchor on the smooth sea, he set off at the head of hisarmy "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 forceswere stationed on a ridge of rising ground, at the foot of whichflowed a small stream. Napoleon considers this stream to have been theLesser Stour (now a paltry rivulet, dry in summer, but anciently muchlarger), and the hill to have been Barham Down, the camping-ground ofso many armies throughout British history. 

E. 13. --The battle began with a down-hill charge of the Britishcavalry and chariots against the Roman horse who were sent forwardto seize the passage of the stream. Beaten back they retreated to itsbanks, which were now, doubtless, lined by their infantry. And herethe real struggle took place. The unhappy Britons, however, werehopelessly outclassed, and very probably outnumbered, by Caesar'stwenty-four thousand legionaries and seventeen hundred horsemen. Theygave way, some dispersing in confusion, but the best of their troopsretiring in good order to a stronghold in the neighbouring woods, "well fortified both by nature and art, " which was a legacy from somelocal quarrel. Now they had strengthened it with an abattis of felledtrees, which was resolutely defended, while skirmishers in openorder harassed the assailants from the neighbouring forest [_raripropugnabant e silvis_]. It was necessary for the Seventh legionto throw up trenches, and finally to form a "tortoise" with theirshields, as in the assault on a regularly fortified town, before theposition could be carried. Then, at last, the Britons were driven fromthe 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 bythe name of "Old England's Hole. " Traces of the rampart, and of theassailants' trenches, are yet visible. [105]

SECTION F. 

Fleet again wrecked--Britons rally under Caswallon--Battle of BarhamDown--Britons fly to London--Origin of London--Patriot army dispersed. 

F. 1. --It was Caesar's intention to give the broken enemy no chanceof rallying. In spite of the dire fatigue of his men (who had now beenwithout sleep for two nights, and spent the two succeeding days inhard rowing and hard fighting), he sent forward the least exhausted topress the pursuit. But before the columns thus detailed had got out ofsight a message from the camp at Richborough changed his purpose. Themishap of the previous year had been repeated. Once more the gentlebreeze had changed to a gale, and the fleet which he had left sosmoothly 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 withouthim. So the pursuers, horse and foot, were hastily recalled, and, doubtless, were glad enough to encamp, like their comrades, on theground so lately won, where they took their well-earned repose. 

F. 2. --But for Caesar there could be no rest. Without the loss of amoment he rode back to the landing-place, where he found the stateof things fully as bad as had been reported to him. Forty ships werehopelessly shattered; but by dint of strenuous efforts he succeededin saving the rest. All were now drawn on shore, and tinkered up byartificers from the legions, while instructions were sent over toLabienus 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 thefruit of the previous victory had been lost. The Britons, finding thepursuit checked, and learning the reason, had rallied their scatteredforce; and when Caesar returned to his camp at Barham Down he foundbefore it a larger patriot army than ever, with Caswallon (who isnow named for the first time) at its head. This hero, who, as wehave said, may have been brought to the front through the series ofinter-tribal wars which had ruined the foreign supremacy of Divitiacusin Britain, was by this time acclaimed his successor in a dignitycorresponding in some degree to the mythical Pendragonship of Welshlegend. [106] His own immediate dominions included at least the futuredistricts of South Anglia and Essex, and his banner was followed bysomething very like a national levy from the whole of Britain southof the Forth. When we read of the extraordinary solidarity whichanimated, over a much larger area, the equally separate clans of Gaulin their rising against the Roman yoke a year later, there is nothingincredible, or even improbable, in the Britons having developedsomething of a like solidarity in their resistance to its being laidupon their necks. Burmann's 'Anthology' contains an epigram whichbears witness to the existence amongst us even at that date of thesentiment, "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 Caesarwas harassed by incessant attacks from flying parties of Caswallon'schariots and horsemen, who would sweep up, deliver their blow, andretire, only to take grim advantage of the slightest imprudence onthe part of the Roman cavalry in pursuit. And when, with a perceptiblenumber of casualties, the Down was reached, a stronger attack wasdelivered on the outposts set to guard the working parties who wereentrenching the position, and the fighting became very sharpindeed. The outposts were driven in, even though reinforced by twocohorts--each the First of its Legion, and thus consisting of pickedmen, like the old Grenadier companies of our own regiments. Thoughthese twelve hundred regulars, the very flower of the Roman army, awaited the attack in such a formation that the front cohort wasclosely supported by the rear, the Britons pushed their assault home, and had "the extreme audacity" to charge clean through the ranks ofboth, re-form behind, and charge back again, with great loss tothe Romans (whose leader, Quintus Labienus Durus, the Tribune, orDivisional General in command of one of the legions, was slain), and but little to themselves. Not till several more cohorts weredispatched to the rescue did they at length retire. 

F. 5. --This brilliant little affair speaks well both for thediscipline and the spirit of the patriot army; and Caesar ungrudginglyrecognizes both. He points out how far superior the British warriorswere to his own men, both in individual and tactical mobility. Thelegionaries dare not break their ranks to pursue, under pain of beingcut off by their nimble enemies before they could re-form; and eventhe cavalry found it no safe matter to press British chariots too faror too closely. At any moment the crews might spring to earth, and thepursuing horsemen find themselves confronted, or even surrounded, byinfantry in position. Moreover, the morale of the British army was sogood that it could fight in quite small units, each of which, by theskilful dispositions of Caswallon, was within easy reach of one of hisseries of "stations" (_i. E. _ block-houses) disposed along the line ofmarch, where it could rest while the garrison turned out to take itsturn in the combat. 

F. 6. --Against such an enemy it was obviously Caesar's interest tobring on, as speedily as possible, a general action, in which hemight deliver a crushing blow. And, happily for him, their success hadrendered the Britons over-confident, so that they were even deludedenough to imagine that they could face the full Roman force in openfield. Both sides, therefore, were eager to bring about the sameresult. Next morning the small British squads which were hoveringaround showed ostentatious reluctance to come to close quarters, so asto draw the Romans out of their lines. Caesar gladly met their views, and sent forward all his cavalry and three legions, who, on theirpart, ostentatiously broke rank and began to forage. This was theopportunity the Britons wanted--and Caesar wanted also. From everyside, in front, flank, and rear, the former "flew upon" their enemies, so suddenly and so vigorously that ere the legions, prepared as theywere 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 thatthe enemy had to do. Their first desperate charge spent itselfbefore doing any serious damage to the masses of disciplined valourconfronting them, and the Romans, once in formation, were able todeliver a counter-charge which proved quite irresistible. On everyside the Britons broke and fled; the main stream of fugitives unwiselykeeping together, so that the pursuers, cavalry and infantry alike, were able to press the pursuit vigorously. No chance was given for arally; amid the confusion the chariot-crews could not even spring toearth as usual; and the slaughter was such as to daunt the stoutestpatriot. The spell of Caswallon's luck was broken, and his auxiliariesfrom other clans with one accord deserted him and dispersed homewards. Never again throughout all history did the Britons gather a nationallevy against Rome. 

F. 8. --This break-up of the patriot confederacy seems, however, tohave 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 followone line of flight? And how was the line of the Roman advance soaccurately calculated upon by Caswallon that he was able to placehis "stations" along it beforehand? The answer is that there was anobvious objective for which the Romans would be sure to make; indeedthere was almost certainly an obvious track along which they would besure to march. There is every reason to believe that most of the laterRoman roads were originally British trackways, broad green ribands ofturf winding through the land (such as the Icknield Way is still inmany parts of its course), and following the lines most convenient fortrade. 

F. 9. --But, if this is so, then that convergence of these lines onLondon, which is as marked a feature of the map of Roman Britain as itis of our railway maps now, must have already been noticeable. And theonly possible reason for this must be found in the fact that alreadyLondon was a noted passage over the Thames. That an island inmid-stream was the original _raison d'être_ of London Bridge isapparent from the mass of buildings which is shown in every ancientpicture 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, andmust always have suggested and furnished a comparatively easycrossing-place. Possibly even a bridge of some sort may have existedin 54 B. C. ; anyhow this crossing would have been alike the objectiveof the invading, and the _point d'appui_ of the defending army. Andthe line both of the Roman advance and of the British retreat wouldbe along the track afterwards known as the Kentish Watling Street. Forhere again the late British legends which tell us of councils of warheld 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 wasactually on London that the Britons retired, and from London that thegathering of the clans broke up, each to its own. 

SECTION G. 

Passage of Thames--Submission of clans--Storm of Verulam--Last patrioteffort in Kent--Submission of Caswallon--Romans leave Britain--"CaesarDivus. "

G. 1. --Caswallon, however, and his immediate realm still remained tobe dealt with. His first act, on resolving upon continued resistance, would of course be to make the passage of the London tide-wayimpossible for the Roman army; and Caesar, like William the Conquerorafter him, had to search up-stream for a crossing-place. He did not, however, like William, have to make his way so far as Wallingfordbefore finding one. Deserters told him of a ford, though a difficultone, practicable for infantry, not many miles distant. The traditionalspot, near Walton-on-Thames, anciently called Coway Stakes, mayvery probably be the real place. Both name and stakes, however, haveprobably, in spite of the guesses of antiquaries, no connection withCaesar and his passage, but more prosaically indicate that here was apassage for cattle (Coway = Cow Way) marked out by crossing stakes. 

G. 2. --The forces of Caswallon were accompanying the Roman march onthe northern bank of the stream, and when Caesar came to the ford hefound them already in position [_instructas_] to dispute his passagebehind a _chevaux de frise_ of sharpened stakes, more of which, hewas told, were concealed by the water. If the Britons had showntheir wonted resolution this position must have been impregnable. ButCaswallon's men were disheartened and shaken by the slaughter onthe Kentish Downs and the desertion of their allies. Caesarrightly calculated that a bold demonstration would complete theirdemoralization. So it proved. The sight of the Roman cavalry plunginginto the steam, and the legionaries eagerly pressing on neck-deep inwater, 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 nofurther hope of facing Caesar in pitched battle, and contentedhimself with keeping in touch with the enemy with a flying column ofchariot-men some two thousand strong. His practice was to keep his mena little off the road--there was still, be it noted, a _road_ alongwhich the Romans were marching--and drive off the flocks and herdsinto the woods before the Roman advance. He made no attempt to attackthe legions, but if any foragers were bold enough to follow up thebooty thus reft from them, he was upon them in a moment. Such seriousloss was thus inflicted that Caesar had to forbid any such excursions, and to content himself with laying waste the fields and farms inimmediate proximity to his route. 

G. 4. --He was now in Caswallon's own country, and his presence thereencouraged the Trinobantian loyalists openly to throw off allegianceto their conqueror and raise Mandubratius to his father's throne underthe protection of Rome; sending to Caesar at the same time provisionsfor his men, and forty hostages whom he demanded of them. Caesarin return gave strict orders to his soldiers against plundering orraiding in their territory. This mingled firmness and clemency madeso favourable an impression that the submission of the Trinobantes wasfollowed by that of various adjoining clans, small and great, from theIceni of East Anglia to the little riverside septs of the Bibroci andAncalites, whose names may or may not be echoed in the modern Bray andHenley. The Cassi (of Cassiobury) not only submitted, but guided theRomans to Caswallon's own neighbouring stronghold in the forests nearSt. Alban's. It was found to be a position of considerable naturalstrength (probably on the site of the later Verulam), and wellfortified; but all the heart was out of the Cateuchlanians. When theassailing columns approached to storm the place on two sides at once, they hesitated, broke, and flung themselves over the ramparts on theother sides in headlong flight. Caesar, however, was able to headthem, and his troops killed and captured large numbers, besidesgetting possession of all the flocks and herds, which, as usual, hadbeen gathered for refuge within the stockade. 

G. 5. --Caswallon himself, however, escaped, and now made one last bidfor victory. So great was still the influence of his prestige that, broken as he was, he was able to prevail upon the clans of Kentto make a sudden and desperate onset upon the Naval Station atRichborough. All four of the chieftains beneath whose sway the countywas divided (Cingetorix, Canilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax) rose withone accord at his summons. The attack, however, proved a mere flashin the pan. Even before it was delivered, the garrison salliedout vigorously, captured one of the British leaders, Lugotorix, slaughtered the assailants wholesale, and crushed the whole movementwithout the loss of a man. This final defeat of his last hopes brokeeven 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 _protégé_, the Atrebatian chieftain Commius, to negotiate terms with theconqueror. 

G. 6. --To Caesar this was no small relief. The autumn was comingon, and Caswallon's guerrilla warfare might easily eat up all theremainder of the summer, when he must needs be left alone, conqueredor unconquered, that the Roman army might get back to its winterquarters on the Continent; more especially as ominous signs in Gaulalready predicted the fearful tempest of revolt which, that winter, was to burst. Easy conditions were therefore imposed. Caswallonpledged himself, as Lord Paramount, that Britain should pay an annualtribute to the Roman treasury, and, as Chief of the Cateuchlani, thathe would leave Mandubratius on the Trinobantian throne. Hostages weregiven, and the Roman forces returned with all convenient speed to thecoast; this time, presumably, crossing the Thames in the regular wayat London. 

G. 7. --After a short wait, in vain expectation of the sixty shipswhich Labienus had built in Gaul and which could not beat across theChannel, Caesar crowded his troops and the hordes of British captiveson board as best he could, and being favoured by the weather, foundhimself and them safe across, having worked out his great purpose, andleaving 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 thebusiness. But this was far from being the view taken by the Roman "inthe street. " To him Caesar's exploit was like those of the gods andheroes of old; Hercules and Bacchus had done less, for neither hadpassed the Ocean. The popular feeling of exultation in this new gloryadded to Roman fame may be summed up in the words of the Anthologistalready 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 savedhimself from imminent destruction by utilizing his British experiencesand passing his troops over a river in coracles of British build. [109]He went his way to the desperate fighting, first of the great Gallicrevolt, then of the Civil War (with his own Labienus for the mostferocious of his opponents), till he found himself the undisputedmaster of the Roman world. But when he fell, upon the Ides of MarchB. C. 44, it was mainly through the superhuman reputation won byhis invasion of Britain that he received the hitherto unheard ofdistinction of a popular apotheosis, and handed down to his successorsfor 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--Houseof Cymbeline--Tasciovan--Commians overthrown--Vain appeal toAugustus--Ancyran Tablet--Romano-British trade--Lead-mining--Britishfashions in Rome--Adminius banished by Cymbeline--Appeal toCaligula--Futile demonstration--Icenian civil war--Vericusbanished--Appeal to Claudius--Invasion prepared. 

A. 1. --With the departure of Caesar from its shores our knowledge ofthe affairs of Britain becomes only less fragmentary than before hereached them. We do not even learn how far the tribute he had imposedcontinued to be paid. Most probably during the confusion of the Gallicrevolt and the Civil Wars it ceased altogether. In that confusionCommius finally lost his continental principality of Arras, and hadto fly for his life into his British dominions. He only saved himself, indeed, by an ingenious stratagem. When he reached the shore of Gaulhe found his ship aground in the tide-way. Nevertheless, by hoistingall sail, he deceived the pursuing Romans into thinking themselves toolate till the rising tide permitted him really to put to sea. [110] Theeffect of the extinction of Atrebatian power in Gaul was doubtless toconsolidate it in Britain, as when our English sovereigns lost theirhold on Normandy and Anjou, for we find that Commius reigned at leastover the eastern counties of Wessex, and transmitted his power to hissons, Verica, Eppillus, and Tincommius, who seem to have sharedthe kingdom between them. Tincommius, however, may possibly be, asProfessor Rhys suggests, merely a title, signifying the _Tanist_ (orHeir) of Commius. In this case it would be that of Verica, who wasking after his father. [111]

A. 2. --The evidence for this is that in the district mentionedBritish coins are found bearing these names. For now appears the firstinscribed British coinage; the inscriptions being all in Latin, asign of the abiding influence of the work of Caesar. And it is by thatlight mainly that we know the little we do know of British history forthe next century. The coins are very numerous, and preserve for usthe names of no fewer than thirty several rulers (or states). Theyare mostly of gold (though both silver and bronze also occur), andare found over the greater part of the island, the southern and theeastern counties being the richest. The inscriptions indicate, ashas already been mentioned, [112] a state of great political confusionthroughout the country. But they also bear testimony not only to thedynasty of Commius, but to the rise of a much stronger power north ofthe Thames. 

A. 3. --That power was the House of Cunobelin, or Cinobellinus[113](Shakespeare's Cymbeline), who figures in the pages of Suetonius asKing of all Britain, insomuch that his fugitive son, Adminius, posedbefore Caligula as the rightful sovereign of the whole island. Hiscoins were undoubtedly current everywhere south of Trent and east ofSevern, if not beyond those rivers. They are found in large numbers, and of most varied devices, all showing the influence of classicalart. A head (probably his own portrait) is often on the obverse, andon the reverse Apollo playing the lyre, or a Centaur, or a Victory, orMedusa, or Pegasus, or Hercules. Other types show a warrior on horseor foot, or a lion, [114] or a bull, or a wolf, or a wild boar; othersagain a vine-leaf, or an ear of bearded wheat. On a very few is foundthe horse, surviving from the old Macedonian mintage. [115] Andall bear his own name, sometimes in full, CVNOBELINVS REX, oftenerabbreviated in various ways. 

A. 4. --But the coins do more than testify to the widespread power ofCymbeline himself. They show us that he inherited much of it from hisfather. This prince, whose name was Tasciovan, is often associatedwith his son in the inscriptions, and the son is often described asTASCIIOVANI F. (_Filius_) or TASCIOVANTIS. There are besides a largenumber of coins belonging to Tasciovan alone. And these tell us wherehe reigned. They are struck (where the mint is recorded) either atSegontium[116] or at Verulam. The latter is pretty certainly the townwhich had sprung up on the site of Caswallon's stronghold, so thatwe may reasonably conclude that Tasciovan was the successor of thepatriot 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 sonCaratac (or Caradoc) at the Claudian conquest. 

A. 5. --It would seem, therefore, that, Caesar's mandate to thecontrary notwithstanding, Caswallon's clan, who were now called(perhaps from his name), Cattivellauni, had again conquered theTrinobantes, deposing, and probably slaying, Mandubratius. [118] Thiswould 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, contemporarywith Tasciovan. But, by and by, we find Epaticcus, _his_ son, andAdminius, apparently his grandson, reigning in their realm, the lattertaking Kent, the former the western districts. The previous Kentishmonarch was named Dumnovellanus, and appears as DAMNO BELLA on theAncyran Tablet. This wonderful record of the glories of Augustusmentions, _inter alia_, that certain British kings, of whom thisprince was one, fled to his protection. The tablet is, unhappily, mutilated at the point where their names occur, but that of anotherbegins with TIM--probably, as Sir John Evans suggests, Tin-Commius. Adminius also was afterwards exiled by his own father, Cymbeline, andin like manner appealed to Caesar--Caligula--in 40 A. D. 

A. 6. --Nothing came of either appeal. Augustus did indeed, accordingto Dio Cassius, meditate completing his "father's" work, and (in B. C. 34) entered Gaul with a view to invading Britain. But the politicaltroubles which were to culminate at Actium called him back, andhe contented himself with laying a small duty on the trade betweenBritain and Gaul. Tin, as before, formed the staple export of ourisland, and other metals seem now to have been added--iron from Sussexand lead from Somerset. Doubtless also the pearls from our nativeoysters (of which Caesar had already dedicated a breastplate to hisancestral Venus) found their way to Rome, though of far less valuethan the Oriental jewel, being of a less pure white. [119] Besidesthese we read of "ivory bracelets and necklets, amber and glassornaments, and such-like rubbish, "[120] which doubtless found a saleamongst the _virtuosi_ of Rome, as like products of savage industryfrom Africa or Polynesia find a sale amongst our _virtuosi_ nowadays. Meanwhile, Roman dignity was saved by considering these duties to bein lieu of the unpaid tribute imposed by Caesar, and the island wasdeclared by courtly writers to be already in practical subjection. "Some of the chiefs [Greek: dunastai] have gained the friendship ofAugustus, and dedicated offerings in the Capitol.... The islandwould not be worth holding, and could never pay the expenses of agarrison. "[121]

A. 7. --At the same time the Romans of the day evidently took a veryspecial interest in everything connected with Britain. The leaders ofRoman society, like Maecenas, drove about in British chariots, [122]smart ladies dyed their hair red in imitation of Britishwarriors, [123] tapestry inwoven with British figures was all thefashion, [124] and constant hopes were expressed by the poets that, before long, so interesting a land might be finally incorporated inthe 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 fatalinvasion of Germany by Varus. But the diseased brain of Caligula _was_for a moment fired with the ambition of so vast an enterprise. Heprofessed that the fugitive Adminius had ceded to him the kingship ofthe 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 Gallicshore, while all wondered what mad freak he was purposing; thensuddenly bade every man fill his helmet with shells as "spoils of theOcean" to be dedicated in the Capitol. Finally he commemorated thisglorious victory by the erection of a lofty lighthouse, [126] probablyat the entrance of Boulogne harbour. 

A. 9. --It was clear, however, that sooner or later Britain must bedrawn into the great system so near her, and the next reign furnishedthe needful occasion. Yet another exiled British pretender appealedto the Emperor to see him righted--this time one Vericus. His namesuggests that he may have been Verica son of Commius; but the theoryof Professor Rhys and Sir John Evans seems more probable--that he wasa Prince of the Iceni. The earliest name found on the coins of thatclan is Addeomarus (Aedd Mawr, or Eth the Great, of British legend), who was contemporary with Tasciovan. After this the tribe probablybecame subject to Cymbeline, at whose death[127] the chieftainshipseems to have been disputed between two pretenders, Vericusand Antedrigus; and on the success of the latter (presumably byCateuchlanian favour) the former fled to Rome. Claudius, who now saton the Imperial throne, eagerly seized the opportunity for the renownhe was always coveting, and in A. D. 44 set in motion the forces of theEmpire to subdue our island. 

SECTION B. 

Aulus Plautius--Reluctance to embark--Narcissus--Passage ofChannel--Landing at Portchester--Strength of expedition--Vespasian'slegion--British defeats--Line of Thames held--Arrival ofClaudius--Camelodune taken--General submission of island. 

B. 1. --The command of the expedition was entrusted to Aulus PlautiusLaelianus, a distinguished Senator, of Consular rank. But thereluctance of the soldiery to advance "beyond the limits of thismortal world" [Greek: _exô tas ohikoumenês_], and entrust themselvesto the mysterious tides of the ocean which was held to bound it, caused him weeks of delay on the shores of Gaul. Nor could anythingmove them, till they found this malingering likely to expose themto the degradation of a quasi-imperial scolding from Narcissus, thefreed-man favourite of Claudius, who came down express from Rome asthe Emperor's mouthpiece. [128] To bear reproof from one who had beenborn a slave was too much for Roman soldiers. When Narcissus mountedthe tribune to address them in the Emperor's name, his very firstwords were at once drowned by a derisive shout from every mouthof "_Io Saturnalia_!" the well-known cry with which Roman slavesinaugurated their annual Yule-tide licence of aping for the day thecharacters of their masters. The parade tumultuously broke off, andthe troops hurried down to the beach to carry out the commands oftheir General--who was at least free-born. 

B, 2. --The passage of the Channel was effected in three separatefleets, possibly at three separate points, and the landing on ourshores was unopposed. The Britons, doubtless, had been lulled tosecurity by the tidings of the mutinous temper in the camp of theinvaders, and were quite unprepared for the very unexpected resultof the mission of Narcissus. It seems likely, moreover, that thedisembarkation was made much further to the west than they would havelooked for. The voyage is spoken of as long, and amid its discomfortsthe drooping spirits of the soldiery were signally cheered by ameteor of special brilliance which one night darted westwards as theirharbinger. Moreover we find that when the Romans did land, their firstsuccess was a defeat of the Dobuni, subject allies of the Houseof Cymbeline, who, as we gather from Ptolemy, dwelt in what is nowSouthern Gloucestershire. [129] This objective rather points to theirlanding-place having been in Portsmouth harbour[130] (_the_ Port, asits name still reminds us, of Roman Britain), where the undoubtedlyRoman site of Portchester may well mark the exact spot where theexpedition first set foot on shore. 

B. 3. --Besides an unknown force of Gallic auxiliaries, its strengthcomprised four veteran legions, one (the Ninth _Hispanica_)[131] fromthe Danube frontier, the rest (Twentieth, Fourteenth, and Second) fromthe Rhine. This last, an "Augustan"[132] legion, was commanded by thefuture Emperor Vespasian--a connection destined to have an importantinfluence 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 promotionmore rapidly than his birth warranted. [134] Serving under him asMilitary Tribunes were his brother Sabinus and his son Titus; and inthis British campaign all three Flavii are said to have distinguishedthemselves, [135] especially at the passage of an unnamed river, wherethe Britons made an obstinate stand. The ford was not passed tillafter three days' continuous fighting, of which the issue was finallydecided by the "Celtic" auxiliaries swimming the stream higher up, andstampeding the chariot-horses tethered behind the British lines. 

B. 4. --What this stream may have been is a puzzle. [136] Dion Cassiusbrings it in after a victory over the sons of Cymbeline, Caradoc (orCaractacus, as historians commonly call him) and Togodumnus, whereinthe latter was slain. And he adds that from its banks the Britons fellback upon their next line of defence, the _tide-way_ on the Thames. Hetells us that, though tidal, the river was, at this point, fordable atlow water for those who knew the shallows; and incidentally mentionsthat at no great distance there was even a bridge over it. But it wasbordered by almost impassable[137] swamps. It must be remembered thatbefore the canalizing of the Thames the influence of the tidewas perceptible at least as high as Staines, where was also acrossing-place of immemorial antiquity. And hereabouts may veryprobably have been the key of the British position, a position sostrong that it brought Plautius altogether to a standstill. Not tilloverwhelming reinforcements, including even an elephant corps, weresummoned from Rome, with Claudius in person at their head, was apassage forced. The defence then, however, collapsed utterly, andwithin a fortnight of his landing, Claudius was able to re-embark forRome, after taking Camelodune, and securing for the moment, withoutthe loss of a man, [138] as it would seem, the nominal submission ofthe whole island, including even the Orkneys. [139]

SECTION C. 

Claudius triumphs--Gladiatorial shows--Last stand ofBritons--Gallantry of Titus--Ovation of Plautius--Distinctionsbestowed--Triumphal arch--Commemorative coinage--Conciliatorypolicy--British worship of Claudius--Cogidubnus--Attitude ofclans--Britain made Imperial Province. 

C. 1. --The success thus achieved was evidently felt to be somethingquite exceptionally brilliant and important. Not once, as was usual, but four several times was Claudius acclaimed "Imperator"[140] evenbefore he left our shores; and in after years these acclamationswere renewed at Rome as often as good news of the British wararrived there, till, ere Claudius died, he had received no fewerthan twenty-one such distinctions, each signalized by an issue ofcommemorative coinage. His "Britannic triumph" was celebrated on ascale of exceptional magnificence. In addition to the usual display, he gave his people the unique spectacle of their Emperor climbing theascent to the Capitol not in his triumphal car, nor even on foot, buton his knees (as pilgrims yet mount the steps of the Ara Coeli), intoken of special gratitude to the gods for so signal an extensionof the glory and the Empire of Rome. In the gladiatorial shows whichfollowed, he presided in full uniform [_paludatus_], [141] with his son(whose name, like his own, a _Senatus consultum_ had declared tobe _Britannicus_)[142] on his knee. [143] One of the spectaclesrepresented the storm of a British _oppidum_ and the surrender ofBritish kings. The kings were probably real British chieftains, andthe storm was certainly real, with real Britons, real blood, realslaughter, for Claudius went to every length in this direction. 

C. 2. --The narrative of Suetonius[144] connects these shows with thewell-known tale of the unhappy gladiators who fondly hoped that akind word from the Emperor meant a reprieve of their doom. He haddetermined to surpass all his predecessors in his exhibition of asea-fight, and had provided a sheet of water large enough for themanoeuvres of real war-galleys, carrying some five hundred menapiece. [145] The crews, eleven thousand in all, made their usualpreliminary 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 hopesof mercy. With one accord they refused to play their part, and he hadto come down in person and solemnly assure them that if his show wasspoilt he would exterminate every man of them "with fire and sword, "before they would embark. Once entered upon the combat, however, theyfought desperately; so well, indeed, that at its close the survivorswere declared exempt from any further performance. Such was the fatewhich awaited those who dared to defend their freedom against theFortune of Rome, and such the death died by many a brave Briton forthe glory of his subjugators. Dion Cassius[146] tells us thatAulus Plautius made a special boast of the numbers so butchered inconnection with his own "Ovation. "

C. 3. --This ceremony was celebrated A. D. 47, two years after that ofClaudius. Plautius had remained behind in Britain to stamp out thelast embers of resistance, --a task which all but proved fatal toVespasian, who got hemmed in by the enemy. He was only saved by thepersonal heroism and devotion of Titus, who valiantly made in to hisfather's rescue, and succeeded in cutting him out. This seems tohave been in the last desperate stand made by the Britons duringthis campaign. After this, with Togodumnus slain, Caradoc probably afugitive in hiding, and the best and bravest of the land slaughteredeither in the field or in the circus at Rome, British resistancewas for the moment utterly crushed out. Claudius continued hisdemonstrations of delight; when Plautius neared Rome he went out inperson 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 triumphalprocession along the Via Sacra. [149]

C. 4. --Rewards were at the same time showered on the inferiorofficers. Cnaeus Ostorius Geta, the hero of the first riverside fightin Britain, was allowed to triumph in consular fashion, though not yetof consular rank; and an inscription found at Turin speaks of collars, gauntlets and phalera bestowed on one Caius Gavius, along witha golden wreath for Distinguished Service. Another, found inSwitzerland, [150] records the like wreath assigned to Julius Camillus, a Military Tribune of the Fourth Legion, together with the decorationof the _Hasta Pura_ (something, it would seem, in the nature of theVictoria Cross); which was also, according to Suetonius, [151] given toPosides, one of the Emperor's favourite freedmen. 

C. 5. --To Claudius himself, besides his triumph, the Senate votedtwo triumphal arches, [152] one in Rome, the other in the Gallic portwhence he had embarked for Britain. Part of the inscription on theformer of these was found in 1650 on the site where it stood (nearthe Palazzo Sciarra), and is still to be seen in the gardens of theBarberini Palace. It runs as follows (the conjectural restoration ofthe 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, holdingfor the 9th time the authority of Tribune, Consul for the 6th time, acclaimed Imperator for the 16th, the Senate and People of Rome [havededicated this arch]. Because that without the loss of a man he hathsubdued the Kings of Britain, and hath been the first to bring underher barbarous clans under our sway. " Claudius also affixed to thewalls of the imperial house on the Palatine (which was destinedto give the name of "palace" to royal abodes for all time), [153] a"_corona navalis_"--a circlet in which the usual radiations were madeto resemble the sails, etc. Of ships--in support of his proud claimto have tamed the Ocean itself [_quasi domiti oceani_] and brought itunder Roman sway: "_Et jam Romano cingimur Oceano_. "[154]

C. 6. --As usual, coins were struck to commemorate the occasion, theearliest of the long series of Roman coins relating to Britain. Theybear on the obverse the laureated head of Claudius to the right, withthe 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 (whoregulated the bronze issue), but by the Imperial mint, and dates fromthe year 46, when Claudius was clothed for the ninth time with theauthority 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 triumphalchariot with an eagle on his sceptre. Even poor little Britannicus, who never came to his father's throne, being set aside through theintrigues of his stepmother Agrippina and finally poisoned (A. D. 55)by Nero, had a coin of his own on this occasion issued by theSenate and inscribed TI. CLAVD. CAESAR. AVG. F. [_Augusti Filius_]BRITANNICVS. 

C. 7. --Seneca, whose own connection with Britain was that of a grindingusurer, [155] speaks with intense disgust of the conciliatory attitudeof Claudius towards the populations, or more probably the kinglets, who had submitted to his sway. He purposed, it seems, even to see someof them raised to Roman citizenship [_Britannos togatos videre_]. That the grateful provincials should have raised a temple to him atCamelodune, and rendered him worship as an incarnate deity, adds tothe offence. And, writing on the Emperor's death, the philosopherpoints with evident satisfaction to the wretched fate of the man whotriumphed over Britain and the Ocean, only to fall at last a victim tothe machinations of his own wife. 

C. 8. --An interesting confirmation of this information as to therelations between Claudius and his British subjects is to be found ina marble tablet[156] discovered at Chichester, which commemoratesthe erection of a temple (dedicated to Neptune and Minerva) forthe welfare of the Divine [_i. E. _ Imperial] Household by a Guild ofCraftsmen [_collegium fabrorum_] on a site given by Pudens the sonof Pudentinus;[157] all under the authority of Tiberius ClaudiusCogidubnus, at once a native British kinglet and Imperial Legate inBritain. This office would imply Roman citizenship, as would also theform of his name. That (doubtless on his enfranchisement) he shouldhave been allowed to take such a distinguished _nomen_ and _praenomen_as Tiberius Claudius marks the special favour in which he was held bythe Emperor. [158] To this witness is also borne by Tacitus, who saysthat certain states in Britain were placed under Cogidubnus not as atributary Kingdom but as a Roman Province. Hence his title of ImperialLegate. These states were doubtless those of the Cantii and Regni inKent, Surrey and Sussex. 

C. 9. --The Iceni, on the other hand, were subject allies of Rome, withVericus, in all probability, on the throne. [159] The Atrebates wouldseem also to have been "friendlies. " But the great mass of the Britishclans were chafing under the humiliation and suffering which theinvaders had wrought for them, and evidently needed a strong handto keep them down. Under the Empire provinces requiring militaryoccupation were committed not to Pro-consuls chosen by the Senate, butto Pro-praetors nominated by the Emperor, and were called "Imperial"as opposed to "Senatorial" governments. [160] Britain was nowaccordingly declared an Imperial Province, and Ostorius Scapula sentby Claudius to administer it as Pro-praetor. 

SECTION D. 

Ostorius Pro-praetor--Pacification of Midlands--Icenian revolt--Camb'sdykes--Iceni crushed--Cangi--Brigantes--Silurian war--Storm ofCaer Caradoc--Treachery of Cartismandua--Caradoc at Rome--Death ofOstorius--Uriconium and Caerleon--Britain quieted--Death of Claudius. 

D. 1. --When Ostorius, in A. D. 50, reached Britain he found things in avery disturbed state. The clans which had submitted to the Romans werebeing raided by their independent neighbours, who calculated thatthis new governor would not venture on risking his untried levies in awinter campaign against them. Ostorius, however, was astute enough torealize that such a first impression of his rule would be fatal, and, by a sudden dash with a flying column (_citas cohortes_), cut theraiders to pieces. As usual the Britons hoisted the white flag intheir familiar manner, making a surrender which they had no intentionwhatever of keeping to longer than suited their plans; and theywere proportionately disgusted when Ostorius set to work at a realpacification of the Midlands, constructing forts at strategic pointsalong the Trent and Severn, and requiring all natives whatsoeverwithin this Roman Pale to give up their arms. 

D. 2. --This demand the Britons looked upon as an intolerabledishonour, even as it seemed to the Highlanders two centuries ago. The first to resent it were the chieftain and clan whose alliance withRome had been the _raison d'être_ of the Conquest, Vericus and hisIceni. [161] Was this brand of shame to be their reward for bringingin the invaders? They received the mandate of Ostorius with a burst ofdefiance, and hastily organized a league of the neighbouring tribesto resist so intolerable a degradation. Before their allies couldcome in, however, Ostorius was upon them, and it became a matter ofdefending their own borders. 

D. 3. --The spot they selected for resistance was a space shut in byearthworks _(agresti aggere)_ accessible only by one narrow entrance. This description exactly applies to the locality where we should lookfor an Icenian Thermopylae. The clan dwelt, as we have said, in EastAnglia, their borders to the south being the marshy course of theStour, running from the primaeval forest that capped the "East AnglianHeights, " and, to the west, the Cambridgeshire Fens. They thus livedwithin a ring fence almost unassailable. Only in one spot was there anentrance. Between the Fen and the Forest stretched a narrow strip ofopen 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 Thamesat Goring. It never became a Roman road, though a few miles are nowmetalled. Along most of its course it remains what it was in Britishdays, a broad, green track seamed with scores of rut-marks. And evenwhere it has been obliterated, its course may be traced by thenames of Ickborough in Norfolk, Iclingham in Suffolk, Ickleton inCambridgeshire, and Ickleford in Hertfordshire. [162]

D. 4. --The Iceni had long ago taken care to fortify this approach totheir land. The whole space between fen and forest in the Cam valleywas cut across by four (or five) great dykes which may still betraced, 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 therampart, when topped by a stockade, must have constituted an obstacleto troops unprovided with artillery which the Iceni might justifiablythink insuperable. The "one narrow entrance" along the whole lengthof the dykes (five miles and ten miles respectively) is where theIcknield Way cuts through them. 

D. 5. --Here then, probably, the Icenian levies confidently awaitedthe onslaught of Ostorius--the more confidently inasmuch as he hadnot waited to call up his legionaries from their winter quarters, butattacked only with the irregulars whom he had been employing againstthe marauders in the midlands. The Iceni, doubtless, imagined thatsuch troops would be unequal to assaulting their dyke at all. ButOstorius was no ordinary leader. Such was the enthusiasm which heinspired in his troops that they surprised the revolters by attackingalong the whole line of the Fleam Dyke at once, and that with suchimpetuosity that in a moment they were over it. The hapless Iceni werenow caught in a death-trap. Behind them the Devil's Ditch barred allretreat save through its one narrow entrance, and those who failed toforce their way through the mad crush there could only fight and diewith the courage of despair. "Many a deed of desperate valour didthey, " says Tacitus [_multa et clara facinora_], and the Romansdisplayed like courage; the son of Ostorius winning in the fray the"civic crown"[163] awarded for the rescue of a Roman citizen. But noquarter seems to have been given, and the flower of the Icenian tribeperished there to a man. 

D. 6. --This slaughter effectually scotched the rising which theIcenians were hoping to organize. All Central Britain submitted, and, we may presume, was quietly disarmed; though the work cannot have beenvery effectually done, as these same tribes were able to rise underBoadicea twelve years later. The indefatigable Ostorius next ledhis men against the Cangi in North Wales[164] (who seem to have beenstirred to revolt by the Icenian Prince Antedrigus), and gained muchbooty, for the Britons dared not venture upon a battle, and hadno luck in their various attempts at surprise. But before he quitereached the Irish Sea he was recalled by a disturbance amongst theBrigantes, which by a judicious mixture of firmness and clemency hespeedily suppressed. And all this he did without employing a singlelegionary. 

D. 7. --But neither firmness nor clemency availed to put an end to thedesperate struggle for freedom maintained by the one clan in Britainwhich still held out against the Roman yoke. The Silurians of SouthWales were not to be subdued without a regular campaign which was totax the Legions themselves to the utmost. Naturally brave, stubborn, and with a passionate love of liberty, they had at this juncture aworthy leader, for Caradoc was at their head. We hear nothing ofhis doings between the first battle against Aulus Plautius, when hisbrother Togodumnus fell, leaving him the sole heir of Cymbeline, untilwe find him here. But we may be pretty sure that he was the animatingspirit of the resistance which so long checked the conquerors onthe banks of the Thames, and that he took no part in the generalsubmission to Claudius. Probably he led an outlaw life in the forest, stirring up all possible resistance to the Roman arms, till finallyhe found himself left with this one clan of all his father's subjectsstill remaining faithful. 

D. 8. --But he never thought of surrender. He was everywhere amongsthis 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 [_gentilireligione_] never to yield "either for wound or weapon. " Ostorius hadto bring against him the whole force he could muster, even calling outthe veterans newly settled at the Colony[165] of Camelodune. Caradocand his Silurians, on their part, did not wait at home for the attack, but moved northwards into the territory of the Ordovices, who at leastsympathized if they did not actually aid. Here he entrenched himselfupon a mountain, very probably that Caer Caradoc, near Shrewsbury, which still bears his name. Those who know the ground will not wonderthat Ostorius hesitated at assaulting so impregnable a position. Hismen, however, were eager for the attack. "Nothing, " they cried, "isimpregnable to the brave. " The legionaries stormed the hill onone side, the auxiliaries on the other; and once hand to hand, themail-clad Romans had a fearful advantage against defenders who woreno 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 ofa woman, Cartismandua, the heiress to the throne, with whose name andthat of her Prince Consort scandal was already busy. The disturbancesamongst the clan which Ostorius had lately suppressed were probablyconnected with her intrigues. Anyhow she posed as the favourite andfriend of the Romans; and now showed her loyalty by arresting thenational hero and handing him over to the enemy. With his familyand fellow-captives he was [A. D. 52] deported to Rome, and publiclyexhibited 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 witha massacre of the prisoners. But while the executioners awaited theorder to strike, Caradoc stepped forward with a spirited appeal, thesubstance of which there is every reason to believe is truthfullyrecorded by Tacitus. Disdaining to make the usual pitiful petitionsfor mercy, he boldly justified his struggle for his land and crown, and reminded Claudius that he had now an exceptional opportunity forwinning renown. "Kill me, as all expect, and this affair will soon beforgotten; spare me, and men will talk of your clemency from age toage. " Claudius was touched; and even the fierce Agrippina, who, tothe scandal of old Roman sentiment, was seated beside him at thesaluting-point "as if she had been herself a General, " and who musthave reminded Caradoc of Cartismandua, was moved to mercy. Caradoc wasspared, and assigned a residence in Italy; and the Senate, believingthe war at an end with his capture, voted to Ostorius "triumphalinsignia"[166]--the highest honour attainable by any Roman belowImperial rank. [167]

D. 11. --But even without their King the stubborn clan still stooddesperately at bay. Their pertinacious resistance in every pass andon every hill-top of their country at length fairly wore Ostorius out. The incessant fatigues of the campaign broke down his health, and hedied [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 whohad vowed to "extinguish their very name, "[168] no less than if theyhad slain him upon the field of battle. 

D. 12. --Before he died, however, he had curbed them both to north andsouth by the establishment of strong Roman towns at Uriconium on theSevern (named after the neighbouring Wrekin), and Isca Silurum atthe mouth of the Usk. The British name of the latter place, Caerleon[Castra Legionum], still reminds us that it was one of the greatlegionary stations of the island, while the abundant inscriptionsunearthed upon the site, tell us that here the Second Legion had itshead-quarters till the last days of the Roman occupation. [169]

D. 13. --The unremitting pressure of these two garrisons crushed out atlast the Silurian resistance. The fighting men of the clan mustindeed have been almost wholly killed off during these four yearsof murderous warfare. Thus Avitus Didius Gallus, the successor ofOstorius, though himself too old to take the field, was able toannounce to Claudius that he had completed the subjugation of Britain. The Silurians after one last effort, in which they signally defeatedan entire Legion, lay in the quietude of utter exhaustion; and thoughCartismandua caused some little trouble by putting away her husbandVenusius and raising a favourite to the throne, the matter wascompromised by Roman intervention; and Claudius lived to hear that theisland was, at last, peacefully submissive to his sway. Then Agrippinashowed herself once more the Cartismandua of Rome, and her son Nerosat upon the throne of her poisoned husband [A. D. 55]. 

SECTION E. 

Neronian misgovernment--Seneca--Prasutagus--Boadicea's revolt--Sackof Camelodune--Suetonius in Mona--"Druidesses"--Sack of London andVerulam--Boadicea crushed at Battle Bridge--Peace of Petronius. 

E. 1. --Under Nero the unhappy Britons first realized what it was to beRoman provincials. Though Julius Caesar and Augustus had checked thegrossest abuses of the Republican proconsulates, yet enough of theevil tradition remained to make those abuses flourish with renewedvigour under such a ruler as Nero. The state of things which ensuedcan only be paralleled with that so vividly described by Macaulay inhis lurid picture of the oppression of Bengal under Warren Hastings. The one object of every provincial governor was to exploit hisprovince in his own pecuniary interest and that of his friends atRome. Requisitions and taxes were heaped on the miserable inhabitantsutterly beyond their means, with the express object of forcing theminto the clutches of the Roman money-lenders, whose frightful termswere, in turn, enforced by military licence. 

E. 2. --The most virtuous and enlightened citizens were not ashamedthus to wring exorbitant interest from their victims. Cicero tellsus[170] how no less austere a patriot than Brutus thus exacted fromthe town of Salamis in Cyprus, 48 per cent. Compound interest, and, after starving five members of the municipality to death in default ofpayment, was mortally offended because he, Cicero, as proconsul, wouldnot exercise further military pressure for his ends. 

E. 3. --The part thus played in Cyprus by Brutus was played in Britainby Seneca, another of the choice examples of the highest Roman virtue. By a series of blood-sucking transactions[171] he drove the Britonsto absolute despair, his special victim being Prasutagus, now Chief ofthe Iceni, presumably set up by the Romans on the suppression of therevolt under Vericus. As a last chance of saving any of his wealth forhis children, Prasutagus, by will, made the Emperor his co-heir. This, however, only hastened the ruin of his family. His propertywas pounced upon by the harpies of Seneca and Nero, with theProcurator[172] of the Province, Catus Decimus, at their head, his kinsold 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 foundherself at once at the head of a rising comprising all the clans ofthe east and the Midlands. Half-armed as they were, their desperateonset carried all before it. The first attack was made upon the hatedColony at Camelodune, where the great Temple of "the God" Claudius, rising high above the town, bore an ever-visible testimony to Rome'senslavement of Britain, [173] and whence the lately-establishedveterans were wont, by the connivance of the Procurator, to treat theneighbourhood with utterly illegal military licence, sacking houses, ravaging fields, and abusing their British fellow-subjects as "caitiffslaves. "[174]

E. 5. --These marauders were, however, as great cowards as bullies, andwere now trembling before the approach of vengeance. How completelythey were cowed is shown by the gloomy auguries which passed fromlip to lip as foreshadowing the coming woe. The statue of Victoryhad fallen on its face, women frantic with fear rushed about wildlyshrieking "Ruin!", strange moans and wailings were heard in Courthouseand Theatre, on the Thames estuary the ruddy glow of sunset lookedlike blood and flame, the sand-ripples and sea-wrack left by the ebbsuggested corpses; everything ministered to their craven fear. 

E. 6. --So hopeless was the demoralization that the very commonestprecautions were neglected. The town was unfortified, yet these oldsoldiers made no attempt at entrenchment; even the women and childrenwere not sent away while the roads were yet open. And when the stormburst on the town the hapless non-combatants were simply abandoned tomassacre, while the veterans, along with some two hundred badly-armedrecruits (the only help furnished by their precious Procurator, whohimself fled incontinently to Gaul), shut themselves up in the Temple, in hopes of thus saving their own skins till the Ninth Legion, whichwas hastening to their aid, should arrive. 

E. 7. --It is a satisfaction to read that in this they weredisappointed. Next day their refuge was stormed, and every soul withinput to the sword. The Temple itself, and all else at Camelodune, wasburnt to the ground, and the wicked Colony blotted off the face of theearth. The approaching Legion scarcely fared better. The victoriousBritons swept down upon it on the march, cut to pieces the entireinfantry, and sent the cavalry in headlong flight to London, whereSuetonius Paulinus, the Governor of Britain, was now mustering suchforce as he could make to meet the overwhelming onslaught. 

E. 8. --When the outbreak took place he had been far away, putting downthe last relics of the now illicit Druidism in the island of Mona orAnglesey. The enterprise was one which demanded a considerable displayof force, for the defenders of the island fought with fanaticalfrenzy, the priests and priestesses alike taking part in the fray, and perishing at last in their own sacrificial fires, when the passageover 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 orprophetesses, are always exceptional, and usually mark a survival fromsome very primitive cult. The Pythoness at Delphi, and the Vestals atRome, obviously do so. And amongst the races of Gaul and Britainthe same fact is testified to by such female ministrations beinginvariably confined to far western islands. Pytheas, as he passed CapeFinisterre (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 atthe extreme point of Gaul, already known as Uxisana (Ushant), wherenine virgin sorceresses kept alight the undying fire on their sacredhearth and gave oracular responses. These cults clearly represented amuch older worship than Druidism, though the latter may very probablyhave taken them under its shadow (as in India so many aboriginal ritesare recognized and adopted by modern Brahmanism). And the priestessesin Mona were, in like manner, not "Druidesses" at all, butrepresentatives of some more primitive cult, already driven from themainland of Britain and finding a last foothold in this remote island. 

E. 10. --The stamping out of the desperate fanaticism of Mona wasbarely accomplished, when tidings were brought to Suetonius ofBoadicea's revolt. By forced marches he reached London before her, only to find himself too weak, after the loss of the Ninth Legion, tohold it. London, though no Colony, was already the largest and mostthriving of the Roman settlements in Britain, and piteous was thedismay of the citizens when Suetonius bade the city be evacuated. But neither tears nor prayers could postpone his march, and suchnon-combatants as from age or infirmity could not retire with hiscolumn, were massacred by the furious Britons even as those atCamelodune. Next came the turn of Verulam, the Roman town on thesite of Tasciovan's stronghold, [177] where like atrocities marked theBritish triumph. Every other consideration was lost in the mad lust ofslaughter. No prisoners were taken, no spoil was made, no ransom wasaccepted; all was fire, sword, and hideous torturing. Tacitus declaresthat, to his own knowledge, [178] no fewer than seventy thousand Romansand pro-Romans thus perished in this fearful day of vengeance; thespirit of which has been caught by Tennyson, with such true poeticgenius, 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 attwo hundred and thirty thousand, while his own were barely tenthousand--only one legion (the Fourteenth) with the cavalry of theTwentieth. (Where its infantry was does not appear: it may have beenleft behind in the west. ) The Ninth had ceased to exist, and theSecond did not arrive from far-off Caerleon till too late for thefight. The strength of legionary sentiment is shown by the fact thatits commander actually slew himself for vexation that the Fourteenthhad won without his men. 

E. 12. --Where the armies met is quite uncertain, though traditionfixes on a not unlikely spot near London, whose name of "BattleBridge" has but lately been overlaid by the modern designation of"King's Cross. "[179] We only know that Suetonius drew up his lineacross a glade in the forest, which thus protected his flanks, andawaited the foe as they came pouring back from Verulam. In front ofthe British line Boadicea, arrayed in the Icenian tartan, her plaidfastened by a golden brooch, and a spear in her hand, was seen passingalong "loftily-charioted" from clan to clan, as she exhorted eachin turn to conquer or die. Suetonius is said to have given the likeexhortation to the Romans; but every man in their ranks must alreadyhave been well aware that defeat would spell death for him. The onechance was in steadiness and disciplined valour; and the legionariesstood firm under a storm of missiles, withholding their own firetill the foe came within close range. Then, and not till then, theydelivered a simultaneous discharge of their terrible _pila_[180] onthe British centre. The front gave with the volley, and the Romans, atonce wheeling into wedge-shape formation, charged sword in hand intothe gap, and cut the British line clean in two. Behind it was a laagerof wagons, containing their families and spoil, and there the Britonsmade a last attempt to rally. But the furious Romans entered theenclosure with them, and the fight became a simple massacre. Nofewer than eighty thousand fell, and the very horses and oxen wereslaughtered by the maddened soldiery to swell the heaps of slain. Boadicea, broken-hearted, died by poison; and (being reinforced bytroops from Germany) Suetonius proceeded "to make a desert and call itPeace. "[181]

E. 13. --The punishment he dealt out to the revolted districts wasso remorseless that the new Procurator, Julius Classicianus, sent aformal complaint to Rome on the suicidal impolicy of his superior'smeasures. Nero, however, did not mend matters by sending (likeClaudius) a freed-man favourite as Royal Commissioner to supersedeSuetonius. Polycletus was received with derision both by Roman andBriton, and Suetonius remained acting Governor till the wreck of somewarships afforded an excuse for a peremptory order to "hand overthe command" to Petronius Turpilianus. Fighting now ceased by mutualconsent; 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 ofBritain--Priscus--Agricola--Vespasian Emperor--Cerealis--Brigantes putdown--Frontinus--Silurians put down--Agricola Pro-praetor--Ordovicesput down--Pacification of South Britain--Roman civilizationintroduced--Caledonian campaign--Galgacus--Agricola'srampart--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 didactually secure for Britain several years of much-needed peace. Nottill the months of confusion which followed the death of Nero [June10, A. D. 68] did any native rising take place, and then only in Walesand the north. The Roman Army of Britain was thus free to take sidesin the contest for the throne between Otho and Vitellius, of which allthat could be predicted was that the victor would be the worse of thetwo [_deteriorem fore quisquis vicisset_]. They were, however, somuch ahead of their date that, before accepting this alternative, they actually thought of setting up an Emperor of their own, after thefashion so freely followed in later centuries. Fortunately the popularsubaltern [[Greek: hupostratêgos]] on whom their choice fell, onePriscus, had the sense to see that the time was not yet come for suchaction, and sarcastically refused the crown. "I am no more fit, " hesaid, "to be an Emperor [[Greek: autokrator]]than you to be soldiers. "The army now proceeded to "sit on the fence"; some legions, notablythe 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 bythe title "_Victores Britannici_, " officially conferred upon them bythe Emperor's new Pro-praetor, Petilius Cerealis. 

F. 2. --We now enter upon the last stage of the fifty years' strugglemade by British patriots before they finally bowed to the Romanyoke. The glory of ending the long conflict is due to Agricola, whose praises are chronicled by his son-in-law Tacitus, and who doesactually seem to have been a very choice example of Roman virtue andability. The Army of Britain had been his training school inmilitary life, and successive commanders had recognized his merits bypromotion. 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 theinevitable Cartismandua was the "_teterrima causa_" now no less thantwenty years earlier), and the next Pro-praetor, Frontinus, to putdown, in 75, the very last effort of the indomitable Silurians. Yetanother year, and he himself was made Military Governor of the island, and set about the task of permanently consolidating it as a RomanProvince, with an insight all his own. 

F. 3. --The only Britons yet in arms south of the Tyne were theOrdovices of North Wales, who had lately cut to pieces a troop ofRoman cavalry. Agricola marched against them, and, by swimminghis horsemen across the Menai Straits, surprised their stronghold, Anglesey, thus bringing about the same instant submission of the wholeclan which through the same tactics he had seen won, seventeen yearsearlier, by Suetonius. 

F. 4. --But Agricola was not, like Suetonius, a mere militaryconqueror. He saw that Britons would never unfeignedly submit solong as they were treated as slaves; and he set himself to remedy thegrievances under which the provincials so long had suffered. Militarylicence, therefore, and civil corruption alike, he put down witha resolute hand, never acting through intermediaries, but himselfinvestigating every complaint, rewarding merit, and punishingoffences. The vexatious monopolies which previous governors hadgranted, he did away with; and, while he firmly dealt with everysymptom of disloyalty, his aim was "not penalty but penitence" [_nompaena sed saepius paenitentia_]--penitence shown in a frank acceptanceof Roman civilization. Under his influence Roman temples, Romanforums, Roman dwelling-houses, Roman baths and porticoes, rose allover the land, and, above all, Roman schools, where the youth of theupper classes learnt with pride to adopt the tongue[183] and dress oftheir conquerors. It is appropriate that the only inscriptionrelating to him as yet found in Britain should be on two of the leadwater-pipes (discovered in 1899 and 1902) which supplied his new Romancity (_Deva_) at Chester. [184]

F. 5. --This proved a far more effectual method of conquest than anyyet adopted, and Southern Britain became so quiet and contented thatAgricola could meditate an extension of the Roman sway over the wilderregions to the north, and even over Ireland. [185] He did not, indeed, actually accomplish either design, but he extended the Roman frontierto the Forth, and carried the Roman arms beyond the Tay. The game, however, proved not worth the candle. The regions penetrated were wildand barren, the inhabitants ferocious savages, who defended themselveswith such fury that it was not worth while to subdue them. 

F. 6. --The final battle [A. D. 84], somewhere near Inverness, isdescribed in minute and picturesque detail by Tacitus, who waspresent. He shows us the slopes of the Grampians alive with theHighland host, some on foot, some in chariots, armed with claymore, dirk, and targe as in later ages. He puts into the mouth of theleader, Galgacus, an eloquent summary of the motives which did reallyactuate them, and he reports the exhortation to close the fifty yearsof British warfare with a glorious victory which Agricola, no doubt, actually addressed to his soldiers. He paints for us the wild chargeof the clans, the varying fortunes of the conflict (which at one pointwas so doubtful that Agricola dismounted to fight on foot with hismen), and the final hopeless rout of the Caledonian army, withthe slaughter of ten thousand men; the Roman loss being under fourhundred--including one unlucky colonel [_praefectus cohortis_] whosehorse ran away with him into the enemy's ranks. 

F. 7. --Agricola had now the prudence to draw his stakes while the gamewas still in his favour. He sent his fleet north-about (thus, for thefirst time, _proving_ Britain to be an island), [186] and marched hisarmy across to meet it on the Clyde, whence he had already drawn hisfamous rampart to the Forth, henceforward to be the extreme limit ofRoman Britain. [187] His work was now done, and well done. He resignedhis Province, and returned to Rome, in time to avoid dismissal byDomitian, to whom preeminent merit in any subject was matter forjealous hatred, [188] and who now made Agricola report himself bynight, and received him without one word of commendation. Had his lifebeen prolonged he would undoubtedly have perished, like so many of thebest of the Roman aristocracy, by the despot's hands; but just beforethe unrestrained outbreak of tyranny, he suddenly died--"_felixopportunitate mortis_"--to be immortalized by the love and geniusof his daughter's husband. And he left Britain, as it had never beenbefore, 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--Authorityfor names--Watling Street--Ermine Street--Icknield Way. 

A. 1. --The work of Agricola inaugurated in Britain that wonderful _PaxRomana_ which is so unique a phenomenon in the history of the world. That Peace was not indeed in our island so long continued or sounbroken as in the Mediterranean lands, where, for centuries on end, no weapon was used in anger. But even here swords were beaten intoploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks to an extent never knownbefore or since in our annals. So profound was the quiet that for awhole generation Britain vanishes from history altogether. All throughthe Golden Age of Rome, the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, no writereven names her; and not till A. D. 120 do we find so much as a passingmention of our country. But we may be sure that under such rulers thegood work of Agricola was developing itself upon the lines he had laiddown, and that Roman civilization was getting an ever firmer hold. Thepopulation was recovering from the frightful drain of the Conquest, the waste cities were rebuilt, and new towns sprang up all over theland, for the most part probably on old British sites, connected bya 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 theyfigure on our maps. Like our present lines of railway, the main routesradiate in all directions from London, and for a like reason; Londonhaving been, in Roman days as now, the great commercial centre of thecountry. The reason for this, that it was the lowest place where theThames could be bridged, we have already referred to. [189] We see the_Watling Street_ roughly corresponding to the North-Western Railway onone side of the metropolis, and to the South-Eastern on the other; the_Ermine Street_ corresponding to the Great Northern Railway; whilethe Great Western, the South-Western, the Great Eastern, and thePortsmouth branch of the South Coast system are all represented inlike manner. We notice, perhaps, that, except the Watling Street andthe Ermine Street, all these routes are nameless; though we find fourminor roads with names crossing England from north-east to south-west, and one from north-west to south-east. The former are the _FosseWay_ (from Grimsby on the Humber to Seaton on the Axe), the _RyknieldStreet_ (from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Caerleon-upon-Usk), the _AkemanStreet_ (from Wells on the Wash to Aust on the Severn), and the_Icknield Way_ (from Norfolk to Dorset). The latter is the _ViaDevana_ (from Chester to Colchester). 

A. 3. --It comes as a surprise to most when we learn that all thesenames (except the Watling Street, the Fosse, and the Icknield Wayonly) are merely affixed to their respective roads by the conjecturesof 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 theFosse Way, figure in the inquisition of 1070 as being, together withthe Watling Street, those of the Four Royal Roads (_quatuor chimini_)of England, the King's Highways, exempt from local jurisdiction andunder the special guard of the King's Peace. Two are said to cross thelength of the land, two its breadth. But their identification (exceptin the case of the main course of Watling Street) has been matter ofantiquarian dispute from the 12th century downwards. [190] The veryfirst chronicler who mentions them, Geoffrey of Monmouth, makes ErmineStreet run from St. David's to Southampton, Icknield Street from St. David's to Newcastle, and the Fosse Way from Totnes in Devon to farCaithness; and his error has misled many succeeding authorities. Thatit _is_ an error, at least with regard to the Icknield Way and theFosse Way, is sufficiently proved by the various mediaeval charterswhich mention these roads in connection with localities along theircourse as assigned by our received geography. 

As to the main Watling Street there is no dispute. Running rightacross the island from the Irish Sea[191] to the Straits of Dover, itsuggested to the minds of our English ancestors the shining track ofthe 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 itscourse through London (which it enters as the Edgware Road, and leavesas the Old Kent Road). [192]

A. 4. --This name, like that of the Ermine Street, is most probablyderived from Teutonic mythology; the "Watlings" being the patrons ofhandicraft in the Anglo-Saxon Pantheon, and "Irmin" the War-god fromwhom "Germany" is called. [193] There is no reason to suppose thatthe roads of Britain had any Roman name, like those of Italy. Thedesignations given them by our English forefathers show how deeplythese mighty works impressed their imagination. The term "street"which they adopted for them shows, as Professor Freeman has pointedout, that such engineering ability was something quite new to theirexperience. [194] It is the Latin "Via _strata_" Anglicized, anddescribes no mere track, but the elaborately constructed Romancauseway, along which the soft alluvium was first dug away, andits place taken by layers of graduated road metal, with the surfacefrequently an actual pavement. [195]

A. 5. --For the assignment of the name Ermine Street to the Great NorthRoad there is no ancient authority. [196] All we can say is that thistheory is more probable than that set forth by Geoffrey of Monmouth. That the road existed in Roman times is certain, as London and Yorkwere the two chief towns in the island; and direct communicationbetween them must have been of the first importance, both for militaryand economical reasons. Indeed it is probably older yet. (See p. 117. )But, with the exceptions already pointed out, the nomenclature of theRomano-British roads is almost wholly guess-work. Some archaeologicalmaps show additional Watling Streets and Ermine Streets branchingin all directions over the land, [197] presumably on the authority oflocal tradition. And these traditions may be not wholly unfounded;for the same motives which made the English immigrants of one districtascribe the handiwork of by-gone days to mythological powers mightoperate to the like end in another. 

A. 6. --The origin of the names Ryknield Street and Akeman Streetis beyond discovery;[198] but that of the Icknield Street is almostundoubtedly due to its connection with the great Icenian tribe, towhose territory it formed the only outlet. [199] By them, in the daysof their greatness, it was probably driven to the Thames, the moresoutherly extension being perhaps later. It was never, as its presentcondition 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 musthave connected the multitudinous villages and towns of Roman Britain, a fact which is borne witness to by the very roundabout route oftengiven in the 'Itinerary' of Antoninus between places which we knowwere directly connected. [200] Moreover this network must have beenat least as close as that of our present railways, and probablyapproximated to that of our present roads. 

SECTION B. 

Romano-British towns--Ancient lists--Methods of identification--Denserural population--Remains in Cam valley--Coins--Thimbles--Horseshoes. 

B. 1. --Of these many Romano-British towns we have five contemporarylists; those of Ptolemy in the 2nd century, of the Antonine'Itinerary' in the 3rd, of the 'Notitia'[201] in the 5th, and thoseof Nennius and of the Ravenna Geographer, composed while the memory ofthe Roman occupation was still fresh. Ptolemy and Nennius profess togive complete catalogues; the 'Itinerary' and 'Notitia' contain onlyincidental references; while the Ravenna list, though far the mostcopious, is expressly stated to be composed only of selected names. Ofthese it has no fewer than 236, while the 'Notitia' gives 118, Ptolemy60, and Nennius 28 (to which Marcus Anchoreta adds 5 more). 

B. 2. --With this mass of material[202] it might seem to be an easytask to locate every Roman site in Britain; especially as Ptolemygives the latitude (and sometimes the longitude[203] also) of everyplace he mentions, and the 'Itinerary' the distances between itsstations. Unfortunately it is quite otherwise; and of the whole numberbarely fifty can be at all certainly identified, while more than halfcannot even be guessed at with anything like reasonable probability. To begin with, the text of every one of these authorities is corruptto 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' itselfreads 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 threeexceptions, their identification is the merest guess-work; _Lunden_ isunmistakable, and _Ebroauc_ is obviously York; but who shall say whatplaces lie hid under _Meguaid_, _Urnath_, _Guasmoric_, and _Celemon_?And if this corruption is bad amongst the names, it absolutely runsriot amongst the numbers, both in Ptolemy and the 'Itinerary, ' so thatthe degrees of the former and the distances of the latter are alikegrievously untrustworthy guides. Ptolemy, for example, says that thelongest day in London is 18 hours, an obvious mistake for 17, as thecontext clearly shows. There is further the actual equation of errorin each authority: Ptolemy, for all his care, has confusedExeter (_Isca Damnoniorum_) with the more famous _Isca Silurum_(Caerleon-on-Usk); and there are blunders in his latitude andlongitude which cannot wholly be ascribed to textual corruption. Stillanother difficulty is that then, as now, towns quite remote from eachother bore the same name, or names very similar. Not only were twocalled _Isca_, but three were _Venta_, two _Calleva_, two _Segontium_, and no fewer than seven _Magna_; while _Durobrivae_ is only too liketo _Durocobrivae_, _Margiodunum_ to _Moridunum_, _Durnovaria_ to_Durovernum_, etc. The last name even gets confounded with _Dubris_ bytranscribers. 

B. 3. --In all the lists we are struck by the extraordinarypreponderance of northern names. Half the sites given by Ptolemy lienorth 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 casethis is due to the fact that the military garrisons, with which thecatalogue is concerned, were mainly quartered in the north, and a likeexplanation probably holds good for the earlier and later listsalso. Nennius, as is to be expected, draws most of his names from thedistricts which the Saxons had not yet reached; all being given withthe Celtic prefix _Caer_ (=city). 

B. 4. --Amid all these snares the most certain identification of aRoman site is furnished by the discovery of inscriptions relating tothe special troops with which the name is associated in historicaldocuments. When, for example, we find in the Roman station atBirdoswald, on the Wall of Hadrian, an inscription recording theoccupation of the spot by a Dacian cohort, and read in the 'Notitia'that such a cohort was posted at _Amboglanna per lineam Valli_, weare sure that Amboglanna and Birdoswald are identical. This method, unfortunately, helps us very little except on the Wall, for thelegionary inscriptions elsewhere are found in many places with whichhistory does not particularly associate the individual legions thuscommemorated. [204] However, the special number of such traces of theSecond Legion at Caerleon, the Twentieth at Chester, and the Sixth atYork, would alone justify us in certainly determining those placesto be the Isca, Deva, and Eboracum given as their respectivehead-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 oflinguistic development, through the Old English Eorfowic to the Roman_Eboracum_. In the same way the name of _Dubris_ has unmistakablysurvived in Dover, _Lemannae_ in Lympne, _Regulbium_ in Reculver. _Colonia, Glevum_, _Venta, Corinium, Danum_, and _Mancunium_, with thesuffix "chester, "[205] have become Colchester, Gloucester, Winchester, Cirencester, Doncaster, and Manchester. Lincoln is _Lindum Colonia_, Richborough, _Ritupis_; while the phonetic value of the word Londonhas remained absolutely unaltered from the very first, and varies butslightly 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 ofa 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_ maybe safely assumed to be the same. This method shows Leicester tobe the Roman _Ratae_, Carlisle to be _Luguvallum_, Newcastle_Pons Aelii_, etc. , with so much probability that none of theseidentifications 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 saidto 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 ancientcatalogues of which all we can say is that we know the district towhich they belong, and may safely apply them to one or other of theexisting Roman sites in that district; the particular applicationbeing disputed with all the heat of the _odium archaeologicum_. Thus_Bremetonacum_ was certainly in Lancashire; but whether it isnow 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 theirwhereabouts; though nearly all have been seized upon by rivalantiquaries, and ascribed to this, that, and the other of the endlessRoman sites which meet us all over the country. [207]

B. 9. --For it must be remembered that there are very few old towns inEngland where Roman remains have not been found, often in profusion;and even amongst the villages such finds are exceedingly commonwherever excavations on any large scale have been undertaken. Thusin the Cam valley, where the "coprolite" digging[208] resulted inthe systematic turning over of a considerable area, their numberis astounding, proving the existence of a teeming population. Manythousands of coins were turned up, scarcely ever in hordes, butscattered singly all over the land, testifying to the amount of pettytraffic which must have gone on generation after generation. For thesecoins are very rarely of gold or silver, and amongst them are foundthe issues of every Roman Emperor from Augustus to Valentinian III. And, besides the coins, the soil was found to teem with fragments ofRoman pottery; while the many "ashpits" discovered--as many as thirtyin a single not very large field--have furnished other articles ofdomestic 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 wasin any way an exceptionally prosperous or populous district in theRoman period. It contained but one Roman town of even third-classimportance, Cambridge, and very few of the "villas" in which thegreat landed proprietors resided. The wealth of remains which it hasfurnished is merely a by-product of the "coprolite" digging, and itis probable that equally systematic digging would have like results inalmost any alluvial district in the island. We may therefore regardit as fairly established that these districts were as thickly peopledunder the Romans as at any other period of history, and that theagricultural population of our island has never been larger than inthe 3rd and 4th centuries, till its great development in the 19th. 

SECTION C. 

Fortification of towns late--Chief Romancentres--London--York--Chester--Bath--Silchester--Remains therefound--Romano-British handicrafts--Pottery--Basket work--Mining--Rurallife--Villas--Forests--Hunting dogs--Husbandry--Britain under the _PaxRomana_. 

C. 1. --The profound peace which reigned in these rural districts isshown by the fact that Roman weapons are the rarest of all finds, farless common than the earlier British or the ensuing Saxon. [211] At thesame time it is worthy of note that every Roman town which has beenexcavated has been found to be fortified, often on a most formidablescale. Thus at London there still remains visible a sufficiently largefragment of the wall to show that it must have been at least thirtyfeet high, while that of Silchester was nine feet thick, with a fosseof no less than thirty yards in width. And at Cirencester the riverChurn or Corin (from which the town took its name _Corinium_) was madeto flow round the ramparts, which consisted first of an outerfacing of stone, then of a core of concrete, and finally an earthenembankment within, the whole reaching a width of at least four yards. It is probable, however, that these defences, like those of so many ofthe Gallic cities, and like the Aurelian walls of Rome itself; belongto the decadent period of Roman power, and did not exist (exceptin 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 roughgauge 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 ancientboundary line, five miles in extent (including the river-front), nearly twice that of any other town. [213] And abundant traces of theexistence of a flourishing suburb have been discovered on the southernbank of the river. To London ran nearly all the chief Roman roads, andthe shapeless block now called London Stone was once the _Milliarium_from which the distances were reckoned along their course throughoutthe land. [214]

C. 3. --The many relics of the Roman occupation to be seen in theMuseum at the Guildhall bear further testimony to the commercialimportance of the City in those early days, an importance primarilydue, as we have already seen, to the natural facilities for crossingthe Thames at London Bridge. [215] The greatness of Roman London seems, however, to have been purely commercial. We do not even know that itwas the seat of government for its own division of Britain. It wasnot a Colony, nor (in spite of the exceptional strength of the site, surrounded, as it was, by natural moats)[216] does it ever appear asof military importance till the campaign of Theodosius at the very endof the chapter. [217] In the 'Notitia' it figures as the head-quartersof the Imperial Treasury, and about the same date we learn that thename Augusta had been bestowed upon the town, as on Caerleon and onso many others throughout the Empire, though the older "London" stillremained 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 chiefmilitary nerve-centre of the land, the head-quarters of the Army, where the Commander-in-Chief found himself in ready touch with thethick array of garrisons holding every strategic point along thevarious routes by which any invader who succeeded in forcing the Wallwould penetrate into the land. At York, accordingly, the Emperors whovisited Britain mostly held their court; beginning with Hadrian, whohere established the Sixth Legion which he had brought over with him, possibly incorporating with it the remains of the Ninth, traces ofwhich are here found. And here it remained permanently quartered tothe very end of the Roman occupation, as abundant inscriptions, etc. Testify. One of these, found in the excavations for the railwaystation, is a brass tablet with a dedication (in Greek) to _TheGods of the Head Praetorium_ [[Greek: theois tois tou haegemonikoupraitoriou]], bearing witness to the essential militarism of the city. 

C. 5. --A Praetorium, moreover, was not merely a military centre. Itwas also, as at Jerusalem, a Judgment Hall; and here, probably, the_Juridicus Britanniae_[219] exercised his functions, which wouldseem to have been something resembling those of a Lord Chief Justice. Precedents laid down by his Court are quoted as still in force even bythe Codex of Justinian (555). One of these incidentally lets us knowthat the Romans kept up not only a British Army, but a British Fleetin being. [220] The latter, probably, as well as the former, had itshead-quarters at York, where the Ouse of old furnished a far moreavailable waterway than now. Even so late as 1066 the great fleet ofHarold Hardrada could anchor only a few miles off, at Riccall: andthere is good evidence that in the Roman day the river formed anextensive "broad" under the walls of York itself. As at Portsmouth andPlymouth to-day, the presence of officers and seamen of the ImperialNavy must have added to the military bustle in the streets ofEboracum; while tesselated pavements, unknown in the ruder fortressesof the Wall, testify to the softer side of social life in a garrisontown. 

C. 6. --Chester [Deva] was also a garrison town, the head-quartersof the Twentieth Legion; so was Caerleon-upon-Usk [Isca], with theSecond. A detachment was almost certainly detailed from one or otherof these to hold Wroxeter [Uriconium], midway between them;[221] thussecuring the line of the Marches between the wild districts of Walesand the more fertile and settled regions eastward. And the name ofLeicester records the fact (not otherwise known to us) that here toowas a military centre; probably sufficient to police the rest of theisland. [222]

C. 7. --Gloucester, Colchester, and Lincoln, as being Colonies, mayhave 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 decayor removed, the soldiery were withdrawn or converted into a mere_gendarmerie_, and under the shield of the _Pax Romana_, the townswere as open as now. And as little as now did they look forward toa time when each would have to become a strongly-held place of armsgirded in by massive ramparts, yet destined to prove all too weakagainst the sweep of barbarian invasion. 

C. 8. --On most of these sites continuous occupation for manysubsequent ages has blotted out the vestiges of their Roman day. Everytown has a tendency literally to bury its past; and the larger thetown the deeper the burial. Thus at London the Roman pavements, etc. Found are some twenty feet below the present surface, at Lincoln somesix or seven, and so forth. To learn how a Roman town was actuallylaid out we must have recourse to those places which for some reasonhave not been resettled since their destruction at the Anglo-Saxonconquest, such as Wroxeter and Silchester, where the remainsaccordingly lie only a foot or two below the ground. The former hasbeen little explored, but the latter has for the last ten yearsbeen systematically excavated under the auspices of the Society ofAntiquaries, the portions unearthed being reburied year by year, aftercareful examination and record. [224]

C. 9. --The greater part of the site has thus been already (1903) dealtwith; proving the town to have been laid out on a regular plan, withstraight streets dividing it, like an American city, into rectangularblocks. Twenty-eight of these have, so far, been excavated. They arefrom 100 to 150 yards in length and breadth, arranged, like the blocksin a modern town, with houses all round, and a central space forgardens, back-yards, etc. The remains found (including coins fromCaligula to Arcadius) prove that the site was occupied during thewhole of the Roman period. Originally it was, in all probability, oneof the towns built for the Britons by Agricola[225] on the distinctiveRoman pattern, with a central forum, town hall, baths, temples, and anamphitheatre outside the city limits. 

C. 10. --The forum was flanked by a vast basilica, no less than 325feet in length by 125 in breadth, with apses of 39 feet radius. [226] Asmaller edifice of basilican type is generally supposed to have beena Christian church. It stands east and west, and consists of a nave 30feet long by 10 broad, flanked by 5-feet aisles, with a narthex of 7feet (extending right across the building) at the east end, and atthe west an apse of 10 feet radius, having in the centre a tesselatedpavement 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 crossesit at the forum was perhaps an extension of the Icknield Wayfrom Wallingford to Winchester. A third road led straight to OldSarum, [228] and there may have been others. Silchester lies abouthalf-way between Reading and Basingstoke. 

C. 12. --The relics of domestic life found indicate a high order ofpeaceful civilization. Abundance of domestic pottery (some of itthe glazed ware manufactured at Caistor on the Nen), many bonesof domestic animals (amongst them the cat), [229] finger-ringswith engraved gems, and the like, have been discovered in the oldwells[230] and ashpits. More remarkable was the unearthing (in 1899)of the plant of a silver refinery, [231] showing that the methodemployed 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 offlint and mortar) filled into a timber frame-work and supported bylath or wattle. The exterior was stamped with ornamental patterns, as in modern "parjetting" (which may thus very possibly be an actualsurvival from Roman days). This clay has in most cases soaked awayinto a mere layer of red mud overlying the pavements; but in 1901there was unearthed a house in which a fortunate fire had calcined itinto permanent brick, still retaining the parjetting and the impressof wattle and timber. But the whole site has not provided a singleweapon of any sort or kind, and the construction of the defencesclearly shows that they formed no part of the original plan on whichthe 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 practisedat Silchester; but such industries formed a noteworthy feature ofRomano-British life. Naturally the largest traces have been left inconnection 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 verylarge dimensions) constantly appear. Many of these are beautifullymodelled and finished, and not unseldom glazed in various ways. Butthere is no evidence that the delicate "Samian" ware[235] was evermanufactured in Britain, though every house of any pretensionspossessed a certain store of it. The indigenous art ofbasket-making[236] also continued as a speciality of Britain under theRomans, and the indigenous mining for tin, lead, iron, and copper wasdeveloped by them on the largest scale. In every district where thesemetals are found, in Cornwall, in Somerset, in Wales, in Derbyshire, and in Sussex, traces of Roman work are apparent, dating from the verybeginning of the occupation to the very end. The earliest knownRoman inscription found in Britain is one of A. D. 49 (the year beforeOstorius subdued the Iceni) on a pig of lead from the Mendips, [237]and similar pigs bearing the Labarum, _i. E. _ not earlier thanConstantine presumably, have been dredged up in the Thames belowLondon. [238] Inscriptions also survive to tell us of a few amongstthe many other trades which must have figured in Romano-Britishlife, --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. Theevidence for this unearthed in the Cam valley has already been spokenof, and in every part of England the "villas" of the great Romanlandowners are constantly found. Hundreds have already beendiscovered, and year by year the list is added to. One of the mostrecent 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 (byhypocausts conveying hot air to every room), the careful laying out ofthe apartments, all testify to the luxury in which these old landlordslived. For the "villa" was the Squire's Hall of the period, and wasprovided, like the great country houses of to-day, with all the bestthat contemporary life could give. [240] And, like these also, it wasthe centre of a large circle of humbler dependencies wherein residedthe peasantry of the estate and the domestics of the mansion. [241] Theexistence amongst these of huntsmen (as inscriptions tell) remindsus that not only was the chase, then as now, popular amongst thesquirearchy, but that there was a far larger scope for its exercise. Great forests still covered a notable proportion of the soil (thelargest being that which spread over the whole Weald of Sussex)[242], and were tenanted by numberless deer and wild swine, along with thewolves, and, perhaps, bears, [243] that fed upon them. 

C. 15. --Hence it came about that during the Roman occupation theBritish products we find most spoken of by classical authors are thefamous breeds of hunting-dogs produced by our island. Oppian[244][A. D. 140] gives a long description of one sort, which he describesas small [Greek: _baion_], awkward [Greek: _guron_], long-bodied, rough-haired, not much to look at, but excellent at scenting out theirgame and tackling it when found--like our present otter-hounds. Thenative name for this strain was Agasseus. Nemesianus[245] [A. D. 280]sings the swiftness of British hounds; and Claudian[246] refers to amore, formidable kind, used for larger game, equal indeed to pullingdown a bull. He is commonly supposed to mean some species of mastiff;but, according to Mr. Elton[247] mastiffs are a comparatively recentimportation from Central Asia, so that a boarhound of some sort ismore probably intended, such as may be seen depicted (along with itssmaller companion) on the fine tesselated pavement preserved in theCorinium Museum at Cirencester. [248] Whatever the creature was, it isprobably the same as the Scotch "fighting dog, " which figures in the4th century polemics as a huge massive brute of savage temper[249]and evil odour, [250] to which accordingly controversialists rejoicein likening their ecclesiastical opponents. [251] Jerome incidentallytells us that "Alpine" dogs were of this Scotch breed, which thus maypossibly be the original strain now developed into the St. Bernard. 

C. 16. --But the existence of such tracts of forest, even when veryextensive, is quite compatible (as the present state of France showsus) with a highly developed civilization, and a population thick uponthe ground. And that a very large area of our soil came to be underthe plough at least before the Roman occupation ended is proved by thefact that eight hundred wheat-ships were dispatched from this islandby Julian the Apostate for the support of his garrisons in Gaul. Theterms in which this transaction is recorded suggest that wheat washabitually exported (on a smaller scale, doubtless) from Britain tothe Continent. At all events enough was produced for home consumption, and under the shadow of the Pax Romana the wild and warlikeBriton became a quiet cultivator of the ground, a peaceful and notdiscontented dependent of the all-conquering Power which ruled thewhole civilized world. 

C. 17. --In the country the husbandman ploughed and sowed and reapedand garnered, [252] sometimes as a freeholder, oftener as a tenant;the miller was found upon every stream; the fisher baited his hook andcast his net in fen and mere; the Squire hunted and feasted amid hisretainers (who were usually slaves); his wife and daughters occupiedthemselves in the management of the house. The language of Romewas everywhere spoken, the literature of Rome was read amongst theeducated classes; while amongst the peasantry the old Celtic tongue, and with it, we may be sure, the old Celtic legends and songs, heldits own. Intercourse was easy between the various districts; for alongevery great road a series of posting-stations, each with its stud ofrelays, was available for the service of travellers. In the towns wereto be found schools, theatres, and courts of justice, with shops ofevery sort and kind, while travelling pedlars supplied the needs ofthe rural districts. No one, except actual soldiers, dreamt of bearingarms, or indeed was allowed to do so, [253] and the general aspect ofthe land was as wholly peaceful as now. But every one had to pay asubstantial proportion of his income in taxes, in the collection ofwhich there was not seldom a notable amount of corruption, as amongstthe publicans of Judaea. In the bad days of the decadence this becamealmost intolerable;[254] but so long as the central administrationretained its integrity the amount exacted was no more than left toevery class a fair margin for the needs, and even the enjoyments, oflife. 

SECTION D. 

The unconquered North--Hadrian's Wall--Upper and LowerBritain--Romano-British coinage--Wall of Antoninus--BritainPro-consular. 

D. 1. --The weak point of all this peaceful development was that thenorthern regions of the island remained unsubdued. It was all verywell for the Roman Treasury, with true departmental shortsightedness, to declare (as Appian[255] reports) that North Britain was a worthlessdistrict, which could never be profitable [Greek: [_euphoron_]] tohold. The cost would have been cheap in the end. All through the Romanoccupation it was from the north that trouble was liable to arise, and ultimately it was the ferocious independence of the Highland clansthat brought Roman Britain to its doom. The Saxons, as tradition tellsus, would never have been invited into the land but for the ravagesof these Picts; and, in sober history, it may well be doubted whetherthey could ever have effected a permanent settlement here had not theBritons, in defending our shores, been constantly exposed to Pictishattacks from the rear. 

D. 2. --Thus our earliest notice of Britain in this period tells usthat 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 NinthLegion, which had already fared so badly in Boadicea's rebellion[256])to supplement Agricola's rampart, between Forth and Clyde, withanother from sea to sea, between Tynemouth and Solway, "dividing theRomans from the barbarians. "[257] This does not mean that the districtthus isolated was definitely abandoned, [258] but that its inhabitantswere so imperfectly Romanized that the temptation to raid the morecivilized lands to the south had better be obviated. The Wall ofHadrian marked the real limit of Roman Britain: beyond it was a"march, " sometimes strongly, more often feebly, garrisoned, but nevereffectually occupied, much less civilized. The inhabitants, indeed, seem to have rapidly lost what civilization they had. Dion Cassiusdescribes them, in the next generation, as far below the Caledonianswho opposed Agricola, a mere horde of squalid and ferociouscannibals, [259] going into battle stark-naked (like their descendantsthe Galwegians a thousand years later), [260] having neither chief norlaw, fields nor houses. The name Attacotti, by which they came finallyto be known, probably means _Tributary_, and describes their nominalstatus towards Rome. 

D. 3. --How hopeless the task of effectually incorporating thesebarbarians within the Empire appeared to Hadrian is shown by theextraordinary massiveness of the Wall which he built[261] to keep themout from the civilized Provinces[262] to the southwards. "Uniting theestuaries of Tyne and Solway it chose the strongest line of defenceavailable. Availing itself of a series of bold heights, which slopesteadily to the south, but are craggy precipices to the north, as ifdesigned by Nature for this very purpose, it pursued its mighty courseacross the isthmus with a pertinacious, undeviating determinationwhich makes its remains unique in Europe, and one of the mostinspiriting scenes in Britain. "[263] Its outer fosse (where the natureof the ground permits) is from 30 to 40 feet wide and some 20 deep, sosloped that the whole was exposed to direct fire from the Wall, from which it is separated by a small glacis [_linea_] 10 or 12 feetacross. Beyond it the upcast earth is so disposed as to form theglacis proper, for about 50 feet before dipping to the general groundlevel. The Wall itself is usually 8 feet thick, the outer and innerfaces formed of large blocks of freestone, with an interior core ofcarefully-filled-in rubble. The whole thus formed a defence of themost formidable character, testifying strongly to the respect in whichthe valour of the Borderers against whom it was constructed was heldby Hadrian and his soldiers. [264]

D. 4. --This expedition of Hadrian is cited by his biographer, AeliusSpartianus, as the most noteworthy example of that invincible activitywhich led him to take personal cognizance of every region in hisEmpire: "_Ante omnes enitebatur ne quid otiosum vel emeret aliquandovel pasceret. "_ His contempt for slothful self-indulgence finds ventin 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 bronzecoins commemorating the occasion, the first struck with specialreference to Britain since those of Claudius. These are of varioustypes, but all of the year 120 (the third Consulate of Hadrian); andthe reverse mostly represents the figure so familiar on our presentbronze coinage, Britannia, spear in hand, on her island rock, with hershield beside her. [265] This type was constantly repeated with slightvariations in the coinage of the next hundred years; and thus, when, after an interval of twelve centuries, the British mint began oncemore, in the reign of Charles the Second, to issue copper, this devicewas again adopted, and still abides with us. The very large number oftypes (approaching a hundred) of the Romano-British coinage, from thisreign to that of Caracalla, shows that Hadrian inaugurated the systemof minting coins not only with reference to Britain, but for speciallocal use. They were doubtless struck within the island; but we canonly 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 theBrigantes and Genuini, a clan of whom nothing is known but the name. The former seem to have been the aggressors, and were punished by theconfiscation of a section of their territory by Lollius Urbicus, the Legate of Antoninus Pius; who further "shut off the excludedbarbarians by a turf wall" (_muro cespitio submotis[266] barbarisducto_). The context connects this operation with the Brigantiantroubles; but it is certain that Lollius repaired and strengthenedAgricola's rampart between Forth and Clyde. His name is found ininscriptions along that line, [267] and that of Antoninus is frequent. This work consisted of a _vallum_ some 40 miles in length, fromCarriden to Dumbarton, with fortified posts at frequent intervals. It is locally known as "Graham's Dyke, " and, since 1890, has beensystematically explored by the Glasgow Archaeological Society. It isin the strictest sense "a turf wall"--no mere grass-grown earthwork, but regularly built of squared sods in place of stones (sometimes ona stone base). Roman engineers looked upon such a rampart as being thehardest of all to construct. 

SECTION E. 

Commodus Britannicus--Ulpius Marcellus--Murder of Perennis--Era ofmilitary turbulence--Pertinax--Albinus--British Army defeated atLyons--Severus--Caledonian war--Severus overruns Highlands. 

E. 1. --It may very probably be owing to the energy of Lollius thatBritain, "Upper" and "Lower" together as it seems, as inscriptionstell us, was about this date ranked amongst the Senatorial Provincesof the Empire, the Pro-consul being C. Valerius Pansa. That it shouldhave 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 ofAntoninus (A. D. 161), the country remained quiet till Commodus came tothe throne (A. D. 180). Then, however, we hear of a serious inroad ofthe northern barbarians, who burst over the Roman Wall and were notrepulsed without a hard campaign. The Roman commander was UlpiusMarcellus, a harsh but devoted officer, who fared like a commonsoldier, and insisted on the strictest vigilance, being himself "themost sleepless of generals. "[268] The British Army, accordingly, sworeby him, and were minded to proclaim him Emperor, [2] a matter whichall but cost him his life at the hands of Commodus; who, however, contented himself with assuming, like Claudius, the title ofBritannicus, in virtue of this success. [2] The further precaution wastaken of cashiering not only Ulpius but all the superior officersof this dangerous army; men of lower rank and less influence beingsubstituted. The soldiers, however, defeated the design by breakingout into open mutiny, and tearing to pieces the "enemy of the Army, "Perennis, Praefect of the Praetorian Guards, who had been sent fromRome (A. D. 185) to carry out the reform. [269]

E. 2. --This episode shows us how great a solidarity the Army ofBritain had by this time developed. It was always the policy ofImperial Rome to recruit the forces stationed throughout the Provincesnot from the natives around them, but from those of distant regions. Inscriptions tell that the British Legions were chiefly composed ofSpaniards, Aquitanians, Gauls, Frisians, Dalmatians, and Dacians;while from the 'Notitia' we know that, in the 5th century, suchdistant 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 thedawn of a long era of military turbulence in Britain. First came thesuppression 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 themutineers, [272] and drafted fifteen hundred of the ringleaders intothe Italian service of Commodus;[273] then Commodus died (A. D. 192), and Pertinax became one of the various pretenders to the Imperialthrone; then followed his murder by Julianus, while Albinus succeededto his pretensions as well as to his British government; then that ofJulianus by Severus; then the desperate struggle between Albinus andSeverus for the Empire; the crushing defeat (A. D. 197) of the BritishArmy at Lyons, the death of Albinus, [274] and the final recognition ofSeverus[275] as the acknowledged ruler of the whole Roman world. 

E. 4. --Of all the Roman Emperors Severus is the most closely connectedwith Britain. The long-continued political and military confusionamongst the conquerors had naturally excited the independent tribesof the north. In A. D. 201 the Caledonians beyond Agricola's rampartthreatened it so seriously that Vinius Lupus, the Praetor, was fainto buy off their attack; and, a few years later, they actually joinedhands with the nominally subject Meatae within the Pale, who thereuponbroke out into open rebellion, and, along with them, poured down uponthe civilized districts to the south. So extreme was the danger thatthe Prefect of Britain sent urgent dispatches to Rome, invoking theEmperor's own presence with the whole force of the Empire. 

E. 5. --Severus, in spite of age and infirmity, [276] responded to thecall, and, in a marvellously short time, appeared in Britain, bringingwith him his worthless sons, Caracalla[277] and Geta[278]--"myAntonines, " as he fondly called them, [279] though his life was alreadyembittered by their wickedness, --and Geta's yet more worthless mother, Julia Domna. Leaving her and her son in charge south of Hadrian'sWall, Severus and Caracalla undertook a punitive expedition[280]beyond it, characterized by ferocity so exceptional[281] that thenames both of Caledonians and Meatae henceforward disappear fromhistory. The Romans on this occasion penetrated further than evenAgricola had gone, and reached Cape Wrath, where Severus made carefulastronomical observations. [282]

E. 6. --But the cost was fearful. Fifty thousand Roman soldiersperished through the rigour of the climate and the wiles of thedesperate barbarians; and Severus felt the north so untenable that hedevoted all his energies to strengthening Hadrian's Wall, [283] so asto render it an impregnable barrier beyond which the savages might beallowed to range as they pleased. [284]

E. 7. --In what, exactly, his additions consisted we do not know, butthey were so extensive that his name is no less indissolubly connectedwith the Wall than that of Hadrian. The inscriptions of the latterfound in the "Mile Castles" show that the line was his work, andthat he did not merely, as some have thought, build the series of"stations" to support the "Vallum. " But it is highly probable thatSeverus so strengthened the Wall both in height and thickness as tomake it[285] far more formidable than Hadrian had left it. For now itwas intended to be the actual _limes_ of the Empire. 

SECTION F. 

Severus completes Hadrian's Wall--MileCastles--Stations--Garrison--Vallum--Rivaltheories--Evidence--Remains--Coins--Altars--Mithraism--Inscription toJulia Domna--"Written Rock" on Gelt--Cilurnum aqueduct. 

F. 1. --It is to Severus, therefore, that we owe the final developmentof this magnificent rampart, the mere remains of which are impressiveso far beyond all that description or drawing can tell. Only thosewho have stood upon the heights by Peel Crag and seen the long line offortification crowning ridge after ridge in endless succession asfar as the eye can reach, can realize the sense of the vastness andmajesty of Roman Imperialism thus borne in upon the mind. And if thisis so now that the Wall is a ruin scarcely four feet high, and, butfor its greater breadth, indistinguishable from the ordinary localfield-walls, what must it have been when its solid masonry rose toa height of over twenty feet; with its twenty-three strongfortresses[286] for the permanent quarters of the garrison, itsgreat gate-towers[287] at every mile for the accommodation of thedetachments on duty, and its series of watch-turrets which, at everythree or four hundred yards, placed sentinels within sight and call ofeach other along the whole line from sea to sea?

F. 2. --Of all this swarming life no trace now remains. So entirely didit cease to be that the very names of the stations have left no shadowof memories on their sites. Luguvallum at the one end, and PonsAelii at the other, have revived into importance as Carlisle andNewcastle, [288] but of the rest few indeed remain save as solitaryruins on the bare Northumbrian fells tenanted only by the flock andthe curlew. But this very solitude in which their names have perishedhas preserved to us the means of recovering them. Thanks to it thereis no part of Britain so rich in Roman remains and Roman inscriptions. At no fewer than twelve of these "stations" such have been alreadyfound relating to troops whom we know from the 'Notitia' to have beenquartered at given spots _per lineam valli_. A Dacian cohort (forexample) has thus left its mark at Birdoswald, and an Asturianat 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 stillclothed with a pretty little Pyrenaean creeper, _Erinus Hispanicus_, which these Asturian exiles must have brought with them as a memorialof their far-off home. 

F. 3. --Many such small but vivid touches of the past meet those whovisit the Wall. At "King Arthur's Well, " for example, near Thirlwall, the tiny chives growing in the crevices of the rock are presumablydescendants of those acclimatized there by Roman gastronomy. AtBorcovicus ("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 bythe walling up of one half or the other in the wide double gates whichoriginally 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 theWall. Along the whole line this mysterious earthwork keeps companywith the Wall on the south, sometimes in close contact, sometimesnearly a mile distant. It has been diversely explained as an earlierBritish work, as put up by the Romans to cover the fatigue-partiesengaged in building the Wall, and as a later erection intended todefend the garrison against attacks from the rear. Each of these viewshas been keenly debated; the last having the support of the late Dr. Bruce, the highest of all authorities on the mural antiquities. Andexcavations, even the very latest, have produced results which areclaimed by each of the rival theories. [289]

F. 5. --Quite possibly all are in measure true. The "Vallum" as we nowsee it is obviously meant for defence against a southern foe. But thespade 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, thefollowing sequence of events would seem, on the whole, best to explainthe phenomena with which we are confronted. Originally a Britishearthwork[290] defending the Brigantes against the cattle-liftingraids of their restless northern neighbours, the "Vallum" wasadapted[291] for like purposes by the Romans, and that more than once. After being thus utilized, first, perhaps, by Agricola, and afterwardsby Hadrian (for the protection of his working-parties engaged inquarrying stone for the outer fortifications), it became useless whenthe Wall was finally completed, [292] and remained a mere unfortifiedmound so long as the Roman power in Southern Britain continuedundisturbed. 

But when the garrison of the Wall became liable to attacks fromthe rear, the "Vallum" was once more repaired, very probably byTheodosius, [293] and this time with a ditch to the south, to enablethe soldiers to meet, if needful, a simultaneous assault of Picts infront and Scots[294] or Saxons behind. Weak though it was as comparedto the Wall, it would still take a good deal of storming, if stoutlyheld, and would effectually guard against any mere raid both the smallparties marching along the Military Way[295] from post to post, andthe cattle grazing along the rich meadows which frequently lie betweenthe two lines of fortification. 

F. 6. --As we have said, the line of country thus occupied teems withrelics of the occupation. Coins by the thousand, ornaments, fragmentsof statuary, inscriptions to the Emperors, to the old Roman gods, tothe strange Pantheistic syncretisms of the later Mithraism[296], tounknown (perhaps local) deities such as Coventina, records ofthis, that, and the other body of troops in the garrison, personaldedications and memorials--all have been found, and are stillconstantly being found, in rich abundance. Of the whole numberof Romano-British inscriptions known, nearly half belong to theWall. [297]

F. 7. --As an example of these inscriptions we may give one discoveredat Caervoran (the Roman _Magna_), and now in the Newcastle AntiquarianMuseum, [298] the interpretation of which has been a matter ofconsiderable discussion amongst antiquaries. It is written in lettersof 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 wifeof Severus, the one Emperor that Africa gave to the Roman world. He was an able astrologer, and from early youth considered himselfdestined by his horoscope for the throne. He was thus guided byastrological considerations to take for his second wife a Syrianvirgin, whose nativity he found to forecast queenship. As his Empressshe shared in the aureole of divinity which rested upon all membersof the Imperial family. This theory explains the references in theinscription to the constellation Virgo, with its chief star Spica, having Leo on the one hand and Libra on the other, also to the Syrianorigin 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 thatthis Empress figures, on coins found in Britain, as the Mother ofthe Gods, and also as Ceres. The first line may possibly have specialreference to her influence in Britain during the reign of Severusand her stepson[299] Caracalla (who was also her second husband), Leobeing a noted astrological sign of Britain. [300] The inscription wasevidently put up in recognition of promotion gained by her favour, though the exact interpretation of _Tribunus in praefecto_ requires agreater knowledge of Roman military nomenclature than we possess. Dr. Hodgkin's "Tribune instead of Prefect" seems scarcely admissiblegrammatically. 

F. 9. --Another inscription which may be mentioned is that referred toby 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 Walltelling of the labours of the fatigue-parties sent out by Severusto hew stones for his mighty work, and cut on rocks overhanging theriver. It sets forth how a _vexillatio_[302] of the Second Legionwas here engaged, under a lieutenant [_optio_] named Agricola, in theconsulship of Aper and Maximus (A. D. 207);[303] perhaps as a guardover the actual workers, who were probably a _corvée_ of impressednatives. 

F. 10. --Yet another inscription worth notice was unearthed in 1897, and tells how a water supply to Cilurnum was brought from a sourcein the neighbourhood through a subterraneous conduit by Asturianengineers under Ulpius Marcellus (A. D. 160). That this should havebeen done brings home to us the magnificent thoroughness with whichRome did her work. Cilurnum stood on a pure and perennial stream, theNorth Tyne, with a massively-fortified bridge, and thus could never becut off from water; it was only some six acres in total area; yet inaddition to the river it received a water supply which would now bethought sufficient for a fair-sized town. [304] Well may Dr. Hodgkinsay that "not even the Coliseum of Vespasian or the Pantheon ofAgrippa impresses the mind with a sense of the majestic strength ofRome so forcibly" as works like this, merely to secure the passage ofa "little British stream, unknown to the majority even of Englishmen. "

SECTION G. 

Death of Severus--Caracalla and Geta--Roman citizenship--Extendedto veterans--_Tabulae honestae, missionis_--Bestowed on all Britishprovincials. 

G. 1. --This mighty work kept Severus in Britain for the rest of hislife. He incessantly watched over its progress, and not till it wascompleted turned his steps once more (A. D. 211) towards Rome. But hewas not to reach the Imperial city alive. Scarcely had he completedthe first stage of the journey than, at York, omens of fatal importforetold his speedy death. A negro soldier presented him with acypress crown, exclaiming, "_Totum vicisti, totum fuisti. NuncDeus esto victor_. "[305] When he would fain offer a sacrifice ofthanksgiving, he found himself by mistake at the dark temple ofBellona; and her black victims were led in his train even to thevery door of his palace, which he never left again. Dark rumours werecirculated that Caracalla, who had already once attempted his father'slife, and was already intriguing with his stepmother, was at thebottom of all this, and took good care that the auguries should befulfilled. Anyhow, Severus never left York till his corpse was carriedforth and sent off for burial at Rome. With his last breath he is saidsolemnly to have warned "my Antonines" that upon their own conductdepended the peace and well-being of the Empire which he had so ablywon for them. [306]

G. 2. --The warning was, as usual, in vain. Caracalla and Julia werenow free to work their will, and, having speedily got rid of her sonGeta, entered upon an incestuous marriage. The very Caledonians, whoseconjugal system was of the loosest, [307] cried shame;[308] butthe garrison of the Wall which kept them off was, as we have seen, officered by Julia's creatures, and all beyond it was definitelyabandoned, [309] not to be recovered for two centuries. [310] The guiltypair returned to Rome, and a hundred and thirty years elapsed beforeanother Augustus visited Britain. [311]

G. 3. --They left behind them no longer a subject race of mereprovincials, but a nation of full Roman citizens. For it wasCaracalla, seemingly, who, by extending it to the whole Romanworld, put the final stroke to the expansion, which had long been inprogress, of this once priceless privilege; with its right of appealto Caesar, of exemption from torture, of recognized marriage, and ofeligibility to public office. Originally confined strictly to nativesof Rome and of Roman Colonies, it was early bestowed _ipso facto_on enfranchised slaves, and sometimes given as a compliment todistinguished strangers. After the Social War (B. C. 90) it wasextended to all Italians, and Claudius (A. D. 50) allowed Messalinato make it purchasable ("for a great sum, " as both the Acts of theApostles 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 AntoninusPius confers upon the _emeriti_, or time-expired veterans, of theGallic, Asturian, Celtiberian, Spanish, and Dacian cohorts in Britain, who have completed twenty-five years' service with the colours, theright of Roman citizenship, and legalizes their marriages, whetherexisting or future. [313] As there is no reason to suppose that suchdischarged soldiers commonly returned to their native land, this system must have leavened the population of Britain with aconsiderable proportion of Roman citizens, even before Caracalla'sedict. Besides its privileges, this freedom brought with it certainliabilities, pecuniary and other; and it was to extend the area ofthese that Caracalla took this apparently liberal step, which hadbeen at least contemplated by more worthy predecessors[314] onphilanthropic grounds. Any way, Britain was, by now, in the fullestsense Roman. 

ROMANO-BRITISH PLACE-NAMES. [315]

TOWNS, ETC. 

Aballaba = Watch-crossAESICA = GREAT CHESTERSAMBOGLANNA = BIRDOSWALDAQUAE (SULIS) = BATHBORCOVICUS = HOUSE-STEADSBranodunum = Brancaster_Braboniacum_ = RibchesterBrige = Broughton_Caesaromagum = Chelmsford_Calcaria = TadcasterCalleva = SilchesterCamboricum = CambridgeCataractonis = Catterick_Clausentum = Southampton_CILURNUM = CHESTERSColonia = ColchesterConcangium = KendalCORINIUM = CIRENCESTERDANUM = DONCASTERDEVA = CHESTER_Devonis = Devonport_Dictis = AmblesideDUBRIS = DOVERDURNOVARIA = DORCHESTERDurobrivis = RochesterDurolipons = GodmanchesterDurnovernum = CanterburyEBORACUM = YORK_Etocetum = Uttoxeter_GLEVUM = GLOUCESTERGobannium = AbergavennyISCA SILURUM = CAERLEONIsca Damnoniorum = ExeterIsurium = Aldborough (York)LEMANNAE = LYMPNELINDUM COLONIA = LINCOLN_Longovicum = Lancaster_LONDINIUM = LONDONLugovallum = CarlisleMagna = CaervoranMancunium = Manchester_Moridunum = SeatonMuridunum = CaermarthenOlikana = Ilkley_Pons Aelii = NewcastlePontes = StainesPORTUS = PORTCHESTER_Procolitia = Carrawburgh_RATAE = LEICESTER_Regnum = Chichester_REGULBIUM = RECULVERRITUPIS = RICHBOROUGHSegedunum = Wall's EndSORBIODUNUM = SARUMSpinae = Speen (Berks)URICONUM = WROXETERVENTA BELGARUM = WINCHESTERVENTA ICENONUM = CAISTOR-BY-NORWICHVENTA SILURUM = CAER GWENTVERULAMIUM = VERULAMVindoballa = RutchesterVindomara = EbchesterVindolana = Little Chesters

RIVERS AND ESTUARIES. 

Alaunus Fl. = TweedBelisama Est. = Mouth of MerseyCLOTA EST. = FIRTH OF CLYDE_Cunio Fl. = Conway_TUNA EST. = SOLWAYMORICAMBE EST. = MORCAMBE BAYSABRINA FL. = SEVERNSetantion Est. = Mouth of RibbleSeteia Est. = Mouth of DeeTAMARIS FL. = TAMARTAMESIS FL. = THAMESTava Est. = Firth of Tay_Tuerobis Fl. = Tavy_VARAR EST. = MORAY FIRTHVedra Fl. = Wear

CAPES AND ISLANDS. 

BOLERIUM PR. = LAND'S ENDCANTIUM PR. = N. FORELANDEpidium Pr. = Mull of CantireHerculis Pr. = Hartland PointMANNA I. = MANMONA I. = ANGLESEYNoranton Pr. = Mull of GallowayOCRINUM PR. = THE LIZARDOCTAPITARUM PR. = ST. DAVID'S HEADOrcas Pr. = Dunnet HeadTaexalum Pr. = Kinnaird HeadTANATOS I. = THANETVECTIS I. = I. OF WIGHTVIRVEDRUM 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--Originof name--Count of the Saxon Shore--Carausius--Allectus--LastRomano-British coinage--Britain Mistress of the Sea--Reforms ofDiocletian--Constantius Chlorus--Re-conquest of Britain--Diocletianprovinces--Diocletian persecution--The last "Divus"--Generalscramble for Empire--British Army wins for Constantine--Christianityestablished. 

A. 1. --After the death of Severus in A. D. 211, Roman historians tellus nothing more concerning Britain till we come to the rise of theonly other Emperor who died at York, Constantius Chlorus. During themiserable period which the wickedness of Caracalla brought upon theRoman world, when Pretender after Pretender flits across the scene, most to fail, some for a moment to succeed, but all alike to end theirbrief course in blood, our island remained fairly quiet. The Army ofBritain made one or two futile pronunciamentos (the least unsuccessfulbeing those for Postumus in A. D. 258, and Victorinus in A. D. 265), andin 277 the Emperor Probus, probably to keep it in check, leavened itwith a large force recruited from amongst his Vandal prisoners, [316]whose name may, perhaps, still survive in Vandlebury Camp, on theGog-Magog[317] Hills, near Cambridge. But not till the energy andgenius of Diocletian began to bring back to order the chaos into whichthe Roman world had fallen does Britain play any real part in thehigher politics. 

A. 2. --Then, however, we suddenly find ourselves confronted with namesdestined to exert a supreme influence on the future of our land. TheSaxons from the Elbe, and the Franks from the Rhine had already beguntheir pirate raids along the coasts to the westwards. [318] Each tribederived its name from its peculiar national weapon (the Franks fromtheir throwing-axe (_franca_), [319] the Saxons from the _saexes_, longmurderous knives, snouted like a Norwegian knife of the present day, which they used with such deadly effect);[320] and their appearanceconstituted a new and fearful danger to the Roman Empire. Never, sincethe Mediterranean pirates were crushed by Pompey (B. C. 66) had it beenexposed to attacks by sea. A special effort was needed to meet thisnew situation, and we find, accordingly, a new officer now added tothe Imperial muster, --the Count of the Saxon Shore. His jurisdictionextended over the northern coast of Gaul and the southern and easternshores 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 notfollowed by the looked-for putting-down of the pirate raiders, he wassuspected, probably with truth, of a secret understanding with them. The Government accordingly sent down orders for his execution, towhich he replied (A. D. 286) by open rebellion, took the pirate fleetsinto his pay, and having thus got the undisputed command of the sea, succeeded in maintaining himself as Emperor in Britain for the rest ofhis life. 

A. 4. --His reign and that of his successor (and murderer) Allectusare marked by the last and most extraordinary development ofRomano-British coinage. Since the time of Caracalla no coins which canbe definitely proved to deserve this name are found; but now, in lessthan ten years, our mints struck no fewer than five hundred severalissues, all of different types. Nearly all are of bronze, with theradiated head of the Emperor on the obverse, and on the reversedevices of every imaginable kind. The British Lion once more figures, as in the days of Cymbeline; and we have also the Roman Wolf, theSea-horse, the Cow (as a symbol of Prosperity), Plenty, Peace, Victory, Prudence, Health, Safety, Might, Good Luck, Glory, allsymbolized in various ways. But the favourite type of all is theBritish warship; for now Britannia, for the first time, ruled thewaves, and was, indeed, so entirely Mistress of the Sea that her fleetappeared even in Mediterranean waters. [322] The vessels figured areinvariably not Saxon "keels, " but classical galleys, with their ramsand outboard rowing galleries, and are always represented as clearedfor action (when the great mainsail and its yard were left on shore). 

A. 5. --The usurpation of Carausius, "the pirate, " as the Imperialpanegyrists called him, [323] brought Diocletian's great reform ofthe Roman administration within the scope of practical politics inBritain. The old system of Provinces, some Imperial, some Senatorial, with each Pro-praetor or Pro-consul responsible only and immediatelyto the central government at Rome, had obviously become outgrown. Andthe Provinces themselves were much too large. Diocletian accordinglybegan by dividing the Empire into four "Prefectures, " two in the eastand 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. Hiscolleague Maximian, as Augustus of the West, ruled in Italy; and theremaining Prefecture, that of "the Gauls, " fell to the WesternCaesar, 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 certainnumber of "Provinces" (that of Britain having four). Thus a regularhierarchy with rank above rank of responsibility was established, and so firmly that Diocletian's system lasted (so far as provincialgovernment was concerned) till the very latest days of the Romandominion. 

A. 6. --When Constantius thus became Caesar of the West, his firsttask was to restore Britain to the Imperial system. He was already, itseems, connected with the island, and had married a British ladynamed 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 operationswith supernatural speed, "_quasi divino quodam curriculo_. "[326]Extraordinary celerity, indeed, marked all these operations. Allectuswas on his guard, with one squadron at Boulogne to sweep the coastof Gaul, and another cruising in the Channel. By a sudden dashConstantius [in A. D. 296] seized the mouth of Boulogne harbour, threwa boom across it, "_defixis in aditu trabibus_, " and effectuallybarred the pirates from access to the sea. [327] Meanwhile the fleetwhich he had been building simultaneously in various Gallic ports wasable 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-skilledpilots 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 rarething with ancient ships. As they neared the British coast the breezesank to a dead calm, with a heavy mist lying on the waveless sea, inwhich the fleet found it impossible to keep together. One division, with Constantius himself on board, made their land-fall somewhere inthe west, perhaps at Exeter, the other far to the east, possibly atRichborough. 

A. 8. --But the wonderful luck which attended Constantius, and on whichhis panegyrists specially dwell, made all turn out for the best. Themist enabled both his divisions to escape the notice of the Britishfleet, which was lying off the Isle of Wight on the watch for him; andthe unexpected landing at two such distant points utterly demoralizedthe usurper. Of the large force which had been mustered for landdefence, only the Frankish auxiliaries could be got together in timeto meet Constantius--who, having burnt his ships (for his only hopenow lay in victory), was marching, with his wonted speed, straight onLondon. One battle, [328] in which scarcely a single Roman fell on theBritish side, was enough; the corpse of Allectus [_ipse vexillariuslatrocinii_] was found, stripped of the Imperial insignia, amongst theheaps 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 (underAsclepiodotus the Praetorian Prefect)[329] and slaughtered almost toa man. The rescued metropolis eagerly welcomed its deliverers, and theexample was followed by the rest of Britain; the more readily that thefew surviving Franks were distributed throughout the land to perish inthe provincial amphitheatres. 

A. 9. --The Diocletian system was now introduced; and, instead ofHadrian's old divisions of Upper and Lower Britain, the island southof 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 linesbetween 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 purelyconjectural. [330] All that we know is that when the district betweenHadrian's Wall and Agricola's Rampart was reconquered in 369, it wasmade a fifth British Province under the name Valentia. The Governorof each Province exercised his functions under the "Vicar" of the"Diocese, " an official of "Respectable" rank--the second in precedenceof the Diocletian hierarchy (exclusive of the Imperial Family). 

A. 10. --With the Diocletian administration necessarily came theDiocletian Persecution--an essential feature of the situation. Thereis no reason to imagine that the great reforming Emperor had, likehis colleague Maximian, any personal hatred for Christianity. ButChristianity was not among the _religiones licitae_ of the Empire. Over and over again it had been pronounced by Imperial Rescriptunlawful. This being so, Diocletian saw in its toleration merelyone of those corruptions of lax government which it was his specialmission to sweep away, and proceeded to deal with it as with any otherabuse, --to be put down with whole-hearted vigour and rigour. 

A. 11. --The Faith had by this time everywhere become so widespreadthat the good-will of its professors was a political power to bereckoned with. Few of the passing Pretenders of the Era of Confusionhad dared to despise it, some had even courted it; and thus throughoutthe Empire the Christian hierarchy had been established, and Christianchurches been built everywhere; while Christians swarmed in everydepartment of the Imperial service, --their neglect of the officialworship winked at, while they, in turn, were not vigorous in rebukingthe 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 andvessels destroyed, and every citizen, however humble, had to producea _libellus_, [331] or magisterial certificate, testifying that he hadformally done homage to the Gods of the State, by burning incense attheir shrines, by pouring libations in their name, and by partaking ofthe victims sacrificed upon their altars. Torture and death were thelot of all recusants; and to the noble army of martyrs who now sealedtheir testimony with their blood Britain is said (by Gildas) to havecontributed a contingent of no fewer than seventeen thousand, headedby 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 probablythe 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 thetwo Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, became, by the operation of thenew constitution, _ipso facto_ Augusti. 

A. 13. --But already the mutual jealousy and distrust in which thatconstitution 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 hopedto 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 hispursuers. Both father and son at once sailed for Britain, where theformer shortly died, like Severus, at York. With their arrival thepersecution promptly ceased;[332] for Helena, at least, was an ardentChristian, and her husband well-affected to the Faith. Yet, on hisdeath, he was, like his predecessors, proclaimed _Divus_; the lastformal bestowal of that title being thus, like the first, [333]specially connected with Britain. Constantius was buried, accordingto Nennius, [334] at Segontium, wherever that may have been; andConstantine, though not yet even a Caesar, was at once proclaimed bythe soldiers (at his native York) Augustus in his father's room. 

A. 14. --This was the signal for a whole outburst of similarproclamations all over the Roman world, Licinius, Constantine'sbrother-in-law, declared himself Emperor at Carnutum, Maxentius, son of Maximian and son-in-law of Galerius, in Rome, Severus in theIllyrian provinces, and Maximin (who had been a Caesar) in Syria. Galerius still reigned, and even Maximian revoked his resignationand appeared once more as Augustus. But one by one this medley ofPretenders swept each other away, and the survival of the fittest wasexemplified by the final victory of Constantine over them all. Fora few years he bided his time, and then, at the head of the Britisharmy, marched on Rome. Clear-sighted enough to perceive that eventswere irresistibly tending to the triumph of Christianity, he declaredhimself the champion of the Faith; and it was not under the RomanEagle, but the Banner of Christ, [335] that his soldiers fought andwon. Coins of his found in Britain, bearing the Sacred Monogram whichled his men to the crowning victory of 312 at the Milvian Bridge (theintertwined letters [Greek: Chi] and [Greek: Rho] between [Greek:Alpha] and [Greek: Omega], the whole forming the word [Greek: ARChÔ], "I reign"), with the motto _Hoc Signo Victor Eris_, testify to thespecial part taken by our country in the establishment of our Faithas the officially recognized religion of Rome, --that is to say, of thewhole civilized world. And henceforward, as long as Britain remainedRoman at all, it was a monarch of British connection who occupiedthe Imperial throne. The dynasties of Constantius, Valentinian, andTheodosius, who between them (with the brief interlude of the reignof Julian) fill the next 150 years (300-450), were all markedlyassociated with our island. So, indeed, was Julian also. 

SECTION B. 

Spread of Gospel--Arianism--Britain orthodox--LastImperial visit--Heathen temples stripped--BritishEmperors--Magnentius--Gratian--Julian--British corn-trade--Firstinroad of Picts and Scots--Valentinian--Saxon raids--Campaign ofTheodosius--Re-conquest of Valentia. 

B. 1. --For a whole generation after the triumph of Constantinetranquillity reigned in Britain. The ruined Christian churches wereeverywhere restored, and new ones built; and in Britain, as elsewhere, the Gospel spread rapidly and widely--the more so that the Church herewas but little troubled[336] by the desperate struggle with Arianismwhich was convulsing the East. Britain, as Athanasius tells us, gavean assenting vote to the decisions of Nicaea [[Greek: sumpsêphosetunchane]], 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 thenew Faith; but signs soon appeared that the Church would tolerate nosuch rivalry when once her power was equal to its suppression. JuliusFirmicus (who wrote against "Profane Religions" in 343) imploresthe sons of Constantine to continue their good work of stripping thetemples and melting down the images;--in special connection witha visit paid by them that year to Britain[337] (our last Imperialvisit), when they had actually been permitted to cross the Channelin winter-time; an irrefragable proof of Heaven's approval of theiriconoclasm. It is highly probable that they pursued here also a courseat once so pious and so profitable, and that the fanes of the ancientdeities but lingered on in poverty and neglect till finally suppressedby Theodosius (A. D. 390). 

B. 3. --And now Britain resumed her _rôle_ of Emperor-maker. [338]After the death of Constans, (A. D. 350), Magnentius, an officer in theGallic army of British birth, set up as Augustus, and was supportedby Gratian, the leader of the Army of Britain, and by his sonValentinian. Magnentius himself had his capital at Treves, andfor three years reigned over the whole Prefecture of the Gauls. Heprofessed a special zeal for orthodoxy, and was the first to introduceburning, as the appropriate punishment for heresy, into the penal codeof Christendom. Meanwhile his colleague Decentius advanced againstConstantius, and was defeated, at Nursa on the Drave, with such awfulslaughter that the old Roman Legions never recovered from the shock. Henceforward the name signifies a more or less numerous body, more orless promiscuously armed, such as we find so many of in the 'Notitia. 'Magnentius, in turn, was slain (A. D. 353), and the supreme command inBritain passed to the new Caesar of the West, Julian "the Apostate. "

B. 4. --Under him we first find our island mentioned as one of thegreat corn-growing districts of the Empire, on which Gaul was able todraw to a very large extent for the supply of her garrisons. No fewerthan eight hundred wheat-ships sailed from our shores on this errand;a number which shows how large an area of the island must have beenbrought under cultivation, and how much the country had prosperedduring the sixty years of unbroken internal peace which had followedon the suppression of Allectus. 

B. 5. --That peace was now to be broken up. The northern tribes hadby this recovered from the awful chastisement inflicted upon them bySeverus, [339] and, after an interval of 150 years, once more (A. D. 362) appeared south of Hadrian's Wall. Whether as yet they _burstthrough_ it is uncertain; for now we find a new confederacy ofbarbarians. It is no longer that of Caledonians and Meatae, but ofPicts and Scots. And these last were seafarers. Their home was not inBritain 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 wellhave thus introduced their allies from beyond Solway also. Anyhow, penetrate the united hordes did into the quiet cornfields of RomanBritain, repeating their raids ever more frequently and extending themever more widely, till their spearmen were cut [Errata: to] pieces in450 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 Britainsince Lollius Urbicus), who, when the death of Constantius II. (in361) 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_. " Andafter "the victory of the Galilaean" (363) had ended Julian's briefand futile attempt to restore the Higher Paganism (to which severalBritish inscriptions testify), [343] it was again to an Emperor fromBritain that there fell the Lordship of the World--Valentinian, sonof Gratian, whose dynasty lasted out the remaining century ofRomano-British history. 

B. 7. --His reign was marked in our land by a life-and-death strugglewith the inrushing barbarians. The Picts and Scots were now joined byyet another tribe, the cannibal[344] Attacotti[345] of Valentia, andtheir invasions were facilitated by the simultaneous raids of theSaxon pirates (with whom they may perhaps have been actually inconcert) along the coast. The whole land had been wasted, and morethan one Roman general defeated, when Theodosius, father of the GreatEmperor, was sent, in 368, to the rescue. Crossing from Boulogne toRichborough in a lucky calm, [346] and fixing his head-quarters atLondon, or Augusta, as it was now called [_Londinium vetus oppidum, quod Augustam posteritas apellavit_], he first, by a skilfulcombination of flying columns, cut to pieces the scattered hordes ofthe savages as they were making off with their booty, and finallynot only drove them back beyond the Wall, which he repaired andre-garrisoned, [347] but actually recovered the district right up toAgricola's rampart, which had been barbarian soil ever since thedays of Severus. [348] It was now (369) formed into a fifth Britishprovince, and named Valentia in honour of Valens, the brother andcolleague of the Emperor. 

B. 8. --The Twentieth Legion, whose head-quarters had so long been atChester, seems to have been moved to guard this new province. Fortyyears later Claudian speaks of it as holding the furthest outposts inBritain, 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 Orkneysand 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) anothergreat Saxon raid is recorded; yet eight years more and the Picts andScots have again to be driven from the land; and in the next decadetheir attacks became incessant. 

SECTION C. 

Roman evacuation of Britain begun--Maximus--Settlement ofBrittany--Stilicho restores the Wall--Radagaisus invadesItaly--Twentieth Legion leaves Britain--Britain in the'Notitia'--Final effort of British Army--The last Constantine--LastImperial Rescript to Britain--Sack of Rome by Alaric--Collapse ofRoman rule in Britain. 

C. 1. --By this time the evacuation of Britain by the Roman soldieryhad fairly begun. Maximus, the last victor over the Scots, the "Pirateof Richborough, " as Ausonius calls him, set up as Emperor (A. D. 383);and the Army of Britain again marched on Rome, and again, as underConstantine, 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 connectedwith Britain), his soldiers, as they retreated homewards, straggledon 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 fromimprobable, especially as his sequel--that a fresh legion dispatchedto Britain by Stilicho (in 396) once more repelled the Picts andScots, and re-secured the Wall--is confirmed by Claudian, who makesBritain (in a sea-coloured cloak and bearskin head-gear) hail Stilichoas 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 morequestionable. The Roman legions were seldom moved from province toprovince, and it is perhaps more probable that he filled up the threequartered in the island to something like their proper strength. Buta crisis was now at hand which broke down all ordinary rules. Rome wasthreatened with such a danger as she had not known since Marius, fivehundred years before, had destroyed the Cimbri and Teutones (B. C. 101). A like horde of Teutonic invaders, nearly half a millionstrong, came pouring over the Alps, under "Radagaisus the Goth, " ascontemporary historians call him, though his claim, to Gothic lineageis 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 bestrained to crush them; and Stilicho did crush them. But it was at afearful cost. Every Roman soldier within reach had to be swept to therescue, and thus the Rhine frontier was left defenceless against thebarbarian hordes pressing upon it. Vandals, Sueves, Alans, Franks, Burgundians, rushed tumultuously over the peaceful and fertile fieldsof Gaul, never to be driven forth again. 

C. 3. --Of the three British legions one only seems to have been thuswithdrawn, --the Twentieth, whose head-quarters had been so long atChester, and whose more recent duty had been to garrison the outlyingprovince of Valentia, which may now perhaps have been again abandoned. It seems to have been actually on the march towards Italy[353] whenthere was drawn up that wonderful document which gives us our last andcompletest glimpse of Roman Britain--the _Notitia Dignitatum UtriusqueImperii_. 

C. 4. --This invaluable work sets forth in detail the whole machineryof the Imperial Government, its official hierarchy, both civiland military, in every land, and a summary of the forces under theauthority of each commander. A reference in Claudian would seemto show that it was compiled by the industry of Celerinus, the_Primicerius Notariorum_ or Head Clerk of the Treasury. The poet tellsus 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 a10th-century MS. Which has now disappeared. [355] But these were madewith exceptional care, and are as nearly as may be facsimiles of theoriginal, even preserving its illuminated illustrations, including thedistinctive insignia of every corps in the Roman Army. 

C. 5. --The number of these corps had, we find, grown erormously sincethe days of Hadrian, when, as Dion Cassius tells us, there were 19"Civic Legions" (of which three were quartered in Britain). No fewerthan 132 are now enumerated, together with 108 auxiliary bodies. Butwe may be sure that each of these "legions" was not the complete ArmyCorps of old, [356] though possibly the 25 of the First Class, the_Legiones Palatinae_, may have kept something of their ancienteffectiveness. Indeed it is not wholly improbable that these alonerepresent 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 theold garrison, the Second, now quartered not at Caerleon but atRichborough, under the Count of the Saxon Shore, and the Sixth underthe "Duke of the Britains, " holding the north (with its head-quartersdoubtless, as of yore, at York, though this is not mentioned). Alongwith each legion are named ten "squads" [_numeri_], which may perhapsrepresent the ten cohorts into which legions were of old divided. Theword cohort seems to have changed its meaning, and now to signifyan 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 theBritains. The ten squads belonging to the Sixth Legion (each under aPrefect) 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, holdingthe coast from the Wash to Arundel, [357] partly under the "Count ofBritain, " who was probably the senior officer in the island[358]and responsible for its defence in general. Besides these bodies ofinfantry the British Army comprised eighteen cavalry units; three, besides the six on the Wall, being in the north, three on the SaxonShore, and the remaining six under the immediate command of the Countof Britain, to whose troops no special quarters are assigned. Not asingle station is mentioned beyond the Wall, which supports the theorythat the withdrawal of the Twentieth Legion had involved the practicalabandonment of Valentia. [359]

C. 7. --The two Counts and the Duke were the military leaders ofBritain. The chief civil officer was the "respectable" Vicar of theDiocese of Britain, one of the six Vicars under the "illustrious"Pro-consul of Africa. Under him were the Governors of the fiveProvinces, 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, havebecome so wholly obsolete as to tell us nothing of their respectivefunctions. 

C. 8. --Whatever these may have been they did not include the financialadministration of the Diocese, the general management of which was inthe hands of two officers, the "Accountant of Britain" [_RationalisSummarum Britanniarum_] and the "Provost of the London Treasury"[_Praepositus thesaurorum Augustensium_]. [360] Both these weresubordinates of the "Count of the Sacred Largesses" [_Comes SacrarumLargitionum_], one of the greatest officers of State, corresponding toour First Lord of the Treasury, whose name reminds us that all publicexpenditure was supposed to be the personal benevolence of His SacredMajesty the Emperor, and all sources of public revenue his personalproperty. The Emperor, however, had actually in every province domainsof his own, managed by the Count of the Privy Purse [_Comes ReiPrivatae_], whose subordinate in Britain was entitled the "Accountantof the Privy Purse for Britain" [_Rationalis Rei Privatae perBritanniam_]. Both these Counts were "Illustrious" [_illustres_];that is, of the highest order of the Imperial peerage below the "RightNoble" [_nobilissimi_] members of the Imperial Family. 

C. 9. --Such and so complete was the system of civil and militarygovernment in Roman Britain up to the very point of its sudden andutter collapse. When the 'Notitia' was compiled, neither Celerinus, ashe wrote, nor the officials whose functions and ranks he noted, couldhave dreamt that within ten short years the whole elaborate fabricwould, so far as Britain was concerned, be swept away utterly and forever. Yet so it was. 

C. 10. --For what was left of the British Army now made a last effortto save the West for Rome, and once more set up Imperial Pretendersof its own. [361] The first two of these, Marcus and Gratian, werespeedily found unequal to the post, and paid the usual penalty of suchincompetence; but the third, a private soldier named Constantine, allbut succeeded in emulating the triumph of his great namesake. For fouryears (407-411) he was able to hold not only Britain, but Gaul andSpain also under his sceptre; and the wretched Honorius, the unworthyson and successor of Theodosius, who was cowering amid the marshes ofRavenna, and had murdered his champion Stilicho, was fain to recognizethe usurper as a legitimate Augustus. Only by treachery was he putdown at last, the traitor being the commander of his British forces, Gerontius. Both names continued for many an age favourites in Britishnomenclature, and both have been swept into the cycle of Arturianromance, the latter as "Geraint. "

C. 11. --Neither Gerontius nor his soldiers ever got back to their oldhomes in Britain. What became of them we do not know. But Zosimus[362]tells us that Honorius now sent a formal rescript to the Britishcities abrogating the Lex Julia, which forbade civilians to carryarms, and bidding them look to their own safety. For now the end hadreally come, and the Eternal City itself had been sacked by barbarianhands. Never before and never since does history record a sacked cityso mildly treated by the conquerors. Heretics as the Visi-gothswere, they never forgot that the vanquished Catholics were theirfellow-Christians, and, barbarians as they were, they left an exampleof mercy in victory which puts to the blush much more recent Christianand civilized warfare. 

C. 12. --But, for all that, the moral effect of Alaric's capture ofRome was portentous, and shook the very foundations of civilizationthroughout the world. To Jerome, in his cell at Bethlehem, the tidingscame like the shock of an earthquake. Augustine, as he penned his 'DeCivitate Dei, ' felt the old world ended indeed, and the Kingdom ofHeaven indeed at hand. And in Britain the whole elaborate system ofImperial civil and military government seems to have crumbled to theground almost at once. It is noticeable that the rescript of Honoriusis addressed simply to "the cities" of Britain, the local municipalofficers of each several place. No higher authority remained. TheVicar of Britain, with his staff, the Count and Duke of theBritains with their soldiery, the Count of the Saxon Shore with hiscoastguard, --all were gone. It is possible that, as the desertedprovincials learnt to combine for defence, the Dictators they chosefrom time to time to lead the national forces may have derived someof their authority from the remembrance of these old dignities. "Thedragon of the great Pendragonship, "[363] the tufa of Caswallon(633), and the purple of Cunedda[364] may well have been derived (asProfessor Rhys suggests) from this source. But practically the historyof Roman Britain ends with a crash at the Fall of Rome. 

SECTION D. 

Beginning of English Conquest--Vortigern--Jutes in Thanet--Battle ofStamford--Massacre of Britons--Valentinian III. --Latest Roman coinfound in Britain--Progress of Conquest--The Cymry--Survival ofRomano-British titles--Arturian Romances--Procopius--Belisarius--Romanclaims revived by Charlemagne--The British Empire. 

D. 1. --Little remains to be told, and that little rests upon nocontemporary authority known to us. In Gildas, the nearest, writing inthe next century, we find little more than a monotonous threnody overthe awful visitation of the English Conquest, the wholesale and utterdestruction of cities, the desecration of churches, the massacre ofclergy and people. Nennius (as, for the sake of convenience, modernwriters mostly agree to call the unknown author of the 'HistoriaBritonum') gives us legends of British incompetence and Saxontreachery which doubtless represent the substantial features of thebreak-up, and preserve, quite possibly, even some of the details. Bedeand the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' assign actual dates to the variousevents, but we have no means of testing their accuracy. 

D. 2. --Broadly we know that the unhappy civilians, who were not onlywithout military experience, but had up to this moment been actuallyforbidden to carry arms, naturally proved unable to face the ferociousenemies who swarmed in upon them. They could neither hold the Wallagainst the Picts nor the coast against the Saxons. It may well betrue that they chose a _Dux Britannorum_, [365] and that his name mayhave been something like Vortigern, and that he (when a final appealfor Roman aid proved vain)[366] may have taken into his pay (asCarausius 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 commonlyassume. [368] And the tale of the victory at Stamford, when thespears of the Scottish invaders were cut to pieces by theswords of the English mercenaries, [369] has a very true ringabout it. So has also the sequel, which tells how, when the inevitablequarrel arose between employers and employed, the Saxon leader gavethe signal for the fray by suddenly shouting to his men, _Nimed euresaxes_[370] (_i. E. _ "Draw your knives!"), and massacred the haplessBritons of Kent almost without resistance. 

D. 3. --The date of this first English settlement is doubtful. Bedefixes it as 449, which agrees with the order of events in Gildas, andwith the notice in Nennius that it was forty years after the end ofRoman rule in Britain [_transacto Romanorum in Britannia imperio_]. But Nennius also declares that this was in the fourth year ofVortigern, and that his accession coincided with that of the nephewand successor of Honorius, Valentinian III. , son of Galla Placidia, which would bring in the Saxons 428. It may perhaps be some veryslight confirmation of the later date, that Valentinian is the lastEmperor whose coins have been found in Britain. [371]

D. 4. --Anyhow, the arrival of the successive swarms of Anglo-Saxonsfrom the mouth of the Elbe, and their hard-won conquest of EasternBritain during the 5th century, is certain. The western half of theisland, from Clydesdale southwards, resisted much longer, and, inspite of its long and straggling frontier, held together for morethan a century. Not till the decisive victory of the Northumbrians atChester (A. D. 607), and that of the West Saxons at Beandune (A. D. 614)was this Cymrian federation finally broken into three fragments, eachdestined shortly to disintegrate into an ever-shifting medley of pettyprincipalities. Yet in each the ideal of national and racial unityembodied in the word Cymry[372] long survived; and titles borne tothis day by our Royal House, "Duke of Cornwall, " "Prince of Wales, ""Duke of Albany, " are the far-off echoes, lingering in each, of theRoman "Comes Britanniae" and "Dux Britanniarum. " The three feathers ofthe Principality may in like manner be traced to the _tufa_, or plume, borne before the supreme authority amongst the Romans of old, as thelike are borne before the Supreme Head of the Roman Church to thisday. And age after age the Cymric harpers sang of the days whenBritish armies had marched in triumph to Rome, and the Empire hadbeen won by British princes, till the exploits of their mystical"Arthur"[373] became the nucleus of a whole cycle of mediaevalromance, and even, for a while, a real force in practicalpolitics. [374]

D. 5. --And as the Britons never quite forgot their claims on theEmpire, so the Empire never quite forgot its claims on Britain. Howentirely the island was cut off from Rome we can best appreciate bythe references to it in Procopius. This learned author, writing underJustinian, scarcely 150 years since the day when the land was fullyRoman, conceives of Britannia and Brittia as two widely distantislands--the one off the coast of Spain, the other off the mouthof the Rhine. [375] The latter is shared between the Angili, Phrissones, [376] and Britons, and is divided _from North toSouth_[377] by a mighty Wall, beyond which no mortal man canbreathe. Hither are ferried over from Gaul by night the souls of thedeparted;[378] the fishermen, whom a mysterious voice summons to thework, seeing no one, but perceiving their barks to be heavily sunk inthe water, yet accomplishing the voyage with supernatural celerity. 

D. 6. --About the same date Belisarius offered to the Goths, [379] inexchange for their claim to Sicily, which his victories had alreadyrendered practically nugatory, the Roman claims to Britain, "a muchlarger island, " which were equally outside the scope of practicalpolitics for the moment, but might at any favourable opportunity beonce more brought forward. And, when the Western Empire was revivedunder Charlemagne, they were in fact brought forward, and actuallysubmitted to by half the island. The Celtic princes of Scotland, theAnglians of Northumbria, and the Jutes of Kent alike owned the newCaesar as their Suzerain. And the claim was only abrogated by thetriumph of the counter-claim first made by Egbert, emphasized byEdward the Elder, and repeated again and again by our monarchstheir descendants, that the British Crown owes no allegiance to anypotentate on earth, being itself not only Royal, but in the fullestsense Imperial. [380]

SECTION E. 

Survivals of Romano-British civilization--Romano-BritishChurch--Legends of its origin--St. Paul--St. Peter--Josephof Arimathaea--Glastonbury--Historical notices--Claudia andPudens--Pomponia--Church of St. Pudentiana--Patristic referencesto Britain--Tertullian--Origen--Legend of Lucius--NativeChristianity--British Bishops at Councils--Testimony of Chrysostom andJerome. 

E. 1. --Few questions have been more keenly debated than the extent towhich Roman civilization in Britain survived the English Conquest. On the one hand we have such high authorities as Professor Freemanassuring us that our forefathers swept it away as ruthlessly and asthoroughly as the Saracens in Africa; on the other, those who considerthat little more disturbance was wrought than by the Danish invasions. The truth probably lies between the two, but much nearer to the formerthan the latter. The substitution of an English for the Roman name ofalmost every Roman site in the country[381] could scarcely have takenplace had there been anything like continuity in their inhabitants. Even the Roman roads, as we have seen, [382] received Englishdesignations. We may well believe that most Romano-Britishtowns shared the fate of Anderida (the one recorded instance ofdestruction), [383] and that the word "chester" was only applied tothe Roman _ruins_ by their destroyers. [384] But such places as London, York, and Lincoln may well have lived on through the first generationof mere savage onslaught, after which the English gradually began totolerate even for themselves a town life. 

E. 2. --And though in the country districts the agricultural populationwere swept away pitilessly to make room for the invaders, [385] tillthe fens of Ely[386] and the caves of Ribblesdale[387] became theonly refuge of the vanquished, yet, undoubtedly, many must havebeen retained as slaves, especially amongst the women, to leaven thelanguage of the conquerors with many a Latin word, and their ferocitywith many a recollection of the gentler Roman past. 

E. 3. --And there was one link with that past which not all themassacres and fire-raisings of the Conquest availed to break. TheRomano-British populations might be slaughtered, the Romano-Britishtowns destroyed, but the Romano-British Church lived on; the mostprecious and most abiding legacy bestowed by Rome upon our island. 

E. 4. --The origin of that Church has been assigned by traditionto directly Apostolic sources. The often-quoted passage fromTheodoret, [388] of St. Paul having "brought help" to "the isles of thesea" [[Greek: tais en to pelagei diakeimenais nêsois]], can scarcely, however, refer to this island. No classical author ever uses theword [Greek: pelagos] of the Oceanic waters; and the epithet [Greek:diakeimenais], coming, as it does, in connection with the Apostle'spreaching in Italy and Spain, seems rather to point to the islandsbetween these peninsulas--Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands. But the well-known words of St. Clement of Rome, [389] that St. Paul'smissionary journeys extended to "the End of the West" [Greek: to termatês duseôs], were, as early as the 6th century, held to imply a visitto Britain (for our island was popularly supposed by the ancients tolie west of Spain). [390] The lines of Venantius (A. D. 580) even seemto 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 theorganization of the British Church to the visitation, not of St. Paul, but of St. Peter in person. 

 [Greek: O Petros ... Ehis Bretannian paraginetai. Entha dô cheirotribôsas [_sic_] kai polla tôn hakatanomatôn hethnôn eis tôn tou Christou pistin epispasamenos ... Kai pollous toi logoi photisas tôs charitos, ekklaesias te sustêsamenos, episkopous te kai presbuterous kai diakonous cheipotonhêsas, dôdekatôi etei tou Kaisaros authis eis Rômên 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 throughSimeon Metaphrastes), and adds that St. Peter was in Britain duringBoadicea'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 Apostolicpreacher, St. Simon Zelotes. This is probably due to a mere confusionbetween [Greek: Mabritania] [Mauretania] and [Greek: Bretannia]. Butit is impossible to deny that the Princes of the Apostles _may_both have visited Britain, nor indeed is there anything essentiallyimprobable in their doing so. We know that Britain was an object ofspecial interest at Rome during the period of the Conquest, and itwould be quite likely that the idea of simultaneously conqueringthis new Roman dominion for Christ should suggest itself to the twoApostles so specially connected with the Roman Church. [393]

E. 7. --But while we may _possibly_ accept this legend, it is otherwisewith the famous and beautiful story which ascribes the foundation ofour earliest church at Glastonbury to the pilgrimage of St. Joseph ofArimathaea, 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 bethe centre of local Christianity. 

E. 8. --Such was the tale which accounted for the fact that this humbleedifice developed into the stateliest sanctuary of all Britain. Wefirst find it, in its final shape, in Geoffrey of Monmouth (1150);but already in the 10th century the special sanctity of the shrine wasascribed to a supernatural origin, [395] as a contemporary Life of St. Dunstan assures us; and it is declared, in an undisputed Charter ofEdgar, to be "the first church in the Kingdom built by the disciplesof Christ. " But no earlier reference is known; for the passagescited from Gildas and Melkinus are quite untrustworthy. So striking aphenomenon as the winter thorn would be certain to become an objectof heathen devotion;[396] and, as usual, the early preachers wouldChristianize the local cult, as they Christianized the Druidicalfigment of a Holy Cup (perhaps also local in its origin), into thesublime mysticism of the Sangreal legend, connected likewise withJoseph of Arimathaea. [397]

E. 9. --That the original church of Glaston was really of wattleis more than probable, for the remains of British buildings thusconstructed have been found abundantly in the neighbouring peat. TheArimathaean theory of its consecration became so generally acceptedthat at the Council of Constance (1419) precedence was actuallyaccorded to our Bishops as representing the senior Church ofChristendom. But the oldest variant of the legend says nothing aboutArimathaea, but speaks only of an undetermined "Joseph" as the leader[_decurio_][398] of twelve missionary comrades who with him settleddown at Glastonbury. And this may well be true. Such bands (as wesee in the Life of Columba) were the regular system in Celtic missionwork, 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 tothe conclusion that Christianity in Britain was confined to a smallminority even amongst the Roman inhabitants of the island, and almostvanished with them, yet the catena of references to British convertscan scarcely be thus set aside. They begin in Apostolic times andin special connection with St. Paul. Martial tells us of a Britishprincess named Claudia Rufina[400] (very probably the daughter of thatClaudius Cogidubnus whom we meet in Tacitus as at once a BritishKing and an Imperial Legate), [2] whose beauty and wit made no littlesensation in Rome; whither she had doubtless been sent at once foreducation and as a hostage for her father's fidelity. And one ofthe most beautiful of his Epigrams speaks of the marriage of thisforeigner to a Roman of high family named Pudens, belonging to theGens 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 joinedwith Claudius Cogidubnus in setting up the Imperial Temple atChichester. [402] And the fact that Claudia was an adopted member ofthe Rufine family shows that she was connected with the Gens Pomponiato which this family belonged. 

E. 11. --Now Aulus Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, had marrieda Pomponia, who in A. D. 57 was accused of practising an illicitreligion, and, though pronounced guiltless by her husband (to whosedomestic tribunal she was left, as Roman Law permitted), passedthe rest of her life in retirement. [403] When we read of an illicitreligion in connection with Britain, our first thought is, naturally, that Druidism is intended. [404] But there are strong reasons forsupposing that Pomponia was actually a Christian. The names of herfamily are found in one of the earliest Christian catacombs in Rome, that of Calixtus; and that Christianity had its converts in veryhigh quarters we know from the case of Clemens and Domitilla, closelyrelated 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 withthat of the future Pope Linus) amongst the salutations from RomanChristians. And recent excavations have established the fact that thehouse of Pudens was used for Christian worship at this date, and isnow represented by the church known as St. Pudentiana. [405] That thisshould have been so proves that this Pudens was no slave going underhis master's name (as was sometimes done), but a man of good positionin Rome. Short of actual proof it would be hard to imagine a seriesof evidences more morally convincing that the Pudens and Claudia ofMartial are the Pudens and Claudia of St. Paul, and that they, as wellas Pomponia, were Christians. Whether, then, St. Paul did or didnot actually visit Britain, the earliest British Christianity is, atleast, closely connected with his name. 

E. 13. --Neither legendary nor historical sources tell us of anyfurther development of British Christianity till the latter days ofthe 2nd century. Then, however, it had become sufficiently widespreadto furnish a common-place for ecclesiastical declamation onthe all-conquering influence of the Gospel. Both Tertullian andOrigen[406] thus use it. The former numbers in his catalogue ofbelieving countries even the districts of Britain beyond the Romanpale, _Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita_[407]. And in this lies the interest of his reference, as pointing to thenative rather than the Roman element being the predominant factorin the British Church. For just at this period comes in the legendpreserved by Bede, [408] that a mission was sent to Britain by PopeEleutherius[409] in response to an appeal from "Lucius BritanniaeRex. " The story, which Bede probably got from the 'CatalogusPontificum, '[410] may be apocryphal; but it would never have beeninvented had British Christianity been found merely or mainly in theRoman veneer of the population. Modern criticism finds in it thiskernel of truth, that the persecution which gave the Gallican Churchthe martyrs of Lyons, also sent her scattered refugees as missionariesinto the less dangerous regions of Britain;--those remoter parts, inespecial, where even the long arm of the Imperial Government could notreach them. 

E. 14. --The Picts, however, as a nation, remained savage heathens evento the 7th century, and the bulk of our Christian population musthave been within the Roman pale; but little vexed, it would seem, by persecution, till it came into conflict with the thorough-goingImperialism of Diocletian. [411] Its martyrs were then numbered, according to Gildas, by thousands, according to Bede by hundreds; andtheir chief, St. Alban, at least, is a fairly established historicalentity. [412] Nor is there any reason to doubt that after ConstantineSouth Britain was as fully Christian as any country in Europe. Inthe earliest days of his reign (A. D. 314) we find three bishops, [413]together with a priest and a deacon, representing[414] the BritishChurch at the Council of Arles (which, amongst other things, condemnedthe marriage of the "innocent divorcee"[415]). And the same numberfigure in the Council of Ariminum (360), as the only prelates (out ofthe 400) who deigned to accept from the Emperor the expenses of theirjourney and attendance. 

E. 15. --This Council was called by Constantius II. In the semi-Arianinterest, and not allowed to break up till after repudiating theNicene formula. But the lapse was only for a moment. Before thedecade was out Athanasius could write of Britain as notoriouslyorthodox, [416] and before the century closes we have frequentreferences to our island as a fully Christian and Catholic land. Chrysostom speaks of its churches and its altars and "the power ofthe Word" in its pulpits, [417] of its diligent study of Scripture andCatholic 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, alteratotius orbis existimanda est. Et Galliae, et Britanniae, et Africa, etPersis, et Oriens, et Indio, et omnes barbarae nationes, unum Christumadorant, 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--PelagiusFastidius--Pelagianism stamped out by Germanus--The AlleluiaBattle--Romano-British churches--Why so seldom found--Conclusion. 

F. 1. --The fruits of all this vigorous Christian life soon showedthemselves in the Church of Britain by the evolution of noteworthyindividual Christians. First in order comes Ninias, the Apostle of theSouthern Picts, commissioned to the work, after years of training atRome, 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 moreexactly, 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 inBritain. [425] Galloway may have been the native home of Ninias, andwas certainly the head-quarters of his ministry. 

F. 2. --The work of Ninias amongst the Picts was followed in the nextgeneration by the more abiding work of St. Patrick amongst the Scotsof Ireland. Nay, even the Continent was indebted to British piety;though few British visitors to the Swiss Oberland remember that theChristianity they see around them is due to the zeal of a BritishMission. Yet there seems no solid reason for doubting that so it is. Somewhere about the time of St. Patrick, two British priests, Beatusand Justus, entered the district by the Brunig Pass, and set up theirfirst church at Einigen, near Thun. There Justus abode as the settledMissioner of the neighbourhood, while Beatus made his home in theivy-clad cave above the lake which still bears his name, [426] sailingup and down with the Gospel message, and evangelizing the valleysand uplands now so familiar to his fellow-countrymen--Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Kandersteg. 

F. 3. --And while the light of the Gospel was thus spreading on everyside from our land, Britain was also becoming all too famous as thenurse of error. The British Pelagius, [427] who erred concerningthe doctrine of free-will, grew to be a heresiarch of the firstorder;[428] and his follower Fastidius, or Faustus, the saintly Abbotof Lerins in the Hyères, the friend of Sidonius Apollinaris, [429] was, in his day, only less renowned. He asserted the materiality of thesoul. Both were able writers; and Pelagius was the first to adopt theplan of promulgating his heresies not as his own, but as the tenets ofsupposititious individuals of his acquaintance. 

F. 4. --Pelagianism spread so widely in Britain that the Catholicsimplored for aid from over-sea. St. Germanus of Auxerre, and St. Lupus, Bishop of Troyes (whose sanctity had disarmed the ferocity evenof Attila), came[430] accordingly (in 429) and vindicated the faith ina synod held at Verulam so successfully that the neighbouring shrineof St. Alban was the scene of a special service of thanksgiving. Ina second Mission, fifteen years later, Germanus set the seal to hiswork, stamping out throughout all the land both this new heresy andsuch remains of heathenism as were still to be found in SouthernBritain. While thus engaged on the Border he found his work endangeredby a raiding host of Picts or Saxons, or both. The Saint, who had beena military chieftain in his youth, promptly took the field at the headof 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 Christianlines, 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, theenemy, without a blow, broke and fled. [431]

F. 5. --This story, as told by Constantius, and confirmed by bothNennius and Bede, incidentally furnishes us with something of a keyto the main difficulty in accepting the widely-spread Romano-BritishChristianity to which the foregoing citations testify. What, it isasked, has become of all the Romano-British churches? Why are notraces of them found amongst the abundant Roman remains all over theland? That they were the special objects of destruction at the Saxoninvasion we learn from Gildas. But this does not account for theirvery foundations having disappeared; yet at Silchester[432] alone havemodern excavations unearthed any even approximately certain example ofthem. Where are all the rest?

F. 6. --The question is partly answered when we read that the soldiersof Germanus had erected in their camp a church of wattle, and thatsuch was the usual material of which, even as late as 446, Britishchurches were built (as at Glastonbury). Seldom indeed would suchleave any trace behind them; and thus the country churches of RomanBritain would be sought in vain by excavators. In the towns, however, stone or brick would assuredly be used, and to account for the paucityof ecclesiastical ruins three answers may be suggested. 

F. 7. --First, the number of continuously unoccupied Romano-Britishcities is very small indeed. Except at Silchester, Anderida, andUriconium, almost every one has become an English town. But when thistook place early in the English settlement of the land, the ruins ofthe Romano-British churches would still be clearly traceable at theconversion of the English, and would be rebuilt (as St. Martin's atCanterbury was in all probability rebuilt)[433] for the use of EnglishChristianity, the old material[434] being worked up into the newedifices. It is probable that many of our churches thus stand on thevery spot where the Romano-British churches stood of old. But thisvery fact would obliterate the remains of these churches. 

F. 8. --Secondly, it is very possible that many of the heathen templesmay, after the edict of Theodosius (A. D. 392), have been turned intochurches (like the Pantheon at Rome), so that _their_ remains may markecclesiastical sites. There are reasons for believing that in variousplaces, such as St. Paul's, London, St. Peter's, Cambridge, and St. Mary's, Ribchester, Christian worship did actually thus succeed Paganon the same site. 

F. 9. --Thirdly, as Lanciani points out, the earliest Christianchurches were simply the ordinary dwelling-houses of such wealthierconverts as were willing to permit meetings for worship beneath theirroof, which in time became formally consecrated to that purpose. Sucha dwelling-house usually consisted of an oblong central hall, witha pillared colonnade, opening into a roofed cloister or peristyle oneither side, at one end into a smaller guest-room [_tablinum_], at theother 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 ofan ordinary church. The small original congregation would meet, likeother guests, in the reception-room. As numbers increased, the halland adjoining cloisters would have to be used (the former being roofedin); the reception-room being reserved for the most honoured members, and ultimately becoming the chancel of a fully-developed church, withnave and aisles complete. [435] It _may_ be, therefore, that some ofthe Roman villas found in Britain were really churches. [436]

F. 10. --This, however, is a less probable explanation of the absenceof ecclesiastical remains; and the large majority of Romano-Britishchurch sites are, as I believe, still in actual use amongst us fortheir original purpose. And it may be considered as fairly proved, that before Britain was cut off from the Empire the Romano-BritishChurch had a rite[437] and a vigorous corporate life of its own, whichthe wave of heathen invasion could not wholly submerge. It lived on, shattered, perhaps, and disorganized, but not utterly crushed, tobe strengthened in due time by a closer union with its parent stem, through the Mission of Augustine, to feel the reflex glow of its ownmissionary efforts in the fervour of Columba and his followers, [438]and, finally, to form an integral part of that Ecclesia Anglicanawhose influence knit our country into one, and inspired the GreatCharter of our constitutional liberties. [439] Her faith and herfreedom are the abiding debt which Britain owes to her connection withRome. 

INDEX

Aaron of Caerleon, 259Addeomarus, 130Adder-beads, 71Adelfius, 259Adminius, 126, 128, 130Aetius, 245Agricola, 156, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165Agriculture, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 191, 231Agrippina, 140, 149, 150Akeman Street, 166Alaric, 237, 243Alban, St. , 227, 259Albany, 247Albinus, 200Albion, 32Alexander Severus, 71Allectus, 220, 223, 224, 231Alleluia Battle, 264Alpine dogs, 191Amber, 48, 49Ambleteuse, 86, 95Amboglanna, 174, 204Aminus. _See_ AdminiusAmphitheatres, 185, 224Ancalites, 55, 120Ancyran Tablet, 128Anderida, 56, 240, 250, 265Anglesey, 154, 161Antedrigus, 131, 146Antonines, 213Antoninus Pius, 171, 197, 214Aquae Sulis, 183. _See_ BathAquila, 257Arianism, 230Arms, 49, 178Army of Britain, 159, 160, 199, 200, 218, 228, 230, 235, 242Army of Church, 268Arthur, 247Arthur's Well, 205Asclepiodotus, 224Ash-pits, 177, 186Asturians, 204, 205Atrebates, 55, 56, 82, 87, 125, 127, 142Attacotti, 46, 194, 233Augusta, 180, 233Augustine, 243Augustus, 128, 129Avebury, 30

Bards, 66Barham Down, 110, 114Barns, British, 40Barrows, 29, 60Basilicas, 185Baskets, 43Basques, 51Bath, 60, 170, 174, 183Battle Bridge, 157Beads, 48, 128Beatus, St. , 262Bee-keeping, 42Beer, 42Belgae, 52, 57, 61Belisarius, 249Bericus. _See_ VericusBibroci, 55, 56, 120Birdoswald, 174, 203, 204Bishops, British, 230, 255, 259Boadicea, 152, 157, 158, 253Borcovicus, 205Boulogne, 86, 220, 223, 233Breeches, 47Brigantes, 49, 57, 146, 148, 160, 197, 206Brige, 175Britain, "Upper" and "Lower, " 195Britannia coins, 197Britannia I. And II. , 59, 225Britannicus, 136, 140, 199British coins, 38, 125, 126, 127 " Lion, 126, 210 221Britons, Origin of, 32Brittany, 235Bronze, 30, 33Brownies, 29Brutus, 151

Cadiz, 34Cadwallon. _See_ CassivellaunusCaer Caradoc, 148Caergwent, 184Caerleon, 150, 166, 179, 182, 195, 239, 259Caer Segent, 56Caesar, Julius: Earlier career, 73-83 First invasion, 83-101 Second invasion, 102-123Caesar (as title), 222Caesar's horse, 107Caledonians, 163, 194, 201, 202, 213, 232Caligula, 126, 130Calleva, 56, 172, etc. _See_ SilchesterCambridge, 171, 175, 178, 266Camelodune, 127, 135, 147, 152, 154, 176Cangi, 146Cannibalism, 46, 233Canterbury, 265Caracalla, 171, 201, 212-214Caractacus (Caradoc, Caratac), 127, 134, 137, 147, 148, 149Carausius, 180, 220, 221, 245Carlisle, 175, 204Cartismandua, 148, 150, 160Cassi, 54, 55, 120Cassiterides, 34Cassivellaunus (Caswallon), 109, 113-122, 127Cateuchlani (Cattivellauni), 55, 58, 59, 109, 121, 127Cattle, British, 45Celestine, Pope, 263Celtic types, 50Cerealis, 160Cerne Abbas, 65Chariots, British, 50, 92, 99, 115, 129, 134, 163Charnwood, 190Chedworth, 58, 267Chester, 162, 167, 174, 179, 182, 195, 247, 250"Chester" (suffix), 175, 183, 250Chesters. _See_ CilurnumChichester, 141Chives, 205Christianity, British, 225-230, 251-268Churches, British, 185, 264-267Cicero, 36, 75, 77, 104-106, 122, 151Cilurnum, 204, 205, 211Cirencester, 225. _See_ CoriniumCitizenship, Roman, 140, 141, 213, 214Clans, British, 52, 55-59Claudia Rufina, 141, 256, 257Claudius, 131, 134-143, 147, 149, 150Clement, St. , 252Climate, British, 40, 185Cogidubnus, 141, 256Cohorts, 86, 114, 239Coins, British, 38, 54, 125-127 " Romano-British, 139, 177, 197, 221, 246Colchester (Colonia), 167, 171, 175, 176, 222. _See_ CameloduneColonies, 147, 152-154, 175Columba, 71, 72, 268Comitatenses, 239Commius, 54, 83, 87, 94, 101, 121, 124-127, 130Commodus, 199, 200Constans, 230Constantine I. , 222, 227-229 " III. , 242Constantius I. , 180, 222-224, 227-229Constantius II. , 231, 260Cony Castle, 30Coracles, 37, 245Corinium 179, 189-191. _See_ CirencesterCorn-growing, 40, 191, 231Coronation Oath, 260Council of Ariminum, 230, 260 " Arles, 230, 259 " Cloveshoo, 267 " Constance, 255 " Nice, 230Count of Britain, 240, 243, 247 " the Saxon Shore, 220, 240, 243Counts of the Empire, 240Coway Stakes, 119Cromlechs, 29Cymbeline (Cunobelin), 54, 126-128Cymry, 247

Damnonii, 57, 58, 61, 80, 247Deal, 89, 108Decangi, 146Decentius, 231Decurions, 182Dedication of churches, 261Dene Holes, 41"Dioceses, " 222Diocletian, 59, 71, 219, 221, 222, 224-227Divitiacus, 82, 109Divorce, 259"Divus, " 123, 227Dobuni, 57, 132Dogs, British, 190Dol, 235Dolmens, 29Domestic animals, 45, 46Domitian, 163Domitilla, 257Dorchester, 61Dover, 87Dragon standard, 244"Druidesses, " 71, 154, 155Druidism, 62-72Duke of the Britains, 239, 243, 247Duke of the Britons, 245Duns, 60Durotriges, 57, 61

Eagles, Legionary, 90, 91, 228Eboracum, 174Eborius, 259Elephants, 107, 119, 134Eleutherius, 258Emeriti, 214English, 232, 245, 246Epping Forest, 47, 190Equinoctial hours, 39, 40Erinus Hispanicus, 204Ermine Street, 166-170Exports, British, 128, 129

Fastidius, Faustus, 263Flavians, 133Fleam Dyke, 144, 145Fleet, British, 182, 221Forests, 47, 56-58, 189Fosse Way, 166, 167, 169Frampton, 267Franks, 219, 224, 237Frisians, 200, 220, 248Fruit-trees, 186

Gael, 32, 50Galerius, 222, 227, 228Galgacus, 163Galloway, 46, 194, 233, 248, 261Gates of London, 179Geese, 46Gelt, R. , 210Genuini, 197Germanus, 263-265Gerontius (Geraint), 242Geta, 201, 213Gladiators, 136, 137, 224Glass, 48, 129Glastonbury, 27, 57, 254, 255Glazed ware, 188Gnossus, 37Gog-Magog Hills, 219Gold, 30, 39, 48Goths, 249Grindelwald, 262Gulf Stream, 40

Hadrian, 181, 194-197Hair-dye, 48, 129Handicrafts, 187, 188Hardway, 36Hasta Pura, 138Havre, 223Helena, 222, 227"Hengist and Horsa, " 245Heretics, 263Honorius, 242, 243Horseshoes, 177Hounds, 190Hugh, St. , 185Huntingdon, 171Hypocausts, 189, 205

Iberians, 51Iceni, 54, 57, 58, 59, 120, 130, 142-146, 152, 157, 170Icknield Street, 144, 145, 167, 170, 186Ictis, 35Ierne, 32, 234, 236. _See_ IrelandImmanuentius, 109Imperial visits, 134, 194, 201, 223, 230Ireland, 162, 232, 262, 268. _See_ IerneIron, 33, 50Itinerary, 171, 172, 173, 175

Jadite, 29Jerome, St. , 46, 191, 233, 260Jerusalem, 160, 181, 260Joseph of Arimathaea, 254Julia Domna, 209, 210, 213 " Lex, 192, 243Julian, 191, 225, 231, 232Julianus, 200Julius Caesar. _See_ Caesar " Classicianus, 158 " Firmicus, 230 " of Caerleon, 259Juridicus Britanniae, 181Justinian, 181, 248Justus, 262

Kalendar of Druids, 64"Keels, " Saxon, 221, 245Kent, 55, 121, 127, 142, 247-249Kilns, 187King's Cross, 157Koridwen, 155

Labarum, 188, 228, 229, 267Labienus, 107, 122, 123Lambeth, 168Lead-mining, 39, 146, 188Legates, 141, 197, 200, 232Legion 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, 240Legionary feeling, 91, 157Legions, Roman, 86, 90, 91, 231, 238, 239Leicester, 183Libelli, 226Liber Landavensis, 259Licinius, 228Ligurians, 51Lincoln, 171, 175, 185, 250, 259Linus, 257Lion, British, 126, 210, 221Loddon, R. , 134Logris, 51Lollius Urbicus, 197, 198London, 60, 117, 118, 122, 154, 156, 157, 166, 168, 169, 171, 179-183, 224, 233, 241, 250, 259Lupicinus, 232Lupus, 263Lyminge, 265Lyons, 200, 258

Magna, 208Magnentius, 230, 231Maiden Castle, 61 " Way, 169Mandubratius, 109, 122, 127Mansions, 189Manures, 40Marcus Aurelius, 215Marseilles, 35, 38Martial, 43, 141, 255-257Martin, St. , 261, 262Martyrs, British, 227, 259Mastiffs, 190Mater Deum, 209, 210Maxentius, 228Maximian, 222, 225, 227, 228Maximin, 228Maximus, 235Mead, 42Meatae, 201, 202, 232Mendips, 39, 188Mile Castles, 195, 204Milestones, 180Millstones, 44Missionaries, British, 261, 262Mistletoe, 67, 68Mithraism, 207, 208, 228Mona, 154, 155, 161Money-box, 184Morgan, 263Mutter-recht, 46

Narcissus, 131Needwood, 58, 190Nennius, 171-173, 244-247Neolithic Age, 28-30Nero, 151, 158, 159Nervii, 54Newcastle, 204Ninias, 261, 262, 264North Tyne R. , 211Notitia, 171, 173, 174, 237-242

Oberland, 262Ocean, 33, 85, 97, 122, 131, 236, 238, 256Ogre, 29"Old England's Hole, " 111Optio, 211Ordovices, 57, 147, 161Ostorius, 142-149Otho, 159, 160

Paganism suppressed, 230Palaeolithic period, 26-28Pansa, 198Pantheon, Druidic, 62, 64Parisii, 54, 58, 82Parjetting, 187Patrick, St. , 71, 262Paul, St. , 251-257Pax Romana, 165, 178, 187Pearls, British, 128Peel Crag, 203Pelagius, 263Perennis, 199Pertinax, 200Peter, St. , 252, 253Petronius, 158Phoenicians, 33-37Picts, 193, 207, 232-236, 245, 259, 261, 264Pilgrims, British, 260Pilgrims' Way, 36Pillars, multiple, 185Pilum, 158Pirates, 219-221, 235, 245Plautius, 131, 134, 137, 147, 256Plough, British, 40Pomponia, 256Population, 59, 178Portsmouth Harbour, 132, 240, 252Port Way, 186Posidonius, 36, 82Posting, 189, 227Postumus, 218Pottery, 30, 187Praetorium, 181Prasutagus, 152Precedents, British, 182Prefectures, 221Prince of Wales, 247Priscilla, 257Priscus, 159Probus, 192, 218Pro-consuls, 74, 77, 142, 198Procurator of Britain, 152, 153, 158Prosper, 263Provinces, 59, 74, 77, 195, 198, 222, 225, 230, 240Ptolemy, 171-175Pudens, 141, 256, 257Pytheas, 34-36, 38-40, 42, 45, 49, 51, 55

Querns, 44Quiberon, Battle off, 81Quintus Cicero, 104, 105, 106

Radagaisus, 237Rampart of Agricola, 163, 194, 198, 201, 234Rationalis Britanniarum, 241Regni, 57, 142Ribchester, 176, 266Richborough, 88, 108, 121, 175, 223, 233, 235, 239Rings, 186Rite, British, 267River-bed men, 26, 27Rogation Days, 267Roman citizenship, 140, 141, 213, 214Roman roads, 117, 166-171Royal roads, 167Rycknield Street, 166, 170

Saexe, 219, 246Sallustius Lucullus, 164Samian pottery, 188"Sarsen, " 30, 31Sarum, 175Saturnalia, 132Saxons, 193, 206, 219, 233, 234, 236, 238, 244, 245 _See_ EnglishSaxon Shore, 219Scotch dogs, 191Scots, 232-238, 246, 262Scythed chariots, 100Seers, 66Segontium, 127, 172, 228Selwood, 38, 190Seneca, 140, 152Settle, 251Severus, 200-203, 209-213, 231Sherwood, 58, 190Shields, British, 49, 50 " Roman, 178Ships, British, 37, 80 " Venetian, 79, 80 " Caesar's, 81, 103 " Scotch, 232 " Saxon, 245Silchester, 56, 162, 175, 179, 183-188, 264, 265Silurians, 51, 57, 146-150, 161Silver, 39, 186Simon Magus, 71 " Zelotes, 253"Snake's Egg, " 70, 71South Foreland, 89Spain, 77, 103, 155, 200, 222, 242Squads, 239Squared word, 189Stamford, Battle of, 232, 246Staters, 38"Stations, " 202, 203Stilicho, 235-237, 242Stoke-by-Nayland, 265Stonehenge, 30, 31"Streets, " 169Suetonius Paulinus, 154-158, 161Sul, 183Sussex, 50, 128, 142Sylla, 75Syracuse, 219

Tabulae Missionis, 214Tartan, 47Tasciovan, 54, 127, 128, 130, 156Tattooing, 48Taxation, 192Thames, 56, 117-119, 122, 134Thanet, 36, 108, 245Theatres, 153, 184Theodosius the Elder, 233, 234 " " Great, 230, 235, 242, 268Thimbles, Roman, 177Tides, 88, 93, 96, 108, 124, 233Tin, 33-38. 128Tincommius, 54, 125, 128Titus, 133, 137Togodumnus, 134, 147Tonsure, Druidic, 72Treasury, 180, 241Trebatius, 104Trees, 47Tribal boundaries, 56-58Tribune, 114, 138, 209, 239Trident, 49Trinobantes, 55, 57, 59, 109, 122, 127Triumphs, 135, 149Tufa, 244, 247Turf wall, 197, 198, 206Tyrants, 53, 54, 247

"Ugrians, " 29-31, 62Ulpius Marcellus, 199, 211Ulysses, 64, 248Uriconium, 150, 179, 184Ushant, 155Uther, 244

Valens, 234Valentia, 225, 234, 237, 240Valentinian I. , 230, 233 " II. , 235 " III. , 177, 246Vallum, 205-207, 233Vandals, 219, 237Varus, 130Veneti, 79-81Verica, 125Vericus, 130, 142, 143, 152Verulam, 120, 127, 156, 157, 168, 227, 263Vespasian, 133, 137, 159Vexillatio, 210Via Devana, 166, 167Vicar of Britain, 240, 243Victorinus, 218Villages, 27, 44, 45, 129Villas, 188, 189, 267Vine-growing, 192Visi-goths, 243Volisius, 54Vortigern, 245

Wagons, 36Wall (of Hadrian), 174, 195, 196, 202-212Wall (of London, etc. ), 179Water-supply, 60, 162, 211Watling Street, 118, 166-170Wattle churches, 254, 255, 265Weald, 57, 189Wells, 186West Saxons, 248Whitherne, 261, 262Wight, I. Of, 36, 133, 189, 224Winchester, 175Winter 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 ofXiphilinus, 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 ofshed 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 ofTuranian affinity. ]

[Footnote 8: Skeat, however, traces "ogre" (the Spanish "ogro") to theLatin _Orcus_. ]

[Footnote 9: The latest excavations (1902) prove Stonehenge to bea Neolithic erection. No metal was found, but quantities of flintimplements, broken in the arduous task of dressing the great Sarsenmonoliths. The process seems to have been that still used for granite, viz. To cut parallel channels on the rough surface, and then break andrub down the ridges between. This was done by the use of conical lumpsof Sarsen stone, weighing from 20 to 60 lbs. , several of which werediscovered bearing traces of usage, both in pounding and rubbing. Themonoliths examined were found to be thus tooled accurately down to thevery bottom, 8 or 9 feet below ground. At Avebury the stones are notdressed. ]

[Footnote 10: _Sarsen_ is the same word as _Saracen_, which inmediaeval English simply means _foreign_ (though originally derivedfrom the Arabic _sharq_ = Eastern). Whence the stones came is stilldisputed. They _may_ have been boulders deposited in the district bythe ice-drift of the Glacial Epoch. ]

[Footnote 11: Professor Rhys assigns 600 B. C. As the approximate dateof the first Gadhelic arrivals, and 200 B. C. As that of the firstBrythonic. ]

[Footnote 12: Whether or no this word is (as some authorities hold)derived from the Welsh _Prutinach_ (=Picts) rather than from theBrythons, it must have reached Aristotle through Brythonic channels, for the Gadhelic form is _Cruitanach_. ]

[Footnote 13: A certain amount of British folk-lore was broughtback to Greece, according to Plutarch ('De defect. Orac. ' 2), bythe geographer Demetrias of Tarsus about this time. He refers to thecavern of sleeping heroes, so familiar in our mediaeval legends. ]

[Footnote 14: The word is said to be derived from the root _kâsh_, "shine. " Some authorities, however, maintain that it came intoSanscrit from the Greek. ]

[Footnote 15: 'Hist. ' III. 112. ]

[Footnote 16: See p. 48. ]

[Footnote 17: For a full notice of Pytheas see Elton, 'Origins ofEnglish History, ' pp. 13-75. See also Tozer's 'Ancient Geography, 'chap. Viii. ]

[Footnote 18: Posidonius of Rhodes, the tutor of Cicero, visitedBritain about 100 B. C. , and wrote a History of his travels in fiftyvolumes, only known to us by extracts in Strabo (iii. 217, iv. 287, vii. 293), Diodorus Siculus (v. 28, 30), Athenaeus, and others. SeeBake's 'Posidonius' (Leyden, 1810). ]

[Footnote 19: The ingots of bronze found in the recent [1900]excavations at Gnossus, in Crete, which date approximately from2000 B. C. , are of this shape. Presumably the Britons learnt it fromPhoenician sources. ]

[Footnote 20: _Saxon_ coracles are spoken of even in the 5th centuryA. D. See p. 245. ]

[Footnote 21: 'Coins of the Ancient Britons, ' p. 24. ]

[Footnote 22: This familiar feature of our climate is often touched onby classical authors. Minucius Felix (A. D. 210) is observant enoughto connect it with our warm seas, "its compensation, " due to the GulfStream. ]

[Footnote 23: 'Nat. Hist. ' xviii. 18. ]

[Footnote 24: _Ibid_. Xvii. 4. ]

[Footnote 25: Solinus (A. D. 80) adds that bees, like snakes, wereunknown in Ireland, and states that bees will even desert a hive ifIrish earth be brought near it!]

[Footnote 26: Matthew Martin, 'Western Isles, ' published 1673. Quotedby Elton ('Origins of English Hist. , ' p. 16), who gives Martin's dateas 1703. ]

[Footnote 27: Strabo, iv. 277. The word _basket_ is itself of Celticorigin, 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, theRoman Conquest of Britain. ]

[Footnote 28: One of these primitive mortars, a rudely-hollowed blockof oolite, with a flint pestle weighing about 6 lbs. , was found nearCambridge 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 instardistincta. " This _sagum_ was obviously a tartan plaid such as are nowin use. The kilt, however, was not worn. It is indeed a comparativelyquite modern adaptation of the belted plaid. Ancient Britons woretrousers, drawn tight above the ankles, after the fashion stillcurrent amongst agricultural labourers. They were already called"breeches. " Martial (Ep. X. 22) satirizes a life "as loose as the oldbreeches of a British pauper. "]

[Footnote 34: Pliny, 'Nat. Hist. ' viii. 48. ]

[Footnote 35: _Id_. Xxviii. 2. Fashions about hair seem to havechanged as rapidly amongst Britons (throughout the whole period ofthis work) as in later times. The hair was sometimes worn short, sometimes long, sometimes strained back from the forehead; sometimesmoustaches were in vogue, sometimes a clean shave, more rarely a fullbeard; but whiskers were quite unknown. ]

[Footnote 36: Tozer ('Ancient Geog. ' p. 164) states that amber is alsoexported from the islands fringing the west coast of Schleswig, andconsiders that these rather than the Baltic shores were the "AmberIslands" of Pytheas. ]

[Footnote 37: 'Nat. Hist. ' xxxvii. 1. ]

[Footnote 38: See p. 128. ]

[Footnote 39: A lump weighing nearly 12 lbs. Was dredged up offLowestoft in 1902. ]

[Footnote 40: A. D. 50. ]

[Footnote 41: Seneca speaks of the blue shields of the YorkshireBrigantes. ]

[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 thisstrange name. An alternative theory is that it = _Cenomanni_ (a Gallictribe-name also found in Lombardy). But with this name (which musthave been well known to Caesar) we never again meet in Britain. And itis hard to believe that he would not mention a clan so important andso near the sphere of his campaign as the Iceni. ]

[Footnote 47: See p. 109. ]

[Footnote 48: These tribes are described by Vitruvius, at theChristian era, as of huge stature, fair, and red-haired. Skeletons ofthis race, over six feet in height, have been discovered in Yorkshireburied in "monoxylic" coffins; i. E. Each formed of the hollowed trunkof an oak tree. See Elton's 'Origins, ' p. 168. ]

[Footnote 49: This correspondence, however, is wholly an antiquarianguess, and rests on no evidence. It is first found in the forgedchronicle of "Richard of Cirencester. " The _names_ are genuine, beingfound in the 'Notitia, ' though dating only from the time of Diocletian(A. D. 296). But, on our theory, the same administrative divisions musthave existed all along. See p. 225. ]

[Footnote 50: General Pitt Rivers, however, in his 'Excavations inCranborne Chase' (vol. Ii. P. 237), proves that the ancient waterlevel in the chalk was fifty feet higher than at present, presumablyowing to the greater forest area. "Dew ponds" may also have existed inthese camps. But these can scarcely have provided any large supply ofwater. ]

[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 theChristian era] "from Taurus to Britain. " And Solinus (A. D. 80) tellsof a Greek inscription in Caledonia, "ara Graecis literisscripta"--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 herbto _savin_, which grows to the height of several feet. _Samolum_ iswater-pimpernel in the Linnaean classification. Others identify itwith the _pasch-flower_, which, however, is far from being a marshplant. ]

[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 usof 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 _RevueCeltique_, iv. 37. ]

[Footnote 67: See Professor Rhys, 'Celtic Britain, ' p. 70. TheProfessor's view that the "schismatical" tonsure of the Celtic clergy, which caused such a stir during the evangelization of England, was aDruidical survival, does not, however, seem probable in face of thevery pronounced antagonism between those clergy and the Druids. Thattonsure was indeed ascribed by its Roman denouncers to Simon Magus[see above], but this is scarcely a sufficient foundation for thetheory. ]

[Footnote 68: They may very possibly have been connected with theVeneti 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 lessmassive, these vessels are built much as the Venetian. But it is justas probable they may really be "picts. " See p. 232. ]

[Footnote 72: This opening of Britain to continental influences mayperhaps account for Posidonius having been able to make so thorough asurvey of the islands. See p. 36. ]

[Footnote 73: Elton ('Origins of English Hist. ') conjectures thatthese tribes did not migrate to Britain till after Caesar's day. Butthere is no evidence for this, and my view seems better to explain thesituation. ]

[Footnote 74: Solinus (A. D. 80) says of Britain, "_alterius orbisnomen mereretur_. " This passage is probably the origin of the Pope'swell-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 smalllight-armed contingent, and an attached squadron of three hundredcavalry. Each of Caesar's transports must thus have carried from onehundred and fifty to two hundred men, and at this rate the eighteencavalry vessels (reckoning a horse as equivalent to five men, theusual proportion for purposes of military transport) would suffice forhis two squadrons. ]

[Footnote 76: An ancient ship could not sail within eight points ofthe wind (see Smith, 'Voyage of St. Paul'). Thus a S. W. Breeze, whilepermitting Caesar to leave Boulogne, would effectually prevent thesevessels from working out of Ambleteuse. ]

[Footnote 77: Hence the name Dubris = "the rivers. "]

[Footnote 78: The claims of Richborough [Ritupis] to be Caesar'sactual landing-place have been advocated by Archdeacon Baddeley, Mr. G. Bowker, and others. But it is almost impossible to make this placesquare with Caesar's narrative. ]

[Footnote 79: This was four days before the full moon, so that thetide would be high at Dover about 6 p. M. ]

[Footnote 80: The "lofty promontory" rounded is specially noticed byDio Cassius. ]

[Footnote 81: The principle of the balista that of the sling, of thecatapult that of the bow. Ammianus Marcellinus (xv. 12) speaks of "thesnowy arms" of the Celtic women dealing blows "like the stroke of acatapult. "]

[Footnote 82: Valerius Maximus (A. D. 30) has recorded one such act ofdaring on the part of a soldier named Scaeva, who with four comradesheld an isolated rock against all comers till he alone was left, whenhe plunged into the sea and swam off, with the loss of his shield. Inspite 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 maypossibly be true ('Memorabilia, ' III. 2, 23). ]

[Footnote 83: Valerius Maximus (A. D. 30) states that the Romans landedon a _falling_ tide, which cannot be reconciled with Caesar's ownnarrative (see p. 88). The idea may have originated in the fact thatit was probably the approaching turn of the tide which forced him toland at Deal. He could not have reached Richborough before the ebbbegan. ]

[Footnote 84: Every soldier was four feet from his nearest neighbourto give scope for effective sword-play. No other troops in historyhave 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, likethose of the Indian King Porus. See Dodge, 'Alexander, ' p. 554. ]

[Footnote 87: Pomponius Mela ('De Situ Orbis, ' I) tells us that by hisdate (50 A. D. ) it had come in: "Covinos vocant, quorum falcatis axîbusutuntur. "]

[Footnote 88: It is thus represented by Giraldus Cambrensis, who givesus the story of Caesar's campaigns from the British point of view, asit survived (of course with gross exaggerations) in the Cymric legendsof his day. ]

[Footnote 89: Lucan, the last champion of anti-Caesarism, sung, twogenerations after its overthrow, the praises and the dirge of theOligarchy. ]

[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 exacttotal. ]

[Footnote 102: 'Strategemata, ' viii. 23. ]

[Footnote 103: This was probably not Deal, which had not proved asatisfactory station, but Richborough, where the Wantsum, then a broadarm of the sea between Kent and Thanet, provided an excellent harbourfor a large fleet. It was, moreover, the regular emporium of the tintrade (see p. 36), and a British trackway thus led to it. ]

[Footnote 104: Otherwise _Cadwallon_, which, according to ProfessorRhys, signifies War King, and may possibly have been a title ratherthan a personal name. But it remained in use as the latter for manycenturies of British history. ]

[Footnote 105: Vine, 'Caesar in Kent, ' p. 171. The spot is "in BournePark, 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 longsurvived. Hegesippus (A. D. 150) says: "Britanni ... Quidesse servitusignorabant; 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. (_CommiiFilius_), but Verica alone calls himself REX. Those of Eppillus werestruck 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 Britonsto the fact that they are astrologically influenced by Leo and Mars. It is interesting to remember that our success in the Crimean Warwas prognosticated from Mars being in Leo at its commencement (March1854). Tennyson, in 'Maud, ' has referred to this--"And pointed toMars, 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 mentionsthe 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, kailingouria kai huala skeuê, kai rhôpos toioutos]. Strabo is commonlysupposed to mean that these were the _imports_ from Gaul. But hiswords are quite ambiguous, and such of the articles he mentions as arefound in Britain are clearly of native manufacture. British gravesare fertile (see p. 48) in the "amber and glass ornaments" (the formerbeing small roughly-shaped fragments pierced for threading, the lattercoarse blue or green beads), and produce occasional armlets of narwhalivory. Glass beads have been found (1898) in the British village nearGlastonbury, and elsewhere. ]

[Footnote 121: Strabo, v. 278. ]

[Footnote 122: Propertius, II. 1. 73: Esseda caelatis siste Britannajugis. ]

[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 overhangsthe 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 bothBath 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 atPortsmouth. Their further steps would depend upon the disposition ofthe British armies advancing to meet them, --the final objective of thecampaign being Camelodune, the capital of the sons of Cymbeline. ]

[Footnote 130: This is stated by both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Matthewof Westminster. ]

[Footnote 131: For three centuries this legion was quartered atCaerleon-upon-Usk, and the Twentieth at Chester. See Mommsen, 'RomanProvinces, ' p. 174. ]

[Footnote 132: This was the honorary title of several legions; asthere 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 hislegion 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 Dobunianterritory it may have been the Loddon. Mommsen cuts the knot in trueGerman fashion by refusing to identify the Dobuni of Ptolemy withthose of Dion, and placing the latter in Kent on his own soleauthority. ('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 byhis troops after any signal victory. But by custom this could only bedone once in the same campaign. ]

[Footnote 141: Suet. V. 21. ]

[Footnote 142: Dio Cassius, lx. 23. The boy, who was the child ofMessalina, 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 Martialas making a distinguished Roman marriage, may very probably be hisdaughter. ]

[Footnote 159: See p. 130. ]

[Footnote 160: Thus in St. Luke ii. We find Cyrenius _Pro-praetor_([Greek: hêgemôn]) 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 himhis life a few years later, under Nero (Tac, 'Ann. ' xvi. 15). ]

[Footnote 164: Pigs of lead have been found in Denbighshire stampedCANGI or DECANGI. Mr. Elton, however, locates the tribe in Somerset. Coins testify to Antedrigus, the Icenian, being somehow connected withthis tribe. ]

[Footnote 165: A Roman "Colony" was a town peopled by citizens ofRome (old soldiers being preferred) sent out in the first instance todominate the subject population amid whom they were settled. Such wasPhilippi. ]

[Footnote 166: Tacitus, 'Annals, ' xii. 38. ]

[Footnote 167: The distinction of an actual triumph was reserved forEmperors alone. ]

[Footnote 168: Tacitus, 'Annals, ' xii. 39. ]

[Footnote 169: See p. 239. Uriconium alone has as yet furnishedinscriptions 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 FinanceAdministrator. (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 maypossibly be connected with [Greek: _semnos_]), the latter that ofDionysius 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 withSuetonius, Tacitus had exceptional opportunities for knowing thetruth. ]

[Footnote 179: Suetonius probably retreated southward when heleft London, and reoccupied its ruins when the Britons, instead offollowing him, turned northwards to Verulam. ]

[Footnote 180: The Roman _pilum_ was a casting spear with a heavysteel head, nine inches long. ]

[Footnote 181: Tac. , 'Agricola, ' c. 12. ]

[Footnote 182: That the well-known coins commemorating these victoriesand bearing the legend IVDAEA CAPTA are not infrequently found inBritain, indicates the special connection between Vespasian and ourisland. The great argument used by Titus and Agrippa to convince theJews that even the walls of Jerusalem would fail to resist the onsetof Romans was that no earthly rampart could compare with the oceanwall of Britain (Josephus, D. B. J. , II. 16, vi, 6). ]

[Footnote 183: The spread of Latin oratory and literature in Britainis 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 anAgricolan 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 wasfirst made by some deserters ('Hist. Rom. ' lxix. 20). ]

[Footnote 187: The little that is known of this rampart will be foundin the next chapter (see p. 198). ]

[Footnote 188: Sallustius Lucullus, who succeeded Agricola asPro-praetor, was slain by Domitian only for the invention of animproved 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 endof the 12th century, so that the course of the original four becamematter of purely antiquarian interest. ]

[Footnote 191: Where it struck that sea is disputed, but Henry ofHuntingdon's assertion that it ran straight from London to Chesterseems the most probable. ]

[Footnote 192: The lines of these roads, if produced, strike theThames 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. TheErmine Street, however, nowhere touches the fenland; nor did anyGaelic population, so far as is known, abut upon the Watling Street, at any rate after the English Conquest. Verulam was sometimes calledWatling-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 isnever called a Street, though its name [_fossa_] shows it to have beenconstructed as such; and the Icknield Way is frequently so called, though it was certainly a mere track--often a series of paralleltracks (_e. G. _ at Kemble-in-the-Street in Oxfordshire)--as it mostlyremains 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. SeeCodrington, 'Roman Roads in Britain. ']

[Footnote 196: Camden, however, speaks of a Saxon charter sodesignating it near Stilton ('Britannia, ' II. 249). ]

[Footnote 197: The whole evidence on this confused subject is well setout by Mr. Codrington ('Roman Roads in Britain'). ]

[Footnote 198: It is, however, possible that the latter is named fromAke-manchester, which is found as A. S. For Bath, to which it must haveformed 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 referto Berkshire. ]

[Footnote 200: Thus Iter V. Takes the traveller from London to Lincoln_viâ_ Colchester, Cambridge, and Huntingdon, though the Ermine Streetruns direct between the two. The 'Itinerary' is a Roadbook of theEmpire, giving the stages on each route set forth, assigned bycommentators to widely differing dates, from the 2nd century to the5th. In my own view Caracalla is probably the Antoninus from whom itis called. But after Antoninus Pius (138 A. D. ) the name was borne (orassumed) 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 fiftycapes, 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 PrimeMeridian in German maps. ]

[Footnote 204: Thus the north supplies not only inscriptions relatingto its own legion (the Sixth), but no fewer than 32 of the Second, and22 of the Twentieth; while at London and Bath indications of all threeare found. ]

[Footnote 205: The Latin word _castra_, originally meaning "camp, "came (in Britain) to signify a fortified town, and was adopted intothe various dialects of English as _caster, Chester_, or _cester_;the first being the distinctively N. Eastern, the last the S. Westernform. ]

[Footnote 206: Amongst these, however, must be named the highauthority of Professor Skeat. See 'Cambs. Place-Names. ']

[Footnote 207: Pearson's 'Historical Maps of England' gives a completelist of these. ]

[Footnote 208: This industry flourished throughout the last half ofthe 19th century. The "coprolites" were phosphatic nodules found inthe greensand and dug for use as manure. ]

[Footnote 209: These are of bronze, with closed ends, pitted for theneedle as now, but of size for wearing upon the _thumb_. ]

[Footnote 210: There seems no valid reason for doubting that thehorseshoes found associated with Roman pottery, etc. , in the ashpitsof the Cam valley, Dorchester, etc. , are actually of Romano-Britishdate. Gesner maintains that our method of shoeing horses wasintroduced by Vegetius under Valentinian II. The earlier shoes seemto have been rather such slippers as are now used by horses drawingmowing-machines on college lawns. They were sometimes of rope: _Soleasparta pes bovis induitur_ (Columella), sometimes of iron: _Et supinamanimam gravido derelinquere caeno Ferream ut solam tenaci in voraginemula_ (Catullus, xvii. 25). Even gold was used: _Poppaea jumentis suissoleas ex auro induebat_ (Suet. , 'Nero, ' xxx. ). The Romano-Britishhorseshoes 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 theWall, as a glance at the cases in the British Museum will show. Theremay 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, andhis 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, Uriconiumthe same, Cirencester and Lincoln about two, Silchester and Bathsomewhat smaller. ]

[Footnote 214: Roman milestones have been found in various places, amongst the latest and most interesting being one of Carausiusdiscovered in 1895, at Carlisle. It had been reversed to substitutethe name of Constantius (see p. 222. ). It may be noted that theearliest of post-Roman date are those still existing on the roadbetween Cambridge and London, set up in 1729. ]

[Footnote 215: See p. 117. When the existing bridge was built, Romanremains were found in the river-bed. ]

[Footnote 216: The Thames to the south, the Fleet to the west, and theWall 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 inthe 'Rheinisches Review, ' 1891. His appointment was part of thepacificatory system promoted by Agricola. ]

[Footnote 220: An _archigubernus_ (master pilot) of this fleet lefthis property to one of his subordinates in trust for his infant son. The son died before coming of age, whereupon the estate was claimed bythe next of kin, while the trustee contended that it had now passedto him absolutely. He was upheld by the Court. Another York decisionestablished the principle that any money made by a slave belongedto his _bonâ fide_ owner. And another settled that a _Decurio_ (afunctionary answering to a village Mayor in France) was responsibleonly 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 thename is often applied to Chester. This, however, was _the_ Chester, _par excellence_, as having remained so long unoccupied. In the daysof Alfred it is still a "waste Chester" in the A. S. Chronicle. The word _Chester_ is only associated with Roman fortifications inSouthern Britain. But north of the wall, as Mr. Haverfield points out, we find it applied to earthworks which cannot possibly have ever beenRoman. (See 'Antiquary' for 1895, p. 37. )]

[Footnote 223: Bath was frequented by Romano-British society for itsmedicinal waters, as it has been since. The name _Aquae_ (likethe various _Aix_ in Western Europe) records this fact. Bath wasdifferentiated as _Aquae Solis_; the last word having less referenceto Apollo the Healer, than to a local deity _Sul_ or _Sulis_. Tracesof an elaborate pump-room system, including baths and cisterns stillretaining their leaden lining, have here been discovered; and eventhe stock-in-trade of one of the small shops, where, as now at suchresorts, 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 amoney-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) thatBritish basilicas are larger than those on the Continent, probablybecause more protection from weather was here necessary. Almost aslarge as this basilica must have been that at Lincoln, where sectionsof the curious multiple pillars (which perhaps suggested to St. Hughthe development from Norman to Gothic in English architecture) may beseen studding the concrete pavement of Ball Gate. ]

[Footnote 227: A plan of this "church" is given by Mr. Haverfield inthe 'English Hist. Review, ' July 1896. ]

[Footnote 228: An inspection of the Ordnance Map (1 in. ) shows thisclearly. 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 beenwholly derived from these wells, which are from 25 to 30 feet indepth, and were usually lined with wood. In one of them there werefound (in 1900) stones of various fruit trees (cherry, plum, etc. ), the introduction of which into Britain has long been attributed tothe Romans, (See Earle, 'English Plant Names. ') But this find is notbeyond suspicion of being merely a mouse's hoard of recent date. ]

[Footnote 231: Roman refineries for extracting silver existed in thelead-mining districts both of the Mendips and of Derbyshire, whichwere worked continuously throughout the occupation. But the Silchesterplant was adapted for dealing with far more refractory ores; for whatpurpose we cannot tell. ]

[Footnote 232: See paper by W. Gowland in Silchester Report (Societyof Antiquaries) for 1899. ]

[Footnote 233: A glance at the maps issued by the Society ofAntiquaries will show this. The massive rampart, forming an irregularhexagon, cuts off the corners of various blocks in the ground plan. ]

[Footnote 234: The well-known Cambridge jug of Messrs. Hattersley is atypical 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 houselife is to be seen in the Corinium Museum at Cirencester--a muralpainting whereon has been scratched a squared word (the only knownclassical example of this amusement):

 ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR]

[Footnote 241: The word _mansio_, however, at this period signifiedmerely a posting-station on one or other of the great roads. ]

[Footnote 242: Selwood, Sherwood, Needwood, Charnwood, and EppingForest are all shrunken relics of these wide-stretching woodlands, with which most of the hill ranges seem to have been clothed. SeePearson'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 taurorumfracturae 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 torequire iron kennels (Ep. II. 77). ]

[Footnote 250: Prudentius (contra Sab. 39): _Semifer, et Scoto sentitcane milite pejor_. ]

[Footnote 251: Proleg. To Jeremiah, lib. III. ]

[Footnote 252: Flavius Vopiscus (A. D. 300) tells us that vine-growingwas also attempted, by special permission of the Emperor Probus. ]

[Footnote 253: The Lex Julia forbade the carrying of arms bycivilians. ]

[Footnote 254: See Elton's 'Origins, ' p. 347. ]

[Footnote 255: Proem, v. ]

[Footnote 256: See Fronto, 'De Bello Parthico', I. 217. The latestknown 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 ofBritain 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 isoften called) was the builder of the Wall as well as of the adjoiningfortresses 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 14known British inscriptions of this Emperor, 8 are on the Wall; out ofthe 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 andCaerleon in the former and York in the latter. The boundary _may_ thushave been the line from Mersey to Humber; "Upper" meaning "nearer toRome. "]

[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 seatedon 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 insulamhostibus_" by Agricola's rampart. And Pliny says, "_Alpes Gcrmaniam abItalia 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 bargemenfrom 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 contemporaryauthority. ]

[Footnote 277: Also called Bassianus. His throne name was MarcusAurelius 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 "Noquarter" proclamation of Agamemnon. ('Iliad, ' vi. 57): [Greek: _tonmêtis hupekphugoi aipun olethron_]. ]

[Footnote 282: Dion Cassius, lxxvi. 12. ]

[Footnote 283: See p. 195. ]

[Footnote 284: Aurelius Victor (20) makes him (as Mommsen and othersthink) restore _Antonine's_ rampart: "_vallum per_ xxxii. _passuummillia a mari ad mare_. " But more probably xxxii. Is a misreading forlxxii. ]

[Footnote 285: The very latest spade-work on the Wall (undertaken byMessrs. Haverfield and Bosanquet in 1901) shows that the original walland ditch ran through the midst of the great fortresses of Chestersand Birdoswald, which are now astride, so to speak, of the Wall;pointing to the conclusion that Severus rebuilt and enlarged them. Invarious places along the Wall itself the stones bear traces of mortaron their exterior face, showing that they have been used in someearlier work. ]

[Footnote 286: This is the number _per lineam valli_ given in the'Notitia. ' Only twelve have been certainly identified. They arecommonly 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 ofthis connection between the Tynemouth colliery district and the Wall'send. ]

[Footnote 289: So puzzling is the situation that high authoritieson the subject are found to contend that the work was perfunctorilythrown up, in obedience to mistaken orders issued by the departmentalstupidity of the Roman War Office, that in reality it was nevereither needed or used, and was obsolete from the very outset. But thissuggestion can scarcely be taken as more than an elaborate confessionof inability to solve the _nodus_. ]

[Footnote 290: It should be noted that the "Vallum" is no regularRoman _muris caespitius_ like the Rampart of Antoninus, though traceshave been found here and there along the line of some intention toconstruct such a work (see 'Antiquary, ' 1899, p. 71). ]

[Footnote 291: In more than one place the line of fortificationswerves from its course to sweep round a station. ]

[Footnote 292: Near Cilurnum the fosse was used as a receptacle forshooting the rubbish of the station, and contains Roman pottery ofquite early date. ]

[Footnote 293: See p. 233. ]

[Footnote 294: See p. 232. ]

[Footnote 295: The existing military road along the line of the Walldoes not follow the track of its Roman predecessor. It was constructedafter the rebellion of 1745, when the Scots were able to invadeEngland by Carlisle before our very superior forces at Newcastle couldget 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 vicariousblood-shedding essential to remission must be connected with a NewBaptismal Birth unto Righteousness. The Mithraists carried out thisidea by the highly realistic ceremonies of the _Taurobolium_; thepenitent neophyte standing beneath a grating on which the victimwas slain, and thus being literally bathed in the atoning blood, afterwards being considered as born again [_renatus_]. It thus evolveda real and heartfelt devotion to the Supreme Being, whom, however(unlike Christianity), it was willing to worship under the names ofthe old Pagan Deities; frequently combining their various attributesin joint Personalities of unlimited complexity. One figure has thehead of Jupiter, the rays of Phoebus, and the trident of Neptune;another is furnished with the wings of Cupid, the wand of Mercury, theclub of Hercules, and the spear of Mars; and so forth. Mithraism thusescaped the persecution which the essential exclusiveness of theirFaith drew down upon Christians; gradually transforming by its deeperspirituality the more frigid cults of earlier Paganism, and makingthem its own. The little band of truly noble men and women who in thelatter half of the 4th century made the last stand against the triumphof Christianity over the Roman world were almost all Mithraists. Fora good sketch of this interesting development see Dill, 'Roman Societyin 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 ownson. ]

[Footnote 300: See p. 126. ]

[Footnote 301: The Gelt is a small tributary joining the Irthingshortly before the latter falls into the Eden. ]

[Footnote 302: Polybius (vi. 24) tells us that in the Roman army ofhis day a _vexillum_ or _manipulum_ consisted of 200 men under twocenturions, each of whom had his _optio_. Vegetius (II. 1) confinesthe word _vexillatio_ to the cavalry, but gives no clue as to itsstrength. ]

[Footnote 303: On this inscription see Huebner, C. I. L. Vii. 1. Adrawing will be found in Bruce's 'Handbook to the Wall' (ed. 1895), p. 23. ]

[Footnote 304: The name _Cilurnum_ may be connected with this wealthof water. In modern Welsh _celurn_ = caldron. ]

[Footnote 305: "All hast thou won, all hast thou been. Now be God thewinner. " (These final words are equivocal, in both Latin and English. They might signify, "Now let God be your conqueror, " and "Now, thouconqueror, be God, " _i. E_. "die"; for a Roman Emperor was deified athis 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 everyenfranchised veteran, and were small enough to be carried easily onthe person. Four others, besides that at Cilurnum, have been found inBritain. ]

[Footnote 314: None of the above-mentioned _tabulae_ found are laterthan A. D. 146, which, so far as it goes, supports the contention thatMarcus Aurelius was the real extender of the citizenship; Caracallamerely insisting on the liabilities which every Roman subject hadincurred by his rise to this status. ]

[Footnote 315: See pp. 175, 176. Only those fairly identifiable aregiven; the certain in capitals, the highly probable in ordinarytype, and the reasonably probable in italics. For a full listof Romano-British place-names, see Pearson, 'Historical Maps ofEngland. ']

[Footnote 316: Probus was fond of thus dealing with his captives. Hesettled certain Franks on the Black Sea, where they seized shippingand sailed triumphantly back to the Rhine, raiding on their way theshores of Asia Minor, Greece, and Africa, and even storming Syracuse. They ultimately took service under Carausius. [See Eumenius, Panegyricon Constantius. ] The Vandals he had captured on the Rhine, after theirgreat defeat by Aurelius on the Danube. ]

[Footnote 317: This name may also echo some tradition of barbariansfrom 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 ofthe 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 ofBeowulf. ]

[Footnote 321: Eutropius, ix. 21. ]

[Footnote 322: The Franks of Carausius had already swept that sea (seep. 219). ]

[Footnote 323: Mamertinus, 'Paneg. In Maximian. ']

[Footnote 324: Caesar, originally a mere family name, was adaptedfirst 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 asmythical as other eponymous heroes. Bede calls her a concubine, a slurderived from Eutropius (A. D. 360), who calls the connection _obscuriusmatrimonium_ (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. , ascribesthe recovery of Britain to this officer rather than to the personalefforts of Constantius. The suggestion in the text is an endeavour toreconcile his statement with the earlier panegyrics of Eumenius. ]

[Footnote 330: See p. 59. An inscription found near Cirencesterproves that place to have been in Britannia Prima. It is figuredby Haverfield ('Eng. Hist. Rev. ' July 1896), and runs as follows:_Septimius renovat Primae Provinciae Rector Signum et erectam priscareligione columnam_. This is meant for two hexameter lines, and refersto 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 authorof the 'History of the Britons. ' He states that the tombstone ofConstantius was still to be seen in his day, and gives Mirmantumor Miniamantum as an alternative name for Segontium. Bangor andSilchester 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 nameand emblem were very possibly adapted from the primitive cult of theLabrys, or Double Axe, filtered through Mithraism. The figure is neverfound as a Christian emblem before Constantine, though it appears asa 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, ' § 2. ]

[Footnote 337: Ammianus Marcellinus, 'Hist. ' XX. I. ]

[Footnote 338: Jerome calls her "fertilis tyrannorum provincia. " ['AdCtesiph. ' xliii. ] It is noteworthy that in all ecclesiastical noticesof this period Britain is always spoken of as a single province, inspite of Diocletian's reforms. ]

[Footnote 339: See p. 202. ]

[Footnote 340: These Scotch pirate craft (as it would seem) aredescribed by Vegetius (A. D. 380) as skiffs (_scaphae_), which, thebetter to escape observation, were painted a neutral tint all over, ropes and all, and were thus known as _Picts_. The crews were dressedin the same colour--like our present khaki. These vessels were largeopen boats rowing twenty oars a side, and also used sails. The veryscientifically constructed vessels which have been found in the siltof 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 thathe could bear personal testimony to this. ]

[Footnote 345: See p. 194. ]

[Footnote 346: Marcellinus dwells upon the chopping seas whichusually prevailed in the Straits; and of the rapid tide, which is alsoreferred to by Ausonius (380), "Quum virides algas et rubra corallianudat Aestus, " etc. ]

[Footnote 347: To him is probably due the reconstruction of the"Vallum" as a defence against attacks from the south, such as theScots 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 fledthither in 500, and settled at Dol. Sidonius Apollinaris speaks ofBritons 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 thisto be Shoreham, others Portsmouth, others Aldrington. The remainingposts are less disputed. They were Branodunum (Brancaster), Garianonum(Yarmouth), Othona (Althorne[?] in Essex), Regulbium (Reculver), Rutupiae (Richborough), Lemanni (Lyminge), Dubris (Dover), andAnderida. ]

[Footnote 358: There were six "Counts" altogether in the WesternEmpire, 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 firstcame into use amongst the Imperial insignia under Augustus, and thered dragon is mentioned by Nennius as already the emblem of Britonas opposed to Saxon. The mediaeval Welsh poems speak of the legendaryUther, father of Arthur, as "Pendragon, " equivalent to Head-Prince, ofBritain. ]

[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 havebeen forwarded to Aetius "thrice Consul, " _i. E. _ in 446, on the eve ofthe great struggle with Attila. ]

[Footnote 367: Nennius (xxviii. ) so calls them, and they are commonlysupposed to have been clinker-built like the later Viking ships. ButSidonius 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 wouldbe _Nimap eowre seaxas_. ]

[Footnote 371: A coin of Valentinian was discovered in the Cam valleyin 1890. On the reverse is a Latin Cross surrounded by a laurelwreath. ]

[Footnote 372: _Cymry_ signifies _confederate_, and was the name(quite probably an older racial appellation revived) adopted by theWestern Britons in their resistance to the Saxon advance. ]

[Footnote 373: Arthur is first mentioned (in Nennius and the 'Lifeof Gildas') as a Damnonian "tyrant" (i. E. A popular leader with noconstitutional status), fighting against "the kings of Kent. " Thisnotice must be very early--before the West Saxons came in betweenDevon and the Kentish Jutes. His early date is confirmed by hismythical exploits being located in every Cymric region--Cornwall, Wales, Strathclyde, and even Brittany. ]

[Footnote 374: The ambition of Henry V. For Continental dominion wasundoubtedly thus quickened. ]

[Footnote 375: Procopius, 'De Bello Gothico, ' iv. 20. ]

[Footnote 376: These presumably represent the Saxons, who werenext-door neighbours to the Frisians of Holland. But Mr. Haverfield'slatest (1902) map makes Frisians by name occupy Lothian. ]

[Footnote 377: Ptolemy's map shows how this error arose; Scotland, bysome extraordinary blunder, being therein represented as an _eastward_extension at right angles to England, with the Mull of Galloway as itsnorthernmost point. ]

[Footnote 378: This fable probably arose from the mythical visit ofUlysses (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 andCissa stormed Anderida and slew all that dwelt therein, so that notone 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 theEnglish there was no such extermination, the vanquished Britons beingfellow-Christians. ]

[Footnote 386: For the British survival in the Fenland see my 'Historyof Cambs. , ' III. , § 11. ]

[Footnote 387: Romano-British relics have been found in the VictoriaCave, 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 "thatgreat island opposite Iberia. "]

[Footnote 391: 'Menol. Graec. , ' June 29. A suspiciously similarpassage (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 thehead of St. Paul as well as of St. Peter has always figured on theleaden seal attached to a Papal Bull. ]

[Footnote 394: Tennyson, 'Holy Grail, ' 53. This thorn, a patriarchaltree of vast dimensions, was destroyed during the Reformation. Butmany of its descendants exist about England (propagated fromcuttings brought by pilgrims), and still retain its unique seasonfor flowering. In all other respects they are indistinguishable fromcommon thorns. ]

[Footnote 395: See also William of Malmesbury, 'Hist. Regum, ' § 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 BritannisEdita. "]

[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 housewas bought by Pudens from Aquila and Priscilla, and made a titularchurch 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 composedearly 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 Aaronof Caerleon. These last were already locally canonized in the 9thcentury, as the 'Liber Landavensis' testifies; and the sites of theirrespective 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. Haddanand Stubbs ('Concilia, ' p. 7) suggest _Legionensium_, i. E. Caerleon. ]

[Footnote 414: It is more reasonable to assume this than toimagine, with Mr. French, that these three formed the entire Britishepiscopate. And there is reason to suppose that York, London, andCaerleon were metropolitan sees. ]

[Footnote 415: Canon x. : De his qui conjuges suas in adulteriodeprehendunt, 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 asort of Christian watchword (being, as it were, an epitome of theFaith). The Coronation Oath of our English Kings is still, by ancientprecedent, administered on this passage, _i. E. _ the Book is opened forthe King's kiss at this point. In mediaeval romance we find the wordsconsidered a charm against ghostly foes; and to this day the text isin use as a phylactery amongst the peasantry of Ireland. ]

[Footnote 421: Ep. Xlix. Ad Paulinum. These pilgrimages are alsomentioned 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 itsname from the white rough-casting with which the dark stone walls ofthis church were covered, a strange sight to Pictish eyes, accustomedonly to wooden buildings. ]

[Footnote 425: The practice, now so general, of dedicating a churchto 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 calledafter the saint who first built or used it, or, like St. Alban's, the martyr who suffered on the spot. Besides Whithern, the church ofCanterbury was dedicated about this time to St. Martin, showing theclose 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 theOberland by spreading his mantle to the steady breeze which blowsdown the lake by night and up it during the day. The name of Justus ispreserved in the Justis-thal near Merlingen. ]

[Footnote 427: This name is merely the familiar Welsh _Morgan_, whichsignifies _sea-born_, done into Greek. ]

[Footnote 428: See Orosius, 'De Arbit. Lib. , ' and other authorities inHaddan and Stubbs. ]

[Footnote 429: Sidonius, Ep. Ix. 3. ]

[Footnote 430: Constantius, the biographer of Germanus, says they weresent by a Council of Gallican Bishops; but Prosper of Aquitaine (whowas in Rome at the time) declares they were commissioned by PopeCelestine. Both statements are probably true. ]

[Footnote 431: The lives of Germanus, Patrick, and Ninias will befound 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 Romanmaterial. The tower of St. Albans is a notable example, and that ofStoke-by-Nayland, near Colchester. At Lyminge, near Folkestone, somuch of the church is thus constructed that many antiquaries havebelieved 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, nearCirencester, stones bearing the Sacred Monogram have been foundamongst 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, incertain minutiae of the Mass, in making Wednesday as well as Friday aweekly fast, in the shape of the sacerdotal tonsure, in the Kalendar(especially with regard to the calculation of Easter), and in therecitation of the Psalter. From Canon XVI. Of the Council of Cloveshoo(749) it appears that the observance of the Rogation Days constitutedanother difference. ]

[Footnote 438: The Mission of St. Columba the Irishman to Britain wasa direct result of the Mission of St. Patrick the Briton to Ireland. ]

[Footnote 439: Magna Charta opens with the words _Ecclesia Anglicanalibera sit_; and the Barons who won it called themselves "The Army ofthe Church. "]