and threatened to drive the Romans out of their island. They were led by Boadicea, Queen of the Icenians (in what is now Norfolk). While Suetonius, the Roman general, 59 was in the north with the greater part of his army, A.D. they massacred the garrisons of Camulodunum (Colchester) and London. On his return, Suetonius defeated the Britons with terrible slaughter. Boadicea fled, and soon afterwards died. It is said that she poisoned herself, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans.

9. To Julius Agricola,1 lieutenant of the Emperor Domitian,2 belongs the credit of having made Britain a Roman province in more than in name. Agricola was fortunate in having his operations described by his son-in-law Tacitus, the Roman historian. From his writings, we 78 know that Agricola was a wise and humane ruler, as A.D. well as a skilful soldier. He penetrated further north than any Roman general had done before him, and he reconciled the natives to the Roman rule by introducing among them the arts of peace and the manners of civilized life.

80

A.D.

10. In the year 80 A.D. he entered Albin or Caledonia (Scotland), and drove the native Britons northward before him. He advanced with his army as far as to the Tay; but hopeless of being able to hold all the land he had overrun, he resolved to fix on the line of the Forth and Clyde, where the island is narrowest, as the northern boundary of the province. Between the estuaries of these rivers he threw up a chain of forts to guard the frontier.

82

A.D.

11. Agricola subsequently made two incursions into Caledonia. In the latter of these he gained a great victory over a British chief named Galgacus, at a place called Mons Grampius3 or Graupius. Agricola caused his

a tower to enjoy the scene. At last he was deposed, and was put to death at his own request by an officer of the court.

1 Julius Agricola.-Born 37, died 93 A. D. He became Consul (chief magistrate) of Rome in 77. He is said to have been poisoned by order of the

84

A.D.

Emperor Domitian, who was jealous of his popularity.

2 Domitian.-Emperor, 81-96 A.D. 3 Mons Grampius.-Ardoch, in Perthshire, 8 miles north of Dunblane, has generally been named as the scene of this battle, in the belief that it was fought near the Grampian Mountains.

THE ROMAN WALL BETWEEN THE FORTH AND THE CLYDE.

fleet to examine the coasts of Britain. It sailed round the country, and discovered that it was an island. Agricola left Britain in 85 A.D.

121

12. The continued attacks of the Caledonians during the next thirty-five years had the effect of making the Romans fall back from Agricola's line of forts. When the Emperor Hadrian1 visited Britain in 121, he built an earthen rampart, afterwards called the Picts' Wall, between the Tyne and the Solway Firth. In 139, however, the lost ground was recovered, at least for a time. In that year

A.D.

139

A.D.

one of Antonine's generals, Lollius Urbicus by name, drove the Caledonians once more beyond Agricola's forts. These forts he connected and strengthened by an earthen rampart, called, after the Emperor, Antonine's Wall, and in later times Graham's or Grime's Dike.

13. This, however, did not check the inroads of the North Britons. The Roman governors tried to quiet them with

1

The Roman camp near Ardoch, too, is | Mons Grampius, but Mons Graupius. the most complete in the country. But Hadrian, or Adrian, Emperor, 117a recent editor of Tacitus, the Roman 138 A.D. historian, maintains that he wrote, not

2

Antonine.-Emperor, 138-161 A.D.

208

A.D.

bribes; but that plan failed. At length the Emperor Severus1 was obliged to visit the island in person. So infirm was he with age and disease that he had to be carried on a litter at the head of his army; yet he led it through the mountain fastnesses, and reached the shores of the Moray Firth. In this expedition he lost 50,000 men, and to little purpose; for on his return, he again withdrew the frontier to the Tyne and the Solway. He strengthened Hadrian's rampart with a wall, which still bears his name. The Romans never succeeded in permanently extending their conquests further north.

14. The Romans divided Britain into six districts:

I. Caledonia, north of Antonine's Wall,

II. Valentia, between that wall and the wall of Hadrian and Severus; called Valentia by Theodosius in 368, in honour of the Emperor Valentinian.

III. Maxima Caesariensis, between Hadrian's wall and the Humber and the Mersey.

IV. Flavia Caesariensis, between the Humber and Mersey and the Thames.

V. Britannia Secunda, west of the Dee and the Severn, including Wales.

VI. Britannia Prima, south of the Thames and the Bristol

Channel.

Only the last four provinces were completely reduced.

286

15. South Britain continued quiet and prosperous under Roman rule till the later part of the third century, when its eastern shores began to be infested by pirates from the opposite shores of the North Sea. The Romans called them Saxons; and in 286 they appointed an officer, with the title, "Count of the Saxon Shore," whose special duty it was to watch for and to repel their attacks.

A.D.

16. Among the Romans who settled in Britain there were some Christians. Christianity is said to have been introduced into the island before the end of the first century. During the fierce persecution in the reign of Diocletian,2 several Britons

by him and his colleague, Maximian. It lasted from 303 till 305 A.D.-See COLLIER's Great Events of History, pp. 23,

1 Severus.-Emperor, 193-211 A.D. 2 Diocletian.-Emperor, 284-305 A.D. The last and fiercest of the persecutions of the early Christians was instigated 24.

suffered death. Chief of them was Alban,1 who died at Verulam in 304. The persecution was checked by Constan306 tius Chlorus, who became Emperor in 305, and whose A.D. wife, Helena, was a British lady. He died in 306, at York, where his son, Constantine the Great, was pro

claimed Emperor.

17. At last the incursions of the Goths and other northern tribes into Italy became so frequent, that the Roman soldiers

1 Alban. After him the church and named. St. Albans occupies the site town of St. Albans (Hertfordshire) were of the ancient Verulam.

were withdrawn from Britain to guard the heart of the Empire. Levies of the British youth were employed in the Roman service, in Gaul and elsewhere on the Continent. In 410, the Emperor Honorius, finding it advisable to contract the 410 limits of the Empire, withdrew the Roman legions and A.D. all signs of authority.

18. The Romans taught the Britons to develop the resources of their country. They opened up the island by making roads paved with stone. These were called Strata;1 whence our word Street. They also laid the foundation of a lucrative trade, Rome and her continental provinces affording a good market for British produce. The chief exports at this time were corn, cheese, lime, chalk, oysters, and pearls. British cattle, horses, and dogs were much prized; and large supplies of tin, lead, iron, with some gold and silver, were drawn from the island. A gold coinage was in use shortly after Caesar's time. Specimens have been found stamped with figures of cattle, like the Latin pecunia (from pecus, cattle).

19. As the Romans were essentially a military nation, the words which they left behind them in the language relate to their position in the island, as an army in occupation of a conquered land. Their towns were military stations, strongly fortified; and were called in Latin castra, or 66 camps." This word can be recognized in various forms in such names as Chester, Winchester, Leicester, and Doncaster. The Latin word colonia can be traced in Lincoln and Colchester; and the city of Bath, although not now called by a Roman name, was a leading Roman watering-place, as recent discoveries of long-buried temples and statues have shown.

more civilized than these? Why ? How did they dress? Who are descendants of these ancient Britons?

QUESTIONS.-1. Who were the ear- they decorate their bodies? Who were liest known inhabitants of Britain? What kind of people were they? When did the Romans first come in contact with them?

2. How did the natives of the interior live? How were they clad? How did

1 Strata.-There were four chief Roman streets in Britain: (1.) Watling Street, from the coast of Kent to Caernarvon, through London; (2.) Ikenild, or Rikenild Street, from St. David's

3. With what was the country then covered? Where was the ground partially tilled? What are cromlechs and

to Tynemouth, through Derby and York; (3.) Irmin, or Hermin Street, from St. David's to Southampton; (4.) The Foss, from Lincoln to Cornwall. Remains of these streets are still found.