THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN.
[Illustration: LANDING OF JULIUS CÆSAR.]
1. The Romans, about the time of the birth of Christ, were the
richest, the most powerful, and the cleverest people in the world.
Rome was a grand city, and there were many other fine cities in Italy
belonging to the Romans, who knew how to build handsome houses, and
make beautiful gardens, besides being excellent farmers.
2. They had elegant furniture, and pictures, and marble statues; and
they were well educated, and wrote a great number of books in Latin,
for that was their language, and many of those books are used in our
schools to this day.
3. They had large armies, and had conquered a great many countries,
when Julius Cæsar, a great Roman General, brought an army to Britain,
about fifty years before the birth of our Saviour, to try to conquer
the Britons also; but thousands of British warriors went down to
the sea shore, by Dover cliffs, to fight the Romans as soon as they
landed; and they took a great many war chariots with them, and fought
so bravely, that after two or three battles, Cæsar offered to make
peace with them, and go away, if their princes would pay tribute to
the Roman government; which they consented to do.
4. However, the Romans thought no more about Britain for nearly a
hundred years, when they came again, and went to war in earnest
with the natives, who at length were obliged to submit to them; and
Britain became a part of the Roman Empire, just as India is at this
time a part of the British Empire.
5. Now this was a good thing for the Britons, although they did not
then think so; for as soon as they left off fighting, the Romans
began to teach them all they knew, and to make a much better place
of Britain than it had ever been before.
6. As soon as a part of the country was conquered, some great man was
sent from Rome to govern it, and to make the people obey the Roman
laws.
7. Then other great men came to live here, and brought their families
and furniture and plate from Rome; and built fine houses, and planted
gardens, with flowers and fruit trees, and vegetables, that were
never seen here before, for they brought the roots and seeds and
young trees with them.
8. At first, the Roman governors made the Britons pay very heavy
taxes; not in money, for they had none; but they were obliged to give
a part of their cattle, and corn, and metals, or any thing else they
had; and to work with the Roman soldiers at building, making roads,
draining the watery lands, and cutting down trees, to make room for
houses and gardens.
9. They did not like this, and one of the tribes, named the Iceni,
who lived in that part of Britain which is now called Norfolk and
Suffolk, determined to make another effort to drive the Romans out of
the country.
10. You will be surprised to hear that they were headed by a woman;
but there were queens among the Britons as well as kings; and the
king of the Iceni being dead, his widow Boadicea governed in his
stead.
11. She encouraged her people to rebel against their new rulers, and
led them to battle herself, mounted in a chariot, and armed like a
warrior; but the Romans won the battle, and the brave but unfortunate
queen put an end to her own life.
12. After this, there was another long war, which lasted till all
the South British tribes were subdued, and the Roman government
established all over the country, except the north part of Scotland.
13. It was lucky for the Britons that a very good Roman, named
Agricola, was made governor about this time, for he behaved so kindly
that they began to like the Romans, and to wish to live as they did,
and to know how to do all the clever things they could do.
14. I should tell you that all the Roman soldiers were educated as
engineers and builders, surveyors, and cultivators of land, and when
not actually engaged in fighting, they were employed daily for four
hours in some such out-of-door labour or occupation; so, when the
war was over, they were set to work to improve the country, and the
Britons had to help them.
15. They made good hard broad roads, paved with stones firmly
cemented together, and set up mile stones upon them.
16. The Romans had built London during the war, and given it the name
of Augusta, but the houses were almost all barracks for the soldiers
and their families, so that it was not nearly so handsome as York
and Bath, and many other cities that they built in place of the old
British towns.
17. The Britons, who had never seen any thing better than their
own clay huts, must have been quite astonished at the fine houses
constructed by the Romans; who also built, in every city, temples,
theatres, and public baths, with large rooms for people to meet in,
like a coffee house.
18. Then, in each town, was a market place for people to buy and sell
goods, and the Romans taught the Britons generally to use money,
which was more convenient than taking things in exchange.
19. The Romans were excellent farmers, as I said before; so they
shewed the natives how to manage their land better than they had
done, and how to make many useful implements of husbandry.
20. By cutting down the forest trees, which they used in building,
they obtained more land for cultivation, and grew so much corn that
there was more than enough for the people in Britain, so that a great
deal was sent every year to the Roman colonies in Germany.
21. By degrees, the Britons left off their old habits, and those
above the lowest rank wore the Roman dress, spoke the Roman language,
and adopted the manners and customs of their conquerors, who treated
them as friends and equals.
22. There were schools opened in all the towns, where British and
Roman boys were instructed together, and the former were all brought
up to serve in the Roman armies; for there were no more wars among
the British princes; who held the same rank as before, but paid
tribute to the Roman governor, and were under his authority, as many
of the princes of India are now under the authority of the English
Governor General in India.
23. The Britons had to pay a great many taxes, but they likewise
enjoyed many rights, for the Roman laws were much better laws than
those of the Druids, which were made for barbarians, and not for
civilized people, such as the Britons had now become.
24. You will, perhaps, wonder what the Druids were about all this
time. The Romans did not approve of their religion, so they put an
end to it very soon, after they came here; but what became of the
Druids, is not exactly known.
25. It is supposed that many of them were killed by the Romans in the
isle of Anglesea, where the chief Druid always resided; and that all
the rest fled to Scotland, or the Isle of Man.
26. The Romans, however, were themselves heathens, when they first
settled in Britain, and worshipped a number of false gods; but their
gods were different from those of the Druids, and the rites and
ceremonies of their religion were different too.
27. But, in course of time, many of the Romans became Christians, and
Christianity was taught in Britain, where the heathen temples were
converted into Christian churches, and the Britons, as well as the
Romans, at length learned to worship the one true God.
28. The Romans had kept possession of Britain for more than three
hundred years, when it happened that great armies of barbarians went
to fight against Rome, and all the soldiers were sent for, to try to
drive them away again; so that this country was left unprotected, for
it was the Roman soldiers who had kept enemies from coming here.
29. The Britons hoped they would come back again, as they did more
than once; but affairs got worse and worse at Rome, so the rulers
there sent word to the British princes, that they did not wish to
keep the island any longer, therefore the Britons might consider
themselves a free people. But was freedom a blessing to them? I think
we shall find it was not.
QUESTIONS.
3. By whom was Britain first invaded?
4. When did the Romans again appear?
5. Was this conquest a good or bad thing for the Britons, and why?
8. What occasioned the revolt of the Iceni?
10. Who headed the insurrection, and what were its consequences?
13. Who was Agricola?
14. How were the Roman soldiers employed in time of peace?
15. Tell me of the improvements made in Britain by the Romans.
25. What became of the Druids?
28. When and why did the Romans leave Britain?