The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
converted it into the news of a victory. Hence Hieronymus in his
Chronicon says, "Claudius triumphed over the Britons, and added the
Orcades to the Roman empire."
[41] Camden supposes the Shetland Islands to be meant here by Thule;
others imagine it to have been one of the Hebrides. Pliny, iv. 16,
mentions Thule as the most remote of all known islands; and, by placing
it but one day's sail from the Frozen Ocean, renders it probable that
Iceland was intended. Procopius (Bell. Goth, ii. 15) speaks of another
Thule, which must have been Norway, which many of the ancients thought
to be an island. Mr. Pennant supposes that the Thule here meant was
Foula, a very lofty isle, one of the most westerly of the Shetlands,
which might easily be descried by the fleet.
[42] As far as the meaning of this passage can be elucidated, it would
appear as if the first circumnavigators of Britain, to enhance the idea
of their dangers and hardships, had represented the Northern sea as
in such a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely be
worked, or the water agitated by winds. Tacitus, however, rather chooses
to explain its stagnant condition from the want of winds, and the
difficulty of moving so great a body of waters. But the fact, taken
either way, is erroneous; as this sea is never observed frozen, and is
remarkably stormy and tempestuous.--_Aiken_.
[43] The great number of firths and inlets of the sea, which almost cut
through the northern parts of the island, as well as the height of the
tides on the coast, render this observation peculiarly proper.
[44] Caesar mentions that the interior inhabitants of Britain were
supposed to have originated in the island itself. (Bell. Gall. v. 12.)
[45] Caledonia, now Scotland, was at that time overspread by vast
forests. Thus Pliny, iv. 16, speaking of Britain, says, that "for thirty
years past the Roman arms had not extended the knowledge of the island
beyond the Caledonian forest."
[46] Inhabitants of what are now the counties of Glamorgan, Monmouth,
Brecknock, Hereford, and Radnor.
[47] The Iberi were a people of Spain, so called from their neighborhood
to the river Iberus, now Ebro.
[48] Of these, the inhabitants of Kent are honorably mentioned by
Caesar. "Of all these people, by far the most civilized are those
inhabiting the maritime country of Cantium, who differ little in their
manners from the Gauls."--Bell. Gall. v. 14.
[48] From the obliquity of the opposite coasts of England and France,
some part of the former runs further south than the northern extremity
of the latter.
[50] Particularly the mysterious and bloody solemnities of the Druids.
[51] The children were born and nursed in this ferocity. Thus Solinus,
c. 22, speaking of the warlike nation of Britons, says, "When a woman
is delivered of a male child, she lays its first food upon the husband's
sword, and with the point gently puts it within the little one's mouth,
praying to her country deities that his death may in like manner be in
the midst of arms."
[52] In the reign of Claudius.
[53] The practice of the Greeks in the Homeric age was the reverse of
this.
[54] Thus the kings Cunobelinus, Caractacus, and Prasutagus, and the
queens Cartismandua and Boadicea, are mentioned in different parts of
Tacitus.
[55] Caesar says of Britain, "the climate is more temperate than that of
Gaul, the cold being less severe." (Bell. Gall. v. 12.) This certainly
proceeds from its insular situation, and the moistness of its
atmosphere.
[56] Thus Pliny (ii. 75):--"The longest day in Italy is of fifteen
hours, in Britain of seventeen, where in summer the nights are light."
[57] Tacitus, through the medium of Agricola, must have got this report,
either from the men of Scandinavia, or from those of the Britons who had
passed into that country, or been informed to this effect by those who
had visited it. It is quite true, that in the further part of Norway,
and so also again in Iceland and the regions about the North Pole, there
is, at the summer solstice, an almost uninterrupted day for nearly two
months. Tacitus here seems to affirm this as universally the case, not
having heard that, at the winter solstice, there is a night of equal
duration.
[58] Tacitus, after having given the report of the Britons as he had
heard it, probably from Agricola, now goes on to state his own views
on the subject. He represents that, as the far north is level, there is
nothing, when the sun is in the distant horizon, to throw up a shadow
towards the sky: that the light, indeed, is intercepted from the surface
of the earth itself, and so there is darkness upon it; but that the sky
above is still clear and bright from its rays. And hence he supposes
that the brightness of the upper regions neutralizes the darkness on the
earth, forming a degree of light equivalent to the evening twilight or
the morning dawn, or, indeed, rendering it next to impossible to decide
when the evening closes and the morning begins. Compare the following
account, taken from a "Description of a Visit to Shetland," in vol.
viii. of Chambers' Miscellany:--"Being now in the 60th degree of north
latitude, daylight could scarcely be said to have left us during the
night, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, albeit the mist still hung about
us, we could see as clearly as we can do in London, at about any hour in
a November day."
[59] Mr. Pennant has a pleasing remark concerning the soil and climate
of our island, well agreeing with that of Tacitus:--"The climate of
Great Britain is above all others productive of the greatest variety and
abundance of wholesome vegetables, which, to crown our happiness, are
almost equally diffused through all its parts: this general fertility
is owing to those clouded skies, which foreigners mistakenly urge as a
reproach on our country: but let us cheerfully endure a temporary gloom,
which clothes not only our meadows, but our hills, with the richest
verdure."--Brit. Zool. 4to. i. 15.
[60] Strabo (iv. 138) testifies the same. Cicero, on the other hand,
asserts, that not a single grain of silver is found on this island. (Ep.
ad Attic, iv. 16.) If we have recourse to modern authorities, we
find Camden mentioning gold and silver mines in Cumberland, silver in
Flintshire, and gold in Scotland. Dr. Borlase (Hist. of Cornwall, p.
214) relates, that so late as the year 1753, several pieces of gold
were found in what the miners call stream tin; and silver is now got in
considerable quantity from several of our lead ores. A curious paper,
concerning the Gold Mines of Scotland, is given by Mr. Pennant in
Append. (No. x.) to his second part of a "Tour in Scotland in 1772," and
a much more general account of the mines and ores of Great Britain in
early times, in his "Tour in Wales of 1773," pp. 51-66.
[61] Camden mentions pearls being found in the counties of Caernarvon
and Cumberland, and in the British sea. Mr. Pennant, in his "Tour in
Scotland in 1769," takes notice of a considerable pearl fishery out of
the fresh-water mussel, in the vicinity of Perth, from whence 10,000_l._
worth of pearls were sent to London from 1761 to 1764. It was, however,
almost exhausted when he visited the country. See also the fourth volume
of Mr. Pennant's Br. Zool. (Class vi. No. 18), where he gives a much
more ample account of the British pearls. Origen, in his Comment. on
Matthew, pp. 210, 211, gives a description of the British pearl, which,
he says, was next in value to the Indian;--"Its surface is of a gold
color, but it is cloudy, and less transparent than the Indian." Pliny
speaks of the British unions as follows:--"It is certain that small and
discolored ones are produced in Britain; since the deified Julius has
given us to understand that the breastplate which he dedicated to Venus
Genitrix, and placed in her temple, was made of British pearls."--ix.
35.
[62] Caesar's two expeditions into Britain were in the years of Rome
699 and 700. He himself gives an account of them, and they are also
mentioned by Strabo and Dio.
[63] It was the wise policy of Augustus not to extend any further the
limits of the empire; and with regard to Britain, in particular, he
thought the conquest and preservation of it would be attended with more
expense than it could repay. (Strabo, ii. 79, and iv. 138.) Tiberius,
who always professed an entire deference for the maxims and injunctions
of Augustus, in this instance, probably, was convinced of their
propriety.
[64] Caligula.
[65] Claudius invaded Britain in the year of Rome 796, A.D. 43.
[66] In the parish of Dinder, near Hereford, are yet remaining the
vestiges of a Roman encampment, called Oyster-hill, as is supposed from
this Ostorius. Camden's Britain, by Gibson, p. 580.
[67] That of Camalodunum, now Colchester, or Maldon.
[68] The Mona of Tacitus is the Isle of Anglesey, that of Caesar is the
Isle of Man, called by Pliny Monapia.
[69] The avarice of Catus Decidianus the procurator is mentioned as the
cause by which the Britons were forced into this war, by Tacitus, Annal.
xiv. 32.
[70] Julius Classicianus, who succeeded Decidianus, was at variance with
the governor, but was no less oppressive to the province.
[71] By the slaughter of Varus.
[72] The Rhine and Danube.
[73] Boadicea, whose name is variously written Boudicea, Bonduca,
Voadicea, &c., was queen of the Iceni, or people of Suffolk, Norfolk,
Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire. A particular account of this revolt
is given in the Annals, xiv. 31, and seq.
[74] Of Camalodunum.
[75] This was in A.D. 61. According to Tac. Hist. i. 6, Petronius
Turpilianus was put to death by Galba, A.D. 68.
[76] The date of his arrival is uncertain.
[77] He was sent to Britain by Vespasian, A.D. 69.
[78] The Brigantes inhabited Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland,
Cumberland, and Durham.
[79] The date of his arrival in Britain is uncertain. This Frontinus
is the author of the work on "Stratagems," and, at the time of his
appointment to the lieutenancy of Britain, he was _curator aquarum_ at
Rome. This, probably, it was that induced him to write his other work on
the aqueducts of Rome.
[80] This seems to relate to his having been curtailed in his military
operations by the parsimony of Vespasian, who refused him permission to
attack other people than the Silures. See c. 11.
[81] Where these people inhabited is mentioned in p. 355, note 5.
[82] This was in the year of Rome 831, of Christ 78.
[83] Inhabitants of North Wales, exclusive of the Isle of Anglesey.
[84] _I.e._ Some were for immediate action, others for delay. Instead
of _et quibus_, we read with Dr. Smith's edition (London, 1850), _ut
quibus_.
[85] _Vexilla_ is here used for _vexillarii_. "Under the Empire the name
of Vexillarii was given to a distinct body of soldiers supposed to have
been composed of veterans, who were released from the military oath and
regular service, but kept embodied under a separate flag (_vexillum_),
to render assistance to the army if required, guard the frontier,
and garrison recently conquered provinces; a certain number of these
supernumeraries being attached to each legion. (Tac. Hist. ii. 83, 100;
Ann. i. 36.)"--Rich, Comp. to Dict. and Lex. s. v. Vexillum.
[86] A pass into the vale of Clwyd, in the parish of Llanarmon, is still
called Bwlch Agrikle, probably from having been occupied by Agricola, in
his road to Mona.--_Mr. Pennant_.
[87] From this circumstance it would appear that these auxiliaries were
Batavians, whose skill in this practice is related by Tacitus, Hist. iv.
12.
[88] It was customary for the Roman generals to decorate with sprigs of
laurel the letters in which they sent home the news of any remarkable
success. Thus Pliny, xv. 30: "The laurel, the principal messenger of joy