THE ROMAN OCCUPATION
Julius Cæsar's two invasions of Britain could not have made much
difference in the mode of life of the inhabitants of the country.
They paid their tribute, and were left alone; and after a time even
the tribute seems to have been forgotten. All that remained of his
conquest was the graphic, though incomplete, account which Cæsar left
of Britain in his "Gallic War," and the lingering memory of this
remote outpost of the Empire, a memory which awakened into life at a
later date and inspired ambitious emperors and generals with a desire
for conquest.
After the final departure of Cæsar it was well-nigh a hundred years
before the Romans again interfered with the Britons. The period
between 54 B.C. and A.D. 43 is obscure in the annals of the island.
No doubt commercial intercourse with Gaul was constant, and Roman
culture must have percolated slowly {24} into the country by that
channel. The names of some of the British kings who ruled have come
down to us, and among them Shakespeare's Cymbeline. It was in the
year A.D. 43, during the reign of the emperor Claudius, that the
Roman general Aulus Plautius set out at the head of four legions to
re-conquer Britain. While the campaign was still in progress the
emperor himself arrived; but his sojourn was only sixteen days in
duration, and to him belongs none of the credit for the conquest. It
was against Caratacus and Togodumnus, sons of the late king
Cunobelinus, that Aulus Plautius directed his march. Their capital
was Camulodunum, the modern Colchester. Many of the neighbouring
tribes espoused the Roman cause; and in four years' time Aulus was
able to return to Rome, having completed the task of conquering
south-eastern England from Kent to Norfolk.
The next Roman leader to be sent to Britain was Publius Ostorius
Scapula; and under him the theatre of war shifted to the north and
west, those parts of the island which had hitherto remained
practically unexplored. The nature of the struggle likewise changed.
The tribes hitherto encountered by the {25} Romans were closely akin
to the people of Gaul, and their civilization also was very similar
in quality. They were people who valued peace and commerce, and who,
when they had recovered from the first shock of outraged
independence, were content to become Roman tributaries. But the
tribes inhabiting the Welsh mountains were far less civilized. Of
trade they knew practically nothing, and very little about the
settled pursuit of agriculture. But they loved freedom, and were
prepared again and again to rise in its defence. The first task
which Ostorius set himself was the conquest of the Decangi who dwelt,
according to Tacitus, on the shore of the Irish Sea. He raided their
territory; but before anything like a conquest had been effected he
was called away to deal with the far more turbulent and warlike
Silures of the south. These were the inhabitants of Monmouth and
Glamorgan; and they were now under the leadership of the famous
Caratacus. This able man had concluded an alliance with the
neighbouring Ordovices, and the united tribes were able to offer a
stiff resistance to Roman aggression. It was not until the war had
lasted many years, and Caratacus had won several victories, {26} that
the persistence and the superior science of Ostorius were rewarded
with success. The site of the final battle is uncertain, but it may
well have been near Church Stretton at the spot now called Caer
Caradoc. At this battle Caratacus was defeated and taken prisoner,
later to be led in triumph through the streets of Rome. This was
probably in the year A.D. 51. To keep the Silures in subjection the
first of the great Roman forts in Wales was erected at Caerleon on
the river Usk.
Following on the death of Ostorius in A.D. 52 the Silures recovered a
degree of liberty; but with the arrival of a new Roman general,
Quintus Veranius, in A.D. 58, the struggle began afresh. Veranius,
however, died in a few months before he had accomplished anything,
and his place was taken by the truly great Suetonius Paulinus. This
consummate general adopted the plan of building strong forts at
various strategic points all over Britain, from which the legions
could control the surrounding country. Two of these forts were
placed close to the Welsh border, one at Deva (Chester), the other at
Viroconium (Wroxeter). Chester for many generations after its
foundation was the base of operations for all military expeditions
launched against {27} North Wales. The great desire of Suetonius was
to conquer the hitherto unmolested isle of Mona (Anglesey). There
was the home of the Druids, the last remnants of the cruel custodians
of Celtic learning, protected by the surrounding sea, and by the
great mountain barrier of Snowdonia. Flat-bottomed boats were
constructed, and the soldiers safely conveyed across the Menai
Straits. There the legionaries were for a moment appalled by the
weird sight of Druids drawn up in a body, with uplifted arms calling
down curses upon the heads of the profane invaders, while women with
dishevelled hair and with lighted torches in their hands ran in and
out among the ranks. But the fear of the soldiers was but momentary.
They pressed forward, completely routed the opposing army, burnt
their camp, cut down the sacred groves of oak, and cleared away the
last emblems of Druidism. Thus perished a barbarous superstition
which had long outlived its utility. It was just at this juncture
that news was brought to Suetonius of the great rebellion of the
Iceni under queen Boudicca, and the massacre of thousands of Roman
settlers at Camulodunum and Verulanium. Without a moment's delay he
commenced his march back to the {28} south-west. In quelling the
rising he was completely successful; but Wales saw him no more, as he
was recalled to Rome in the following year.
A period of peace ensued; and it was not until A.D. 71 in the reign
of Vespasian, who had himself served in Britain under Aulus Plautius,
that the forward policy was resumed. Of the course of events in the
succeeding years our knowledge is imperfect; but it appears that the
Silures were completely beaten by the soldier-author Frontinus in
A.D. 78. To the famous Agricola was left the task of crushing the
Ordovices. He dealt with them so severely that they were left
completely without power to rebel again. Having disposed of them, he
proceeded to Anglesey; and with the final subjugation of that island
the conquest of Wales was complete.
The task of organizing Wales on Roman lines then proceeded apace.
South-eastern Britain, together with the midlands, had finally
acquiesced in the Roman domination; and those parts of the country
were left almost entirely without garrisons. With Wales it was
otherwise, and throughout its history the Roman occupation was
largely military in character. Except for its mines {29} Wales was a
poor country, and there was little to tempt such Romans as desired to
settle for life in Britain to make it their home. The towns that
came to be built in Wales were therefore military rather than civil.
But whatever their character and purpose they were both numerous and
important. The most important of them perhaps was Chester, long the
home of the Twentieth Legion, from which it derived its Welsh name
Caer Lleon (Fort of the Legion). Chester became the permanent home
of the legion; and around the fort a thriving town arose, with baths,
theatre, and all those amenities considered so essential by the
Romans. There the legionaries lived, there they married, and there
they died. From Chester the great road which was called Watling
Street ran straight to London, and thence to the channel ports.
Another road connected the place with York (Eboracum), the most
important Roman city in Britain. A third road led to Wroxeter; while
from it another branched off, and ran along the hillsides to Conway
(Caerhun) and Carnarvon (Segontium). In North Wales were several
forts, but with the exception of Carnarvon no towns of any note. The
extreme north was well guarded by the twin {30} fortresses of Conway
and Carnarvon. The mountains and valleys of Merioneth were kept in
subjection by the triangle formed by Tomen-y-Mur near Festiniog,
Caergai near Bala, and Pennal near Machynlleth. Roman roads must
have been fairly numerous in Wales, but they are extremely difficult
to trace at the present day. It is quite certain that the great
majority of mountain tracks pointed out to the credulous modern
tourist as Roman roads belong to comparatively late mediæval times.
A road ran from Conway over the mountains to Tomen-y-Mur, Caergai,
and Pennal, and then on to South Wales. This is known as Sarn Helen,
and in several places can be clearly traced. There was also another
road leading from Tomen-y-Mur to Chester. In Mid-Wales were the
forts of Caersws, Caerflos, Y Gaer, and Castell Collen. The passage
of the Teifi was guarded by Llanio. On the Towy was Carmarthen
(Maridunum). In Pembrokeshire there do not seem to have been Roman
settlements or roads; in all probability the country was left to its
own devices just as Cornwall was. On the upper reaches of the Towy
stood Llandovery. Thence a road led to Gaer near Brecon, then
following the valley of the Usk to {31} Abergavenny and Caerleon.
Beyond Caerleon, between the Usk and the Wye, lay Caerwent (Venta
Silurum), where so much of archæological and historical interest has
recently been discovered. On the Bristol Channel there were forts at
Cardiff, and at the mouths of the Neath and the Loughor. Connecting
the main roads no doubt were many smaller ones, some of them mere
tracks across the mountain passes. The infinite pains which the
Romans would take to render even one of these less important ways
easy and safe is proved by the marvellous "Roman Steps" which lead
over Drws Ardudwy from the coast to the high plateau on which stands
Tomen-y-Mur.
The question of the extent and durability of Roman influence in Wales
is part of the larger question of its extent and durability in
Britain as a whole. Whether it persisted right through the English
invasions, so that early mediæval institutions can be regarded as
having Rome and not the forests of Germany as their home is a
question still warmly debated. To what extent Britain, as apart from
Wales, had been Romanized it is difficult to determine; for the
English invasions were exceedingly destructive, and the invaders {32}
little better than savage barbarians. But in Wales the problem
assumes a somewhat different form; for the tide of English invasion
was stemmed at the foot of the Welsh hills. It was a new Brythonic
invasion from the north, as well as the arrival of fugitives from the
midlands, that modified the conditions left by the Romans in Wales.
Emphasis has been laid by scholars upon the purely military character
of the occupation. With the exception of Caerwent and Wroxeter there
were no civilian towns; and that most typical product of Roman
civilization, the villa, was altogether absent from Wales. On the
other hand, it must be pointed out that, although the language
remained Celtic, a very large number of words had been borrowed from
Latin, and those words by no means confined to the department of
warfare. They are words which point clearly to an advance in culture
and civilization, in book learning, and in religion. But it is true
that political and legal terms remained purely Celtic. It is known
that the minerals of Wales were extensively worked by the
Romans--copper from Anglesey, gold from Merioneth, and iron from
Monmouth. One thing is certain: Wales at the departure of the Romans
was a highly civilized land, {33} civilized in its political ideas
and in its laws, and Christian in its religion. A love of
literature, of art, of independence, and of unity had been so firmly
rooted that, despite the welter of lawlessness and bloodshed which
the unhappy country had to endure during the succeeding eight hundred
years, they persisted through it all. Wales was to enjoy nothing
comparable with the tranquillity and the good government of the Roman
period until the great Tudor sovereigns began to turn their thoughts
to the little land from which they derived the best part of their
blood.
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