principal British nobility resorted to Rome, and many

received their education there.

Verbesserung der From that time the Britons began to improve in all brittiff the arts which contribute to the advancement of human Krings Kunst, und nature. The first art which a savage people is geneGurally taught by politer neighbours, is that of war. The Britons thenceforward, though not wholly addicted to the Roman method of fighting, nevertheless adopted several of their improvements, as well in their arms as in their arrangement in the field. Their ferocity to strangers, for which they had been always remarkable, was mitigated; and they began to permit an intercourse of commerce, even in the internal parts of the country. They still, however, continued to live as herdsmen and hunters; a manifest proof that the country was yet but thinly inhabited. A nation of hunters can never be populous, as their subsistence is necessarily diffused over a large tract of country, while the husbandman converts every part of nature to human use, and flourishes most by the vicinity of those whom he is to support. Guding lap The wild extravagances of Caligula, by which he

threatened Britain with an invasion, served rather to be expose him to ridicule, than the island to danger. The bestzen. Britons, therefore, for almost a century, enjoyed their liberty unmolested, till at length the Romans, in the reign of Claudius, began to think seriously of reducing them under their dominion. The expedition for this purpose was conducted in the beginning by Plautius and other commanders, with that success which usually attended the Roman arms.

Claudius

A. D. Claudius himself, finding affairs sufficiently guft selbst 43. prepared for his reception, made a journey thinurther, and received the submission of such states as, lìving by commerce, were willing to purchase tranquillity at the expense of freedom. It is true, that many of the

inland provinces preferred their native simplicity to im-
ported elegance, and, rather than bow their necks to the
Roman yoke, offered their bosoms to the sword. But
the southern coast, with all the adjacent inland country,
was seized by the conquerors, who secured the posses-
sion by fortifying camps, building fortresses, and plant-
ing colonies. The other parts of the country either
thought themselves in no danger, or continued patient
spectators of the approaching devastation.

Caractacus was the first who seemed willing, by a vi-Caractalu gorous effort, to rescue his country, and repel its insult-widersetzt sich Römern ing and rapacious conquerors. The venality and cormidabr ruption of the Roman prætors and officers, who were appointed to levy the contributions in Britain, served to excite the indignation of the natives, and give spirit to his attempts. This rude soldier, though with inferior forces, continued, for about the space of nine years, to oppose and harass the Romans; so that at length Ostorius Scapula was sent over to command their armies, He was more successful than his predecessors. He advanced the Roman conquests over Britain, pierced the country of the Silures, a warlike nation along the A.D. banks of the Severn, and at length came up with Caractacus, who had taken possession of a very advantageous post upon an inaccessible mountain, washed by a deep and rapid stream. The unfortunate British general, when he saw the enemy approaching, drew up his army, composed of different tribes, and, going from rank to rank, exhorted them to strike the last blow for liberty, safety, and life. To these exhortations his soldiers replied with shouts of determined valour. But what could undisciplined bravery avail against the attack of an army skilled in all the arts of war, and inspired by a long train of conquests? The Britons were, after an obstinate resistance, totally routed; and a few days

51.

after Caractacus himself was delivered up to the conquerors by Cartişmandua, queen of the Brigantes, with whom he had taken refuge. The capture of this general was received with such joy at Rome, that Claudius commanded that he should be brought from Britain, in order to be exhibited as a spectacle to the Roman people. Accordingly, on the day appointed for that purpose, the emperor, ascending his throne, ordered the captives, and Caractacus among the number, to be brought into his presence. The vassals of the British king, with the spoils taken in war, were first brought forward; these were followed by his family, who, with abject lamentations, were seen to implore for mercy. Last of all came Caractacus, with an undaunted air and a dignified aspect. He appeared no way dejected at the amazing concourse of spectators that were gathered upon this occasion, but, casting his eyes on the splendours that surrounded him, "Alas!" cried he, "how is it possible that a people possessed of such magnificence at home, could envy me an humble cottage in Britain?" When brought into the emperor's presence, he is said to have addressed him in the following manner: "Had my moderation been equal to my birth and fortune, I had arrived in this city not as a captive but as a friend. But my present misfortunes redound as much to your honour as to my disgrace; and the obstinacy of my opposition serves to increase the splendour of your victory. Had I surrendered myself in the beginning of the contest, neither my disgrace nor your glory would have attracted the attention of the world, and my fate would have been buried in general oblivion. I am now at your mercy; but, if my life be spared, I shall remain an eternal monument of your clemency and moderation." The emperor was affected with the British hero's misfortunes, and won by his address. He ordered him

to be unchained upon the spot, with the rest of the cap-
tives; and the first use they made of their liberty was
to go and prostrate themselves before the empress
Agrippina, who, as some suppose, had been an inter-
cessor for their freedom.

med Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the Britons were Paulinus полевков angle not subdued, and this island was regarded by the am

ume!
Storybitious Romans as a field in which military honour
might still be acquired. The Britons made one expir-

したも

A.D.

60.

Jey.

ing effort to recover their liberty in the time of Nero,
taking advantage of the absence of Paulinus, the
Roman general, who was employed in subduing
the Isle of Anglesey. That small island, separated from
Britain by a narrow channel, still continued the chief
seat of the Druidical superstition, and constantly afford-
ed a retreat to their defeated forces. It was thought
necessary therefore to subdue that place, in order to ex-
tirpate a religion that disdained submission to foreign
laws or leaders; and Paulinus, the greatest general of
his age, undertook the task. The Britons endeavoured
to obstruct his landing on that last retreat of their su-
perstitions and liberties, both by the force of their arms
and the terrors of their religion. The priests and is-
landers were drawn up in order of battle upon the shore,
to oppose his landing. The women, dressed like Furies,
with disheveled hair, and torches in their hands, poured
forth the most terrible execrations. Such a sight at
first confounded the Romans, and fixed them motion-
less on the spot; so that they received the first assault
without opposition. But Paulinus, exhorting his troops
to despise the menaces of an absurd superstition, im-
pelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field,
burned the Druids in the same fires they had prepared
for their captive enemies, and destroyed all their conse-
crated groves and altars.

девёр

Frucht los.

britten In the mean time the Britons, taking advantage of his haben sich absence, resolved, by a general insurrection, to free gegen die Si themselves from that state of abject servitude to which they were reduced by the Romans. They had many motives to aggravate their resentment; the greatness of their taxes, which were levied with unremitting severity; the cruel insolence of their conquerors, who reproached that very poverty which they had caused; but particularly the cruel treatment of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, drove them at last into open rebellion. Prasatagus, king of the Iceni, at his death, had bequeathed one-half of his dominions to the Romans, and the other to his daughters; thus hoping, by the sacrifice of a part, to secure the rest in his family; but it had a different effect; for the Roman procurator immediately took possession of the whole; and when Boadicea, the widow of the deceased, attempted to remonstrate, he ordered her to be scourged like a slave, and violated the chastity of her daughters. These outrages were sufficient to produce a revolt through the whole island. The Iceni, being the most deeply interested in the quarrel, were the first to take arms; all the other states soon followed the example: and Boadicea, a woman of great beauty and masculine spirit, was appointed to head the common forces, which amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand fighting men. These, exasperated by their wrongs, attacked several of the Roman settlements and colonies with success. Paulinus hastened to relieve ermische wish. London, which was already a flourishing colony; but Rulou found on his arrival that it would be requisite, for the general safety, to abandon that place to the merciless fury of the enemy. London was therefore soon reduced to ashes; such of the inhabitants as remained in it were massacred; and the Romans, with all other strangers, to the number of seventy thousand, were cruelly put to

London nine.

M