Читать книгу Great Britain: geography, politics, culture - Л. А. Ласица - Страница 11

To defend their province the Romans placed their legions in Britain. Straight roads were built so that the legions might march quickly, whenever they were needed, to any part of the country. These roads were made so well that they lasted a long time and still exist today. Bridges of stone were constructed wherever a road crossed a river. Besides, to guard the province against the Picts and Scots who lived in the hills of Scotland, a high ‘Hadrian’s Wall’ with forts was built in the North.

The civilized Romans were city dwellers, and as soon as they had conquered Britain they began to build towns, splendid villas, public baths as in Rome itself. Every Roman town had a drainage system and a good supply of pure water. Great tracts of forests were cleared, swamps were drained, and cornfields took their place.

But together with a high civilization the Romans brought exploitation and slavery to the British Isles. Rich Romans had villas in the country with large estates, which were worked by slaves. Prisoners of war were sent to the slave-market in the Roman Empire. The Romans made the free Celts clean forests, drain swamps, build roads, bridges and walls for defence. The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They lived in rich houses and spoke Latin, the language of the Romans. But ordinary Celts lived in their tiny huts, they spoke their native Celtic tongue and they didn't understand the language of their rulers.

The Romans remained in Britain for about four centuries and during that time Britain was a Roman province, governed by Roman governors and protected by Roman legions.

In the 4^th century the uninterrupted struggle of slaves against their owners greatly weakened the Roman Empire. Early in the 5^th century the Roman legions were recalled from Britain to defend the central provinces of the Roman Empire from the attacks of the barbarian Germanic tribes. They never returned to Britain.

Though the Romans lived for four centuries in Britain, their language didn’t influence the English language. There are only several place names of Roman origin: Chester, Lancaster, Gloucester, which are variant of the Roman word castra (a military camp).