ocean. Strabo furnishes. It is not however certain that the Greeks considered the Cassiterides to be the same island as Britain: indeed it would appear that the Scilly islands, and perhaps the headlands of Cornwall and Devonshire, which the foreign merchants took for islands, were what passed under that denomination. There was at one time an opinion among the learned, that an Atlantic continent existed not far from the pillars of Hercules, which has since been buried in the This is however highly improbable; from the time which must elapse before such a continent could have been entirely swallowed up, it is evident that it could not have existed within the period of time to which our existing histories belong. We may therefore with greater probability infer, that this notion was made up of reports which Phoenician travellers made at home of the distant islands and countries which they had discovered in their voyages beyond the straits. Teneriffe and Madeira may possibly have been known to this daring nation of sailers; and Thule, the celebrated ne plus ultra of the poets, seems to have been situated somewhere beyond the British islands. But the most certain indication of the trade carried on by the Phoenicians in Britain is the fact, that tin was an article in daily use among the Greeks even as early as the days of Homer. Tin and brass, by which was meant copper, were articles supplied to the neighbouring nations by the Sidonians; and it is difficult to imagine where their large supplies of these metals, particularly the former, could have been obtained, unless it be admitted that they procured them in Cornwall and the Scilly islands, where they have always been so abundant. Lead also is mentioned by Strabo in the passage before quoted, as one of the exports of Britain. Now this metal is at present found principally in Derbyshire, Cardiganshire, Denbighshire, Yorkshire, and Northumberland, and it is hardly probable that the Phonicians, who had not extended their dominions more than 100 miles from the sea at home in Asia, should have travelled twice or even three times that distance up the country in Britain. We may be content to believe, that the south-western parts of Britain were those mostly, if not solely, frequented by the Phoenician merchants; and it has been noticed by writers, that many names of places on the Cornish coast still bear traces of a Phoenician or Oriental etymology, but the great distance which separated these northern regions from their native Phoenicia, makes it highly improbable that so many persons of that state settled in Britain as to have much influence either over the language or over the manners of the ancient inhabitants. Bochart, Geog. Sacra, quoted by Thackeray, vol. i. p. 9. I cannot forbear, whilst on the subject of etymology, to express my utter disbelief of the fancies into which some modern writers have suffered themselves to be led. Diodorus Siculus, speaking of the priests of Gaul, says, that they were called by the people Saronides. Mr. Gilbert, in his Celtic Researches, says that, this word is British, being a compound of Sêr stars, and honydd "one who points out." This is reasonable in comparison with some of the etymologies in which Celtic scholars have indulged. It is not consistent with the plan of this work to enter upon such topics: otherwise much might be said on the analogy between present European languages and those which existed in Europe eighteen hundred years ago. There is also some curious information to be gleaned from the accounts which have been written from time to time on the opening of ancient tombs and barrows: but it has not yet been clearly discovered to which of the nations that have inhabited Britain these mounds are to be ascribed; I cannot therefore admit such evidence among the authentic written or monumental documents which it is the purpose of these volumes to supply. CHAP. II. CÆSAR'S INVASION OF BRITAIN IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST THE Conquests of Julius Cæsar in Gaul were dictated by no animosity towards the natives of that half civilized country: the victorious general was merely carving out on the naked bodies of his brave but astonished enemies, material for the honours which awaited him on his return to Rome. His ambition, whetted by the rivalry of Pompey, could not find a subject to exhaust itself upon in the peninsula of Italy. The countries surrounding the Mediterranean had already been appropriated as fields of triumph by divers enterprising leaders, or had fallen into the tranquil condition of Roman provinces. Germany and Gaul alone remained; and the former of these two countries would be most readily attacked, when the latter should have been subdued; for lofty mountains and brave mountaineers intervened between the Italian provinces and the fertile plains of Bavaria, Hungary, and Austria; whilst on the other hand, the easy voyage from Genoa to Marseilles had already introduced Roman civilization and Roman influence into the heart of independent Gaul. It was but ready foresight on the part of Julius Cæsar, which pointed out the apparently obvious scheme of annexing all Gaul to the Roman empire. He was aware of the existence of a northern ocean lying beyond that country, which would prevent its hardy natives from receiving such unlimited reinforcements, as the vast continent which lay behind the Germans would furnish to resist his arms. It was therefore in a spirit of practicable though bold enterprise, that in the year before Christ 58, Julius Cæsar began that career of conquest which led to his elevation above all his contemporary citizens, and would have raised him, if he had so pleased, above the laws themselves. Eight years of incessant warfare hardly sufficed to subdue the untractable spirit of the Gauls. The fiercest tribes were those which lay in the north-east of the country, who passed under the general name of Belgæ or Belgians, and extended from the Rhine to the Seine. These people caused Cæsar more trouble than all the other Gallic tribes; and when he at last reached the ocean which washes their shores, he could see from the country extending between the modern towns of Dunkirk and Dieppe, the outlines of that Britain which up to his time had continued to be the Terra incognita of the ancients. The sight of Britain from the French coast thrills to the heart of the modern native of this insular empire; and even the foreigner, who can travel from Paris to St. Petersburg or Constantinople without having to cross a mile's breadth of salt water, looks with interest upon the white cliffs of Britain, cut off as they are from the rest of civilized Europe by a mighty natural boundary, and sometimes lost to the sight in the fogs and tempests which are the danger and the protection of our island. It may then be easily conceived with what expansive feelings Julius Cæsar would look upon this new found land, opening for the first time to his eyes, and perhaps also to the eyes of all who were then in his company. This was that land, of which poetry said so much and history so little: this was known to Cæsar as the fertile source from which the Phoenicians, the greatest commercial nation of antiquity, drew their chief stores of the most useful metals; and the bold imagination of the first Roman conqueror who ever saw this country, could hardly fail to anticipate the greatest advantages to himself and his commonwealth if he could subdue it by his arms. Cæsar could not be at a loss for information from living witnesses on the subject of Britain; for the Veneti, who were some of his most powerful enemies, were a maritime people, possessing many ships, in which they crossed over to the island", and individuals among them were no doubt ready to assist Cæsar, even though it was against their own allies. For a war with the Veneti was one of the last difficulties which Cæsar had to encounter, the year before he crossed over into Britain, and the preparations which they made against him were of a serious and formidable nature, as we find them recorded in the words of the general" himself; " They fortified their towns, brought in corn from the neighbouring countries, and collected as many vessels as they were able at Venetia, where it was likely that Cæsar would first come to an engagement. They invited the Osismii, Lexovii, Nannetes, Ambiliati, Morini, Diablintes, and Menapii to aid them in the war, and sent over for assistance from Britain, which lies on the other side of the ocean over against them." This confederacy however failed, as all others had failed, before the military genius of the general and the superior discipline and accoutrements of his soldiers. * Cæsar. de B. G. iii. 8. b Ibid. iii. 9. See the map and index for the modern names of these tribes. |