CHAPTER I--ANCIENT ENGLAND AND THE ROMANS
If you look at a Map of the World, you will see, in the left-hand uppercorner of the Eastern Hemisphere, two Islands lying in the sea. They areEngland and Scotland, and Ireland. England and Scotland form the greaterpart of these Islands. Ireland is the next in size. The littleneighbouring islands, which are so small upon the Map as to be mere dots,are chiefly little bits of Scotland,--broken off, I dare say, in thecourse of a great length of time, by the power of the restless water.
In the old days, a long, long while ago, before Our Saviour was born onearth and lay asleep in a manger, these Islands were in the same place,and the stormy sea roared round them, just as it roars now. But the seawas not alive, then, with great ships and brave sailors, sailing to andfrom all parts of the world. It was very lonely. The Islands laysolitary, in the great expanse of water. The foaming waves dashedagainst their cliffs, and the bleak winds blew over their forests; butthe winds and waves brought no adventurers to land upon the Islands, andthe savage Islanders knew nothing of the rest of the world, and the restof the world knew nothing of them.
It is supposed that the Phoenicians, who were an ancient people, famousfor carrying on trade, came in ships to these Islands, and found thatthey produced tin and lead; both very useful things, as you know, andboth produced to this very hour upon the sea-coast. The most celebratedtin mines in Cornwall are, still, close to the sea. One of them, which Ihave seen, is so close to it that it is hollowed out underneath theocean; and the miners say, that in stormy weather, when they are at workdown in that deep place, they can hear the noise of the waves thunderingabove their heads. So, the Phoenicians, coasting about the Islands,would come, without much difficulty, to where the tin and lead were.
The Phoenicians traded with the Islanders for these metals, and gave theIslanders some other useful things in exchange. The Islanders were, atfirst, poor savages, going almost naked, or only dressed in the roughskins of beasts, and staining their bodies, as other savages do, withcoloured earths and the juices of plants. But the Phoenicians, sailingover to the opposite coasts of France and Belgium, and saying to thepeople there, 'We have been to those white cliffs across the water, whichyou can see in fine weather, and from that country, which is calledBRITAIN, we bring this tin and lead,' tempted some of the French andBelgians to come over also. These people settled themselves on the southcoast of England, which is now called Kent; and, although they were arough people too, they taught the savage Britons some useful arts, andimproved that part of the Islands. It is probable that other people cameover from Spain to Ireland, and settled there.
Thus, by little and little, strangers became mixed with the Islanders,and the savage Britons grew into a wild, bold people; almost savage,still, especially in the interior of the country away from the sea wherethe foreign settlers seldom went; but hardy, brave, and strong.
The whole country was covered with forests, and swamps. The greater partof it was very misty and cold. There were no roads, no bridges, nostreets, no houses that you would think deserving of the name. A townwas nothing but a collection of straw-covered huts, hidden in a thickwood, with a ditch all round, and a low wall, made of mud, or the trunksof trees placed one upon another. The people planted little or no corn,but lived upon the flesh of their flocks and cattle. They made no coins,but used metal rings for money. They were clever in basket-work, assavage people often are; and they could make a coarse kind of cloth, andsome very bad earthenware. But in building fortresses they were muchmore clever.
They made boats of basket-work, covered with the skins of animals, butseldom, if ever, ventured far from the shore. They made swords, ofcopper mixed with tin; but, these swords were of an awkward shape, and sosoft that a heavy blow would bend one. They made light shields, shortpointed daggers, and spears--which they jerked back after they had thrownthem at an enemy, by a long strip of leather fastened to the stem. Thebutt-end was a rattle, to frighten an enemy's horse. The ancientBritons, being divided into as many as thirty or forty tribes, eachcommanded by its own little king, were constantly fighting with oneanother, as savage people usually do; and they always fought with theseweapons.
They were very fond of horses. The standard of Kent was the picture of awhite horse. They could break them in and manage them wonderfully well.Indeed, the horses (of which they had an abundance, though they wererather small) were so well taught in those days, that they can scarcelybe said to have improved since; though the men are so much wiser. Theyunderstood, and obeyed, every word of command; and would stand still bythemselves, in all the din and noise of battle, while their masters wentto fight on foot. The Britons could not have succeeded in their mostremarkable art, without the aid of these sensible and trusty animals. Theart I mean, is the construction and management of war-chariots or cars,for which they have ever been celebrated in history. Each of the bestsort of these chariots, not quite breast high in front, and open at theback, contained one man to drive, and two or three others to fight--allstanding up. The horses who drew them were so well trained, that theywould tear, at full gallop, over the most stony ways, and even throughthe woods; dashing down their masters' enemies beneath their hoofs, andcutting them to pieces with the blades of swords, or scythes, which werefastened to the wheels, and stretched out beyond the car on each side,for that cruel purpose. In a moment, while at full speed, the horseswould stop, at the driver's command. The men within would leap out, dealblows about them with their swords like hail, leap on the horses, on thepole, spring back into the chariots anyhow; and, as soon as they weresafe, the horses tore away again.
The Britons had a strange and terrible religion, called the Religion ofthe Druids. It seems to have been brought over, in very early timesindeed, from the opposite country of France, anciently called Gaul, andto have mixed up the worship of the Serpent, and of the Sun and Moon,with the worship of some of the Heathen Gods and Goddesses. Most of itsceremonies were kept secret by the priests, the Druids, who pretended tobe enchanters, and who carried magicians' wands, and wore, each of them,about his neck, what he told the ignorant people was a Serpent's egg in agolden case. But it is certain that the Druidical ceremonies includedthe sacrifice of human victims, the torture of some suspected criminals,and, on particular occasions, even the burning alive, in immense wickercages, of a number of men and animals together. The Druid Priests hadsome kind of veneration for the Oak, and for the mistletoe--the sameplant that we hang up in houses at Christmas Time now--when its whiteberries grew upon the Oak. They met together in dark woods, which theycalled Sacred Groves; and there they instructed, in their mysteriousarts, young men who came to them as pupils, and who sometimes stayed withthem as long as twenty years.
These Druids built great Temples and altars, open to the sky, fragmentsof some of which are yet remaining. Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, inWiltshire, is the most extraordinary of these. Three curious stones,called Kits Coty House, on Bluebell Hill, near Maidstone, in Kent, formanother. We know, from examination of the great blocks of which suchbuildings are made, that they could not have been raised without the aidof some ingenious machines, which are common now, but which the ancientBritons certainly did not use in making their own uncomfortable houses. Ishould not wonder if the Druids, and their pupils who stayed with themtwenty years, knowing more than the rest of the Britons, kept the peopleout of sight while they made these buildings, and then pretended thatthey built them by magic. Perhaps they had a hand in the fortresses too;at all events, as they were very powerful, and very much believed in, andas they made and executed the laws, and paid no taxes, I don't wonderthat they liked their trade. And, as they persuaded the people the moreDruids there were, the better off the people would be, I don't wonderthat there were a good many of them. But it is pleasant to think thatthere are no Druids, _now_, who go on in that way, and pretend to carryEnchanters' Wands and Serpents' Eggs--and of course there is nothing ofthe kind, anywhere.
Such was the improved condition of the ancient Britons, fifty-five yearsbefore the birth of Our Saviour, when the Romans, under their greatGeneral, Julius Caesar, were masters of all the rest of the known world.Julius Caesar had then just conquered Gaul; and hearing, in Gaul, a gooddeal about the opposite Island with the white cliffs, and about thebravery of the Britons who inhabited it--some of whom had been fetchedover to help the Gauls in the war against him--he resolved, as he was sonear, to come and conquer Britain next.
So, Julius Caesar came sailing over to this Island of ours, with eightyvessels and twelve thousand men. And he came from the French coastbetween Calais and Boulogne, 'because thence was the shortest passageinto Britain;' just for the same reason as our steam-boats now take thesame track, every day. He expected to conquer Britain easily: but it wasnot such easy work as he supposed--for the bold Britons fought mostbravely; and, what with not having his horse-soldiers with him (for theyhad been driven back by a storm), and what with having some of hisvessels dashed to pieces by a high tide after they were drawn ashore, heran great risk of being totally defeated. However, for once that thebold Britons beat him, he beat them twice; though not so soundly but thathe was very glad to accept their proposals of peace, and go away.
But, in the spring of the next year, he came back; this time, with eighthundred vessels and thirty thousand men. The British tribes chose, astheir general-in-chief, a Briton, whom the Romans in their Latin languagecalled CASSIVELLAUNUS, but whose British name is supposed to have beenCASWALLON. A brave general he was, and well he and his soldiers foughtthe Roman army! So well, that whenever in that war the Roman soldierssaw a great cloud of dust, and heard the rattle of the rapid Britishchariots, they trembled in their hearts. Besides a number of smallerbattles, there was a battle fought near Canterbury, in Kent; there was abattle fought near Chertsey, in Surrey; there was a battle fought near amarshy little town in a wood, the capital of that part of Britain whichbelonged to CASSIVELLAUNUS, and which was probably near what is now SaintAlbans, in Hertfordshire. However, brave CASSIVELLAUNUS had the worst ofit, on the whole; though he and his men always fought like lions. As theother British chiefs were jealous of him, and were always quarrellingwith him, and with one another, he gave up, and proposed peace. JuliusCaesar was very glad to grant peace easily, and to go away again with allhis remaining ships and men. He had expected to find pearls in Britain,and he may have found a few for anything I know; but, at all events, hefound delicious oysters, and I am sure he found tough Britons--of whom, Idare say, he made the same complaint as Napoleon Bonaparte the greatFrench General did, eighteen hundred years afterwards, when he said theywere such unreasonable fellows that they never knew when they werebeaten. They never _did_ know, I believe, and never will.
Nearly a hundred years passed on, and all that time, there was peace inBritain. The Britons improved their towns and mode of life: became morecivilised, travelled, and learnt a great deal from the Gauls and Romans.At last, the Roman Emperor, Claudius, sent AULUS PLAUTIUS, a skilfulgeneral, with a mighty force, to subdue the Island, and shortlyafterwards arrived himself. They did little; and OSTORIUS SCAPULA,another general, came. Some of the British Chiefs of Tribes submitted.Others resolved to fight to the death. Of these brave men, the bravestwas CARACTACUS, or CARADOC, who gave battle to the Romans, with his army,among the mountains of North Wales. 'This day,' said he to his soldiers,'decides the fate of Britain! Your liberty, or your eternal slavery,dates from this hour. Remember your brave ancestors, who drove the greatCaesar himself across the sea!' On hearing these words, his men, with agreat shout, rushed upon the Romans. But the strong Roman swords andarmour were too much for the weaker British weapons in close conflict.The Britons lost the day. The wife and daughter of the brave CARACTACUSwere taken prisoners; his brothers delivered themselves up; he himselfwas betrayed into the hands of the Romans by his false and basestepmother: and they carried him, and all his family, in triumph to Rome.
But a great man will be great in misfortune, great in prison, great inchains. His noble air, and dignified endurance of distress, so touchedthe Roman people who thronged the streets to see him, that he and hisfamily were restored to freedom. No one knows whether his great heartbroke, and he died in Rome, or whether he ever returned to his own dearcountry. English oaks have grown up from acorns, and withered away, whenthey were hundreds of years old--and other oaks have sprung up in theirplaces, and died too, very aged--since the rest of the history of thebrave CARACTACUS was forgotten.
Still, the Britons _would not_ yield. They rose again and again, anddied by thousands, sword in hand. They rose, on every possible occasion.SUETONIUS, another Roman general, came, and stormed the Island ofAnglesey (then called MONA), which was supposed to be sacred, and heburnt the Druids in their own wicker cages, by their own fires. But,even while he was in Britain, with his victorious troops, the BRITONSrose. Because BOADICEA, a British queen, the widow of the King of theNorfolk and Suffolk people, resisted the plundering of her property bythe Romans who were settled in England, she was scourged, by order ofCATUS a Roman officer; and her two daughters were shamefully insulted inher presence, and her husband's relations were made slaves. To avengethis injury, the Britons rose, with all their might and rage. They droveCATUS into Gaul; they laid the Roman possessions waste; they forced theRomans out of London, then a poor little town, but a trading place; theyhanged, burnt, crucified, and slew by the sword, seventy thousand Romansin a few days. SUETONIUS strengthened his army, and advanced to givethem battle. They strengthened their army, and desperately attacked his,on the field where it was strongly posted. Before the first charge ofthe Britons was made, BOADICEA, in a war-chariot, with her fair hairstreaming in the wind, and her injured daughters lying at her feet, droveamong the troops, and cried to them for vengeance on their oppressors,the licentious Romans. The Britons fought to the last; but they werevanquished with great slaughter, and the unhappy queen took poison.
Still, the spirit of the Britons was not broken. When SUETONIUS left thecountry, they fell upon his troops, and retook the Island of Anglesey.AGRICOLA came, fifteen or twenty years afterwards, and retook it oncemore, and devoted seven years to subduing the country, especially thatpart of it which is now called SCOTLAND; but, its people, theCaledonians, resisted him at every inch of ground. They fought thebloodiest battles with him; they killed their very wives and children, toprevent his making prisoners of them; they fell, fighting, in such greatnumbers that certain hills in Scotland are yet supposed to be vast heapsof stones piled up above their graves. HADRIAN came, thirty yearsafterwards, and still they resisted him. SEVERUS came, nearly a hundredyears afterwards, and they worried his great army like dogs, and rejoicedto see them die, by thousands, in the bogs and swamps. CARACALLA, theson and successor of SEVERUS, did the most to conquer them, for a time;but not by force of arms. He knew how little that would do. He yieldedup a quantity of land to the Caledonians, and gave the Britons the sameprivileges as the Romans possessed. There was peace, after this, forseventy years.
Then new enemies arose. They were the Saxons, a fierce, sea-faringpeople from the countries to the North of the Rhine, the great river ofGermany on the banks of which the best grapes grow to make the Germanwine. They began to come, in pirate ships, to the sea-coast of Gaul andBritain, and to plunder them. They were repulsed by CARAUSIUS, a nativeeither of Belgium or of Britain, who was appointed by the Romans to thecommand, and under whom the Britons first began to fight upon the sea.But, after this time, they renewed their ravages. A few years more, andthe Scots (which was then the name for the people of Ireland), and thePicts, a northern people, began to make frequent plundering incursionsinto the South of Britain. All these attacks were repeated, atintervals, during two hundred years, and through a long succession ofRoman Emperors and chiefs; during all which length of time, the Britonsrose against the Romans, over and over again. At last, in the days ofthe Roman HONORIUS, when the Roman power all over the world was fastdeclining, and when Rome wanted all her soldiers at home, the Romansabandoned all hope of conquering Britain, and went away. And still, atlast, as at first, the Britons rose against them, in their old bravemanner; for, a very little while before, they had turned away the Romanmagistrates, and declared themselves an independent people.
Five hundred years had passed, since Julius Caesar's first invasion ofthe Island, when the Romans departed from it for ever. In the course ofthat time, although they had been the cause of terrible fighting andbloodshed, they had done much to improve the condition of the Britons.They had made great military roads; they had built forts; they had taughtthem how to dress, and arm themselves, much better than they had everknown how to do before; they had refined the whole British way of living.AGRICOLA had built a great wall of earth, more than seventy miles long,extending from Newcastle to beyond Carlisle, for the purpose of keepingout the Picts and Scots; HADRIAN had strengthened it; SEVERUS, finding itmuch in want of repair, had built it afresh of stone.
Above all, it was in the Roman time, and by means of Roman ships, thatthe Christian Religion was first brought into Britain, and its peoplefirst taught the great lesson that, to be good in the sight of GOD, theymust love their neighbours as themselves, and do unto others as theywould be done by. The Druids declared that it was very wicked to believein any such thing, and cursed all the people who did believe it, veryheartily. But, when the people found that they were none the better forthe blessings of the Druids, and none the worse for the curses of theDruids, but, that the sun shone and the rain fell without consulting theDruids at all, they just began to think that the Druids were mere men,and that it signified very little whether they cursed or blessed. Afterwhich, the pupils of the Druids fell off greatly in numbers, and theDruids took to other trades.
Thus I have come to the end of the Roman time in England. It is butlittle that is known of those five hundred years; but some remains ofthem are still found. Often, when labourers are digging up the ground,to make foundations for houses or churches, they light on rusty moneythat once belonged to the Romans. Fragments of plates from which theyate, of goblets from which they drank, and of pavement on which theytrod, are discovered among the earth that is broken by the plough, or thedust that is crumbled by the gardener's spade. Wells that the Romanssunk, still yield water; roads that the Romans made, form part of ourhighways. In some old battle-fields, British spear-heads and Romanarmour have been found, mingled together in decay, as they fell in thethick pressure of the fight. Traces of Roman camps overgrown with grass,and of mounds that are the burial-places of heaps of Britons, are to beseen in almost all parts of the country. Across the bleak moors ofNorthumberland, the wall of SEVERUS, overrun with moss and weeds, stillstretches, a strong ruin; and the shepherds and their dogs lie sleepingon it in the summer weather. On Salisbury Plain, Stonehenge yet stands:a monument of the earlier time when the Roman name was unknown inBritain, and when the Druids, with their best magic wands, could not havewritten it in the sands of the wild sea-shore.