* Between these magistrates and
all others who had any share in the provincial government the Roman manners had established a kind
of sacred relation, as inviolable as that of blood.
all others who had any share in the provincial government the Roman manners had established a kind
of sacred relation, as inviolable as that of blood.
Edmund Burke
140.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF:. ENGLISH HISTORY. 197
of the Commonwealth, those who lived in a dependent and cliental relation on the great men used frequently to show marks of their acknowledgment by
considerable bequests at their death. But when all
the scattered powers of that state became united in
the emperor, these legacies followed the general current, and flowed in upon: the common patron. In
the will of every considerable person he inherited
with the children and relations, and such devises
formed no inconsiderable part of his revenue: a
monstrous practice, which let an absolute sovereign
into all the private concerns of his subjects, and
which, by giving the prince a prospect of one day
sharing in- all the great estates, whenever he was
urged by avarice or necessity, naturally pointed out
a resource by an anticipation always in his power.
This practice extended into the provinces. A king
of the Iceni * had devised a considerable part of his
substance to the emperor. -But the Roman procurator, not satisfied with entering into his master's portion, seized upon the rest, - and pursuing his injustice to the most horrible outrages, publicly scourged Boadicea, queen to the deceased prince, and violated
-his daughters. These - cruelties, aggravated by the
shame and scorn that attended them -- the general
severity of the government, - the taxes, (new- to a
barbarous people,) laid on without; discretion, extorted without mercy, and,- even when respited, made
utterly ruinous by exorbitant usury, -- the further
mischiefs they had to dread, when' more completely
reduced, - all these, with. the absence of the legate
and the army on a remote expedition, provoked all
the tribes of the Britons,- provincials, allies, enemies,
* Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk.
? ? ? ? 198 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
to a general insurrection. The command of this confederacy was conferred on Boadicea, as the first in
rank, and resentment of injuries. They began by
cutting off a Roman legion; then they fell upon the
colonies of Camelodunum and Verulam, and with a
barbarous fury butchered the Romans and their adherents to the number of seventy thousand.
An end had been now put to the Roman power in
this island, if Paulinus, with unexampled vigor and
prudence, had not conducted his army through the
midst of the enemy's country from Anglesey to London. There uniting the soldiers that remained dispersed in different garrisons, he formed an army of
ten thousand men, and marched to attack the enemy
in the height of their success and security. The army of the, Britons is said to have amounted to two
hundred and thirty thousand; but it was ill composed, and without choice or order, -women, boys,
old men, priests, -- full of presumption, tumult, and
confusion. Boadicea was at their head, - a woman
of masculine spirit, but precipitant, and without any
military knowledge.
The event was such as might have been expected.
Paulinus, having chosen a situation favorable to the
smallness of his numbers, and encouraged his troops
not to dread a multitude whose weight was dangerous only to themselves, piercing into the midst of
that disorderly crowd, after a blind and furious resistance, obtained a complete victory. Eighty thousand Britons fell ill this battle. . D. 1. Paulinus improved the terror this slaughter had produced by the unparalleled severities which he exercised. This method would probably have succeeded to subdue
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 199
to depopulate the nation, if such loud complaints
had not been made at Rome of the legate's cruelty
as procured his recall.
Three successive legates carried on the affairs of
Britain during the latter part of Nero's reign, and
during the troubles occasioned by the disputed succession. But they were all of an inactive character.
The victory obtained by Paulinus had disabled the
Britons from any new attempt. Content, therefore,
with recovering the Roman province, these generals
compounded, as it were, with the enemy for the rest
of the island. They caressed the troops; they indulged them in their licentiousness; and not being
of a character to repress the seditions that continually arose, they submitted to preserve their ease and
some shadow of authority by sacrificing the most material parts of it. And thus they continued, soldiers
and commanders, by a sort of compact, in a common
neglect of all duty on the frontiers of the Empire, in
the face of a bold and incensed enemy.
But when Vespasian arrived to the head
A. D. 69.
of affairs, he caused the vigor of his government to be felt in Britain, as he had done in all the
other parts of the Empire. He was not afraid to receive great services. His legates, Cerealis and Frontinus, reduced the Silures and Brigantes, - one the most warlike, the other the most numerous people
in the island. But its final reduction and
perfect settlement were reserved for Julius
Agricola, a man by whom it was a happiness for the
Britons to be conquered. He was endued with all
those bold and popular virtues which would have
given him the first place in the times of the free
Republic; and he joined to them all that reserve
? ? ? ? 200 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
and'moderation which enabled him to fill great offices with safety, and made him a good subject under
a jealous despotism.
Though the summer was almost spent when he
arrived in Britain, knowing how much the vigor and
success of the first stroke influences all subsequent
measures, he entered immediately into action. After reducing some tribes, Mona became the principal
object of his attention. . The cruel ravages of Paulinus had not entirely effaced the idea of sanctity
which the Britons by a long course of hereditary reverence had annexed to that island: it became once
more a place of consideration by the return of the
Druids. Here Agricola observed a conduct very different from that of his: predecessor, Paulinus: the
island, when he had reduced it, was treated with
great lenity. Agricola was a man of humanity and
virtue: he pitied the condition and respected the prejudices of the conquered. This behavior facilitated
the progress of his arms, insomuch that in less than
two campaigns all the British nations comprehended
in what we now call England yielded themselves to
the. Roman government, as soon as they found that
peace was no longer to be considered as a dubious
blessing. Agricola carefully secured the obedience of
the conquered people by building forts and stations in
the most important and commanding places. Having
taken these precautions for securing his rear, he advanced northwards, and, penetrating into Caledonia
as far as the river Tay, he there built a prcetentura, or
line of forts, between the two friths, which are in that
place no more than twenty miles asunder. The enemy, says Tacitus, was removed as it were into another island. And this line Agricola seems to have des
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 201
tined as the boundary of the Empire. For though in
the following year he carried his arms further, and, as
it is thought, to the foot of the Grampian Mountains,
and there defeated a confederate army -of the Caledonians, headed by Galgacus, one of their most famous chiefs, yet he built no fort to the northward of this
line: a measure which he never omitted, when he inte-nded to preserve his conquests. The expedition of that summer was probably designed only to disable
the Caledonians from attempting anything against
this barrier. But he left them their mountains,
their arms, and their liberty: a policy, perhaps, not
altogether worthy of so able a commander. He might
the more easily have completed the conquest of the
whole island by means of the fleet which he equipped
to cooperate with his land forces in that expedition.
This fleet sailed quite round Britain, which
A. D. 84.
had not been before, by any certain proof,
known to be an island: a circumnavigation, in that
immature state of naval skill, of little less. fame than
a voyage round the globe in the present age.
In the interval between his campaigns Agricola was
employed in the great labors of peace. He knew that
the general must be perfected by the legislator, and
that the conquest is neither permanent nor honorable
which is only an introduction to tyranny. His first
care was the regulation of his -household, which under former legates had been always full of faction
and intrigue, lay heavy on the province, and was
as difficult to govern. He never suffered his private partialities to intrude into the conduct of public business, nor in appointing to employments did he
permit solicitation to supply the place of merit, wisely
sensible that a proper choice: of officers is almost the
? ? ? ? 202 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
whole of government. He eased the tribute of the
province, not so much by reducing it in quantity as
by cutting off all those vexatious practices which attended the levying of it, far more grievous than the imposition itself. Every step in securing the subjection of the conquered country was attended with the utmost care in providing for its peace and internal order. Agricola reconciled the Britons to the Roman government by reconciling them to the Roman manners. He moulded that fierce nation by degrees to soft and social customs, leading them imperceptibly
into a fondness for baths, for gardens, for grand
houses, and all the commodious elegancies of a cultivated life. He diffused a grace and dignity over this new luxury by the introduction of literature. He
invited instructors in all the arts and sciences from
Rome; and he sent the principal youth of Britain to
that city to be educated at his own expense. In
short, he subdued the Britons by civilizing them,
and made them exchange a savage liberty for a polite and easy subjection. His conduct is the most perfect model for those employed in the unhappy,
but sometimes necessary task, of subduing a rude
and free people.
Thus was Britain, after a struggle of fifty-four
years, entirely bent under the yoke, and moulded
into the Roman Empire. How so stubborn an opposition could have been so long maintained against
the greatest power on earth by a people ill armed,
worse united, without revenues, without discipline,
has justly been deemed an object of wonder. Authors are generally contented with attributing it to
the extraordinary bravery of the ancient Britons.
But certainly the Britons fought with armies as
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 203
brave as the world ever saw, with superior disci.
pline, and more plentiful resources.
To account for this opposition, we must have recourse to the general character of the Roman politics
at this time. War, during this period, was carried
on upon principles very different from those that
actuated the Republic. Then one uniform spirit animated one body through whole ages. With whatever
state they were engaged, the war was so prosecuted
as if the republic could not subsist, unless that particular enemy were totally destroyed. But when the
Roman dominion had arrived to as great an extent
as could well be managed, and that the ruling power
had more to fear from disaffection to the government
than from enmity to the Empire, with regard to foreign affairs common rules and a moderate policy took
place. War became no more than a sort of exercise
for the Roman forces. * Even whilst they were declaring war they looked towards an accommodation,
and were satisfied with reasonable terms when they
concluded it. Their politics were more like those
of the present powers of Europe, where kingdoms
seek rather to spread their influence than to extend
their dominion, to awe and weaken rather than to
destroy. Under unactive and jealous princes the
Roman legates seldom dared to push the advantages
they had gained far enough to produce a dangerous.
reputation. t They wisely stopped, when they came
to the verge of popularity. And these emperors fearing as much from the generals as their generals from
* Rem Romanam hue satietate gloria provectam, ut externis quoque gentibus quietem velit. - Tacit. Annal. XII. 11. t Nam duces, ubi impetrando triumphalium insigni sufficere res
suas crediderant, hostem omittebant. - Tacit. Annal. IV. 23.
? ? ? ? 204 ABRIDGMENT' OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
them, such frequent changes were made in the command that the war was never systematically carried
on. Besides, the change of emperors (and their
reigns were not long) almost always:brought on: a
change of measures; and tlie councils even of the
same reign were continually fluctuating, as opposite
court factions happened to prevail. Add to this, that
during the commotions which followed the death of
Nero the contest for the purple turned the eyes of the
world from every other object. All: persons of consequence interested themselves in the success of some
of the contending parties; and the legates in Britain,
suspended in expectation of the issue of such mighty
quarrels, remained unactive till it could be determined for what master they were to conquer.
On the side of the Roman government these seem
to have been some of the causes which so long protracted the fate of: Britain. Others arose from the
nature of the country itself, and from the manners
of its inhabitants. The country was then extremely
woody and full of morasses. There were originally
no roads. The motion of armies was therefore difficult, and communication in many cases impracticable. There were no cities, no towns, no places of cantonment for soldiers; so that the Roman forces
were obliged to come into the field late and to leave
it early in the season. . They had no means to awe
the enemy, and to prevent their machinations during the winter. Every campaign they had nearly the
same work to begin. *When a civilized nation suffers some great defeat, and loses some place critically
situated, such is the mutual dependence of the several parts by commerce, and by the orders of a wellregulated community, that the: whole is easily. se
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF. ,ENGLISH HISTORY. 205
cured. A long-continued state of war is unnatural
to. such a nation. They abound with artisans, with
traders,. and a number of settled and unwarlike people, who are less disturbed in their ordinary course by submitting to almost any power than in a long opposition; and as this character diffuses itself through the whole nation, they find it impossible to carry on
a war, when they are deprived of. the usual resources. But in a country. like ancient Britain there are
as many soldiers as inhabitants. They unite and
disperse with ease. They require no pay nor formal
subsistence; and the hardships of an irregular war
are not very remote from their ordinary course of
life. Victories are easily obtained over such a rude
people, but they are rarely decisive; and the final
conquest becomes a work of time and patience. All
that can be done is to facilitate communication by
roads, and to secure the principal avenues and the
most remarkable posts on the navigable rivers by
forts and stations. To conquer the people, you must
subdue the nature of the -country. The Romans at
length effected this; but until this was done, they
never were able to make a perfect conquest.
I shall now. add something concerning the government, the Romans settled here, and. of those methods which they used to preserve the conquered people under an entire subjection. Those nations who had either passively permitted or had been instrumental
in the conquest of their fellow-Britons were dignified
with the title of. allies, and thereby preserved their
possessions, laws, and magistrates: they were subject
to. no kind of charge or tribute. But as their league
was not equal, and that they were under the protection of a superior power, they were,entirely divest
? ? ? ? 206 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
ed of the right of war and peace; and in many
cases an appeal lay to Rome in consequence of their
subordinate and dependent situation. This was the
lightest species of subjection; and it was generally
no more than a step preparatory to a stricter government.
The condition of those towns and communities
called municipia,. by their being more closely united to the greater state, seemed to partake a degree
less of independence. They were adopted citizens of
Rome; but whatever was detracted from their ancient liberty was compensated by a more or less complete possession of the privileges which constituted a Roman city, according to the merits which had procured their adoption. These cities were models of
Rome in little; their courts and magistrates were
the same; and though they were at liberty to retain
their old laws, and to make new at their pleasure,
they commonly conformed to those of Rome. The
municipia were not subject to tribute.
When a whole people'had resisted the Roman
power with great obstinacy, had displayed a readiness to revolt upon every occasion, and had frequently broken their faith, they were reduced into what the Romans called the form of a province: that is,
they lost their laws, their liberties, their magistrates;
they forfeited the greatest part of their lands; and
they paid a heavy tribute for what they were permitted to retain.
In these provinces the supreme government was in
the praetor sent by the senate,' who commanded the
army, and in his own person exercised the judicial
power. Where the sphere of his government was
large, he deputed his legates to that employment, who
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 207
judged according to the standing laws of the republic, aided by those occasional declarations of law
called the praetorial edicts. The care of the revenue was in the questor. IHe was appointed to that
office in Rome; but when he acted in a judicial capacity, it was always by commission from the praetor
of the province.
* Between these magistrates and
all others who had any share in the provincial government the Roman manners had established a kind
of sacred relation, as inviolable as that of blood. t
All the officers were taught to look up to the pretor
as their father, and to regard each other as brethren:
a firm and useful bond of concord in a virtuous administration; a dangerous and oppressive combina
tion in a bad one. But, like all the Roman institutions, it operated strongly towards its principal purpose, the security of dominion, which is by nothing so much exposed as the factions and competitions
of the officers, when the governing party itself gives
the first example of disobedience.
On the overthrow of the- Commonwealth, a remarkable revolution ensued in the power and the
subordination of these magistrates. For, as the
prince came alone to possess all that was by a
proper title either imperial or prmatorial authority,
the ancient praetors dwindled into his legates, by
which the splendor and importance of that dignity
were much diminished. The business of the quaestor at this time seems to have been transferred to
the emperor's procurator. The whole of the public
revenue became part of the fisc, and was considered
as the private estate of the prince. But the old office
* Sigonii de Antiquo Jure Provinciarum, Lib. 1 and 2.
r Cic. in Verrem, 1.
? ? ? ? 208 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
under this new appellation rose in proportion as the
praetorship had declined. For the procurator seems
to have drawn to himself the cognizance of all civil,
while capital cases alone were reserved for the judgment of the legate. * And though his power was
at first restrained within narrow bounds, and all his
judgments were subject to a review and reversal by
the praetor and the senate, he gradually grew into
independence of both, and was at length by Claudius
invested with a jurisdiction absolutely uncontrollable. Two causes, I imagine, joined to produce this
change: first, the sword was in the hands of the legate; the policy of the emperors, in order to balance
this dangerous authority, thought too much weight
could not be thrown into the scale of the procurator: secondly, as the government was now elltirely despotical, a connection between the inferior officers of the empire and the senate t was found
to shock the reason of that absolute mode of government, which extends the sovereign power in all
its fulness to every officer in his own district, and
renders him accountable. to his master alone for the
abuse of it.
The veteran soldiers were always thought entitled
to a settlement in the country which had been subdued by their valor. The whole legion, with the
tribunes, the centurions, and all the subordinate officers, were seated on an allotted portion of the conquered lands, which were distributed among them * Duobus insuper inserviendum tyrannis; quorum legatus in sanguinem, procurator in bona smeviret. - Tacit. Annal. XII. 60.
t Ne vim principatus resolveret cuncta ad senatum vocando, eam
conditionem esse imperandi, ut non aliter ratio constet, quam si uni
reddatur. - Tacit. Annal. I. 6.
? ? ? ? ABRIDTGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 209
according to their rank. These colonies were disposed throughout the conquered country, so as to sustain each other, to surround the possessions that were left to the conquered, to mix with the municipia or
free towns, and to overawe the allies. Rome extended herself by her colonies into every part of her
empire, and was everywhere present. I speak here
only of the military colonies, because no other, I imagine, were ever settled in Britain.
There were few countries of any considerable extent in which all tlese different modes of government
and different shades and gradations of servitude did
not exist together. There were allies, municipia,
provinces, and colonies in this island, as elsewhere;
and those dissimilar parts, far from being discordant,
united to make a firm and compact body, the motion
of any member of which could only serve to confirm
and establish the whole; and when time was given
to this structure to coalesce and settle, it was found
impossible to break any part of it from the Empire.
By degrees the several parts blended and softened
into one another. And as the remembrance of enmity, on the one hand, wore away by time, so, on the
other, the privileges of the Roman citizens at length
became less valuable. When nothing throughout so
vast an extent of the globe was of consideration but
a single man, there was no reason to make any distinction amongst his subjects. Claudius first gave
the full rights of the city to all the Gauls. Under
Antoninus Rome opened her gates still wider. All
the subjects of the Empire were made partakers of
the same common rights. The provincials flocked
in; even slaves were no sooner enfranchised than
they were advanced to the highest posts; and the
VOL. VII. 14
? ? ? ? 210 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
plan of comprehension, which had overturned the
republic, strengthened the monarchy.
Before the partitions were thus broken down, in
order to support the Empire, and to prevent commotions, they had a custom of sending spies into all the
provinces, where, if they discovered any provincial
laying himself out. for popularity, they were sure of
finding means, for they scrupled none, to repress him.
It was not only the praetor, with his train of lictors'and apparitors, the rods and the axes, and all the
insolent parade of a conqueror's jurisdiction; every
private Roman seemed a kind of magistrate: they'took cognizance of all their words and actions, and
hourly reminded them of that jealous and stern authority, so vigilant to discover and so severe to punish the slightest deviations from obedience.
As they had framed the action de pecuniis repetundis against the avarice and rapacity of the provin-'cial governors, they made at length a law * which, one may say, was against their. virtues. For they
prohibited them from receiving addresses of thanks
on their administration, or any other public mark'of acknowledgment, lest they should come to think
that their merit or demerit consisted in the good
or ill opinion of the people over whom they ruled.
They dreaded either a relaxation of government,
or a dangerous influence in the legate, from the exertion of an humanity too popular.
These are some of the civil and political methods
by which the Romanls held'their dominion over conquered nations; but even in peace they kept up a'great military establishment. They looked upon the "interior country to be sufficiently secured by the' Tacit. Annal. XV. 21, 22.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 211
colonies; their forces were therefore generally quartered on the frontiers. There they had their stativa, or stations, which were strong intrenched camps, many of them fitted even for a winter residence.
The communication between these camps, the colonies; and the municipal towns was formed by great
roads, which they called military ways. The two
principal of these ran in almost straight lines, the
whole length of England, from north to south. Two
others intersected them from east to west. The remains show them to have been in their perfection
noble works, in all respects worthy the Roman military prudence and the majesty of the Empire. The
Anglo-Saxons called them streets. * Of all the Roman works, they respected and kept up these alone.
They regarded them with a sort of sacred reverence,
granting them a peculiar protection and great immunities. Those who travelled on them were privileged from arrests in all civil suits.
As the general character of the Roman government was hard and austere, it was particularly so
in what regarded the revenue. This revenue was
either fixed or occasional. The fixed consisted, first,
of an annual tax on persons and lands, but in what
proportion to the fortunes of the one or the value
of the other I have not been able to ascertain. Next
was the imposition called decuma, which consisted
of a tenth, and often a greater portion of the corn
of the province, which was generally delivered in
kind. Of all other products a fifth was paid. After
this tenth had been exacted on the corn, they were
obliged to sell another tenth, or a more considerable
* The four roads they called Watling Street, Ikenild Street, Ermin
Street, and the Fosseway.
? ? ? ? 212 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH'HISTORY.
part, to the prwetor, at a price estimated by himself.
Even what remained was still subject to be bought
up in the same manner, and at the pleasure of the
same magistrate, who, independent of these taxes
and purchases, received for the use of his household
a large portion of the corn of the province. The
most valuable of the pasture grounds were also reserved to the public, and a considerable revenue was
thence derived, which they called scriptura. The
state made a monopoly of almost the whole produce of the land, which paid several taxes, and was
further enhanced by passing through several hands
before it came to popular consumption.
The third great branch of the Roman revenue was
the portorium, which did not differ from those impositions which we now call customs and duties of export and import. This was the ordinary revenue; besides which
there were occasional impositions for shipping, for
military stores and provisions, and for defraying the
expense of the proator and his legates on the various circuits they made for the administration of the
province. This last charge became frequently a
means of great oppression, and several ways were
from time to time attempted, but with little effect,
to confine it within reasonable bounds. * Amongst
the extraordinary impositions must be reckoned the
obligation they laid on the provincials to labor at
the public works, after the manner of what the
French call the corvee, and we term statute-labor.
As the provinces, burdened by the ordinary charges,
were often in no condition of levying these occasional
taxes, they were obliged to borrow at interest. In* Cod. Lib. XII. Tit. Lxii.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF- ENGLISH HISTORY. 213
terest was then to communities at the same exorbitant rate as to individuals. No province was free
from a most onerous public debt; and that debt was
far from operating like the same engagement contracted in modern states, by which, as the creditor
is thrown into the power of the debtor, they often
add considerably to their strength, and to the number and attachment of their dependants. The prince
in this latter case borrows from a subject or from
a stranger. The one becomes more the subject, and
the other less a stranger. But in the Roman provinces the subject borrowed from his master, and he
thereby doubled his slavery. The overgrown favorites and wealthy nobility of Rome advanced money
to the provincials; and they were in a condition both
to prescribe the terms of the loan and to enforce the
payment. The provinces groaned at once under all
the severity of public imposition and the rapaciousness of private usury. They were overrun by publicans, farmers of the taxes, agents, confiscators, usurers, bankers, those numerous and insatiable
bodies which always flourish in a burdened. and
complicated revenue. In a word, the taxes in the
Roman Empire were so heavy, and in many respects
so injudiciously laid on, that they have been not improperly considered as one cause of its decay and
ruin. The Roman government, to the very last,
carried something of the spirit of conquest in it;
and this system of taxes seems rather calculated for
the utter impoverishment of nations, in whom a long
subjection had not worn away the remembrance of
enmity, than for the support of a just commonwealth.
? ? ? ? 214 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. CHAPTER IV.
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN POWER IN BRITAIN. AFTER the period which we have just closed, no mention is made of the affairs of Britain until the A. D. m. reign of Adrian. At that time was wrought the first remarkable change in the exterior
policy of Rome. Although some of the emperors contented themselves with those limits which they found
at their accession, none before this prince had actually contracted the bounds of the Empire: for, being more perfectly acquainted with all the countries that composed it than any of his predecessors, what
was strong and what weak, and having formed to
himself a plan wholly defensive, he purposely abandoned several large tracts of territory, that he might
render what remained more solid and compact.
This plan particularly affected Britain.
All the conquests of Agricola to the northward of the Tyne were relinquished, and a strong
rampart was built from the mouth of that river, on
the east, to Solway Frith, on the Irish Sea, a length
of about eighty miles. But in the reign of his successor, Antoninus Pius, other reasonings prevailed, and
other measures were pursued. The legate
who then commanded in Britain, concluding that the Caledonians would construe the defensive
policy of Adrian into fear, that they would naturally
grow more numerous in a larger territory, and more
haughty when -they saw it abandoned to them, the
frontier was again advanced to Agricola's second
line, which extended between the Friths of Forth
and Clyde, and the stations which. had been estab
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 215
lished by that general were connected with a continued wall.
From this time those walls become the principal
object in the British history. The Caledonians, or
(as they are called) the Picts, made very frequent
and sometimes successful attempts upon this barrier, taking advantage more particularly of every change in government, whilst the soldiery throughout the Empire were more intent upon the choice of
a master than the motions of an enemy. In this dubious state of unquiet peace and unprosecuted war
the province continued until Severus came to the purple, who, finding that Britain had grown inA. D. 207. to one of the most considerable provinces of
the Empire, and was at the same time in a dangerous situation, resolved to visit that island in person, and to provide for its security. He led a
vast army into the wilds of Caledonia, and
was the first of the Romans who penetrated to the
most northern boundary of this island. The natives, defeated in some engagements, and wholly
unable to resist so great and determined a power,
were obliged to submit to such a peace as the emperor thought proper to impose. Contenting himself with a submission, always cheaply won from a barbarous people, and never long regarded, Severus made no sort of military establishment in that country.
On the contrary, he abandoned the advanced work which had been raised in the
reign of Antoninus, and, limiting himself by the plan
of Adrian, he either built a new wall near the former, or he added to the work of that emperor such considerable improvements and repairs that it has
since been called the Wall of Severus.
? ? ? ? 216 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Severus with great labor and charge terrified the
Caledonians; but he did not subdue them. He neglected those easy and assured means of subjection
which the nature of that part of Britain affords
to a power master of the sea, by the bays, friths,
and lakes with which it is everywhere pierced, and
in some places almost cut through. A few garrisons at the necks: of land, and a fleet to connect
them and to awe the coast, must at any time have
been sufficient irrecoverably to subdue that part of
Britain. This was a neglect in Agricola occasioned
probably by a limited command; and it was not rectified by boundless authority in Severus. The Caledonians again resumed their arms, and renewed their ravages on the Roman frontier. Severus died before
he could take any new measures; and from his death
there is an almost total silence concerning the affairs of Britain until the division of the Empire.
HIad the unwieldy mass of that overgrown dominion been effectively divided, and divided into
large portions, each forming a state, separate and
absolutely independent, the scheme had been far
more perfect. Though the Empire had perished,
these states might have subsisted; and they might
have made a far better opposition to the inroads
of the barbarians even than the whole united; since
each nation would have its own strength solely employed in resisting its own particular enemies. For,
notwithstanding the resources which might have been
expected from the entireness of so great -a body, it
is clear from history that the Romans were never
able to employ with effect and at the same time
above two armies, and that on the whole they were
very unequal to the defence of a frontier of many
thousand miles in'circuit.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 217'
But the scheme which was pursued, the scheme of
joint emperors, holding by a common title, each governing his proper territory, but not wholly without authority in the other portions, this formed a species
of government of which it is hard to conceive any
just idea. It was a government in continual fluctuation from one to many, and from many again to a single hand. Each state did not subsist lont enough
independent to fall into those orders and connected
classes of men that are necessary to a regular commonwealth; nor had they time to grow into those virtuous partialities from which nations derive the
first principle of their stability.
The events which follow sufficiently illustrate
these reflections, and will show the reason of introducing them in this place, with regard to the Empire in general, and to Britain more particularly.
In the division which Diocletian first made of the
Roman territory, the western provinces, in which
Britain was included, fell to Maximnian. It was
during his reign that Britain, by an extraordinary
revolution, was for some time entirely separated from
the body of the Empire. Carausius, a man of obscure birth, and a barbarian, (for now not only the army, but the senate, was filled with foreigners,)
had obtained the government of Boulogne; He was
also intrusted with the command of a fleet stationed
in that part to oppose the Saxon pirates, who then
began cruelly to infest the northwest parts of Gaul
and the opposite shore of Britain. But Carausius
made use of the power with which he had been intrusted, not so much to suppress the pirates as to aggrandize himself. He even permitted their depredations, that he might intercept them on their
? ? ? ? 218 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
return, and enrich himself with the retaken plunder. By such methods he acquired immense wealth, which he distributed with so politic a bounty among
the seamen of his fleet and the legions in Britain that
by degrees he disposed both the one and the other to
a revolt in his favor.
As there were then no settled principles either
of succession or election in the Empire, and all depended on the uncertain faith of the army, Carausius made his attempt, perhaps, with the less guilt, and
found the less difficulty in prevailing upon the provincial Britons to submit to a sovereignty which seemed to reflect a sort of dignity on themselves.
In this island he established the seat of his new dominion; but he kept up and augmented his fleet, by which he preserved his communication with his old
government, and commanded the intermediate seas.
He entered into a close alliance with the
a. D. 286.
Saxons and Frisians, by which he at once
preserved his own island from their depredations
and rendered his maritime power irresistible. He
humbled the Picts by several defeats; he repaired
the frontier wall, and supplied it with good garrisons.
He made several roads equal to the works of the
greatest emperors. He cut canals, with vast labor
and expense, through all the low eastern parts of
Britain, at the same time draining those fenny
countries, and promoting communication and commerce.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF:. ENGLISH HISTORY. 197
of the Commonwealth, those who lived in a dependent and cliental relation on the great men used frequently to show marks of their acknowledgment by
considerable bequests at their death. But when all
the scattered powers of that state became united in
the emperor, these legacies followed the general current, and flowed in upon: the common patron. In
the will of every considerable person he inherited
with the children and relations, and such devises
formed no inconsiderable part of his revenue: a
monstrous practice, which let an absolute sovereign
into all the private concerns of his subjects, and
which, by giving the prince a prospect of one day
sharing in- all the great estates, whenever he was
urged by avarice or necessity, naturally pointed out
a resource by an anticipation always in his power.
This practice extended into the provinces. A king
of the Iceni * had devised a considerable part of his
substance to the emperor. -But the Roman procurator, not satisfied with entering into his master's portion, seized upon the rest, - and pursuing his injustice to the most horrible outrages, publicly scourged Boadicea, queen to the deceased prince, and violated
-his daughters. These - cruelties, aggravated by the
shame and scorn that attended them -- the general
severity of the government, - the taxes, (new- to a
barbarous people,) laid on without; discretion, extorted without mercy, and,- even when respited, made
utterly ruinous by exorbitant usury, -- the further
mischiefs they had to dread, when' more completely
reduced, - all these, with. the absence of the legate
and the army on a remote expedition, provoked all
the tribes of the Britons,- provincials, allies, enemies,
* Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk.
? ? ? ? 198 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
to a general insurrection. The command of this confederacy was conferred on Boadicea, as the first in
rank, and resentment of injuries. They began by
cutting off a Roman legion; then they fell upon the
colonies of Camelodunum and Verulam, and with a
barbarous fury butchered the Romans and their adherents to the number of seventy thousand.
An end had been now put to the Roman power in
this island, if Paulinus, with unexampled vigor and
prudence, had not conducted his army through the
midst of the enemy's country from Anglesey to London. There uniting the soldiers that remained dispersed in different garrisons, he formed an army of
ten thousand men, and marched to attack the enemy
in the height of their success and security. The army of the, Britons is said to have amounted to two
hundred and thirty thousand; but it was ill composed, and without choice or order, -women, boys,
old men, priests, -- full of presumption, tumult, and
confusion. Boadicea was at their head, - a woman
of masculine spirit, but precipitant, and without any
military knowledge.
The event was such as might have been expected.
Paulinus, having chosen a situation favorable to the
smallness of his numbers, and encouraged his troops
not to dread a multitude whose weight was dangerous only to themselves, piercing into the midst of
that disorderly crowd, after a blind and furious resistance, obtained a complete victory. Eighty thousand Britons fell ill this battle. . D. 1. Paulinus improved the terror this slaughter had produced by the unparalleled severities which he exercised. This method would probably have succeeded to subdue
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 199
to depopulate the nation, if such loud complaints
had not been made at Rome of the legate's cruelty
as procured his recall.
Three successive legates carried on the affairs of
Britain during the latter part of Nero's reign, and
during the troubles occasioned by the disputed succession. But they were all of an inactive character.
The victory obtained by Paulinus had disabled the
Britons from any new attempt. Content, therefore,
with recovering the Roman province, these generals
compounded, as it were, with the enemy for the rest
of the island. They caressed the troops; they indulged them in their licentiousness; and not being
of a character to repress the seditions that continually arose, they submitted to preserve their ease and
some shadow of authority by sacrificing the most material parts of it. And thus they continued, soldiers
and commanders, by a sort of compact, in a common
neglect of all duty on the frontiers of the Empire, in
the face of a bold and incensed enemy.
But when Vespasian arrived to the head
A. D. 69.
of affairs, he caused the vigor of his government to be felt in Britain, as he had done in all the
other parts of the Empire. He was not afraid to receive great services. His legates, Cerealis and Frontinus, reduced the Silures and Brigantes, - one the most warlike, the other the most numerous people
in the island. But its final reduction and
perfect settlement were reserved for Julius
Agricola, a man by whom it was a happiness for the
Britons to be conquered. He was endued with all
those bold and popular virtues which would have
given him the first place in the times of the free
Republic; and he joined to them all that reserve
? ? ? ? 200 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
and'moderation which enabled him to fill great offices with safety, and made him a good subject under
a jealous despotism.
Though the summer was almost spent when he
arrived in Britain, knowing how much the vigor and
success of the first stroke influences all subsequent
measures, he entered immediately into action. After reducing some tribes, Mona became the principal
object of his attention. . The cruel ravages of Paulinus had not entirely effaced the idea of sanctity
which the Britons by a long course of hereditary reverence had annexed to that island: it became once
more a place of consideration by the return of the
Druids. Here Agricola observed a conduct very different from that of his: predecessor, Paulinus: the
island, when he had reduced it, was treated with
great lenity. Agricola was a man of humanity and
virtue: he pitied the condition and respected the prejudices of the conquered. This behavior facilitated
the progress of his arms, insomuch that in less than
two campaigns all the British nations comprehended
in what we now call England yielded themselves to
the. Roman government, as soon as they found that
peace was no longer to be considered as a dubious
blessing. Agricola carefully secured the obedience of
the conquered people by building forts and stations in
the most important and commanding places. Having
taken these precautions for securing his rear, he advanced northwards, and, penetrating into Caledonia
as far as the river Tay, he there built a prcetentura, or
line of forts, between the two friths, which are in that
place no more than twenty miles asunder. The enemy, says Tacitus, was removed as it were into another island. And this line Agricola seems to have des
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 201
tined as the boundary of the Empire. For though in
the following year he carried his arms further, and, as
it is thought, to the foot of the Grampian Mountains,
and there defeated a confederate army -of the Caledonians, headed by Galgacus, one of their most famous chiefs, yet he built no fort to the northward of this
line: a measure which he never omitted, when he inte-nded to preserve his conquests. The expedition of that summer was probably designed only to disable
the Caledonians from attempting anything against
this barrier. But he left them their mountains,
their arms, and their liberty: a policy, perhaps, not
altogether worthy of so able a commander. He might
the more easily have completed the conquest of the
whole island by means of the fleet which he equipped
to cooperate with his land forces in that expedition.
This fleet sailed quite round Britain, which
A. D. 84.
had not been before, by any certain proof,
known to be an island: a circumnavigation, in that
immature state of naval skill, of little less. fame than
a voyage round the globe in the present age.
In the interval between his campaigns Agricola was
employed in the great labors of peace. He knew that
the general must be perfected by the legislator, and
that the conquest is neither permanent nor honorable
which is only an introduction to tyranny. His first
care was the regulation of his -household, which under former legates had been always full of faction
and intrigue, lay heavy on the province, and was
as difficult to govern. He never suffered his private partialities to intrude into the conduct of public business, nor in appointing to employments did he
permit solicitation to supply the place of merit, wisely
sensible that a proper choice: of officers is almost the
? ? ? ? 202 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
whole of government. He eased the tribute of the
province, not so much by reducing it in quantity as
by cutting off all those vexatious practices which attended the levying of it, far more grievous than the imposition itself. Every step in securing the subjection of the conquered country was attended with the utmost care in providing for its peace and internal order. Agricola reconciled the Britons to the Roman government by reconciling them to the Roman manners. He moulded that fierce nation by degrees to soft and social customs, leading them imperceptibly
into a fondness for baths, for gardens, for grand
houses, and all the commodious elegancies of a cultivated life. He diffused a grace and dignity over this new luxury by the introduction of literature. He
invited instructors in all the arts and sciences from
Rome; and he sent the principal youth of Britain to
that city to be educated at his own expense. In
short, he subdued the Britons by civilizing them,
and made them exchange a savage liberty for a polite and easy subjection. His conduct is the most perfect model for those employed in the unhappy,
but sometimes necessary task, of subduing a rude
and free people.
Thus was Britain, after a struggle of fifty-four
years, entirely bent under the yoke, and moulded
into the Roman Empire. How so stubborn an opposition could have been so long maintained against
the greatest power on earth by a people ill armed,
worse united, without revenues, without discipline,
has justly been deemed an object of wonder. Authors are generally contented with attributing it to
the extraordinary bravery of the ancient Britons.
But certainly the Britons fought with armies as
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 203
brave as the world ever saw, with superior disci.
pline, and more plentiful resources.
To account for this opposition, we must have recourse to the general character of the Roman politics
at this time. War, during this period, was carried
on upon principles very different from those that
actuated the Republic. Then one uniform spirit animated one body through whole ages. With whatever
state they were engaged, the war was so prosecuted
as if the republic could not subsist, unless that particular enemy were totally destroyed. But when the
Roman dominion had arrived to as great an extent
as could well be managed, and that the ruling power
had more to fear from disaffection to the government
than from enmity to the Empire, with regard to foreign affairs common rules and a moderate policy took
place. War became no more than a sort of exercise
for the Roman forces. * Even whilst they were declaring war they looked towards an accommodation,
and were satisfied with reasonable terms when they
concluded it. Their politics were more like those
of the present powers of Europe, where kingdoms
seek rather to spread their influence than to extend
their dominion, to awe and weaken rather than to
destroy. Under unactive and jealous princes the
Roman legates seldom dared to push the advantages
they had gained far enough to produce a dangerous.
reputation. t They wisely stopped, when they came
to the verge of popularity. And these emperors fearing as much from the generals as their generals from
* Rem Romanam hue satietate gloria provectam, ut externis quoque gentibus quietem velit. - Tacit. Annal. XII. 11. t Nam duces, ubi impetrando triumphalium insigni sufficere res
suas crediderant, hostem omittebant. - Tacit. Annal. IV. 23.
? ? ? ? 204 ABRIDGMENT' OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
them, such frequent changes were made in the command that the war was never systematically carried
on. Besides, the change of emperors (and their
reigns were not long) almost always:brought on: a
change of measures; and tlie councils even of the
same reign were continually fluctuating, as opposite
court factions happened to prevail. Add to this, that
during the commotions which followed the death of
Nero the contest for the purple turned the eyes of the
world from every other object. All: persons of consequence interested themselves in the success of some
of the contending parties; and the legates in Britain,
suspended in expectation of the issue of such mighty
quarrels, remained unactive till it could be determined for what master they were to conquer.
On the side of the Roman government these seem
to have been some of the causes which so long protracted the fate of: Britain. Others arose from the
nature of the country itself, and from the manners
of its inhabitants. The country was then extremely
woody and full of morasses. There were originally
no roads. The motion of armies was therefore difficult, and communication in many cases impracticable. There were no cities, no towns, no places of cantonment for soldiers; so that the Roman forces
were obliged to come into the field late and to leave
it early in the season. . They had no means to awe
the enemy, and to prevent their machinations during the winter. Every campaign they had nearly the
same work to begin. *When a civilized nation suffers some great defeat, and loses some place critically
situated, such is the mutual dependence of the several parts by commerce, and by the orders of a wellregulated community, that the: whole is easily. se
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF. ,ENGLISH HISTORY. 205
cured. A long-continued state of war is unnatural
to. such a nation. They abound with artisans, with
traders,. and a number of settled and unwarlike people, who are less disturbed in their ordinary course by submitting to almost any power than in a long opposition; and as this character diffuses itself through the whole nation, they find it impossible to carry on
a war, when they are deprived of. the usual resources. But in a country. like ancient Britain there are
as many soldiers as inhabitants. They unite and
disperse with ease. They require no pay nor formal
subsistence; and the hardships of an irregular war
are not very remote from their ordinary course of
life. Victories are easily obtained over such a rude
people, but they are rarely decisive; and the final
conquest becomes a work of time and patience. All
that can be done is to facilitate communication by
roads, and to secure the principal avenues and the
most remarkable posts on the navigable rivers by
forts and stations. To conquer the people, you must
subdue the nature of the -country. The Romans at
length effected this; but until this was done, they
never were able to make a perfect conquest.
I shall now. add something concerning the government, the Romans settled here, and. of those methods which they used to preserve the conquered people under an entire subjection. Those nations who had either passively permitted or had been instrumental
in the conquest of their fellow-Britons were dignified
with the title of. allies, and thereby preserved their
possessions, laws, and magistrates: they were subject
to. no kind of charge or tribute. But as their league
was not equal, and that they were under the protection of a superior power, they were,entirely divest
? ? ? ? 206 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
ed of the right of war and peace; and in many
cases an appeal lay to Rome in consequence of their
subordinate and dependent situation. This was the
lightest species of subjection; and it was generally
no more than a step preparatory to a stricter government.
The condition of those towns and communities
called municipia,. by their being more closely united to the greater state, seemed to partake a degree
less of independence. They were adopted citizens of
Rome; but whatever was detracted from their ancient liberty was compensated by a more or less complete possession of the privileges which constituted a Roman city, according to the merits which had procured their adoption. These cities were models of
Rome in little; their courts and magistrates were
the same; and though they were at liberty to retain
their old laws, and to make new at their pleasure,
they commonly conformed to those of Rome. The
municipia were not subject to tribute.
When a whole people'had resisted the Roman
power with great obstinacy, had displayed a readiness to revolt upon every occasion, and had frequently broken their faith, they were reduced into what the Romans called the form of a province: that is,
they lost their laws, their liberties, their magistrates;
they forfeited the greatest part of their lands; and
they paid a heavy tribute for what they were permitted to retain.
In these provinces the supreme government was in
the praetor sent by the senate,' who commanded the
army, and in his own person exercised the judicial
power. Where the sphere of his government was
large, he deputed his legates to that employment, who
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 207
judged according to the standing laws of the republic, aided by those occasional declarations of law
called the praetorial edicts. The care of the revenue was in the questor. IHe was appointed to that
office in Rome; but when he acted in a judicial capacity, it was always by commission from the praetor
of the province.
* Between these magistrates and
all others who had any share in the provincial government the Roman manners had established a kind
of sacred relation, as inviolable as that of blood. t
All the officers were taught to look up to the pretor
as their father, and to regard each other as brethren:
a firm and useful bond of concord in a virtuous administration; a dangerous and oppressive combina
tion in a bad one. But, like all the Roman institutions, it operated strongly towards its principal purpose, the security of dominion, which is by nothing so much exposed as the factions and competitions
of the officers, when the governing party itself gives
the first example of disobedience.
On the overthrow of the- Commonwealth, a remarkable revolution ensued in the power and the
subordination of these magistrates. For, as the
prince came alone to possess all that was by a
proper title either imperial or prmatorial authority,
the ancient praetors dwindled into his legates, by
which the splendor and importance of that dignity
were much diminished. The business of the quaestor at this time seems to have been transferred to
the emperor's procurator. The whole of the public
revenue became part of the fisc, and was considered
as the private estate of the prince. But the old office
* Sigonii de Antiquo Jure Provinciarum, Lib. 1 and 2.
r Cic. in Verrem, 1.
? ? ? ? 208 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
under this new appellation rose in proportion as the
praetorship had declined. For the procurator seems
to have drawn to himself the cognizance of all civil,
while capital cases alone were reserved for the judgment of the legate. * And though his power was
at first restrained within narrow bounds, and all his
judgments were subject to a review and reversal by
the praetor and the senate, he gradually grew into
independence of both, and was at length by Claudius
invested with a jurisdiction absolutely uncontrollable. Two causes, I imagine, joined to produce this
change: first, the sword was in the hands of the legate; the policy of the emperors, in order to balance
this dangerous authority, thought too much weight
could not be thrown into the scale of the procurator: secondly, as the government was now elltirely despotical, a connection between the inferior officers of the empire and the senate t was found
to shock the reason of that absolute mode of government, which extends the sovereign power in all
its fulness to every officer in his own district, and
renders him accountable. to his master alone for the
abuse of it.
The veteran soldiers were always thought entitled
to a settlement in the country which had been subdued by their valor. The whole legion, with the
tribunes, the centurions, and all the subordinate officers, were seated on an allotted portion of the conquered lands, which were distributed among them * Duobus insuper inserviendum tyrannis; quorum legatus in sanguinem, procurator in bona smeviret. - Tacit. Annal. XII. 60.
t Ne vim principatus resolveret cuncta ad senatum vocando, eam
conditionem esse imperandi, ut non aliter ratio constet, quam si uni
reddatur. - Tacit. Annal. I. 6.
? ? ? ? ABRIDTGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 209
according to their rank. These colonies were disposed throughout the conquered country, so as to sustain each other, to surround the possessions that were left to the conquered, to mix with the municipia or
free towns, and to overawe the allies. Rome extended herself by her colonies into every part of her
empire, and was everywhere present. I speak here
only of the military colonies, because no other, I imagine, were ever settled in Britain.
There were few countries of any considerable extent in which all tlese different modes of government
and different shades and gradations of servitude did
not exist together. There were allies, municipia,
provinces, and colonies in this island, as elsewhere;
and those dissimilar parts, far from being discordant,
united to make a firm and compact body, the motion
of any member of which could only serve to confirm
and establish the whole; and when time was given
to this structure to coalesce and settle, it was found
impossible to break any part of it from the Empire.
By degrees the several parts blended and softened
into one another. And as the remembrance of enmity, on the one hand, wore away by time, so, on the
other, the privileges of the Roman citizens at length
became less valuable. When nothing throughout so
vast an extent of the globe was of consideration but
a single man, there was no reason to make any distinction amongst his subjects. Claudius first gave
the full rights of the city to all the Gauls. Under
Antoninus Rome opened her gates still wider. All
the subjects of the Empire were made partakers of
the same common rights. The provincials flocked
in; even slaves were no sooner enfranchised than
they were advanced to the highest posts; and the
VOL. VII. 14
? ? ? ? 210 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
plan of comprehension, which had overturned the
republic, strengthened the monarchy.
Before the partitions were thus broken down, in
order to support the Empire, and to prevent commotions, they had a custom of sending spies into all the
provinces, where, if they discovered any provincial
laying himself out. for popularity, they were sure of
finding means, for they scrupled none, to repress him.
It was not only the praetor, with his train of lictors'and apparitors, the rods and the axes, and all the
insolent parade of a conqueror's jurisdiction; every
private Roman seemed a kind of magistrate: they'took cognizance of all their words and actions, and
hourly reminded them of that jealous and stern authority, so vigilant to discover and so severe to punish the slightest deviations from obedience.
As they had framed the action de pecuniis repetundis against the avarice and rapacity of the provin-'cial governors, they made at length a law * which, one may say, was against their. virtues. For they
prohibited them from receiving addresses of thanks
on their administration, or any other public mark'of acknowledgment, lest they should come to think
that their merit or demerit consisted in the good
or ill opinion of the people over whom they ruled.
They dreaded either a relaxation of government,
or a dangerous influence in the legate, from the exertion of an humanity too popular.
These are some of the civil and political methods
by which the Romanls held'their dominion over conquered nations; but even in peace they kept up a'great military establishment. They looked upon the "interior country to be sufficiently secured by the' Tacit. Annal. XV. 21, 22.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 211
colonies; their forces were therefore generally quartered on the frontiers. There they had their stativa, or stations, which were strong intrenched camps, many of them fitted even for a winter residence.
The communication between these camps, the colonies; and the municipal towns was formed by great
roads, which they called military ways. The two
principal of these ran in almost straight lines, the
whole length of England, from north to south. Two
others intersected them from east to west. The remains show them to have been in their perfection
noble works, in all respects worthy the Roman military prudence and the majesty of the Empire. The
Anglo-Saxons called them streets. * Of all the Roman works, they respected and kept up these alone.
They regarded them with a sort of sacred reverence,
granting them a peculiar protection and great immunities. Those who travelled on them were privileged from arrests in all civil suits.
As the general character of the Roman government was hard and austere, it was particularly so
in what regarded the revenue. This revenue was
either fixed or occasional. The fixed consisted, first,
of an annual tax on persons and lands, but in what
proportion to the fortunes of the one or the value
of the other I have not been able to ascertain. Next
was the imposition called decuma, which consisted
of a tenth, and often a greater portion of the corn
of the province, which was generally delivered in
kind. Of all other products a fifth was paid. After
this tenth had been exacted on the corn, they were
obliged to sell another tenth, or a more considerable
* The four roads they called Watling Street, Ikenild Street, Ermin
Street, and the Fosseway.
? ? ? ? 212 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH'HISTORY.
part, to the prwetor, at a price estimated by himself.
Even what remained was still subject to be bought
up in the same manner, and at the pleasure of the
same magistrate, who, independent of these taxes
and purchases, received for the use of his household
a large portion of the corn of the province. The
most valuable of the pasture grounds were also reserved to the public, and a considerable revenue was
thence derived, which they called scriptura. The
state made a monopoly of almost the whole produce of the land, which paid several taxes, and was
further enhanced by passing through several hands
before it came to popular consumption.
The third great branch of the Roman revenue was
the portorium, which did not differ from those impositions which we now call customs and duties of export and import. This was the ordinary revenue; besides which
there were occasional impositions for shipping, for
military stores and provisions, and for defraying the
expense of the proator and his legates on the various circuits they made for the administration of the
province. This last charge became frequently a
means of great oppression, and several ways were
from time to time attempted, but with little effect,
to confine it within reasonable bounds. * Amongst
the extraordinary impositions must be reckoned the
obligation they laid on the provincials to labor at
the public works, after the manner of what the
French call the corvee, and we term statute-labor.
As the provinces, burdened by the ordinary charges,
were often in no condition of levying these occasional
taxes, they were obliged to borrow at interest. In* Cod. Lib. XII. Tit. Lxii.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF- ENGLISH HISTORY. 213
terest was then to communities at the same exorbitant rate as to individuals. No province was free
from a most onerous public debt; and that debt was
far from operating like the same engagement contracted in modern states, by which, as the creditor
is thrown into the power of the debtor, they often
add considerably to their strength, and to the number and attachment of their dependants. The prince
in this latter case borrows from a subject or from
a stranger. The one becomes more the subject, and
the other less a stranger. But in the Roman provinces the subject borrowed from his master, and he
thereby doubled his slavery. The overgrown favorites and wealthy nobility of Rome advanced money
to the provincials; and they were in a condition both
to prescribe the terms of the loan and to enforce the
payment. The provinces groaned at once under all
the severity of public imposition and the rapaciousness of private usury. They were overrun by publicans, farmers of the taxes, agents, confiscators, usurers, bankers, those numerous and insatiable
bodies which always flourish in a burdened. and
complicated revenue. In a word, the taxes in the
Roman Empire were so heavy, and in many respects
so injudiciously laid on, that they have been not improperly considered as one cause of its decay and
ruin. The Roman government, to the very last,
carried something of the spirit of conquest in it;
and this system of taxes seems rather calculated for
the utter impoverishment of nations, in whom a long
subjection had not worn away the remembrance of
enmity, than for the support of a just commonwealth.
? ? ? ? 214 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. CHAPTER IV.
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN POWER IN BRITAIN. AFTER the period which we have just closed, no mention is made of the affairs of Britain until the A. D. m. reign of Adrian. At that time was wrought the first remarkable change in the exterior
policy of Rome. Although some of the emperors contented themselves with those limits which they found
at their accession, none before this prince had actually contracted the bounds of the Empire: for, being more perfectly acquainted with all the countries that composed it than any of his predecessors, what
was strong and what weak, and having formed to
himself a plan wholly defensive, he purposely abandoned several large tracts of territory, that he might
render what remained more solid and compact.
This plan particularly affected Britain.
All the conquests of Agricola to the northward of the Tyne were relinquished, and a strong
rampart was built from the mouth of that river, on
the east, to Solway Frith, on the Irish Sea, a length
of about eighty miles. But in the reign of his successor, Antoninus Pius, other reasonings prevailed, and
other measures were pursued. The legate
who then commanded in Britain, concluding that the Caledonians would construe the defensive
policy of Adrian into fear, that they would naturally
grow more numerous in a larger territory, and more
haughty when -they saw it abandoned to them, the
frontier was again advanced to Agricola's second
line, which extended between the Friths of Forth
and Clyde, and the stations which. had been estab
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 215
lished by that general were connected with a continued wall.
From this time those walls become the principal
object in the British history. The Caledonians, or
(as they are called) the Picts, made very frequent
and sometimes successful attempts upon this barrier, taking advantage more particularly of every change in government, whilst the soldiery throughout the Empire were more intent upon the choice of
a master than the motions of an enemy. In this dubious state of unquiet peace and unprosecuted war
the province continued until Severus came to the purple, who, finding that Britain had grown inA. D. 207. to one of the most considerable provinces of
the Empire, and was at the same time in a dangerous situation, resolved to visit that island in person, and to provide for its security. He led a
vast army into the wilds of Caledonia, and
was the first of the Romans who penetrated to the
most northern boundary of this island. The natives, defeated in some engagements, and wholly
unable to resist so great and determined a power,
were obliged to submit to such a peace as the emperor thought proper to impose. Contenting himself with a submission, always cheaply won from a barbarous people, and never long regarded, Severus made no sort of military establishment in that country.
On the contrary, he abandoned the advanced work which had been raised in the
reign of Antoninus, and, limiting himself by the plan
of Adrian, he either built a new wall near the former, or he added to the work of that emperor such considerable improvements and repairs that it has
since been called the Wall of Severus.
? ? ? ? 216 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Severus with great labor and charge terrified the
Caledonians; but he did not subdue them. He neglected those easy and assured means of subjection
which the nature of that part of Britain affords
to a power master of the sea, by the bays, friths,
and lakes with which it is everywhere pierced, and
in some places almost cut through. A few garrisons at the necks: of land, and a fleet to connect
them and to awe the coast, must at any time have
been sufficient irrecoverably to subdue that part of
Britain. This was a neglect in Agricola occasioned
probably by a limited command; and it was not rectified by boundless authority in Severus. The Caledonians again resumed their arms, and renewed their ravages on the Roman frontier. Severus died before
he could take any new measures; and from his death
there is an almost total silence concerning the affairs of Britain until the division of the Empire.
HIad the unwieldy mass of that overgrown dominion been effectively divided, and divided into
large portions, each forming a state, separate and
absolutely independent, the scheme had been far
more perfect. Though the Empire had perished,
these states might have subsisted; and they might
have made a far better opposition to the inroads
of the barbarians even than the whole united; since
each nation would have its own strength solely employed in resisting its own particular enemies. For,
notwithstanding the resources which might have been
expected from the entireness of so great -a body, it
is clear from history that the Romans were never
able to employ with effect and at the same time
above two armies, and that on the whole they were
very unequal to the defence of a frontier of many
thousand miles in'circuit.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 217'
But the scheme which was pursued, the scheme of
joint emperors, holding by a common title, each governing his proper territory, but not wholly without authority in the other portions, this formed a species
of government of which it is hard to conceive any
just idea. It was a government in continual fluctuation from one to many, and from many again to a single hand. Each state did not subsist lont enough
independent to fall into those orders and connected
classes of men that are necessary to a regular commonwealth; nor had they time to grow into those virtuous partialities from which nations derive the
first principle of their stability.
The events which follow sufficiently illustrate
these reflections, and will show the reason of introducing them in this place, with regard to the Empire in general, and to Britain more particularly.
In the division which Diocletian first made of the
Roman territory, the western provinces, in which
Britain was included, fell to Maximnian. It was
during his reign that Britain, by an extraordinary
revolution, was for some time entirely separated from
the body of the Empire. Carausius, a man of obscure birth, and a barbarian, (for now not only the army, but the senate, was filled with foreigners,)
had obtained the government of Boulogne; He was
also intrusted with the command of a fleet stationed
in that part to oppose the Saxon pirates, who then
began cruelly to infest the northwest parts of Gaul
and the opposite shore of Britain. But Carausius
made use of the power with which he had been intrusted, not so much to suppress the pirates as to aggrandize himself. He even permitted their depredations, that he might intercept them on their
? ? ? ? 218 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
return, and enrich himself with the retaken plunder. By such methods he acquired immense wealth, which he distributed with so politic a bounty among
the seamen of his fleet and the legions in Britain that
by degrees he disposed both the one and the other to
a revolt in his favor.
As there were then no settled principles either
of succession or election in the Empire, and all depended on the uncertain faith of the army, Carausius made his attempt, perhaps, with the less guilt, and
found the less difficulty in prevailing upon the provincial Britons to submit to a sovereignty which seemed to reflect a sort of dignity on themselves.
In this island he established the seat of his new dominion; but he kept up and augmented his fleet, by which he preserved his communication with his old
government, and commanded the intermediate seas.
He entered into a close alliance with the
a. D. 286.
Saxons and Frisians, by which he at once
preserved his own island from their depredations
and rendered his maritime power irresistible. He
humbled the Picts by several defeats; he repaired
the frontier wall, and supplied it with good garrisons.
He made several roads equal to the works of the
greatest emperors. He cut canals, with vast labor
and expense, through all the low eastern parts of
Britain, at the same time draining those fenny
countries, and promoting communication and commerce.
