Читать книгу The Leading Facts of English History - D. H. Montgomery - Страница 8

16. Europe shortly before Caesar's Invasion of Britain.

Before considering the Roman invasion of Britain let us take a glance at the condition of Europe. We have seen that the tribes (S2) of Britain, like those of Gaul (France), were not mere savages. On the contrary, we know that they had taken more than one important step in the path of progress; still the advance should not be overrated, for north of the shores of the Mediterranean there was no real civilization.

[1] Reference Books on this Period will be found in the Classified List of Books in the Appendix. The pronunciation of names will be found in the Index. The Leading Dates stand unenclosed; all others are in parentheses.

17. Caesar's Campaigns.

Such was the state of Europe when Julius Caesar, who was governor of Gaul, but who aspired to be ruler of the world, set out on his first campaign against the tribes north of the Alps (58 B.C.).

In undertaking the war he had three objects in view: First, he wished to crush the power of those restless hordes that threatened the safety of the Roman Republic. Next, he sought military fame in the hope that it would make him supreme ruler of that Republic. Lastly, he wanted money to maintain his army and to bribe the party leaders of Rome to help him carry out his political plans. To this end he compelled every tribe which he conquered to pay him tribute in cash or slaves.

18. Caesar reaches Boulogne and crosses over to Britain, 55 B.C.

In three years Caesar had subjugated the enemy in a succession of victories, and a great part of Europe lay helpless at his feet. Late in the summer of 55 B.C. he reached Boulogne on the coast of Gaul. Standing there, he could see the gleaming chalk cliffs of Britain, so vividly described in Shakespeare's "King Lear."[1]

[1] Shakespeare's "King Lear," Act IV, scene vi.

While encamped on the shore he "resolved," he says, "to pass over into Britain, having had trustworthy information that in all his wars with the Gauls the enemies of the Roman commonwealth had constantly received help from thence."[2]

[2] Caesar's "Gallic War," Book IV.

Embarking with a force of between eight and ten thousand men[3] in eighty small vessels, Caesar crossed the Channel and landed not far from Dover, where he overcame the Britons (S2), who made a desperate resistance. After a stay of a few weeks, during which he did not leave the coast, he returned to Gaul.

[3] Caesar probably sailed about the 25th of August, 55 B.C. His force consisted of two legions, the 7th and 10th. A legion varied at different times from 3000 foot and 200 horse soldiers to 6000 foot and 400 horse.

19. Caesar's Second Invasion of Britain.

The next year (54 B.C.), a little earlier in the season, Caesar made a second invasion with a much larger force, and penetrated the country a short distance north of the Thames. Before the September gales set in, he reembarked for the Continent, never to return.

The total results of his two expeditions were a number of natives carried as hostages to Rome, a long train of captives destined to be sold in the slave markets, and some promises of tribute which the Britons never fulfilled. Tacitus, the Roman historian, says Caesar "did not conquer Britain; he only showed it to the Romans."

20. The Third Invasion of Britain by the Romans, 43 A.D.

For nearly a hundred years the Romans made no further attempt on Britain, but in 43 A.D. the Emperor Claudius invaded the island. After nine years' fighting, he overcame Caractacus, the leader of the Britons, and carried him in chains to Rome. The brave chief refused to beg for life or liberty. "Can it be possible," said he, as he was led through the streets, "that men who live in such places as these envy us our wretched hovels!" "It was the dignity of the man, even in ruins," says the Roman historian, "which saved him." The Emperor, struck with his bearing and his speech, ordered him to be set free.

21. The Romans plant a Colony in Britain, Llyn-din.

Meanwhile the armies of the Empire had established a strong colony at

Colchester in the southeast of Britain. (See map facing p. 14.)

There they built a temple and set up the statue of the Emperor

Claudius, which the soldiers worshiped, both as a protecting god and

as the representative of the Roman Empire.

The army had also conquered other places. One of these was a little native settlement on a bend in the Thames where the river broadened slightly. It consisted of a few miserable huts and a row of intrenched cattle pens. It was called in the British tongue Llyn-din or the Fort-on-the-pool. This name, which was pronounced with difficulty by Roman lips, eventually became known wherever ships sail, trade reaches, or history is read—London.

22. Expedition against the Druids.

But in order to complete the conquest of the country, the Roman generals resolved to crush the power of the Druids (S3), since these priests exhorted the Britons to refuse to surrender. The island of Anglesey, off the northwest coast of Wales, was the stronghold to which the Druids had retreated. (See map facing p. 14.) As the Roman soldiers approached to attack them, they beheld the priests and women standing on the shore, with uplifted hands, uttering "dreadful prayers and imprecations."

For a moment the Roman troops hesitated; then they rushed upon the Druids, cut them to pieces, and cast their bodies into their own sacred fires. From this blow Druidism as an organized faith never recovered, though traces of its religious rites still survive in the use of the mistletoe at Christman and in May-day festivals.

23. Revolt of Boadicea (61).

Still the power of the Latin legions was only partly established, for while the Roman general was absent with his troops at Anglesey, a formidable revolt had broken out in the east. A British chief, in order to secure half of his property to his family at his death, left it to be equally divided between his daughters and the Emperor. The governor of the district, under the pretext that Boadicea, the widow of the dead chief, had concealed part of the property, seized the whole of it.

Boadicea protested. To punish her presumption, the Romans stripped and scourged her, and inflicted still more brutal and infamous treatment on her daughters. Maddened by these outrages, Boadicea appealed to her countrymen for vengeance. The enraged Britons fell upon London, and other places held by the Romans, burned them to the ground, and slaughtered many thousand inhabitants. But in the end Roman forced gained the victory, and Boadicea took her own life rather than fall into the hands of her conqueror.

The "warrior queen" died, let us trust, as the poet has represented, animated by the prophecy of the Druid priest that—

"Rome shall perish—write that word

In the blood that she has spilt;—

Perish, hopeless and abhorred,

Deep in ruin, as in guilt." [1]

[1] Cowper's "Boadicea."

24. Christianity introduced into Britain.

Perhaps it was not long after this that Christianity made its way to Britain; if so, it crept in so silently that nothing certain can be learned of its advent. The first church, it is said, was built at Glastonbury, in the southeast of the island. (See map facing p. 38.) It was a long, shedlike structure of wickerwork. "Here," says an old writer,[1] "the converts watched, fasted, preached, and prayed, having high meditations under a low roof and large hearts within narrow walls."

[1] Thomas Fuller's "Church History of Britain."

At first no notice was taken of the new religion. It was the faith of the poor and the obscure, and the Roman generals treated it with contempt; but as it continued to spread, it caused alarm.

The Roman Emperor was not only the head of the state, but the head of religion as well. He represented the power of God on earth: to him every knee must bow (S21). But the Christians refused this homage. They put Christ first; for that reason they were dagerous to the state, and were looked—[SECTION MISSING]—rebels, or as men likely to become so.

25. Persecution of British Christians; [SECTION MISSING] ________________ last of the third century the Roman Emperor / \ root out this pernicious belief. The first | | He refused to sacrifice to the Roman | | | | But the ancient historian[2] says, with | SECTION | executioner who struck "the wicked stroke | MISSING | rejoice over the deed, for his eyes dropped | | together with the blessed martyr's head | | later the magnificent abbey of St. Albans | | commemorate him who had fallen there. \________________/

[2] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of Britain," completed about the year 731. [3] St. Albans: twenty miles northwest of London. (See map facing p. 16.)

26. Agricola builds a Line of Forts (7 [END OF LINE MISSING]

When Agricola, a wise and equitable Roman ruler, became governor of Britain he explored the coast, and first discovered Britain to be an island. He gradually extended the limits of the government, and, in order to prevent invasion from the north, he built a line of forts (completed by Antoninus) across Scotland, from the mouth of the river Forth to the Clyde. (See map facing p. 14.)

From this date the power of Rome was finally fixed. During the three hundred years which followed, the surface of the country underwent a change. The Romans cut down forests, drained marshes, reclaimed waste land, and bridged rivers. Furthermore they made the soil so productive that Britain became known in Rome as the most important grain-producing and grain-exporting province in the Empire.

27. Roman Cities; London; York.

Where the Britons had once had a humble village enclosed by a ditch and protected by a stockade, the Romans built the cities of Chester, Lincoln, London, York, and other towns, protected by massive walls and towers of stone. These places have continued to be centers of population ever since.

London early became the Roman commercial metropolis, while the city of York in the north was made the military and civil capital of the country. (See map facing p. 14). There the Sixth Legion was stationed. It was the most noted body of troops in the Roman army, and was called the "Victorious Legion." It remained there for upwards of three centuries. There, too, the governor resided and administered justice. For these reasons York got the name of "another Rome."

The city had numerous temples and public buildings, such as befitted the Roman capital of Britain. There an event occurred in the fourth century which made an indelible mark on the history of mankind. Constantine, the subsequent founder of Constantinople, was proclaimed Emperor at York, and through his influence Christianity became the established religion of the entire Roman Empire.[1]

[1] Constantine was the first Christian Emperor of Rome. The preceding emperors had generally persecuted the Christians.

28. Roman System of Government; Roads.

During the Roman possession of Britain the country was differently governed at different periods, but eventually it was divided into five provinces. These were intersected by a magnificent system of paved roads running in direct lines from city to city, and having London as a common center. (See map facing p. 14.)

Over these road bodies of troops could march rapidly to any required point. By them, and by similar roads, leading through France, Spain, and Italy, officers of state, mounted on relays of fleet horses, could pass from one end of the Empire to the other in a few days' time. (See map below, and that facing p. 14.)

So skillfully and substantially were these highways constructed, that modern engineers have been glad to adopt them as a basis for their work. The four chief Roman roads[1] continue to be the foundation, not only of numerous turnpikes in different parts of England, but also of several of the great railway lines, especially those from London to Chester and from London to York.

[1] The four chief roads were: (1) Watling Street; (2) Icknield Street; (3) Irmin Street; and (4) The Fosse Way. (See map facing p. 14.)

29. Roman Forts and Walls Defenses against Saxon Pirates.

Next in importance to the roads were the fortifications. In addition to those which Agricola had built (S26), either Hadrian or Severus constructed a wall of solid masonry across the country from the shore of the North Sea to the Irish Sea. This wall, which was about seventy-five miles south of Agricola's work, was strengthened by a deep ditch and a rampart of earth. (See map facing p. 14.)

It was furthur defended by square stone castles built at regular intervals of one mile. Between them were stone watchtowers, used as sentry boxes; while at every fourth mile there was a stone fort, covering several acres and occupied by a large body of troops.

But the northern tribes were not the only ones to be guarded against; bands of pirates prowled along the east and south coasts, burning, plundering, and kidnaping. These marauders came from Denmark and the adjacent countries (S37).

The Britons and Romans called them Saxons, a most significant name if it refers to the stout sharp knives which made them a terror to every land on which they set foot. To repel them, the Romans built a strong chain of forts along the coast, extending from the Wash on the North Sea to the Isle of Wight on the south. (See map facing p. 14.)

The greater part of these Roman walls, fortifications, and cities have perished. But those which remain justify the statement that "outside of England no such monuments exist of the power and military genius of Rome."

30. Wherein Roman Civilization fell Short.

But this splendid fabric of Roman power signally failed to win the support of the majority of the Britons. Civilization, like truth, cannot be forced on minds unwilling or unable to receive it. Least of all can it be forced by the sword's point and the taskmaster's lash.

In order to render his victories on the Continent (S17) secure, Caesar butchered thousands of prisoners of war, or cut off the right hands of the entire population of large settlements to prevent them from rising in revolt.

The policy pursued in Britain, though very different, was equally heartless and equally fatal. There were rulers who endeavored to act justly, but such cases were rare. One of the leaders of the North Britons said, "The Romans give the lying name of Empire to robbery and slaughter; they make a desert and call it peace."

31. The Mass of the Native Population Slaves; Roman Villas.

It is true that the chief cities of Britain were exempt from oppression. They elected their own magistrates and made their own laws. But they enjoyed this liberty because their inhabitants were either Roman soldiers or their allies, or Romanized Britons.

Outside these cities the great mass of the native Britons were bound to the soil and could not leave it, while a large proportion were absolute slaves. Their work was in the brickyards, the quarries, the mines, or in the fields or forests.

The Roman masters of these people lived in stately villas adorned with pavements of different-colored marbles and beautifully painted walls. These country houses, often as large as palaces, were warmed in winter, like our modern dwellings, with currents of heated air. In summer they opened on terraces ornamented with vases and statuary, and on spacious gardens of fruits and flowers.[1] On the other hand, the laborers on these great estates lived in wretched cabins plastered with mud and thatched with straw.

[1] More than a hundred of these villas or country houses, chiefly in the south and southwest of England, have been exhumed. Some of them cover several acres.

32. Roman Taxation and Cruelty.

But if the condition of the British servile classes was hard, many who were free were but little better off, for nearly all that they could earn was swallowed up in taxes. The standing army of Britain, which the people of the country had to support, rarely numbered less than forty thousand. Great numbers of Britons were forced into the ranks, but most of them appear to have been sent away to serve abroad. Their life was one of perpetual exile. In order to meet the civil and military expenses entailed upon him, every farmer had to pay a third of all that his farm could produce, in taxes. Furthermore, he had to pay duty on every article that he sold, last of all, he was obliged to pay a duty or poll tax on his own head.

On the Continent there was a saying that it was better for a property owner to fall into the hands of savages than into those of the Roman assessors. When they went round, they counted not only every ox and sheep, but every plant, and registered them as well as the owners. "One heard nothing," says a writer of that time, speaking of the days when revenue was collected, "but the sound of flogging and all kinds of torture. The son was compelled to inform against the father, men were forced to give evidence against themselves, and were assessed according to the confession they made to escape torment."[1]

[1] Lactantius, cited in Elton's "Origins of English History," p. 334. It should be noted, however, that Professor C. Oman in his "England before the Norman Conquest," pp. 175–176, takes a moer favorable view of the condition of Britain under the Romans than that which most authorities maintain.

So great was the misery of the land that sometimes parents destroyed their children, rather than let them grow up to a life of suffering. This vast system of organized oppression, like all tyranny, "was not so much an institution as a destitution," undermining and impoverishing the country. It lasted until time brought its revenge, and Rome, which had crushed so many nations of barbarians, was in her turn threatened with a like fate, by bands of northern barbarians stronger than herself.

33. The Romans compelled to abandon Britain, 410.

When Caesar returned from his victorious campaigns in Gaul in the first century B.C., Cicero exultantly exclaimed, "Now let the Alps sink! the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians; they are no longer needed." For nearly five centuries that continued true; then the tribes of northern Europe could no longer be held back. When the Roman emperors saw that the crisis had arrived, they recalled their troops from Britain in 410 The rest of the Roman colonists soon followed.

At this time we find this brief but expressive entry in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (SS46, 99): "After this the Romans never ruled in Britain." A few years later this entry occurs: "418. This year the Romans collected all the treasures in Britain; some they hid in the earth, so that no one since has been able to find them, and some they carried with them into Gaul."

34. Remains of Roman Civilization.

In the course of the next three generations the political and social elements of Roman civilization in Britain seem to have disappeared. A few words, such as "port" and "street," which may or may not have been derived from the Latin, have come down to us. But there was nothing left, of which we can speak with absolute certainty, save the material shell—the walls, roads, forts, villas, arches, gateways, altars, and tombs, whose ruins are still seen scattered throughout the land.

The soil, also, is full of relics of the same kind. Twenty feet below the surface of the London of to-day lie the remains of the London of the Romans. In digging in the "City,"[1] the laborer's shovel every now and then brings to light pieces of carved stone with Latin inscriptions, bits of rusted armor, broken swords, fragments of statuary, and gold and silver ornaments.

[1] The "City": This is the name given to that part of central London, about a mile square, which was formerly enclosed by Roman walls. It contains the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and other very important business buildings. Its limit on the west is the site of Temple Bar; on the east, the Tower of London.

So, likewise, several towns, long buried in the earth, and the foundations of upwards of a hundred country houses have been discovered; but these seem to be about all. If Rome left any traces of her literature, law, and methods of government, they are