Page:Roman Britain (Collingwood, First Ed., 1924, b29827590).pdf/15



are two sides to Roman Britain, the British side and the Roman. That is to say, it may be regarded either as an episode in the history of England or as a member of the Roman Empire. This may seem a truism; but the balance between the two things is not easily kept. Most English students of the subject have looked at it too much from the English point of view and too little from the Roman, and this habit has given currency to a picture of Roman Britain which is in many ways quite false. It occupied the first chapter of Histories of England, and in outline it was as follows. Britain before the Romans came was a wild country of marsh and woodland inhabited by Celtic-speaking barbarians who lived in rube huts, made up in blue paint what they lacked in clothing, and spent most of their time fighting each other. They had a kind of barbaric tribal organization, and offered human sacrifices, at the instigation of Druids, in places like Stonehenge. This savage race was conquered by Rome and kept in subjection by a vast Roman army for three centuries, during which there was a considerable influx of Romans into the country: the traces of this influx may be seen in the numerous relics of their towns and country-houses or 'villas'. Finally, towards the time when Rome was sacked by the Goths in 410, the Romans left Britain. Their armies were recalled, their civilian immigrants left a country in which, in the absence of armed protection, they were no longer safe from the natives, and the Celtic barbarians once more had the island to themselves, having learnt nothing and forgotten nothing in the meantime.