Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/11

 the well-disciplined Romans, but was taken prisoner and sent to Rome. Then Boadicea, queen of one of the tribes, strove to free the country from the invaders; but she, after winning a great battle, was also defeated by the Roman generals, and, it is said, killed herself to escape ill-treatment at their hands. Thus nearly all Britain, from the southern coast to the Firths of Clyde and Forth, was made part of the great Roman Empire. But it took many years to do this, for the Britons were a brave people, and as the land was covered with forests and bogs, it was difficult for the Roman soldiers to pursue and attack the natives.

The Romans did not ill-treat the Britons, but they did not allow them to carry weapons or to fight in their own defence. They built good, straight, solid roads for their soldiers to pass from point to point, and the remains of their roads and camps are yet to be found in many parts of England and Scotland. Cities, too, were built, such as York; forests were cleared and grain grown in abundance, so much so that large quantities of wheat were sent from Britain to Rome to feed the people of that city. The Roman language, Latin, became the speech of the better educated and wealthier Britons, although most of the people continued to speak their native tongue. Not the least of the good results of Roman Rule was the spread of Christianity in the island. One thing, however, the Romans did, which was not for the good of the people they conquered. They made them depend upon their masters for defence against attacks from their enemies, the Picts, who lived in Scotland, and the Scots, who came from Ireland. The once brave Britons, after a few hundred years of Roman rule, lost the power to defend themselves, and so when the Romans had to leave Britain, about 400 A.D., to protect the empire from enemies nearer home, the Britons were not able to beat back the fierce Picts and Scots who came pouring down from the wilds of Scotland to rob and murder them. In the next chapter we shall see how this led to the coming of the English.