Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/367

 at the commencement of the Christian era occupied a position, which, if far short of the high state of civilization the Romans had reached, was greatly superior to that of most of the northern nations of Europe, or to that of the Goths and Vandals, when, three centuries afterwards, they overran the empire and became masters of the imperial city.

Indeed, the famous speech of Caractacus, when taken captive to Rome, shows a nobility of character, nay, we may add, an amount of civilization that would not have been anticipated. "If I had made," said the noble Briton, "that prudent use of prosperity which my rank and fortune enabled me to do, I might have come hither as your friend rather than as your prisoner; nor would you have disdained the alliance of a king descended from illustrious ancestors, and